 |
| Recipe of the week... ... Syn-Free Baked Vegetable Frittata |
Ingredients:
Low-calorie cooking spray e.g. Frylight, 8 spring onions, 2 garlic cloves, 1
red chilli, 6 tablespoons roasted red peppers in brine from a jar, 200g can
sweetcorn kernels, 200g fresh or frozen peas, 6 eggs, 4 tablespoons fresh
flat-leaf parsley, 250g dried macaroni, salad leaves, fat-free salad dressing,
salt and pepper
Serves:
4 decent portions
Time
taken: 1 hour in theory (though, possibly 2 hours)
Dietary:
Vegetarian (and syn-free on Slimming World!)
--
Hi
readers,
How
are we all today? Are you kicking back this Friday, looking forward to the
weekend ahead? Or are you battling on with the week – fighting your way to 5pm?
Nursing a slight hangover, perhaps, from the copious wine drunk last night in
celebration of Valentine’s… hmm?
However
your Friday is shaping up, readers, I’m sending calm thoughts and good vibes
your way. Life is good.
--
- Food
for thought -
This
week, readers, I do have this and that to recommend for you. Lately, I’ve been…
Listening
Recommended
by my favourite Instagrammer, Yoga Girl, as her latest jam while she’s on the
mat. I would very much love to be practising a yoga flow, mid weekday, outdoors
in warm breezy sunny Aruba, with a blue-sky backdrop and a fruit smoothie
sweating by the pool, in a bright summer outfit, with an even brown tan. Just
enjoying my glorious life. That, sadly, isn’t the life I lead today but I can
enjoy the same music as Yoga Girl… and (I don’t want to jinx it, but) the sun
is actually shining here this afternoon, on a balmy winter’s day in Sheffield. February
sun is very sweet.
Watching
On
Chesil Beach
A
romantic film starring Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle, as a young couple living
in England in the early 1960s, and just married that very day. They’ve headed
to a hotel by the sea for the honeymoon they’ve been saving themselves for… and
have a spot of bother going through with things. I watched this film on a night
in with the Mr recently, and it sparked some good debate between us! We don’t
know whether the girl is in the wrong, or the boy, or is it all just a
reflection of the time? Are the couple the problem at all?? Worth a watch.
Reading
Conversations
with Friends, by Sally Rooney
The
latest book for book club – has me gripped! I was fortunate the other night to
carve out a whole evening to spend in my bed with no human content, getting
stuck into a new book. For me, this is the dream. It happens so rarely, and I do
think it’s a good way to get the most out of the book, at least when you first
pick it up, to find the time for a decent read of it, rather than a quick flick
of the first pages. So far, Conversations
with Friends is a novel about the poet, Frances, and her friendship with
childhood friend, Bobbi. There’s also Melissa, who we don’t really like. Or do
we? And her husband, Nick, the handsome actor... who France sis sleeping with.
I’m gripped! And very much recommend.
Enjoying
Morrisons Eat Smart Soy Chilli & Ginger Dressing
The
madman who wrote the rules of Slimming World laid down the law that salad
dressings must be under 50 calories per 100ml in order to count as syn-free.
Otherwise, if your dressing is anything above, then you need to use up syns in
order to avoid a dry salad situation. And I refuse to waste my syns on salad
dressing while there’s still wine in this world. Luckily, I’ve located a fat
free dressing at Morrisons which I actually LIKE and makes this whole salad
dressing rule not-so-bad in the end. S’all cool.
Wondering
Whether
it’s better to buy Euros now, or in April?
Genuine
question here – can anyone help? We go away in June to Spain and I don’t know
whether it would be better to buy our Euros now, ahead of the Brexit deadline,
or afterwards when we’ve potentially left the EU with no deal. Does anyone know?
--
-
Feeding a friend -
My
recipe this week, readers, is one I cooked for Flat Dinner recently as it was
my turn to make tea for me and my housemate. As I’m bound by the laws of
Slimming World currently, I hunted through the app for a tasty looking recipe
to try out – one that would be syn-free so I could enjoy a glass of wine with
my meal. Priorities, yeah?
I
happened upon this recipe, for a Baked Vegetable Frittata, and I think it spoke
to me on a level that only cheese can – as the photos for this recipe are
incredibly yellow and bear promise of a high cheese content – even though,
actually, there isn’t any cheese in this recipe at all! You can view the original
here.
