Cheat's Chicken Fajita

Fajitas are a favourite in this house when we want something quick and easy for lunch or dinner, so when I discovered that I could have the BFree wraps as my Healthy Extra A, I was very excited. I would normally have (at least) a couple of fajitas, but thinking about it, the filling is what really matters. So I made one HUGE wrap today, full of flavoursome chicken and superfree veggies, with just 1 syn! Result!

I call this a “cheat's chicken fajita” because I used cooked deli chicken instead of chopping and frying my own.Tut tut tut.

 

Serves 2

1 syn on Extra Easy*

* providing you use the wrap as your Healthy Extra B

BFree Wheat and Gluten Free Wholegrain Wraps

ca 1/3 green pepper, thinly sliced

ca 1/3 red pepper, thinly sliced

ca 1/3 yellow pepper, thinly sliced

1 small onion, thinly sliced

250g cooked chicken, torn into small pieces

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp celery salt

1 tsp salt

½ tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tsp sweetener

4-6 tomatoes, depending on size, deseeded and finely chopped

½ onion, peeled and finely chopped

a few coriander leaves, finely chopped

½ tsp lazy chilli (or to taste)

salt and black pepper

2 tsp lemon juice

4 tbsp fat free fromage frais

4 tbsp Discovery Guacamole Style Topping (½ syn per tbsp)

salad leaves to serve

Sauté the peppers and onions in Fry Light until soft. Add the chicken and stir well. Mix the paprika, celery salt, salt, cayenne pepper, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder and sweetener and add 2-3 tbsp water to mix. Pour into the chicken and vegetable pan and stir well to coat. Continue stirring, adding more water if necessary, until everything is heated through.

While the vegetables are cooking, make the tomato salsa. Mix together the chopped tomatoes, onion and coriander, and add the lemon juice, lazy chilli and salt and pepper to taste.

Place one wrap on each plate and top with the salad leaves, followed by the chicken and vegetable mix. Divide the tomato salsa between the two plates and top with fromage frais and guacamole style topping. Roll up – if you can, mine was so fat it was almost impossible – and enjoy. 

 

Leftover Meatloaf Hash

Mondays are nearly always leftover days, and today I managed to empty no less than eight containers when cooking our lunch – not bad going eh? 

 

This is not a recipe as such, more of an idea of what to do with leftovers. Using the remains of the meatloaf as a base, I added nearly all the leftovers I had in the fridge. The list looks like this:

meatloaf

cooked Jersey Royal potatoes

cooked carrots

cooked baby sweetcorn

cooked tenderstem broccoli

cooked sugarsnap peas

grilled cherry tomatoes

I also had containers with Oriental coleslaw and Vietnamese pickled vegetables which I mixed together, and half a box of salad leaves which I served alongside the hash. 

 

I started off by crushing the potatoes between two palms, then tearing them roughly with my hands. In a large pan sprayed with some Fry Light, I sautéed the potatoes for a few minutes before adding everything else. I found it to be a little dry, so I added some water to make it a smoother consistency and some chilli flakes to zest it up a little. 

I do love leftovers, and the challenge of creating something that tastes good.

Pulled Pork Tortilla Pizza

Having read about pizzas made from tortillas, I was keen to try it for myself, and when I discovered that I could have the Bfree Wheat and Gluten Free Wholegrain Wraps as as a Healthy Extra B choice, the idea was sold. I had terrible trouble finding the said wraps though – they are apparently only available in Asda in this area, but the first Asda I tried was too small, so I ended up driving half way around the West Country to find them. When I finally did, I bought two packets to keep in the freezer.

I used the leftover BBQ pulled pork for my topping, but you could use anything you like, remembering to ensure that you get plenty of superfree foods. My BBQ sauce had onion, cherry tomatoes and passata in it, but even so I decided to serve it with a couple of salads to balance it all out.

