Burgers, sweet chilli chicken and a turkey stew the Slimming World way

Despite having what has felt like a rubbish week, I've tried some lovely new recipes which I thought some of you might like to try.

Caribbean turkey and vegetable stew:

This was beaut - I teamed it with one of Tesco's trusty vegetable cous cous pots (carrot, beetroot, onion, broccoli and baby corn).

I put it in the slow cooker, too, so it was even easier.

Here's the SW recipe (which is for four people):

Ingredients

• 1 red onion, peeled halved and sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 1 tbsp jerk seasoning
• 750g skinless turkey breast steaks, cut into 3cm pieces
• 1 green pepper, deseeded and cut into 2 cm pieces
• 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and cut into 2 cm pieces
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into 2 cm pieces
• 300g cherry tomatoes
• 250g button mushrooms halved
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• 400ml chicken stock
• 1 level tbsp gravy granules
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Fresh thyme leaves to garnish

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas 4.
2. Put all the ingredients into a large casserole dish, place over a high heat and bring to the boil. Season well.
3. Cover the dish with a lid and transfer to the oven.
4. Cook for 1½-2 hours or until the turkey is tender.
5. Remove from the oven and garnish with the thyme leaves before serving.

There is one syn per serving in this because of the gravy granules.

Sweet chilli chicken:

This is a new favourite, I think.  I love sweet chilli so I couldn't believe I'd not found this recipe sooner.  It was also really easy, which was great because I was having my 'I can't be bothered to cook' week.

The recipe says to use chicken thighs but I really don't like thighs, so went for breasts instead.  And I halved all the quantities because it was only for two of us.

I served it with a pot of Tesco cauliflower rice/cous cous with some fresh garlic crushed into it (because I hate the taste of it on its own) and some broccoli.  It was so, so yummy and I was soooo full after!

Here's the SW recipe (for four people):

Ingredients

• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 110ml soy sauce
• 2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
• 2 tbsp harissa powder
• 12 boneless and skinless chicken thighs
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• A handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas 6. Place the garlic, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce and harissa powder into a small bowl and mix. Pour over the chicken and toss together to coat evenly.
2. Place the chicken in a single layer on a non-stick baking tray. Season and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until cooked through
3. Remove the chicken from the oven, scatter over the coriander and serve with the lime juice squeezed over.

I did mine in a little dish (like a lasagne dish) because I wanted it to cook in the sauce and have the sauce to pour over afterwards, rather than it all swishing around a baking tray.

This recipe has 1/2 a syn per serving for the sweet chilli sauce.

Turkey burgers:

I can't remember whether I have shared this recipe before or not...  If I have, you've got it again now! I absolutely love these burgers, they are so packed with taste and flavour and are really easy to make, too (always a bonus).

The recipe is for four people but I like them that much I make it stretch to two, so have two rather than one. #Fatty

I served it with, again, a Tesco pot of butternut squash spaghetti and a salad (the first salad I've had in ages actually!) I also had a bit of passata/chilli/garlic leftover in the fridge from doing pizza-topped chicken so I whacked that on for a bit more flavour.

Here's the SW recipe (again, for four people):

Ingredients

• 450g lean turkey mince (5% fat or less)
• 1 small onion, grated 
• 3 small courgettes, grated
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 level tsp grated fresh root ginger 
• 1 egg yolk
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until well combined. Divide the mixture into four and shape into burgers using your hands. 
2. Preheat the grill to a medium setting. Line a grill rack with foil and arrange the burgers on top. Cook for 6-7 minutes on each side until cooked through. 

I used a similar recipe to this last week, actually, to make turkey/courgette meatballs.  So if burgers aren't really your thing, it's definitely easy to adapt to other shapes (and it made sooo many meatballs there was some left for lunch - even with a fatty like me!)

Best thing about it is it is syn free (as long as you use mince that is 5% fat or less).

You may also like: More Slimming World recipes