Spiced Beef & Squash Stew

Hello,

I've just popped on to add a fab recipe I cut out of a magazine (either Take a Break or That's Life) and tried last week.  If I don't blog it I will probably lose it and I would definitely like to cook it again!

We are having a great weekend, we went out for a lovely High Tea tonight as an early Mother's Day treat as Sundays aren't great for us with Iona's dancing commitments.  We then came home and watched a movie together and I'm looking forward to a chilled out day tomorrow!  What I'm not looking forward to so much is losing an hour tonight due to the clocks going forward for British Summer Time, woe is me, what can I say I love my bed!

Ok, Back to my recipe.  This was something we all really enjoyed so I'll definitely be making it again.  We served it with rice and extra veggies but I think it would also work well with couscous.  On Slimming World it's Syn Free if you change the vegetable oil to low cal spray oil.

Spiced Beef & Squash Stew

Serves 4

Ingredients:
3 tbsp vegetable oil (I swapped this for low-cal olive oil spray)
750g/1lb 10oz braising steak, cubed
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped
1 tbsp ras el hanout, plus 2 tsp extra (or use a moroccan spice blend or harissa)
900ml/1.5 pint hot chicken stock
400g can chopped tomatoes
500g/1lb 2oz butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and chopped
400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 tsp chilli powder
50g/2oz baby spinach

Method:
Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large heavy based pan over a high heat and brown the steak in 2 batches, for around 5 mins per batch.  Transfer to a plate and set aside.  Return the pan to a medium heat, add another tbsp oil and fry the onion and pepper for 5 mins.  Add the garlic, chilli and ras el hanout.  Fry for 1 min or until fragrant.

Return the steak to the pan with the stock, tomatoes and 150ml/1/4 pint water.  Bring to the boil, cover and turn the heat down to low.  Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour 30 mins.

Add the squash, cover and simmer for a further 25 to 30 mins, until both the steak and squash are tender.  Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a large pan over a high heat and cook the chickpeas for 1 min.  Turn the heat down to medium and cook for a further 5 mins, stirring often, until the chickpeas are toasted and golden.  Stir in the remaining ras el hanout and the chilli powder.  Cook for 1 min or until fragrant.

Stir the spinach into the stew and spoon over the spiced, toasted chickpeas.

Serve with rice or couscous.

Enjoy!

Linguine with Smoked Salmon

Good evening,

It's been a wee while since I blogged a recipe so here goes!  This recipe was chosen by my daughter for tea tonight.  She's getting to the stage that she enjoys helping with the cooking (although maybe not the tidying and washing up so much!) and I'm not so nervous about letting her loose with sharp knives and hot pans!  The recipe is adapted from my Prima Quick & Easy Cook Book and I'm ashamed to say I've never made a recipe out of it before this one but I'm sure now we've got into it there will be more!

As the recipe uses low-fat soft cheese there's not much in the way of 'syns' so it's suitable if you're following the Slimming World plan and comes in at around 3.5 syns per portion (for the soft cheese and wine).

Linguine with Smoked Salmon

Serves 4

Ingredients:
125g/4oz low-fat soft cheese (I used Tesco)
175g/6oz smoked salmon trimmings
4 tbsp dry white wine
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
350g/12oz mixed mangetout and broccoli (cut into tiny florets)
300g/10oz dried linguine
sprigs of fresh dill to garnish

Method:
Boil the pasta in salted water according to packet instructions.  Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, put the soft cheese, 50g/2oz smoked salmon, wine amd lemon juice into a blender and process until smooth.

Transfer the blended salmon mixture into a small saucepan and heat through very gently, do not allow to boil.  Season to taste with salt and ground black pepper.  Stir in the chopped dill and remaining salmon.

Cook the mangetout and broccoli in a pan of salted water for 5 minutes until just cooked.  Drain and add to the pasta.  Combine the salmon sauce with the pasta and vegetables, carefully folding together.  Serve immediately and garnish with sprigs of fresh dill.

Easy Coronation Chicken and Rice Salad

Hello,

Here's a very quick and easy lunch recipe for a Coronation Chicken and Rice Salad I heard about from my Slimming World group leader and managed to find on the internet here.  It uses a couple of unexpected ingredients that might put some people off but honestly give it a go because it's really tasty.  Serve it with plenty of speed salad veg.  It's also fab as a baked potato filling for a more substantial meal.

