Yep I'm here with yet another soup, once upon a time I dreamt of running a soup kitchen, you can maybe see why. But at this time of year you can't beat a good filling soup. I like to make soups which are super free, giving your weight loss a boost. I will sometimes have some crab sticks or ham on the side my healthy extra b, I particularly like the swedish Krisprolls that you can have 3 of. If Im being really good I up the super free again and use crudities, celery, carrots, little gem lettuce leaves.

In this recipe you roast the cauliflower first and produces a really rich, deeply flavoured soup. I like to add some quark at the end too (partly because I cant get enough of  the stuff) as it makes it lovely and creamy but also adds a slightly sharp edge which I think works really well.

Ingredients

• 1 head of Cauliflower
• 1 Onion roughly chopped
• 4 cloves of Garlic, unpeeled
• Chicken Stock Pot
• Bay Leaf
• 1tsp Black Pepper Corns
• Quark/Greek Yogurt (optional)

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to Gas Mark 6. Break the cauliflower into florets place on a roasting tray with the onion and garlic, spray with fry light and roast for 20-30 mins. Until nicely roasted but not too dark.
2. Transfer the contents of the tray to a pan, squeeze the garlic out of its skin
3. Add hot water to an inch or so over the veg and add the stock pot, bay leaf and black pepper corns. Bring to the boil and then simmer gently for 10 minutes.
4. Remove the bay leaf and some of the pepper corns (or leave them all in if you like a good pepper kick like me!) and blend, adding hot water if you want, till you reach your desired consistency.
5. Dish out into bowls and dollop on a big spoonful of quark or greek yogurt on top and stir through.

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.

This weeks challenge at group was to have at least 5 super speed foods a day. To be honest we probably do this anyway but always good to make an extra effort.

I think the key to keeping salads interesting is to always have a couple of ingredients that you really like or that are a bit unusual. I love water chestnuts and bamboo shoots and they work just as well raw so adding them to this salad makes me a happy bunny.

This is the super lazy version, obviously you can chop what ever veg you like.

Ingredients

1 pack ready chopped stir fry including bean sprouts, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts

Ready to eat prawns

Dressing

1 tblsp soy sauce

1tblsp dark rice vinegar

1 clove of garlic finely grated

Small piece of ginger grated.

Fresh coriander coursely chopped.

Syn Free on Red or EE.

Mix the all the ingredients for the dressing together. Give it a good shake and leave for as long as you have.

Plate up the stir fry and scatter over prawns, then drizzle dressing over the top.

That's it, really that simple and soooo tasty. Obviously you can play with it however you like. I often use cooked chicken with it or even crab sticks as you find them quite a lot in Asian food. You could add some soya beans instead of prawns if you wanted to go veggie. I also sometimes add a squeeze of line over it too.

This salad is great for work too as the dressing improves with a bit of a rest just keep it separate to the veg. Maybe not before any big meetings though as the garlic and ginger pack a punch!

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.

As this winter draws in so does the need for hot drinks to warm both body and the soul. Whilst little competes with the decadence of a full blown hot chocolate they can have up to whopping 20 syns in them with all the trimmings so its a quick way to scupper the rest of the weeks hard work.

Here are a few of the fabulous free hot drinks I have been turning to to stave off the chills.

Festive Flavoured Coffee.

Flavoured coffees can be brilliant in combating that 4 o clock dip when what you really want is a sticky bun or piece of chocolate. There are a lot of different kinds around including freeze dried ones but I find these ground coffees make a much more satisfying and less artificial tasting cup.

This was a present last year but once we'd finished it I just added whatever spices I fancied to normal coffee (usually Lidl's gold blend, cheap and very good) and it worked just as well.

Good spices to add are cinnamon and ginger, very Christmassy but also quite sweet, some mixed spice is nice too. If you did want to add syns you could add some coco powder. But one tablespoon would only be one syn across a whole tin so would be negligible really.

I mix them into the coffee and then leave them for a couple of days to let the flavour develop. Experiment with your flavours to your personal taste. It would also make a nice homemade present I think.

Hot Lemon and Ginger

This drink is really a power house of vitamins, antioxidents and all things good for you. When the weather starts turning I try to add this into my daily routine. The lemon is very cleansing and full of vitamin c and ginger has been shown to have many health benefits including being a good home remedy for colds, coughs and fly. I also happen to think its delicious.

