Lasagna Sheet "Doritos"

Although pasta is allowed on the Slimming World plan, pasta was never intended to be eaten this way, so there is some discussion going on about whether or not these should be "free food" or not. My suggestion is that you pair these with other super free foods in order to consider them syn-free. You can make a salsa from canned chopped tomatoes and fresh ingredients to go with these, or you can use these in a taco salad, adding them to lettuce, tomatoes, spring onions, kidney beans, Quorn mince and healthy extra serving of grated cheese.

Ingredients

lasagana sheets
seasoning (whatever seasoning you prefer)
low calorie oil spray/Fry Light

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

2. Boil the lasagna sheets in boiling water for 4 minutes and then remove them from the water.

3. Lay the lasagna sheets on a cutting board and cut each one, individually, into four triangles.

4. Lay the triangles on a baking tray. Spray the triangles with Fry Light and sprinkle seasoning over them.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 5 to 7 minutes. (You want them to be starting to turn golden without going brown.) Then turn them over.

6. Spray the other side of the triangles with Fry Light and sprinkle the seasoning over them.

7. Bake in the oven for 5 to 7 minutes, until they are golden but before they turn brown.

Enjoy!

Note: For my "Doritos", I used butter flavored Fry Light and Tex Mex seasoning.


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Light Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins & Light Pumpkin Raisin Muffins

Light Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins





Ingredients

1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup sweetener
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin (or pumpkin puree)
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.

2. Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder and spices.

3. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes.


Light Pumpkin Raisin Muffins





Ingredients

1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup sweetener
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin (or pumpkin puree)
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup raisins

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.

2. Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder and spices.

3. Add wet mixture and stir in raisins. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes.


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Light Pumpkin Raisin Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup light butter or light margarine
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cup sweetener
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp clover
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 cup raisins

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 160C. Grease cookie sheets with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In a stand mixer or mixing bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar, sweetener, eggs and canned pumpkin puree. Once smooth, add the flour, soda, cinnamon, clover, nutmeg, and ginger. Stir until dough forms. Fold in the raisins.

3. Spoon batter onto greased cookie sheets. Bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes. Let cool on cooling rack before serving.







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Lightly Spiced Pumpkin Potato Soup

Ingredients

2 cups pumpkin puree
600g potatoes, peeled and chopped
700ml chicken stock/broth
1 tsp ground cumin
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
salt and pepper to taste
Fry Light/Pam
2 tbsp. light butter or margarine

Directions

1. Fry up the onion and garlic cloves in a pan sprayed with Fry Light for 5 minutes or until soft.

2. Make up 700ml chicken broth/stock. Boil the potatoes in the stock for 20 minutes.

3. Add the butter or margarine and stir it in until it's melted.

4.Add the cumin and salt and pepper to the potatoes.

5. Add the onion and garlic to the potatoes, and continue to simmer on low for 5 minutes.

6. Add the pumpkin puree to the potato mixture. Simmer for 5 more minutes.

7. Using a hand blender, blend everything together until it forms a thick, rich soup.

Enjoy!

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Pumpkin Puree

This recipe is perfect for making up your own pumpkin puree for recipes. Make this to use in making pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin soup and many other recipes.



Ingredients

pumpkin


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190C.

2. Scoop out the seeds and stringy bits inside the pumpkin. Then peel and chop the pumpkin flesh into large chunks.

3. Spray the dish with Fry Light and add the pumpkin chunks into the dish. Pour 1/2 cup of water into the dish.

4. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

5. Put the roasted pumpkin chinks into a blender and blend until liquidized.

6. Store until needed.




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Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

This recipe makes a great healthier replacement for crisps/chips and other food you might like to munch on at parties.



Ingredients

pumpkin
seasoning (in this example: garlic powder, salt, pepper & mustard powder)
Fry Light (or other low calorie cooking oil spray)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200C.

2. Separate pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin. Rinse well and spread evenly on a baking tray.

3. Sprinkle lightly with salt, pepper, mustard powder & garlic powder. (Choice of seasoning can be varied.)

4. Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes until the seeds are slightly crispy and a few on the edges are beginning to turn brown.



Use the leftover pumpkin for making Pumpkin Puree which is great to use in other pumpkin recipes. For example of what you can do with the left over pumpkin, see the other pumpkin recipes here at Skinny Dreaming Recipes, such as Pumpkin Soup and Pumpkin Pie.






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Easy Lasagna

I made this lasagna for dinner today and the whole family loved it! I used Quorn mince (vegetarian meat substitute for ground beef), but you can just as easily use turkey mince or extra lean beef mince.

