Cheese Savoury Sandwich Filling

This tastes great but get some decent bread, unlike me

Sometimes the choices you make when ‘on a diet’ is about damage limitation. Two Chubby Cubs’ Cheese Savoury Sandwich Filling fell into that category for me on a Saturday night when I’d had one beer too many.

I was craving something to eat but wanted to avoid getting a “I want to order everything on the menu” takeaway which I’d regret the following morning. This surprisingly tasty sandwich satisfied my cravings, even though I only had a crap loaf of bread in. I’m not suggesting you should only make this sandwich when pissed up – it’s also ideal for work lunch boxes or a pack-up if you’re out and about walking (but not with a hangover, eh).

The Cubs estimate this sandwich comes in at 366 calories. How they determine this is beyond me as they don’t state which type of bread or grated cheese to use and also suggest chopping up onions and peppers (plural). I don’t know how big your gob is but just one pepper and onion did the job for me on two slices of brown bread. What is indisputable is that this filling is better for you than shop-bought sandwiches with relatively minimal effort required.

For other sandwiches and wraps ideas, which you can enjoy sober or intoxicated, click here.

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Chilli Cheese Jacket Potatoes

If you love loaded potato skins, you’ll love this slightly healthier option

Life’s too short to scoop out the insides of a jacket potato and put a mixture of ingredients back in. So in a startling show of sexism I got my wife to make Chilli Cheese Jacket Potatoes from Two Chubby Cubs instead. Wait, wait….. I can explain. I tend to do most of the cooking during the week in our home. That, combined with my heavy-handed nature around the kitchen, called for her dulcet culinary skills on this occasion.

This recipe isn’t a messy job per se, but it does require a more delicate touch, so you don’t destroy your jackets when scooping out the potato and putting the mixture of bacon, grated cheese, soft cheese and chillies back in to finish off in the oven. Unsurprisingly, the addition of the siracha sauce into the potato mixture gives this meal quite a punch!

Personally, I loved it. But the high calorie count (500 per serving), length of cooking time (although you could do the jackets in the microwave) and faff means this is unlikely to be a regular on our menu. However, if I was served this in a café it’s something I’d definitely enjoy.

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Shakshouka

Another Turkish eggs recipe to try. I can’t get enough of them!

I promised myself that I’d try and eat more fruit in 2022, however I remain rebellious towards the ‘good stuff’. Finding a sensible substitute for a bacon or sausage butty is a tough gig, but it’s got to be done if you want to cut out unnecessary calories, or sheer greed in my case.

Shakshouka or Shakshuka, depending on which spelling you go with, is an egg-based recipe originating from Turkey. There are many variations of it, but I decided to try this version from Two Chubby Cubs having tried a previous adaption from Pinch of Nom. You certainly won’t go hungry or skint after eating it at a cost of about 85p per serving.

I found including two tins of peeled plum tomatoes was a little rich for my liking, so if you’re of a similar disposition maybe just try one tin and see how you get on? Even with using full-fat feta, there’s only 200 calories per serving if splitting it between four people, or 400 cals between two if you kid yourself that you’re ‘going to skip lunch’.

And if this floats your boat, make sure you have a bash at making Menemen – a similar Turkish eggs related dish in the Hairy Dieters’ series of books which remains my personal favourite.

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Cheesy Meaty Parcels

Steak and cheese in a wrap. Divine!

Two Chubby Cubs are masters at devising quick recipes that are surprisingly yummy despite their simplicity. Cheesy Meaty Parcels is the Cubs’ take on steak fajitas with a smear of refried beans over your wrap, which might not look overly appetising, but the flavour is cracking so don’t miss them off!

You don’t need to buy expensive steak for this – thin cut, flank or frying steaks are perfect as you want them to cook quickly when you pan-fry them on a high heat. If you love this, have a go at smoky steak fajitas, fast chicken fajitas and philly cheesesteak.

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Spinach, Mushroom & Chorizo Frittata

For those who think fruit is overrated

Summertime is around the corner and the warmer weather normally leads to lighter, fruiter-based breakfasts. But old habits die hard and if you can’t survive without having eggs in the morning, Spinach, Mushroom & Chorizo Frittata from Two Chubby Cubs is a great solution.

