Paprika Steak with Spinach and Roasted Vegetables

Ingredients

2 Red Peppers
2 Onions
2 Sweet Potatoes
4 cloves of Garlic
2 Bay Leaves
Few springs of Thyme
Balsamic Vinegar
Lemon Juice
Fry Light
freshly ground Black Pepper
Paprika
Salt for seasoning

Method

Please see video below

Many thanks to gowithinspiration for this video

Thai Fish Cakes

Ingredients

75g/3oz Prawns
275g/10oz Cod Fillet
2 Spring Onions
1 clove of Garlic
1 red Chilli
1 stalk of Lemongrass
4 tbsp fresh Coriander
Freshly ground Salt and Pepper

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 190c/375f/Gas Mark 5.

Peel and crush the Garlic clove, trim and chop the Spring Onions, deseed and chop the Chilli, peel and chop the Lemongrass stalk and roughly chop the Coriander leaves. Place these ingredients along with the Salt and Pepper into a food processor and blend to mix.

Take out your Prawns (you can use frozen Prawns but the must be defrosted thoroughly) and your Cod Fillet (you can use other fish such as Coley for this recipe, which I suggest as I am a great believer in sustainability of fish species), pat them dry and add them to the food processor containing the other ingredients, blend until the mixture is roughly chopped.

Take a baking tray and spray with Fry Light Oil. Dampen your hands and divide the mixture into 12 portions, roll each portion into a ball and then flatten into a patty/disc shape. Place the patties onto the baking tray and cook for 12- 15 minutes, make sure they are piping hot and cooked through. Turn the patties over half way through the cooking time.

Serve with Thai Chilli Dipping Sauce and salad leaves.

Sin Value: Red Day - FREE

Fruit Roulade

Ingredients


1 tub Quark
4 eggs
1 tsp Baking powder 
4 tbsp Sweetner 
Vanilla essence
Fresh fruit ie Strawberries/Raspberries

Preparation


Place into a bowl half a tub of quark, 4 egg yolks, 1 tsp baking powder and 1 or 2 tsp of vanilla essence to taste, mix together using an eletric whisk, set to one side.


Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/Gas Mark 4.
In another bowl, whisk the 4 egg whites until they are stiff and form peaks. Whisk half the egg whites into the mixture in the first bowl and when combined fold in 2nd half of the egg whites.

Line a swiss roll tin with baking paper (if you don't have any use spray light but paper is best) and pour the mixture into the tin, bake for 15-20 mins and once cooked place to one side and allow to cool.


Whilst the roulade is cooling, mix the remaining half a tub of quark with the sweetener and some vanilla essence to your taste. Remove the cooled roulade from the tin and spread the quark mixture evenly across the cake.  Add the sliced fresh fruit and roll the cake from one end, slice to serve.



Sin value: half a sin for the whole cake - Baking Powder 1tsp 0.5


For alternative flavours try Options Hot Chocolate drinks powder (2 sins).

Bacon Cheese Burgers

Ingredients

500g Extra Lean Mince

1 medium or two small Onions
4 rashers of Back Bacon

2 Wholemeal rolls

4 Light Cheese Slices

1 Clove Garlic
2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
Freshly ground Salt and Pepper


Preparation

Peel and finely chop the Onion and garlic. Remove any fat from the Bacon rashers and slice the Wholemeal rolls in half horizontally.

Preheat the grill.

Place the chopped Onion, Garlic, minced Beef, Worcester Sauce and seasoning into a bowl, using your hands, combine the ingredients together. Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions and shape each into round balls and the press down each into a burger shape. Place the burgers onto a plate and put in the fridge while we cook the Bacon.

Place the 4 Bacon rashers onto a grill pan and grill until cooked, place to one side.

Take out the burgers from the fridge and place them onto the grill pan, cook evenly on both sides, make sure that the juices run clear to ensure the burgers are thoroughly cooked.

Time to build the burger, place a burger onto a wholemeal roll, top with cheese and the cooked Bacon.

Fresh Onion, tomato or dill can be added to your preferred taste.

Sins per serving: Free on Red Day using healthy extras a (for cheese) and b (for wholemeal rolls)

KFC Style Crunchy Chicken

Ingredients

4 x Chicken Breast
1 x Jar Chicken Bovril
1 tsp Garlic Puree
2 tsp Black Pepper
2 tsp Mixed Spice
1 tsp Chilli Powder
4 Slices of Wholemeal Bread
2 tsp Mixed Herbs

Sin Value: FREE on Red Day if using Bread as a HE.

Youtube vid with grateful thanks to Dawstopper

Spicy Mexican Burgers

Ingredients

 900g Extra Lean Mince Beef

50g Wholemeal Breadcumbs
1 Small Onion
6 tbsp Skimmed Milk
1 tsp Ground Cumin
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1/2 tsp Celery Salt


Preparation

Place the bread into a blender to create the breadcrumbs. Peel and chop the onion finely.

