sausage and bean casserole

Tin of Cannelli Beans or Kidney Beans
Tin of Chickpeas
Tin of chopped tomatoes
Tin of baked beans
Stock Cube either vegetable or chicken
Onion
Sausages or quorn sausages

Boil the sausages to loosen the skin then peal the skin away and chop the sausages into large bite size pieces. Soften the onion by cooking it in a little boiling water then add the rest of the ingredients (the stock cube in enough water to almost cover the ingredients) and cook until beans and lentils are cooked through and the mix has turned into a nice thick casserole. Serve with White and Sweet potato wedges made in the oven with fry light or you could serve with mash and mixed veg. Additional veg can be added to the casserole and/or the sausages left out. 

9 syn hummus!

1 can drained and washed chickpeas
2 tbsp tahini
1 clove garlic (2 if you like it very garlicky)
3 tbsp plain yogurt
Juice of 2 lemons (real lemons not substitute)
Pinch of cumin
Salt to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
- Blend in food processor until smooth - Add more lemon juice if too gluggy
Serve with sprinkle of paprika and drizzle of olive oil

tortilla

I chopped up some potatoes, roasted them in frylight (no need to par boil), on the highest oven setting mines 240. When ready, I chopped them up into odd sized pieces, some big some small. Let them to cool for 5 mins.

In a jug whisk together four eggs and a dash of milk and some pepper. I put the spuds in a non-stick frying pan with some frylight, 'fried' them for a few minutes, poured over the egg mixture. Leave the base to fully cook (approx 5 mins), when it's ready, put it under the grill on medium for the top to cook.

I used 84g grated reduced fat cheese, and slice some cherry toms and red onion. When the top of your tortilla is ready, put the cheese, tomatoes and onions on and put back under the grill to melt.

4 bean spicy chilli

4 bean spicy chilli
Serves 4
Syns on green & extra easy – free
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic - minced
1 tin each of the following: red kidney beans, pinto beans, butter beans
Small tin baked beans in tomato sauce
4 large chestnut mushrooms chopped small
Chilli powder - to taste
Tsp coriander seed - ground
Heaped tsp paprika
Tbsp tomato puree (0.5 syn)
1 500ml carton passata
Salt & pepper
1. Fry the onion in fry light & a little water until beginning to soften. Add the garlic & a drop more water. Cook for 2 minutes.

2. Add the chilli powder, coriander, paprika & tomato puree, mix well and add a drop more water.

3. Add all the beans, mushrooms & passata. Mix. Top up with about 250ml water or Vecon stock.

4. Cook with the lid off for 20 minutes by which time the chilli should have thickened a bit.
Taste & season.

Serve with boiled rice & natural yogurt.

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bubble and squeak patties (best made the night before)

500g of white potato, peeled and cubed

300g of green cabbage leaves

1 chicken stock cube

black pepper

Frylight or Pam Spray

Method

For the bubble and squeak patties

Add the potato and cabbage to a large saucepan of boiling hot water and crumble in one stock cube. Bring to the boil and reduce heat and leave to simmer until potatoes are tender.

Drain the water from the potato and cabbage and mash with a sprinkling of black pepper.

Allow to cool and form into 6 patties. Place on a plate, cover and refrigerate overnight if possible.

Spray a large frying pan with Frylight or Pam Spray, add the patties and cook on each side until golden. Divide the patties equally among 3 plates.

PASTA WITH PARMESAN AND BREADCRUMBS

Serves 4 very generously (1 HEB and 1 HEA per serving)

INGREDIENTS
1 cauliflower
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1 chicken/vegetable stock cube
1 packet short pasta (500g)
4 slices nimble white bread (HEB)
100g parmesan cheese (HEA)
2 tablespoons olive oil (HEB)
Fresh chopped parsley
Lemon zest
Salt & pepper

First dry out the bread in a low oven and blitz in a food processor.

Soften the onions and garlic in 1 tbsp olive oil, add the cauliflower and sautee for 5 minutes. Season with salt & pepper, add stock cube and about 2 cups of water. Simmer until cauliflower is soft and water has evaporated. Mash the cauliflower a bit so you don't have too many big chunks.

