Risotto

This is one of the things I make with my leftovers of roast chicken. It's so quick and simple to make.  I add some chicken stock to some risotto rice, add some shredded chicken, chopped onion, frozen peas, garlic, salt and plenty of black pepper.  Cook in the oven for about 20/25 minutes until the liquid has absorbed and the rice has softened and then at the end sprinkle with grated parmesan.  I love it :)

Measurements for 1 serving approx 75g rice and 250ml chicken stock.

Pizza

Double yum! Homemade pizza made from Warburton sandwich thins (5 syns) topped with cheese from HexA, spicy chicken, some red onion and sprinkled with dried herbs. Def worth 5 syns for the 2 squares of yummy pizza!
p.s. Never bothered with the tomato sauce on the base as I was scared it would go too soggy,  but never missed it in the slightest,  it was so tasty!

Tuna Melt & Potato Wedges

Yummy! Could have ate it twice over!  Wedges made in actifry and tuna melt was warburtons sandwich thin (5 syns), tuna mayo (1 syn) - with tablespoon of fat free fromage frais added, red onion and grated cheese (Hex A).  Yummy, yummy, yummy!

Chicken and Oyster Sauce

Seeing as it was Chinese New Year - I thought I would make something Chinese.  Oh this was so yummy and so, so tasty and far healthier that a takeaway!

1 serving

1 chicken breast thinly sliced

crushed garlic (I used a heaped teaspoon of the lazy garlic)

chopped veg of choice

1/2 teaspoon of black pepper

1 tablespoon of light soy sauce

2 tablespoons of oyster sauce

1-2 tablespoons of water

grated ginger 

Stir fry the chicken until browned, add veg and crushed garlic and ginger and stir fry for about 5 mins.  Sprinkle over the black pepper.  Add the soy sauce/oyster sauce and water - and you're done :)

Tomato Salad

Mix chopped tomatoes, cucumber and red onion with some salt/pepper and a sprinkling of dried dill and mix through some dressing.

Dressing

1 teaspoon sweetener

3/4 cup of apple cider vinegar

1/2 tablespoon of red wine vinegar

Potatoes in slow cooker with Italian Seasoning

For 4 servings

Spray bottom of slow cooker with some frylight

Add potatoes (approx 3 large potatoes cut into cubes  - I used small baby potatoes and cooked them whole)

Mix 1 tablespoon of olive oil

Add 1 tablespoon of homemade Italian Seasoning and mix though

Cook on high for 2-3 hours or low for 4-6 hours.

Italian Seasoning

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoon oregano

1 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon basil

1 tablespoon parsley

2 tablespoon salt

Blackened Salmon

Think this is my new fav way to eat salmon. So tasty and has a kick!

Serves 4

2 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon onion powder

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

Mix all the herbs and spices together.  Spray 4 salmon fillets with frylight and sprinkle the spice mixture over (both sides - or just one side if your salmon has skin on one side).

Cook in tin foil in an oven for 20-25 minutes 

I served mine with some honey roasted veg - delicious :)

Slow Cooker Chicken

I make this at least once a week. The chicken just falls off the bone and there is very little left over and what is left over usually goes in a curry the next night.

Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for at least 5-6 hours.

Place 4 small balls of kitchen foil on the bottom of your slow cooker to stop the chicken sticking.  I rubbed a seasoning on my chicken ( 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp each of oregano, thyme, basil). Then placed chicken upside down in slow cooker and sprinkled remaining seasoning on top.

Sometimes I cook it with garlic butter and some herbs too.

Baked Oats

This was a nice change for a breakfast this morning. Baked oats served warm with fruit and sprinkled with cinnamon.

35g oats
50ml milk
1egg
1 tablespoon sweetener.

Mix and bake in oven for 20mins @ 200 degrees

Salmon Stirfry

I had some leftover salmon, so flaked it and stir fried it with garlic powder, ground ginger, medium curry powder, soy sauce and noodles....oh it was delish and had a right punch in it! Oh and it was syn free! :)

Sweets!!

Ta daa - I made my first batch of slimming world sweets.  1 syn for 15 sweets and this recipe made 25.  They are kind of harribo-ish but but not quite as you know they are jelly.

I bought myself some silicone sweet moulds from ebay which were pennies.

Add a sachet of sugarfree jelly and a sachet of gelatine to 1/4 pint of boiling water and mix thoroughly until disolved.  Cover the bases of the moulds with the jelly (about half way up the mould) you should be left with half of your jelly mixture.

Put the moulds in the fridge to set for 10 mins.

Whilst they are in the fridge, add half of a mullerlight yogurt to the jelly mixture and mix.  

Once the moulds come out of the fridge, top each one with the yogurt/jelly mixture, then place in fridge for 30-40 minutes to set.

You can use any combination of flavours you like.  I ate all 25 sweets one after the other which was a bit sickly but I think if I popped 15 in a tub and took to my work to nibble on throughout the day that would be just fine!

Enjoy X

Chicken Curry (syn free)

Quick chicken curry made with last night's left over chicken!

Fried off some onion, garlic, chilli and added a carton of Asda chopped tomatoes with chilli and pepper, 150ml chicken stock, tablespoon of curry powder (I used mild and found that hot enough as the chopped tomatoes have kick in them, but depends on your taste).  Simmered away and then mixed though a couple of tablespoons of fat free fromage frais at the end - was really tasty!

Prawn Fried Rice

Just as per the CHICKEN FRIED RICE recipe...but add tiger prawns! I also added some chilli flakes for an extra kick. Delicious!

