I'm still here!

I feel very guilty for neglecting my blog this week, but I've been on a Weight Watchers leader training course which was extremely intense (although wildly enjoyable I must say!!).

The recipe for the blackcurrant and liquorice cakes I'm posting today is what I made for dessert last Shabbos - have to say I was pretty much making it up as I went along (well, adapting anyway...) so I wasn't sure how they would turn out, but they were a huge success and the liquorice flavour was the perfect touch. If you don't have liquorice tea you can still make the cakes, but I have to stress that it added a lot to the final taste!

INGREDIENTS

3 tablespoons sugar-free blackcurrant jam
3 tablespoons boiling water
1/2 cup plain flour
4 tablespoons ground almonds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup very strong liquorice tea (I use the Higher Living brand teabags)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg
1/4 cup melted low fat spread
6 tablespoons splenda

Glaze: 3 tablespoons splenda mixed with 1 tablespoon berry juice (you could use drinking fruit juice for this, but I actually used the juice that appeared in the bowl with the berries I'd defrosted for my breakfast!).

Preheat the oven to 180'c and put 12 fairy cake cases in a baking tray.

Mix jam and boiling water till nicely blended. Mix flour, almonds, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda in a bowl. In a third bowl, beat the egg with the low fat spread and splenda until it thickens slightly. Stir in the jam, tea and dry ingredients, alternating between additions. Mix until full blended. Drop by the tablespoon into the fairy cake cases and bake for approximately 15 minutes (but check after 10). Once cooled, mix up the glaze and spread on each cake with a teaspoon.

Makes 12 little cakes of 2pp each. DISCLAIMER: The cakes were a horrid greyish colour when in raw state but they went a lovely rich brown when cooked so don't panic!

Actifry Chicken Korma

It's been hard to fit in time to blog over the past few days and with my Weight Watchers leader training beginning tomorrow it's only going to get harder! I have still been cooking of course - last night's 'fakeaway' Chicken Korma was really excellent, another winner from Kuli80 on the Weight Watchers community recipe swap. My version with a few slight amendments is below. This is made in an actifry and the timings are appropriate for this method of cooking, but it could just as easily be made in a wok or frying pan - simply adjust the timings accordingly.

INGREDIENTS

430g chicken breast cut into bite size pieces
2 onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped finely
1 green chilli pepper, chopped finely
4 cardamom pods, soaked in warm water
0.5tsp turmeric
0.5tsp cumin
0.5tsp dried coriander
1 tsp salt
2 tsp tomato puree
170ml light coconut milk (I used Blue Dragon)
20g ground almonds (more Pesach leftovers!)
0.5tsp ginger
0.5tsp cinnamon
0.25tsp garam masala
0.5 inch cinnamon stick

Spray the actifry pan with frylight and cook the onion, chilli and garlic for 5 minutes. While it is cooking mix all the herbs and spices with the tomato puree, and add the seeds from the softened cardamom pods. This mixture will form a kind of paste. Add to the actifry together with the chicken, mix well and cook for about 7 minutes. You may want to stir it halfway through to ensure the paste is coating everything evenly. Add the coconut milk, ground almonds and 225ml hot water and cook for a further 10 minutes. Keep an eye on it to check the sauce isn't drying out - you want to catch it just as it begins to thicken up nicely.

I served this with rice (miracle rice for me) and a 0pp vegetable curry that I made by throwing a tin of tomatoes into a saucepan with some mushrooms, frozen spinach, frozen cauliflower and chilli powder. It makes 3 good sized portions of korma, 6pp each.

Sometimes, more is more...

When embarking on a 'weight loss journey' one of the most important things to learn is portion control. I think most of us have had a moment where we weigh out a standard portion of cereal, or pasta, and think 'is that it?!'! I like to think that I've pretty much got used to smaller portions now - 135g cooked pasta is plenty, as long as I bulk it out with lots of chunky 0pp tomato sauce, for example.

