Chinese feast!

I had the urge this weekend to try and recreate a Marcus style Chinese feast. Started with ultra low in pp spring rolls and pp free mock spring rolls, followed by chicken chow mein for 2, mine served with zero (miracle) noodles. 6pp for my Chinese feast - beat that!!

Spring roll filling: 0pp

Half a bag of bean shoots

Handful of mushrooms, cut into strips

1 large carrot, grated

Fry lite

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

2 drops sesame oil

Spray a pan or wok with fry lite and stir fry the veggies till the desired texture, adding soy sauce, oil and vinegar when the mixture begins to look dry.

To make low in pp mini spring rolls;

Take a wonton wrapper and lay a teaspoon of filling in the centre. Roll on the diagonal till the filling is covered, tuck in the ends and complete the roll. Spray with fry lite and bake for 15 minutes at 200'. 1pp for 2.

To make 0pp mock spring rolls;

Blanche the outer wide layers of a leek in boiling water and wrap and bake as above.

Sweet & sour dipping sauce:

60g reduced salt and sugar ketchup

6 teaspoons malt vinegar

2 teaspoons sweetener 

Splash of lemon juice.

Mix well. Serves 3, 0pp per serving.

Chicken chow mein - serves 2, large portions of 5pp each

400g chicken breast cut into strips

Half a bag of bean shoots

1 tin bamboo shoots, drained

4 spring onions, sliced

2 cubes frozen crushed garlic

1 cube each frozen chopped ginger and frozen chopped red chilli pepper

2 tblspns soy sauce

2 tblspns rice vinegar

Fry lite

Stir fry the chicken pieces until they begin to whiten, along with the frozen cubes. Add the veg and the reminding ingredients and stir fry till cooked through.

Mix with miracle noodles to retain the 5pp per portion total, or add rice noodles with a pp value to your desired portion size. 

Cheesecake mark 2

This is an adaption of a traditional no bake triangle cheesecake - my absolute favourite. The change in ingredients means it won't hold a triangular shape and has to be formed in layers - a small price to pay considering that one piece is just 3pp!

INGREDIENTS

30g low fat spread
7g Splenda or stevia
100g light whipped cream cheese
200g fat free fromage frais
1 egg white
1 tblspn lemon juice
1tsp vanilla essence


1 packet rich tea biscuits
4fld oz skimmed milk

For the icing:
3 tblspn cocoa powder
3 tblspn Splenda or stevia
4 tblspn water
1 tsp coffee

25g low fat spread

Mix the low fat spread with the sweetener, lemon juice, vanilla and egg white. Add the cheese and the fromage frais and best until smooth.

Prepare a 9x9" cake tin and lay out 12 tea biscuits on the base, after dipping them briefly in the milk to soften. Smooth a thick layer of cheese on top and repeat twice (the final layer of cheese should be much thinner).

To make the icing, mix the cocoa, sweetener and coffee with the water and heat very briefly in a microwave to both warm and thicken. Stir in the low fat spread until melted. Smooth the icing over the top layer of cheese. Decorate with the fruit of your choice and refrigerate or freeze. Serves 16.

Everybody say CHEESE!!

So - Shavuos is fast approaching!! Are you worried? There is possibly nothing more tempting and equally more dangerous for your pro points allowance than a luscious piece of fresh cheesecake... until now! Last year I made a delicious and low in pp no-bake Israeli style cheesecake and I'll be blogging that as soon as I make it. In the meantime, this year I decided to have a go at skinnying up my cheesecake brownies recipe. The small corner I nibbled on this morning as it came out of the oven attests to the fact that it was a worthwhile experiment. The recipe makes 16 good size squares of cake for 4pp each (total PP value for the whole recipe is 59pp).

INGREDIENTS

One batch raw brownie batter using my recipe here

200g J&J light whipped cream cheese
20g silverspoon half and half sugar (or splenda, pp value stays the same)
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla essence

Beat the cream cheese, sugar, egg white and vanilla until smooth.

Pour the brownie batter into a greased  9x9# cake tin. Smooth the cream cheese mix in a layer over the surface. Then, using a knife, carefully swirl it into a marbled pattern.

Bake in an oven preheated to 180'c for approximately 30-35 minutes (but check after 25). Cool for 5 minutes, then turn out and cut into 16 squares and cool completely before eating - or to stay safer, freezing!

Some like it hot...