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy*

* providing you use the cheese as your Healthy Extra A

and the tortilla as you Healthy Extra B

2 Bfree Wheat and Gluten Free Wholegrain Wraps

topping as required

60g grated Parmesan cheese

Salad or vegetables to serve

Place the wraps on a pizza cooking trays and spread the topping over the surface leaving a couple of centimetres around the edges. Scatter the grated cheese over the top and bake in the oven at 210°C for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and everything is heated through. Keep an eye on them as the edge can burn easily.

Tropical Coleslaw

As I still had some mooli left (those buggers are huge!) I made a tropical coleslaw to go with the pizzas. I tried grating the apricots too, but it just became a soggy mush, so I resorted to chopping them very finely.

finely grated mooli

finely grated carrot

2 apricots, finely chopped

1 tub zero percent plain yogurt

1-2 tsp mint sauce

Sweetener to taste

Mix together all the ingredients for the coleslaw and serve with the pizza. I also served it with a sweet bistro style salad (bought ready packaged from the store. 

 

Kale and Mint Salad

I had some kale in the fridge that needed using up, and I was searching the internet for inspiration when I came across a recipe that I managed to doctor enough to fit in the Slimming World Plan. Normally I would just fry the kale in some Fry Light until crispy, so this was the first time we've had it raw. 

 

Serves 2

Less than ½ syn per person*

* providing you use the cheese as your Healthy Extra A

1 packet kale, picked over to remove the thick hard stems

1 packet of mint, leaves roughly chopped

Dressing

zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 small garlic clove, very finely chopped

1 tsp Dijon mustard

¼ tsp red chilli flakes

30g finely grated Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp plain fat free yogurt

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

Mix all the ingredients for the dressing together and add water until you get a dressing-like consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in to the kale and mint leaves until thoroughly mixed.

I served mine with some chilli and garlic grillsticks from Joe'sSausages for an almost syn free lunch with lots of superfree.

We both found the texture of the raw kale a little unusual, but agreed that its chewy consistency was not unpleasant. I would definitely have it again. 

 

Dhal Masala Vadai

Vadai (also known as also known as wada or vade or vada or bara) is a south Indian savoury fritter type snack, which can be made from lentils (dhal), chick peas (channa), gram flour (besan) or potato (aloo). It is usually deep fried, but I decided to bake mine instead to make it fit in with the Slimming World regime.

I used leftover lentils and vegetables for this, but you can of course cook these especially for the vadai. I had green lentil mixed with onions, Chinese leaves and spring greens from Friday night's dinner; and also some leftover roasted vegetables from Saturday night which I added to the mix for extra superfree (red, green and yellow peppers, red and yellow onion and sweet potato). Add spices to taste – I used ground cumin (my favourite!), ground cinnamon, ground coriander, fresh and dried ginger, fresh garlic and red chilli flakes. Whizz it all up in a food processor, using the 'pulse' button to ensure it becomes paste-like but still retains some texture. 

 

Using wet hands so that the paste doesn't still to my fingers, I formed the mixture into little balls and placed them in muffin cups flattening them ever so slightly with my hands before spraying them with Fry Light and baking in the oven at 230°C for 20-25 minutes until nicely browned and crispy on the outside. 

 

In India, vadai is eaten as a snack (often for breakfast) or a side dish, never as a main course; and is found for sale all over the south at street food. I served mine with leftover coleslaw and potato salad from yesterday's picnic lunch; tomato salad made from chopped tomatoes (flesh only), onions, a red chilli and coriander with the juice of half a lemon and some salt and coarsely ground black pepper; mint raita (made from 0% fat plain yogurt, mint sauce and sweetener); and some rocket leaves to turn it into a complete meal. Garnished with red onion. 

 

Baking the vadai rather than deep frying them means that they do become a lot more crumbly when you cut into them, and it would be difficult to eat them as a street food snack with your hands (right hand only of course); but if you don't mind the texture, the flavour was superb. Even non-lentil-loving Husband enjoyed it so much he had second helpings. 

