Slow Cooked Chicken Casserole

I bought my first slow cooker this weekend so have been searching for Slimming World friendly slow cooker recipes like a mad woman! My Nan makes a legendary chicken casserole in her slow cooker so I thought I would follow in her footsteps & make a casserole first. Although my Nan’s recipe is without doubt the best thing I have ever tasted I wanted to try something of my own as there is no way I could make it as good as her & I found this recipe on my favourite Slimming World related website slimmingeats.com. The dish doesn’t have a traditional casserole taste as it contains soy sauce & maple syrup & although it won’t be what you expect it is very, very tasty. To find the recipe go to www.slimmingeats.com & just type in ‘slow cooked chicken casserole’ into the search bar. It is so simple to make & is a really hearty meal that even my toddler couldn’t get enough of!

TIP: When seasoning the casserole be careful not to add too much salt, the soy sauce is salty enough.

Chicken Rogan Josh

CHICKEN ROGAN JOSH (Serves 4)

Ingredients

4 skinless chicken breast fillets, cut into bite-size chunks

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

100g fat-free natural yoghurt

1 level tsp ground almonds

1 large onion, roughly chopped

3cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled & grated

3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

Fry light

1 small aubergine, cut into small chunks

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp medium chilli powder

1 tsp paprika

2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp turmeric

2 tbsp tomato puree

100g green beans, halved

1 red pepper, deseeded & sliced

2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes

A small handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped, plus a few whole leaves to garnish

Freshly boiled basmati rice & lime wedges to serve

1. Put the chicken in a shallow glass dish. Season, then add the yogurt & ground almonds. Stir, cover & chill for 30 minutes.

2. In a food processor, whizz the onion, ginger & garlic into a paste. Place a frying pan sprayed with Fry Light over a medium heat. Add the onion paste & aubergine & stir-fry for 5 minutes. Add all the spices & stir-fry for a further 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate & set aside.

3. Spray the pan with Fry Light, add the chicken & marinade the fry for 8 minutes. Add the chicken & marinade, then fry for 8 minutes. Add the tomato puree & a splash of water & cook for 2 minutes. Return to aubergine to the pan. Add the tomatoes. Season & simmer for 10-15 minutes or until cooked through.

4. Stir in the chopped coriander & garnish with the whole leaves. Serve with rice & lime wedges.

SYN VALUE: 1 syn on Extra Easy

I found this recipe in the March/April 2013 magazine & although it was nice it was far too tomatoey- I think just 1 and a half cans would suffice. I also think that the recipe lacks cumin so I added a teaspoon of that to add some more flavour which I think had been lost with the addition of too much chopped tomato. Although the curry was nice I must confess I am in no hurry to make it again- it is not the best curry recipe I have ever tried & didn’t taste very authentic.

TIP: Grill the aubergine before you add it to the curry rather than stir-frying it. Stir-frying takes longer to cook a vegetable like aubergine so once chopped up just spray with some Fry Light & place under the grill until nearly cooked. Aubergine can take a long time to cook & if you don’t heat it before you add it to the curry you will be there all day waiting for it!

Chicken Fajita Pasta

I made this lovely pasta dish for the first time last night & it was delicious. I find pasta can be a little boring at times with the same tomato based sauces but this was far from boring & had a lovely kick to it. Find the recipe on www.slimmingeats.com & type in ‘Chicken Fajita Pasta’ in the search bar. I served mine with a large salad.

Baked Bean Omelette

I found this recipe on mumsnet.com & when I first saw it I thought it sounded disgusting but after reading the reviews it seemed like it might be worth a try & I can confirm it was delicious! It definitely tastes nicer than it sounds but when I thought about it, it makes perfect sense that a baked bean omelette would be so yummy- beans are a staple food in a Full English breakfast which of course has eggs in it, beans also go lovely with scrambled & poached eggs on toast too. It makes an easy, quick & cheap breakfast or lunch. I had it for lunch & served it with a salad. Seriously, try it you will be pleasantly suprised!

BAKED BEAN OMELETTE (Serves 1-2)

INGREDIENTS

3 eggs

Half a tin of beans

Salt & Pepper

1. Simply whisk the eggs, beans & seasoning together. Spray a frying pan with Fry Light & add the egg & bean mixture. Swirl the mixture around the pan to coat the base of the pan.

2. Cook the omelette over a medium heat for around 3 minutes until the sides begin to set & then flip over (if you find flipping the omelette over tricky like I do just place under the grill instead for a few minutes).

TIP: Add your healthy extra cheese for a cheesy baked bean omelette!

SYN VALUE: Free on Extra Easy

Meatball Melt

MEATBALL MELT (Serves 3-4)

For the Meatballs

500g extra lean pork mince

1 onion, peeled & finely chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled & finely chopped

2 tsp dried oregano

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

For the Sauce

400g passata

2 red chillies, deseeded & finely chopped

1 onion, peeled & finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled & finely chopped

200ml vegetable stock

Fry Light

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

1. Put all the meatball ingredients into a bowl & mix well. Form the mince meat mixture into meatballs (around 6 meatballs per person should be enough) & set aside.

2. Once you have made the meatballs. Spray a pan with Fry Light & add the chillies, onion & garlic, cook until softened. Once softened add the passata & vegetable stock, bring to the boil & then cover & simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.

3. Meanwhile spray a frying pan with Fry Light & place the meatballs in the pan. Fry until cooked all the way through.

4. Once your sauce & meatballs are cooked. Add the meatballs to the sauce & put in an ovenproof dish. Grate 84g of cheddar cheese if your dish is serving 3 people or 112g of cheese if it is for 4 people & sprinkle on top of the meatballs & sauce mixture. Place under a grill until the cheese is bubbling. Serve with spaghetti & a large crisp salad.

