SP Days for Vegetarians

When you need a satisfying meal, not much hits the spot quite like this tasty baked Bean Burrito. It combines warm, spicy chilli with savoury wraps to make something a little bit different. The creamy, cheesy topping finishes this perfectly and gives it a great savoury edge.  This uses half of your HEA allowance (or 3 syns) in the cheese topping and 1 of your HEB allowances (or 5.5 syns) in the wrap. This also means that on an SP day you could, if you were feeling super hungry, have two of these bad boys, using all your HEA and both HEB in one swoop but being certain of a real feast!  I served this with a romaine salad, tomatoes and some roast cauliflower but it goes well with all sorts of veg or salads. You could also swap in any suitable chilli mixture you enjoy as the filling or potentially try a quark-based topping if you prefer. This dish is a useful way to use up leftovers or additional portions from the freezer in a different way. Indeed, the unfilled wraps...

I picked up a trough of growing Japanese Spinach from a local food store last week and fell in love with it straight away! It is so fresh tasting but with a sharp irony tang that really packs a punch. This trough was mixed with baby red pak choi which was also yum. I combined it here with earthy fried mushrooms, savoury veggie sausages, sharp watercress and salty nuggets of stilton to create a warm salad that is super satisfying. This uses up your HEA for the day (or 5 syns) but is full of speedy vegetables and makes for a filling lunch. If you can't find Japanese Spinach (and goodness knows if I ever will again) then I think a mix of some spicy wild rocket and baby spinach leaves would still make this really sing. SW stalwarts will note that stilton doesn't appear within the HEA list in your book. However, I've checked and, as the calories and protein levels are exactly the same as double gloucester, I've counted the allowance as the same as for that cheese (30g)....

This warm and aromatic Brinjal Bhaji is rich in aubergines and spices. Serving it with these delicious and easy-to-make Herb Flatbreads makes a super supper.  This recipe is adaptable as, apart from the aubergine, which is needed to create this thick sauce, you could sub in different beans, peas or pulses and any vegetables you have to use up. You could roast cauliflower or butternut squash alongside the carrots, for example. You could also boost the protein in this with some pan-fried quorn chunks or roasted tofu, should you wish.  I had seen many flatbread recipes on Pinterest and then this week watched Jamie Oliver make them on his new show so thought I'd give them a go. I've tweaked those recipes to make it SW / SP friendly and added the fresh herbs to build some further nutrients into the dish and ensure they had a good, fresh flavour. As I've used quark, I advise caution (as per the recipe) in terms of adding it to the dough mix. I've found differen...

I'm aware that lentils might not be the most appetising of ingredients for a sweet dish, but I can assure you that you would never know they were there in these chocolate brownies. The key thing I found missing on SP days was sweet options. Although you still have your syns available - you may find you want to use these for other more nutrient-rich options such as additional cheese so this could come in very handy. I have to acknowledge that whilst this has the density of a brownie mixture, the taste of it is far more like a chocolate pudding sponge than a tea-time chocolate cake. Indeed, when I first bought this out of the oven, the smell immediately recalled what we affectionately called 'Chocolate Bricks' - the sturdy chocolate sponge dished out at our school cafeteria. The coconut flour gives this body, but also a nice nutty, sweet edge, despite the minimal use of sweetener. I don't like using sweetener in my food, preferring normally to use natural sources...

We all need something that feels like an indulgent treat every now and then and this Spicy Bean Burger is great for those days! As a lifelong vegetarian, I remember well the excitement of bean burgers starting to appear in restaurants and takeaways in the 1990's. Although pretty naff, I've always regarded them as a bit special ever since. This is my attempt to recreate their dry spicy taste whilst incorporating lots of protein-rich pulses.  I've served the burgers here with fresh rocket, 10g of light cheddar (1.5 syns / 1/4 of my HEA), gherkins, plenty of Chunky Chutney and a 60g wholemeal bread roll (one of my HEB allowances for the day). It also used two of the burgers in the one bun, just because I was hungry! It made it something of a challenge to eat - but one I rose to none-the-less. It would work equally well with just the one patty and would mean this would go further, but I leave this to you and your appetite.  In my dish, I've included some cooled s...

I've experimented with a number of different recipes for pickles and chutneys that are free from sugar or fat and this Chunky Chutney is my current favourite. It is tangy and warm, whilst also being full of vitamin-rich vegetables and it is gloriously syn-free! Because it doesn't have any added sugar in the recipe, this doesn't keep as well as traditional chutneys or pickles, so I'd advise making in smaller batches like this - which keeps for at least a week in the fridge. It works really well on burgers, salads or to sparkle up things like my  Pepper Quiches  and  Lentil Loaf . As with all recipes and meal plans on the blog I have highlighted the   protein sources (P foods) in red , the  speed (S) foods in green ,  healthy extra allowances in blue  and  syns, with syn values in brackets in orange .  Chunky Chutney Makes 8 generous servings - syn-free 1 red onion, finely chopped 2 red peppers, finely chopped 4 small o...

I love the earthy, nutty taste of celeriac and have found that this flavour matures and improves when it is slow roasted as in my celeriac caesar salad recipe. This makes for a very filling lunch, but it can also be adapted to make a tasty side dish and works very well with  Patty Pizzas  or  Pepper Quiches . The celeriac needs to be cut into good thick square 'chips' before roasting. They shrink down during the slow roast, so they need to be slightly thicker than they appear here before roasting to ensure they don't dry out and catch in the oven. They need to cool down completely after roasting before adding to the salad, to avoid wilting the other vegetables - you can do these the night before and leave them in a cool place or lay them on a cooling rack and leave for an hour or so. The dressing also benefits from standing to marinate as well - again if this could be left for an hour or two, the taste will develop. This recipe does use one of your HEB allow...

This sunshiney breakfast dish of Rocket Shakshuka was inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe for Baked Eggs, which uses cooked rocket as a tasty base for rich runny eggs. Shakshuka is probably not a new recipe to you, but I've tweaked the recipe to add more fresh ingredients and a wider variety of speed vegetables and minimised the use of oil to cut down on the calorific value.  The recipe is entirely free from syns - but could be have further richness added through a sprinkle of grated hard cheese. Alternatively, if you wished to make this a more substantial dish you could add half a tin of butter beans or brown lentils to heat through with the vegetables before adding the eggs. I've served this on a bed of steamed kale here, but it could also work well on a slice of wholemeal toast, using one of your HEB allowances or with some roast butternut squash chunks. As with all recipes and meal plans on the blog I have highlighted the   protein sources (P foods) in ...

If you are looking for a tasty breakfast or lunch alternative, then creamy mushrooms with thyme on a toasted slice of wholemeal bread can be just the ticket! The combination of tasty leek slices with thick chunks of chestnut mushrooms and deliciously aromatic fresh thyme works really well here. The inclusion of the Philadelphia Lightest gives this a light creamy texture, which, whilst not a thick sauce, does it gives it a rich, velvety finish.   If served on a slice of wholemeal toast, this uses one of your 2 HEB allowances for the day. However, it would also work on a bed of roast vegetables or with crushed cannellini beans. The basic recipe uses 1 syn, or you could count it as 1/6th of your HEA for the day. You can also give this an extra boost by adding 10g of stilton blue cheese, crumbled over the top. This does add 2 additional syns to the dish (or an additional 1/4 of your HEA). However, on a gloomy day, this makes it feel like a really rich treat.  As with a...