Category: Pork

(Pork) Chop Suey


You could swap pork for turkey or chicken in this

I think by the time the Hairy Dieters got to their sixth book (Make it Easy) they were running short of ideas. Chop Suey is somewhat similar to chicken stir-fry from their third instalment (Good Eating), except this time pork is used instead of chicken.

Repetition aside, this is pretty good and at only 168 calories per portion you could even double up if you’re hungry. The peppers, broccoli and beansprouts provide enough bulk so that you don’t need rice, which always amazes me how something so bland can be so calorific.

If you’re looking for sassier stir-fry ideas, I’d recommend diet cola chicken and chicken satay from Pinch of Nom, which are lot more imaginative and gorgeous to eat.

Continue reading “(Pork) Chop Suey” →

Mexican Pulled Pork Tacos


Stuff with little gem lettuce, home-made coleslaw, soured cream, jalapenos etc etc

Slow cookers are a handy invention – ideal for slowly cooking casseroles and stews so that you can come home to a hot meal after a long day at work, or if you’ve been out and about. But despite their convenience, I’ve never been a fan of recipes I’ve made in the slow cooker in comparison to cooking them on the hob or in a conventional oven. However, I make an exception when it comes to Mexican Pulled Pork Tacos from Justine Pattison. Yes, you’ve got to marinade the meat for several hours (or preferably overnight) but the end result is absolute worth it.

Slowly cooking a shoulder of pork over an extensive period of time (up to 10 hours if using the LOW setting on a slow cooker) makes the meat a doddle to shed and then you can enjoy it literally melting in your mouth. The image above doesn’t do this meal justice, but try taking a photo of a taco filling when you’re starving, it’s never going to turn out well! :).

Pork shoulder is dirt cheap and the calorie count for this recipe is surprisingly low, BUT that’s dependent on you cutting off the rind and fat before you cook it ;-). Home-made slaw is so much better than the pre-prepped supermarket equivalents, or serve with some gem lettuce and sour cream if you can’t be arsed / are pushed for time.

Continue reading “Mexican Pulled Pork Tacos” →

Crispy Pork Schnitzel with Potato Salad


This can be a messy job, so why not get the kids involved and make it fun?

Crispy Pork Schnitzel with Potato Salad from the Hairy Dieters is a substantial meal that you can enjoy for lunch or dinner. I always thought schnitzels – which are traditionally thin, breaded and pan fried cutlets made from veal – originated from Poland, but it turns out they herald from Austria. You learn something new every day…

Schnitzels can be unhealthy as they are typically pan fried in oil, but this lighter version requires them to be baked in the oven. With the whopping side salad of potatoes, onion, celery and apple, the Hairy Dieters’ recipe comes in at only 406 calories per portion. I won’t lie and say you can’t tell the difference between this and having the real thing, but the low-cal alternative still tastes good.

A word of warning. If you can’t stand your kitchen getting messy, then give this meal a wide berth. You’ll have plates, cutlery and messy hands from making the coating for the schnitzels. However, if you’ve got children who are showing an interest in cooking why not get them involved? You could even get them to wash up afterwards for a full 360 degree culinary experience, ha ha!

Continue reading “Crispy Pork Schnitzel with Potato Salad” →

Mustard Pork


The mustard-based sauce is delicious

If you’re a mustard junkie like me, you’ll love Mustard Pork from Tom Kerridge which contains Dijon and wholegrain mustard in a creamy-based sauce and is much lighter than the French classic dish which is swimming in butter.

This is a well-balanced meal accompanied with corn-on-the-cob and green beans, and it’s impossible to feel hungry after demolishing one of Tom’s recipes. This one comes in at 438 calories per serving and is ideal for an easy weeknight meal. Pork is one of my favourite meats and is quick to cook. I’d also recommend pork and black bean stew with salsa and pork medallions in BBQ sauce, if you’re looking to jazz up your meal plan.

