Winter brings with it woollen scarves, gorgeous leather boots, the excuse to curl up fireside, and a few extra kilos we could do without. How to cater to our cravings for creamy soups, rib-sticking stews and decadent bread and butter puddings when we know the results are going nowhere but around our middles? We’ve cracked the winter code with hearty recipes and tips that won’t pile on the pounds.

Potato and leek soup with a swirl of blue cheese, buttered crusty bread on the side, is beautiful thing, but maybe not the kind of fodder to eat all winter long. Turn to your stick blender to greens and make smooth, creamy soups packed with vitamins and without the calories. Start by sautéing off garlic, onion, leek and hard herbs such as a thyme, and then pile in the vegetables – zucchini, kale, green peas or broccoli – and top up with chicken stock. Now the trick: a handful or two of cashews will make it super creamy. Simmer until everything softens and blitz with a stick blender. Serve with a swirl of full-fat Greek yoghurt and a drizzle of chilli oil.

Pull out the stock pot and start simmering offcuts and vegetables into clear soup bases. Once you have a stock ready to go, you can pile in green vegetables, thin sliced chicken or beef, prawns and seafood and whatever kind of noodle takes your fancy. Vietnamese pho is an obvious favourite, packed with heady star anise and spices, and flat rice noodles for slurping. For a Chinese take, add in slices of barbecue pork, choy sum and a handful of homemade wontons. For a protein packed meal, add half a cup of cooked quinoa, half a lemon, sliced cooked chicken and plenty of green herbs.

Skip hot chocolate from the café, which is probably packed with sugar-loaded syrup, artificial flavours and junky marshmallows. Make your own instead. Mix together a little raw cacao powder (note, not cocoa), which is packed with minerals, with ground cinnamon and vanilla, which naturally taste sweet, and a teaspoon (or less) of raw honey or maple syrup. Add little hot water to mix to a smooth paste and then stir in warm milk. We like using a combination of coconut and almond for extra creaminess.

Coffee is an obvious tempter when it gets chilly, but embrace herbal teas, or your own tinctures, for a heat hit, minus the caffeine and calories. Combine hot water with sliced ginger, a wedge of lemon and a teaspoon of Manuka honey for a flu-busting tonic, or take basic herbal teas and add your own spices or citrus to taste. A handful of fresh peppermint, plunged into scalding water, is also delicious.

A bed of buttery mash, loaded with salt and dairy, may seem like the perfect pal for your slow-cooked beef cheeks or wintery stew, but it’s not the healthiest pairing. Whiz up rinsed tinned cannellini beans instead, with a pinch of salt, lemon and olive oil. The texture will be softer than hummus, perfectly creamy, and full of fibre to boot.

There are so many reasons why you should get reacquainted with this hard-working kitchen hero. Throw a few ingredients in the pot in the morning, and dinner will be ready when you arrive home. From a healthy point of view, the slow-cooking process helps to draw vitamins and minerals from your protein without losing them through evaporation, and allows you to utilise stock and pan juices rather than butter and oil, for flavour. Find out best recipes here.

Expand your curry recipe repertoire. Pre-made pastes that require little more than a handful of protein and a tin of coconut cream may be easy, but the calories stack up quickly. Learn a few tomato-based recipes instead, such as this Kashmir-style slow cooked goat shoulder by Matt Wilkinson.

An apple a day may keep the doctor away, and an orange is pretty much a natural vitamin C tablet, but the lesser-known persimmon (actually a berry) may be the key to warding off winter nasties.