Fry the chopped onion in a pan with low calorie cooking spray oil till it softens. Add the chilli and mix.
Add the risotto rice and the stock, a few tablespoons at a time, whilst stirring the whole time. If the rice is not cooked after you’ve used all the stock, add a little more stock till it is cooked. It should take around 30 minutes to cook the rice.
Add a handful of frozen peas towards the last few minutes of cooking the rice and mix in the cheese.
Fry the turkey rasher separately and add to the risotto once it is ready. Each turkey rasher is 0.5 syn, you can use more if you wish just remember to count the syns accordingly.
A few weeks ago I bought tofu as I’ve always wanted to try it but didn’t know what to do with it! I finally got round to making this super easy & delicious mousse after getting some advice from friends on Instagram.
One thing I didn’t realise was that there are different types of tofu you can buy, luckily I bought the right one to be used for making desserts – silken tofu.
Are you a fan of tofu? Are there any recipes that you’d recommend? Please comment below with your fave ways of using tofu.
Silken Tofu
Serves: 2
Syns: 1
Time Taken: less than 5 minutes plus chilling
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
Silken tofu
1/2 tbsp. sweetener
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
one sachet of Options white chocolate
Method
Put all ingredients together and blitz till smooth. Divide the mixture into two ramekins and chill for at least an hour.
Rice pudding is one of my fave foods ever – it is a complete bowl of comfort food, I could eat it anytime! This is an adapted version from the latest Slimming World magazine issue. The original recipe was coffee and walnut but I didn’t have any walnuts at home so made it with almonds instead. My recipe is slightly higher in syns as I used dark chocolate flavoured almond milk instead of the unsweetened almond milk the original recipe states. But having said that, the extra syns are totally worth it as it makes this rice pudding even more indulging!
You will love this if you love coffee and dark chocolate, it is such a perfect combination.
Serves: 4
Syns: 5
Time Taken: just over 2 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Coffee & Almond Rice Pudding
Ingredients
120g dried pudding rice
500ml Alpro Dark Chocolate Almond Milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp. Beanies Amaretto flavour brewed coffee
3 tbsp. sweetener
350ml water
20g almonds, roughly chopped
Method
Pre heat your oven to gas mark 2. Mix the pudding rice with the almond milk, vanilla extract, coffee, sweetener and water in a deep baking dish.
Cover with foil and bake for 1 1/2 hours. Stir, then re-cover with the foil and bake for a further 30-40 minutes, or until the rice is tender and creamy.
Divide the rice pudding between 4 bowls and top each with a quarter of the chopped almonds.
Encona Peri Peri sauce (to taste, 1tbsp is 1.5 syns)
2 Maggie seasoning cubes, crumbled
1 tbsp Peri Peri seasoning
For the rice
1 cup rice
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled and finely grated
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp Peri Peri seasoning
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
Handful of frozen peas & sweet corn
Method
Mix all the marinade ingredients for the chicken together and rub it all over the chicken pieces.
Let it marinade for a few hours if time permits.
Pre heat the oven and cook the chicken for around 45 minutes till it is mostly cooked.
Remove from the oven and grill the chicken till it is fully cooked, around 30 minutes, turning the chicken often and brushing it with the Encona Peri Peri sauce.
For the rice, spray a pan with plenty of low cal cooking spray and gently fry the onion with the carrot for a few minutes.
Add the tomato puree, Peri Peri seasoning and chilli flakes and cook for another couple of minutes.
Add the rice alongside the stock, stir and let it cook for around 15 minutes on a low heat with the lid on the pan.
Add the frozen peas & sweet corn towards the last 5 minutes of cooking.
This is perfect if you have a fussy family like mine. My girls love this recipe as they get to add whatever they want in their wraps and always have fun trying to stuff it with as many fillings as they can! I use a Weight Watchers wrap for myself which is a healthy extra B choice or 5.5 syns each and use cheese as part of my healthy extra A choice. If you want to save syns, you can use iceberg lettuce leaves instead of wraps. I tend not to use sauces like ketchup or mayo, but if you do use them, remember to syn them accordingly.
Serves: 4
Syns: FREE
Time Taken: 30-45 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Chicken Fajitas
Ingredients
3 chicken breasts, cut into strips
2 red onions, finely sliced
1 green, 1 red and 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and finely sliced
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp chilli flakes
Juice of 1 lime
Method
Spray a large wok with a free spray oil and place over a medium heat. Add the chicken and stir fry for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is mostly cooked.
Add the peppers and all the spices to coat the chicken spices and cook until the chicken is fully cooked.
This is another quick and easy recipe perfect for taster sessions in Slimming World groups. These work out at only 1 syn each for a bitesize sausage roll. It only needs 3 ingredients! It can’t get any easier than that.
You can use any sausages of your choice but remember to find out syns before you make them as sausages tend to be quite high in syns!
I have used the Linda McCartney’s vegetarian sausages which are only 0.5 syn each. I am on the lookout for low syn halal sausages, if you know of any, please comment with what you use.
Sausage Rolls
Makes: 18
Syns: 1 syn each
Time Taken: less than 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
6 Linda McCartney’s Vegetarian Sausages
3 Kinsmill thins
1 egg, beaten
Method
Cook the sausages according to the packet instructions, but don’t fully cook them as you will be cooking them again for a few more minutes later.
