Cottage Veggie Pie with Sweet Potato Mash

Green  = 1.7 syns per serving if using HExA cheese.

Serves: 2 people
Preparation: 15 mins
Cooking time: 25 mins

1 Onion, large, halved and sliced
4 Carrots, small, chopped
2 tbsp Thyme, chopped
1 tbsp Parsley, chopped
50ml Red wine
50ml Balsamic vinegar
400g Chopped tomatoes, canned
2 Lamb stock cubes
400g Butter beans, canned
950g Sweet potato, peeled and chunked
56g Cheddar, finely grated
1 tbsp Crème fraiche, low fat
Salt and pepper
Frylight spray

Heat Frylight in a frying pan, then fry the onion until golden. Add the carrots and all but a sprinkling of thyme.
Pour in the wine, balsamic vinegar, 150ml water and the tomatoes, then sprinkle in the stock cubes and simmer for 10 mins.
Tip in the can of butter beans, including most of their juice, then cover and simmer for another 10 mins until the carrots still have a bit of bite and the beans have softened.
Meanwhile, boil the sweet potatoes for 15 mins until tender, drain well, then mash with the crème fraiche and season to taste. Pile the carrot and bean mixture into a pie dish, spoon the mash on top.
Sprinkle over the cheese and remaining thyme.
The pie can now be covered and chilled for 2 days, or frozen for up to a month.
Heat oven to 190ºC/170ºC fan/gas 5.
Cook for 25 mins if cooking straight away, or for 40 mins from chilled, until golden and hot all the way through.
Serve with fresh green vegetables i.e. brocolli or peas.

Chicken Schnitzel with Bacon and White Wine

Red = 1 syn per serving.

With a little help from Nigella, this make a lovely succulent chicken brest with lots of flavour from the wine and bacon. TIP: I used smokey bacon for extra flavour.

Serves: 2 people
Prep time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins

2 Chicken fillets approx. 125g each
3 Bacon rashers, fat removed
50ml White wine, dry
1 Garlic clove, finely sliced
Frylight

Spray a frying pan with Frylight and add the garlic.  Flash fry for 30 seconds, then set aside. Add the bacon to frying pan.
Fry until the bacon is crisp and the pan is full of bacony juices. Remove the bacon to a piece of foil, wrap it and set it aside for a moment.
Fry the chicken for about 3 minutes each side, until there is no pinkness when you cut into a piece. Make sure the pan is hot so that the escalopes catch a little, turning beautifully bronze.
Remove the chicken to a serving plate and quickly crumble the bacon you've set aside into the pan, then pour in the wine, letting everything bubble up, and finally, pour over the chicken pieces.
Serve with your choice of free vegetable and optional SW "mayo" made with creme fraiche and a small dash of mustard powder.

Fantastic Pea Soup

Green = 1 syn per serving (add 1 syn per serving if using butter)

Serves: 2 people
Preparation: 10 mins
Cooking: 15 mins

250g Peas, frozen
1 Potato, large, grated
1 Onion, small, chopped
0.75ltr Vegetable stock
2 Mint sprigs
2 Celery sticks, chopped
1 tsp of butter (optional, but nice)
1 tbsp crème fraiche
Salt and Pepper

Put a large deep pan on a medium heat. Add Frylight (and optional knob of butter), leave to melt.
Meanwhile, peel and chop the onion. Trim and chop the celery.
Stir the chopped veg in the pan with a splash of water. Cover with a lid and cook for 10 mins, or until the vegetables start to soften.
Fill a medium pan with the vegetable stock and bring it to a gentle simmer over a medium heat.
Peel the potato and roughly grate onto a board. Add to the pan of simmering stock.
Pick the leaves from the mint sprigs and discard the stalks.
Add just over half the leaves to the vegetable stock. Put the rest to one side for later.
Add the peas to the pan of softened vegetables, cook for 1 minute, then carefully pour the stock mixture into the pan and bring everything to the boil.
Add the tablespoon of crème fraiche and cook for 5 minutes.
Take the pan off the heat and whiz with a hand blender until smooth.
Taste the soup and season with salt and pepper. Cover the pan and allow to rest for a couple of minutes.
Serve with optional extra croutons and garnish with a sprig of mint.

This is my favourite soup, hearty and filling - but most of all very tasty. Great with a piece of crusty brown bread or homemade croutons if you can spare them from you HExB's.

Spaghetti Bolognese

Green = Free. If using lots of Parmesan, use HExA or syn it.