Coronation Chicken and Rice Salad

Serves 2

Zero Syns 

Ingredients
• 1pk Batchelors Savoury Rice mild curry flavour
• 1pk Morrisons Savers cooked curried chicken slices (or any other Syn-free cooked chicken slices)
• 1tbsp mild curry powder
• 1 pot Mullerlight mandarin yogurt

Method
1. Cook the rice according to the packet instructions and allow to cool.

2. Chop the chicken into small pieces. Add to the rice with the curry powder and yogurt and mix well. Chill until ready to serve.

This is a brilliant, quick to make packed lunch recipe that I will make again and again.

Hugs,
Shona xx

Slimming World Tomato Soup

Hi there,

Just popping on my blog very quickly to share a fab recipe for Tomato Soup which I made for lunch today.  I first heard about the recipe on our Slimming World Facebook Group Page so I searched it up and found it on Pinterest.  I would link back to the recipe here but the pinned link doesn't take you to the right place 😞

The recipe says it's just like Heinz cream of tomato soup - it isn't!  But if you don't think of it as being like Heinz and and enjoy it in it's own right it's actually quite tasty!  It is also really quick and simple to make and uses cheap store cupboard ingredients you'll probably already have.

Slimming World Tomato Soup

Serves 4

Zero Syns

Ingredients:
1 x tin baked beans
2 x tin chopped tomatoes
1 x tin carrots, drained
3 x pickled onions
1 vegetable (or chicken) stock cube
1/2 pint boiling water

Method:
Place all ingredients in a large pan, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15 mins.  Blend until smooth and add seasoning if liked.

It really is that simple!  I like to make a big batch of it and freeze individual portions for packed lunches to take to work.

Talking of work I'm off to bed as tomorrow is my first day back after new year - wish me luck!

Hugs,
Shona xx

Saag Aloo

Good morning,

This is the last day of my holidays so I'm trying to get caught up with blogging recipes before normal 'life' resumes and I don't have the time to blog!

This is another recipe I made for our curry night a wee while back and it was amazing, really tasty and also really filling.  It's another Slimming World recipe this time from my Fakeaway recipe book and the good news is that it has no Syns!

Saag Aloo

Serves 4

Zero Syns

ingredients

• 1kg potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
• Low calorie cooking spray
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1cm piece of root ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp black mustard seeds
• 2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into small pieces
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• ½ tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp garam masala
• ½ tsp chilli powder
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 200ml boiling vegetable stock
• Large bag baby leaf spinach, roughly chopped
• Small handful of finely chopped fresh coriander, to garnish (optional)
• Red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced, to garnish (optional)

method

1. Cook the potatoes in a large saucepan of lightly salted boiling water for 10 minutes or until just tender. Drain thoroughly and set aside.
2. Spray a non-stick wok or frying pan with low calorie cooking spray and place over a medium-high heat. Add the red onion, garlic, ginger, cumin seeds and mustard seeds and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes. Add the potatoes and peppers and stir-fry for 6-8 minutes or until lightly browned.
3. Turn the heat to low and add the ground cumin, ground coriander, turmeric, garam masala and chilli powder. Season well and cook for a further 1-2 minutes.
4. Stir in the stock and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn the heat to medium, cover and cook for 5-6 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the spinach and let it wilt into the potato mixture. Season well and scatter over the coriander and chilli, if using.

- See more at: http://www.slimmingworld.co.uk/recipes/saag-aloo.aspx#sthash.NRBtN1rM.dpuf

I'll be back later to share some more recipes.

Hugs,

Shona xx

Chicken and Mango Korma

I promise this is the last post from me tonight!!!

I'm back to blog the recipe I cooked for our dinner this evening.  It's a Slimming World recipe from a calendar that came free with one of their magazines.  I've struggled to keep on plan these last few weeks.  Not just with Christmas and New Year but we've also done a lot of entertaining these last few weeks and also not having much time to plan and cook healthy meals.  I first cooked this recipe a few months back when we had friends over for a curry evening and my daughter enjoyed it so much she asked me to make it again.

The syns in the recipe are because the mango has been cooked.  I looked at the recipe several times wondering where the syns were until the penny dropped lol!

Anyway, even my husband who likes his curries hot enjoyed this recipe so I'm sure you will too.

