Once upon a time "diet" cookbooks had you existing on a lettuce and a tomato and cutting out the carbs. Thankfully those days are long gone as we have more nutritional advice available and a wider scope of food. If I wanted to lose weight and calorie count when I was younger, and I did, finding sunflower or vegetable oil, fat free youghurts (youghurts? What on earth are they?) was difficult and the idea of roasting vegetables when the English way was to boil them to mush, was unthinkable. If I remember rightly you could only buy olive oil in Boots in tiny bottles and that was mainly to bung in your ear to get rid of wax. Hard to believe but it was so.
Now the emphasis is on healthy eating and though sometimes I think the foodies go a bit too far with some of their meals (most of which I could eat in 30 seconds and still be hungry) there are many cook books now which have great recipes which will fill you up and still are pretty low in calories. I have tried quite a few and here are some that you might be interested in.
Two Chubby Cubs, the Cookbook and Two Chubby Cubs Fast Filling. Nearly all the recipes are under 500 calories and both books are well laid out with easy and clear instructions. The origin of the Chubby Cubs (of whom I had never heard until somebody mentioned them) was a blog which started with playing around with an app on an Ipad which they turned into recipe cards, and they were off. The Chubby Cubs are a gay married couple James and Paul Anderson and the two books are very very funny. You could just read them for fun and not cook a thing and they would be enjoyable. However, I freely admit that I found the relentless humour on each page a tad wearing after a while.
Pinch of Nom and Pinch of Nom Light by Kate Allinson and Kay Featherstone. I had to look up the meaning of Nom as I was slightly puzzled by the title and I gather the word is used to "express pleasure at eating, or at the prospect of eating". So then once I knew this it all makes sense. Lots of lovely recipes and most of them are 600 cals or less. One of my favourites is that for Onion Bhajis cooked in a muffin tray and they are delicious. Then a dead simple chicken curry at 181 cal per serving (rice is extra by the way) and which I have made several times, individual Bakewell tarts using a wrap instead of pastry and cheese caked stuffed strawberries which are a bit fiddly but with the strawberry season upon us, are delicious.
The Hairy Bikers. I love their cookbooks. Totally unpretentious, no faff and, as I have always found with my beloved Delia Smith, they are fool proof. Never had one gone wrong yet. In the Hairy Dieters there is a recipe, Our Special Cassoulet,which I have made dozens of times and really enjoy. There is also a recipe for Paprika chicken which has become a favourite. As with all the cookery books I own you can tell which recipes I like best as the pages are covered with splashes of tomato sauce or gravy.
Finally, a very understated simple little book called The Skinny Slow Cooker which does not appear to have any authors names at all but is part of a series. I have found this incredibly useful as I have a slow cooker and swear by it for casseroles and stews as the long cooking tenderises the cheapest cuts of meat, but there are various things I have never tried and after reading this I decided to try cooking a whole chicken in my crock pot.
A layer of leeks in the bottom of the cooker, garlic powder and paprika rubbed into the chicken and then pop the bird on top and cook slowly for 8 hours or so. The chicken falls off the bone and is beautifully moist.
The reason I mention these books is because they are straightforward and there is a lack of faff that appeals to me. This is why I am and always will be a fan of Delia Smith because of the lack of affectation. Some cookbooks I have read seem to have been written as a Phd exercise and some list ingredients that you have to scour the internet for. I really cannot be bothered with that kind of cooking at all.
After all, my mum came from Newcastle and I was brought up on steak and kidney pie and her mince and dumplings so subtlety is a bit beyond me...
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