Almost syn free Smash Pizza

I did not use a rolling pin.

I used Mr Mash for this - there are 3 bags in each box; 1 bag = 1 Pizza which I could easily eat myself! Whatever make of instant mash you use just make sure it's Syn Free on EE and Green.

1 Bag Instant Potato
Cold Water
Passatta
Garlic & Herbs
42g Grated Low Low Cheese (HExA choice or 6 Syns)

Heat oven to around 220ºC
Put Instant Mash into a bowl - add enough water to make a firm dough.
Roll out into a Pizza shape and place onto an oven tray.

After flipping it over

Put base in the oven for around 10 mins until surface is browned - take out of oven and flip over - put back in oven and cook for another 10 mins or so. 
Mix Passatta with garlic and whichever herbs you fancy.

Add the passata

Spoon passatta mixture over Smash Pizza Base - don't be afraid to use quite a bit as the potato does absorb it! Top with the grated cheese and place back in the oven for a few minutes until cheese is cooked.
Serve with a big salad - delish!!

You can add any superfree veg, ham, other free meats that you like to top your pizza

Put on your toppings

Grill it till cheese melts

I made this as a proper pizza and added some onion, peppers, mushrooms and ham. I didn't have proper cheese so just cut the slices I had instead.




Besides the cheese this was syn free. So there you have it Friday night pizza can still be done as a family night. Even my hubby said it actually tasted nice. 

Syn free Potato Salad

One thing I miss is know and again taking a potato salad pot off the shelf in ASDA. My eldest daughters loves them but when I made it at home with the Helmans lighter than light Mayo it seems to tangy for her then she doesn't like it. To me having the lot my self was just to many syns and left nothing for chocolate. So with having family and friends visiting the last few weeks I started to look for syn free option online. To my surprise I found one. I did tweak it a little but even if I do say so myself was really yummy. My eldest loves it and my friends also enjoyed it.

Firstly you will need to peel some potatoes and boil them. This to me is a sticky one. Some prefer to peel some don't. Some like the canned new potatoes and some like big chunks. It is up to you how you do this. While that is boiling away get out the following.

Some eggs, vinegar, sweetener, fromage frais, salt and pepper. The basic steps are:

1. 1 Egg yolk
2. 1 tsp White Wine Vinegar
3. 2tbsp Fromage Frais
4. Sweetener to taste
5. Salt and Pepper to taste.
6. Blend all together and chill - The longer it chills the thicker it gets.

When I make potato salad I kinda double or triple the recipe depending how much I am making.

It is a really nice syn free option and you can make a lot and keep it in the freezer for a day or two as a salad.
Hope this gives you a nice BBQ option for the summer time.

Fish and chip night.

It is Friday and we ask the girls, "what do you want for tea tonight?". They reply, "Fish and chips". I have to tell you I am very strange as I don't like the batter on chippy fish and chips, never have, and for that matter I don't like KFC. I know it's funny cause for someone that never ate fatty foods I sure did have a lot of extra weight, lol. Anyway, I didn't fancy chippy and so my hubby said why don't we got get fresh fish at the counter, YIPPPPY. ASDA fresh fish counter had Salmon fillets on special so that's what we took. £8 for kg not bad and believe me it was loads. Picked up some potatoes so we can make SW chips and off home we went.

Salmon and chips with salad

It was really simple to make after just having a quick google. Started off with the potatoes, cut them up and in to the oven they went. Then all I did with the salmon fillets is skin it, as didn't realize they had given it to me with all the scales on lol,maybe ask them to this for you at the counter before hand to save some time. In a hot pan with fry light just seal both sides sprinkle with salt and then turn it down and let it cook for around 15min, turning it over half way. 

Made a little sauce to go with it, this too was really simple. For one serving it is about 3 - 4 tbsp of fromage frais with 1 tsp of Dijon mustard (½syn). Add some lemon juice and there you have a lovely sauce for your fish, I even had it as a salad dressing.

