Homemade Chicken and Veg Casserole (Slimming world friendly)

Homemade Chicken and Veg Casserole (Slimming world friendly)

Serves 2

4 chicken thighs, skin and visible fat removed

2 onions, chopped

1 stick of celery, finely sliced

2 carrots, peeled and chopped into 2cm pieces

2 trimmed leeks, finely sliced

100g Mushrooms chopped (I used a tin of mushrooms as had no fresh in at the time

4 chicken oxo cubes

2pt boiling water

1. Remove all skin and visible fat from chicken, spray a frying pan with frylight and seal chicken portions
2. Remove chicken from pan and pop into an oven proof casserole dish
3. In frying pan you used for chicken, pop in onions, celery and mushrooms and fry for 2-3 mins until starting to go soft.  Add to chicken
4. Make up 2pt of stock using 2 of the oxo cubes and boiling water.  Pour a little bit into the frying pan to get any of the chicken juices/veg sediment off the bottom of the pan and then pour over chicken and veg. 
5. Pour over the rest of the chicken stock.  Give everything a good stir and pop a lid on.  Put into a preheated hot oven, around 180 degrees for about an hour
6. Take casserole out of the oven and stir.  Stir in leeks, put lid back on and put back into oven for a further 30 mins.
7. Check seasoning in the casserole (I added another 2 chicken stock cubes to my personal preference rather than salt and pepper), stir and then thicken using whatever means you normally do.  (I used a tbsp of plain flour 4.5syns for 25g).  Pop back in the oven for a further 10 mins to ensure the flour is cooked out,
8. Serve with whatever further veg/pots.

I served mine with some aunt bessies midweek roasties (synned at 1.5 for 100g raw), broccoli and green beans.  Was absolutely amazing, and all done with what was in my fridge that needed used up. 

Oriental Chicken - SW friendly - Recipe

Oriental Chicken

1 Large onion, chopped

3 tbsp Soy Sauce

4oz Mushrooms

Large tin beansprouts/fresh beansprouts

8oz Skinned chicken

Frylight

Seasoning to taste

Lightly fry the chicken in frylight until cooked through

Fry onion in soy sauce and cover until tender

Add the mushrooms and cook gently for 2-3 minutes

Add the beansprouts and the cooked chicken, toss together and heat thoroughly

Season to taste

Serve with salad, veg, boiled rice, jacket potato, noodles, syn free chips…..

Simple, inexpensive family meals - SW Style

I am aware that people don't have a lot of money or time these days and are often looking for meals that are quick and easy to prepare and cook and those that are cost effective.

I'm not one for extravagant meals myself, and as a working mother, most of the time 'I can't be bothered' to cook fancy meals from scratch when I get home from work/picking up our 3 year old son/shopping, so most of our meals are quite basic.

Here are some meal ideas for anyone who may be struggling with ideas:

Jacket Potato, tuna and salad

Jacket potatoes, HE cheese, salad, 'Tuna Crunch' and Garlic Roule cheese (synned) on the side.  Jacket potatoes cooked for 15 mins in the microwave, sprayed with Buttery Frylight and popped in the oven for 10 mins to crisp up.  

' Tuna Crunch' is 1 can of tuna in brine, drained, 1/2 red pepper finely diced, 1 red onion finely sliced/chopped, 1/2 can sweetcorn, drained and all combined with 1 level tablespoon of lighter than light mayo

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Bangers, Mash, Peas and Gravy

Baked quorn sausage or any low syn sausage of your choice cooked without oil, potatoes (boiled and mashed without butter.  I use some milk from my hea allowance and 'whip' it up with my hand whisk, and it's really thick and creamy mash).  Open up a tin of pea, pop in a pan and crumble in a beef oxo cube.  Heat through and serve.  Yummy.  A real winter warmer when you're pushed for time.

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Poached egg, tomatoes and toast

This has to be my most favourite 'simple meal' ever!  I would live on this if I could, in fact I used to live on this since being a teenager, but it wasn't SW friendly as my eggs were fried in oil and my toast would be lathered in butter.  This version is so much healthier.  Eggs are poached, tinned tomatoes are superfree and my toast is a HEB choice with a scraping of flora light spread.  Certainly a cost effective meal, filling and takes minutes to make.

