Pork Tenderloin Stuffed with Prunes

Syn Free on Extra easy providing you use the prunes as your Healthy Extra B

This is so simple it doesn't really warrant a recipe as such. Take your tenderloin, remove all visible fat and make a long slit lengthways. Flatten out as much as you can without breaking the meat apart. Stuff with prunes (bearing in mind that you are allowed 85g of semi-dried ready to eat prunes as your Healthy Extra B – I found I used around 100g for the whole tenderloin, which will serve 3-4 people) and roll up tightly, securing the ends with string or cocktail sticks.

Bake in the oven on 230°C for about 30 minutes, until cooked through. Serve with vegetables of your choice, remembering to remove the string or cocktail sticks before serving. We enjoyed the pork with roasted sweet potatoes, sautéed leeks, steamed green beans and roasted red onion. 

King Prawn Salad

This salad is so easy and quick to make, but never fails to satisfy. You can vary the amount of chilli to suit your taste.

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra easy

1 packet of king prawns

1 packet salad leaves – I like to use watercress, rocket and spinach

2-3 limes

1-2 tsp sweetener

1 red chilli, finely chopped

Divide the salad between two plates and top with the prawns. I like to take it all out of the fridge at least an hour before serving, as I don't like my food cold (that even includes ice cream!).

Mix the juice from the limes, sweetener and chopped chilli together – or cheat as I do and use sambal oelek (or lazy chilli in a jar) in place of the chilli. Drizzle over the dressing and serve. 

Turkey Saltimbocca Skewers

Turkey fillets flattened and rolled up with red pepper pesto, sage leaves and Parma Ham, then cut into short pieces and skewered. I served mine on jewelled amaranth, and as I was eating it suddenly panicked about the syn value of amaranth. I always assumed it was syn free, and checking it afterwards I was right. Phew! Amaranth is a grain that was popular with the Aztecs and ancient Mexicans, and is regaining popularity as a healthy alternative to rice or couscous. I simmered mine in some stock with chopped red and green peppers and baby sweetcorn.

The plates were a gift from a very good friend in Texas, and the skewers I brought back from  Burkina Faso. 

Turkey Saltimbocca Skewers

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

300g turkey fillets

½ red pepper

50g tomato purée

bunch sage leaves

4-5 slices Parma Ham (same amount as the number of turkey fillets)

Flatten the turkey fillets as much as you can, either by using a kitchen mallet or a rolling pin, covering the meat with cling film to stop it splitting. Liquidise the half a red pepper and mix with the tomato purée, then spread on each of the flattened turkey fillets. Place the sage leaves on top and then the ham. Roll up from the long side and cut each roll into slices around one inch thick. Thread the slices on to skewers, ensuring that the ends of the rolls are secured well. Grill on a high heat for 10-15 minutes, until the turkey is cooked. Serve with accompaniments of your choice.

WARNING: if using metal skewers, they will be hot. I know, I am sporting two nice little blisters as I write this. 

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Thai Meatball and Noodle Soup

Looking for shitake mushrooms on the shelves in Tesco, I came across some forestiére mushrooms, a new variety 'just discovered'. Always one to try something new, I was delighted to find they were on special offer too. Almost any type of mushrooms would work in this recipe though, and I really couldn't tell a difference with so many other flavours.

This dish is very much more than just a simple soup, it is very filling and a meal in itself.

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

200g extra lean pork mince

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 bunch spring onions

2 red chillies

zest of ½ lime

½ tsp galangal

1 tsp dried ginger

2 kaffir lime leaves

¼ tsp lime powder

1 tsp salt

a few turns of the mill of freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp sweetener

¾l well flavoured stock

1 tbsp light soy sauce

50g forestiére mushrooms, finely sliced

1 pak choy

100g fine egg noodles

5-6 shallots, finely sliced

A few shredded mint leaves to serve

Finely chop half the spring onions and one of the red chillies. Mix with the pork mince and add the garlic, lime zest, galangal, ginger, kaffir lime leaves, lime powder, salt, pepper and sweetener. Stir well to ensure it is thoroughly combined. Turn into little balls and place in a steamer. Steam for 15 minutes until cooked through, reserving the water that has come off the balls for using with the stock in the soup.