This recipe is 411 calories, so why not make it for a weekend brunch and stick to more ‘grab and go’ breakfasts during the week? I must say, I really enjoyed this indulgent, filling meal. Eggs, chorizo, mushrooms & spinach, sprinkled with parmesan and finished off under the grill. Oh yes!

For alternative suggestions, check out full English wraps, breakfast omelette burritos and full English breakfast quiche (also from Two Chubby Cubs) which are all weekend wonder dishes. Not sure what to do with any leftover chorizo? Try baked eggs with chorizo filling, baked fish with chorizo crust, chicken and chorizo risnotto, chorizo with butter beans, Southern-style jambalaya and/or all-in-one spicy pork and rice. That’s your lot, now be off with you!

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Three-Bean Cowboy Stew

Cowboy Stew – incredibly filling and less than a £1 per head to make. Yeeeeee Hawwww!

Cooking with tinned ingredients has become more popular since the pandemic due to supermarket shortages and people needing to eat more frugally after sadly losing their jobs or livelihoods. Thankfully, you can still eat healthily and imaginatively with tinned goods and Three-Bean Cowboy Stew from Two Chubby Cubs is a belly-busting vegetable stew which you can make for less than £1 per head.

You’ll need a few fresh ingredients and dried herbs (see below) to make the tins sing, but nothing out of the ordinary. This dish might not look particularly appetising, however it’s tasty and will provide 6 generous portions which those with big appetites can serve with a small portion of rice.

Cowboy stew is best known to contain meat, so if you’re looking for a meat-based alternative check out campfire stew which uses gammon.

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Easy Sun-dried Tomato Pasta

Any pasta shells will do!

You might think Easy Sun-dried Tomato Pasta from Two Chubby Cubs isn’t up to much from my photo, but think again. This flavoursome, quick vege pasta recipe is one of my favourite dishes of 2021 so far. It’s so simple, yet so tasty despite requiring just seven ingredients, and costs just 40p per serving. Superb!

For other cool vegetarian pasta dishes, check out pasta arrabbiata and courgette caponata pasta.

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Green Eggs & Fam

Wait… you didn’t think the eggs were really green, did you?

Green Eggs & Fam from Two Chubby Cubs is essentially ‘creamy’ scrambled eggs and bacon on toast with a few snipped chives on top. Quirky recipe title aside, it might not look fancy, but it requires just five ingredients to conjure up a really satisfying brunch dish.

The ‘creamy’ eggs are created by folding through some ricotta cheese which gives them a gorgeous light texture. The Cubs recommend topping this with a few drops of brown sauce and a grind of black pepper. Amazing!

You can reduce the calorie count for this by using medium eggs and lean back bacon or bacon medallions. Or just say ‘sod it, it’s only 400 calories’ and tuck in ;-). For more brunch ideas, click here.

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Honey & Mustard Salmon

Super simple salmon

I’m short on time today so recipes like Honey and Mustard Salmon from Two Chubby Cubs are perfect when you need to rustle up a meal in minutes with a handful of ingredients. Grab some salmon fillets, coat them in a wholegrain mustard and honey marinade and bang them in the oven. Serve with some greens and/or a small portion of new potatoes or wedges. Job done.

For other fast salmon marinades, have a gander at pan-fried firecracker salmon, salmon and broccoli tray bake, sticky mango roasted salmon or tandoori salmon with mango salsa.

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Mongolian Beef

Don’t forget to use low-sodium soy sauce otherwise it will taste way too salty!

I must confess to never knowing that Mongolian Beef is a popular fakeaway recipe amongst slimming club circles. This version from Two Chubby Cubs is a great weekend option when you want to rustle up a treat but don’t want to spend ages in the kitchen if you’ve had a long week at work, managing the kids, or both!

Two points of caution. You need a good non-stick frying pan otherwise you run the risk of your beef strips being welded to it. And make sure you use low-sodium soy sauce and not regular soy sauce otherwise, to quote the Cubs, “you’ll have a mouth saltier than a sailor’s ankle”. I used low-salt soy sauce and still found this a little salty for my liking.

Serve with a small portion of rice. Job done.

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Coronation Chicken Sandwich Filling

Who would have thought that coronation chicken could be healthy?

