Fast Diet recipes – Day 3

Breakfast: Banana and cinnamon porridge – 203 calories

Lunch: Poached eggs with chilli and soy – 175 calories

Dinner: White bean, tomato and anchovy salad – 154 calories

= 532 calories (Justin had an apple too which brought his total up to 600)

I had mixed success with yesterday’s recipes. Lunch was fab and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it, but while breakfast and dinner staved off hunger commendably, they were the least tasty of the fast day recipes so far.

Banana and cinnamon porridge

I have to say, this was the first meal that felt like a penance. The banana didn’t add quite enough sweetness and the only bright side was that I knew the oats would keep us going until lunch. With only 500 – 600 calories to play with for the day, every meal needs to be something to look forward to, so I’m going to work on a variation of this with prunes instead of the banana for next week. The following recipe is for reference only – only use it if you believe in the ‘no pain, no gain’ school of dieting!

203 calories per portion

40 g Rude Health oatmeal (152 cal)

½ / 62 g banana (51 cal)

½ tsp ground cinnamon

a few drops of vanilla extract

• Bring 150 ml of water to the boil in a saucepan, then add the oatmeal and a pinch of fine sea salt.
• Finely chop the banana and add it to the pan with the cinnamon and vanilla.
• Simmer the porridge over a low heat for 5 – 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a little more water if it starts to get too thick.
• Turn off the heat, cover the pan and leave the porridge to stand for 1 minute before serving.

Poached eggs with chilli and soy

This recipe is inspired by a breakfast dish I enjoyed in Malaysia where the eggs were fried instead of poached. When we came back from the trip I’d fallen so in love with Asian food that I shunned western breakfasts for a couple of months. This became one of my go-to dishes and the fast-day poached version is every bit as tasty as the original.

175 calories per portion

2 medium eggs – must be very fresh (156 cal)

1 spring onion (4 cal)

½ small red chilli (2 cal)

¼ tsp sesame oil (10 cal)

1/2 tsp soy sauce (2 cal)

• Bring a deep frying pan of water to a gentle simmer then break in the eggs.
• Simmer gently for 1 minute, then turn off the heat and leave for 6 minutes.
• While the eggs are cooking, finely chop the spring onion and chilli.
• Drain the eggs with a slotted spoon and transfer to a warm plate, then sprinkle with the spring onion, chilli, sesame oil and soy sauce.

White bean, tomato and anchovy salad

One word of warning – this salad is only as good as the tomatoes you use! We had to do an emergency purchase yesterday evening of those orange Dutch tomato replicas that have become the norm in our country. Needless to say, the dish wasn’t as good as it could have been which is a shame. Every calorie needs to count on a fast day!

154 calories per serving

100 g cannellini beans, drained (89 cal)

1 spring onion, thinly sliced (4 cal)

180 g fresh ripe tomatoes, diced (29 cal)

5 marinated anchovy fillets, halved (17 cal)

5 g (a few sprigs) fresh basil leaves, torn (1 cal)

½ tsp Dijon mustard (3 cal)

½ tsp runny honey (11 cal)

• Mix the beans with the spring onion, tomatoes, anchovy and basil.
• Stir the mustard and honey together then add enough cold water to make a spoonable dressing (approx. 3 tsp).
• Drizzle the dressing over the salad and season to taste with salt and pepper.