Red Lentil and Aubergine Moussaka

I recently posted about including more red lentils in my diet and posted a recipe for Red Lentil Falafels, Whilst I was doing the research for the item I came across a couple more recipes.....this is the latest. It includes Aubergine which I have only recently become friends with thanks to my friend Ally Pally. Its not a recipe that my husband will enjoy and although some recipes I scale down to 1 portion, for this one I have taken the bold step of making 6 individual portions which I have frozen so I have a quick grab meal should I need it (I hope I like it) although I have left the instructions for making 1 large family meal..... 

I have modified the original recipe to reduce the sp but each portion of this recipe is 4sp.......

I have tried to document the process all the way through with photographs but I was doing this when the Westminster tragedy happened and so became a little distracted....apologies if this makes things a bit awkward in following .......thoughts and sympathies to all those affected by the tragedy

Lets stay strong guys
Sue

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Ingredients

100g Split Red Lentils, dry 
400g Aubergine, sliced into rounds
Spray Oil
Salt and Black Pepper to taste
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
1 medium Red pepper, finely chopped
1 clove Garlic, finely chopped
1 can, large Tinned Tomatoes, chopped
50g Tomato Puree
1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
3 teaspoons Parsley, dried
125g Quark
125g Tesco Fat Free Greek Style Yogurt
3 Eggs, whole, mediumFresh Ground Nutmeg,
60g Parmesan Cheese, grated

 Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and cook the lentils according to packet instructions.
 

For the filling, spray the aubergine slices with the Spray oil, then lay on a couple of baking sheets and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bake in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes until softened and browned a little.

Meanwhile add the onion, pepper and garlic to the pan and fry for 2-3 minutes, or until softened.

Add the tomato purée, stir to coat the vegetables in it, then continue to fry for a further 4-5 minutes.

Add the canned chopped tomatoes and cinnamon and simmer for 4-5 minutes.

Add the lentils and return the fried aubergines to the mixture. Simmer for a further 2-3 minutes, or until warmed through.

Transfer the mixture to an ovenproof dish and sprinkle over the dried parsley.

For the topping, in a bowl, beat together the Quark, Greek-style yoghurt, eggs and grated nutmeg until well combined. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Pour the topping mixture into the ovenproof dish on top of the filling. Sprinkle over the grated parmesan.

Transfer the veggie moussaka to the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the topping is golden-brown and has set and the filling is bubbling. Serve immediately

   

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

I've done this before and decided to have another go this week. As usual I have slimmed down the recipe a little to suit my taste. I have deliberately kept it low so that I can change up the toppings at a later date.....going to try it with some salami on next week. The original recipes are here and here.

This served 1 and was 6sp.

Ingredients

For the base
1 large portion of cauliflower rice (it needs more than you think)
2 Tablespoons Two Chicks Egg White (or more depending on how much cauli rice you use)
1 teaspoon Oregano
1 teaspoon Basil
salt and pepper to taste

For the Tomato Sauce
Spray Oil
1 shallot, finely diced
1 tin tomatoes, chopped
2 teaspoons tomato puree
1 teaspoon Oregano
1 teaspoon Basil
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 deg/ 180 fan/ gas 6

Make the Pizza Base

Place the cauliflower in an microwaveable dish and add a splash of water. Cover with cling film and stab a couple of holes in to allow the steam to escape. Microwave on full for 2 or 3 minutes. Allow to cool before tackling the next step......

Put the cauliflower rice in a clean tea towel and then scrunch it up and squeeze out as much moisture as you can. Tip the rice into a clean bowl and add all the other ingredients. Add the egg white gradually as you mix to ensure that the mixture doesn't get too wet, you may need a little extra egg white if you have used a large portion of cauliflower rice. The amount of cauliflower is a bit arbitrary.....what I found was that when I "riced" the cauliflower it looked like a huge amount, however when I got to the stage of squeezing the water out it shrank quite substantially so don't be shy about the use of your cauli. Next time I make it I'm going to rice a whole cauliflower and then see how many pizza bases I can make and then freeze what I don't use.

Before                                   After

Spray a piece of baking parchment with spray oil and tip the cauli rice into the middle. Shape into a circle about 1/2 inch thick. Place in the oven and bake until golden brown about 35 - 40 minutes (this will depend on the size and thickness of your base). I turned mine 15 minutes before the end to ansure that boh sides of the base got browned.

Remove from  the oven.


Make the tomato sauce

Spray a frying pan with spray oil and add the shallot, fry over a medium heat until the soft (add a bit of water if needed to stop sticking).

