5:2 Diet Vegetarian Recipe: A Low Cal Tomato and Courgette Bake that smacks of Summer!

Yesterday was a 5:2 day with little time to spend in the kitchen and a rather empty fridge it was always going to be a bit of a challenge.

Armed with a clove of smoked garlic, a large tomato, courgette, some cheesy left overs and a store cupboard that's pretty well stocked I managed to create something that was not only satisfyingly filling but fresh and summery too.

The addition of cheese to the topping makes this rather pious dish feel a little on the decadent side. Using something strong grated over the top is also a great way to get maximum flavour for not too many calories. It's my first entry of the month into the Feasting While Fasting Challenge that I've just set up this month. If you often cook low calorie dishes and then please do join in with me. The theme for July is Cheese.

But this recipe is not only great as a vegetarian main on a 5:2 fast day, it would make a fabulous side dish too.

5:2 Vegetarian Recipe: Low Cal Courgette and Tomato Bake (only 177 calories)

Serves 1 as a main and 2-3 as a side dish

5:2 Fast Diet Vegetarian Recipe: Courgette and Tomato Bake

First you'll need...

180g courgette - thinly sliced into rounds (32)

Layer this in three layers with a fresh tomato sauce that takes literally seconds to make. Just pop all of this into a blender and whizz up:

150g fresh tomato (27)

10g garlic clove (15)- I had some lovely smoked garlic from the Cardiff Food Festival but normal garlic would be ideal too.

30g white onion (13)

1 tsp sundried tomato pesto (25)

1 tsp tomato purée (6)

A sprinkling of Italian seasoning

Salt and pepper

Then all that's left to do is disperse the cheese in dollops and scatterings. I used two types:

10g light Philadelphia Cheese - dolloped (16)

10g Parmesan style cheese - grated and scattered (43)

Finally, pop the whole lot in a fairly hot over (gas mark 6) for 20-30 minutes, depending on how crunchy you like your vegetables.

At only 177 calories, you may find that you can afford to indulge in a small slice of bread to mop up the juices at the end. Sheer indulgence on a very low cal budget!

On another note, I'm trialing a new way of setting out recipes with the ingredients interspersed throughout the instructions. Do you think this works well or is it hard to follow? Any thoughts would be welcomed.

 

FOR MORE 5:2 FAST DIET RECIPES CLICK HERE

 

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