So it would appear I get a little obsessive with my food and when I find something new I like, I eat it a lot! This summer's new obsession may sound a little odd but trust me its amazing, char grilled lettuce, in fact char grilled anything. This method of cooking brings out all the natural sweetness in the vegetable, and the lettuce is both soft and crunchy at the same time. It seems to work for pretty much most vegetables too, purple sprouting broccoli being another favourite.

It is a very versatile dish and I have eaten this in on its own, with grilled meats such as in the picture, with poached eggs or some broad beans thrown in for a protein punch. I have also tossed through some chopped chives, parsley and fresh mint which is particularly tasty.

Being as the summer still seems to be clinging on and we've still got our short sleeves out I'm going to make the most of this delicious sun filled dinner.

Ingredients

• Baby Gem Lettuce, washed and quartered
• Courgette, sliced lengthwise
• Red onion, sliced into wedges
• Red/yellow pepper, sliced thickly
• Salt and Pepper
• Lemon juice

Method

1. Get your griddle pan sizzling hot.
2. Spray the veg with fry light and sprinkle over the salt and pepper. Put the peppers and courgettes in the pan in a single layer. Turn them once they are nicely charred.
3. Remove to a large wide salad bowl or plate and add the onion to the griddle. Char nicely on both sides and set aside. If the pan seems to be a bit dry spray some more fry light.
4. Add the lettuce quarters straight to the griddle and char on each side for a few minutes. It doesn't take too long.
5. Mix all the veg together and squeeze over the lemon juice and any seasoning or fresh herbs to taste.

I have to say cooking this dish made me very happy! My mum is German and although you might not think it Germany has amazing food.  Food is so connected to memories and all my trips to visit my grandparents are wrapped up in the gorgeous delights my grandma would serve up daily. She was a tremendous cook and my mum still marvels at what she created each and every day from scratch. From gorgeous Pretzels, schnitzels and sausages to fantastic breads and cakes Germany is all about the food!


This was one of mine and my brother's favourite Sunday dinners as we were growing up and was often picked a birthday treat. As my grandma isn't with us any more and my mum and I live miles away this dish is a great way of feeling connected to my family and my roots.

The original dish isn't very slimming world friendly but one day I decided I needed a touch of home so set about tweaking. I was so pleased with the result it was almost as good as the real thing. Although nothing, not even my mum's, quite comes up to my grandma's I was a very happy woman as I sat down to eat this little piece of nostalgia. I was happy to take the syns as it was such a treat. I did also add a few extra to have gravy but it was totally worth it!

The Schnitzels are usually coated in breadcrumbs and then fried. Its not good frying them in frylight (believe me I've tried!) as the breadcrumbs need quite a lot of hot oil to become crunchy and delicious. I have made the sw scotch eggs a couple of times and was really impressed with how the instant mash potato worked so I thought I'd give them a whirl. I also found a rosemary connelly recipe on line for baked pork escalope (basically the same thing) and replaced the breadcrumbs with the instant mash. I know there is a bit of a debate around using instant mash in other ways. I have synned them here but you could also use your hex b bread and it would be free. 

The potato salad is also one of my favourites. Its different from an English potato salad as it uses a vinaigrette dressing rather than mayonnaise. It was really easy to convert this so a slimming world recipe as I just replaced the oil with a spray or 2 of frylight.

Serves 4
Syns 2.5 syns inc gravy.

Schnitzels 

4 lean Pork steaks

1 Egg beaten

1/2 pack Instant Mash Potato

Potato Salad

1 bag Salad Potatoes 

1 Onion finely diced

1 tbsp dried Dill

1 tbsp White Wine

Salt and Pepper

Frylight

Cucumber Salad

1 cucumber diced or grated

White wine vinegar

Salt and Pepper

Lemon, sliced to serve.

