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 :)

Me

No weigh-in for me this week as I was away getting this done!  The blonde is gone!! I'm sure I must be lighter though with all that heavy hair chopped off!  

Week 16

Well I ticked off another lb this week - so all is good.  I'd be quite happy to carry on losing 1 lb a week.  There was a lady in class who was so gutted as she thought she would get another stone award and was only lb away last week, but she maintained this week so was a bit peeved off.  People say 'oh I've only lost a pound' but sometimes losing a pound is so hard so I take nothing for granted now.  I was 1 lb away from my stone award a few weeks back and was sure I was going to get it the following week, well the following week I only lost 1/2 lb.  I was sure I was guaranteed it the next week - well I maintained!!  Then I wasn't at class the next week and finally the week after I got it - 4 weeks after assuming it was in the bag!  So it just goes to show that 'just a pound' isn't always that easy, so if I lost 'just a pound' every week I'll be more than happy! :)

It's getting colder now and the hall was quite chilly, I've been wearing the same clothes more or less each week so my weight doesn't fluctuate because of what I'm wearing.  I need to start wearing warmer clothes but they are too heavy! I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and just take the hit because it's getting too cold now lol