This recipe is inspired by one of my members at our taster session. I usually use orzo pasta shapes in soups, I never though of using it as a salad! It was so nice that I have tried to recreate it and loved my version too. For convenience I have used Najma BBQ Chicken Chunks but you can cook chicken from scratch if you prefer. You can add any veg of your preference to it, I just used whatever I had in my fridge.
Serves: 4
Syns: FREE
Time Taken: less than 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Orzo Pasta Salad
Ingredients
150g orzo pasta
Najma BBQ chicken chunks
Cucumber
Carrot
Red pepper
Spring onions
Green chillies
Fresh coriander
Season to taste
Method
Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.
Whilst the pasta is cooking, finely chop all the veg and the BBQ chicken chunks and set aside till the pasta is cooked.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain and run it through cold water under a sieve.
Mix the chicken and the veg to the pasta and season to taste.
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.
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
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.
I absolutely love Ferrero Rocher, they are one of my all time favourite treats. These are so easy to make and much lower in syns compared to the real thing!
Serves: 16
Syns: 2 Syns each
Time Taken: 1o minutes, plus chilling time
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
3 Weetabix
5 level table spoons of Nutella
One Options hot chocolate sachet (flavour of your choice) for dusting
Method
Mix your Weetabix and Nutella together.
Roll your mixture up into Ferrero Rocher sized balls and then roll in the hot chocolate powder. The mixture can be quite sticky so it is worthwhile dusting your hands with hot chocolate before rolling each ball.
Place into mini cake cases and leave to stand in the fridge for at least one hour.
Hummous is such an easy thing to make and great to have with some speedy crudités as a snack or even a light lunch with crispbreads.
Serves: 2
Syns: FREE
Time Taken: 10 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Speedy Hummous
Ingredients
400g can chickpeas, drained
2 garlic clove, crushed
2 tbsp lemon juice, plus extra to taste
2 tbsp fat free natural Greek yogurt
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
Method
Put the chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice and yogurt into a food processor and pulse until fairly smooth. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, add more lemon juice to taste and sprinkle with cayenne pepper if you want a bit of spice.
Keep in the fridge for up to 3 days and serve with your favourite crudités or crispbreads.
I absolutely love this feature on the SW website, which I’ve included below, that is all about snacks & nibbles! This is perfect whether you’re in need of a tasty lifesaver to keep you going, a mid-morning munch or simply a healthier alternative to a high-Syn snack, for when a ‘nibbly’ moment comes. Some need no cooking at all and some are simple to cook in advance and keep in the fridge ready for those times. Please do share using the comments box below what your favourite snacks & nibbles are.
Speed Free Food snacks
Snack on these for the BEST weight loss results. The more Speed you choose the more weight you’ll lose!
Savoury
Cherry tomatoes
Veg crudités – carrot, peppers, celery, sugar snap peas, and dips like homemade houmous
Sweet baby cucumbers
Roasted butternut squash chips (cooked in low calorie cooking spray)
Pickled beetroot, gherkins, cabbage and onions
Slimming World quiche muffins packed with your favourite Speed Free Foods
Sweet
Fruit bowl favourites – apples, satsumas, pears, peaches
Melon chunks – pop in the freezer for a cool nibble
Fat free Greek-style yogurt mixed with 1 tsp sweetener and top with strawberries and raspberries
Apple wedges dunked in your favourite syn free yogurt
Other Free nibbles include:
Savoury
Boil or bake a fresh corn on the cob, season well – I like to add chilli powder to it too
Drain a can of tuna in spring water and blend with lemon juice and quark to make a pâté. Mix in chopped chives and spring onions, and serve with veg sticks
Asda Chosen by You Vegetable Chilli, from a 400g can, topped with a dollop of fat-free natural yogurt
Whizz roasted red peppers in brine from a jar with fat-free natural fromage frais and paprika, then use as a dip for cooked and peeled prawns.
Mugshots – my favourite one has to be the Cajun pasta flavour. Be aware that if you buy this flavour in a sachet it is 0.5 syn! The pot is FREE.
