Vegetable Risotto

Serves 1

Syns per portion: Extra Easy Free , Green Free

Ingredients

• 75g arborio rice
• 100g broccoli florets
• 50g pea
• 50g sweetcorn
• 1/4 medium onion chopped
• 1/2 tsp chopped garlic
• 300ml vegetable stock
• 2 dairylea cheese triangles
•  Frylight

Method

1. If using frozen veg cook first until ready, cut broccoli into small pieces and set aside.
2. Add a few sprays of frylight in a pan and cook the onion over a medium heat until softened. Add the garlic and rice and cook for a further minute.
3. Add 50ml of the hot stock and boil until the liquid has been absorbed. Pour in 125ml of the remaining stock and simmer on low for 10 minutes, or until the liquid has been absorbed, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the broccoli, sweetcorn and peas along withe the remaining stock. Heat and stir for another 5 minutes until the liquid has almost been absorbed and the rice is tender but still has a sloppy consistency.
5. Add the cheese triangles and stir into rice mix until melted. Serve.

 This is one of my favourite recipes even when I'm not following slimming world. Not only is it very quick, easy and very tasty but it also costs very little per portion so great for those who are looking for great meals on a budget. It's also a great meal foe those who only have access to a microwave at work but don't want to succumb to eating packet meals.
Enjoy.

Chicken & Prawn Stir-fry

Serves 1

Syns per portion*: Extra Easy Free , Red 8.5, Green Free (replace chicken with quorn bites and use prawns as HEB)

Ingredients

• 1 chicken breast chopped
• 100g prawns
• 1 bag of pepper stir fry mix (I used Tescos own one)
• 1 packet of Amoy straight to wok rice noodles (8.5 syns Red)
• 2 tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp ASDA chinese style noodle seasoning
•  Frylight

Method

1. Spray a wok with a few sprays of frylight and place on high heat.
2. Add the chicken and prawns and fry for 5 minutes until cooked through.
3. Add the stir fry veg packet and mix with chicken and prawns for 1 minute.
4. Add soy sauce  and noodle seasoning and coat vegetables, chicken and prawns evenly.
5. Reduce to a medium heat and leave cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Add the noodles and continue to cook for a further 1-2 minutes. Serve

Very quick, easy and full of flavour. Stir fry is a great way to pack loads of veg into your main meal and it tastes so yummy. The noodle seasoning mix gives this dish an extra little bit of flavour. This dish would be great if you have family members who still enjoy takeaways, so your getting a healthy chow mein style dish to eat along side them without all the calories.
Enjoy.

Spicy Rice

Serves 1

Syns per portion*: Extra Easy Free, Red 12 , Green Free

Ingredients

• 50g rice
• 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
• 1/4 red pepper
• 1/4 green  pepper
• 1/4 yellow pepper
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1/2 chicken stock cube
• 200ml water
•  Frylight

Method

1. Chop the peppers into small chunks
2. Place the rice into a pan and  give 3 sprays of frylight. Set at medium heat and stir rice until it begins to brown.
3. Add 100ml of water, stock cube and chilli flakes. Reduce heat to low-medium and stir occasionally until rice absorbs the water, be careful not to let it stick to the pan.
4. Once rice has absorbed water  add the chopped peppers, garam masala, soy sauce and remaining 100ml of water.
5. Set on a low heat and stir occasionally until all water has been absorbed. Serve.

Today my husband returned with some marinated chicken breasts for dinner which were nice and slimming world friendly. I decided I wanted to have rice with the chicken, however I though it would need jazzed up a bit otherwise it would be quite dry. So I whipped up this little dish and it was rather tasty. Just as a word of warning you may want to add the chilli flakes slowly until you reach the desired heat as  I about blew my heat off by adding to much!

Enjoy.

NB. The marinated chicken in the 'The Cook Menu' cajun marinade chicken from Marks and Spencers.

Mariners Pie

Serves 1

Syns per portion*: Extra Easy 1, Red 1 (potatoes as heathy extras), Green 1 (fish as healthy extras)
*Syn milk if not using as part of healthy extra


Ingredients

• 1 fillet of white fish (cod haddock etc.)
• 200ml semi-skimmed milk
• 1 level tsp arrowroot powder (1 syn)
• 2 tblspn garden peas
• 2 tbspn sweetcorn
• 200g white potatoes
• 1 tbspn chopped parsley, fresh or dried
• salt and pepper

Method

1.  Peel the potatoes, quarter and place onto boils for 20 min. Heat the oven to 180c.
2. Meanwhile place 150ml of milk in a pan, once it reaches a boil set heat until milk simmers. Add the fish fillet and  poach for 5 min until cooked.
3. Remove fish from pan, leaving milk remaining. Flake the fish.
4. Add the arrowroot to the milk and stir.
5. Add the flaked fish, peas, sweetcorn and parsley to the milk. Leave to reduce to desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Place the fish sauce into a miniature casserole dish and set aside to cool.
7. Once potatoes are ready, drain and return to pan. Add the remaining 50ml of milk and mash to desired consistency.
8. Layer the mashed potatoes on top of fish sauce in casserole dish.
9. Place in oven for 10-15min or until the top turns slightly brown. Serve.