Continue reading “Mustard Pork” →

Sloppy Dogs


This is sooo good, you could eat it twice. But factor in the extra calories you dirty dawwwwggggggg

Sloppy Dogs is Pinch of Nom’s new take on the hotdog, using pork mince, not the manky, calorific hotdogs you get in jars or at football stadiums (though chance would be a fine thing right now). Not many healthy eating cookbooks feature pork mince, but Pinch of Nom’s two books do which make for a welcome change and this recipe is bangingly good.

Pork mince can be cheaper than beef mince in some supermarkets (notably Sainsburys) and this meal works out as just over a £1 per serving. For those who miss tucking into a tasty, lunchtime sandwich on a diet, this is for you. But be warned, it isn’t called Sloppy Dogs for nothing. The filling is likely to spill out and you will get sauce around your chops, however eat this at home instead of at work and no one will know ha ha. The calorie count is 379 per serving, but not all finger rolls are created equal, so do check the calorie amounts before you buy.

If you love tucking into a bap, wrap, sandwich or toastie (or whatever else you call them), check out monte cristo sandwich, also from Pinch of Nom.

Continue reading “Sloppy Dogs” →

Swedish Meatballs in Gravy


You don’t need to go to IKEA to enjoy meatballs, although it might be quicker

I’ve never been to Sweden, or to Ikea for that matter, so I can’t vouch for the authenticity of Justine Pattison’s Swedish Meatballs in Gravy. But meatballs can be quite fatty and Justine’s dish comes in at a much more diet friendly 324 calories per serving. So with a small portion of mash you’re looking at about 500 calories all in. Impressive, although I wish healthy eating cookbooks would factor in the extra calorie counts to include accompaniments – you’re hardly going to scoff these meatballs on their own!

This isn’t a quick meal to prepare, so I recommend making this on a weekend. Despite the level of effort involved, the end result was enjoyable, with the ‘gravy’ particularly flavoursome. My only gripe was that it tasted too much of dill, which is a strong tasting herb even if you’re only using 15g of it. I also should have reduced the gravy down a little as the sauce was a bit runny.

If you’re buying bigger packs of beef and pork mince, you will have some produce leftover. I’ll give you some ideas as to what other meals you can make on this blog in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

Continue reading “Swedish Meatballs in Gravy” →

Pork Medallions in BBQ Sauce


Serve with mash, sweetcorn and/or green vege

The sauce within the Hairy Dieters’ Pork Medallions in BBQ Sauce recipe is gorgeous – red wine vinegar, tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and orange juice – creating that lovely barbecue flavour effect. In fact, it was so nice that I was worried about reducing it down too much and in the end my sauce (as the photo indicates) was a tad too runny.

I don’t think this recipe represents a meal on its down, and as per the Hairy Dieters’ recommendation I bulked this out with some sweet potato mash and sweetcorn. My teenage son Will is a big fan of this dish and it’s an easy way to get him to eat vege when he’s ‘distracted’ by the meat and sauce ;-).

If you love BBQ related coatings, check out Sticky Chicken with Coleslaw – another big hit with the kids!

Continue reading “Pork Medallions in BBQ Sauce” →

Yeung Chow Fried Rice – fantastic ‘fakeaway’


Yeung Chow Fried rice

Although luscious, Yeung Chow Fried Rice from my local Chinese takeaway will set me back £6 and is rich in calories. In contrast, this slimming, wallet friendly version from Pinch of Nom tastes arguably as good – the only giveaway that this is ‘home-made’ is my shite attempt at julienning a carrot.

There may be a few ingredients to initially buy-in, but most of them you’ll use consistently if following a healthy-eating plan. I had an unused pork steak from a pack after making Creamy Pork, Apples and Cabbage, so this seemed like a good way of ensuring nothing went to waste. Continue reading “Yeung Chow Fried Rice – fantastic ‘fakeaway’” →

Creamy pork, apples and cabbage


Creamy pork and apples

Creamy pork, apples and cabbage is a sumptuous one-pot dish from Justine Pattison that is packed with flavour but for only 346 calories per serving. The ingredients that make up the sauce just beg to be mopped up by the meat, potatoes and veg.

