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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Chilli and Ginger Prawns

Well .....I haven't posted in a while....my apologies for that ....I've had a bit of a minor health thing going on so my focus has had to be elsewhere.

But I'm back now.....

I had some stuff in the fridge that I needed to use up so I put this together. I didn't need to save any points but I'm delighted to say that this turned out at 2sp....you could use it with proper noodles (I used Butternut because they were in the fridge).

Ingedients

Frylight
Red onion (not shown in the picture because I had already started cooking it!!)
Vegetable stock
2 tablespoons of Philadelphia Lightest Cream Cheese
1 red chilli, halved, deseeded and sliced finely
Small piece of ginger, about an inch long peeled and cut into thin batons
handful of cooked prawns (I didn't weigh mine but I would estimate about 40g)

Method

Spray a medium frying pan with the frylight and bring up to a medium heat. Add the onion and stir around allowing it to soften in the pan for a couple of minutes. Add a couple of tablespoons of vegetable stock and stir to combine. Add the philly cheese and allow it to let and combine with the onion/veg stock mix, if it seems a bit dry add a little more vegetable stock (or water). Add in the prawns and stir to combine and allow to warm through.

I mixed mine with some butternut squash noodles and topped with a slice of weight watchers bread cubed and baked in our Breville Airfry.

Smoked Cod with Chilli and Ginger

I was tootling about Tesco yesterday and saw this smoked cod on the fish counter..........so I got myself a portion (190g). When I got it home I thought "What should I do with this?"....had a rummage around in the fridge and came up with this.

I had a piece of ginger and some fresh chilli left over from the Prawn Curry I did last week, so I took a lemon and zested it, squeezed the juice into a bowl, added the chilli (grated) and the lemon zest, spread it over the cod, topped it with the sliced chill and wrapped it in foil. It was baked in a moderate oven (160 fan) for 15 mins. I served it with butternut squash chips and "Creamed Leeks" and a spritz of fresh lemon juice to finish it off.

Pretty good for 3sp

Lets stay strong guys
Sue
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New goal update number 1....

Start goal and todays goal

Well......that was a surprise.....a very welcome surprise!! I don't know what I was doing when I weighed myself to post my news about my new goal. I posted that I needed to lose 8lbs to get to where I want to be...so I went to WW last week and had gained over the Christmas period...thats ok I can live with that...but I go again today and I've stayed the same...but when I worked out the difference today between where I am and where I want to be I only need to lose 7lbs.....my maths must be atrocious!!! But anyway I think there is a lesson there not to trust your bathroom scales.....(and maybe use a calculator!!!)

Lost my mojo a bit (I think it's still on holiday in Lanzarote!!) hoping it makes it home on the next flight so I can get some serious focus back again


p.s......if anyone has any words of wisdom I'd love to hear them in the comments :)

Lets stay strong guys (and oh how I need to at the minute!!)
Sue
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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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