lean in 15 - book 3 - first impressions

I'm a big fan of the Lean in 15 meals, and apparently so is the rest of the world, Joe Wicks (author/creator) is now a multi-millionaire, so a quick google search tells me, and his books have sold over 1 million...that's pretty epic in diet plan book sales (so google also tells me!).

Of course, I love a good craze, especially one that promises weight loss results, so I jumped right on this bandwagon.  I'm now the proud owner of all three of the Lean in 15 books, and I regularly cook from each of them, a few from cookbook number one still remaining firm favourites.
I don't follow the plan properly, in fact, I don't follow it at all.  I don't eat carb-reduced meals twice or three times a day, or ensure my meals are carb heavy following exercise, and I don't follow the twenty minute HIIT routines but that doesn't stop me being a big fan of the books.  I'm too lazy to meal prep, but usually manage to plan on a Sunday which evening meals I'll cook from the books during the week.
 

Most of the meals genuinely take 15 minutes to make, which is perfect for me when I'm coming home late from a class post work, and when you've  made them once, they're even quicker to whip up as you don't need to endlessly refer to the recipe.  Also, the majority of the recipes serve 1 or 2 people, because the mr works away during the week, I'm usually cooking for just myself 2 or 3 times a week.  I've got a shelf full of cookbooks that I rarely use partly because the meals often feed 6 to 8 people, as much as I love a home-cooked meal, I don't fancy eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner three days in a row.
I exercise a lot, and know I should follow a high protein diet, which is why I cook so many meals from these books, just because I don't follow the plan properly doesn't mean I can't make them work for me.  I got book 3 for Christmas so I thought I'd share with you some of the meals I've made so far. 
Oh, and just to add, I have a habit of not following recipes exactly to plan... let's just say I get carried away: 
1. Chocolate banana overnight oats - (see picture at the top of this post) these are incredible, if you're an oats fan, then you have to give them a go.  I've made this multiple times now and had as both cold overnight oats and as warm porridge. There's something that feels so indulgent about these because they're so chocolate-y, so they're great for breakfast or a post-workout snack (ok, 'meal' if you're following plan!).

2. Blueberry and coconut smoothie - So I don't make this exactly to recipe, I use 100% coconut milk, rather than a mix of almond and coconut, as I don't do almond milk.  I also just guess the amount of blueberries and yoghurt...it's morning, and I don't have time for getting scales out the cupboard.  This is another beauty,  having the protein powder in it means it genuinely does keep me full to lunch time, and it tastes a dream.  It's one I'll definitely be cracking out over Summer a lot...but for now, these cold mornings need hot porridge!
3.  Quinoa Porridge Oats - the third of the 'breakfast' meals I've made and another thumbs up.  Ok, so again I didn't quite follow the recipe to plan, hence why my picture below looks considerably water-y than the image in the book. And I didn't put any quinoa in, yeah so I missed a vital ingredient, but I was making this up at 11pm quickly before heading to bed and I didn't fancy waiting 15 minutes for quinoa to cook, but I imagine it tasted pretty similar...and I do plan to make it properly soon.  

4.  Bacon, leek and pea frittata - (see picture further above) - this is ideal for cooking up for your evening meal, then taking the other half for lunch the next day.  It's really easy to make, and tastes good too, is there any greater combo than bacon, leek and cheese? It's also really satisfying so served with a light salad it'll keep you going till, well, until you raid the biscuit tin.
5.  Sea bass with pak choi and cashew nuts - ok so that's what the book suggests, but we made ours with trout, purely because it was significantly cheaper but I'm sure any piece of fish would work for this dish.  This was one dish me and the mr ate together, and while we really enjoyed it, fish and pak choi isn't quite enough food for us so be warned, and maybe pad it out with more veg, or a good chunk of bread if you're more carb-inclined like yours truly.

6.  Baked gnocchi with minced beef - this is very definitely a favourite, really substantial, so great for post workout, and super satisfying.  I love all meals made with mince, and gnocchi makes a nice change from pasta, oh and  of course we added some mozzarella because it just had to be done.  This is a longer recipe to make, but I cooked it up before heading to a circuits class then baked it in the oven when I got home, and I am sure this one will be made multiple times over.

8. Courgette with miso steak - (see picture further above) - sooooo anybody know where to find white miso paste? I found brown miso paste, and that's what we used, but, the recipe says mix with water to make it spreadable, but this was already pretty spreadable so not really convinced I had the right thing...not off to a good start.  And yeh, that courgette shortage that's taken over the world at the moment? 3 supermarkets later and I still couldn't find any, so made do with the one we had lurking at the back of the fridge and bought some sweet potato-getti (?) to go with it.  This was nice, but didn't blow me away, you couldn't really taste the miso (but that might be because I bought the wrong thing) and without that, it is just steak and veg.
9.  Chicken carbonara -in usual circumstances, I'm not a carbonara fan, it's too creamy for me, and if I was picking a pasta dish, I'd always rather go for a spicy tomato sauce.  But, because this was sans cream, I decided to give it a go, and I'm glad I did, because it was goooood.  Another really satisfying dish so perfect for post workout, and full of flavour from the bacon.  I added kale, because I like to add some greens and it worked a treat, would definitely recommend giving this one a go.

 10.  Cauliflower rice with coconut prawns - it feels like forever since I made this as it was the first recipe from the book I tried, so I just had to check back to my instagram post to see what I thought of it.  Turns out it was a winner, I just went a bit heavy on the chilli.  Cauliflower rice is definitely a bit of a faff to make (I only have a handheld food processor though) but it's a great low carb alternative.
So there we go, a bit of a summary (and lengthy blog post) of some of the book three meals I've made so far.  I'm still working my way through the book as there's loads I've got my eye on, chicken kiev, massaman curry and sausage stew to name a few, and there's others I've made, but haven't got a decent photo to share on here...probably because I ate it too quickly.  But, 10 recipes in with still a lot more I want to cook, I'm impressed, Joe Wicks has done it again.
Let me know if you cook from these books at all, I'd love to know what your favourite recipes are...or, if like me, you're creating your own versions, and if so, let me know what you recommend.