But sometimes - on days when you're feeling extra hungry, or having an 'eyes bigger than stomach' moment - you do just want to see an enormous portion on your plate. Well I do anyway! So here's the confession - see the picture of my chicken aubergine bake below?  I ate the whole thing! In one sitting!

And it was only 5pp....:-)

INGREDIENTS - for a one-hungry-person-portion

200g raw chicken mince
1 aubergine
1/2 small courgette
1/2 onion
A few mushrooms
1 carton of passata
Mixed herbs
Salt and pepper to taste
Garlic salt
Frylight

Chop the onion, courgette and mushroom finely and brown for a few minutes until just beginning to soften in a pan sprayed with frylight. Add the chicken mince and break up with a fork until it all turns white. Add the passata, herbs, salt and pepper to taste and simmer for about 30 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, slice the aubergine as thinly as you can and spread out on a baking tray. Spray the tops with frylight and sprinkle with garlic salt. Grill until the pieces are soft and golden.

Once the chicken is cooked, layer it in an oven-proof dish with the aubergine slices, as you would a lasagne. Then cover and bake for 45 minutes on 180'c.

Hungry day - be gone!

Happy trails!

This recipe for my fat-free granola mix started out as a quest to discover the perfect low-in-propoints crumble alternative. There was one disastrous effort involving ground tortilla wraps that is probably best not mentioning (if only my family would stop making running jokes about it, I might have a chance to forget it...). Since that attempt, I've mostly given up, and on the rare occasion that I do make a crumble I just stick to the fruit filling.

Over the weekend I had a sudden brainwave however, and after Googling granola recipes, tweaked one to get it just right. Propoints-wise it works out the same as porridge oats (ie 1pp per 10g). And sprinkled over stewed fruit with a bit of custard, it's a heavenly dessert!

For those more concerned with overall health than their waistlines, it also makes an excellent trail mix or breakfast cereal when mixed with a variety of different 'toppings' - in the picture below I've added pumpkin and sunflower seeds, sultanas, cranberries, pistachio nuts and honeyed cashews. Chopped apricot or dried banana slices also go very nicely.

INGREDIENTS

150g good quality jumbo porridge oats (I use Tesco Finest)
20g runny honey
60ml water
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Splenda or sugar to taste (I used 1 tsp splenda)

Preheat your oven to 240'c. Whisk the honey, water, vanilla  and sweetener together and mix with the oats until they are thoroughly coated. Spread out on a baking tray and bake for approximately 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown and toasted. Check and stir the granola every 5 minutes as it burns quickly. Once cool, pour into an airtight container.

Hunter chicken pieces with rich vegetable stew

I invented this recipe in the early hours of this morning after realising late last night that I need a bigger slow cooker. You see, I had planned to make a slow cooker chicken casserole for dinner this evening, using a lovely recipe from the Weight Watchers community swap. It was only after I'd bought all the ingredients and started defrosting the chicken pieces that I remembered trying to make this dish last winter - and discovering too late that my slow cooker was too small to fit enough ingredients in to feed a family of 6.

I'm very pleased with the resulting dish however, so I'll stick with my little crock pot for now! One word of explanation before I get started though - this recipe features Bisto gravy powder rather heavily.. I was shocked when I first discovered this is kosher (only the original gravy powder mind you) and used to hide it at the bottom of my Tesco trolley because I was worried about what my fellow Jewish shoppers would think of me! Just in case you weren't aware that this little packet of magic is KLBD approved, I'm pointing it out to you (and finally coming out into the open - yes, I buy Bisto!)

HUNTER CHICKEN PIECES - Ingredients

5 chicken thighs, skinless and boneless
5 chicken drumsticks, skinless
1 carton of passata
2 teaspoons Bisto powder
Half a teaspoon of cumin powder
White pepper to taste
Good shake of garlic powder
2 tablespoons of soy sauce

Prepare the chicken pieces in a roasting dish. Mix all the sauce ingredients together and pour over the top. Bake covered for 60 minutes on 200'c and then uncover for a further half an hour. Only the chicken needs to be propointed.

