Search Results for: pasta bake

Chicken & broccoli pasta bake | Recipe (Slimming World friendly)

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A pasta bake is a great staple meal for Slimming World members, and I’ve previously shared a few on the blog. This one doesn’t create a lot of washing up as there is no pre-cooking on the hob, of anything other than the pasta. It’s basically a “throw it all in, and sit back and wait” type of dish! I’ve used dried breadcrumbs to top this one instead of cheese; they just add an extra bit of crunch. Though you could top with cheese too if you like, using your healthy extra or synning it. You can also prepare your own pasta at home in your best veggie pasta maker as it’s healthier and more nutritious than shop bought pasta. Read more

Butternut squash & tuna pasta bake | Recipe (Slimming World friendly)

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Butternut squash and tuna pasta bake

We get through an awful lot of pasta in our house; partly due to the fact that it’s a free food on Slimming World (dried pasta, anyway), and also it’s one of the boys’ favourites! A pasta bake is always a great idea; you’re able to just throw everything in and have a family dining experience with it. Take the dish to the table, and let everybody tuck in!

Tinned tuna is really quick and easy to add to a pasta bake, and as strange as butternut squash sounds to accompany it, it’s really quite nice! I use sour cream in this tuna pasta bake to make it a bit creamier, but you could make it syn free by using Quark or the like instead.

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Meaty conchiglie pasta bake | Recipe (Slimming World friendly)

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Pasta is a firm favourite in our household and we tend to eat it at least once a week – even better that it’s ‘free’ on Slimming World so I can eat as much as I like! (The dried version anyway). A couple of months ago I received some vouchers from Tesco to purchase some of their ‘finest’ pasta and I bought some large conchiglie pasta shells. I was going to stuff and then bake them but in the end I just went for this fuss free pasta bake. Totally delicious and very low syn on Slimming World!*
Ingredients (serves 4-6)
  • 500g lean minced beef
  • 1 red pepper, diced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
  • 150g mushrooms, sliced
  • 1tsp Italian herbs
  • 2 x 500g cartons passata
  • 1 x tin of macaroni cheese
  • 1/2 tub of Quark
  • 500g large pasta shells (you could use small ones if you can’t find large ones)
  • 120g cheddar cheese, grated

Method
  • Preheat oven to gas 4/180C/350F.
  • Parboil the pasta shells until just starting to go soft.
  • Over a low-medium heat, fry the mince, pepper, onion, garlic, and mushrooms until the mince is cooked and the vegetables are beginning to soften. Add the Italian herbs and mix in the passata.
  • Cover the bottom of a large baking dish with the parboiled pasta, then top with the meat & passata mixture.
  • Using a hand blender, blitz up the tin of macaroni cheese and mix with the quark. Spread this on top of the pasta and meat mixture.
  • Finally, sprinkle the grated cheese on top and cook for 40-45 minutes until the pasta is tender and the cheese is golden and bubbling.
  • Enjoy with garlic bread or some filling veggies, or both!

*Depending which macaroni cheese you use, but it should end up around 0.5-1.5 syns per portion if using the cheese topping as your healthy extra.

Our favourite five – February | Food, flowers, and a farm

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Our favourite five February

Once again, I’m back to being late with our favourite five – oops! I didn’t manage to get it written up by the end of the month, and March has been super busy so I’ve barely even turned the laptop on! I’m here now though, better late than never, right?

So, what were our favourite five for February? (That’s a lot of f‘s!)

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Slimming World weigh in #75 – the one where it’s going up…

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weekly weigh in

After my gain at weigh in last week I went away from group still feeling positive for the week ahead, even though I was a little annoyed at myself with my gain. I knew I had a night away coming up (which I really enjoyed, and some of my food was on plan – lots of speed food!) so I was on plan up until then, and then I was right back on it the day after I got back. I did expect a bit of a gain this week as I usually do have if I have been off plan for more than a day.

I now have a working oven again too so I can finally get a proper cook-on! I haven’t been meal planning lately – which is something I really need to get back into actually as I was doing well with my monthly plans and my weight loss seemed to pick up and be fairly consistent – so I just whipped up a simple pasta bake, but it felt fab to be able to cook in the oven again! (I also whipped up these brownies, not so Slimming World but I worked them out at 10 syns each, just in case you fancy it, as that’s what they are there for 😉 )

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