Huevos Rancheros meets Ham, Egg and Chips

I really fancied huevos rancheros today, but as I'd already used my Hex B for my bacon butty at breakfast, I decided to substitute a thick slice of ham for the tortilla.

The advantage of serving it with a cooked salsa rather than raw, is that I could add plenty of onion to really up that superfree.

Husband requested chips, so I made him some black pepper jacket wedges. They're almost chips, and I can't be too compliant now can I?

So, this is what I did:

Serves 2

Syn free on Extra Easy

2 thick slices of ham, all visible fat removed

4 potatoes, skin left on, cut into wedges

salt and coarsely ground pepper

8 tomatoes, de-seeded and finely chopped

1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped

2 yellow onion, peeled and finely chopped

To flavour the salsa, I used the leftover spicy sauce from last night's tiger prawns, which consisted of:

a small knob of ginger, minced

a couple of cloves of garlic, minced

1-2 tbsp tomato purée

1-2 tsp paprika

Par boil the potatoes, shake well in a sieve or colander to rough them up a bit, place on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt and cracked black pepper. Cook in the oven on a high temperature until nicely brown.

Meanwhile, make the salsa. Sauté the chopped onion, garlic and ginger in Fry Light until soft, then add the tomatoes. Continue cooking for a minute or two, then add the tomato purée and paprika. You may need to add some water if the mixture is too stiff.

Serve with the ham and a fried egg.

Butternut Squash and Leek Risotto with Garlic-Ginger Tiger Prawns

Serves 2

2 syns on Extra Easy*

* providing you use the cheese as your Hex A

6 large raw tiger prawns

knob of ginger

4 cloves garlic

2 tbsp tomato purée

1 tbsp paprika

150g arborio rice

bouillon powder

125ml dry white wine

60g grated Parmesan cheese

1 large leek, sliced

a small butternut squash, quartered

Bake the butternut squash at 210°C until al dente (or as soft as you would like it). When cooked, scoop out the flesh using criss cross cuts which don't go right the way through the skin (much as you would with a mango).

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and add the prawns. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the turn pink. Do not overcook or they will be tough. Drain, retaining the liquid, and plunge immediately into a bowl of iced water to arrest the cooking process. When cool enough to handle, peel the prawns.

Sautée the garlic and ginger in a little Fry Light until it is just beginning to go brown, then add the tomato purée and paprika plus a little of the cooking water from the prawns. Just before the risotto is ready, add the prawns to the sauce – either whole or sliced – to reheat.

Place the rice in a saucepan with some of the cooking liquid from the prawns, bring to the boil and stir continuously while the rice absorbs the liquid. Continue adding about a ladle-ful of water each time, adding the wine and bouillon powder at some stage. About half way through (the whole process usually takes 20-30 minutes), add the leeks. When the rice is cooked to your liking, add the butternut squash and stir until the squash it heated through. Take the risotto off the heat and stir in the cheese. Serve with the prawns on top.

Carrot and Ginger Cupcakes

Another variation on my favourite – and immensely popular – butternut squash muffins. These are dangerously moreish, but at just half a syn (less in fact) each, you can really enjoy a couple without feeling guilty. They don't last very well in the fridge or a cake tin; but they freeze well – I have placed mine in containers with six cakes (without the icing) to take out for as and when we want a little treat, without going overboard.

Makes 36

½ syn each*

* providing you use the oats as your Healthy Extra b and cheese as your Healthy Extra A. Nine cakes constitutes one HexB and HexA.

140g porridge oats

2 tubs fat free thick plain Greek yogurt

100g sultanas

2 tsp baking powder

8 eggs, separated

2-3 tbsps mixed spice

½ – 1 cup of sweetener to taste

1 can sugar free ginger beer

3-4 large carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks

a knob of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

300g cream cheese

sweetener to taste

a few drops of rum essence

First of all, in a small bow, place the sultanas and pour over enough ginger beer to cover. Leave to infuse and swell. Next put the oats in a large bowl and mix in the yogurt and the rest of the ginger beer. If you are using a thinner, runnier yogurt, cut down on the amount of liquid you use.

Leave these mixtures to soak for at least a couple of hours, ideally overnight. Boil the carrots with the ginger and leave to cool. Whizz in a food processor until smooth.

In a large bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Whisk the egg yolks and add the sweetener, mixed spice and baking powder. (Don't do as I did – thinking that I might forget to add the baking powder – I wasn't following a recipe, I was making it up as I went along – I measured it out when I thought of it earlier and just put it on top of the oat mixture for stirring in later. Wrong! By the time I came to stir it in, the baking powder had drawn the moisture from the oat mix and was one hard, white cake. Oops. I managed to break it up by whisking it in with the egg whites, but it was certainly a learning point!)

