Oh (ba)na-na whats my name.....

I like food. I can't deny it. I adore it, its my passion and takes up much of my thought processes. I get excited when I try new recipes, I get enthused when I taste something amazingly delicious, I love drawing from other peoples experiences with food and tweaking it to my own tastes. HOWEVER and here is the Crux of the matter......... it comes at a price......I could eat and eat and eat and eat and then of course follows the weight gain. I have lost ALOT of weight and I'm now on the 'home straight' to lose the last 2 odd stone. I do love healthy food and I'm enjoying creating new things in the kitchen to suit my new lifestyle, however sometimes I really crave carb loaded sweet things or cheesy piles of wrong!
So recently I've been re-creating my favourite dishes or trying new ones that do not compromise on flavour but are still relatively healthier than the originals.
I wanted Cake today. A yummy cake that doesn't taste of artificial sugar and soothes the little sugar monster inside me who screams in a Little Shop of Horrors voice 'Feeeeeeed me Danniiiii, Feeeeeeeddd meee!'. So I decided to shut the little bugger up!
Banana and Lime Cake......only 122 cals per slice. Perfect! Now this is the first time i've tried this recipe, and even though it was lovely it was quite 'heavy' I think next time I'd increase the bananas to two or three and maybe add a few tbsps of applesauce (to add extra moisture....applesauce is often used to replace oil in recipes)

Banana and Lime Cake

Ingredients

300g Plain Flour
1tsp Salt
1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
175g Light Muscovado sugar
1tsp Lime Rind, Grated
1 Medium Egg, beaten
1 Banana, mashed with 1 tbsp Lime Juice
150ml Low fat Natural Yogurt
Topping:
115g Icing Sugar
1-2 tsp lime juice

Method

- Bang the oven on to 180Degrees to preheat and grease and line a cake tin, I used quite a deep 7 inch one.
- Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl and stir in the sugar and lime rind
- Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the egg, banana, yogurt and mix until thoroughly incorporated.
- Spoon the mixture into the tin and smooth the surface. Bake for 40-45 mins until firm to the touch or use the skewer test (it comes out clean if inserted in the centre)
- Leave to cool on a wire rack.
- To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and mix with the lime juice to form a soft but not too runny icing, then drizzle over the cake letting it run down the sides, oozy yummy goodness!!!

Cheesy Yogurt Scones (86 cals each)

Ingredients

225g Plain flour (plus a bit more for rolling out and dusting)

1tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Baking powder

60g Unsalted Butter

1 egg

6 Tbsps Low fat natural yogurt

45g Lower fat Cheddar cheese (I used 'I cant believe its not Cheddar')

Method

-  Preheat oven to 180degrees

- Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Cut the butter into cubes and rub it into the dry ingredients until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then stir in the sugar.

- Beat together the egg and yogurt and stir quickly into your flour mixture. mix to form a thick dough and knead until it is smooth and free from cracks.

- Lightly flour your work top and roll the dough out to a thickness of around 3/4 inch.

- Cut out rounds, then gather up the trimmings roll them out again and cut out some more. I managed to get 17 out of mine.

- Grease a baking tray with butter and then add the cut out scones onto it. Lightly dust them with flour.

- Bake for 10 minutes until they are well risen and golden brown, then let them cool on a wire rack.

NB You can substitute the cheddar for 60g Caster Sugar instead to make sweet scones. Just add 1tsp of cinnamon to the flour and then you can have scones with jam and cream (or natural yogurt if you're not naughty!! ;p)

Leeks with Ham and Cheese (348 Cals per two leeks)

Ingredients

Leeks, Only the white parts (trim the root) two per person is plenty I find

Ham 2 slices per Leek (I used Turkey Ham for fewer cals)

Laughing Cow Extra Light Cheese Triangles x 4 (add 2 per person if cooking for more than two)

100g Soft Cheese (I used the lighter version with Onion and Chives... you could add your own herbs or garlic if you wanted a different taste)

Lower Fat Cheddar around 50g

1tsp Dijon Mustard

Milk (Semi Skimmed or Skimmed) 100ml or just enough to 'loosen' the sauce.

Method

- Preheat the oven to 200degrees

- Boil the Leeks for 5 mins. Drain and run under cold water to prevent them from cooking any further,then leave to drain again.

- Make your cheese sauce. Place all the cheeses, mustard and milk in a pan and heat gently until they're all mixed thoroughly and you have a smooth sauce.

- Wrap your ham around the leeks and place in an ovenproof dish. Top with your cheese sauce, sprinkle some more cheddar and place in the oven.

- Bake for around 20 minutes until your topping is bubbling and starting to turn golden brown.

- Serve! I served mine with a big salad with a vinaigrette dressing and one of my cheese scones.

A lovely comfort food dish and incorporating all my thrifty principles. Cheap as chips!!