Beef Ragu Fettucine

This is so good kids can’t see the veg in it

Meat has become frightfully expensive but Beef Ragu Fettucine from Pinch of Nom makes 300g of stewing beef stretch a long way. It’s bulked out by a plethora of vegetables which are masked by the generous quantity of sauce and pasta. This recipe can therefore trick the most obstinate of anti-veg people to tuck in, my teenage son being proof. I love it when he asks if I’ll make it again considering he would have pulled his face when seeing the initial mound of ingredients.

Pinch of Nom include three ways to cook this dish in their book (hob, pressure cooker and slow cooker). I opted for the hob because I’m not cool enough to own a pressure cooker, and slow cookers just piss me off (no matter what I do, the sauce always seems watery, is it just me?!?). Do watch your heat if cooking on a hob – it may need less than the recommended 2 ½ hours’ time.

I swapped fettucine for tagliatelle (Tesco isn’t posh enough to stock it), and while the pearl barley will add some additional texture, don’t fret if you can’t get any. I like to make this on a quiet Sunday while I’m pottering about and warm it through for Monday’s tea.

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Maple and Bacon French toast with fruit

Fruit on bacon? Having a laugh?!?

This is my first blog in over a year, but I can’t promise it’s a good one. I’ve really struggled since my dad’s passing and coping with the modern day challenges of ‘real life’. But mentally this is probably the best I’ve felt for 18 months. I’m settled in my new job and I’ve booked a holiday to go to the Dominican Republic in November which means…. I better start shedding some lbs!! :-).

At 518 calories per serving, I’m not sure Maple and Bacon French Toast with Fruit from Pinch of Nom is a recipe to help get me back on track. But cut me (and yourself) some slack and why not enjoy this on a lazy Sunday for an indulgent brunch? I’d inhale maple syrup given the chance, but I’m unsure whether I want to smother it over bacon, and even more unsure that I want to top my bacon with fruit (blueberries in this case).

This recipe was ok, however I prefer French Toast from the Hairy Dieters which looks and IS better for your waistline! Try them yourself and let me know your thoughts!

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Mexican Street Corn Soup

This soup has a proper kick to it!

I haven’t posted for a while. A combination of doing volunteering work, my Dad passing away and securing a new job has zapped my energy and enthusiasm. But as if I didn’t know already, the scales confirmed that I need to get back with it and maybe in doing so life will become more enjoyable.

I rarely get excited about a soup recipe – home-made versions are better for you and lower in calories compared to saltier tinned equivalents, but can still lack taste. However, Mexican Street Corn Soup from Pinch of Nom did capture my imagination and I was thrilled with the end result. The chopped green chilli and chilli powder give it plenty of ooomph and there’s a nice balance of flavours along with the red pepper, sweetcorn, potato and feta. This is one soup dish that I’ll return to again and again, plus it’s only approx 70p per serving to make and 199 calories (not 99 as printed by the Sun newspaper when plugging PON’s latest book earlier this year).

If you like this, I’d recommend Spicy Sweetcorn Soup (with bacon or tofu) which equally packs some welly and can be adapted for vegetarians. Alternatively, click here to check out some more super soup recipes!

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Lamb, Rosemary and Sweet Potato Pie

Use normal potatoes for the topping if you like, but sweet potatoes give this pie a distinctive taste

Due to the cost and length of cooking time, I’m quite selective over which lamb dishes I make but Lamb, Rosemary and Sweet Potato Pie from Pinch of Nom’s latest book was a no-brainer. This really is a beautifully tasting pie which contains a great balance of protein, vegetables and carbs, all for just 340 calories per serving (based on serving 6 people).

If pies / casserole-based dishes are your thing, check out lean lamb hotpot, mince and vegetable pie with tumbled spuds, cottage pie or tortilla chilli pie.

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Cock and Bull

For an extra bit of indulgence, Pinch of Nom suggest adding a drop of brandy after you have browned the onions and mushrooms

Cock and Bull from Pinch of Nom is a meat eater’s paradise as it combines chicken breast and steak (either sirloin or rump) in one pan with a creamy sauce. I served this with some peas as I felt the meat needed something else to accompany it, beyond the handful of sliced onion and mushrooms which don’t go far between four people. You could add some new potatoes too, but bare in mind that the calorie count is already 436 per serving.

