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. 

 

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.

American Style Meatloaf

Take one recipe you find on line and start to follow it, then begin your own modifications. You think you have only made a few small changes until you see your notes.... I like to call it “being creative”.

Serves 4-6

Syn free on Extra Easy*

* providing you use the bread as part of your Healthy Extra B

3 slices wholemeal bread from a 400g loaf, roughly torn

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tbsp paprika

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp ginger

½ tsp ground white pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp celery salt

½ tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp dried thyme

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 red pepper, roughly chopped

500g of 5% fat minced beef

1 egg, beaten

500g passata

1 tbsp sweetener

½ tsp mustard powder

1 tbsp paprika

2 tsp smoked paprika

2 tsp bouillon powder

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

dash Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp ground cumin

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Whizz the bread to rough crumbs in a food processor and place in a large bowl. Pulse the red pepper in the same way, followed by the onion, but do them separately, making sure they are finely chopped but not processed to a pulp. Mix in with the breadcrumbs and add the cumin, paprika, smoked paprika, ginger, white pepper, garlic powder, celery salt, nutmeg and beef. Mix very well together, then add the egg and continue stirring until everything is very well combined, but avoid squeezing the meat.

Grease a loaf tin and pack the meat mixture into it. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper and invert the loaf onto it. Place near the bottom of the oven. 

Combine the passata. Sweetener, mustard powder, paprika, smoked paprika, bouillon powder, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and cumin. When the meatloaf has been in the oven for about ten minutes, brush the glaze over it and continue cooking for 35-45 minutes until it id cooked through.

Serve the remaining glaze as a sauce to accompany the meatloaf. 

  

Chermoula Chicken with Tabbuleh

Inspired by an article in the Slimming World magazine this month, as well as my raffle winnings in group, I set out to make Chermoula Chicken for dinner tonight. I adapted the recipe to fit with what I had in the fridge / cupboards, and as we have already had couscous this week, I thought I'd serve it with tabbuleh instead. Tabbuleh is a more recent discovery of mine – the first time I had it was in a Lebanese restaurant in Tripoli in Libya in 2005. It was love at first bite. 

Tonight's version was a variation on a theme, adding more vegetables to ensure I got the required amount of superfree, and I used coriander rather than mint as that is what was lurking in the fridge drawer. You can of course add any vegetables you would like to the tabbuleh; it's great for using up leftovers too.

Serves 2

Syn free on Extra easy

2 chicken breasts

1 tin chopped tomatoes

5-6 cloves garlic

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp celery salt

small handful of coriander leaves and stems

zest and juice of a lime

1 tsp sumac

Mix together all the ingredients except the chicken and the sumac and whizz through a liquidiser. Make deep cuts in the chicken breast and place in a shallow bowl. Pour over the liquid and bake in the oven at 200°C for 20-30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Slice the chicken and serve on top of the tabbuleh, sprinkled with the sumac.

Serve the rest of the cooking sauce separately to pour over the chicken at the table.

Tabbuleh with a Difference

a couple of handfuls of bulghur wheat

juice of 1 lime

100g tomatoes. chopped (I used golden pomodorino)
a handful of chopped coriander
a handful of chopped flat leaf parsley

100 g cooked green beans, chopped

2 tinned roasted red pepper, chopped

1 small onion, finely chopped

Place the bulghur wheat in a large bowl and pour in the lime juice and enough boiling water to cover. Leave to infuse while the chicken is cooking, adding more water if the mixture looks too dry. Add all the other ingredients and mix well. 

 

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. 

 

Smoked Salmon, Scrambled Eggs and Potato Rösti

The breakfast of (European) kings. They were selling smoked salmon at half price in Sainsbury's this week, so I allowed myself a little treat for breakfast this morning. I didn't want to use my Healthy Extra B for bread to go with this, so I decided to make some potato rösti instead. 

 

* I normally add a handful of chopped spring onion tops to my scrambled eggs, but today I didn't have any. I did, however, have some leeks and I did the same thing with the green tops of those and it worked out well.

Serves 2

Syn free on Extra Easy

2 potatoes, peeled and finely grated

1 tsp cumin seeds

4 eggs

spring onion tops (just the green bits), finely chopped*
smoked salmon
tomatoes for grilling, halved

lemon wedges to serve

Mix the grated potato with the cumin seeds and place in four well greased Yorkshire pudding tins. Place on the bottom shelf of the oven and cook at 210°C for 15-20 minutes until golden. 

 

For the last few minutes of the rösti cooking time, place the tomatoes on the top shelf.

Meanwhile scramble the eggs to your liking, using the spring onion tops, chives or even leek tops as I did.

Serve with lemon wedges and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.

Enjoy!

