Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower Soup

This is a lovely thick creamy soup, comfortably warming on a cold winter day. Its from Gina Homolka at Skinnytaste....recipe here

Gina has it at 5sp but I've slimmed it down for my needs and I have it at 1sp. When I made this I think that a lot of the liquid was lost in the cooking (didn't have the heat low enough!!) and I ended up with an extremely thick, sauce like, consistency so I let it down with an extra 200ml of stock at the liquidising stage and as such got 5 servings (the sp stayed the same though). I served it with a srinkle of Sumac and a Warburtons thin spread with quark.


Ingredients

600g cauliflower florets cut into 1-inch florets

3 garlic cloves
frylight
1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional

1/2 tsp kosher salt, to taste

1 medium chopped onion

800ml vegetable stock
100ml reduced fat canned coconut milk, shaken well
2 tablespoons chopped coriander
 

Method

 

Preheat the oven to 200deg/180fan/ gas 6. Smash the garlic cloves with the side of the knife.

Place the cauliflower florets and smashed garlic on a baking tray and spray with the frylight. Shake a few times while you are spraying to coat the cauliflower evenly with the oil.
In a small bowl combine the turmeric, cumin, salt and crushed red pepper flakes. Sprinkle evenly over cauliflower, tossing well to coat evenly.

Place the baking sheet and bake in the center of the oven until browned and tender, about 25-30 minutes, turning the florets occasionally so they are evenly cooked. 

 

Reserve 1 cup.
Meanwhile, heat a medium pot over medium heat, spray with the frylight oil, add the onion and cook until translucent, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the broth and transfer the remaining roasted cauliflower to the pot, bring to a boil and cook covered on low 15 minutes.
Use a hand blender (or regular blender carefully in batches) and blend until smooth. Salt to taste as needed, stir in coconut milk and serve topped with roasted cauliflower and coriander with additional coconut milk for drizzling if desired (adding any additional sp) . Makes 4 servings.

New Turkey Burger...Yay!!

 You may remember a while back I posted about a turkey burger....it was nice but the texture was a bit too dense.....well I said I would be doing some work to resolve that issue and I have, I've been googling and found this here

It's tasty and the texture is a lot nicer than the one I did last time. This version makes 6 which each have a sp value of 2sp.

Definitely a keeper!!     :)

Lets stay strong guys
Sue
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Ingredients

500g Turkey Breast Mince, raw
1 slice Weight Watchers Sliced Malted Danish Bread, Blitzed into breadcrumbs
1 medium Onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons Tomato ketchup
1 tablespoons Lemon Juice, Fresh
1 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 teaspoons Soy Sauce
¹⁄₄ teaspoons Paprika
2 cloves Garlic, minced (I didn't have any so left it out)
¹⁄₄ teaspoons Hot Pepper Sauce (Tabasco)
1 pinch Salt, to taste1 pinch Black pepper

 Method

Combine all ingredients in large bowl.
Shape into 6 patties.
Pan-fry, or grill until lightly browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.

One Pot Prawn Curry

We fancied a curry this week....we planned to have one as a last treat on Saturday night when we got back from hols but it just got too late to start messing about phoning and collecting (or worse still waiting for delivery....)

I was googling curries a while back, I found this and was planning to do it soon anyway so I decided to bump it up to this week to satisfy our curry craving (the original recipe is here) .....I have to tell you this is fabulous....hubby is raving about it. Cooked using the ingredients listed it comes out of the recipe builder at 4sp....but I slimmed mine down by using frylight instead of the oil and it comes out at 1sp and does four servings. Because there is only me and hubby at home, whenever I find a recipe I make a decision as to whether to scale it down for two or to make up the full recipe and freeze portions. I made the whole thing and decided that we would have the other two portions with some chicken next week.

That whole plate in the picture was 2sp served with cauli rice and onion/mint/lemon salsa.

Ingredients

2  tablespoons Sunflower Oil
1 large Onion, chopped

1 inch slice Root Ginger, grated

4 cloves Garlic, crushed 

¹⁄₂ individual Red Chilli, finely chopped 
1 teaspoon Golden Caster Sugar (I used white Caster Sugar)
1 teaspoon Black Mustard Seeds (if you can't get Black use yellow)
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1 teaspoon Dried Coriander
1 teaspoon Turmeric 
1 tablespoon Garam Masala 
2 teaspoons Malt Vinegar (I used Cider Vinegar)
1 can Tinned Tomatoes
400g King Prawns, Raw

2 tablespoon Fresh Coriander, chopped, for garnish

Method

Heat the oil in a deep-sided frying pan and cook the onion for 8-10 mins until it starts to turn golden. Add the ginger, garlic and chilli and cook for 1-2 mins.

Stir in the sugar and spices for 1 min, then splash in the vinegar and tomatoes. Season with salt and simmer for 5 mins, stirring, until the sauce thickens.

Stir in the prawns, reduce the heat and cook for 8-10 mins until cooked through – if the sauce gets really thick, add a splash of water. Remove from the heat, stir though most of the coriander.

