5:2 Fast day recipe ideas

[frenchfancy]

For those following the 5:2 diet and would like ideas for fast day meals. Please post your favourites.

Yesterdays lunch was carrot and coriander soup - 110 cals

recipe here: www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/7003/carrot-and-coriander-soup it was delicious :)

Had squash and chorizo stew last week also very nice - 264 cals

Recipe here: www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4824/squash-and-chorizo-stew

Would love to see all your ideas.

Aftereight i like the look of the tuna rice - one question, do you add any more liquid or is it just the canned tomatoes?

It varies french, I keep an eye on it & if I think needs more water I pour water into tin of tomatoes & add that gradually. I think it gives better flavour. I have made with fresh tomatoes also in which case I squeeze in some lemon juice for extra zing.

Roasted carrot, red pepper tomato and lentil soup, with rosemary, thyme and chilli.
Servings: 4

75g dried red lentils, rinsed
2 onions, peeled and left whole
3 red peppers, split and seeds out
Fresh tomatoes about 5-6 med depending on size (mine were cherry toms and I used about 15)
2 chilli peppers, (more or less or none!)
3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
6 carrots, peeled and sliced
Spray or 1 teaspoon olive oil
2 pints chicken or veg stock
A sprig of fresh rosemary and 1 of thyme chopped (or you could use fresh parsley instead but put that in at the end )

Directions:

Put all veg in a baking tray spray with oil or drizzle a little on and mix to coat and roast in hot oven for about 45 mins until all is done, ( I didn?t need to cover mine but you don?t want the liquid to evaporate so you might need to after a while, or take it out before the carrots are quite done as I did )

Simmer the lentils in a little water (just to cover) until tender.
Add the stock, the herbs and the roasted veggies (I leave all skins on except for the garlic cloves ).
Simmer together for 15 20 mins depending on how done your carrots were..
Blend (I use a stick blender), and purée the soup until no lumps remain,

Season with salt and pepper or soy sauce to taste ..

Works out at around 180 cals a big bowlful (depending on how much oil .. These cals are for 10ml oil) and is very satisfying

oh yes , and you need to chop the onions and peppers after roasting before you add it to the stock

You could also save 267 calories on the recipe and 66 cals per serving if you leave out the lentils altogether but it wont be so thick or IMHO so satisfying .. .

Brill

5:2 is a Way of Eating, right?

And on feast days you want something special. This cake is that something special! It needs no filling or icing (although you can of course include them) - it's just gorgeous as it is. If there's a moister cake around, please let me know. It's lower in calories than other sponge cakes (no butter or eggs) and it's as cheap as chips.

Easy chocolate cake (Vegan)

Ingredients:
165g self raising flour (I use Sainsbury's Basic)
25g cocoa powder
200g sugar
80g vegetable oil
250g water

Method:
Measure the dry ingredients, sifting the flour and the cocoa powder, then add the oil and water. Stir, initially with a dessertspoon, and then with a whisk, then pour into a prepared 20cm (8") cake tin.

Bake at 180C (gas 5) for 35-40 minutes.

Calories:
165 flour = 355 x 1.65 = 586
200 sugar = 400 x 2 = 800
25 c/powder = 355 x .25 = 89
80 oil = 900 x .8 = 720

Total = 2195

The finished cake weighed 640g. 10 slices at 64g, say, would give 220 calories a slice.

Cost, well, last time I checked, the ingredients came to 70p ? or 7p a slice.

I've got pics of the cake, plus many more recipes (mainly bread, I have to say) on my blog. I've just applied to Mumsnet to register, but its title is in my profile.

Useful blog here by someone who's doing the 5:2 WOE and blogging about it - plus she's posting her low-cal recipes which look pretty good.

Tin of whole earth baked beans
slice of really good ham underneath
parmesan shavings on top

or do half a tin and put a dollop of scrambled egg or a slice of toast on the side ....

Frenchfancy the noodles you need are Shirataki and mine are zero calories as they are not mixed with Tofu. Mine are pure fibre and can be purchaes from Asian food stores. I bought mine from Central Oriental Supermarkets.

Im off to buy some vegiies and stuff to start cooking some of the yummy recipes.

