Comfort Food That's Good For Ya

neuro-praxis

I don't know about you, but when trying to drop weight I have in the past gotten stuck in the habit of eating foods I don't like, purely because they're low in calories. That's pretty stupid, as it can't be maintained long-term and inevitably you end up eating the same old rubbish again.

Lately I have been working hard to prepare meals that are not only nutritious and low in calories, but really really tasty.

Here's my latest favourite and I'd love to hear yours.

Meat-stuffed aubergines

Per person:
1 portion bolognese sauce
1 large aubergine
1 oz (28g) mozzarella
Fresh black pepper

Preheat oven to 180 celsius.

Cut aubergines in half and scoop out flesh. Draw out bitter juices by salting the flesh, leaving for a time, then rinsing and patting dry. Chop up the aubergine flesh and set aside.

Prepare a bolognese meat sauce. I use 100-150g lean minced beef, tomatoes, tomato purée, salt, pepper, sugar, green herbs, courgettes, aubergine flesh and peppers. Simmer until rich.

Stuff aubergines with meat sauce and bake for 10-15 mins until tender. Top with mozzarella and finish off under the grill. Top with fresh-ground black pepper and eat. Yum!

Khannie

Omellete for me. I put whatever veg is to hand in the frying pan, add some meat of some description. Mix up some eggs in a bowl (usually 2 or 3 eggs and 2 egg whites) a smidge of milk, some oregano, some basil and lash it on top of the frying veg and mix it all up. Usually don't bother using any oil. No real need for it with a non-stick pan. Works out at 3-400 calories depending on how many eggs you use. Really filling.

My low-cal treat is either a twister (80 cals), frozen capri-sun (70 odd iirc) or a jaffa cake (50) with my coffee. If i have a good few calories left and I'm feeling very sorry for myself I'll go with a slice of bread with small amount of chocolate spread (150 cals) which is a nutritious disaster of course, but reasonably good value for calories as a cheat goes.

Of course, I love my protein pancakes, but I've rattled on about them enough at this stage.

jam_mac_jam

Strawberries.

Macha

It sounds kinda gross but I'm loving cottage cheese with Glenisk low fat strawberry yoghurt. Got it from this page:

http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/displayarticle.php?aid=23

EileenG

Brussel sprout soup.

Don't laugh, it's delicious. Boil a handful of brussel sprouts in some chicken stock for five minutes or so, then blend until it is smooth. It makes a wonderful creamy soup that's amazingly low calorie.

ApeXaviour

Walnuts and cashews.


Fresh seasonal berries, probably the best carbohydrate bargain you can make as they're just ridiculously chock full of anti-oxidants. Taste fantastic too. That's Blackberries, rasberries, blueberries, strawberries...

Khannie

EileenG wrote: »

Brussel sprout soup.

omg, the gas!

EileenG

EileenG wrote: »

Brussel sprout soup.

Don't laugh, it's delicious. Boil a handful of brussel sprouts in some chicken stock for five minutes or so, then blend until it is smooth. It makes a wonderful creamy soup that's amazingly low calorie.

Thats an interesting concept. Going to give that a go.

EileenG

Khannie wrote: »

omg, the gas!

What gas?

seaner

i love love love almonds. They're my snack / treat.
Having said that I could just as easily eat a whole block of marzipan...but we won't go there.

olaola

A big huuuuge bowl of spicy veggie chilli.

I usually throw in a few types of beans and let it bubble away for a while.
Then eat it with a dollop of fat free fromage frais or low fat creme fraiche.

Or if I'm hankering for some crap - a potato waffle with a slice of plastic cheese topped with a poached egg! (about 200 cals) HAHM.

That aubergine dish sounds great, I'll have to try that soon!

siobhan.murphy

tinned salmon, onion, chilli, mayo load it onto the half price thin ricecakes in dunnes at the moment!.its really good
make up the mix and keep in air tight bowl in fridge as its not really calorie wise to devour the whole lot in one sitting!!!!

Khannie

EileenG wrote: »

What gas?

The gas that comes out your bum! Brussels sprouts and cabbage are legendary for producing this.

EileenG

Khannie wrote: »

The gas that comes out your bum! Brussels sprouts and cabbage are legendary for producing this.

Nope, I only fart when I eat pasta or bread.

neuro-praxis

olaola wrote: »

That aubergine dish sounds great, I'll have to try that soon!

Here's a recommendation to go with it - Only have half a stuffed aubergine (we found a whole one each was too much) and have something alongside it - either a tasty dressed salad or some really garlicky roast new potatoes.

xzanti

Cold
Fruit Salad - Seedless grapes, clementine/manderine segments & strawberrys smothered in low fat strawberry yoghurt... Mmmmm

Hot
Chicken stew - Chicken breast, carrots, onions, mushrooms and spuds in chicken soup, splash of white wine and season to taste... (for extra healthy, leave out the spuds)

neuro-praxis

I just made stewed rhubarb for dessert, sweetened with canderel. Absolutely delicious, comforting and warming.

And you are a WeightWatcher like me - 0 points. Nice!

neuro-praxis

Here's another one I tried last night.

I got some large flat-cap mushrooms. I mixed up some extra light cream cheese with lots of garlic, herbs and black pepper. I stuffed the mushrooms with this mixture and baked them. Really good - doesn't taste like a low calorie option at all.

(With WW, I think you get a tablespoon for 1 point, and that much cheese will stuff 2-3 large mushrooms. Nice. )

Khannie

xzanti wrote: »

Hot
Chicken stew - Chicken breast, carrots, onions, mushrooms and spuds in chicken soup, splash of white wine and season to taste... (for extra healthy, leave out the spuds)

Ah yes....I nearly forgot. Definitely one of my top 3 meals:

Beef stew - 1KG steak pieces (around 10 euro in your butchers), lots of carrots, lots of onions, some potatoes (as above, you can leave these out), some aduki beans work well but you need to soak them overnight, two tins of campbells condensed oxtail, water. Delicious.

You need to simmer the beef on its own with the oxtail + water for about 90 minutes before adding the veg. This makes it really tender.

1KG of steak pieces makes a LOT of stew. You could get away with halving the recipe to start.

Dragan

taconnol wrote: »

It sounds kinda gross but I'm loving cottage cheese with Glenisk low fat strawberry yoghurt. Got it from this page:

http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/displayarticle.php?aid=23

If you can convince me you can't taste the cottage cheese then i will definitely give this a place in my "just before bed" meals list!