Tagliatelli pasta

1. Boil the potatoes whole in their skins until cooked but still firm. Drain and refresh under cold water and allow to cool.
2. Once cold enough to hold peel the potatoes and slice as thinly as possible into a large salad bowl.
3. Add the finely diced onion, dill, vinegar and salt and pepper and mix.
4. Add a good tablespoon of hot water and mix again. (This takes the edge of the raw onions).
5. Add a couple of sprays of frylight, cover and leave to allow the flavours to develop.
6. Heat the oven to Gas Mark 6, 200C. Take the pork steaks and remove any visable fat then beat with a meat tenderiser or a rolling pin to flatten out.
7. Dip the steaks first in the beaten egg then in the instant mash potato and make sure it is well coated.
8. Place on a baking tray sprayed with fry light and bake towards the top of the oven for 20-25 minutes till golden brown and cooked through.
9. Whilst the pork is in the oven mix the cucumber with the vinegar and seasoning. Again you could add dill if you wanted a bit more. If it's a tad sharp for your liking add a small amount of sweetner.
10. To serve add slices of fresh lemon on top of the schnitzel and give them a sqeeze. Traditionally it would be served with a German egg noodle called spätzle but I used tagliatelli pasta. I also added a gravy made with a knorr gravy pot at 2 1/2 syns for the whole batch.

I'm so excited about this rice recipe I just had to share. I did it the other week to have with kebabs and I loved it so much I could have just eaten a plateful of the rice!

I was thinking of the gorgeous rice you get at our local Turkish restaurant so I looked up the recipe. Obviously it used butter and oil but I replaced them with fry light and butter fry light, life savers!

Turkish rice is often a little like pilaf and has different ingredients like pasta or chickpeas. For this recipe I used broken up vermicelli.

Spray the pan with both fry lights and toast the broken vermicelli till they gently brown, then add the rice and fry that for a minute or so. Then add chicken stock made from a stock pot, my rule of thumb is add enough water to cover the rice by about a thumbnail. Bring it to the boil and let it simmer gentle for a couple of minutes then turn it off and keep the lid on the pan leave if for 10-15 minutes to absorb all the liquid. Once it's been absorbed take the lid off and gently fork through the rice. And that's it!! Its really that simple and so delicious.

I served it with roast chicken thighs (skin removed and sprayed with BBQ fry light) and a take on tabuleh. I'll post the recipe for that tomorrow. Yum just like being on holiday!

NB. You can add even more goodness to it by adding a 1/2 tin of chickpeas before the stock. Authentic and delicious.

I have been trying to do a meat free day every week, as I do seem to be eating an awful lot of meat at the moment and I was very happy when Quorn brought back the free sausages. I needed a quick tea to keep me and the troops happy but didn't need too much attention.  This was inspired by the sausage and pasta dish in slimming world's fabulous 'Family Feasts on a Budget' but I made a few changes. I used the veg I had in and baked it, as its so easy, just chop and bang it in the oven. The sauce was really nice and the kids loved it too.

Serves 2

1/2 Syn EE/Green

Ingredients

Wholemeal Pasta

4 Quorn Sausages
1 Red Onion, Sliced
4 cloves of Garlic
1/2 Courgette, chopped 
4 small Sweet Peppers, quartered
Mixed Herbs
50 ml Chicken or Veg Stock
125ml Fat Free Fromage Frais
1tsp Wholegrain Mustard (to taste but does add syns)

1. Pre heat the oven to Gas Mark 6.
2. Put the vegetables and sausages in a roasting tin, spray with fry light and sprinkle with mixed herbs. Put in the oven and bake for for 20-30 mins, shaking occasionally. Remove and slice the sausages into 4 pieces.
3. Meanwhile cook whatever pasta you fancy, drain and reserve 50ml cooking water.
4. Put the stock, cooking water, fromage frais and mustard into the pan and heat gently so make sure the fromage frais doesnt split.
5. Stir in the pasta, vegetables and sausages, cover in sauce and serve.

Continuing on my Success Express drive today I came up with this tasty dinner. I'm also trying to eat more fish as it is very good for you and a great aid to slimming. Also our local fish mongers has just had a new lease of life and I love to go in and look at all the varied and exciting fish they have on offer. Today I used Hallibut but you can use any firm fish you want. I also had some prawns and mussels that needed using so I slung them in too. I think some beans would be great in here too such as butter bean or cannelini. 

