eggs

Shakshuka

1 Comment

I can’t believe I haven’t posted on the blog for such a long time! Well here I am now with a Slimming World friendly recipe which I hope you will enjoy recreating, perfect for breakfast or any time of the day really. If you’d like to, you can have one wholemeal pitta bread as part of your healthy extra B choice with this meal or have it on its own making this a syn free recipe which is also perfect if you are doing an Extra Easy SP day! Hope everyone is keeping safe during these unprecedented times x

 

Shakshuka

Shakshuka

Serves: 2

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 20 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

  • 1cal spray oil
  • 1 small red onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 pepper (red or yellow), chopped
  • a few chestnut mushrooms, chopped
  • 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 1tsp chilli powder
  • 1/2tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/2tsp paprika
  • 1tsp ground cumin
  • 3 or 4 eggs
  • Seasoning to taste
  • Fresh coriander to garnish

Method

Spray a frying pan with spray oil and fry your onion, garlic, pepper and mushrooms until soft and the onions start to turn brown (add water if needed to stop it sticking to the pan).

Add the tomatoes and all the spices bringing the pan to the boil, stir and simmer for around 5 minutes.

Make wells in the tomatoes with the back of a large spoon to make space for the eggs.

Crack the eggs in, cover and simmer for around 10 minutes or until the eggs are cooked to your liking.

Season to taste and garnish with fresh coriander before eating.

Cinnamon French toast

2 Comments

Fancied something different for breakfast this morning so decided to make some French toast, all syn free when you use the bread as part of your healthy extra B choice and the milk as part of your healthy extra A choice. I topped it with fresh berries but you can use anything you like – jam, fromage frais, honey etc. just remember to keep track of the syns you add. Enjoy x

Serves: 1

Syns: FREE, using healthy extra choices

Time Taken: 15 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Cinnamon French Toast

Ingredients

  • 2 slices of wholemeal bread (from a 400g loaf)
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tbsp milk
  • 1/2 tbsp sweetener
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

French toast ingredients

Method

Beat the eggs with the milk, sweetener and ground cinnamon.

Place a slice of bread in a shallow plate and pour half the egg mixture to it. Let it soak for a minute and then turn it around to soak the other side. Repeat for the other slice.

Spray low cal cooking spray oil to a frying pan and cook each slice of bread at a time for around 2-3 minutes on each side.

Serve with fresh fruit or any other toppings of your choice.

Crustless Red Onion and Courgette Quiche

Leave a comment

This is one recipe I haven’t made in absolute ages! Mainly because I don’t really buy courgettes but I was given a mahoosive courgette by one of my members that grows his own veggies in his allotment so the first thing that came to my mind was this easy to make quiche. This recipe is perfect for those following Extra Easy SP (EESP) plan as it is packed with Speed and Protein rich foods. You can serve this with a large salad or butternut squash chips to keep it EESP friendly!

Serves: 4

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 60 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Crustless Red Onion & Courgette Quiche

Crustless Red Onion & Courgette Quiche

Ingredients

  • 1 large courgette or 2 regular
  • 2 red onions, halved and finely sliced
  • 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
  • 100g low fat natural cottage cheese
  • 6 large eggs
  • 1 tsp dried mixed herbs

Method

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4.

Coarsely grate the courgette and place in a large sieve. Press down to remove as much liquid as possible and set aside.

Lightly spray a round, shallow baking dish with low calorie cooking spray and set aside.

Spray a large frying pan with cooking spray and place over a medium heat. Add the onions, courgette and chilli and stir-fry for 10 minutes. Season well and transfer to the prepared baking dish, spreading evenly across the base. Spread the cottage cheese over the vegetable mixture.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl, season and add the dried mixed herbs. Pour the egg mixture over the cottage cheese.

Place in the oven and cook for 30 minutes or until set and golden. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for about 15 minutes before cutting into wedges.

Baked Eggs with Spinach & Tomatoes

Leave a comment

I initially came across this recipe when one of my members tagged me in one of those short recipe videos, I can’t remember if it was Tasty Food or something similar! I then saw this on Instagram on this lovely lady’s page (@whatsianeats check her page out for the most amazing plates of foods) and thought why not give it a go myself, it is such an easy way of making egg and beans. I served it with Slimming World chips that were seasoned with JD Seasonings Chips & Wedges seasoning. If you haven’t come across them do check out their website for all other spices and seasonings to add flavour to your meals.

My members absolutely them, there is such a huge range of products to choose from. I tend to buy the same ones, I guess I need to be a bit more adventurous with trying out different seasonings! What is fab about their products is that they are all Syn Free, so it is great for us Slimming World foodies and come with the easiest instructions on how to use them. I have been using the code ‘Slim20’ to get 20% off.

I used chilli baked beans in this recipe but you can replace them with regular beans if you prefer.