Red Lentil, chickpea & chilli soup

Another lovely soup and another recipe from my mum. It's a nice thick soup with a pit of a punch,

2tsp cumin seeds

large pinch chilli flakes

1 onion, chopped

140g red lentils

850ml veg stock

200g canned chickpeas (drained)

400g chopped tomatoes

fat free fromage frais or fat free natural yogurt

frylight

salt/pepper to season

Blitz the chickpeas in a food processor until it's like a rough puree

In a large saucepan, dryfry the cumin seeds and chilli flakes for 1 min, or until they start to jump around the pan.

Spray pan with frylight and add onion and cook for 5 mins

Add stock, tomatoes and lentils and bring to the boil.

Simmer for 15 mins until the lentils have softened.

Add the chickpeas and heat through for 5 minutes.

Whizz the soup with a hand blender until it is soup and season with salt and pepper.  I add Shwartz black & red pepper for an extra kick.

Serve with a dollop of fat free fromage frais or natural yogurt.

Cock-a-leekie Soup (syn free)

Love soup at this time of the year. Especially love this one. My Mum's recipe.

Pint veg or chicken stock
Couple of handfuls of rice
1 chicken breast diced
1 leek sliced
1 carrot sliced
Salt/pepper

Add all ingredients to a pot, bring to the boil and then let simmer for 30 mins.

I like too add Swartz red & black pepper for an extra kick.

Enjoy x

Spaghetti Carbonara

Nice and quick...and easy! This serves 4 and works out at 4.5 syns per portion but would be free if using parmesan as HExA.

12 oz spaghetti (3oz per person)

3/4 cup of grated parmesan ( 12 tablespoons)

2 large eggs

4 rashers of bacon diced

1 clove crushed garlic

Frylight

Cook your spaghetti.  While it is cooking, dice up the bacon and fry until it is crispy.  Add a clove of crushed garlic. Whisk the eggs in a bowl and add the parmesan and set aside.  Once the spaghetti is cooked, drain and then mix through the bacon and egg mixture.  Season with salt/pepper and sprinkle some grated parmeson on top.

Prawn & Red Pepper Curry

My picture doesn't really do this much justice but this was really tasty. 

Serves 4 (1 syn per portion)

Sauce

1 tablespoon cornstarch (3.5 syns)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

4 tablespoons tomato puree

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

400ml chicken stock

1/4 teaspoon sweetener

2 tablespoons medium curry powder

2cm piece of ginger grated

1 large onion sliced

2 red peppers sliced

Prawns or meat of choice

Stir fry the peppers and onion in some frylight until soft.  Add the sauce and mix through for a few minutes.  Then add prawns and cook for about 5-10 minutes until warmed and cooked through.

Serve on rice - enjoy :)

Chinese Stir Fry Sauce

I've started making my own Chinese stirfry sauce just by adding different things I've noticed a lot of the recipes use.  This is so delicious and every bit as good as the kind of thing I would order from my chinese.

Serves 4 (2 syns per portion)

1 tablespoon cornstarch (3.5 sys)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoon oyster sauce (2 syn)

2 tablespoon chinese shoaxing wine (2 syns) (or you can use dry sherry as apparently it's very similar!)

2 cloves crushed garlic

2cm piece of ginger grated

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon of gound white pepper

Mix all those ingredients in a bowl and then add your meat - I used chicken - then leave to marinade for about 20 mins to 1/2 hour.

Stir fry whatever veg you would like - I just had some sliced peppers and onions.  Remove from pan. Stir fry your meat until cooked through and then re-add the vegetables and mix through.

Serve with rice and enjoy :)

Spaghetti &Turkey Meatballs

Another totes delish recipe which is becoming a firm favourite!  The meatballs are so soft because they are cooked in the sauce, but you could brown them first if you preferred. This recipe serves 4 and makes 8 large meatballs and works out at 2.5 syns per portion ( or 2 syns if you don't sprinkle some parmesan on top at the end)

To make the sauce
2 x 400g cartons of chopped tomatoes
1 clove crushed garlic
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons of sweetener
Freshly grounded pepper
Frylight
Fresh chopped basil (optional)


To make the meatballs
About 3/4 cup of fresh breadcrumbs (about 2 slices of bread) (6 syns)
1/3 cup (50ml) skimmed milk (1 syn)
1 egg
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese (1.5 syns)
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 clove crushed garlic
freshly grounded pepper
350g lean turkey mince or lean beef mince


First make the sauce, I used cartons of chopped tomatoes with garlic and red pepper from Asda. Then I blitzed them as my two don't like lumps!  Grown lads and wont eat lumpy veg things!  Brown the crushed garlic in some frylight then add the chopped tomatoes.  Add the Italian seasoning, salt, sweetener and grounded pepper.

To make the meatballs:
Make fresh breadcrumbs made with 2 slices of bread - I blitzed my bread in the food processor to make my breadcrumbs.  In a large bowl add your breadcrumbs, then add milk (you might not need all the milk, you don't want the bread to be too wet), Mix that through the bread and leave to soak for a few minutes till it's all absorbed. Then add egg, fresh parsley, parmesan, Italian seasoning, salt, crushed garlic, grounded black pepper.  Mix all the ingredients together first before you add the meat. Then add mince and mix through till all the ingredients are combined.  Split the mixture into 4 - each quarter is going to make 2 large meatballs.  Divide each quarter mixture into 2 and roll into a ball.  Mixture should make 8 meatballs.

Gently add to sauce and leave to cook for about 20 minutes.  Once cooked you can add some chopped basil if you like before you serve it.

Add to a bed of cooked spaghetti and sprinkle some parmesan on top.

Enjoy

Banana Split

My attempt at a 'slimming world friendly' banana split.....banana (split in 2), chopped strawberries, fat free fromage free and some grated chocolate - so basically just banana & strawberries but somehow this tasted better - yum :)