Add the rest of the ingredients ensuring that the tomatoes are in small bits. Reduce the heat to low and cook until most of the liquid is driven off (mine took about 50minutes).

Before                                   After

Spread the pizza base with some of the tomato sauce and top with your chosen toppings (adding the appropriate sp) I used 40g Mozzerella (4sp) and a tablespoon of Parmesan (2sp)

Return back to the oven until cooked (depends on your chosen toppings (mine took 10 minutes to melt the cheese)

Zesty Lemon Chicken

I was gutted to hear that WW had stopped producing their Zesty Chicken Marinade.....it was lovely.....so I decided to google and see if I could find another recipe. I found this one   


I did 2 portions and it came out of the WW recipe builder at 1sp per portion....and that includes the chicken!!

I've altered the recipe a bit (left out the olive oil and used a roasting bag)

Lets stay strong guys
Sue

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Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, cut into large chunks
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 medium onion, cut into large chunks
1 teaspoon of garlic puree

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon thyme
Salt and black pepper to taste

Method 

Place the chicken chunks in a roasting bag, all the other ingredients and tip and tumble the chicken pieces in the mix until they are all covered with the mix. 

Marinade overnight (or a minimum of 12 hours)

Take the chicken from the fridge about half an hour before you are ready to cook to allow the chicken to come to room temperature before cooking (this ensures that the chicken cooks evenly)

When ready to cook preheat the oven to 180/ 160 fan/ gas 5.

Place the roasting bag on a baking sheet in the bottom of the oven making sure that the roasting bag has room to expand without touching the sides or any other shelves in the oven.

Roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes (thought the chicken was a bit dry but hubby liked it....I'm going to reduce the time next tme ....he won't notice!!)

Serve with your desired side dish adding appropriate points.

Weight Watchers Aubergine Parmegiana

So this recipe appeared in our WW magazine and we all went crazy for it.....LOADS of people posted their dishes.....an obvious winner.....so with my new found love of Aubergine (Thank you Ally Pally) I had to make it......It was one serving (because my hubby won't eat Aubergine!!) and came out at 3sp......I served salad with it but you could add anything you like (don't forget to add the sp though)

Can't give any links to the original recipe like I normally do because it was in the magazine but credit goes to Weight Watchers for it

Lets stay strong guys
Sue

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Ingredients

1 medium Aubergine, sliced into 1 cm rounds 

Stir-Fry Spray Oil

¹⁄₄ large Onion, diced

¹⁄₂ can Tinned Tomatoes

¹⁄₂ large Tomato, chopped

¹⁄₄ tablespoon, Tomato Purèe

¹⁄₂ teaspoon, Oregano, Dried

1 Bay leaf, dry

¹⁄₄ teaspoon Balsamic vinegar 

30g Light Mozzarella

A few Basil leaves

10g Parmesan

 Salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

Method

Preheat the oven to 220deg/ 200deg fan/ gas 7

Put the aubergine rounds on a large baking sheet, season and mist with cooking spray. Roast for 15-20 mins until slightly browned and softened

Meanwhile mist a medium pan with the cooking spray and add the onion, Cook for 5 mins until slightly softened then add the tinned tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, the tomato puree, oregano, bay leaf and balsamic vinegar. Season and simmer for 20 minutes until thickened.

Cover the bottom of an ovenproof dish with one third of the mixture, layer over with half of the aubergines, then top with a third of the mozzarella and a third of the basil leaves. Repeat to create a second layer.

Top with the rest of the sauce and sprinkle over the remaining mozzarella and all of the parmesan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is melted.

Baked Seabass

This meal was inspired by Chubbycubs Baked Cod with Samphire but I fancied Seabass instead. This was one portion and came in at 6sp for everything. If you upscale it for more portions or change your accompanying side dishes please make sure you recalculate your sp for accuracy.

I served mine with a small jacket potato with a half tablespoon of Philadelphia lightest on each half.

I had never had samphire before and am always on the lookout for new things to change up my meals.....samphire has been on my list for a while. It has a very salty flavour and is lovely and crunchy.....it can also be eaten raw in a salad which I intend to use it for sometime. When I googled how to serve samphire the advice was to smother it in butter.....now I've got nothing against butter.....however it doesn't feature very much in my WW life.....but I found a substitute..... Butterbuds......

.......little sachets of dried fat free butter extract. Now if you are looking for a substitute to slather on your crumpet....I wouldn't necessarily recommend this....but for certain things they are a great substitute.....I dissolved 2 sachets in 2 teaspoons of hot water (0 sp) and then coated the samphire with it.....check them out here I often put them in egg white omelettes to substitute the creaminess of the missing egg yolk.

