Getting back to work on Tuesday meant getting back into new routines, meal planning and a big shop and so now I am firmly back in the land of goodness. Needing a quick and easy lunch for the next few days, I decided to put a new, speedy spin on one of my older soup recipes to come up with this ‘speedy tomato soup’. With minimal ingredients, it couldn’t be more straightforward to put together but the results are so, so good. I’ve used tinned cherry tomatoes here but you can use normal chopped tomatoes if you fancy. Try and use the best quality tomatoes you can get your hands on since the tomatoes make up most of the dish. This dish includes lots of garlic and it’s intentional. I’ve kept other herbs and spices to a minimum so the dish truly tastes of tomato and garlic and the pesto lifts the whole thing to the next level.

The home made basil pesto really is a game changer. It makes a huge batch so you can use in meals throughout the week in anything you fancy. Tossed through pasta, as an addition to garlic bread, tossed through salad as a dressing, the world’s your oyster. The pesto will last 7-14 days in the fridge in an airtight container. You can freeze the pesto too, I usually freeze it in teaspoon sized measures in an ice cube tray so I can just defrost a couple at a time (remember to pop the cubes into a food bag once frozen to minimise storage space). In the freezer the pesto should last 3-4 months.

You can make this recipe vegetarian by replacing the chicken stock cube with a vegetable stock cube and using a vegetarian alterative to parmesan.

POINTS AND NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

For the Soup – serves 4 – per serving = 4 points or 184 cals, 8.9g fat, 15.9g carbs, 9.2g protein

For the Pesto – this makes around 25 tsp sized portions 

Per serving – 2 points or 56 cals, 5.6g fat, 0.3g carbs,  1.1g protein 

INGREDIENTS

For the Soup 

• 1 white onion, diced
• 5-6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp light butter
• 3 x 400g tins of cherry tomatoes (or chopped tomatoes – Mutti are the best I’ve tried)
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 chicken stock cube made up with 300ml boiling water (replace with vegetable if vegetarian)
• 80ml single cream
• 50g light mature Cheddar cheese, grated

For the Pesto

• 50g pine nuts
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• ¼ tsp salt
• 60g basil leaves (two small packs)
• 100ml olive oil
• 50g Parmesan cheese, grated (replace with vegetarian alternative if vegetarian
• Salt and black pepper to taste

METHOD

1. Begin by making the soup. Take a large saucepan, spray with low-calorie cooking spray, and then add the onion. Fry for 4–5 minutes until the onion starts to soften (add a little water if the pan gets dry).
2. Next, add the garlic and butter and fry for another 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, salt, paprika and cayenne pepper and stir, and then add the chicken stock. Stir, bring to the boil, and then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes.
3. While the soup is simmering, you can make the pesto. Put all the ingredients in a food processor with 30ml cold water and blitz, adding more water to get your preferred consistency. I like mine so it’s still a little chunky but nice and wet. Pop the pesto into an airtight container and set to one side.
4. Once the soup has simmered for 30 minutes, blitz with a hand blender until smooth (or if you have a bench-top food processor, wait until the soup has cooled a little to blend).
5. Pour the soup back into the pan, add the cream and cheese, then simmer until the cream is well combined and the cheese has melted. Taste and season as required. Add a little more water to get the consistency of soup you prefer. I like it so it’s not too thick.
6. Serve in bowls and top with a teaspoon of the homemade pesto, a drizzle of cream and a twist of black pepper.

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Creamy Roasted Tomato Soup

Serves 4 = 2sp per serving

Ingredients

2 punnets of salad tomatoes, halved (around 12 large salad tomatoes)

4 cloves of garlic, skins on and lightly crushed

1 large onion,  peeled and finely sliced

1/2 jar of roasted peppers, roughly chopped

2 tsp paprika

Pinch cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1 vegetable stock cube

4 tbsp elmlea single cream

Handful of fresh basil, roughly torn

2 tbsp fresh parmesan, grated finely

Method

Pre heat the oven to 180c.

Pop the tomatoes, cut side down into a large roasting tray, season with salt and pepper, drizzle with a little balsamic vinegar and scatter the garlic cloves into the tray. Roast uncovered in the oven for 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, take a large sauce pan, heat to medium and spray with 1kal. Fry the onion until it starts to soften (add a little water if the pan gets a little dry), then add the sliced peppers, paprika, salt and cayenne pepper. Fry for another few minutes and then add the vegetable stock cube with 600ml boiling water.

