Category Archives: syn free

Syn free recipes

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October 3, 2014

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lunch, pasta, recipe card, syn free, vegetarian

syn free ratatouille

First of all, I’ve learned more today about vaginal pessaries today than I ever thought possible. Decency forbids me saying more but jaysus.

You know, it must be so easy to make a Gordon Ramsey cookery show. He turns up, you get a few shots of his face looking like an unmade bed, he huffs and puffs, they paint the eatery a shade of cream and chuck a few linen tablecloths around, and you’re done. His new show has to be the cheapest programme yet but still quite watchable, if only to laugh at posh people falling on their arse.

Anyway, that’s not why we are here, is it? Just a quick one from me today, as yet again I have been working late so it’s a quick supper. This is a perfect quick meal because you’re essentially just roasting veg, boiling pasta and adding a creamy sauce. You can beef it out with the usual superfree heroes – peppers, onions, most veg, peas, any old shite you can in the vegetable drawer. Recipe…

to make syn free ratatouille, you’ll need:

Paul and I are going to have a ban on chips next week, but they’re so easy with an Actifry!

Not going to lie, I’m not expecting to lose next week, I have done nothing but pick at sweets all day because my desk is surrounded by them and, working late, means I get so hungry! There’s no reason of course to pick at sweets, so next week I’m going to cover a few snacks.

Anyway. I’ve got to go to bed early as I need to be up again at 7am to take the car for a new tyre. I know what you’re thinking, it surprises me too that I’m so fat with this rock and roll lifestyle! Hey, do me a favour though if you’re enjoying this blog, and share share share! My readership is creeping up sons aim thankful to each of you for that! Sleep well.

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October 2, 2014

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fakeaways, greek, lunch, pulses and grains, recipe card, savoury snacks, snacks, syn free, taster ideas, vegetarian

taboulleh salad

Firstly, let’s dispense with all the flimflam and get today’s recipe card out of the way – I’m in a rush because I’m clandestinely typing out this entry whilst sitting in one of the traps at work, and if anyone hears me waxing lyrical via my iPad I’ll get my fingers broken. Plus I’m typing quickly as I don’t want to be away from my desk for too long in case people suspect I’m voiding myself. Ah look! I’ve already fallen into the too much typing…

I decided to give this a whirl because I love couscous and needed an upgrade. Plus, everytime Paul asked me what I was making, I could turn dramatically and go ‘WHOOOOOA-OH, TABOULLEH-TABOULLEH-TABOULLEH-yadda-yaaa’ like Kate Bush pretty much did.

to make taboulleh salad, you’ll need:

taboulleh

This is absolutely bloody delicious – genuinely one of my favourite recipes that I’ve found so far. Simple enough – boil the bulger wheat for 30 mins in the stock, sieve and leave to dry out. Chop up everything else and chuck it into the bulger wheat. Add very finely chopped mint and leave it to sit so all the flavours absorb. It tastes fresh, you can add peppers and mushrooms (raw, finely diced, cooked wouldn’t be all that – it would look bad and smell of farts, like an embittered shut-in) to up your superfree intake, and as long as you use the reduced fat feta as your healthy extra B choice, you’re laughing.

This is perfect for a lunchtime meal to take into the office, as you can keep it at home in a big bowl and it’ll last two days, getting nicer the longer you leave it.

Now, as an aside, I get a lot of compliments on my lunchbox. I do! It’s shiny. See?

frozzypack2

It’s called a Frozzypack, and to be fair, I only bought it because it sounded like Prozzyfack, which in turn sounds like something you’d get behind a skip on an industrial estate in Middlesbrough. No, these lunchboxes (£20 or so) have a built in gel in the lid – you chuck the lid in the freezer and the gel sets solid, which, when you then put the lid on your salad, will keep it cool and crispy until you come to it at lunch. They come in all sorts of colours. In the interest of fairness and equality, you can buy cheap versions of these from Poundland or Wilkinsons or similar, but the Wilkinsons in Newcastle is dog-rough so I don’t bother. I’ve almost seen people coming to blows over a multipack of Bloo. Plus, it looks elegant and the hard shell design means it survives a good beating. Fnar.