Although some people might turn their noses up at them, canned potatoes are an excellent and budget-friendly store cupboard stand-by. Savoy cabbage also lasts a number of days in the fridge. If you’ve got any leftover, give Hotdog Hotpot a go in which you can also use another valuable store cupboard stand-by in tinned or jarred frankfurters to make another cheap and nourishing meal. Continue reading “Creamy pork, apples and cabbage” →

Spicy pork and aubergine curry


Pork and aubergine curry

My recent farm shop delivery was well received but it did throw up some surprises. A green cabbage was substituted for a courgette and butternut squash was swapped for an aubergine. With my OCD-esque food planning menu in tatters, I trawled through my library of cookbooks for inspiration and discovered Spicy Pork and Aubergine Curry courtesy of BBC Good Food.

I’m not a fan of aubergine and would normally use it in a vege curry, or perhaps a moussaka. But there was no way I was going to let it go to waste in times like now. The journey to get to this meal was arduous, but eating it was largely forgettable. It lacked flavour and punch, however the addition of a small portion of basmati rice made it bearable. Unless I’m the recipient of any stray aubergines any time soon this dish is unlikely to feature on my dinner table again. Continue reading “Spicy pork and aubergine curry” →

All-In-One Spicy Pork and Rice


All in One spicy pork

All-In-One Spicy Pork and Rice used to be my favourite Hairy Dieters dish, until my youngest son protested that he didn’t like peppers so it’s slipped off the menu in recent times. But through a combination of cravings and tough parental love, this recipe has made a comeback with my trade-off to Will being that I’ll cut the peppers into smaller pieces ;-). The truce is working so far.

This is such a tasty meal. Pork, chorizo, lots of vege and rice with some lovely spices mixed through. Heaven. Try and use pork tenderloin if you can get it as it’s leaner than pork steaks. But the latter is fine – just carefully trim the fat off them.

If you’re looking for another brilliant one-pan pork dish from the Hairy Dieters, try Pork and Black Bean Stew with Salsa. Sooo good! Continue reading “All-In-One Spicy Pork and Rice” →

Pork and black bean stew with salsa


Pork and black bean stew

Pork and black bean stew from the Hairy Dieters’ ‘Fast Food’ book is an absolute low-cal triumph on a traditional fatty Brazilian dish. But even more so because it manages to get my fussy teenage son to eat polish (kabanos) sausage and salsa, despite him ‘hating’ peppers, tomato and coriander. And yet he’ll wolf down this meal for fun – what a result!

The Hairy Dieters do a cracking spicy pork with chorizo one-pan dish in their second book which I haven’t got round to featuring yet on this blog, but I think I slightly prefer this pork bonanza as it tastes sublime, particularly with the salsa accompaniment, bulked out with the fibre from the black beans.

If you get the pork, bacon, onion and sausage chopped in advance you can rustle this up in about 20 minutes. What are you waiting for?? Continue reading “Pork and black bean stew with salsa” →

Sticky pork steaks with coleslaw


Sticky pork steaks

Healthy-eating guru Justine Pattison is a genius at coming up with quick, tasty meals that are low in calories. Sticky pork steaks with coleslaw essentially involves the pork being coated with a barbecue glaze cleverly created by combining the ketchup, honey and Worcestershire sauce.

Fans of the Hairy Dieters (who Justine worked as a consultant on their early dieting books) will note that this recipe is very similar to the Hairy one’s Sticky chicken and coleslaw which you’ll find in their second book – Eat for Life. And if you’re really eagle-eyed, you’ll note that I decided to go with the Hairy Dieters’ home-made coleslaw recipe (white cabbage, carrot, spring onions, light mayo and natural yoghurt) instead of Justine’s as I’m not a fan of celeriac.

The pork steaks with the coleslaw is filling, but if you fancy a few home-made chips to go with it (it will add 119 calories) you can find the recipe in Justine’s Without the Calories – Comfort Food book. Continue reading “Sticky pork steaks with coleslaw” →