Honey and Cinnamon Apple Dessert

Ingredients: to serve 2
2 small green cooking apples
2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp raisins

2 tbsp almonds

1 tsp cinnamon

Cup of natural yoghurt

1 tsp oil (preferably coconut)

Recipe:

Chop the apples into reasonably thin slices

Fry in a pan on medium heat in the oil

Once the apples start to brown, add the honey and cinnamon

After a couple of minutes, add the raisins and almonds and stir for a few more minutes

Once browned, add on top of the natural yoghurt

Optional extras: chopped dates, seeds, any dried fruit, banana

Detox Dessert

In a blender, mix a range of fruits in order to make a smoothie

In a glass layer this with natural yoghurt and then sprinkle nuts/seeds on top

Place in the freezer to make a healthy dessert

My fruit smoothie recommendation:

2 apples

Handful of blueberries

Squeeze of lime

Grate a small chunk of ginger

5 large strawberries

Large handful of spinach

1 tbsp peanut butter

1 tbsp honey

Metabolism Booster

Foods that boost your metabolism:

Green Tea- compound ECGC helps to burn fat

Spices- especially chilli as chemical capsaicin is known to boost metabolism

Spinach, lentils and lean meat- iron deficiency can slow your metabolism

Almonds- up to 5 per day

Oatmeal- great in the morning to give your metabolism a kick after resting

Citrus Fruits

Brocolli

Hot Peppers

Water: One cold glass before each meal and one cold glass straight after your food (this will also make you notice how full you really are)

Water should be drunk before and after you sleep as dehydration is most common during these resting hours

Chicken and Vegetable Cheesy Bake

Serves 2:

Ingredients:
A baking tray
2 chicken breasts
100g peas
50g mushrooms
1 large potato
1 large sweet potato
5 tbsp Bisto Cheese Sauce Granules
Sprinkle of reduced fat cheese
Chicken stock cube

Boil the sweet potato and potato for 15 minutes. Chop and mash the sweet potato and spread across the bottom of the baking tray
Chop the chicken into chunks and also add on top of sweet potato in the baking tray
Boil the peas for 5 minutes, drain and sprinkle over and around the chicken and then dice the mushrooms and add on top
Mix 5 tbsp of Bisto Cheese Sauce Granules and stir with boiling water with a chicken stock cube till it thickens. Add to the baking tray, leaving a small amount to pour over the surface if the potatoes
Slice the boiled potato into thin slices and spread over the top of the ingredients of the baking tray
To finish, sprinkle the grated reduced fat cheese over the top along with a sprinkle of salt and pepper to give a crispy finish

Skinny Almond Muffins

For 6 muffins:
In one bowl, mix 100g of almond flour and 1tsp of baking soda
In another bowl mis 1 egg, 50g of coconut oil and 2 tbsp of honey and stir with the dry ingredients
Add any other extras to your taste: half dates, prunes, raisins, blueberries, raspberries, coconut flakes
Pour the mixture into a muffin tin and bake for 20-30 at 180 degrees
Toppings: banana, almonds, sunflower seeds, peanut butter, cinnamon, nuts or jam

Stuffed Omelette Wrap

Ingredients:
3 eggs
Splash of milk
Handful of reduced fat cheese
300g lean mince meat or quorn mince
Half an onion
1 garlic clove or granules

Recipe:
In a pan, fry off the onion, mince meat/quorn mince and garlic
Whisk 3 eggs and the splash of milk and add to a separate saucepan, fry into a thick omelette
Once the omelette is cooked, lay it out flat on a plate. Add the mince meat into the middle and slowly roll the omelette into a wrap
Sprinkle the cheese over the top and bake for 5 minutes at 200 degrees till the cheese is crisp

Skinny Cranberry Pecan Loaf

Ingredients:
225g oat flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp baking soda
0.5 tsp salt
200g natural yoghurt
200g coconut sugar/ 50g splenda
1 egg
3 tbsp coconut oil
230ml cranberry light juice
1 tbsp orange zest
200g chopped cranberries
100g chopped pecans

Recipe:
Whisk oat flour with baking powder, baking soda and salt
In a separate bowl, whisk yoghurt, sugar, egg and juice
Combine the two mixtures and stir adding the orange zest, cranberries and pecans
Pour into a greased pan/tray
Bake for 1 hour at 180 degrees

Serve Warm with fat free frozen yoghurt

Chicken and Avocado Cauliflower Cheese Bake

Ingredients to serve 3:

