Spinach and Potato Ovenbaked Frittata

serves 2,  1 syn each if using cheese as a HE A

A nice quick dinner and a good way to use up any leftover veggies from other meals. It works well with pretty much any combination of veggies. Frittata is nice hot or cold.


- 4 eggs
- 1 cup of defrosted frozen spinach
- 1 cup of cooked potato (if you don't have left overs you can cook a small potato for five minutes in the microwave and then cut into small pieces)
- ½ a cup of sweetcorn
- 80g half fat cheddar cheese
- 1 diced red onion
- large handful of chopped corriander
- 1 teaspoon of garlic paste
- 1 teaspoon of chilli paste

- mix the eggs, chilli and garlic together in a large bowl
- add in the rest of the ingredients, stir well
- pour into a cake tin (I use a silicone one as these are easiest to take the food out of when cooked)
- bake for 30-40 minutes at 200°C/ Gas Mark 6 (remove from oven when frittata is golden brown on top)
- leave to cool for five minutes before serving

Spicy Mango Marinade

This is the same marinade used in the Spicy Mango Chicken main dish. The marinade can also be used on chicken for the BBQ or for the grill


- 2 tablespoons mango chutney

- ½ teaspoon chilli paste

- ½ teaspoon garlic paste

- ½ teaspoon ginger paste

- juice  of one lemon

- 1 tablespoon soy sauce

- 1 teaspoon olive oil

- 1 tablespoon tomato purée

- a handful of finely chopped fresh coriander


Mix the ingredients well, coat the chicken and leave for two hours to take on the flavours before cooking under the grill or BBQ

Spicy Mango Chicken

 Possibly my favourite recipe creation so far, I made this for dinner tonight with the Paprika Crispy Crushed Potatoes and the Oven-roasted Garlic Cauliflower.

Serves 4, 2 syns each

- 8 boneless chicken thighs

- 1 small ripe mango, peeled and chopped into small pieces (optional)
- 2 tablespoons mango chutney

- ½ teaspoon chilli paste

- ½ teaspoon garlic paste

- ½ teaspoon ginger paste

- juice  of one lemon

- 1 tablespoon soy sauce

- 1 teaspoon olive oil

- 1 tablespoon tomato purée

-1 finely sliced red pepper

- a handful of finely chopped fresh coriander 

 - In a casserole dish combine the mango chutney, chilli, garlic, ginger, lemon juice, soy sauce, olive oil and tomato purée. Mix until they are a smooth paste.

- add the chopped coriander and red pepper

- add the chicken thighs,coat the thighs well in the mixture

- set the dish aside for two hours so that the chicken can soak up the flavours

- place the casserole dish into the oven at 220°C/ Gas Mark 8 for an hour. Check on dish frequently making sure the chicken is well coated in the marinade. 

- after 50 minutes add the sliced fresh mango for the final ten minutes of cooking time.

Paprika Crispy Crushed Potatoes

A simple but really tasty side dish.

syn free

- new potatoes (how ever many you feel you need)
- paprika
- garlic salt
- black pepper

- Slice the potatoes into small pieces, boil the potatoes for twenty minutes from when the water comes to the boil
- drain the potatoes and place on a baking tray, crush the potatoes with a potato masher.
- cover the potatoes with paprika, garlic salt and black pepper

roast in the oven for ten minutes at 220°C/ Gas Mark 8

Oven Roasted Garlic Cauliflower

 

Serves 6, 1 syn each (if Parmesan used as part of HE A)

- 1 large cauliflower , trimmed and cut into florets

- 5 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced

- 1 tablespoon of olive oil

- 2 tablespoons lemon juice

- salt

- pepper

- 30g grated Parmesan cheese

- Combine cauliflower and finely sliced garlic in a large bowl. 

