You can serve with regular spaghetti if you prefer, just remember to add the points. If I have spaghetti with this dish I usually have 60g per person for a total of 12sp. Pop the spaghetti on to cook just after you have added the meatballs to the sauce.

Speedy Tomatoey Italian Meatballs

Serves 2 = 6sp per serving (Flex)

Ingredients

1 onion, peeled and sliced

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

2 red peppers, deseeded and sliced

2 tsp each paprika and oregano

½ tbsp balsamic vinegar

Pinch of crushed chillies (to taste)

400g tin chopped tomatoes

Pinch of sugar

2 tbsp parmesan, grated

10 lean mini beef meatballs (I used Sainsbury’s 10% fat mini meatballs

Handful of fresh spinach and basil, roughly chopped

Pack of BNS noodles

Method

Take a large frying pan, spray with 1kal and add the onions, peppers and garlic frying on a medium heat for 5-6 minutes until the onions start to soften (add a little water if the pan starts getting a bit dry).

Next add the paprika, oregano, crushed chillies and balsamic vinegar. Stir, fry for another minute and add the chopped tomatoes. Add a pinch of sugar, 100ml water and stir. Next add the meatballs into the sauce (raw), in one layer so that they are surrounded by the sauce. Leave to simmer for 5 minutes without touching.

After five minutes, turn the meatballs so the uncooked side is submerged in the sauce. Leave to simmer for another 6-7 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through. Finally, season with salt and pepper, add the basil and spinach and let wilt and get ready to serve.

I have these meatballs with butternut squash noodles. I buy them pre spiralised in Sainsbury’s and they just need 3 minutes in the microwave to cook. Pop half the pack in the bottom of a pasta bowl, top with the tomatoey meatball sauce and finish with 10g grated parmesan per person.

Enjoy!

The post Speedy Tomatoey Italian Meatballs – 6sp first appeared on Slimming Kitchen Secrets.

The sauce feels really luxurious even though the whole thing is only 11sp and the kale gives it a lovely crunchy and fresh lift.

If you can’t get any Heck sausages, you could replace them with 350g diced chicken breast, frying as you would the sausages at the same point. This would make the dish 9sp per serving.

Creamy Baked Chicken and Kale Gnocchi

Serves 4 = 11sp per serving (Flex)

Ingredients

1 pack of Heck Chicken Sausages

½ tsp paprika and crushed chillies

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2 peppers, deseeded and finely diced

1 box of chestnut mushrooms, sliced (optional)

1 tsp plain flour

1 chicken stock cube, made up with 200 ml of boiling water

1 tbsp sun dried tomato pesto (or any pesto you fancy)

100ml white wine (optional)

4 tsp half fat crème fraiche

500g bag of kale

500g pack of gnocchi

40g half fat mature cheddar, grated

20g parmesan, grated

Method

Preheat the oven to 180c.

Squeeze the sausages out of their skins and crumble into a large frying pan. Season well, add the paprika and crushed chillies and fry on a medium/high heat in 1kal for 5-6 minutes until the sausage meat starts to brown and is cooked through. Remove the sausage meat from the pan.

In the same pan fry the onions for 5 minutes until 1kal until they start to soften and then add the peppers, garlic and mushrooms and fry for another few minutes. Add the flour, stir through and fry for another minute.

Next add the stock, wine and pesto and simmer for a few minutes until the sauce starts to thicken. Add the crème fraiche and the sausages back to the pan, stir and turn the heat down to low. Continue to warm while you prepare the kale and gnocchi.

Fill a large pan with salted boiling water. Add the kale and simmer for 4 minutes, then add the gnocchi to the same pan and simmer for 3 minutes until the gnocchi rises to the surface. Drain the gnocchi and kale and then add the creamy sauce.

Tip everything into a baking dish, top with the half fat cheese and parmesan and then pop into the oven for 15 minutes to bake.

Serve with a nice green side salad.

Enjoy!

The post Creamy Baked Chicken and Kale Gnocchi – 11sp first appeared on Slimming Kitchen Secrets.

I’ve included a few cashew nuts in this recipe as it really gives it a nice different taste however if you don’t fancy them, just leave them out and the whole recipe becomes 8sp per person.

Ingredients

Serves 2 = 9sp per serving (Flex)

For the Chicken

100g cooked chicken breast, shredded

100ml fat free greek/natural yoghurt

2 tbsp curry paste (I used Patak’s chicken tikka paste)

Juice of half a lime

For the pizza

2 x Weight Watchers Wraps (or a Warburton’s Square Wrap)

4 tbsp tomato puree

1 green pepper, sliced

1 red onion, peeled and finely sliced

10 unsalted cashew nuts, roughly crushed (optional)

½ ball of light mozzarella

To finish

100ml fat free greek/natural yoghurt mixed with 1 tsp mint sauce

Other half of the lime above, quartered

Handful of coriander leaves, roughly chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 180c and pop two pizza baking trays inside to warm up.