Thinly slice the remaining spring onions lengthways in 2” long pieces. Slice the second chilli. Gently sauté the shallots for a couple of minutes, then add the sliced mushrooms, cooking for a few more minutes while stirring. Add the stock, meatball stock, pak choy, spring onions, soy sauce , sweetener and noodles. Simmer for 3-4 minutes and serve with the mint leaves.

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Boiled Eggs with Watercress and Parsley Sauce

It is very unusual for Husband to say he doesn't like something, but this morning he did. Unlike me, he is very particular about what he can and cannot eat for breakfast, and this really didn't suit him. Oh well, you can't please all the people all the time.

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

4 eggs

1 packet watercress

1 bunch flat leaf parsley

salt and pepper to taste

pinch of cayenne pepper

Boil the eggs to your liking. Place the watercress and parsley in a liquidiser with a couple of tablespoons of water and process until smooth. Season to taste. Pour the sauce on a plate and top with the boiled eggs, quartered. 

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Lamb Shanks with Barley and Root Vegetables

This seems to have been cooking all day, and I struggled to find a pot large enough to house all the vegetables, but it was well worth it for the finished product.

Served 2

2½ Syns on Extra Easy

2 lamb shanks

a couple of handfuls of pearl barley

bouillon powder to make stock

2 medium sized potatoes, diced

2 carrots, thickly sliced

2 leeks, thickly sliced

1 parsnip, diced

1 onion, diced

4 tbsp Bisto gravy powder

Place shanks and barley in a large oven-proof pot and cover with stock. Bake at 160°C for 1.5 hours. Add the vegetables and return to the oven for a further 1.5 hours. Remove the juices form the pan, keeping the meat and vegetables hot, add the Bisto powder to the pan juices and heat to thicken, adding more water if necessary.

Serve the vegetables on a plate, topped with the lamb shanks. Serve the gravy separately, and mint sauce is desired. 

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Scotch Egg with Salad

I love Scotch eggs, and now I can also eat them on my Slimming World plan. These were particularly nice, so I shall be making these again, that's for sure. They'd be great for picnics.

Serves 2

½ syn on Extra Easy providing you use the bread as a Healthy Extra B

200g Joe's sausagemeat

½ tsp salt

½ tsp dried basil

½ tsp dried sage

½ tsp fresh ground black pepper

2 eggs, hard boiled

2 slices bread

2 tbsp extra light mayonnaise

2 tbsp fat free plain yogurt

juice of 1 lime

a pinch of chilli flakes

sweetener to taste

Salad leaves of your choice.

Using a food processor, make the bread into crumbs and spread thinly on a baking plate. Bake at 200°C for 5 minutes, making sure it doesn't burn.

Mix the sausagemeat with the salt, pepper and spices. Peel the eggs and wrap them with the sausagemeat. Roll in the breadcrumbs to ensure they are completely covered. Bake at 220°C for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile make the dressing. Mix together the mayonnaise, yogurt, lime juice and chilli flakes. Add sweetener to taste. Serve the Scotch egg on the salad and drizzle with the dressing. 

Monkfish with Shallot and Garlic Sauce

I'm not often 'allowed' to go grocery shopping in Waitrose, as I tend to buy to many of the nice things I see there that are not usually available in Tesco or Morrisons. Yesterday was no different. We only bought 21 items according to the receipt, but it came to £67 – that's over £3 per item. Oops. And there was I supposed be trying to save money...

Some lovely monkfish fillets caught my eye, so I had to put my thinking head on to create a recipe for tonight.

Monkfish with Shallot and Garlic Sauce, Samphire and Crushed Soya Beans

Serves 2

4 Syns on Extra easy

2 monkfish fillets

150g samphire

150g soya beans

1 tsp mint sauce

150g shallots, very finely chopped

4-6 cloves garlic, very finely chopped

2 tbsp tartare sauce

4 tbsp extra light mayonnaise

4 tbsp fat free plain yogurt

Grilled tomatoes to serve

Sauté the shallot and garlic in a little Fry Light until soft. Mix together the tartare sauce, yogurt and mayonnaise. Add the shallots and garlic mixture and mix well.

Boil the soya beans for 10 minutes until very soft. Briefly blanch the samphire. Grill the monkfish for 7-10 minutes, depending on the size.

