Maria’s Coconut Psyllium Bread

10 slices depending on cut thickness
64 calories per slice
3 grams fat (1 gram mono-saturated)
4 grams carbohydrate
6 grams dietary fiber
3 grams protein
0 grams sugar

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut flour

45 grams psyllium husk powder (must be fine powder, not husks, Coles sells in bags and is called ‘Coles simply Psyllium Husk Powder’ found in health food section)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 1/2 Tbs apple cider vinegar

4 eggs

7/8 cup BOILING water

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 C. In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, psyllium powder (no substitutes: flaxseed meal won’t work), baking powder and salt. Use an electric hand-held mixer, mix until dry ingredients are well combined.

2. Add the eggs and vinegar and mix until the dough is thick. Add boiling water to the bowl. Mix until well combined and the dough has firmed up.

3. Place dough into a greased loaf pan. It may look a bit lumpy and that’s okay. Bake for 55 minutes or until a wooden skewer pierced in the centre of the bread comes out clean.

4. Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool completely. Cut with a serrated knife.

5. Alternatively, form dough into 5 mini bun discs and place onto a greased baking sheet. Check at 45 minutes with skewer. Buns may take up to 50 minutes.

Note: When I make this bread I’m never able to wait until it cools before slicing and enjoying. Baking this bread fills our house with an aroma of this ‘sour dough’ bread and the taste of the finished loaf does not disappoint! The bread does flatten to about half of the puffy raised loaf I view while baking. However this does not alter its slightly chewy and satisfying texture nor take away from the delicious sourdough flavor.

One thing I really like about this bread is that since I’ve been making it, I’ve observed that it isn’t a food I’ve reached for when I’ve I’ve been inclined to ‘binge’, which to me speaks volumes for the healthy and satisfying combination of ingredients. Even my died in the wool store bought white bread enthusiast partner eagerly munches Maria’s Coconut Psyllium bread delicious, especially straight out of the oven!

Optional variation: Though I haven’t bothered to separate eggs and find alternative uses for so many yolks, for those who are happy to do so (or even toss the yolks), the 4 whole eggs can be substituted for 6 egg whites. Substituting whole eggs for egg whites reduces the caloric total down from 64 calories per slice to 49 for each of the 10 slices.

Vegetarian Nabe

4 litres water
2 tablespoons miso soup paste
150g shimeji mushrooms (shitake or white button ok too)
200g daikon raddish (or turnip if you cant find daikon) peeled and sliced
100g carrot peled and sliced
25g spinach (even more is you want as it shrinks when cooked)
150g silken tofu ( I found this to be the lowest calorie)
200g Chang’s super lo cal noodles – drained and rinsed.

Put your water in a large pot and heat. Add miso paste till disolved. Add carrot and daikon, when half cooked add mushrooms and spinach.
Just before everything is fully cooked add tofu and noodles just long enough to heat up.

Calculated this to be 241 calories for the whole pot. Should serve 4 large bowls.
You can also add: cabbage, bean sprouts, shallots, leek, bok choy, mizuna or sweet potato. Just add the extra calories if you do.

Also you can add chicken pieces if you dont want vegetarian.

Smoked Chilli Velvet Soup

500g butternut pumpkin peeled and cut into cubes.
2 teaspoons chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
1 small onion
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 litre vegetable stock ( I use Vegeta Real Gourmet stock powder and water)
1 x 400g tin drained cannellini beans
1 teaspoon macadamia nut oil (any oil really just had this one on hand)

Gently heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the butternut pumpkin with the onion, chipotle and cumin for about 5 minutes.

Add the stock and beans and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the butternut and onions are soft.

Blend to a very smooth texture. I use a stick blender for this and it is quick and velvety when finished.

You can replace the cannellini beans with black beans if you like as it is a good fit for the Mexican spicing.