I served it with salad, and believe me this was better than a chippy fish and chips. I reckon it would have cost us around £15 at the chippy and it cost me £10 and little of my own time and best of all it was a free meal with out the sauce. For that matter, I don't no if anybody else feels a takeout should be plentiful, it was a really big meal so I felt like I had a takeout.

There was plenty of left overs, so the next day I had a salmon salad for lunch. It was really delicious. There you have it folks. You can do your own Friday night takeout.

Salmon Salad with dressing

Chiken Chasseur

 

6½ syns per packet

This is again one of those Schwartz packets that I used, really simple to make and low in syns. First you will need the packet...
Then you make it as directed and stick it in the oven. While that is on,  you can make some veg. I used my new steamer that my sister in law bought me over the weekend. I didn't fancy potatoes so made some rice. So easy just grab a packet of Bachelor's rice and make it in the microwave.

Mild Curry is free on EE

 This tasted really good. Will be making it again I am sure.

Just out the oven ...yummm

This works out to 2 syns per serving so all in all not a bad meal.

What's for Dinner/Lunch

I find that I like to use my HEB for my lunch. I don't have the same everyday as I got bored at the start with it. Here is a few of my ideas that I use for lunch...

I like snacking, it is probably my downfall over all. But I find this to be a nice way of doing just that. As a HEB I can have either 6 crackerbreads, 4 crispbreads or 3 slices of Weight Watchers Brown Danish bread, so that would be my starting point.I have my cottage cheese and quark on hand and if I have it cheese triangles then I add them to.

I use my quark as a butter for the days I miss my butter. In general quark and cottage cheese has replaced my cheese, butter and sauces and when you make a white sauce pasta, mash or even scrambled eggs these help with the milk replacement. Anyway you top your bread with one of these (or a variety of them, that's what I do). I then add some tomato, sliced pickled onions and gherkins and salt and pepper. I then add some ham or fish or even just have it like that.

We all know Tune is free, but here is some of my fav's...

Princes's Mackerel in Tomato Sauce (free), in Spicy Tomato Sauce (free) and in Mustard Sauce (½ syn). Particularly the mustard one is really nice and looking at the syn value it is not a lot. I even use tuna if I have.

Mackerel in tomato sauce with trimmings

Crab stics with trimmings

Ham with trimmings

That is more than often what my choice would be. However I do on the occasion have an omelet or quiche. I would even do Jacket potato with fillings. Just this afternoon I had jacket potato with beans/spaghetti in tomato sauce and salad on the side. It really depends on if I have cereal in the morning or if I am planning on burgers for tea/supper. You just need to figure out what you like and work around it. I really can't be asked to make proper meals at dinner time. So HEB would be my choice most of the time. I am having a go at cereal in the morning so will see how it pans out having to live on potato for lunch.

Sausage Casserole

5 syns on all plans

The other night I made a casserole and used one of the Schwartz packets as the sauce. Must say it was really nice and will make it again, definitely worth the syns.

½ syn on EE and Red and 3½ syns on Green

On EE this would work out to
2½ syns per serving.



This is really easy to make. You follow the instructions on the back of the packet and then serve it with mash and veg. I make my mash from scratch but you can use smash as well. Sometimes it is worth a trip to other shops to stock up. For one I drive to Morrison's once a month just for these sausages as they are only ½ syn each. Morrison's also have sausages called Skinny Lizzy's that are 1 syn each. They are worth it cause they are really tasty but they don't BBQ very nice.

Enjoy

Chicken Pasta

I suppose that this is one of my favourites. I make it often as I can keep it in the fridge to snack on as well. I made this on Friday night, new I was not going to want to make food after Saturday's day. It is really simple to make and goes quick. Serve it with salad or what ever you fancy.


Firstly start off with your pasta. In a microwave bowl add some pasta salt and boiling water. Cover with cling wrap and pierce. Into the microwave on high for 15 min. In mean time in a pot sprayed with Fry light add your onion  peppers and mushrooms, if you have any. Add some diced chicken and brown it up. After that you add 2 cans of chopped tomato and half carton of passata, season to taste with salt, pepper and herb. I add some Worcester sauce and sweetener to counter the acidity and if I have I add some sweetcorn as well. Leave it to simmer till pasta is ready. Drain the pasta and add to the chicken sauce, mix it up and simmer for 5 more min.  Ta da all done in 20min.  I had this with cucumber, tomato and raw carrots on the side. Al so for those how like a little heat in there food, I added some hot sauce to mine, just a few drops will do.

