mushroom and chickpea curry

I love this curry, It's filling and syn free.

Ingredients

• Low calorie cooking spray
• 1 onions, thinly sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 450g mushrooms
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1-2 chillies, deseeded and chopped
• 1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 120g fresh spinach leaves, trimmed and washed
• 400g cooked/tinned chick peas
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Method

1. Spray a large saucepan with low calorie cooking spray and place over a medium heat. Add the onions, garlic and mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes, until softened and golden.
2. Add the spices and chillies, stir well and cook gently for about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and spinach and reduce the heat to a bare simmer.
3. Simmer gently for 5 minutes and then add the chick peas. Continue simmering for 5-10 minutes, until the spinach has wilted and the tomato liquid has reduced.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper and then stir in the chopped coriander.

chocolate, chilli and coffee mousse.

Ok so I didn't put any alcohol in this as the recipe says and I don't think it needs it. It's very rich but worth the 6 syns

 Ingredients

• 125g dark chocolate
• 4 medium eggs, separated*
• 4 level tbsp sweetener
• ½ tsp dried red chilli flakes
• 2 tsp instant coffee granules dissolved in 1 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp cognac or brandy
• fat free natural fromage frais, to serve
• 1 level tsp cocoa powder, to dust
• orange zest, to decorate

Method

1. Break the chocolate into small pieces, place in a large heatproof bowl and melt over a pan of gently simmering water. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly at room temperature.
2. Meanwhile whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff but not too dry.
3. Whisk the egg yolks, sweetener, chilli flakes, instant coffee mixture and cognac or brandy in a separate bowl and spoon into the melted chocolate, mixing well.
4. Lightly fold in the egg whites with a metal spoon until well combined.
5. Spoon this mixture into six tea cups or dessert dishes and place in the freezer for 2-3 hours or until just set.
6. To serve, top each serving with a spoonful of fromage frais, lightly dust with cocoa powder and decorate with orange zest.

Tip: *Pregnant women, the elderly and babies are advised not to eat raw or partially cooked eggs.

Not a recipe but some good advice

I know loads of people always say go to your local market for fruit and veg, but I wanted to stamp the point across.

I went to my local market today and got two punnet of strawberries, a bag of satsumas, a large punnet of grapes, two punnet of blackberries and two punnet of raspberries as well as a piece of broccoli for £6.

If your on a budget, trying to eat healthy or loose weight get yourself to your local market and save some money.

vegtable fried rice

I love friend rice and find that it's a great comfort food. I usually add soy sauce and oyster sauce in as well to give a bit more flavour.
For this dish I used half a cup of rice, two eggs, mushrooms, pepper, spring onion, ginger, garlic and a glug of soy sauce and oyster sauce.

cookies - 3 syns each

 I made the biscuits for a taster night we had in group on Tuesday. They worked out at 3 syns each and went down a treat/

Ingredients

• 312g plain flour
• a pinch of salt
• 1 level tsp baking powder
• 1 level tsp ground almonds
• 113g low fat margarine, suitable for baking
• 4oz dark muscovado sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tbsp runny honey

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C Fan/Gas 3. Place the flour, salt, baking powder, ground almonds, margarine and sugar in a food processor and blend. Slowly add the eggs and honey until the mixture comes together (you may not need it all).
2. Dust the work surface with flour, roll out the mixture to about 5mm deep and cut into what ever shap you want. Re-roll and repeat until you have 36 cookies. Arrange the cookies on two baking trays lined with baking parchment and bake for 20 minutes.
3. Remove from the oven, transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool before serving.

Tip: Decorate the cookies with icing, (5 Syns per 28g), silver balls (1 Syn per tsp) and glitter sugar (1 Syn per level tsp) for a special touch.