I would make this again but next time would reduce down the sauce as mine was far too runny (user error!). Pinch of Nom just love a creamy sauce and use low-fat cream cheese to make their dishes diet friendly. If you like this, you’ll love creamy garlic chicken and poulet au vinaigre.

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Full English Wraps

Be sure to cook the egg slowly and be careful when flipping it over to avoid a calamity!

With some healthier tweaks, you can still enjoy the ‘naughty’ things you love when on a diet. Full English Wraps by Pinch of Nom may not be a traditional breakfast ‘fry-up’, but as it contains bacon, eggs, sausage, mushrooms and/or beans and tomatoes it’s not a bad substitute.

As ever, moderation is key and to keep the calories to a modest 220 per serving the ‘wrap’ in this recipe is made by cooking an egg on a very low heat. Nom suggest using a medium egg, but as supermarket sizes can vary, for the extra calories you might be better off using a large egg so it fully covers the base of your frying pan and can hold the contents of the wrap without the risk of falling apart.

If you like this, you’ll probably love breakfast omelette burritos which is based on a similar theme but higher in calories.

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Breakfast Potatoes

Adding the egg and/or avocado on top is optional

Breakfast Potatoes from Pinch of Nom is a lighter version of an American brunch dish which you can top with a fried egg (as I did) or some avocado. It’s not the quickest to make, so is probably better suited for a weekend.

As a carb lover I enjoyed it, but I much prefer halloumi and smoky bacon hash and hash brown breakfast bake from Pinch of Nom. Alternatively, sausage hash is another fave of mine.

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Dijon Pork

This recipe calls for pork tenderloin, but pork loin steaks trimmed of all fat also work well

When purchasing a new cook book I always familiarise myself with the recipes and any particular ingredients that the authors frequent. In Pinch of Nom’s case, they’re big fans of pork, mushrooms and low-fat cream cheese, so I regularly keep these items in my fridge in case I need a ‘plan B’ recipe in the event of ‘plan A’ going out of the window.

Dijon Pork was indeed a ‘plan B’ recipe when I discovered that the vege stew I’d originally earmarked was going to take 2 hours. Our survey said, “Uh-uhh!”. But in the end I’m so pleased I tried this recipe as pork and mustard in a low-fat cream cheese sauce are a top combination! Although the cooking time is 50 minutes, over the half the time is taken up by just simmering the ingredients in a pan until the sauce thickens. Serve with a small portion of rice.

If you like this, you’ll probably also love mustard pork and pork stroganoff.

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Ploughman’s Platter with Homemade Chutney

All this for less than 400 calories

Ploughman’s is a pub classic and if you follow Pinch of Nom’s Ploughman’s Platter with Homemade Chutney recipe you can have a lunchtime feast for under 400 calories, which includes a wholemeal roll for the carb fanatics out there.

Nom’s home-made chutney is delectable, but if you want to save yourself 20 minutes shop-bought chutney will suffice. There really is something in this platter for everyone – ham, salad, cheese, fruit, bread – just dig in and this is perfect if you’re someone who prefers buffet style food.

My wife has recently bought a couple of afternoon tea sets from local cafes comprising finger sandwiches and cakes. They’ve been fine, but apart from being dieting busting they’ve cost in the region of £15 a head! In contrast, this home-made platter costs around £2.65 per portion and is kinder to your waistline.

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Pulled Chicken Baked Sliders

Less than £1 a head and under 300 calories!

My shoddy photo really doesn’t do justice to Pulled Chicken Baked Sliders from Pinch of Nom. The BBQ chicken, melted cheese in a bun combo transports you into an American diner with the added bonus that this costs less than £1 per head to make. The only thing missing is the fries on the side!

The recipe below is for 9 people (yes, 9), but just scale down accordingly depending on how many you are feeding. There is a long list of ingredients and, although it tastes good, the effort required to make this recipe is disproportionate unless you’ve got copious amounts of time on your hands. From start to finish, this took me about 2 hours, which is way too long to knock together a leisurely weekend lunch.

There are some fabulous recipes in Pinch of Nom’s new book – Quick and Easy. But rather like crispy chili beef (which I featured on this blog last week), some of the prep times are way too ambitious. If you just want a no-faff sandwich or wrap, click here for some ideas.

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Creamy Chicken Pasta Bake

Chicken & pasta, topped with a creamy cheese sauce. What’s not to like?

