Berrylicious!

To be honest I can't actually remember where I first came across this recipe - in its original format it was already pretty propoints friendly, 4pp a piece, but that wasn't enough for me so I've lightened it further, to 2pp a square! It was all I could do not to eat a few pieces straight from the oven this morning, but I've employed the old  get-it-in-the-freezer-fast trick so it should be safe until Shabbos now!

INGREDIENTS

60g low fat spread
50g sugar-free applesauce
10g splenda
1 egg
1 egg white
0.5tsp vanilla essence
125g plain flour
1 heaped tsp baking powder
130g frozen mixed berries

For the streusel topping:

25g flour
15g low fat spread
15g granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 180' and line a 9 x 5" tin with baking paper. Spray paper with frylite. Make the streusel topping by rubbing the low fat spread into the flour and sugar, and set aside.

Beat the low fat spread, splenda, applesauce, egg, egg white and vanilla. Fold in the flour and baking powder. Spread half the mixture into the base of the tin and sprinkle 75g of the fruit over it. Spread with the remaining mixture and then add the remaining fruit. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the whole cake.

Bake for 50 minutes and check that it's fully cooked with a skewer.

Cool on a wire rack and cut into 12 squares of 2pp each.

A tale of beans, barley and chick peas

I was planning on blogging tonight's dinner (chicken, chick pea and [kosher] chorizo stew if you're asking) but when I got home from delivering my first Weight Watchers meeting (had to get that in somewhere) I was so exhausted that I gobbled it all up without taking a picture first. So that will have to wait until next week.

But seeing as we're already in the realm of no pictures, I'm going to indulge Gina, who specifically asked me to blog my cholent recipe - and wasn't interested in the fact that a)I can't take a photo of it on Shabbos for obvious reasons and b)it really wouldn't look that appetizing after 24 hours in a slow cooker anyway.

Appearances not withstanding though, my cholent recipe (traditional Sabbath bean stew for the uninitiated) is especially delicious and extremely low in fat! So here goes!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup haricot beans, soaked in cold water overnight
1/2 cup pearl barley, rinsed well
1 large onion, sliced
1 leek, sliced
150g chopped butternut squash
2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
6 cloves of garlic, crushed or finely chopped
2 tablespoons paprika
1/2 tsp hot paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
200g chicken breast, cubed
150g shin meat, trimmed of fat as much as possible and cut into large chunks
1 pint cold water

And that, my friends, is it. You bung it in the slow cooker on high, turn it down to low after about 4 hours, and it's ready to roll on Shabbos morning. I have to tell you that this recipe did nearly start World War 3 in my house - you'd have thought I was starting to add pork to the beans, not chicken... but after a couple of months of no further complaints made, the husband and children did sheepishly admit that they rather liked the addition of the chicken after all.... What can I tell you? A propointer always knows best.

Make mine a spicy fries...

I just ate my dream 'melave malka' for 6pp so I am eager to blog and share it with you all!

A couple of years ago I used to have a regular motsei shabbos (Saturday night) date for coffee with a friend where I would invariably order hot chocolate and chips. Indeed, as I've recently learnt in my Weight Watchers training, food associations are a very real and strong phenomenon, so it's hardly surprising that I get definite cravings for them on Saturday nights in the winter!

But I'm pleased to say that thanks to my actifry, I have now come up with the perfect solution...

Judy's Lightly Spiced Fries with Parev (dairy-free) hot chocolate' (because as regular readers of my blog will know, my actifry is most definitely 'meaty'...)

INGREDIENTS

FRIES
600g potatoes
1 teaspoon soy sauce
0.5tsp hot paprika
0.25 tsp garlic powder
0.25 tsp cumin
Olive oil fry light

Peel and cut the potatoes into chips, then parboil in the microwave for 5 minutes. Dry thoroughly with kitchen paper and spray with frylight. Mix the soy sauce and spices together to form a thin paste, then coat the chips well. Add into the actifry and spray again. Cook for 25 minutes till crisp on the outside and soft on the inside! A third of the portion (200g raw potato) is 4pp.

DIP
30g Hellmans extra light mayo (can be purchased OU parev from Kosher Kingdom, labelled 'low fat mayonnaise dressing)
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp mixed dried herbs
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp water

Mix ingredients together - as long as you only have half of the quantity, it's 0pp.

PAREV HOT CHOCOLATE (serves 1)
12g drinking chocolate
3 sachets non-dairy creamer powder

Mix the drinking chocolate and creamer well, then add a little boiling water and mix to a paste. Fill the cup with the rest of the hot water, stirring continuously to ensure it's well mixed. 2pp in total.

Bon appetit! And a shavua tov to all :-)

It's how the cookie crumbles!

Long ago in the days before Weight Watchers I used to make an extremely scrummy and decadent dessert of pear and chocolate chip crumble. I must admit I miss it! This morning I decided to see if I could come up with a low propoints variation on the theme and I think I might have managed it! I combined the pear and chocolate combo with a tried and tested flapjack recipe and this is what I came up with...

JUDY'S PEAR AND CHOCOLATE CHIP CRUMBLE COOKIES - 2pp each!

INGREDIENTS

15g honey
75g melted low fat spread
0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
0.5 tsp baking powder
50g plain white flour
100g porridge oats - the more 'jumbo' the better
40g soft brown sugar (just for you Jacqueline)
1 pear, peeled
1 tablespoon hot water
50g chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180'c and mix the honey, spread, bicarb, baking powder and hot water together. Stir in the flour, porridge oats and sugar and mix well. Grate the pear over the top of the mixture and blend in. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips.

Place 18 fairy cake cases into muffin pans (I do like my fairy cake cases!) and put a heaped teaspoon of mixture in each one. Bake for 10 minutes, turning the pans half way through. Cool in the pans for about 8 minutes and then carefully peel away the paper cases and allow to cool on a tray.

Yummy.

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!