chickpeas - Slimming Kitchen Secrets

Chorizo, Chickpea and Spinach Stew – 3sp

lakettle — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 10:36:22 +0000

I’m a little bit obsessed with chickpeas at the minute. They are quick to cook and so tasty so I’ve been experimenting with them in salad, stews and the like. Last night, after forgetting to defrost any meat, I thought I would try chickpeas in a stew with chorizo and this recipe was the result. It was so quick to make, absolutely delicious and a perfect ‘summery’ stew. I had it on its own but the OH had it with a little bit of quick cook fusilli. If you wanted to make it more substantial again, you could slice some new potatoes, par boil and then pop them into the stew just after you add the tomatoes or even just have some nice crusty bread (don’t forget to add the extra sp’s!).

Ingredients

Serves 4 = 3sp (Flex) per serving

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 large carrots, peeled and finely diced

1 stick of celery, finely diced

3 peppers, deseeded and diced

3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced

1/2 tsp thyme

2 or 3 bay leaves

60g chorizo, diced

1 tsp smoked paprika

¼ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp crushed chillies

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 x tin of chopped tomatoes

1 x chicken stock cube

1 x 400g tin of chickpeas in water, drained

400g bag of spinach, washed

1 lemon

4 tbsp half fat sour cream (1 per person)

Handful of fresh basil, chopped

Method

Pop your onions in a large frying pan, spray with low cal cooking spray and fry for 5 minutes until onions start to soften. Next add your carrot, celery and pepper and cook for another few minutes. Add a splash of water to stop everything sticking and season with salt and pepper. Next add the garlic, thyme, bay leaves and chorizo and fry for another minute or two. Next add the smoked paprika, cinnamon and crushed chillies, stir in and then add the red wine vinegar. Leave to simmer for a minute and then add the chopped tomatoes and crumble in the stock cube with a tin (using the tomato tin) of boiling water. Leave to simmer for 10 minutes to let all the flavours infuse and the sauce reduce a little (if you are having potatoes, pasta etc with your stew, pop them on at this point).

After ten minutes, remove the bay leaves, add your chickpeas and warm through for a few minutes. Then add your bag of spinach, a squeeze of lemon and stir, letting the spinach wilt a little.

Serve in a nice big bowl, topped with a tsp of sour cream, a slice of lemon and a little basil leave for decoration.

Enjoy!

The post Chorizo, Chickpea and Spinach Stew – 3sp first appeared on Slimming Kitchen Secrets.

Chorizo, Halloumi and Chickpea Salad with Roasted Vine Tomatoes – 7sp

lakettle — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 13:18:42 +0000

This weekend I made a three course meal and, as we were having pasta for the main course (my lovely Venetian Duck Ragu recipe), I thought to avoid that overfull feeling, starting off with a light but tasty salad would be the way to go. When I started to think about salad combos, I thought that this salad, being a combination of some of my favourite foods, would be a real treat and, as luck would have it, I had most of the ingredients in my cupboards already. It’s a delicious salad which my OH (who claimed previously to dislike halloumi and chickpeas) wolfed down in about thirty seconds. The roasted vine tomatoes are amazing and add a different element to the salad which everyone loved. I served the salad in bowls as it keeps all the ingredients together nicely.

Ingredients

Serves 4 = 7sp (previously 6pp) each

Pack of vine tomatoes (I do six tomatoes per person)

Drizzle of balsamic vingar

3 or 4 garlic cloves, unpeeled and bashed with the flat part of a knife

1 red pepper, deseeded and thinly sliced

60g chorizo, sliced

1 x 240g tin of chickpeas, drained

120g light halloumi (I used Tesco’s)

1 x bag of salad (whichever you prefer, I used spinach, watercress and rocket)

1 lemon sliced in half and one half sliced into another four (for dressing at the end)

Red wine vinegar

Fat free natural/greek yoghurt

Method

Pop your oven on to 180c. Put your vine tomatoes in a baking dish, splash balsamic vinegar over the top, scatter garlic around and season with salt and pepper. Put in the oven, uncovered for 1 hour.

When your tomatoes have 15 minutes to go, put a good handful of salad leaves in four bowls and pop your red pepper in a frying pan, spray with 1kal and fry for a minute or two. Then add the drained chickpeas and chorizo and fry for another five minutes. Add a little water if the pepper starts to stick. Squeeze in a little lemon juice, give a good stir and then distribute between the four bowls, topping the salad leaves.

In the same pan, fry your halloumi for a minute or two on each side until it starts to get a nice colour then add this to your salad bowls.

Dress each salad with a small capful of red wine vinegar and add a few drops of fat free yoghurt.

Take your tomatoes out of the oven, pop on top of the salad and then pour the bubbly balsamic juices over the finished dish. Serve with a little slice of lemon.

Enjoy!

The post Chorizo, Halloumi and Chickpea Salad with Roasted Vine Tomatoes – 7sp first appeared on Slimming Kitchen Secrets.