While the cauliflower is cooking bring the pasta to the boil. When cooked add to the cauliflower and stir in the grated parmesan.

In another pan brown the breadcrumbs in the remaining olive oil until toasted and fragrant. Add the lemon zest and parsley and stir well. If you have a few spare syns, a couple of tablespoons of pine nuts wouldn't go amis!

To serve, fill your late with winter greens or rocket and spoon the pasta over it. Sprinkle with the breadcrumb mix and eat! Its very filling!!! Probably better as a weekend lunch with a light dinner to follow.

Enjoy!

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Oreo cheesecake (Dietgirls)

Serves 6

20 syns for entire cheesecake on Green, Red or Extra Easy

approx 3.5 syns for 1/6 of the cheesecake

Ingredients

700g of Quark

8 Oreos (20 syns)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 cup of splenda

Frylight/Pam Buttery Spray

Method

Preheat oven to 160c or 325f

Grease a spring form cake tin with some Frylight/Pam Buttery Spray

Place 6 of the Oreos into a food bag and bash with a rolling pin until very fine.

Spread out in the base of the cake tin and press down firmly.

In a large bowl, add the Quark and Splenda and whisk thoroughly.

Add the vanilla essence and then beat into the mixture one egg at a time.

Place the remaining two Oreos into the food bag and bash roughly.

Stir this into the mixture.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake in the oven for about 30-45mins until cheesecake starts to golden at the edges but is still soft in the centre.

Turn off the oven, but leave the cheesecake in there to cool.

Once cooled transfer to the refrigerator.

Serve Chilled.

Dietgirls syn free pizza base using tesco wholemeal crusty flour

You can use these quantities as ‘free’ on a red or a green day because they are the equivalent of 2 HEbs. Just stick to your green or red day rules when you add your toppings, eg no sweecorn on red days, no meat on green etc.

If you use this on an EE day, then count 1HEb and 6 syns.

Don’t forget to count your cheese as a HEa to ensure totally syn free!

Take 75g of your wholemeal bread mix, save approximately 5g for dusting and add approximately 60-70ml of water til you form a dough. Knead according to instructions. This, when cooked, will make a base of approximately 115g in weight, which is 2HEbs.

When the dough has risen/rested for the required time, flatten with a rolling pin or, as I do, use the base of your hand for a more rustic base, using your leftover dusting mix to ensure your base doesn’t stick to the breadboard or chopping board.

Put the base into your baking tray and then top with a thin layer of passata (I like to add paprika and oregano to mine). Sprinkle on a little bit of cheese, it’s up to you whether you use 1 or 2 servings of mozzarella, don’t forget 1 serving of mozzarella is 42g or you can have 8 of those low fat President’s Light mozzarella balls per HEa. If you just want regular mozzarella, Iceland do a very reasonable bag of pizza cheese for just £2. The ingredients list says that it is mozzarella so I have used 42g of it as a HEa until someone tells me different. I have also used the Tesco Healthy Living mozzarella ball, which is really nice too.

Add your free or superfree toppings, making sure they are all cooked first because foods such as mushrooms and bacon are very watery and you don’t want soggy pizza base.

The packet says to cook on two hundred and something but after trial and error I have found that cooking your pizza on 150-180 for 20-30 minutes (depending on size of pizza) gives you a crust with decent bite without being burnt.

If you have done this right, your pizza should fit comfortably inside the inner ring of a standard dinner plate.

I would say that just to be on the extra extra angelic side, make sure you do have a couple of syns left over from your day to makeup for any approximation in your mix quantities (eg if you make it too sloppy by mistake and need to add a little more mix to even out the texture)

Hope this helps. If anyone has any other hints and tips, or would like to post pizza photos please do share them here!