Who doesn’t love a pasta bake? Well, me actually, but my teenage son Will can eat pasta by the bucket load so I knew Creamy Chicken Pasta Bake from Pinch of Nom would be right up his street. Pasta bakes are a genius way of getting children to sample vegetables without them really noticing – in this case it’s sliced leeks and mushrooms, which go brilliantly with the chicken and the creamy, cheesy sauce.

The calorie count for this dish is just over 500, but you can always reduce it by having less pasta. 300g between 4 people is quite a lot and I find that 50g of pasta per person is sufficient. It’s up to you.

If you love this ingredient combination, then I’d urge you to try smashed-up chicken which is one of my all-time favourites, the equally sublime creamy chicken and tarragon pots with rosemary potato wedges or chicken tetrazzini.

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Bacon, potato and spring onion frittata

Providing you’ve got eggs literally anything goes in a frittata

If you’ve got some eggs and odds and sods in your fridge that need using up, shove them in a frittata. Pinch of Nom’s thrifty version uses bacon, potato and spring onions which are a great combo, but chuck in what you like. If you’re after a vege version, check out vegetable frittata. Ideal for brunch or a light lunch with a green salad on the side.

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Creamy Mushroom Bruschetta

Give me a box of mushrooms and I’m as happy as Larry

Mushroom fans have I got a treat for you! Courtesy of Pinch of Nom, Creamy Mushroom Bruschetta is a banging breakfast / brunch recipe which looks and tastes naughtier than it is! I just love the combination of creamy, garlicy mushrooms generously piled on top of toasted ciabatta with a hint of basil and fresh chives. Just fantastic!

I get offended (for no justifiable reason) when people say they don’t like mushrooms. Such a crime should carry a custodial sentence. But before that, try this recipe and my other favourite mushroom-based breakfasts – mushrooms on toast, creamy mustard mushrooms on toast with orange juice and grilled mushrooms with scrambled eggs on toast. If you come back and tell me you don’t like mushrooms after that we are DONE! ;-).

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Breakfast Banana Split

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Breakfast Banana Split from Pinch of Nom

Pretty food is not always healthy food, but Breakfast Banana Split from Pinch of Nom is goodness personified. The mix of bananas, blueberries, strawberries and cherries is a perfect morning wake-up call, topped with yoghurt and a hint of vanilla and the flaked almonds, which I opted to lightly toast beforehand.

If you’re worried about food wastage / supermarket sell-by dates / cost and don’t want to use fresh fruit just for 10 blueberries, 4 strawberries and 2 cherries, then just buy frozen. That’s exactly what I do and I just take out the quantities of fruit that I need. No stress, no wastage and little difference in overall quality.

For other fruity-based breakfast ideas, check out french toast and fresh fruit compote with home-made granola which are divine.

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Crispy Chilli Beef

Get all your ingredients, pots, pans etc out in advance, otherwise you’ll be more tempted to ring your local takeaway!

I’ve mentioned it before on this blog that it’s easier to create authentic, calorie-reduced Chinese takeaways compared to Indian counterparts. Crispy Chilli Beef from Pinch of Nom’s latest book (Quick and Easy) is a case in point. If you follow Nom’s tip (buy the book) to leave it until the last minute to add the beef strips to the sauce they will stay crispy for a bit longer. I was pleasantly surprised by how realistic our crispy beef turned out.

The authenticity and cost to make this dish – approx £2.60 per portion (considerably less compared to what you’d pay from a takeaway) are the positives. The negatives are the ball ache in terms of how long this recipe takes to make and that your kitchen will resemble a bombsite afterwards. I felt quite overwhelmed by the long list of ingredients involved and subsequent clean-up job required. Pinch of Nom’s stopwatch, which suggests only 10 minutes of preparation is required, must be faulty! Or, I’m just woefully shite in the kitchen.

While this dish undoubtedly tastes good (though I’d use a smaller red pepper if making again), fakeaways need to be more than just about recreating the likeness of your favourite takeaway and cutting down on the calories. They’ve got to be simple enough and quick to make, otherwise you may as well give yourself a night off and ring for a fucking takeaway yourself! By the time I’d sat down to make this, I was already frazzled, more so than the crispy beef on my plate!

For more fakeaway ideas, click here.

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Lemon and Blueberry Baked Oats

This tastes more like a pud IMO.

