CREAMY MUSHROOMS ON TOAST

Creamy mushrooms on toast using chestnut mushrooms makes for a very decadent light lunch.
This recipe had such a depth of flavour, finished with creme fraiche and lots of fresh parsley for a luxurious taste.
The recipe from Waitrose can be found HERE.
Most recipes call for sourdough bread, but we used what we had. We may try toasted brioche next time too.
The recipe calls for dried mushrooms which we used here and this certainly helps beef up the flavour,  however not all recipes add dried mushrooms so why not experiment.
Despite using creme fraiche this substantial and satisfying serving comes in around 400 calories. We have maintained our weight loss philosophy - to eat all types of food - and this has helped us maintain our weight.

Here's a link to our very first blog post about our weight loss journey, which began in January 2011. We started this blog as a way of recording what we ate while losing weight. There were no restrictions. The blog is a food diary, and contains lots of recipes, tips and ideas about losing weight. Do you know how many calories you can eat each day?

Copyright © all rights reserved. Please do not copy any of this material without my express permission.

Asparagus season is here ...

There's nothing quite as tasty as really fresh, new season asparagus! Thanks to the exceptionally warm spring weather, we are enjoying our first pick of the season. The flavour and texture is something you have to savour.
Lunch then was poached eggs, bacon and a few asparagus spears for luxury. A slice of warm toast on the side adds a nice bit of crunch.
Asparagus this fresh takes very little cooking - we boiled ours in salted water for 3 minutes.
Perfect poached eggs are quite easy to make, although you'll need really fresh eggs. Just add a dash of vinegar to the water and bring to the boil, turn down to a simmer and add your eggs. Simple as that. Lose weight eating delicious food.

Be who you want to be.

Do you know how many calories you can eat each day?

Our very first blog post about our weight loss journey - back in 2011.

You'll find our successful WEIGHT LOSS STORY here. Tweak what you eat and lose weight.

Copyright © forget dieting forever (2015), all rights reserved.

Please do not copy any of this material without our express permission.

Smoked cod and poached eggs

Have you ever eaten smoked cod with poached eggs? We've occasionally eaten smoked haddock and poached eggs, but never cod. The supermarket was selling smoked cod loin at a very reasonable price.
If you're not a fan of smoked fish, you might find this cut of fish interesting. Compared to smoked haddock the cod was less smoky and more delicate, and went perfectly with spinach and poached egg. All very moreish.
The fish was very easy to cook. Place the cod into a small saucepan and cover with milk. Turn up the heat and simmer for around 4-5 minutes (we had two 150g fillets). Turn off the heat while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. We used frozen spinach, as it is economical and there is no waste. The bacon added a lovely crunch to the meal.
This meal with a slice of toast was around 450 calories.
Just like everyone else, we have indulged over Christmas and the New Year. Our weight has fluctuated over the festive season by a couple of pounds here and there. We've addressed this by thinking about what we are eating and in the last few days we've returned to our pre-Christmas weight.
It's around this time of year when we notice the bits and pieces of 'leftover' nuts, biscuits and chocolates lurking around the house. Noticing what's around us was how we originally came up with the weight loss idea.
Four years ago I noticed my other half would pick up a mince pie (or two) and munch on them as he wandered around the kitchen. These mindless snacks can have a big impact on weight. Just two mince pies amounted to 500 calories - enough calories for a whole meal. He wasn't necessarily 'enjoying' them either, but eating them so they wouldn't go to waste. We now choose to eat whatever we want to eat, but (roughly) within our daily calorie allowance.

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Be who you want to be.

Do you know how many calories you can eat each day?

Our very first blog post about our weight loss journey - back in 2011.

You'll find our successful weight loss method and a few tips and tricks here: WEIGHT LOSS STORY.
Tweak what you eat and lose weight.

Copyright © forget dieting forever (2014), all rights reserved.

Leek and potato soup recipe

LEEK & POTATO soup is a classic recipe - add cream or use milk. But what type of milk should you use?  Full fat or semi-skimmed milk? The reason I prefer to use full fat milk is because it doesn't split when heated. There is the potential for semi-skimmed milk to split. So what happened when I used semi-skimmed milk today because I didn't have any full fat milk? I was surprised to find the milk didn't split, although the top of the soup looked very frothy and messy. I was being more careful and ensured the soup was cooked on a very low heat. Simmering rather than overheating. All this didn't matter at all, once it had gone through the blender. It tasted just as I would have expected.
Soups are generally quick and easy to make and very economical.  One of the local supermarkets was selling 500g packs of leeks for just 65p this week. The great thing is, leeks are now in season and taste so much sweeter. With very few calories, you could add a couple of spoonfuls of double cream to the finished soup. Who would think this creamy soup is low in calories too - at around 150 calories per portion.
Here's our recipe for a creamy leek and potato soup:

Hot smoked salmon salad

This hot smoked salmon salad is very quick and easy to assemble. 

