Low Fat Apple and Blueberry Tart

There are lots of apples at the market these days at a really good price, so, with a guest in town, I thought I would make something special for our dessert. Something tart but sweet and low fat!

Using phyllo pastry, a handful of blueberries and four fresh, sharp apples - this tart came out so light and delicious...and it was not hard to make!

What You'll Need:

• Pie pan
• Small pot
• Blender or hand mixer
• Butter to grease your pie pan
• 6 sheets of phyllo pastry
• 4 tart apples
• 1/2 lemon for its juice
• 1/4 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/4 cup of room temperature butter
• 1 Tbps cinnamon
• 1/4 cup sugar (you can also swap real sugar for your favourite sugar-substitute - like Splenda or Ideal)
• 1 Tbps honey
• 1/2 cup water (1/4 cup of boiling and 1/4 cup of room temperature)

What You'll Do:

• Take the phyllo pastry out of the freezer and let thaw for at least one hour
• Lightly butter your pie pan
• Peel and thinly slice three of your four apples - place in a bowl and squeeze lemon juice over top. Stir the juice through your apple slices so they don't brown as you prep the rest of your tart
• With your fourth apple, peel and core then dice into small chunks
• Add into a small pot with 1 Tbsp of cinnamon and half of your 1/4 cup of sugar
• Gently pour 1/4 cup of room temperature water over top
• Let this mixture boil for 10-15 minutes or until totally soft - you have essentially made an apple sauce!

• When the apples are very very soft, pour your mixture into your blender and blend until smooth (if you don't have a blender, you can use a hand mixer here as well)
• Let cool
• Take your phyllo pastry out of its wrapping and unfold onto your counter-top
• Using a damp paper towel, cover the pastry as it dries out extremely quickly  
• Mix together in a small bowl your honey and the 1/4 cup of boiling water until the honey has dissolved

• Take one sheet of the pastry and lay it into the pie pan
• Brush the pastry sheet with the honey water and then lay another sheet on top, at an angle to the first sheet. Do this four times so the base of your pastry shell is four layers thick
• Using a spoon, spread your apple cinnamon mixture onto the base of the pie pan

• Now the fun begins - assembling your thinly sliced apples! You can do this however you like, I tried to make mine spiral around the center
• Add in your blueberries - if you like berries a lot, use more and make a whole layer of them over top the apples (you can also use raspberries, blackberries or strawberries - all would be delicious)
• Use most of the rest of your sugar and sprinkle the apples and berries with a light layer of sugar

• Using your room temperature butter, cut small, thin pieces and add to the top of your tart filling. I placed one in the middle and four pieces around the centre of the apple pieces (let's say Noon, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock;). You do not need a lot of butter!
• Once you are happy with your filling, take another sheet of phyllo and layer over top, brush with your honey mixture then add the final phyllo layer
• Try to close the sides of the pie up by pushing the top phyllo layers into the phyllo that makes the side of the shell - to do this use the honey mixture and your brush
• Sprinkle the rest of your sugar on top of the pie

• Bake for around 30 minutes or until your apples are nice and soft
• Let cool and serve with whipped cream or a fat-free Greek yogurt for a little more zing

Ta da! A deliciously low fat apple berry tart that even Martha would be proud of!

The STEWART SCORE:
Appearance: 2
Taste: 2
Ease: 1.5

Dukan Tea Biscuits

These are lovely little Dukan-friendly treats that can be made savoury or sweet.
Easy and quick to make - they are a new favourite!

What You'll Need:

• Muffin tray - I used a cute one that is molded so the muffins come out with pretty little shapes
• Hand mixer
• 6 Tbps oat Bran
• 4 Tbps skimmed milk powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 2 egg whites
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 Tbsp non-fat Greek yogurt

What You'll Do:

• Pre-heat the oven to 200C (375F)
• Using your hand mixer, beat your two egg whites with the cream of tartar until stiff
• In a separate bowl, mix all of your remaining dry ingredients together
• Inside your peaked egg white mixture, gently mix in your egg yolk and Greek yogurt
• Then slowly add in the dry ingredient mixture - trying to not flatten all the air bubbles you created from whipping the egg whites
• Pour your mixture into your tins - if you do not have non-stick tins, use muffin cups so your muffins don't stick
• Bake until lightly browned around the edges - around 12 minutes

Tip alert! To make these little babies savoury - try adding in your favourite curry powder, or dill with lemon zest!

