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. 

 

Red Velvet Cupcakes

These work out at under than half a syn per cupcake providing you use the oats as your Healthy Extra B and the cream cheese as your Healthy Extra A

Makes 12 little cakes

70g rolled oats

1 tub Müllerlight toffee yogurt

1-2 tbsp water

4 tbsp cocoa powder

sweetener to taste

3-4 beetroots, depending on size

1 tbsp baking powder

4 eggs, separated

150g reduced fat cream cheese

200g fat free fromage frais

sweetener

a few drops of red food colouring

Soak the oats in the yogurt for at least two hours, ideally overnight. Add the cocoa powder and sweetener to taste. Add some water if necessary to make a soft consistency.

Peel and cook the beetroot until soft and mash using a potato masher or a fork. Be careful at this stage as it can be quite a slippery customer and bits have a habit of flying out of the bowl and staining whatever they land on.

Mix the beetroot in with the oats and add the baking powder.

In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. In a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks. Mix the yolks with the oats and beetroot and carefully fold in the whites. 

 

Spoon in to 12 greased muffin cases and bake for 20-25 minutes at 180°C until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool.

For the icing, mix together the cream cheese, fromage frais, sweetener to taste and a few drops of red food colouring. When the cakes are cool, pipe the icing on top. 

 

Chocolate Mousse with Raspberries

I used to make this a fair bit a while ago, but had forgotten all about it until I was looking through my old food photos trying to get inspirations for what to cook this week. This really does taste too good to be diet food, but trust me, there are only 3½ syns in each portion.

This is what you do for two people:

250g fat free fromage frais

6 tbsp cocoa powder

sweetener to taste

2 egg whites

fresh and/or frozen raspberries – I used both

3 tbsp low fat spray cream

a few sprinkles of caramelised buckwheat to decorate

Mix the cocoa powder with the fromage frais and add sweetener to taste. You might need quite a lot as cocoa powder is quite bitter and fromage frais rather tart.

Whisk up the egg whites until soft peaks form and gently fold in the fromage frais mixture. Spoon in to tall glasses and add the raspberries on top. Spray with cream and decorate with caramelised buckwheat.

I have served this a couple of times at dinner parties and my guests said they would never have guessed that the mousse was diet friendly. Try it for yourself and see. 

 

 

Prawn Laksa

There are lots of different versions of prawn laksa, and this is my take on this popular spicy noodle soup from Singapore. Instead of the usual coconut milk, I used Müllerlight coconut and vanilla yogurt at only ½ syn per pot. You can easily use leftover vegetables in this soup, or any combination that you like, only limited by your imagination! Below is a list of what I used, for two people.

4 banana shallots

a knob of ginger

4 garlic cloves

1 tsp sambal oelek

1 tbsp bouillon powder

2 noodle nests

1 pkt of uncooked prawns

½ pkt bean-sprouts

5 spring onions, chopped

a handful of coriander leaves, chopped

a handful of mint leaves, chopped

½ cooked butternut squash, cubed

1 tub of Müllerlight coconut yogurt

In a large saucepan, fry up the shallots, ginger and garlic in some Fry Light, then added water, sambal oelek and bouillon powder. Let it simmer for a few minutes, then add the noodles and bean sprouts. Once they start to go soft, add the prawns, spring onions, cooked butternut squash (or whatever leftover vegetables you are using) and stir until the prawns turn pink. Switch off the heat and add the yogurt and herbs. Check the seasoning and serve.

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.

Pulled Beef Chilli

More leftovers for dinner tonight. Using the pulled beef from last night, I added tinned tomatoes, passata, kidney beans, cooked leeks, red pepper, yellow pepper and onions; chopped red chilli, cumin powder, oregano and garlic. 

 

I was going to serve it with twice cooked jacket potatoes, but we'd been out for the afternoon and got back so late I wanted something quick and easy. If I have to wait too long for dinner in the evening when I am hungry, it becomes a bit of a danger area for me for snacking. There are times when you can wait, and times when you need instant gratification. 

 

The jacket potatoes can wait until later this week - there is plenty of leftover chilli (leftover of the leftovers) to go inside the potatoes, so that's another easy meal sorted. 

 

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.