This recipe is so quick to prepare but it’s really important you do everything at the same time so it’s nice and hot when you serve it. In the main recipe I’ve included my take on a traditional carbonara but below I’ve also included a couple of variations which you can try if you want to either mix things up or bulk the recipe out further. Continue reading
Coming back into the colder mornings, one of my favourite warming autumn breakfasts is baked oats. Easy to prepare in advance or on the day, they are a lovely filling breakfast which feel like a real treat at the same time.
Having had a craving for apple pie recently, I decided to combine the two dishes together to come up with something that would fill me until lunch but would satisfy my need for something sweet and fruity.
There is nothing better than a nice light pasta dish in the summer and one of the recent requests from one of my followers was a salmon pasta so…. ask and I shall deliver!!
I decided to make a nice homemade pesto to go with this and included peas to both up the flavour and lower the points (you don’t need to use as much cheese to get a lovely depth of flavour). The pesto recipe as listed below is enough to serve 4 people. If you are only making this for two (like me) you can just pop half of the pesto in a sealed pot in the fridge to be used at a later date.
There is nothing better than an oozing, bubbling lasagne but the white sauce that it is usually loaded with is usually enough to send us way over our daily allowance. Using a lower point white sauce (such as my homemade recipe below or my alternative jarred suggestion) can bring the points down significantly.
Falafel is something that me and a few of my friends at work absolutely love but usually they are rather high in points so you end up with a measly lonely falafel and absolutely no satisfaction. Because of this I decided today to try adapt a recipe (original here) into a low point falafel recipe that would taste just as good and the result was amazing! This falafel can be served in a wrap with salad and extras (serving suggestions below and recipe here) or as part of a normal salad with lots of vegetables and leaves. It would also be great with my harissa roasted vegetable salad!
I love a nice, quick and easy spaghetti bolognese and I’ve been making this one for a good while now. It’s a recipe which, I think, is unaffected by the fact I am on a diet as I’ve never used anything too bad in there. I think it’s worth making sure you are using extra lean mince as that is such an easy way to grab a few sp back and put them towards some extra pasta or a little cheese. I use this exact recipe when I’m making lasagne too but I usually add around half a box of tomato passata (at the same time as the tomatoes) to make it slightly more saucy and rich, perfect for baking in the oven!
These little muffins are so quick and easy to make and are an ideal way to make lunchtime a bit more exciting. They have so much flavour for so little points and so provide a real sense of satisfaction when you’ve gobbled them up. The recipe I’ve created below is delicious but its also easily adapted so throw anything you fancy into your mixture (I’ve done chorizo and paprika, smoked salmon and chive and ham and mushroom too!). You can even pop in some breakfast ingredients to make a lovely quick brekkie or even have them as a snack on the go!
This recipe may look a bit daunting as it takes a while to cook; however, it’s actually very easy to prepare and, once in the oven, can basically be left to bubble away until it’s perfect. The smells coming out of the kitchen while it’s cooking are incredible.
I’m a little bit obsessed with chickpeas at the minute. They are quick to cook and so tasty so I’ve been experimenting with them in salad, stews and the like. Last night, after forgetting to defrost any meat, I thought I would try chickpeas in a stew with chorizo and this recipe was the result. It was so quick to make, absolutely delicious and a perfect ‘summery’ stew. I had it on its own but the OH had it with a little bit of quick cook fusilli. If you wanted to make it more substantial again, you could slice some new potatoes, par boil and then pop them into the stew just after you add the tomatoes or even just have some nice crusty bread (don’t forget to add the extra sp’s!).
In my quest to try out some new lunch ideas I thought I would give bulgur wheat a go. I made this recipe the night before and left it in the fridge overnight and it was absolutely delicious! Really easy to put together and the bulgur wheat makes a nice change to cous cous!