The STEWART SCORE:
Appearance: 2
Taste: 2
Ease: 2

Dukan Curried Chicken, Eggplant and Squash Stew

It has been cold in Amsterdam and I was wanting to make a nice, warm, filling winter dish - a stew!
This recipe has pulled chicken, eggplant, tomatoes, and butternut squash with a curried kick.

It was a hit!

What You'll Need:

• Large, heavy-bottomed pot with lid 
• 2 Medium-sized pots
• 2 chicken breasts
• 3 plum tomatoes
• 1 peeled butternut squash, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 large red pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1 large white onion
• 2 cloves fresh garlic
• 1 small firm eggplant, diced into bite-size pieces
• 2 tablespoons of your favourite curry powder - I love The Silk Road Spice Merchant's Madras Curry Powder. It has such a lovely and non-overpowering taste.
• 1 tablespoon chile powder 
• 1 cup chicken stock

What You'll Do: Pulled Chicken

• Fill one of your medium-sized pots half-way up with water to boil
• When the water is boiling add in your two chicken breasts
• Boil for 30 minutes
• Drain the water and let cool
• Shred the chicken and place in a bowl until you are ready to combine into your stew

What You'll Do: Stewed Tomatoes

• Cut an 'X' into the end of your tomato, so when the tomatoes are soft, you can easily peel the skin off
• Fill one of your medium-sized pots half-way with water to boil
• Add in your tomatoes and let boil gently for twenty minutes
• Immediately remove the boiled tomatoes and place into a bowl of ice water
• Let cool. Once cooled, the skins will easily peel away
• Peel the skins and dice

What You'll Do: Butternut Squash

• Pre-heat your oven to 200F (375C)
• Line a baking tray with tinfoil
• Peel, remove seeds and chop your squash into bite-sized pieces
• Bake for 15 minutes, you want the squash soft, but not mushy or it will fall apart in the stew

What You'll Do: Stew Assembly!

• Ideally as your chicken and tomatoes are boiling and your squash is in the oven, you will want to chop your onion and red peppers
• In your heavy-bottomed pot, add in your onions and peppers
• Crush your garlic and add into the pot
• Add in enough water to just cover
• Gently boil until soft

• When soft, dice your eggplant and add into the pan
• Pour in your chicken stock
• By now, your chicken and tomatoes should be ready to add into the pot
• Cover in your curry powder and shake in your chile pepper
• When the mix looks nice and thick and the stock has boiled down into the mix, add in your squash
• Gently stir until everything looks soft 
• That's it! Enjoy!

The STEWART SCORE:
Appearance: 2
Taste: 2
Ease: 1 (it is not a quick recipe - you will need a good couple of hours to make)

Dukan Chocolate Cake

This cake is an easy, tasty and quick to make, Dukan-friendly treat.

What You'll Need:

• Round cake pan, or two small ramekins (as shown in the above picture)
• Two medium-sized mixing bowls
• 8 Tbsp of oatbran
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup sugar substitute, like Ideal - a xylitol-based sweetener
• 3 Tbsp of sugar-free chocolate powder (I use the Ghirardelli kind you can get in the Netherlands)
• 1 cup of non-fat Greek yogurt (you can also sub in non-fat quark, or vanilla-flavoured non-fat yogurt. I use non-fat Greek yogurt as it is usually thicker and makes the cake more moist...yes, I hate that word, too ;)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 eggs 

What You'll Do:

• Pre-heat your oven to 180C (or 350F)
• Get two medium-sized bowls ready
• In one bowl, mix together your dry ingredients until fully combined - oatbran, baking powder, sweetener, chocolate powder
• In the other bowl, mix in your yogurt/quark, vanilla then your 4 eggs (I will usually crack them one by one in a separate little container, like the measuring cup I just used, to ensure each egg is good before I add them into the larger mixture)
• Mix the liquid mixture thoroughly until it is a consistent colour and texture
• Add the liquid mix into the dry mix and stir until smooth 
• Pour the combined mix into the chosen containers, filling to about 3/4 full
• Let bake for 12-18 minutes, or until cooked through - my oven runs hot, so 15 minutes works for me, but start checking in on them at the 12 minute mark
• I think these taste the nicest hot - as the middle is still a little gooey...yum!

You can serve these with a dollop of fat-free cream cheese on top, or a fat free vanilla yogurt. Delicious!

The STEWART SCORE:
Appearance: 2
Taste: 2
Ease: 2