Stir the egg yolks and carrot mix into the oat mixture, add the sultanas and gently fold in the egg whites, making sure everything is mixed in well. Spoon into well greased muffin cases. I find I like to keep stirring the mixture while I am putting it into the little muffin cases, as the sultanas tend to sink to the bottom fairly quickly.

Bake in the oven at 180°C for 20-30 minutes, until they are cooked through. They should be springy, not fluffy when you touch them gently with your finger, and a skewer inserted should come out clean.

For the icing, mix together the cream cheese, sweetener and rum essence and spread on top of the cakes.

Enjoy!

Lobster Piri Piri

Frozen lobsters were on special offer at Costco a while back, and continuing with my 'international week', I adapted an original Nigerian recipe for this.

Many years ago I inherited 12 solid silver lobster forks – not the most useful of kitchen implements, not for me anyway: I think I have served lobster at home a total of four times including today! So at least the forks got a quick polish and an outing into the real world. The place mats with the fish motifs came from Bali. 

 

For some reason I wasn't expecting a great deal from this meal, but it was absolutely delicious! 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

1 cooked lobster, halved

200g cooked prawns

1 red onion

1 green pepper

200ml passata

small knob fresh ginger, cut into thin strips

1 red chilli, finely chopped

1 tsp bouillon powder

½ tsp sweetener

boiled white rice to serve

Sauté the onion, pepper and ginger in Fry Light until soft. Add the passata, and chilli with some water to dilute to a thinner consistency. Simmer for a few minutes, then add the prawns and heat gently.

The recipe suggests adding the lobster to the pan to heat, but I decided to leave it cold until after we'd picked the meat off it, then mixing it all in with the sauce and rice, the lobster meat heated through that way. I find it difficult enough to get the meat out of a lobster without the shell burning my hands! 

 

Ramen Noodle Soup

This is loosely based on a traditional Japanese recipe – I struggled big time to find a recipe on line that used plain ramen noodles rather than those already flavoured with a soup mix, so I made my own recipe up, based on what I had in the fridge as well as some information I found on Wikipedia. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

ca 100 g plain ramen noodles (the packet was 250g and I used 1/3.)

2 small pork steaks, all fat removed, grilled and thinly sliced

knob of ginger, cut into julienne strips

½ savoy cabbage, finely shredded

handful fresh coriander leaves, chopped

soy sauce to taste

Sauté the ginger in Fry Light for a few minutes, then add 1 litre of water, the cabbage and soy sauce to taste. Simmer for 5, add the noodles and continue to cook for a few more minutes until the noodles are tender. Add the coriander leaves, taste and re-adjust the seasoning if necessary. 

 

Ginger Salmon with Sweet Peppers

I'm not going to offer an exact recipe for this, as you can vary the amount of ginger to suit your taste. We both love ginger with a passion, so I used a knob about the size of my fist. If you don't like your food too spicy, you would probably be happier with a piece the size of your thumb. You will also want to adjust the amount of sweetener and soy sauce according to how much ginger you use. Husband graded my version a 7-8 on the hotness scale (out of 10). 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

2 salmon fillets

knob of ginger

sweetener to taste (I used ca 1 tbsp)

light soy sauce (again I used ca 1 tbsp)

1 each of red, green and yellow pepper

1 red onion

small handful of coriander leaves, chopped

Peel the ginger and whizz through a spice grinder. Alternatively you can finely grate it. Mix with the sweetener and soy sauce and use some of it to top the salmon steaks. Chop the peppers and onion and sauté in Fry Light until beginning to soften. Meanwhile grill the salmon for 7-10 minutes until cooked through. Add the rest of the ginger to the vegetables and stir well. Simmer for a couple of minutes, then stir in the coriander leaves and serve, topped with the salmon fillets. 

 

Oriental-Style Coleslaw with Chinese-Style Pork

As plans changed today, I was left with no food for this evening, so Joe came to my rescue again – this time in the form of Chinese-style pork. What to serve with it? Hmmm, what's in the fridge....?

This is what I came up with:

Serves 3

Syn Free on Extra Easy

½ red cabbage

1 small onion

2 carrots

small knob ginger

½ pineapple

80g edamame beans

juice of 2 limes

2 tbsp sweetener

2 tbsp soy sauce

3 Joe's Chinese-style pork steaks 

 

Finely slice the cabbage and onion. Peel and cut the carrots and ginger into julienne strips. Peel the pineapple and cut into matchstick sized sticks. Mix the cabbage, carrots, onion, ginger and pineapple with the beans. In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, sweetener and lime juice. Pour over the salad and mix well.

