Get Rid Of Belly Fat

This easy healthy tomato and roasted red pepper soup is ideal for anyone who is trying to lose weight or slimming on a diet aimed at getting rid of belly fat. Suitable as a starter for lunch or dinner, this recipe serves 6 people. Or 4 for lunch with a salad.

I find that the best weight loss recipes need to have a touch of luxury about them and in this recipe we use proper cream. Only use cream from organically sourced grass fed cattle as this adds extra beneficial micro nutrients without the extra chemicals fed to intensively reared cattle. The saturated fat in the cream will not be a problem.

Ingredients

1 large Red Bell Pepper
10 ripe Tomatoes
2 medium sized Onions
3 cloves of Garlic
1 dessert spoon of natural unrefined Demerara Sugar
1 pint of boiling hot Water
3 tablespoons of Organic Cream from grass fed cattle
4 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 level teaspoon of smoked paprika
Coarse Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Method

Start by preheating the oven to 350F/180C/Gas4.

Get a baking tray and line it with parchment or baking paper. Cut the red bell pepper in half lengthways and remove the stalk and seeds. Cut each half into 3 and place on the baking tray. Cut your 10 tomatoes in to halves and add to the tray skin side down. Drizzle over with 2 tablespoons of the extra virgin olive oil and season with a little coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast the pepper and tomatoes for approximately 40 minutes, so that they are well softened but not blackened.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a large stove to pan. Peel and chop the 2 medium sized onions and add them to the pan. We want them to soften but not brown. When the red pepper pieces and the tomatoes are ready, remove the baking tray from the oven and add them to your softened onions in the pan.

Finely chop the garlic and add it to the pan along with the pint of hot water, the Natural unrefined Demerara sugar (any Unrefined sugar is ok) and the smoked paprika. Stir well together and simmer for 20 minutes.

After cooking, leave to cook for a minute and then pour carefully into a food processor or blender and blitz until smooth. Then pass it through a sieve to remove any remaining bits of tomato pip or skin and return to the pan and get it back up to serving temperature.

Serve in bowls or mugs with a swirl of the organic cream on the top.

Enjoy!

The small amount of Unrefined sugar in this recipe will not spike your blood sugar and is included to enhance the natural sweetness in the tomatoes. And the cream – because being on a diet does not have to be boring and bland.

So many of the store bought condiments are full of soybean fat or packed full of bad sugars like high fructose corn syrup. Even the one’s that say low fat usually have a higher calorie count as they compensate the lower fat with higher sugar levels.

Here is my Top 5 healthy condiments:-

Salsa

Try swapping your tomato ketchup for tomato salsa. Most store bought salsas do not contain any sugar or oil at all and being made from a selection of veggies, this is a great healthy option and one that you can easily make at home.

Here is my quick and easy Salsa recipe

250g/8oz of ripe fresh tomatoes
2 mild chillies (seeds removed for less heat if required)
1 medium sized onion
small bunch of cilantro/coriander leaves
1 tablespoon of water
freshly ground coarse sea salt and black pepper to season
freshly squeezed lime juice

Finely chop the tomatoes, chillies and the onion and put into a bowl. Finely chop the leaf end from the cilantro/coriander bunch and mix in to the contents of the bowl. Add the water to loosen up the mix and a few grinds of the coarse sea salt and black pepper to season. Finish up with the lime juice to give it some zing and wake up all the flavors.

Guacamole

Avocados are super healthy anyway so making a great tasting condiment from them is ideal for anyone on any healthy eating or weight loss plan. When buying guacamole from your store, be sure to check the ingredients list as some do contain the bad trans fats. But, in general, guacamole is definitely a healthy option packed full of vitamins and minerals as well as being high in soluble fiber and antioxidants.

My Guacamole recipe takes just a couple of minutes to make

3 ripe avocados
2 mild chillies (remove the seeds for less heat if required)
2 ripe tomatoes
1 small onion
Juice of 1/2 a lime
freshly ground coarse sea salt
bunch of cilantroc / coriander leaves
a tablespoon or 2 of water

I use a food processor for this recipe but you can use a pestle and mortar to break down the ingredients after finely chopping them and then mashing in the avocado.

Roughly chop the chillies, tomatoes, onion and cilantro / coriander leaves and put them into a food processor. Add the lime juice and a tablespoon of water and blitz up to a paste. Then scoop out the avocado flesh and add this to the processor and blitz again for just a short time to mix in but not too fine a mixture. Add more water if required to get the consistency that you like.

Hummus

Hummus is very versatile as well as being healthy. When buying from your store, check to make sure that you select one that does not have soybean oil in it. I use Hummus as a dip for raw veggies like carrot sticks, celery, cucumber and cauliflower for a healthy snack. I also use it as a spread instead of butter in a sandwich.

My own recipe is another simple blitz in a food processor job.

1 400g can of Chickpeas in water – preferably unsalted
juice of 1 lime – or lemon
3 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of tahini paste
freshly ground sea salt to season
120ml/4fl oz extra virgin olive oil
a tablespoon or 2 of water as required

Drain and rinse the chickpeas. put them into the food processor with all the other ingredients and blitz. Add extra water if required to get to your desired consistancy.

