Almost Angelic Alcohol

We all know that alcohol is pretty much empty calories, but like many of you I enjoy a social drink and enjoy the taste of beer and wine and some spirits. When people are trying to lose weight they often try to avoid going out for dinner or to the pub as it can be hard to limit yourself to just one or two....lets face it how easy is it going to be to say "No thank you mine's a diet coke" before everyone has even arrived. So here are a few tips that I have learned over the years.

Wine: we're probably all aware that wine is considered a lighter alternative to beer or spirits but this is not always the case. Strong reds from hot countries like Riojas or Chianti, which, unfortunately, are both favourites in our house, are going to be higher in calories than their cooler climate cousins.. Of course the higher the alcohol content the higher the calories but the fermenting process for these wines results in a higher sugar and alcohol content. A better option would be a nice Californian Pinot Noir a beautiful Burgandy or even a Chilean Cabernet. Merlot is a bit of an inbetweener but one I generally try to avoid anyway just because I've never tasted one I actually like, so why waste calories drinking something yuck!

With white wine it's a no brainer that dessert wines are gonna be higher in calories...I don't know anyone that drinks dessert wines...but even so this would be a lighter calorie option than tucking into a dessert after a meal out. If you're choosing a bottle of wine as a gift for a dieting friend a good rule is to stay away from these and fortified wines like port, maderia and sherry. Try to avoid late harvest Reisling, Muscats, Noble Rots, but check the labels of most Hungarian and German wines as they tend to be very sweet, . Try to stick with dry white wines.Chablis is heavenly and while Chardonay is currently out of favour, a good unoaked bottle is still rather yummy and my all time favourite Sancerre, tho pricey, is worth the calories and the money. A wine to be sipped and savoured. If you're on a budget well you can't go wrong with a decent Pinot. It's a good hard working white wine, widely available and on the lower calorie end of the scale. Just steer clear of the really cheap stuff of course as this will often have a higher alcohol and sugar content to mask a not so great taste. Champagne is a dry white...so no need to feel guilty if you have something to celebrate! Or if you're on a budget then try a nice Prosecco which will be far superior to a cheap champagne!  ;)

Beer has a bad rep. yeah, some are really bad but they shouldn't all be tarred with the same brush. The calorie content of beer varies wildly, much more so than wine and if you're talking calories per ml Beer is much lower. So called "light beers" are anything but  with a pint of Coors Light coming in at 204 calories compared to a pint of Miller at 186! Bud light comes in at a staggering 227...so forget about light beers and check out some fabulous Bavarian Weiss and Weizen Beers, namely: Erdinger at a saintly 125 cals for a 500ml bottle Schofferhofer (my personal favourite) at 135 cals per 500ml and while Francizkaner and Paulaner are 165 per 500ml that doesn't compare to calorific Heineken (227), Stella (256), Cornona (296) and pretty much anything else available on tap. Guinness sort of hovers in the middle at 210 but at least it doesn't claim to be light!. I have a whole list that I've spent a week compiling so if you want to know the calorie content of your favourite brew let me know.

Not forgetting the cider drinkers out there a pint of Bulmers/Magners clocks up about 210 calories so, the same as a pint of Guinness. While it's not the healthiest option, it's not the worst either and I have it on good authority that Bulmers Light is pretty tasty but comes in at an Angelic 160 cals per pint beating all but Erdinger and Schofferhofer in the beers list.


Spritis can be great for those watching their weight but if you're planning on being out all night its probably best to really pace yourself or start off with something a little less potent! Obviously the best drink options are Bacardi and Diet Coke (57-60 cals) Gin and Slimline Tonic (84 cals) Vodka and Diet Lemonade (60 - 64 cals) even a Southern Comfort and Red Lemonade, which, with its sweet flavour would be considered by some to be a no no, is only 73 calories! A JD and Diet Coke is only 63 so the main thing to think about with spirits is your mixer, keep it diet and slimline and you should be ok... Spritis are a no brainer if you have a bit of self control and deep pockets.

Finally, I'm gonna leave Cocktails well enough alone until I've had time to do some more research and perhaps try some out on a few guinea pigs...I'm sure I won't be short of volunteers. :) Sláinte!