1 baking tray
1 large potato

2 chicken breasts

1 avocado

5 large cauliflower florets 

5 tbsp of Bisto Cheese Sauce Granules

1 tsp garlic granules

Reduced fat chedder cheese (to taste)

Recipe:

Peel the potato, chop into chunks and boil for 10 minutes
Drain the potato and mash
Add this to the base of the baking tray
Boil the cauliflower florets for 5 minutes

Drain and place in the baking tray

Dice the chicken and chop the avocado into chunks and add to the baking tray

Add the cheese granules to around 500ml of boiling water and stir till thickens. Add the garlic granules and pepper

Pour the sauce over the chicken, cauliflower and avocado in the baking tray

Grate cheddar cheese over the top

Bake in the over for 25 minutes

Roughly 380 calories per serving

Pink Salad

This pretty salad is perfect for a date-night starter. Cheap and easy to make

Start with a plate of spinach and rocket salad

Add red grapes, celery, beetroot and feta cheese and mix

Create the pink dressing by adding any leftover beetroot to your salad dressing or salad cream and drizzle over the top

If you would like to add a little extra, boil some asparagus and add to the side

Healthy Hangover: Sweet Potato and Baked Beans

• Microwave a sweet potato (90p) for 2 minutes
• Slice in half and add a tsp of oil or a small bit of butter in the middle
• Bake for 10 minutes
• Cover the sweet potato in cooked reduced sugar and salt Baked Beans (68p)
• Grate and sprinkle reduced fat cheddar cheese

High in protein, dietary fibre, Vitamin A and B and potassium as well as being low in fat and sugar. Sweet potatoes also have a high in water content to help reduce dehydration.

Baked beans are a great antioxidant. They help to lower cholesterol and are also high in protein and are a great source of fibre. Baked beans have also made it to the 'Mail Online's Top Ten Superfoods' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-369042/The-10-super-foods.html

This meal is easy to make and costs around £2 and adds up to roughly 350 calories

RYVITA: A Must-Have

Ryvita crisp breads are a lower fat, higher in protein and 11.5 g per 100g higher in fibre alternative to even 'Hovis' wholemeal bread. They therefore make you fuller for longer and girls will be pleased to know they also in comparison to bread, don't make you bloat!
Ryvita crispbreads come in loads of different flavours, shapes and sizes!

Some recommended recipes:

• Breakfast: Try making Ryvita Sunflower Seed and Oats warm over the toaster and spread a tsp of honey over the flat side. Then thinly chop and layer banana over the top
• Lunch: Try Cracked Black Pepper Ryvita with Garlic and Herb Philadelphia Light, lettuce leaves, thin ham slices and chopped tomatoes
• Snack: Sweet Onion Ryvitas with cottage cheese or sour cream

Quick Morning Breakfast or A Ready-Made Snack

Makes 2 breakfasts or 4 snacks
Ingredients:

• 200g oats
• 400g fruit juice (preferably cranberry light)
• 1 large/2 small apples
• 100g low fat yoghurt (I recommend sainsburys basics low fat natural yoghurt at 50p)
• optional extras include: 1 tsp honey, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, dried fruit, nuts, seeds or any kind of fresh fruit such as raspberries, blueberries or blackberries.

Recipe:

• Simple combine all the ingredients together and leave to soak in the fridge overnight. Pack into small take-away boxes to make your breakfast quick and easy or to pack in your bag as a healthy filling snack for a long day at Uni

Japanese Crabstick Soup

Serves 2. Cost: £3

• Boil 1 chopped carrot in a pint and a half of chicken stock
• Add half a tsp of oil, preferably coconut oil
• Add a sprinkle of chilli powder to taste
• Add half a tin of sweetcorn
• Add 1 bashed lemongrass
• 2 tbsp of light soy sauce
• Sprinkle of ginger powder
• 1 pak choi
• 6 crab-sticks

Simmer for 10 minutes and serve hot

Health benefits:
Lemongrass helps to combat colds or flu with immune building and disease fighting power.  Has also been proven to help reduce headaches

Roast Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

• half a sweet potato
• 1 chicken breast
• handful of iceberg lettuce
• 1 large tomato

An optional side: 2 large mushrooms, half a small courgette, half an onion, a dollop of garlic and herb philadelphia

Recipe:

• Roast the chicken breast (preferably in coconut oil) in the oven at 180 degrees for around 25 minutes
• Chop the sweet potato into chunky slices and boil for 10 minutes
• Scrunch the iceberg lettuce over your plate as a bed
• Slice the large tomato and spread around one side of the plate
• If adding the optional side, chop the onion, mushrooms and courgettes into chunks and fry in the frying pan for 5 minutes, then add the philadelphia spread
• Drain the sweet potato and spread around the parallel side of the plate
• Remove the chicken from the oven and place over the salad bed
• If using the optional side, drain any excess water and place over the roast chicken

Season with salt and pepper and/or pumpkin or sunflower seeds and a dash of balsamic vinegar

STUFFED PEPPERS

Low fat, high protein, fibre, phosphorus and iron.

