Sausage, Mushroom, Potato and Feta Gratin

This is a tasty comforting dish, quick and easy to cook. I used weight watcher sausages at 0.5 syns each on extra easy.

I used the feta as my healthy A but you can syn it 3.5 syns for 25g.

Preheat oven 200c, 400f, gas mark 5

Ingredients

8 low fat sausages, skinned and crumbled

1 large onion chopped

8oz cremini mushrooms chopped

1 tsp chopped thyme

1lb potatoes washed and diced

100 ml chicken broth

90g feta crumbled

Method

Spray a large baking tray with frylight and spread the potatoes out, spray with more frylight and roast for 30 minutes, tossing and spraying again halfway through.

In a large frying pan brown the sausages and remove.

Fry the onions, thyme and mushrooms until golden, return the sausage and stir in the roasted potatoes, stir in the chicken broth, then tip it all into an oven dish, sprinkle with the feta, cover the dish with foil and bake for 15 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 10 minutes and serve with a big salad.

Steak, Kidney and Mushroom Pie

I found a recipe for a steak and mushroom pie and really started craving one, i looked up the syns for pastry and almost had heart failure!!!

So i decided to to replace the pastry with a crispy potato topping instead, which is syn free.

The whole pot of pie filling which made 3 big pies came to 3 syns on extra easy.

It was rich, tender and very very tasty!!!

Preheat oven 200c, 400f, gas mark 5

Ingredients

1 kg beef steak cubes

500g kidney diced

500g mushrooms quartered

3 carrots diced

2 garlic cloves finely chopped

1 large onion chopped

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp each of dried thyme and oregano

1 tbsp fresh rosemary finely chopped

2 bay leaves

1 litre rich beef stock

1 tbsp plain flour 3 syns

Salt and pepper

2 potatoes thinly sliced

Method

In a large pan sprayed with frylight, brown the beef then remove, then brown the kidney and remove.

Spray the pan again then fry the onions for 1 minute, add the carrots and mushrooms and fry for 3 minutes until golden, add the garlic and all the herbs, cook for 1 minute, add the paprika and stir in the flour, return the beef and kidney to the pan and stir in the beef stock and season, bring it to a boil and then simmer over a low heat for 2 hours or until the beef is tender, stirring it often, if it starts to over thicken, just add some water.

Divide the mixture between the pie dishes and top in a single layer with the potato slices, spray with butter frylight and bake in the oven for 30/35 minutes or until the potatoes are crisp and golden.

Syn Free Pate

I absolutely love pate, but never in a million years thought i could eat it on Slimming World. Thanks to Francesca Hayward for posting a recipe on a slimming group. I changed a few things and it came out delicious, considering there is no butter in the recipe it is rich, creamy and just like an ordinary pate.

It is completely syn free on extra easy too.....

Ingredients

500g mushrooms chopped

400g chicken livers chopped

1 garlic clove finely chopped

1 onion chopped

4 rashers bacon fat removed and chopped

1 tsp mixed herbs

2 tbsp of quark

salt and pepper

Method

In a large pan sprayed with frylight, fry the mushrooms till golden and set aside.

Re spray the pan and fry the onions till soft, add the garlic and mixed herbs and fry for 1 minute, then add the chicken livers and fry for 5 minutes, add the bacon and fry for 2 minutes. Let it cool down then blitz in a blender till smooth, mix in the quark and season to taste. Mix in the mushrooms and refrigerate. 

Gumbo

When we lived in the States, i always enjoyed the Southern Food, so when i came across a recipe for Gumbo i decided to adapt it and make it Slimming World friendly.

I love the smoky heat from the chorizo, that is what makes this dish, so there was no way i was going to leave it out, so again this isn't a syn free dish but so worth the syns it has as it is so tasty!!

The whole pot is 6.5 syns on extra easy, i made 3 portions out of it so it was roughly 2 syns, do bear in mind i'm greedy so you could probably make more portions!

Ingredients

100g chorizo sausage the raw kind (6.5 syns)

2 chicken breasts chopped

8 oz cremini mushrooms chopped

2 sticks of celery, or 1 tsp celery salt

1 large onion finely chopped

1 large red pepper diced

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp cajun seasoning

½ tsp cayenne pepper

3 garlic cloves finely chopped

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 tin chopped tomatoes

500ml hot chicken stock

20 raw shrimp

handful of coriander leaves

Method

In a hot pan sprayed with frylight fry the chorizo till golden then remove from pan, add the chicken and brown, then remove from the pan.

Fry the onions in the fat from the chorizo till soft and golden, add the mushrooms, pepper and celery or celery salt and fry till mushrooms are golden, add the bay leaves, cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomato puree and tin of tomatoes and cook for 1 minute then add the stock and chicken and chorizo back to the pan, bring to a boil then simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the shrimp to the pan with the coriander leaves for the last 2 minutes of cooking.

I served mine with rice.