My favourite fast day meal. Butternut squash and sweet potato casserole

320 cals per portion. I skip the wine, and up the bulgar to 100g (for 4 servings) to make up the calories. It is filling and very tasty. I've been making the 4 servings, then splitting into 2 to cover a weeks worth of fast days for me and DH. Keeps in fridge then reheats fine.

Had this soup today - it was lovely. I forgot to put the cinnamon in but I really don't think it needs it. The ginger gives a lovely flavour.

butternut squash soup

Hello, can I join in? Been thinking about this for a while and decided I was going to give it go and today is my first fast day, tomorrow will be my second and I'll try and have 16 hrs without food from tonight until tomorrow.

Can I ask where people get their calorie info from?

oops just realised I've posted to the recipe threads I'll skoot over to the other thread!

I bought a slow cooker yesterday. i was desperate to try it, but it was a fast day so I made this:

Vegetable Chilli

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion , roughly chopped
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 small aubergine
1 small courgette
1 tsp cumin
1 red chilli
2 x 410g/14oz cans mixed pulses in water, rinsed and drained
2 cans chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp dark chocolate , chopped

Put oil into slow cooker and spread around. Put rest of ingredients in and cook on high for 4 hours (I guess 8 hours on low would work too)

Serves 4. 228 cals per serving.

It was really good.

I'm on about week 5 of doing this now and have just started to get the hang of what might work in terms of calories, as I've never tried to count them before. I had been kind of cheating by having an Innocent Veg Pot as my main meal (c.330 calories, depending on the type) then having a half can of soup or similar for lunch and skipping breakfast. I found myself getting really grumpy with it - perhaps that's just getting to used to it too? - and am now doing better by trying to eat more 100 - 150 calorie meals. A typical 150 cal meal might be some lightly fried or baked skinless fish, plus green veg and maybe some lo cal bread, or a slice of turkey plus lots of salad. Any other advances on these mini-meals? I don't think my body can cope with holding on all day and then having a calorie splurge as I then get really hungry after the splurge. And grumpy, obviously! I do hope this diet has the health benefits it implies as my family have a grumpier (and occasionally smellier - anyone else getting this?) member in me recently. :D Although on the plus side I think my jeans are baggier and I actually woke up yesterday wanting to fast - what's that all about? :)

This is great for a fast day .. sort of like a plate of chips..

MFP has 1 whole 5-6" head of cauli at about 150 cals .. it makes a big bowlful

Roasted cauliflower with Cumin and lemon Juice

Chop up a cauli into small florets and the stalk also , (fairly thin ) . bung in a thin layer on a baking pan (i use 2 trays for a head of cauli as you dont want it to steam) , spray with oil and sprinkle with ground cumin and black pepper spray a bit more oil again over the lot .Roast on high (220c) until starting to lo0k a bit charred round edges about 15 mins

Turn over the pieces , sprinkle some more cumin and black pepper , squeeze lemon juice over and return to oven until nice and charred on edges.. about another 20 mins

Sprinkle with salt and more LJ and wolf down .. ( for elegance try and put on plate first , though I often just eat out of pan its so yummy!)

(I suppose if you wanted to make it more like chips you could leave out the cumin and use S&P and malt vinegar after!

Curried wedges - fried:
Microwave your potato then cut into quarters. Oil your frying pan and fry the cut sides for several minutes - until they've browned a little. Turn them on their backs so that both cut sides are uppermost and sprinkle curry powder over them. Turn them over and fry each side for two minutes more. Serve.

When I'm calorie counting I take a potato weighing 100g (72 cals) and spray the pan with one-cal oil a couple of times. Before adding the curry I spray the cut surfaces with oil. I figure the oil and curry powder add another 15 calories.

If I'm not calorie counting, I just make sure there's enough oil in the pan.

(I used to quarter the potatoes and boil until soft, but, since my wife was microwaving hers I found it just as easy to stick mine in there as well.)

Red Cabbage and Beet Borscht

This makes a rather startling colour but filling and earthy tasting soup (and has no pretensions towards being ?the real thing?), but is great for a fast day.

