Four Cheese Gnocchi Bake

Three of the four cheeses

Over Easter, I slipped on Weight Watchers a bit. I went out for a few meals, I missed my meeting (as it was on the bank holiday Monday) and generally slacked. After being in the habit of being good, I reset myself slightly and getting back into the WW mindset was kind of hard. Somehow I managed to get away with it and stayed the same after Easter, but I knew I needed to do something to snap myself back to being on-plan.

What really helped me when I started WW was to make lots of new recipes – I love trying new things and it was actually a good way of learning the basic rules of the plan quite quickly. Sharing them on here is a good way of forcing myself to keep things fresh, rather than going back to the same recipes again and again. I do repeat them, but I’ll always try something new at least every fortnight.

This recipe is actually perfect for when you’re feeling a bit fed up with following a diet plan, because it’s rich and luxurious and downright naughty. It has four different types of cheese in it! FOUR! I got this off the WW app, but then doctored it a bit to make it more exciting. The original recipe has more gnocchi, but I find gnocchi really filling so I cut it down (also it's 400g in a pack). It also does not have the low fat cheese on top, but if I can find a way to shoehorn more cheese into a recipe, you’d better believe I will do it. You are looking at the girl who adds cheese to reheated lasagne. Hey – as long as you point it, it’s fine!

Four Cheese Gnocchi Bake

400 g Broccoli, raw, broken into small florets

1/2 pack of Mushrooms

3 cloves Garlic

2 Leeks

200 g Cheese, soft, low fat 8pp

100 ml Milk, Semi Skimmed 1pp

50 g Cheese, Stilton, chopped 6pp

1 g Black pepper

400 g Gnocchi, Fresh 16pp

20 g Cheese, Parmesan 2pp

100g Low Fat Cheese - 8PP

= 41PP / 10PP per person

To reduce points: You do not need all this cheese. Of course you do not need all this cheese. But do you want all this cheese? I bet you do.

Top tip: To avoid having lots of different types of cheese in the fridge to 'use up' (uh oh), go to the cheese counter and ask the nice man to give you a small quantity of cheese. 

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C
2. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the broccoli and cook for 4-5 minutes until just tender. Lift the broccoli from the saucepan with a draining spoon into a colander, saving the water in the saucepan.
3. Meanwhile, fry the mushrooms and leeks in a non-stick pan or wok with FryLight or a little water and the garlic cloves (crushed).
4. Stir in the soft cheese and add the milk. Stir until both are combined and smooth.
5. Add the Stilton and stir through - it should melt pretty quickly as it's only a small amount. Season the sauce with black pepper and any other spices you fancy.
6. Cook the gnocchi in the same water as the broccoli, according to pack instructions. Drain well.
5. Mix the gnocchi and broccoli with the cheese mixture and transfer to an ovenproof dish. Scatter the Parmesan cheese and low fat cheese over the surface and bake for 15-20 minutes until bubbling and golden.

Diet Classes - A Simple Guide!

One of the things that we agreed was nice about our little blog was that we have ambassadors for all the major diet classes out there - or at least, the big 3: Weight Watchers, Slimming World and Rosemary Conley.

If you're thinking of starting a diet class, it's a great way to lose weight. Reporting in to someone every week can really make a difference to whether or not you resist that extra biscuit! But if you're overwhelmed by choice and struggling to choose, we've put together this handy guide...

Weight Watchers by Gemma

I’ve been to Weight Watchers before and it really worked for me but unfortunately I moved away to university and existed on a diet of alcohol and cheese toasties for three years. I’m back home now and decided to go back to my local class and try to and undo all the bad effects of student living.

There is a weigh-in at the beginning of each class and then the class leader gives a little talk about a different aspect of weight loss. You are given a tracker sheet every week to write down what you are eating and a booklet with recipes and tips in.
There is chance to talk to the group about any recipes you enjoyed in the previous week or something you have been doing that boosted your loss. My leader always helps me to reflect on my good and bad weeks and isolates problems that are holding me back from achieving my goals.

Weight Watchers is based on ‘The Four Pillars’ approach which basically means a combination of healthy eating, activity, small changes in behaviour and group support lead to weight loss. To do this you are given a ProPoints budget for the day which is based on your gender, age, weight and height. On top of this you are given a weekly allowance to use when you like. You can either enjoy slightly larger portions each day or you can blow it all on a night out with friends which is what I usually do.

