Easy Salmon Tacos

These are a great, quick and easy standby for a family dinner and they work for everyone - you can simply adjust the seasonings and fresh chilli accordingly.

I can have this meal on the table in a matter of twenty minutes, great for mid-week working days, and I don’t muck around making fresh salsas or guacamole for these nights. 

I add fresh chopped tomatoes, plenty of coriander, mashed avocado, some lettuce leaves and a load of sweetcorn kernels. As we are trying to reduce our ‘naughty’ treats in a bid to shift some weight pre-holiday (me and Glen not the girls) I omit from adding sour cream and instead dress with a little drizzle of 0% fat natural yoghurt. The final result is fresh, fragrant and delicious.

If you want to make them go further you can serve with some coriander rice or a bowl or tortilla chips and guacamole.

The below serves four.

Easy Salmon Tacos

Here’s how:

• Drizzle of vegetable or rapeseed oil
• X4 salmon fillets
• X4 tortilla wraps
• 2 tbsp All Purpose Seasoning (I use Dunne’s River)
• Handful lettuce leaves (I used pea shoots here but anything works)
• 3 tomoatoes
• 1 avocado 
• 2 tbsp cooked sweetcorn kernels
• Handful coriander
• 1 lime
• Few jalapeno pepper slices

Firstly coat the salmon flesh and skin side with the all purpose seasoning.

Drizzle the oil in a non-stick pan and place on a medium heat. Once it is has come up to temperature add the salmon fillets, skin-side down and cook for 6 minutes.

Now prepare the accompaniments.

Firstly place the four tortilla wraps into the microwave and cook for 20-30 seconds then place them all, with a fold on the middle hanging over some cans or bottles to try and get them in ‘taco shape’. It doesn’t matter if this doesn’t work and it doesn’t always.

Now roughly chop the tomatoes and the lettuce leaves and set aside.

Halve the avocado, remove the stone and scoop out the flesh and place into a small bowl. Mash with a fork and season with sea salt.

Prepare the sweetcorn - I use tinned so this is just a case of opening and draining.

Once the salmon has had the six minutes, you should see the colouration of the fish at the sides, it should almost be there. I then turn the fish to cook on the flesh side for 1 minute - but if you like your salmon more cooked through, increase this time accordingly.

Remove the salmon fron the pan and place on a board to rest for a minute. In the meantime, start building your tacos.

Easy Salmon Tacos

I begin by smearing on a spoonful of smashed avocado down the centre of each, then adding the lettuce, tomatoes and sweetcorn.

Now cut the salmon fillets into 3-4 pieces and place onto each taco, then finally top with as much coriander as you’d like, a squeeze of the lime juice and jalapenos for those who’d like them. Squeeze over a little low fat yoghurt 

or go nuts and have sour cream. Enjoy!

Apple and Mango Mojito Smoothie

This healthy eating lark doesn't all have to be kale and garlic smoothies - although I'm getting quite into the more 'greens' based nutriblasts, variety is most certainly the spice of life and helps to keep me motivated, that's for sure. 

This juice/smoothie is a take on a mojito cocktail and frankly anything that reminds me of cocktails during diet and healthy eating regimes is a good thing. It's 308 calories and is really delicious. You can of course use fresh mango, but I like to use frozen as gives a lovely smooth and creamy texture to the juice and the chill is reminiscent of a drink in a bar!

Apple and Mango Mojito Smoothie

• 1 Granny Smith apple
• 1/2 avocado
• Whole lime (peel removed)
• 70g frozen mango 
• Handful fresh mint leaves

Add to the Nutribullet or blender the half avocado, frozen mango, mint leaves, the peeled lime and the cored apple. Top up with water (approx 100-150ml) and then blitz for 20 seconds. Enjoy.

Green Goodness Smoothie

This is my Green Goodness smoothie and incorporates kale, kiwi, pear and lime plus some sunflower seeds for a hit of morning protein. It has 244 calories so saves plenty of calories for the rest of the day. The lime and ginger give it a really sharp and fresh flavour too.