NOTES:

While it's important not to binge drink we have all had more than our RDA at times so be prepared. Even if you are watching you weight don't forgo essential food calories for alcohol calories.  If I know I'm going out for drinks at the weekend I will save 100 - 150 calories a day through-out the week and make sure I eat something substantial before heading out. A Rice dish would be perfect as this swells in your stomach and will slow down the absorbtion of alcohol.

Not so Sinful Snacks 2: The Cinema

Going to the cinema can be a bit of a mine field for dieters...the smell of the popcorm, or the nachos, or the hot dogs...the giant share size bag of chocolatey sweets that, lets face it, we don't always share, the oh so tempting sahara nuts and lets not even talk about  the Ben and Jerrys counter! A trip to the flicks, while ultimately about seeing a great piece of cimema is also an honours level exercise in self control and I'm telling you now I am in the remedial class in this subject! But there are ways of addressing allllllll of our cinema food cravings.

First up: Hot Food...So lets rip the band aid off first....ya just can't have nachos at the cinema  there are over a 1100 calories in a portion, 59g of fat and 131g of carbs!!!!! What you can have though, is a hot dog. Not a foot long...a normal sized hot dog. It's not the best thing for ya to have but it's only 242 calories 14g of fat and 13g of carbs... and sure aren't onions good for ya? :) Just don't start loading it with cheese!

This is probably a good option if you're coming from work and haven't had time to have dinner. It won't make you feel full the instant you've eaten it but give it 20 minutes and it will deal with your hunger.

Popcorn can be hard to resist as well...especially when it is lovingly SMOTHERED in lovely, lovely butter! A small popcorn without butter already has 400 calories in a bag. It is covered in butter before they even ask you if you want more because it is popped in butter! So if you are coming from work the best thing to do is  just share a small bag with whoever you are with. If you are coming from home well then you can air pop your own popcorn in the microwave. all you need is a paper bag, about 2 cups of  kernals, and 1 cal spray oil. Put the kernals in the bag, give it a few sprays of oil and stick it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. You will hear it popping and like normal microwave popcorn (which is also covered in oil or butter) ya just wait for the popping to slow down before turning the microwave off. Season with whatever you want...but I like using onion salt. nom nom nom. It's not ideal but I don't mind bringing stuff with me to the cinema and it saves a fortune. They charge so much these days for even a small!  Ya just have to plan ahead I guess.

Ice Cream is my weakness at the cinema, that Ben and Jerrys stand  calls to me from the car! This isn't a problem anymore though as they now do some low fat options!!! A scoop averages around 160 calories but only 3g of fat. To be honest though, if there is a freezer I will check to see if they have Soleros as these are by far the best value for calories and fat. Super tasty and only 99 calories and and 2.2g of fat. If you need a chocolatey ice cream fix then most of the chocolate bar ice creams ...like crunchie etc are ok apart from Mars, snickers and toffee crisp. As a rule anything with caramel in it is worth avoiding. It's easier to pick just one ice cream instead of trying to have only one scoop! one scoop just feels mean, one ice cream feels normal.

And lets just deal with those share sized bags of sweety goodness. Just buy a normal sized bag and we all know that "Maltesers are the lighter way to enjoy chocolate" with 187 cals in a normal bag they are way ahead of the pack.

      

If you want to be all romantic and share just get the king size bag. If you're gonna go for the pick and mix just remember there is an average of 20 calories per sweet and 3-6g of fat. So you can have some just no more than 10 which really doesn't seem worth it in all honesty.

And of course if you are eating one, or a combination, of the above you do not want to waste calories on fizzy drinks so just stick with water or diet coke...even the diet versions of all other drinks are higher in calories. Flavoured fizzy waters are ok too.

So there you have it, just a few little changes and you can enjoy a treat at the flicks without the major guilt fest afterwards.