RICH VEGETABLE STEW (Made in a slow cooker)

2 large white onions, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
2 leeks, sliced
10 baby carrots, peeled and halved
500g chopped swede
Half a punnet closed cup mushrooms, sliced
4 teaspoons of bisto powder made up to a pint with cold water
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon mixed herbs
White pepper to taste
2 tablespoons cornflour

Place all the ingredients except the cornflour in your slow cooker and leave on 'low' for at least 10 hours. In the last 30 minutes before eating, mix the cornflour to a paste with some of the gravy from the slow cooker, and then stir it back in to thicken the stew. 0pp per portion - serves 6 - 8 people as a side dish.

Apologies if the picture tonight doesn't look too pretty - the steam from the plate kept misting up my camera lens, and ultimately I wanted to sit down and eat, so what you see is what you get!

The Muffin Woman of Golders Green...

As the weather has turned colder, I've been getting cravings for toasty things - and have not stopped thinking about crumpets and muffins and other delicious carbs. To the point that I've even ordered a Tesco Value toaster for the office so I can have toast and jam for breakfast...

Last night when Shabbos went out I put my breadmaker onto the dough cycle and decided to try my hand at making 'English Muffins' - the kind that look like a roll, and go with savoury or sweet toppings, as opposed to a cupcake.

The dough turned out beautifully but when I tried frying them as per the recipe, with frylight rather than oil for propoints purposes, they just burnt. Thanks to Google I soon came up with an alternative method though, and the resulting muffins were magnificent, if I do say so myself. They range between 2 and 3pp each depending on size and weight; I had two small ones with sugar-free jam last night for melave malka, and a larger one for lunch today with a poached egg - beyond yummy!

INGREDIENTS

450g strong white bread flour
1.5 tsps salt
12 fld oz water
1 tsp splenda
15g low fat spread
1 sachet dried yeast

Add the ingredients to your breadmaker in the following order; water first, flour sprinkled on top, then splenda, salt and low fat spread in one corner of the pan each. Make a small well in the centre of the flour and add in the yeast, then turn the machine to the dough cycle.

When the dough is ready, knock it back and roll it out, then cut out rounds with a biscuit cutter (or in my case, a plastic drinking cup). Place the rounds on a baking tray dusted with rice or potato flour (excellent for those pesach leftovers) and sprinkle some more rice or potato flour over the top. Leave in a warm place to rise for half an hour.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200'c. Prepare some oven-proof ramekins or aluminium foil muffin tins and grease them with frylight. When the muffins have risen sufficiently, place them on the baking try and invert a ramekin or muffin case over each one. This helps them keep their shape as they bake and cook at a slower pace. Bake for 10 mins, then remove the tray, turn each muffin over and replace the ramekin. Bake for a further 5 minutes. Finally, remove the ramekins and bake for another 3 to 5 minutes until the muffins are golden brown.

To serve:
Split them and toast lightly.

Serving suggestion: Top with a lightly poached egg and some steamed spinach and grilled tomato slices.

Makes between 15 and 22 muffins. The muffins should be treated like bread for the purposes of washing for hamotzi (and taking challah if you make a larger batch than this).

Baked and baked again...

This blog post, and recipe, is all credit to my excellent friend and lunch hostess Nicole. Nicole saved me from a fate worse than chocolate brownie the other day - namely, chocolate brownie AND giant chocolate chip cookies - by bringing out a tray of fat-free fig and pistachio biscotti just as my inner demon was about to get the better of me!

I've adapted her recipe somewhat - these biscotti are made with splenda, and flavoured with blueberry and pumpkin seeds. But they are (I think!) just as delicious, and best of all - only 1pp each!

INGREDIENTS

250g plain flour
13g splenda
1 teaspoon almond essence
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 medium eggs
50g dried blueberries
75g pumpkin seeds

Preheat the oven to 180' and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Mix the flour, splenda, almond essence and baking powder in a bowl and slowly add the beaten eggs and lemon juice until you have a stiff dough. If it is too stiff to work with, add a little egg white until the dough becomes malleable. Then knead in the seeds and blueberries.