So simple yet so tasty. 

The zesty yoghurt dressing is perhaps our favourite component. If you are looking for a simple, low calorie potato salad recipe, this dressing is a must. 

We bought chilli flavoured hot smoked salmon today. Alternatively you could use smoked trout, as we have done in the past. 

The potatoes work well warm or cold, so why not make a large batch of potato salad? A great lunchbox idea too. Here's the recipe:

POTATO ROSTI WITH AN UNUSUAL HINT OF SPICE

POTATO & BACON ROSTI with an interesting spicy twist.
While making these potato cakes, we experimented with the flavours and were more than pleasantly surprised with the results.
The combination of ingredients is not something that instantly springs to mind when thinking of savoury dishes using potatoes. However our tastebuds were delighted with the outcome.
You often see cinnamon and bacon paired together in a savoury bread roll, and this was partly our inspiration. You also see similar spices used to flavour ham.
The gentle warmth from the Speculaas Spice mix certainly livened up the whole dish in an unusual and surprising way. The spice mix contains nine different spices including cinnamon, cloves and ginger, all contributing a subtle depth of flavour to the potato.
Our recipe below would make a perfect breakfast or a light supper meal with the addition of eggs.

Warm couscous and leftover chicken

Lunching on leftover chicken can often be a bland experience. So why not liven things up with WARM SPICY COUSCOUS, vegetables and salad. When food is more inviting, you'll feel much more satisfied and less inclined to 'reward' yourself with sweets and chocolate. We eat with all our senses so why not enjoy what you eat.
While roasting a small chicken last night, we cooked a tray of colourful vegetables too: green peppers, butternut squash and red onions. The vegetables were sprinkled with a little salt and pepper and sprayed with oil. After cooking for 45 minutes, they were cooled and refrigerated overnight.
Fry (or griddle) a few courgettes and reheat the vegetables at the same time. Then mix with the couscous - we chose to use giant couscous because of its texture. Once the couscous is cooked, drain and rinse with boiled water (to stop it sticking together). Add a teaspoon of oil, salt and pepper, half a teaspoon of turmeric and a quarter of a teaspoon of ground cumin. This gives the couscous mix a lovely warmth. Add the vegetables and serve.
Save money - cook double the quantity. It's really good for the lunchbox. We're saving ours for tomorrow, when we'll reheat it and add some feta cubes and pine nuts. Can't wait.
If you don't have any roasted vegetables, you could add peas, sultanas, sliced almonds etc along with your favourite herbs.
Couscous is low in calories. We used 50g of dried couscous per person, which was very filling. I roasted a small butternut squash, one large onion and a whole green pepper.

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REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - do you know yours?

We began our weight loss journey in January 2011 - and began our blog in June 2011. Here's a link to the first post. (here's the link).

Read about our UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how you can lose weight eating the food you love.

Copyright © forget dieting forever, all rights reserved

Chorizo salad with Manchego

Brunch was a warm and slightly spicy Chorizo salad with Manchego cheese. This bold salad recipe, infused with the flavours of Spain, went down a storm.
Undecided about what to eat - hot or cold - we ended up with this delicious combination.
The result was a very colourful, tasty and filling salad around 450 calories.
Here's how we made it.
Boil 120g potatoes (per person) and dress with some of the Chorizo oil. Allow five minutes for the flavours to mingle. Lightly boil the egg(s) - I used two left over quail's eggs here, although one normal egg would suffice. Cook 30g of sliced fresh Chorizo - which should be more than enough. Combine with your favourite salad vegetables, we used spinach, courgette and tomato - and sprinkle with 15g grated Manchego.

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REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - do you know yours?

We began our weight loss journey in January 2011 - and began our blog in June 2011. Here's a link to the first post. (here's the link).

Read about our UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how you can lose weight eating the food you love.

Copyright © forget dieting forever, all rights reserved

Savoury cheesecake

This SAVOURY CHEESECAKE recipe with honey and thyme, turned out to be very light and fluffy.
At around 275 calories per portion - it's not as calorific as you may think, and certainly has less than many shop bought varieties. 

A citrus side salad and pickled beetroot completed a very satisfying lunch. 

I used a 20cm loose based sandwich tin for this recipe and cut a long strip of greaseproof paper about 3cm taller than the sides to line the tin. I wasn't sure how much it was going to rise… and rise it did.
The cheesecake resurrected very well the following day; withstanding 20 minutes reheating in the oven. It was also very nice served cold - slicing was easier and you could cut very small slices - especially when no one was looking ;o).

