Category Archives: Recipes

Creamy Salmon Pasta with Garlic & Herbs- 9 Smart Points

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Filed under 9 Smart Points, Pasta, Recipes, Salmon

This dish tastes more induglent than the Smart Points value would suggest and is a great wholesome option when you fancy some comfort food.

Servings: 2

Smart Points: 9 per serving

Time: 20-25 minutes

What you need:

  • 1 tsp oil
  • 100g pasta – twists or congliche would be my choice
  • 2 salmon fillets
  • lemon
  • mixed herbs
  • small onion, finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 125ml dry white wine
  • 150g low fat soft cheese with garlic and herbs
  • 4 handfuls of baby spinach

What to do:

  1. Heat the oven to 150C. Put a large sheet of tinfoil onto a bakingctray. Place the salmon skin side down onto the foil. Scatter over the mixed herbs and squeeze over the juice of 1/2 the lemon.
  2. Wrap the foil around the salmon to make a parcel. Put the baking tray into the oven and bake for 20mins.
  3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pan of salted water for around 10 minutes until the pasta is al dente.
  4. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Gently fry the onions until softened – about 5 mins. Add the garlic and fry for 1 minute. Add the wine and increase the temperature slightly until the strong alcohol smell burns off.
  5. Add the spinach to the onions a handful at a time and stir until wilted.
  6. When the past is cooked, turn off the and drain, reserving some of the water.
  7. Add the soft cheese to the onions and spinach over a low heat, stirring until the cheese has melted. Add some of the pasta water to slacken the sauce to the desired consistency and season to taste.
  8. Stir the drained pasta into the sauce. Divide the pasta between two bowls and top each with a salmon fillet.
  9. Squeeze a bit of lemon over each dish and add some freshly cracked black pepper.

Beef Tacos – 5 Smart Points

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Filed under 5 Smart Points, Beef, Fast Food, Mexican, Recipes

Quick and easy to put together for a Friday night dinner, this dish is delicious served with some Cajun Courgettes

Servings: 2

Smart Points: 5 per serving

Time: 15-20 minutes

What you need:

  • 1 tsp oil
  • 250g lean beef mince
  • 1/2 onion, finely chopped
  • 1/2 tin chopped tomatoes
  • 1/2 tin kidney beans
  • Mexican seasoning
  • 2 taco shells

What to do:

  1. Heat a non-stick pan and add the oil. Soften the onions before adding the minced beef stirring until browned all over.
  2. Sprinkle over the Mexican seasoning and stir in the tomatoes and kidney beans. Continue cooking for about 5 minutes until everything is heated through.
  3. Heat the taco shells in the oven according to the instructions on the packet.
  4. Fill the taco shells with the beef filling and try not to make a complete mess whilst eating. (If anyone knows how to do this, please let me know!)

Cajun Courgettes – 0 Smart Points

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Filed under 0 Smart Points, Recipes, Side Dishes, Vegan

Mr FFF has never been the biggest fan of vegetables. Apparently, he only really likes them when they’ve got “some kind of flavour” – other than the flavour of the actual vegetables – so I’m always looking for ways to pep-up his plate! These came about as I tried to use up some leftover courgettes and find something to accompany the tacos we were eating to use up some leftover taco shells.

Servings: 2

Smart Points: 0 per serving

Time: 20-25 minutes

What you need:

  • a couple of courgettes
  • Cajun seasoning
  • spray oil

What to do:

  1. Trim the courgettes and halve lengthways. Slice thickly and put into a roasting tin.
  2. Spray the courgettes with oil and sprinkle them liberally with the Cajun seasoning. Give the tin a good shake to ensure the courgettes are evenly coated.
  3. Roast in a pre-heated over at 180C for 15-20 minutes, turning halfway through cooking.

Top Tip: Add more or less Cajun seasoning depending on how much you like the taste of “actual vegetables”!

Pesto Pitta Pizzas – 13 Smart Points

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Filed under 13 Smart Points, Fakeaway, Fast Food, Recipes

I made this by accident after planning on making pitta pizzas but finding myself with no tomato puree. The pitta pizzas were an emergency fall back as I’d forgotten to take the fish I was supposed to be cooking out of the freezer (insert face-palm emoji here) so I had to think on my feet. I’d got a half-used jar of pesto in the fridge – obvs – so I decided to substitute that for the tomato puree. It was a great move and these will now be a regular feature on my weekly menu plans.

Servings: 4

Smart Points: 13 per serving

Time to make: 15 mins

What you need:

  • 6 wholemeal pitta breads
  • 6 tsp pesto
  • 160g cheddar cheese, grated
  • 2 slices premium ham, chopped
  • 6 chestnut mushrooms, slice

What to do:

  1. Put the pitta bread on a baking tray and spread each with one teaspoon of pesto.
  2. Sprinkle the cheese over the pitta breads and top each with the ham and mushroom.
  3. Bake at 200C for 10 minutes or until the cheese bubbles and begins to brown.
  4. Serve with a salad made from zero point fruits and vegetables.

Top Tip: I used classic green pesto for this recipe but I’m sure it would be just as delicious with any of the variety of flavours on offer.

Waldorf Salad with Chicken – 2 Smart Points

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Filed under 2 Smart Points, Chicken, Recipes, Salad

I tried this whilst on my recent cruise, even though I don’t like celery (I thought I’d pick it out but it was actually quite nice), and I enjoyed it so much, I decided to recreate it. It’s so quick and easy to make and it’s ideal to pack up and take to work for lunch.

