dinner

Chicken Pilau

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Serves: 4

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 60 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Chicken Pilau

Chicken Pilau

 

Ingredients

  • 3 onion, chopped
  • 1 tbsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp chilli flakes
  • 1/2 tbsp ginger/garlic paste
  • 1 packet Laziza Yakhni Pilau spice mix
  • 100g 0% Greek yogurt
  • 2 cubes Maggie seasoning (optional)
  • 3 chicken breasts, chopped
  • 2 cups rice, washed and soaked for 30 minutes

Method

Spray a large pan with plenty of low calorie cooking spray. Add the onions and fry for 5 minutes.

Add cumin seeds and chilli flakes and continue to cook the onions till golden brown (around 15 minutes). Use hot water if the onions start to stick to the bottom of the pan.

Add the chicken, ginger/garlic paste, Maggie cubes (if using, or use salt to taste) and one packet of the Laziza spice mix. Fry until the chicken has browned all over before adding the yogurt. Cook for 10 minutes then add 4 cups of boiling water to the chicken. Check for seasoning and add the drained water.

Cook the rice on high heat till most of the water has evaporated then place the lid on the pan and cook on a low heat for 25 minutes or until all the water has evaporated and the rice and chicken is cooked.

 

Cottage Pie

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This is a comforting, warm dish perfect for the winter days and it is so versatile too. I use the same recipe (minus the mixed frozen veg) for spaghetti bolognaise. You can use chicken mince too but I prefer using beef.

Serves: 4

Syns: FREE

Time Taken:  60 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

  • 500g lean beef mince
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
  • 3 celery sticks, chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 400g tin chopped tomatoes
  • 500g carton passata
  • 4 tbsp tomato puree
  • 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
  • 1 tsp chilli flakes
  • 2 cubes of beef stock, crumbled
  • A cupful of mixed frozen veg (broccoli, carrots and peas), optional
  • 4 large baking potatoes, boiled and mashed
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • Cheese (optional)
Cottage Pie

Cottage Pie

Method

Spray a large pan with spray oil over a medium heat and stir fry the mince till it is browned. Then add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic and chilli and cook for another couple of minutes.

Add the chopped tomatoes, passata, tomato puree, mixed herbs and the crumbled stock cubes. Cook over a low heat for 30 minutes stirring occasionally.. Season to taste. If using frozen veg add the veg towards the last 10 minutes of cooking.

For the mash, peel and boil the potatoes and mash. Once the potatoes are mashed, add the beaten egg to it and keep stirring so there are no lumps in the mash.

Put the cooked mince into a shallow oven proof dish. Top with the mashed potato (and cheese if using) and bake at gas mark 6 until the top is golden (around 20 minutes).

Chicken Fajitas

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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

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.

Serve on a wrap with salad and cheese.

 

Crustless Red Onion and Courgette Quiche

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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.

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

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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

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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

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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.