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!

Tweet

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.

Low Carb Banana Blueberry Muffins

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
5 Scan Brans (1/2 pack)
1/2 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp ground cinnamon
8 tbsp sweetener
3 eggs
150ml hot water
1 banana (the browner the better)
1 package of blueberries

1. Grind Scan Bran into a powder.

2. Heat blueberries on high for 30 seconds in the microwave. Add 1/3 of the blueberries into bowl with the other ingredients.

3. Mix ingredients together with a mixer. Then fold in the rest of the blueberries using a spoon.

4. Separate the mixture between 12 silicone cupcake "papers" or a microwave-safe cupcake "pan."

5. Cook in the microwave for 6 minutes.

2.5 syns for all 12 muffins or b option
plus extra syns for the banana and blueberries because they've been mashed and cooked

Pasta With Quorn Sausages

Two cups of whole wheat pasta
1 red onion (finely chopped)
2 Quorn sausages (grilled)(If you don't have the brand Quorn in your area, it is vegetarian versions of meats, so there was no actual meat in the sausages.)
2 medium eggs (boiled)
3 tbsp. extra light mayonnaise
100g low-fat cheese (grated) - optional
seasoning to taste

Boil the pasta until soft and then drain. Add three tablespoons of extra light mayonnaise (or make Slimming World's syn-free mayonnaise if you are following the plan) and mix in until all of the pasta is lightly coated. Add seasoning to taste. (I use Nature's Seasons seasoning blend, but it can only be found in the US. I get it shipped to me by friends and family.) Chop the sausages into small bits and mix in. Mix in the chopped red onion. Dice up the boiled eggs and mix into the pasta. Sprinkle the grated cheese over (while the pasta is still hot) and mix in.

Bean Soup

Beans are rich in fiber and this bean soup recipe that my mom always made for me is a really healthy, fiber-rich meal that is perfect for anyone trying to lose weight.

When I lived in the US, we always made this using pinto beans, but I was unable to find dry pinto beans where I live in the UK, so I made it with two bags of dry crab eye beans instead. If just using the basic ingredients (beans, ham, onion, seasoning, garlic powder), this is also a very inexpensive meal that will feed about five people for two nights.

Ingredients:
2 bags of dry crab eye beans or pinto beans
2 thick slices of lean gammon/ham (optional but recommended)
2 large white onions
seasoning (I use Nature's Seasons from the US) - to taste
garlic powder - to taste

Tobasco sauce (optional)
low fat cheese (optional)
one baguette (optional)

First, soak the beans in water overnight.

In the morning, add the beans to a crockpot (called a "slow cooker" in the UK) and add water to cover them.

Chop the onions and add them to the crockpot. Chop up the gammon/ham and add it to the crockpot. Add seasoning and garlic powder to taste. (The ham/gammon is not necessary for bean soup, but it adds a nice flavor to the stock that the beans are cooked in.)

Let cook on high for 5 to 6 hours.

Serve up.

I sometimes add low fat cheese to my bowl of bean soup. It melts right away and tastes yummy, but I only add it if I have saved up enough extra calories for the day. I always add Tobasco sauce to my beans because I like my food spicy, but this is not for everyone.

I also like to have a baguette (the one pictured is an onion baton) with my beans to dip into them, but again, this makes the meal less healthy, so it all depends on how well I have been eating beforehand.

A large bowl of crab eye beans without gammon is about 468 calories, and very low in fat. (I do not know how pinto beans compare in calories to crab eye beans.) The gammon adds about 51 calories to the meal, and the low fat cheese adds another 67 calories (depending on the kind you use). The onion baton is about 200 calories. As you can see, if I plan on having all of the extras with my beans, I have to eat very light for the day prior to the meal.

But having the meal without the cheese or baguette makes for a very healthy meal that is not too high in calories, is very low in fat and is high in fiber too.

Also, for those following a Slimming World diet plan, beans are a "free" food on Slimming World's Green Days, and the meat can be used as a healthy extra.