Probably the best and simplest principles to follow are:
~~Eat fewer calories, so cut down on carbohydrates (rice, pots, past etc.);
~~This means smaller quantities/portion sizes – 60 to 70g of each of rice and pasta and cous cous should be enough;
~~Eat raw fruit or vegetables to make up the difference if you feel hungry;
~~Get a balance of vegetables – lots of salads and green veg. as well as root veg.
~~Try to exercise more – just walk fast for an hour or more each day and keep active anyway – don’t sit too much etc.
Good ingredients to buy are:
~~Fresh fruit and veg. – definitely try the market you mentioned and research where there might be others. Broccoli is very good, as well as carrots and the ones you mentioned like onions, mushrooms, tomatoes etc.etc.
~~Tins of: Chickpeas, butter beans, cannelloni beans, red kidney beans, barlotti beans, black eyed peas etc. AND lentils, artichokes,
~~Frozen Veg: spinach, broad beans, peas, French beans.
~~Frozen: Quorn mince, Quorn ‘Meat balls’, Quorn sausage (or get the ones made by Cauldron if you can - they are much better)
~~AND tins of chopped tomatoes, passatta (but it doesn’t keep long), tomato puree in a tube (keeps a long time), low fat cottage cheese, low fat houmous.
~~And some Oxo veg. cubes or Knorr veg cubes or powder. And some herbs and spices – but search for these as they are expensive in supermarkets.
Some recipe ideas that I use:
Chilli and rice:
1 Cook the rice for about 30 mins. In a covered pan – it needn’t boil all the time as long as it is kept hot. Whilst it’s cooking –
2 Use a frying pan or medium saucepan
3 Fry an onion chopped up quite small and a couple of cloves of sliced garlic
4 Then add a chopped up courgette (or half if it’s big) and half a pepper/capsicum – both chopped fairly small.
5 Fry till they are soft, then add a half a teaspoon or so of chilli powder, stir in and cook gently for 2 mins.
6 Add a handful of Quorn mince, half a tin of chopped tomatoes, a tablespoon of passatta or a couple of squirts of tomato puree, half a tin of red kidney beans (drain them first) and enough water to almost cover the whole lot.
7 Keep it boiling gently for about 20 mins or so, stirring to keep it moving every so often. It should be quite dry-ish by the end, but make sure there is enough water as it cooks.
8 You could add some peas as well if you like.
Butter bean and sausages/meatballs
1 Fry half an onion and two cloves of garlic in a frying pan.
2 Cut a potato into 1cm. cubes and add that – fry it gently for a couple of minutes, don’t let it stick.
3 Add half a tin of butter beans, a handful of frozen peas, 2 or 3 sausages or meatballs and enough water to cover.
4 Add any herbs you feel like – is use tarragon – and an Oxo cube or a teaspoon of veg. stock powder – try to get it to thicken like gravy, but not dry too much.
5 Cook slowly for about 25 mins. Stirring every so often
6 Eat it with a green salad.
7 You could add some tomatoes – either chopped or tomato puree – if you like.
Cous Cous and Chickpeas.
1 Get about 60/70g of cous cous. Put it in a flat baking dish, cover it with boiling water, let it soak for 20 mins.
2 Cover the cous cous dish with tin foil and put in a hot oven for about 20 mins.
(OR just use your method for cooking the couse cous)
3 Fry an onion, some garlic, half a courgette and half a pepper until soft.
4 Add half a teaspoon of chilli powder and fry for another 2 mins.
5 Slice a carrot thinly, or cut into small cubes, add it in.
6 Put in half a tin of chickpeas, half a tin of chopped toms and enough water to cover – BUT this shouldn’t be too wet.
7 Keep it boiling gently for about 20-25 mins, making sure the carrot is cooked and it should be quite dry at the end.
8 then put it on top the cous cous.
You could try other spices – look at some online.
You could just grate the carrot and courgette – they will cook quicker.
