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.

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.

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:

What to do with CARROTS

When carrots take centre stage, they just have to be good. These were no exception.
Roasted spicy carrots on a bed of cool yoghurt was a hit.
If you are stuck for a simple but very tasty vegetarian dish and love spice as we do, then why not give this recipe a try?
Not only is it satisfying, but it will suit all budgets and be ready in no time at all.
We served ours with home made couscous and a rocket salad. If you don't have time, why not buy a ready made pot of couscous for convenience.
This would make a great starter or light lunch.
Here's how we made this dish:

SPICY CARROTS

Ingredients - serves 2

400g carrots

half teaspoon of Harissa - dry spice mix (not the paste)

two teaspoons of oil 

a pot of plain yoghurt (we used full-fat Greek yoghurt)

half lemon, zested

handful of chopped flat leaf parsley and/or mint

optional: za'atar spice (see my note below) or paprika 

salt and black pepper

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NOTE: We had the za'atar spice in the cupboard and used this to sprinkle over the yoghurt. If we hadn't had that spice, we would have sprinkled a few pinches of paprika instead. The flavour is essentially in the marinated carrots. 

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Mix the Harissa spice with the oil and place into a plastic bag. 

Cut the carrots in half, lengthways. Place into the bag and distribute the spice mix. Leave for at least half an hour. 

Heat the oven to 180ºC. Place carrots onto a lightly oiled baking sheet and roast, covered with foil for 30 minutes. Remove foil, turn carrots over and continue to cook for a further 10-20 minutes until soft.

Spread the yoghurt onto a plate and sprinkle with a little salt, pepper and a few pinches of either paprika or za'atar. 

Place carrots onto yoghurt. Sprinkle the lemon zest and scatter chopped herbs - we used parsley today, as that's all we had. You could use mint and/or coriander. Why not experiment. 

Drizzle with a little olive oil and serve with rocket salad. Add couscous if you like or perhaps crumble some salty feta cheese. 

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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 STORY here. Tweak what you eat and lose weight.

Copyright © forget dieting forever (2014), all rights reserved.
Please do not copy any of this material without our express permission.

TOFU in PANKO with Thai salad

Our first TOFU dish - and we've decided to try it fried in Panko breadcrumbs.
Unlike a lot of diets out there, we don't ban anything. That way we don't crave anything. We think our body will let us know what it wants, and now we tend to eat more intuitively.
This crunchy Tofu worked perfectly with the Thai rice noodle salad - for texture and temperature. We sampled tofu for the first time last week and received some Clean Bean tofu to try at home.
Tofu is low in calories (78 per 100g) and a good source of protein. With no distinctive flavour, you can get creative.
Here's our fabulous recipe:

Stripy aubergine

I wondered if this stripy aubergine would taste the same as the dark purple variety.
Cutting it open, the flesh was very white in comparison. The last time we ate aubergine, was with a Chermoula spice mix. This time we chose to spread it with the same Shawarma mix we used for the lamb kebab we made last week.
The stripy aubergine was slightly more expensive at £1 each compared to 75p for the purple variety.
We enjoyed this for lunch today, each having half the aubergine with this very delicious bulgar wheat salad.
It's a very easy and quick recipe to make and very satisfying.
The aubergine was placed on a baking tray, covered with foil and cooked at 170ºC for 45 minutes. The foil was removed half way.
So what was the verdict? Well, we thought the stripy aubergine was much softer in texture with a more delicate flavour (less bitter). It would make a lovely dip.
I think it's worth paying the extra 25p, as the whole vegetable makes two meals. The aubergine is just 25 calories per 100g. Our lunch was packed with some interesting flavours and textures. If I had to guess at the calories in the whole dish, I would suspect this is around 400-450.
After a weekend eating shellfish and beef, it made a nice change.

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REMEMBER:  - 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.

You'll find our WEIGHT LOSS PLAN here. 

Copyright © forget dieting forever (2014), all rights reserved. Please do not copy any of this material without my express permission.

SPICY AUBERGINE with bulgar wheat

This OTTOLENGHI recipe was absolutely lovely.
The aubergine was marinated with a classic CHERMOULA - a bold mix of spices - and topped with nutty and fragrant bulgar wheat. I can't find the words to express how incredibly tasty this was. The perfect vegetarian option - you'll find more delicious looking vegetarian recipes here.
If you're looking for weight loss, this dish works well. Did you know aubergines are extremely low in calories - just 25 calories per 100g - what a bonus. You could eat the whole aubergine!

The recipe was from the book Jerusalem although I made a couple of adjustments and the ingredients serves two.

SMOKY BBQ BEANS

We decided to create our own chicken takeaway meal tonight.
Who wouldn't love chicken in breadcrumbs with this really intense side of SMOKY BBQ BEANS.
The beans added that little kick which chicken often needs because it can be so bland.
The side dish was quick and easy to prepare and there was enough to feed an army! So if you're having a party, this will prove very economical (and sought after). We're not sure what we enjoyed the most …. the beans or the chicken. You tell us.
The beans are very low in calories and certainly complimented the rest of the meal. As a side dish this will easily serve four to six guests - here's the recipe:

Pasta with courgettes (zucchini) - budget recipe

There is nothing quite like the taste of courgettes (zucchini) and when they are in season they are cheap. After searching the internet I found pasta, courgette and chopped mint a popular combination. I was intrigued enough to try this out. With the mint sat on the windowsill and courgettes in the fridge, what was I waiting for.
I've used dried pasta today as I'm busy and I've chosen to use penne.
The mint and lemon zest gave this spring dish a fragrant lift - very fresh and zingy. I could have used a bit more mint too, which surprised me.
This pasta dish is estimated at around 400-450 calories depending on the ingredients used, for example if you omit the bacon it will be lower in calories. You may also prefer less pasta - we used 75g of dried pasta, which was quite a large serving. Serve with a chunk of crusty bread.
A great BUDGET recipe. In fact courgettes are extremely easy to grow - we grew them last year. We were forever picking them off the plant and they lasted for months. Here's our recipe:

MUSHROOM RISOTTO

Mushroom risotto - soft, velvety and comforting. Cooked in two stages, using two types of mushroom; fresh and dried.
The dried mushrooms were soaked beforehand and the liquid was strained and used as stock.
We then went on to cook this in two stages. This enabled us to return to the cooking process later, with only 10 minutes to finish the dish. Great if you are going out and know you will be ravenous when you get home. Our recipe is quite simple, and it's not necessary to

PASTA

First let me apologise if you find any of our pictures missing. Storage was becoming an issue, so I have deleted some old photographs. I'm busy sorting through the blog and labelling recipes etc. If you have any questions, then please let me know.

Meal ideas for the weekend

Saturday is here - along with the snow.....
After porridge for breakfast, we thought we would go to the fishmonger and see what was on offer. We bought some red mullet, scallops and crayfish tails for later. We were going to cook the scallops for lunch, but decided to make this pizza instead.
Make your basic pizza dough - you can buy ready made or search the internet. (I found this one which looks really interesting how to eat properly: basic pizza dough). We covered the base with passata, red and green chillies, pepperoni and mozzarella. I then began adding up the calories.... and realised we had done it again and overstepped the mark. A whole pizza/salad would cost us around 650 calories. Never mind we get a FULL calorie allowance today, plus we're going for a walk. As you can see, it's hanging off the plate - and I did leave some of mine again.
TIP: For a MEAT FREE option - just leave out the pepperoni. It was the chillies that made this pizza spicy and hot.
Tonight we've opted for a scallops starter with a difference. Dinner is the red mullet.
If you would like to know more about how we have achieved our fabulous weight loss eating all this wonderful food - see OUR UNIQUE METHOD.

Copyright © (c)forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

Spicy carrot and lentil soup

Today we had some of our delicious spicy carrot and lentil soup, with a cheese roll.  Lunch is around 450 calories and very filling.
This is one of our favourite soups because it's so quick to rustle up and it was easy to make too. Literally...  Cover 150g lentils with cold water and boil rapidly for 10 minutes. While this is cooking you can grate the carrots. Drain the lentils and transfer to a large saucepan. Add 600g grated or chopped carrots. Cover ingredients with a mix of vegetable stock and 200ml of milk, sprinkle in chilli flakes (and any other warm spices you fancy) season and cook until softened.  Season with salt and pepper, then blend and test the seasoning again. Make a large batch and freeze if you can.
Here are some other soup recipes you may like to try.
I notice vegetables are costly these days so I tend to buy only when I need them. By planning ahead, or having some idea of the week's menu it's easier to shop smartly and save money.

If you would like to know more about how we have achieved our fabulous weight loss eating all this wonderful food - see OUR UNIQUE METHOD.

Copyright © (c)forgetdietingforever 2013, all rights reserved.

Mushroom ravioli

There's an Italian theme going on here... The gorgeous home made pizza we made the other day (which was so good we are going to make it again soon) and now this fabulous pasta.
Here is our mushroom and blue cheese ravioli starter. One large ravioli was tantalisingly tasty, just how a starter should be.
We've eaten the ravioli as part of another meal (shin of beef) before. We decided it was so delicious it deserved a plate all of its own.

The pasta was made from scratch and stuffed with mushroom and blue cheese. 

(To serve two). Dice 4 fresh mushrooms, place in a pan with salt/pepper to release the liquid. Keep cooking until the liquid disappears. Remove from the pan, add some blue cheese - to your own taste - we added just a small amount - depending upon the strength of the cheese. We used about a thumb nail of cheese for the two starters. If we didn't have time to make pasta we would at least make the mushroom mix, as it goes so well with the beef, and buy some freshly made lasagne sheets. 

The sauce was a reduction of the cooking liquor with the addition of salt and pepper. Reduce to your desired thickness.

We served the ravioli on a small bed of spinach with a tarragon cream sauce.
Today we're having roast belly of pork (Chinese style) with pak choi and mash.
If you would like to know more about how we have achieved over 6.5 stone weight loss eating all this wonderful food - see OUR UNIQUE METHOD.

Copyright © (c)forgetdietingforever 2012, all rights reserved.

Falafel wraps

We forgot to take the curry out of the freezer so, we thought we would attempt a FALAFEL recipe.  There are many recipes online to choose from.  I was quite surprised at how many calories there were in a can of chickpeas, but we decided to go ahead anyway.  Our recipe made 12 falafel balls and worked out at around 50 calories per ball.  We made some tzatziki - by mixing some chopped cucumber (not the seeds/skin) with some yoghurt and mint.
This vegetarian meal was extremely delicious and filling and we would guess one wrap with 4 falafel balls to be around 450 calories.  We'll see what happens to the leftovers when we get back from the pub.

REMEMBER: We all have a calorie allowance - and we like to post our main meals to show you what we are eating. You won’t find us posting every last morsel though – but we hope this gives you an idea of how far calories can go!

Read about OUR UNIQUE METHOD of weight loss and find out how we have lost weight eating the food we love.

Copyright © forgetdietingforever 2012, all rights reserved.