Chicken and Mushroom Crepes

400g skinless chicken breast, chopped

200g mushrooms, chopped

1/2 cup light evaporated milk

2 tsp cornflour

splash wine

3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 spring onions chopped

1/2 cup chicken stock

50g extra light cheese, grated (Bega)

2 tsp light butter

1/2 tsp dried tarragon

white pepper

4 ready made frozen crepes (Creative Gourmet)

Add the cornflour to the evaporated milk and whisk.

Coat a non stick frypan with cooking spray and cook the chicken until brown and just cooked through.  Remove from pan and add the mushrooms and butter and saute till soft.  Return the chicken to the pan, add the garlic, spring onions, milk, stock, tarragon, wine and pepper.

Bring to the boil and simmer until sauce thickens.  Add salt if you think it needs it.

Divide mixture between four crepes and roll up, place in a baking dish coated with cooking spray, scatter the cheese evenly over crepes, and put under the grill or in the oven, until the cheese is melted.

Serves 4 @ 8 ProPoints.

The flavour of these crepes was wonderful.  I only made three as it was only the kids and I tonight, but I froze the other portion of sauce which will make a quick and easy meal for someone with a thawed crepe and a bit of grated cheese.  We had ours with a big mixed salad.  We have all sorts of ideas for crepes now, both sweet and savoury.  I'm going to try them with prawns in a garlic cream sauce.

Satay Chicken

600gm skinless chicken breast

(or 6 pork butterfly steaks)

1/3 cup finely chopped onion

(I used eschallot because I needed to use them up but they have a more delicate flavour as well)

1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp minced garlic

3/4 cup coconut flavoured light evaporated milk

(or plain with 1 tsp coconut essence)

Cut the chicken, or pork, into strips and thread onto twelve wooden kebab sticks.

Coat griddle pan with cooking spray, heat to high and cook chicken skewers, in batches if necessary until browned and cooked through.

While the chicken is cooking, spray a small saucepan with cooking spray and saute the onion and garlic for two minutes, then add the rest of the ingredients.  You might need to whisk it a bit to break up the peanut butter.  Bring to the boil, reduce heat and cook for a few minutes till thickened.  Set aside, sauce will thicken a little more on standing.

Serve chicken skewers with sauce spooned over.  Garnish with some fresh coriander if desired.

Serves 6 @ 6 ProPoints.

Everyone enjoyed this tonight, I think next time I would add more chilli powder or some minced chilli into the sauce.

Peppered Steak

4 x 125g fillet steaks

2 tbs canned green peppercorns, crushed

1/4 cup brandy

1/2 cup buttermilk

Combine the steaks, peppercorns and brandy in a small bowl.  Marinate overnight.  (I put mine in in the morning and they were ready for dinner).

Drain, and reserve marinade.

Coat a non stick pan with cooking spray and heat, cook steaks until cooked to desired tenderness.

Remove from the pan and keep warm.

Combine the reserved marinade and buttermilk.  Add to the pan and bring to the boil.  Pour over steaks just before serving.

Serves 4 @ 7 ProPoints per serve.

My sauce split for some reason, I don't remember that happening before.  Next time I might add the marinade to the pan and heat before stirring in the buttermilk.  It still tasted great though.

Pumpkin and Tomato Soup

1 cup onions, chopped (about one and a half onions)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

3 cups water

2 chicken stock cubes, crumbled (or two tsp chicken stock powder)

480g pumpkin, diced

2 cups ripe tomatoes, chopped

chopped parsley or coriander, to serve.

Coat a saucepan with cooking spray, saute the onion until transparent. Add cumin, coriander and nutmeg and heat until aromatic, stirring constantly.

Add water, pumpkin and stock cubes and simmer for ten minutes.

Add tomatoes and simmer a further ten minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Cool a little and process in a blender or processor until smooth.

Serve with a swirl of yoghurt or light sour cream and garnish with fresh coriander or parsley.

Serves 4 @ 0 ProPoints.

This is a recipe that can be tweaked according to your taste.  You could add some crushed or chopped fresh garlic, and cauliflower is great in soups it adds a creaminess that belies its zero points value, just add a bit more water.  This soup freezes and reheats well.

Chilli Lime Chicken with Rosti and Salsa

This is an old bbq recipe that we've been using for years, but it's a great Weight Watchers dish because all you count is the chicken, the rest of the marinade is point free.