Syn free bbq sauce

BBQ sauce recipe

you will need
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tsp mild chilli powder
227ml/8fl oz passata
3 tbsp artifical sweetner
4 tbsp balsamaic vinegar
1 tbsp worchestershire sauce
1/2 tsp mustard powder
salt and freshly ground blacke pepper.

balslmic vingar and worchestershire sauce provide the basis for this great tasting bbq sauce thsat is perfect for a dip, basting a chicken thighs or vegetable kebabs before a bbq, lady who gave me this recipe said she has them on spare ribs and cooks them in the oven so she has bbq spare ribs.

spray a pan with fry light and saute the onion and chilli powder over a low heat for 5 minutes until softened.]

stir in the remaining ingrredients, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes untill thickened. check the seasoning before serving hot or cold.

syn free on both days ready in 20 minutes serves 4 and freezer friendly.

An idea - blend and then pop in a squeezy bottle

potatoe and spinich bake

Potato and spinach bake
Serves 4
2lb/ 4oz /1kg potatoes, scrubbed and cut into cubes
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 vegetable stock cube
450g bag spinach, washed
6oz/170g reduced mature cheese, coarsely grated
Salt and pepper
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Set oven gas mark 190 gas 5
Place potatoes in a large pan of water; bring to the boil and the simmer for 15 mins!!
Meanwhile, place the onions, garlic In a small pan with the veg stock and 7fl oz. /198ml boiling water, cover and simmer for 15 mins
Drain the potatoes and leave in a colander , place the spinach in the same pan used for the potatoes, and cover with a lid and cook for a few minutes until the spinach wilts .add the drained potatoes back into the pan with the spinach and toss together, place into a baking dish, and add the onion, garlic and stock mixture, pouring all over, then add half the cheese, , mix well.
Add the remaining cheese to the top, sprinkling all over, bake for approx. 40 mins, until golden brown!!!

Crab and chilli fried rice.

Again off of someone else.

Serves 2

Syn free on Extra Easy

or if on a Green day, you could use a HE serving of crab or use syns.

Ingredients

1 cup of chicken stock

1/2 cup of rice (uncooked)

2 eggs

2 tablespoons of light soy sauce

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/4 cup of frozen peas

1/4 cup of frozen sweet corn

1 red bell pepper diced

120g of fresh crabmeat (can used tinned if you can’t get fresh)

1 deseeded red chilli pepper, finely chopped.

Frylight/Pam Spray

Method

Add the stock to a saucepan, bring to the boil, add the rice and simmer covered, until the rice is tender. Remove from heat and let the rice sit in the saucepan still covered until all stock is absorbed, then transfer to a plate and allow to cool.

Add the two eggs to a bowl along with the soy sauce and whisk together.

Spray a large frying pan with Frylight or Pam Spray over a medium-high heat. Add the onion and chilli pepper, and red bell pepper and cook until the the vegetables are tender. Add the peas and sweet corn, then pour in the egg mixture, stirring continuously until the eggs start to set. Add the rice and crabmeat and gently mix over a low heat, until heated through.

Serve between 2 plates.

syn free onion gravy

This is from another user on minimins.

Syn Free on all plans (Red, Green or Extra Easy

Ingredients

1 large red onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

few sprigs of fresh thyme (or other herbs of your choice)

500ml of beef stock (I just use a couple of oxo cubes)

splash of balsamic vinegar

Frylight or Pam spray

Method

Spray a large saucepan with some Frylight or Pam Spray.

Add the onion and garlic and cook until golden. You may need to add a little of the stock if it starts to stick.

Add the fresh herbs, stock, and a splash of balsamic vinegar, bring to the boil and reduce heat. Allow to simmer covered for approx 1.5 hours (this really brings out all the flavours, but you can cook it for a shorter time period if you need to.)

When it has cooked for required time, blitz with a hand blender and your gravy is ready to serve. It is great with any meat or sausages or can even be used for the sauce for a shepherds pie or similar.

scan bran ferrero rocher

Makes 18 at 1 syn each

5 scan bran/weetabix
3 tbsp nutella


Put scan bran in a bowl add a bit of water, crumble in to small bits

Stir in nutella

use spoons to mix ( saves hands getting covered and doesnt waste mixture,lol)

Spoon in to 18 cake cases (ball shapes)

Put in fridge for an hour

Then eat