5:2 Broccoli & Miso Soup | under 50 calories

Yoo Hoo! I am in week 2 of my Fast Diet Campaign and flying along with the vip and vim only a new assault on fat mountain can supply. I have devised a few corking recipes to keep me happy and well fed on the 500 calorie days.

If you are experimenting with the more relaxed approach to calories and working with 800 - this could give you some serious calorie clout for supper or you can add some protein to up the calorie value of the dish. I'll give you some ideas at the end.

This soup is simple and fast - which could be a lifesaver by lunchtime!

Your Foody Weapons 

400g Broccoli raw (head of small broccoli and some of the stalk)
Handful of spinach raw
1 cup of celery
50g light miso paste
1L boiled water
2 desert spoons lime juice (you can use juice and zest of one fresh lime)
1 scant teaspoon of lazy chilli (more or fresh if you like a bit of spice)


Do This | stand by for delicious off

• Chop the broccoli, put it in the microwave with a little water for 3 mins.
• Boil the kettle and pour 2/3L over two generous teaspoons of miso paste
• Put the broccoli, miso stock and celery into powerful blender. Whizz!
• Add lime juice and chilli to taste and whiz again
• Add rest of water to make a bright green, well blended, awesome unthick soup.

Serves 4 | 43 calories per serve*

Extra Yummy | Calorie Boosts for individual bowls

50g  Greek Yoghurt 48 calories* (float it or mix it - a son gôut).

100g Chorizo 90 calories*

2 tablespoons hummus 70 calories* (stir this in to thicken the soup)

*MFP

Sweet Potatoe in your toaster

Seriously? Yes seriously! I noticed a little video for sweet potatoe in the toaster and I thought I'd road test it. This isn't rocket science but just so you know - we're not making tayto toast here - we're using the toaster to cook the spudslice. It makes a really delicious, fast snack or you could use it as the basis of a lovely lunch with smushed avocado and cheese. 

Get after it!

Choose a nice fat, medium sized, sweet potato - he'll be easier to slice. You are after a thin, even slice the full length of your lovely spud.

Pop the slices into your toaster. You may need to use a couple of cycles to cook it through - I liked mine with a bit of bite left in them. Easier to eat too.

Once popped - you may need to use a pair of tongs to lift out the slices. Then the fun starts.

I had a couple spread with organic peanut butter. Heavenly. 

Podgey had his spread with hummus and reported maximum satisfaction. 

You could have the with cheese, of any description or you could go double sweet and add maple syrup. I wouldn't go honey or Nutella but that's my preference. You could also spread with butter and dust with cinnamon. 

I've mentioned you might have them with avo but what about scrambled eggs and olives or paprika? 

Cream cheese and gherkins or pate?

I wonder if this will work with a butternut squash? Hmm.....

Five Stars from us! *****

More fun with freezy narnas | Frozen Banana Desert

Hello! 

A few years ago I had a very nasty accident with a hand held blender. I won't bore you with the details but I did get a ride in an ambulance with half the contraption strapped to my arm because the ambos were unable to get the blade off my finger... Oh yes! You read that right.

So roll forward and with a new safer blender in my kitchen battery - I find myself with 3 very ripe bananas that even I balk at eating without a bit of creative upcycling.

I give you - my take on a frozen, creamy narna desert. Or Frocrarna - as we will now all call it. 

Frocrarna: Is very versatile - you can chuck pretty much anything into it. I added cocoa powder and ground sunflower, pumpkin and hemp seeds for extra taste and a healthy booster. 

Here is the basic recipe.

3 very ripe bananas

1 tub of ricotta cheese

1/2 cup frozen berries

Put all the ingredients in a powerful blender/food processor like Optimus Prime* and blend whack the dial up to maximum - froothie the schmoozie out of that Frocrarna! 

No put it into a big tub and stick it in the freezer. You will be taking it out every hour or so to beat the crystals out of it - so make sure you have something to do in the meantime. A watched freezer never freezes. 

After about an hour - take the mixture out and beat it by hand or with a hand held blender - break up the crystals and then return it to the freezer for another hour or so. 

If you do it by hand this will use up enough calories for a double helping. Terrue!

