ideas

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.

 

Epic Sandwich Fillings

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Whether you’re a cheese and onion fan or more of a tuna and cucumber devotee, we all love a good old sandwich. The great thing about Food Optimising is that bread isn’t a ‘banned’ food (as it is with many other eating plans). Below are some popular bread choices you can choose from to enjoy your sandwich. You can get a full list of all the latest healthy extra options on the Slimming World website.

Popular Healthy Extra ‘b’ bread choices include:

  • 60g wholemeal roll
  • 2 slices of wholemeal bread from a small 400g loaf
  • 3 slices of Kingsmill Wholemeal No Crusts
  • 1 BFree Foods Multigrain Wrap
  • 1 Kingsmill Wholemeal Sandwich Thin

If you use up your healthy extra B choice with other options, you can still get the same great sandwich taste, for Free! Here is how:

  • A ‘wrap’ made of firm lettuce leaves, such as iceberg or romaine
  • A thinly cooked omelette takes the place of a high-Syn tortilla (an average wrap is 9 Syns!). To make the omelette lightly beat 1 egg in a large measuring jug and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pour the egg mixture into a non-stick pan and tilt it around. Cook for 1½ minutes on each side or until the edges turn golden then loosen with a palette knife and slide on to greaseproof paper.
  • Grilled Portobello mushrooms make delicious, veggie-friendly burger bun replacements. Just grill them on a medium heat for 5-10 minutes.
  • A jacket or sweet potato, piled with your favourite sandwich filling.

As for Free fillings, anything goes! Use your imagination! Comment below what your favourite fillings are.

Prawn and rocket – juicy pink prawns, rocket and homemade Marie rose sauce (1tbsp quark, 1 sprig finely chopped dill, 1 tsp tomato puree and seasoning)

Tuna melt – tuna, green peppers, tomatoes and sweetcorn sprinkled with reduced fat cheddar cheese (40g is a Healthy Extra ‘a’ choice) and grilled.

Mushroom, cherry tomato, mozzarella & basil – slices of mushrooms (cooked in low calorie cooking spray), cherry tomatoes (cut in half),  50g mozzarella (Healthy Extra ‘a’ choice) and basil leaves.

Smoked salmon, lemon & chives – put 40g of smoked salmon trimmings in a bowl, 4 tbsp quark, a sprinkle of chives and a squeeze of lemon.

Houmous & red pepper – a thick layer of homemade red pepper houmous topped with Peppadew Mild Piquante Peppers (available in most supermarkets).

Sausage buttie – two frozen Linda McCartney’s Red Onion and Rosemary sausages (syn free) and ½ medium onion cooked in low calorie cooking spray. For a mustard mayo, mix 1 tsp mustard powder with 1 tbsp cold water. Add 1 tbsp fat-free fromage frais, and whisk until smooth. Serve with grated carrot and red cabbage. Add 1 tbsp ketchup for 1 Syn.

Tuna Marie-rose & cucumber – tuna canned in water or brine mixed with marie rose sauce (1tbsp quark, 1 sprig finely chopped dill, 1 tsp tomato puree and seasoning) and a few thin slices of cucumber.

Egg & tomato – sliced boiled egg with spinach and sliced tomato.

Pastrami, gherkin & pepper – mix together ½ tsp mustard powder with 3 tbsp fat free fromage frais and spread on the bread. Top with pastrami, chopped gherkins and 1 bottled roasted red pepper in brine, cut into slices.

Cheese & onion – grated red Leicester (30g is a Healthy Extra ‘a’ choice) and slices of red onion.

Toasted sandwich – filled with any topping of your choice with 40g Light Cheddar cheese (healthy extra A choice).

 

Breakfast

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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.

 

 

Dessert Ideas

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I’ve collected some really quick, easy and Free or low-syn ideas here to help you enjoy your pudding and stay on track for a weight loss. Please do share your favourite free or low syn sweet treats.

