Easy Pasta Sauce

One of our favourite family meals has to be pasta! We all love it so much. We are quite happy just having plain pasta topped with cheese for a quick meal but on the days we need a sauce this tomato sauce is a saviour. It is super easy to make! You can also add pretty much anything to it if you wish – tuna, chicken, mince etc.

Serves: 4

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 10 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Easy Pasta Sauce Ingredients

Easy Pasta Sauce Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 1 tub of passata
  • 1 tsp garlic granules
  • 1 tsp onion granules
  • 1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
  • 1 tbsp dried basil
  • 1 stock cube or 2 Maggie seasoning cubes
  • Seasoning to taste

Method

In a pan pour out the passata and add all the rest of the ingredients and heat through thoroughly for about 5-8 minutes. Once heated through, you can add any chicken/tuna/veg you may be using and cook till it is done. And that is it! How simple is that?

Fry Light

Fry Light is a fantastic product that is a staple requirement for every Slimming World member out there. It’s an easy to use, convenient replacement for oil.

I understand there is concern with some dietary requirements (halal) as to whether Fry Light should be used as it contains a small portion of alcohol. In this instance it is added as a preservative only and is removed by evaporation upon heating. You can read the FAQ published by the parent company, Dairy Crest, by clicking here to confirm this if needed.

There is still a lot of difference of opinion on this and I am often asked to confirm, so to be clear I am of the opinion that the alcohol does indeed fully burn off when heated so I do use it in my cooking. If however you wish not to use Fry Light you can use alternatives such as the Tesco Sunflower Oil (0.5 syn for 6 sprays) or the Groovy Company Coconut Spray oil which is free.

As examples I use it when making fried eggs, on SW chips, for making brown rice or biryani and even to make my curries instead of using boat loads of oil!

Leek & Potato Soup

This is a delicious creamy soup, adding the fromage frais really makes a difference to the taste.

Serves: 4

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 45 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

  • 1 large onion
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1.2 litres chicken or veg stock
  • 700g potatoes
  • 1 large leek
  • 150g far-free natural fromage frais
  • 2 tbsp freshly chopped chives

Method

Peel and finely chop the onion. Place in a large saucepan along with the bay leaves and 150ml of the stock. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel and finely dice the potatoes. Trim the leek and slice lengthwise. Rinse under cold water to remove any trapped earth. Shake well to remove excess water and then shred.

Add the potato and all but a few shreds of the leek. Pour in the remaining stock and season well. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 25 minutes until tender.

Discard the bay leaves and transfer the mixture to a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth and return to the saucepan.

Blend in the fromage frais and reheat gently without boiling. Adjust the seasoning if necessary. Ladle into warmed soup bowls, sprinkle with black pepper, reserved shredded leek and chopped chives.

Slow Cooker

A slow cooker is such a handy investment to make, and you don’t need to take it out only at winter time. It is such a versatile product that can be used throughout the year to make a variety of foods. It is great if you are busy, you just put your food in it to cook early in the day and it is usually ready by dinnertime.

My favourite slow cooker meal has to be chicken! I place a whole chicken in the slow cooker, without adding any liquid and leave it on all day on slow. Once cooked the meat just falls off the bone without drying up. What I like to do first is to crumble up a couple of stock cubes and rub it all over the chicken to add flavour to it before placing it in the slow cooker. We usually serve it with lots of veggies and roast potatoes.

You can also cook other food in the slow cooker – I’ve made jacket potatoes in it too and they turn out so fluffy inside. All you do is wash, dry and prick your potatoes before wrapping them in foil and placing them in the slow cooker. If you like a crispy skin, you can put the potatoes in the grill for a few minutes once cooked to crisp up the skin.

Cauliflower Pizza Recipe

Cauliflower Pizza

Cauliflower Pizza

Who doesn’t like pizza right? And as a slimmer we all know how high in syns pizza can be, so this cauliflower base pizza alternative is just a god-send! For those of you thinking how can you eat a cauliflower tasting pizza, fear not! You cannot taste the cauliflower at all, and I am not a fan of cauliflower.

Serves: 1

Syns: FREE (if using cheese as Healthy Extra A choice)

Time Taken: 40 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

  • 1 tub of cauliflower rice with parsley (from Aldi)
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • Dried mixed herbs
  • Garlic granules
  • Chilli flakes
  • Tomato puree
  • Cottage cheese – trust me it makes a huge difference to the taste!
  • Any cheese of your choice as your healthy extra A choice – I like using 40g light cheddar cheese
  • Your fave pizza toppings – chicken, mushrooms, sweetcorn, chillies etc

Method

In a large frying pan, pour the cauliflower rice and cook for around 5 minutes with 1 tsp each of garlic granules and dried mixed herbs and 1/2 tsp chilli flakes (optional). Remove from heat and let it cool slightly before adding one beaten egg. Season and mix well.

Cover a baking tray with parchment paper and spoon the cauliflower mix thinly on it.

Cook it in a pre heated oven, gas mark 6 for about 8-10 minutes. Once cooked on one side, turn it over and cook for a further 8-10 minutes on the other side.

Once cooked on both sides, spread some tomato puree thinly all over the cauliflower base before adding your favourite toppings with cottage cheese and cheese from your healthy extra A choice and back in the oven for a further 10 minutes till golden.