Weigh-Less recipes

Hi all

If anyone is on weigh-less, here are three ideas for suppers and lunch.

SUPPERS
Spaghetti bolognaise
200g onions
240g mince
300g tomato & onion mix
soya sauce
garlic
whatever spices you normally use
560g cooked spaghetti (140g per serving)

Makes 4 servings
Each serving =
1½ Veg
1 MF protein
2 Complex carbs

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Chicken lentil curry and rice
200g onion
360g chicken breast, cubed
300g tomato & onion mix
140g lentils
560g cooked basmati/ brown rice (140g per serving)

Makes 4 servings
Each serving =
1½ Veg
1 MF protein
1 LF protein
2 Complex carbs

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Stirfry
50g onion, baby corn,
100g mushrooms, swiss chard/ spinach, broccoli, carrots, cabbage (in whichever proportion you like)
90g chicken breast, sliced OR lean beef
140g cooked basmati/ brown rice OR 160g sweet potato (delicious) – I find sometimes I only need 1 complex carbs because of all the veg, but if I’ve gone to gym that day, I use both because I’m starving!

Each serving =
½ veg
1 free veg
1 MF protein
2 Complex carbs

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LUNCHES
Tuna mix
100g onion
100g tomato
200g tuna
25g low fat mayo

Makes 2 servings
Each serving =
1 Veg
1 LF protein
¼ fat plus any fat you put on bread (I don’t have any)

Have with 2 Complex carbs (4 crackerbread, 60 g any other wholewheat type bread)

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Pilchards mix
100g onion
100g tomato
300g pilchards in tomato
50g low fat mayo

Makes 3 servings
Each serving =
2/3 Veg
2/3 Fat plus any fat you put on bread (I don’t have any)
1 LF protein

Have with 2 Complex carbs (4 crackerbread, 60 g any other wholewheat type bread)

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Baked beans
1 can baked beans in tomato sauce (makes 3 servings)
1 cup a soup Lite
Bread/ baked potato

Each serving of baked beans
Whatever fat you put on bread or baked potato
1 LF protein
2 Complex carbs (have with 60 g any wholewheat type bread or over a 90g baked potato)
1 Veg

Hope you enjoy my meals – they are working for me. Just remember that you should build your diet around things you enjoy eating – all of this I normally eat anyway. It’s just making sure that you stay balanced and have enough protein and veg.

Regards
Marcia

Weekend cooking - Easy Focaccia

I saw this focaccia recipe in a Weigh-Less recipe book.

Pizza base
280 g cake flour
1 ¼ tsp baking powder
50 ml oil
½ tsp salt
150 ml low fat milk

Topping
5 ml olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp dried rosemary, chopped
½ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and spray the baking tray with Spray and Cook.
Sift dry ingredients together.
Add the oil, milk and mix.
Roll out the dough until 35cm in diameter and press into pan.
Brush with oil, sprinkle with garlic, rosemary and salt.
Bake until golden brown.

I found that the mixture was a bit dry so I had to add some more milk. I could have even added more oil.

before it went into the oven

As you can see, I didn’t have a round pan that was suitable so I just used my normal biscuit pan.

And here's the end result!

I plan to take this with me when people invite us out to supper. Of course, I'll make a nice neat one - trim edges and so forth.

Weekend cooking - chicken lentil curry

Be warned - this is a low-fat, healthy version.


Ingredients
200g onions, diced
400g chicken, cubed
400g cooked lentils (you can use sugar beans/ kidney beans/ in fact, any legumes will do)
1 can tomato, chilli & onion mix
Curry powder, tumeric & breyani masala (I buy this, readymade, at the Indian shops)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Garlic & ginger
Salt & pepper



Method
Brown onion in oil.
Add chicken pieces, curry powders and cook until the chicken is done.




(I would normally add a potato, cubed, if I wasn’t on weigh-less but that is now a thing of the past)
Add can of tomato mix and let cook through
Add lentils last otherwise they get mushier (is this a word?).
Enjoy!



Since we're only having this for supper tomorrow, my apologies that it is not nicely presented on a plate!


Serves 4
On weigh-less, 1 serve equals
1 medium fat protein
1 low fat protein
2 vegetable portions
1/3rd fat

Works for me ANY day - chicken stir-fry

I don't like meals that take a lot of time to prepare.

