This sauce goes perfect with salmon, chicken, prawns - any protein you like really. However, I think it goes particularly well with fish. The sauce is garlicky, salty and tangy, but a great one for non-spice lovers to enjoy, that still packs a lot of flavour. This is a great meal prep dinner as you can cook all of this in advance and keep it in the fridge for3-4 days. This would also be great served on some noodles or a bed of stir fried veggies.

Would you believe a portion of this creamy risotto comes in at roughly 500 calories? It’s creamy, meaty in flavour & hearty. It’s an ultimate comfort food meal. You can still use butter and cheese (the pinnacle ingredients of risotto), but when you pack it with lots of flavour and watch the portions, it doesn’t have to be super heavy and rich.

Summer on a plate! Paella always reminds me of holidays. I usually add some chicken thighs to this dish but since I didn’t have any, I just added some extra seafood and am calling it a seafood paella. You could of course add chicken a few minutes before cooking the veg and chorizo and give the thighs a nice sear on either side before cooking the rest of the meat. The only essential flavour is the smoked paprika, so don’t skip this step as that’s what makes paella, in my opinion.

This is a summer stir-fry dish. Super light and colourful with loads of yummy flavours. I find stir-frys a great way to pack in extra veggies in a really tasty way. I also am trying to eat less meat so by adding in lots of vegetables and nuts, you will still be full and getting all your nutrients. This is a dish that comes together really quick, so I always recommend chopping everything before starting to cook. The calorie breakdown is for the stir-fry only but a cup of jasmine or basmati rice (cooked) is 200 calories.

I love packing vegetables into curries as I find that the spices and flavours really make eating vegetables easier (for people like me who struggle to eat lots of veg on it’s own). I realised I hadn’t posted a veggie dinner in a while so I made this curry a vegetable one, using chickpeas as my protein source. However, you could definitely add in chicken or prawns to this and it would be a delicious thai green curry. I do think it’s worth buying the high quality curry pastes for this curry as that is where all of the flavour is. I love the mae-ploy brand. It’s not that expensive, lasts ages and has a great authentic flavour.

I saw Jamie Oliver make a really similar recipe and I had to try and make my own version of this, adding flavours that I love. I used bacon instead of chorizo as sometimes I can find the flavour overpowering in a dish. The addition of some extra veg is something I always do, as it’s a great way to sneak in some extra goodness without having to eat boring plain veg. Let me know if you give this a try, it’s a great 1 pot meal that’s light, fresh and zesty.

Spice lovers this ones for you. This stirfry is fresh & flavourful packed with crispy steak pieces. I was playing around with steak that I pulled out of the freezer and decided to try make a healthier version of a crispy beef that you would get in a Chinese takeaway, without deep frying. This recipe only calls for 3 tbsp of oil for the whole dinner. We served this with a head of steamed broccoli & some basmati rice with peas through it.

I’m more of a spice lover, but had to include a few curry recipes for those of you that don’t like as much spice as I do. This butter chicken is creamy, flavourful and the best part is, that there is actually no cream in this recipe at all. It might be a little unconventional, but the nut butter in this gives an amazing creamy texture, without having to add loads of heavy cream or even butter for that matter. We served this with some basmati rice and some garlic & coriander naan.

Fried rice using the leftover rice is a great way to reduce waste and you can make a really quick and easy midweek dinner out of it. Really there are no rules when it comes to vegetables either, I usually just use what is in my cupboards but I do find that onion & peas work very well if you are looking for that “authentic” fried rice takeaway flavour.

Trying to eat more veggie dinners isn’t that hard once you add lots of flavour & spices. Some of my favourite curries are actually veggie curries and when I went to India in 2007 I actually found myself accidentally eating only vegetarian, as I didn’t like the meat over there. This is a great staple curry and goes great with naan, basmati rice or chapati. Who said veggie is boring?

Katsu curry is a Japanese curry that is served with breaded chicken, usually. I don’t know about you but anything with breaded chicken just feels like a treat dinner to me. This one has all the feels of being fried chicken, with the beauty of being air-fried and a much less calorie dense meal.

My secret santa in work got me the Wagamama cookbook this year and so far I love it. Some of the ingredients are a bit wacky and things I’ve never heard of but I googled a few substitutes for things I had / knew I could get locally and it tasted really good. I’ve adapted the wagamama recipe with my tweaks here, using ingredients that are readily available. Be warned it is very spicy, but I love spice so wasn’t an issue for me, but definitely not for the faint-hearted.

This is next level mushroom risotto as it includes truffle, so you know it’s going to be good. While I wanted this to be an indulgent dish I did try to make it without using a load of butter and cream. The creaminess of this risotto is actually from low fat milk and 4 tbsp of low fat creme fraiche. So while it definitely is a rich and creamy dish, you won’t be left feeling sluggish afterwards. This risotto, per serving is less than 500 calories, so it’s delicious, filling and relatively low in calories.

Chicken Korma is one of those comfort food dishes. While I generally prefer a spicier curry, this one is definitely a nice variety for those who are not a fan of too much spice. I have tried to lighten this up slightly and while still not the “healthiest” of curries, it’s coming out at less than 500 calories per serving, so with rice it’s a 750 calorie dinner, but still a lot healthier than a takeaway.

You all know how much I love a fakeaway so I’m back with another Chinese takeaway favourite, chicken fried rice. I love ordering this with some satay or curry sauce on the side. I served mine with some of the curry sauce from my Spice Bag recipe and it was unreal with a fraction of the calories of traditional chicken fried rice.

Arroz con Pollo, is essentially the Spanish translation for chicken with rice. It’s a typical Spanish and Latin American dish. From looking online there is lots of variations but most include peppers, olives, chicken thighs & saffron. I wanted to add in some extra vegetables so I also included tomatoes in mine. I wanted to make mine leaner so I opted for chicken breasts, which are definitely not traditional, This is a delicious meal that is super easy to make in under 45 minutes that will serve a generous 4-5 portions.

This veggie curry is a win, even among a house full of meat-eaters. Fun fact: when I was in India on holidays I basically lived on paneer as I was traumatised by seeing a chicken being beheaded during my first week. This is where my love for paneer began! Paneer is a salty and firm Indian cheese (not dissimilar to halloumi) that you can pick up in any asian supermarket, and even some regular supermarkets these days. Frying the cheese on a pan makes them crispy on the outside but soft and delicious on the inside. This curry isn’t super spicy, so perfect for those who don’t like the heat.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that this is one of my all time favourite meals. The zesty lemon goes so well with the white wine and slight spice from the chilli. This meal, to me, tastes like prawns pil pil, but in risotto form. This dish is fresh, summery and creamy and I guarantee you will love it.

This curry is for all the spice lovers out there, like myself. This recipe was passed on to me from my friend Michelle. She often cooked me this when we lived together and it was one of my favourites. It’s healthy and hearty and pack a lot of flavour from all the spices and fresh ingredients. I love eating this with naan bread and some steamed basmati rice, though sometimes I’ll stick on a few chips with it too. Enjoy!