Servings: 1

Smart Points: 2 per serving

Time to make: 5 mins (+time to cook the chicken breast)

What you need:

  • 1 grilled chicken, thickly sliced
  • 1/2 eating apple, chopped into bitesize chunk
  • handful of grapes, halved
  • 1/2 stick of celery, thinly sliced
  • 3 walnut halves
  • 2tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt
  • lettuce leaves

What to do:

  1. Put the apple, grapes and celery into a small bowl. Break in the walnut halves and add the yogurt. Stir until everything is coated.
  2. Top the lettuce leave with the yogurt-covered mixture and top with the chicken.

Top Tip: I cook an extra chicken breast when I’m making my dinner then it’s ready to go into this delicious salad.

Breakfast Cheesecake – 4 Smart Points

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Filed under 4 Smart Points, Breakfast, Recipes

Cheesecake is one of my favourite foods ever. So when I saw a recipe for a breakfast cheesecake, I had to try it, even though it sounded a bit weird. However, with so much soft cheese and sugar, it was pretty high in Smart Points value so here’s my recipe for a slimmed down version.

Servings: 10

Smart Points: 4 per serving

What you need:

  • 75g low fat spread
  • 650g low fat soft cheese
  • 2 eggs
  • 60g oats
  • juice and rind of one orange
  • 4 tablespoons sweetener (I used Stevia)
  • pinch of salt

What to do:

  1. Heat the oven to 170C/Gas Mark 3. Line a 23cm springform tin with baking paper.
  2. Beat the cheese until smooth then stir in the rest of the ingredients using 1tbsp of the orange juice.
  3. Scrape the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 25 minutes until it is just set with a hint of wobbliness in the middle.
  4. Serve hot, warm, cold or at room temperature with fruit coulis.

Top Tip: For ease, I line the baking tin roughly by pushing in a rectangular sheet of paper. It gives the cheesecake slices a ‘rustic’ look but saves faffing about cutting out strips and circles of paper.

Tuna, Avocado & Sundried Tomato Salad

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Filed under Fast Food, Recipes, Salad

In this week’s WW, we spoke about the usefulness of having a range of ‘fast food’ recipes to fall back on when we’re busy with work/kids/life.

With this in mind, today for lunch I had this super quick yet tasty and healthy salad.

Servings: 1

Smart Points: 7

  • Mixed salad leaves
  • sundried tomatoes, chopped into small pieces
  • 1/2 avocado, chopped
  • tin of tuna drained

Scatter the rest of the ingredients over the salad leaves & enjoy!

Shaksuka

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Filed under 8 Smart Points, Brunch, Recipes, Uncategorized, Vegetarian

A flavoursome dish that works for any time of the shaksukaday.

Serves: 2

Smart Points: 8

No Count (substitute the flatbread for Weight Watchers pitta bread)

Cooking time: 2 mins prep

10 mins cooking

Ingredients

  • 1tsp rapeseed oil
  • 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
  • 1/4tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 pinch chilli flakes
  • 1tbsp tomato puree
  • 400g tinned, chopped tomatoes
  • 4 handfuls of spinach
  • 4 medium eggs
  • 2 individual seeded flatbread

 

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat.  Add the onions and cook for 2-3mins until softened and beginning to brown.
  2. Add the cumin, smoked paprika, chilli flakes and tomato purree.  Stir and cook for another 1 minute.
  3. Add the tinned tomatoes and spinach and stir well until the spinach has wilted.
  4. Make 4 holes in the mixture and tip an egg into each one.
  5. Cover and cook for approximately 3 minutes until the whites of the eggs are cooked but the yolks are still runny.
  6. Serve with the toasted flatbread.

 

Easy Red Lentil Soup

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Filed under Recipes, Soup Kitchen, Vegan

An easy to make soup that’s perfect for autumn

Servings:    6

Smart Points:    2

No Count

Cooking time:    5mins prep + 30mins cooking

Ingredients

  • 1tsp healthy oil
  • 2 medium onions, finely chopped
  • 250g carrots, finely chopped
  • 110g red lentils
  • 3 vegetable stock cubes made up with 1.7l boiling water
  • salt & pepper

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and carrot and cook gently until soft, without browning.
  2. Add the stock and the lentils.  Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
  3. When the lentils and vegetables are tender, blend until smooth.
  4. Reheat.  Season to taste and serve.

Minestrone Soup

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Filed under Recipes, Soup Kitchen, Vegan

A filling yet summery soup.Minestrone Soup

Servings:    4

Smart Points:    4

No Count   (if made with wholemeal pasta.  If made using white pasta, allow 1SP/serving)

Cooking time:    10mins prep + 35mins cooking

Ingredients

  • 1tsp healthy oil
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 leek, sliced
  • 1 small potato, diced
  • 400g tin chopped tomatoes
  • 1tbsp tomato puree
  • 1 vegetable stock cube made up with 600ml boiling water
  • 2tsp dried thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 30g soup pasta or macaroni
  • 200g tin baked beans
  • salt & pepper

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion, carrot and garlic and cook gently until soft, without browning.
  2. Add the leek and potato and cook gently for 5 mins.  Add a splash of stock if the vegetables begin to stick to the bottom of the saucepan.
  3. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, stock, thyme and bay leaf.  Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 20mins.
  4. Add the pasta and baked beans then simmer for a further 10mins until the pasta is just cooked.
  5. Season to taste, then serve.

Top Tip: Sprinkle with a tablespoon of freshly grated Parmesan before serving for an extra 2SP per serving (dish will no longer be vegan).