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?

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WARM FIG & GOAT'S CHEESE SALAD

Feast your eyes on this colourful warm fig, goat's cheese and sweet red pepper salad. Add fresh crunchy croutons for texture. The secret ingredient is temperature - warming the figs through in the oven to bring out their full flavour.
To make this salad for two you will need:

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1 bag of mixed salad leaves

4 figs

one sweet pointed red pepper

soft goat's cheese

day old bread cut into cubes

pine nuts

olive oil

vegetable oil

a sprinkle of dried herbs - use whatever you have

salt/pepper

optional - chilli flakes

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Turn oven to 160ºC. Cut figs in half and lay on an oiled baking tray and drizzle lightly with melted butter. Cut the bread into cubes and coat with vegetable oil and a sprinkle of mixed dried herbs. Place the bread onto the same tray as the figs. Slice the pepper and coat lightly with oil. Put the red pepper into a separate oven proof dish and place in oven at the same time as the figs and croutons. When figs have warmed through (around 15 minutes), remove from oven.  Turn the croutons over. Keep the croutons and red pepper in the oven while you assemble the salad (you can turn the oven off). Take a handful of pine nuts and fry lightly for a few minutes in a little vegetable oil - if you like a little heat, add a few chilli flakes to the pan. Dress the salad leaves with your preferred dressing. We used a little olive oil, lemon juice and salt/pepper. Add the rest of the salad ingredients and enjoy.

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Do you know how many calories you are allowed each day?

Here's a link to our very first blog post about our weight loss journey, which we began in January 2011. We started this blog as a way of recording what we ate while losing weight. The blog is a food diary, and contains lots of recipes, tips and ideas about losing weight.

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Spinach saag bhaji and bombay potatoes

Here is a very quick and easy way to enjoy spinach and potatoes. Add flavour without adding  calories.
Spicy bombay potatoes and spinach saag bhaji are made using the same ingredients.
There is such a wonderful fresh taste to these simple, light and mildly spiced side dishes. The bombay potatoes have a lovely creamy texture when cooked this way. The spinach is very refreshing and will adorn anything from curry to sausages!

Use the following ingredients to create the base for these simple side dishes:

One small onion

One garlic clove

1 cm ginger

1 - 2 teaspoons mild curry powder

oil for frying

Blend the onion, garlic and ginger to a puree and fry in a little oil for 5 minutes. You may need to add a touch of water. Add curry powder and fry for another minute or two. Use this base to make your side dishes. For the spinach saag, simply add spinach and wilt - season with salt to taste. For the bombay potatoes, put the base into a pan with a lid, add cubed (uncooked) potatoes and add enough water or stock to almost cover the potato. Simmer until potatoes are cooked. If there is too much liquid left in the pan, remove lid and turn up heat to reduce and thicken the base.

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Do you know how many calories you are allowed each day?

Here's a link to our very first blog post about our weight loss journey, which we began in January 2011. We started this blog as a way of recording what we ate while losing weight. The blog is a food diary, and contains lots of recipes, tips and ideas about losing weight.

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EASY CHICKEN and SWEETCORN CURRY

An easy CHICKEN & BABY SWEETCORN CURRY takes around 10 minutes to prepare. This was a very simple recipe using few ingredients and producing a wonderful depth of flavour.

The bombay potatoes and spinach saag bhaji was very quick to prepare too.

Our flatbreads flavoured with warm spice were less doughy but equally as tempting as any naan bread.

We prepared everything in the afternoon so the meal was ready to heat through within 10 minutes.
Why not save on the cost of a takeaway and enjoy a lovely fresh tasting curry with a lot less calories.