Divide the dough into 6 balls and shape into sausages about 1" thick, slightly flattened. Place on the tray and bake for 25 minutes. Then remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. Slice each sausage into approximately 7 or 8 pieces with a serrated knife (on the diagonal), turn the oven down to 150' and bake for another 10 minutes.

Keeps for ages in a tupperware container - absolutely delicious! Thanks again Nicole X

Sometimes only soup will do...

The inspiration for the soup I made today came initially from a recipe I saw in Binah magazine for caramelised onion soup - I'd mentally filed it away as an idea for a later date. But then my friend Tanya told me about the ginormous flask she'd bought to take BNS soup to a chol hamoed outing and I thought - brilliant idea! It hadn't even occurred to me - as the granddaughter of Hungarian Jews when you say thermos to me, I think coffee (and a nice slice of kokosh cake....)

But today we took our two youngest daughters cycling to Grafham Water - a ten-mile round cycle - and soup was the perfect way to warm ourselves up when we took a break. I don't have a cool new thermos - mine is more of the retro variety - and  I didn't have all the ingredients I'd need for the exact Binah soup, so I took it as a starting point and this is what I came up with!

INGREDIENTS

3 large onions, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1 leek, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
Half a packet of frozen cauliflower
3 cubes of frozen cilantro
A few mushrooms
3 stick of celery, sliced
1 tablespoon parev chicken soup powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
Good shake of white pepper

Put a kettle of water on to boil and meanwhile brown the onions in some frylight. As they begin to soften, add the rest of the vegetables and top up the pan with boiling water so they are well covered. Then add the cilantro, soup powder and other herbs and spices. Bring back to the boil and leave to simmer for at least an hour. Blitz and serve - or reheat and store in a nice big thermos flask! (By the way, this soup is 0pp - the best kind! I drank 4 cups...!)

Toasty and warm in the succah...

When I planned out my succos menu several weeks ago, tonight's chol hamoed dinner was intended to be 'wrap pizzas' (that Weight Watchers staple!) and oven-baked potato wedges. But as today wore on and I thought about chopping the veggies for the pizza topping, I realised that I was never going to manage to get everyone sitting down to eat at the same time if I needed to make 5 pizzas and a tray of wedges in my little oven at once...

After mulling over a few different possibilities I came up with the idea of calzones, which take up far less space than a pizza. And then it occured to me that if I made them in my sandwich toaster, they would seal much better as well.

I'm pleased to say it was a big success! After making each calzone I slid it into the oven to stay warm as the wedges baked, and we all sat down to eat at once.

INGREDIENTS

1 pack of (3pp) tortilla wraps
1 bag fresh or frozen spinach leaves
1 punnet closed cup mushrooms
2 tomatoes
2 peppers (I used red and yellow for the colour)
2 onions
Frylight
Grated cheese (I used chevington light - the blue bag)

Chop and fry two onions in a little frylight, and while they are softening, wilt the spinach in the microwave. Remove half the onions from the pan and set aside, and then add in the spinach, finishing it off with the onions. Once the spinach mixture is done, remove and set aside. Then add back in the remaining onion and fry with the mushrooms, sliced thinly, until a rich, brown colour. Again, set aside. Finally, fry the chopped peppers until they begin to soften, at which point add in the tomatoes cut into sixths, and fry until they get very soft and fall apart.

You now have 3 different calzone fillings.

Take each wrap and spray with a little frylight. Add a heaped tablespoon of the filling of your choice and sprinkle with 30g light cheese. Fold in half and toast in the sandwich toaster until the cheese begins to sizzle.

And that's it! Each calzone toastie is 5pp if you use 3pp wraps and my suggested amount of light grated cheese. You can also sprinkle some mixed herbs and garlic powder onto the different vegetable fillings as they fry.

Moadim l'simcha!