Meatball Pasta Bake

Well it's been a while, but the madness of work has settled down and I've actually found time to update the blog.  As you know from previous blog posts, about a month and a half ago I started on Weight Watchers, and very successful it has been too.  To date I am one pound shy of having lost a stone and have lost 5% of my body weight...go me!

The weight loss success has been in part, down to a couple of weight watchers cookbooks that I have.  My mum bought me "Weight Watchers Book of Recipes" and then I bought the "Weight Watchers Seriously Satisfying" cookbook.  This meatball pasta bake recipe comes from the Seriously Satisfying book.  I was quite pleased and surprised to find that this recipe only had 10 ProPoints per serving - normally pasta dishes are quite high especially if they have beef in them!  

I often find that living with someone who isn't on a diet can be quite hard - sometimes you see a recipe that looks tasty but you know that the other person wont eat it (usually because it lacks meat..eat a vegetarian dish you say..never!), so you either end up making two meals or cooking something else entirely.  I don't have any children but I can imagine it's the same difficulty, so this dish is great because the whole family can enjoy it.

The recipe below serves 4 and you will need:

• 400g (or 14oz) of extra lean beef mince
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• calorie controlled cooking spray
• 175g (or 6oz) dried penne pasta
• 2 x 400g tins of tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons tomato ketchup
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 125g pack light mozzarella, drained and torn into chunks
• Salt and Pepper

In a large bowl mix together the mince, some of the onion, parsley, basil and a little bit of the garlic.  Add some seasoning and then shape into walnut sized balls.  You should get around 16 balls, depending on how big or small you make them.

Spray a non stick frying pan with the cooking spray and heat until hot.  Add the meatballs and cook for 7 to 8 minutes until browned all over.  Don't worry if they aren't cooked all the way through as they will continue to cook when they are in the oven.  Once sealed, remove from the pan and set to one side.

Bring a pan of water up to boil and add your pasta, cooking as per the instructions.  Meanwhile, in the same pan you used to sear the meatballs, add the rest of the onion and fry gently for a couple of minutes.  Add the chopped tomatoes, ketchup, balsamic vinegar and the rest of the garlic. Season with a little salt and pepper and leave to cook for a few minutes until the flavours have chance to combine a little.

Once your pasta has cooked, drain it and add it to the sauce.  Add the meatballs into the frying pan and stir it together - I found this the easiest way to do it rather than trying to mix it all in the ovenproof dish as it usually goes all over the place.  Transfer the sauce/meatball/pasta mix from the frying pan into the ovenproof dish.  Top the mixture with the torn mozzarella cheese and bake in the oven at 190 degrees/170 fan oven/gas mark 5 for 25 minutes until the cheese is bubbling.

Serve with some seasonal salad leaves

Lamb and Feta burgers

With loads of changes going on recently, I have somewhat neglected the blog and been sticking to recipes I have made before, with little enthusiasm for making anything new.  But, I did manage to find some time to make some of these burgers.  I normally make my own burgers as they taste much nicer than shop bought or frozen ones but they are normally made from beef.  Then I came across these Lamb and Feta burgers on the Weight Watchers i-phone app, which I thought was a brilliant combination and don't know why I hadn't thought of it before since I really like Greek food.  The recipe below serves 4 (or 2 hungry people!) and each serving (with Tzatziki and pitta) is 11 pro points

To make the burgers you will need:

• 500g lean lamb mince (125g per person)
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon mint
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• 1 onion, very finely chopped
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Salt and Pepper
• 4 Pitta Bread (if you are on WW use WW wholemeal pitta breads)
• 1 tablespoon shop bought Tzatziki (or make your own if you can be bothered)
• 85g Feta Cheese, crumbled

In a large mixing bowl, add the lamb, onion, garlic, mint, parsley and feta.  Add a dash of Worcestershire sauce and season with a little salt and pepper.  Mix everything together - get  your hands in there and squish it all about!!

Once mixed together, separate the mixture into four equal pieces.  Take one piece and roll it into a ball, then flatten it out between your hands into a burger shape.  Repeat with the other 3 pieces.

Place the burgers on a baking tray and set to one side.  Place your pitta bread under a medium grill to warm through for a couple of minutes.  Remove from the grill and place the burgers under for around 10 minutes - turning after 5 minutes.