Saintly Seafood and Saffron Risotto

Risottos are creamy, gooey affairs full to bursting with cheeses and cream and butter and take hours of standing over to keep them topped up with stock and wine so hardly anyone ever cooks a risotto at home. I'm pretty sure no one cooks a risotto mid week at the very least! Well not only is this risotto completely dairy free it is super easy and super quick! This is a regular on our mid-week menu. We love authentic paella and this is as close as you can get without a paella pan, a big enough burner and a Spanish Mama.

Nutritional Facts: 
Calories: 350
Fat: 10.5g
WW PP: 8.5
Carbs: 46g
Sugar: 3.8g
Fibre: 3.1g
Protein:14.7g
Serves: 4 

Prep time: 15 minutes.
Cooking time: 38 minutes.


Ingredients:
1 tbsp Flora Cuisine
1 onion peeled and finely chopped
8 slices chorizo roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves peeled and grated
225g risotto rice
225ml white wine (Lidl do a 255ml bottle of South African Chenin Blanc for €1.79. It's not the best for quaffing but cheap and perfect for cooking of course if you want to get a big bottle make sure it's something you're gonna drink)
600ml chicken stock
Pinch of saffron (expensive for the tiny amout you get but it's essential to the flavour)
Large pinch of smoked paprika
2 garlic cloves whole (seperate from above for frying the seafood with)
100g king prawns (fresh or frozen - Fresh is always best but if you're on a budget this is still delicous with frozen prawns)
100g mussels (fresh or frozen as above)
1 medium squid or a handful of squid rings(clean squid and cut into pieces)
small bunch of fresh flat leaf parsely


Method


1. Preheat the oven to 180C (160 for fan assisted). Warm 1 tsp of flora cuisine in casserole dish  or pyrex dish. ( I just used a 9 inch square baking tray and it was fine) Chuck in the onions and chorizo. sauté them over a lowish heat for  8 minutes or until the onions have softened and the chorizo has released all of it's oill and coloured a bit.  ( I bet you will want to eat it at this stage) Add the garlic and fry for a further minute. 


2. Stir through the rice (Don't worry you don't have to do anything to it before hand) and fry for a minute, then pour over the wine and stock. I like to maybe just add 400ml of stock at this point and reserve 200ml to add about 10 minutes into baking as you may not need the entire 200ml. It all depends on how gloopy you like your risotto. Sprinkle in the saffron and a good bit of smoked paprika. Then pop the lid on your casserole dish or just tin foil over the top of whatever you are using amd pop it in the oven for 25 minutes. Like I said at 10 minutes add some more stock and stir through.


3. The rice should have absorbed most of the liquid but will still be a bit gloopy. Toss the seafood in the remaining olive oil and add these with the two cloves of garlic to a hot frying pan. It will only take a couple of minutes to cook or heat these through (depending on if you bought raw or cooked seafood) just make sure they are hot all the way through. You will probably get some water coming out of these so drain them before stirring them into the risotto. Finally add the parsely and stir before serving with a flourish of parsely. 


Note:


Rice expands in your stomach, so it may not look like much in the bowl but give it 15 minutes and you will be feeling full.



I didn't add any salt to this dish as there is plenty in the stock but it can be added as this stage if you feel the need. try to opt for low sodium if you can. If you are more of a paella than risotto person just add 300-400ml of stock for a dryer consistency.


If you're not into seafood try this will chicken instead.


A 125ml glass of the white wine you may have left over will go beautifully with this meal and will add only 85 cals to your total...sure go on...treat yourself...you deserve it.

Beefcake Beef Burgers that will Blow ANY Fast Food Burger Out of the Water

Everyone knows that for a burger to taste really good it has to have a certain amount of fat in it right? Well I can tell you now that is WRONG and I know two BBQ loving carniverous men who know a thing about what constitutes a good beef burger that will agree with me. These burgers are less than 5% fat. We all need some fats in our diet to absorb fat souble vitamins so I think 5% is juuuuuuust right baby bear style. Goldilocks would be lovin these burgers and they are so easy that lazy little brat could probably have made them herself. You can have these made, eaten and half digested in the time it takes to have a take away delivered and OF COURSE they are low calorie. Weighing in at  a mere 327 calories per serving, these babies are even lower in calories than the Turkey Burgers!!!  Every time I look at this photo it makes me salivate and I'm not even much of a red meat eater!

