French onion soup

This was inspired by Kelanjo19. Kelly is one of my favourite youtubers, and I am always inspired by her videos. Whilst I did not follow her recipe, she gave me the idea of digging out my own and trying it for the first time. I am sure Kelly’s is just as delicious, and likely to be much lower in calories. I didn’t have it to hand at the time, but I definitely will try it.

Here is what I used:

700g onions (sliced thinly)

2 tblsp olive oil

50g butter

2 cloves garlic (crushed)

1/2 tsp sugar

2 pints beef stock

salt and pepper to taste.

For the croutons:

French baguette (cut into 1inch thick slices)

1 tblsp olive oil

1 garlic clove (crushed)

225g cheese (grated Gruyère)

Pre-heat oven to gas mark 4 (180°C/350°F)

To make the croutons you need to spread the oil over a baking sheet. and then sprinkle the garlic over this. Place the bread on the tray and then turn over to ensure both sides are coated. These should be popped in the oven for about 25 mins until crispy. (Be careful here there is a thin line between crispy and burnt!)

You need to heat a large saucepan on high heat and melt the butter and oil. Then add the onions garlic and sugar. Stir and turn these occasionally til the edges of the onions darken (about 5 mins) Reduce the heat and continue cooking for about 30 mins. Poor in the stock and stir well. Turn the heat up again and once it starts simmering turn it right back down to the lowest heat setting.

Cook without the lid for about an hour.

Sprinkle the bread with the cheese and place under the grill. Float these on top of the portion of soup.

Absolutely gorgeous!

What is your favourite soup?

K x

WeightWatchers Creamy Chicken Bake

This is a weightwatchers recipe taken from a book of family meals, WeightWatchers Cook Smart Family Food. I picked this up for £2.50 in Tesco at the end of December.

It has some delicious looking recipe’s in and they are all really balanced and can’t wait to try most of them. Sometimes I struggle to make really balanced healthy meals when cooking for one person, but I think for most of the recipe’s in this book my family will eat them too.

This was a really simple recipe, but it turned out to be really filling and tasty. I wish I had taken some pictures or recorded some while I was cooking but it just slipped my mind.

You need:

low fat cooking spray

300g diced chicken

2 courgettes,

175g fusilli pasta

600g passata with herbs (couldn't find this so I just added a few sprinkles of mixed herbs to the passata)

200g low fat soft cheese with garlic and herbs

100ml water

• The first thing I did for this recipe was chop the courgettes into slices and cook it in some fri-light cooking spray with the diced chicken. This should be cooked until the chicken browns (about 5 mins).
• Whilst this is happen the pasta should be cooked for 2 mins, and then drain.
• Add the passata and water to the chicken and courgette mix, and bring to the boil. Then remove from the heat.
• The soft cheese should then be mixed in along with the pasta.
• You can then place the mixture in an oven proof dish. Cover the dish and place it in the oven for about 45mins.

picture taken from the book

Such a simple dish, but so tasty. I do wish the tomato flavour had been a little stronger, and so next time I might add a little tomato puree.

I was a little worried about cooking this after setting fire to my crumpets earlier in the week but I am pleased to say this recipe turned out to be fire free.

So that was my recipe of the week (w/e 17/01/09). There will definitely be more from this Weightwatchers cook book.

Did you try anything new this week?

K x

Intros...

If you have found this site you are probably a reader of my KatieCould blog, in which case thank you for checking out this site! If you have just stumbled upon this then, hi! I run a blog over at Katiecould, and recently set myself a challenge to cook a new recipe at least once a week every week for a year! I have so many cook books I need to use them!
I am also trying to loose weight (only about half a stone) so a lot of the things I have been trying recently are lower calorie. However, saying that there will be a lot of cakes and cookies, as they are my favourite thing to eat =)
Thank you for checking out this blog, and I hope you try some of the recipes and enjoy them as much as I have!
K x