Serves 6 at 667 cals for the whole recipe so about 111 a portion

200g Potato
1 pack of Sainsbury's Cooked Beetroot In Natural Juices,
2 Medium Onion -
1 Celery stalk, medium
1 large Carrot
Half a Red Cabbage chopped
Smoked Pancetta 110g, 1 pack
400g can Tinned chopped Tomatoes
Caraway Seed I teaspoon
Dried Dill half teaspoon
Fresh - Dill, small packet
Smoked Pancetta 110g, 1 pack
Chicken (or veggie) Stock Cube, 1 cube
Splash of red wine or cider vinegar

Chop up celery onion carrot into small dice , Fry off with pancetta in large pans until soft and then drain off excess fat. (or if making veggie version use spray oil for this stage) .

Thinly slice potatoes (I left the skins on) and add to the pot with caraway seeds and dried dill. Add made up stock add to cover and simmer until pots are tender.

Shred cabbage and chop beetroot and add to the pot with the tinned tomatoes .salt and pepper to taste and simmer until cabbage is tender.

Add chopped fresh dill and splash of vinegar to taste and liquidise.

I like mine with a little crumbled feta on top and a splash of hot sauce (of course as it?s me!) ..though you could have half fat crème fraiche or sour cream
Tis yum

The veggie version (no pancetta) will be only 542 for the whole recipe and 90cals a portion!!

oh and there should be only ONE pack of smoked pancetta in the recipe if you are making the non veg-version .. Thats a cut and paste error . Sorry

The link to butternut squash curry is broken on previous page so here is the recipe:

Butternut squash curry

Serves four.

2 tbsp sunflower oil
3 onions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
1 small green chilli, halved, deseeded and thinly sliced
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp garam masala
1 butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into 2cm chunks
100g red lentils, rinsed
About 700ml vegetable stock
400g tinned plum tomatoes
1 big handful fresh coriander, tough stalks removed, leaves chopped

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onions and sauté with a pinch of salt until softened and turning golden, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger and green chilli, and cook, stirring, for about five minutes. Add the ground coriander, cumin and garam masala, stir for a minute, then toss in the cubes of squash and lentils, and stir until well coated. Pour in the stock and tomatoes, crushing the tomatoes against the sides of the pan with a fork to break them up a bit.

Simmer, part-covered, until the squash and lentils are very tender, about 30 minutes, stirring from time to time. Stir in about two-thirds of the coriander, taste and check the seasoning ? add salt and pepper if desired.

300 cals per serving.

I'm going to do this tonight with some cauliflower rice (50 cals)

Two easy low cal stuffed Mushroom recipes here and here

When fasting you often need something quick filling and tasty, I find this recipe fits the bill and some or all of the preparation can be done the previous day.
I modify the recipe regularly and my other half who is not dieting eats the same but has larger portions or has a naan bread with it.

I have not written up the calories as it depends on the portion sizes of each ingredient but potatoes and cauliflower are easy to weigh and calculate.

The Basic recipe
Dry potato and Cauliflower curry.
Potatoes approx 75 calories per 100g
Cauliflower ? larger ratio to potato approx 33 calories per 100g
Spices of your choice, I use a teaspoon of each of the below if im making enough for two.
Cumin
Coriander
Turmeric
Garam masala
Chili powder
Salt
1-2 tomatoes or you can use a tin of tomatoes if you want to make this recipe slightly less dry. aprrox 21 cals each

Roughly chop potatoes, leave them in reasonable sized chunks as some with break down later.
Boil potatoes ( I boil in the skins and peel after they have cooled)
Cook cauliflower in good sized florets ( you can use frozen cauliflower as it works just as well and is easier to prepare).
In a bowl mix your spices and salt together and mash the tomatoes into the bowl so the spices are all blended in .
Spay a fry pan with Fry light and add potatoes and cauliflower , stir together and add the tomato mixture. Turn the contents several times so everything is coated. Cover the pan and place on a low heat for a few minutes. (Longer if you prepared the veg yesterday and they are cold to start with).
Serve as it or if you like add a squeeze of lemon juice first.

You can add more or less of any spices and it will change the flavour every day.

I often modify this and add peas , onions or a tin of chick peas that come in at 145 cals per half a can. By using tinned tomatoes and a little water you can make this curry a little moister to ring the changes. You can add anything you like depending on your preferences and calories allowed.

I'm blogging all my 5:2 diet low calorie recipes - they generally are under 100 cals for soups and around 200-350 calories for main courses.

I'd love any feedback - check them out in my 5:2 diet recipes section and let me know what you think if you try any of them!

They look excellent Eclecticbabe, and I'd already spotted them online and bookmarked them before you posted on here!