Fakeaway Friday: Sweet and Sour Chicken with Boiled Rice

The recipe I will share with you today is sweet and sour chicken with boiled rice.  Quite easy to make and very tasty.
I served it with boiled rice but I tried it with noodles before and it's just as nice :-)

INGREDIENTS: serves 4 about 1 syn per serving on Extra Easy

• 4 chicken breasts diced
• 1 large onion chopped
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• 1 large red pepper chopped
• 3 carrots finely sliced
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1/4 tsp Chinese 5 spice
• 4 tbsp tomato puree 
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar 
• 4 tbsp light soy sauce 
• 150ml chicken stock
• 400g fresh pineapple flesh, cut into bite-size pieces
• 2 spring onions to decorate

METHOD:

• Spray a pan or a wok with Frylight (cooking spray). Place the diced chicken breast and fry till brown. Remove and put on a plate.
• Spray some more cooking spray to the pan and add the garlic, onion, pepper, and carrots.  Fry for about 5 minutes.
• Add the chicken to the vegetables and fry for a couple of minutes.
• In a separate bowl mix 2 tbsp of water with cornflour, wine vinegar, soy sauce, tomato puree and stock.  Add it to the pan and cook it for a few minutes till the sauce thickens.
• Remove from the heat and add the pineapple.
• Serve with boiled rice or noodles and decorate with finely slices spring onion.
• Enjoy your meal.

My family loved this recipe.  I added some hot chilly pepper to mine as I loooove spicy food!!

Please, do send me pictures if you make this recipe.  I will definitely be making this again, next time with noodles :-)

xoxo

Fakeaway Friday: Chilli Con Carne with Boiled Rice

My 10-year old always asks for this recipe and I am also glad he is starting to develop a taste for spicy foods (provided it's not too spicy or he gulps down litres of water :-/)

Today I will share the recipe for the Chilli con Carne with Boiled Rice: a beautiful Mexican recipe made from scratch the healthy way :-)

INGREDIENTS: serves 4 syn free on Extra Easy

• 500 gr extra lean mince meat
• 1 large red onion chopped
• 2 large red peppers chopped
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• pinch of chilli pepper
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 300 ml beef stock
• 400 gr tin kidney beans

METHOD:

• Spray a pan with Frylight (cooking spray). Add the garlic, red onion, and peppers and fry for a few minutes.
• Add the mince and cook till brown.
• Add the cumin, paprika and coriander and mix well to season the meat and vegetables.
• Mix the stock, chopped tomatoes and kidney beans and simmer till thickened. Add some chilli pepper to taste if you like it spicy.
• Serve with fried rice or if you are in the mood of real comfort food, serve with Slimming World chips. 
• Follow with a naughty glass of wine :-)

Yummy comfort food without the guilt ;-)

xoxo

Fakeaway Friday: Fish and Chips

Since I joined Slimming World I learned how to prepare all those takeaway dishes from scratch by using a wide variety of spices.

Fish and chips is one of them, prepared the healthy way of course :-)

I always loved fish and chips but the one you get from the takeaways is so high in calories and fats and if you are trying to lose some weight and eat healthy it's just not worth it :-(

It doesn't take so long to make this healthy version and it can be prepared in the morning and stored in the fridge till you are ready to cook it.  It's also virtually syn free if you use the wholemeal bread as your HEB.

There you go:

INGREDIENTS:  

serves 4 - syn free if using wholemeal bread as HEB

• 4 cod fillets cut into strips
• 1 beaten egg
• 120 gr wholemeal breadcrumbs
• 1 oxo cube
• 1 tbsp dried garlic
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp paprika

METHOD:

• Mix the breadcrumbs, oxo cube, garlic, parsley and paprika in a bowl.
• Dip the fish strip into the beaten egg and then straight into the dry mixture.
• Make sure the fish is all coated.
• Spray a pan with Frylight and fry the fish to brown the coating.
• Transfer into an ovenproof dish and bake in the oven at 180 degrees for approx 20 mins or till fully cooked.
• Serve with Slimming World chips and a side salad.

It was soooo yummy!

Let me know if you try it and send me some pics.

Have a great weekend everybody!

xoxo

Fakeaway Friday: Mushy pea curry

Hi all. Thank crunchy it's Friday! 

It has been a long week!! We survived our first week back to school but finding really hard to settle back into the routine. I really don't know where the time goes sometimes...my 13-year-old daughter has started 2nd year in Secondary school and my 10 year old son is now in 5th class!

Before I started Slimming World we used to get take away meals on Friday nights and eat it in front of the TV watching a nice movie. I used to look forward to a night off cooking after a full week of doing cleaning, washing, school runs and helping with homework.

Since I joined Slimming World in September 2013 however, I have been very conscious of what we eat and try to prepare healthy meals all the time (although I admit I do cheat once in a while...oops!) The main thing is I get back on track straight away; whenever I am tempted to have a bad meal I say to myself: "NO FOOD TASTES AS GOOD AS SKINNY FEELS"...

I love cooking and trying new recipes.  I sometimes get inspired by a recipe I have seen on a magazine or website, and sometimes I like to make my own recipe Slimming World friendly.

Tonight we were so tempted to order a Chinese dinner as a Friday night/back to school treat. It would have been so easy. Instead I decided to get into the kitchen and make a curry! Well done me!! (Round of applause).

Soon after I joined Slimming World last year, I heard talking about mushy pea curry. Well... I must admit it took me about 8 months before I found the courage to try it! Don't get me wrong, I love curries, but I can't stand mushy peas. I don't like their taste, texture and I am also put off by the smell. Yuck!

Surprisingly enough, not only I loved the mushy peas curry but even the kids seem to really enjoy it! It tastes as good as any takeaway and syn free on Extra Easy.

How things change in a year...we still have family nights and we all watch a movie together but we also enjoy a beautiful healthy meal!

Here is the recipe:

MUSHY PEAS CURRY

INGREDIENTS: (syn-free on Extra Easy)
Serves 4

For the sauce:

2 tins of mushy peas
1 tin of baked beans
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp curry powder (I like using the hot curry powder, but you can use the mild one if you prefer)

Add:

4 medium sized chicken breasts
2 medium sized green peppers
1 onion
2 garlic cloves


METHOD:

1. Blend the mushy peas, baked beans, chopped tomatoes and curry powder and set aside.
2. Dice up the chicken and vegetables, spray a pan with Frylight and cook till softened.
3. Add the sauce and simmer till chicken is fully cooked.
4. Serve with boiled rice or Slimming World chips.  

We can never agree whether to have it with chips or rice so I usually make a bit of both and everybody is happy!

After this lovely dinner it's time to put my feet up and enjoy a lovely glass of red wine.(175ml 6 syns)

HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE!!

TALK SOON,

 XOXO