beautiful berry muffins for tea ...

These are a treat for my good friends who were spending the evening with tonight!
I am on weight watchers and i've walked past the box about 100 times and resisted .... but then i gave in ... after about an hour i gave up on feeling guilty and worked out the points to see quite how naughty i'd been ...

turns out not so bad ... only 4.5 ww points per muffin !! lol so i'll just have to eat less later !! and not enjoy another muffin!

heres the recipe so you can try these muffins ... they're really light and fluffy .. and fresh strawbs make them taste like summer !! these would be a great easy dessert for a bbq ... i think served with a big helping of coconut ice-cream (i mean vanilla would be fine but coconut is summery too!!)

Ingredients:
2.5 cups of SR Flour/ 375g
90g cold butter, chopped
1 cup caster sugar/ 220g
3/4 cup milk ( i use 1% milk)
1/2 cup low fat natural yog
1 egg beaten lightly
200g of berries - fresh or frozen ... i used half fresh strawberries and half frozen mixed berries

It's really easy to do ....

* preheat oven to 180 degrees, and grease your muffin tin
* sift flour into large bowl (if you dont have a sieve, use a whisk after you've put your flour in the bowl ... give it a quick whiz round ... this has the same effect - thanks to hugh at river cottage for that advise)
*rub in the butter
*stir in sugar, milk, yoghurt, and egg
*the mixture will look a bit lumpy (see pic above)
*add the berries and mix them in lightly
* spoon mixture into tray
*bake for about 20 mins
*cool on a wire tray

my messy kitchen !!

so there you have it ... another quick recipe to spin out for your family and friends

homemade chicken jalfrezi

This is great ! Low fat !! and super delicious !!
I think this is the nicest dinner i've had since being on weight watchers ... it felt naughty ... eating a huge plate of curry ... but it was only three points. yes thats right ... three points !!
You just have to add your rice//naan.

INGREDIENTS

    * 1 large onion , halved, sliced
    * 2-3 green chillies , sliced
    * 3 garlic cloves , crushed
    * 1 large chicken breast, cut into chunks
    * 5 tomatoes , roughly chopped // ½ can chopped tomatoes
    * a few handfuls of spinach
    * a small pot low fat natural yogurt (optional)
    * naan bread or steamed rice to serve

SPICE MIX

    * 2 tsp curry powder
    * ½ tsp ground cumin
    * 1 tsp chilli powder
    * 1 cinnamon stick
    * 5 cloves , ground


Put the onion and a good pinch of salt into a large pan, then fry for about 6-8 minutes until golden.

 Add the chillies and garlic. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the spice mix and cook for another couple of minutes until fragrant.

 Add the chicken and cook for 3-4 minutes then add the tomatoes and a splash of water and stir well.

Cover the pan and cook for about 30 minutes until the chicken is tender and the sauce thickened (uncover the pan if you need to for the last 10 minutes).

Stir in the yogurt off the heat (if using) for a creamier sauce.

Serve with naans or steamed rice.

bread bread and more bread

If any of you have ever heard my husbands descripton of my bread baked in my breadmaker you'll know he uses the word 'brick' quite regularly.

So i decided to surprise him when he got home from a weekend away with a fresh baked hand made loaf ... which he loved !! :)

So heres what i did ...

Ingredients:
500g strong white bread flour (plus extra flour for dusting)
7g sachet of fast action yeast
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil

Method:
Mix flour and yeast together into a large bowl.
Add the salt and sugar.
Boil the kettle and measure out 100 ml of boiling water into a jug, make the water up to 300ml with cold water then add the oil.
Make a well in the middle of the flour, add the liquid and mix (i use my hands).

When its mixed into a sticky dough its time to knead so flour your surface and have fun.
Knead until the dough is smooth.
When  it's smooth put it back into the bowl and cover with a tea towel, i put mine on the windowsil to help the rising process, leave it for an hour.
Put dough back on floured surface and give it a small knead again.
Shape and then place on an oiled oven tray, cover and leave to rise for another 30 mins.

ready to bake

Bake at 220 degrees for about 30 - 35 minutes.

i also made this ...

a Cheddar, red onion and thyme tear and share bread

What you need is ...
Dough made as above (up until it's risen for 1 hour)
1 onion
40g cheddar cheese
2 tsp of thyme

What you have to do is ...

make the bread (as before) up to the first rising time of 1hour.
Then slice your onion really small and cut your self some cubes of cheddar.
Place your dough on a floured surface and knead in your onion and thyme.
Cut your dough in two and roll one half into a rectangular shape.
Place on an oiled tray and then slice a long line diagonally (as in picture), then cut 2/3 more slices either side to create a leaf shape.
Poke your cheese cubes into the bread at various intervals.

Bake at 220 degrees for 13-15 minutes.

sugary strawbs and eggy bread !

I've started weight watchers (hence the lack of food blogs recently) and this was my delicious low points breakie that i thought i'd share with you !! For all you weight watchers fans it was only 4.5 points !!

all you need is two bits of bread
a teaspoon of icing sugar
150 g of strawbs
and an egg

- break your egg into a bowl and beat lightly
- dip your bread into the egg and coat each side with the egg
- drop into a hot frying pan and flip when it turns golden brown
- plate up by pouring your strawbs (chopped into bitesize pieces) and your icing sugar on the top

and enjoy !!!

A healthy breakie that feels and tastes naughty !!!

Basil Pasta

Ingredients

    * 3/4 cup chopped fresh basil
    * 187g all-purpose flour
    * 1 egg
    * 1 teaspoon olive oil
    * 2 tablespoons water
    * 2 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Directions

   1. Using a food processor, process basil leaves until chopped very fine. Add flour and pulse two or three times, or until combined. Add egg, 1 teaspoon oil, and the water until dough forms a ball shape. If dough seems dry, add a bit more water. Wrap dough in a piece of cling film which has been coated in a few drops of olive oil. Refrigerate dough for 2 hours.

  

  2. Remove dough from refrigerator, and cut into 6 equal size portions. Run pasta though pasta machine, or roll with rolling pin to desired thickness. Use the additional flour to coat pasta while rolling.
   3. Cut into any shape that you fancy.

                                       4. Allow pasta to dry for one hour prior to cooking.
                                      5. Cook in a large pot of boiling water until al dente.
                This should take only 3 to 5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the pasta.

For my ravioli I cut some bacon into tiny pieces and fried it until it was cooked and crispy and then I let it cool and added some grated cheddar to make a filling.

This recipe probably makes enough pasta for 6 people.
I rolled and shaped my pasta by hand and it took a long time - an hour and a half to be exact.
  

apple cinnamon muffins with a crunchy butter top

Ingredients:

2 cups (300g) SR flour
1 cup (150g) Plain Flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 cup (200g) firmly packed brown sugar
2 tsps cinnamon
1.5 cups (210g) chopped apple
2 eggs
1.5 cups (375ml) milk
3/4 cup (180ml) veg oil

topping:
1/4 cup (50g) brown sugar
1/4 cup (35g) plain flour
40g butter

preheat oven to 180 degrees

makes 16

Sift dry ingredients into large bowl, stir in combined eggs, milk and oil.
Add cinnamon and 1 cup of the apple (saving the rest for the topping).
Put mixture into prepared muffin tin.
Make the topping by combining sugar and flour, and rub in butter.
Top the muffins with apple and topping.
Bake for about 20 minutes.

disastrous chocolate filled muffins

i thought i'd share this little disaster with you all ... these were supposed to be chocolate filled vanilla muffins ... but the filling all ooozed out in the oven ... bit of a disaster really ... i rescued them by sticking some butter cream and choc icing on the top!