Meatballs are one of my favourite go to quick and easy dinners as they take hardly any preparation and can be ready in under 15 minutes. These meatballs in particular are delicious with my other favourite at the moment, 0sp Butternut Squash Noodles, or Boodles as Sainsbury’s like to call them. They made for a lovely filling dish but allow you to keep the smart points for the whole meal nice and low.
Category: pasta
Mac and Cheese – 11sp
When asking what recipes you would like to see me create, Mac and Cheese is without fail, always the most requested so I thought it was about time I got around to creating a healthier version of it.
Aubergine, Tomato and Mozzarella Pasta – ‘Pasta alla Norma’ – 9sp
I’m always being asked for more vegetarian recipes but as such a big meat eater, I often find myself automatically basng my recipes around chicken, pork, beef or lamb. Having gotten a little into Meatless Mondays at the moment however, I though it was time I gave another veggie recipe a go.
Sundried Tomato, Chicken and Mascarpone Pasta – 12sp
Back before my sister could cook she used to absolutely love the shop bought pots of mascarpone sauce. Whenever I see them in the shops now they remind me of her (not that she would buy one now being quite the cook herself!!). This week however, when I spotted a pot of Tesco’s light mascarpone in the shops, I thought I might try my own take on her old favourite.
Chicken Fajita Pasta – 9sp
One of our favourite go to meals in our house are Chicken Fajitas. Not only are the quick and easy to make but they are delightfully low in points and bursting with flavour. This week, after having my regular craving for Fajitas but having no wraps or salsa in the house, I decided to turn our favourite dish into a pasta dish. My OH loved this one. The flavours or the spices burst through whilst the sour cream mellows the whole dish out a little. The sprinkling of fresh avocado on top adds a lovely freshness too!
Chilli Prawn Linguine – 8sp
I love a quick and easy pasta sauce recipe so prawns are the perfect ingredient to include in one. Taking less than 5 minutes to cook, they are difficult to get wrong. I used some lovely big raw king prawns (which were already deveined) which were lovely and meaty and filling. I like to cook my prawns from raw so I know they are as fresh as possible and so they can cook them in the garlic and chilli so that take on all the flavour. If you are funny about cooking prawns from raw though, there is no harm in buying the precooked ones and just heating them through in the sauce at the end.
Chicken, Bacon and Leek Pasta – 12sp
I don’t use leeks as often as I would like so this week when I picked some up, I decided to pop together a new recipe to try and get me cooking them more often. Leek paired with chicken and bacon is a classic combo often found in a chicken pie. The combination here with pasta is delicious. It is both lovely and silky and creamy whilst not being too naughty. The introduction of pesto really lifts the flavour too. If you fancy you could use the sauce below as a pie mixture. Simply let it cool and then pop into individual pie dishes, top with the pastry of your choice and then bake. I like it as a pasta though as its quick and oh so satisfying.
Kangaroo Stroganoff – 10sp
I heard a lot about how lean kangaroo meat is so when I spotted it in Lidl I knew I would have to give it a whirl. Rather than just frying it like a normal steak I decided to try something different and the result was a lovely surprise. The meat was tender and tasty and the stroganoff sauce really complemented the kangaroo! You could serve this with rice either.
Hunter Sausage Bake
I always head down the ‘world foods’ aisle in my local supermarket whenever I’m in need of a spice refill (you get twice as much for half the price just one aisle away from all the regular supermarket range!) Many a time I’ve walked down there and looked at the polish food range and all the lovely meaty goodness they have on offer but I’ve never know what to try. Then I came across a recipe that used these lovely smoked sausages and so I used it for a bit of inspirations to make this quick and easy dish. The sausage I used in this recipe was from Aldi and is a lovely smokey delight. I always thought smoked sausages would be a bit pointy but when I worked it out it was actually way less than I anticipated meaning a very filling, low sp dish!
Speedy Seafood Pasta – 8sp
While we were away in Kos in the summer my friend ordered herself the most gorgeous seafood pasta, which, for the next ten minutes we all stared at in jealousy! It reminded me of this lovely easy pasta which I tried out a while ago and, having craved it continuously since we got back, it’s now a regular dish on our weekly menu! It’s so quick and easy and can be made in around 20 minutes from start to finish. It’s a nice change having seafood in a pasta and at only £2.00 for a mixed pack of seafood, its nice and cheap too!