4 x 125 chicken breasts, pounded to even size if necessary

1/3 cup lime juice

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tbs grated ginger, fresh or bottled

1 small red chilli, seeded and chopped

1 tbs soy sauce

2 spring onions, chopped

Mix all marinade ingredients in a shallow dish and add chicken, turning to coat.  Marinate in the fridge for a couple of hours.  Cook on a bbq or griddle pan until brown and tender. 

Serves 4 @ 5 ProPoints each. 

Avocado and Red Onion Salsa

1/2 avocado chopped

Red onion to taste, chopped (I used about a quarter)

Handful of fresh coriander roughly chopped

Juice of half a lime.

Freshly ground black pepper.

A little salt.

 Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Sit for a while as you cook the chicken.

Serves 4 @ 1 ProPoint each.

Potato Rosti

320g potato, peeled

1 spring onion chopped

1 clove garlic (or more to taste)

1 small egg white, beaten

salt and pepper

2 tsp olive oil

Par boil potatoes, whole or cut in half if large, until just starting to soften on the outside.

Leave to cool, then grate coarsely and mix with other ingredients.  Heat the oil in a medium pan to a fairly high heat, heap four equal spoons of mixture into pan then flatten with an oiled spatula.  Cook until brown, don't be tempted to turn them too soon or they might fall apart.  Turn and cook the other side until brown.

Serves 4@ 3 ProPoints each.

Crunchy Nut Chicken

4 125g chicken breasts, pounded to an even size

2 cups corn flakes

1/3 cup macadamia nuts

1 egg white

1/2 tsp chicken stock powder

1/4 cup skim milk

cooking oil spray

Preheat oven (fan forced) to 180C

Crush macadamia nuts, I do them in the small bowl of my stab blender, or you could use a small food processor.  Crush the cornflakes in the same way or even in a plastic bag with a rolling pin.

Add the chicken stock powder and mix well.

Beat the egg white with the milk.

Dip each breast into the milk mixture then the crumbs, pressing on to coat each side.

Line a baking sheet with baking paper and spray with cooking oil spray.

Place the crumbed chicken onto the tray and spray liberally with the cooking spray.

Bake in the oven for 35 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

Serves 4.

9 ProPoints per serve.

You wouldn't believe how something cooked in the oven with so little oil could be so crunchy outside and succulent and juicy inside, this is a real treasure of a recipe.

I made a healthy salad dressing with some organic apple cider vinegar, honey (I used health giving Manuka) crushed garlic, tahini and a little freshly cracked black pepper.  Everyone loved it.

Chicken Caesar Salad

Or my version of it. 

Croutons

I baguette (French bread stick) I used about two thirds of a day old loaf, sliced thinly

2 tbs olive oil

2 cloves of garlic or to taste

Mix the oil with the garlic, let it stand for a bit if time permits so the garlic infuses the oil, then lay the bread on a baking tray and pour over the garlic oil and mix them about, turning them to coat.  Bake in a 150C oven for about 30 minutes or until golden and crisp.

Dressing

4 anchovies, patted dry with paper towel

1 tsp Dijon mustard

2 tbs lemon juice

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup olive oil

1 egg

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Coddle the egg by placing it into fast boiling water for a minute, then remove immediately and leave to cool.

Put all the ingredients, except the oil, cracking the coddled egg and scraping out the contents,  into a small food processor and process until smooth.  Gradually add the oil in a slow stream and blend until it thickens and emulsifies.

Salad

1 baby Cos (Romaine) lettuce

4 rashers of bacon, or more!

2 eggs, just hard boiled

Parmigiano Reggiano, grated

Shaved parmesan

Cook bacon until crisp.  Drain and break into pieces.  Hard boil two eggs, cool and quarter.

Chicken

2 chicken breasts, or more if you're hungry

garlic powder

mustard powder

white pepper

Rub chicken breasts with a little garlic powder and mustard powder and sprinkle with white pepper.  Spray a griddle pan with cooking oil spray and char grill, then lower heat and cook through.

When cooked, rest for a few minutes before slicing .  Mine were thick and I didn't pound them so I finished them off in the oven.

Tear lettuce into pieces and put in a serving bowl, top with chicken, grated parmigiano, then add the dressing and toss.  Top with bacon, croutons, eggs and toss again, then top with some shaved parmesan and serve.

I was so nervous about this recipe because I never make up my own, but the family polished it off and said it was great (and I didn't have to pay them this time).  There was none left.  You could use less chicken, or more, no eggs, and no shaved parmesan.  The dressing is the key here.  You could also put the grated parmigiano into the dressing, I sprinkled it onto the salad. 

It really is worth buying the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, it's expensive, but I wrap mine in foil and put it in the freezer and when grated like that, a little really goes a long way.