Back to work. Can you believe I’m working overtime again. No wonder I’m losing weight, I’ve never got any fucking time to eat! BAH.

J

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September 26, 2014

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breast, fakeaways, indian, poultry, recipe card, syn free

syn free chicken korma

A minor catastrophe this morning. Having been asked to go into work early, I find that my wonderful work colleague has kindly left me a pain au chocolat and croissant on my desk, still warm and freshly baked as compensation for the early start. Now, if I had wanted to be a rude arse, I would have declined and stuck to my banana (er, as in the fruit, not a euphemism for wanking) but because you ‘fit Slimming World into your life’ I took the pain au chocolat and enjoyed every last buttery morsel. My colleagues are used to me spraying crumbs everywhere when I talk so that was no great problem. 12 syns! But worth it. I did give my croissant away, and spent the next twenty minutes crying curled up in a foetal positions in the gents. Generosity doesn’t come easy to me! Anyway, today’s recipe.

BTW, I think Paul got sick of me shouting SAAAAAGALOOOOO like Olivia Newton-John’s Xanadu about four minutes into cooking. He should be grateful I didn’t come wheeling into the kitchen dressed in Bacofoil and wearing skates.

I apologise for the standard of photos in this recipe card. It’s quite hard to make a curry look appetising when you’re using fromage frais rather than oil! It does, unfortunately, look like someone has been sick into my Le Creuset pot. Let me tell you now, if that happened they’d find themselves detesticled quicker than you can say boiled eggs. Both the saag aloo and the korma are completely syn-free on extra easy and I’ve included the spice mixes after the recipe as they’re quite comprehensive. My favourite spice? Ginger. Wrecked the fucking group when she left, mind – Holler was NOTHING.

Halftone

to make syn free chicken korma

The full recipe can be found in Slimming World’s fakeaways recipe book, which is genuinely really good. Both the korma and saag aloo are a case of preparing the meat or potatoes, adding spices, adding stock, boiling down and for the korma, a couple of dollops of fromage frais (let the sauce cool before adding or it’ll curdle and look like a pavement pizza).

Saag aloo spices: 2tsp cumin seeds, 2tsp black mustard seeds, 1tsp cumin, 1tsp ground coriander, 1/2tsp turemic, 1/2tsp garam masala, 1/2tsp chilli powder

Korma: 1 cinnamon stick, 1tsp cardamom seeds (crushed), 1/4tsp ground cloves, 2tsp cumin seeds, 1tbsp ground coriander, 1tbsp ground cumin, 2tsp mild curry powder.

It’s worth getting yourself a good range of spices if you haven’t already. They’re a great way to add flavour without adding syns to a meal, and a small amount goes a long, long way.

warning: take heed of the warning about the fromage frais, because it looks bloody rotten if it curdles. You can still eat it but there’s no guarantee your body won’t think it’s already tried it and chucked it. Nothing else to say here, you can’t go too wrong with a curry as long as you’re not pouring bloody Gold Top into it.

extra-easy: completely syn-free. chuck it full of peppers, onion, tomatoes and chilli to boost your superfree.

double warning: Paul accidentally used red-hot chilli peppers instead of the milder version, so that’ll be me on the toilet firing a chocolate laser out of my nipsy tomorrow. Cheers love!

Enjoy!

J

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September 25, 2014

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fakeaways, fast food restaurants, low syn, lunch, recipe card, syn free

Slimming World subway

One of my constant challenges with any diet (actually, even when I’m not dieting) is what to have for lunch. I work in a job which often requires me to be at my desk even through my lunch (boo) and I’m too fat and lazy to make my lunch the night before. Luckily, there’s a Subway right next door. Fun fact: I once got thrown out of a Subway for drunkenly demanding a ‘chicken tickilicki’ and passing out on the floor. Mind, that’s nothing compared to why I was once chucked out of a Yates Wine Lodge – let’s just say THAT wasn’t a syn-free mouthful of pork – classy.