Drain the soya beans, reserving the water. Crush the beans with a potato masher adding a little salt and the mint sauce. Using a chef's ring, place the crushed soya beans in the centre of the plates. Top with the samphire and last the monkfish. Using the hot water from the soya beans, dilute the shallot mayonnaise mixture to a runny sauce consistency. Poor some over the monkfish, and serve the rest separately. Serve with grilled tomatoes.

I also topped the whole thing with a few chilli sultanas, allowing ½ syn for 3g of sultanas. I keep a small jar of these in the fridge – they keep almost indefinitely and a great added to salads or like this, just a few to garnish a dish. Sultanas and fresh chillies squashed tightly into a jar and topped up with dry sherry. Keep for a few weeks before using to let the flavours develop.

I also keep sultanas in balsamic vinegar in the fridge, as well as raisins in rum. 

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Freekeh Salad with Sumac Lamb

Always one to try something new when I see it; when I discovered a box of Freekeh on the shelves of Bristol Sweetmart the other day, I couldn't resist buying it.

Freekeh is a roasted green wheat which is particularly popular in Palestine, the Arabian peninsula and Egypt. According to Wikipedia: "The wheat is harvested while the grains are yellow and the seeds are still soft; it is then piled and sun-dried. The piles are then carefully set on fire so only the straw and chaff burn and not the seeds. It is the high moisture content of the seeds that prevents them from burning. The now roasted wheat undergoes further thrashing and sun-drying to make the flavour, texture, and colour uniform. It is this thrashing or rubbing process of the grains that gives this food its name, farīk or “rubbed.” The seeds are now cracked into smaller pieces so they look like a green bulgur."

The initial plan was to make this as a vegetarian salad, but a surplus lamb shank changed that plan. Buying three of any piece of meat usually proves difficult as the store normally packages them in twos. Although shanks were available to buy singularly at the butcher counter, they were much smaller and looked inferior.

This recipe would work equally well with other cracked wheat such as bulgur, or even couscous or rice.

Freekeh Salad with Sumac Lamb, Figs and Feta

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra easy providing you use the cheese as your Healthy Extra A

150g cooked lamb

1 tsp sumac

100g freekeh

5-6 small fresh figs, quartered

100g feta cheese, cubed

½ red onion, thinly sliced

small bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped

Cut the cooked lamb in to small slivers and coat with the sumac. Leave in infuse for a while. Cook the freekeh in plenty of salted water for 30 minutes or until cooked to your liking. Mix together all the ingredients and serve.

This was a great salad to take for a car picnic today, although I did carry the feta cheese and parsley separately and mixed in just as I was serving. 

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Pork and Pasta Bake

Yet another dish where I am not going to offer a recipe – gosh I feel lazy today! To the leftover pasta with pork and mushrooms from Sunday night, I added a small carton of passata and some chilli, cinnamon and cumin powder; then topped the whole thing with a little grated reduced fat Cheddar cheese and baked it in the oven until it was nicely browned. Love it when dinner is that easy. I did however, spend quite some time making a picnic for tomorrow's day out, so hopefully I am forgiven for my lack of culinary activity today. 

We did treat ourselves to small but syn free dessert this evening though: jelly with blueberries, topped with fat free yogurt.

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Seared spring onions with poached egg

I have never understood the concept that certain foods have to be eaten at certain times of the day, so I often find myself tucking into dishes first thing in the morning that most people would not consider 'suitable' for breakfast. This is possibly one of them. The recipe I adapted it from suggested it as a supper dish.

OK, I have to be honest here, and say that the consistency of the spring onion sauce initially reminded me a little too much of the glutinous okra side dishes so often served in West Africa and the Caribbean. I have a very adventurous palate, and enjoy an enormous range of tastes and consistencies, but glutinous is not one of them. However, once I got past the visual aspect of the sauce and actually tasted it, it was nothing like okra nor was it particularly glutinous.

Seared spring onions with poached egg.

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

2 bunches spring onions

4 eggs

a little lemon juice

salt and pepper

Liquidise one of the spring onion bunches with the lemon juice, adding water until you get the consistency you want. Sear the other bunch of spring onions over a high heat in a little Fry Light. Poach the eggs to your liking and serve with the whole spring onions with a little sauce spooned over. 