Green Goodness Smoothie

• 50g kale
• 1 kiwi
• 1 pear
• Juice of a whole lime
• 1 tsp pumpkin seeds
• 10g fresh ginger
• 100-150ml water

Core the pear and then add all of the ingredients to your Nutribullet or blender and blitz for 20 seconds. Enjoy. 

5:2 Honey, Ginger and Chilli Prawn Stir Fry

I've been doing the 5:2 diet on and off since January with some success on the weight loss front.

I've found that on fast days of only 500 calories, it's important to make friends with the best flavour-giving ingredients, such as citrus fruits, garlic, ginger, chilli, spices and fresh herbs, spices, oils and vinegars. They help to keep food tasting interesting and vibrant and avoid you getting bored of 'rabbit food'. 

This stir fry of prawns is absolutely delicious even when I've stripped off some of the quantities I would usually use to lower the calorie count. 

The frying of garlic, ginger and chilli in a tiny bit of sesame oil in a wok before adding the rest, gives the oil an amazing base flavour with a fiery heat running through and then the addition of honey towards the end gives a natural sweetness. The final flourishes of lime juice and some scattered coriander leaves just gives it a wonderful freshness and there's no way you could find this boring - fast day or otherwise. 

The below makes a dinner for two and each portion contains 297 calories which I've calculated using MyFitnessPal. (On the 5:2 diet, on two non-consecutive days per week your calorie intake cannot exceed 500).

• 140g raw prawns
• 1 red chilli
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 small green pepper
• 1 small yellow pepper
• 100g beansprouts
• 50g carrot
• 50g lettuce leaves
• 50g mushrooms
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 lime
• 2 tsp runny honey
• Few coriander leaves

Firstly crush the garlic and finely slice the ginger and chilli. 

Add the sesame oil to a wok and place on a low heat, adding the garlic, ginger and chilli to slowly soften and give the oil plenty of flavour whilst you get everything else chopped.

Slice the peppers. Peel and slice or grate the carrot and add these to the wok.

Slice the mushrooms and lettuce leaves and leave to one side. 

Roll the lime around a bit pressing down with the palm of your hand to release as much juice as possible and cut in half ready for squeezing over at the end.

Once the peppers and carrot have softened a bit add the mushrooms and prawns. Prawns literally take a few minutes to cook and please don't overdo it or you'll be left with horrible rubbery things as they are useless once overdone. They are easy to gauge anyway as they turn pink on each side once cooked through. 

Use a wooden spoon or spatula to turn the prawns over once cooked and keep everything moving in the wok. 

Once almost cooked add the honey and mix through, then add the beansprouts and lettuce and cook for a further minute and then remove the wok from the heat.

Squeeze over the lime juice and scatter over some coriander leaves and you're ready to dish up.
If you're making this just for yourself, simply half the quantities and if for two, and your dining companion isn't on the 5:2, serve with some rice or noodles.

Asian-inspired Fish

This is a healthy and frankly delicious way of preparing white fish. Sea bass is usually used when making this dish, bit recently I have taken to buying River Cobbler, it's an economical choice and I've picked up two fillets for £2.00 before, not only is it a frugal choice, it picks up the flavours beautifully.

Serve with some steamed or stir fried vegetables for a nourishing and tasty meal.

Here's how:

2x white fish fillets
3x spring onions
50g fresh ginger
1 red chilli
Small bunch fresh coriander
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
Juice of 1/2 lime

Firstly place the fish fillets on some tin foil in an ovenproof dish on top of some foil. 

Drizzle over the soy sauce and rotate the fish so both sides are coated. Cut the spring onions in half then place on top of each fillet. 

Peel and slice the garlic and ginger and place on top of each. Then slice the chilli and do the same (if you don't like it too hot remove the seeds). Finally squeeze over the lime juice and add the coriander then pull the foil up and around the fish to protect it.

Place into the oven at 180 degrees for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through and enjoy!