Once cooked, cut each burger in half and serve 2 halves in a pitta bread (it fits better that way!)with whatever salad you fancy and a tablespoon of Tzatziki.  Yum!! 

Heston's Cod with Leek and Potato Sauce

I saw this recipe on an advert for Waitrose - Heston Blumenthal was in Iceland talking about line caught cod and at the end you see him briefly making this recipe.  As soon as I saw this, I instantly wanted to make it.  I've changed this round slightly from the original recipe but if you want to see the original recipe click here. The fish goes beautifully with the leek and potato sauce. If you are following Weight Watchers each serving is 9 pro points.

To make the dish for 2 you will need:

• 1 small potato, peeled and finely diced
• 12 baby new potatoes
• 1/2 onion, peeled and finely sliced
• 1 leek, finely sliced
• 200 ml fish stock
• 1 tablespoon half fat creme fraiche
• 2 cod fillets
• 2 teaspoons, dried parsley
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

In a pan fry off the onion, leek and diced potato in the olive oil for 10-12 minutes.  Add the fish stock to the pan and continue to cook for a further 8-10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

Meanwhile, Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees or gas mark 6.  Boil some water for your baby new potatoes and cook them for 15-20 minutes until tender.  Place the cod in some tin foil and wrap it up in a parcel.  Place on the baking tray and put in the oven to cook for twenty minutes.

Once the potatoes are tender, add some creme fraiche to the pan and season with the parsley, salt and pepper.  Simmer gently for a few minutes. 

Use a hand blender or a normal blender to liquidise the leeks, onions and potato. Keep warm until your new potatoes and fish are cooked.  Once the new potatoes are cooked, drain them and slice them in half. 

Pour some of the liquidised leek and potato onto a warm plate.  Add the halved new potatoes and top with the cod fillet.  Spoon a little bit more of the sauce on top of the cod and sprinkle with some dried (or fresh if you have it) parsley.  Now the picture below does not look as good as Heston's finished dish but then I'm not a professional chef.. I had a go though and it was delicious.

                                    Mine                                                   Heston's

Mum's Spaghetti Bolognaise

As my last post was about a dish I first made when I was young, I thought I would blog about the other dish that I first learnt to cook when I was younger - my mum's spaghetti bolognaise.  It was also the very first dish I cooked for my other half and he has been hooked on it ever since.  Everyone I know has a slightly different way of making bolognaise but my mum is a great cook and her bolognaise is delicious so this is my favourite method!

To make this dish for 2 people you'll need:

• 250g lean mince beef
• 6 button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/2 red pepper, diced - optional (I used it on this occasion as I had one that needed using up)
• 1 400g tin cherry tomatoes (or chopped tomatoes)
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon Tomato Ketchup
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley (or fresh if you have it)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil (or fresh if you have it)
• 1 Beef Oxo cube
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Salt and Pepper

In a frying pan add the olive oil, onions, peppers and mushrooms. Fry gently over a low heat until softened. 

Add the mince and fry until brown.  Once brown, crumble a beef oxo cube over the mince and the vegetables and mix together.

Add the tinned tomatoes, ketchup, tomato paste, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, basil and parsley.  Mix together and then season with salt and pepper. 

Simmer over a low heat for around 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sauce has thickened and reduced a little.  Check for seasoning and then serve with some pasta of your choice.

Stuffed Peppers

I have made these stuffed peppers since I was about 15.  Even back then I would see somebody make something or come across a recipe and adapt it to my own tastes.  This particular dish was from Delia Smith but she added anchovies to hers which, at the time I thought was pretty disgusting.  Now I wouldn't mind giving that a go! You can have this as a vegetarian main dish (both peppers) with some lovely salad or you can have it as a starter or as a healthy side to your main meal.  If you are following Weight Watchers this only has 4 points per pepper. 

