Fast Diet recipes – Day 6

Breakfast: Stewed apple breakfast pots – 195 calories

Lunch: Chicken meatball broth – 198 calories

Dinner: Carrot and feta salad – 204 calories

= 597 calories

Although our energy was running low after 2 fast days in a row, it wasn’t as much of a trauma as I’d anticipated and now there’s 4 whole feast days ahead to look forward to. That said, I’m going to try my best to make the fast days non-consecutive from now on – there’s definitely more of a temptation to cheat when you get to the end of day 1, knowing there’s another 24 hours of fasting ahead of you.

Stewed Apple Breakfast Pots

This third variation on the breakfast pots came about when Justin’s Mum found a hoard of last year’s stewed apple in her freezer.

195 calories per portion

For the apple compote (makes 6 portions):

650 g Bramley apples, peeled, cored and chopped (338 cal)

2 ½ tbsp caster sugar (150 cal)

½ tsp ground cinnamon

To make each portion:

110 g apple compote (81 cal)

85 g fat-free natural yoghurt (46 cal)

15 g granola (68 cal)

• Make the apple compote in advance.
• Put the apples in a saucepan with the sugar, cinnamon and a splash of water.
• Cover the pan and cook over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the apple breaks down into a compote.
• Leave to cool completely then store in a jar in the fridge until ready to use.
• Spoon 110 g of the compote into a small bowl and top with an 85 g layer of yoghurt.
• Sprinkle with the granola before serving.

Chicken meatball broth

This was voted favourite fast-day lunch so far by Justin! This would make a great meal on a normal day, perhaps with a few more meatballs and some chunks of potato.

198 calories per serving

Serves 4

For the meatballs:

300 g boneless, skinless chicken thigh, chopped (621 cal)

1 garlic clove, crushed (8 cal)

1 tsp lemon zest, finely grated (2 cal)

2 tbsp Parmesan, finely grated (44 cal)

a small bunch basil, chopped

To finish the broth:

800 ml chicken stock (40 cal)

200 g pointed cabbage (48 cal)

1 large carrot, thinly sliced (30 cal)

• Put all of the meatball ingredients into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped and evenly mixed.
• Shape the mixture into 20 small meatballs then chill for 30 minutes to firm up.
• Bring the chicken stock to the boil, then add the meatballs, carrot and cabbage.
• Simmer gently for 5 minutes, then adjust the seasoning before ladling into warm bowls.

Roasted carrot and feta salad

The combination of roasted carrot, caraway and feta is one that I’ve loved since tasting Moro’s carrot purée years ago. Here I’ve kept the carrot slices whole – with all the soups, compotes and mashes I felt I needed to inject a little texture into our fast diet days! I think there’s some scope to reduce the amount of olive oil, perhaps in favour of upping the carrot weight.

Serves 2

204 calories per portion

400 g carrot, peeled and sliced (112 cal)

1 tbsp olive oil (120 cal)

½ tsp caraway seeds

½ tsp cumin seeds

20 g reduced fat feta cheese (38 cal)

1 wholemeal pita bread (137 cal)

• Preheat the oven to 180c / gas 4.
• Toss the carrots with the olive oil, caraway and cumin in a roasting tin and season generously with salt and pepper.
• Cover the tin with foil and bake for 45 – 55 minutes or until the carrots are tender, removing the foil for the last 10 minutes.
• Divide the carrots between 2 plates and crumble the feta over the top.
• Toast the pita bread and carefully separate the 2 layers with a knife. Cut each layer into wedges and serve with the carrots.