Curshen - Elly Pears fast days & feast days

My first and biggest thanks go to you to all of you whove supported me and shouted from the rooftops (your keyboards) that you wanted this book. This was a long time coming but everything happens for a reason, my mumma told me, and this book is not the book I would have written three years ago when this all kicked off and I think it was worth the wait. I hope you agree. Thanks for holding on so patiently.

Enormous debt of gratitude to Dr Michael Mosley for kick-starting this whole 5:2 thing and doing the work and research that led to this book happening.

Huge, massive thanks to all my brilliant mates, too. Im very lucky to be surrounded by strong, clever, creative, brilliant people in my life and I honestly only got through this whole long process with your advice, support and enthusiasm. A book takes a really long time to do who knew??

Dan our friendship means the world to me and I honestly dont know what Id do without you. Thank you for everything and for being by my side every single step of the way.

To my family this is why Ive hardly seen any of you for ages sorry. Love you all. Im imagining Grandma Cissie and Grandpa Bobs faces if they could see this book and now Ill never stop crying. I cant believe I forgot to put my roast chicken recipe in, Mumma. Back to texting it to you every other week, I guess.

To my second family Millie and Joe and the kids Thank you for letting me stay over and over again while I yo-yod my way back and forth between London and Bristol (your home is my favourite place to be).

Cissy You gave birth to twins as I gave birth to this book and even through the most monumental year of your life, you were there, at the end of the phone, being organised and calm and really bloody smart. Thank you.

To my food babes. To Gizzi where do I start? You lit the taper and, man, it went off! Youre a powerhouse and I owe you so much. Darling Rosie and Ed so happy and #blessed to have you both as friends.

To my fairy godmother/agent Sheila, and to Becky Youre the best.

To the caf babes, and especially Jen. #mindvibes

To Fiona I only tried the 5:2 because of you and look what happened!! Im so, so lucky to have you in my life and hope makes you smile.

To Sam and the Bells crew massive thanks for all your help and support the best neighbours I could ever have hoped for while writing my book!

To Ben and to Bev, to Hannah, Charlotte and all at Instyle youve been big parts of this period thank you all for everything.

To all those who contributed recipes Fattie, Jose, Tom Love you all being in here with me! Thank you! Thanks also to all my Bristol food mates who feature throughout the book this is the best city in the world and I love being part of our community. You all inspire me.

HUGE thanks and massive respect to the shoot crew Myles everyone said OH MY GOD YOULL LOVE HIM!! and I did. Marina and Becks love at first sight. You guys are so, so brilliant and working with you was an absolute joy. Thank you all for all your hard work and being so lovely and making my first day at school wobbles dissipate. Thanks too to Martin, Tab and Lydia, Tom and Fran.

And finally, to the team at HarperCollins my commissioning editor Carolyn, Orlando, Julie, Sophie and everyone else I hope I did you proud. Thank you for having faith in me. George and Lucy your hard work and talent is so apparent in this book and Im immensely grateful to both of you. We did a book, guys!!!!

Now, lets eat.

under

400 kcals

_315 kcal

under

300 kcals

_278 kcal

_271 kcal

under

250 kcals

_217 kcal

_215 kcal

under

200 kcals

_165 kcal

_198 kcal

_172 kcal

_167 kcal

_157 kcal

_ 159 kcal

_177 kcal

_186 kcal

_194 kcal

_172 kcal

_184 kcal

_199 kcal

_156 kcal

_178 kcal

_187 kcal

under

150 kcals

_100 kcal

_122 kcal

_143 kcal

_100 kcal

_107 kcal

_105 kcal

_145 kcal

_101 kcal

_102 kcal

_102 kcal

_110 kcal

under

100 kcals

_25 kcal

_82 kcal

_1 kcal per tsp

_93 kcal

_91 kcal

_70 kcal

_80 kcal

_98 kcal

_68 kcal

_37 kcal

_10 kcal

_3 kcal

_10 kcal

_97 kcal

_86 kcal

_91 kcal

_87 kcal

_50 kcal

_67-90 kcal

_8 kcal per 1 tsp

Seeded rosemary and thyme soda bread

This is THE bread to make if its your first attempt or youre short of time. No kneading. No waiting for it to prove. It takes less than ten minutes to make. Mix it up like a cake, then whack it in the oven. Easy. It is unbelievable eaten straight out of the oven, but if kept wrapped tightly in a cotton tea towel it will be fine for a few days. It is better toasted after a couple of days, though.

This recipe makes a dense, seeded loaf that is incredibly filling, so one slice is usually enough. Usually.

Makes 1 loaf (approximately 16 slices)

225g plain flour

225g wholemeal flour

1 heaped tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 heaped tsp cream of tartar

2 tbsp soft brown sugar

1 tbsp sunflower seeds

1 tbsp poppy seeds

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp finely chopped rosemary

1 tbsp finely chopped thyme leaves

20g roughly chopped walnuts

1 tsp flaked sea salt

500ml buttermilk, or whole milk plus 1 tbsp lemon juice, or 250ml whole milk plus 125ml natural yoghurt left for 5 minutes

30g butter, melted

For the topping

1 tsp pumpkin seeds

2 tsp chopped rosemary

flaked sea salt

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas mark 6.

Sift the flours into a large bowl and tip in anything that remains in the sieve (youre just aerating the flour, not trying to remove all the wholemeal bits). Add the remaining dry ingredients, except for the toppings, and stir to combine.

Make a well in the centre of the dry mix and slowly pour in the buttermilk, mixing gently but thoroughly. It will form a loose, cake-type batter, not a bready type of dough dont worry!

Brush a 10 x 20cm loaf tin with the melted butter. Put the mixture into the tin and even out the top using a spatula. Pour the remaining butter over the surface of the dough. Sprinkle with the toppings and bake for 30 minutes. Reduce the temperature of the oven to 150C/300F/Gas mark 2 and turn the loaf around. Bake for another 2530 minutes, until a sharp knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Turn the loaf out onto a wire rack to cool slightly before eating. You can also let the bread cool completely, cut it up into slices, freeze, then toast from frozen.

Spiced Earl Grey overnight oats

The very best thing about this recipe is that if you spend a couple of minutes in the evening putting it together, in the morning you can just grab it out of the fridge and go. On a busy morning when the to-do list is as long as my arm, having instant breakfast ready to dip into whenever I have a minute between tasks is a godsend. Feel free to play around with fresh or dried fruits, different milks and yoghurts, seeds and nuts. There are no rules.

Serves 1

30g oats

1 Earl Grey tea bag

1 tbsp linseeds (flaxseed)

1 tbsp raisins

bit of cinnamon stick

1 clove

1 cardamom pod, crushed