10
Dec
2011
Low Syn Life

My Favourite Low Syn Microwave Meals

There's no doubt that cooking your own food most of the time is tastier, cheaper, healthier and generally lower in syns that buying ready meals, but there are times when you need something quick but don't have time to cook. Rather than grabbing a high-syn sandwich or takeaway, there are plenty of low syn options that take just a few minutes in the microwave. I've tried many of these, and here are my favourites. I think these meals taste great and are worth trading off a few syns for the time saved. The syn values given are for the Green and Extra Easy plans - they are considerably higher (and probably not worth it) on the Original plan.

Innocent Veg Pots

These are tasty vegetarian meals in plastic microwaveable pots, available in many supermarkets including Tesco and Sainsburys. They are generally around £3.50 per pot, but there are frequently offers such as 2 for 1 or 2 for £6. Although at first glance it looks like they should all be low in syns, beware, some of them are surprisingly high. The Portugese Red Pepper Piri Piri is my favourite out of the whole range, unfortunately it's not the lowest in syns but definitely worth it!

2½ syns per pot

2 syns per pot

 

5½ syns per pot

Stewed!

Stewed! make a range of home-cooked style meaty and veggie stews. They are available in Sainsbury's and online from Ocado and cost around £3.50 per pot. By far the best value syn-wise is the Chickpea, Sweet Potato & Feta Stew , "chickpeas cooked with hearty veggies, smoked paprika and saffron along with some crumbly feta cheese and sweet potato", which is amazingly good value as it's only 1 syn for a whole pot! For a quick meal I'll have this with some couscous - a whole plate of tasty stew and couscous in around 5 minutes for only 1 syn - what more could you ask for!

 

Sainsbury's Love Veg

Sainsbury's have recently launched 'Love Veg', a range of vegetarian chilled microwave meals. They are priced at £3 each, or at the moment you can buy 2 for £5. I've tried them all and the two below are the best in terms of taste and syns (the syn values are from the syns calculator as they're not currently listed in Syns Online). I like the large pieces of chunky veg you get in these - you really feel like you've had a 'proper' meal.

Butternut Squash & Moroccan Style Cous Cous

3½ syns per pack

Roasted Red Pepper & Sweet Potato Piri Piri

3½ syns per pack

 

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22
Oct
2011
Low Syn Life

Chick pea cake

I'm posting this recipe following a Twitter request, I'll post a photo next time I make it.

This makes a fairly spongy cake and isn't too bad at satisfying any cake or sweet cravings you might have. It works best with some flavouring added e.g. vanilla, almond, coffee essence, or you could mix in a couple of Options sachets (2 syns each) to make a chocolate cake instead.

Although chick peas are a free food on Green and Extra Easy, they're unfortunately not free when used in this way.

Approx 1.5 syns per slice (makes 8 slices) on all plans

Ingredients

1 tin chick peas, drained (5.5 syns per 100g, so approximately 13 syns)

28g Splenda

3 eggs, separated

1 teaspoon baking powder (1/2 syn)

flavouring

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180C
  2. Puree the chick peas in a blender and add the egg yolks, Splenda and baking powder
  3. Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then mix with the chick peas
  4. Tip into an ovenproof tin and bake for approximately 20 minutes until cooked and light golden

Note - you can also place the mixture in a microwaveable dish and microwave on high for approximately 5 minutes.

09
Oct
2011
Low Syn Life

Mini Crustless Quiches

These mini quiches are easy to make and are great to keep in the fridge for snacking or to take to work with some salad in a packed lunch. You can make them syn-free although I like to add a little cheese on top.

Makes 12

1/2 syn per quiche on Extra Easy or Original (or make them syn-free by omitting the cheese)

Ingredients

6 eggs

100g quark (or fat free natural cottage cheese)

Fillings of your choice e.g. ham, bacon, mushrooms, red pepper, spring onion, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, caramelised red onions, etc.

28g parmesan or strong cheddar (6 syns or HEA) (optional)

Fry Light

Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180ºC and spray a 12-hole muffin tin with Fry Light
  2. Beat the eggs with the quark and salt and pepper
  3. Prepare your fillings by chopping into fairly small pieces (so they cook in the time allowed)
  4. Distribute the fillings between the muffin tin compartments and pour over the egg mixture
  5. If you are using the cheese, sprinkle some on top of each quiche
  6. Bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes or until the mixture is cooked and light golden brown
Tags: 
recipes
extra easy
original
up to 2 syns
12
Aug
2011
Low Syn Life

Shirataki 10-calorie Noodles

These are my latest discovery and a new part of my weight-loss armoury - Shirataki noodles which are just 10 calories for a whole packet! They are made from the root of the konnyaku or elephant yam plant and contain basically water and glucomannan, a water-soluble fibre.

