by Thrifty Lesley | Jul 10, 2025 | All Recipes, Less than 500 calories, Lunches
Chicken and sweetcorn, with a generous spoon of mayonnaise, a very popular sandwich filling in the UK, and we know why don’t we – it’s gorgeous! Those little pots of deli filling from a supermarket are tasty, easy and convenient, but if you mix just...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jul 7, 2025 | All Recipes, Less than 500 calories, Lunches
I love a bit of smoked mackerel and often have a pack in the fridge. This week, I made this simply gorgeous sandwich with some of it, a hard boiled and egg and a slick of mayonnaise. I’d got some hotdog rolls on yellow sticker, so stuffed the mix into there. Oh...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jul 2, 2025 | All Recipes, Dinners, Less than 500 calories, Lunches
Most people, including veggie-phobes of all ages, seem to like tomato pasta. If you cook and whizz in a mix of other vegetables, it’s a good way to get more of a variety into people. This hidden vegetable pasta sauce is very tasty and is pretty easy to make....
by Thrifty Lesley | Jun 28, 2025 | All Recipes, How To Cook, Less than 500 calories, Lunches
A boiled egg, chopped, with a generous spoon of mayonnaise, classic deli filling, found in all the supermarkets. Absolutely delicious, and very quick to make yourself at home, with just 2 ingredients! What do I need to make an egg mayonnaise sandwich? some delicious...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jun 6, 2025 | All Recipes, How To Cook, Less than 500 calories, Lunches
Tuna and sweetcorn, with a generous spoon of mayonnaise, one of the most popular sandwich fillings in the UK, and with good reason – it’s delicious! If you buy those little pots of deli filling from a supermarket, you might be surprised to know that you...
by Thrifty Lesley | May 11, 2025 | All Recipes, Cakes and Bakes, Less than 500 calories
This banana bread comes together very quickly and isn’t complicated to make. It’s super delicious still warm from the oven so the chocolate pieces are still melted, ooh, yum!. Add pecans to it too if you like! It will keep for 7-10 days, so is great for...
by Thrifty Lesley | May 2, 2025 | My Diary
Life Update Apologies to all that I have been missing in action. Life has delivered yet another resounding slap round the chops. If we’ve known each other for a while, you’ll know that I lost my daughter to cancer on 21st December 2023. On January 29th, we...
by Thrifty Lesley | Apr 19, 2025 | All Recipes, Cakes and Bakes, Christmas, Less than 500 calories
Adding oats to muffins These muffins are tender and delicious, especially still warm, straight from the oven. They are not overly sweet as I have reduced the sugar right down, mincemeat is very sweet, so we don’t need to add much more. This recipe was originally...
by Thrifty Lesley | Mar 19, 2025 | All Recipes, Other
Preserved lemons, sometimes known as lemon pickle, is a condiment, commonly used in Indian and Moroccan cookery. In 18th Century England, preserved lemons were known as country lemon, and leems. Preserved lemons are quarter lemons, or lemons cut up into small pieces...
by Thrifty Lesley | Dec 31, 2024 | Less than 500 calories, Sides
Roasting cabbage in steaks makes an ordinary vegetable that bit more interesting, and just might get veggie-phobes trying it! Roasting vegetables concentrates them and will often mean that bigger portions are eaten – and more vegetables are always a good thing!...
by Thrifty Lesley | Dec 24, 2024 | Cakes and Bakes, Christmas, Love Your Leftovers
Panettone is a gorgeous seasonal Italian cake, often given as a gift. Sometimes we have more than we want to eat as it is, lovely as that is. If that is the case, this Panettone Tiramisu recipe might be the answer. It doesn’t take very long to make, but looks...
by Thrifty Lesley | Dec 10, 2024 | Christmas, Less than 500 calories, Puddings / Desserts
I had 2 dishes of clementines and more due to arrive in the fortnightly vegetable box, so came up with this seasonal recipe to use a lot in one go. They are super delicious and would make a wonderful Christmas pudding to help cut through all that richness and get some...
by Thrifty Lesley | Dec 8, 2024 | Lunches, Vegetarian Christmas Meal Plan
This sandwich is for tea on Christmas Day on a Vegetarian Meal Plan for the entire Christmas week It is lentils spiced with curry powder, moistened with mayonnaise and with a hint of sweetness from a jar of mincemeat, together with the fresh crunch of raw vegetables...
by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 23, 2024 | All Recipes, Less than 500 calories, Lunches, Meal Plan 1, Meal Plan 4
Pea soup, a lovely quick and simple soup made using frozen green peas and not a lot else. Very quick to make, about 15 minutes start to finish. Enjoy with a slice of lovely bread and butter, a vegetable muffin, cheese scone, cheese on toast or anything else you fancy,...
