Low Fat Recipes

Simple Homemade Coleslaw

This homemade coleslaw recipe is so simple and basic, we’re almost ashamed to publish it! But publish it we will.

Coleslaw is a really versatile side dish, especially during the warm summer months. We have it with salad, burgers, baked potatoes and even as a sandwich filler.

The very first time we made this we were shocked at the yield. As you scroll through the post and look at the photos, you’ll see just how much we made. Compare it against the cost of buying the same amount from your local supermarket and I’m sure you’ll see the advantage of making your own coleslaw.

Besides saving you money, it also tastes delicious and goes a long, long way.

Once you’ve made this delicious crunchy coleslaw at home you definitely, yes definitely, won’t want to buy from the shop again.

So here is our simple homemade coleslaw recipe…

Add 4 tablespoons of mayonnaise to a large bowl (we used Hellmann’s).

Next, add two tablespoons of lemon juice.

We used bottled lemon juice for this recipe. You could use fresh lemons if you like, just watch out for falling pips!

Add 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard. The mustard doesn’t have to be expensive, you can find some really cheap ones in local supermarkets, just have a good look around. This cost 49p from ASDA.

Add a good pinch of salt and pepper to your bowl. Mix well with a spatula to ensure all lumps have gone and you’re left with a nice smooth mixture.

Put your mix to one side and start working on the cabbage, carrots and onion.

As you go through the next steps, alter the amounts you use to suit your taste.

Slice the cabbage into long strips, then gradually keep chopping until it’s cut into bite sized lengths. (There is no rule on how to have your cabbage, but we think this size works best).

Next, peel and grate your fresh carrots. The aroma and colour of the carrots is amazing.

Peel and chop your onion into small pieces. If you love onions put the whole lot in. If you prefer a little less onion then just chop half for the time being – you can always add the remainder later, at the ‘sampling’ stage.

Now to bring everything together!

Put the chopped cabbage into the bowl containing the mayonnaise mixture, and give a good stir for a minute or so. You want to make sure the mayo covers the cabbage.

Add your grated carrots and chopped onion.

Mix!

Give all the vegetables a good old stir for at least two minutes, ensuring that all the cabbage, carrots and chopped up onion are well and truly coated with the mayo/lemon and mustard mixture.

Now you’re at the ‘sampling’ stage!

Grab a spoonful and have a taste. If it’s not quite to your liking, add a little more of whatever’s missing and taste again.

Once you’ve nailed it, cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave in a refrigerator for at least one hour so all those flavours fuse together to make the perfect homemade coleslaw.

Once you are ready to serve the coleslaw, empty it into a smaller bowl or dish and enjoy!

Simple Homemade Coleslaw

Recipe Type: Simple and Easy

Author: Nut & Meg

Prep time: 20 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients

4 tablespoons mayonnaise (use low-fat if you like)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 (half) fresh white cabbage, shredded and chopped
4 medium sized carrots, peeled and grated
1 small onion, chopped and diced
Salt and pepper

Instructions

Place the mayonnaise, lemon juice and Dijon mustard all together in a large bowl. Add a pinch of salt and pepper then mix well, ensuring no lumps can been seen.
Place the shredded cabbage into the same large bowl and mix well for one minute.
Add the grated carrots and onion to the bowl, again mix well ensuring all the vegetables are coated evenly.
Tastes the coleslaw. Add extra salt and pepper according to your own taste.
Cover coleslaw with clingfilm and place in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
Serve when required.

Simple Homemade Coleslaw Recipe — Follow us on Pinterest – Nut & Meg

Beetroot Soup with Feta Cheese

While sitting down to an enjoyable meal at a restaurant recently, I couldn’t help but be rather envious of a friend’s starter, which looked absolutely amazing; it was beetroot soup.

The deep-red colour of the soup shouted “goodness” and “deliciousness” in a bowl. A sprinkling of feta cheese, not too much though, delicately placed on top, finished off the dish.

Beetroot soup isn’t something I’ve ever made before, but how difficult could it be? It turned out to be so easy I wished I’d made it sooner.

So here goes, my step-by-step guide to making an incredible and delicious beetroot soup with feta cheese…

Start by peeling the beetroots and then chopping them into reasonably small cubes. Place them in a bowl and put aside for a minute.

Don’t make the mistake I did…I never wore gloves whilst chopping the beetroots so by the time I’d finished I had bright red fingers, and the stains aren’t easy to remove!

Next, place the halved tomatoes in an ovenproof dish. Sprinkle over the garlic and drizzle over half of the olive oil.

