passata

Mozzarella & Chilli Pasta Bake

2 Comments

This is such an easy and simple dish to put together and it tastes amazing! It is one of my daughter’s favourite dish. I have adapted the recipe slightly from the SW Veggie Deluxe recipe book and have made this quite cheesy (just the way we like it!). You can have 70g of reduced fat mozzarella cheese as healthy extra A choice but you can use less if you prefer or put a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar cheese, but remember to count the syns depending on how much you use. All the other ingredients in this recipe are Free.

Serves: 3

Syns: FREE (if using the cheese as healthy extra A choice)

Time Taken: 30-45 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Mozzarella & Chilli Pasta

Mozzarella & Chilli Pasta

 

Ingredients

  • 300g dried pasta
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp. Very Lazy garlic
  • 1/2 tbsp. Very Lazy chilli
  • 500g carton passata
  • 2 x Maggie seasoning cubes
  • 100g frozen peas
  • 210g reduced fat mozarella

Method

Pre heat the oven to gas mark 4.

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions, drain well and run the pasta under cold water to stop it sticking together. Set aside till needed.

Whilst the pasta is cooking, make the sauce. Fry the onion, garlic and chilli in a pan with low cal spray for about 5 minutes or until softened. If you find the onion is starting to stick to the pan, add some of the water that the pasta is cooking in (around a tbsp. at a time if needed).

Add the passata and the seasoning cubes, stir and simmer for 3 minutes. Add seasoning if needed. Add the frozen peas and cook for a further 2 minutes then remove from the heat.

Mix the cooked pasta into the sauce, ensuring the pasta is well coated. Tip the pasta into a medium sized baking dish sprayed with low cal spray. Top with the mozzarella and bake in the pre heated oven for around 12-15 minutes till all the cheese is melted.

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.

 

Aldi Shopping Essentials

4 Comments

Below are my Slimming World friendly goodies I picked up from Aldi today. I find Aldi such good value for money. My must-haves I get from there:

  • Cauliflower rice – I usually make pizza with this (recipe here)
  • Cottage cheese – Aldi one is the best cottage cheese. I absolutely love the onion and chives cottage cheese, it is syn free too! I top a jacket potato with it or make crustless quiche with it (recipe here) or eat it straight from the tub! It is sooo good.
  • Fry Light – when on offer I buy a few to keep me going.
  • Salmon – although the price has gone up recently, Aldi salmon is still the best value. I keep it simple by just grilling it for around 10 minutes and add salt and chilli flakes to it once cooked.
  • Quark – you can make so many things with it. Use it for savoury or sweet dishes. I like to make pancakes with it (recipe here)
  • Skinny Latte Brooklea Yogurt – I have to admit that I am slightly fussy when it comes to yogurts. My absolute favourite are the Alpro yogurts. I tend to find other yogurts a little bit too thin in texture. I like the creamier versions and this one from Aldi although is not as creamy as I’d like it to be, it is an amazing flavour and syn free unlike the Alpro yogurts!
  • Passata – you can this in most of the supermarkets and I don’t think there is much difference to the taste. Passata is great for pasta sauces or curries. Syn Rree and Speed Food.

What are your must-haves? Please comment below with your favourites.

 

Aldi Essentials

Aldi Essentials