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It's pasta time!

My dad likes to help himself to food when he comes here, rather than being served, as he doesn’t eat very much, so pasta is ideal for this. Generally speaking it doesn't require much last minute preparation either, as my dad tends to turn up at least ten minutes, more often 15 minutes early. He rarely stays more than an hour, it is just a case of eat and go really – it used to drive my mum mad, as she always wanted to stay and chat.

Radiatori with Pork and Mushrooms

Serves 4

Syn Free on Extra Easy providing you use the cheese as Healthy Extra A

1 pork tenderloin fillet

200g mushrooms

3 onions

1 tub quark

1 tbsp bouillon powder

a little sweetener

a few drops of Worcestershire sauce

small bunch of basil, to serve

30g Parmesan cheese

Boil the pasta in plenty of salted water for ten minutes. Meanwhile chop the onions, and pork, removing all visible fat as you go along. Slice the mushrooms. Fry the pork and onions in a little Fry Light until the pork is cooked through. Add the mushrooms and cook for a few more minutes. Drain the pasta, reserving the liquid. Turn the heat right down and add the quark, bouillon powder and sweetener to taste and Worcestershire sauce, thinning the sauce with the pasta water until you have a nice consistency, creamy but not too runny. Stir in the torn basil and serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

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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Hot Tuna Salad with Mango Coconut Dressing

Tuna is a fish we were only introduced to fairly recently, by a good friend and neighbour. Now we both love it! Shame it's so expensive; we paid over £7 for two medium sized steaks.

This is a really quick and easy dish to make, and great for a hot summer's day. Now all we need is a hot summer. The dressing would probably be really nice with some white wine in it, or even rum – something to try if I ever reach my target weight and can allow myself a few more syns each day.

Hot Tuna Salad with Mango Coconut Dressing

Serves 2

3 syns on Extra easy

2 tuna steaks

½ tsp chilli flakes (optional)

Salad leaves of your choice

½ red pepper

2 sticks celery

1 bunch asparagus

1 mango

1 small tub Müller Light Coconut yogurt

Cut the asparagus in one inch long pieces, and blanch for a couple of minutes. Rinse under cold water and leave to cool. Mix together the salad leaves, chopped red pepper and chopped celery and divide on two plates. Add the asparagus.

Peel the mango and liquidise the flesh with the yogurt, adding some water if the consistency is too thick.

Coat the tuna steaks with the chilli flakes and fry in a little Fry Light until done to your liking.

Serve the salad topped with the tuna steaks and a little of the mango dressing. Serve the rest separately. 

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Black Bean Salad

If you are using dried beans, remember to soak them overnight and cook according to the packet. This recipe called for half a red pepper but my personal shopper (AKA husband) seemed to have somehow missed that. He swears black and blue that he bought it, he must have left it behind in the shop. Oh well, just a slight variation. Anyway, while looking for the absent pepper, I came across an orange, and thought that would go well with the black beans. I was right. I also had a lone tomato hanging around, and as it was the same colour as the missing pepper, I decided to include that too.

Black Bean salad

1 cup of cooked black beans

Juice of 1 lime

2 tsp sweetener

2 tsp samal oelek

1 green chilli

1 orange

1 large tomato

small handful of coriander leaves

handful of rocket leaves

handful of baby spinach

½ red onion

In a large bow, mix together the cooked beans, finely chopped green chilli, finely chopped tomato, rocket and spinach leaves and the thinly sliced red onion. Peel the orange, divide into segments and cut each segment in two. Add to the salad bowl. Mix the lime juice, sambal oelek and sweetener and toss into the salad with the chopped coriander leaves.

My main purpose of making this salad was to go with a cold slice of the leftover meatloaf. I still have three slices left, so I will have to put my thinking cap on again for another meal involving some variation of meatloaf. 

Despite the green chilli and the sambal ealek, it was hardly spicy at all. Personally I would have preferred it with a bit more kick, so if I make it again I will add more chilli. 