This should serve 4
157 calories per serve

Lemon Chilli Tuna Spaghetti (this makes one very generous bowlful)

1 small tin well drained tinned salmon or tuna (drained weight will vary between brands, but is usually 60-100g)
1/2 bag fresh baby spinach (50g)
150g fresh ripe cherry tomatoes
1 crushed clove garlic
finely chopped red chilli to taste (I use less than 1/2 tsp)
2 tsp lemon scented olive oil (or EVO & lemon zest, although it won’t be as intensely lemony)
1pkt changs konjac/shiritaki noodles (200g bag)
1 medium zucchini (about 150g)
a handful of fresh basil leaves
cracked pepper & salt to taste

Using a spiraliser tool, turn the zucchini into spaghetti strands. (You can cut it into very fine juilliene strips with a knife if you prefer.) Put them into a bowl and cover with boiling water to blanch, for 3-5 minutes then drain well.
Tip the konjac noodles into a colander and rinse them and drain well.

Heat a non-stick frying-pan over a gentle heat and put the zucchini and konjac in. Stir occasionally for about 10 minutes until they have released much of their excess water and have a dry surface texture. (This process stops them releasing heaps of water into your sauce – which really ruins the flavour.)

Remove the “spaghetti” to your serving bowl.

Put the chilli, garlic, spinach and tuna into the non-stick pan and stir until the spinach has wilted and the sauce has warmed. Add the basil, cherry tomatoes & lemon scented oil to the pan along with the “spaghetti” and toss together. Taste and season with salt & pepper, then serve.

With the specific products I used, the nutrition profile is:
990 kilojoules (235 calories)
11.3g fat
18.5g protein
6.5g carbohydrate
13.8g fibre

Depending on your choice of tinned tuna/salmon the calorie count can vary significantly. They vary from 250-1500kj (60-360cal) for a small tin, so reading labels is important for this.
I used a 130g tin John West premium salmon without bones or skin, packed in water. It’s drained weight is 80g. This product has 321kj(76cal) per tin.

If you need a lower cal serve then use 1tsp of oil instead of 2, this reduces the meal to 195cal.

I usually look at the recipe offerings on the BBC Food site most days. Today they have dinner recipes for 300-400 calories. Some might make useful FD meals – there’s lots of variety.

https://www.bbc.com/food/collections/400-calorie_dinners

CLEAR TOMATO SOUP

So elegant, and wonderful if you are growing cherry tomatoes.

1 kg cherry tomatoes, quartered, placed in a saucepan.
1 small lime, squeeze the juice over the tomatoes.
2 cloves garlic, bruised but unpeeled, and a small handful of parsley sprigs, tied, placed on top.
pinch of brown sugar (optional) sprinkled over.
300 ml water and salt and pepper added.

Cover tightly and cook on low heat for 45 minutes.

Sieve: let the liquor through gently so it remains clear.
Check seasoning
Serve hot, or chilled. Preferably in a white bowl to show it off.

This is my version of the “Gypsy Soup” recipe from the Moosewood cookbook.
https://imgur.com/gToPw5n (picture of the soup)

It’s a warmly spiced tomato-based veggie soup. The addition of chickpeas makes it more filling.

This is the original recipe: https://imgur.com/a/WWTrAnw

I follow the method in the original recipe but I always use the veg I have on hand. I try to make sure there’s a lot of variety.

Today’s batch included:

2 tsp olive oil
2 onions
a 30cm stick of celery
2 carrots
2 slices of jap pumpkin (about 300g peeled and deseeded)
1 small red capsicum
1 zucchini
2 finger eggplant
400g tin crushed tomatoes
3/4 cup cooked chickpeas
2 tsp sweet paprika
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
freshly ground black pepper
a small handful of basil leaves, finely chopped
3 tsp Massel chicken stock powder (low sodium)
5-6 cups water

Chop all the veg into cubes 1cm or smaller.
Cook the onions, celery, garlic and pepper in the oil over a very gentle heat until softened but not browned.
Add the spices and stir for a minute or two to release their flavour. Then add the pumpkin, carrot, tinned tomatoes, stock powder, bay leaves and water. Simmer for 30 minutes.
Add the remaining raw vegetables, the cooked chickpeas and the basil and simmer for another 15-20 minutes, until everything is tender. Adjust the water level if it’s too thick.

