Beef moussaka slimming world style

A low fat take on the classic Greek dish.

Ingredients: Serves 4
2 Aubergines
500g of lean minced beef
1 carrot
2 sticks of celery
1 large onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of mixed herbs
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
2 teaspoons of mixed spice
2 teaspoons of sweetener
1 beef stock cube
Fry light
1 can of chopped tomatoes
Tomato puree
300g of fat free natutal yoghurt
2 free range eggs
Salt and pepper

Method:
Chop the onion, garlic, celery and carrot then fry in a heavy pan using fry light. Fry until the onions are soft. Add the herbs and spices and cook for a further 2 minutes, stir well to stop anything sticking. Then add the mince and stir until the mince is brown. Sprinkle in the stock cube and deglaze using about 100ml of water. Add the tomatoes and sweetener then simmer for about a hour. Cooking time can be reduced by using a pressure cooker.

While the meat is cooking slice the aubergines and dry fry the slices for about 2 minutes each side. Put these slices to one side for later.

Keep an eye on the meat as it cooks adding a little water as necessary, taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper. Use the tomato puree to thicken the sauce, testing the meat to make sure it is cooked properly. Preheat the oven to 190C

In a suitable oven dish start to assemble the moussaka by putting a layer of meat and sauce then a layer of aubergine. Add another layer of meat and sauce then top with slices of aubergine. In a bowl beat the 2 eggs and pour in the yoghurt then mix well adding salt and pepper. Pour the mixture over the aubergines and place the dish on an oven tray. Cook for 50 minutes in the centre of the oven.

Serve with a side salad.

Pork, spinach and ricotta cannelloni

This dish is great as it uses 500g of lean pork mince and will produce up to 6 helpings.  It can also be reheated in a microwave or frozen for later use.

Ingredients:
500g of lean pork mince (aim for 5% Fat)
1 box of cannelloni tubes
200g of frozen chopped spinach
100g of ricotta cheese (this has 7 syns)
2 cartons of passata
2 tablespoons of dried basil
2 tablespoons of sweetener
Salt and pepper.
Parmesan cheese for garnish
Method
Defrost the spinach and mix in a large bowl with the pork mince and ricotta, season the mixture with salt and pepper.  Now comes the messy bit......stuff the canneloni tubes with the mixture and place them in a large, shallow oven dish.  You may need 2 dishes as the mixture should stuff about 20 tubes.  Try and get the pack the tubes quite close together.
Pour over the passata until it just covers the tubes then sprinkle on the dried basil, sweetener and season with salt and pepper.

Cook in the oven for about 50 minutes at 190C. If in doubt check one of the centre tubes to see if it is cooked.

Serve with a green salad and garnish with grated parmesan.  Each serving will be one and a half syns plus any salad dressing that you use.

Virtually fat free quiche

These quiches are very tasty and almost fat free.
Ingredients:
8 slices of ham
6 free range eggs
1 red pepper
A bunch of spring onions
A few closed cup mushrooms
Fat free cottage cheese.

Preheat the oven to 190C and line small flan or pie foils with a slice of ham (you could y
use a muffin tray). Chop the spring onions and sprinkle them into the lined foils. Chop the red pepper into small cubes and add with a spoon full of cottage cheese. Beat the egges in a bowl and season with plenty of black pepper and salt. Pour the egg mixture into each quiche to about 2/3 full and place thinly sliced mushroom on top of the mixture.

Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until the egg mixture is set, then take out and cool.

The veggie garden is coming on.

A few weeks ago I posted the pictures of a cold looking garden with some empty raised beds.  Well we planted some peas and some seed potatoes in one bed and onion sets in the other.

 I used twigs that had been cut from the hedge for the pea sticks, they seem to be working ok.  A few of the plants have been eaten by the pigeons so I have replaced them with seeds.

The potatoes are coming along nicely as well, these should produce 'new potatoes' in a month or so.  I also have some of the seed potatoes in the fridge so I can use them later in the year for roasting potatoes at Christmas.

As well as the onion sets we have some chili, courgette, french bean, runner bean and, of course, some tomato plants in the greenhouse.

The rest of the garden is looking ok and we've had lots of blossom on the fruit trees so we are hoping for a good year.  Can't wait to cook with stuff we have grown ourselves.

Courgette and Tomato Pasta

Here is a simple dish for those weekday suppers when you are pushed for time.  It could be made into a pasta bake if you prefer and any leftovers make ideal lunch when heated up in the microwave.

Ingredients:
2 courgettes
200g of button mushrooms (other mushrooms can be used if chopped)
400g tin of tomatoes or pasata
1 large onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 red chilli
Pinch of italian herbs
1 tbsp of sweetner
200g of dried pasta
Salt and pepper to taste
30g of low fat cheese (if desired)

Method
Cook the pasta in salted water until just soft and then drain into a colander and rinse with cold water.  Make sure the cooked pasta doesn't stick together as it cools by using your fingers to separate it.
Chop the onion, garlic and chilli then fry using Fry Light until soft.  Chop the stalks off the mushrooms and then add the mushrooms and the herbs.  Cook for about 3 minutes then chop the courgettes and add to the pan. Add the tomatoes to the pan and the sweetner then cook for around 30 minutes until the courgettes have softened.  Use salt and pepper to season then add the cold pasta to the sauce and warm through. (At this point you could pour the pasta and sauce into an oven proof dish, gtrate the cheese over it and cook for 20 minutes if you prefer a pasta bake)

Serve on a plate and grate the chese over the top.