Repeat the freezing and beating for a few goes - it really depends on how smooth you want it and how much you can be bothered to take it in and out of the freezer. I just do it every hour or so until it's tea time.

Additions: You can add PNB for the last whip. DELICIOUS! ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS SHIT?! No friend - I am not - you seriously can add peanut butter or wait! Woah there Nelly = what about Nutella - how'd ya like them hazelnuts?

You can also add some protein powder if you want it to pack a bigger punch - do this at the beginning. If cream is your thing then add cream. Go on! You know you want to.

I was going to make mine with marscapone but I accidentally came home with ricotta. Boom - just use what you've got. I originally made this in Cyrpus years ago with 0% fat yoghurt and it really tasted wonderful. These days I would use full fat Greek Yog - which will taste A-MAZE-ing! 

You can skip the narna altogether - but why would you?

You can add good quality cocoa powder and you wouldn't ruin this at all!

Add nuts, ground almonds, some bashed about pecans - or some finely chopped dried apricots and dates. It really just depends on your diet - and what you like. 

When it's ready - scoop it into your best bowls - it really deserves your love and respect.  OK - it looks revolting - but it is absolutely, without parallel among Frocrarna deserts. I promise!

If you don't scoff it all in one go - then you'll need to take the next lot out a little ahead of time and let it soften in the fridge. Beat it and then serve.

Enjoy your Frocrarna - and remember me in your will.

*Froothie Optimus 9400 - Fast Blender - I call mine Optimus Prime - we're in love.

Spiralised Sweet Potatoe & Cavolo Nero

I'm a recent convert to Cavolo Nero - as a child I hated my greens, so the gnarly, dark green-ness of this leaf caused me some trepidation. However, in the spirit of experimentation and because a bag of leaves were on spesh at the supermarket - I've been eating more of it. 

Tonight I have a headache and I need good, comfort food - pronto tonto! 

So I flung together a super quick one pot dish with spiralised sweet potatoe and starring the lovely greens. It was delicious. So I'm sharing it with you.

I added some left over salmon - but you can keep it veggie with some feta or griddled Haloumi - so good,

Ingredients - here's what I had - you can wing it with different seeds, greens etc. 

This served one hungry' poorly chicken.

1/2 good sized sweet patootie - spiralised (if you haven't got one you could create a fine julienne or use a potatoe peeler and peel the whole thing - you can chop your shavings in half length ways if you have the time... But I say get a spiraliser - they ROCK)!

Big handful of Cavolo Nero chopped

6 cured black olives halved

Small handful of cashews toasted

Handful pumpkin seeds toasted

Pesto & Greek yoghurt mixed (I mix 1 tspn pesto to 3 tspns Greek yoghurt) 

Smoked salmon slices

Coconut oil

I did it like a dude.

Melt a chunky spoon ful of coconut oil in a big, high sided pan. 

Add the sweet potatoe and cook gently in the meantime toast our nuts and seeds - keep an eye on them.

If the sweet potatoe sticks a little - just add some water from the kettle - just a smidge. You can do this more than once. 

After five mins add the greens and the olives and cook with the lid on until the greens are tender. 

About another five mins - this really depends on how you like your veggies cooked. I wanted my potatoe soft and my greens well cooked. 

Turn out your potatoe and greens mixture into a big plate and stir in the pesto and yoghurt mixture. 

Add the toasted nuts and seeds

Top with salmon.

Ay Voylar - thass frensh! 

You could add a hit of chilli or a squirt of lemon to lift this dish up to spectacleere - but I wasn't messing and sometimes too many ingredients can spoil your tea - so I took no chances. 

I didn't take a pic - but it looks like autumn on a plate. 

Narna Smoothie

Hello!

I have been struggling with the weather - like everyone else. It plays havoc with my eating habits. All I want is carbs and fat. Toast and butter with extra pnb. Pasta, slathered with thick cream sauce and cheese a lot of cheese. Cheese makes life sunnier. I believe this to be true.

None of this scoffing is doing my waistline any good - and it is also adding to my feelings of sluggish meh-ness. The woman with the massive arse - can't be. Arsed that is... oh keep up!

