MAIN MEALS

Here are a few of the main meals that I have cooked following the SW plan. I’m not very good at following recipes, so I tend to make things up as I go along or adapt recipes using what I have in the fridge/cupboards!

Steak

One of my favourite meals is steak and if I could afford it, I would have it every week! Steak is syn free as long as it’s lean and you cut off the fat; serve it with lots of free foods such as veg, salad, jacket potato or SW chips/wedges.

SW Chips (syn free): cut potatoes into chips and bar boil, place on a baking tray and spray with fry light (see ‘My SW Essentials’ page) and cook until golden brown. Alternatively, I cook a potato in the microwave until nearly done and then cut into wedges; then cook in the same way as SW chips. Garlic salt, onion salt, paprika and cayenne pepper all work well as seasoning to jazz up your chips/wedges.

Heck Chicken Italia and Roasted Vegetable Tray Bake

(2.5 syns per serving: serves 2)

Ingredients: 2 courgettes, 1 red pepper, 1 yellow pepper, 1 red onion, punnet of cherry tomatoes, about 10 mushrooms (you can use any veg you like though) and a pack of Heck Chicken Italia sausages (0.5 syns per sausage).

Cut all the veg into bite size chunks, spray with fry light and season; this has paprika, cayenne pepper and some garlic salt on. Place raw sausages on top of the veg and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until sausages are cooked and the veg is caramelised.

This can also be prepped the night before and left covered in the fridge.

Serving suggestions: salad, cous cous, potato wedges or a jacket potato.

Hunters Chicken

(2 syns per serving: cheese as a HE)

Tesco BBQ Sauce: 1 syn per tbsp. Cheese: HEA or 6 syns per 30g

 

Tesco BBQ Sauce 1 syn per tbsp

Cheese as a HEA or 6 syns per 30g

Wrap bacon around chicken breasts (remember to cut the fat off or use bacon medallions) and cook on a baking tray until thoroughly cooked through and the bacon is crispy. Place a tbsp of BBQ sauce and 15g of cheese on each piece of chicken and place back in the oven until heated through and the cheese has melted.

Serving suggestion: slimming world chips and veg or salad.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken with a Creamy Leek & Mushroom Sauce

(2 syns per serving)

0% Fat crème fraiche 0.5 per tbsp

Syn free Tesco white wine stock pot

Cook the chicken in bacon as per ‘Hunters Chicken recipe’.

Soften mushrooms and leeks in fry light and melt in a white wine stock pot. Take off the heat and stir in 4 tbsp of crème fraiche (Yeo Valley 0% fat is the one I use). It’s important to take it off the heat so the sauce doesn’t curdle! you can also use quark if you want to make it totally syn free.

Serving suggestion: serve with veg and new potatoes.

Diet Coke Chicken

(SYN FREE)

Ingredients: 3 diced Chicken Breasts, 1 chopped Red Onion, 1 diced Green Pepper, 1 chopped Clove of Garlic, 8 tbsp Pasatta,  1 can Diet Coke and 1 Oxo Cube.

Cook the chicken onion and garlic. Mix together the oxo cube, pasatta and diet coke and add to the chicken. Bring to the boil and leave to simmer for 15-20 mins or until sauce has thickened.

Serving Suggestion: serve with rice, cous cous, SW wedges or a jacket potato.

Cottage Pie with Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato Mash

(SYN FREE: cheese as a HEA)

 

Ingredients: minced beef (less than 5% fat), 1 chopped onion, 8oz chopped mushrooms, 2 chopped leeks, 1 chopped clove of garlic, 1 tin of tomatoes, 1 oxo cube, 1 beef stock pot (Tesco’s own are syn free), squirt of tomato puree, glug of Worcester sauce, sprinkle of mixed herbs, 2 bags of ready diced butternut squash and sweet potato, HE cheese.

You can use the same ingredients to make a spaghetti Bolognese; just leave out the Worcester sauce and add a bit more tomato puree and some oregano.

Place the butternut squash and sweet potato in a roasting dish, season with s&p and spray with fry light. Cook until tender and slightly golden and then mash. I cook in the oven as it gives a nice nutty flavour.

Fry the mushrooms, onion and leeks until soft and then add the beef mince and cook until brown. Add the garlic, tomato puree and mixed herbs and melt in the stock pot. Add the tinned tomatoes and a good dash of Worcester sauce and simmer until mince is tender.

Place the mince mixture in an ovenproof dish and top with the mashed veg and cheese. The quantity makes 4 large servings so I use 4 lots of HE (120g cheddar cheese).

Serving suggestion: serve with extra vegetables.

Pork and Orzo Paprika Pasta

(SYN FREE)

Ingredients: 1 chopped onion, 8 oz chopped mushrooms, 1 sliced red pepper, 1 sliced green pepper, 3 diced pork loin chops (fat removed), 1 chopped clove of garlic, 1/2 tsp of very lazy chilli, 2 tbsp paprika, vegetable stock pot (Knorr’s stock pots are syn free), 500ml water, 200g orzo pasta.

Fry the mushrooms, peppers, onion and pork in fry light and then add the garlic, chilli and paprika. Melt the stock pot in 500ml of boiling water and add to the pork mixture along with the orzo. Cook until orzo is tender. You may need to add a little more water of it dries out too much before the orzo is cooked.

This is one of my favourite totally syn free meals!

Serving suggestion: serve in a bowl with a dollop of fat free natural yogurt or some parmesan shavings (30g as a HE or 6 syns).

Sunday Roast

(SYN FREE: just syns for gravy!)

A roast dinner is a really great SW friendly meal (yippee).

All lean roasted meat is syn free; just don’t add any fat when cooking it and remove any fat before serving!.

SW roasties are easy to do; just par boil some potatoes and then shake a bit so they go fluffy and place on a baking tray and spray with fry light (I do the same with parsnips). They take about 20-30 mins to go crispy.

Veg is free so you can fill your plate up!

Gravy granules are 1 syn per tsp (check the syn value for the brand you use).

Linda Mc Cartney Red Onion & Rosemary sausages or SW sausages make great syn free stuffing balls; thaw them, remove the skin and roll into balls, spray with fry light and cook on a baking tray until golden.

Campfire Stew

(SYN FREE)

Ingredients: 1 small gammon joint (all visible fat removed), 1 chopped onion, 3 crushed cloves of garlic, 2 tins baked beans (I like the Heinz Five Beans), 1/2 tsp very lazy chilli, 2 chopped peppers (any colour you like), 1 tbsp smoked paprika, 6 tbsp tomato puree and a good glug of Worcester sauce.

Place all the ingredients in a slow cooker for 6 hours on low. Shred the gammon before serving.

Serving suggestion: serve with SW wedges or chips, a jacket potato or a baked sweet potato and extra veg if you fancy.

Sausage, Pea & Courgette Risotto

(3 syns per serving: serves 4)

Ingredients: 2 sliced courgettes, 1 diced onion, 1 chopped leek, 1 chopped clove of garlic, 125g ritotto rice, 600ml water, white wine stock pot (Tesco’s own syn free one), grated nutmeg, handful of frozen peas, 4 laughing cow blue cheese triangles (1.5 syns per triangle), pack of Heck Chicken Italia Sausages (0.5 syns per sausage) or any sausage of your choice.

Cook the sausages in the oven and cut into bite size pieces.

Soften the onion, leeks and courgettes and the garlic. Melt the stock pot with the water and add with the rice to the mixture. Cook until rice is nearly tender and then add the frozen peas. Add the sausages and heat through and then stir in the cheese triangles until melted.

Meatloaf (SYN FREE)

Ingredients: 500g 5% fat minced beef, 500g 5% fat pork mince, 2 packs bacon medalians, 1 chopped onion, 8oz mushrooms, 1 chopped clove of garlic, 1/2 tsp very lazy chilli, 1 tbsp tomato puree, dash Worcester sauce, pinch mixed herbs and 1 beaten egg.

Soften mushrooms, onion and garlic in fry light and mix well with the raw mince and all the other ingredients. Line 2 small loaf tins with bacon, fill with the mince mixture and then cover the top with more bacon. Bake in the oven for about 30 mins and then pour out any fat/juices. Bake again for another 30 mins. Remove from tin onto a baking tray and cook for a further 10 mins or until the bacon is crispy. You can freeze 1/2 the mixture (raw or cooked) if needed.

That’s it for my main meal ideas: I will add more, as and when I discover/create any new ideas. I hope you’ve enjoyed this and feel free to comment with any question xx