{Recipe} Tuna Fishcakes

Hello Fellow Slimming World Followers!

Ever feel like a week is slipping away from you?  That someone somewhere is determined to try your nerve and lead you to fall off plan?? I'm having a week like that!  

I'm a bit of a stickler for routine and when my routine is put out (as it inevitably is 95% of the time with two kids around) I tend to go to pot!  However....not this week!  The old Mrs B might have given in and reached for chocolate but the apparent new Mrs B is sticking firm and hasn't slipped off plan once!  Both my girlies have been struck with this nasty mean virus so all my plans to train this week have been scuppered, my Asda delivery didn't turn up on Monday forcing me to actually GO to the shops (cue much eye rolling) with two ill kids in tow, plus a few more appointments that were out of the norm.  All in all, its shaping up to be a funny ol' week!  Plus its only Wednesday when it feels like it should surely be Friday afternoon by now (cue more eye rolling).  Hey ho, I digress....

I saw this in my Slimming World Meals for One book ages ago and have been wanting to give it a go.  I finally did on Monday and it did not disappoint!  

Super easy to do as I had left over potato in the fridge from the girls Sunday dinner (sans any butter or milk!) tuna in the cupboard and sweetcorn in the freezer!  

Tuna Fishcakes 

2 syns

200g potatoes, boiled and mashed

50g frozen sweetcorn

160g can tuna, drained

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tbsp extra light mayo (0.5 syns)

10g golden breadcrumbs (3 syns)

What to do....(so easy I'm not sure it needs an explanation!) 

• Mix together the mashed potatoes, tuna and extra light mayo.
• Defrost the frozen sweetcorn in the microwave and add to the mixture
• Put the beaten egg into a shallow dish and the breadcrumbs into another
• Once slightly cooled shape the tuna mixture into four small patty shapes
• Dip each one, both sides into the egg then the breadcrumbs
• Place on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
• Alternatively, you could fry in fry light for the same result
• Serve with salad and/or slimming world syn free chips!

They're easy peasy to do and so filling.  I only ate two of mine and had the other two later in the afternoon as a snack.  They taste just as lush cold!  If you didn't have any tuna you could use any left over fish, I'm fancying salmon fishcakes next as I love salmon and this would make a really tasty dinner!

Thanks for reading!

Love Mrs B xx

Meal Plan Monday - 23rd January 2017

Goodness another Mondays swung around pretty quick!!  Nearly the end of January already and another good week on plan behind me!  Planning another good week this week, which will also include a weekend away to London visiting my in laws for my nieces birthday. I'm lucky my lovely sister in law is following Slimming World too (and doing amazingly well!) so I'm determined to stay on plan and not eat the entire contents of the kids buffet, four pieces of birthday cake and end up with an indian takeaway (not unheard of)!!  

Weighing on a Monday definitely helps stop the weekend binges, whereas I know if I weighed on a Friday, I'd write the weekend off thinking I'd have five days to pull it back.  However, we all know that one weekend off plan turns into six weeks off plan and ends up spiralling and before you know it a whole year has gone and you're still unhappy with your weight and moaning about it (harsh but true).  So for now, Im very much in control and very much intend to stay that way.  I dont even fancy an indian takeaway if I'm honest :D 

So....onto this weeks meal plans!

I've based this weeks meal plan around some of the meat we already have in the freezer, which isnt a lot I'm going to have to put an order in soon, but for now we have enough and this is what I'm planning to have.....

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	Baked oats, raspberries & Greek yoghurt	Tuna and Sweetcorn fishcakes & salad	Cottage pie
Tuesday	Greek yoghurt & raspberries	Jacket potato, beans and salad	Crispy chicken & butternut squash chips
Wednesday	Baked oats, raspberries & Greek yoghurt	Sausage casserole	Stuffed peppers
Thursday	SW Waffles w/raspberries ,greek yoghurt	SW Quiche & salad	Beef & bean stew
Friday	French toast w/rasberries & greek yoghurt	SW Quicke & salad	Chicken kieves & SW chips
Saturday	Toast & jam
Sunday

I'm going to give the Tuna & Sweetcorn fishcakes a go from the Meals for One book as I've got a bit of mash left from the girls dinner yesterday but other than that these are all tried and tested favourites of ours!  I'm thinking of making some quiche to take to London with me and maybe some clementines and beetroot to take with me to snack on (I'm obsessed with beetroot at the moment!) so I'll know I'll have got some speed in (as I'm eating birthday cake - haha!)

 

Did my weekly shop this morning (no thanks to Asda's disappearing home delivery), so we are all set for another awesome week on plan!  I went to Sainsbury's (as I'm in a huff with Asda) and picked up some of the butternut squash crinkle fries to try, thought they'd be a good replacement for Slimming World chips one night.  So....I'm all organised!

I'm very pleased to say I lost another pound last week bringing my total up to 10lbs lost and 26lbs to go!  Slow and steady wins the race and all that :D 

Thanks for reading!

Love Mrs B xx

{Recipe} Syn Free Onion Bahjees and Rajita Dip

Hello Fellow Slimming Worlders!

As promised, I thought I'd share the onion bahjee recipe I found, tweaked and made over the weekend when my in laws were visiting. I had lots of people message me and ask for the recipe for these.  Just like the Chicken Tikka Massala these looked and tasted just like the real thing and were perfect as a side or a starter for any Indian dish.

Ingredients

Makes 15

1 sweet potato, grated
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 white onion, finely chopped
240g tin of chickpeas
2 eggs
3 tsps garlic granules
1tsp cumin 
1/2 tsp coriander
2 tsp tandoori spice
1/2 tsp tumeric

For the dip:
4tbsp fat free natural yoghurt
1/2 tsp cumin
1tbsp mint sauce (1/2 a syn)

What you need to do...

• Finely dice the onion and fry in fry light
• Peel and grate the sweet potato, add to the pan with the onion and fry gently
• In a small bowl, mix together the spices with a little water until they form a paste and add to the pan.
• Drain the chickpeas and blend in a mixer (or if you dont have a blender, they're quite soft you can mash them with a fork until they're all mushed up) and add to the pan
• Whisk the egg and add to the pan, stirring well
• Carefully (its going to be hot) remove from the heat and shape the mixture into small ball shapes (or flattened ball shapes, whichever you prefer) 
• Bake in the oven for 40 minutes turning halfway through
• Mix together all the ingredients for the dip and serve in a small dish in the middle of onion bahjees

Let me know if you try it!

Love Mrs B xx

{Recipe} Slimming World Chicken Tikka Massala with Onion Bahjees

Anyone who knows me knows I love a good curry, however, my husband does not...cant even stand the smell of it.  Which means, I very rarely cook curry for myself as it seems a bit of a waste of time doing all that cooking for one.  So...whenever anyone comes to visit or I go out for a meal sans husband I ALWAYS go for curry!  Whether my friends like it or not - haha!

Spent all week researching which curry to cook whilst the boys were at football last weekend and it would be just me, my mother, my mother in law and sister in law (no boys to complain it stinks!).  Finally decided on Chicken Tikka Massala as its one of my favourites and is a little more exciting than Chicken Korma!  I should point out, that although I love a curry, I'm a bit of a wuss and a jalfrezi has me in a sweat so it has to be a mild curry!

The Slimming World Chicken Tikka Massala recipe is by no means a quick one but its sooooooo worth it!

Here's what you need...

Ingredients

Serves 4 - Syn Free

4 Chicken breasts, diced 

150g fat free natural yoghurt

juice of 1 lime

1 onion, finely chopped

4 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 tbsp ginger

1 tsp ground cumin

1 chilli, deseeded and chopped (optional)

4 tbsp tomato puree

5 tbsp tikka/medium curry powder 

5 tbsp fat free fromage frais

250ml chicken stock

And here's what you do....

Method

• Mix the lime, yoghurt and 3tbsp of tikka powder in a large dish or tupperware container.  Add the chicken and stir in well to ensure the chicken is well covered.  Leave for four hours or overnight if time permits.
• In a large pan (I used my wok) add the onion, garlic, ginger, chilli (if using) cumin and remaining tikka powder, stirring constantly.
• Stir in the tomato puree and 250ml chicken stock and simmer for 12-15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, griddle the chicken pieces on a griddle pan or thread onto a skewer and grill for 15 minutes until cooked through.
• When cooked stir into the sauce.
• Take off the heat and stir in the fromage frais (natural yoghurt would work aswell if you dont have both!)
• Enjoy with a bowl of rice and side salad (for extra speed)

Like I said, not a quick recipe with the marinating but it is a lovely one and is perfect for when you fancy an indian takeaway without the syns!

Im very pleased to say it was very well received by my family who all said it was as good (if not better) than the takeaway as it doesnt come with all the grease!! 

I'll share my onion bahjee recipe tomorrow, which makes the perfect side dish for a curry!

Meal Plan Monday - 16th January 2017

Hello lovely Slimming Worlders!

I have had the most amazing weekend with family visiting, not only because my lovely sister-in-law and mother-in-law are both on Slimming World!  I spent the whole of last week planning and testing recipes for when they came down (see last weeks meal plan here) mainly because I wanted to stay on plan myself!  We spend quite a few weekends with family, either away or with them visiting here so I know how easy it is to go off plan....and then it snowballs and before I know it, it's been a whole week off plan.

I'll be sharing a couple of my favourite recipes from over the weekend this week but for now, here's my meal plan for this week! 

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	Greek yoghurt & raspberries Hi-fi bar (HexB)	Out for lunch with in laws	Roast chicken dinner with SW roasties and syn free gravy
Tuesday	Greek yoghurt & raspberries H- fi bar(HexB)	Cinema Snacks	BBQ Pulled pork with jacket potato and salad
Wednesday	Baked oats, raspberries & Greek yoghurt	Butternut Squash Lasagne	Chicken pizziola and rice
Thursday	SW Waffles w/raspberries & greek yoghurt	Creamy chicken pasta	Chicken snitzel with SW chips and salad
Friday	Greek yoghurt & raspberries	SW quiche and salad	Cheese and bacon burgers
Saturday	Double decker bacon & egg sandwiches	SW quiche and salad	Smothered steak with sweet potato fries and pan friend mushrooms
Sunday	French toast w/greek yoghurt & raspberries	Tomato and basil soup	Sausage and mash with syn free gravy

The Butternut Squash Lasagne will be an interesting one!  It uses the new butternut squash lasagne sheets from Sainsburys that I've seen lots on Instagram and I'm dying to try.  Not even sure I like butternut squash but its speed food so I'm willing to give it a go!

Also trying a steak sauce that uses fat free cottage cheese on Saturday so will report back on that too!

Here's to a lovely on plan week!

Meal Planning Monday - 9th January 2017

Hello!

I do love a plan!  Think my favourite part of the week, other than eating my food, is planning what we're going to have during the week!  Now like many people, we've got a lot going on in this house...after school things, school runs, work, house to run, dogs to walk etc etc etc.  All very exciting stuff (not really) but its all stuff that could mean throwing a good week all out of bonk!

So a plan is a must if I'm wanting to stay on plan.  Out comes my trusty Fox and Moon plus all my Slimming World recipe books from group and a couple of magazines and off I go!

Couple of tips for meal planning I find help (most of which are common sense but it never hurts to go over the basics!)

- Make a list of whats in your cupboards and freezer!  This way you can base your meal plans around what you already have in.  Makes shopping a whole lot easier and cheaper.  

- Buy meat in bulk makes it a whole lot easier and cheaper.  Our butcher does 4kg chicken for £20 which gives us around 20 odd chicken breasts.  Meaning we've always got chicken in the freezer as a base for a lot of our recipes.

- Think about where you're going to be during the week.  No good planning a roast dinner that takes ages if you're out all day on a Wednesday!  

- Make extra for dinner and have for lunch the next day!  I do this ALL the time.  Means you have a no effort and tasty lunch the following day that just needs reheating!  I'm not one of those people who minds eating the same thing two days in a row.  Hell, if I'm losing weight I'll eat the same thing every day - haha!

So this weeks meal plan looks like this......

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	SW Waffles w.strawberries, raspberries & Greek yoghurt	Pasta and Sauce, broccoli	SW Doner Kebab and salad
Tuesday	Greek yoghurt w/raspberries hi fi bar	SW Quiche	Gammon, SW chips, egg, salad
Wednesday	Baked oats w/raspberries & Greek yoghurt	Homemade leek & potato soup	Chicken Fried rice w/roasted veg
Thursday	SW Waffles w/raspberreis & greek yoghurt	Chicken fried rice w/veg	Diet cola chicken w/rice
Friday	SW Waffles w/raspberries & greek yoghurt	Diet cola chicken w/roasted veg	SW doner kebab, salad, pitta, sw chips
Saturday	Double decker bacon & egg sandwiches	SW quiche w/salad	SW chicken tikka, boiled rice, onion bahjees, pitta bread
Sunday	French toast w/greek yoghurt & raspberries	Roast chicken, sw roasties and veg

We have family coming down this weekend and lucky enough for me both my sister in law and mother in law are on Slimming World.  So I'm really looking forward to trying out a few new recipes on them!  However, there will be a few syns spent on wine I'm sure but these will all be planned into my week!

Found a fab silicone mould perfect for making quiche, so had that a couple of times last week and will be doing it this week too as it makes a perfect afternoon snack!

So, here's to another excellent week on plan!