(This is where writing up these recipes gets confusing for me. In the US, it's spelled "lasagna," but in the UK, it's spelled "lasagne." "Beef mince" in the UK is called "ground beef" in the US. And I don't know what the US version of Quorn mince is called.)

Serves 4 (generous servings).

Ingredients

12 Lasagna egg pasta sheets
1 package (300g) of Quorn mince
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 X 400g cans chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
1 pot (300g) fat-free or very low fat Cottage Cheese
84g low-fat grated cheese
2 tomatoes, sliced thinly
3 tbsp bolognese seasoning
Fry Light
salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. Spray a glass rectangle pan with Fry Light.

2. Add Quorn mince, chopped onions, cans of chopped tomotoes, bolognese seasoning, salt & pepper into a frying pan and cook on a medium heat for 12 mminutes, stirring frequently.

3. Lay four lasagna sheets evenly across the bottom of the glass pan.

4. Layer 2/3 of the Quorn mince over the lasgana sheets in the pan.

5. Lay four more lasagna sheets across the pan on top of the Quorn mince mixture.

6. Pour cottage cheese over the top of this and spread it so it covers everything.

7. Lay last four lasagna sheets over the top, spread apart but touching.

8. Spread the last of the Quorn mice mixture across the top and then layer the slices of tomato across the top of it.

9. Sprinkle cheese over the top of the layers.

10. Bake at 180 degrees for 45 minutes/35 minutes in a fan assisted oven.

11. Serve and enjoy!

If using the grated cheese as a healthy extra, this dish is syn-free on green or extra easy. Add 6 syns if not using the cheese as a healthy extra.







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Chocolate Drizzle Angel Cake

This one is so simple to make!

Ingredients

1 box of Betty Crocker Angel Food Cake mix
1 box of Fat-free Sugar-free Jello Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix
skim (fat-free) milk

Directions:
1. Make cake in a rectangle pan as directed.
2. Cut angel food cake into tiny squares.
3. Put three tiny squares of angel food cake into individual glass bowls.
4. Make chocolate pudding as directed on the box.
5. Pour chocolate pussing over the chunks of cake in the bowls.
6. Refirdgerate for 5 minutes.
7. Serve.

Serves 16.

3 syns each.

Pepper Potato Quiche

Serves 4.

Ingredients

600g baking potatoes
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
2 large onions
8 medium eggs
1 pot Very Low Fat Sweet Chilli & Red Pepper Cottage Cheese
42g Low Fat Grated Cheese
Fry Light
Seasoning (to taste: I used hot chilli powder, salt & pepper)

Method

1.Preheat oven to 220. Lightly spray a large glass baking dish with Fry Light (or other low calorie oil spray).

2. Peel the potatoes and slice them into thin wedges. Boil for 15 minutes. Drain. Spread over the bottom of the glass baking tray.

3. Whisk the eggs up in a large bowl until thoroughly mixed together. Add the pot of cottage cheese and mix well. Mix in the seasoning.

4. Chop the peppers and onions into small chunks and add to the egg mixture.

5. Pour the egg mixture over the potatoes in the glass baking tray.

6. Bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle the low-fat cheese lightly over the top. Then continue to bake for another 15 minutes or until the cheese on top starts to turn golden brown.

7. Remove from oven and serve.

Potato Wedge Nachos

I love nachos, but the Doritos or other corn chips/crisps used to make them are counted as syns on the Slimming World plan that I follow. This is my solution. By using potato wedges instead of Doritos, I save on syns and still get to eat nachos!

Alternatively, you can just use potato skins instead of wedges.



Ingredients

900g / 1 lb. potatoes
1 can fat-free refried beans (regular or spicy)
1 pack Quorn mince (in the US: a ground meat substitute)
1 packet of Taco seasoning
salsa (to taste)
168g / 6oz. reduced fat grated cheese
Fry Light / low calories cooking spray

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 225F/110C.
2.. Wash and dice the potatoes into thick wedges and par-boil them for 10 minutes. Spray a large baking tray with Fry Light or any low-calorie cooking spray. Drain the wedges and spread evenly across the baking tray.

3. Bake for 45 minutes or until wedges start to turn golden.

4. While the wedges are baking, put the Quorn mince into a frying pan sprayed with Fry Light. Add 1/4 cup of water and the packet of Taco seasoning. Mix. Cover and cook for 12 minutes. Remove from heat.

5. Put the contents of the can of refried beans into a microwave safe bowl and heat in the microwave on high for 2 minutes.