I recently had to return to the office for a day and with all kitchen facilities out of bounds due to Covid, I was a bit stumped as to what I could eat. I then had the brainwave of making Lemon and Blueberry Baked Oats from Pinch of Nom. Oats slowly release energy which help to keep hunger at bay for longer, and as the calorie count for this is on the high side at 440 per serving, I figured I might skip lunch rather than have to go out and buy something from a shop.

My masterplan involved getting up at the crack of dawn to bake the oats in the oven, wrap them in foil and then drive to the office where they would still be warm for when I arrived. Genius (ish). But what about the taste? Well….. it was very lemony, as you’d expect, which is fine if you like lemon (I prefer subtle hints of lemon). It also tasted more like a dessert, which is fine if you like desserts, but I’m indifferent towards them and certainly don’t want a pudding for breakfast! So my cunning plan was a bit of a bust.

For ease, I much prefer overnight porridge with juicy berries or crushed berry layered yoghurt.

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Crying Tiger Beef

Easy Tiger! Wash your hands thoroughly after handling chillies, if you forget and rub your eyes then you’ll be crying!

Getting me to have steak without chips, mushrooms and onion rings is quite a challenge but it’s good to vary things up, particularly when you’re trying to shift some timber. Crying Tiger Beef from Pinch of Nom is a fancy name for a traditional Thai recipe using thin-cut steak and a tangy, spicy dressing made from coriander, tomatoes, chillies, spring onion, garlic, fish sauce and either lemon or lime juice. As the name would suggest, it certainly packs a punch!

I really enjoyed this having treated myself to some tasty frying steak from my local butcher. It’s worth paying a bit more for quality meat if you can afford to as supermarket steak tends to be shite. My only criticism of this dish is that I’m not entirely sure where it sits – is it a light lunch or an evening meal served with some rice? I opted for the former.

If you like this, then check out the very similar thai beef salad or chilli steak salad.

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Pasta Arrabbiata

Can’t cook, won’t cook? At around 50p per portion there’s no excuse for not making this easy pasta dish

I frown when I hear people say ‘they can’t afford to cook’, or worse, ‘I can’t afford to buy healthy, fresh food’. There’s a difference between being genuinely skint, as opposed to not knowing how to cook from scratch. The lines between both statements often get blurred.

Pasta Arrabbiata from Pinch of Nom is a really easy and affordable vegetarian recipe to get even the most nervous and sceptical of cooks into the kitchen. It can be rustled up for about 50p per serving in 30 minutes. Arrabbiata sauce is a traditional Italian, spicy sauce made from garlic and dried chilli peppers. This recipe requires 1 tsp of chilli flakes, but heat freaks might want to up the ante by finely dicing a normal red chilli to give it more of a kick.

If you’re looking for more imaginative vege-based pasta dishes, try courgette caponata pasta or spaghetti on fire (swap the bacon for something vege, or leave it out completely). Or for something a bit quirkier, go for creamy wild mushroom courgetti which, you’ve guessed it, uses courgettes as an equivalent to pasta. For all other pasta recipes, click here.

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Oven-baked Risotto with Smoked Salmon and Peas

Cooking a risotto in the oven? Wonders never cease

Most people love eating risottos, but few love making them because of the laborious cooking process due to standing in front of a cooker stirring and gradually adding stock zzzzzzz. Pinch of Nom’s Oven-baked Risotto with Smoked Salmon and Peas takes the monotony away as most of the recipe can be cooked in the oven on a low setting. Genius and my Mum loved it, always a bonus!

For another less faffy risotto dish, take a peak at chicken and chorizo risnotto. Or for more conventional recipes, try hunter’s risotto, chicken and mushroom risotto and sea bass and miso risotto.

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Dill Cream Cheese and Smoked Salmon Bagel

I could easily eat two of these!

Dill Cream Cheese and Smoked Salmon Bagel from Pinch of Nom’s new book (Quick and Easy) is just divine. The flavours are a match made in heaven and these bagels can be enjoyed any time of day – breakfast, brunch or lunch, or even as a snack if you’ve got the munchies! Make sure you get bagel thins though to keep the calories down, alternatively just use half a standard bagel if you can discipline yourself to be good. Personally, I couldn’t!

For other brilliant brunch ideas, you must try scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and the breakfast of kings – poached egg, smoked salmon and spinach. If you’re procrastinating over what to do about any spare dill (it’s ok if you’re not, I’m just sad), then fusion tandoori chicken, Swedish meatballs in gravy and broad bean / chicken and broad bean pilaf are for you!

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