Translating Recipes to SW...Can you do it?

Kaimana

Member
So I have a few recipes that I'm not willing to give up because they're good and I think they're pretty darn healthy. I'd like to know how I can qualify them for a green or a red day or how I can change them up a little bit to qualify. Are there some guidelines that I need to follow in order to do this? I'm new to SW, so I'm still a bit clueless.

Thanks!
 
I change a lot of recipes to SW friendly food, it is really just making sure you know the plan and whats free and tweaking your cooking style and weigh things like cheese, rather than adding generous handfuls :sign0007:
Some recipes you need to think a lot about, but most I do just require me to use fry light instead of oil, and if there is cream involved I often use 0% greek yoghurt - but I rarely cook creamy sauces.
What are the recipes you are thinking of?
 
Hi there

I have most of the SW cookbooks, but I have loaddddds of good food guide, olive, fresh mags etc and adapt loads and they are soooooooo nice and I do seem to prefer them to the official SW ones . Once you get into the swing of it, its really easy to adapt them to whatever plan you are doing..
 
I'm mainly concerned that I may make a dish that counts as neither a green or a red meal, but is a combo of both.

I'm not sure, but I'm thinking that it's a matter of checking which ingredients are free, which are syns and which are healthy extras.

As examples, here are a few of my favorite recipes. My guess is that the oven baked chicken tenders don't fit in SW OR it does fit, but I have to count the cornflakes as a syn or a healthy extra (or does it even count at all?), but that the smoothie is both a red & green day, the yogurt chicken is a red day and the black bean soup is a green day. Let me know what you think.

{Oven-Baked Crispy Chicken Tenders}
2 cloves smashed garlic
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2-1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 cup nonfat buttermilk (or yogurt)
1 lb. chicken tenders
1 1/2 cups crushed cornflakes

Combine the garlic, spices & buttermilk/yogurt. Add the chicken & turn it in the marinade. Refrigerate for 1 hr. Drain the marinade and cover each chicken tender in the cornflake crumbs. Arrange the chicken on a baking sheet and bake @ 400F for about 15 minutes. It's mostly a red day, but I'm not sure if the cornflakes qualify as a syn or a healthy extra.

{Blueberry Banana Smoothie}
1 cup orange juice
2 cups frozen blueberries
1 banana

Blend it all together.

Does blending count as liquifying? I know you're not supposed to liquify your fruits. Also, 142 ml of orange juice is 2.5 syns (on green and red days) so 1 cup OJ is about 4 syns. If I count the syns, it seems that I can still have it. I think it qualifies for either a green or red day.

{Yogurt Marinated Chicken}
1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt
3 cloves minced garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon canola oil or olive oil
1 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger or 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
4 -6 boneless chicken breasts

I mix everything together, marinate it overnight, dump it in a pyrex dish and bake it until it's done. It seems like a red day recipe.

{Black Bean Soup}
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
1/4 large red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 small chicken bouillon cubes
1 -1 1/2 cup boiling water
4 cups black beans in their soaking juices
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 of the juice of a lemon

Combine the first 6 ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes. Add 1 cup of beans, salt & cumin. Simmer for 5 more minutes. Blend everything in the pot with an immersion blender. Add the rest of the beans. Combine the cornstarch with the water & lemon and add it to the soup. Stir it until it's as thick as you want it to be & serve. My boyfriend likes me to make this dish a complete protein by adding 2 cups of cooked pearl barley. I think this counts as a green day recipe since it's a zero syn on a green day and a .5 syn/28grams on red days.

My official SW start date is March 1 and I want to hit the ground running. I really appreciate all your input!
 
I think you would be better waiting until you have started and have an understanding of the SW "rules"

Is there some reason you only want to know about red and green plans? SW has a new plan called extra easy which combines red and green elements and which may be more suitable to you if you are not vegetarian.

But going through your recipes:

{Oven-Baked Crispy Chicken Tenders}
2 cloves smashed garlic
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2-1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 cup nonfat buttermilk (or yogurt) - buttermilk needs to be synned on all plans
1 lb. chicken tenders - free on red and EE/measured amount as healthy extra on green
1 1/2 cups crushed cornflakes - needs synned on all plans - about 5 syns per ounce


Smoothie - yes blended fruit has to be synned because it is to easy to overconsume calories. Look at all the blueberries in your recipe that you drink in one glass as compared to eating them on their own. Which would fill you up for longer?

{Yogurt Marinated Chicken}
1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt
3 cloves minced garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon canola oil or olive oil - needs to be synned - 6 syn per tbsp
1 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger or 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
4 -6 boneless chicken breasts - free on red and EE or measured amount as healthy extra on green


{Black Bean Soup}
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
1/4 large red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 small chicken bouillon cubes
1 -1 1/2 cup boiling water
4 cups black beans in their soaking juices - free on green and EE
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch - needs to be synned - 3.5 syns per level tbsp
1/2 of the juice of a lemon
 
Thanks so much, Circes, for pointing out the syn values and which plan the recipes would be most appropriate for. I'm mainly concerned with the Red and Green plans because I've bought the book, Slimming World Food Optimising and it only outlines the Red and Green days, not the Extra Easy. There aren't any SW groups I can attend in Los Angeles and I'm on a tight budget at the moment, so joining online isn't practical. I'm hoping that I can see some results using the book and some of the wonderful advice on this forum. Extra Easy has been mentioned loads of times here, so I definitely need to check it out.

I have my first SW meal on the stove as I'm writing this; Lemon Chicken with Artichokes with steamed broccoli and a mixed salad as sides.
 
I think I know the book you are talking about - does it have the title in orange on the cover? Problem is that it has been on sale for a good number of years now, it is well out of date. Also it was the first SW book that was made available for general sale and as such it doesn't have the full details of the Sw plans.

So just bear that in mind and if you're not sure of anything just give a shout.

Good luck!
 
I think I know the book you are talking about - does it have the title in orange on the cover? Problem is that it has been on sale for a good number of years now, it is well out of date. Also it was the first SW book that was made available for general sale and as such it doesn't have the full details of the Sw plans.

So just bear that in mind and if you're not sure of anything just give a shout.

Good luck!

Thanks Circes! Yes, it is that book. Can you suggest a SW book (that I can get online) that does have the details of the SW plans?
 
The only place would be ebay I think, unless someone here has a spare copy that they might be willing to send to you.
 
I too buy recipe magazines, I love 'Easy Cook' and 'Good to Know Recipes'. If a recipe uses meat and carbs (for example a chicken noodle stir fry) then I know it would be good for an EE day, and sometimes there may be a recipe like soup which is good for a Green day, or some kind of meat dish where you can take or leave potatoes and use for a Red day.

Most of the recipes I come across are quite easy to change over to EE. If it says oil I swap for fry light or dry fry. Little added ingredients (like flour) I usually use my syns on using the 20 cals = 1 syn rule.
 
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