Recipe for Fat-Free Risotto

Half a leek, chopped

White wine

Half a lean chicken breast chopped

A handful of chopped mushrooms,

Half a carrot, grated

75g rice (I prefer basmati or arborio risotto rice)

Half a pint of stock

Warm a saucepan then add the chopped leek and a splash of the wine. Cook over a medium heat until the leek softens then add the chicken and continue to stir until the chicken is white through (add a splash more wine if necessary). Then stir in the mushrooms, carrot and rice. Stir for a couple of minutes then pour over enough stock to cover the contents of the pan. Do not cover and leave simmering until the rice is cooked (about 20mins). Serve and enjoy!

 

Seasoning: Add a little salt and pepper to taste. I like to add a little celery salt. Sometimes using this basic recipe I make a biriyani by adding some of my favourite curry spices.

Alternatives: You can buy packets of low fat cooked chicken in most supermarkets or use some of the breast meat from a roast chicken (recipe to follow soon) for an even quicker cook. I also like this recipe with some chopped wafer thin lean ham or quorn. The vegetables are entirely up to you, add whatever’s your favourite or what you tolerate best. Vary the quantity of rice according to your appetite. If you don’t have fresh stock available to cook with I use powdered organic vegetable bouillon as it’s best to avoid monosodium glutamate which is found in most stock cubes.

Recipe for Fat-Free and Dairy-Free Spiced Fruity Tea Cake

The food I miss the most is cake so I thought I’d let you in on my secret fat and dairy free cake recipe (not so secret now):

Spiced Fruity Tea Cake

250ml Freshly made tea

1tsp Mixed Spice

1tsp Cinnamon

½ tsp Nutmeg

215g Grated apple and sultanas

250g Plain flour

200g Caster sugar

1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

2. Mix the spices and fruit into the tea and leave to stand for at least 15mins.

3. Sift the flour, sugar and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl.

4. Add the tea and fruit mixture to the bowl and mix well.

5. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake in the oven for 1 hour until brown on top and a skewer comes out clean.

 

If you are sensitive to gluten but less sensitive to fat then try nut flour or ground almonds instead of plain flour. The added fruit is entirely up to you but be careful, I’ve found adding too much bulky fruit makes the cake soggy. Please feel free to experiment with this recipe and let me know what combinations are your favourite 🙂