Winter inspiration!!

[40thisisit]

Hi,
Earlier this year I did really well on the 5:2 plan, eating lots of salads and fruit BUT now winter is a coming these foods just don't do it for me :( and I haven't dared get back on the scales but my clothes are saying it's bad news.
Please can anyone suggest any suitable warming items??

You could make a really nice vegetable soup that should be pretty low calorie that you could have for lunch. Maybe carrot, onion, celery, etc and some stock. No potatoes or maybe just a v small one if you need to thicken it slightly. Or I made a really nice carrot and coriander soup when I was doing 5:2 earlier this year and it was really low cal.

Then for dinner the vegetable curry (recipe is linked to quite near the start of the recipe thread I think) is v warming and low cal. You could do a veggie stew with maybe a small amount of turkey or chicken in it. I would have a large bowl without any rice or carbs.

You could still also do things like stir fries.

The answer is always eggs! Scramble or omelette, with mushrooms, spinach, tomato added. Tonight I'm making a mushroom stroganoff.

The chicken puttenesca in the 5:2 recipe book is brilliant, they also have a couple of recipes for stews and there's even one for a cottage pie - worth getting it from the library and having a browse?

Also a big vote from me for soup, stew, spice and eggs. I made a lovely veggie curry last night for 120 cals. I think protein is the key in making things feel more satisfying when it's cold.

Soups, stews, stir fries, spanish omelette, moussaka without the white sauce, baked fish in tomatoey sauces with steamed veg
lots of wonderful hearty meals

Golden veg soup in the Hairy Bikers' Diet book is fab - the first book, not the most recent one - it's an unutterable pain peeling butternut squash but each portion is 102 cals. I love the lentil tikka masala recipe in the Fast Day Diet Book - really easy to make, 218 cals or add an extra 120 for a Sainsburys BGTY small nan bread - spicy, filling and I often eat it on non- fast days too. Kelly's salmon recipe is great too - same book. Absolutely agree about eggs - one of my fast day staples is a 2 egg omelette with red onion and a tiny bit of St Agur cheese, with a huge green salad and a bit of balsamic.

Waitrose venison burgers (157 cals each) with veg or their chilli salmon filo parcels about 207 cals I think.