Everyone loved this as much as we did. Take a look at our recipe:

Thai chicken noodle salad

Easy weight loss couldn't get better - this THAI CHICKEN NOODLE salad was packed with flavour.
I've made a similar salad before - using prawns. Take a look here Thai prawn noodle salad.
Not only was this salad so tasty, but it was very satisfying and more than filled a hunger gap. I couldn't believe the number of calories.
What's more the dish is portable - easily fitting into a lunch box. Just cook more chicken than you need, and save some for tomorrow's lunch.
The ingredients provide enough for two good portions, which I estimate at around 400 calories each!
Here's my deliciously spicy recipe:

Sausages

A sausage salad might sound odd, but when you're feeling indecisive - why not. I really felt the need for some green leaves, but also fancied sausages. A few good quality sausages with a high meat content, a few salad leaves etc and lunch was served at around 500 calories.
If your New Year's resolution is to lose weight, and you can't quite face giving up your usual food, then why not follow the principles of our idea? It's easier, you'll feel more relaxed and you won't have to eat any strange diet food. Your mind is a powerful tool - so why not let it help you to lose weight? Give yourself the freedom to eat whatever you want, make your own choices, pick the foods you love and before you know it, you'll be losing weight like us. Why deprive yourself?
Take a look at the method we followed to lose lots of weight and, even more importantly, improve our health and keep the weight off.
REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - do you know yours?

We began our weight loss journey in January 2011 - and began our blog in June 2011. (here's the link) to our very first blog post. 

Read about this UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how you can lose weight eating the food you love.

Copyright © forget dieting forever, all rights reserved.

350 calorie chicken salad

This vibrant salad tasted as good as it looked. CHICKEN SALAD with spicy quinoa, vegetables and nuts.
Lunch was ready in no time at all. So why not pick up a ready prepared salad and sliced meats?
You can add a few more salad ingredients to bulk it out, and maybe a little cheese. We chose to add some shaved smoked applewood cheese.
Choosing a strong cheese means you can get away with eating less of it. The applewood is very strong so you'll experience all of its powerful flavour in just a few generous shavings.
For this salad I used around 10g of cheese, and I would estimate the whole dish at around 350 calories. It's almost three years since we began our weight loss journey - and we are still keeping the weight off. Why not take a look at how we took a different view - ditched faddy diets and started eating everything we wanted.

REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - do you know yours?

We began our weight loss journey in January 2011 - and began our blog in June 2011. Here's a link to the first post. (here's the link).

Read about our UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how you can lose weight eating the food you love.

Copyright © forget dieting forever, all rights reserved.

Poached eggs

Someone asked me about POACHED EGGS the other day. They were unsure how to get the best results.
This has to be one of my favourite quick fix lunches. Low in calories - 80 calories per egg - and very satisfying.
The method I use is very quick and easy, and I wished someone had told me about it earlier!
We served ours with a couple of slices of hot buttered toast, and lunch came to around 400 calories.
Here's my tip on achieving a perfect poached egg:

PRAWNS

A quick and easy lunch - PRAWN COCKTAIL salad. The prawns were sweet, juicy and very low in calories at just 80 calories per 100g (about the amount in this picture). Just watch for the calories in the sauce!
I ate mine with half an avocado today (165 calories per 100g). The sauce was the most calorific item at 495 calories per 100g, and I used approximately 20g. Despite the sauce, my salad was still around 350 calories - so I had a nice crusty roll with butter.
Not eating enough will result in hunger which leads to unnecessary snacking and can break your resolve if you are following a strict diet. Be kind to yourself. Take time to lose weight and enjoy eating your favourite foods. If you love certain foods, don't deny yourself them; find out the nutritional value and make up your own mind whether you'll eat it. Take control of your food choices and you'll soon discover (like us) you can lose weight.
OUR MOTTO is to EAT GREAT AND LOSE WEIGHT.
REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - do you know yours?

We began our weight loss journey in January 2011 - and began our blog in June 2011. Here's a link to the first post. (here's the link).

We like to post our main meals to show you what CAN be eaten. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go! I'm currently going through the photographs and replacing them with more website friendly versions which will allow the blog to load quickly. 

Read about our UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how you can lose weight eating the food you love.

Copyright © forget dieting forever, all rights reserved.