Serves: 1

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 20 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Baked Eggs with Spinach & Tomatoes

Baked Eggs with Spinach & Tomatoes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 tin Heinz chilli baked beans
  • Handful of baby spinach
  • 75g cherry tomatoes, cut in half
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 eggs

Method

Preheat the oven to gas mark 6.

In a small shallow baking dish layer the spinach leaves at the bottom, followed by the beans and scatter over the cherry tomatoes.

Make 2 indents with the back of a spoon and crack an egg into each.

Scatter the oregano and some black pepper over the whole tray.

Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes or until the whites are just set.

Sweetcorn Fritter with Salsa

Leave a comment

This is a recipe from the latest Slimming World magazine. It is so easy to make and it tastes amazing!

Serves: 4

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 20 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Sweetcorn Fritter with Salsa

Sweetcorn Fritter with Salsa

Ingredients

  • 6 large eggs
  • 340g can sweetcorn kernels, drained
  • 6 spring onions, finely diced
  • 1 green pepper, deseeded and diced
  • 1 red pepper, deseeded and diced
  • 3 tomatoes, diced
  • 1 red chilli, deseeded and diced (optional)
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • Juice of 2 limes

Method

Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl. Add the sweetcorn, half the spring onions and the green pepper. Season to taste.

Spray a large frying pan with fry light and pour the egg mixture to it. Cook it on a moderate heat for around 8 minutes. Once cooked on the bottom, place the pan under the grill and cook for a further 8 minutes or until cooked though.

For the salsa place the red pepper, the rest of the spring onions, tomatoes and the red chilli (if using) in a bowl. Mix the tomato puree to the lime juice before adding it to the chopped veg. Season to taste.

 

Breakfast

Leave a comment

Some people eat breakfast whilst others cannot eat anything first thing in the morning, not me though! I can eat anytime! Breakfast is one of my favourite meals of the day, having a good breakfast  sets me up for the rest of the day. I do find on the days I just grab a piece of fruit or have nothing to eat because I am in a rush, those are the days I tend to go overboard with my syns.

If you don’t enjoy eating breakfast, you don’t have to force yourself to eat it. Maybe just grabbing a piece of fruit may be enough for you.

My breakfast tends to be the same most days. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that the majority of the time my breakfast consists of half a pot of Alpro Plain with Coconut ‘yogurt’ mixed with 1tbsp of sweetener, layered with crushed Weetabix and fruit. Raspberries are my favourite fruit for this breakfast, sometimes I add chopped mango or kiwi and drizzle some passion fruit on top. This is my all time favourite breakfast! I have recently started having chocolate Weetabix and oh em gee it is soooo good. You can have the chocolate Weetabix as a healthy extra B choice which is a bonus! But I tend to just syn my breakfast and use my healthy extra B choice later on in the day on Slimming World hifi bars. You can prepare this breakfast the night before as you do with overnight oats or make it in the morning.

Alpro with Weetabix

Alpro with Weetabix

I do love overnight oats but don’t make it as often as I don’t like to use my healthy extra B choice first thing in the morning! If I do overnight Weetabix that is fine for me as I only ever use 1 Weetabix which is half a B choice or just 3 syns each for the plain Weetabix.

If I have the time, I do enjoy a Slimming Word friendly cooked breakfast. I have fried eggs, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes and vegetarian sausages. This is a great way of saving your healthy extra B choice for later in the day and it is a completely FREE breakfast depending on what type of sausages you use.

Another breakfast that I enjoy eating is scrambled eggs! Get the recipe for perfectly scrambled eggs every time here

Scrambled eggs with mushrooms & beans

Scrambled eggs with mushrooms & beans

Eggs are just good in any way really, I do always have boiled eggs ready in the fridge to snack on throughout the day or breakfasts when I am in a rush.

On the odd occasions I do have porridge – sometimes just cooked simply in half water half milk mixture and topped with fruit or I do baked oats. Recipe here for baked oats. Bear in mind not all porridge sachets can be used as a healthy extra B choice, do check your food optimising book or the Slimming World app for all the up to date healthy extras. This one below is a B choice and it is lovely.

Big Bowl Porridge

Big Bowl Porridge

What is your favourite breakfast? Do share in the comments below what you enjoy eating for breakfast.

 

 

Chicken & Egg Fried Rice

Leave a comment

Great way of using up leftover rice or you can make a fresh batch of boiled rice for this. You can replace the chicken for prawns or leave it plain.

Serves: 2

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 25 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

  • cooked rice
  • 2 chicken breasts, chopped
  • 3 spring onions, finely chopped
  • mushrooms, chopped
  • 1 tsp garlic granules
  • 1 green pepper, chopped
  • 1 grated carrot
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp tomato puree
  • 1 tbsp Chinese 5 Spice powder
  • 1 tsp chilli flakes
  • 2 eggs, beaten
Chicken & Egg Fried Rice

Chicken & Egg Fried Rice

Method

Spray a large frying pan with low calorie cooking spray and cook the spring onions, pepper, carrot and chicken for 5-8 minutes.

