Pea and Feta Salad

I made this salad to take on our picnic today, and Husband really enjoyed it. I served it with really thick cut Brunswick ham. I found the feta cheese went very well with the ham. I added in the mixed salad leaves from the original recipe, as the dish was lacking in superfree food. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy*

* Providing you use the cheese as your Healthy Extra A

Serves 4

300g frozen peas

4 slices bacon, all visible fat removed, grilled and chopped

100g feta cheese, cubed

1 small red onion, finely sliced

80g mixed salad leaves (watercress, spinach and rocket)

Cook the peas in salted water for a few minutes, then drain and rinse under running cold water. Mix all the ingredients together and serve with a dressing of your choice.

Ham and Parsley Terrine

This is a great dish to serve as part of a cold buffet, or to take to feed a crowd on a picnic.

Serves 6-8

Syn Free on Extra Easy

2 ham hocks, 1kg each, boiled and shredded with stock reserved

3½ leaves gelatine, soaked in cold water

125g gherkins, chopped

75g capers, chopped

75 shallots, chopped

1 large bunch flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Measure 600ml strained stock, reheat and dissolve the gelatine in this. Mix the ham, gherkins, capers and shallots together. Line the inside of a ½ litre terrine dish with cling film. Cover the bottom with a generous layer of chopped parley, then alternate the layers of ham and parsley until it has all been used up. Gently pour on the stock with the gelatine until the dish is full – making sure you leave enough room for the aspic – if the meat is too tightly packed meat the terrine falls apart when cut the next day. Leave overnight in the fridge to set.

The next day, invert the terrine, remove the cling film, cut and serve with a salad. 

 

Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

One of my all-time favourite salads, and making it this way, I can have it on the Slimming World plan. Use Morrison's Eat Smart Caesar Dressing for this salad, at only ½ syn per tablespoon.

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy*

* without dressing, and providing you use the cheese and bread as your Healthy Extras

250 cooked chicken

125g cherry tomatoes, halved

lettuce leaves, shredded

3-4 spring onions

2 slices wholemeal bread from a 400g loaf

60g parmesan cheese shavings

100g pasta, cooked

Cut the bread into small cubes and dry fry in a saucepan until toasted and quite dry. Leave to cool completely.

Mix all the ingredients together and serve with the dressing. 

 

Sausage and Potato Salad

A last minute decision to go out for the day today to make the most of the sunshine; meant that I had to think of a picnic lunch to take. As we all love sausages, this seemed like a good idea. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

4 Joe's Sausages (I used Old English), cooked and sliced

100g cooked new potatoes

80g cooked green beans, cut into 2.5cm lenghts

100g cherry tomatoes, halved

½ onion, sliced (I used the leftover cebollas en escabeche from yesterday)

Lettuce leaves, shredded

Combine all the salad ingredients and serve with a dressing of your choice, remembering to calculate the syn value. I made my own:

Spiced Salad Dressing

Serves 2

1 syn on Extra Easy

2 tbsp Hellman's Lighter than Light Mayonnaise

2 tbsp fat free plain yogurt

½ tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp allspice berries

½ tsp black peppercorns

1 tsp oregano

1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar

Whizz the spices through a spice grinder or food processor until fairly fine. Add with all the other ingredients in a screw top jar and shake well to combine. Add enough water to make a pouring consistency.