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

Key Lime Pie

Hi everyone and happy Monday!

Today I am going to share a dessert recipe with you: Key Lime Pie.

I wish I had tried this recipe over the summer as it would have been lovely after a BBQ.  It's really fresh and creamy and great if you want to impress your friends and family without spending hours in the kitchen. 

It will have to set in the fridge for a few hours and even better overnight, so there's no last minute preparation! What more can you ask for?!


There it is:


INGREDIENTS: Serves 10 people. 5 syns per slice

• 8 digestive biscuits
• 50 gr low fat spread
• 1 sachet sugar free lemon and lime jelly
• 250 gr quark
• 2 x 175 gr muller light vanilla yoghurt
• a few drops of green food colouring
• zest of 2 limes plus the juice of 4 limes
• 2 tsp powdered gelatine
• 3 tbsp sweetener

METHOD

• Make up the jelly with 150 ml of boiled water and let cool.  Add the powdered gelatine.
• Crumble the digestive biscuits and mix with the melted low fat spread. 
• Press this mixture very tight with the back of a spoon at the bottom of a 20cm springform baking tray.
• In a blender mix the quark cheese, 2 muller light, the juice of 4 limes, the zest of 2 limes, and the food colouring.
• Mix in the jelly when is completely cold and pour the whole mixture over the base.
• Let it set overnight in the fridge and enjoy.

Send me some pics if you make it. I would love to see them!! :-)

xoxo

Bowtie pasta with mushrooms and sundried tomatoes

Today's recipe is a very easy and quick one.  It's a dish that you get ready in matter of minutes: bowtie pasta with mushrooms and sundried tomatoes. 
As some of you may already know, pasta is always a big hit with my family and I absolutely love it when I think of a recipe that is so simple to make :-)


INGREDIENTS
Serves 4 (1 syn per serving if using the cheese as part of your HEA)

• 350 gr bowtie pasta
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 medium onion
• 50 gr porcini mushrooms
• 250 gr chestnut mushrooms
• 100 gr sundried tomatoes (4 syns)
• 70 gr light philadelphia cheese
• parsley

METHOD:

• Soak the sundried tomatoes in warm water for about half an hour.
• Soak the porcini mushrooms in warm water for a few minutes, drain, chop and keep the water for later.
• Mince the garlic, dice the onion and slice the chestnut mushrooms.
• Spray a pan with frylight and add the garlic, onion, mushrooms and sundried tomatoes.
• In the meantime, boil the pasta in salted hot water and drain.
• Add the pasta to the pan and stir in the philadelphia cheese, the porcini mushrooms water and make sure it's nice and moist and that the water doesn't dry out completely.
• Serve immediately and add some parsley on top.

Let me know if you are going to make this recipe and send pics in if you do :-)

xoxo

Orange Cake with Berries

Today I want to share with you a beautiful cake recipe: Orange Cake with berries.

Perfect ending to a Sunday dinner or whenever you feel like having a special treat, this cake is quite low in syns (3 1/2 per slice) but bursts with flavour.

There it is: :-)

INGREDIENTS: 

Serves 12 - 3 1/2 syns per serving

• 4 eggs
• 50 gr caster sugar
• 150 gr self raising flour
• 5 tbsp sweetener
• 1 tsp baking powder
• juice of 2 oranges
• 2 tbsp of grated orange zest
• berries to serve

FOR THE SYRUP

• juice of 2 oranges
• 1 tbsp arrowroot
• zest of 2 oranges 
• 4 tbsp sweetener
• 90 ml water

METHOD:

• Preheat the oven at 190 C and line a 20cm baking tray with parchment paper.
• Separate the eggs.
• In a bowl mix until thick the egg yolks, flour, sweetener, sugar, baking powder, juice of 2 oranges, and orange zest.
• In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until they are softly peaked.
• Fold them into the rest of the mixture.
• Spoon the whole mixture into the baking tray and bake in the oven for approx 25/30 mins or till firm to touch.
• In the meantime prepare the syrup by placing all the ingredients in a saucepan.
• Bring to boil and continue whisking till thickened.
• When the cake is fully cooked leave it to cool down in a wire rack for a few minutes.
• Drizzle the syrup over, cut into slices and serve with berries

It's a gorgeous gooey cake that explodes with orange flavours.  It would be lovely to serve it with raspberries but I didn't have any at home... one more excuse to make it again :-)

Let me know if you make it and what you think,

Till next time

xoxo