Add the tomato puree, garlic granules, Chinese 5 spice, chilli flakes and soy sauce. Stir fry for another 5 minutes.

Add the cooked rice.

Once the chicken is cooked pour the eggs over the mixture and cook over a low heat stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until the egg has set.

Crustless Quiche Muffins

Leave a comment

I love making this SW crustless quiche recipe. There are so many variations to it but this one has to be my favourite. The basic essentials you need are eggs, cottage cheese and Pasta ‘n’ Sauce, you can then add anything you want to it –  any veg or meat/fish of your choice. The possibilities are endless! I made them into muffins but you can easily just make a large one and then slice it up before eating.

Makes: 15

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 30-45 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

  • Packet of Batchelors Pasta ‘n’ Sauce Cheese & Broccoli flavour (0.5 syn for whole pack)
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tub of cottage cheese
  • Any veg of choice – I used mushrooms, 1/2 red pepper and some spring onions

 

 

Basic Quiche Essentials

Basic Quiche Essentials

Method

Cook the pasta in 350ml of boiling water for 10 minutes.

Pre heat the oven at gas mark 6.

Blend the cottage cheese with the eggs in a large bowl and then add the veggies you are using.

Once the pasta is cooked, mix in the cottage cheese mixture with the veggies and place the mixture in silicone muffin cases.

Bake in the oven for around 20-25 minutes till cooked. If you like you can also add some cheese from your healthy extra A choice before placing the muffin cases in the oven.

 

Crustless Quiche

Crustless Quiche

 

Pancakes

1 Comment

You don’t need to wait till Shrove Tuesday to enjoy these pancakes! This basic recipe is perfect whether you like a sweet or a savoury topping.

Makes: 8

Syns: 1.5 syns each

Time Taken: 45 mins (inc 30 minutes standing time)

Difficulty: Easy

wp-1482712926258.jpg

Ingredients

  • 50g plain flour
  • 2 medium eggs
  • 150g fat free fromage frais
  • 150ml skimmed milk
  • Low calorie cooking spray

Method

Sift the flour into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the eggs and fat free fromage frais and whisk until smooth. Pour in the milk and whisk again to form a batter. Stand for 30 minutes, then cook one at a time in a non-stick pan lightly sprayed with low calorie cooking spray.

TIP: If you’re in a hurry use a ready made pancake mix (128g pack makes 12 small pancakes, around 2 Syns per pancake)

Asda Shopping Haul

Leave a comment

I don’t tend to stick to one supermarket when shopping but one of my favourite has to be Asda. I am more likely to pick up what I use most in an Asda rather than any other supermarket, so it is always my first choice followed by Aldi then Tesco!

I went to Asda this morning to pick up my essentials and this is what it looks like!

Asda Shopping Haul

Asda Shopping Haul

My favourite fruit includes raspberries, banana and pear. I am obsessed with clementines at the moment though, I’ve lost count on how many I have in a day! I picked up a melon and some strawberries and apples to vary my fruit a bit.

We eat a lot of pasta in our house. We go through a lot in a week and I tend to buy a big bag. We never run out of pasta in our house!

Passata is an absolutely essential store cupboard item for us slimmers. I use it to make pasta sauces and curries.

Eggs is another food item that I buy often! I usually make 5 or 6 boiled eggs in the morning so I can snack on them whenever I am hungry throughout the day. That amount usually lasts me a couple of days unless my youngest daughter and hubby decide to have some too! I’ve seen Asda and other supermarkets sell a couple of boiled eggs with some spinach leaves for £1 or so, I wouldn’t pay that much for it. You can get a box of 6 free range eggs for less than £1 and make your own in minutes!

I always buy packet salads for convenience as I am the only one that eats them at home and add cherry tomatoes, jalapeños and any other pickles I have in my fridge to it.

I bought leeks and celery today as I intend on making a soup with it in the next couple of days, or I might make a Homity Pie with the leeks! I am not too sure yet.

Kia Ora is our family favourite sugar free cordial, we don’t like any other brand.

It is the first time I bought best of both milk, it was on offer for £1 instead of £1.50 so why not? You can have 300ml as a healthy extra A choice. It is supposed to taste like semi skimmed milk but has a lot less fat in it. I also bought the Low Low cheese for the first time. Not sure if it a healthy extra choice but it is handy for my girls to sprinkle on their pasta!

I bought the teas for my members at groups. I am not a fan of tea, I prefer coffee. I like to offer my members a variety of drinks to choose from to enjoy in group.

We love baked beans in our house and it has to be Branston. I only buy Heinz baked beans if it’s the chilli ones.

Lastly on my shopping is the halal turkey slices. Perfect protein rich snack to enjoy anytime or as part of a meal.

What are your essentials? Comment below with your favourite items x