healthy alternative – #ThisGirlEats

RECIPE: Cheese and Mushroom Stack Burgers | #ThisGirlEats

Serves: 2
How much does it cost? This recipe cost me less than 75p per person.
What are the benefits? These burgers are perfectly vegetarian-friendly, not to mention they are high in both protein and fibre.

If you’ve ever checked out my Instagram feed you’ll know I love a good burger. Almost every time we go out to eat and I take a sneaky insta snap, it’s pretty much always a fat burger on my plate. Perhaps I need to shake things up a bit… 🍔

I’ve taken my love for burgers here and steered it in a whole new direction to create a delicious alternative with a little more nutritional “oomph“. There’s still the lovely, gooey, melty cheese oozing out 🧀 but the mushrooms make up for all that – they count towards your ‘Five A Day’, they’re high in fibre and protein, and they’re an awful lot lower in fat than your traditional beef burger. So there!

Shopping at our local ASDA, I picked up the ingredients for this recipe for £1.38, which totals at just 69p per person. Compared to even the cheapest burgers (McDonald’s saver menu, here’s looking at you!) that’s a bargain! It’s also very quick and easy to make, with just a few ingredients available at many shops and supermarkets.

INGREDIENTS
4 Large Flat Mushrooms
4 Slices of Low Fat Cheddar Cheese
2 Burger Buns

SEASONING
Season the mushrooms with a good pinch of salt and pepper – and that’s it!

So, this is how I did it…

1. Season the mushrooms and grill each on one side for about 5 minutes – I’ve got a tabletop grill which is really handy, but an oven grill works perfectly fine.

2. Once the mushrooms have cooked on one side, flip them over and layer up in a stack with the cheese (one mushroom, one slice of cheese, second mushroom, second slice of cheese). Pop the stacks back under the grill for a further 5 minutes until the mushrooms are cooked through and cheese has melted.

3. Remove from the heat and serve in a soft burger roll with any extra toppings you fancy.

Tips & Tricks

Stilton isn’t my cup of tea so I stuck with plain ol’ cheddar for my mushroom stacks, but blue cheese would go really well with this if you like that kind of thing.

Grilling always helps drain excess fat from whatever you’re cooking, but you can cook the mushrooms in a frying pan instead and it works just as well.

Try using aubergine 🍆 or beef tomatoes 🍅 to experiment with different veggie stacks!

RECIPE: Spicy Cheese and Onion Loaded Potato Skins | #ThisGirlEats

Serves: 2
How much does it cost? This recipe cost me less than £1 per person.
What are the benefits? Thanks to the chillies this recipe is full of antioxidants, as well as being a good source of fibre and suitable for vegetarians.

This isn’t the first time I’ve played around with potato skins (check out my recipe for sweet potato skins with cheese and bacon) but I really enjoy making them – and, more importantly, eating them! 😋

These ones have got a kick with spicy cheese and fresh chillies; they make great antioxidants for the immune system so there’s a good reason for ramping up the heat, but they might be too spicy for those of us with a milder palette. My boyfriend loved them because he’s a sucker for spice but I found them a little eye-watering, so I’d definitely adjust to taste! 🌶

When shopping at my local supermarket (ASDA), I managed to pick up everything I needed for 96p per person, serving up two loaded skins per plate. I thought this was a bargain, especially when I saw how huge and absolutely stuffed to the brim they were when we dished them up!

INGREDIENTS
2 Large Baking Potatoes
1 Large Red Onion, Finely Chopped
2 Chillies (red or green), Finely Sliced
50g (or half a cup) Spicy Grated Cheese – ASDA do a great firey cheese blend

SEASONING
When you’re mashing together the scooped potato flesh (there has to be a more appealing word than “flesh”, surely…) season with salt and pepper and, if you want an even spicier taste, then you could also throw some dried chilli flakes in there too.

So, this is how I did it…

1. Wash and prick the potatoes, then nuke in the microwave. Each potato should take around 7 minutes; keep going until the insides are soft.

2. Scoop out the potato skins and mix the flesh (there’s that word again…) in a bowl with the red onion, chilli, cheese and seasoning until well combined. While this is all coming together, slip the empty skins under the grill to crisp up.

3. When the potato has been mashed in properly with the other ingredients, remove the skins from the grill and load ’em up.

4. Pop the skins, hopefully now full to the brim, back under the grill for another 5 minutes or so, just until the insides are warmed through and the cheese has melted.

Tips & Tricks

Potato skins make an excellent party snack – use smaller potatoes but follow the same steps for some tasty party treats.

A block of plain, non-spicy, value-range cheese will make this recipe even cheaper, especially if the chillies give you enough heat as it is.

More traditional fillings, like cheese and bacon or cheese and onion, work just as well with the same method as long as the fillings are prepared as necessary.

RECIPE: Low Fat Roasted Vegetable Lasagne with Home Made Chips | #ThisGirlEats

Serves: 4
How much does it cost? This recipe cost me less than £1.50 per person.
What are the benefits? This recipe is totally vegetarian-friendly, provides at least two – if not three! – of your five a day and is low fat.

I remember the first time I ever made lasagne at home and you know what I thought? “I am never doing this again!” There were so many components that seemed like very hard work for something I could nuke for two minutes in the microwave 🤷‍♀️

Credit where it’s due, this recipe on BBC Good Food inspired me to reconsider this classic pasta dish. No meat ragù, no béchamel sauce, just sieved tomatoes, a dollop of crème fraîche and a handful of cheese. So it got me thinking, if I made this at home myself, how would I do it..?