Enjoy...

Chicken in Sauce

A few weeks a go I had a very syn full meal, Chicken in Peppercorn sauce on rice. Really enjoyed and thought why not make my own. So the first time I made I used ASDA's onion and chive Instant sauce mix. It was really good so had to try it again.

This week I had ASDA's instant Cheese sauce mix so used that, 9½ syn's for the packet.
Firstly 1½ cup of rice in a micro bowl with 3 cups of boiling water and cube of veg stock. Cover with cling wrap and pierce. In to the microwave on high for 19 min. Give it a stir when it comes out.
Second in a pan fry light some onion and add strips of chicken till browned. Mix op the sauce but add more water to it. You will need it to be a little runny, but add little by little. Add it to the chicken and let it simmer on low for a while. Don't forget to mix it up once in a while so it doesn't burn.
And thirdly in a saucepan add some of that bag of frozen broccoli, cauliflower and carrots enough water to cover the bottom of the pot and salt. Put the lid on and on the stove for about 15min.

Serve it up. It makes about 4 portions so it is around 2 -3 syn's....Enjoy

Roast Dinner

This week has been really hard for me as my consultant has given me a "challenge" for this week. Since I have been struggling with my last Stone to target she said I should try decreasing my syns to 5-10 syns a day. I have to say it has been easier said than done. I have to budget most things and that includes my syns per day. I can't really afford to buy extra lean mince etc., so when using lean mince have to include the syns. Keeping that in mind I do enjoy a treat of some kind, whether it be a packet of crisps or a chocolate,especially when my kids enjoy there treats to. We had made muffins and peanut brittle over the weekend for them and I sat there watching them eat when I knew I would not be able to give 10 syns away on a small piece of peanut brittle. This lead me to thinking why I should not need to waste syns on gravy for our Sunday roast.

Well this is how it played out... The chicken is plain and simple. Pop it into a oven dish spice it up and stick it in the oven. Now depending on how you want to do this is depended on time I would assume. Most days I would put it in the oven on it's lowest around 10am in the morning and just leave it there for the day and eat around 3ish., but today I put the oven on 180ºC and did it for around 1½hrs. In the last half hour I started the side dishes. Felt like making rice the paella way as I actually like that, so in a microwave safe bowl I put 1cup of rice with boiling water and 2 veg stock cubes. Stir it up cover with cling wrap, don't forget to pierce the wrap, and in the microwave on high for 15 - 20min.  I tend to do the frozen packs of broccoli cauliflower and carrots  and just steam that. I also had a few small potatoes and although I felt like roast potato, I didn't feel like the hassle. I cut them up in squares and put them in a zip lock bag with some salt and herbs and few drops of water. Put the bag in the microwave on high for around 5 -8 min.
Then syn free gravy was born... I did start this off in a saucepan so please don't make the same mistake I did. In a pan Fry Light some diced onion and add 2 beef stock cubes with ½cup of water. Add some Worcester Sauce and passata, about 4 or 5 table spoons should do. Then add ½cup of diet Lemonade/Coke. Bring to a boil then simmer on high. Add water as needed till correct consistency or quantity.  The reason for a pan is because it has a larger surface than a saucepan, it spreads out more so simmers faster.

When you all ready drain the rice and veg, Let the potatoes just dry out a little and then serve all together. It is one of those meals in my home that the plates get cleaned off. No fighting with the kids to eat there food.

Enjoy

Shepard's Pie...

My husband and I have very different ideas of what is nice and what is just edible. There is many things he doesn't eat...peas, pumpkin, white sauce pasta, etc. We work around it most days and either he makes him self food or keeps quiet . I make carbonara for myself when they have pizza and stir fry for us both when the kids want nuggets.