Coronation Chicken, if bought from a supermarket, can be really unhealthy. But this alternative sandwich filling suggestion from Two Chubby Cubs is much kinder to your waistline and tastes sensational.

Once your chicken is cooked, it’s just a case of mixing together light mayo, mango chutney and a dash of curry powder together and sprinkling over a few sultanas. Yummy! For more fast sandwich and wraps ideas, check out the relevant section on this blog here.

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Tuna Crunch Sandwich Filling

Nowt fancy but does the job when you’re pushed for time

January is always a tough month. But add a new national lockdown and home-schooling a teenager into the mix and lunchtimes are somewhat fraught in my household, as they are for many people who currently work from home. So Tuna Crunch sandwich filling from Two Chubby Cubs is a good option if you want a quick, no-frills dinnertime option on the table which will appease the whole family.

The Cubs are a bit loose on the exact quantities of ingredients, so their estimate that this sarnie equates to 322 calories per serving will vary depending on what bread and fillings you opt for. I had two slices of basic white bread and my filling comprised of a tin of tuna in spring water, a chopped green pepper and some finely diced red onion, sprinkled with a dash of balsamic vinegar. But really, anything goes so just use whatever decent salad ingredients you happen to have.

For more fast sandwich and wraps ideas, check out the relevant section on this blog here.

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Mega-Eggybread Club Sandwich Stacks

You’ll need to cut this in half, or even in quarter, if you want to get your chops around this

Mega-Eggybread Club Sandwich Stacks from Two Chubby Cubs feels like a proper naughty treat, but it still comes in at under 500 calories so it’s just the ticket for a lazy weekend brunch / lunch.

To ensure your toastie doesn’t disintegrate when you come to fry it, the Cubs recommend that you make it up the night before, tightly wrap it in clingfilm and then chill in the fridge so the ingredients remain pressed together. This ‘sarnie’ is so tasty with the Dijon mustard and smoked cheese and you could even sprinkle over some chilli flakes if you’re feeling brave. I challenge anyone to still be feeling hungry after scoffing this!

If you want an alternative toastie suggestion, then have a look at monte cristo sandwich which is lower in calories but does require more ingredients.

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Pork Medallions with a Chimichurri Sauce

Chimichurri sauce also goes well with steak

I’m so pleased I purchased the Homgeek Mini Chopper & Food Processor. It set me back just £22, takes up minimal space on my working top and I no longer have to haul my large food processor out from the back of the cupboard and try and assemble it. The Homgeek is brilliant for blending sauces in the blink of an eye and proved perfect for this Pork Medallions with a Chimichurri Sauce recipe from Two Chubby Cubs.

The Cubs do wonderfully simple meals, which might not seem all that upon first reading, but many of their recipes are brilliant and, above all, are easy to make. Make sure you use fresh herbs, good quality garlic and olive oil to make the best chimichurri sauce – a little goes a long way to make your pork medallions sing. In the interests of transparency, I used pork loin steaks for this but pork medallions contain less fat. It’s up to you.

For other simple ways to ‘pimp up’ your pork, check out sticky pork ‘ribs’ in barbecue sauce, crispy pork schnitzel, mustard pork, pork medallions in BBQ sauce and sticky pork steaks with coleslaw.

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Pan-Fried Firecracker Salmon

Great with a few spuds and/or vege / salad

I don’t think I could ever go back to just eating plain fish, spuds and vege. Thankfully, with scrumptious marinades like Pan-fried Firecracker Salmon from Two Chubby Cubs you don’t have to. The ginger, chilli powder and siracha give this recipe plenty of ‘attitude’, but my normally heat averse teenage son accepted the challenge and duly cleaned his plate, so do give this a try even if you don’t like it hot.

For some other brilliant ways to give salmon an exciting makeover, check out sticky mango roasted salmon, tandoori salmon with mango salsa and salmon with chilli ginger sauce. All three taste amazing and are a doddle to cook.

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Tandoori Chicken Burger

If you can fit this into your gob well done, but seriously, how big is your gob?

Burger and a bhaji, what’s not to like? Tandoori Chicken Burger from Two Chubby Cubs feels really naughty, but even with a full bun it’s just under 500 calories, so treat yourself and don’t feel guilty.

