Sunday 27 January 2013

Chicken and Spinach Filo Pie

Pretty much completely fluked this recipe. I used no recipe and just chucked things in as I went along. But as usual, my luck prevailed and it turned out amazingly and my friends and my dad even had seconds!

Best part is... When I totted up exactly what Id used in it this morning and counted the macros it was even better!!
 Less than 190 Calories per slice, 20g of Protein, 13g of Carbs and 6g of Fat!

SCORE 

So here's how it went....

Ingredients:
200g tub of Philidelphia Extra Light
2 Cubes of Frozen Chilli
2 Cubes of Frozen Corriander
Juice of 1 Lime
1 tsp Honey (I used Manuka 10+)
1 tsp Cumin
1tsp Nutmeg
1tsp Tumeric 
(Yeh I was just throwing anything in the cupboard in it!)
250g Bag of Fresh Spinach
6 Chicken Breasts
30g Sunblushed Tomatoes
30g Feta Cheese
5 Sheets of Filo Pastry 
1 Egg (for basting)
10g Sesame seeds (for sprinkling)

You'll also need one of two roasting bags and a spring form baking tin.

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Step 1

Pre-heat your oven to 180C

Add all the Philli, spices, and lime juice into a bowl.



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Step 2

Stir it together.


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Step 3

Wilt the spinach


And take a small amount (1/5) and chop it up to add to the cheese mix


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Step 4

Chop up the chicken into small pieces and add to the mixture.


Then add the mix to your roasting bag/s  so that they lay flat on a tray.


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Step 5

Bung them in the oven for 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven, and cut off a tiny corner of the bag (you don't want to lose ALL the juice) over the sink and allow most of the liquid to drain away.
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Step 6

Chop your tomatoes and feta.


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Step 7

Now, ashamedly I forgot to take a picture of the hardest part... Lining the tray with the filo pastry!! 
 My friend Demi came in and she was distracting me ;)  
So here's a Flamingo: 




Basically, you want to line the baking tray with a lot of filo overhanging the edge of the pan, so I put the first sheet up and down, the second left to right, and the third and forth layer criss-crossed. Baste each layer with some egg so it sticks, not too much.

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Step 8


Layer the chicken into the pan... 
(See what I mean about lots of overhanging filo pastry around the edges?) 

And top with your cheese and tomato



Then cover completely with the remaining spinach.



Voila!

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Step 9

Fold over the pastry that is overhanging the edge of the pan and crumple so that it looks messy.



Use the rest of the beaten egg to coat the top so that it goes nice and crispy and brown in the oven, and sprinkle on the sesame seeds.



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Step 10

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes and serve straight away, or once it's cooled down.


I managed to get 10 good slices out of this!





Serve with whatever you fancy. We had ours with an avocado and tuna mushy salad/dip/terrine... not really sure what to call it! But it was TASTY!!! I'll be getting that recipe up very sooooooon!


Love Flash xXx









Monday 7 January 2013

What's that... Curry for less than 250 Calories?!?!

So... Mum says she wanted to make a vegetable curry for tea, this rings alarm bells in my head because my mum is incapable of making anything without saturating it in olive oil and salt 
(No offence mum but not exactly what I need right after the Christmas splurging!!)

So I offer to cook (not that I mind!)
 And the results were splendiferous if I do say so myself :)

Ingredients (read: whatever I found in the fridge) :

2 x Courgettes
1 x Large Carrot
1 x Onion
1 x Small Sweet Potato
2 x Parsnips
1 x Bell Pepper
1 x Broccoli
4 cloves of garlic
2 x Sticks of Celery
4 x Turkey Breast (570g)
500ml Chicken Stock
9 Dried Apricots
60g Raisins
2 tsp Coconut Oil.
1 tsp Tumeric
1 tsp Cayenne
 

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Step 1:
Chop up everything

 Even the Apricots ^^^
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Step 2

Chop the turkey into strips and fry in 1 tsp coconut oil and half of the chopped onion and 1 tsp hot chilli powder until the turkey gets some colour, then remove from the pot and set aside.
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Step 3
Fry the remaining onion with 1 tsp Coconut oil.
Add the Garlic, Chicken Stock, Celery, Pepper, Cayenne and Tumeric. 
Simmer for 5 mins. 
Its should now look like this....

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Step 4
Add the Carrot, Parsnips, Sweet Potato, Brocolli and the Turkey and give it a mix around to coat everything.

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Step 5
Finally add the two tins of Tomatoes and the courgette, Apricot and Raisins.
Simmer for 15 mins stirring occasionally. 
 
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Step 6
Cook some Quinoa, CousCous, Rice, Noodles...Whatever!
And serve with a dollop of Total Fage (or any low fat/low sugar yoghurt) 
and a sprinkle of coriander leaves.

 
 
 This recipe make about 7 portions. 
Nutritional values for the curry itself :

Per Serving - 221 Calories
19g Protein
26g Carbs
4g Fat
5g Fibre

Love Flash xXx