Serves: 4 people
Preparation: 10 mins
Cooking: 25 mins

300g Quorn mince
400g Chopped tomatoes, canned
250ml Passata
3-4 tbsp Italian herbs (dried, but fresh if available)
3-4 tbsp Parsley (dried, but fresh if available)
1 Onion, medium, chopped
1 Garlic clove, crushed
1 Carrot, small, diced
150g Frozen Peas
1 Brocolli floret, chopped into small pieces
1 OXO stock cube (veg or beef flavour)
1 tbsp Bovril, beef flavour (from the jar)
3-4 drops Tobasco, to taste
Worchester sauce, to taste
Salt and Pepper
Parmesan cheese to garnish

In a large deep saucepan, spray generously with Frylight and add the onions and garlic. Fry until browned.
In a small bowl, add the stock cube, herbs, Bovril and Tobasco/Worchester and mix with 100ml boiling water, stir well.
Add the frozen Quorn mince, to the frying onions and allow to brown, adding a little water to prevent sticking.
Continue to add the passata and chopped tomatoes, stock/herbs mixture and the remaining vegetables.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Bring the bolognese to the boil for a minute, turn down the heat and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, boil 1.5lts of water in a kettle and add to a second, deep-sided saucepan. Add salt if desired and bring to a rolling boil.

Use enough spaghetti for each person, depending on whether on a red/green day.
TIP: Before dropping the spaghetti into the water, hold it vertically with both hands and twist, so it resembles a traditional hay stack (see image below) - drop into the boiling water. It should fan out around the rim of the saucepan, and will all collapse into the pan itself, nice and neatly.

Boil as per the instructions on the packet.
When the spaghetti is ready, remove from the heat. TIP 2: Save a cup of the starchy water from the pan.
Drain the spaghetti in a colander.
When ready to serve, sprinkle some of the saved starchy water over the draining spaghetti - this stops it sticking together.
Pile the spaghetti onto a plate, and add the bolognese sauce over the top.
Garnish with a little Parmesan cheese.

Minestrone Soup

Green = 0 syns! Using HExA for the Parmesan and HExB for Olive oil.

Serves: 4 people
Preparation: 15 mins
Cooking: 45 mins

2 tbsp Olive oil
2 Garlic cloves, chopped
2 Red onions, chopped
1 Red pepper, deseeded and chopped
1 Orange pepper, deseeded and chopped
400g/14oz can Chopped tomatoes
1ltr/1.75 pints Vegetable stock
1 Celery stick, trimmed and sliced
400g/14oz can Borlotti beans
100g/3.5oz Green leafy cabbage, shredded
75g/2.75oz Frozen peas
1 tbsp Chopped fresh parsley
75g/2.75oz Dried Vermicelli
Salt and pepper
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to garnish (optional, but a nice addition)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the garlic and onions and cook over a medium heat, stirring for 3 minutes, until slightly softened.
Add the red and orange peppers and the chopped tomatoes and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring.
Stir in the stock, then add the celery. Drain and add the borlotti beans along with the cabbage, peas and parsley.
Season with salt and pepper.
Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
Add the vermicelli to the pan. Cook for a further 10-12 minutes, according to the packet instructions.
Remove from the heat and ladle into serving bowls.
Garnish with freshly grated Parmesan.

This is a really satisfying Minestrone, which can be pepped-up with plenty of ground pepper, or a splash of tabasco if desired. If vermicelli is unavailable, normal dried spaghetti can be substituted - but break it up into small pieces, so they are about 1cm in length.

If not using HExA/B for the Parmesan and olive oil, use 1 syn for the cheese and 3 syns for oil.

Traditional Crêpes

Green/Red = 0 syns!

Borrowed from Minimins user "Sweet Cheeks", this is a syn free replacement for the traditional style batter pancake or crêpe.

Serves: 2 crêpes
Preparation: 5 mins
Cooking: 10 mins

2 Eggs
2-3 tsp Splenda
3-4 Drops of vanilla essence
Your choice of topping i.e. Lemon juice and sugar (sweetener) to taste

Seperate the white from the yolk and put into separate bowls.
Whisk the egg white until soft peaks form and add the sweetener.
In the other bowl add the vanilla essence to the yolks, then fold the yolks into the egg white.
Heat a frying pan with frylight, add the mix and spread as you would a normal pancake.
Allow the first side enough time to form a firm base, then start to work a spatula under the edges. The pancake is quite fragile at this point, be careful.
Flip pancake when golden brown on one side, and pat the top down to expel any excess air.

Risotto Blanco with Peas

Adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe, this has become one of my favourite dishes to make. My "signature dish" if you like. You can leave out the white wine to make it virtually syn free on Green days (just the buttery spread to count).