6. Separate the wedges, when done baking, onto 4 plates. Top with the refried beans and then top with the taco mince.

7. Put 1/4 of the grated cheese on each plateful, and then top with desired amount of salsa.

Serves 4.

If making the salsa from scratch:
One syn per serving on Green or Extra Easy Days.



You can purchase the recipe card for this recipe here.

Healthy New York-style Meatloaf

This meatloaf was delicious and loved by everyone in the family when we tried it.



New York-style Meatloaf



Serves 4

Ingredients

500g/1lb 2oz extra lean minced beef
250g/9oz extra lean minced pork
1 red pepper, deseeded and very finely diced
8 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
4 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp English mustard
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
110g/4oz fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs
salt and freshly ground black pepper (I used Nature's Seasons.)
400g can cherry tomatoes, drained

To Serve:

chopped basil (optional)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Place all the ingredients, except the cherry tomatoes in a large mixing bowl, seasoning well. Knead the mixture with your hands until well combined.

2. Line a medium-sized loaf tin with non-stick baking parchment and transfer the mixture to the tin. Bake in the oven for 1 ½ hours or until cooked through. The meat should shrink away the sides of the tin when cooked. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes, then turn out on to a baking sheet. Place the cherry tomatoes on top and return to the oven for 12-15 minutes. Garnish with the basil, if using. Carve the loaf into thick slices and serve.

Syns per serving
Extra Easy: 5
Original: 5
Green: 17 1/2

Spanish Orange Cake

Spanish Orange Cake

Serves 12.

Ingredients

For the cake:
4 eggs, separated
50g/2 oz golden caster sugar
5 tbsp artificial sweetener
150g/5 oz self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp finely grated orange zest
juice of 2 oranges

For the syrup:
zest of 2 oranges, finely grated into long strips
juice of 2 oranges
1 tbsp arrowroot
4 tbsp Splenda Brown Sugar Blend

To serve:
fresh raspberries (Robert and I decided, upon tasting the cake, that the raspberries didn't actually add anything to the taste and the cake would be just fine without them, so they are completely optional.)
long strips of grated orange zest

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas 5. Line a 20cm/8in cake tin with non-stick baking parchment.

2. Place the egg yolks, caster sugar, sweetener, self-raising flour, baking powder and orange zest and juice in a bowl and whisk until thick and pale.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until softly peaked, then fold them into the egg yolk mixture. Spoon this mixture into the prepared cake tin and cook in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the cake is risen and firm to the touch. Leave to cool.

4. Meanwhile, place all the syrup ingredients in a small saucepan with 90ml/3 fl oz of water and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. When it starts to thicken, remove it from the heat.

5. Drizzle the syrup over the cake and decorate with the raspberries (optional) and grated orange zest. Cut into wedges to serve.

Syns per serving:
Extra Easy: 4
Original: 4
Green: 4







The first time Robert made this recipe, he added the egg whites instead of the egg yolks to the first part and then added in the yolks, but decided it was too late to salvage the cake. I hate waste, so I whisked two more egg whites together until they created soft peaks and then added them to the faulty mixture and baked it anyway in some glass casserole dishes. The result was a really dense, orange cake that my children LOVED. I cut it into squares and the kids consumed the entire thing, despite it not having a topping, very quickly and asked for more. It was like a thick, sweet, orange bread dessert.

Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut Squash Soup

Serves 4.

Ingredients

1 butternut squash (2 to 2 ½ lbs.)
2 onions
2 garlic cloves
1 level tbsp. low-fat spread
1 ½ pints chicken stock or vegetable stock
Fry Light (or other low-calorie cooking spray)
a dash of dried parsley to garnish

Method

1. Chop up the butternut squash into chunks (about 1 inch thick) and cut the skin off it. Peel and dice the onions and peel and crush the garlic cloves.

2. Add the onions and garlic into a pan sprayed with Fry Light and sauté for 5 minutes until soft.

3. Add the stock, butternut squash and low-fat spread to the pan and bring to a boil. Then turn the heat down and simmer for 25 minutes. Then remove from the heat.

4 Using a hand blender, blend the mixture until smooth.

5. Sprinkle with dried parsley to garnish.

2 syns total
1/2 syn per serving on all plans

Cauliflower Pepper Quiche

Cauliflower Pepper Quiche

Serves 4

Ingredients
8 medium eggs
300g Asda Good For You Red Pepper & Sweet Chilli Cottage Cheese
2 onions
2 red onions
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 green bell pepper
1/2 orange bell pepper (or 1/2 yellow bell pepper)
1 red chilli pepper
1 bag of frozen cauliflower (or one fresh cauliflower, chopped)
Fry Light (or other low-calorie oil spray)
seasoning
4 Laughing Cow Extra Light Cheese Triangles (optional)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 225F.