I've wanted to come up with a pro points friendly, dairy free and very easy version of chicken tikka masala for some time - but with a reluctance to use coconut milk because it is quite pointy (even the light version) and soya allergies in the family, my options were limited. I eventually decided to give it a go using rice milk, and came up with this recipe after a fair amount of Internet research. This makes two portions of 5pp each - I served it with miracle rice and tortilla wraps that I'd cut into rounds and dry fried to make them a little bit puffed up and toasty. Be warned that it is VERY hot - cut down on the chilli powder if that's not your thing.

INGREDIENTS

360g chicken breast pieces
2 opinions, chopped
2 peppers, cut into chunks
125ml rice milk
2 tblspns mango sauce (sugar free)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato purée
5 cubes of frozen crushed garlic
1 cube frozen chopped ginger
2 tspns hot chilli powder
2 tspns dried coriander
2 tspns cumin
1 tspn turmeric
1 tspn paprika
1 tsp garam masala
0.5tsp black pepper
Seeds of 4 cardamom pods
Pinch cinnamon
100ml water
Fresh coriander


Combine all the spices, garlic, and ginger and add a little water until a paste forms. Marinate the chicken in the paste for about an hour. In an actifry or a wok, fry the onions and pepper in frylight until they begin to soften, then add the chicken and continue to fry until it cooks through. Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato purée, water and mango sauce and cook until the liquid begins to evaporate. Finally add the rice milk and chopped coriander and cook until the mixture has thickened to the desired consistency,

April stodge...

Well this recipe was partly inspired by the fact that I accidentally purchased an extra 4 bags of cooking apples for Pesach, and partly by the fact that this unseasonal, freezing weather is making me crave classic, wintery dishes. I decided to try my hand at lightening up traditional apple kugel - I baked these in muffin tins; the recipe makes 10 at 2pp each.

INGREDIENTS

3 cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
50g flour
5oz low fat spread, melted
8g Splenda
1 tsp baking powder

Mix together the flour, eggs, Splenda and spread to make the batter. Stir in the chopped apples and spoon into the muffin cases. Bake at 180' for approximately 25 minutes (but check after 15).

Baked breakfast chremslach

Chremslach are matzo meal fritters that are normally fried and oozing with oil. I've developed a baked version that is 1pp per fritter and lovely for breakfast on chol hamoed. These can be made in advance and reheated, loosely covered, in the oven.

3oz fine matzo meal
Warm water
1 tablespoon sweetener or caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 oz raisins
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Beat the eggs with the salt, sugar and 2 tablespoons of warm water. Slowly add in the matzo meal interspersed with tablespoons of water until you get a thick batter. Finally add in the raisins and cinnamon, and a little more water if necessary. Drop by tablespoons onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Spray the tops of the chremslach with spray oil. Bake for 12 minutes on 180', then turn and bake for a further 5 minutes.

All kinds of cupcakes!

INGREDIENTS

These are the ingredients for the basic vanilla cupcake

150g soft margarine
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
140g potato flour
40g cake or fine matzo meal
1.5tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence

Mix all the ingredients until you have a smooth batter. Bake in cupcake cases for 15 to 20 minutes on 200'c until golden brown. Makes 20

TO MAKE DIFFERENT FLAVOURS!

1. Coffee: mix 1 tsp coffee granules with 3tsp cold water. Mix half of this amount into 1/3 of the cookie batter. When baked, drizzle the remaining coffee mix over the surface of the cupcakes. Makes 6

2. Marble: mix 1tblspn cocoa powder with 1/6 of the batter. Swirl into 1/6 of the vanilla batter. Makes 6

3. Chocolate pear: if you have any remaining chocolate batter, grate in half a pear and bake. I made enough for 2 of these.

4. Pistachio-coconut - I mixed the remaining crumble topping from my baked apple recipe into 1/3 of the batter. Makes 6

The world is your oyster! Experiment with your own flavours!

These cupcakes are 4pp each.

'Mixed mezonos cookies'

These are really useful if you want to make kiddush without washing on yom tov as they are mezonos (I think you need 3 to make a bracha acharona)

INGREDIENTS

2 eggs
175g caster sugar
125g margarine
150g cake or fine matzo meal
1 tablespoon potato flour
For toppings: nuts, jam, chocolate chips, raisins

Preheat the oven to 190'c. Line baking trays with parchment paper. Mix all the ingredients until smooth and chill in the fridge for half an hour.