Why not take a look at our easy recipe below:

Pan fried mackerel and tomato salsa

The fisherman on the quay had super fresh mackerel impossible to resist. Even I could tell it was very very fresh.
The price - what price! The fisherman sold us the mackerel at 50p per fish. After pan frying we just couldn't understand why this fish isn't more popular.  The simplest of dishes are often the best and this is no exception.
We test drove one fillet with a coating of egg and porridge oats. The nutty texture of the oats worked very well against the soft creamy flesh. Perfect if you want to make the fillets go even further!
You need a bit of acidity to complement the oily fish and beetroot/apple is a popular combination. We served our mackerel with tomatoes, which was very refreshing. We mixed chopped tomatoes with red onion, basil, olive oil and lemon juice. Don't forget to season well. The mackerel took just minutes in the frying pan. If you want a crispy skin you'll need to rack up the heat in the pan. We didn't do this as we decided to flavour the oil in the pan with bay leaves and garlic which we removed before pan frying the fish. Serve with fresh crusty bread or some earthy Cornish new potatoes. 100g of mackerel is around 170 calories.
Do you know how many calories you are allowed each day?

Here's a link to our very first blog post about our weight loss journey, which we began in January 2011. We started this blog as a way of recording what we ate while losing weight. The blog is a food diary, and contains lots of recipes, tips and ideas about losing weight.

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

HERB CHICKEN

HERB CHICKEN. This quick and easy recipe will give bland chicken a lift. The recipe was an instant hit in our household and took very little effort to achieve a wonderful balance of flavours. We love the pattern created by the herbs! Serve it with potatoes and salad or as we did - with crushed new potatoes sprayed with oil and crisped up in the oven.
For this recipe take one large chicken breast around 250g (this will serve two) and slice it lengthways into three. Flatten the chicken slightly with a rolling pin. Place sage leaves on top of each slice of chicken. Season with salt and pepper as you go, although less salt is required because of the ham. Wrap the whole chicken breast in parma ham (around 3 slices per chicken breast). Briefly fry for one minute either side then place in a hot oven (180ºC) for around 15 minutes. We placed the chicken breast on the same baking tray as the potatoes, which took up the flavour of the parma ham. We used a thermometer to check it was thoroughly cooked. Serve with salad or vegetables. Chicken is low in calories (around 1 calorie per gram uncooked weight), so 250g of chicken would work out at 250 calories. Add 100 calories for 3 slices of parma ham. The herb chicken breast would be around 350 calories - and that's between two! It was certainly very filling and would be lovely eaten cold - perhaps as part of a sandwich or salad lunch box.
Do you know how many calories you are allowed each day?

Here's a link to our very first blog post about our weight loss journey, which we began in January 2011. We started this blog as a way of recording what we ate while losing weight. The blog is a food diary, and contains lots of recipes, tips and ideas about losing weight.

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

Ooooh CRUMPETS

CRUMPETS and a nice up of tea. What more do you want on a sunny afternoon? Surprisingly easy to make too and recommend you try making your own because the texture is just so surprising - they were light and airy with a lovely crunchy outer coating.
Eat them on their own with butter (as we did here) or add your favourite toppings: cheese, jam, ham or smoked salmon etc.
You'll find lots of crumpet recipes around, all with similar ingredients.
Most pre-packed crumpets are around 100 calories each. We chose to make ours using 6cm cooking rings which is slightly smaller than the ones you buy. Each crumpet works out at around 50 calories (butter is extra). Even better they cost around 5p each and you can make lots more for the same cost as a pack of six shop bought crumpets.
Be who you want to be and eat great food while losing weight.

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. 

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

Recipe for Chorizo, potato and cabbage soup

Chorizo, potato and cabbage soup was just what was needed for a cold and windy day in June. You can't beat a hearty soup! This is similar to a Portuguese soup although I cooked the cabbage separately and added it to the soup at the end of cooking.
What surprised me was how many calories there is in chorizo. I chose Sarta Iberico, which was a little more expensive than other chorizo sausages. It's good to try something different. I was very surprised to find it was only 278 calories per 100g, compared to other chorizos as high as 450 calories per 100g. That's a BIG difference! Do check before buying as there is quite a wide range of chorizos out there. You may want a fattier sausage depending on what you are cooking.
The Sarta chorizo was obviously lower in fat content, but I was going to use it in a soup. The flavour was delicate and infused the dish with a nice hint of spice. I suspect the leftovers will taste even better tomorrow as the flavours continue to develop.  We might have to fight over who eats the last portion!
All in all for a dish that took around 15 minutes prep and 20 minutes cooking, it was a pretty impressive plateful and very filling. The ingredients I used created three good sized bowls of soup at around 250 calories per portion.
With very few ingredients you'll probably find you have most. Here's how we made ours:

AROMATIC SPICED MEATBALLS

Meatballs infused with a cocktail of Eastern spices. These were so aromatic, delighting all the senses - just as everything Ottolenghi does.
Transforming beef and lamb mince into a flavour sensation far removed from most other burgers and meatballs. You can always turn them into burgers if you prefer! If you are looking for something different and have an hour to spare, you won't be disappointed. The dish is not difficult to make at all and came from Ottolenghi's 'Jerusalem' recipe book. It would make a fantastic sharing platter with friends.
The main spice for the meatballs was Baharat, which you can make yourself (plenty of online recipes) or buy ready made. We made enough spice for a few meals and will probably use it next time to experiment with fish.
We served our meatballs with Orzo - small pieces of pasts which look like rice and a few chunks of toasted ciabatta to help mop up the wonderful lemony juices. We also added a few sliced asparagus spears at the end of cooking which added a nice crunchy texture to the dish.
Here's a link to the Ottolenghi recipe
Be who you want to be and eat great food while losing weight.

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. 

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

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

QUICK & EASY DHANSAK CURRY RECIPE

One of our favourite takeaway meals is a dhansak curry. Today we decided to have a go at making it for the first time. The result was a very fresh tasting spicy curry that tasted… very similar to our    takeaway.
Curries and weightloss - they do mix.
We love the simplicity of this recipe without the need to use a million different ingredients to achieve a satisfying meal. The beauty of this curry sauce is that you can make it and add whatever protein or vegetable you like to it. 

We chose king prawns as a treat. You can stir in some fresh spinach at the end too if you like. Obviously using lentils gives it a healthy twist - and not only that it's a tasty way to eat them! The calories were good too - this dish worked out (excluding rice) at around 350 calories. Who would have thought that curry was this low in calories! Here's how we made it:

EGG RAVIOLO (whole egg yolk inside)

EGG RAVIOLO contains a whole soft egg yolk inside the pasta. If cooked for the right amount of time the egg yolk will be runny. It's very more-ish especially when served with fresh seasonal asparagus.
Making pasta isn't that difficult but we think you'll need a pasta roller to achieve the very thin pasta required. We tried rolling it out by hand once and never did it again. You could try bought pasta sheets, but they should be pliable enough to seal totally to stop the egg escaping.
Our recipe serves two - making two raviolos per person, which is quite filling and would make a light meal at around 450 calories per serving.
This is one of our more technical dishes but worth the effort. There's nothing quite like your own fresh pasta if you can make it. We're only amateur cooks who like to try out different dishes and techniques. Here's the recipe:

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.

SPICY LAMB SAUSAGE ROLL

A SPICY LAMB SAUSAGE ROLL recipe will transform the humble sausage into something quite spectacular. Turn a snack into a main meal without spending a fortune or investing a lot of time.
Our first attempt at making these was memorable, but we were conservative with the spice (just in case it was too overpowering).
This time, we decided to add 2 whole heaped teaspoons of Harissa, which suited our tastebuds. Last time we used one and a half teaspoons. If you want to test for spiciness before cooking the whole thing, add less spice then take a couple of spoonfuls of the sausage mixture and lightly fry. Add more spice to the mixture if you think it needs it.
Making the pastry was easy enough using a small hand blender/chopper. It made light work of the old fashioned 'rubbing in' process; leaving behind sticky fingers with the finished breadcrumb texture visible in just seconds. We served ours with a spicy coleslaw (see below).
Here's the recipe:

CREAM OF CELERY SOUP RECIPE

We have never tried CELERY SOUP, have you?  This easy recipe doesn't take too long either.
If you're fed up throwing limp celery in the bin, as we were, then this is a recipe for you to try.  It's something I've thought of making but never got round to.
On one of the hottest days of the year, soup needs to be light, and this was perfect. Light in every sense. Just a quick count and I can't quite believe how light this is in calories. The main ingredient - celery - came to 65 calories.
The recipe serves four and was served with double cream and cracked black pepper. I think some bacon bits crumbled on top would be nice too. For this cream of celery soup recipe, click on 'find our recipe' below.
We served some cheese toasts on the side to help increase the calorie content. We know if we don't eat a decent sized lunch we will only snack later.  I was surprised at the delicate flavour and how creamy it tasted with very little cream needed.

