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Pork, Veal & Ricotta Meatballs with Cavolo Nero August 2, 2015

Filed under: Healthy Eating,Italian,Meat,Pasta,Weight Watchers Recipes — delishuss @ 9:22 am
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This is another Weight Watchers recipe. If I were to make it again, I would make a few tweaks. It would probably increase the propoints value of the recipe but I would switch out the ricotta for feta cheese. I found the meatballs to be a little lacking in flavour. I used breadcrumbs instead of rolled oats just because I had some leftover bread. I couldn’t find Cavolo Nero in the supermarket so I use kale instead, probably a bad idea as it didn’t really wilt down very well and was a bit hard. Next time I would just add some spinach instead close to the end of the cook until wilted. I did taste pretty good in the end but it would be even better with the suggested tweaks.

12 propoints value

Serves: 4

Prep time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1/4 cup (20g) trraditional rolled oats

400g pork, veal mince

4 green shallots, thinly sliced

1 small zucchini, finely grated

1/3 cup (80g) reduced fat fresh ricotta cheese, crumbled

1 tsp olive oil

1 red onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tbs baby salted capers, rinsed, finely chopped

2 cups (500ml) tomato pasta sauce (I used passata instead)

100g trimmed cavolo nero (Tuscan cabbage), coarsely chopped

250g spelt spaghetti

Salt and pepper to season

Method

1. Blitz the oats in a food processor until finely chopped. Combine oats, mince, shallots, zucchini and ricotta in a bowl. Season well with salt and pepper.

2. Roll the mince mixture into balls. To prevent the balls sticking to your hand, you can spray them with some olive oil spray.

3. I cooked these in two batches to prevent them becoming soggy. Heat a frying pan and add some olive oil. Fry half of the mince balls until brown, turning frequently to coat all sides. Transfer to a plate. Do the same with the remainder of the balls. Re-add all the meatballs to the pan and reduce the heat. Add a lid and let the meatballs cook for 10 minutes. This is to ensure that the meatballs are cooked through on the inside. Remove from the heat.

4. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.

5. While the pasta is cooking add the onion to the same pan as the meatballs and saute for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minutes. Add the capers and the pasta sauce and bring to the boil. Add the meatballs and the cavolo nero and cook for another 3 minutes until the cabbage is wilted.

6. Serve the meatballs with the pasta and enjoy.

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Beef Keema

Filed under: Curries,Indian,Meat,Weight Watchers Recipes — delishuss @ 7:16 am
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I think I may have made something like this before but I saw it in the Weight Watchers magazine and decided to give it a go. It was really yummy and pretty healthy too. You could probably go with chicken or pork mince to reduce the calorie content. I don’t think the taste would suffer as a result. I’ve been giving Weight Watchers a go again. Not with too much success, if I’m really honest. It’s not the program but just my level of discipline. What I like most about Weight Watchers is that you can eat what you like so long as you point it out but that tends to become a little cumbersome if you don’t have the little points calculator or the app. Let’s face it, it’s common sense though. Eat good, whole, fresh food and you’ll be fine. Easier said than done. Anyway enough about that. Here’s the recipe.

6 propoints per serve

Serves 4

Prep: 10 mins

Cooking: 20 mins

Ingredients

2 tsp vegetable oil

1 brown onion, finely chopped

400g extra lean beef mince

1 long red chilli, finely chopped

2 tbs mild korma curry paste

3/4 cup (210g) canned diced tomatoes

1/2 cup (120g) frozen peas

1 tbs lemon juice 1/2 cup (140g)

low-fat natural yoghurt

60g spinach leaves

1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh coriander

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Saute the onion, stirring for 3-4 minutes or until softened. Add the mince and fry off until browned.

2. Add the chilli and the paste, stirring for 2 minutes until the spices start to release their aroma.

3. Stir in the tomatoes and 3/4 cup of water and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and simmer for another 5 minutes.

4. Add the peas and simmer for a further 5 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

5. Add the lemon and half the yoghurt and simmer for a minute. Stir in the spinach and cook until it starts to wilt.

6. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with the remainder of the yoghurt and the chopped coriander. You can add some steamed brown (1/2 cup) rice for an extra 3 propoints or have with more veggies for 0 propoints.

 

Piri Piri Stir Fry Pork June 10, 2015

Filed under: Healthy Eating,Meat,Weight Watchers Recipes — delishuss @ 11:38 am
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I got this recipe from the Weight Watchers Spicy and Speedy cookbook. The recipe uses beef but I had pork which I thought would be nice instead. It’s so easy, it’s hard to call it cooking. The recipes states that you should use 2 chillies, I chickened out and only added one, I should have added 2. As a result of not adding 2 chillies, I didn’t really get an intense flavour so I ended up adding some hot sauce just to give it a kick. Probably, if I was making it again I would do the same, i.e. one chilli and some hot sauce but that’s entirely up to you.

Serves 2

Takes 15 minutes

4 1/2 points (if using beef)

Ingredients

Low fat cooking spray

200g lean rump steak or pork

2 garlic cloves, sliced

2 large red chillies, deseeded and chopped finely

1 teaspoon paprika

1 x 300g pack fresh mixed stir fry vegetables

100g passata with onion and garlic

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 x teaspoon hot sauce (if you like it hot ;-))

Method

1. Heat a non stick wok until very hot and spray with low fat cooking spray.

2. Add the beef and stir fry for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the garlic and chillies and cook for a further minute, stirring.

3. Add the paprika and stir fry vegetables and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the hot sauce if you are using it at this point. Pour in the passata and 100 ml cold water. Bubble for 1-2 minutes until sauce has thickened.

4. Squeeze over the lemon juice and serve immediately.

 

Spiced Carrot & Coconut Soup June 12, 2014

Filed under: Healthy Eating,Soups and Stews — delishuss @ 12:27 pm
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The weather is starting to cool down here in Brisbane. I can start making soups, stews and curries now and not spontaneously combust with the heat . Soups are great, so easy to make and they are full of tasty goodness. Some people struggle to make soup, I don’t get it, it’s probably one of the easiest things to make. I got this recipe from the current Weight Watchers magazine. It’s a lovely new take on a simple carrot soup. I used a lot more of the coconut than the recipe required, I just thought the consistency was a bit thick without it. I also added a stock cube. Both of which would add to the calorie content so if you want to point it, stick to the original recipe.

Serves 4

10 mins prep

35 mins cooking

5 ProPoints per serve

 

Ingredients

1 tbs olive oil

1 brown onion, finely chopped

2 tbs Indian curry paste

1kg carrots, sliced

1/2 cup (80ml) light coconut milk (I used about 150ml)

8x10g mini pappadums

1 stock cube, dissolved in litre of water if not counting points

 

Method

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onion, stirring for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the curry paste and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant.

2. Add the carrots and 4 cups (1L) of water or stock depending on whether or not you are pointing the recipe and bring to the boil.

3. Reduce the heat and simmer partially covered for 25 minutes or until the carrot is tender.

4. Blend in batches until smooth.

5. Return the soup to a clean saucepan and stir in 1/4 cup (60 ml) of the coconut milk.

6. Place over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes or until heated through. Meanwhile, microwave pappadums following packet instructions.

7. Drizzle the soup with the remaining coconut milk and serve with pappadums.

 

http://www.pinterest.com/grainiac/recipes/

 

Chicken Sausage Salad November 25, 2013

Filed under: Chicken,Meat,Salads and Dressings,Weight Watchers Recipes — delishuss @ 11:30 am
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Here’s another salad idea from Weight Watchers. It’s really substantial, you don’t feel like you are going to be starving ten minutes later.  I was actually starving making it so I didn’t get a chance to take any photos. Trust me it’s really good. I was a bit hesitant about the dressing but it tasted lovely, would consider using that for other salads.  I ended up using Thai Style Turkey Sausages from Aldi for the recipe. They are great, even the in-house taste tester was impressed.

Serves 4

Ingredients

12 baby chat potatoes, quartered

2 tsp vegetable oil

6 lean sausages

1/2 bunch rocket, chopped

1/2 cup (140g) no-fat Greek-style yoghurt

2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 tsp lemon juice

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 bunch watercress, sprigs picked

1 Lebanese cucumber, halved lengthways, sliced

250g cherry tomatoes, halved

 

Method

1. Place the potato in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over high heat. Cook for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside to cool.

2. Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook the sausages, turning, for 6-8 minutes or until browned and cooked. Slice diagonally.

3.  Using a food processor, process the rocket, yoghurt, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Combine the potato, sausage, watercress, cucumber and tomato in a serving bowl. Drizzle with the rocket and yoghurt dressing and toss to coat.

 

Warm Thai Pork Meatball & Noodle Salad

Filed under: Asian,Meat,Noodles,Salads and Dressings,Weight Watchers Recipes — delishuss @ 11:10 am
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This is a great recipe. It’s filling and flavoursome. Salads can be so boring but not this one. It’s from a Weight Watchers magazine. Love it.

Serves 4

Ingredients

400g lean pork mince

1 tbs Thai red curry paste

1 1/2 tbs lime juice

2 tsp brown sugar

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 long fresh red chilli, finely chopped

200g dried rice noodles

640g pineapple, peeled, cored, cut into wedges

1 cup (80g) bean sprouts

2 celery sticks, thinly sliced diagonally

2 green shallots, thinly sliced diagonally

1 cup fresh coriander leaves

1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, torn

1 tbp sunflower or canola oil

Method

1. Combine the mine and curry paste in a medium bowl. Roll the mixture into 20 balls.

2. To make the dressing, combine the dish sauce, lime juice, sugar, garlic and chilli in a small bowl. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.

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3, Cook the noodles following the packet instructions. Drain. Cool under cold water and drain. Place the noodles in a large bowl with the pineapple, bean sprouts, celery, shallot, and three quarters of the coriander and mint.

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4. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook the meatballs, turning occasionally, for 8 minutes or until browned and cooked through.

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5, Add the meatballs to the salad. Drizzle with the dressing and toss to combine. Divide the salad between serving bowls and sprinkle with the remaining coriander and mint.  http://www.pinterest.com/grainiac/recipes/

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Chinese Style Chicken with Green Mango Salad September 21, 2012

Filed under: Chicken,Salads and Dressings,Weight Watchers Recipes — delishuss @ 7:18 am
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Okay so I got this recipe from Weight Watchers and I went and bought the ingredients for it and then lost the recipe so it’s probably nothing like the original recipe but it tasted great all the same.  The recipe did state as far as I can recall that you could subsitute green mango for papaya if you couldn’t get it. So this is what I did. I only ever tasted papaya in a fruit salad before, my observation having tried it again on it’s own is that it’s pretty bland. However, I will say that it worked really well in this recipe. So here goes.

Serves 2

Ingredients

Marinade

350g chicken tenderloins

2 tablespoons of hoisin sauce

1 teaspoon of sesame oil

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

1 teaspoon of fish sauce

Juice of 1/2 lime

1 garlic clove, crushed

 

Salad

50g of papaya or green mango, cut into fine match stick pieces

a few sprigs of fresh coriander, chopped

Juice of 1/2 lime

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 sugar

1 scallion chopped

1/4 – 1/2 green chilli, finely chopped

 

1 tablespoon olive oil

Method

1. Marinade the chicken in the marinade ingredients. Try and marinade it for as long as possible, but if you are pushed for time an hour or so will be fine.

2. While the chicken is marinading make the salad. Start by adding the lime, sugar, chilli, soy sauce to a bowl and stir.

3.  Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry off the chicken pieces. They will only take about 3 minutes on either side. The marinade carmelises the chicken.

4. Add the coriander, scallions and papaya to the salad and stir.

 

Serving suggestion: serve on a bed of basmati rice, stack the salad in the centre of the rice and build the chicken pieces around the salad.  Hey presto, it’s done. Enjoy!

 

 

Indian Stuffed Peppers April 23, 2012

Filed under: Healthy Eating,Potatoes,Vegetarian,Weight Watchers Recipes — delishuss @ 9:20 pm
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I made these for lunch but the night before. They were good but I don’t think they really reheat well, so probably best to eat them straight away. They would make a great starter. These are from the Weight Watchers Oriental Express cookbook.

Propoints value per serving- 4

Propoints value per recipe- 18

Serves 4

 

Ingredients

400g potatoes, peeled and halved or quartered, if large

4 red peppers

Low fat cooking spray

1 large onion, diced

2 courgettes, diced

3 large garlic cloves, chopped

2 tablespoons balti spice paste

 

For the ginger tomato suace

300ml passata

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2.5cm fresh root ginger, grated

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Method

1. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the potatoes for about 10 minutes or until tender. Drain, set aside to cool slightly, then dice.

2. Meanwhile, put the peppers in a large saucepan of water and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 4 minutes until softened. Using a slotted spoon, carefully remove the peppers from the water and set aside until cool enough to handle. Slice the top off each pepper to make a lid, scoop out the seeds then turn upside down to drain.

3. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5/ 190 degrees celsius/ fan oven 170 degrees celsius. Heat a wok or non stick frying pan until hot. Spray with the cooking spray and stir fry the onion, courgettes and garlic for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat then stir in the balti spice paste, 4 tablespoons of water and the potatoes. Spoon the mixture into the peppers and top with their lids.

4. Arrange the peppers close together in an ovenproof dish, spray with cooking spray and pour 3 tablespoons of water into the dish. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 4-0 minutes.

5. To make the ginger tomato sauce, spray a saucepan with the cooking spray, add the passatta and sugar and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until reduced and thickened. Squeeze the juice from the ginger into the pan. Discard the fibrous bits of ginger. Season, stir and heat though. Serve with the sauce on the side.

 

Three Bean Enchilada Bake April 15, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized,Vegetarian,Weight Watchers Recipes — delishuss @ 2:34 pm
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Myself and my other half are on a vegetarian buzz for the month of April. We are trying to eat less meat because we are both animal lovers and we kind of baulk at the thoughts of killing animals. The minute we embarked on this venture, all my favourite cookery started cooking lovely lamb dishes for Easter. Like everything you only miss it when it’s gone.

I was on the hunt for vegetarian recipes, and I came across this recipe from the Weight Watchers magazine May issue. I really liked the yogurt and feta topping. I was only short of liking the plate after eating this. Hope you enjoy.

8 propoints per serving

33 propoints per recipe

Serves 4

15 minutes to prepare

40 minutes to cook

 

Ingredients

Calorie controlled cooking spray

1 small red onion, diced

1 yellow pepper, de-seeded and diced

1/2- 1 mild red chilli, de-seeded and diced

1/2 tsp freshly ground cumin seeds

1 tbsp fajita spice

500ml passata with onions and garlic

Small bunch of fresh coriander, chopped roughly

410g can mixed beans in water, rinsed and drained

4 small flour tortillas

100g light feta

150g low fat natural yoghurt

75g grated reduced fat cheddar

 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/ 200 degrees celsius/ fan 180 degrees celsius.

2. Heat a frying pan and mist with cooking spray. Add the diced onion, pepper, garlic and chilli and saute for 6-7 minutes or until softened.

3. Stir in the spices, follwowed by the passatta and about 150ml water. Simmer gently for a few minutes, then turn off the heat and stir in the coriander.

4. Place the beans in a bowl and add about a third of the tomato sauce. Take a rectangular baking dish that will hold 4 rolled-up tortillas.

5. Place 1 tortilla in the dish and arrange a quarter of the bean mixture down the middle. Roll up and push to one end. Repeat with the other 3 tortillas and then arrange evenly in the dish. Pour the rest of the tomato sauce over the top of the tortillas.

6. Mash the feta in a bowl, then mix in the yogurt. Spread this over the top of the tomato sauce and then scatter the grated cheddar over. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden and bubbling. Serve with salad.

 

Greek Lamb Burgers March 15, 2012

Filed under: Favourites,Meat,Weight Watchers Recipes — delishuss @ 10:59 pm
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Well I have to say Weight Watchers have excelled themselves with this month’s magazine (April). This is a big hit with me. Okay I’ll admit that I did alter the recipe slightly but I think my additions make it 🙂 I couldn’t get mint leaves so I added 2 tsps of mint sauce. I also added 2 tsps of cumin powder and I also added 1 beaten egg to bind the patties. You will need to up the propoints of the recipe because of the egg. You could just keep to the original recipe also. I’ve just added the original recipe below.

 

10 minutes to prepare, 10 minutes to cook

23 propoints per recipe

11 propoints per serving

serves 2

 

Ingredients

250g lean lamb mince

75g carrot, coarsely grated

60g light feta, crumbled

1/2 dried oregano

Few sprigs of fresh mint, leaves only, chopped roughly

Calorie controlled cooking spray

To serve:

2x 40g mini pitta breads

Little gem lettuce

Sliced tomatoes

 

Method

1.  Mix together the mince, carrot, feta, oregano and mint in a bowl, season, and shape into 4 patties.

2. Mist a griddle pan or nonstick frying pan with cooking spray, add the burgers and cook for 2-3 minutes on either side. Leave to rest for 5 minutes, loosely covered.

3.  To serve, lightly toast the pittas, slice the open and fill with lettuce. Add 2 burgers to each and top with the tomato.

Tip: if you can, make them some time in advance and chill them so that they set a bit better. If you make them and add them straight to the pan they do fall apart easily, the lesss turning you can do the better.