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