 

Tuna Pasta Salad

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

100g wholemeal pasta

1 tin tuna in spring water

150g cherry tomatoes, halved

75g sweetcorn, boiled and cooled

80g rocket leaves

1 tbsp capers, drained

2 tbsp fat free vinaigrette

Boil the pasta according to packet instructions; drain and rinse under cold water. Drain the tuna, reserving the liquid. Mix together all the ingredients except the dressing. Mix the vinaigrette with the liquid from the tuna and toss into the salad. Sprinkle over lots of freshly ground black pepper before serving.

Peruvian Ceviche

Last time I ate ceviche was in a Peruvian restaurant in Panama – somewhat random eh? I have never made it at home, so I thought I'd have a go as part of my 'international week'. I used one of my own, home-grown habareno chillies, and boy did it pack a punch! Unless you like you food fiery, you may wish to use a less potent chilli, or leave it out entirely. 

 

Ceviche is a dish where fish or seafood is 'cooked' by marinating it in lime or lemon juice and eaten 'raw'. Make sure you only use the freshest of fish fillets for that reason. You can use other white fish if you can't find tilapia. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

2 tilapia fillets, diced

½ small red onion, halved and slivered

¾ cup lime juice

1 habareno chilli, seeded and finely chopped (optional)

1 sweet potato

1 corn on the cob

salad to serve

In a large bowl, combine the fish, lime juice, chilli and onion. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel the sweet potato and cut into slices. Slice the corn and boil both for 5-7 minutes until just tender.

Serve the ceviche over the salad with the corn and potato on the side. 

 

Tortilla de Patatas y Jamon

Continuing with this week's international theme, today's lunch is Spanish. The classis tortilla is literally just potatoes, onion and egg, but I had some ham leftover that I wanted to use up. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

3 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

1 large onion, sliced

2 eggs

100g cooked ham, cubed

Sauté the onion and potato in Fry Light for around ten minutes or so, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Add a small amount of water (around 5mm in the bottom of the frying pan) and simmer until the potatoes are cooked through. You may have to do that more than once, depending on the type and thickness of the potatoes – I ended up adding three lots of water for my potatoes to be cooked properly. Remove from the heat.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs with a little salt and pepper and add the ham, potatoes and onions. Heat a frying pan with Fry Light and pour in the potato mixture. Cook very gently for 5-8 minutes until the mixture is almost set. You can then either try and invert it and cook the other side using a plate, or – if like me, you have never mastered that particular procedure - you can stick it under the grill for a few minutes to finish off. Serve with grilled tomatoes and a salad of your choice. 

 

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.

Moroccan Tuna with Fennel and Orange Salad

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

2 fresh tuna steaks

For the marinade:

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp turmeric

¼ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp chilli flakes

salt and pepper

juice of half a lemon

For the salad:

1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced

1 large orange, peeled and cut into segments

1 tbs white balsamic vinegar

handful fresh coriander, chopped

salt and pepper

Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade and smear over each side of the tuna steaks. Leave in the fridge for at least two hours.

Meanwhile, mix together the salad ingredients and leave for at least 20 minutes for the flavours to develop before serving the salad topped with the tuna steaks. 

 

 

Tuna, White Bean and Asparagus Salad

I used dried cannellini beans for this recipe, but you can use tinned if you prefer.

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy*

* Providing you use the olive oil as your Healthy Extra B. You can of course omit the oil completely if you like.

1 can tuna steaks in water, drained

1 cup dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight

1 bunch asparagus spears

4-5 shallots, finely chopped

a few fresh tarragon leaves, finely chopped

1 tbsp capers

½ tsp olive oil

½ tsp red wine vinegar

plenty of freshly ground black pepper to serve

Cook the cannellini beans according to the packet instructions, or drain if using tinned. Allow to cool. Cut the asparagus spears in one inch lengths and boil gently for a few minutes until cooked to your liking. Mix all the salad ingredients together and toss with the oil and vinegar dressing. Serve with black pepper. 