Complicated + Marcia = NOT good

So while everything I make takes about 30 - 45 mins max, this is one of my no-fail easy meals.

Stir-fry some chicken and lots of veggies. I like onion, mushroom, broccoli, pumpkin (try it - you'll love it) and spinach.

If I have some rice, I prefer to serve it with rice. But if I don't and I'm going to be late for the gym, then I pull out 2-minute noodles, zap those in the microwave and serve over noodles.

To be honest, Dion likes the noodles better than the rice anyway but I like the healthiness of brown rice.

Browse my recipes for many other less-than-30-minute meals

Apricot chicken

I love cooking and baking (mainly because I like eating!) but I don't like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I really like seeing a short list of ingredients :)

This is a recipe from Kin's blog. It is so easy and is yummy - even Dion likes it and he doesn't generally like fruit in food (like you, Annie)!

Ingredients

800g skinless chicken with bones (this time I used boneless and it's not as nice)

1 pkt brown onion soup

1 tin apricots with juice

Here's how you do it:

• Pre-heat your oven to about 180 degrees
• Rinse the chicken and place in an oven-proof casserole dish
• Sprinkle the brown onion soup all over the chicken
• Then pour the apricots all over the chicken. I like to open the can, and slice the apricots haphazardly with a sharp knife while still in the can. That's why some of them look mangled :)

Cook uncovered in oven for about 35 - 40 minutes and serve with mashed potato or rice and a vegetable.

It is yummy and is now one of our favourite dishes.

Pineapple chicken

Pineapple chicken

• a tray of chicken thighs, skinless but with the bones (I think mine was about 800g - 1 kg)
• 1 packet brown onion soup
• 1 tin pineapple pieces
• 3/4 can water

My "lazy cooking" tip

• Whenever you use a casserole dish, spray with some non-stick spray (Spray and Cook, or similar) first
• It will be SOOOOO easy to clean afterwards.
  
  Method
• Preheat the oven to about 180 degrees Celsius
• Wash and rinse the chicken pieces and place in a casserole dish
• Sprinkle the entire packet of brown onion soup liberally over the chicken pieces (it looks like there's too much but it will all make a yummy sauce later)
• Empty the can of pineapple and then add 3/4 of the can of water to the mix
• Cook for about 30 - 40 minutes (my oven is hot so 30 minutes is plenty)
• Serve with some vegetables and rice

Sweetcorn and potato bake

Ingredients

• About 4 - 6 medium potatoes
• 1/2 onion
• Mushrooms (I use about 4 - 6 button mushrooms - use more or less, as you like)
  
• 1 can creamed sweetcorn
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Any spices that take your fancy (I like some dried chili)

(Can you see I'm very free and easy in the kitchen? It's the only place where I'm totally flexible :))

• Wash the potatoes and dice into smallish pieces.
• Add cut onion (have I told you before how I LOVE cutting onion? There's nothing like a nice sharp knife slicing an onion!) and mix it all up.
• Add sliced mushrooms and mix.
• Add spices, salt and pepper
• Add about 1/4 cup of water
• Microwave for about 8 - 10 mins (that's in my 1000 watt microwave) until potatoes are almost soft
• Add the can of sweetcorn and mix it all up (I like to add more pepper at this point)
• Microwave for a further 2 - 3 mins until all the flavours mix

If you want to be really decadent, grate some cheese on the top!

Yummy :)

Serve with chicken and a salad

Spicy Sausage and Potato one-pot

This recipe could NOT be simpler and it is delicious!

Ingredients
700g baby potatoes, halved
225g spicy sausage, cut into 2.5cm chunks (I used Russian sausages)
1 yellow pepper (I used half an onion instead because we don't eat pepper)
410g tin chopped tomatoes
100g spinach leaves, roughly chopped
50 ml sour cream (I skipped this to make it healthy)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon Italian herbs

Method

• Put potatoes in a large pan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and cook for 10 minutes or until soft.
• Heat a large, non-stick frying pan until very hot.
• Add oil, onion (or pepper) and sausage.
• Cook for about 3 minutes until browned - I like them to even burn just a little bit :0
• Add spinach leaves and cook through until wilted.
• Add chopped tomato, salt, pepper and herbs.
• Add cooked potatoes and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Serve with a dollop of cream (if you want the original version) and with a slice of focaccia bread.

Easy as that, you are done.

Serves 4.

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes