Happy New Year

Hi guys

We've (literally!!) just returned from our Christmas in the Canaries but I just wanted to say to you all....here's hoping you have all the success you all deserve.

More from me in 2017.....see you on the other side.

Lets stay strong guys
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Another make do dinner.....

We're going away for two weeks over Christmas so I'm digging about in the fridge making sure there is  nothing in there that will be manky by the time we get back and I see some tomatoes that need using up. So I made a roasted tomato sauce with it, spiralised a couple of courgettes that were destined to go in the bin otherwise......then I mixed in a tin of tuna, some capers and a tablespoon of Philadelphia light Salmon and Dill and shaved a bit of Parmesan over .....delicious and used up some stuff that would have been wasted....and all for 3sp........result!!!

So I won't be posting over the next few weeks apologies for that but hope you all have a fabulous Christmas and that 2017 brings you everything you deserve......

Lets stay strong guys
Sue
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Celeriac Fritters

Well I was playing about in the kitchen this week....with that Slow Cooker Celeriac I did last week. I wanted to make some Celeriac Fritters.....these are something I saw on Janey's blog at Slice of Slim and I love them.....check it out here.......but Janey is obviously more skilled than I am because I can't get mine to flip in the pan without me breaking them up!!! Although I don't know if using the equivalent amount of just egg whites instead of the whole eggs that Janey advises might have something to do with it......



Anyway........ to make the fritters I cooked my celeriac in the slow cooker (doing it this way had no effect on the consistency of the finished mixture to I'll be going back to cooking it in the microwave I think) and mashed it with a potato masher, I added a tin of sweetcorn, 8 tablespoons of Two Chicks Egg White and a scraping of nutmeg. I tried again to do them in my small frying pan......

 
........but turning them was a nightmare so I decided that I would try cooking them in the oven....they turned out fine actually.....I had three with my dinner that night and have put the rest in the freezer to use this week. I sprayed the foil with spray Oil and put tablepoons of the mix on, flattened it out and baked them in the oven on 160deg fan for 20 mins....when I checked them I decided I wanted them a little more browned off around the edges so I turned the oven up to 200 deg for the last 10 minutes.

I served mine with my Turkey mince burger (which was turkey mince mixed with lemon zest and juice, onion and a tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce) and I whizzed up a portion of "Cauliflower cheese".....its in quotes because its not a traditional Cauli cheese recipe!! I browned off a couple of tablespoons of shallot and added a tablespoon of water to stop it sticking, then I added 2 tablespoons of Philadelphia Lightest and let that melt into a sauce, I then added 20g of finely grated My Protein cheese and a tablespoon of wholegrain mustard. I zapped my cauli in the microwave for a couple of minutes and then poured the cheese mix over, and browned off two turkey rashers which I had cut into strips, topped it with a slice of WW malted danish bread whizzed into breadcrumbs and finished the whole lot with 20g of Cheddar. ........15 mins in a hot oven and bobs your uncle....


Lets stay strong guys
Sue
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Kitchen catch up

Had a bit of a kitchen day today.......last night I put another batch of my Vegetable Stock in the slow cooker and then sorted it out into portions this morning....then hubby and I walked down to our local farmers market and I bought a lovely big Celeriac......I decided that as the Slow Cooker Butternut Squash mash worked out so well (its here ) I would try the same method for Celeriac....I want to use it to make some Celeriac and Sweetcorn Fritters (I've made them before and they are great but the mixture always comes out a bit wet)....so I've got my Celeriac in the slow cooker as I type this. Slightly different method than for the squash (the celeriac is a very knobbly, mucky creature and it gets mud and rubbish caught up in th knobbles so it can't go into the slow cooker without some preparation). So I cut off all the dirty and inedible bits. The first time I did the butternut squash in the slow cooker I put it straight into the pot (as instructed) butI was a bit disturbed with the markings on the bottom (they came off but I want to protect my pot) I put a layer of foil in the bottom, it worked a treat and made it easier to get the squash out....so I did that again this time.....I've left it on low until tomorrow morning and I'll update you later how it turns out.....I'll do the fritter recipe too.

So dinner tonight.......hubby wanted pizza.....and I didn't have any cauli left to do a Cauliflower Crust Pizza Base (I'll post that later this week....I think you'll like it).....So I did a bit of using up from the fridge.....I had some broccoli so I took the stalk out and made my Smoked Mackerel Broccolisotto   . I usually do croutons with this but tonight I fancied something a bit different, I had some mixed baby tomatoes in the fridge so I chopped a few and scattered them around.....the texture was lovely....

......and I really fancied something to finish, I'm not big on desserts (I know....call me weird!!)....so when I fancy something to finish my meal its usually fruit....so this is blueberries, grapes and strawberries topped with two tablespoons of quark mixed with some cranberry sauce that I made in the slow cooker last week, finished with a mini meringue and a teaspoon of Choc Shot ....mmmmmm yummy

Sp breakdown is....Broccolisotto 6sp, fruit 0sp, 80g quark 1sp and cranberry sauce 0sp , choc shot 1sp

Lets stay strong guys
Sue
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Swartz Mix Lamb Rogan Josh

We wanted curry....!!!!

Rogan Josh is my second favourite.....Korma being my favourite....(I'll be working on a slimmed down version of that before too long)....so while we were shopping yesterday we picked up a couple of lamb steaks and a packet of Swartz Rogan Josh Mix.

Chucked some sliced shallots, a tin of chopped tomatoes (should really have been a half of a tin but I forgot!!), half a red pepper diced and half the packet of mix, topped it with an extra tablespoon of tomato puree....all in the slow cooker and whacked it on high for 6 hours.

Mine was served with cauli and broccoli rice and a little onion, lemon juice and mint side dish.

I have to be honest here and say that, because I halved everything (except the tomatoes!!), the recipe should have made two portion but really, we don't do huge portions and this looked enough for 4 (of our sized portions) so I've halved it and we're having it again in a day or so........so with that said my portion was 5sp so with the mini Naan and the broccoli/cauli  rice and side it was only 9sp.....not bad eh........

Dolmio Spag Bol

So tonight we're having one of my old standby dinners.....I LOVE this.....hubby and I have this quite regularly....I've said before on other posts that we often eat separate meals (it's one of the ways he supports my weight control lifestyle) so when I can do a meal that we can both have (albeit with a bit of modification for my meal) I'm all over it. I don't normally use shop bought sauces, I would much rather make my own because that way I know exactly whats in it and I can often fiddle with the recipe to get it down to 0sp....but I make a compromise here (so we can have the same meal together)....I'm fully intending to have another go at making this from scratch (and not telling hubby!!) so I can get rid of any unnecessary sp.....This works out at 4sp which then gives me the opportunity to have garlic bread too!! What's not to love about that....chuck a big salad with balsamic dressing in the mix and you have heaven on a plate.

So the sp breakdown is......Spag Bol 4sp (I got 6 portions from this recipe, but if you want a bigger portion 4 portions would be 6sp each)...Parmesan cheese (on the spag bol) 2sp...Courgetti 0sp (there are a few notes here about what I do when spiralising if you're intrested)    ....Garlic Bread 2sp...Salad with WW Balsamic dressing 0sp.....and I get another 4 portions for the freezer for those days when life goes mad....!!

Lets stay strong guys......
Sue
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Ingredients

Spray Oil
500g 5% fat mince
1 large Onion, sliced or chopped whatever you fancy
4-5 mushrooms, halved and sliced
2 tablespoons tomato puree
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 500g jar of Dolmio Reduced Fat Spag Bol sauce
Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

Spray a large, lidded, flame proof casserole dish with the spray oil and bring to a medium temperature. Add the mince in batches (three or four) and brown to seal removing each batch from the pan as you do it and setting it on a plate. When all the meat has been done spray the pan again and add the onions stirring around to allow the to be coated as much as possible by the oil. Cook the onions on the medium heat for a few minutes to allow them to brown a little and soften.
Add the mushrooms and allow them to brown and soften for a few minutes also. Add the meat back to the pan and mix to combine. Add the tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and mix to combine. At this point I put the lid on the dish and bung the lot in the oven for about 40 minutes but you could put the lid on and allow to cook on the stove top until you think its ready, about 30 - 40 minutes. Serve with your chosen pasta (add the appropriate points) or veg noodles (as I do) and enjoy!!

Aubergine rolls with spinach & cottage cheese

Do you know what.....I LOVE this dish.
I recently posted my Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce recipe and my lovely friend Alison posted me a message saying that she loved my enthusiasm for squash....and could I do anything with an Aubergine.....I told her no....I hate them....then I got to thinking about it.....I actually don't know if I like them or not....I haven't had one for YEARS ( I remember having a moussaka YEARS ago) and my husband making retching noises whenever aubergine is mentioned doesn't help!!! One of the things I made a conscious decision about was trying different foods as part of my WW journey....you know...to freshen up the menu....it was one of the discussion topics at meeting that stayed with me. So whenever I see a fruit or veg I haven't had before I try it...well....except for Kale....had it ...ugh!!.....if you can recommend anything to do with Kale (except put it on the compost heap) I'd be very grateful!!......so anyway...I googled Aubergine recipes and ...to my surprise found a few that I was prepared to try.....so tonight I did this one. It was REALLY nice....I loved it...so THANKS Ally Pally....hope you do this and enjoy it....love you... fairy friend....x x

This is a single serving (couldn't get hubby to eat this if I had NOTHING else in the house....he'd eat his owns arms first!!) and is 4sp......lovely


Lets stay strong guys......
Sue
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 Ingredients

1/2 medium Aubergine, cut into slices (about 5mm thickness) lengthways
10 sprays Frylight Stir-Fry Spray Oil
100g Spinach
A generous grating of Ground Nutmeg

60g Reduced Fat Natural Cottage Cheese

100g Tomato Sauce (I'll post my recipe soon)....add appropriate points
1 slice Weight Watchers Sliced Malted Danish Bread, blitzed into breadcrumbs
15g Parmesan Cheese

 Method

Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. 

Spray both sides of the aubergine slices with oil, then lay them on a large baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 mins until tender, turning once (watch this a bit carefully as if your oven is particularly hot they will burn very quickly).

Meanwhile, put the spinach in a large colander and pour over a kettle of boiling water to wilt. Cool, then squeeze out the excess water, I blotted it with kitchen paper and then chopped it finely.....then I blotted it some more.....you want it as dry as possible. 

Mix with the cottage cheese, nutmeg and plenty of seasoning. At this point I remembered that I had a little bit of caramelised onion from the Pizza recipe I did recently (I'll post that recipe soon), so I chopped that up finely and added that as well. 

When the aubergine slices are ready, dollop a spoonful of the cheesy spinach mix in the centre of each aubergine slice, fold over to make a parcel and lay, sealed-side down, in an ovenproof dish. 

Pour over tomato sauce (I added a tablespoon of tomato puree and a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce).....

.......sprinkle with breadcrumbs and cheese, and bake for 20-25 mins until golden and piping hot

I served mine with a simple salad dressed with WW balsamic Salad Dressing....yummy!!!

Sue
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