They are very similar to rice noodles but with a slighty more gelatinous texture. They have no flavour of their own so you do need to serve them with a sauce or broth of some kind. I made Singapore Vermicelli with them which was filling and delicious.

They come packaged in water which you need to drain off and rinse, then simply place them in hot water for a minute or two (or add to a hot pan) and they're ready to serve.

The best thing is that these make having noodles on a Red day a viable option as it's only half a syn for the whole packet (a very generous serving for one, or would easily serve two with added meat and veggies).

They are available online in health and low-carb stores - I bought mine from Low Carb Megastore for £1.65 per packet + postage.

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original
28
Jul
2011
Low Syn Life

Spiced Tea Loaf

I'm not one for cakes and sweet treats (give me crisps any time!) but after sampling some Scan Bran cakes in class today I was inspired to do something with the packet of Scan Bran that's been languishing in my cupboard for the last few months. I tend to use my single Healthy Extra B choice at breakfast on either bread or Alpen Light bars, but you get such a paltry amount you always need something to go alongside it - using your B choice for Scan Bran and making it into a cake like this is really good value (even with a couple of extra syns on top)!

The whole cake is 9 syns on all plans, or you can have it as a Healthy Extra B choice plus 4 syns (5 Scan Bran = HEB). Alternatively it would slice nicely into 9 pieces to make 1 syn per portion. A single slice would probably fill you up more than an Alpen Light bar!

Ingredients

5 Scan Bran

a large mugful of strong tea (I use 2 tea bags to make it)

28g dried mixed fruit (4 syns)

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 teaspoon baking powder (0.25 syns - I don't bother to count it's so small)

5 tablespoons sweetener

2 tablespoons mixed spice

Method

  1. Soak the Scan Bran and dried fruit in the tea until soft and mush it up
  2. Add the remaining ingredients and mix
  3. Pour into a microwaveable container (I use a silicone loaf tin) and microwave on high for 6-7 minutes
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recipes
extra easy
original
green
dessert
cake
26
Jul
2011
Low Syn Life

Hot and Sour Asian Beef Salad

This is what I make for myself when there is nobody else I have to cook for - the flavours are really amazing. The recipe here will serve two as a light dish, but I tend to eat the whole lot!

Serves 2

0.5 syns per serving on Original and Extra Easy

Ingredients

250g sirloin steak

salad leaves

2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce (nam pla)

2 tablespoon lime juice

1 teaspoon sugar (palm sugar if you want to be authentic, otherwise demerara, golden or just granulated)

2 spring onions, finely chopped

1 red chilli, finely chopped (use a green one or just half a chilli if you want a milder flavour)

1 tablespoon each mint and coriander, chopped

Method

  1. Cook the steak to your liking (ideally rare)
  2. When cooked, wrap in foil and leave to one side
  3. Cover a plate with salad leaves
  4. Make the dressing: mix the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, chilli and spring onions together
  5. Open the foil and tip any juices into the dressing
  6. Slice the beef thinly and place on top of the salad leaves
  7. Spoon over the dressing and sprinkle over the chopped mint and coriander
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recipes
beef
original
2 syns or under
extra easy
14
Jul
2011
Low Syn Life

Red Days Experiment

My last few weeks of weight losses compared to my usual have been a bit disappointing and so I thought it was time to shake things up a bit. So far I've followed the Extra Easy (EE) plan nearly all the time, with the very occasional Green day if I want more cheese so this week I decided to do something I haven't done before and did a whole week of the Original plan (known commonly as Red days).

I knew immediately that something was different as for some reason I have been up in the night every night this week bursting to go to the loo! I take it that was a good thing as the scales show that I've lost 3.5lbs this week!