 Nutritional Facts:

Calories: 327
Fat: 10.5g
WW PP: 10
Protein:32.7g
Carbs: 25g
Sugar 3g
Fibre 0.8g 

Serves 4:

Ingredients:
500g of reduced fat or extra lean beef mince
1 red onion finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves finely grated or crushed (grating is better as you don't waste any of the clove then)
4tbsp of chopped parsely (or a 1/4 cup)
3 tbsp of tomato ketchup
a pinch of reduced sodium salt


To serve:
4 small sesame seed buns (each to be no more than 50g)
A decent handful of lettuce
sliced gerkin
1/2 a small red onion

Optional toppings: Ketchup, lighter than light Helmans Mayo ( half a tsp contains 1 calorie and amounts of fat, and sugar not even worth mentioning), Mustard, Low Low Cheddar Cheese spread (1/2 a tsp  contains 10 calories and less than 1g of fat ), sliced baby plum tomatoes.


METHOD

1. Combine the mince, onion, garlic, parsley and ketchup in a bowl large enough to get in with your hands and give it a good squish and season generously.

2. preheat your grill to a medium/high heat (to be honest I usually just wack it up as high as it will go) grill the burgers for about 10 minutes on each side but it depends on how good your grill is. check after 7 minutes on each side...I also find that the second side can cook quicker than the first so do keep an eye on it.

3.Toast your buns and garnish. top with burger, onion, gerkins and whatever other toppings you like and then the top of the bun.

4. See if you can actually get your mouth around it!

A little tip for a super yummy low cal sauce combine 1 tsp of lighter than light mayo with half a tsp of mild yellow mustard. Its a bit like Eddie Rockets Secret Sauce just without the Secret or the calories and fat! ;) I also serve mine with a sizable side salad. It's important to get those vitamins and minerals into you. The side salad in the photo consists of a vairiety of lettuce, onion, plum tomatoes, red pepper, grated carrot, cucumber, a sprinkling of sweetcorn, gerkin, a sprinkling of red wine vinegar, salad seasoning and the tiniest pinch of salt. Lots of flavour for minimal calories!

Not so Cuddly Katsu Curry. Just like Wagamama's!!!

Almost everyone loves a curry and my all time favourite is Wagamams Chicken Katsu Curry but one serving contains a belly busting 1300 calories and over 50g of fat. You would never think it looking at it innocently sitting there on the plate looking all lovely and healthy....it's that bit of salad they stick on the side that does it! I love a good chinese curry as well if we're getting a take away but that has even more calories and fat. 1400 calories is an approximation of whats in the average take away curry. When I decided I absolutely had to lose the weight take aways weren't out per say, they were just limited to once a week or once a fortnight, but rather than spend allllll those calories on one meal I decided to make my own curry and with rice it weighs in at a healthier 554 calories and only 9g of fat! It's not an enormous portion but it's enough to leave you sitting there giving your belly a satisfied rub and doesn't it look yummy!

Nutritional Facts:
Calories: 554 ( this is the calorie count after the low cal swaps have been made as below)
Fat: 9g
WW PP: 13.8
I will work out the carbs and sugars etc and post them later
Prep time: Aaggesss
cooking time: 1 hour. (If you're cooking this entire dish from scratch for the first time allow yourself a good hour and a half )

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon groundnut or vegetable oil.  (I recently discovered Flora Cuisine. it has 40 less calories per tablespoon than olive oil and 45% less saturated fat. It's definitely worth swapping to.)
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 5 whole garlic cloves, peeled no need to chop
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped ( I buy the big bag of tesco market value carrots that are much cheaper but smaller so use four of these)
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• 1 tablespoon medium curry powder (this will result in a mild curry that leaves a slight after burn in your mouth, you can change the amount to suit your own preferences)
• 600ml chicken stock (I make mine up with 1 and half organic chicken stock cubes)
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce (using light soy will save 69 cals in this dish)
• 1 bay leaf (fresh is best but dry will do)
• ½ teaspoon garam masala (readily available in all supermarkets)
• 4 x 100g chicken breasts (it's hard to find  chicken breasts that are an exact weight and they can be expensive - we buy a whole chicken and fillet it outselves. The Tesco value chicken is around the €3 mark and each breast is about 200g so split each one in half. We keep the chicken legs for our low cal roast and freeze the wings until we have enough to make a whole bunch of buffalo wings)
• 100g flour, seasoned with lots of salt and pepper
• 1 small egg, beaten lightly
• 120g cornflakes, bashed in a pestle and morta or just crushed with your (clean) hand no need to get all fancy
• 5 spritz’s of 1 cal fry oil