So this week - I have put in some serious effort to eat good things, yummy things, healthy things. 

This morning I managed a carb wonderment that is both delicious and nutritious. All hail me and the humble narna.

Here we go...

2 ripe bananas (super useful recipe if you are one of those pussies that won't eat properly ripe bananas)

10 pecans (more if you are not counting calories)

5 dates (omit if you are counting calories) - they are not essential but make the smoothie taste caramelly good.

500ml whole bean soy (You can use any type of non dairy milk - tbh you can use dairy if that is your thing - I am a woman of a certain age - so soy milk is a thing now). 

2 desert spoons of 0% Greek Yoghurt (again full fat if you wish - this is the only reduced anything product that I have any truck with).

Put the lot in a high speed blender and whiz until smooth and creamy.

This makes plenty - you could easily share this with your lovey dove. Or if yours is like mine and would prefer to eat his own shoe rather than drink a creamy breakfast bevvy - then you get to consume the lot all by your self! 

I haven't worked out the PP for this - I will return with the information directly. Enjoy x

Green Deal Muffins!

I've just made these little marvels. So lovely and easy peasy. I've been taking a look at The Leptin Diet - I won't bore you with the deets: if you want to find out about the hormone leptin and how important it is to your weight loss campaign then you can find oodles and poodles on line about it.

One of the five simple rules of the Leptin Diet is to eat a high protein brekky - in fact this turns up in lots of advice from trainers, dieticians and all manner of trained experts way WAY more fancy and clever and qualified than I. So I'm not going to witter on about it. I'm just going to share this brilliant little eggy bake.

We'll be having them for breakfast tomorrow - or possibly for lunch. I'm loving oats, almond milk and a teaspoon of pnb at the moment for my protein rich start up - with a fresh juice loaded with ginger against the ridiculous weather we're having.

ONWARDS.... to the pots and pans my dears.

Winter Supper - Fast & Tasty

Hello Chums!

I'm experimenting with my new toy & a quick blog with a couple of pics on the fly seemed like the perfect opportunity to test the handling of my upgraded tablet. I've swerved the iPad mini - despite its super cute size - and I've stepped away from the latest iPad Air - my chap has one winging its way but seriously - this new gem is such a world away from my ageing tech - it feels like I've entered an episode of Dr Who. One where the nanna's go first!

Fancy Salad Hides Bog Standard Spud

I am currently loving the huge sweet potatoes available at my local grocery shop. We scored Boris for a song this afternoon and shoved him in the oven after a light massage with hemp oil & seasalt. I also popped in a few red onions with the skin on - one got chopped up to go with the spud & the others will get whiz zoomed with chopped mushrooms & stock for soup tomorrow. (We are currently giving 5:2 a go chez nous - more of those recipes another time...) 

Sweet Potatoes will do quite quickly - I time them in 30 min intervals & prong them with a sharp knife to gauge their doneness. While he's getting all hot - fling together a salad with whatever you've got in the fridge. 

What you need is a combination of tastes & textures & colour. If you make a boring salad you ought to be shot. It isn't hard to make something delicious - especially if you keep some store cupboard staples. 

Black cured olives chopped

A handful of baby plumb tomatoes halved

Six stalks of asparagus - cut off the tips & chop the stems small

1/4 large ripe avocado chopped chunky

2 sun dried tomatoes chopped

1/4 cucumber chopped into thick chunks & quartered

Spinach

Dates chopped (optional - some people don't do sweet with savoury - you're missing out btw)

Chunk of uncut bacon (from the butcher) sliced thickly & fried crispy - then cut into bits

Mix every thing together - except the spinach. Put the spinach into individual serving bowls & dress with a little hemp oil & lemon juice. In a separate bowl mix the rest of the ingredients & scatter over the spinach.

When the spuds are ready. Cut in half add butter if you like and fill one half with hummus & roasted onion* & the other with pesto & grated cheese.

*take the onion out of the oven & gently pull off the papery skin. Snip the last bit with kitchen scissors. & curing half, peel the leaves off & add to the hummus side of your sweet potato.

Pics taken hastily with the new tech. Not bad for a quick blog - on the go!