This is my take on a low fat roasted vegetable lasagne with the addition of a few home-cooked chips, because I love dipping chips in my lasagne! This recipe easily packs in your five a day, not to mention being much lower in fat than the traditional version. There are so many health benefits here – potassium from tomatoes and potatoes, Vitamin C from onions and peppers, protein from mushrooms, antioxidants from courgettes and aubergines, fibre from sweetcorn and carrots… the nutrition is endless!

INGREDIENTS
2 Medium Onions, Quartered
2 Bell Peppers, Sliced
1 Aubergine, Chopped
1 Courgette, Chopped
1 Medium Carrot, Chopped
4 Mushrooms, Chopped
4 Medium Tomatoes, Quartered
4 Medium Baking Potatoes, Sliced Into Chips
1/2 Cup of Frozen Sweetcorn
1 Carton of Passata
4 – 6 Fresh Lasagne Sheets
300ml Low Fat Crème Fraîche
1 Cup of Low Fat Cheese, Grated

SEASONING
When the veggies go into the roasting tin, add some dried garlic flakes and dried thyme as well as the usual salt and pepper to get the most out of them. Do the same with the chips, swapping out the thyme for dried rosemary if possible. When it comes to the passata sauce, we want to make this simple ingredient taste as rich as possible, so stir in a good helping of dried garlic flakes, dried basil, dried oregano, salt and pepper to give it flavour. With the top layer of crème fraîche, add a pinch of salt and pepper to increase its savoury taste.

So, this is how I did it…
(Serves 4)

1. Throw the onion, aubergine and carrot into a roasting tin, coat with cooking spray or a drop of oil along with salt, pepper, garlic and thyme. Roast on 200°C for around 45 minutes, adding the pepper, tomatoes and courgette to the tin after about 20 minutes.

2. Pour the passata into a bowl with garlic, basil, oregano, salt and pepper and mix well so the sauce has plenty of flavour.

3. Meanwhile, spread the sliced potato chips out on a baking tray with cooking spray or oil, season with salt, pepper and rosemary (or thyme) and cook for 50 minutes, turning halfway through.

4. Once all the veggies are cooked, begin layering the lasagne. In an ovenproof dish, start with one layer of roasted vegetables, as well as the uncooked mushroom and sweetcorn. Spoon over a layer of the passata, sprinkle over a small amount of grated cheese and top with a lasagne sheet. Repeat until the dish is full.
For the final sheet of lasagne, spread a layer of the crème fraîche on top, add a pinch of salt and pepper and top with a generous helping of cheese.

5. Pop the dish back into the oven for around 20 – 25 minutes until cooked through – make sure the cheese doesn’t catch on top!

6. Serve the lasagne with homemade oven-cooked chips for dippin’!

RECIPE: “Homestyle” Southern Fried Chicken | #ThisGirlEats

Serves: 2
How much does it cost? This recipe cost me less than £1.25 per person.
What are the benefits? Making this at home is a great takeaway alternative as it’s lower in fat, and it’s also a good source of protein too.

Nothing cures a hangover like a big ol’ Bargain Bucket 🍗

Fried chicken is second only to gallons of water and a few paracetamol when it comes to my post-alcohol needs but, of course, it’s often pretty gross, dripping with grease and whatnot.

This homemade alternative is my way of making southern fried chicken that tastes just as good as the takeaway stuff – honestly, it really does – but cuts out a few of the calories.

This isn’t just a hangover cure – it makes a great midweek meal. This is just normal, everyday food with a healthier twist, which is exactly the kind of food #ThisGirlEats aims to create.

INGREDIENTS
4 Skinless, Boneless Chicken Thighs
4 tbsp Plain Flour
Sunflower Oil (or whatever you’ve got to hand)
200ml Almond Milk

SEASONING
The seasoning for this one all goes in with the flour. So, in with the bag of flour goes a hefty dose of paprika, a decent amount of dried parsley, a sprinkle of chilli powder, some dried garlic flakes, salt and pepper.

So, this is how I did it…

1. You can use any cut of chicken for this recipe, just adjust the cooking time accordingly. Thighs have the best flavour, plus they sort of unfold a little while frying and give you that classic fried chicken shape, so that’s what I used. First thing is to put the chicken in a bowl and cover with milk – almond milk, preferably, for flavour.

2. Meanwhile, combine the flour and seasoning freezer bag, ziplock bag or bowl and shake (maybe just mix together with your hands if using a bowl – shaking might get messy!) so the flavours all blend together.

3. Take the (wet, raw, sticky 🤢) chicken from the bowl and place into the bag with the flour and seasoning. Shake the life out of it until the chicken is completely coated with the flour mixture. Again, if you’re using a bowl, just coat the chicken with your hands.

4. Place the chicken in a hot pan with a little oil – used sparingly! Cook for roughly five minutes on each side, looking for a golden, crispy coating. If it starts to blacken before the five minutes is up then it’s burning, so turn it over or take it out of the pan! (Totally didn’t do this on the first go… 😒)

5. Once both sides look deliciously golden, pop into the oven on 200°C for about 20 minutes, turning once halfway through. Check they’re cooked through and you’ve got yourself some tasty homestyle southern fried chicken!