Remove the roasting tray from the oven and add the tomatoes to the pan. Squeeze the roasted garlic out of the skin, discard the skin and add to the garlic and any juices left in the baking tray into the pan. Bring the soup to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes and then remove from the heat.

Blend (using either a food processor or stick blender) and then add the elmlea and parmesan. Stir to combine and then add the basil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

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That evening we headed to a lovely cottage in the Peak District and some friends made us the most delightful celeriac mash, what a coincidence I thought! I loved the flavour and texture so I was even more set on experimenting with it in the weeks to come. On returning home and heading to Aldi for a ‘big shop’, I was pleasantly surprised to find these bulbous looking vegetables stocked in abundance so, I picked one up and thought I would start my experimentation with a soup.

Celeriac is actually a brilliant option for a low smart points soup as it’s a huge chunky vegetable so it really bulks out the pan and helps to create lots of soup portions for such a low points value. The taste is delicious too with a subtle celery like flavour. The addition of peppery kale and warming cumin and coriander also really bring this easy soup alive.

Celeriac, Kale and Apple Soup – 1sp

Serves 6 = 1sp per serving (flex)

Ingredients

1 white onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 celeriac, peeled and chopped into ½ inch chunks

2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped into rough chunks

3 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped

1 vegetable stock cube made up with 1.5 litres boiling water

Bag of kale, leaves removed from hard stems

3 tsp each coriander and cumin seeds

2 tsp lurpack lightest

5 tbsp lighted crème fraiche (I used Sainsbury’s Be Good to Yourself as it’s the lowest one I can find)

Salt, black pepper and white pepper to taste

Method

Fill the kettle and pop on to boil.

Take a large saucepan, spray with 1kal and add the onion. Fry for 3-4 minutes until it starts to soften (add a little water if the pan starts getting dry) then add the celeriac, garlic and apple and fry for another 3-4 minutes.

Add the stock, bring to a boil and then simmer for 15-20 minutes until the celeriac is nice and soft. Add the kale leaves and submerge in the soup mixture (add up to 200ml extra boiling water if the kale is not totally covered). Simmer for another 5 minutes and then blend using either a food processor or stick blender (I used a big blender and did it in batches).

Pop the soup back into the sauce pan and keep on a low heat.

Toast the cumin and coriander seeds in a small dry frying pan (for 2 minutes until you can smell the lovely toasted scent coming off the seeds) then pop into a pestle and mortar and grind to a powder. Add most of the powder to the soup (I keep a little to sprinkle on top).

Add the butter and 4 tbsps of the crème fraiche to the soup, stir through so it is smooth and creamy and season with salt, black pepper and white pepper to taste.

Serve with a ½ tsp crème fraiche swirled through the soup and a sprinkle of the cumin/coriander mix.

Enjoy!

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The result was this recipe which I have to say hit the spot. The coconut milk adds a lovely creamy flavour whilst the thyme adds just that hint of herbiness. If you can’t get a hold of the fresh thyme, feel free to leave this out. Just add a little extra fresh coriander at the end!

Spiced Butternut Squash and Coconut Soup  – 4sp

Makes 4 portions = 4sp per portion (Flex)

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and chopped into rough medium sized cubes

1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped

1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

Handful of fresh thyme leaves, roughly chopped (optional)

1 tbsp curry powder

½ tsp turmeric

1 vegetable stock cube (made up with 800ml boiling water)

1 x 400ml tin lighter coconut milk

Sprinkle of crushed chillies

Handful of fresh coriander

4 tbsp light greek yohurt

Method

Take a large saucepan, spray with 1kal and add the onion. Fry for 4-5 minutes until its starts to soften (add a little water to stop the pan getting dry). Then add the garlic, ginger, fresh thyme leaves, curry powder and turmeric and fry for another 3-4 minutes until the onions are totally softened.

Next add the vegetable stock, bring to a boil and then simmer for around 20 minutes (or until the squash is totally softened). Remove from the heat and pop into a food processor or blitz with a stick blender.  Once smooth, add back to the pan and add the coconut milk, stir and again bring to a simmer. Season with salt, pepper and crushed chillies to taste.

Serve with a final sprinkle of crushed chillis, sprinkle of fresh coriander and 1 tbsp light yoghurt swirled through per person.

Enjoy!

