Banana and Peanut Butter Muffins

I had a load of very ripe bananas to use up and no one will eat them in my house of they have gone too far, so i decided to treat the boys to muffins.
I'm so glad i did, as they were lovely!! So moist and light and full of yummy flavours. As i tried one i decided to work out the syns of each muffin and was very surprised when they worked out at only 5 syns each on extra easy. So as they aren't too bad i decided to share them with you all....
The whole batter mix comes to 97 syns so divide that by how many you make.

Preheat oven 200c, 400f, gas mark 5
Yields about 20

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas
¼ cup, 62.5g  maple syrup
¼ cup, 62.5g dark brown sugar
½ cup, 125g fat free greek yogurt
1 large egg
⅓ cup, 83ml skimmed milk
½ cup,  125g reduced fat peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 and ¾ cup, 437.5g plain flour
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp salt

Method

In a blender blitz together the bananas, maple syrup, sugar, yogurt, egg, peanut butter and extracts.
In a large bowl mix together the rest of the ingredients, then gentle combine the wet and dry until smooth, try not to over mix or the batter will make tough muffins.

Fill the cases about 2/3 of the way up.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a skewer come out clean.

Kung Pao Chicken

Looks like I'm back on the Asian dishes again. This is one of my husbands favourite Chinese Dishes.
So i decided to adapt the usual one for Slimming World and it turned out quite well.
It's not the usual sticky sweet dish you get from a takeaway but it still has loads of flavour, Personally i don't like the sticky sweet one, but this one was really good!!!
This dish isn't syn free mainly because of the nuts, but they are optional.
This dish serves 2 to 4 people and is 6.5 syns on extra easy without the nuts for the whole pan. If you add the nuts add 7.5 syns.

Ingredients


1 tbsp light soy sauce
1.5 tsp corn flour  1.5 syns
1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine  1 syn
3 boneless, skinless chicken breast diced

1 tbsp Chinese black vinegar, or balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp hoisin sauce  2 syns
1 tsp sesame oil  2 syns
½ tsp sweetener
2 garlic cloves grated
1 inch ginger grated
½ tsp sichuan peppercorns
8 ten dried chillies
8oz oriental mushrooms
8oz tenderstem broccoli
1 onion diced


25g cashew nuts optional

Rice or noodles to serve

Method

In a bowl mix together the first 3 ingredients and add the chicken let it marinade for at least 10 minutes.

In another bowl mix together the next 7 ingredients set aside.
In a hot wok sprayed with frylight stir fry the dried chillies and peppercorns for 1 minute, add the chicken and fry for 3 to 4 minutes, remove from the wok. Spray the wok with more frylight and fry the onions for 2 minutes, add the tenderstem and mushrooms, fry for 2 more minutes, then add the chicken and chillies back to the pan, pour in the sauce and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, then stir in the cashew nuts if using, serve with the rice or noodles.

Slow Cooked Italian Pot Roast

I love a great roast on a sunday, but most of the time haven't got the time to do it, so cooking my beef in the slow cooker really helped and the meat was so moist and tender too.
This dish is syn free on extra easy and there is loads of leftovers which could go great with pasta, rice or a jacket potato.

You need to make up a onion mix for the dish, it is very simple and makes the dish taste great. Don't worry about the amount of onion in it as you can't taste it in the end.

Ingredients

1 large onion sliced
8oz cremini mushrooms sliced
2 carrots roughly chopped
2lb braising steak all fat removed
300 ml beef stock
500 ml passata
3 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp italian seasoning

Onion Mix

8 tsp dried onion flakes
1.5 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp turmeric
½ tsp celery salt
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp sweetener
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper

Mix them all together.

Method

In a slow cooker, layer the onion, carrot and mushrooms on the bottom, lay the beef on top, sprinkle over the onion mix and pour over the passata and beef stock, mix in the tomato puree and Italian seasoning. Set to cook on low for 8 hrs. Break up the beef and serve covered with the sauce.

One Pot Pizza Pasta

What can i say about this dish, apart from, forget Pizza this is so much better!!!
You can make this syn free or add as many syns as you like, this one has chorizo in it so the whole dish is 6.5 syns on extra easy but it served 3 very big portions.
You basically add any topping you would normally have a pizza. I used chorizo as i didn't have any pepperoni, and I'm so glad i did as it added so much flavour....

Ingredients

100g chorizo sausage casing removed and crumbled  6.5 syns
1 pepper diced
8oz mushrooms chopped
1 red onion diced
1 tin tomatoes chopped
500ml passata
1 garlic clove grated
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
8oz dried pasta
handful of basil leaves
90g light mozzarella per serving Healthy A please check make as they vary


Method

In a large pan sprayed with frylight, fry the chorizo until golden, remove from pan, add onions to the pan and fry for 2 minutes, add the pepper and mushrooms and fry for 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and passata, garlic and seasoning's, add 400 ml water and the pasta, stir together, return the chorizo to the pan then cover and cook until the pasta is cooked, stirring occasionally so the mixture doesn't stick to the pan. Serve up your portions, then dice the mozzarella and tear the basil leaves and stir into your individual dishes.

One Pot Mexican Rice

All cooked in one pot!! Not much washing up, quick and easy, what more could you want??
Oh yea you also have a very tasty syn free on extra easy meal or side dish.
This is lovely paired up with a juicy salmon fillet or chicken.

The whole pan served 2/4 people depending how hungry you are.

Ingredients

1 onion diced
8oz cremini mushrooms sliced
1 courgette diced
1 garlic cloves chopped
1 red chilli chopped
1 red pepper diced
1 tin tomatoes chopped
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tin black beans drained and rinsed
1 cup rice
1.5 cups water
handful chopped coriander
juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper to taste

Method

In a large pan sprayed with frylight, fry the onions for 2 minutes, add the mushrooms, pepper and courgette fry for 2 minutes, in blender blitz the chilli and garlic then add to the pan, fry for 1 minute, stir in all the spices and tomatoes, add the black beans, stir in the rice and water, season to taste, bring to a boil then simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until the rice is cooked.
Stir in the coriander and lime juice.