Jenny's Not-So-Guilty Pleasure of Philadelphia and Mushroom Croute

Mega tasty, cheap and easy - enjoy!

As a huge fan of carbs (especially bread!), mushrooms and cheese I could easily devour a very indecent amount of this in one sitting. Inspired by one of my favourite starters and my best friend's claim that it was super easy to make, I decided to give it a go and I'm happy to say it's just as tasty as the restaurant version I've had. I did feel terribly guilty for eating carbs for dinner (after a gruelling gym session too - sob sob) but I give myself kudos for leaving 1/3 of the baguette on my plate and I promised to not slip into bad habits. Or try to anyway..

What you will need

• A fresh baguette or ciabatta (10 points)
• 1 pack of mushrooms (sliced) (0 points)
• 1 small red onion (sliced) (0 points)
• 1 generous tablespoon of garlic & herb Philadelphia Light (1 point)
• 1 pack of M&S peppercorn sauce (3 points per half a bag)

The restaurant version contains Blue Cheese but as Philadelphia Light is so low in points and super tasty I decided to use that instead. If you really want to go for broke then use a good Blue Cheese. 


First of all, brown the sliced onions in a frying pan with 1 spray of calorie controlled olive oil. The onions will sweat anyway, so no need to go OTT on oil. When the onions are brown, add in the mushrooms, seasoning with salt and pepper. When mushrooms are almost done, add in the peppercorn sauce (follow instructions on the pack and don't boil - just let it simmer) and cream cheese.

While this is simmering, slice the baguette or ciabatta in half and toast on a griddle pan on both sides until brown.

Cover the baguette with the piping hot mushroom sauce serve with a side salad. The bread turns deliciously soggy, absorbing the yummy sauce. It tastes so good I don't even mind the peppercorn sauce not being on a juicy piece of sirloin!

The best thing about this is that there should be plenty left for lunch if you were cooking for one like me.

Do you think you will be giving this recipe a go?

Until next time Blush babes and boys! Thanks for reading.

xxx