Per 100ml this soup (without the cheese) contains:
108kj or 26.5 calories
0.5g fat
1.1g protein
4.0g carbs
1.4g fibre

I usually have a 600ml bowl as my only meal for dinner on a FD. (This is 650kj-155 calories).

The tomato-cinnamon combination reminds me Greek/Turkish flavours, but the capsicum and paprika are also reminiscent of goulash.

I’ve been making this in summer for years, when capsicum and tomatoes are at their best. It is also suitable as a FD meal if you limit the amount of olive oil. I actually find that one teaspoon per capsicum is plenty:
https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/collections/delias-summer-collection/piedmont-roasted-peppers

As I don’t like anchovies I vary the recipe by using one or two of the following instead: basil pesto, sundried tomato pesto, kalamata olive or small cubes of salty haloumi. Essentially you just replace a strongly flavoured salty ingredient with something else that provides that flavour hit.

I also find that I get the best result if I cover the baking dish with foil for the first 40 minutes and then remove it and cook a further 15-20 minutes. I cook at 180C fan forced.

With a salad this works well as a FD meal. On a NFD this is very nice with crusty bread to mop up the lovely juices that come out of the vegetables.

I made it last night and used both sundried tomato pesto and haloumi. I didn’t have quite enough roma tomatoes so I filled the gaps with halved button mushrooms. I also used lemon infused olive oil instead of EVO.
https://imgur.com/wztG9z3

A low cal mini quiche, baked in a muffin pan. Good served with a cup of veggie soup.
https://imgur.com/a/rvE1l0H

Ingredients
2 Simpson wholegrain barley wraps, 250g small swiss brown (portabello) mushrooms, 1-2 tsp butter, 1 small zucchini, 100g cherry tomatoes, 6tblsp grated parmesan, 2tblsp chopped chives, 4x45g eggs (or 3 60g eggs), 1/4 cup almond milk, salt & pepper
Note: the wraps I used are 99calories each and large enough to cut into 1/3s (33 calories per quiche). If you use a different wrap, adjust the calories.

Method
Finely chop the mushrooms and cook in 1-2tsp butter until softened, browned and the moisture has evaporated. Allow to cool.

Preheat the oven to 175C fan forced.

Line a 6 hole texas muffin pan with squares of silicone baking paper. You can buy these ready made or make them yourself – frustrating the first time you try, but it gets easier with practice.

Cut each wrap as evenly as possible into 3 wedges. Place each segment into the base of a baking paper lined muffin hole to form the pastry for your quiche. Because of the shape it will be higher on some sides than others.

Chop the zucchini into tiny cubes. Chop the cherry tomatoes into quarters. Finely chop the chives.

Blend the eggs together with the almond milk and salt & pepper. Easiest done in a jug as you will need to pour it.

Mix the cooked mushrooms, zucchini, chives and cherry tomatoes together with most of the parmesan (leave about 1 1/2 tblsp). Divide the veggie mixture evenly between 6 quiches. Carefully pour the egg mixture over the veggie mix as evenly as possible. Sprinkle a teaspoon of grated parmesan over each quiche.

Bake at 175C for approximately 20 minutes, but start checking by pressing the centre after 15 minutes. They are done when the egg has completely set.

These are best eaten hot. on subsequent days, I reheat the remaining quiches in an airfyer which really crisps the wrap crust nicely, but you can also do this in a normal oven too.

Each mini quiche has:
560 kilojoules (133 calories)
7.6g fat, 9.5g protein, 5.9g carbohydrate, 3.2g fibre

On a FD one of these with a cup of veggie soup is a filling and low calorie meal.
On a NFD I will have the same meal as lunch. On a NFD one of these is also a good option as a hearty snack when you are raid the pantry. I find these quite filling and sustaining.