To make 2 stuffed peppers you will need:

• 1 sweet pointed pepper (make sure you choose nice big ones rather than skinny flat ones so you can get more tomatoes in them) 
• An assortment of cherry or plum tomatoes (I used red, orange and yellow)
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons olive oil (you could substitute this for fry light and save yourself a point)
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 pack of half fat mozzarella, torn into pieces
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley

And here's what you do:

Cut the peppers in half length ways and de-seed them. Put the peppers in a baking tray - you might need to use a deep baking tray or dish to give some support to the peppers if they were a bit curvy like mine.   Pre-heat your oven to gas mark 6 or 200 degrees

Cut your cherry or plum tomatoes in half and put them inside the pepper, creating a layer of tomatoes.  Divide the garlic between the two peppers, spreading it across the tomatoes and in the gaps in between.  Then add a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar to each pepper so that the vinegar is in all the gaps between the tomatoes (my mouth is watering as I am writing this!). Drizzle a teaspoon of olive oil on each pepper, season, sprinkle a little dried parsley over each and pop in the oven for around 15-20 minutes until the pepper and tomatoes have softened.

Remove the peppers from the oven and top with the torn mozerella.  Put back in the oven to cook for around 10 minutes until the cheese is melted and starting to bubble. 

A delicious yet healthy dish which tastes great and is really versatile...what more can you want?

Weight Watchers Pro Points

So, last night I took the plunge and joined Weight Watchers.  It seems to work for other people I know who are following the programme and they are steadily loosing a couple of pounds a week. Reading through the stuff last night I was shocked at the number of points that were in some of the things that i have been eating recently (my diet has really gone to pot with being busy at work).  Then today I went to Tesco and found out there were 16 points in a Sandwich - I am only supposed to have 29 a day!

For those of you who aren't familiar with Weight Watchers it works on a points based system rather than counting calories.  It takes into account the amount of Fat, Protein, Carbohydrates and Fibre is in something and assigns a points value based on that and the serving size.  When you first go to join up on their website, it gives an example of 1 croissant with a little bit of butter and 3 slices of bacon (fat removed) with 2 eggs  - both are 300 calories but the croissant has 2 more points than the plate of bacon and eggs.  Bear in mind then that I like 2 croissants and they come with jam as well as butter then give me the plate of bacon and eggs any day!

I'm on day one so far and I don't really feel like I'm on a diet as its about making healthier choices rather than counting calories.  My boyfriend is scared that im going to start feeding him edame beans and all that rubbish! Given the new information I have about points values in food, I have gone through some of my recipes and looked up the points values - not all of them because some have a long list of ingredients and I cant be bothered working them out or they have a sky high number of points! If you are on Weight Watchers and want to eat some tasty recipes but still know how many points you are having then look under the "Labels" section on the right hand side of the screen for Weight Watchers.  Each recipe under that label will tell you how many points are in it per serving.  I'll be adding more to it as time goes on so keep checking back!

I WILL look like this in a Bikini after weight watchers (fingers crossed!)

Posh poached eggs on toast

I came across this recipe on a fellow food blogger's site, it's called For the Love of Cooking and I thought this would make a great brunch.  Check out the site through the link above.  I made it for my boyfriend as I can't eat eggs although I made one for myself minus the eggs and had a little taste of his... it was good!!  You could turn this into a vegetarian brunch by just leaving out the bacon and adding some cooked mushrooms.  For those following Weight Watchers, each serving is 10 points.  To make the dish for two people you'll need:

• 6 rashers bacon
• 2 slices of bread of your choice - I went with a nice ciabatta
• 8 asparagus spears
• 2 tomatoes, sliced
• 2 eggs
• garlic infused olive oil (or a piece of garlic and some plain olive oil)
• White wine vinegar (for the eggs)
• Salt and Pepper for seasoning
• Butter

Place your bacon under a medium grill and cook until the fat is nice and crispy.

Meanwhile blanch your asparagus spears in some boiling water for a couple of minutes.  Remove and set to one side.  Use the same water to poach your eggs, adding some white wine vinegar.  I'm not going to tell you how to poach an perfect egg as I don't eat them so I'm not an expert, but if you need them you can find instructions here

By this point your bacon should be done.  Remove from the grill and set to one side.  Drizzle some garlic infused olive oil over your bread (or rub a garlic clove over the bread and then drizzle with plain olive oil) and then lightly toast under the grill. While you are waiting for the bread to toast, slice some tomatoes up.  Once the bread is toasted, spread it with a little bit of butter.

To assemble the dish, lay 2 slices of bacon on the bread.  Add a few slices of tomato and 4 spears of asparagus.  

Add another slice of bacon, top with the poached egg and season.   Mmm I miss eggs so much..all that lovely yolk oozing out when you cut into it.  Enjoy for me!!