Tonights dinner was based around the need to use up the last of a batch of my versatile bulgar wheat and roasted vegetable “concoction”.

Bulgar wheat and roasted vegetable concoction (119 cals), warmed. Topped with 30g chopped apricots (62 cals) and 50g of cubed feta cheese (138 cals). Amazing flavours! Very filling too and just 319 calories in total.

This was my dinner tonight.

I LOVE fajitas – but on my very low calorie allowance (1100 a day) I simply cannot afford to eat fajita wraps too often!

Tonights dinner was:

Half a chicken breast (100g) roasted with 5 squirts of spray olive oil and dusted with fajita seasoning

30ml of soured cream

30g of salsa (shop bought)

90g of cauliflower (steamed)

Around 70g of sweet heart cabbage, shredded and mixed with diced onion (40g) and cooked in a splash of olive oil (I actually made three portions, using 200g cabbage, 110g of onion and 6g of olive oil)

Just totalled it up and it was just 281 calories – but so very filling and delicious! I got my fajita “fix” but for far fewer calories!

I had to rush on here and let you know about this delicious and low calorie meal! It was absolutely scrummy!

All too often our chicken dishes are made with a tomato or cream sauce, but I wanted to try out something a little different.  This on first glance seemed a little more fiddly, but it really didn’t take long to prepare.  Adding the butter gives the sauce a lovely glossy shine as well as adding a richness.

Chicken Piccata (chicken with a mushroom, lemon, garlic, caper and butter sauce)

Preparation Time: 10 mins

Cooking Time: 40 mins

Serves: 2

Calories per serving: 276

Ingredients

Flour, Plain – 20g

Garlic, Raw – 1 Clove/3g

Wine, White – 70ml

Parsley, Fresh – 1 Tbsp/3.8g

Capers, in Brine (drained) – 10g

Stock Cubes, Chicken – ½ Cube/3g

Mushrooms, Chestnut – ½ Pack/125g

Chicken, Breast Fillet – 1 Serving/200g

Pepper, Black, Freshly Ground – ¼ Tsp/0.5g

Oil, Olive – 3 Tsps/15ml

Juice, Lemon, Fresh, Average – 1 Lemon/35.5ml

Butter – 10g

Preparation: Cube the chicken breast into 2cm chunks. Make up the chicken stock with 300ml of water. Cut the mushrooms into chunks. Squeeze the juice from a lemon. Chop up the capers.

Method:

1. Whisk 2 teaspoons flour and chicken stock in a small bowl until smooth. Place the remaining flour in a shallow dish.

Season chicken with the pepper and dredge both sides in the flour.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until browned and no longer pink in the middle, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate; cover and keep warm.

3. Heat the remaining 1 tsp oil in the pan over medium-high heat. Add sliced mushrooms and cook, stirring, until they release their juices and begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

4. Add a peeled and crushed garlic clove and wine to the pan and cook until reduced by half, 1 to 2 minutes, then stir in the reserved broth-flour mixture and lemon juice.

5. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes.

6. Stir in chopped parsley, capers and the butter. Add the browned chicken back into the pan with the mushrooms and stir until the chicken is cooked (around 10 minutes).

Nutrition Data Per Serving

Calories (kcal) 276

Carbohydrate (g) 10.6

Fat (g) 12.4

Fibre (g) 1.4

Fruit & Veg 1.1

Protein (g) 24.7

Alcohol 3.5