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Fry Up

 Jazz up egg and tomatoes on toast by adding some bacon (fat removed) and either grilled or cooked in frylight, mushrooms if you fancy them.  Again, quick and easy to prepare.  

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Mince and Tatties

Something as basic as Mince and mashed potatoes can be a fantastic, filling meal thats great for the full family and comforting.

I cook my mince with some frozen veg (carrots/broccoli/cauli/peas/corn - depending on what I've got in the freezer), a couple of oxo cubes made up in boiling water and just cooked down.  I use cornflour (synned) if the gravy requires thickening.  I make my mash by boiling potatoes as I normally would and whisking them with a drop milk until fluffy and creamy.  

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Jacket potatoes again!

Jacket Potatoes, Prawns in a low syn seafood dressing, salad and hea cheese

Quick, easy and filling! 

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Quiche

Yummy served with salad.  Very quick and easy to make and so filling.  Delicious served hot or cold.  Check out my recipes to find out how I made this one.

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Lamb Hotpot

Fab for using leftovers from Sunday lunch, and fab for serving on its own or with some extra vegetables.  This one is a firm favourite in our house x

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Beef Casserole

If you work or are out/busy all day for various reasons, then a casserole may be your answer to a filling family meal that is ready when you want to serve.  Fab if you have a slow cooker.  Just throw it all in, switch it on and bang! You have a meal ready when you are

Or even chicken casserole:

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Roast Dinners? 

 One way of getting your 1/3 superfree

These are just some of my meal ideas which I find are quite quick and easy to prepare and are quite cheap to make.  Most recipes are my own and can be found on my blog (I'm currently updating, so please bear with me, however, if you see something you like and would like the recipe and it's not on here, please feel free to drop me a line and I'll pass the recipe on.  Thanks!

*All photographs are my own, taken by me and are of my own meals which I have prepared and served.  Recipes provided on my blog*

Michelle's Chinese Chow Mein Recipe - SW style

Chow Mein 

SW Style

(Also works with other meats, just mix and match as you go)

Ingredients

1 bag of frozen stir fry vegetables (asda/morrisons around £1.00 per bag)

1lb diced lean beef/chicken/lamb/pork

Dried egg noodles - 1 nest per person (I use Amoy medium dried egg noodles)

250g mushrooms, halved/quartered (optional)

For the sauce

60ml Dark soy sauce

40ml Light soy sauce

1 heaped teaspoon garlic powder

1 level teaspoon chinese 5 spice powder

1 teaspoon of oyster sauce (1 syn per 1 level tablespoon)

Method

1.  Soak/cook noodles as per package instructions (I find it easier to boil the kettle and soak them in a bowl of boiling water)

2. Whilst noodles are soaking, fry off your meat until browned

3. Make sauce by mixing together all sauce ingredients until combined thoroughly

4. Drain noodles and pour over sauce mixture, mixing until all noodles are coated.  Leave to soak

5. Meanwhile, add the stirfry vegetables to the pan with the meat and cook as per instructions

6. Take off the heat once all cooked, and stir in soaked noodles and the remaining sauce mixture.  Stir until completely combined.  Keep on the heat for a further 5 minutes to ensure it's piping hot.

Serve immediately

Sauce can be adjusted to your own  taste.  It took me a while to fiddle around with the quantities until we got a sauce that we both liked.  I first tried it with 100ml dark soy sauce but this was too salty for my taste.  This combination works well for us.  

*Disclaimer* 

This recipe is of my own making, quantities are based on meals made for our family which we have found worked well to our tastes.

Bargain hunting......SW style - Thursday 14th March 2013

Right!  I've been shopping today and I've hunted out a few bargains.

First stop was B & M Bargain stores.  Todays purchases were:

Little buckets of Garlic powder and chilli flakes - 2 for £1.50

Large jar of Pickled cherry peppers - 89p

Hellmans Garlic mayo (hubby) - 39p

Second stop was Morrisons.  Bargains found there today are:

400g Wholemeal Bread - 2 for £1.00 (heb choice)

Tangerines - 50p per net

Plums - 50p per punnet

Pilgrims Choice Lighter cheese - £2.19 per block

Chantenay Carrots - 50p per pack

Savers Cottage Cheese - 59p per tub (check this out, it actually has less fat than Morrisons 'low fat range')

Savers Rindless Back Bacon - £1.64 per pack (definately worth checking out, I bought 3 packs today and not one of them has a thick layer of fat, and every one is a decent lean slice - just cut the remaning fat off and you wont lose half your bacon, if you get what I mean)

I also got a nice little cheap haul at the reduced section:

Large bag of mushrooms - 35p

1/2 Galia Melon - 55p

Bag pears - 35p

Celeriac - 35p

Mullerlight Vanilla yogurts -19p

Next stop was the butchers for a meat sandwich and some 'Slimmers' steak burgers, Chilli steak burgers, chicken burgers, pork and leek sausage and pork sausages - costing a total of £8.59 - eeeeek..  I did buy 8 burgers and 10 links of sausage though!

