Chicken & Bean Enchiladas

I've always got a pack of tortilla wraps in my breadbin, usually the WeightWatchers brand as they are just 3 ProPoints and make a quick and easy lunch.  We fill them with prawns and salad, or a tuna nicoise type salad or a Greek type salad using light feta cheese. With the weather changing and Winter on it's way, the 'salad wrap lunch' is kind of being abandoned in favour of warming soups. Because of this, I've been left with an abundance of tortilla wraps and as I can't stand wasting anything, I thought a supper of enchiladas was just the job!

This is an ideal make ahead recipe suitable for those days when you need something prepared earlier in the day.  The sauce can easily be frozen so double up and pull it out of the freezer at your convenience. It also goes great with rice!

You'll need for 2:

• 225g chicken breast, cut into slices
• Half a can of blackeye beans, drained
• 3 tbsp frozen sweetcorn
• 1 red pepper, sliced into small-ish pieces
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 fat garlic clove, crushed or grated
• 1/2 jar passata
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp Cajun seasoning
• 1 tsp Cumin
• Salt & Pepper
• Couple of dashes of Worcester sauce
• 4 reduced fat (such as WeightWatchers) tortilla wraps
• 2 tbsp grated reduced fat cheddar

What to do:

Spray some olive oil in a non-stick frying pan or stir fry pan.  On a high heat, stir fry the chicken pieces until browned all over and remove from the pan to one side.

In the same pan, fry the onion, garlic and pepper until soft.  Put the chicken back into the pan and add the Cajun seasoning and the cumin.  Stir thoroughly and then add the passata, tomato puree, salt & pepper to taste, and finally the Worcester sauce.  Add approx 120ml of water and the sweetcorn and allow to simmer for 10 -15 minutes. If you want to freeze the sauce, allow to cool and then freeze at this point.

Spread a little of the sauce on the bottom of an oven roasting dish.  Divide the mixture into each of the wraps and fold over and place into the dish.  Save a little of the mixture (try to just get the sauce without the chicken pieces) and spread over the top of the wraps.  Finish with a sprinkling of grated cheese. The dish can also be prepared to this stage in advance and then placed in the oven later when you are ready.

Bake in a moderate hot oven (180 fan) for 15-20 minutes until piping hot and golden on top.

WeightWatchers Points Per Serving: 12 

Tuna Nicoise

I tend to make this a fair bit for lunch using tinned tuna (especially when I have lunch guests) as it's quick and easy and healthy and tasty.  Whilst I completely love this dish I always feel ever so slightly guilty when I make it. My husband is not so keen on tinned tuna and although he doesn't complain (that much) I can't help but feel a bit bad. 

So this week I decided to splash out on some lovely fresh tuna steaks and up the quantities so we could have it for dinner.  Apart from over-cooking the tuna ever so slightly (I am blaming that on my husband for saying it was too thick a steak!) it was really delicious and so full of interesting flavours and textures.  Amazingly I also felt much less bloated this morning as it is protein laden with less carbs then other meals I cook.  Am thinking this is the way forward....

You'll need for 2:

• 2 fresh tuna steaks - approx 140g each
• 2 eggs
• Half a pack of green beans
• 10 or so olives (in brine if you really want to keep your PP to a minimum)
• 2/3 a bag of salad leaves.  I used a mix of rocket, watercress & spinach
• 10 or so cherry tomatoes, halved
• Fat free french dressing
• Seasoning
• 350g new potatoes, halved or quartered if large
• A chunk of cucumber, chopped

What to do:

In a large saucepan place your potatoes and cover with salted cold water.  Bring to the boil. Then gently add the 2 eggs.  Set your timer for 7 minutes and turn the heat down to medium so it is simmering.  After 7 minutes remove the eggs and place in a bowl with cold water to cool. This time will give you ever so slightly soft yolk but if you want it runny, reduce it to 6 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare your salad / veggies.  Chuck all the tomatoes, cucumber, salad leaves, olives in a big bowl. Trim your beans if need be but don't put them into the bowl.

Heat a griddle or frying pan.  Very lightly oil the tuna and season.  The potatoes should take about 18-20 minutes to cook until tender.  Five minutes before you think the potatoes are ready (keep prodding with a knife to see how tender they are), get the tuna cooking. It's hard to say how long it will take but keep looking at the steak to see it changing colour.  If you like it very rare, just sear on both sides and allow to rest.  Remember it will carry on cooking after you have removed it from the direct heat so err on the side of caution (unlike me!)

Carefully peel the eggs and slice in half.

Two minutes before you think the potatoes are ready add the green beans.  Drain the potatoes and beans and once dry-ish add to the salad mix bowl.  Toss in 2-3 tbsp of fat free French dressing and serve on the plate.  Add an egg onto each plate and place your tuna steak on top.

