Festive coffee for that sweet treat without the syns.
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.
Healing hot lemon and ginger.
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.
Good old hot Vimto to take you back to childhood!
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!
As winter is still suffering on so are my soups. I really like making a big pan of soup and having it for a few days. Not only does it mean that you know what you're having for a couple of days so that one less thing to think of, but also you only actually have to do the cooking once so the other days its really quick! Having said that these soups are so quick and easy to do it hardly seems right to call it cooking at all. The recipe that inspired this one we posted by a friend from group on Facebook and I tweaked it a bit to add a bit more flavour. In the original recipe you add the quark at the beginning but I would cook the soup first without it and add the quark to each individual portion as I eat them. That way it keeps better or you can freeze it. I also think it could be used as a sauce base for pasta dishes or Swedish meatballs. Serves 3 Free EE/Green 2 punnets Mushrooms, halved 1 onion, roughly chopped 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped White wine vinegar Thyme Veg or chicken stock (I love the knorr stockpots they give a really luxurious deep flavour) 1 tsp Peppercorns 1/2 tub quark (more or less depending on taste) - Soften the onions in fry light for a couple of minutes then add the garlic and continue for a minute. Add a splash of white wine vinega, stir and put the lid on for a 2 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms, a good sprinkle of thyme and peppercorns. Cover with water, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 min or till tender.
- Blend the soup. Stir in the quark and blend again to desired constency.
- Top with another good grind of pepper and enjoy!
Quorn sausage, veg and pasta with tomato salad with balsamic dressing.
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) - Pre heat the oven to Gas Mark 6.
- 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.
- Meanwhile cook whatever pasta you fancy, drain and reserve 50ml cooking water.
- Put the stock, cooking water, fromage frais and mustard into the pan and heat gently so make sure the fromage frais doesnt split.
- Stir in the pasta, vegetables and sausages, cover in sauce and serve.
Success Express Spanish Fish Bake.
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 - Pre heat the oven to Gas Mark 6. Put all the veg, garlic and lemon into a roasting tray. Spray with Fry light.
- Sprinkle over the stock cube and paprika and mix thoroughly.
- Roast in the oven for 30 minutes, turning occasionally.
- 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.
- Mix the parsley with the lemon zest and sprinkle over the top of the dish.
Fish bake with Moroccan inspired Carrot Salad. (Always looks so much more appetising on the plate than in the photo!!)
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
Super Speedy tomato soup with a swirl of balsamic vinegar served with Krisp Rolls.
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. - Put all the ingredients into a food processor or into a large pan
- Blend until very smooth. You might want to add a little water to get it really smooth.
- Either heat just a portion or the whole thing.
- 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)
- Spray a large pan with Frylight and fry the chicken till its browned and put to one side.
- Add a little extra Frylight then add the onions and fry for a couple of minutes to soften.
- Add the peppers and butternut squash and fry off. Add the herbs and spices and stir for a minute.
- Add tomatoes, lemon and broad beans then add 1 cup of water deglazing the pan to create a sauce.
- Bring to the boil and then simmer for a couple of minutes.
- 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.
- 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 - Brown the mince in fry light and put to one side.
- 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.
- Return the mince to the pan. Add the mushrooms, cover with boiling water and add the stock pot. Stir to combine.
- 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.
- 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.
- Preheat your grill to high. Spoon the mince mixture into your serving dish and top with mash a spoon at a time.
- 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).
- Serve with a big portion of 'fried' cabbage. Take that winter!
Warming Toffee Apple porridge with Frozen Berrys.
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 - Take out your berries and put to one side to thaw.
- Cook your oats slowly in twice the volume of water and the cinnamon, stirring until thick.
- Pour in the yogurt
- Then add the grated apple and top with the berrys. et voila!
Saturday super snacky noodles. I know they don't look great but trust me its yum!
I love noodles, in all shapes and sizes. From big steaming bowls of ramen to refined slimline glass noodles but sometimes you just can't go wrong with good old Supernoodles! I was first introduced to them as a student by my best friend. Her mother was Malaysian and packet noodles are very much part of the norm there. Interestingly she did things a little differently than we would normally. She added twice as much water as suggested and added the flavour sachet and a chopped tomato and boiled them till the noodle's were cooked. She then turned the heat of and cracked an egg into the noodles and mixed it round. Absolutely delicious and I was hooked! We also found our fab Indian and continental shop which sold lots of different and excitingly flavoured noodles. We added different veg such as mushrooms, grated carrot, peas etc and with the added egg it was actually a pretty nutritious meal. Well nutritious for a student!! I must have eaten noodles like that 3 times a week and I still love it. Thankfully the low fat Supernoodles are fabulously free so I can still enjoy my comforting noodle dishes and loose weight. This dish however is slightly different take on Supernoodles and I have my fabulous consultant to thank for the idea behind this recipe. The other Saturday I had a hankering for something savoury and snacky and naughty feeling tea. I thought of the Supernoodle snack that my consultant told us about and thought I'd expand it to a full meal. Saturday Super Snacky Noodles Serves 1 Free EE (can be adapted to free in green if you leave out the ham!) 1 packet low fat Supernoodles (chilli chicken is my favourite) 1 red onion sliced/spring onion 1 tomato roughly chopped 1/2 pepper sliced 2 sliced of ham chopped to bitesize 1 hex portion of any cheese you fancy. (Optional but does make it that bit more 'naughty' ooh melted cheese, drool) 1. Cook the Supernoodles according to the instructions on the packet. 2. Whilst they are cooking heat the grill to medium high and spray a baking tray with fry light. 3. Scatter the veg and ham on the baking tray, spray with more frylight and place under the grill. Grill until the veg are done to your taste. 4. Add the cooked noodles to the tray and toss through the veg. Sprinkle the cheese on top and place back under the grill till the cheese has melted and some of the noodles round the edge are toasted and crunchy. 5. Serve with fresh tomato and sit and pick to bits whilst watching Strictly!