 

Serve with your chosen accompaniment (adding points if needed) and sprinkle the rest of the coriander over

Lets stay strong guys
Sue
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Turkey burger with Boodles and a Philadelphia Light Cream Cheese sauce

Quick dinner tonight.......turkey burger from the freezer made with my failsafe Philadelphia Cheese sauce.......6sp


So the turkey burger was made and frozen a few weeks ago. Its 85g of turkey mince with a couple of tablespoons of finely diced onion and the juice and zest of 1/2 lemon mixed in and to cook it I used our handy dandy Breville airfry ......

 .....I LOVE this gadget (except for the damn colour!!)......I'm finding new ways to use it all the time......so tonight instead of grilling/frying the turkey burger I put it in the Breville for 7 minutes and it was fab.... I always find turkey a bit tough and these burgers have been in the past....tonight this one was much better (still slightly tougher than a beef burger but I'm working on it!!!)


The sauce is super easy to make, I use it for everything...the basic recipe is a bit of finely diced onion fried off in some frylight (add a bit of water so they don't stick) with 2 tablespoons of Philadelphia Light Cheese allowed to melt into it then mix it over the butternut squash noodles (this sauce had two turkey rashers cooked off in the Breville and cut into pieces mixed in also). I then topped it with my turkey burger........yummy.......

My new goal.......

Jan 1st 2017

 
So I've been a weight watcher for about 3 1/2 years.....I got to my goal weight within 10 months and have maintained that weight (give or take a couple of pounds) for almost 2 years. When I set that goal weight I wanted to ensure that it was sustainable. Like many people I had done WW before and had limited success and therefore had limited confidence in my ability to succeed. The second reason was that I will be 60 in April so when I set my goal I was 58 and I was concerned too much weight loss would make me look ill. Well things have changed since then and I have very positive expectations of myself now.....I got to goal and I maintained. Late last year I set myself another, second goal and got there .... maintaining that even over the Christmas period (a 1 pound gain is acceptable I think!!) As far as the weight loss not affecting the way I look.....I trust my family and friends to tell me if they think I am doing too much so if and when that happens I will review where I am and make my judgement.

So......I have now decided to set myself a third goal....I'm going to try and lose another 8 pounds....I don't have a time frame for this but a steady loss of 1 pound a week would be nice.....if more comes off then thats ok too....the quicker I get there the quicker I can start to maintain....then I'll try and maintain that weight .....think that might be enough for me then. I'll be 60 in April and am currently the slimmest my husband has ever known me.....I feel great and my husband tells me every day that I look great (I know he's biased but its still nice to hear!!) my WW journey has become my WW life.....so the picture at the top is the the 8 pounds represented by 1 pound post it notes posted on the inside of my wardrobe door.....I'm going to remove the equivalent amount of weight loss from the door each time I get weighed and if I gain I'll add the equivalent.........

........and this picture is me from last week in the Canaries......I'll post another picture if and when I get to my new goal weight .....as well as regular updates about my progress.....and if I decide to stop I'll update you as well.

I get weighed on a Thursday so will update on those days......stay tuned and wish me luck......

Lets stay strong guys
Sue
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We've been away.....

Sunset from our room

 So.....we spend Christamas in the Canaries every year....it started 8 years ago when we lost my mum....she and dad came to us every year for Christmas and then when we lost dad Mum came Christmas eve and went home boxing day (or later).....when she left us in 2009 I couldn't cope with Christmas (or anything else for that matter but thats a different story!!) so hubby took me away so we didn't have to think about them not being with us......it was only meant to be that one year but we go every year now and it looks like we'll continue for a while yet.....so we go there and chill ....same hotel....same routine.....we get complimentary wine and chocolates every time we arrive now......I wouldn't be surprised if we were invited to the staff Christmas party next year we know them all so well!!!.....but its my comfort zone and I've pretty much incorporated my WW life into the whole shebang. So we've eaten stuff I wouldn't normally eat....milky coffee everyday......peanuts (with the beer!!)...cooked breakfast every day.....drank a lot and had pizza and tapas a couple of times......this photo was our Christmas Lunch......its our tradition

.....so was expecting a gain with that lot......but then realised that I had also made some good choices as well......like Tuna salad in our room a couple of times.....

 

........and wise restaurant choices......prawn salad

And also we racked up an impressive number of fit points (I still wear my fitbit on holiday and on those days where I don't feel like we've done much walking I chuck on my gym stuff and go walking on the hotel gym treadmill) .....so check this out for a two week holiday in the sun.....

......that day with the 0 is the day I forgot to put it on.....but we did about the same activity as the day before......anyway.....I wasn't sure what to expect with that kind of activity so imagine my delight when I got on the scales at home this morning and I have only gained a pound!!!
Considering I haven't tracked one mouthful of food while we've been away I think delighted isn't strong enough to describe how I feel....but I have to say that 2 weeks off my WW eating plan is about as much as I can take.....I'm really craving my healthy food and will be having a couple of kitchen days this week for some therapy...!

 Look who joined us for dinner one day.....nearly brought her home.......

Going to do my slow cooker pork chops with apple butter today for our New Year dinner Recipe Here.

Hope everyone has had a great New Year and you're as motivated as I am......I'll be here quite a bit now that we're back....see you soon

Lets stay strong guys
Sue
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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
x

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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