dinner

Lasagne – Béchamel Sauce

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Lasagne is one of my children’s favourite meal, they have it quite often but it is never a Slimming World friendly version for them! They love it with homemade béchamel sauce which can be very high in syns for us slimmers, so I make my own for myself so I can still enjoy the meal guilt free! I use this recipe here for the mince.

Serves: 1

Syns: FREE if using cheese as healthy extra A choice

Time Taken: less than 10 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Lasagne

Lasagne

Ingredients

  • 1 tub of cottage cheese (plain or flavoured, check if syns! I use Aldi’s cottage cheese with chives and onion, FREE)
  • 2 eggs
  • A pinch of mustard powder
  • 40g light cheddar cheese
  • Seasoning to taste

Method

Blend the cottage cheese with the eggs, mustard and seasoning with a hand held blender till smooth and no longer lumpy.

Add half of the cheese allowance into the cottage cheese mix.

Layer lasagne with mince, lasagne sheets and cottage cheese mix in an individual dish.

Top the lasagne with the remaining cheese and bake in the oven for around 40 minutes till the pasta is cooked. Cook the first 30 minutes with foil over the dish so the cheese doesn’t burn quickly.

 

 

Egg Fried Rice

4 Comments

This recipe took me less than 10 minutes to prepare using leftover rice! It is a delicious way of using up leftover rice. You can serve it with any meat or fish or have it on its own too. We had it with grilled salmon. You can add any veg to this as it is such a versatile dish, I was pressed for time when I made this so kept it really simple. But veg like peas, sweetcorn, grated carrots, peppers, mushrooms etc work really well with this.

Serves: 2

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 10 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Egg Fried Rice with Salmon

Egg Fried Rice with Salmon

Ingredients

  • 3 spring onions, chopped
  • 1 green chilli, chopped (remove seeds if prefer less spicy)
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp Chinese 5 Spice
  • 3 tbsp dark soya sauce
  • 3 eggs
  • 1.5-2 cups cooked rice

Method

In a hot wok fry the spring onions with the chilli for a couple of minutes with spray oil. Add the garlic powder.

Add the cooked rice to the wok and stir to mix everything together. Add the Chinese 5 spice powder (available in most large supermarkets) and soya sauce. Stir again.

Move the rice to one side of the wok and spray more spray oil to the wok and crack the eggs to it. Stir the eggs till cooked and mix with the rice.

Chickpea & Red Kidney Bean Curry

3 Comments

This curry is super easy to make, I always have these ingredients in my cupboard! You can use all chickpeas or use any other type of tinned pulses you enjoy. Using tinned pulses saves a lot of time in cooking.

Serves: 4

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 20-30 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Curry Ingredients

Curry Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 2 medium onions, chopped
  • 1 tbsp. ginger/garlic paste
  • 1 tbsp. curry powder
  • 1 tsp black onion seeds (optional)
  • 1/2 carton passata
  • 2 Maggie seasoning cubes
  • 1 tin each of red kidney beans and chickpeas
Chickpea & Red Kidney Bean Curry

Chickpea & Red Kidney Bean Curry

 

Method

Spray a pan with fry light and cook the onions till they are golden brown (around 10 minutes). Add a little bit of hot water to the pan if needed if the onions start to stick to the bottom of the pan.

Add the ginger/garlic paste and cook for another couple of minutes before adding the passata, the curry powder, crumbled seasoning cubes and black onion seeds if using.

Let it cook for a further 5 minutes on a low heat. Then add the chickpeas and the red kidney beans and cook for 10 minutes. You can serve this with boiled rice and a speedy side salad.

 

Chicken Biryani

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This is one of the easiest ways of making a delicious and syn free biryani. If you don’t use Fry Light you can replace it with oil and just syn accordingly. You can also use any other brand of Biryani masala, I love the Laziza brand plus it is syn free!

Chicken Biryani

Chicken Biryani

Serves: 6

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 60-90 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

  • 4 onions, finely chopped
  • 4 tomatoes, chopped
  • 750g chicken breast, cubed
  • 1/2 packet Laziza Chicken Biryani mix (use more if you prefer spicier, I keep it mild so the kids can eat it too)
  • 2 cups of basmati rice
  • Yellow food colouring
  • 1/2 bunch each of fresh mint and coriander leaves, finely chopped (optional)
  • Fry Light

Method

Spray lots of Fry Light in a pan and add the onions. Cook them on a moderate-high heat until golden brown. Add boiling water to the onions to stop them sticking to the bottom of the pan as needed. Keep stirring, this should take around 20-30 minutes.