The WW plan is not based on counting calories, you count points. You can easily find out what points values all your favourite foods contain by either working it out with the easy points calculating card or you can look them up on the website. The website is a great resource, it has lots of recipes, a place to keep a food diary, you can track your weight loss and chat to other WW members on the message board.

I'm not sure how much the class is if you pay weekly but I paid £12.95 for my first month and it rises to £19.99 per month. If you want any more information about the class leave a comment below and I will get back to you.

Slimming World by Guest Blogger Helen
I started Slimming World on January 19th 2010. Within 11 months I'd lost almost 5 and a half stone. Slimming World has completely changed my life and I can't imagine not following the plan now.

The format of the group is similar to Weight Watchers in that it starts with a weigh in and then there is what's called 'Image Therapy'. Basically it's a big chat where the Consultant asks each member how their week has been and whether they've discovered any good recipes, etc. At first I was slightly put off by the cheesiness of it (everyone gets a clap, whether they've lost, maintained or gained) but now I actually really enjoy it. My Consultant never reads out the gains and is incredibly supportive and congratulatory when you've had a good week. You get awards in the form of stickers for each half stone lost, for when you've lost 10% of your body weight and for various other things.

Slimming World doesn't offer as many food products as other diet plans but there are cereal bars and lots of books to buy at my group. There are three meal plans and they're all incredibly non restrictive. If you do a green day then you can eat as many carbs as you like. Yes, as much pasta, rice and potatoes as you can handle. If you're on a red day then you can eat as much protein as you like. MEAT, basically. And if you do an Extra Easy day then you can eat both carbs and meat but 1/3 of everything you eat has to be what's called a superfree food (fruit and vegetables, bsaically). With each plan you get a certain number of Healthy As (cheese and milk) and Healthy Bs (cereal, crispbreads, dried fruit, etc) and those are the only things that have to be weighed and measured. You really can eat SO MUCH. My friends are constantly amazed at the amount I actually eat. Every naughty food (chocolate, crisps, etc) has a syn value and you're allowed to have between 5 and 15 syns a day. Just as an example, a large glass of white wine is about 8.5 syns!

The Slimming World website is also a really good resource and there's a facility for inputting your weight each week. It's really motivational watching the line go down towards your target!

Slimming World costs about £4.85 a week but they also offer 6 and 12 week countdowns, With a 6 week countdown you pay just under £25 (so you get one week free) and with the 12 week countdown you pay just under £50 (so you get two weeks free). Oh, and one of the best things.... when you get to target you get to go for free (providing you stay within your target range)!


Rosemary Conley by Sarah V
I started Rosemary Conley because my mum was doing it. It's a little different to the other two classes because not only does it include a weigh-in and a motivational talk, it also includes a 45 minute exercise class. There are various to choose from - aerobics, salsacise, and they've just started doing Zumba. I imagine all classes are different, but the age group at my local one is definitely quite mature. However, I like this - it means the exercises are easy to follow (and you can go up or down a level, depending on what suits you) and you don't feel embarrassed being surrounded by scary women in lycra thongs! Also, if you mess up the exercise, it's just funny - because everyone does it. The weigh-in is private between yourself and the instructor, and she only reads out the weight losses - never the gains. There are also loads of DVDs available - they're a little cheesy, but I find them much more bearable than the ones presented by ex-soap stars and ex-Big Brother contestants!

The diet plan is fairly simple. It focuses on eating low-GI food, sticking to foods that are under 5% fat (look for how much fat is in 100g) and gives you a guide to how many calories you should be eating at each meal, plus allocations for snacks and milk. There are also branded meals, soups and cereal bars available. Rosemary (yep, she's a real lady - she's like 60 so probably bionic) even has her own range of cheese! There's also a magazine which is fab - full of low fat recipes.It's really easy to follow as you don't have to worry about converting your food into points etc. Also you're encouraged to have a little of what you fancy - I find that if I'm good all week and have one bad day, I'll normally still do okay. But after you've been dieting for a while, your concept of a 'bad day' totally changes - it's rare for me to pick up one chocolate bar and 'one for luck' now!

You can find out more at the Rosemary Conley website. Classes are around £6.50 per week (monthly subscription services are also available) or you can also follow the plan online.

Hope that helps! Any questions, just give us a shout!