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

Here's a link to our very first blog post along our easy weight loss journey 2011. We started this blog as a way of recording what we ate while losing weight. The blog is a food diary, and contains lots of recipes, tips and ideas about losing weight.

You'll find our WEIGHT LOSS PLAN here.

CHICKEN BREAST WRAPPED IN PARMA HAM RECIPE

A succulent chicken breast stuffed with watercress, cream cheese and garlic then lightly wrapped in Parma ham. Serve with a velvety full cream watercress sauce and you have an especially tasty dish to wow your audience. And its under 450 calories too, would you believe!
The dish is not too difficult especially as it can all be prepared beforehand.
The cooking time for succulent chicken is all important. You can see from the photograph just how juicy the chicken turned out cooked this way.
The watercress was very peppery and we found ours in Sainsburys. The Parma ham came from Aldi at £1.99 - enough to cover four chicken breasts.
Take a look at our mouth watering recipe below:

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

Here's a link to our very first blog post along our easy weight loss journey 2011. We started this blog as a way of recording what we ate while losing weight. The blog is a food diary, and contains lots of recipes, tips and ideas about losing weight.

You'll find our WEIGHT LOSS PLAN here. 

Copyright © forget dieting forever (2015), all rights reserved. Please do not copy any of this material without our express permission.

Spicy warm chicken salad

Spicy warm chicken noodle salad - a meal in under 30 minutes. Bursting with fresh and tangy spice. Under 400 calories.
If you're not sure whether you fancy a salad or a hot meal, this is a great way to satisfy both. It's wonderful on a hot day and doesn't quite feel like a salad on a cool day.
There is only one ingredient that needs cooking ahead, and that's the noodles. Cook then cool and marinate in the spices.
What's more you can double up the portions and put some in the lunchbox. Very versatile. Here's the recipe:

PEPPERS & PASTA

Just a few ingredients transformed this easy PASTA & PEPPER dish which was ready within 30 minutes.
Keeping the peppers nice and chunky added great texture. Most of the calories in this meal come from the pasta. One small bell pepper weighing approximately 75g is around just 15 calories - so there's no need to skimp on them. As the peppers are the main component, aim to use at least 100g per person.
I used 75g dried pasta - which is approximately 265 calories. The whole dish is below 400 calories, very nutritious and most of all, very satisfying. Take a look at our recipe below:
Find out how we lost weight and have been keeping the weight off ever since with a method you can easily replicate.

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.

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

Tandoori salmon bites

These spicy SALMON party bites are based on our competition winning Tandoori party bites, with our recipe printed on the Total Greek yoghurt pots as a result.
They are easy to prepare and low in calories, at around 50 calories each. Eat them as a light starter or lunch too. Serve them hot or cold.
These versatile party bites work out at around 25p each, with a small 120g piece of salmon creating 10-12 snacks.
Take a look at our recipe below.
Be who you want to be.

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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.

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BEEF AND MUSHROOM PIE

National Pie Week was celebrated with a home made beef and mushroom pie. The recipe is easy enough if a little time consuming. You can make this in two stages by cooking the beef first and eventually making it into a pie.
We used a cheap cut of beef and slow cooked this first in the slow cooker. You can use any of the cheap cuts such as brisket, stewing beef or braising steak. If you can find it, you can also use LMC - which stands for leg of mutton, a cut from over the blade, and often used for a pot roast. We wanted to test this cut of meat which we hadn't used before, and we were very impressed with the results and flavour.
Eating food you enjoy is the secret to keeping the weight off. It's no good craving foods you can't eat because the likelihood is that you will end up eating it anyway, partly because you are thinking about it all the time.

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.