CHEESE & HAM TOASTIES

LUNCH. Mmmm these cheese and ham toasties were delicious. We served ours with .... courgette soup.
The soup was very filling and low in calories which offset its higher calorie accompaniment. When making the toastie you'll need less cheese than you think - we used about 25g each (approx 100 cals) of strong cheddar.
The glut of courgettes (zucchini) goes on in our small flower bed. I'm not complaining, as they are all being eaten - friends and family love the round courgettes too.
This recipe was slightly different to my previous attempt at courgette soup (see below). A tablespoon of single cream (15g - just 30 cals) added a luxurious touch, and gave the soup a more velvety texture. The whole lunch came to around 450 calories! Here's the recipe:

Spicy potatoes

How to transform your potatoes:  SPICY CHORIZO, a few onions and 20 minutes later, we were devouring this very more-ish rustic dish.
It was the perfect partner for our fish. We had bought two whole sea bass, not realising quite how big they were, so we've ended up with two separate meals. Yesterday, we baked the sea bass, which gave the fish such a lovely soft texture, so we baked the fish again the same way today.
Pair fish with this spicy potato and you'll wonder (like us) why you've never cooked it before. We think - no - we're certain we'll be eating this again very, very soon - probably (tomorrow) with a fried egg.
The dish is so easy to cook, very versatile, and we can see it turning up on daytime television (...again), complete with our tips (see below)!
Thanks to the way we cooked these potatoes, the whole dish (including fish) was surprisingly under 400 calories! Take a look at how we cooked this - here's our recipe:

Pasta with tomatoes

A very easy and simple recipe - PASTA with fresh tomato sauce.
Does your pasta fill you up? We found the fresh pasta we were making actually filled us up for a lot longer than the dried pasta we've been using. That makes fresh pasta great for weight loss.
We wanted to know why we felt much fuller after eating our home made pasta. After a little research, we found the reason our fresh pasta was so filling is because our fresh pasta is made with EGG which provides more protein. Some things are simple once you know!
We now realise some dried pasta is made with semolina flour and water and no egg. So the next time you're buying dried pasta, take a look at the ingredients. I'll be looking out for dried pasta with egg! Last time we made this delicious (and VERY easy tomato sauce) we used this spicy recipe. But today, we opted for something even more simple.... fresh egg pasta and fresh tomatoes.
Here's our pasta and tomato sauce recipe (making use of our glut of home grown tomatoes) you will be amazed at how low in calories this actually is:

Tomatoes and mozzarella for 350 calories

A simple lunch of TOMATOES & MOZZARELLA at just 350 calories. This is one of our favourites. Today we used a little less cheese, making a lighter lunch/starter. This photograph shows 75g of mozzarella and 60g of ciabatta. We generally like to eat around 450-500 calories at lunch time as this seems to fill us up for longer and reduces the urge to pick.
The tomatoes are from our garden and deliciously sweet. If you have a spare tub - tomatoes are easy to grow, and you'll experience a flavour second to none.
If you can make toast, you can make this meal. Toast a few slices of ciabatta and pile on the tomatoes mixed with a little oil, basil, salt and pepper. Serve with your favourite mixed salad leaves and don't forget to season them too. We used an olive oil dressing and a little balsamic.

REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - do you know yours?

We began our weight loss journey in January 2011 - and began our blog in June 2011. Here's a link to the first post. (here's the link).

We like to post our main meals to show you what CAN be eaten. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go! I'm currently going through the photographs and replacing them with more website friendly versions which will allow the blog to load quickly. 

Read about our UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how you can lose weight eating the food you love.

Copyright © forget dieting forever, all rights reserved.

Broad beans & feta

This was lunch. Seasonal broad beans (and peas) are much sweeter and go really well with salty feta cheese. The toasted ciabatta adds a welcome crunch to the experience.
Very filling considering it's approximately 350-400 calories.
What struck us most was just how full we were after eating this - considering the low calorie content. Not only that, the fullness lasted much longer than we expected.
You could use frozen beans and peas if you are on a tight budget. We made our own zesty dressing too. Anyway, here's our very tasty BROAD BEAN & FETA CHEESE recipe:

Feta salad with croutons

The weather calls for more salads, which are very hydrating and as we near a heat wave - very welcoming.
This simple flavour packed FETA SALAD with CROUTONS is around 400 calories. I forgot to add the avocado, which would have increased the number of calories and been more filling. We generally like to eat around 450-500 calories at lunch time.
You have the garlic crunch of the croutons balancing nicely with the juicy tomatoes and peppery leaves.
I was given some broad beans today, and these go really well with feta.  We can vouch for that, as we really enjoyed this delicious BROAD BEAN, FETA & MINT TOAST recipe.
Since trying various oil based salads, we have become a fan of this type of dressing. But, if you prefer something else, then use that instead - just take a moment to find out the calorific value of your dressing. You are in control of your own weight loss, we are here to hopefully give you some great recipe ideas. Here's our feta salad recipe: