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Cheese and Onion Pasta with Roasted Veg

by 21 Comments

 

Cheese and Onion Pasta with Roasted Veg

This recipe came about when I had planned to make macaroni cheese but wanted to try to make a more No Count friendly version.  I also had an onion left so decided to combine the two.  Result: a very tasty, very filling meal:-)

No Count: 1sp          WW Freestyle: 7sp

Ingredients (serves 2):

  • 120g wholemeal penne
  • 70g quark
  • 32g Philadelphia lightest (16g per person is 0sp)
  • 54g WW reduced fat grated cheese (27g per person is 1sp)
  • a small onion, diced
  • oregano
  • roasting veg – a courgette, a red, yellow and green pepper, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C (fan).
  2. Slice the courgette and peppers and place all the roasting veg on a non-stick oven tray. Spray with a bit of Frylight and cook for 20 – 30 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, bring a pan of water to the boil and add the pasta.
  4. While the pasta is cooking, fry the onion for about 5 minutes. If following No Count you could use your daily oil allowance (I used a tbsp of olive oil for two of us) or you could use Frylight.
  5. Mix together the quark and Philadelphia, and season. Add this to the pan with the onion and mix together.  Add a tbsp cold water and mix this in too.  Leave this pan on the low heat for a couple of minutes to warm through.
  6. Drain the pasta and add to the pan with the onion mixture. Stir and mix together before adding the grated cheese and stirring this through too.
  7. Serve the cheese and onion pasta with the roasted veg. I added a sprinkling of oregano on top too.
  8. Enjoy!

 

 

 

No Count Pasta Sauce

by 9 Comments

Marie has very kindly sent in her NC pasta sauce recipe which looks absolutely fantastic: it’s a gorgeous, sweet sauce.  It is free on No Count and just 1sp per serving on WW Flex.

  

Ingredients (serves 4):

1kg of very ripe tomatoes – chopped if large
an onion, medium, cut into wedges
a red pepper, seeds removed and chopped
a tbsp olive oil
a tsp dried basil
half a garlic bulb, not peeled
a tsp granulated sweetener such as Truvia
salt and black pepper

Method:

  1. Put everything in a large roasting tin, lined with baking parchment, drizzle the oil and stir.
  2. Place in a medium oven (160-180C) for 45-60 minutes, check every 20 minutes or so: you want the vegetables soft and just starting to brown on the edges.
  3. Remove from the oven. Allow to cool and take the garlic out.
  4. Put the vegetables in a food processor, squeeze the garlic pulp out of the skin into the sauce and liquidise till thick and smooth.

    This can be used as a basis for your favourite pasta dish or on a pizza. You could add a few chilli flakes for a spicy sauce.
    It’s a great way to use up overripe tomatoes!

Pesto Chicken Burgers

by 10 Comments

This new recipe is from my Connect buddy Mands (@mands5781).  She decided to try and pimp up some chicken breast mince to make these burgers as chicken can be quite a bland mince and can go dry easily. This recipe really injects flavour and moisture into them so we hope you’ll like them - they were a real hit with her husband and son.

The recipe makes 10 sizeable burgers that don’t shrink too much and, as you can see, fill a brioche bun properly!!!  You can have 1 for 0sp, 3 for 1sp, 5 for 2sp on #freestyle and they are 0sp each on #nocount.

 

Ingredients (makes 10):

  • 600g chicken breast mince
  • 1 white onion
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 1 courgette
  • 1 red pepper
  • tsp Italian mixed herbs
  • black pepper
  • 12 leaves fresh basil
  • 5 tbsp Asda reduced fat green pesto
  • 1 slice Warburtons medium sliced wholemeal bread (or a slice of white bread if following #freestyle)

Method:

  1. Blitz the onion, garlic, basil leaves, courgette and red pepper into a fine blitz and mix thoroughly with the mince.
  2. The mixture will give off a little liquid so drain this off if you can, but not too much as you want the moisture from the vegetables to keep the burgers from drying out.
  3. Blitz the slice of bread into a crumb and add this also to the mix with the pesto, black pepper and herbs.
  4. Mix well into the mince mix as it will absorb some of the moisture.
  5. Shape into 10 patties, place on a grease-proofed baking sheet and bake for 20-25mins on 190C - this is a fairly low temperature so that they don’t overcook and go dry.
  6. If following No Count, you can serve it with a Schar gluten-free white ciabatta roll, home-made fries, salad, 4 olives and corn on the cob – all free on No Count!

Salmon Enchiladas

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This is one of my favourite recipes on the website and I regularly build it into my weekly meal plan.  It's a great recipe for a dinner party too!

Points per serving:

No Count: 1sp

WW Freestyle: 4sp

 

 

Ingredients (serves 4):

  • 4 salmon fillets, cooked
  • 4 WW wraps
  • 1 tbsp olive oil (from daily allowance) use a calorie-controlled spray if following WW Freestyle
  • an onion, finely diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 500g passata
  • a tsp mixed herbs
  • 20g chilli pesto
  • 100g Yeo Valley 0% crème fraiche or quark
  • 3 handfuls of spinach
  • 100g WW grated cheese

Method:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the onion. Fry for about 5 minutes before adding the garlic and cooking for a further minute.
  3. Add the passata, mixed herbs, 2 handfuls of spinach and chilli pesto. Season to taste and simmer for 5 minutes.
  4. Put about a quarter of this sauce in an ovenproof dish.
  5. Place the wraps open on your worktop and place some of the creme fraiche down the middle of each one.
  6. Put the remaining spinach on the creme fraiche and then top each one with a cooked salmon fillet.
  7. Roll each wrap up and place them on the sauce in the ovenproof dish.
  8. Cover the wraps with the remaining sauce and sprinkle the cheese over the top.
  9. Bake in the oven for a further 15 minutes.
  10. Serve and enjoy!

This can be served with roasted vegetables and it's also lovely with a salad during the summer.

Teriyaki Chicken

by 2 Comments

I thought I'd share this recipe idea with you as I've just made it this evening and thoroughly enjoyed it.  The meal works out at 2 points on No Count and 7 points if following WW Freestyle.

 

Ingredients (serves 2):

  • 2 chicken breasts cut into chunks
  • a sachet of WW Teriyaki Sauce
  • a yellow pepper, sliced
  • a green pepper, sliced
  • a red onion, sliced
  • a handful of green beans
  • a handful of chestnut mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • a tbsp olive oil (use a calorie-controlled spray if following WW Freestyle)
  • 100g brown rice

Method:

  1. In the morning, leave the chicken pieces to marinate in the WW Teriyaki Sauce in the fridge.
  2. When you're ready to begin cooking, boil a pan of water and cook the rice.  (I usually boil brown rice for 30 - 40 minutes so that it's nice and soft.)
  3. Heat a tbsp olive oil in a wok and cook the vegetables.  When they are cooked to your liking, leave them on a plate while you cook the chicken and sauce in any remaining juices.
  4. Once the chicken is cooked, return the vegetables to the wok with 2 tbsp soy sauce.  Cook for a further 3 - 5 minutes.
  5. Serve with the rice and enjoy!

Gammon and Leek Pasties

by 10 Comments

As the Salmon en Croute recipe was so popular, I thought I’d try a different filling in a WW wrap.  This is very tasty too and I hope you enjoy it if you decide to give it a go.  Each pasty is free on No Count.  If following WW Freestyle, they would be 5 points each plus the points for the gammon you used.

  

Ingredients (makes 4):

  • a small gammon joint, cooked and shredded
  • 2 medium leeks, sliced
  • 200g 0% Yeo Valley crème fraiche
  • 2 heaped tsp wholegrain mustard
  • 1 tbsp olive oil (use Frylight if following Ww Flex)
  • 4 Weight Watchers wraps
  • 1 egg, beaten

Method:

  1. Make sure the gammon joint is cooked and shredded.
  2. Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
  3. Heat the oil in a pan and cook the leeks for about 5 minutes until they are soft.
  4. Place the crème fraiche in a bowl and stir in the mustard. Season to taste.
  5. Pour the leeks into this mixture and stir in.
  6. Put the wraps on a plate/board and brush egg all the way round the circumference of each one.
  7. Divide the crème fraiche mixture between the 4 wraps and then add gammon to each one. (Make sure that you can still fold the wrap over and close it.)
  8. Once you have folded each wrap over, press all the way round the edge with a fork to keep the edges together.
  9. Brush each wrap with the remaining egg.
  10. Place the wraps on a non-stick baking tray and cook in the oven for 20 minutes.
  11. Serve and enjoy!

 

Served here with a small baked potato, baby sweetcorn and broccoli.  I didn’t manage to eat all of the potato as the pasty was very filling😊