2. Steam the cauliflower for 20 minutes.

3. While the cauliflower is steaming, chop the onions, bell peppers and chilli pepper into small chunks.

4. Mix the eggs, cottage cheese and seasoning together in a large bowl. (I use Nature's Seasoning, but you can choose your favorite seasoning, even just use salt and pepper.)

5. Mix the onions, bell peppers and chilli pepper with the egg and cottage cheese mixture. Add the cauliflower to the mixture and mix thoroughly.

6. Spray a large non-stick casserole dish with Fry Light (or other low-calorie oil spray) and pour in the egg mixture, spreading evenly over the dish's base. If using the cheese triangles, break them up into small pieces using your fingers and spread randomly across the top of the mixture in the casserole dish. Put the casserole dish into the oven.

8. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes. (Here, I baked it for 30 minutes and then put it in the fridge overnight for us to eat the following day. The next day, I baked it again at 225F for 20 minutes.)

Another option is to lay thinly sliced ham across the bottom of the casserole dish before pouring in the egg mixture.

Chicken, Lemon & Garlic Casserole

This recipe is a real favorite of Robert's, and the kids and I really like it too.



Chicken, Lemon & Garlic Casserole

Serves 4.
Ready in about an hour.

Ingredients

2lb/908g skinless, boneless chicken breasts (original recipe calls for chicken thighs)
2 onions
2 large carrots
7oz/198g green beans
1 lemon
4-5 sprigs of tarragon
Fry Light (or other low-calorie cooking spray)
4 garlic cloves (original recipe calls for 1 garlic bulb)
1 ¼ pt/710ml stock made with chicken Bovril (or other chicken stock cubes)
1 tbsp chicken Bovril (from concentrate) (or other Chicken stock concentrate liquid)
salt & freshly ground black pepper (I use Nature’s Seasoning)

Method

1. Cut the chicken into chunks. Peel and chop the onions. Peel the carrots and cut into thick batons. Halve the green beans. Slice the lemon. Chop the tarragon.

2. Spray a large non-stick casserole dish with Fry Light (I just used a normal pan). Place over a high heat. Add the chicken pieces and cook until lightly browned on all sides.

3. Add the onions, carrots, garlic cloves (peeled and crushed) (original recipe says to just add the garlic bulb), sock and Bovril concentrate. Season well and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover tightly with the lid and cook gently for 25 minutes.

4. Add the green beans and lemon slices to the casserole. Cook for 5-8 minutes. Remove from the heat. (Original recipe says here to discard the garlic bulb.) Serve sprinkled with the tarragon.

5. Remove and discard the lemon. (In the original recipe, you are supposed to leave the lemon in the casserole. In fact, my husband prefers it with the lemon in, but my teenage daughters and I remove the lemon for our servings.)

Syns per serving on Original: FREE

Beef Madras

Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients:
Fry Light (similar to the 1 calorie oil spray in the US)
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
4 cloves
6 green cardamom pods
2 fresh red chillies, finely chopped (I put three in)
1 tsp peeled and finely grated ginger
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 dried red chillies (I bought a seasoning packet of them and put loads in)
1 tbsp Madras curry powder (I used "hot" madras powder.)
2 lb. (900g) lean beef fillets, all visible fat removed, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
9 fl. oz. (250ml) beef stock
salt

To Serve:
freshly chopped coriander leaves

1. Spray a saucepan liberally with Fry Light and place over a medium heat. Add the onion, cloves, and cardamom and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes.

2. Add the fresh chilli, ginger, garlic and dried chilli and stir-fry for a further 2 minutes.

3. Add the curry powder and beef chunks to the saucepan and stir-fry for 6-8 minutes until the meat is sealed. Add the ground coriander, cumin and beef stock and bring to a boil. Season with salt, cover tightly and reduce the heat to low. Cook gently for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the meat is tender. Remove the pan from the heat and scatter over some chopped coriander before serving.

(Personally, I like to remove the cardamom pods and the cloves when it's all finished cooking and before garnishing with the chopped coriander leaves.)

I added extra water towards the end of the cooking (in the last 5 minutes or so) to create more sauce with it. We serve ours with rice, and it's lovely with a bit of extra sauce to help mix in with the rice.