Courgette, Bacon and Cheddar Slice aka Zucchini Slice (Gluten Free)

A tasty, treat that's good hot or cold, as a dinner or a lunchbox snack.

Fairly quick and easy to prepare, you just need to mix all the ingredients together, pour into a tray and pop in the oven then go and put your feet up while it cooks! This is my low carb take on the Aussie favourite - 'Zucchini slice'.

Or, of course, you could make a nice big salad to go with it while it's cooking, and pop some jacket potatoes in the oven before you start - on a cold day, good with chips and baked beans too (especially for the kids!), or be more sophisticated with Jersey Royals and green beans.

It's so versatile, you can eat it hot or cold, and if you pop the leftovers into the fridge, it's perfect cut into squares for lunchboxes the next day, or as a snack when you get in from work and need something to eat NOW (or even freeze it in portions).

Serves four to six as a main. more as snacks / light lunches.

Calories: From 254 calories for a sixth, or 336 calories for a quarter portion, using fat free yoghurt. Using full fat yoghurt only makes 13 to 20 calories difference per serving.. For a smaller portion (lunch), it's 168 calories for an eighth.

Slimming World - Syn free for up to a quarter (if using the cheddar as a healthy extra, and 0% fat Greek yoghurt. Full fat Greek yoghurt for a creamier taste is 1.5 syns for a quarter).

Frozen Daiquiris - Strawberry, Mango etc. ( includes Thermomix instructions)

Just the thing for a hot summer's day!

Maybe it even counts as one of  your five a day? There's certainly plenty of fruit in it (oh yes, and alcohol!). I was making these a couple of years ago, and had perfected the recipe to our tastes and memorized it - but not blogged it! D'Oh! So given that it has been a couple of years since I last made daiquiris, and my memory is blighted by age (and a summer of daiquiris, probably!) I had to guess at what I roughly remembered the ingredients to be, then add to them to get the balance right for our tastes again, and THIS time I have done the 'sensible' thing, and written it down, so I don't forget again next time.

Delicious strawberry daiquiris... or as I told my children, strawberry smoothies...

I think my favourite is mango, but we had one of those last night, and strawberries look so pretty, so obviously I had to make a batch of strawberry daquiris today to take a photo... remember to drink sensibly and all that, darlings!

***UPDATE - a new level of deliciousness has been discovered!!! You can make the most amazing tropical daiquiri with a blend of pineapple, mango and papaya - which you just so happen to be able to buy in the frozen section of Sainsburys... just saying!***

Contains 8 units of alcohol (UK 25ml measures of 40% spirits), and makes four servings of 140ml.

For the calorie / Syn counters, the values are as follows for one serving (a quarter of a quantity as per the recipe below):

1 serving of strawberry daiquiri - 169 calories / 8 Syns
1 serving of pineapple daiquiri - 176 calories / 8.25 Syns
1 serving of mango daiquiri - 189 calories / 8.75 Syns

Stuffed Baby Peppers with Spinach and Ricotta

These little gems are a surprisingly healthy treat that are very more-ish and great for sharing (or NOT sharing if you want them all to yourself!).

I must firstly thank a friend, the lovely Audra, for the inspiration for this recipe. She shared a lovely recipe for roasted  piquillo peppers stuffed with goats cheese and spinach, which I changed around a bit (because that's what I do quite often) to suit my own purposes.

I think they're pretty easy to make - certainly not as fiddly as you might think! And they're definitely worth the effort for such a tasty morsel that's full of healthy yumminess - I ate half a quantity for my dinner last night!

The filling makes enough for two batches (as I prefer to use up certain things when I open them where possible, such as ricotta, so that the remains don't waste away in the fridge!), and will keep in the fridge for a couple of days so you can make a second batch fresh when you've eaten the first one! (Or just double up on peppers and make two trays - they are nicest eaten freshly cooked though).

Also delicious served with a selection of mouthwatering antipasti!

This quantity of peppers serves two, if eating as a light lunch type of thing (nice with some dressed Italian leaves on the side) or as a large side dish. It's also great as party food, and compatible with calorie-counted diets, 5:2, LCHF (all green list food, and you can use extra parmesan and a good drizzle of EVOO to top it off if you like) as well as being Syn free for the Slimming World diet (if you use up your healthy extra A choice for the ricotta cheese and up to 9g finely grated parmesan cheese per portion (this is a lot more than you think, especially if you use a microplane grater!).

207 calories per serving (with weights as below, calories in square brackets).

