Avocado & Greek Yoghurt Dip With Home made Tortilla chips

Chips & dip is a wonderful combination, great for parties, for snacks, nibbles for watching a movie. Unfortunately they are typically very high in calories and therefor not so great for us weight watchers. I have come up with a wonderful chip & dip combination that wont break your Pro Point bank. And if I do say so myself it's absolutely delicious!

Avocado & Greek Yoghurt Dip with Home Made Tortilla chips

Serves 2

7 Pro Points per recipe on the Pro Points plan

4 pro Points per recipe on the Filling & Healthy plan

Avocado & Greek Yoghurt Dip

Ingredients

1  Large Avocado 

Juice of half a Lime

3 tbsp 0% Greek Yoghurt

2 garlic Cloves, Crushed

1 Inch piece of Ginger, peeled & grated

Half a tsp Smoked Paprika

Half a tsp Cayenne pepper (optional)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Small dash of water\

2 Weight watchers Wraps

Calorie Controlled Spray

Sea salt & Ground Black Pepper

Method

Half the Avocado, remove the stone and scoop out the flesh,

Add it to the blender,

Then add the remaining ingredients,

Blend until smooth, scraping down the sides half way through

Home Made Tortilla Chips

Preheat oven to 180c

Cut the wraps into triangles,

Place on a lined baking sheet,

Spray with Calorie Controlled Spray,

Sprinkle with Salt & Pepper or seasoning of your choice,

Bake for 8 minutes or until crisp and lightly golden

leave to cool

Serve & enjoy a very tasty savoury snack!

   

Quinoa Buffalo Bites

Quinoa Buffalo Bites

The whole recipe works out as 6 Pro Points on the Filling & Healthy program

5 Bites are only 1 Pro Point on Filling & Healthy

1 bottle of Franks Buffalo Wing sauce

2 cups cooked Quinoa

1/2 Cups Paxo Breadcrumbs

1 Egg

Salt & Pepper

1 can Cannellini Beans, mashed

3 Tbsp Olive Oil

In a bowl combine the Beans, Quinoa, Egg & Breadcrumbs with 4 tbsp of Franks Buffalo sauce, add salt & pepper to taste.

Mix well with a wooden spoon.

Form into balls, using about half a tablespoon of mixture to make about 30 bites.

Heat a frying pan and add oil.

Add the bites and cook until crisp & golden on all sides (about 5 minutes)

repeat with remaining balls.

When all the bites are cooked, roll each bite in the leftover Franks sauce being careful not to break the balls.

Serve as finger food at a party or accompany with salad for a tasty lunch or dinner.

Or you could be a little naughty and serve them with home made oven fries with taco sauce and cheese for a friday night fake-away!

Candied Walnuts & Autumn Salad

Autumn is here with out a doubt and to be honest I am relishing in it. I love this time of year! ok, maybe not the rain, but I like the fresh chill in the air, I like coming in and putting the heating on in the evening and I love the warm, comforting food that comes with this time of year.

While out shopping today I came across some Kale for 99c a bag in Lidl. I've never had kale before, Its one of Autumns many seasonal veggies, so now is a great time to enjoy it at its best. I decided to give it a go and I made a really tasty salad with it using some Candied Walnuts I made earlier today.

Candied Walnuts

3 Pro Points for 10g

70g Walnuts
50g Sweet Freedom Syrup
25g Brown Sugar
4 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 150

Mix the syrup, sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil over a medium heat, stirring frequently.
Pour the syrup mixture into a bowl and stir in the Walnuts, Mix well
Leave the Walnuts to soak for 3 minutes

Place a sheet of baking parchment under a wire cooling rack and spread the Walnuts over the rack
Leave the excess syrup to drip off for a couple of minutes
Place the Walnuts on a lined baking sheet and bake for approximately 5 minutes, toss half way.
keep a firm eye on them as they burn quickly.
Leave to cool on the tray and transfer to a jar or air tight container.

Autumn salad

Serves 4

8 Pro Points Per Serving

To bulk up the salad for a main meal add a grilled chicken breast for an extra 4 pro Points per serving

A bunch of kale (I used half a bag from Lidl)
Half a Butternut Squash, cubed
1 cup Cous Cous
1 Vegetable Stock Cube
70g Goats Cheese
30g candied Walnuts
Fry Lite

Bring one cup of water to the boil, stir in vegetable stock cube and add one cup of Cous Cous, Cover and leave for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and set aside.
Spray a large frying pan/wok with Fry Lite and turn on a medium heat
Saute the Butternut Squash for 10 minutes, until tender
Remove from the pan and let cool,
Spray the pan again with fry light and add the Kale, Wilt the kale for a couple of minutes until it turns a dark green colour but is still crunchy.
Remove from the pan, let cool and chop roughly.

In a large bowl, mix the Cous Cous, Kale and Squash together.
Crumble over the Goats Cheese and Toss.
Sprinkle the Walnuts on top and serve.

The slight bitterness of the crunchy Kale meets the soft sweetness of the Butternut Squash. The creaminess of the Goats cheese contrasted with the sweet crunch of the Candied Walnuts, This salad is bursting with flavour and texture, definitely a must try this season!

Spicy Sweet Potato, Chickpea & Spinach Curry

The weather is starting to change and we are heading into Autumn. I have noticed over the last week or so that my eating habits are changing. I am feeling more like warm, hearty comfort foods again and its a welcome change for me.

Myself and william have also decided to eat more vegetarian meals so we are not eating so much meat. Not that there is anything wrong with meat, we love meat! but I think we eat a lot of it and it would be good for our health and our wallets to have some meat free days too.
I made this vegetarian curry last week and it was a hit! Its a hot one, so if you dont like spice just leave out the fresh red chilli.

Spicy Sweet potato, Chickpea & Spinach Curry

Free on Simple Start/ Filling & healthy

10 Pro Points per serving
*to reduce pro points try using Fry Lite instead of Olive Oil.

Serves 4

20mls of Olive Oil
1 Red Onion, Diced
1 White Onion, Diced
3 Tbsp Curry powder
1 red Chilli, Diced (optional)
1 tsp Ground Ginger
2 very large Sweet potatoes, Cubed
1 400g Tin of Drained Chickpeas
300g Low Fat Natural Yogurt
1 400g Tin Chopped Tomatoes
400g Spinach


Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat.
Add the onion and curry powder, mix well and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the onion is soft.
Add the chilli if using and the ginger, sweet potato and chickpeas, cook for 5 minutes, then ass the tomatoes along with 200ml of water and bring to the boil.
Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes.
remove the lid and cook for another 20 minutes, stirring occassionally until the sweet potato is cooked through and the sauce is thickened.
Stir in the low fat natural yogurt and cook for a couple more minutes, then stir in the spinach and cook until wilted.

Serve over brown rice and enjoy!