Lets stay strong guys
Sue

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Ingredients

50g Cherry Tomatoes, halved
¹⁄₂ tablespoon Capers, in Brine
¹⁄₂ teaspoon Thyme, Dried
¹⁄₂ teaspoon, Dill, Dried
¹⁄₂ teaspoon, Oregano, Dried
1 fillet, medium Seabass
1 teaspoon Olive Oil
2 teaspoons Balsamic vinegar
Pinch Salt
Pinch Black pepper
1 serving Samphire

Method

Preheat the oven to 200/ fan 180

Place the tomatoes, capers, and fish in an ovenproof dish.

Mix the olive oil, balsamic vinegar and herbs and drizzle over the top. Add salt and pepper.

Put into the oven for about 15 minute. Seabass is very delicat and doeesn't really need any longer than this. If you use anothr fish check its cooked through enough.

Put the samphire in a microwaveable dish with a little water (about a tablespoon) and cook on full power for three minutes. Drain it and serve, add the fish, capers and tomatoes. Drizzle over some of the liquid that was released when the ingredients cooked. Serve with any other additional side adding appropriate points. I'm not going to insult anyone with instructions on how to serve up a jacket potato!!!

Quick Pickled Vegetables

So you all know I like looking for and trying out different things to enhance my meals etc.....I recently saw these whilst I was watching Masterchef so I googled and found this ....

It can work with any vegetable (just about)....so I used what I had in....cucumber, carrot and red cabbage (I had the red cabbage in because I made Slice of Slim Sweet and Savoury Red Cabbage)......I'll post that soon

The notes say that you can use any number of combinations of vinegars, spices and herbs. I decided to start very simply....I used Cider Vinegar, mustard seeds and Black peppercorns......I'll experiment as I go along....




So its really easy to do although the smell of the pickling liquid hangs about for a little while afterwards!!!

I used it here

The recipe and notes  are here

Lets stay strong guys
Sue

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Red lentil falafels

I've been thinking about red lentils for quite some time.....I've heard people in my WW meeting saying how they had eaten such and such delicious meal made with them for very low sp ....I've tried REALLY hard to get into them....I've had them in my hand in the shop several times in the last couple of years ready to go in my trolley....but they were never able to make it to the check out, let alone my pantry.

But recently I've managed to get them in the trolley, through the checkout and into my kitchen....yay!!! So...what to do with them......my lovely WW friend Kelly advised Red Lentil Dahl by the Chubbycubs (will be doing that soon)....but also I googled red lentils and found this recipe.....I've also been thinking about falafels for some time too....so it seemed like karma that brought them together....so I did it......this recipe makes 20 falafel at 1sp each and apparently they make great cold leftover lunches.......Original recipe here

Making these would be easy in a food processor (as described in the recipe) but mine died recently so I used my mini chopper to chop everything and then mixed it all together by hand.

Also I wanted to make these on a particular day and didn't have the fresh herbs in so modified it a bit....I left out the fresh herbs and added the second pepper, this made the mix a bit wet and therefore I was unable to form them into balls so they ended up as patties....next time I make them I will definitely use the fresh herbs and just 1 pepper.

Lets stay strong guys
Sue

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Ingredients

200g Split Red Lentils, cooked, rinsed
Handful of fresh flat leaf Parsley, remove stalks (I left this out)
Handful of fresh Coriander, remove stalks (I left this out too)
1 large Onion
1 or 2 medium Red pepper, use from a jar
1¹⁄₂ tablespoons Tahini paste (Sesame paste)
1¹⁄₂ tablespoons Olive Oil
Pinch Salt
Pinch of Black Pepper
1 teaspoon, level Ground Cumin
1 teaspoon, level Coriander, Dried
¹⁄₂ teaspoon, level Baking powder
1 tablespoon, level Plain White Flour
Few sprays Spray Oil

Method

Soak the lentils in fresh water overnight. When ready to make the falafels, strain and rinse the soaked lentils. Make sure to pick through the batch and discard any stones or debris.

This is what they looked like before and after!!!

In a food processor, pulse the lentils until they are coarsely ground, 3 to 5 times. Add the parsley, coriander, onion, and red pepper to the bowl, and pulse another few times.

Drizzle in the tahini paste, olive oil, spices, salt and pepper, and blend until almost smooth. Make sure not to over blend the mixture; you still want some crumb. Taste the mixture, and adjust the seasoning according to your liking.

Add the baking powder and the flour. Start by adding 1 tablespoon of flour at a time. If the mixture is still too liquidy add another. The mixture should be fairly moist, and if you add too much flour, the falafels will become too dry and hard when baked.

