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 result was delicious. The meatballs are so tasty and flavoursome and the orzo is lovely and rich and smooth. This is a great recipe to make for kids (if you omit the crushed chillies and wine) as it’s an easy one pot dish with lovely simple flavours.

Ingredients

Serves 4 = 10sp per serving (Flex)

For the Meatballs

1 pack of Heck Chicken Italia Sausages (I got mine in Tesco but you can order them on their website too!)

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 spring onions, finely chopped

1 slice of day old bread (or fresh bread toasted), whizzed into breadcrumbs

Pinch of crushed chillies

Salt and pepper

For the Orzo

1 red onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

200g orzo, dried

Small glass of white wine (125ml) (Optional)

½ tsp paprika

Pinch of crushed chillies

2 tbsp sundried tomato pesto

400g tin chopped tomatoes

1 chicken stock cube made up with 400ml boiling water

80g frozen peas

1 tbsp parmesan

To serve

2 spring onions, finely sliced

1 tbsp parmesan

Method

Squeeze the sausage meat of the skins and pop into a large mixing bowl. Add the garlic, spring onions, breadcrumbs, crushed chillies and salt and pepper and give a good mix so it is well combined.

Roll the meat mixture into 16 smallish meatballs. Spray a large frying pan with 1kal, pop onto a medium heat and fry the meatballs for 5-7 minutes until nicely browned on the outside. Remove from the pan and pop onto a plate to one side.

In the same frying pan, spray again with 1kal and add the red onion, frying for 5-6 minutes until soft. Add a splash of water if the onion looks like it is drying out. Add the garlic and fry for another minute and then add the orzo, stirring in until well combined. Fry for another minutes and then add the wine. Simmer until reduced by half and then add then paprika, crushed chillies, pesto, tomatoes and 200ml of the chicken stock. Add the meatballs back to the pan. Simmer on a low heat for 12 minutes. Stir regularly and when it looks like the orzo has absorbed a lot of the water, add a little more chicken stock bit by bit. You should use all the stock after around 12 minutes. Once the orzo and meatballs are cooked through, add the peas and simmer for another 2 minutes until they warm through.

Remove from the heat and stir through 1 tbsp parmesan.

Serve in a pasta bowl and top with spring onion slices and a little more parmesan.

Enjoy!

The post Chicken Meatballs with Sundried Tomato Orzo – 10sp 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.

Ingredients

Sauce Serves 4 = 6sp (previously 5pp) each

n.b I serve this with 60g tagliatelle per person so the whole meal is 12sp

1 x pack of Venison Meatballs (I got mine from Aldi, you get 12 in a pack and they are 1pp per meatball!)

2 x onions, sliced

2 x carrots, peeled and roughly diced

2 x stick of celery, roughly diced

4 x cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

2 x peppers (colour of your choice), deseeded and diced

1 x box of mushrooms, sliced (I use chestnut)

100g tomato puree (around half a tube)

200ml red wine

400ml beef/chicken stock made with 1 stock cube (whichever you prefer, both are lovely)

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped (or dry if you don’t have fresh)

1 x bay leaf

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

Grating of nutmeg

¼ tsp sugar

Salt and Pepper

1 tbsp single cream (optional)

A few crushed chillies (optional but I love spice!)

Method

Take a large frying pan, spray with low cal cooking spray and fry your meatballs for 10-12 minutes until nicely browned on the outside. Take off the heat and pop to one side.

Meanwhile, in a large sauce pan, spray with low cal cooking spray and fry the onions for 3-4 minutes until they start to soften. Add a splash of water if needed to stop everything sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add the carrots and celery and cook for another few minutes and then add the peppers and mushrooms. Cook for another two minutes and then add the tomato puree. Give this a good stir and then cook for around 5 minutes until the tomato puree has nicely cooked and soaked into all of the vegetables.

Next add the red wine and leave to simmer for a minute or two. Then add the stock along with the oregano, rosemary, cinnamon, nutmeg and bay leaf. Give a good stir, add the sugar and season well with salt and pepper. Pop the meatballs back into the sauce and then leave the whole thing to simmer on medium for around half an hour. The ragu sauce should start to reduce nicely. If you find your sauce is still to watery after 25 minutes, turn up the heat a little and this will help the reduction process along.

After your sauce has been cooking for around 15 minute, pop your pasta on to boil. This way it should be cooked by the time your sauce is ready.

Once everything is cooked, add the cream to the meatball sauce, stir and season again (if you need your sauce a little looser, add a splash of pasta water and stir in). Remove the bay leaf. Add a good grating of fresh parmesan (optional and no more than ½ tbsp) stir and voila!

Pop your pasta into bowls and serve the venison meatballs, three per person. Top with the sauce and finish with a fine grating of parmesan!

Enjoy!

The post Venison Meatballs in a Red Wine Ragu Sauce – 6sp first appeared on Slimming Kitchen Secrets.

Ingredients

Serves 4 = 11sp (previously 11pp) each

For the meatballs

450g extra lean turkey mince

2 spring onion, very finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

Pinch of crushed chillies

1 tsp oregano

Finely grated zest of one lemon

For the sauce

2 red onion, thinly sliced

1 pepper, thinly sliced

1 clove of garlic, chopped

Pinch of caster sugar

Pinch of crushed chillies (and a dash of Tabasco if you like it spicy)

2 tsp oregano

400g box of passata

100g light feta cheese, finely crumbled

80g light mozzarella cheese

1 spring onion, sliced

200g pasta of your choice (I used tagliatelle)

Method

Pre heat your oven to 180c.

Into a large bowl add your spring onions, garlic, crushed chillies, oregano (1 tsp) lemon and turkey mince. Season well with salt and pepper and get your hands in there to give everything a good mix.

Once nicely combined, take tablespoon sized lumps and roll into some nice meatball shapes. Using this much mince gives you 16 meatballs.

Spray a large frying pan with low cal cooking spray and cook the meatballs for around 5 minutes until they start to nicely brown (if you have a small frying pan you might need to do this in two batches). Once all the meatballs are cooked, remove from the pan and pop to one side on a plate.

To the same frying pan add some more low cal spray and a drop of water and fry your onions and peppers until the onions are nice and soft. Then add your garlic and cook for a few more minutes. Then add your passata, pinch of sugar, pinch of crushed chillies, 2 tsp oregano and a good seasoning of salt and pepper, add the meatballs (and a small splash of water if you prefer yours saucy, we like it thick) and leave to simmer for 10 minutes.

At this point pop your kettle on and weigh out your pasta ready for cooking. If you are having linguine/tagliatelle like we did then pop this on to cook for 12 minutes.

Whilst the pasta is cooking, pop your feta on top of your meatballs, season with black pepper and then top with your mozzarella. Pop in the oven for 10 minutes (or until your pasta is ready and the cheese is nice and melty).

Serve the lovely meatballs on top of your pasta, add some salad leaves and dress with a slice of lemon for squeezing. The lemon really adds a nice flavour so try and include it if you can.

Enjoy!

The post Greek Turkey Meatballs – 11sp first appeared on Slimming Kitchen Secrets.