Mama’s Bolognese Sauce – Syn Free – Makes 8

Well I have been fancying spaghetti bolognese so decided to make my mum’s sauce up in a huge batch so I could have meals during the week and make a lasagna too.  So I dug out the slow cooker and prepared my tiny kitchen for armageddon….

This is the entire space I have for food prep in my kitchen, a single work surface, the empty space under it used to house a dishwasher, so it’s really not that big but I manage.

Ingredients:

• 500g 5% Lean Mince or Quorn Mince
• 2 Tins Chopped Tomatoes
• 400g Mushrooms
• 1 Packet Passata (500g)
• 2 Carrots
• 2 White Onions
• 2 Sticks Celery
• 1 tbsp Tomato Puree
• 5 Bay Leaves
• 1 tsp Easy Garlic
• 1 tbsp Mixed Herbs
• Dash of Worcestershire Sauce

Directions:

• Put the chopped tomatoes, passata, tomato puree, herbs, garlic and Worcestershire sauce in the slow cooker and turn on high.
• Peel and chop the carrots, celery, onion and mushrooms and add them to the slow cooker.  You will then have a massive pot of veggie bolognese sauce, you can leave it at this stage if you want to but I like to add beef or quorn mince.
• So brown off your mince and add it to the pot, mix in and then leave it for 8 hours, stirring once every few hours.

It will look like you have a very dry mix at first.

But as you leave it to cook the water from the veggies will release and towards the end it will be very saucy and you can take some of this out if you want to, it is up to you how much sauce you want.

The photo below shows at the start and then at the 4 hour mark. Look at all that saucy goodness.

And all this is syn free….. so dig in.  For me this make 8 portions which I used 4 of to make a lasagna and then portioned out and froze the other 4 portions of lunches during the week.

I miss my mum but making this reminds me of time spent in the kitchen with her and learning from her, I think this dish was ingrained in my brain by age 10 as I used to make it with her as I was a nosy, hyperactive little shite.  I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.

 

 

Syn Free Italian Chicken Bake – Serves 4

This is a lovely filling recipe and if you allocate the cheese on it as your Healthy Extra A then it is Syn Free.

Ingredients:

• 500g Chicken – Cut into bite size chunks
• 200g Dried Pasta – I used Radiatori but you can use whatever shape you have to hand
• 500g Passata
• 1 Large Onion, Chopped Finely (Speed Food)
• 200g Mushrooms, Sliced (Speed Food)
• 4/5 Handfuls Baby Spinach (Speed Food)
• 2 Garlic Cloves, Crushed (Speed Food)
• 160g Low Fat Cheese, Grated (Syn Free is used as Healthy Extra A)
• 1 tbsp Tomato Puree
• 2 tsp Dried Basil

Preparation:

• Cook your pasta in a large pan of salted water and drain when cooked through.
• Preheat your oven the Gas Mark 6 / 200 C / 400 F
• In a large pan over a medium high heat, cook the chicken, onion, garlic and mushrooms until the chicken is browned and the onions soft, approx 10 minutes.
• Now add the passata, tomato puree and basil and simmer for approx 5 minutes.
• In a large ovenproof dish place a layer of the baby spinach leaves.
• Add the pasta to the sauce and pour half the mixture into the ovenproof dish.
• Add the remainder of the baby spinach leaves and then pour the remainder of the pasta and sauce mix into to dish.
• Sprinkle the cheese over the top of the pasta mix.
• Put on the middle shelf of the oven and bake until the cheese is melted, for my oven this is approx 25 minutes but will vary depending on your oven.

This recipe serves 4 but if you are hungry then just syn the cheese on the extra portion.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I do