Recipe: fills 4 peppers

Boil water in a pan and add 100g of quinoa and simmer for 15 minutes

Microwave half a packet of quorn mince for 1 minute

Drain the quinoa and add half the packet of quorn

Whisk an egg and add to the pan. Fry on a low heat for a couple of minutes

Cut the top off the pepper including the stalk. Remove the inside as well as the seeds

Fill the pepper with the quinoa and quorn mixture

Add a teaspoon of Garlic and Herb Philadelphia Light on top

Cook in the oven for 15 minutes at 180 degrees

Served with a boiled egg and pumpkin seed and avocado salad

QUORN AND PRAWN STIR FRY

Recipe List:
Half a packet of mushroom stir fry vegetables
Half a packet of Quorn Chicken-Style Pieces
100g of pre-cooked frozen prawns
Handful of bean sprouts
Reduced salt soy sauce
Pinch of ginger and chilli powder
Cook in coconut oil

Cost of meal: £3.50

If you are without any condiments, spices or coconut oil then you can buy a pre-made packet sauce for 50p and alternatively use olive oil instead of coconut.

Easy and simple to make:
Fry the quorn in a teaspoon of coconut oil for 5 minutes. Then add the defrosted prawns and fry for a further 5 minutes
Add the stir-fry veg and bean sprouts and fry for 5 minutes
Add soy sauce to taste (around 3 tbsp) and sprinkle a pinch of ginger and chilli powder

If you're using you're own spices instead of a packaged sauce and you would like your stir-fry to be a little thicker, then add an egg over the vegetables when frying

Nutritionally high in protein and fibre and low in fat

A LITTLE EXTRA

Scrummy yet skinny sides: 

• Place a teaspoon of Garlic and Herb Philadelphia Light in the centre of large portobello mushrooms and place in the oven for 10 minutes at 180 degrees
• Slice the top of a pepper open and remove the seeds. Fill with an egg and place in the oven for 15 minutes at 180 degrees
• Homemade guacamole: half an avocado (sliced), quarter of an onion (finely chopped), juice of half a lime, sprinkle of garlic granules, salt and pepper. Mix and blend in a bowl till fairly smooth
• Microwave a sweet potato for 2 minutes then slice into wedges. Sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic over the top and roast in the oven for 15 minutes
• Put 3 tablespoons of Bisto Cheese Sauce Granules in a mug, add boiling water and stir till thickened. Find a small baking dish and fill with defrosted cauliflower (may have to chop into smaller segments so it will be covered by the sauce). Pour the cheese sauce over the cauliflower until the baking dish is filled. Grate a small amount of cheese on top so it crisps when cooked in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes between 180 and 200 degrees. Add garlic for extra flavour
• Sweet potato mash is a healthier alternative to normal mash. Peel the sweet potatoes and chop into small chunks. Boil till soft and mash with a splash of milk
• Riced Cauliflower: as an alternative to rice, grate cauliflower and stir-fry in a tsp of oil (prefarbly coconut) for roughly 5 minutes. Crumble a stock cube (chicken recommended) over the top whilst frying. Cook until tender, serve hot. 

SUPERFOOD BURGER

A low fat burger which is high in protein, fibre and is gluten free. It is also high in magnesium, potassium and iron. This burger is also high in calcium whilst being gluten free so is perfect for vegans or those who are lactose intolerant; all thanks to Quinoa.

Make this superfood burger with lentils, chopping onion and garlic to add some flavour. A dash of soy will crisp the outside when fried. If you are vegan, use an egg free replacer to bind the ingredients, such as soy flour or mashed tofu. 