Roll into small balls and place 2 inches apart on the trays. Press a nut, chocolate chip or raisin into the top of each one, or make a small indent with your finger and fill with jam.

Bake approx 20 mins until golden and set.

Makes 30 biscuits, 2pp each.

Amazing Biscotti

1 egg 

2 egg whites

10g sweetner

0.5tsp vanilla sugar

80g potato flour

95g matzo meal

0.5tsp baking powder

0.25tsp salt

50g whole almonds

Whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla sugar until thick. Fold in the remaining ingredients. Shape the dough into a log approximately 25cm x 5cm and bake on a tray lined with parchment paper for 25 minutes approximately. Leave to cool and slice into 1cm slices. Bake for approximately 10 minutes and then turn and bake for a further 5 minutes. Recipe is 39pp in total and makes approximately 34 biscotti.

Rich Chocolate Cake

INGREDIENTS

250g dark chocolate

6 eggs, separated

100g ground almonds

75g caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 180’, grease a square cake tin and dust with potato flour. Melt the chocolate over a double-boiler and set aside. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar, add the almonds and the melted chocolate and mix thoroughly. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the chocolate mixture. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 35-45 minutes until an inserted skewer comes out clean. The entire recipe comes to 77pp – I cut into 20 small squares of 4pp each.

Pesach Goodies!

Click on the picture to link to the recipe you want.

Fat free ice cream! Yes really!

This recipe was inspired by my friend Ruthie Pearlman's strawberry ice cream. I can't use strawberries because we have allergies in the family, so I made a mango version. Apparently the strawberry one works better (you just replace the mango with a large punnet of strawberries and skip the pureeing stage) but I reckon this was pretty darned yummy! And for 1pp per 60g... need I say more.

INGREDIENTS

1 pouch frozen mango cubes, defrosted
2 egg whites
250g xylitol
splash of lemon juice

Puree the mango chunks with a hand blender. Add the egg whites, xylitol and lemon juice to the mix. With an electric whisk, beat until the contents are well blended and have risen to practically fill your bowl. Then freeze. If you experiment with other fruits and flavours please let me know how they work!

Truffley fun!

I have two Pesach truffle recipes for you here - one very rich and indulgent, at 3pp per truffle. The other is a take on my favourite Nakd bars - thanks to a poster on the Weight Watchers forum for this fantastic idea. They are 2pp each, or 3pp for two.

INDULGENT TRUFFLES

INGREDIENTS

4oz plain chocolate

2oz soft margarine

2 egg yolks

2oz ground almonds

6oz icing sugar

Melt the chocolate and the margarine together and stir in theremaining ingredients. Mix to a stiff paste and refrigerate for at least anhour. Roll into little balls and roll the balls in either icing sugar,chocolate vermicelli, coloured sprinkles or ground nuts. Makes around 25truffles. Can be frozen and actually taste great frozen – they lastmuch longer that way! Very rich so you won’t need more than 1.

HEALTHY TRUFFLES

80g dried dates

40g pistachio or cashew nuts

10g cocoa

40g ground almonds

28g raisins

A few drops of flavouring - I used vanilla

Put into food processor and blitz till mixed. Roll into balls and refrigerate. Makes 14. 

Matzo meal, be gone...

We always have a version of this dish on Erev Pesach for lunch - very low in propoints so great for filling you up before the seder. As it's made with no matzo meal it's also a brilliant chol hamoed meal for those who don't have gebrokts.

INGREDIENTS

4 tins of tuna in brine
2 egg whites
20g low fat mayonnaise
40g potato flour
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tblspn oregano
Paprika

Drain the tuna and squeeze out in a sieve or a colander to ensure it's as dry as possible. Mix in all remaining ingredients except paprika. Roll into small balls and spray the tops with spray oil. Sprinkle with paprika. Bale on greaseproof paper for 30 minutes on 180'. 1pp each or 5 patties for 4pp.

Pesach starts here!!

Over the next few days I hope to blog lots of my Pesach recipes, as I go along in the kitchen. Apart from chargrilling my thumb while preparing chicken breasts, coming up with this recipe is about the most exciting thing that's happened to me today! I often make baked apples with a crunchy oat topping, and wanted to come up with a pp friendly alternative for Pesach. See what you think - each apple is 2pp in total and makes a special, but really healthy, dessert for your yom tov meal.