In a bowl, mix by hand the breadcrumbs, milk, onion, cumin, cayenne pepper and celery salt, together. Once combined,  add the mince and continue until mixture is evenly blended.


Divide the mixture into 8 portions and flatten into patties, seperate with cling film to stop the patties sticking. At this time you can put the patties into the fridge, this will help them keep their shape when being handled. Alternatively they can be cooked straight away.


Preheat the grill and cook for approximately 10 mins, turning so that each side is evenly cooked and juices run clear.


Serve with salad, if serving with a bun or potatoes remember they have sin values.


Free on red day if using bread and milk as HE

Diet Coke (Coca Cola) Chicken

Sin Value: FREE on a Red Day

Youtube vid with grateful thanks to Dawstopper

Lemon and Chilli Chicken Kebabs

Ingredients

2 large Chicken breasts
1 clove of Garlic
1 tsp Chilli flakes
3 tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tbsp Coriander leaf
3 tbsp very low fat natural Yoghurt
Freshly ground Salt and Black Pepper

Preparation

You can use a bowl for this recipe but I prefer a clear plastic resealable food bag as its easier to mix the ingredients and store when chilling.

Peel and crush the garlic and slice the chicken breasts into bite size chunks. Place all the ingredients into the bag, seal and mix thoroughly by manipulating the bag.

Place the bag onto a shelf in the fridge and leave to chill/marinate for one hour.

When ready to cook, remove from bag and place onto skewers. The chicken can be cooked on its own or with chunks of onion and red pepper, or alternatively chunks of fresh pineapple.

You can also use this as a lunch recipe, cook the day before, chill and then add to a lunchbox salad.

Sins per serving:

FREE on Red Day

Lamb, Rosemary and Mint Burgers

Summer wouldn't be the same without a good BBQ, so each day this week I will be posting BBQ recipes, starting today with Lamb, Rosemary and Mint Burgers.

Ingredients

1kg lean minced Lamb

1 egg (optional)

1 Onion

1 clove Garlic

1 tbsp fresh Mint

1 tbsp fresh Rosemary

Freshly ground Salt and Black Pepper

Preparation

Peel the onion and the clove of garlic. 

Finely chop the onion, garlic, mint and rosemary and place in a bowl with the minced lamb and seasoning. 

Mix the ingredients together to combine then divide the mixture into equal portions. With wet hands shape into patties, if the mixture seems dry or crumbles when shaping the patties, add an egg to the mixture, this will help bind the ingredients.

Place the burgers onto a plate lined with baking parchment, cover and chill in the fridge for about 20 mins.

When ready to cook, spray each side of the burger with fry light and cook on the BBQ.

Serve with yoghurt dip and a salad of your choice.

Sins per serving:

Free on Red Day

Cucumber, Onion and Dill Salad

I think this may be a German recipe but I'm not too sure.

Ingredients

2 small or 1 medium Cucumber
1 large Onion
3 tbsp fresh Dill
5 tbsp Cider Vinegar
Freshly ground Salt and Black Pepper

Preparation

Peel the onion, wash and dry the cucumber. Take a mandolin and into a large bowl, finely slice the cucumber and onion. Add to the bowl, the dill and cider vinegar, also add 2 tbsp of water to the mixture and season with salt and pepper.

Toss the salad to mix all the ingredients together and chill in the refrigerator for about 1 hour before serving.

Taste before serving, if too strong add more water, if too weak add more vinegar, if too bitter add a little sweetner.

Sins per serving:

Free on both  Red and Green Days

Cheesy Stilton Dip

Ingredients

1 tub of Quark
28g Stilton cheese

Preparation

Crumble the Stilton into the tub of Quark and mix thoroughly. Place the lid back on the Quark and leave overnight in the fridge for the flavour to enhance the Quark.

Serve with battons of carrot and cucumber. Can be used as topping for Baked Potatoes or spread for Scan Bran and Ryvita.

Sin value per serving:

Stilton - 28g Free as Healthy Extra or 6 sins

Pizza... no i'm not kidding, really.....Pizza

Lesson number two - Pitta Pockets

I'm not going to give much info about quantities unless it's sinned because I think Pizza is a personal thing. Some people like a thin topping and some like it fully loaded.

This is a basic pizza but the combinations are endless, for example, ham and pineapple; meat feast with spicy beef, ham and chicken; mexican with spicy beef, onion and jalapeno peppers.

Try whatever combination you fancy but make sure you read the notes at the bottom of the recipe for sin values.

Ingredients

Pitta Pocket

Grated Low Fat Cheese

Tomato Sauce

Sliced and diced Ham

Peeled and sliced White Onion

Preparation

Preheat the grill.

Peel and slice the Onion, grate the Cheese and dice the Ham.