Onions

Onions

Add the chicken, tomatoes and the spice mix and cook for a further 5-10 minutes until the tomatoes have softened and the chicken is no longer pink.

Chicken, tomatoes and spice mix

Chicken, tomatoes and spice mix

Lower the heat, cover the pan and cook for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the rice. Add the rice to double the quantity of boiling salted water and cook till half done, around 8 minutes. Drain the water, rinse it in cold water and set aside till needed.

Once the chicken is cooked you can start to layer it with the rice. Use the pan you’ve used to cook the rice and add a third of the rice to the bottom of the pan. Top it with half of the chicken, then rice again, chicken, and finish off with a layer of rice reserving some to mix with the food colouring to add colour to the rice. Add the mint and coriander if using at this stage.

Cover the pan and cook the biryani on a low heat for 30 minutes.

 

 

Pizza-Topped Chicken

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This is a delicious alternative to pizza, saving you syns without compromise on taste! I served it with white flesh sweet potato chips and a large speedy salad.

Serves: 1
Syns: FREE when using cheese as part of your Healthy Extra A choice
Time Taken: 40 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

  • Thin chicken breast fillet
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • Sprinkle of oregano
  • Pizza toppings of your choice – red onion, jalapenos, mushrooms are my favourite
  • 20g light cheddar cheese
Pizza-topped Chicken

Pizza-topped Chicken

Method

Place the chicken breast in a frying pan with lots of fry light and fry on both sides for around 5-7 minutes on each side.

Remove from the pan and spread the tomato puree over the top of the chicken. Add the oregano and all your toppings before sprinkling it with the cheese.

Cook in a pre-heated oven on gas mark 6 for around 20 minutes till the chicken is cooked.

Nacho-Style Feast

2 Comments

This is such an easy meal packed full of flavour. The original SW recipe uses Primula cheese but I didn’t have any in the house so just used what I had in – light cheddar cheese and it was still delicious! Using Primula cheese will give you a more creamier topping.

Serves: 2

Syns: FREE if using cheese as healthy extra A choice

Time Taken: 60 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Nacho-Style Feast

Nacho-Style Feast

Ingredients

  • 2 baking potatoes, cut into wedges
  • 250g lean beef mince
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 250g passata
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 2 tsp fajita seasoning
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
  • 80g light cheddar cheese, finely
  • Jalapeno peppers

Method

Chop potatoes in wedges and cook them in the actifry for around 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, spray a frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray and place over a medium-high heat. Add the mince and stir-fry for 10 minutes, then add the onion and cook for 5-6 minutes, or until softened. Stir in the passata and sprinkle in the cumin, fajita seasoning, paprika and chilli flakes. Cook for 10-15 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Remove from the heat. Preheat your grill to high. Tip the wedges into two ovenproof dishes, spoon over the mince equally and sprinkle 40g of the cheese into each dish. Add the jalapenos and grill for 8-10 minutes, or until the cheese starts to brown.

Nargisi Kofta Curry

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Nargisi Koftas are basically an Asian version of a Scotch egg! It is packed full of flavour and can be served on its own with a salad or chaat, or you can make it into a curry and serve it with boiled rice and/or chapattis and naan bread. I’ve used Laziza Kofta spice mix to the mince to add more flavour but if you haven’t got that you can use curry powder instead.

Serves: 4

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 60 minutes

Difficulty: Moderate

Nargisi Kofta Curry

Nargisi Kofta Curry

 

Ingredients

  • 4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped in half
  • 500g lean mince
  • 3 tbsp Laziza Kofta mix
  • a handful of fresh coriander, chopped
  • 4 onions
  • 1 tsp ginger/garlic paste
  • 2 tbsp tomato puree
  • 5 tbsp passata
  • 1 tbsp hot curry powder
  • 2 tbsp fat free natural yogurt

Method

Chop 2 of the onions finely and blend using a hand blender. Add the onions, fresh coriander and Laziza spice mix in to the mince and mix well.