INGREDIENTS

7 medium Braeburn apples
60g sultanas
20g honey
40g pistachio nuts
25g dessicated coconut
1 tablespoon powdered sweetener
25g potato flour
Spray oil

Core the apples - if you can, leave a little bit in the base of each apple so the hole doesn't go all the way through and the filling doesn't fall out! Mix the sultanas with the honey and stuff into the centre of each apple.

In a food processor, combine pistachio nuts, coconut, potato flour and sweetener until the mixture resembles a crumble topping.  Place each apple in a little foil dish - I used mini pie dishes scrunched around them to fit the shape, but you could make these yourself out of tin foil.Spray each apple with spray oil and sprinkle 10g of topping over the top - press down gently with the back of a spoon. Place all the apples in a larger dish with about an inch of water at the bottom. Bake at 180' for 30 minutes. Can be frozen and reheated. (NB you will have a little topping left over).

How low can you go? 2pp lunch!

I've been seeing recipes for risotto everywhere I look recently; I even made a super declicious one from last month's Weight Watchers magazine - but it was 9pp a portion and I don't often like spending that much on a meal during the week.

Yesterday in a moment of inspiration I did some googling and found a method of making risotto with miracle rice. The resulting dish was only 2pp and it was incredibly filling and really tasted like proper risotto. The broccoli soup is 0pp a portion (2pp for the whole thing) and the broad beans gave it a creamy consistency that I really enjoyed.

BROCCOLI AND BROAD BEAN SOUP

650g frozen broccoli
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, sliced
1 sachet 10 calorie Knorr 'chicken' soup
Salt, pepper to taste
2 garlic cloves, chopped
80g broad beans

Add all the ingredients to a large saucepan. Cover with boiling water but stop just before you reach the surface of the broccoli - as it is frozen it will start to shrink very quickly and if you add too much water at this point the soup will be watery. Simmer until all the veggies are cooked and softened, then blitz with a handblender. Makes 5 portions.

LEEK, MUSHROOM and 'CHICKEN' RISOTTO

1 leek, finely sliced
Half a punnet of mushrooms, sliced
1 bag miracle rice
1/3 tsp onion soup powder
90g firm silken tofu
15g light grated cheese
 Fry light

Rinse the miracle rice well and dry fry in a saucepan for 3 to 5 minutes. Add half a cup of  boiling water and the onion soup powder, and leave to cook until the liquid has reduced by at least a half.

Meanwhile fry the leek and mushrooms in frylight. Just before they are completely ready, add in the tofu and crumble into small pieces as you stirfry. Pour the contents of the pan into the reduced miracle rice and stir in the cheese. Serves 1 - large portion, as a side dish this could stretch to 2 people.

Night vision

I've been getting bored of my veggie side dishes so decided to have a go at 'down-sizing' a Jewish classic this morning - glazed carrots or tzimmes if you like. This was so easy it was laughable and really delicious. It's 1pp for a quarter of this recipe but that would be a very large portion and as it's quite sweet, you probably don't need that much at all.

INGREDIENTS

5 large carrots, peeled and sliced
25g low fat spread
20g agave nectar or honey
Dried dill

Put the carrots in a large pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer on a fast burn until they soften and a lot of the water has been absorbed / evaporated.

Drain the carrots and stir in the low fat spread and honey/nectar. Sprinkle a generous tablespoon of dill over the surface.

Purim Sameach!

Thought I would just blog these 2 recipes in the hope of making your Purim a little easier and a little more propoints friendly! The challah recipe is not particularly 'dietetic' - but my idea of creating a pull-apart bread will help; I don't especially like challah rolls as it's too much crust and not enough 'inside' for me - with the pull-apart challah you get the advantage of a self-contained piece that is 4pp, but also the advantage that it's been baked as part of a bigger loaf, so still has the softness of a slice of challah.

The Hamantons are a more of an idea than a recipe really - but I'm quite proud of them as they are INCREDIBLY yummy and extremely low in propoints :-). Any readers of this blog who aren't Jewish and not interested in purim - make these anyway, any old shape you want to! Trust me they are worth it.


PURIM CHALLAH

INGREDIENTS

675g strong white bread flour
50g granulated sugar
1 heaped teaspoon salt
1 sachet dry yeast
3 tablespoons oil
2 eggs
11fl oz water
1 cup sultanas

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour in the wet ingredients. Mix with a wooden spoon until a dough just starts to form. Add the sultanas and continue to mix, switching to kneading by hand when the spoon becomes impossible to move about. Knead until a strong, elastic dough has formed. Place in a greased bowl and cover with a teatowel. Leave in a warm place for about an hour.