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Punjabi Potato Patties

I do like a bit of spice in the morning to wake me up. I have never understood the significance with certain foods at certain times of the day, and I love the Indian breakfasts when we travel on the Subcontinent – my favourite being paper masala dosa. Having a few leftover potatoes in the vegetable basket, I boiled some up last night and made them into patties which I put in the fridge overnight to save some time this morning. I'm not really a morning person, so I prefer to not have too many things to sort out first thing.

Punjabi Potato Patties

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

250g potatoes

1 medium onion

¼ tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp garam masala

Peel the potatoes and halve or quarter them, depending on how large they are. Boil for ten minutes in plenty of salt water, until cooked but not mushy. Grate the onion, then mash together the potatoes, onion and spices. Form into little patties, spray with Fry Light and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until nicely browned.

I should imagine the people of Punjab would most likely serve the patties with a chutney of some sort, but I had a craving for baked beans this morning. 

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Lentil and Sausage Casserole

I'm a great lover of lentils and have eight or nine different types of dried lentils in my store cupboard. I prefer to use the dried variety for several reasons – there are no added preservatives or salt, less packaging, cheaper and I can use the amount I want not the amount that fits into a can. And unlike dried beans, they don't have to be soaked, so there is no excuse about having forgotten to put them in water the night before. Although he is not so keen, I am lucky in that my husband will eat anything I put in front of him.

It was my Slimming World consultant who introduced me to Joe's Sausages, and I haven't looked back since. They come in a variety of flavours, and are syn free on the plan. I buy them in bulk and stock up my freezer with them. For this recipe I used the chilli and garlic ones.

Lentil and sausage casserole with chilli and garlic

4 sausages, grilled

400g lentils (I used brown)

2 onions

2 carrots

4 sticks celery

1 red pepper

4 cloves garlic

stock made from bouillon powder

1 red chilli

2 green chilli

handful of cherry tomatoes, halved

tub of Total 0% fat yogurt

Finely chop the carrots, onions, celery, garlic and pepper, and sauté in a little Fry Light for a few minutes until soft. Slice the sausages – I like to slice mine thinly as I always feel I am eating more if the pieces are smaller. Add the lentils, chopped chillies and enough stock to cover, and simmer for 30 minutes until the lentils are cooked, but still retain a little bite. You will probably want to check from time to time to ensure you have enough liquid. For the last few minutes of cooking, add the sausages and cherry tomatoes. Take the pan off the heat and add the yogurt. Patience has never been one of my strong points, and I added the yogurt just a little bit too early, and it separated. Oh well, the taste is just as good, and you couldn't really see the little white bits as the light was bad tonight. Sometimes I am grateful for grey days and dark evenings. 


Place mats brought back from Bali.

Pitta Pizza

Normally pizza and diets don't go terribly well together, but I have found a way that I can have my cake - or rather pizza – and eat it. And even better, I was able to use up some more leftovers. They don't call me the leftover queen for nothing!

When asked about the type of pizza he wanted, my husband's answer was 'Texan Spicy BBQ', so I was tasked with trying to recreate the flavour of his favourite pizza from the take-away.

Spicy Texan BBQ Pitta Pizza

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy, providing you use the bread and cheese as your Healthy Extra A & B.

2 pitta breads*

1 slice leftover meatloaf

8 cherry tomatoes, sliced

½ onion, thinly sliced

small handful of rocket leaves

½ red pepper, thinly sliced

½ cup leftover BBQ sauce

1 red chilli, finely chopped

2 tsp sweetener

45g of reduced fat cheese, grated**

Heat the oven to 190°C and grease a baking tray. Mix the BBQ sauce with the chilli and sweetener and add the chopped meatloaf. Split the pitta breads open and place all the other ingredients on top, starting with the rocket leaves and finishing with the grated cheese. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the cheese is nicely browned on top. Serve with a salad of your choice.

*The Slimming World book says that only Co-Op 60g wholemeal pitta bread is permissible as a Healthy Extra B, but after I had my husband drive half way around the South West looking for a Co-Op which sold them, but to no avail, I decided to use a 60g Sainsbury's wholemeal pitta instead. Seeing as I'm not having any other syns today, I am willing to risk it.

** I used a mixture of mozzarella and low fat cheddar.

OK, so it wasn't quite the same as the take-away pizzas, but the taste was very similar. The pitta breads made a good substitute for normal pizza base, and best of all, I can have it on my plan. Definitely one to repeat.