3 Simple Low Calorie Recipes for Entertaining at Home

With these three simple recipes created by Five Star Personal Trainers, having a few friends over for dinner means you and your guests won’t to spend hours in the gym the next day to work off everything you ate the night before.

Apple Poached Salmon

Ingredients
1 x Salmon fillet for each person
1L Apple juice for poaching

Dressing:
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. Apple Juice Concentrate
Handful fresh mint and parsley
1 tbsp. Fresh lemon or lime juice
Rind of 1 lemon or lime (I prefer lime)
Pinch rock salt

Method
1. In a frypan, slowly heat the apple juice until just before it boils. Follow this by adding the salmon skin side down.

2. Poach the fillet for about 8 minutes until it feels firm to touch (just like the pad of your thumb on the palm of your hand).

3. Turn the fillet over then poach for 2-3 minutes and then remove from juice and place on a plate to rest.

4. Place the fillet on a serving plate and top with the dressing. Add a little cracked pepper if like a treat.

Papaya and Fennel Salad

Ingredients
1/2 red papaya
Bulb fresh fennel
1 cup walnuts
Red wine vinegar
Olive oil
Cracked pepper

Method
1. This one is as simple as combining all ingredients.
2. Definitely a tastier dish if done ahead of eating time, so the dressing really soaks into the fennel.

Beetroot Salad

Ingredients
1 x beetroot for each person
Fresh leaves from the beetroot you just bought
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

Method
1. Peel and cut up beetroot and pre-boil until soft (this will cut down baking time. Boil until you can easily insert a skewer into beetroot).

2. Put in a baking dish and drizzle a little olive oil onto it and sprinkle of rock salt and pepper. Bake in a pre-warmed oven at 180 degrees for approximately 45 minutes until the skin caramelizes.

3. While beetroot is boiling finely shred beetroot leaves and place in a bowl. Add the lemon juice and olive oil and a pinch of sea salt and macerate with your hand until it feels soft. Set aside, best done well in advance so leaves soak up the dressing.

4. Place in a serving dish and top with pumpkin seeds and surround the salad with the baked beetroot.