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Here's our recipe:

TERIYAKI BEEF MOOLI BITES

We bought Marks and Spencer's teriyaki mooli bites and liked them so much, we thought we would make our own version.
What a lovely surprise - and you can make lots of these for very little cost. These mooli bites are great for a party especially if you are on a budget, and if your guests are trying to lose weight, these little bites won't harm them. They must be less than 30 calories each, as they are just vegetables and a small amount of meat.
Buying the mooli was probably the most difficult part, but here in Bristol we have a fantastic oriental supermarket. The mooli is a very long, white radish with a bit of a 'bite' and very crunchy texture. After peeling lengthways into strips with a vegetable peeler, we created these wonderful party bites using various other vegetables which we had in the fridge. We were slow cooking a beef for a casserole (or pie) and took a few chunks of the meat, shredding it and mixing it with some teriyaki sauce. Everything was easily rolled up into a nice little parcel. The resulting snack was satisfyingly crunchy and cost very little to make! You could possibly get away with some meat from the deli and fish or prawns if you prefer. We also think you could use tinned tuna fish too. Next time we'll try this with shredded crispy duck and bean sprouts along with other salad vegetables. The dip here is teriyaki - which you can buy ready made, but as we had already marinated the beef in the teriyaki, we experimented and found the mooli bites went better with sweet chilli sauce which complemented the teriyaki. If you don't marinate the beef (or other protein) first, then just use the teriyaki sauce dip.

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Be who you want to be.

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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 (2015), all rights reserved.

CHICKEN LAKSA

Hot and spicy CHICKEN LAKSA is a great way to use up leftover chicken.
Why not ring the changes with this spicy recipe, which takes minutes to prepare and you won't need an armful of ingredients. The soup is extremely comforting, satisfyingly filling yet lower in calories than you might expect.
Here's our quick and easy recipe:
Ingredients - for two large servings
15g Thai red curry paste
600ml chicken stock
1tbsp fish sauce
200ml coconut milk
1 bundle of rice noodles (cooked)
Cooked leftover chicken
Chopped spring onion
Chopped chilli
Fry the Thai curry paste in a little oil for a couple of minutes. Add the chicken stock, fish sauce and coconut milk. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add the cooked chicken and heat through. Place the cooked rice noodles into serving bowls and pour over the laksa. Garnish with spring onion and chopped chilli.

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Be who you want to be.

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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.

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PRAWN PUREE

A spicy prawn puree is something you will find at an Indian restaurant, usually served as a starter, and it's one we normally tend to order. I suppose it's the equivalent of hot spicy wrap, and low in calories.
We decided to make our own which was much easier than you might at first think.
The following will make three nice sized prawn purees - as you see in the photograph. This size is very filling and a little bigger than a starter, so would make a light lunch served with salad. Divide the mixture into four and you'll probably have just the right sized starter similar to what you would get in the restaurant.
Seriously, have a go at making the flatbread, as it is relatively easy and so much cheaper than buying. You'll also more than likely have the ingredients already at home, but if you don't have the spices then just leave them out and make plain flatbreads or even add a little curry powder! You'll find the link to the recipes below!

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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 (2015), all rights reserved.

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Here's the recipes:

January weight loss

New Year and a new you?
Throughout January I've noticed a few TV chefs opting for low carb dishes as a way of losing weight. If you can't face life without eating carbs, then why bother dieting that way? You will be more likely to succeed in your efforts eating food you normally eat. This blog contains a record of what we've eaten over the years - just to show you can eat real food while losing weight. We have also produced some really tasty recipes for you to try such as this tasty kebab:
We managed to lose weight eating everything - and that's all food groups together.
Faddy diets are just short term gimmicks and very difficult to sustain. Once you give up, you'll probably find yourself even more attracted to the foods you gave up! Our message is really that weight loss is possible eating the foods you naturally eat, but keeping an eye on where this fits into your daily calorie allowance.
Take a look at our weight loss story and you'll find out how we managed to incorporate our lifestyle into a weight loss programme that included joining in with festivities, holidays and celebrations. We've also managed to keep 7 stone in weight off - five years later. Friends and family have followed our simple set of rules, and lost weight too, so why not give it a try. If all else has failed, what have you got to lose? Except weight!

