Microwave Nutrional Yeast Cheese Sauce for Pizza

I discovered nutrional yeast recently from reading many blogs talking about how it could be used as a healthy alternative to cheese. So when I was in the US recently I brought some home with me. You can also buy it in health stores here in Australia too.

So far I'd only used it to make salad dressing but when I had a pizza craving on the way home I had a brain wave to use nutrional yeast instead. I was initially going to just sprinkle the flakes on top until I came across two 'cheese sauce' recipes using the yeast. The original recipes are here and here. I had no corn starch on hand and didn't want to mess up a saucepan with it and also only wanted to make a small low calorie amount so I made a few adjustments and the results were pure delicious!

Microwave Nutrional Yeast Cheese Sauce
Servings: 1, Serving size: the whole batch, Calories: 40 Calories

Ingredients:
5g Nutritional Yeast
5g Wholemeal Flour
1/2 tsp Dijon Mustard
Water (approx 1/4 cup)
Salt
Pepper

1. Add yeast, flour, mustard and salt and pepper to a cup or small microwave safe bowl.
2. Add water to mixture, around a 1/4 cup but just enough to cover the ingredients.
3. Mix together well with a fork to get rid of any lumps.
4. Microwave for 1 minute (may need to adjust depending on your microwave).
5. When the sauce comes out it should be nice and thick, give it a stir when it comes out if it isn't thick enough it needs a bit more time in the microwave.
6. Drizzle over the top of your pizza.

Here was my veggie topped pizza with the sauce:

Yumm! It felt so naughty but was vegie packed and protein packed thanks to the nutritional yeast. The whole pizza was 315 calories.

Fresh Corn Fritters with Quinoa Flour with Quick Tzatziki

Apologies for the lack of recipes and posts of late, I've been slack with trying new recipes but I'm on a new health kick so I should now be on a roll and have at least 1 new recipe a week.

I bought Quinoa flour a whilst ago but hadn't thought what to do with it. The market had a sale on fresh corn on Saturday so I bought some not knowing what to do with it but then had a brainwave today and decided to make corn fritters. I've made fritters before but only ever with canned corn which you could still use for this recipe but believe me fresh tastes so much better if you can get it and the quinoa flour gave these a beautiful nuttiness to them. I served it with a very quick tzatziki that I made up a recipe for which complimented it very well.

Fresh Corn Fritters with Quinoa Flour
Servings: 2, Serving size: 3 fritters or 3/4 cup batter, Calories: 195 Calories per serve

Ingredients:
250g Corn Kernels (2 Fresh Corn Cobs with kernels chopped off)
40g Quinoa Flour
1 Egg White
1 tsp Garlic
1/4 Cup Water
Salt
Pepper

1. Cut corn kernels from corn cobs and place in a bowl.
2. Add the quinoa flour, egg white, garlic, salt and pepper and mix together.
3. Add the water and mix thoroughly ensuring the flour is well mixed in. The batter will not be very thick as it just coats the corn, it should look something like this:

3. Heat a non-stick fry pan to medium high and spray lightly with oil.
4. Add 1/4 cup of the mixture at a time to form 6 fritters. Make sure to flatten them, you may end up with a few loose corn kernels but leave them in the pan as they end up toasty and delicious.
5. Fry each fritter until golden brown on each side be careful when you turn them over.

Quick Tzatziki
Servings: 2, Serving size: 1.2 mixture, Calories: 30 Calories per serve

Ingredients:
70g Low Fat Greek Yoghurt (I'm obsessed with Chobani)
1/4 Zucchini (90g)
1 tsp Garlic
1/4 Lemon
Salt
Pepper

1. Grate the zucchini.
2. Juice the lemon.
2. Mix together yoghurt, zucchini, garlic, lemon and salt and pepper.
3. Adjust the garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

I served the fritters with roasted broccoli which I made from a recipe I adjusted from Edible Perspective, I changed the recipe to use coconut oil, garlic and lemon juice to roast the broccoli in and it worked out really well.

Total calories for the meal: 274 per serve ( 3 fritters, 1/2 Tzatziki and 100g Roasted broccoli)

Healthy hommus

I had friends coming over and needed a low calorie dip to serve with vegetables so made a classic hommus but without all the calories.

The picture isn't very good as it was so delicious it was nearly all eaten before I could get a good shot but I promise it is worth making!

Healthy hommus
Servings: 6, Serving size: 50g, Calories: 42 Calories per serve

Ingredients:
1 x 400g Can chickpeas drained
1 bunch Coriander
2 Lemons, juiced
1/2 Tbs Ground cummin
1/2 Tbs Tahini
1 Tbs Crushed garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Using a food processor or hand blender as I use, blend the chickpeas and lemon juice.
2. Add the coriander and blend some more.
3. Add the tahini, cummin, garlic and salt and pepper to taste and blend further.
4. Add additional lemon/garlic to taste and if the dip is too thick you can add a bit of water depending on how thick you like it.
5. Serve with carrot sticks and vegies.