Refrigerate mixture for 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 375° F.

Generously coat the falafels with oil spray and bake until golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Make sure not to over cook these — you don't want them to dry out.


I had them with salad and tzatziki and some of my fridge pickles (recipe coming soon!!)....next day I had them again for lunch on a salad.....

Balsamic Chicken

I'm trying to free up some space in our freezer and I recently came across this lurking in there.....I'd forgotten I had it (I often do that because I do so much browsing for new recipes!!). Anyway I pulled it out because I remembered that I really liked it when I made it.....I've dug around in my WW recipes and found the details for it.....so here they are....hope you like it....it serves 6 and is 2sp per serving

Ingredients

600g Chicken breast, skinless, raw, cubed
a few sprays of Frylight Stir-Fry Spray Oil
200g Mushrooms, sliced
1 clove Garlic,minced
1 cube Chicken stock cube, made up to 125ml with hot water
2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
Small sprig Thyme, Fresh
1 tablespoon Parsley, fresh, chopped
salt and black pepper

Method
 

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Spray a frying pan with the frylight and heat over medium high heat.

Add the chicken and sear on both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes. Remove the chicken and set aside.

Add the garlic and mushrooms to the skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes until mushrooms begin to soften.

Add the chicken stock, balsamic vinegar, and thyme to the skillet. Stir and scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pan.

Add the chicken and let simmer for 10-15 minutes on low heat or until chicken is fully cooked.

Leftover Burger Noodles

So last weekend I was watching a shed load of cooking programmes and picking up recipes all over the place (stay tuned I intend sharing the slimmed down versions here!!)......one of the recipes I picked up was Nigel Slaters Ricotta Burger.....original recipe here .....I slimmed it down by using cottage cheese instead of ricotta....and they were delicious and only 2sp.....well.....Nigel had another recipe up his sleeve to use the leftover burgers.....so tonight I had a play with it and came up with this......it was delicious and well worth doing!!! It was a single portion and came out at 9sp....

Couldn't find the original recipe for the left over pasta sauce dish.....sorry.....been removed

For my sauce I used these.....

Sacla Pesto Portions....they are 6sp for a full portion but I only used 1/3 of the pot.........will be using them again!!!

Ingredients

Spray Oil
Tablespoon of onion (or shallot)
50ml of vegetable stock
2 tablespoons of Philadelphia Lightest Soft Cheese
1 tablespoon Tesco Natural Fat Free Greek Yogurt
2 teaspoons of Sacla Pesto Pot (above)
2 sundried tomatoes drained and squeezed of all oil, chopped (approx 10g)
1 Nigel Slater Burger crumbled into small bite sized pieces
Noodles to serve (adding any appropriate sp)...I used Butternut squash and Courgette noodles 0sp
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
3 fresh basil leaves (optional)
salt
Black pepper

Method

Spray a frying pan with the oil and soften the onions over a medium heat for a few minutes, add the vegetable stock and allow to bubble and combine with the onions. Add the Philadelphia cheese and the yogurt and stir to combine, add the pesto and the sun dried tomatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Finally add the crumbled burger.

Combine with your chosen noodles (add the sp), tip onto your plate and sprinkle over the parmesan a little fresh basil to serve.

Double Cheeseburger.....yes you heard right!!!

I was browsing some cooking programmes at the weekend and picked up a few recipes to play around with.

Did this one tonight........Nigel Slater made a Ricotta Burger......Minced Beef mixed with Ricotta Cheese....recipe here. So I slimmed it down a bit by substituting Cottage Cheese for the Ricotta, I made mine medium sized and got 8 burgers at 2sp each, added a slice of cheese (3sp) to make a cheeseburger and fried some onions in a bit of spray oil. The bread was a Warburtons thin but I got a bit arty and cut it into a round (this actually halved the weight of the bread and when I put it into the recipe builder it came out as 1sp) but if you like make the burgers bigger and leave the thin as a square (alter your points accordingly)

I know my butternut squash chips look burnt but I like them really well done (and they are cooked with Paprika on them so that colours them a lot too)

Lets stay strong guys

Sue
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Ingredients

500g Extra lean beef mince (5% fat), raw 
300g Reduced Fat Natural Cottage Cheese
1 medium Spring Onion, finely chopped 
1 tablespoon Capers, in Brine
1 sprig Rosemary, Fresh, finely chopped
Pinch Salt
Pinch Black pepper
Frylight Stir-Fry Spray Oil

 



Method

In a large mixing bowl mix together the beef mince, cottage cheese, spring onions, capers and chopped rosemary.
Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Using your hands make ball shapes of the mixture to approximately the size of your palm.
Spray a frying pan with the oil and fry for a few minutes on each side (6 - 8 minutes each side)

Creamy Chicken with Mustard and Beans

This was a real winner tonight guys......