I made one large challah and one pull-apart one from this amount of dough. I divided the dough mix into two, and then one batch into 4 to make the large challah, and the other part into 10 equal sized balls. Roll out the balls into a strand, then knot and place in a 'flower' shape in a greased tin.

Glaze with egg white.

Bake the pull apart challah on 180'c for about 22 minutes, and give the larger challah about 5 minutes longer.

JUST BEFORE SERVING (not pictured): melt some honey in the microwave and brush onto the surface of the challah. Sprinkle liberally with 100s and 1000s (coloured sprinkles).



HAMANTONS

1 packet round wonton wrappers
1 bag frozen apple slices
Vanilla, splenda, cinnamon
Egg white
Icing sugar

Make the filling by either cooking up the apple slices on the stove top till soft, or baking them in the oven (covered) for about 45 minutes. Blitz and add splenda, cinnamon and vanilla essence to taste.

When cooled, put a teaspoon in the centre of each wonton wrapper. Fold up like a hamantasch. Brush the surface with beaten egg white.

Bake on 200'c for about 10 to 12 minutes until starting to crisp up and dust with icing sugar before serving.

2pp per every 3 hamantons!



Wishing you all a purim sameach!

Just add hot water...

This lunch recipe is my take on a healthy pot noodle - it required a bit of advance preparation but the final steps of heating it up at work were easy peasy. And it's so low in propoints!

INGREDIENTS

A few slices of mushroom
2 spring onions sliced
5 pieces of baby corn, halved (tinned or fresh)
A handful of frozen, cut green beans
1 sachet 10 cal parev chicken soup
1 packet miracle rice
1 sachet (or tablespoon) soy sauce
100g firm silken tofu, roughly chopped

Cook the mushrooms and the green beans in the microwave till almost dehydrated. If using fresh baby corns cook them too. Drain the packet of miracle rice and dry fry until all the water on the surface of the non-stick pan has been absorbed (about 4 minutes on a full flame, stirring continuously). Place the cooked veggies and the miracle rice in the bottom of a lidded soup cup or a tupperware container and stir in the spring onion. Pack the chopped tofu separately, and take along the soy sauce sachet and the soup sachet. At lunchtime, add the contents of both sachets and the tofu to the cup, and add boiling water to cover. Leave to sit for a few seconds so the rice and the dried out veggies reabsorb the water. Stir and enjoy! (NOTE: the water will cool quite quickly because of the volume of other ingredients in the cup, so you may wish to give it a quick blast in the microwave before eating).

The only propointed ingredient here is the tofu, which is 1pp. Great for a day when you need to keep your pp values low for a meal out - or add some crackers or a tortilla wrap to bulk out the meal. So much nicer than a shop bought instant soup pot could ever be!

Happy Purim!!

OK there are still about 10 days to go till Purim is actually upon us - but hey, we're in the right month so let's bake Hamantaschen!

These are totally fat free and only 2pp each. It's a recipe I found online somewhere last year, my first Purim on Weight Watchers. I'd like to be able to give credit where it's due but I can't actually remember where it came from.

Happy Purim one and all!

INGREDIENTS

200g white flour
80g sugar free applesauce
0.5 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp salt
1 tblspn skimmed milk or water (I used water)
1 tsp baking powder
50g white sugar
6g splenda
1 egg white
Reduced sugar jam - approximately 8 tspns

Mix applesauce, sugar, splenda and egg white in a bowl. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt, and then finally add the vanilla and the milk/water. Mix and knead into a sticky ball of dough and chill for 1 hour.

Divide into 16 balls and roll out to small circles approximately 3.5 inches across. Place half a teaspoon jam in the centre of each one and pinch closed into triangles. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 15 minutes (check after 10) on 375'c.

An absolutely perfect dinner!

For the past few weeks I have really not been 'feeling' my Tuesday night dinner of tuna burgers, swede mash and green beans. It'd be great if I was sitting down to eat with the rest of the family, but I only get in at about 9pm on a Tuesday and I just want something hot, filling and 'straight away'! So this morning I decided to make myself a vegetarian-style stew that I could have piping hot and ready for me the moment I walked in the door. After spending 2 hours in the freezing cold, it was incredibly welcome!