Serves 2
Free EE/Red

1 Red Onion, sliced
5 cloves of Garlic 
1/2 Butternut Squash, chopped in bitesize squares (nb I like to leave the skin on but its up to you)
1/2 Courgette, thickly sliced
2 Tomatoes, chopped into quarter
1/2 Lemon, sliced
1 veg stock cube
1 tbsp Smoked Paprika
1 piece of Hallibut
100g Mussels 
100g Prawns
Handful Parsley, chopped
Lemon zest, grated

1. Pre heat the oven to Gas Mark 6. Put all the veg, garlic and lemon into a roasting tray. Spray with Fry light.
2. Sprinkle over the stock cube and paprika and mix thoroughly.
3. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes, turning occasionally.
4. Take dish out, add the seafood and toss through, pour a little hot water. Place the fish on top of the vegetables and cover with foil. Return to the oven and cook for a further 20 mins or until the fish is cooked through and the seafood is piping hot.
5. Mix the parsley with the lemon zest and sprinkle over the top of the dish.

To up the veg anti even more I served it with a Moroccan inspired carrot salad. This is super free and dead easy. simply mix grated carrot, chopped spring onion, chopped parsley, a shake of cumin seeds and nigella seeds, pour over the juice of half a lemon and season with salt and pepper.

Ole

Tonight's tea was a bit of an experiment but I was very pleased with how it turned out. Once the leaves start falling and the wind starts howling, all in one oven teas are my favourite. Especially when I can get them done during no2 son's nap and then set the timer on the oven. It almost like someone else has cooked you tea when you come home and the dinner is ready to go!

I've had a bit of a naughty weekend, some of it intentional some of it not, so Im trying to do a bit of success express to see if I can pull things back a bit for this week. This was basically a way of making the super free food the main part of the dish. I find Butternut Squash is a star ingredient when doing Success Express as its so versatile, its super free but it will do anything a potato will do, wedges, mash, stews etc. There are some broad beans in there too for a bit of a SS boost. I would have ideally stirred some fresh parsley through at the end but the fridge was bare!

Serves 2
Free on EE/Red

4 skinless chicken thighs or drumsticks or a combination
1 Red Onion Sliced
4 cloves of Garlic
1/2 Yellow Pepper sliced
1/2 Green Pepper sliced
1/2 Butternut squash peeled and diced
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
1 tbsp mixed Caribbean herbs
4 Tomatoes cut into large chunks
1 Lemon sliced
2 handfuls Broad Beans
1 handful Parsley (not pictured but if I definitely would if I could)

1. Spray a large pan with Frylight and fry the chicken till its browned and put to one side.
2. Add a little extra Frylight then add the onions and fry for a couple of minutes to soften.
3. Add the peppers and butternut squash and fry off. Add the herbs and spices and stir for a minute.
4. Add tomatoes, lemon and broad beans then add 1 cup of water deglazing the pan to create a sauce.
5. Bring to the boil and then simmer for a couple of minutes.
6. Transfer to an oven dish and bake in a pre heated oven at Gas Mark 6 for 45 minutes until the chicken is totally cooked through and there's no pink inside.
7. Stir through parsley and serve.

These dark and cold winter nights call for hearty stodgy dishes to warm you up from the inside out. Luckily slimming world allows you to enjoy all the usual classics with minimal tweaking, all the satisfaction without the syns!

Tonight only some tasty saucy mince could fill the gap so I decided to make a cottage pie. Veg packed and full of goodness it certainly hit the spot. That's why I love this diet, for all its weight loss magic it really is healthy eating. We may be shoehorning in all those extra veg because they're free but the real benefit is the whack of vitamins and goodies we're getting. So Sw meals won't just keep us looking fabulous this winter it will also help is feel fabulous too!

As I have 2 young children with their own particular eating likes and dislikes I made an individual portion of the pie in a bowl and gave the boys the component parts how they like them.