Serve with sushi rice and salad.

(You will need a food processor or a blender for the sauce)


Method:

This dish can be complicated to time so I like to make the sauce in advance and just reheat it when everything else is done.You can make it the night before and it will keep fine in the fridge. I also like to have my chicken prepped and ready to go before I put the rice on as the rice will need constant attention for the first 15 minutes or so.

1. Heat the oil in a small pan and add the onions and garlic. Sautee for a couple of minutes then throw in your chopped carrot. Turn the heat down and leave to sweat for about 10 minutes giving it the occassional stir to stop the onions sticking. They will soften and start to caramelize.


2.Stir in the flour and curry powder and cook them for a minute. Slowly pour in the chicken stock bit by bit until combined (do it slowly to avoid getting lumps) then add the honey, soy and bay leaf.  Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a slow simmer and cook for 20 minutes this will allow all the flavours to combine and the sauce to thicken so don't be tempted to skip the 20 minutes.

3.Finally add the garam masala. Don't add the salt and pepper until its all been blended up and tasted. It will need a good wizz in the blender to make sure there are no lumpy bits left. it's probably best to remove the bay leaf before you blend.  Season to your own taste and if the sauce is too thick or too strong for your liking add a few drops of hot water. and thats your sauce done.

4. To prep the chicken preheat the oven to 200 C.  You're going to need to dirty a lot of dishes! You will need a plate for the flour seasoned with salt and pepper, a plate for the beaten egg and a plate for your crushed cornflakes. You want the cornflakes crushed very small indeed. If you leave them big they will just flake off the chicken when you try to cut it.

5. Flatten your 100g chicken breast out so that it's no more than 2cm  thick. (I give mine a GENTLE bash with a rolling pin) then coat it in the flour, making sure to cover every visible inch, then dip in the egg and finally in the cornflakes making sure to thouroughly coat the chicken. try not to leave any of the chicken visible. (this is gonna stick to your hands) Do this for each breast and place in a baking tray then spritz with oil. Only put in the oven once you have your rice simmering away. 20 minutes is all it with need when it's that thin but check it after 15 by slicing into the middle and checking for any pink meat. Cooking time can vary...sometimes it takes 30 minutes to cook through if it's a bit thicker. (If you chicken isn't cooked through but your coating is blackening slightly just cover with tin foil.)

6. To prep the sushi rice wash it thouroughly in cold water. the water needs to run clear. It usually takes about 4 goes but so worth it. long grain rice just won't do this dish justice. I usually use the Yutaka brand sushi rice because it's always in stock in my local tesco.  It says on the box that 250g will serve 2 people but 100g per person is really more than enough.  for every 100g of rice  you will need 130ml of water so for 4 servings thats 520ml.

7.Add the washed rice and water to a pan and bring to the boil. once it reaches a rolling boil, reduce the heat, give it a good stir and simmer for 10 minutes. The instructions on the box say to leave the lid on but you will need to stir it occassionally to stop it sticking to the pan. I should think leaving the lid on for the last two minutes without stirring it is vital.

8. After 10 minutes turn off the heat and leave the lid on to let the rice steam. leave for 15 minutes.

9. reheat your sauce a little at this stage.

10. I find plain old lettuce leaves boring so I like to add a sprinkling of red wine vinegar and some salad seasoning (available in all supermarkets with the herbs) Stick it all on a plate and enjoy.  Try eating it with chop sticks to make it last longer.


I guarantee it will taste like a real Wagamams Katsu Curry, if not better!