Pitta and Houmous (lunch)
Slice open 1 piece of pitta bread.
Smear the insides with low fat Houmous.
Stuff it all full with green salad, sliced tomatoes, grated carrot
And you could add: some grated cheese – or a dollop of cottage cheese; some olives; and anything else you feel like.
Baked Potato Toppings
To Bake Potatoes
• Warm oven to 200C.
• Wash a largish potato and prick the skin with a fork to stop it exploding.
• Put potato in the top of the oven and leave for 45 mins to an hour depending on size. Its ready when it gives inside when you squeeze it.
• With most of the recipes you can grate a piece of cheese 2” x 1” x 1” max. on top of it, unless there is cheese in the recipe.
•
• You can add salt and pepper (and chillibut take it easy with the salt.
•
• Use as small an amount of oil as you can whilst making sure you are cooking onions, garlic and spices before adding any liquids or 'wet' ingredients
Toppings
1 Caremalised Onions
• Slice an onion and fry in a bit of oil until its really brown or even a bit charred (it may take 10 minutes or more.)
• Scoop out the baked potato and mix the onion and some black pepper with the potato. Add a teaspoonful of low fat cream cheese ( Philadelphia or own brand) if you want.
• Put the mixture back into the potato shell.
2 Onion, garlic and spinach
• Fry an onion and a little chilli in a little bit of oil for a few minutes.
• Then add a crushed garlic clove and fry stirring it around for 1 minute.
• Then add some frozen spinach and fry stirring until the water had steamed off.
• Mix with the scooped out potato and put it back in the potato shell.
3 Mushroom and spinach
• As 2 above but fry some mushrooms with the onions.
4 Broad beans and low fat crème fraiche
• Buy a carton of low fat crème fraiche and a packet of frozen broad beans.
• Put a small handfull of broad beans in a pan and heat them.
• Take off the heat and drain any water off the beans and mix in a tablespoonful or 2 of crème fraiche to make a sauce and mix with the scooped out potato and put it back in the shell
PASTA RECIPES
• Use no more than a handful of pasta
• Use passata or low fat crème fraiche as a base for sauces
• Add any tinned beans (black eyed, borlotti, flageolet, red kidney) or frozen broad beans or green beans. They are good sources of protein to replace cheese
• Chop green vegetables small and remove hard stalks, then cook them in an inch of water in a covered pan to steam them rather than boiling them.
• Re cheese: see baked potatoes above.
1 Tomato and mushroom pasta
• Fry mushrooms and crushed garlic in a little oil
• Add a few tablespoonsful of passata and heat
• Pour over cooked pasta
2 Broad beans and low fat crème fraiche
• Buy a carton of low fat crème fraiche and a packet of frozen broad beans.
• Put a small handfull of broad beans in a pan and heat them.
• Take off the heat and drain any water off the beans and mix in a tablespoonful or 2 of crème fraiche to make a sauce and add to cooked pasta.
3 Tomato and meatballs sauce
• Fry an onion and a little chilli in a little bit of oil for a few minutes.
• Then add a crushed garlic clove and fry stirring it around for 2 minutes.
• Add a few tablespoonfuls of passata and some frozen/chilled Quorn meatballs.
• Leave on a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 20 mins and serve with the pasta.
4 Tinned artichoke hearts
• Buy a tin of artichoke hearts (– Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury's do them.)
• Cut artichoke hearts in 2 lengthways and put in a pan with either crème fraiche or passata and warm them up on a low heat.
5. Onion, garlic and spinach
• Fry an onion and a little chilli in a little bit of oil for a few minutes.
• Then add a crushed garlic clove and fry stirring it around for 1 minute.
• Then add some frozen spinach and fry stirring until the water had steamed off.
• Add some crème fraiche to make a sauce, warm it up and pour over the pasta.
6 As 5 above plus mushrooms and/or a few walnuts.