Green = 3 syns per serving, also using HExA/B (for cheese and olive oil) - (only 1.5 syns if not using wine)

Serves 2
Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 25 mins

170g/6oz Risotto rice (organic Arborio works best)
125g Frozen peas
1 Onion, finely chopped
2 Celery sticks, finely chopped
90ml White wine, dry (optional)
500ml Chicken or Vegetable stock
1 level tbsp Low fat "Buttery spread" (I use Flora Buttery)
28g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 tbsp Olive Oil
Pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper

Place a large saucepan on a low to medium heat. Peel the onion and trim the celery stick, then finely chop or coarsely grate them.
Add the olive oil to the hot pan with the celery and onion and a splash of water.
Cook over a low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened.
Meanwhile, bring the stock to the boil in a medium saucepan, then turn down the heat.
When the vegetables have softened, add the rice.
Stir in and allow the rice to absorb the liquid and turn slightly translucent. At this point, if using wine, add it. If not, add a ladle of stock. Stir until all the liquid is absorbed by the rice.
Turn the heat up to medium on the rice. Add a ladleful of hot stock.
Stir continuously and continue to add stock - a ladle each time - waiting for the rice to absorb it all before adding the next ladleful. Continue until you've used 2/3 of the stock.
Add the peas to the rice and stir through.
Keep adding stock until the rice is just cooked and has a nice oozy consistency. Use boiling water if you run out of stock.
Take the pan off the heat, add the buttery spread, grated parmesan, season with salt and pepper and stir in well.
Cover the pan with a lid and leave to rest for a minimum of 2 minutes.
Serve on warmed plates.


You may want to increase the quantity of rice and stock - as this is very moorish and I can easily eat most of it by myself.
Note: this risotto doesn't keep well, so it's best eaten when freshly made. If kept for a while, the excess water in the onions and celery makes the rice breakdown and go soggy.

Butternut and Sweet Potato Soup

Green = Free using HExA/B

This is really simple to make, is fantastically filling and has a real sweet edge to it, with a slight twang from the ginger.

Serves: 4 people
Preparation: 25 mins
Cooking: 25 mins

1 tbsp Olive oil
1 Onion, peeled and chopped
1 Clove garlic, crushed
450g (1lb) Butternut, peeled and sliced
450g (1lb) Sweet potato, peeled and diced
900ml (1½ pints) vegetable or chicken stock
1cm Root ginger, finely chopped (use more if desired)
1 heaped tbsp VLF Fromage frais
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Parsley, for garnishing

Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC.
Spray a little Frylight on a baking tray, add the diced Butternut and roast for 20mins, shaking occasionally.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the onion, ginger and garlic and gently sauté.
When the onion has softened after about 5 minutes, add the sweet potato and stock and stir well. Bring to the boil. Add the roasted butternut.
Simmer for 10 minutes or until the sweet potato is soft.
Add the fromage frais and blend the soup with a hand-held blender. Season to taste and garnish with parsley.


If you want an extra creamy soup, you can substitute the fromage frais with reduced fat Creme Fraiche, but add the syns accordingly (1.5 syns for a level tbsp), shared between 4 servings.

Lamb Shanks with Cannellini Beans and Balsamic Vinegar

Red = Free if using HExA/B

Stolen unashamedly from my friend Rob, who introduced me to this recipe. Don't be shocked by the amount of balsamic vinegar used, it reduces down to an amazing mellow flavour! The lamb is to die for, which just falls of the bone.

This is the perfect meal for a dinner party, as it doesn't resemble "diet food" in any way, can be left to cook unattended and your guests will really rave about it.

Serves: 6 people
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 3 hours

3 tbsp Olive oil
6 Lamb shanks, trimmed, skin removed
1 Onion, medium, diced
3 Carrots, sliced
3 Celery sticks, sliced
2 Garlic cloves, crushed
2 x 400g cans Chopped tomatoes
150ml Balsamic vinegar
2 Bay leaves
2 x 330g cans Cannellini beans (butter beans are better though!) drained and rinsed

Preheat oven to 170ºc/gas mark 3. Heat the oil in your pot. Add the lamb shanks in batches and brown all over. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Put onion, carrots, celery and garlic in the pot. Add lamb, tomatoes and vinegar, and stir. Season with salt and pepper and add the bay leaves. Boil, cover and cook on hob for 5 minutes, then in the oven for 1.5 to 2 hours.

Remove the dish from the oven and add the beans. Cover and put back in the oven for a further 30 minutes, then serve.


This is not a particularly cheap meal, the shanks can be pricey, but it's well worth the wait and cost!

Cous Cous Fruit Cake

Green = 2.5 syns for the whole cake!

Dead easy to make, came out perfectly on my first attempt. Really tasty and perfect with a cuppa.

4oz/110g Cous cous
3 Eggs
4 tbsp Splenda
2 tsp Mixed Spice
2 heaped tbsp fruit Mincemeat
1 Juice of lemon

Preheat oven to 180ºC.
Soak cous cous in boiling water (use double the height of the cous cous). Add the sweetener, lemon juice and mixed spice, stir in well and allow water to absorb for about 5 minutes.
Add the mincemeat to the cous cous mixture.
Whisk the eggs with a hand whisk until light and airy.
Add the cous cous mixture to the eggs and mix in well.
Grease a 8" cake tin and pour in the complete mixture.
Bake in the oven for 40mins. Remove and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Serving suggestion: Drizzle a Vanilla Mullerlight, like you would with custard.

The lemon and mincemeat work really well together in this cake, you'd never realise that it's made from cous cous.