  

Tasty Turkey Burgers That Won't Tip the Scales

BBQ season is upon us and between now and the end of September the average person eats their own body weight in meat!...well at least that's what it feels like. BBQs don't have to be the enemy of the weight conscious though and any BBQ we host this year will have some very tasty low fat options. I'm not just talking salad either. We've got low fat recipes for turkey, beef, chicken, fish and even bean burgers for our veggie friends. The secret (which isn't that big a secret really) is buying the leanest mince possible and adding some intensely flavoured ingredients. Most people's local supermarkets and even butchers don't stock the 5% fat versions. I get my 5% fat mince in Tesco in Clarehall in Dublin so if anyone of you know where to get it in your area let us know so we can make sure everyone can get it.

Today I decided to go with turkey burgers as that's what we tend to eat the most. It's a quick easy dinner that leaves you feeling satisfied and indulged. this recipe is adapted from the Alli Diet Cook Book.
Here's one I ate earlier:

The photo doesn't do it justice really. The meat patty is quite large. It's just hidden under all of the toppings.
As you can see I used a Weight Watchers Bagel again. You cna use a small sesame seed bun as well but a bagel is higher in fibre and lower in fat and I think it's a bit more substansial for the calories, leaving you feeling fuller. I always have a packet of these in the cupboard. They are so versatile.

Nutritional Information:

Serves: 4
Prep  time: 10 minutes
cook time 10 - 20 minutes depending on grill


Calories: 378
Fat 14g (unless you use the super lean turkey mince then it's 11g)
Carbs: 39.7g (if you're counting carbs change out  the bagel and go for your usual substitue but you will lose out on fibre)
Protein: 32.54g
Fibre: 9.6g
Sugar: 2.75g


Ingredients:

500g Turkey Mince
50g (5) Spring Onions finely chopped
4 cloves of Garlic (optional) finely chopped
15g (1 tbsp) Sun Dried Tomato Paste (Alca do one and it's with the pestos etc in the supermarket)
10g FRESH parsely (the dried stuff isn't gonna cut it in this recipe) finely chopped
Salt and Pepper
4 Weight Watchers Bagels
75g of salad leaves to serve
4 large tsp of tomato relish (Ballymaloe or Aldi do an excellent budget option)

Method:

1. Mix the turkey, spring onions, garlic, sun dried tomato paste and parsely together and season. Turkey always needs more seasoning than you think so give it a good bit. I use my food processor to do this as it's done in a minute. Divid the mixture into 4 and shape into burgers. I make them wide and about 2 cm thick to help them cook quicker.
2. Place under a grill for 10 minutes on each side or until cooked throughout. I use the George Foreman grill as it cooks it in less than half the time and you will see the oil from the sundried tomato paste dripping out so reducing the fat even further.These also taste great off the BBQ and take between 15 and 20 minutes to cook.
3.Toast the bagels and place burger on one half, spread relish over the top. Top with lettuce and other half of bagel and serve. 

If you can't do without cheese on your burger consider low fat options. I use a low fat cheese triangle spread on the top or broken up and mixed in with the burger meat before it's grilled to get a cheesy flavour throughout. You can add some onion, tomato or mushrooms to your topping without piling on the carbs, fats or calories as well.
If you like a bit of spice swap the sun dried tomato relish for some sweet chill sauce. It's even slightly lower in calories and fat. If you like a smokey flavour try some good quality BBQ sauce. The options are endless just make sure whatever sauce you are mixing in has an intense enough flavour within the 1 tbsp guideline.

Let the BBQs commence! 

 

Not So Sinful Snacks 1: Chocolate

Lets face it, we all start off with the best intentions with dieting and trying to lose weight, but our cravings often get the better of us. This happens particularly when we haven't got time to prepare something low fat and yummy. Quite often, when starting a new eating regime, it can leave us feeling lethargic as our bodies try to get used to fewer calories and the thought of cooking or baking, all for the sake of a snack, is just too much for your sugar starved brain to deal with! The best way to deal with this and not undo all of your good work is to plan for this when you're writing up your weekly shopping list.
So here are my recommended purchases for craving fixes.