Meanwhile grill the pork steaks on medium high for 8-10 minutes until cooked through. Serve with the salad. 

 

Thai Beef Curry

Serves 2

1½ syn on Extra Easy

250g Beef, cubed

4-5 shallots, sliced

1 red pepper. chopped

small knob ginger, thinly sliced

2 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced

1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed

2 Müllerlight coconut and vanilla yogurts

2 tbsp Thai red curry paste

stock

Fry the beef, shallots, pepper and ginger in Fry Light until the beef is sealed and the onion has softened a little. Add the carrots, squash and curry paste, with enough water to just cover the vegetables. Simmer until the carrots are cooked to your liking. To thicken the sauce, mash a few of the butternut squash pieces with a fork or potato masher. Take the saucepan off the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes before adding the yogurt, stirring well to incorporate.

Serve with rice. 

 

Rhubarb and Ginger Pudding

The idea for this came from the carrot cake, but obviously the rhubarb mixture didn't set very well, so I immediately changed it from a 'cake' to a 'pudding'. It has a very moist, soft centre and is very gingery.

You need to start the day before you want to eat the cake in order to get everything done, so it's not a five-minute wonder.

I used 3 stems of rhubarb to get 250g cooked fruit, cooking it to a pulp with very little water.

Serves 2

1 syn on Extra Easy *

* Providing you use the oats as your Healthy Extra B

For the ginger:

Large knob of ginger, about the size of your fist

1 cup sweetener

For the pudding:

70g porridge oats

1 Müllerlight rhubarb yogurt

1 tsp vanilla essence

350g cooked rhubarb

½ cup sweetener (or to taste)

½ tsp baking powder

2 eggs, separated

½ cup cooked ginger

a few more slices ginger

1-2 tsp ground ginger

Peel the ginger and slice into 1mm thick slices. Place in a saucepan with the sweetener and enough water to cover. Cook, covered, on a low heat for 2½ – 3 hours, checking on it from time to time to top up the water to stop it boiling dry. The ginger should have a translucent look about it when it's done.

Place the oats in a bowl and mix in the yogurt, vanilla essence and 1 tbsp water. Stir well and leave to soak overnight.

The next day, whip up the egg whites until soft peaks form. Place the ginger in a spice grinder or food processor and whizz until a pulp. Finely chop the extra ginger slices. Mix the cooked rhubarb, ginger pulp and bits, ground ginger, baking powder and sweetener to taste with the oat mixture. Mix in the egg yolks and finally fold in the egg whites.

I used two 4-inch cake tins to bake this in as I was planning on a cake, but next time I will use individual pudding basins. If you use one large basin, make sure you adjust the baking time accordingly.

Bake at 180°C for 25-30 minutes. The puddings will have a cake-like outside and a soft gooey centre. 

Crystallised Ginger

This seems to come out much stronger than the stuff you buy in jars, and obviously you don't get the same thick syrup with sweetener as you do with sugar, but it will certainly do for cooking purposes.

It's a lengthy process, so don't start just before you want to use it. Get the freshest and youngest ginger you can. It will keep for quite some time, sealed in the fridge.

Large knob of ginger, about the size of your fist

1 cup sweetener

Peel the ginger and slice into 1mm thick slices. Place in a saucepan with the sweetener and enough water to cover. Cook, covered, on a low heat for 2½ – 3 hours, checking on it from time to time to top up the water to stop it boiling dry. The ginger should have a translucent look about it when it's done. 

 

Hawaiian Pineapple and Ginger Dessert

 

 

We both love ginger, so this really appealed to me when I first saw it. I adapted the recipe slightly to fit in with the Slimming World Plan, and it was every bit as good as I thought it would be. You can adjust the amount of ginger to suit your taste – I used a knob about the size of half my wrist and it carried quite a punch! 

 

Serves 4

Syn Free on Extra easy

1 whole fresh pineapple

knob fresh ginger

sweetener to taste

1 tbsp cinnamon

fat free coconut yogurt to serve

Peel and chop the pineapple and place in four dishes (or one large serving fish). Finely chop the ginger and sauté in a little Fry Light until soft, ca 5 minutes. Add the sweetener and cinnamon and enough water to just cover the ginger by about 5mm. Gently simmer for a few minutes until the sauce has thickened, adding more water if necessary. Poor over the pineapple and and serve with the yogurt. 

 

Raan Lamb Steaks with Biryani Style Rice

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra easy

2 lamb steaks, all visible fat removed

For the marinade

1 small onion, chopped

3-4 garlic cloves

knob of root ginger, chopped

1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped

1 tub fat free natural yogurt

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 tbsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground turmeric

¼ tsp paprika

For the Rice

150g Basmati rice

2 tsp bouillon powder or stock cube

6 shallots, thinly sliced

¼ tsp ground turmeric

5 cardamom pods

5 whole cloves

1 carrot, grated

1 courgette, grated

Liquidise all the marinade ingredients until a smooth paste, and cover the lamb steaks completely. Leave for at least two hours, preferably overnight.