Well decided yesterday to make a Shepard's pie. Hubby doesn't like this really, but surprisingly ate it. I started off with boiling some potatoes for mash. When it was ready to mash up I added a few spoons of cottage cheese and salt. In a pot with Fry Light brown some diced onion and mince. Then I added half a bag of casserole diced veg and 2 beef stock cubes some seasoning and 350ml of boiling water.

I then thought to myself how can I thicken it up a bit... I decided, why not try the diet coke chicken basic idea. So I added a couple of drops of Worcester Sauce and couple tablespoons of passata and let it simmer on high till it started to go thick. Ta dah.

Pour the mince mixture in a  oven dish and top it with your mash, sprinkle a bit of Paprika over and in the oven on about 200ºC for about 20min or till golden brown. I had this with some salad on the side and it was really yummy.

To be continued part 2

I have given you a few to try already so here is a few more...

Spag Bowl
One of the fav's in any house hold. The funny thing is I don't really like it but my husband and kids do. It is one of the only meals that my youngest eats with out complaint or coaxing...lol. It is really simple and can be done in under 20min if time is an issue. First boil the kettle and take a large microwave safe mixing bowl. add some salt and spaghetti and pour the boiling water over, stir a little and leave for a bit. In the pot you spray some Fry Light and add your onion, and if you like peppers and mushrooms (my kids don't like this). Now mix your spaghetti again and put it in the micro on high for 5min. Give it another stir and back in for further 10 min. While that is in the micro add your mince to the pot. some salt, pepper and herbs. Once browned add 2 cans of chopped tomato and half a carton of passata. Add some sweetener to counter the acidity and leave to simmer till the spaghetti is done. When the microwave goes off leave the spaghetti inside for five minutes while your bolognaise finishes off.  Drain and serve. Obviously you need to add a salad or veg but that's my quick spag bowl.

Chicken Pasta
Really easy to make and good for a lunch even my kids enjoy this one. Now remember how I did the spaghetti, I do the pasta the same way and for that matter rice too. Boil a kettle and in a large bowl add some pasta of your choice, a bit of salt and the boiled water. Mix it and in to the microwave it goes for 15min on high. Mix it half way and at the end let it stand for 5min, drain and it is ready. While the pasta is in the microwave start the sauce. In a pan Fry Light some diced onion and chicken fillets cut up in cubes. Add some peppers and mushrooms if you like and sweetcorn(again my kids don't like mushrooms and peppers but I keep frozen bags of peppers, mushrooms and diced onion in the freezer). Fry till browned and add a can of chopped tomato and half a carton of passata. Season to taste and add a bit of sweetener. Mix the pasta in and ready to serve.


So far I have given mostly syn free things to make. Granted I don't always use extra lean mince but the lean mince is not that high in syns if you can manage the syn use.
Lets get on to the good stuff... Yes I am aware that we all want a bit of chocolate so here is my advice.

Triple Chocolate Brownies (12portion/4syns each)Ingredients
• 3 Lg Eggs, Whites Only
• 30g Sweetener
• 40g Cocoa Powder    
• 1 Tbsp Vanilla Essence
• 45ml Milk, Skimmed   
• 75g Flour, Plain  
• 2g Baking Powder 
• 50g Milk Chocolate 
• 50g Dark Chocolate
• 300g Quark Cheese, Cream, Low Fat
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Line a (7inX9in) baking tin with parchment paper. Place the egg whites in a large bowl and whisk until they form soft peaks.
2. In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese with the granular Sweetener.
3. Add the cocoa powder, vanilla essence and milk. Beat well until the mixture is smooth then fold in the whisked egg whites until evenly incorporated.
4. Sift the flour and baking powder together over the mixture then fold in lightly, together with the chocolate pieces.
5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 25 - 30 minutes until springy to the touch.
6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly in the tin. Cut into 12 squares and serve warm. With Fromage Frais or Vanilla Cream.

Optional - Vanilla cream
7. Beat together the cream cheese (250g) with the vanilla essence (2tsp) and the granular Sweetener (2tbsp). Spoon into a pot and serve with the brownies.     


Hope you enjoy that, it is well worth it and really works the sweet tooth.