Once the sausages are mostly cooked, remove them from the oven and set them aside.
Brush the inside of each Kingsmill thin with the beaten egg. Place a sausage in each half and roll.
Brush the egg all over the outside of the thins and place them in the oven for around 10 minutes (or less) till the rolls are nice and golden.
Once cooked, remove from the oven and cut each sausage roll into 3 pieces.
I thought I’d try Nadiya’s samosa hack from her latest TV show and give it a Slimming World friendly twist!
If you don’t know who Nadiya is, she was the winner of the Great British Bake Off in 2016! A well deserved winner too, all her bakes looked absolutely delicious.
I used potatoes and peas for the filling but you can be more adventurous or just stick to regular samosa fillings such as kheema. Just remember to syn accordingly.
I used mini tortilla wraps from Aldi which are 4.5 syns for each wrap and you can get two samosas out of one wrap, making it only around 2.5 syns each samosa! (See picture below).
Aldi Wrap
You can if you prefer (and can get hold of!) use the Weight Watchers white wraps that can be used as a healthy extra B choice. Your samosas will be slightly bigger though, I prefer using the mini wraps as you can batch cook them and freeze.
If you use any other brand of wrap, please remember to check syns as not all similar products have the same syn values.
Let me know if you’ve come across a lower syn alternative to making samosas!
Adjust spice levels to how spicy you prefer, I made mine quite mild as they were for a taster session in group. Enjoy and let me know what you think! Feel free to tag me in your posts when you’ve made them.
Samosa
Makes: 16 samosas
Syns: 2.5 syns each
Time Taken: 45-60 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
1 pack Aldi mini tortilla wraps
2 medium potatoes, boiled
handful of frozen peas, cooked
1 tsp ginger/garlic paste
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp crushed red chilies
1 tsp garam masala
1 egg, beaten
Method
Make samosa filling by boiling the potatoes first. Once the potatoes are boiled and cooled, slightly mash them or you can chop the potatoes in little cubes and boil them if you prefer your potatoes quite chunky rather than mashed.
Mix in cooked peas, ginger/garlic paste, cumin seeds, salt, chilli and garam masala.
Cut each wrap in half so you get a semi-circle shape.
Shape each wrap half into a triangle shape and fill it with your filling. Use the beaten egg to seal all around the edges and egg wash the top of the samosa.
Once all the samosas are filled and egg washed, bake them in a pre heated oven at gas mark 6 for around 12-15 minutes or until they are nice and golden.
You can freeze them once the samosas are cooked and cooled.
Tip: Watch the video here on how to fill the samosas.
I came across this recipe from a lovely lady on Instagram (do check out her account if you use IG – @skinnycakesnbakes). She makes the most amazing low syn cakes and bakes!
Makes: 16 slices
Syns: 15.5 syns for the whole cake
Time Taken: around 60 minutes
Difficulty: Moderate
Jam & Coconut Sponge Ingredients
Ingredients
37g coconut flour
5 large eggs, separated
2 tbsp sweetener
1 tsp coconut essence
1 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp water
2 tbsp raspberry jam
15g dessicated coconut
Method
Pre heat the oven to gas mark 4.
Sift together the flour and baking powder. Add the egg yolks, sweetener, most of the coconut (keep some aside to decorate the cake), essence and water. Mix it altogether.
Whisk the egg whites until stiff and gently fold into the mixture.
Pour the mixture into a square 7/8 inch lined cake tin and bake for 30 minutes.
Once cooled, spread over the jam and sprinkle the remaining coconut.
I’ve had quite a few people ask me for the recipe for the carrot and cinnamon baked oats I posted on my Instagram and Facebook page. The basic recipe is exactly the same as I’ve posted previously here but this one should be clearer to follow if you intend on doing this flavour baked oats. Enjoy, and remember to tag me on your posts when you make them!
Carrot & Cinnamon Baked Oats
Serves: 1
Syns: 0.5 synplus healthy extras A & B choices
Time Taken: 25 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
40g porridge oats
50ml milk (any of your choice, I use skimmed milk normally)
1 tbsp sweetener
1 egg, beaten
1 small carrot, peeled and finely grated
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon powder
Method
Weigh out the porridge in a bowl and add all the ingredients to it apart from the carrot. Squeeze out any water from the grated carrot before adding it to the oats mix.
Spray a small baking dish with spray oil before adding the mixture to it.
Bake in a pre heated oven gas mark 6 for around 20-25 minutes.
Once baked, you can add any toppings of your choice. Just remember to syn accordingly!
This is a really simple way of making a pesto style sauce you can have with pasta or chicken. I don’t have the exact measurements as I knocked this one up really quickly whilst my pasta was cooking. It tasted fine for me but I may tweak it a little bit more in the future, maybe just use the cream cheese with quark possibly? I don’t know yet but will be sure to post on here. I used some of it for my pasta and the leftovers was used for stuffing chicken breasts.
Serves: 2
Syns: FREE if using the cheeses as healthy extra A choice
Time Taken: less than 10 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
Handful of fresh spinach leaves
Handful of fresh basil leaves
1 x 35g Philadelphia light cream cheese
2 x Laughing Cow Blue Cheese triangles
Garlic powder
Seasoning to taste
Method
Mix all the ingredients together adding a little bit of water to it and blitz it altogether using a handheld blender.