Cajun Pasta Mugshot
Sweet
Fat-free yogurt. Not all fat-free yogurts are Free eg. Onken Fat Free Yogurt Vanilla is 5 Syns per 450g pot (double check your favourite flavour in Syns Online to protect your weight loss)
Freeze an Activia 0% strawberry yogurt in an ice-cube tray and enjoy like frozen sweets
Ice cream: Chop a handful of cherries and stir into two pots of Activia 0% (or similar) cherry yogurts and a large tub of fat free fromage frais. Pop it in the freezer for a couple of hours, stirring occasionally
Fresh pineapple chunks
Healthy Extra bites – If you’ve got your Healthy Extras left, tuck into one of these super snacks!
Hifi Light Bars
Cereal bars – 2 Hi-fi Light or Alpen Light bars (Healthy Extra ‘b’ choice)
4 Ryvita Original/Dark Rye (Healthy Extra ‘b’ choice) topped with 4 Laughing Cow Light Triangles (Healthy Extra ‘a’ choice) and mixed pickles like gherkins and onions
60g of any wholemeal bread, toasted (Healthy Extra ‘b’ choice), topped with 40g reduced fat Cheddar (Healthy Extra ‘a’ choice) and halved cherry tomatoes
30g bag Ryvita Minis, all varieties (Healthy Extra ‘b’ choice)
500g cooked rhubarb (Healthy Extra ‘b’ choice) topped with fat free Greek-style yogurt mixed with 1 tsp sweetener
I popped in Tesco this morning to pick up a couple of things and noticed these Alpro Dessert Moments – as soon as I saw Hazelnut and Chocolate on the packet, I knew I had to get it! Plus it was only £1 for a pack of 4! I found them in the chilled section at Tesco’s.
Alpro Dessert Moments Hazelnut Chocolate
I thought it was delicious! I was expecting a stronger hazelnut taste, it was quite a subtle hazelnut but it was chocolatey. The texture wasn’t as thick as I’d hoped either, for some reason I was expecting it to be thick like the Alpro Go On pots! But I can’t complain as it was perfect to dip in my oaty doughnuts and only 4.5 syns each pot which has quite a generous amount in it.
Alpro Dessert Moments with Oaty Doughnuts
There are also a couple of other flavours available but I am yet to try them – Almond Vanilla (4.5 syns) and Coconut (5 syns). I am quite excited about the coconut one as I love coconut! If you have spotted them do let me know where please.
My oaty doughnuts are just baked oats ( recipe here) made in my mini doughnut maker I bought from B&M Bargains. I love the gadget! You can also make waffles in it.
If you’re a fan of fruity malt loaf, you’ll love this recipe for Weetabix cake packed with juicy blueberries and mixed spices. You can replace the blueberries with any fruit of your choice just remember to syn accordingly. This is one of my husband’s favourite treat with a cup of tea.
Makes: 12
Syns: 2.5 syns each
Time Taken: 4o minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Weetabix Fruity Muffins
Ingredients
2 Weetabix, crushed
100g blueberries
150ml skimmed milk
150ml water
100g self-raising flour
2 tsp mixed spice
4 tbsp sweetener
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas Mark 4.
Put the Weetabix and blueberries in a bowl. Pour the milk and water over the top and leave it to soak for about 10 minutes.
Stir in the flour, mixed spice, sweetener, vanilla extract and beaten egg.
Spoon the mixture equally into 12 silicone muffin cases and bake for 25-30 minutes.
I didn’t realise I hadn’t posted a recipe for my favourite food EVER – CHIPS!! I do have them quite often in a week, so glad potatoes are a Free Food!
Serves: 1
Syns: FREE
Time Taken: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Best Ever Slimming World Chips
Ingredients
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into thick chips (I prefer using red potatoes)
Low calorie cooking spray
Method
You can use your oven (if so preheat your oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas 6) or an Actifry, Halo Fryer or Air fryer instead. I do recommend investing in one as the chips always turn out best when cooked in it. You can also cook lots of other food in it too.
If you do use an Actifry you can put the cut up potatoes straight in without parboiling! Spray with low calorie cooking spray (fry light!) and they take about 20-25 minutes.
If using your oven you need to parboil the chips first. Basically boil the chips for 4-5 minutes in a pan of hot water. Drain well, return to the pan and cover.
Leave to cool slightly, then shake the pan to roughen their edges. Line a baking tray with baking paper and put the chips on top in a single layer.
Spray with low calorie cooking spray (fry light!) and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden.