Eggs Royale

As it is our wedding anniversary today (37 years, I can hardly believe it), Husband wanted to take me out for breakfast. I think there is something really decadent and special about going out for breakfast, it is not something we would normally do unless we are travelling. In all those 37 years I think we've over ever been out for breakfast once! 

Anyway, I decided to make a special breakfast at home instead, and here it is.

A base of wholemeal bread (as they didn't have any wholemeal muffins in our local Tesco), with steamed spinach, poached egg and Hollandaise sauce (2 syns for 1/3 packet + milk from my Healthy Extra A choice)

Served with rocket leaves and grilled tomato for extra superfree.

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. 

 

Spicy Bean and Tomato Soup

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 tun baked beans

2 tsps sweetener

1 tsp bouillon powder

1 tsp smoked paprika

2 tsps ground cumin

chilli powder to taste

Whizz the tinned tomatoes in a food processor or liquidiser until smooth. Heat in a pan with the beans, and add the spices. Stir and enjoy.

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.

Thracian Tomato Casserole

This is a typical recipe from the Thracian region of southern Bulgaria. It is eaten at harvest time during the hottest days of the year. 

 

Serves 4

Syn Free on Extra Easy*

* Providing you use the bread as your Healthy Extra B

3 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

1kn tomatoes

40g fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs

salt and pepper

sweetener

2 tsp paprika

Place the parsley in the bottom of an oven dish. S;ice the tomatoes, discarding the end pieces. Lay the tomatoes in the dish, overlapping slightly. Sprinkle each layer with salt, pepper and a tiny amount of sweetener. Mix the breadcrumbs with the paprika, salt and pepper to taste and add over the top of the tomatoes. Bake for 20-30 minutes at 200°C. Can be served as a vegetarian main dish or as a side dish to meat.

Joloff Chicken and Rice

This well known, colourful West African dish is easy to prepare and very tasty. My first experience of this was in Kumasi in Ghana, in a small restaurant just off the town centre with a delightful poster on the wall. Although it didn't instil much confidence in the food at the time, it did bring about a few laughs, and we were told that the meaning was to suggest that you “live for today as you don't know what tomorrow brings”. Maybe it lost something in translation. 

 

The mats on the table are also West African – we bought them in a small village in Burkina Faso, where we could see the women weave mats and baskets. 

 

I baked the chicken legs in the oven before adding them to the stew, as I wanted to make sure that they were cooked through. 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

2 chicken legs, skin removed

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp dried thyme

1 can chopped tomatoes

2 onions, chopped

200ml passata

1 chilli, finely chopped

150g rice

flavourful chicken stock

Rub the chicken with the garlic and set aside for 30 minutes. Bake at 200°C for around 20 minutes, until almost cooked. Meanwhile, sauté the onions in Fry Light until soft. Add the tinned tomato, chilli, passata, chicken legs and enough stock to just cover. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the rice and chicken are cooked through. 

 

Cod and Chips

By special request from Husband, I made 'fish'n'chips' tonight, the Slimming World way. He was very pleased with the result. I added some mange tout to the peas, in order to increase my intake of superfree.

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy*

* Providing you use the bread as your Healthy Extra B

2 cod loins

2 slices wholemeal bread from a 400g loaf

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp thyme

½ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp celery salt

¼ tsp ground white pepper

3-4 potatoes, depending on size

peas and grilled tomatoes to serve

In a food processor, reduce the bread to fine crumbs. Spread out on a non-greased baking sheet and place in the oven on a fairly high heat. Bake for a few minutes – you need to keep a close eye on it as it can easily burn – then shuffle it all about a bit and bake for a few more minutes until crunchy and golden, but not completely brown. Mix with the thyme, garlic powder, celery salt and pepper. Dip the cod loins in the beaten egg and coat in the breadcrumbs.

Peel and cut the potatoes into chips. Blanch in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, drain well and shake the colander well to rough them up a bit. Husband loves doing this bit for me.

Place the chips on a baking sheet, and bake at 220°C for 20-30 minutes. For the last 10 minutes before of the cooking time, put the cod in the oven too. Serve with peas, grilled tomatoes or vegetables of your choice.

Sausages in Tomato Sauce with Tortilla

I had another delivery of Joe's Sausages this week, so wanted to try a recipe or two. I served this with the leftover tortilla from yesterday (you can find the recipe here), but you can serve them with any type of potatoes or even toast. They would also make a nice filling for jacket potatoes. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

3 Joe's Cumberland sausages

200ml passata

1 tsp dried thyme

½ tsp sweetener

½ tsp bouillon powder

Grilled tomatoes and tortillas to serve

Cut the sausages in slices, about 1.5 cm long. Sauté in Fry Light until cooked through, then add the passata, thyme, sweetener and bouillon powder. Stir well to combine and simmer for a few more minutes before serving with accompaniments of your choice.