Other filling Options:
You can use a lot of different fillings in these:
– shredded spinach
– spring onions
– kale, cooked drained and chopped
– broccoli or cauliflower, steamed and cooled
– asparagus, lightly steamed and cooled
– leeks, chopped and cooked in a similar way to the mushrooms
– bacon or ham (reduce the parmesan if using this)
– other cheese instead of the parmesan (eg cheddar or feta)
– other herbs can be used as well (I often add a sprig of fresh thyme to the pan when cooking the mushrooms.

If you are varying the vegetables the calorie count won’t change a lot, but you might need to recalculate if using other cheese or cured meats. Whatever veg you use, it’s important to make sure they aren’t wet – squeeze any excess water out, especially those you have steamed.

Note: these do not freeze well but keep in a covered container in the fridge for 4 days. Reheat at 175C for 8-10 minutes – best to remove the baking paper and place on an enamel baking tray – you’ll get the crispest “pastry” this way.

Some hearty winter soups.

BROCCOLI CHEDDAR SOUP
makes 2.5 litres soup
contains: 232 kj or 55 calories per 100ml

2 tsp butter
freshly ground black pepper
1kg broccoli
2 onions (250g)
3 large carrots (350g)
a large potato (250g)
4 cloves garlic
2 tsp dried mixed herbs (or 1 tbslp fresh)
1 bay leaf
1.5 litres chicken or veg stock (or 4 tsp stock powder & water)
3 tsp mild mustard (I use 2 tsp wholegrain mustard + 1 tsp french mustard)
1/2 cup skim milk powder
40g plain flour
50g parmesan, grated
50g cheddar cheese, grated

Peel the tough skin from the bottom of the broccoli stems. Chop into small pieces, keeping the stem and florets separate.
Peel and grate the carrots. Peel and cut the potatoes in to small cubes.

Heat butter in a large stock pot on medium heat and add the onion, black pepper and herbs and sauté gently until translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute.

Add the potato and the broccoli stem , stock and bay leaf and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the broccoli florets, the grated carrot and the mustard and simmer until the broccoli is just tender.

Remove the bay leaf.

Sprinkle the skim milk powder over the soup while stirring until it dissolves.
In a small cup or bowl add a little water to the flour and stir to dissolve. Add a few spoons of the soup broth to this and mix to create a warm runny consistency. Stir this into the soup until it thickens.

Add the grated cheeses and season to taste. You can add more mustard at this stage if it needs it. You can also add more water if the soup is thicker than you like.

CHILLI BEAN SOUP
makes 3 litres
contains: 162 kj or 39 calories per 100ml – NOT including the yogurt or grated cheese that you might serve it with

2 tsp olive oil,
2 onions, filely chopped
1 red capsicum, deseeded and chopped
2 tsp crushed garlic,
2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1 zucchini, finely chopped
250g button mushrooms, sliced
800g tin tomatoes,
1 cup passata,
chilli powder or chopped fresh chillies to taste
3 cups cooked, drained black beans or azuki beans (or other similar sized bean)

In a large saucepan or stockpot, heat a little olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions, capsicum and garlic and a small pinch of salt and ground pepper to taste. Stir until the onions have softened. The onions should soften rather than brown, so turn down the heat if necessary.
Add some fresh chilli or chilli powder to the onions and stir for a minute to release the fragrance.
Add the chopped vegetables and stir to combine, stirring for a couple of minutes.
Add the tinned tomatoes and passata.
Add the stock powder and enough water to cover (I added about 3 cups).
Simmer uncovered until the vegetables are tender – check the water levels and stir occasionally to avoid sticking.
Then add the beans, stir through and bring it back to a simmer. Add more water to get your preferred consistency.
Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. I am usually miserly with chilli initially as I can always add more at this stage, but I can’t remove it.

I suggest you serve it with a big dollop of greek yoghurt, if you can afford the calories. Some grated cheese is a nice addition too, but again depends whether you can afford the FD calories. Check your yoghurt container and cheese packet and add the calories accordingly.