500 calorie lunch/dinner

To celebrate reaching the milestone of 500 'likes' on my facebook page, I've decided to give you some help with one of the big challenges people are facing, namely.. healthy eating. It doesn't have to be rabbit food you know.. So to get things started, here is a tasty and filling lunch/dinner idea that comes in under 500 calories. Each burger comes in under 200 calories, and a portion of the sweet potato adds about another 280kcal.

Mexican beanburger with salsa - less than 200 calories per portion!

Rosemary sweet potato  - about 280 calories per portion.

Cheap, quick & tasty lunch idea

One of the most common barriers people seem to have to healthy eating is that 'it's too expensive'. I disagree. Take my lunch today, a delicious and healthy veg stirfry with couscous. It takes about 15 minutes including prep time.

• Step 1

Go to aldi, and pick up a head of cabbage (59c), a pack of fresh tomatoes (59c), courgettes (€1.29) a punnet of mushrooms (59c), a can of red kidney beans (25c), a pack of cous cous -  I went for the thai curry style(99c).
If you don't already have some, get some sunflower oil and soy sauce.

• Step 2

Drain the kidney beans and rinse well. Prep the veg by rinsing the cabbage and tomatoes. Take the outermost 3-4 leaves and chop into short strips. Wipe 1/2 of the shrooms with a clean damp cloth, then chop into bitesize chunks. Chop a courgette into small pieces. Chop 3 tomatoes into quarters.

• Step 3

Place 1 sachet of cous cous in a saucepan and cook according to the instructions. Heat some oil in a wok and stirfry the cabbage for 1-2 minutes on a medium-high heat. Add in the mushrooms, courgettes & beans,  and about a tablespoon or so of soy sauce; fry for 2 mins then add the tomatoes. Stirfry for another minute.

• Step 4

Remove and serve with the couscous. This will make 2 medium lunches. Total cost about  €4.30, and you've only used half of the ingredients.

Enjoy.

Update:
To improve the amino acid (protein) content, use a mix of beans , chickpeas and/or lentils. Add a rich yellow colour and improve the cancer fighting properties of this meal by adding a teaspoon of turmeric per person. Add black pepper to enhance the flavour, and improve protein digestion.