Chocolate:
When we crave chocolate we have visions of us cramming a massive bar or a share size bag of malteasers into our mouths, but we actually need much less than this to satisfy the craving. I always have a bag of snack size choccies  in the fridge. Crunchies are the best as they are super sweet and leave your sweet tooth satisfied. The air in the honeycomb bulks them up so they are bigger in size than most snack size bars but really there are only 80 calories per bar, 3.2g of fat and 2 WW Pro Points. They're an expensive buy if you're on a budget but if you're watching your weight they should last at least a week for two people.

 If, like me, you love caramel, then the treat size Cadbury Caramel are great. They are also 80 cals and 3.9g of fat per bar. It says they are about 2 WW PP but allow 2.5 to be on the safe side. There is a problem with these however, as you only get two squares so it's gone in seconds! Not to worry though, my Mother has the solution to this. She freezes her chocolate. By freezing it, it prevents you biting and you have to suck so one square lasts ages! Whats even better for coffee lovers out there is a small cup of piping hot strong black coffee combined with frozen caramel and chocolate is a total taste explosion!

There is also the wafer thin good aul Dairy Milk but I never feel as indulged with that for some reason...it might have something to do with it being wafer thin and it's 19 cals more than either of the above. I'll be testing more as time goes on but Crunchies and Caramels are keeping my, pretty intense, chocolate habit in check for now.

A problem that a lot of people face with snack size chocolates is stopping at having just one, so I say limit yourself to 2. Thats it! That is the absolute max! If this is the case for me (happens almost daily) I schedule in an extra bit of exercise. 80 calories isn't that hard to burn off. I keep a twister board in front of the television, if I know I've been a bit bold I'll get on it for an episode of something or other. Half an hour will burn up to 200 calories but at the rate I do it it's probably closer to 100. 

For those that need a choccie fix more than once a day the Options Hot Chocolates are great. The normal ones are 40 calories and 1 WW Pro Point. Their limited edition luxury flavours are between 60 and 70 calories. I Highly recommend the Chocolate Brownie flavour!

Belly Beating Breakfast

It's the morning after the night before and you are dying for a great big traditional fry up but you've already overindulged last night; what do you do? The average modest fry up weighs in at a massive 700-800 calories and a reserved estimate on the fat content is between 40-50grams!

I've taken the Mushrooms on toast recipe on the Cook Yourself Thin website and jazzed it up a bit. with a reduced fat bacon medallion and a poached egg. Even with the egg, cream cheese and the bacon it comes in lower in fat than The Cook Yourself Thin version.

 Serves: 2
Calories per portion: 213
Fat per portion: 6g
WW Pro points: 7
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes


Ingredients:

1 Weight Watchers bagel halved and lightly toasted (half per serving)
2 small eggs
100g of portobello mushrooms (usually 1) roughly chopped
100g of chestnut mushrooms (usually 4-5) roughly chopped
1 reduced fat bacon medallion diced very small
2 spring onions finely chopped
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
Zest 1/4 of a lemon
1 tsp of extra light cream cheese (or 5g)
1 level tsp of parsley (fresh is best but dried is fine and much cheaper)
salt and pepper to taste.
1 cal spray oil.




Method

1.  Spray a frying pan with the 1 cal spray oil. Give it a good coating. (I use about 10 sprays. This is still much lower in calories and fat than even a teaspoon of olive oil). Let the pan get really hot. The pan needs to be hot to stop the mushrooms releasing moisture into the pan as this will ruin the final creamy texture.
2. crack your eggs into the egg poacher and cook with the lid off for a minute. (If you haven't got one of these then add 2 inches of boiling water to a pan and add a few drops of vinegar. Make sure the water is visibley simmering. Break your eggs onto a saucer and very gently and slowly slide it into the simmering water. Do this one egg at a time. The whites should be firm but not hard before you remove it from the water.)
3. Once your eggs are on add your mushrooms and garlic to the piping hot pan. Stir regularly making sure that the mushrooms don't burn after a minute put the lid on your egg poacher.
   Add a couple more sprays of oil to stop the mushrooms shrivelling up and add the bacon. Cook for a further 3 minutes stirring constantly.Toast your bagel lightly at this point.
4. Take your pan off the heat and stir through the extra light cream cheese. once that has melted add the lemon zest, spring onions and parsely and stir through.
5. remove your eggs from the heat and serve. Add salt and pepper to taste if needed.
6. ENJOY!