Pesto

Pesto is another condiment that is packed full of goodness. Healthy fats from the olive oil and the pine nuts and plenty of vitamins and antioxidants from the basil and garlic. Use it as a dressing on salads or an extra flavour in sandwiches. Spread it on chicken pieces before cooking, or fish or when roasting vegetables like aubergines and zuccini / courgettes.

Quick and easy to make in a food processor

50g/2 ounces of basil leaves
3 cloves of garlic
25g/1 ounce of parmesan cheese
50g/2 ounces of pine nuts
100ml/3 fl oz extra virgin olive oil
grind of freshly ground coarse sea salt to season

Blitz together the basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts and parmesan cheese and then drizzle in the extra virgin olive oil to get the right consistency – add more oil if required.

I often vary this recipe by using flat leaved parsley or cilantro / coriander leaves and also by adding sun dried tomatoes or even some red bell pepper.

Mustard

Most store bought varieties are pretty healthy as they don’t normally contain any added sugar and are generally fat free. I normally pick the wholegrain varieties with the mixture of whole mustard seeds in them but even just plain yellow mustard usually contains paprika and turmeric which are packed full of antioxidants.

English mustard gives the hottest bite and making it up from the powdered version is simple with just a little water or milk.

Whether you are just trying to eat healthily or are trying to lose weight, there are great healthy condiments that will help you to reach your goals. Check out more of my healthy recipes.

Trying to lose belly fat is full of temptations and one of the things that I found most challenging were the condiments that I used to put on my food.

Most of us like to put some types of condiments onto our food whether it is just ketchup or mustard on a burger or hotdog or a salad with mayo or salad dressing.

But, Do you know which one’s will help you to lose belly fat and which one’s will just make you put on even more weight and pollute your body with chemicals.

Here is my 4 worst condiments and how to create healthy recipe versions.

Let’s start with the common condiments that really have bad ingredients.

Tomato Ketchup

Tomato Ketchup used to be my favorite condiment and I would put it on everything and even in sandwiches and use as a cooking ingredient as well. Yes, the tomatoes are healthy and contain lycopene which has been found to have cancer preventing properties, but ketchup is often very sweet and most brands are packed full of high fructose corn syrup which is definitely bad for you.

I use Passata which is concentrated rich tomato juice and add some smoked paprika powder to add some sweetness and extra flavour.

BBQ Sauce

Barbeque Sauce has to be worse than Tomato Ketchup as it has less good tomatoes and more bad sugars and high fructose corn syrups.

Here is my Healthy Barbeque Sauce recipe

Ingredients

3 cloves of garlic
1 small onion
2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 red chilli
1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
3 tablespoons of Maple Syrup
2 tablespoons of dark Soy Sauce or my favorite Organic Tamari Soy sauce
Freshly ground coarse sea salt and black pepper to season
1/2 pint /300ml of Tomato Passata

Method

Finely chop the onion and the red chilli (leave the seeds out for a milder version) and crush the garlic and the fennel seeds. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the onion, chilli, garlic and fennel seeds and cook until the onion has softened but not browned.

Add the Maple Syrup, Soy Sauce and the Passata and stir. Bring up to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 2 or 3 minutes to thicken the sauce.

Season to taste with the freshly ground black pepper and sea salt.

Mayo

Mayonnaise and tartar sauce are made in similar ways and most store brands definitely are not healthy options. This is because they are made with soybean oil which can cause inflammation and also unbalances the ratios of omega 3 and 6 in your body. Definitely avoid any brands that contain Canola oils.

Mayo can be a healthy option but only if it is made with a healthy oil like Extra Virgin Olive Oil and is easy to make yourself in a liquidiser.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of Organic Cider Vinegar
1 tablespoon of Dijon or American Mustard
2 Yolks from Organic or Free Range Eggs
7fl oz/200ml of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Method

Add the 2 egg yolks, the cider vinegar and the mustard to the liquidiser and blitz or whisk together in a bowl.
Add the olive oil in to the liquidiser slowly with it running – or to the bowl you are whisking.

As you slowly add more oil into the mix whilst blitzing or whisking, the mixture should thicken up to become Mayonnaise.

I often add Crushed garlic as well for a bit of a kick or even a couple of handfuls of watercress leaves blitzed in or finely chopped and added for great color, flavor and all that added iron and minerals.

Salad Dressing

Most store bought salad dressings are made with the same culprit ingredients. They are usually sweetened with loads of refined sugars or high fructose corn syrup and the oils used are often Canola oil or Soybean oils. An when it says on the bottle – low fat – that just means that they have replaced some of the fats with more bad sugars.

Here is my healthy salad dressing recipe

For ease of use, I make my salad dressing in one of those bottles with a squirty top so that I can just shake and squirt, if you know what I mean.

Put in 2 crushed cloves of garlic, 1 small shallot also crushed and 1/2 a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.

Add 2 teaspoons of maple syrup (use the real one and not just flavoring)

Make up the rest of the volume with one third of Organic Cider Vinegar
One third Balsamic Vinegar
One third Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Then just Shake and Squirt!

Try these healthy versions and never feel guilty about them again when you are on your quest to get rid of belly fat.