Week Eleven – Day Four – Dinner (Tomato and Bacon Pasta)

The yummy kedgeree this morning was so filling that I didn’t need any lunch. I had a couple of Babybel Light half way through the afternoon and then I didn’t need anything more until this evening.

For dinner, I decided on pasta as I love it and hadn’t had any for a while. It was very much a ‘throw it all in’ kinda sauce, using what I had in the fridge. It worked incredibly well and ended up delicious. I made enough for at least two meals (probably three if I’m not being greedy) and it was completely syn free.

I set 200g pasta to boil in some salted water. As this was cooking, I chopped one small onion, one yellow pepper, half a large courgette and three bacon medallions. All this was bunged in a pan with some FryLight to soften off. As it was cooking, I added some garlic powder, dried mixed herbs, salt and pepper. Once the veg and bacon was cooked through, I added a large splash of balsamic vinegar and reduced it down to remove the acidity of the vinegar. Once the mixture was glazed in the reduced vinegar, I added a tin of chopped tomatoes and simmered for a few minutes.

As soon as the pasta was cooked but still had a little bite to it, I drained it and added it to the tomato mixture. This was combined thoroughly and left to simmer for another couple of minutes.

All done and plated up, saving at least half for another day. It only took about 20mins to make and was very filling and satisfying.

Week Five – Day Seven – Iceland Ready meal

Today was weigh in and I wasn’t feeling particularly confident as it is my star week and I’ve had at least one very naughty day! But I lost 1 1/2 pounds which made me very happy!

Weigh in day also makes me really late home so I didn’t want to cook anything from scratch so it was Iceland and my freezer to the rescue. Tonight I chose the salmon pasta.

It was very filling and it was…ok. Nothing special but inoffensive. Not high praise I know but it was just ‘fine’. It needed salt and pepper and like the other Iceland meals I’ve tried, the sauce could have done with some thickening. The peas tasted a little overcooked and slightly ‘grainy’ the way cheap frozen peas can on occasion. All that though but I will still probably buy it again as it filled me up and was ok, I might try the recipe on the back at some point to see if my version is any better!

Week One – Day Six – Dinner (Creamy Bacon Pasta)

Tonight was food shopping night and so I went to Tesco straight from work (even though I was hungry, not ideal, I know) and I very proudly avoided anything naughty.

Not a syn in sight 🙂

I was doing a million things at once in the kitchen tonight, cooking dinner, preparing breakfast and lunch for tomorrow and making treats for Group tomorrow night. We’re having a tasting session.

So because of this I forgot to take a picture of my meal until I’d eaten half – sorry! So this is a picture of half my dinner!!

It was made in a very similar way to last night. I chopped two bacon medallions (making sure there was no fat) and fried them off in Frylight then I added some chopped onion, pepper and courgette; softening it all off while 100g pasta cooked in salted water. Once they were both done, I mixed them together with 75g light cream cheese (HEA), salt and lots of ground black pepper.

Very very yummy even if I did eat it while cooking three other things at once! More on that tomorrow!

Week One – Day Five – Dinner (Creamy salmon pasta)

I had a really good day at work today so I was in a fab mood when I got home (after a momentary panic that I’d left my mobile in the office – I was on the verge of jumping back into the car to nip back for it and I heard it ring from the depth of my handbag – phew!).

Dinner tonight was all planned out in advance but then when I got home I really didn’t fancy the chicken stir fry I had planned. So, I decided to go with my instinct and shelf that for tomorrow and see what else I could come up with from the fridge.

Turned out to be the best decision because I ended up with some seriously decadent, doesn’t taste like diet food at all, creamy salmon pasta. It was soooooooooo good. I really felt like I was cheating on the plan but it was 100% syn free.

I cooked 100g dried pasta in some salted water. While that was cooking I softened some finely chopped onion, pepper and courgette in a pan with some FryLight. Once both were cooked, I drained the pasta but kept some of the liquid back to help loosen the sauce. Mixed in the vegetables with some smoked salmon trimmings (the cheap off cuts packets you can get, it was about half a packet but you could do it with much less) and then added 75g light cream cheese (HEA). Mixed it all together to create a creamy sauce. I added a squeeze of lemon juice, some salt and lashings of black pepper.

It was heavenly.

This is probably my favourite on plan meal I’ve had so far. I will definitely be having it again.

I also decided to splurge (!) and have pudding too – a frozen Vanilla and Dark Chocolate Mullerlight. It was a bit tough to eat with a spoon as it was very very frozen but it tasted yummy and stopped me running out the ice cream van which inconveniently pulled up just as I was finishing my pasta!

Week One – Day Four – Dinner (Pasta and Iceland Meatballs)

I made extra of the tomato sauce I had for dinner last night so I just reheated that tonight with some freshly cooked pasta and some more of the Iceland meatballs. Tonight though I was feeling a bit fancy so I added 30g Cheddar cheese (HEA) on top! Once again it was super yummy and very filling.

The tomato sauce was chopped onion, pepper, courgette and mushrooms with a tin of tomatoes, dried mixed herbs and some balsamic vinegar. Salt and pepper and a dash of Worcestershire sauce and it was all set!

That means another syn free day today – yipee!

Week One – Day Three – Dinner (Iceland Meatballs)

I skipped lunch because I had such a big and yummy breakfast, so I decided on an early ish dinner and I’ll treat myself to some supper later if I’m hungry.

Since I last tried Slimming World, there has been one very important change.

Iceland.

When I was told that they now do ready meals, sausages, meatballs and burgers – all completely syn free – I think I did a little happy dance! I love cooking from scratch but there are days when I just don’t want to. Whether it’s a time issue or a ‘can’t be bothered’ issue, there are times when the thought of spending an hour or more putting together a meal just doesn’t appeal. In the past that’s when I would be reaching for the takeaway menu or checking the freezer for a microwave meal. Now I can check the freezer but what I’ll find will still be on plan 🙂

Needless to say, I am extremely excited by this development and when one such day rolls around (I’m sure it won’t be long) I will be trying one of the yummy sounding ready meals that are currently lying in wait in my freezer.

Tonight however, it was the turn of the syn-free meatballs. I went traditional and cooked up a tomato based sauce and served them with pasta. The sauce was enough to serve two so I’ll be having the same for my dinner tomorrow.

I softened one onion and added one green pepper, one stick of celery, half a courgette, mushrooms and a tin of chopped tomatoes. There were loads of dried herbs (oregano and mixed herbs), a splash of balsamic vinegar and plenty of salt and pepper. This simmered and thickened while the meatballs cooked in the oven and the pasta boiled. Once it was all cooked, it was assembled and the result was pretty yummy.

The meatballs were better than I expected really. They were very meaty and the texture was good. They lacked a little ‘extra’ flavour, you could tell there was no herbs or spices used in them. But as long as the meal you put them with if full of flavour then they work really well. Bottom line, I will buy them again 🙂