Put the tomatoes into a preheated oven (190C/375F/Gas 5), on the middle shelf and roast them for around 25 minutes until really soft.

Once the tomatoes feel soft and pulpy, bring them out of the oven and rub through a sieve to remove the skin and pips. What you are looking for is a lovely smooth liquid. The smell of the tomatoes and garlic is divine!

Grab your medium sized onion and chop it into small pieces. Put it aside for a minute, and prepare your stock (I used a vegetable stock cube and boiling water).

Get a skillet or frying pan and add the remaining olive oil. Once hot, toss the chopped onions in and let them sweat for a few minutes until they start going soft.

Next, add the chopped beetroot and stock.

Lightly season the ingredients in the pan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for around 10 minutes until the beetroot is nice and soft.

Add the tomato puree and give a good stir.

Once you are happy with the softness of the beetroot, transfer the contents of the pan in to a blender. (I use a simple hand blender as it gives a smoother consistency.)

Don’t forgot, these ingredients are extremely hot, so do take care, especially if you use a hand blender, as the contents can easily splash up out of the container when blending.

When you’ve finished blending the soup, taste, and season accordingly.

Transfer to a container/dish of your choice.

Me being me, I dished it straight into the soup bowls ready for eating!

You can have this beetroot soup cold too, so either way you won’t be disappointed in the finished result.

Once served, crumble up some feta cheese and sprinkle it over the top of the soup. As feta is a strong tasting cheese don’t put too much on for one serving. You can always have more bowls later.

I hope you enjoyed this gorgeous soup and much as I did. I can guarantee you will make it time and time again now once you’ve tried it.

Beetroot Soup with Feta Cheese

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 40 mins

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients

3-4 medium (apple-sized) beetroot (about 500-600g/1lb 2oz-1lb 5oz)
500g/1lb 2oz ripe tomatoes, halved
1 clove of fresh garlic, roughly chopped
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 tbsp olive
500ml/16½fl oz vegetable stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper
125g/4oz feta cheese
1 tbsp tomato puree

Instructions

Peel beetroots and cut into small cubes.
Preheat oven to around 190C/375F/Gas 5
Place the halved tomatoes in an ovenproof dish, sprinkle garlic over all of them and drizzle with half the olive oil. Place in the oven to roast for 25 minutes or until nice and soft.
Remove tomatoes from the oven and rub through a sieve to remove the skin and pips, so you are left with a smooth liquid.
Chop onion into small pieces and make up vegetable stock.
Heat a frying pan / skillet with the remaining oil, put in onions and let them sweat for a few minutes until they start to go soft. Put in the chopped beetroot and stock.
Lightly season the ingredients in the pan, bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for around 10 minutes until the beetroot is soft. Add tomato puree and stir.
Transfer contents of the pans into a blender and blend until desired consistency.
Serve, then sprinkle feta cheese on top.

Quick and Delicious Spicy Tomato Salsa

This cool salsa, even with more than a hint of fiery-chilli, is especially delicious during the summer months. And it’s very easy to make too, so there’s no excuse!

We usually have it on wrap for lunch, along with some salad and rocket leaves. You could just as easily have it with nanchos or something similar.

In this version we’ve used chunky tomatoes. Feel free to make yours a lot smaller, if that’s the way you like them.

Fresh coriander ready for chopping. Did you know the word coriander comes from the Greek, koris, which translates as ‘bed bug’? Nice.

You don’t have to use a spoon to measure out the lemon juice, a good squeeze will suffice. Lemon is a flavour catalyst – it interacts with your taste buds to enhance the flavours that follow.

The lovely tomato salsa on a salad leaves and rocket wrap made a delicious light lunch.

Tomato Salsa Recipe

Prep time: 10 mins

Total time: 10 mins

Serves: 2-4

Ingredients

4 large tomatoes (chopped)
6 spring onions (finely sliced)
2 garlic cloves (crushed)
3 tablespoons freshly chopped coriander
1/2 red or green chilli (chopped) (optional)
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
salt and pepper

Instructions

Chop the tomatoes, slice the spring onion, crush or slice the garlic and chop the coriander. Add everything to a bowl and give it a good mix up.
Chilli is optional, so are the seeds. Personally, I like chilli so I throw in the seeds too. I prefer red over green.
Finally, add the lemon juice, salt and pepper and put the bowl in the fridge until you are ready to eat.

Notes

Adjust the quantities in this tomato salsa to suit your tastes (and feel free to throw in additional ingredients).[br][br]After making the salsa and taking the photos, we immediately ate it on a salad leaves and rocket wrap. We took a picture of that too (see below).