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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 (2015), all rights reserved.

Weight loss with pasta and breadcrumbs

A CRUNCHY BREADCRUMB topping adds a lovely texture to any pasta dish, and it's a great way to use up stale bread.
It is also a very quick and easy recipe to make - taking us around 15 minutes from start to finish. It's a fabulous way to use store cupboard (and frozen) ingredients: dried pasta, tinned tomatoes, stale bread, garlic and frozen prawns. Swap prawns with chicken, cheese or spinach.
A single portion (75g) of dried spaghetti works out at 270 calories with the whole dish, as you see here, working out at around 400 calories.
Cook the spaghetti according to the instructions, and while this is cooking you can prepare the rest of the ingredients.
The ingredients below will serve two:
For the sauce we used half a tin of chopped tomatoes, one clove of crushed garlic, a sprinkle of dried chilli flakes, salt/pepper and warmed this through in a dry frying pan. I added half a small teaspoon of sugar to take the bitterness out of the sauce.
For the breadcrumbs weigh out 50g of stale bread (crust removed) and either roughly chop or put into a blender. Add a clove of crushed garlic, a twist of salt and pepper and a teaspoon of oil. If you have any lemons, you can add lemon zest if you like. Put this mixture into a small, lightly oiled frying pan and fry until browned (around 5 minutes).
We used 100g of raw prawns between the two of us. The prawns take just a few minutes to go pink, and you can add these to the sauce mixture towards the end of cooking.

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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 (2015), all rights reserved.

QUICK SPICY RISOTTO

SPICY CHICKEN & CHORIZO RISOTTO is a quick and easy recipe under 500 calories per portion.
Faddy diets may work in the very short term, but weight management doesn't stop when the diet ends. Keeping track of calories - quite often guessing, estimating and roughly counting - is one of our secrets to losing weight and weight management. You don't want it taking up too much of your time. Take a look at our weight loss story to learn more. We know counting calories is not an exact science, but we use it as a rough guide. Weight fluctuates for many reasons.
Our philosophy is to eat food you enjoy while losing weight and keeping the weight off. You CAN lose weight eating your favourite foods. We've posted our meals to show others what we've been eating, the blog is like a food diary, as well as a recipe bank. We do not eat any 'special' foods, and have kept the weight off for four years eating a varied diet.
We love the versatility of this dish - which was created on what we had available at the time. You can adjust the ingredients to suit: swap chicken with prawns, add different vegetables, increase the spice level.  Here's our spicy risotto recipe:

TEMPURA ONION RINGS

These TEMPURA BATTERED ONION RINGS were so crunchy and light; the perfect accompaniment to any meal. They add texture and crunch when needed, for example, with sausage and mash.
In keeping with our weight loss philosophy - paying attention to what we eat, being honest about how much - we get to explore some fabulous recipes without any guilt. This weight loss method is the only one we and others have found fits into our daily (real) life, is easy to follow and most importantly, helps keep the weight off. Eating food like this!!
We were looking for lots of 'crunch' to go with this steak, because we ditched chips in preference to gnocchi. You can buy gnocchi ready made, and as we did with this meal, it can be boiled then lightly fried. It's a good alternative to chips, especially if you are indulging with these amazing onion rings.
We served ours with cavolo nero - an deliciously interesting vegetable to be recommended. This link will show you how we cooked it.
The batter was lighter than a standard batter and therefore saves on calories.
We didn't use bicarbonate soda either, as some recipes do, and they still turned out perfectly light and crunchy.
For the tempura batter (serves 4): 60g plain flour, 40g cornflour, salt and pepper, cold fizzy water. Mix the dry ingredients and slowly add enough water to a thin consistency that will stay on the back of a spoon. Dip raw onion rings into the batter and then into hot oil. You could use a small saucepan with enough oil to submerge the onion rings. Heat to around 170ºC - drop a little batter into the oil and if it rises to the surface and bubbles, that's about the right temperature.

****

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.