Last stop before heading home was Home Bargains:

Ryvita wholegrain crackerbreads - 69p a box

Quavers - 99p multipack

Bottled water - 6 x 500ml bottles for £1.00

Flumps (1.5syns each) 9p

Multipack of 'fluffs' (cheaper flumps pk of 10) - 69p

Hellmans salad cream - £1.19

Caramel bunnies (5syns each/10syns for pack) - 4 for £1.00

All Bran Golden Crunch - £1.79 a box - heb choice

All in a days good work

My advice is to research your purchases before you go to the shops to save time and money :) x

©Cheznal x

How expensive is healthy eating?

As the title asks.........just how expensive is healthy eating?

I often hear people say 'I can't afford to eat healthy' and 'junk food is much cheaper'

But is it??

Before becoming a Slimming World member, I would've said the same as well as the first few weeks of becoming a member but now?  No certainly not.  

The first few weeks as a Slimming World member I did find it expensive.  The key is to build up a small 'larder' of foods.  Basics aren't really that expensive - pasta, beans, tinned tomatoes, tinned spaghetti, passata, tomato puree - these are all cheap foods and either free or superfree foods.

I love bargain hunting and seeking out cheaper items.  It does pay to shop about.  I'm aiming to update my blog with bargain buys so watch this space.  I love shopping around, sad I know, but I love finding a bargain.  I do understand that people don't have the time to shop around, however, if you do your research you can shop around on what little time you have available.  For example, a Thursday evening my husband finishes work earlier so he can nip to Tesco for example, I pop to Morrisons during the day after I've dropped my son off at nursery and on  Sunday we pop to Aldi.  I'm quite lucky as to where I live as I'm within easy reach of 2 x Asda's, 2 x Morrisons, Tescos, Sainsburys, 2 x Icelands, Herons Freezer Foods, Aldi, Lidl, Home Bargains, B and M's and Discount UK, so picking up a good bargains isn't really that hard for me.  As I see it its 'A penny saved is a penny in the pot!'

Right................ Here are some of my store cupboard items:

Tinned Tomatoes (chopped, plum and cherry)

Beans

Spaghetti in tomato sauce

Pasta (various shapes/sizes) inc cannelloni and spaghetti

Dried egg noodles

passata

Tomato puree

Tinned mushrooms

Tins of peas

Tinned sweetcorn

Tuna in brine

Red kidney beans

Heinz five beans in tomato ketchup

Sausage and beans (not SW but my son loves them)

Pasta shapes in tomato sauce (characters etc)

Dark soy sauce

Light soy sauce

Oxo cubes (chicken, beef, lamb, vegetable)

Bovril Cubes (beef)

Fry Light

Fillipo Berio Mild and Light Olive Oil cooking spray
Herbs, spices and seasonings
Stock cubes/liqud etc

I also have 3 freezers at the moment - an underbench, fridge freezer and a chest/box freezer in my shed, which is filled with good, frozen vegetables, meats


I'll be writing up another post very soon with a list of cheap staples that can make Slimming World on a budget even easier for you!

I shop around for bargains and I'm more than willing to post up on the blog what bargains that I find on a daily basis whilst I am out shopping. x

©Cheznal x

Weigh In - 13th March 2013

Well..........I've been to class again! 

I lost 1lb this week, taking my total weight loss to date to 2st 2.5lb's.  I'm pleased with that as it is a massive achievement for me.  I'm looking to aim higher next week, so a full meal plan and syns outlined for me may be the way forward.  Only time will tell.

Next week will also be my 52nd weigh in.  I have been a Slimming World member for exactly a year next week and have never missed a class through illness, work or holidays.  A full years worth of classes.  Here's to the next year, eh?