I’d
bought the ingredients by the time I realised the error of my ways – so it was
frittata for two for tea! If you’d like to give this recipe a go yourself, readers,
then here it is in just seven simple steps…
--
- Syn-Free
Baked Vegetable Frittata -
Ingredients:
Low-calorie cooking spray e.g. Frylight, 8 spring onions, 2 garlic cloves, 1
red chilli, 6 tablespoons roasted red peppers in brine from a jar, 200g can
sweetcorn kernels, 200g fresh or frozen peas, 6 eggs, 4 tablespoons fresh
flat-leaf parsley, 250g dried macaroni, salad leaves, fat-free salad dressing,
salt and pepper
1. Get
your comfy clothes on! Pour a refreshing drink, stretch really tall, and set
some toe tapping music playing. Clear your kitchen surfaces and give them a
wipe, then gather together all the ingredients you need.
2. Boil
the kettle and heat your oven to 180°C. Tip 250g dried macaroni into a saucepan
over a high heat and pour in hot water from the kettle.
3.
While your macaroni cooks you can be tackling some veg prep!
Begin by thinly slicing your spring onions, crushing your cloves of garlic, and
deseeded then finely chopping your red chilli. Drain and finely chop some
roasted red peppers from the jar, drain your tin of sweetcorn, and finely chop
some fresh parsley.
4.
Spray a medium-sized ovenproof flan or pie dish with
low-calorie cooking spray.
5.
Beat six eggs in a large mixing bowl and season generously
with salt and pepper.
6.
Once your macaroni is cooked, drain this and add to the
mixing bowl along with the eggs. Then tip in all the remaining ingredients, and
give everything a big stir together to combine.
7.
Transfer your frittata mix into the dish, and pop carefully
in the oven. Leave to bake for 25-40 minutes, or until the eggs have set and
the frittata is golden brown.
ChefBeHere
Top
Tip: If, as was the case when I tried out this recipe, your frittata is
definitely cooked on top and the macaroni is becoming crisp, but a stab test in
the centre of the frittata show the middle isn’t cooked through yet, cover your
frittata with tin foil then pop back in the oven. This will stop the top of
your frittata from burning – keep checking back every ten minutes until your
knife into the middle of the dish finally comes out clean.
8.
Then safely lift your frittata out of the oven and cut it up
into wedges. Serve with a crisp green salad in your favourite fat free salad
dressing – tuck in!
--
- Recipe
round up -
And
that’s all there is to it, readers! I say that’s all there is to it, but in
actual fact it took SO LONG for our frittata to be ready. I don’t know if our
oven was in a mood, if the baking dish I chose was too heavy or too deep, or if
the gods hated me on that day! But it took a bloody long time to cook.
Stab
tests kept coming out eggy, we were starving, I was knocking back the wine… by
the time we did eat though (2 hours after I turned the oven on) the food tasted
SO GOOD. I think the prolonged anticipation, combined with the hunger and sort
of desperation for it ever to be cooked and edible, just made the frittata
taste absolutely wonderful by the time we got to eat it.
I
don’t think the food was maybe that tremendous, if you tasted it objectively,
so I don’t want to beef your hopes up too high, readers. There’s every chance
if you cook this dish at home fully prepared for the fact that it may take a
while, that your food will come out tasting good but not mind blowing.
BUT…
what’s wrong with a good plate of food? I actually ate some frittata up as
leftovers the next day, while feeling steadier and more rational, and still
really enjoyed the food! So, I do recommend this recipe for you to try. According
to the Slimming World site:
Bursting
with robust flavours, this Italian dish is perfect for loading up your lunch
box. Most vegetables would work well in this dish, so swap depending on your
mood or the season.
So,
not only can you chuck in any vegetable you like, readers, you can also prepare
this as a lunch option to see you through the day at work and brighten up your
midday meal. What’s not to like? I say, go give this frittata a try, readers! Be
the source of all your colleagues’ lunchtime envy in the office. Turn them
green as garden pea. You may never before have combined macaroni with egg – who
has – but today could be THE DAY.
And
however today pans out, readers, I’m wishing you all well. And quite sure there’s
a wonderful weekend in store for you, full of adventure. Have fun and enjoy it.
Take care!
Bake
safely,
Hayley
--
-
Closing thoughts -
If
you’ve been inspired to give this recipe a try, readers, whether I’m speaking
to you on the day of this post or you’re reading some far out time in the
future... please drop me a line to let me know whether it went okay. I’d love
to hear how you got on in the kitchen and your thoughts on this dish. Plus,
it’d be fab if you’re able to share any tips you have for success, or your
suggestions to improve the recipe? Please send your wisdom my way.
Thank
you for reading!
