The FastDay Forum

I agree with you, daydreamer21 , about the difficulty in halving recipes - not all recipes freeze successfully , and I'm never quite sure whether half the quantity of herbs and spices will work . Will you even taste them ? What's "half a pinch" of dried herbs or "half a spray " of oil??

I also feel the calorie counts of some of the Hairy Dieters recipes are slightly suspect , and I get the feeling they underestimate at times , though I suppose common sense guides you as to what quantity you should be eating to keep within healthy guidelines. Pile on the greens is my motto !

[Memo to the Hairy Dieters : how about a "Serves Two" edition ? ]

Goldilox x

oh oh oh, so jumping in this tent! my fave HB recipe is the pasta bolognase, the sauce is so rich and thick, can even use the sauce as a lovely soup if you have to much for one go (it can be frozen) Am tempted to try the cassoulet as it looks lovely! Keep hinting to the husband that I want the other diet book by them for mothers day (from Sofia, not him! lol) but I doubt he was listening! lol

You have me intrigued so just sent off for their first diet book.

@Auriga You'll love it! So many love recipes for all times of day!

I've just ordered both books form the book people they have 15% off at the moment too.

I am a big fan. I think both books are good. I usually halve the recipe. When my daughter was at home I would make it all but dish the 4th serving into a pot and put in in the freezer with calorie count on the label for evenings when I am home alone. The recipes I have trouble with are the ones for 5
Here are the thigs I have made
Roasted Cod with parma ham and peppers
Spanish style chicken bake ( probably the one I have made the most)
Quick cod and prawn gratin
Chicken and ham tangle pie ( non fast days only)
Lean lamb hotpot ( non fast days only)
Cumin crusted vegetables
Chicken Jalfrezi
All from the white book
Quick chicken cordon bleu
Easy chicken bake
All in one spicy pork and rice -this is the only one i thought i wouldn't do again - can't remember why!
Beef stroganoff
From the yellow book
To start with I used to try and do extra for my husband but the portion sizes are fine for him

Yes I know what you mean Daydreamer! I always used to have that problem. I guess you could cook a recipe as is...and then freeze the other portions so you've got meals whenever you need them

I'm loving this tent...so many great recommendations!

Tomorrow I am going to try and make the beef lasagne (skinny lasagne?) made with leeks instead of pasta and then I aim to cook the egg, bacon and asparagus flan for Monday's fast with my buddy Oates!

Will report back with photographic evidence

And remember...

Keeeeeeeep cooking!

Bean

Hi, First post on this site.
Im a new starter I and hubby have been on the 5:2 for two weeks. Finding it harder on fast days has on annual leave this week.
I have downloaded both Hairy Bikers diet books to my mac laptop using the Kindle app.
This week I have cooked the Chicken caesar salad and the roasted veg with the stuffed chicken breasts both were loved by my husband.

Hope to update my progress at a later date.

[carieoates]

Hello @twresearcher welcome to this fantastic, fun informative forum. Take a good look around and settle in. Good luck and let us know how your'e getting on.

Thanks for starting this thread Bean,

We had the Spanish Chicken tonight or at least a variation on it with some chopped up new potatoes and some slightly bendy asparagus instead of the courgettes.
I handn't seen the quiche type thing using filo but am about to look it up, thanks @carieoates
As it hasn't been mentioned in this thread, although it has been talked about elsewhere, the Tea Loaf is very good. I made it weeks ago and quickly decided it was too tempting to leave hanging around, so I froze it. If OH and I go out for a serious walk that involves taking a packed lunch I pop a frozen square of Tea Loaf in and by the time we stop for lunch it has thawed out while keeping my wrap cool.
Oh the wrap idea is a HD one too.

My faves are chicken tagine and fat free sugar free tea loaf. Both book two.@pennyforthem you will not be disappointed. Interesting about the number of comments about not being everyone cup of tea. I used to think that way until I watched their series about eastern Europe.

[carieoates]

Welcome home @rawkaren

Interestingly, their calorie counts are variable; when I do calorie counts on recipes, I specify weights eg 100g prepared onions etc.
They say 3 onions or 3 peppers. They can weigh in very differently. For that reason, I would always weigh and calorie count your own version of their recipe.

Great thread Bean. Thanks. I have both books on my kindle app, still not convinced that a lot of the recipes are not a faff but our current favourite is sticky chicken from the Eat For Life book (the yellow one) it is really quick and easy. The suggestion is to serve it with coleslaw but I make Penny's celeriac remoulade to go with it. So yummy. I like reading the recipes even if I don't make them (saddo!)

Thanks for all your suggestions, I will look them up and report back. Will definitely give Caries tart a go

Edited to say that I have just had a look and am going to make the mince and vegetable pie without the spuds. I wonder if celeriac would work? Otherwise I could just serve the mince with extra vegetables.

Last evening I made the fish with crispy chorizo topping and in my and The DHs view it was good. I used cod since it's almost the only fish a non fishy person can eat;) The son though hated it and scraped of the crispy topping....he never want to have this dish again. OK, so be it. But their low cal mash was great, who would ever have thought that only 3 tbs of creme fraiche (should have been half-fat, but I used lactose free smetana instead) could make a mash so good? Normally I dump a whole jar in there....

I must say (with raised brows) that I have never imagined I would make three recipes from the same cook book within the same week. Now I have next week covered