During my first stint of following the slimming world plan I tried experimenting with alternatives to white sauce which didn't consist of a roux or cornflour as both are quite high in syns. One of my 'experiments' was using quark as an alternative.  Whilst this was delicious for dishes such as lasagna, it did not work so well for my first attempt at a slimming world fish pie. I ended up with a curdled mess which tasted disgusting. So I recently found out about a sauce thickener called arrowroot. To my surprise it's a lot lower in syns than cornflour (1 level tsp = 1syn) and doesn't have the same aftertaste or cloudy affect that cornflour does. So again I attempted to make my fish pie, and much to my delight it was a success. I'm not a big lover of fish but I do like to be try a fish dish every now and then, so please let me know if you make it and what you think.

Here are a few notes I made about this recipe:

• You can vary the types of fish you use within the recipe and make it a bit more luxury by adding salmon or prawns.
• This would also be lovely with some cheese added to the top but remember to count as a HeA or syn it.
• If you replace the white fish with salmon you can vary the flavour by replacing the parsley with dill.

Oat and Yoghurt Layer

Serves 1

Syns per portion: Extra Easy 1, Red 1, Green 1
(using oats as a Healthy extra B)

Ingredients

• 35g porridge oats (not the instant kind)
• 1 large banana
• 150g pot of fat free natural yoghurt
• 1 level tsp sugar (1 syn)

Method

1. Mix the porridge oats with the sugar and place under a medium grill for 3-4 min until toasted, turning occasionally as they brown. (keep an eye on them as they start to burn quickly!)
2. Meanwhile chop the banana into small chunks. Add the yoghurt, stir to mix.
3. Take a glass pot or small drinking glass and alternate layers of yoghurt mixture and oats, finishing with a sprinkling of oats on top.

I highly recommend this as a breakfast or even just a tasty pudding. It needs a little attention to make sure the oats don't burn (can you tell I didn't pay attention the first time I cooked them, my house was stinking of burnt oats for a good few hours!) it's actually a rather quick dish. I was pleasantly surprised by how tasty the dish was, and it certainly hit a spot with my sweet tooth.

Here are a few notes I made about this recipe:

• Do not mash the banana during step two as it would need to be counted as 4 syns according to the slimming world rules.
• You can replace with sugar with sweetener to make this dish syn free. Personally I try not to use sweeteners and just limit how much natural sugar I use instead.

Vegetable Curry

Serves 1

Syns per portion: Extra Easy Free, Red Free (without rice), Green Free

Ingredients

• Selection of vegetables (I used broccoli, red pepper, cauliflower, peas, potato, courgette)
• 1/4 onion
• 100g passata
• 100ml veg stock
• 1 heaped teaspoon of curry powder
• 1 level teaspoon garam masala
• Frylight

Method

1. Cook any frozen or root vegetables until ready and cut into bite size pieces. If using fresh veg such as peppers or courgette there is no need to cook first.
2. Meanwhile fry onion in a large pan with a few sprays of frylight.
3. Add the curry powder, garam masala and veg stock and simmer for a few minutes till the liquid is reduced by half. 
4. Add all the vegetables and stir through the stock.
5. Add the passata and stir though. Reduce the heat and allow mixture to cook and thicken to desired consistency.
6. Garnish with some coriander and serve with rice.

When i'm cooking meals I love the colours of naturals foods as well as tantalising smells which make you want to devour the dish as soon as it's ready. This dish certainly ticks these boxes for me with its wonderful array of greens and reds of the ingredients and the gorgeous aroma of the curry spices. This dish was yummy and very simple to make. Perfect for vegetarians or if you're like me and just prefer a meat free meal every now and then.

Here are a few notes I made about this recipe:

• Other veg that can be used is butternut squash, baby sweetcorn, mushrooms

• I used Tescos medium curry powder, but you can get spices milder or hotter versions in most supermarket.
• Remember to syn your ice if using this on a red day

Enjoy x.

Creamy Carbonara

Serves 1

Syns per portion: Extra Easy 2, Red 15.5, Green 4

Ingredients

• 75g dried spaghetti
• 1 rasher lean back bacon
• 28g extra low-fat soft cheese with garlic and herbs (2 syns)
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 level tblsp semi-skimmed milk (from healthy extra or 0.5 syns)
• 3 mushrooms
• 20g chopped onion
• Frylight
• 50ml veg stock
• Ground black pepper
• Pinch of parsley (dried or fresh)

Method

1. Cook pasta according to pack instructions.
2. Meanwhile, fry the bacon pieces, mushrooms and onion in a large pan with a few sprays of frylight. Add the veg stock and simmer for a few minutes till the liquid is reduced by half. Remove from the heat.
3. Beat together the soft cheese, milk and egg yolk in a mixing bowl. Season with some pepper.
4. Drain the pasta, then return it to the saucepan. Add the bacon and stock mixture and stir.
5. Add the cheese, milky and egg mixture and stir through well to combine everything. Heat gently for 2-3 mins, stirring constantly, until the mixture cooks and thickens.
6. Garnish with some parsley and serve.

I have made a slimming world carbonara before with a recipe which called for eggs and quark and lets just say by the time I finished I had basically created scrambled eggs with pieces of spaghetti sticking out! So today I tried creating a recipe which was very simple to make with a delicious dish at the end. Well I definitely succeeded, as this was so good. Don't just take my word for it, make it and see, you'd be pushed to tell it was a 'diet' meal.

Here are a few notes I made about this recipe:

• The bacon can be replaced with lean ham or turkey bacon if you rather.
• I used Tesco extra low fat soft cheese with garlic and herbs however the similar own brand versions are available at other supermarkets, as well as a Philadelphia version.
• You can omit the milk from the recipe however i find it makes the sauce creamier.
• You can add 28g ordinary cheese or 42g light cheese as a Healthy Extra

Enjoy x.