- Add the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Shake well to coat the cauliflower evenly

- place on a baking tray

- bake for 25 minutes at 220°C/ Gas Mark 8

- removes from oven and sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese, return to the oven for ten minutes

Hasselback Potatoes

 - new potatoes (however many you need to feed the troops)
- frylight
- juice from half a small lemon
- black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- optional 30g Parmesan Cheese (Use as HE A)

 - place a potato in the bowl of a wooden spoon (this stops you slicing all the way through) slice the potato finely
- place potatoes in a bowl, squeeze the lemon over the potatoes, add a sprinkling of pepper and the garlic salt. Shake the bowl vigorously, this will coat the potatoes and help the potato fan out letting the flavouring get inside the cuts.
- place the potatoes on a baking tray
 - cook at 220°C/ Gas Mark 7 for 50 minutes
- if you want to add Parmesan take the potatoes out at 40 minutes, sprinkle with Parmesan and return to the oven for ten minutes

Five Spice Sticky Root Vegetables

- Serves 2 (1 syn each)


-1 large carrot
- 1 large parsnip
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 tsp chinese five spice
- frylight

-peel and cut the carrot and parsnip into batons
- spray with frylight and place on a baking tray
- bake in the oven at 200°C/ Gas Mark 6 for 30 mins
- put cooked veg into a large bowl, add the honey and five spice, mix well
- place the veggies back on the baking tray and return to the oven for ten minutes.

Chana, Sag Aloo Muffins

Have a similar texture to the inside of a bhaji, minus the grease. These are nice hot or cold, perfect for picnics or lunchboxes. You could bake the mix as a loaf, I chose to bake it in a muffin tin making it easier to share.

½ a syn each (makes 10)

- Uncle Ben's, Express Vegetable Pilau Rice, 250g pouch cooked according to packet.

- Can of Chickpea Dhal, (tesco, asda, aldi versions are syn free)

- 3 eggs

- Cup of chopped frozen spinach (defrosted 2 mins in microwave)

- One small potato cut into small pieces (microwave for 3 mins once cut)

- Ginger Paste,  1 level tsp 

- Garlic  Paste, 1 level tsp

- handful chopped coriander

- Add the three eggs, chopped coriander, ginger, garlic and Chickpea Dahl into a large mixing bowl, stir till well mixed.

- add the defrosted spinach, rice and cooked potato chunks, mix well

- grease the muffin tin with frylight oil spray

- spoon the mixture into a muffin tin, filling each section to the top. 

- bake in the oven for half an hour at 200°C/Gas Mark 6.

- leave to cool (makes them much easier to remove from pan)

- serve hot or cold

Garlicky Sweet Potato Soup

Serves 4, Syn free

- Bulb of garlic
- two baking potatoes
- two sweet potatoes
- two red onions.
- a pint and a half of vegetable stock
- handful of finely chopped  fresh coriander

- peel and dice the garlic and red onions
- peel and cut the potatoes and sweet potatoes into chunks
- add all the vegetables and the stock into a slow cooker, cook on high for three hours. Alternatively  place the ingredients into a large saucepan, bring to boil, then simmer for roughly 20 mins  until the potato and sweet potato are soft.
- blend the mixture till smooth, serve with a sprinkling of chopped coriander

Broccoli Chilli Pasta Bake

Serves 4 (1syn each if using each persons HE A)

400g chilli penne pasta
large broccoli head
2 chicken breasts
one slice of wholemeal bread (30g)
150g light garlic and herb soft cheese
60g Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

-cut the broccoli into florets and cook in the same saucepan as the pasta
- meanwhile season and grill the chicken breasts, once cooked slice into bite size pieces.
- whilst the chicken and pasta are cooking blend the slice of bread until you have fine bread crumbs.
- mix the Parmesan with the bread crumbs and add salt and pepper
-drain the pasta and broccoli, stir in the soft cheese and chicken.
-put the pasta, broccoli, chicken mix into a casserole dish. Sprinkle the bread crumb mix on top
 - Stick under grill till topping is crispy and brown

Mexican Bean Loaf

Perfect picnic food or serve hot as part of a main meal.


½ syn for a slice
makes 6 slices

1 tin of refried beans
1 Uncle Ben's, Express Mexican Style Rice pouch
6 spring onions finely chopped
handful of coriander
1 red pepper chopped into small pieces
3 eggs
2 cloves of garlic crushed

-beat the three eggs in a large bowl
- add the refried beans into the eggs a spoon at a time, stir until well mixed
- cook the rice in the microwave according to the packet instructions
- add the vegetables and the rice into the mix, stir well
- pour the mixture into a loaf tin that has been sprayed with frylight
- bake for 40 minutes at 220°C/gas mark 7

Sticky Chili Chicken

serves 2, 1 syn per a serving

2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon chili flakes
1 tablespoon coriander
1 small lemon juice and zest
2 chicken breasts
salt and pepper
fry light

- spray a frying pan with fry light
- season chicken breasts with salt and pepper, fry on both sides for a couple of minutes
- in a separate bowl mix the honey, chili, coriander and lemon together, pour the mix over the chicken
- keep spooning the sauce over the chicken
- the sauce will reduce, serve when the sauce has thickened until it sticks to the back of the spoon

Mango, Fig and Feta Couscous

- syn free on extra easy if you use your healthy A for the feta.