WeightWatchers ProPoints Per Serving: 12

Fennel & Paprika Chicken with Roast Veg

There is a whole lotta love for chicken in our household at the moment.  It's filling, healthy, a good source of protein and relatively low in ProPoints. I only buy free range chicken and I often buy corn fed free range chicken with its yellowy tinged skin.  I get very excited (saddo) to spot a pack of organic or free range chicken in the reduced aisle in the supermarket and I snap it up pronto. When I get it home I carefully portion out the chicken breasts into varying weights to cater for all manner of dishes some of which will include kids dinners.  We are also fond of chicken thighs and drumsticks and in every case I remove the skin before cooking.

Having talked about my love affair for chicken, having it 5 days out of 7 can get pretty tedious!  Therefore I am always interested in finding new ways and new flavours to pair up with our everyday bird.  This concoction is my own mix which has been perfected over the last couple of years.  It's really tasty and the flavours penetrate the chicken really well.

You'll need for 2:

• 450g chicken thighs & drumsticks, skin removed, flesh slashed
• 2 tsp runny honey
• 4g fennel seeds, crushed (bizarrely there is 1 PP to 5g tsp of fennel seeds, so use just under a tsp!)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 heaped tsp paprika
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• seasoning
• 1 tsp white wine or cider vinegar

For the Roasted Vegetables:

• 1 potato 200g once peeled
• 2 small - medium courgettes, roughly chopped
• half a butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• Approx 10 cherry tomatoes
• Half a punnet of chestnut mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1 medium aubergine, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Dried thyme and rosemary

Prepare the chicken by mixing the marinade ingredients together in a shallow dish.  Add a tiny amount of water if you need to thin it out a little.  Toss the chicken ensuring it's fully coated.  Cover and marinade for a good few hours

Prepare all the vegetables and throw into the biggest roasting dish you have.  Season well and scatter over 1 tsp each of the herbs.  Finally add the olive oil and tpss well with your hands to coat all the vegetables.

The vegetables need approx 45-50 minutes in a hot oven (200 fan) and the chicken needs 30 - 40 minutes depending on the size of the pieces.  Ensure the chicken is cooked all the way through.

WeightWatchers ProPoints Per Serving: 12

Cottage Pie

What another miserably wet evening.  It's June!!  What's going on!??  The afternoon looked promising but with more rain as the day wore on I was rather in the mood for a comfort dish for dinner.  You can’t get more comfort than Cottage Pie. It's actually really easy to make this true classic dish healthy without compromising on the taste or comfort! 

My version has (surprise, surprise) lots of vegetables making it very Slimming World friendly.  I also substitute over half of the mashed potato topping for Swede, which is has 0 ProPoints on the WeightWatchers plan, or if you are not following any set diet you can be glad of the fact you are packing 2-3 portions of your 5-a day in this meal alone.  So it’s gotta be good for you!

I always make a 4 portion serving of this which tastes great the next day for leftovers or it freezes really well too.

You’ll need for 4:

• 1 medium onion
• 3-4 medium sized carrots, peeled and diced
• Half a punnet chestnut mushrooms
• 500g lean minced beef 12% fat
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 beef stock cube or 1 stock pot
• Few glugs of Worcester sauce
• 400g potatoes, peeled and diced
• 600g swede, peeled diced smaller than the potato
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1 leek, washed and diced
• 2 tbsp skimmed milk

What to do:

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and sauté until soft on a medium heat.  Add the carrots and mushrooms and continue to sauté for another few minutes. 

Turn the heat up and add the minced beef and stir until browned.  Add the stock and a cup of water until mince and veg is just covered.  Add the tomato puree, Worcester sauce, herbs and black pepper.  I find shop bought stock quite salty therefore I don’t feel the need to add any more, but season to your liking.  Continue to cook for 15 minutes until reduced slightly and the carrots cooked through.

Meanwhile place the potatoes and swede in a large saucepan and cover with cold salted water.  Bring to the boil and continue to simmer until both the potato and swede are soft and suitable for mashing.  The swede takes a little longer so when you are peeling and chopping prepare the swede first and get that in the pan and it helps to have it cut into smaller chunks than the potato.  Once cooked through, drain in a colander and leave to steam dry for a few minutes.

While the potatoes and swede are draining, heat the butter in the same pan and sauté the leek until soft.  Add a little water if it is too dry.  Add the milk and allow to heat slightly.  Remove from the heat and tip in the drained potatoes and swede.  Mash with a masher until smooth and season.

Allow the meat mixture and mash to cool before layering in a dish.  The meat mixture on the bottom and then the mash on top.  Bake in a hot oven (200 -210) for 20 – 25 minutes until bubbling.

WeightWatchers ProPoints Per Serving: 10