Simply put 3 or 4 slices of fresh ginger and and the juice of half a lemon in a mug and top up with hot water. If its a bit sharp for you or you're feeling particularly under the weather with sore throats etc add a tsp of honey for just one syn.

Hot Vimto

Ooh and now for a bit of nostalgia. The other day I really didn't want to use anymore syns but fancied a steaming sweet drink and that's when I remembered the much loved hot Vimto of my childhood. That gorgeous fruity steam enveloping your cold nose after the wet trawl home from school. You can use any sugar free juice of course but Vimto is still favourite!

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

I've not had the best week, various reasons for celebration have led to lets say a 'flexi syn' week. In an effort to not derail my efforts completely I've been trying to do a bit of Success Express, or at least make my meals fit in to the 2/3 superfree foods. At group people were talking about the super speed tomato soup with a special surprise ingredient so I thought I'd give it a whirl. 

It really couldn't be more simple and is genuinely is in the bowl ready to eat in less than 10 minutes. The ingredients sound a little bit surprising but it does make a really tasty filling soup. Make sure you give it a good long blend though otherwise the texture an be a bit grainy.

It makes quite a large amount, enough for 3/4 servings. I like to heat it up in individual portions and then I can add different finishing flavours depending on what you fancy. Some of my favourites are a swirl of balsamic vinegar, chipolte tabasco sauce, smoked paprika and yogurt.

Serve 3/4
Free EE/Green

1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 carton passatta (You can just use another tin of tomatoes if you haven't got passatta)
1 tin cooked carrots
1 tin baked beans
1 large pickled onion or a couple of smaller ones.

1. Put all the ingredients into a food processor or into a large pan
2. Blend until very smooth. You might want to add a little water to get it really smooth.
3. Either heat just a portion or the whole thing.
4. If you want add your chosen topping.

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.

Yes you read that right breakfast cous cous. Well we have lots of wheat and oats at breakfast so why not cous cous!

I always have a bowl of fruit but on days when I know I'm going to be busy till lunch I like to have a good filling breakfast. This usually means using up my hex b choice which can be limiting for the rest of the day. A lovely lady at group gave me this recipe it's sort of like a fruit porridge or rice pudding. I really like it and its fruity, flavoursome, really fills you up and you only have to boil a kettle.

Serves 1

Syns Free on EE/Green

Dried cous cous

1 muller light (Any flavour but I like raspberry and cranberry best)

Selection fresh or frozen berries ( or any fruit you fancy)

1. Pour cous cous into a heat resistan bowl. Pour as much as you want but remember it will roughly double in volume.

2. Then pour over enough boiling water to just a bit over the top of the cous cous. Stir then cover and leave for 10 min or until the grains are cooked and the water has all evaporated.

3. Stir in the yogurt and fruit and enjoy!

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!

Here's another warming breakfast to stock the fires on these cold winter mornings. Whilst I love my fresh fruit and watermelon, on these dark and damp mornings you need a bit of a glow about you before you tackle the great out doors. And like everything I do in the morning its really easy! 

As ever its free for interpretation change the yogurts or fruit. I was a bit worried about the apple cooking when I add it to the porridge so to avoid this I coarsely grated it and didnt add it until after I'd added the yogurt. I didn't taste cooked so Im pretty sure I got away without the syns!

I love to use cinnamon in my baking and sweets as I find it really adds sweetness and reduces the need for sweetener. It goes brilliantly with apple, oats and toffee, hooray!

Serves 1
1 HexB rolled oats 
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 Toffee Muller Light
1 cooking apple grated
Frozen Berries to taste

1. Take out your berries and put to one side to thaw.
2. Cook your oats slowly in twice the volume of water and the cinnamon, stirring until thick.
3. Pour in the yogurt
4. Then add the grated apple and top with the berrys. et voila!

Another miserable day, another tasty soup! This is one of my favourite store cupboard staples, its really healthy and delicious. The packs of cooked beetroot keep for ages in the fridge and are really cheap. I used to hate beetroot (a result of eating too much raw beetroot on that crazy 'heart foundation diet' remember that one?) until I tried Borsct at a fabulous vegetarian restaurant and I was hooked so this is my slimming world friendly version. I love dill too as I adds a really buttery taste to dishes without the butter!

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!!