Frugal dieting - super scrummy spicy soup

I just made such a scrummy lunch, I had to share it! It was SO tasty! So tasty, in fact, that I forgot to take a photo! I'll be making it again this week so I'll try and remember then!

Ok, you could definitely serve this to 2 people. Especially if you serve bread with it. I'm greedy though and am calorie counting and knew I was allowed all of it!

Total calorie count is approx 355 so you can indulge yourself and scoff the lot or share it (grudgingly) and only use 177 calories! 

I chopped the veg in the food processor so it was super speedy. 

Ingredients 

A little olive oil

1 onion, slices

2 celery sticks, finely chopped

1 carrot, finely chopped

1/2 a yellow pepper, finely chopped

1 tsp of each: ground cumin, ground coriander, mild chilli powder, mild curry powder, dried thyme 

1/2 a tsp ground cinnamon, turmeric, crushed chillies

400g tin of tomatoes

Salt and pepper

1 heaped tsp coconut milk powder 

100g mixed bean salad 

1 tsp balsamic vinegar 

Method 

Fry the onion in the oil until softened. Add the chopped veg and all the herbs and spices. Cook over a medium heat for a couple of minutes, keeping it moving. Add the tomatoes and about half a tin of water. Add the salt and pepper and the coconut milk powder and stir. Add the bean salad and balsamic, bring to the boil and reduced to a simmer for about 5 mins. 

Scoff!

Middle eastern style lamb - leftover heaven

I had defrosted some lamb chops that I'd found in the bottom of the freezer and I needed to use them so I marinated them in lots of grated ginger, fresh mint, garlic, chilli, ground cumin and oil and fried them on a griddle pan then i put them in the fridge until i was ready to use them. I then stripped the meat off them and used them in this recipe. 

Ingredients

1 onion, sliced

1 clove garlic

1 tbsp coriander seeds,

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

I used the meat from 5 lamb chops

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 tin chickpeas 

Leftover gravy from the roast chicken we had the night before but you could use stock

Serve with couscous 

Method

Fry the onions and garlic in some oil until soft. 

Pound the dried spices up in a pestle and mortar. Add them, together with the ginger, to the pan and stir. Add the meat, tomatoes and gravy or stock. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 mins. Add chickpeas and cook for a further 10 mins. 

If I had had any fresh herbs handy I would have added some at this point - coriander or mint would be best. 

Serve on a bed of couscous. 

Scrummy but Skinny Tomato Soup

Calories: Approx. 116 per serving. Serves 4. 

To counteract the gluttony of pancake day, I promised a scrummy but very skinny soup. So here goes....

Ingredients

2 carrots

2 sticks celery

1/2 onion

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 yellow pepper (or red is fine)

5 tomatoes 

1 tin tomatoes (you could just use 2 tins rather than fresh too)

Chicken stock made from stock cube (fill tomato tin)

1 inch chorizo, sliced

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp dried oregano

A small handful fresh basil 

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp sugar

Tabasco sauce to serve 

Method

If you've got a food processor, use it! It'll massively save you time. 

Chuck the celery and onion in and chop for a few seconds. 

Heat a large pan and fry off the chorizo for a couple of mins. Add the chopped onion and celery and a pinch of salt. Crush the garlic into the pan. Keep it moving. Add the paprika and oregano. 

Pop the pepper and carrots in the food processor and chop.

When the onion is translucent add the pepper and carrots. 

Chop the tomatoes in the processor along with the basil and then add them to the pan along with the balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and tinned tomatoes. Use the empty tin to make the chicken stock in and add it to the pan too. Season. Add 1 tsp sugar if required.  Bring it to the boil then lower the heat and simmer for about 15 mins. 

Tip it into the blender and blitz. Et voila. 

I put a little Tabasco sauce on it when I serve it. 

A nice warming Spanish Style Chorizo, Prawn and Chickpea Stew

Calories: approx 291 per person based on 3 sharing. This does NOT include the bread or any extra oil. 

Hello!  Hope you've all had a great day.

Well, today has been a challenge! A very hyperactive, spotty 5 year old hanging off me all day whilst I've tried to work... Roll on bedtime!!

So I wanted something easy and comforting for supper.  I wanted minimal chopping so happily used dried chilli flakes instead of the chilli that is in the fridge (I'll use it for a curry over the weekend) and tinned tomatoes rather than fresh. 

I always have raw king prawns in the freezer as they are a quick, low fat option even with defrosting them. I speed the defrost time up by putting them in water to defrost the ice casing.  I also always have chorizo in the fridge. It's about my most used ingredient. I absolutely love it and it goes in most things I make. I love how it transforms a meal. 

So with those ingredients mind, I thought I'd make a Spanish style prawn stew. I also chucked some chickpeas (storecupboard staple!) in too to bulk it out. I made it up as i went along with nagging  children next to me, so it definitely doesn't require much brain work! 

Ingredients

• Approx 3" piece of chorizo, sliced
• 1 red onion (if you only have white, that's fine), sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes. More or less, if desired. 
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• A couple of splashes of med sweet sherry - prob about 100ml
• 1 tin of tomatoes - Use fresh if you'd like but I simply couldn't be bothered today!
• A large dash of balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tin of chickpeas, drained but not rinsed 
• Raw king prawns - we had about 8 each as they were big and we are greedy!!
• Chopped fresh parsley (optional)
• My sun dried tomato and olive bread or other crusty bread to serve (optional)

Method

Heat your pan up (dry) until nice and hot. Add the chorizo to the pan and let it release it's fat for a min or 2. Don't let it burn. Turn down the heat to low. Add the sliced onion to the pan and slowly cook.  Add a little salt with the onions to help them cook off a bit quicker. If you need to add a little more oil, feel free to add it. Add the garlic, chilli and oregano to the pan and cook for another 2 mins. Don't let the garlic go brown.  Add the sliced pepper and the sherry.  If you don't have any you could use white wine and then add a spoon of sugar later on with the tomatoes.  Raise the heat and cook for a couple of minutes until the alcohol has cooked off, then lower the heat and cook for a further 5 mins, stirring a few times.

Add the tomatoes and also a tin full of water.  Add the balsamic vinegar (and sugar, if necessary). Season with sea salt and  black pepper. Bring to the boil. 

Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. Let it cook for approx 40 mins. Keep an eye on it and stir a few times to make sure that it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan.

10 mins before the end of the cooking time, add the chickpeas. About 2 - 3mins before the end of cooking time add the prawns.  Make sure that they have turned thoroughly pink and are nice and hot.

If you have some fresh parsley, sprinkle some on the top and serve.

I served this with my sun dried tomato bread and ate far too much. Also couldn't wait for it to cool down so didn't follow my advice and had it hot with butter melting on it. 

Hope this tickles your fancy!  It is honestly one of the nicest flavours and proper comfort food. And the only fresh ingredient was a pepper so it's v handy too!

If you serve it with lots of bread this would serve 2 adults and 2 little people.