Recipe: Mushroom Spinach & Chickpea Curry - 210 calories per portion

I love curries. They're always thought of as being quite calorific - and to be fair, my favourite kinds are usually full of butter, cream, coconut milk or almonds - but this doesn't have to be the case. So I thought I'd try and make a curry for under 250 cals and this is what I came up with.....

Mushroom, Spinach & Chickpea Curry (makes three big portions)

Ingredients:

10 sprays One-Cal olive oil

1 large onion

2 tsps frozen chopped garlic

2 tsps frozen chopped ginger

2 tbsp curry powder (I used Morrisons balti curry powder)

0.5 tsp crushed dried chilli

400g tin chickpeas in water (drained)

300g frozen spinach

1 tin chopped tomatoes

250g mushrooms (wiped and quartered)

100g leaf spinach

Bunch fresh coriander

Method:

Spray oil into a big saucepan and add the onions, chopped up into a mix of fine dice and decent sized chunks, gently fry off until translucent, but not coloured.

Next add in the curry powder and chilli and fry off slightly. Stir in the tinned tomatoes, then once it's simmering, add in the frozen spinach

Once the spinach has all defrosted through and is mixed through into the sauce, add in the chickpeas and mushrooms and bring back to the boil, and let it simmer for 5-10 mins. You may want to add some more water to the pan at this stage depending on how saucy you like your curries, also maybe a squidge of tomato paste. Taste, and season accordingly, you might want to add a bit more curry powder or chilli at this point, depending on your taste.

Just before serving, throw in your fresh spinach and most of your coriander (save a bit for garnishing) and stir it until the spinach is just wilting.

Slap it all in a massive bowl and garnish with coriander, grab a spoon and dig in!

This recipe is for three large portions if you eat it on its own, but if you serve it with some rice, naan, chapati or roti (probably on a non-fast day) then it should comfortably serve at least 5.

Nutritional Info per serving:

Calories: 210
Fat: 5g
Carbs: 26g
Protein: 14g
Sugar: 7g

Recipe: Roasted Veg with Quinoa - 309 calories per portion

I've been a bit naughty this week and I'm actually doing my two fast days back to back, as I'm doing Stuff that involves food every day for the rest of this week. It's my birthday tomorrow, which involves cake, sushi and cocktails. I'm on a work's away day on Thursday which will involve a nice lunch. And it's my & OH's 10th anniversary on Friday so we're off out for a meal and a few drinks.

So I decided to do Monday and Tuesday this week. I thought it would be harder than it was actually, but today's been fine. I was *really* hungry first thing when I got to work at 7am, but decided to try and power through to 10am to have some muesli breakfast biscuits, then I'd try and get through to tea time. As it goes, I got really absorbed in the work I was doing and before I knew it it was 12.30 and I wasn't actually feeling hungry anymore. I was leaving at 2pm to pick the kids up from school so thought I'd hang on until then and have a cereal bar on the bus. Of course I forgot to pick up a cereal bar so found myself quite growly-tummied waiting in the playground for the kiddlies!

I wanted something filling, so decided to go with quinoa, and it's pretty light on calories for the amount that ends up on your plate. I'd picked up some veg on the way home too so decided to keep it simple and just roast them in a few sprays of oil.

It was quite nice but a bit bland. To be honest It could have done with a good slug of garlic infused olive oil over the veg in the roasting tin, but hey ho, that's the trouble with trying to keep a whole plateful under 400 cals!

Roasted Vegetables with Quinoa (makes one generous portion)

Ingredients:

10 sprays One-Cal olive oil

1 red pepper

1 Aubergine

130g mushrooms

60g quinoa (dry weight)

Method:

Pop a large pan of water on to boil. Then chop all the veg into bite sized chunks and place in a roasting tin. Spray with the oil, then pop in the oven at 200C for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, rinse your quinoa in cold water in a sieve, then chuck it into the boiling water for 20 mins. Wen it's done, drain it in the sieve.

Chuck it all on a plate and season well with a chilli, garlic & salt grinder

Nutritional Info per serving:

Calories: 309
Fat: 5g
Carbs: 45g
Protein: 10g
Sugar: 4g

Recipe: Chilli & Garlic Mushrooms - 41 calories per portion

Mushrooms are just super for fast days. They bulk out a dish nicely for very few calories and can be cooked using a bit of water rather than having to use oil.

Tonight I made Chilli & Garlic Mushrooms as a side dish for my Scrummy Stuffed Peppers, and very nice they were too for under 50 calories!

Chilli & Garlic Mushrooms (makes one generous portion)

Ingredients:

125g closed cup mushrooms

1 tsp frozen chopped garlic

5g light spread (I used Utterley Butterly Light)

Salt Chilli & Garlic grinder

Method:

Clean and quarter the mushrooms, and place in a saucepan with the garlic and 2-3 tablespoons of water over a low heat, allow to steam for about 10 mins, taking care not to let the pan boil dry, add a bit more water if you need to

Once the mushrooms are cooked as much as you like them to be, drain off any excess liquid and add in the spread and season to taste using the Salt Chilli & Garlic grinder, and pepper if you like. Warm through until the spread has melted then you're ready to serve