Preheat the oven to 230°C . Remove the lamb steaks from the marinade, reserving the marinade. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, then turn, cover with the reserved marinade and bake for another 20 minutes until nicely browned and cooked through.

Heat a frying pan with some Fry Light and sauté the shallots on a very high heat, stirring constantly, until browned. Keep aside. Cook the rice in the bouillon powder or stock cube with the turmeric, cardamom and cloves, adding the grated carrot and courgette for the last few minutes. Stir in the shallots, place the rice on two plates and top with the lamb steaks.

I served with some spiced cauliflower, to ensure that I got plenty of superfree in. 

Jerk Chicken Rice 'n' Peas

I felt like a jerk today. Jerk chicken that is.

The chicken breasts have been marinating for 48 hours – not because they needed that long, but because I started a day too early. It was great homing home tonight to find that most of the hard work for this evening's dinner had already been done – all I had to do was stick it in the oven and get the accompaniments ready.

Jerk Chicken Rice 'n' Peas

2 chicken breasts

1 small handful coriander leaves and a lime to serve

For the jerk seasoning

2 tbsp allspice berries
½ tsp coriander seeds
½ tbsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves
6 garlic cloves
4 spring onions, chopped
1 small bunch coriander
4 Scotch bonnet chillies, deseeded
1 small knob of fresh ginger
2 tbsp sweetener
3 tbsp lime juice

For the rice and peas

100g basmati rice
410g tin kidney beans
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
1 tsp ground allspice

For the melon pineapple salsa

¼ melon, chopped

¼ fresh pineapple, chopped

½ red onion, thinly sliced

salt and pepper to taste

juice of one lime

a little sweetener (optional)

Grind together the allspice, coriander and peppercorns until quite fine, then liquidise with all the other jerk ingredients until it forms a smooth paste. Place chicken breasts in a plastic bag and coat with the paste, giving them a good massage with your hands to ensure they are well coated. Refrigerate overnight.

Cook the chicken at 220°C for 20-30 minutes until cooked through. Boil the rice in the liquid from the tin of kidney beans with the garlic and allspice, adding water if necessary. For the last few minutes, add the beans to heat through. Mix all the salsa ingredients together.

Serve with your favourite chilli sauce on the side for those who like their food hot!

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Soba Noodles with Chicken and Edamame

This dish came about because of brain fog. Not only did I take the chicken breasts for tomorrow's dinner out of the freezer a day too early, I took three out in stead of two. So I was left with finding a recipe for one chicken breast.

Soba Noodles with Chicken and Edamame

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

100g soba noodles

80g edamame

1 chicken breast

½ red pepper

1 small onion

1 carrot

small knob of ginger

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbps rice vinegar

1tbsp sweetener

small bunch of coriander leaves

Thinly slice the onion and red pepper and cut the chicken into thin strips. Cut the carrots and ginger into thin juliennes. Chop the coriander leaves. Boil the noodles for seven minutes and drain.

Stir fry the onion and chicken for a few minutes, then add the ginger and carrot. Continue cooking until the chicken is cooked through, then add the soy sauce, vinegar, sweetener and coriander, and stir well. Serve with extra soy sauce if desired.

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Prawn and Quinoa Laksa

This 'creation' is a combination of two recipes and far from authentic, but who cares as long as tastes good? The quinoa helps to thicken the soup and adds a bit of substance.

Prawn and Quinoa Laksa

Serves 2

1 Syn on Extra Easy

2 small onions

2 stems lemon grass

small knob of ginger

3 cloves of garlic

1 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp sambal oelek

1 tbsp curry paste

100g quinoa

200g king prawns

small handful of mange tout, finely sliced

1 carrot, finely sliced

handful of beanspouts

bouillon powder to taste

1-2 tbsp sweetener

2-3 tsp light soy sauce

Boil the quinoa in just enough water to cover for about ten minutes. Meanwhile, place the onions, lemon grass, ginger, garlic, coriander, sambal oelek and curry paste in a liquidiser and blitz until smooth, adding water until you get about 600 ml of liquid with a consistency like a thick soup. Add bouillon powder, sweetener and soy sauce to taste. Add the mange tout and carrots and simmer gently for a few minutes. Meanwhile, simmer the beansprouts for a few minutes in a separate saucepan. Add to the soup with the prawns and heat through gently. 


Chopsticks brought back from Japan. 

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