Easy Chicken Tikka Masala

Serves 4;   syn free;   cooking time 25 mins prep time 20 minutes

4 skinless chicken breast fillets
Frylight
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large shallots, peeled and finely grated
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely grated
½ tsp crushed cardamom seeds
Serves 4

Syn-Free

Prep Time:  20  mins;  Cooking time:  25 mins.

 

4 skinless chicken breasts

Frylight

Salt and Pepper

2 large shallots, peeled and finely grated
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely grated
½ tsp crushed cardamom seeds

½ tsp turmeric
1 tbsp tikka masala powder or tandoori spice blend powder
4 tbsp passata
150ml chicken stock
100g fat free natural fromage frais
To serve
Fat free fromage frais

Chopped coriander
lime wedges

1. Spray the chicken with the low calorie cooking spray and season well. Place under a preheated hot grill and cook for 15-20 minutes, turning once until cooked through. Remove and, when cool, cut into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.
2. Spray a large non-stick frying pan with low calorie cooking spray and place over a medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic along with the crushed cardamom seeds, turmeric and tikka masala powder. Stir-fry for 1 minute before adding the passata.
3. Add the chicken and stock and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, stir in the fromage frais and season to taste.
Drizzle over fromage frais and coriander. Have with superfree veg of choice

Raita
fat free fromage frais/natural yogurt
sugar free mint sauce or chopped fresh mint (better)
chopped/diced cucumber
mix and serve with poppadum


Another version :-

• Serves: 2
• Prep time: 20 mins
  (plus 12-24 hours marinating time)
• Cooking time: 50 mins
• Total time: 1 hr 10 mins
• Skill level: Easy peasy
• Costs: Mid-price

 

 

Ingredients

For the marinade:

• 1tbsp tikka masala curry paste
• 150g low-fat Greek yogurt
• 2 free-range chicken breasts, each cut into 5-6 large chunks
• Pinch of salt

For the sauce:

• 1 rounded tbsp tikka masala curry paste
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 200g passata / strained tomatoes
• 200ml tin reduced-fat or light coconut milk
• 1tbsp low-fat Greek yogurt
• A handful of coriander, chopped

For the fragrant rice:

• 100g basmati rice
• Pinch of salt
• 5 curry leaves
• ½ tsp black mustard seeds
• 1 cinnamon stick
• Pinch of saffron (optional)

 

Method

1. To make the marinade, mix the curry paste, yogurt and chicken together.
2. Preheat the oven to 220°C/fan 200°C. Drain the chicken a little and place piece by piece, onto a baking tray. Bake for 20 mins or until slightly charred. Set the tikka chicken aside while you make the sauce.
3. Heat the curry paste in a saucepan. Add the onion and sweat slowly over a low heat for 5-8 mins or until the onion is translucent and soft. Add in the passata and cook for 5 mins, then add in the coconut milk. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and add in the tikka chicken. Cook over a low heat for 5 mins or until the chicken is cooked through. Finish by stirring through the yogurt and coriander.
4. To make the fragrant rice, add the rice and the aromatics to a pan and cover with enough water to come 1cm over the top of the rice. Bring to the boil and simmer for 8 mins, covered. The rice should have absorbed almost all of the water, but still be a bit wet. Remove from the heat and leave to absorb the remaining water for 10 mins, covered. Remove the cinnamon stick before serving with the curry.

1. 
   

Super Speed Soup

This is another recipe which I've seen mentioned on a few Slimming World related sites, which I'm only replicating here for reference. Its full of lots of speed ingredients, so should help speed up your weight loss. The recipe is enough for a huge pot of very thick and filling soup, and it freezes very well too, so its worth the effort of buying everything and making it up.

 

 

Ingredients

1 can mixed bean salad
1 can green lentils
2 cans chopped tomatoes
1 can baked beans
Handful of split lentils
2 large leeks
1 large onion
4 large carrots
2 parsnips
Green, red or yellow pepper
2 beef stock cubes
Salt & pepper
Mixed herbs

(I also add garlic and chilli, though these aren’t in the original recipe!)

 

Method

1. Add all the ingredients into a large soup pot, with enough water to cover all the ingredients
2. Bring to the boil, then simmer for approximately 30 minutes, or until vegetables are soft
3. Either leave chunky, or blend for a smooth soup.

 

It tastes lovely but just bear in mind need a large pot!

 

Ideas:  You could make this in a slow cooker;  you could use veg oxo instead of beef.

 

 

And a slightly different version:

 

 

2 carrots
1 leek
1 turnip
1 onion
handful of frozen broccoli
1 tin mixed beans
1 tin baked beans
2 tins chopped tomatoes
handful lentils
1 1/2 pints beef stock
(NOTE I added some ground cumin and ground coriander for an extra something plus salt and pepper as I felt it was a little bland)

 

It's really easy to make- just chop up the veggies- throw them in a big pan with the beans/tomatoes and stock. add more water- to cover all veggies and bring to the boil
Boil the lentils in a separate pan for about 5-10 mins, until soft, and add to the soup pan.
Leave to simmer until the veggies are soft.