Chickpea and Broccoli Red Curry

I changed another 12WBT recipe to make it quicker and have more of the foods I enjoy that being broccoli and chickpeas. This curry is super delicious and can be cooked in 10 minutes making it a very easy dinner.

Chickpea and Broccoli Red Curry
Servings: 4, Serving size: 2 ladels, Calories: 192 Calories per serve

Ingredients:
1 Tbs Red Curry Paste
1 x 400ml Coconut Cream - Trident brand has the lowest calories
300g Broccoli, chopped
300g Mushrooms, chopped
240g Chickpeas (400g tin drained)
3 tsp Brown Sugar
1 Lime, juiced
1 Tbs Fish Sauce
2 Kaffir Lime leaves, chopped finely

1. Add curry paste to a saucepan and let it cook for about a minute, stirring as you do.
2. Add the coconut cream and stir very well, let simmer about another minute or two so it is well combined
3. Add chickpeas and leave for 5 minutes
4. Add broccoli and mushrooms and let cook for another 5 minutes or until vegetables are cooked to your liking
5. Add brown sugar, fish sauce, lime juice and lime leaves.
6. Serve and enjoy. I like to cook some brown rice to have it with, just be sure to add the extra calories if you do this.

Healthy Banana Bread

I adjusted this Michelle Bridges 12WBT Recipe to make it much lower in calories and even healthier. It is great for breakfast or a hearty snack.

Healthy Banana Bread
Servings: 8, Serving size: 1 slice, Calories: 171 Calories per serve

Ingredients:
65 grams Quick cooking rolled oats
250 grams Wholemeal Flour
65g Natvia (Stevia sugar)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1.5 Bananas (150 grams), mashed
70g Apple puree (Goulburn Valley)
3/4 Cup Skinny Milk
1/4 Cup Water

1. Line a loaf tin with baking paper and spray with olive oil spray just to ensure it doesn't stick.
2. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
3. Mix together Oats, Flour, Natvia and baking powder.
4. Add mashed banana, apple puree, milk and water and mix together well. If mixture is very thick add a bit more water and stir through.
5. Place mixture into tin and spread out so that the mixture is flat
6. Bake for 45 minutes or until a knife comes out clean
7. Cut into 8 slices and enjoy.

Carrot, ginger and orange soup

I'm really loving my soups at the moment as it is a dish that freezes really well and can be taken for lunch each day as a very quick and healthy meal especially when it is cold.

Carrot, ginger and orange soup
Servings: 5, Serving size: 2 soup ladels per serve, Calories: 98 Calories per serve

Ingredients:
500g Carrots, diced
1 Medium Onion chopped finely
1 Leek, chopped
2 Oranges, juiced
Ginger, fresh
Garlic
Olive oil spray

2 x Campbells stock pots
1L Water
1/4 tsp Coriander seeds, ground

Salt

Pepper

1.In a medium pot lightly spray some oil and add the onions, garlic and ginger, cook for about 5 minutes until the onion is soft. Add the carrot and leeks and cook for a further 10 minutes.

2. Whilst the carrot is cooking make up the stock pots by adding 1 litre of boiled water to a bowl and adding the pots and stirring until dissolved. You could also use stock cubes or real stock but the flavour in these I find really adds some punch to soups and dishes.

3. Add salt, pepper and coriander seeds. Add the orange juice and stock to the pot and bring to the boil.

4. Then turn down to a simmer and leave for about 30 minutes stirring occasionally.

5. Check that the carrot is soft and then use a barmix or hand blender to blend up the smooth until it is thick and smooth.

6. Serve immediately. This soup is freezer friendly and tastes just as good reheated as it does the first time.

Low calorie cauliflower and blue cheese soup

I had this soup a couple of months ago from a soup shop and it was a combination I hadn't heard of before but it was delicious. I thought I could make a version that was low on calories but still creamy and with lots of flavour particularly because blue cheese is quite strong you don't need a lot to taste it.

Cauliflower and blue cheese soup
Servings: 8, Serving size: 2.5 soup ladels per serve, Calories: 95 Calories per serve

Ingredients:
1 Medium Onion chopped finely
Garlic
Olive oil spray

1 & a 1/2 heads of Cauliflower, chopped into small pieces

1 Small potato, peeled and chopped

100g Danish Blue Cheese, finely chopped

4 x Campbells stock pots
2.5L Water

Salt

Pepper

In a large pot lightly spray some oil and add the onions and garlic, cook for about 5 minutes until the onion is soft. Add the potato and cook for a further 5 minutes. Whilst the potato is cooking make up the stock pots by adding 2 litres of boiled water to a bowl and adding the pots and stirring until dissolved. You could also use stock cubes or real stock but the flavour in these I find really adds some punch to soups and dishes. Add the cauliflower and made up stock to the pot with the potato and onion. Add salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and then turn down to a simmer and leave for about 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Check that the cauliflower and potato are soft and then use a barmix or hand blender to blend up the smooth until it is thick and smooth. Add the blue cheese and mix very quickly so that it combines with the soup and doesn't sink to the bottom. Serve immediately. This soup is freezer friendly and tastes just as good reheated as it does the first time.