Creamy Mushrooms with Thyme

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 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. 


Creamy Mushrooms with Thyme

Serves 1 - 1 syn per person (or 1/6 of your HEA) and 1 of your HEB allowances. 

4 large chestnut mushrooms
1 leek
8 stems of fresh thyme
Spray oil 
1 slice from a 800g loaf of wholemeal bread
25g of Philadelphia Lightest cream cheese
Ground black pepper


Put the bread on to toast and meanwhile slice the leek into thick rings and the mushrooms into thick slices. 

Put on a kettle of water to boil. 

Spray a non-stick frying pan with spray oil and bring to a high heat. 

Add the leeks and cook for 2 minutes, stirring regularly. Ideally, you want the edges of the leek to begin to caramelise and darken. 

Add the mushrooms slices to the leek and stir carefully. If the start to catch or the pan is smoking, add a splash of boiling water from the kettle. 

Pick the leaves from 7 of the stems of thyme carefully and put into the pan with the veg. 

Add the cream cheese and a good splash of the boiling water to blend the cream cheese and the vegetables together. 

Spoon the mixture on to the toast and add a grind of black pepper and the remaining thyme before serving.