BUTTERNUT, CHICK PEA AND LENTIL STEW

INGREDIENTS - serves 1, 6pp

Half a butternut squash
Small red onion
5 mushrooms, sliced
5 cherry tomatoes
2 'lumps' of frozen spinach
100g tinned chick peas
20g dried puy lentils
15g light grated cheese
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp paprika
2 cloves garlic, chopped

Preheat the oven to 180' and place the butternut squash on a baking tray. Spray with frylight and bake until soft, approximately 45 minutes.

Place the puy lentils in a pan of boiling water and cook till soft. Drain.

Fry the onion, mushrooms and garlic in frylight until starting to soften. Add the frozen spinach and cherry tomatoes and continue to fry over a medium heat until the spinach has totally defrosted and wilted slightly, and the tomatoes start to burst open. Stir in the spices and the drained chickpeas and continue to fry for about 5 minutes longer. Drain the cooked lentils and stir in. Remove from the heat.

Remove the butternut from the oven, peel and cut into chunks. Stir into the stew with the 15g cheese. Serve immediately or reheat before serving in the oven or microwave.

Tri-colour chicken loaf bake

I made this on the spur of the moment when I had been planning on a simple shepherd's pie - it was really yummy and a bit different. I'm glad I gave it a go!

INGREDIENTS

2lb mince chicken
1 egg white
30g breadcrumbs
Pepper
1 tspn teriyaki sauce
2 tablespoons reduced salt and sugar ketchup

Mix together and press into the bottom of a greased pan. I put my own portion - 180g of the mix - in a separate loaf tin and the rest in a 9x9 square tin. Bake in an oven preheated to 160/180'c for 25-35 minutes depending on tin size.

Middle layer:

Boil up some frozen spinach with 2 garlic cloves, crushed. Drain well when cooked and spread a thin layer over the chicken loaf when it emerges from the oven.

Topping:
I made my topping out of butternut squash mash - the rest of the family had half and half BNS and mashed potato. Their portion also made use of margarine to get a creamier consistency. Therefore the quantities given are for the layer that went over my loaf tin.

250g buttnernut squash, cubed.

Boil till soft then mash and add in a little Smart Squeeze of Frylite 'butter' spray.
Spread on the spinach layer and sprinkle with paprika.

Bake for a further 30 minutes, uncovered.

My loaf tin portion was 5pp and delicious!!

Slice of delight

Following on from the hot chocolate pudding challenge, today I decided to try my hand at creating caramel slices. I'm not going to promise that what I came up with is as indulgent as the real thing.But the real thing is approximately 8pp a piece. And this is 3pp. And it tastes GREAT! Making the caramel sauce is a bit of a palaver, but worth it in the end!

INGREDIENTS

Shortbread base:
140g plain flour
80g rolled oats
120g melted low fat spread
8g splenda

Mix the dry ingredients together, add the melted spread and form into a soft dough. Press into the base of a greased 9x9 inch tin and bake in an oven preheated to 180 (160' fan-assisted) for 25 minutes.

Caramel sauce:
24fld oz vanilla rice milk (alpro)
60g honey or golden syrup
1 tablespoon splenda
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons cornflour

Mix the rice milk and the honey and bring to the boil in a saucepan. Reduce flame to a simmer and leave until the liquid has reduced by about 2/3 - approximately 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the egg yolk and 2 teaspoons of cornflour (mix to a paste first with some of the liquid. to avoid lumps). Add the splenda. Bring back to the boil and remove from the heat to cool

Remove the shortbread from the oven and pour the sauce over the surface - you will probably only need to use half the quantity, the remainder can be frozen. Return to the oven for 10 minutes.

Chocolate topping

60g dark chocolate chips, melted in a double boiler or the microwave. When the shortbread and caramel base has cooled, spread it with the melted chocolate and put in the fridge to set.

Finally, cut into 16 squares of 3pp each.

A serial challenge

A few days ago I decided to challenge myself to create a cereal bar recipe from scratch, that would be both healthy and slightly luxurious, and of course - low in propoints. It's taken me a while to blog my results, because I wasn't 100% sure I was happy with my creation. It didn't set as well as I would have liked, but as I have a feeling that would require either more chocolate or more fat or both, it wasn't an option either.

Fortunately the freezer came to the rescue, as I discovered that not only do these develop just the right consistency when frozen, but they are really delicious like that as well. So here comes the recipe...