If making one quantity (with 300g baby peppers and a half quantity of ricotta/spinach mix), then it is 414 calories for the quantity, hence if using 12 baby peppers it is approximately 17 calories per stuffed pepper half.

Nutty Chocolate Bark

So simple, it's cheeky to call this a recipe - but helpful for those counting calories, or sticking to allowances to be able to weigh out portions.

As a self-confessed chocoholic, I can easily inhale what should last several days within the space of an evening, without even thinking about it!

If I'm trying to lose weight, chocolate tends to be my nemesis, so I have to find ways of making it last / stretch and pad it out with things that will make it more satisfying, and add a more healthy element, without compromising on deliciousness!

Calories: 150 calories per portion (26g), makes 12 portions.

Slimming World: makes 12 portions (weigh out at 26g each), where the nuts and seeds can be your healthy 'B' choice for the day, and the chocolate part is 3.5 syns. If not counting the nuts and seeds as your healthy 'B' choice, add on 4 syns per portion (so 7.5 syns in total).

Sri Lankan Beef Curry - Harak Mas Curry

A delicious, simple-to-make braised Sri Lankan beef curry.

I am going through a real phase of loving Sri Lankan food at the moment, and this beef curry, adapted from a Charmaine Solomon recipe is so simple to make, and incredibly tasty, that I had to share it.

It's also naturally low in fat, as it contains no coconut and only a small amount of oil, so it's pretty guilt-free too!

This serves four people as part of a meal served with a vegetable side dish and rice (or cauliflower rice - although if you're a complete meat head and want it on its own, it would probably make two or three servings), but it is very easily doubled. Even better the next day, and freezes beautifully.

199 calories per serving (between four people). Slimming World Syn free.

Speedy Salmon, Broccoli and Leek Crustless Quiche (Syn Free)

With only a handful of ingredients you can easily make a healthy and tasty lunch, dinner or lunchbox treat.

Salmon and broccoli is a classic combination, and when I threw this together for dinner, everyone loved it and it was so simple I had to share it.

The irony is, when the other half went shopping tonight, I asked him to pick up a (gluten free) quiche, as I was tired and didn't want to faff about cooking anything too complicated - and while he was out, I was looking through the fridge and found a pack of smoked salmon and some broccoli and Greek yoghurt that needed using so... er.... I had made a crustless version by the time he got back!! (Good job too really, as they had ran out of GF quiches). It's not a classic quiche of course, but it's a very tasty alternative, which is much healthier, easier, and quicker to put together. Mere minutes of preparation before popping it into the oven to bake while you do other things.

Serves four, 210 calories per serving, Syn free.

Retro Chasseur Sauce

A rich tomato, white wine and tarragon sauce with sliced mushrooms in it.

This sauce may be a bit of a blast from the past, for those of us frequenting British Pubs and Restaurants a couple of decades ago! 

However, this version is made from natural and fresh ingredients, and packed full of flavour. This sauce goes equally well with steak, chicken or pork fillets/steaks (just substitute chicken boullion/stock), or fish (use vegetable or fish boullion/stock). 

Makes 4 servings at 120 calories each (if you're counting. If not, feel free to increase the oil if you need to.), freezes well. Slimming World 1.5 Syns per serving.

Pitta Crisps - a selection of flavours

A delicious, quick and healthy alternative crunchy snack, or tasty appetiser with dips before a Turkish or Greek meal.

Really simple and quick to make, these are just wholemeal (you could use white if you prefered) pitta breads, halved and cut into triangles with a selection of different toppings, toasted in the oven until crispy and light.

You could serve them with my Hummus (with tips for perfectionists!) and Tzatziki / Cacik along with some sticks of raw vegetables such as cucumber, carrots, peppers and celery for a really healthy, balanced snack or light lunch, or as part of a spread. They will keep in an airtight container for a day quite happily, although if you want them fresh and crispy, I wouldn't keep longer than this to serve to other people (although they will last quite happily a couple more days, just lose a little crispness).

Serving sizes are easy - served with raw vegetables, half a pitta bread will do per person (each half cuts into 6 crisps - half a wholemeal pitta from e.g. Sainsbury's would be 77 calories) for a snack; or use a whole one per person for something more substantial to eat, (154 calories), plus dips - see Notes below for more information. (Slimming World - SuperValu Round Wholemeal Pitta Breads 8 pack (1 x 48g) can be used as a healthy extra - therefore provided you choose a pitta bread without any added oil, a 48g portion before cooking could be used).

If you fancy putting together a nice Turkish feast, with a shopping list and preparation plan, then have a look here!