Ingredients list: for 2 burgers

100g dry quinoa

50g mushed borlotti beans

1 egg (or 1 tbsp soy flour, 2 tbsp mashed tofu)

Half an onion

1 tbsp garlic powder or 1 fresh garlic clove

Cooking instructions:

Boil water and add quinoa to simmer for 15 minutes

Microwave borlotti beans for 1.5 minutes then drain and mash
Simmer the quinoa for 5 minutes

Fry the chopped onion in a separate frying pan then add to the mixture with an egg (or the egg replacer)

Mix the ingredients together and squeeze into circular shapes. You can use a tin lid or a shape cutter to make the burger shapes in the frying pan before cooking

Fry the burgers for a good 5 minutes. The burgers should be crispy and browned on the outside

Serve warm

Serving recommendations:

Serve with guacamole, roasted sweet potato wedges, portobello mushrooms and/or large globe tomatoes. 

ONE FOR THE VEGGIES

If you fancy a filling guilt-free meal then this recipe's the one!
Ingredients list: for 2 people
1 butternut squash
Half an onion
1 packet of quorn mince
1 garlic clove
1 packet of tinned tomatoes
Handful of grated cheese (low fat/weight watchers)
Can of lentils
Salt and pepper (chilli powder optional)

Cost of meal per person: £2.50 (and I could hardly finish it!)

First, cut the butternut squash in half and empty the seeds from the hollow circle inside
Then score the surface and add a teaspoon of coconut oil or spray with Fry Light oil (or olive oil if not)
Roast in the oven for half an hour
Whilst the butternut squash if roasting, start to prepare the filling
Cook the quorn and the onion in the frying pan
Microwave the lentils for half the cooking instructions time then add to the pan
Cook for a further 5 minutes before adding the tinned tomatoes. Add the garlic
Simmer in the pan until the butternut squash is cooked
Remove the butternut squash from the oven and spoon out the butternut squash from its skin and add this to the pan to cook with the other ingredients for the filling
Then place all the contents of the butternut squash filling back into the skin of the butternut squash
Sprinkle the cheese over the top and place back in the oven for a further 5 minutes
Serve warm with a pinch of salt and pepper or a sprinkle of chilli powder!

FOOD MARKET HEAVEN

I'm currently a student at The University of Leeds. Fortunately with my obsession for cooking and food, Leeds has an amazing food market which has a wide variety of rare types of fruit and veg, meat and spices! The food on offer is fresh, high quality and fantastically cheap compared to supermarket prices!

If you're looking for sweet bananas and fresh courgettes by the bag for 50p, large avocados for 30p, sweet poatoes by the sack and an array of nuts, spices and unusual condaments then the food market is definitely a place for you to head!

A way to make appealing top quality meals for less and even Jamie Oliver agrees!
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/leeds-kirkgate-market-jamie-s-ministry-of-food-stall-spreading-health-eating-message-1-5457365

BLOAT FREE

I wanted to find an alternative to milk that was lower calorie, lower sugar and also didn't make me bloat.

All humans have a slight intolerence to lactose, which therefore makes us bloat if consumed in large quantities. 

After realising that skimmed milk despite being low in calories and fat is actually just as high in sugar, I decided that I needed a healthier alternative.

So I decided to look into other options such as lactose free sweetened and unsweetened soya milk as well as almond milk. Were these lower in fat, sugar and calories whilst containing the necessary vitamins and nutrients?!

After investigating the options, unsweetened almond milk was in fact the lowest in fat, sugar and calories, whilst also tasting delicious! 

MORNING

Here's a low fat, high protein pancake recipe! Rich in flavour and nutrients.

To make 2 pancakes: 

Whisk 3 eggs in a bowl. 

Add a splash of (ideally) almond milk but if not any milk will do and mix

Add 100g of porridge oats. For more flavour use the Oat So Simple flavoured sachets. For this recipe I recommend the honey and almond flavour

Add half a crushed banana to the mixture

Pour into a frying pan using coconut oil (if possible, to enhance taste and better the fat) to cook with

Serve with the rest of the banana chopped and a handful of blueberries.

Finished with a dollop of protein rich peanut butter or almond butter or manuka honey if you need a sugar fix! 

170 calories per pancake

Other pancake ideas:

Use flavored whey protein in the pancake mix to further increase the protein content

Use low calorie white hot chocolate powder for a creamier flavour!

Add a tablespoon of peanut butter to the pancake mixture before cooking

Sprinkle cinnamon as a finishing touch

Add flaxseed to the pancake mixture to add essential omega 3 fatty acids and antioxidants as a health kick as well as it being an added source of fibre for a fuller-for-longer effect!