Add the marinade ingredients to the chicken and let marinade for a while (around 1 hour if you have time), if not, just mix together and pop to one side.

Take the pizza tray out the oven, spray with 1kal and pop the wrap down on the tray. Top with 2 tbsp tomato puree per wrap then scatter over the onion, peppers, cashew nuts and chicken. Evenly distribute the mozzarella and then pop in the oven for around 10 -12 minutes.

Remove from the oven and pop onto a plate. Top with a drizzle of the mint yoghurt, squeeze over the rest of the lime and scatter over the fresh coriander.

Enjoy!

The post Fakeaway Chicken Tikka Pizza – 9sp first appeared on Slimming Kitchen Secrets.

Ingredients

Serves 4 = 6sp per serving (Flex)

4 x slices of crusty bread (I used 4 x 25g slices of Tiger Loaf which are 2sp per slice)

2 tsp light spread

1 large garlic clove, peeled and crushed

1 tbsp green pesto

100g goats cheese, sliced into 1/2cm slices

4 large tomatoes, diced in a bowl and seasoned with salt and black pepper mixed with a handful of fresh basil leaves, shredded

Drizzle of balsamic glaze

Method

Pre heat the oven to 180c. Mix the garlic into the light spread until the spread is nice and soft, then spread evenly over each of the four slices of crusty bread. Pop in the oven for 5-10 minutes until the bread starts to brown nicely and the spread melts into it.

Remove from the oven and top each slice of bread with ¼ tbsp green pesto. Arrange the goat’s cheese slices evenly across the top of the pesto and then top with the tomato/basil mixture. Finish with a drizzle of balsamic glaze.

Serve on top of a few rocket leaves if you fancy, or just pop straight onto the plate.

Enjoy!

The post Goat’s Cheese and Pesto Bruschetta – 6sp first appeared on Slimming Kitchen Secrets.

If you don’t want to fiddle on making to meatball yourself you could use shop bought meatballs and use all the mozzarella on top to bake it. If you do have the time I would highly recommend giving these ago. I made up enough meatballs for four people (20 meatballs) and left half (10) uncooked in the fridge for tea the next day.

If you prefer the sauce wet and saucy, use passata, if you like it a bit more dry, use the chopped tomatoes.

Ingredients

Serves 4 = 12sp (previously 12pp) each

For the sauce

1 onion, finely sliced

2 or 3 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2 peppers, deseeded and sliced

¼ tsp crushed chillies (1/2 a tsp if you like it spicy)

1 tsp oregano

125ml red wine

2 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes (or large box of passata)

¼ tsp sugar

1 chicken stock cube

1 bay leaf

Basil leaves (optional)

For the meatballs

1 egg

500g extra lean beef mince (5% fat)

2 sliced of bread, toasted and wizzed into breadcrumbs 

50ml red wine

1 tsp oregano and sage

½ tsp rosemary and thyme

Splash of balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp parmesan

125g half fat mozzarella ball

160g spaghetti

Method

Preheat the oven to 180c.

Begin by making the sauce. Spray a sauce pan with 1kal and fry the onions until they start to soften. Then add the peppers, garlic, crushed chillies and oregano, stir and fry for another few minutes. Add the wine, tomatoes (or passata), stock cube, sugar and bay leaf. Season well with salt and pepper and leave to simmer on a low heat while you make the meatballs.

Pop the breadcrumbs into a large mixing bowl. Add 50ml red wine, stir and leave to absorb for a few minutes. Add the herbs, balsamic vinegar and 1 tbsp parmesan to the bread crumbs and give a stir. Then add the mince and get your hands in there to combine everything nicely. Add the egg and again, combine well.  Split the mixture into 20 rough meatball shapes.

Take the mozzarella ball and chop into 1cm square cubes. This will give you more than 20 squares so there will be some left over to bake on top. Then take each meatball in turn, flatten in one hand, pop a cube of mozzarella in the middle and shape the meat around it to seal the cheese. Roll between both hands so you have a nice round shape. Repeat this for all 20 meatballs.

Next take a large oven proof frying pan and, in batches if necessary, spray with 1kal and fry the meatballs until browned on the outside.  If you don’t have an oven proof frying pan, once browned pop the meatballs into a large baking dish. Pour the sauce, which should now have reduced slightly to a thicker ragu, over the meatballs.

Pop in the oven for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, top with the mozzarella and bake for another 15 minutes. Pop the spaghetti on when you put the meatballs back in the oven.

Serve the spaghetti topped with the melting meatball sauce. Top with a few basil leaves. When you cut into the meatballs they should be cooked through with cheese oozing out. Delish!

Enjoy!

The post Melting Mozzarella Meatballs – 12sp first appeared on Slimming Kitchen Secrets.