Tag Archives: Low Calorie

Mango Chicken with Couscous!

This dish is one of my all time favourites, and it just happens to be low in calories too – extra awesome points!! It’s a recipe I discovered a long time ago on the BBC Good Food website and have eaten many times since!

Here is what you will need to serve 2 hungry people.

For the Mango Chicken

  • 220g Pack of Mini Chicken Breast Fillets
  • 2 tsp Ground Cumin
  • 3 tbsp Mango Chutney
  • 100ml Chicken Stock
  • 4 Spring Onions, chopped largely
  • 1 tbsp Fresh Coriander, chopped

For the Couscous

  • 100g Couscous
  • 1 Vegetable Stock Cube
  • 150ml Chicken Stock
  • 1 tbsp Fresh Coriander, chopped
  • 1 tbsp Fresh Parsley, chopped

Chop the chicken fillets into bite size pieces and heat a few squirts of a low calorie oil spray in a heavy non stick pan. Add the chicken and sprinkle over the cumin and a little salt & pepper. Cook over a medium heat until it starts to turn golden.

Meanwhile, prepare the couscous. Make the chicken stock, I used 2 of my Chicken Stock Ice Cubes and poured over 250ml of hot water. You could just as easily use dried stock cubes or fresh shop bought stock.

Put the couscous in a large bowl and crush in the vegetable stock cube. Add some salt & pepper then pour over 150ml of the chicken stock and cover with cling film. Leave for about 10 minutes to cook.

Back to the chicken, add the mango chutney to the pan and allow to bubble for a few minutes. Next, add the remaining 100ml of chicken stock and boil until its a nice sticky sauce. Add in the spring onions and continue to cook for a minute or two.

Take off the heat and stir in some coriander. Fluff the couscous with a fork and stir in the remaining coriander & the parsley.

Serve on warmed plates.

This is definitely a household favourite. It always goes down a treat with both me & the Mr and it’s only approx 330 calories per portion too. Unbelievable! Oh and did I mention that it only takes about 15-20 minutes to make? It’s the perfect quick mid-week dinner for the busy 9 til 5 folk.

Well, until next time kids.

Sayonara!

Miss KitchenMason

Roast Sausage Casserole

Ok, so I’ve strayed from the diet a little recently but with our holiday to Thailand looming, me and the Mr decided we need to get back on it! Here’s a seriously low calorie dinner thats super tasty and minimal effort. Rolling in at about 300 calories per portion you can even treat yourself to a cheeky slice of garlic bread with it. The recipe is adapted from the BBC Good Food site.

Serves 2

  • 6 Low Fat Sausages (I used Weight Watchers)
  • 1/2 Yellow Pepper
  • 1/2 Red Pepper
  • 1 Red OR Yellow Onion
  • 1/2 Tin Chopped Tomatoes (200g)
  • 125ml Stock (I used my Chicken Stock)
  • Fresh Basil

Preheat your oven to 200°C.

Roughly chop the peppers & quarter the onions. Place it all into a roasting tray along with the sausages. Season with salt & pepper and roast in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove the tray from the oven. The veg should have softened and it should all have a nice colour to it. Add the tomatoes, stock, basil and plenty of salt & pepper. Mix well and return to the oven for about 20 minutes.

Take out of the oven and divide between two plates. Serve with a slice of garlic bread and enjoy this deliciously guilt free dinner!

This dish is so quick and simple to make. It’s the perfect lazy midweek meal. You could even serve it up at a dinner party if you swapped out the low fat sausages for some tasty, good quality sausages! As the recipe demands minimal human involvement it would allow you to spend more precious time with your guests.

You can really play about with the vegetables too. Maybe try some carrots, sweet peppers, parsnips, courgettes, potatoes, the list is pretty much as endless as your imagination.

In other news this week, a shout out to the family who took on the Snowdon ranger path and defeated  it. Well done guys, proud of you all! It’s also my brother’s Birthday this week so Happy Birthday dude! Hope you enjoyed your cupcakes as much as I enjoyed making them! I will share the recipe with you all in the next few days. I’m quietly very proud of this creation so it definitely deserves it’s own post!

Hope you enjoyed the post.

Until next time my little KitchenMasonites!

Miss KitchenMason

Chocolate & Vanilla Pudding!

With all this calorie counting, not only do I get cravings for eating treats and puds, I get cravings for baking too! I severely miss baking cakes, biscuits & puddings when I’m on a diet. There are very few things I find as therapeutic.  That’s why I was over the moon when I found this recipe. This will blow your mind ok… it is less than 100 calories!

