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.

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. 

 

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. 

 

Mexican Rubbed Turkey Steak with Roasted Tomato Salsa

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

2 turkey steaks

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp chilli flakes

¼ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp paprika

zest of ½ lemon

4 large tomatoes

6-8 shallots, peeled and halved

2 twigs rosemary

zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 dried chilli

1 tsp sweetener

Mix together the cumin, chilli flakes, garlic, oregano, paprika and lemon zest. Use to rub on the turkey steaks. Leave for a couple of hours for the flavours to infuse.

Quarter the tomatoes and place in a shallow oven proof dish with the shallots. Spray with Fry Light and bake at 160°C for about an hour until the tomatoes are beginning to dry. Leave to cool, then chop the tomatoes and shallots roughly. Remove the leaves from the woody stems of the rosemary, chop and add to the tomato and shallot mixture, with the lemon juice and zest.Rehydrate the dried chilli in boiling water for ten minutes, then chop finely. Add to the salsa. Stir in the sweetener and leave in the fridge to chill for at least an hour before serving.

Fry the turkey steaks for 5-7 minutes each side until cooked through. Serve with the salsa. 

 

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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