 
- ripe mango
-ripe fresh figs - 3 or 4 depending on size (ripe when soft to the touch)
- Asda, Chosen by You Giant Couscous, Moroccan Style Sachet (free on extra easy)
- 50g Feta cheese cut into cubes (free if use as Healthy A)
-(grilled chicken breast, nice cut into cubes and mixed in the food- optional for non veggies)

Cook the couscous - follow pack instructions
whilst couscous is cooking cut the mango into small chunks, cut the figs into quarters (you may need to remove the very top and bottom of figs if they feel too hard.

When cous cous is cooked mix in the figs,mango, feta (and chicken)

Red Pepper Hummus

red pepper
garlic cloves (at least two, depends how garlicky you like things)
drained tin of chickpeas
juice of one lemon
handful of fresh corriander
salt and pepper
(optional chili powder)

chop red pepper in half put on a baking tray with the garlic cloves
stick in the oven till the pepper is roasted and soft

put the red pepper,garlic ( should be easy to remove peel now roasted) and all the other ingredients into a blender and blend till a paste. if it is too thick you can add a few spoonfuls of water or oil.

Scrummy Chicken Pie

Serves 4, syn free if the soft cheese is part of healthy a


bunch of asparagus
1 leek
punnet of mushrooms
broccoli
pack of diced chicken
2 tablespoons light soft cheese garlic and herbs
2 big sweet potatoes
2 large potatoes
half pint chicken stock
spoonful of bisto gravy granules

I used the steamer but could easily cook in saucepans

In one tier of steamer
- peeled and cut into chucks potato and sweet potato

In other tier
- sliced mushrooms
- finely chopped leek
- sliced asparagus
- broccoli cut into small chunks
- diced chicken

Cook in steamer for 40 mins, or in saucepans till cooked

transfer the chicken and vegetable mix into a casserole dish and add the half pint of stock thickened with the gravy granules.
- mash the sweet potato and potato with the Philadelphia, layer the mash on top of the vegetable and chicken filling
- stick in oven on gas mark 4 for around 20 mins so top of potato goes brown.

Cowboy Hotpot

 serves 4, on extra easy it s 4 syns per person veggie, or 5 syns with sausage

100g smoked Austrian cheese - (25g per person is 4 syns)
tin of sweetcorn
tin chopped tomato
tin mixed bean salad
tin baked beans
large potato diced
(meat eaters can add 2 weightwatchers sausages per person, cut into chunks - 1 syn for 2)
BBQ seasoning - I add couple table spoons
veggie oxo cube

dice large potato
slice cheese into little chunks

put everything in a casserole dish
stick the lid on
put in oven on gas mark 5 for an hour/ till potatoes cooked

loaded curried potato skins

Will add a photo next time I make these


- baking potato
-small sweet potato
- couple spoons of quark

- couple of slice spring onions
- handful of finely chopped mushrooms
- teaspoon of garam masala
-40g reduced fat cheddar
- half tin beans
- handful of sweetcorn
- handful of finely chopped coriander
(Meat eaters can add a couple of pieces sliced extra lean ham)

bake the potato and sweet potato till cooked through
whilst they're baking slice up all the other ingredients
combine all ingredients in bowl
hollow out baked potato and sweet potato - add into the bowl and mix well
stuff the baked potato skin piled high with your mix
stick it in the oven on medium heat for about half an hour

Lemon Yogurt Soufflé

Serves 4
1 and a half syns per a portion
2 muller light lemon greek yogurts
2 large egg yolks
2 large egg whites, room temperature
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
Dash of vanilla extract
Dash of lemon flavouring
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup half spoon sugar


Preheat the oven to 375F/190C
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, egg yolks, flour, lemon and vanilla extract.
In a separate bowl make meringue, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Then gradually stir in sugar and continue beating until the egg whites have formed stiff peaks.
Add the yogurt mix a spoon at a time, gently fold into the meringue, do this gently so that you don’t lose the fluffy meringue texture. This can be done with a whisk or with a spatula.
Divide mixture evenly into four ramekins, bake for about 20 minutes, until evenly risen and lightly browned around the edges.
Serve immediately.