Some good things that I think helped contribute to this:

  • I think you are forced to have more superfree (most fruit and veg is superfree) on red days - it's too easy on EE to fill up on your meat and carbs and not have enough superfree (think about your plate of spaghetti bolognese - do you really eat 1/3 of your plate in salad to go with it?)
  • I typically used my B choices at breakfast and lunch, so my evening meals were heaped with superfree like salads and roast veggies
  • Switching plans makes you go back to your books to check everything
  • You eat different things to usual - it gets you out of a rut of having the same things every week. I enjoyed trying new things.
  • You also have 2 A and B choices so can easily try different recipes that use cheese, which is always hard on EE if you use your A choice for milk.

I still love Extra Easy and will probably still follow it most of the time as it fits in so well with my day to day life, but any time I feel like I need a weight loss boost I know what I'm going to do!

Tags: 
original
tips
30
Jun
2011
Low Syn Life

Blue Cheese and Caramelised Onion Pasta

I love cheese, and I really love blue cheese but it's been all but absent from my diet since starting Slimming World. I was inspired to try it in this recipe after making the caramelised onions and I'm glad to report it worked! I'm happy to have found a way to enjoy blue cheese flavour without too many syns.

Serves 1 (but you can scale up as required)

Syn free on Extra Easy and Green (if using the cheese as a Healthy Extra, otherwise 6 syns)

Ingredients:

100g dried pasta

28g blue cheese (a strong one is good as you are using so little) (HEA or 6 syns)

1 large red onion, sliced

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon sweetener

Fry Light

Method:

  1. Gently cook the onions in Fry Light until they begin to soften, then add the balsamic, water and sweetener and contine to cook over a low heat until the liquid is gone and the onions are soft and caramelised (I cooked mine for at least 20 minutes in total)
  2. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the packet instructions
  3. Drain the pasta and then crumble in the blue cheese and stir to melt it a bit. Mix in the caramelised onions and serve.
Tags: 
recipes
green
extra easy
cheese
pasta
syn-free
30
Jun
2011
Low Syn Life

Pork, Apple and Sage Burgers

These taste like those upmarket fancy sausages but without the syns! They're very easy to make and take only minutes. I get my kids to do the dirty work of mushing up the ingredients and shaping into burgers (they love it!) and the whole family eats these up.

I served mine with Slimming World chips and salad.

4.5 syns for the whole recipe on Extra Easy and Original

Ingredients

500g lean pork mince (less than 6% fat) (2.5 syns)

1 egg

112g grated apple (2 syns when cooked)

1 tablespoon fresh sage leaves, chopped

salt and pepper

Method

Mix all the ingredients together and shape into 6 burgers. Grill for a few minutes on each side until lightly browned and cooked through.

Tags: 
pork
recipes
original
extra easy
2 syns or under
20
Jun
2011
Low Syn Life

Midweek Slimming World support via Twitter

Going to a Slimming World group and staying after being weighed is by far the best way to get help and support on the plan, but the downside is that it's only once a week, and we need to do this plan every day! Sometimes I find that seven days can feel like a loooong time between motivation/inspiration stops (and worse if you've ever had to miss a class!).

If you'd like a midweek boost, why not join the hundreds (thousands?) of Slimming World members on Twitter who regularly 'tweet' their successes, recipes, questions and tips. Would you like some ideas about what to make for dinner with the chicken sitting in the fridge, or want to shout to the world about your latest award? Tweet it! In most cases you'll get plenty of responses within a short space of time (be prepared to contribute to others' questions too of course).

If you've never used Twitter before, don't worry, you can start off gently and it's surprisingly straightforward - if you can use Facebook you can definitely use Twitter! There are plenty of basic guides on how to use Twitter on the web - try http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Twitter for example.

Once you have set up your profile, the first Twitter account you'll want to follow is the 'official' Slimming World one - see http://twitter.com/slimmingworld. You'll of course also want to follow me! See http://twitter.com/lowsynlife.

If you want to see what other Slimming World-related tweeting is going on, you can set up a search to follow the #slimmingworld hashtag. Hashtags are used to categorise your tweets so that other people can find them easily - for example I might tweet You can make a great low syn treat by mixing quark with an Options sachet and sprinking an Alpen Light bar on top! #slimmingworld. A lot of people tag their tweets with @slimmingworld so it's worth doing a search for that too. You'll soon find other people to follow.

Finally, if you're serious about using Twitter after a while you'll find the standard web interface to be a bit limiting. Software such as TweetDeck or Seesmic do a far better job of displaying your tweets and searches all in one place.

Just dive in and have a go! Tweet me if you've read this!

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tips

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