I made the Davids Hot or Not Chicken last night and the ingredients for the recipe stated 2 chicken breasts....when I made it one chicken breast was enough for my husband and I. So tonight I needed to find something to use the second one with.....so I dug around in the fridge and pulled out a few things and made this.

It comes out of the recipe builder at 3sp and is really tasty and filling.....you could use 2 chicken breasts and leave out the beans and the points would stay the same (I checked it in the recipe builder)

I served mine with steamed broccoli and hubby had cheesy potato skins.

Ingredients

1 large onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 chicken breast, cut into thin strips
Handful of green beans (I used what was left from the curry last night about 100g) tops and tips removed and cut into bite sized pieces
250ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp of wholegrain mustard
1 tsp of dried thyme
salt
black pepper
2 tbsp Tesco Healthy Living Creme Fraiche
1 tbsp quark (optional - see method)

Method

Spray a large frying pan with the spray oil and fry the onion over a medium heat until softened, add the garlic and fry a couple minutes more.

Add the green beans and the chicken and stir around to combine, making sure that you get the chicken strips in contact with the base of the pan to brown them off.

Add the vegetable stock, mustard and thyme and simmer over a medium low heat for 20 minutes or so until the liquid has almost disappeared (it may need a bit of topping up with water from the kettle before the beans are cooked).

Take the pan off the heat and add the creme fraiche (I forgot to remove the pan from the heat and the creme fraiche started to split so I quickly removed it from the heat, added a tbsp of quark and recovered it....that why the quark isn't in the ingredients picture!! It actually came out really creamy and I think I would use the quark next time I make it)

Serve with the accompanyment of your choice adding the appropriate sp.

Tesco's "David's Hot or Not Chicken Curry"

You know those adverts that Tescos are doing at the moment about "real" peoples recipes.....well today we tried "David's Hot or Not Chicken Curry......

I've re-presented the recipe here for you but I haven't changed it really (the original is here).....didn't need to, I put it through the WW recipe builder and it came out at 3sp (the only concession I made was to use spray oil instead of three tbsp of veg oil in the recipe)

I loved it but hubby thought it was too spicy (but thats down to the kind of paste I used....I used the Gujerati paste recommended....I'm going to try it with other variations of pastes to suit hubbys taste), even though I put a tablespoon of yogurt in at the end just before serving up. I served it with Cauli rice, a little side of onion lemon and mint and a poppadom (1sp)

I'm definitely doing this again for those nights when himself has something totally naughty that I don't eat!!! But I'm going to change the way I do it because I didn't like the waiting about for the chicken breast to grill.....I think I'm going to cut the chicken into strips and marinade it then grill the slices to sit on top of the sauce.

Lets stay strong guys

Sue
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Ingredients

3 tbsp low-fat natural yogurt, plus extra to serve

2 1/2 tbsp Tesco Gujarati curry paste or the Indian curry paste of your choice 

2 chicken breasts  

2 tsp vegetable oil1 red onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, grated5cm piece ginger, peeled and grated
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes100g green beans, stalks removed

salt

black pepper

Method
Put the yogurt and 1 tbsp curry paste in a bowl, add the chicken and stir until coated. Leave to marinade for at least 15 minutes, or up to 1 hour, to allow the flavours to develop.

In a frying pan, heat the oil, add the onion and fry over a medium heat, until soft. Add the garlic and ginger and fry for a further 1-2 minutes.

Add the remaining curry paste and stir through until everything is coated. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and green beans; season. Leave to simmer on a low heat for about 15 minutes, until thickened slightly.

Put the chicken on a foil-lined baking sheet and grill, under a medium-high heat, for 6-8 minutes on each side. Once cooked through, slice into 2cm cubes and mix into the curry (I sliced mine into slices).

Serve with accompanyment of your choice (adding appropriate sp)

New start

Been a bit quiet lately....mainly because I've been a bit unwell.....but hopefully I've turned a corner and will be here a bit more in future.

These pizzas were recommended to me by my lovely WW leader Lesley....they are really nice and low in points (compared to regular pizzas!!)

The Pollo Primavera one was 12sp, the Mozzerella 14sp and the Salami 12sp (I believe there is a Prosciutto and Fig one but I haven't seen it).....they are meant to be one portion size but I couldn't eat a full one so hubby and I share them....I have a large salad with mine and he has chips.

We had the Pollo Primavera tonight......

......................yum

Lets stay strong guys

Sue
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