The list of ingredients might seem a lot initially, but most of them are spices which won’t go to waste if you’re a regular follower of this blog (use the search option on the right hand side of this page to find other recipes). My photo above doesn’t do this justice, primarily because I overcooked the bhajis which I’d be more mindful of avoiding second time round. The Cubs recommend putting the onion bhaji mixture in a muffin tray to make them easier to cook. As novel as the concept is, I’d be happy just to scoff the tandoori chicken burger on its own – you’ll save time and calories and it still tastes fabbbuuuuuulllllloooouuuuussss, to quote John Barrowman.

Love a burger? Then you’ll bloody love these: chipotle pork burger, the gorgeous satay burger (also from Two Chubby Cubs), mediterranean beef burgers and turkey burgers and chips.

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Egg Salad Sandwich Filling

Get some decent bread for your sarnie, unlike me

I know you’re thinking that I’ve lost the plot by including a recipe for an egg salad sandwich on a renowned food blog, well, ‘renowned’ might be a fabrication, but I can explain.

I always thought sandwiches were out when I was on a ‘diet’. Those scary newspapers and magazines had drilled it into me that shop-bought sarnies are full of calories and bad for you. That isn’t always the case, but invariably they do cost a shit load of money when it would be cheaper and easier to make your own at home.

This Egg Salad Sandwich Filling suggestion from Two Chubby Cubs will set you back just under 400 calories and around 80p to make. It tastes bloody amazing too and, if you like, you can use ‘blue eggs’ (such as Bluebell Aurancana) to give it more a golden yellow and yummy texture. If you want something more glamorous in your ‘bap’, the Cubs provide recipes for coronation chicken salad, cheese savoury, tuna crunch and Chinese chicken in their debut book, or check out the sandwiches & wraps section of this blog.

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Full English Breakfast Quiche

Healthier than a ‘fry up’ but it takes a lot longer to make!

At 498 calories per serving and taking an hour to make, Full English Breakfast Quiche from Two Chubby Cubs is a tad heavy and labour intensive to work as a weekday brekky. But as a lazy weekend brunch….. now you’re talking. The beauty about quiches is that as long as you’ve got eggs pretty much everything else goes. And pretty much everything goes into this – cherry tomatoes, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, spring onions and cheese.

I was slightly nervous about flipping my quiche over at the end, but thankfully everything went to plan and the quiche finished up on my plate and not the kitchen floor! I used a large, glass pyrex quiche dish and it was fine, but the Cubs recommend that you use a 23cm ( 9 inch) deep-dish silicone cake tin for this to make it easier to get the quiche out when you come to portion it up.

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Pineapple Fried Rice

This is brilliant for using up odds and sods in your fridge

When I kid myself that I’m going to be ‘good’, I often buy fresh fruit which sits in my fridge until it goes off. Thankfully, pineapple keeps very well so when I have a crisis of conscience I can rustle up Pineapple Fried Rice from Two Chubby Cubs which has lots of flavour from the soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic, chilli flakes and lime.

A word of warning. The recipe calls for 700g of cooked rice. That equates to about 250g of uncooked rice. Whatever you do, don’t make the mistake of serving this with 700g of uncooked, otherwise your daily calorie count will be well and truly screwed. Personally, I think about 40g of uncooked rice per person is more than sufficient.

If you’re wondering what else you can do with a pineapple, have a bash at sweet and sour chicken, gammon and pineapple stir fry or the Cubs’ equally delectable ham & pineapple pasta bake.

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Sweet Potato & Halloumi Bake

All this for around 80p per serving!

If you’ve got some ‘odds and sods’ lurking in your fridge Sweet Potato & Halloumi Bake from Two Cubby Cubs is a good way to use them up, plus it’s so cheap to make at less than £1 per serving. Once you’ve prepped everything, you can literally throw the ingredients in the oven to bake for 45 minutes before adding some grilled, sliced halloumi just before the end.

Want more potato-based lunchtime recipes? Check out buffalo skins, cajun sweet potatoes or spicy turkey sweet potatoes. Alternatively, to use up any remaining halloumi, have a bash at warm griddled vegetables or halloumi and smoky bacon hash. Don’t say I don’t look after you ;-).

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