 

A good recipe to get you back on track when the going is tough. 

 

 

Low Syn Lasagne

 

 

 

The syns come only from the cheese. You can keep the syns to a minimum by using strongly flavoured cheese (parmesan and reduced fat mature cheddar). You can also increase or decrease the quantities given here to adjust the syn count without affecting the recipe too much, just the 'cheesiness'.

The recipe below will serve 6 people with some side salad or veggies (don't forget that 1/3 of your plate needs to be Superfree on the Extra Easy plan).

Serves 6

2 syns per portion on Extra Easy

Ingredients:

500g extra lean minced beef

1 onion, finely chopped

2 tins chopped tomatoes

200g mushrooms, sliced (optional)

2 tablespoons tomato puree

2 fat cloves garlic, crushed

1 beef stock cube

dash of Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon mixed herbs

salt and pepper

Fry Light

Approx 12 dried lasagne sheets - enough to cover your lasagne dish at least twice

For the topping:

200g quark

2 eggs, beaten

30g parmesan, finely grated (6 syns)

45g reduced fat mature cheddar, finely grated (6 syns)

Method:

1. Heat a large saute pan and spray with Fry Light
2. Add the mince, onion, mushrooms and garlic and stir-fry until the mince is browned
3. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, beef stock, worcester sauce, herbs, salt and pepper
4. Simmer gently for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally
5. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C
6. Make the topping: mix the eggs, quark and parmesan together in a bowl with some salt and pepper
7. Assemble the lasagne: place alternate layers of the meat sauce and lasagne sheets in an ovenproof dish
8. Spread the quark topping over the top of the dish and sprinkle with the cheddar
9. Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes until the top is golden

Syn Free Rice Pudding

 

After a big gap with no new posts, I am reinstating the blog as a place to store my favourite Slimming World Recipes, and somewhere to record my progress.

Here is a delicious skinny Rice Pudding.

You will need:

Vanilla mullerlight yogurt
Half a mug of Pudding Rice (short grain rice)
Artificial sweetener
1 tbsp vanilla essence
2 tspn ground nutmeg
Pint of water

Method:
Bring a pint of water in a saucepan to the boil, lower the heat to simmer and add the rice, simmering for about 20 minutes or until the rice is thoroughly cooked. Lower the heat and add in the nutmeg, vanilla essence and mullerlite yoghurt, stir to combine the ingredients. Add in the artificial sweetener to your preferred taste.

Remove from heat and serve.

 

 

Need to get back to reading these books again!



A poem for Wednesday

(Google images)

Well, amazingly we had beautiful weather during our stay in Keswick, in the English Lake District, it was a wonderful week.  We actually climbed a little mountain, and went to a stone circle that is 1000 years older than Stonehenge.

We have taken lots of pics, and if I receive some comments I will publish them - the more comments, the more pics!

Here is a poem I recently came across in a book called 10 Poems to Change Your Life.  Hope you like this one as much as I do.

The Journey

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice--

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

 at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of

fallen branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and their was a new voice

which you slowly

  recognised as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do --

determined to save

the only life you could save.

~~ Mary Oliver ~~

Isn't that lovely?  I've posted this for all mothers, grandmothers and stepmothers, for people trying to help others at their own expense, and for a wonderful blogger way up in Scotland, who is not receiving comments right now, so the above is my comment to you in turbulent times. Go well.

Help! Rain!

(Google images)

We are planning to go to Keswick in a few days' time, and the weather forecast is not looking at all good at the moment.

Any ideas for rainy day activities will be gratefully received!

Meanwhile I am baking cakes and cooking up some casseroles which I will freeze and take along with us, so we can have something nice and hot when we get there.

I made some lemon drizzle cakes for the holiday yesterday, using a different recipe to my usual one.  They sunk dramatically, but hopefully they will taste just as good as ever!

We had dramatic rain in the Midlands last Thursday, which was so bad that even Tesco's had to close due to flooding.  We thought we had got off lightly, until days later when I went into the garage and saw a big lake in there!  Mr LFH had to bail it all out, the ground has almost dried out now.  A bit of sunshine would be very welcome any time now!

Welcoming the torch

I am not really a sporty person at all, but as the Olympic flame was coming to Stratford upon Avon this afternoon, and as this is one of my favourite places, we thought we would go and cheer it on its way through the Midlands.  It was such a fun day, there was also a River Festival happening, so more pics of that to follow when I have loaded them.  There were lots of canal boats on the Avon, decked out in bunting, and there was a wonderful atmosphere.  


We went into the Shakespeare Theatre, and I bought a copy of the script of a play the RSC performed last year called Written on the Heart, written by David Edgar.  It is about the making of the King James Bible.  I look forward to reading this in my own time and savouring the text, as sometimes you miss things during a performance.