If you're a veggie then just leave out the bacon. If there isn't enough meat in it for you carniverous types I have another low cal cooked breakfast option but you'll just have to wait for that one. ;) The portobello mushrooms have a really meaty texture to them though so give it a try.

 

Muffin Top Maiming Muffins

Cupcakes and Muffins are a big deal at the moment. Everyone is going nuts for them, myself included, but they are super high in calories and fat. The average blueberry muffin available in coffee shops the world over averages at 380 calories and 19 grams of fat! Yep you read that right...19 grams of fat! They also seem to contain very few blueberries and the few that they do contain have been soaked in sugar no doubt. 

I found a recipe for blueberry muffins on the BBC Good Food website and adapted it to make it low calorie and low fat without losing any of the taste. I guarantee that if you like blueberry muffins you will love this recipe.  

Nutritional Information per muffin:
Calories: 196
Fat: 4.8g (0.5g saturated fat)
Carbs: 36g
Fibre:2g
Sugar:16g
Salt: 0.43g
WW Propoints: 7


Ingredients:

5 tbsp Flora Cuisine (45% less saturated fat than Olive Oil, 1.2g less fat and 24 fewer calories)
340g self raising flour (or else 225g SR flour and 115g Wholemeal flour)
2 tsp baking powder
Zest 1/2 lemon and 1 tsp of juice
85g  fruit sugar (brown caster sugar if you can't get fruit sugar. Fruit sugar is sweeter so you use less of it)
50g light muscovado sugar
2 tbsp of powdered sweetener (optional)
1 small very ripe banana (the blacker the better)
1 egg
300ml butter milk (keep a little extra aside to add at the end to ensure super moist muffins)
2 drops of vanilla essence
125-150g fresh blueberries
(If you like them a bit sweeter try adding 2 tbsp of powdered sweetener)

1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Use a 12-hole muffin tin and line with paper cases. Mix (both) flours with the baking powder and lemon zest. Reserve 1 tbsp fruit sugar, then stir the rest into the flour with the Muscovado and optional sweetener.
2. Mash the banana well then stir in the buttermilk and oil. In another bowl beat the egg till it's fluffy but still liquid (I usually give it a good three minutes with a hand whisk) then combine with the rest of the wet mixture. Using a large metal spoon, very lightly stir into the flour mix, just to combine. Over-mixing will make the muffins tough. Toss in the blueberries and give just a few turns of the spoon to carefully stir them in without crushing. At this point I normally add a little extra buttermilk mixed with the vanilla essence to losen the mixture. Adding more liquid at this stage will ensure a moist muffin.
3. Spoon the mixture into the tin - each hole should be very full. Bake for 15-20 mins until risen and golden. (I would definitely check them after 15 minutes.)
4. Mix the reserved caster sugar with the lemon juice. When the muffins are done, remove from the oven, then brush with the sugar and lemon mixture while they are still hot. Gently loosen the edges of each muffin then leave in the tin for 15 mins to cool a little as they're very delicate while hot. Remove to a wire rack. Best eaten the day of making, but will keep for up to 3 days.

 This recipe is massively adaptable. Try it with 85g of strawberries instead of banannas and add some strawberry essence instead of vanilla. Make sure to drain the excess liquid from the strawberries after mashing them but retain the liquid and mix with the sugar  for the finishing glaze. blueberries do go well with strawberries but mix it up a bit with cranberries. You could also use apple or any fruit combination you wish so long as you get the constistancy and weight of the fruit the same as the mashed bananna.

Give it a go and let me know how you get on.

One final thought: Blueberries can be expensive. I buy mine in Lidl as they are much cheaper than anywhere else but I have  planted my own blueberry bushes in pots that shall keep me in an abundance of blueberries  in the coming months for free!