SYN VALUE: Free on Extra Easy

I had originally intended to just make pork meatballs with an arrabiata sauce but had a massive craving for cheese so the meatball melt was created! The meatball recipe is my own but the sauce is taken from the Slimming World website. This dish is real comfort food & is very tasty. The melted cheese & the spicy tomato sauce work really well together. This dish would work just as well with extra lean beef mince.

TIP: Be careful not to overcook the meatballs as the pork can become very dry.

TIP: Use half fat or reduced fat cheese as the cheese then goes further.  I always use reduced fat cheese for dishes like this.

Tandoori Chicken

I got this recipe from my favourite Slimming World site, Slimming Eats. This tandoori chicken dish is very easy to make & tastes very authentic. Serve with boiled rice & a crisp salad.  To find the recipe just go to http://www.slimmingeats.com & type ‘Tandoori Chicken’ into the search bar & the recipe will come up 🙂

TIP: The fry light on the chicken gives the meat an authentic tasting char on the meat. 

Pasta Chicken Enchiladas

I made Pasta Chicken Enchiladas for the second time this week & they were just as delicious as the first time I made them! This is a really good meal if you are craving Mexican food as the filling tastes very similar to the filling of a fajita, enchilada etc. The recipe can be found at http://www.slimmingeats.com (just search ‘Pasta Chicken Enchiladas’ in the search bar). The enchiladas would work just as well if you replaced the chicken for extra lean beef mince instead. This meal really fills you up & goes well with a nice crisp salad. I would give it 8 out of 10! 

Salmon & Spinach Kedgeree

SALMON & SPINACH KEDGEREE (Serves 4)

Ingredients

2 skinless salmon fillets

300g brown basmati rice

600ml vegetable stock

1 large onion, diced

2 cloves garlic

Thumbsized piece ginger, grated

1 tbsp garam masala

1 tsp mustard seeds

½ tsp turmeric

1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

4 spring onions finely sliced

2 tbsp fresh coriander chopped

250g baby leaf spinach

4 free-range eggs

1 lemon, quartered

1. Spray a large pan with Fry Light & fry the onion, garlic and ginger  for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the spices and chilli and cook for a further minute. Add the rice and stir through making sure the rice is well coated. Pour in the stock and bring up to a simmer, cover with a lid and then cook over the lowest setting for 30-35 minutes.

2. When the rice has cooked and absorbed all the water stir in the spinach.

3.  Meanwhile spray some more Fry Light into a non stick pan and cook the salmon for 4-5 minutes over a medium to high heat until nearly cooked through then flake the salmon into the rice and add the finely sliced spring onion and coriander. Season with salt and pepper and squeeze over the lemon juice.

4.  Boil the eggs for 7 minutes, this will give you a medium runny yolk, leave to cool slightly before peeling and cutting into quarters. Serve the kedgeree along with the egg and a lemon wedge.

Syn Value: Free on Extra Easy

This is a Dean Edwards recipe that he made on the television, the only I change I made to make it Slimming World friendly was swap olive oil for Fry Light. It is a lovely, filling meal which has a similar taste to paella but the kick of a biryani. Instead of frying the salmon fillets I oven cooked them as I find the fish is much softer and easier to flake 🙂 I also cooked the eggs longer than 7 minutes as my partner hates runny yolks!!!

 

Moussaka

I made this fantastic moussaka using a recipe from http://www.slimmingeats.com (just type in moussaka in the search bar). I get a lot of my recipes & meal ideas using this website & highly recommend it. I did make a few changes though. As I don’t like beef & extra lean lamb is hard to come by I used extra lean pork mince instead (Tesco sell it with less that 5% fat). I was dubious at first but it worked perfectly. I served my moussaka with crushed potatoes & salad. I chose crushed potatoes as I fancied a change from syn free chips. I made the potatoes by slicing them & then boiling until they were cooked but not soggy. Once cooked I sprayed a frying pan with Fry Light and softened some finely chopped onions, then added the potatoes & added a sprinkle of garlic salt & some black pepper. I fried them up until they developed a brown crust. The potatoes develop their  ‘crushed’ consistency as you move them around the pan as they begin to break up.  It is a must try & really fills you up! 

Thai Style Chicken Cakes

THAI STYLE CHICKEN CAKES

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 large skinless and boneless chicken breasts roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves peeled and crushed
1 teaspoon of grated root ginger
6 spring onions finely chopped
25g fresh corriander (leaves and stems) chopped
2 tablespoons of finely chopped mint
1 tablespoon of finely chopped lemongrass
Finely grated juice and zest of one lime
1 red chilli deseeded and chopped
Salt and pepper
Low cal cooking spray

SYN VALUE: Free on Extra Easy

1. Preheat oven to gas 7. Place all the ingredients in a food processor. Blitz until the chicken is finely ground and everything is well mixed.
2. Divide the mixture into 12 portions and shape into small cakes. Spray a large none stick frying pan with low cal cooking spray and fry the cakes over a medium heat for 3 – 4 minutes turning once.
3. Transfer to a none stick baking sheet and place in the preheated over for 6 – 8 minutes.

This recipe has been taken from the ‘Extra Easy Meals in Minutes’ book. The cakes are lovely & very easy to make but they can be a little dry so make sure you don’t over cook them. A  tbsp of sweet chilli sauce (1 syn) goes with this cakes nicely as does a nice crisp salad & some syn free Bachelors savoury rice. Ideal for parties, BBQ’s etc.