Yes you heard me. It’s a chocolate pudding that will satisfy both your baking cravings & your chocolate cravings and it’s a ridiculously low 98 calories per serving! It’s from a book called 500 Best-ever Recipes: Chocolate; this is what you will need to make 3 puddings (easily doubled):

  • 175ml of 1% Milk
  • 1 tbsp Cocoa Powder
  • 1 Egg, seperated
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1.5 tbsp Caster Sugar
  • 1/2 tbsp Gelatine Powder
  • 1.5 tbsp Hot Water

Put the milk & cocoa powder into a heavy based pan and stir until boiling.

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar & the vanilla extract in a bowl until pale yellow and smooth.

Slowly pour the milk into the egg yolk mixture, stirring well. Then pour back into the pan and, over a gentle heat, stir constantly until thickened and smooth.

Take the pan off the heat. Put the hot water into a small bowl/jug and add the gelatine to it. Stir until dissolved then add to the milk mixture and stir well. Allow to cool until it looks like it’s almost setting.

In another bowl, whisk the egg white with electric beaters until soft peaks form.

At this point the recipe says to fold the egg whites into the milk mixture but I honestly think it would have been easier the other way around, nevertheless, they still turned out lovely.

Pour the finished mixture into 3 moulds or ramekins then chill them in the fridge for an hour or so until set.

When you are ready to eat them, you can either run a knife around the edge, dip the moulds in hot water quickly and turn out onto a plate OR you can just be lazy like me and eat it out of the ramekin. My way also means less pots to wash, win-win.

I was pleasantly surprised at how chocolatey this was considering it only has 1 tbsp of cocoa powder in it. It’s very much like a mousse consistency, light and airy.

It definitely satisfied both my chocolate cravings and my insane need to bake. And seriously, only 98 calories?? Frickin awesome!

If you are on a diet & enjoy cooking, you would be mental not to try this recipe. Similarly, if you think dieting is for nutters and just want a delicious chocolate pudding, you would also be mental not to try this recipe!

Happy baking peeps!

Miss KitchenMason

Pork Roll & Apple Rosti!

A total taste sensation! If you have never tried the pork and apple combo, now is the time to do it. Believe me, you’ve been missing out!

This recipe comes courtesy of a book I have called The Complete Book of Main Courses.

Here is what you will need to make enough for 2 people. (Easily doubled)

  • 1  Potato, medium size
  • 1  Cooking Apple
  • 1  Garlic clove
  • 1 Egg
  • 2  Prosciutto slices
  • 2  Pork Escalopes
  • 2-4 Fresh Sage leaves
  • 2 knobs of Butter

First up, preheat your oven to 200°C.

Next, you need to prep your ingredients.

Cut the cooking apple in  half. Cut one half  into 8 wedges and peel the other. Then finely chop the garlic & peel the potato.

Grate the potato & the peeled half of the apple into a bowl. Now you need to squeeze as much of the liquid as possible out of the mixture.

When you have done that beat the egg and add HALF to the grated mixture along with the garlic and salt & pepper to taste. (if you are doubling the recipe, use the whole egg.)

Spoon the mixture into two on a baking sheet that has been lined with foil & greased. (I used a low calorie spray oil) Flatten & round with a spoon. Add 6 of the apple wedges to the tray too. (If you don’t want them quite so well cooked, add the apple when you add the pork later.) If you like, drizzle with a little olive oil at this point.

Put them into the middle of the oven for 10 minutes.

Whilst they are cooking, lay the prosciutto slices on a board & put the pork escalopes on top. Add a slice of apple, 1 or 2 fresh sage leaves & a knob of butter to the middle & roll them up. Ensure that the prosciutto completely covers the outside.

After the 10 minutes, take out the rostis and lay the pork rolls on top of them. Turn the apple slices too. (or add them if you didn’t want them as well cooked.) Put back into the oven for about 20 minutes.

This golden deliciousness is what comes out. I cannot convey just how yummy this was. If you get a piece of every component on your fork and bite, it’s like an explosion goes off in your mouth!

Best of all, it clocks in at a lowly 425 calories per serving. Which is very surprising considering how tasty this little beaut is!

Hope you all enjoy your weekend!

I’ll be back next week with a post on a surprise birthday treat for my Dad.

(Can’t say now as it’s not his birthday yet, so ssshh!)

Miss KitchenMason