Place the Pitta Pocket onto a baking tray. Spoon some of the Tomato Sauce on top of the Pitta Pocket and add a light sprinkle of Grated Cheese.

Next the toppings, place some of the diced Ham and sliced White Onion on top and then finish with another sprinkling of cheese.

Place the baking tray containing the pizza under the grill and cook until golden. Allow to cool so that the cheese doesn't burn your mouth.

Serve on it's own or with a salad.

Sins per serving:

Red Day - FREE if using cheese and Pitta as HE

Pitta Pocket - I get mine from Asda and I know these are 6.5 sins or Free as a Healthy Extra (B).

Grated Cheese - 28g Free as Healthy Extra (A) or 6 sins if full fat, 4 sins if reduced fat.

Tomato Sauce - for this you can make a sauce from chopped tomatoes, garlic and basil reduced down to thicken, which can be stored in the fridge ready to use, alternatively you can use my Tomato Salsa or my Pasta Sauce.

Recipe can be used on a Green Day with alternative toppings.

Greek Doner Kebab / Gyro

I have searched everywhere for a doner recipe and it's near impossible to find, an authentic tasing recipe. Its a guarded secret like KFC coating or Macs special sauce. So I was amazed to find this one from of all places Utah!!.

I tried this last night for my dinner, it smelt and tasted yummy, the leftovers were a bit dry but I put it in at 190 and left it in the oven too long..... doh

Ingredients

1lb lean Minced Lamb
1 small Onion
1tspn dried Oregano
1tspn dried Thyme
1tspn sea salt
quarter tspn black pepepr
2tspns Minced or crushed Garlic

Preparation

Peel and finely chop the onion. Peel the garlic cloves and mince or crush, I used a garlic press.

Place all the ingredients into a food processor and blend. This effects the texture of the meat, it makes it smooth so that it binds together and isn't grainey like minced meat. Cover and leave in the fridge for 2 hours, if possible leave longer as this allows the flavours to marinate.

If you have a spit, form the mixture into an oblong and slowly rotate/cook over the grill for about 30 - 40 minutes making sure its not too close to the coals/flames.

If like me you have an oven, preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas Mark 3.

Shape the mixture into a loaf (like meatloaf) and place onto a wire rack over a baking tray, this allows the fat to run off. Place it in the oven and leave for 45 mins to 1hr, when it's ready it should be a bit dry. Keep an eye on it as you will need to drain off the excess fat which collects on the baking tray.

Serve with a salad, pitta bread (HE - not supposed to be HE as it lacks fibre but I think it's a personal choice or 7 syns) and tzatziki.

Syns per serving:

FREE on a red day

Plaice with Mushrooms and Lime

Ingredients

4 white-skinned Plaice fillets.
Celery Salt
Freshly ground Black Pepper
2 Limes
4 medium sized Tomatoes
3 or 4 leaves of Basil
300g/10.5oz mixed mushrooms(any button, chanterelle, shitake, oyster, whatever you can get your hands on and whatever has the most flavour)
Fry Light

Preparation

Wash the fish and pat dry on kitchen towel, do the same with the mushrooms. Slice the limes in half and extract the juice. Skin the tomatoes, take out the seeds and chop the flesh. Roughly chop the basil.

Preheat the grill to a moderate heat.

Take the grill pan and place a large piece of grease proof paper over the rack. Place the Plaice fillets onto the grease proof paper and sprinkle with the celery salt, lime juice and black pepper.

Place the grill pan under the grill and cook the fillets for about 8 minutes, or until thoroughly cooked.

While the fillets are under, spray a frying pan with frylight, add the mushrooms and on a low heat for about 5 minutes until they are cooked through.

Then take a small saucepan and heat the chopped tomatoes, season to prefered taste.

On a plate, put the Plaice fillet, spoon on the mushrooms and then the chopped tomatoes, sprinkle over the chopped basil and serve.

Red Day - FREE

Flanny's Any Flavour Bolognese Sauce

Before I do the usual layout, I have to say that this is my basic sauce and it tastes just like the top brand jar versions.

This one is extra garlic and onion, if you want mixed peppers half the onion and garlic and add whatever coloured pepper you like, red and yellow make it summery, green makes it rustic, cook the peppers when you cook the onion.

If you want a hot sauce add some chilli flakes or powder, if you like it really hot add some deseeded and chopped red chilli, add the chilli when you add the sweetener, garlic and mixed herbs.

For a Red (original) day, as below, use very lean minced beef, if you only have lean beef then check the syns.

For a Green day , for me it has to be quorn, but to be honest by packing it with the onion and peppers, it's filling in itself.

The point is it's easy to make and you can do anything with this sauce because it's so basic.