Flatten some of the mince into the palm of your hand and add one half of the boiled egg and cover it completely with the mince. Repeat this until all the eggs are covered in the mince. If you have any leftover mince you can shape them into meatballs without the egg.

In a frying pan, gently fry the koftas till all the meat is sealed around the egg. Remove from the pan and set aside till needed.

Chop the other two onions finely and fry in a pan with the ginger/garlic paste for around 10 minutes till the onion are lightly golden. If the onions start to stick to the bottom of the pan, add hot water to stop it sticking.

Add the tomato puree, passata and curry powder and cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes before adding the koftas in to it. Lower the heat and cook gently for around 20 mintutes until the mince is cooked all around. Try to be very gentle when stirring the koftas to avoid them breaking up. Add the yogurt in the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Serve with boiled rice.

 

 

BBQ Chicken Marinade

2 Comments

I have used Crucials BBQ sauce for this recipe which is 0.5 syn per tbsp, if you use any other brand please check the syns before. This recipe can be counted as syn free as I’ve only used 1.5 syns worth of BBQ sauce for 4 people, but to protect your weight loss and to be on the safe side do count 0.5 syn.

Serves: 4

Syns: 0.5 per serving

Time Taken: 30 minutes plus marinade

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

  • 3 tbsp Crucials BBQ Sauce
  • 50ml dark soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp ginger/garlic paste
  • 1 tbsp Chinese 5 Spice powder
  • 1 Maggie seasoning cube (crumbled)
  • 4 chicken thighs (all visible fat removed, no skin)
BBQ Chicken Marinade

BBQ Chicken Marinade

Method

Mix together the BBQ sauce with all the spices and adjust seasoning if needed.

Add the marinade to the chicken and let it marinade for a few hours if time permits.

When ready to cook, place the chicken in a pre-heated oven at gas mark 6 and cook for 30 minutes, or more if needed, until the chicken is fully cooked.

You can serve it with anything you like – rice, noodles, chips etc.

 

Masala Fish

8 Comments

Those who know me know that I am all for convenience when it comes to cooking! I don’t like spending hours in the kitchen if I can help it. This is another one of my favourite short cuts to make masala fish that packs loads of flavours without any syns. I find that I do not need to add any extra chilli when using Laziza spice mixes when cooking for the whole family, but if the children are having something else I do add chilli flakes for an extra spicy kick.

You can use any white fish for this but I find that the Aldi frozen Basa fillets are perfect for this and they won’t break the bank! Just check how many fillets you have in the packet before adding it to your trolley/basket as sometimes you only get 3 fillets!!

Serves: 4

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 10 minutes plus marinade

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

  • 1 pack of Basa fillets
  • 2 tbsp Laziza Fish masala
  • 2-3 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp tandoori masala (optional – great to add colour to the fish)
Masala Fish

Masala Fish

Method

Defrost the fish for a few hours or overnight in the fridge if time permits.

Mix the spices with the lemon juice to form a paste and cover each fish fillet with it.

Let it marinade in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, the longer you leave the better.

Spray a large frying pan with a low calorie spray oil and cook the fish fillets for about 5-7 minutes on each side. You can serve it with anything you like – chips, salad etc.

 

 

Dhaal & Rice

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This is one of our favourite family meals – pure comfort! I like to use Toor Dhaal but I am sure you can replace it with your favourite.

Serves: 4

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 30 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Dhal & Rice with Fish

Dhal & Rice with Fish

Ingredients

  • 200g Toor dhal, washed and soaked (if time permits)
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 tomato, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely crushed
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  • Salt to taste
  • Boiled rice to serve

Method

Place the dhal with the onion, tomato and salt in a pressure cooker covered with enough water and cook for around 20 minutes. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can make this in a standard pan but it will take longer for the dhal to cook. I put enough water to cover the dhal and a little bit extra on top. It is best to not put too much at this stage or you will end up with a thinner dhal. You can always thin it down if too thick but harder to do it the other way round!

Once cooked, blend the dhal with a hand held blender.

In a pan spray lots of frylight (or any other spray oil – count syns if needed). Add the garlic, turmeric, black pepper, cumin seeds and chilli flakes and fry for about 3-4 minutes. Keep stirring so that the garlic doesn’t burn!

Add the blended dhal and check for seasoning. If needed, add boiling water to thin the dhal if too thick.

Serve with boiled rice and a speedy salad. We like to have fish with it too.