SPICY BEAN BURRITO

LEFTOVER roast pork or chicken? Here's a great budget recipe for using leftover meat which you'll enjoy. 

This spicy burrito is easy to make and the results are spectacular. If you are a vegetarian, omit meat, and this can be made in no time. 

You can buy a ready made chilli spice mix to make things easier. Here's what the burrito looked like inside. 

We wanted to use up some leftover pork and the burrito was a great way to do this in a different way, giving it a new lease of life. 

If you don't have any leftover meat, you could fry off some chicken fillets or pork tenderloin as these cook quickly and mix this into the fried vegetables and spice mix before adding the chopped tomatoes and beans.
Here's our recipe:

SPICY BURRITO

Ingredients

Leftover pork or chicken

1 large can of chopped tomatoes

1 large tin of (drained) black turtle beans (or mixed beans)

2 large onions, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 red/green peppers
150g field mushrooms
tortilla wraps
cheddar cheese
chopped spring onions

SPICE MIX

2 bay leaves

1 tsp chilli flakes (use chipotle chillies if you have them)

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp paprika (use smoked paprika if you have any)

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

TO FINISH

salt to taste

cornflour to thicken
*

Brown the onion in the frying pan then add the sliced pepper. Cook until soft then add the garlic and stir for a minute or two. Add the spice mix and fry gently for a minute or two. Place this mixture into a saucepan.

Fry the sliced mushrooms, adding a little salt and pepper as you do before adding to the saucepan.

If you are using chicken or pork fillets, sprinkle with salt and pepper and brown these for a couple of minutes before adding to the saucepan. If you are using leftover chicken or pork, shred or slice then add to the saucepan.

Add the beans and tomatoes to the saucepan and top with enough water to cover everything. Bring to the boil and heat gently for 5 minutes.

Thicken the sauce with a little cornflour then remove some of the sauce from the vegetables/meat for pouring around the burritos.

Place a couple of spoonfuls of sauce into the bottom of an ovenproof dish.

Divide mixture between tortillas and roll up. We found two burritos fitted perfectly into a small oblong dish measuring 24 x 16cm.

Place a little more sauce on top of the burrito and top with grated cheddar cheese (or a mix of cheese such as cheddar and gruyere).

Cover the dish completely with kitchen foil and cook for half an hour at 180ºC. Remove the foil and continue cooking until browned - approx 10 minutes. 

***

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.

400 CALORIE BUTTERNUT QUESADILLA

What a lovely way to eat butternut squash! This quesadilla recipe is full of satisfying textures and very, very filling.
We made ours nice and spicy, using a whole red chilli, but you can leave this out if you wish. I like to use what I have available and you can add other vegetables and herbs if you wish.
This quesadilla serves two and I would estimate one serving - that is - half (or three slices) is around 400 calories.
Begin by roasting 200g of butternut squash (or squash and carrot mix) together with some chopped red onion and one sliced red pepper. We used a pointed red pepper which is slightly sweeter.  Add a few whole garlic cloves to the roasting tin if you love the flavour.
If you are busy and don't want to fiddle with a whole squash, you can buy packs of ready chopped vegetables.
To make the quesadilla, place one of the tortillas into a pre-heated frying pan. Keep the heat low, and top the tortilla with: 25g grated strong cheddar, the roasted butternut squash, pepper and red onion, one finely diced red chilli (or some chilli flakes), and two or three chopped spring onions.
At this stage, add seasoning such as salt and pepper, and a sprinkle of chopped fresh parsley if you have any.
Finally, top with more grated cheese, we used another 25g of grated strong cheddar. If you prefer you could use goat's cheese which works really well with butternut squash. Place the second tortilla on top and push down with a spatula.
Turning the quesadilla takes precision - we had to use a combined effort with this method: place a plate on top of the quesadilla, turn everything over so the quesadilla is on the plate, then slide it back into the frying pan. Phew! Heat gently for a few minutes while pressing down with a spatula. Slide back onto the plate, allow to cool slightly (while the cheese cools), slice and serve. I think I would eat this cold in a lunch box too, although it didn't last long enough!

***

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.