Monday, 23-06-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

What I have eaten today:

In the end, I went for chicken, chutney and cheese quesadillas with a salad and it was very nice.

One healthy extra A, one healthy extra B, one syn for chutney, one syn for salad cream and one and a half syns for mixed seeds.

Afters was an apple and an orange

I used my roast dinner leftovers to make a sort of Spanish tortilla.

One healthy extra A, one and a half syns for mixed seeds and three syns for evoo in the dressing. 

For afters, I had the rest of the raspberries with yogurt and more seeds

One syn for the seeds.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

nine syns

Tomorrow's plans:

Br:   Not sure as I am out to a Thermomix demo and they cook for us to eat!

D:  the other half of the Spanish tortilla with veg or salad veg; fruit

Exercise:   Groove

Sunday, 22-06-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

I have to show these - the first fruits from my blueberry bush.  It's a good year for them - it is absolutely loaded with fruit, more than it ever has been before.
It's lucky blueberries are a speed fruit.

At this time of year, I find a quick wander round my garden first thing in the morning grounds me for the day, if you know what I mean.  There's something about seeing vegetables, fruit and flowers grow that is deeply sustaining.

Do you find that or maybe that's just me!!

What I have eaten today:

This was the roast dinner for four.  I put the dishes on the table in a bit of a hurry so it looks rather untidy but it all tasted great.  And there's enough left over for at least one more meal, more in the case of the chicken.

I didn't syn things so have no idea but it won't have taken me out of a calorie deficit.

No As or Bs.

Maple bacon pancakes - very delicious - with blueberries from the garden and tomatoes.  It doesn't look much but it was very satisfying.

half a healthy extra B for the pancakes and two syns for the maple syrup

I don't normally show desserts because it is usually just a piece of fruit but my lovely friend and neighbour, Chris, bough me some that she had picked in her garden.  I had them with yogurt and a tbsp that fruit coulis I won in the SW raffle a few weeks ago.

One and a half syns.

Summary:

no healthy extra As

half a healthy extra B

known syns three and a half plus whatever dinner was - the cranberry sauce and one titchy [pig in a blanket.
I won't be over syns.

Tomorrow's plans:

Br:  croque madame (from the new book), side salad; fruit

D:  leftovers from today's roast, one way or another; fruit

Exercise:  I can't go to circuits tomorrow morning but I can access something of Lindsey's online later on.

Saturday, 21-06-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

In the winter, I really miss the insulative (is that even a word?) qualities that my overweighness used to give me.  I really didn't feel the cold at all.  Now - totally different; as soon as the temperature drops, out come the layers!

However, come the warmer weather, which used to be absolute purgatory for me, I am loving it.  Nice and warm but not over-hot unless it is very humid.  The fans help, of course, but I had fans before.

It's a lot easier to put on the layers and warm up than to cool down once we are overheating, isn't it?  Especially in this weather.

I must remember this come the colder weather again!  Positive is always good!

What I have eaten today:

More of the sausage, bacon and bean casserole.  I added some water and cooked the bulgur wheat in with the casserole instead of rehydrating it separately.  With some chilli flakes and cheese on top it was delish.

One healthy extra A, one syn for the casserole (smaller portion that yesterday's) and half a syn for salad dressing.

Afters was some strawberries and yogurt with strawberry chia sauce on top.  Half a syn for the chia seeds.

A bit later on, I had my healthy B in the form of some marmite on toast.  Very tasty!

I will make this gunpowder chicken again; it was so easy and so flavoursome.

I made the coleslaw yesterday - one syn for seeds and one syn for salad cream.

I finished off the strawberry chia sauce - half a syn.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

four and a half syns

Tomorrow's plans:  

D:  roast chicken dinner - chicken, stuffing, roasties, roasted peppers and onions, broccoli, carrots, cranberry sauce, gravy

(I won't have all the trimmings)

T:  maple bacon pancakes, maybe leftover veg from lunch; fruit

I haven't bought bacon in an age but treated myself to some good (i.e. more expensive) bacon on Friday and it has to be used.  Not terribly Med. friendly but works with SW.

Exercise:  a yoga video from YouTube, maybe a walking one as well.  I'll see how much time I have got.

Friday, 20-06-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

After a few days, I am really liking the two meals a day thingy.  That probably won't last for ever but it's good while it lasts and I really don't feel it is any hardship.

Another thing I am liking is the new SW recipe book I got this morning - Street Food.  It has some great looking recipes which you will probably see in here soon.

Changing things around from time to time really helps.

What I have eaten today:

To make the shredded chicken, I threw together a sauce of soy sauce, oyster sauce, mirin, maple syrup and a dash of balsamic vinegar, wrapped half a chicken breast fillet in foil with the sauce and slow baked it in Nellie (i.e. on bake for about 25mins at 150).  I let it cool and then shredded the chicken into what remained of the sauce.  Very tasty.

Thanks to Nicky in a Vlog for the idea.  I forgot the chilli though - ooops!

One healthy extra B, three syns for the sauce, one syn for mixed seeds in the coleslaw and one syn for salad cream in ditto.

I had a few strawberries for afters

The sausage, bacon and bean casserole was super delicious and all made up.