My biggest weightloss to date!!

Weigh in at class on Wednesday night and I'm still absolutely gobsmacked!!  

I lost an impressive 3.5lbs this week!  This is my biggest weight loss on my journey, not including my initial 1st week weightloss.  I closed my eyes while standing on the scales and yelped out a 'yesssssssss'.  I knew I had got my 2 stone award which I'd danced around for months - the weight was on, off, on, off.........at New Year I was 1/2 a pound - yes just half a pound - away from my 2 stone award, however, bingeing and making a right little oinker of myself at Christmas caught me up and bit me extremely hard on the butt!  I'd gained 3lb, which was the most stubbornest 3lb I've ever encountered in my life.  Would it hell shift??

I knew I had lost enough weight to get my 2 stone award but I hadn't clicked on to what I had lost, I was too busy bouncing around like a loony, that my sister came over and picked my book up to see what the fuss was about (I do the weighs at my group), and she said 'you've lost three and a half pound?', and I looked at her, looked away and looked at her again and said 'what??'.  'Look' she says 'you've lost 3 and a half pound' to which I just replied 'Oh My God!'  I hadn't actually realised myself!

I'm now a total of 2 stone 1.5lbs lighter!  I'm still amazed that I managed to do that.  I'm chuffed to bits and can't stop grinning at my own achievements.  It's a massive achievement for me!!

When asked what I had changed this week to go from being the 1lb a week girl to 3.5lb, I struggled to answer, but after careful thought I remembered.

I drank water on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and then I drank 3 x 750ml bottles of water on Monday and 2 x 750ml bottles of water on Tuesday whilst I was at work without actually realising it.

I made sure I didn't skip ANY meals

I stayed within my syn allowance (I use weekly syns so I count backwards from 105 rather than have a set 15 a day)

I didn't 'binge' last Wednesday after weigh in - I had my tea when I got home and a cup of tea then went to bed

I snacked on free and super free foods

I ate more superfree on my meals

Looks like it's eventually paid off and I'm absolutely thrilled with myself.  I think the main point is that I drank MORE WATER!!  I never drink water, and despite telling myself that water is good for me, I never seem to drink it when I'm at home.  I'd rather have a nice cup of tea.  I cut out pop a while ago, after realising that drinking bottles and bottles of pepsi max wasn't doing me any favours.  I went to Home Bargains and bought some large 750ml bottles of water and keep these dotted around the house as well as one on my son's pushchair, one in my backpack and one on my desk at work.  For some daft reason I find that it is easier for me to drink more water from a sports capped bottle than it is to drink from a glass - which is probably my reason for not drinking any water at home.  I really should make an effort and I am the first to admit that I am so blumming lazy that I won't go and delibrately fill a glass with water!

So there you have it.  I'm aiming for the same this week.  Let's see if I can shock my consultant again like I did this week!!

Savoury Mince Pies - Michelle's recipe

This recipe is one of those 'thrown together' dishes but certainly went down very well

Ingredients

500g pack of Extra Lean Beef Mince

2 Beef oxo cubes and 1 beef bovril cube, dissolved in 500ml boiling water

1 bag of frozen veg - I used Farmfoods 'steam bag' which contained peas, carrots, cauliflower and broccoli

2 bags of Aunt Bessies Carrot and Swede Mash

Prep time - 30 mins prep, 15 mins to bake in the oven

Method

Break up mince into a saucepan and pour over the stock made with the cubes

Bring up to the boil, reduce heat and simmer until gravy starts to thicken, around 20-25 mins

Stir in bag of frozen veg, cover and carry on simmering for a further 10 minutes

Meanwhile, prepare Aunt Bessies Carrot and Swede mash as per instructions on packaging.

Leave both mince and the carrot mash to cool for a bit before 'assembling' the pies

Layer the mince mixture in the bottom of individual lasagne dishes, then top with the mash mixture

Can either be left to cool and then frozen, or 'baked' in the oven like a cottage pie.

Serve with vegetables if you wish (already contains superfree - carrots, broccoli, cauli, and carrot and swede mash) but I serve mine with a bag of Birds Eye steam bag of vegetables.

Yummy, even my hubby approves of this one - and it's laced with superfree !