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I’ve whizzed the soup together here before adding the beans as I wanted something a bit smoother and wanted the sausage flavour to spread nicely through the soup. If you want something even more rustic, feel free to leave out the blending and leave it nice and chunky.

Rustic Italian Sausage, Tomato and Pesto Soup

Serve 4 – 3sp per serving (Flex)

Ingredients

4 x low fat pork sausages, skinned (I used Sainsbury’s Be Good to Yourself Cumberland Sausages, these are 6sp for 4 sausages)

1 large red onion, peeled and roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped

2 red peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 pack of salad tomatoes (around 300g), roughly chopped

400g tin of chopped tomatoes

1 chicken stock cube

700ml boiling water

300g tin of beans of your choice (I’ve used mixed, cannellini and kidney), drained

2 tsp green pesto

1 tsp each paprika, oregano and crushed chillies

30g fresh parmesan, grated

Method

Take a large saucepan, spray with 1kal and add the sausage meat. Fry on a high heat until the sausage is cooked and starting to brown. Add the red onion, garlic, peppers and balsamic and fry for five minutes until the onions start to soften (add a drop of water if the pan becomes too dry). Add the fresh tomatoes, season and fry for another minute and then add the tin of tomatoes, chicken stock cube and boiling water.

Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove from the heat and blitz using a stick blender (or food processor).

Once relatively smooth, add the beans, pesto, paprika, oregano and crushed chillies. Stir and simmer for another 10 minutes. Season to taste adding more crushed chillies if you fancy.

Enjoy!

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This recipe calls for 200g cooked gammon/ham. You can either buy this pre cooked or you can cook a joint yourself. I bought a huge joint for around £4, boiled it and then once shredded, froze the rest in portions to use in other meals. Cooking it myself also meant that I had the boiling water (aka homemade stock) which was lovely. A ham stock cube would be just as good though.

The end result was truly delicious. The addition of a little parsley and mint gives it a lovely extra flavour however you can miss these out if you like it a little plainer.

Ingredients

Serves 6 = 3sp each (Flex)

1 large onion, finely sliced

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

250g potatoes, raw, peeled and roughly diced

1 ham stock cube made with 1 litre boiling water

350g frozen peas

200g cooked gammon/ham, shredded

Handful of fresh parsley and mint, roughly chopped

2 tbsp half fat creme fraiche

Black pepper to taste

Method

Take a large saucepan, add the onions, spray with 1kal and saute on a medium heat until softened (but not brown). You might need to add a little water to the pan to stop the onions catching.

After around 5 minutes add the garlic and potato, fry for another minute and then add the stock.

Simmer until the potato is nice and soft (around 15 minutes) and then add the peas. Simmer for another 2 minutes and then remove from the heat.

Add the parsley and mint to taste (add a little a first), blend and continue to taste/add until you get the herb blend to your required flavour. Add a good twist of black pepper and 2 tbsp creme fraiche and blend again.

Finally add the shredded meat and stir.

Serve in a bowl, topping with a little of reserved shredded ham and a small dollop of creme fraiche.

Enjoy!

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Whilst the ingredients list looks a bit intimidating, a lot of it is store cupboard essentials. Not only that but once the paste is made, the rest is very simple of put together. If you don’t have time to make the paste you could use a shop bought Laksa paste but I guarantee you, the homemade stuff is SO much better!!

You only need half of the quantity of the paste that you get from the below paste ingredients for this dish. The rest can be popped in the fridge and kept for up to 2 weeks. Alternatively it can be frozen or you can do what I did and use it the next day as a marinade for chicken! The world’s your oyster.

Prawn Laksa

Serves 2 = 11sp each (Flex)

For the paste

2 red chillies, roughly chopped

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

1 small onion, roughly chopped

1 stick of fresh lemongrass (woody outer layer and bottom removed) and roughly chopped

3 lime leaves (fresh if you can get them), roughly chopped

1 tbsp fish sauce

½ tsp reduced fat peanut butter

1 tsp each turmeric, ground coriander

1/4 tsp cumin

For the Laksa

100g flat rice noodles (or your favourite type of noodle)

200ml reduced fat coconut milk

Juice of 1 lime

½ tbsp each of soft light brown sugar, fish sauce and dark soy sauce

1/2 chicken stock cube (made up with 400ml of boiling water)

200g king prawns, raw

To serve

Handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped

1 chilli, finely chopped

2 spring onions, finely chopped

1 lime, quartered

Method

Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions.