INGREDIENTS

50g jumbo oats
50g branflakes
30g cornflakes
40g low fat spread, melted
40g chocolate chips
1 tblspn peanut butter, reduced fat
50g honey

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and crush slightly with the end of a rolling pin. Stir in the melted spread, honey and peanut butter until well coated and finally stir in the chocolate chips. Chill for 20 minutes in the fridge and then divide into 12 equal balls. Wrap each ball loosely in clingfilm and using your hands, shape them inside the wrap into a cereal bar shape. Then tighten the clingfilm so they are properly enclosed. Freeze until hard, and enjoy. 2pp per bar, or 5pp for two. Nice for a snack, a dessert or even a breakfast on the go!

Little pots of heaven

Last week I asked my Weight Watchers facebook group for suggestions of what recipe I should try and skinnify next. One lady suggested hot choc puddings with choc sauce but I wasn't hopeful it was possible, because I had already calculated my old recipe to around 10pp a portion..

Well my friends, this Friday night I will literally be eating my words because I have done it. These puddings are really lovely, chocolatey and indulgent, and only 4pp each. I've made them quite 'saucy' because they will be reheated on my hot plate for shabbos - if you're eating them immediately on taking them out of the oven, you might want to reduce the hot water from 4 tablespoons per pot, to 3.

INGREDIENTS

34g cocoa powder
100g flour
1 tsp baking powder
25g low fat spread
8g splenda
30g granulated sugar
80-100ml cold water
Approx 300ml boiling water

Mix 16g cocoa powder with the flour, splenda and baking powder. Add in the low fat spread, melted, and the cold water and mix to loose batter. I'd suggest starting with 80ml cold water and adding more until you achieve the correct consistancy.

Grease 5 mini pudding basins with frylite and spoon about 1.5 tablspoons of the cake batter into each one. Mix the remaining cocoa powder and sugar in a bowl. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons on to the surface of the batter in each basin. Then pour 4 tablespoons of boiling water into each one.

Bake in an oven preheat to 180' (160' fan assisted) for approximately 18 minutes, until the cake part of each pot passes the skewer test - I'd suggest testing after 15 minutes.

Serves 5, 4pp per portion.

Just popping in

This week in Weight Watchers meetings we've been talking about TV time snacking, which is what inspired me to make this recipe. After a bit of googling, I discovered that there is no need to either a)purchase pricey bags of microwave popocorn or b) risk burning your saucepans making it on the stovetop (been there, done that, got the blistered scorch marks on my counter to prove it..). And once I'd got as far as making the popcorn, it was only a short step to coming up with a way of making it caramel flavoured - AND propoints friendly. All you need for this recipe, apart from the ingredients, is a brown paper bag and a microwave.

INGREDIENTS

60g popping corn kernels
Frylite
40g low fat spread
22g marshmallows
20g honey

Place the popcorn kernels in the brown paper bag and spray with frylite. Place in the paper bag and firmly fold down the edge three or four times, to make a good seal. Stand it in the microwave and set the timer for 3 minutes on high. Once there are more than 2 or 3 seconds between pops, remove the bag.

Now melt the low fat spread over a low flame and stir in the marshmallows and honey. Stir constantly until the marshmallows are totally melted and absorbed - be careful not to let it burn. Then mix in the popcorn and stir until thoroughly coated. Makes 8 small cups of popcorn, each one is 2pp each.

Bring on movie night!

DISCLAIMER: I wanted to keep the propoints low so these are not madly caramelised - just a light coating. Obviously you can increase the spread, marshmallow and honey quantities if you want it stickier - and work out the propoints accordingly. I wouldn't advise cooking more than 60g popcorn at a time though, as you will end up with less popped kernels and more burnt popcorn!!

Skinny on the diagonal

I decided to go one step further in my mission to prove you can take nearly any recipe and make it pro points friendly this evening. The original for this biscuit recipe is in the Spice and Spirit cookbook and it was always my husband's favourite. I haven't made it for a very long time because each little cookie would be at least 3pp and it just didn't seem worth it for a mouthful. But 1pp, now that's a different story. And as of tonight - 1pp each is exactly what they are (or 3pp for 2...)