Ages ago, I tried the heck sausage 'rashers', didn't like them and froze the remaining two rather than chuck them.  Interestingly, they were really much nicer in the casserole with a whole range of veg, some bacon, some cannellini beans and spiced with sumac, garlic, chicken stock powder, tomato and Szechuan pepper.  I had it with posh rice, as you can see and there's two smaller portions left.  

Totally delish.

One syns for evoo and that's it.

Edit:  no it isn't, there's one syn for the sausage slices

Afterwards I had some yogurt with chia strawberry sauce (made from some strawberries that had gone mushy) and it was lovely.  One syn for the seeds.

Summary:

no healthy extra As

one healthy extra B 

seven eight syns

Tomorrow's plans:

Br:  I'm having another portion of the casserole with some chilli flakes added and cheese on top, salad; fruit

D:  hm burger of some kind, salad, coleslaw, chips; fruit

Edit:  changed to gunpowder chicken nuggets from the new book, p 22.

Exercise:  yoga and, maybe, SET, depending on how quickly I get up.

Thursday, 19-06-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

I'm feeling so much better now I am back on the healthy, mostly unprocessed or minimally processed foods.  I know it isn't rocket science I've noticed that I go for the rubbish when I am down for some other reason and, when I do, it just feeds the down-ness and makes it worse.  But I still fall for it every time.  Ho hum, I really need to find a way out, don't I?  

Any ideas?  

What I have eaten today:

Brunch today.  I added some balsamic glaze to vegetables (very nice indeed) and it's toast under the egg.

Two syns for some evoo, one syn for the glaze and one healthy extra B.

This was dinner - summer carbonara with a salad.  The salad was all speed and there's one healthy extra A plus one syn for mixed seeds in the carbonara.

As I had an egg white (from the carbonara), I made my Frozen Fruit Foam using mango and some frozen apple slices.  Really nice and very refreshing.

And syn free because I don't syn blended fruit.

Here the link to the recipe.  https://my30-30challenge.blogspot.com/2021/03/recipe-frozen-fruit-foam.html

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

four syns

Tomorrow's plans:

Br:  shredded chicken wrap, salad, coleslaw; fruit

Thank you, Nicky in a Vlog, for the inspiration for this.

D:  sausage and white bean casserole, mixed rice; fruit
I found this in the SW magazine and am adapting it to work with what I have got.

Exercise:   walk to SW group and back, YouTube Yoga.

Wednesday, 18-06-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

Sorry about yesterday.  It was One of Those Days, busy, busy, and I lost it in the evening.
I did take a photo of lunch and here it is.  

I don't feel great, mentally, about yesterday evening but it's too late for recriminations, I move on and try to learn (again)!

I have noticed that my tum seems to go on me after I have had cheese.  Not cheese in a meal, a 'nibble' of cheese on its own.  Must keep an eye on that . . .

What I have eaten today:

I decided that if I am moving more to two meals a day, I must make them count.  

So for brunch I opened a can of sardines in tomato sauce and blitzed it with a bit of salad cream and served it like this.

Half a syn for the salad cream

Dessert was a peach.

I finally got round to having the chilli beans in a wrap basket and it was delicious.

One A for the cheese, one healthy extra B for the wrap used to make the basket.

I had an apple and an orange for pud.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

half a syn

Tomorrow's plans:

Br:    egg on toast with tomatoes and mushrooms; fruit

D:     summer carbonara, side salad; fruit

Exercise:   the 'strike' part of SET in the morning and groove in the afternoon.  

Monday, 16-06-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now in my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

I wondered if today would be difficult after yesterday's fasting but it really wasn't, if anything it was easier than usual.

And I really appreciated my fruit and veg.

And my tum seems to have settled.

What I have eaten today:

Before circuits, I had two apples for some energy.
I had sourdough discard overflowing from the jar so I used some of it to make pancakes, not crepes this time but the more solid, risen ones.
I ended up with nineteen (at one syn each or half a B for three - more or less) so, to make it handy for having three at a time, I tested one of them (very nice) for part of a B - see below.

This salad was really lovely; lettuce, tomato, cucumber, baby corn, pepper and carrot plus beetroot, black olives, feta and some balsamic glaze.

One A, half a B (with the pancake) for the seeds, one and a half syns for the glaze and one and a half for the olives.

Afters was an orange.

I made a batch of bean and lentil chilli - four for the freezer, one for this evening and one for tomorrow.
Packed with good stuff, it was lovely - olive oil, onion, peppers, mushrooms, peas, broad beans, sweetcorn, cans of chopped tomato, tomato puree, black beans and kidney beans plus some green lentils (cooked from dried) and seasonings - salt, pepper, garlic, smoked sweet paprika, normal paprika, cumin, dries coriander and chilli flakes.  Oh, and some vegetable bouillon powder and water.

This is why it had to be a batch, not a single portion.

With it, as you can see, I had bulgur wheat and a simple salad plus some Greek yogurt.

Very tasty, very filling and one syn (for the oil).

Summary:

one healthy extra A

half a healthy extra B

four syns

Tomorrow's plans:

B:  fruit

L:  three pancakes with a sort of pizza like topping, salad; fruit

D:  bean and lentil chilli in a basket, salad; fruit

Exercise:  Groove and a walk, possibly a bit of basic yoga