Ingredients

250g very lean minced Beef
500g Passatta
2 Onions
1 tspn of Garlic Granules
1 tspn of Mixed Herbs
1 tspn of Artificial Sweetener
Fry Light
Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper

Preparation

Peel and chop the onion.

Heat a dry frying pan, when hot add the minced beef to the frying pan and cook until all the mince is brown (no pink), break down with a spatula so that the mince isn't clumpy. Once cooked put the mince to one side in a bowl, use a spoon with holes so you leave the fat behind.

Wipe the frying pan with kitchen roll and spray the frying pan with Fry Light. Fry the onions until they are tender. Add the passatta to the frying pan and stir, add the mixed herbs, garlic granules and artificial sweetener, turn up the heat and stir, make sure that the mixture doesn't boil or splash.

Add the minced beef and continue to stir, taste the sauce to see if it's to your taste, if too bitter add a bit more sweetener.

Turn off the heat and put the pan to one side for half an hour, this let's the ingredients blend and releases the flavours from the herbs and garlic.

Return to the heat and once near boiling serve. Make sure if you eat this with pasta or bread that you add your syn values.

Sauce sin value per serving:

Red Day - with Beef - FREE
Green Day with Quorn - FREE

Chicken Liver and Bacon Pate

Ingredients

8oz/227g Chicken Livers
4oz/113g Bacon (fat removed)
1 Onion
1 Garlic Clove
Half a Tub of very low fat Fromage Frais
Half a tspn mixed Herbs
Fry Light
Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper

Preparation

Peel and chop the onion, peel and crush the garlic, chop the bacon.

Spray a frying pan with Fry Light and cook the chopped onion, mixed herbs and crushed garlic until tender. Add the chicken livers and fry for 7 minutes, add the bacon and cook for a further 3 minutes, season to the preferred taste.

Place the mixture from the frying pan into a blender, add a spoonful of Fromage Frais and blend until the mixture is smooth. If too course, keep adding the Fromage Frais a bit at a time until you reach the preferred consistency.

Sin value per serving:

Red Day (original) - FREE

Lemon Meringue

Ingredients

1 Lemon
3 Eggs
300g Quark
4 tbspns artificial sweetener (not granulated, must be powdered)

Preparation

Preheat the oven 180 degrees C/350 degrees F/Gas mark 4.

Seperate the egg whites from the eggs, grate the lemon rind and squeeze out the juice.

In a bowl whisk the quark until it is smooth and creamy, add the lemon rind and juice, egg yolks and 2 tbspns of sweetener. Share the mixture between 4 ramekin dishes, place the dishes onto a baking sheet and put into the oven to bake for about 10 minutes.

In a seperate bowl, whisk the egg whites vigorously until the mixture forms peaks and they hold their shape, whisk in the last of the sweetener.

Remove the 4 ramekins from the oven and pour the egg white mixture equally on top of each one.

Return the ramekins to the oven and bake for 5 minutes or until the meringue's are golden brown.

Sin value per serving:

Green Day - FREE
Red Day - FREE

Tomato Salsa

Ingredients

1 tin of peeled, chopped Tomatoes
15ml Cider Vinegar
fresh Coriander
1 Garlic Clove
2g/half tspn Cumin
40g Red Onion
40g White Onion
1 tbspn Jalpeno Peppers

Preparation

Peel and chop the onions, peel and chop the garlic. Place all the ingredients into a blender and blend on a low setting until the correct consistency.

Place into a tub and cover, put tub in fridge overnight so that all the ingredients combine.

Serve with any meat or fish.

Can be eaten as a snack with Tortilla chips (28g 6.5 sins on both red and green days)

Sin value per serving:

Green Day - FREE
Red Day - FREE

Any flavour Ice Cream

Ingredients

4 Tubs of muller light yoghurt
2 pots of very low fat natural yoghurt
artifical sweetener

Preparation

Take the lid off a plastic freezer tub and inside place all the ingredients, mix thoroughly. Place on the lid and put into the freezer, every 20 minutes take out of the freezer and stir, this will make sure that it becomes ice cream and not ice.

After approximately two hours your ice cream should be ready.

This can be served with fresh fruit and aerosol cream (2 level tbspns).

Flavours can be changed to suit the fruit, ie Strawberries and strawberry mullerlight yoghurt.

Sin value per serving:

Green Day - FREE (0.5 sins if using aerosol cream)
Red Day - FREE (0.5 sins if using aerosol cream)

Indian Raita (Yoghurt, Cucumber and Mint)

Ingredients

200g/half a tub of Very Low fat natural Yoghurt
2 tspns mint sauce (no added sugar)
half a cucumber
half an onion

Preparation

Peel and chop the onion and dice the cucumber.

Add all the ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly.

Transfer to a cooled serving dish. This makes a great accompliment to many dishes or salads or just as a dip in its own right.

Sin Value per serving:

Green Day - FREE
Red Day - FREE