The beauty of the 5-2 diet is that there is no set menu. On fast days you can eat whatever you want as long as you keep to your 500 for women and 600 for men calorie limit. Which is intended to be approximately 25% of your recommended daily calorie intake. With all the calorie counting and minimising of fats and oils and carbohydrates in my diet on fast days I have been missing dressing on my salads. There is no way around it the key to a great salad lies in  its dressing. The vital component that brings together all the individual flavours on the plate. Salad without dressing is just a pile of vegetables on a plate. Filling and nutritious, the perfect diet food,  but not particularly exciting to eat.

In my last 5-2 Challenge post I was more than a little  excited to discover Green Goddess Dressing  With Avocado and Greek Yoghurt. At only 22 calories per tablespoon it truly is spectacular find. So for my very next fast day I was determined  to feast on a salad adorned with generous dollops of that creamy avocado dressing.  Here’s what I came up with. A  very retro prawn cocktail inspired salad.

There are many of us who will remember the prawn cocktail. An iconic dish. Dating back to the Seventies. Quite de rigueur at suburban dinner parties and  a staple fixture at wedding receptions for at least two decades. The classic prawn cocktail was nothing more than shredded iceberg lettuce, sliced avocado and prawns with a Marie-Rose sauce. My version is somewhat more substantial. A mountain of garden fresh vegetables and king tiger prawns layered on top soft mignonette lettuce leaves and topped with the creamy avocado Green Goddess. Part dip. Part dressing. Not only does this salad look and taste great, it only takes a few minutes to prepare.

One bowl came in at an impressive 190 calories per serve. It was enormous and incredibly filling. For the very first time, after a full day’s fasting, I could barely finish my plate. Perhaps after five weeks my body is used to this way of eating. Perhaps I have finally figured out how to eat on my fast days. For the moment it’s working so I’m happy.

Here is a snapshot of my day’s fasting.  For the first time ever I came in at well under my calorie allowance. So much so that I treated myself to a rather late supper of a toasted crumpet. It’s all mind over matter I know. I didn’t need that crumpet I just knew I had some extra calories up my sleeve. At least I stopped at one. I could have had two.

Prawn Cocktail Salad With Green Goddess Dressing

Serves 4 (190 calories per serve)

500 g cooked king tiger prawns (410 calories)
juice and finely grated zest of 1 lemon (12 calories)
sea salt and pepper
75 g baby green beans, topped, tailed and  blanched (23 calories)
75 g baby sugar snap peas, topped, tailed and blanched (32 calories)
50 g rocket (12 calories)
1 medium red capsicum, julienned (31 calories)
1/2 fennel, shaved (16 calories)
1/2 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved (27 calories)
1 mignonette lettuce, leaves separated (20 calories)
1 quantity Green Goddess Dressing with Avocado and Greek Yoghurt, recipe here ( 22 calories per tablespoon)

SEASON the prawns with the juice and zest of one lemon, and a generous sprinkling of sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
SET out four bowls. Place 3- 4 lettuce leaves in the bottom of each bowl.
LAYER over the prawns, beans, sugar snap peas, rocket, capsicum, fennel and cherry tomatoes.
TOP with a generous dollop or two of Green Goddess Dressing. Serve remaining dressing in a small bowl on the side.