Chicken and Mango Korma

Serves 4

1.5 Syns per serving

Ingredients:

2 onions, 1 quartered, 1 chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled

50g root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

2 tbsp korma curry powder (I used Schwartz)

low calorie cooking oil spray

4 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

400ml chicken stock

200g peeled and stoned mango, cubed

1/4 tsp sweetener (I used Stevia)

150g fat-free Greek-style yogurt

1 tbsp coriander, finely chopped

Boiled basmati rice and lime wedges to serve

Method:

Put the quartered onion, garlic, ginger and curry powder in a food processor and blitz to a paste.  Spray a large frying pan with spray oil and fry the chopped onion until soft.  Add the paste and cook for 2-3 mins until bubbling and fragrant.

Stir in the chicken, stock, mango and sweetener then cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Remove from the heat and stir in the yogurt and coriander.  Serve with rice and lime wedges for squeezing over.

It's a very simple dish but also fragrant and tasty.  Definitely one I will keep coming back to.

Hugs,

Shona xx

Chocolate Candy Cane Cup Cakes

Hello,

I'm back with a recipe for Chocolate Candy Cane Cup Cakes that I made for the Christmas Fayre at my daughter's school a few weeks back.  My husband helped me put these together - this was his venture into baking but he thoroughly enjoyed it!  The recipe started life as a Mint chocolate cupcakes recipe at goodtoknow.co.uk and I've tweaked it slightly.  I found the mini candy canes in my local branch of Home Bargains but if you can't find them you could use something else suitably festive, a sprinkling of crushed Mint Aero chocolate or chopped Mint Matchmakers would work well too!

Chocolate Candy Cane Cup Cakes

Makes 12

Ingredients

For the cakes:

• 150g butter, softened
• 150g light muscovado sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 115g self-raising flour, sifted
• 35g cocoa powder, sifted
• 1/2tsp baking powder

For the icing:

• 50g butter, softened
• 200g icing sugar
• Few drops peppermint extract
• Mini candy canes, to decorate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas Mark 4. Line a cupcake tin with large paper cupcake cases.
2. Place the butter and muscovado sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
3. Gradually add the beaten egg, a little at a time, until smooth. Using a large metal spoon fold in the flour, cocoa, and baking powder. Divide the mixture between the cake cases.
4. Bake for 20-25 mins until risen and just firm to the touch. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
5. To make the icing; Beat the butter with 1-2 tsp boiling water and the icing sugar to make a smooth soft consistency. Add peppermint extract to taste. Pipe or swirl onto the cupcakes and decorate with the mini candy canes.

These cup cakes look pretty impressive but they really aren't much work.  I think I'm starting to get a bit of a cup cake obsession and hubby bought me a fab Tala piping set as part of my Christmas present so he obviously enjoyed making them too!

Hugs,

Shona xx

Microwave Clootie Dumpling

Hello,

Wishing you all a happy new year, lets hope 2017 is a good one for us all.  It's been a while since I last blogged as things were a bit manic over the festivities but I've been doing loads of cooking and baking (although sadly sometimes forgetting to take photographs) so I will post up my recipes as and when I can.

Tonight's recipe is for Clootie Dumpling made in the microwave and it was kindly given to me by one of our neighbours.  If you're not Scottish you might not have heard of a clootie dumpling before - it's a traditional recipe for a steamed rich fruit pudding.  It's a bit like a Christmas Pudding but not as dark and maybe a bit spicier.  The term 'clootie' means a rag of cloth as the pudding was traditionally cooked in a muslin cloth.  Traditionally it would have taken several hours to cook but thankfully my recipe takes only 15 mins in the microwave!  We had this for pudding yesterday served with a dollop of brandy cream.  Definitely not Slimming World friendly 😂but a wee New Years Day treat!

Microwave Clootie Dumpling

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp mixed spice
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp ground nutmeg
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
6oz butter or margarine
1 lb mixed dried fruit
8 oz plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 eggs, beaten

Method:
Line a 3 pint plastic microwavable bowl with cling film then put aside.  Put the spices, sugar, syrup, butter or margarine and mixed dried fruit in a large pan along with 1/2 pint of water.  Bring to the boil, stirring, then simmer for 1 minute.

Remove from the heat and stir in the flour and bicarbonate of soda, mix well.  Add the eggs then mix well again.

Pour the mixture into the prepared bowl.  DO NOT COVER.  Cook on high in the microwave for approx 15 minutes.

That's it simples and beats having to steam it for 5+ hours!  I love the smell of all the spices while it's cooking!

That's all for now but I'll be back again soon with more recipes to share.

Hugs,
Shona xx