Cottage pie

Serves 2/3

Free EE

Ingredients

250g extra lean mince

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 celery stalk, diced

2 carrots, diced

5 mushrooms, sliced

1 knorr stock pot rich beef

Squidge tomato purée

sprinkle of Thyme

Dash of Worcestershire sauce

Dash balsamic vinegar

500g potatoes, diced

Fat free fromage frais

1. Brown the mince in fry light and put to one side.
2. Spray the pan with a bit more fry light and soften the onion for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic, celery and carrots and thyme. Cover and soften for 5 minutes. Add a splash of water if you think it's a bit dry.
3. Return the mince to the pan. Add the mushrooms, cover with boiling water and add the stock pot. Stir to combine.
4. Add the tomato purée, worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar. Stir and bring to a simmer for 20/30 minutes until the sauce is thicker and the veg is cooked.
5. Meanwhile boil the diced potatoes until soft enough to mash but still holding their shape. Drain and mash. Stir in some fat free fromage frais or Greek yogurt to get a thick creamy. Season to taste.
6. Preheat your grill to high. Spoon the mince mixture into your serving dish and top with mash a spoon at a time.
7. Rough up the top with a fork and place under the grill till golden brownAnd slightly crispy on top. (For extra luxury you could grate your hexA of cheese on too before grilling).
8. Serve with a big portion of 'fried' cabbage. Take that winter!

And so my Asian odyssey continues with a delicious beef curry. I had a real hankering for a warming curry with lots of lovely rice. I love casserole, slow cook dishes. I can knock it together whilst my youngest is having his nap and then when we get back in after the school run the house smells great and I have only the sides to do. I served it here with a simple grated cucumber salad dressed in white wine vineger and also  added plenty of super free veg to the curry to make sure I got my 1/3 super free. I used a packet of spice that I got from a local indian and continental shop (I love this shop I can literally spend hours perusing the isles looking at all the exotic ingredients, mmmm!). There are loads of different flavours and they are very authentic. I used the generally titled 'meat masala', see below. I warn you though the recipe suggested 2 tbls but I added just 1 as I was doing it for all off us but it was still too hot for the boys, oops! oh well all the  more for me...
 

Serves 2/3
Free Red/Green/EE

2 Red Onions sliced
5 cloves of Garlic crushed
2" piece of Ginger grated
300g Stewing Steak
1 tbsl Shan's meat masala mix (less for a milder curry)
1 Red Pepper chunkily cut
6 Tomatoes quartered
Fat Free Yogurt
Large handful of Corriander

1. Fry onions gently in Frylight for at least 5 minutes then add the garlic and ginger.
2. Add the meat and brown then add curry powder mix, fry off taking care not to burn the spices. If it looks to be getting a little too dry or hot you can add a bit of water.
3. Add the pepper and tomatoes and stir.
4. Add 2 cups of water stir and transfer to casserole dish.
5. Cook in oven gas mark 3 for 4 hours, check after 3, if it seems a bit thin, leave the lid off and cook until the sauce has thickened and the meat is meltingly tender.
6. When ready stir through the yogurt and corriander to serve.

This is one of my absolute favourite dishes of all time. I have a great love of Thai food and love the flavour combinations. I learnt this recipe when on a cookery course in Thailand about 10 years ago and I practically lived on this when I first lived on my own. Its fresh, healthy, nutricious, tastes amazing and best of all its totally free!! The recipe is really easy and pretty flexible, you can pretty much throw in what ever you want, prawns are great, but this is my standard dish.

Serves 2

Ingredients 
Water
2 stalks of Lemon Grass sliced into 1 inch size pieces
5 slices of Ginger
1 Onion cut into large pieces
1 Diced Chicken breast
Fresh Chillies to taste
Fish Sauce
4 Tomatoes 
6 Mushrooms 
Spinach
Lime
Corriander
Your favourite noodles I use udon or flat thai sticks cooked

• Fill a large pan with water and bring to the boil. Add the ginger and lemon grass and boil for 5 minutes.
• Add the chicken and bring back to the boil. Cook for 5 minutes and skim off any foam that comes to the top.
• Add the onion, tomatoes, mushrooms, chillies, and a good dash of fish sauce and simmer for a couple of minutes.
• Add the spinach and cook until wilted.
• Take off the heat, stir through the juice of the lime and the corriander.
• Divide the noodles between bowls, pour soup on over and top with more corriander.

ENJOY!!