Quick tips
Alpro Go On Pot

Alpro Go On Pot

If you fancy custard but without the high syns, gently heat a bowl of Aldi Brooklea Light Fat Free Banana & Custard Yogurt in the microwave for 10 seconds! Quick custard for 0.5 syn only!

For flavoured sauces without the syns, use fat free fromage frais, fat free natural yogurt or quark, and flavour with the desired essence or flavouring – coffee, coconut, vanilla – the choice is yours! (Remember, if you use the real thing rather than essence, you’ll need to keep track of the syns.) You can get a variety of flavourings from baking shops.

Another way to get your sweet fix is by mixing a low-Syn hot chocolate sachet (eg Options) with quark and pile high with fruit.

My all time favourite dessert is an Alpro Go On pot (1.5 syns for the passion fruit flavour pictured) topped with raspberries. It is simply delicious.

Quick and easy recipes

How about a low-syn toffee ice cream with a twist… Crush a 19.5g bag of Maltesers, and stir into 2 Toffee Aldi Brooklea Light Fat Free yogurts and a large tub of fat free fromage frais. Pop it in the freezer for a couple of hours, stir occasionally, and hey presto a 5 Syn sweet snack for the whole tub! Try it with other flavours of Free yoghurt and add chopped fresh fruit.

For a low-syn crumble, use stewed fruit as a Healthy Extra ‘b’ choice, and top it with a couple of crumbled malted milk biscuits (2 Syns each). If you fancy custard too, warm a Banana and Custard yogurt for 10 seconds in the microwave!

How about an Eton Mess? Here’s a low-syn version, which is just as delicious… Pile strawberries and raspberries (fresh or frozen) into a sundae dish. Pour over your favourite syn free yogurt, and then crumble in some broken meringue nest pieces. Repeat and enjoy! (1 meringue nest is, on average, 3 Syns).

I love Cadbury’s Freddo (19g bar is 5 Syns) and they’re delicious melted and enjoyed as a dip for fresh strawberries and banana or for drizzling over fruit.

Make up a knickerbocker glory using fresh or frozen fruit pieces and frozen yogurt of your choice instead of ice cream. If you fancy a bit of sauce, puree a small portion of fruit and count the Syns. A huge portion topped with 50g pureed raspberries is just ½ Syn – how tempting is that?

On a similar theme, how about a banana split? Cut a banana in half lengthways, and scoop frozen free yogurt of your choice on top – banana, vanilla and chocolate go really well together! If you have a Healthy Extra ‘b’ choice left, why not ‘go nuts’ and sprinkle 6 crushed walnut halves on top!

Thread fruit onto Mikado sticks – only ½ Syn per stick! Or if you prefer Matchsticks count 1 syn each,

A menu example of a SW Food Optimising day

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One of the most common questions I get asked by members when they first join Slimming World is ‘So what should I eat?’ A lot of members get so overwhelmed by the amount of food you can eat on plan that they simply do not know where to start. So here is an example of a day on plan. You can find a 7 day planner on the SW website here (there is also a vegetarian option) or the SW magazines. If you have your own suggestions please comment below, I’ll be making changes to this list based on feedback.

Breakfast

Overnight Oats – super quick, prepare night before, using porridge oats, fruit and yogurt. Recipe is here.

breakfast brunch eggs beans etc

breakfast brunch eggs beans etc

Weetabix – really simple, just Weetabix with milk and topped with fruit of your choice.

Cooked Breakfast –  eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, baked beans, sausages and optional toast. See my favourite here.

Lunch

SW Ready made soup – available exclusively in Iceland. My favourite is this one

Homemade tomato soup – easy to make using only a few ingredients, recipe here.

Jacket potato – top it with your favourite toppings.

Dinner

Chicken curry with rice – super easy recipe here

Pasta with meatballs – one of our favourite meals

Fish & chips – eat chips and still lose weight! Make your own perfect chips.

Snacks & Syns

Fruit

Veg crudites

Hifi bars (available from SW groups only)

Low syn crisps – French Fries, Snaps, Walkers Pops etc.

Example Snack, Fruits and hifi bars

Example Snack, Fruits and hifi bars