 

Beef Larb with Baby Sweetcorn and Spinach

Larb – the traditional dish of Laos – is one of my all time favourite comfort foods. It also has to be one of the quickest and easiest dinners ever. There are as many versions of this dish as there are cooks, so feel free to experiment with your own ingredients.

I used sambal oelek in this recipe for laziness, but you can substitute with a chopped fresh chilli or even chilli flakes. You may wish to vary the amount of chilli used to suit your own taste as we like our food spicy. I used a combination of iceberg lettuce and watercress to serve, but any lettuce or salad leaves will do. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

250g extra lean minced beef

150g baby sweetcorn

100g spinach

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp sweetener

2 tbsp sambal oelek

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

shredded lettuce to serve

Sauté the beef with the baby sweetcorn until cooked through. Add the soy sauce, sweetener, vinegar and sambal oelek. Stir well to mix, then add the spinach. Simmer gently until the spinach has wilted. Serve over shredded lettuce. 

 

Green Salad Filled Egg Roll

Thanks to my friend Reiko for the inspiration for this dish.

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

6 eggs

4 spring onions

80g spinach

1 green pepper, roasted and skinned, then sliced

2 tbsp lentil, pea and beans shoots

Watercress or other salad to serve

Whisk the eggs until slightly fluffy. Chop the spring onions and add to the eggs. Cook the eggs like you would a pancake, in two separate pans. When cooked, transfer to two plates, and fill with spinach, pepper and sprouting beans. Roll up like a pancake and serve with the watercress. 

 

Sea Bass with Cherry Tomato Sauce

Nice and simple, ready in less than 20 minutes. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

2 sea bass fillets

2 cloves garlic

200g cherry tomatoes

a few sprigs of basil, leaves removed and shredded

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

pkt rocket leaves

Fry the fish fillets in Fry Light for a few minutes each side until cooked through. Finely chop the garlic and sauté in Fry Light until starting to colour. Add the tomatoes and vinegar, and cook for a few minutes until the tomatoes are beginning to go soft, but still retain a little shape. Stir in the basil and serve. Divide the rocket leaves between two plates, put the tomatoes on top of the rocket and finally the fish fillets. Serve with lemon to squeeze. 

 

Middle Eastern Duck Salad

It is very difficult to calculate the syn value for this dish, as Slimming World says that orange juice is 1½ syns for 100ml. I am not using orange juice as such in this recipe, just the juice that is left in the orange after segmenting it. I measured mine and from 3 large oranges, I got 50ml leftover juice – that is ¾ syn between three people. Not really worth worrying about. 

 

Serves 2-3

¼ syn on Extra easy (see note above)

2 duck breasts

1 tsp sumac

3 oranges

small bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped

150g spinach

½ red onion

100g pomegranate

400g anya potatoes

a few prigs of fresh coriander

2 tsp rose water

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

½ tbsp sweetener

2 tsp cumin seeds

Remove the skin and all visible fat from the duck breasts. Make several long slits in the flesh and sprinkle with sumac. Rub the spice in with your fingers and leave to marinate for an hour or so. Fry for around 10-15 minutes until cooked through. Thinly slice.

Dry fry the cumin seeds for a few minutes until fragrant, then coarsely grind using a spice grinder or a pestle and mortar.

Remove the skin and pith from the oranges and cut into segments. Squeeze the remainder of the pithy core into a bowl to get the rest of the juices out. Mix the orange segments with the parsley.

Mix the orange juice with the rose water, vinegar, sweetener and cumin seeds.

Cut the potatoes in fairly thick slices and boil until just cooked. Drain. Sauté in Fry Light over high heat until nicely browned. Add a tablespoon or so of the dressing and mix well, leaving for a couple of minutes to infuse the flavours.

Finely chop the red onion and mix with the pomegranate seeds and coriander.

Place the spinach in the bottom of a shallow salad bowl and add the potatoes, oranges, duck slices and pomegranate seeds, in that order. Drizzle over the rest of the dressing and serve.