©Cheznal x

My Extra Easy Day - Monday 4th March

Monday 4th March 2013 

Extra Easy

I work part time and I find that my working days are so much better organised than the non-working days 

My Extra Easy Day today consisted of:

6am - Breakfast - HEb choice of All Bran Golden Crunch & 1% milk (HEa)

10am - Break - Apple, Banana, Hartleys Sugar Free Jelly (homemade 0.5 syns) and a Weight Watchers Nectarine yogurt

12.30pm - Lunch - Ham Salad consisting of spinach, baby leaf mixed salad, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, lean ham followed by 2 Weight Watchers Apricot yogurts and a banana

2.45pm - Break - Pear and a Banana

8pm - Dinner - Leftover 'Savoury Mince Pies' with a Birds Eye steam bag of veggies

I've also drank 3 cups of tea with a dash of milk in each cup, and 1.5l of water

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The only syns I've had today is the sugar free jelly (I'm trying to reduce my syns as I've overdone it this week and I'm desperate for a weight loss this week :) )

© Cheznal x

Lemon Curd Recipe - SW Friendly

I got this recipe from a group that I'm a member of.  I've just made it for the first time today and was pleasantly impressed.  I love shop bought lemon curd, but this one is just so creamy with a real hit of lemon flavours!

Ingredients

2 eggs
6 tablespoons of sweetner
Juice and rind of 1 lemon

Method

Place all ingredients into a glass bowl and whisk together over a pan of boiling water until thick and creamy

Put into a smaller pot if required, allow to cool for around 10 mins then pop in the fridge to chill.

Completely syn free!

I've just tried it as it was just done so was still warm.  Going to try it when its cool and see what its like then!

Whoa!  It definately has a kick of lemon.  Another recipe asks for quark to mix in with the cooling curd, which I think actually might help take the kick down a bit x

My Weight Loss Introduction

In March 2012, I finally took a HUGE step and joined a Slimming World class.

I'd noticed that my size 16 work trousers were very tight, and took the awful step purchasing a size 18 pair of trousers.  I was devastated.  I actually felt sick and ashamed.  Not a nice feeling at all.  I had noticed that I had piled the weight on, but I didn't feel absolutely HUGE and my husband kept telling me that I looked 'fine' as I was.  I knew deep down that I wasn't happy with the way I looked.  I was only 9st 10lbs when I met my husband in 2004, was slender and lean and in size 10-12 clothes.  I worked in a social club and the constant running about, serving behind bars, collecting glasses, running up and down stairs kept me lean and fit.  I had started to pile the weight on after the numerous WEEKEND binges on takeaways, and eating sweets at my desk at my day job, oh and the bacon and mushroom sarnies on the way to work from a local pork shop.

I took the step of joining a Slimming World group near my parents home in March 2012, with the intention of signing up, grabbing the books and running, but after staying through one class I was hooked.  Everyone was so friendly and helpful.  On my way out the door, the holler of 'see you next week' spurred me on, I had to come back to see how I was doing.....

I made healthy, homecooked meals that week, plenty of fruit and veg and was pleased with a 4lb weight loss at my first weigh in.  I haven't looked back since.  I have had some really bad weeks where the scales weren't my friend and was either gaining or staying the same (STS) and it was really disheartening, but as Slimming World say, 'There is no shame in a gain if you enjoyed it', and most times I did enjoy it.  I put 3lb on over Christmas but I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of chocolate I ate, the huge roast dinner, mince pies and fresh cream - yum, but it played havoc with my system and I felt sick and lethargic most of the time so glad to be back on plan.

Unfortunately throughout January, I have only managed to STS for 3 weeks running, don't know why, so my consultant gave me an 'SAS' log (Slimmers Against Sabotage) to see what I was doing that I could change.  I'd been filling in this log and had written down EVERYTHING that has passed my lips, right down to the cups of tea with the 5ml drop of milk in it!  That week, I GAINED 0.5lb!!  Gutted.  The following week though, I managed to lose 2.5lbs so well happy with that.

I stayed the same on 24/02/2013, although this didn't surprise me after what I had eaten on Valentines night when hubby took me out for a meal and I thoroughly enjoyed every morsel that passed my lips.  Again, there is no shame in a maintain or gain as long as you enjoyed it!

Once I start getting this blog established, I will start to publish some recipes that I use to give others some inspiration.  Right now, however, I'm off to make something to eat as I'm starving......................


© Cheznal x