Put all the ingredients for the paste in a food processor and blend until smooth. Add a little water to loosen the paste as you are blending to make sure it goes nice and smooth.

Next take a non stick sauce pan, heat and spray with low calorie cooking spray and add half the paste (pop the rest back in the fridge). Fry for a few minutes until the aromas start to release then add the coconut milk, lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce and chicken stock. Simmer for around 5 minutes (or until your noodles are ready).

Drain the noodles and spilt between two large bowls.

Add the prawns to the laksa sauce and cook for 2-3 minutes until pink and cooked through. Split the prawns and laksa sauce evenly between the two bowls and then top both with a sprinkling of spring onions, chilli and coriander. Serve with a couple of slices of lime.

Enjoy!

The post Prawn Laksa – 11sp first appeared on Slimming Kitchen Secrets.

Ingredients

Serves 4 =0sp per serving (Flex)

1 large onion, finely chopped

450g carrots, sliced

75g split red lentils

1.2 litres vegetable stock made with 1 stock cube

1 tablespoon ground coriander

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Salt and Pepper

Method

Fry onion and carrots (seasoned with salt and pepper) for around 4-5 minutes in 1KAL and a little water. Add the ground coriander and continue to cook. Put the lentils in a small bowl and cover with water. Leave to soak while the carrots and onions are cooking and then take off any lentil that float and rise to the top. Drain lentils and add to pan with the stock. Bring the soup to the boil and simmer (with a lid on if you have it) for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper (and I popped a few crushed chillies on top!) to your taste. Enjoy!

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I blended half the soup with a stick blender and left the rest chunky but you can serve it big and chunky or totally smooth, either way its delicious, I just think its more filling having something to chew on! Serve with a tablespoon of fat free natural yoghurt if you fancy!

Ingredients

Serves: 4 = 0sp per serving (Flex)

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 sticks of celery, sliced

1 large onion, roughly chopped

1 pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

½ tsp ground cumin and ground coriander

1 vegetable stock cube

100g red lentils (dried)

Thumb sized piece of root ginger peeled and sliced

1 red chilli deseeded and sliced

4 tomatoes, roughly chopped

200g spinach

Bunch of fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Salt and Pepper

Juice of half a lemon

Method

Put the carrots, celery, onion, pepper and garlic together in a pan and spray with 1Kal. Pop over medium heat and cook for 10 minutes until the carrots have softened a bit and the onion is lightly golden. I add a bit of water to make sure the garlic doesn’t stick to the bottom on the pan and burn. Add the cumin and coriander, stir in a cook for a few more minutes.

Add the stock cube to a 1.5 litre jug of boiling water and stir until the stock is dissolved. Pour into the vegetable mixture and then add the lentils, tomatoes, ginger, and chilli. Stir the soup and bring to the boil and then simmer for around 15 minutes (or until lentils are cooked). Next add the spinach and cook for 30 seconds. Blend to your liking leaving it chunky if you like a bit more bite. Then add the fresh coriander and stir.

Season the soup well with salt and pepper and squeeze in the lemon juice!

Enjoy!

The post Spinach, Lentil and Coriander Soup – 0sp first appeared on Slimming Kitchen Secrets.

Ingredients

Serves 4 = 2sp each (Flex)

50g chorizo, roughly chopped (I used Aldi’s spicy chorizo)

1 large onion, roughly chopped

2 or 3 large carrots, peeled and chopped

¼ tsp cumin powder

Pinch of Ras el Hanout/Morrocan flavouring (if you have it), crushed chillies and cayenne pepper

2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

1 tsp smoked paprika

Pinch of sugar

125g dried red lentils

1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

600ml chicken/vegetable stock (made from one stock cube)

Method

Pop your chorizo in a large heavy based pan, spray with 1kal and fry until the oils start to release. Add the onion, carrot and cumin powder and fry for around 10 minutes until the onions are nice and soft. Add the garlic and fry for another minute and then add the paprika, chillies, Moroccan seasoning, cayenne pepper and sugar. Simmer for a few seconds and then add the lentils, tomatoes and chicken stock. Season well with salt and pepper, give a good stir and simmer for 40 minutes. Take off the heat and blend with a stick blender adding a little water as you go to loosen the soup to the consistency you like. Serve with a drizzle of fat free natural yoghurt or light sour cream!

Enjoy!

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