Now, you might associate Subway with sandwiches and whatnot, and you’d be a fool to go waltzing in expecting to fill your maw with bread and get away with it. Simply put, you can’t. Well you can, but it will cost you in syns big-time, with the wheat, Italian or ‘hearty Italian’ ringing in at 9 syns a pop for a six incher. Blimey. No, they also do salad bowls, and this is what I have:

Subway salad

Admittedly, it kinda looks like I’ve got so excited about the prospect of eating a salad that I’ve spaffed all over it, but I can assure you that I haven’t – that’s honey and mustard dressing. My Subway salad consists of tomatoes, plain chicken, jalapeno, green pepper, lettuce, olives, gherkins and cucumber. I count 1 syn for the smattering of sliced olives (but you could miss them out) and 2 syns for the sauce, which is their lowest calorie option. You could always make your own dressing or buy a syn-free version (vinegar based fat-free dressings are usually free, certainly the Kraft fat-free french dressing is, but always double check) to add, but I can’t be faffed on carrying around a bottle of dressing! Remember: syns are to be used, and it’s about fitting Slimming World into your life, not your life into Slimming World. CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN BABY.

The key thing to remember here is that everything in that salad, bar the olives and chicken, is a superfree food, so you’re really going to speed up your weight loss – and best of all, it’s only £3.29. A decent option for a town lunch.

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September 23, 2014

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beef, beef mince, budget, burgers, fakeaways, recipe card, syn free

the best Slimming World burgers

eight syns for the lot, but it’s worth noting that you can make this meal entirely syn-free by only having one burger and forgoing the condiments, but remember, you have syns – and what is life if you can’t syn it on a meal? I hardly drink anymore since turning a fetching yellow in college (a gentle mustard is how I’d describe myself) so I choose to use the syns on pepping up a meal every now and then.

Here’s the recipe, then:

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these burgers are the shizzle though. We call them Geordie Boorgahs, because Paul finds my geordie accent hilarious, even though I’ve barely got one. Before he moved to Newcastle he thought everyone up here spoke like Byker Grove (pronounced By-ka Gruurve). I think he thinks I’m Burger Barry, as evidenced here on Harry Hill.

ingredients: lean mince, onion powder, salt and pepper, mixed herbs, garlic powder – you can chuck any old shite in really (really channeling that Nigella lexicography now) but that works for us, for the coleslaw it’s half a red cabbage, two carrots and a red onion, mixed with as much FAT-FREE fromage frais and lemon juice as you dare, and for the wedges just throw some sweet potato wedges into the Actifry of Wonder.

recipe for burgers: add meat mince to bowl with seasonings, blend by hand, mince by nature, shape into little burgers and stick them under the grill until they’re brown. open your buns, slap the meat in, add mustard and ketchup, we add tomato, onions, gherkins and rocket to ours and stick a wooden skewer through the lot to hold it together.

recipe for coleslaw: painstakingly shred your cabbage, carrot, onion and fingertips into a bowl, or cheat and use the grating function on your fancypants Magimix whilst mopping your brow and having a fit of the vapours. Add your wet ingredients, season to taste.

recipe for wedges: now come on.

extra-easy: yes – but be careful. We use our Healthy Extra A choice for the cheese (28g) across the two burgers and our healthy extra B for ONE breadbun. If you’re greedy like us, you’ll have two burgers, so you’ll need to syn your second bun – 6.5 syns. Add two syns for your condiments as long as you’re not someone who is common enough to drown your food in ketchup, and that comes to 8.5 syns for the meal. You could very easily have one bun, not bother with condiments and forgo the cheese, but I mean, haway. You could pull up the carpet and chew on that, but it doesn’t mean you should!

warning: careful with the mince. 5% fat or under is syn-free. You’ll find that extra lean mince has been phased out thanks to the Illuminati or something, so double check the fat content, because anything higher and the syn bounces right up!

top tips: you can really go to town with gussying these burgers up – why not add an egg (syn-free, fried in Frylight), or bacon (fat cut off, grilled), or a big old mushroom, or sliced peppers? In fact, the more you put onto the burger, the fuller you’ll be, so you might not NEED two burgers…

We’ve been weighed – I’m going to post the results when my new copy of Photoshop arrives and I can fanny about for an hour making a little picture. As you do.

If you’re enjoying these, please let me know!

J