LEMON DRIZZLE JAM DIAGONALS

80g plain flour

3g splenda
50g low fat spread
0.5tsp vanilla essence
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons reduced sugar jam (any flavour)

Glaze:
8g splenda
5g cornflour
2 tsp lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 160' (fan assisted). Cream the low fat spread with the splenda, add the vanilla essence and salt and then work in the flour until you have a soft, smooth dough. Chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Divide the dough into 2 balls, form into a rope shape and place on a baking sheet. Flatten each rope slightly and create a hollow in the centre with your finger. Fill the hollow with jam.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile make the glaze. Using a hand blender, blitz the splenda and cornflour to a fine powder, similar to icing sugar in consistency. Work in the lemon juice until the icing drops from a teaspoon, but don't let it get too runny.

Remove the biscuits from the oven and drizzle over the glaze. Immediately cut into 12 pieces on the diagonal (6 per rope) and cool on a wire rack.

Not a wrap in sight...

I've only made one previous attempt at creating a 'skinny' fruit crumble and what a disaster that was;  I think I've mentioned before about my efforts at turning a tortilla wrap into a crumble topping, it's become a long-standing joke in our house! I finally decided the time was ripe to give it another go though, and this time I think there will be requests for more, rather than raucous mockery... They will be served for dessert this Friday night.

MINI WEIGHT WATCHERS FRUIT CRUMBLES
Serves 6

6 x Weight Watchers peach and pear fruit pots (available in meetings)

75g flour (I used half white and half wholemeal)
25g jumbo porridge oats
2 tablespoons splenda
40g low fat spread

Mix the dry ingredients and then cut in the low fat spread. Rub with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Drain the juice from the fruit cups and put the fruit into the bottom of 6 ramekin pots. Place 25g of crumble topping on each one and press down firmly. Sprinkle with cinnamon if desired. Bake for 35 minutes in an oven preheated to 160'c (fan assisted).

Each crumble pot is 2pp.

Elegant salmon 'muffins'

Made these today as a Friday night starter. I like them!

350g pink salmon, canned
1 egg white
1 dessert spoon apple cider vinegar
30g porridge oats
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
0.5tsp salt
4fld oz light coconut milk

Mix together all ingredients and spoon into paper fairy cake or muffin cases. Bake on 180' for 25 minutes. If you want to remove the muffin cases, do it when the salmon muffins are frozen as otherwise you'll take half of them off with the paper!

1pp each - excellent value! Lovely served with a side salad and possibly some sweet and sour dipping sauce.

The Skinny Kosher Kitchen goes Tex Mex!

On the menu:

Chicken burritos with fiery tomato salsa and refried beans
Grilled cinnamon persimmon with caramel 'parfait'

Sound good? Well it was! It was also extremely simple to make and as low in propoints as it was easy!

CHICKEN BURRITOS
Serves 3

400g chicken breast, skinless
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 red chilli pepper
1 heaped teaspoon curry powder
0.5 tsp cumin
0.5 tsp paprika
0.5 tsp oregano
0.5 tsp cayenne pepper

Place the chicken breasts in the chopped tomato and add the finely diced chilli pepper and all the herbs and spices. Place in a slow cooker on low for about 5 hours. After this time, shred the chicken breast in the sauce using two forks and leave in the slow cooker until ready to serve.

Take 3 tortilla wraps and warm in the microwave or in the oven for a short time. Layer with shredded lettuce (optional) and put a generous portion of the chicken mixture in the centre of the wrap. Roll up and serve with the refried beans and the salsa.

FIERY TOMATO SALSA

2 salad tomatoes, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
2 spring onions, sliced
0.5 green chilli pepper, finely chopped
2 cubes frozen cilantro
Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

Mix well and set aside for several hours before serving.

REFRIED BEANS

1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
Salt
1 can red kidney beans

Lightly fry the onion and garlic in frylight until translucent and golden. Drain and rinse the kidney beans well and add to the pan. Stirfry until the skins begin to slip off easily. Add a little water to the pan if it begins to stick. Remove from the heat and roughly blend or mash with a fork. Add salt to season.

GRILLED PERSIMMON

Slice one giant persimmon into about 6 reasonably thick slices. Grill in a George Forman for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve with frozen caramel alpro pudding - tastes exactly like ice cream!

PP VALUES - approximately 1/3 of the chicken filling is 4pp. A tortilla wrap is 3pp. The refried beans are 2pp for 1/3 of the mixture. The salsa is 0pp as are the persimmons. Half a pot of caramel alpro is 1pp.

TOTAL PER SERVING: 10pp

Buen Provecho!!