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!
Serves 2 Free on EE/Red/Green
1 Onion roughly chopped 1 Carrot sliced 1 stick Celery sliced 4 cloves Garlic roughly chopped 1 tbsp Caraway seeds (use less if you want but I love them) 1 tbsp dried Dill 1 packet cooked beetroot diced Chicken Stock (I love the knorr stock pots they're brilliant!) 2 Bayleaves Juice of 1 Lemon FF Fromage Frais
- Gently soften the onions in Frylight then add the onion and carrot. I add a splash of water and put the lid on then just give it a stir every now and then.
- Add the garlic and caraway seeds and stir then add the beetroot.
- Cover with stock, add the bayleaves and bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and cook until the veg is all tender.
- Take of the heat and blend to your desired consistency stir through the lemon juice.
- Serve with a good dollop of Fromage Frais and a little more dill on top.
Just had to share these fab new slimming world friendly finds I've made this week. First off everyone at group has been raving about the tesco simply hear pulled pork. I finally located it in te freezer section and thought if give it a go. Well it's lovely easy and unbelievably free!! Ticks all my boxes. Also it's only £3.50 so doesn't break the bank. It says it feeds 3 but more like 2 people who like food or in my case me and 2 toddlers with a little left over for snacking on later! It does take 1hr 1/2 but all you do is bang it in the oven and forget about it. I did mine with sw chips and a zesty fresh coleslaw (see my previous recipe) and it was DELICIOUS!!!
Yummy pulled pork straight from the freezer!
Also I love a good coffee (should that be live off coffee as I have 2 toddlers who like an early start!!) and although I've always avoided the calorie-tastic coffees like lattes and cappuccinos I do enjoy te odd syrup or even better Irish coffee :). Someone at group mentioned about instant flavoured coffee and I got the dowe egberts chocolate and hazelnut flavours. Both are nice and do hit the spot for my all important 4 o'clock pick me up coffee. So when I saw this on the shelf next to them I couldn't resist, I LOVE amaretto! It is really nice good flavour but not too strong or artificial. You don't need sugar or sweetener either. I will definitely be stocking up on these for Xmas!
Curry night! Tasty beef curry and cucumber salad.
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...
Spicy Meat Masala mix. You don't need too much!
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 - Fry onions gently in Frylight for at least 5 minutes then add the garlic and ginger.
- 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.
- Add the pepper and tomatoes and stir.
- Add 2 cups of water stir and transfer to casserole dish.
- 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.
- When ready stir through the yogurt and corriander to serve.
Zingy Janapense inspired Broccoli and wasabi Soup with Smoked salmon Nori Roll.
I just don't seem to be able to get away from Asian flavours at the moment, or soup for that matter, it must be an escape from this dreadful weather. Close my eyes and I'm in a distant exotic land all sunkist and happy. I came up with this soup the last time I did slimming world and I still love it. Broccoli is so good for us and Im not that keen on it as a boiled soggy side but I love broccoli and stilton soup. I was trying to think of something else other than cheese that I could add so I thought where else to you get broccoli and thought of all the broccoli in Asian stir frys and Japanese cooking. This recipe uses soy sauce, wasabi, and zesty lime to bring the broccoli to life. I served it today with a homemade nori roll inspired by the SW Asian cook book. An Asian take on the classic soup and a sandwich! I'll post the recipe for the roll soon. Serves 2 1/2 syn per serving Ingredients 1 onion roughly chopped 4 cloves of garlic chopped 1" piece of ginger finely chopped 1 good head of broccoli inc stalk roughly chopped handful of peppercorns 2 bay leaves Vegetable stock 1 teaspoon wasabi (more to taste but it is 1 syn per teaspoon) Juice of 1 lime - Soften the onions in frylight and then add the garlic and then ginger.
- Add broccoli and fry for a moment.
- Add the stock to just cover the vegetables, add the peppercorns and bayleaves.
- Bring to the boil and then simmer until the vegetables are tender.
- Remove the bayleaves and blend to your preferred texture
- Add the wasabi and return to a simmer for a couple of minutes.
- Take off the heat, stir through the lime juice and 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!!
|
RSS Feed