Monday, 14-09-20

 Good morning.

This was a perfect breakfast to have after a good swim.  Very satisfying.

I didn't take a photo of lunch because of Beth being round but just imagine half of this with a choppy salad and you're be pretty much right.  There was none left!

And than I darn well forgot to take my photo of my evening meal so I will tick myself off and say it was a very tasty toastie with the remains of the lunchtime salad.

Today's meal plans:

B:  Mixed fruit smoothie

This is very naughty!  SW doesn't encourage smoothies and I see their point; it is very easy to overdo them and have more than one realises.  However, I will weigh everything and see how it works.  If it isn't satisfactory/satisfying, I then know.

I'm thinking I will use some natural yogurt, a mix of frozen fruits, I have a few plums that need using up and, as it seems to be strongly encouraged and I have some, add a bit of kale.  I can sweeten it either with stevia or with some skinny syrup and I might also toss in 10g oats as well.  Give it a go and see!  I could use Thermione but I've never used the blender part of my food mixer so maybe I will give that an airing!

SW:  goodness knows!  If I use a few oats, that will be a quarter of a heB (which isn't really allowed but . . . ), and I have to be careful not to add too much fruit - I can see how easy it would be to toss it all in regardless!

Thinking about what I might add, I guess it will be between 300 and 400 calories - but I will check when I make it.

L:  creamy tomato and red pepper soup; apples

I made this soup yesterday using the glut of tomatoes from the allotment and most will go into the freezer.

All I did was pile Thermione with a red onion, a small carrot, the tomatoes and two roasted red peppers from a jar (in brine, not oil), added some strong chicken stock from the freezer, some garlic granules, soy sauce, Henderson's relish, tomato puree, salt and pepper, added a bit of water and set it to boil for 25 mins/105C/speed 2.  I let it cool, blended it and pushed it through a sieve.  Alternatively, you could slow cook it, pressure cook it or simply boil it on the hob.

To make it 'creamy' I will add a couple of triangles of Laughing Cow light cheese while reheating for half a healthy extra A.

Some home made croutons might be nice but I don't fancy them today.

SW:  just half a healthy extra A as the rest is all speed or free.  Lots of speed food in this one.

I didn't work out the calories by weighing everything yesterday, it was just chuck it all in, but it's essentially vegetable soup, no fat added, no carbs added, so it's got to be in the lowish area - I will say roughly 250  calories in total

D:  meatballs with rice and broccoli; grapes and easy peelers

I have Dave and Anna (son and partner) coming round for supper but I see no reason to go any more lavish than usual.  I've dug some pork mince and some beef mince from the freezer and will merge them with some grated onion, courgette, carrot and some gram flour or even some mashed up chickpeas (Dave should avoid gluten) and I have a JD spicy meatballs seasoning mix so the end product should be nice enough.  I still have loads of tomatoes so will make a nice, fresh sauce and I have plenty of pouches of posh rice (gluten free pasta isn't a favourite).  With some grated cheddar to sprinkle over and the broccoli, I reckon that will make a nice enough meal, don't you?

And any leftovers (fingers crossed) will freeze nicely for another meal.

SW:  gram flour is two syns per level tbsp and chickpeas are free.  The cheese will be one healthy extra A

Calories - no idea as I haven't made it yet but I will not have very much rice, all the mince is the lowest fat one can get and there's a lot of vegetables so I reckon it will fall in the medium category - between 400 and 600 calories.  I might measure carefully when I make it up as I might want to write it up as a separate recipe - if it's nice, that is.

Body Magic:  I will be spending a bit of time down the allotment this morning

Summary

one and a half healthy extra As and quarter B

two syns if I use gram flour for the meatballs.  The rest seems to be free with loads and loads of speedy vegetables today

a rough estimate is around 1200 calories but I will tot up as much as I can as I make to see if it really is

Sorry for being so vague about it all today.  Sometimes one can be really accurate with calories but sometimes you have to make the thing before you really know, especially when not following a recipe, which I often don't.  I look things up and then adapt!

This is where SW is so attractive.  It easier to know what than how much and, as long as one is carb aware (it usually is the carbs that pile on the calories), one is pretty safe.

The danger is seeing things like rice and pasta, potatoes, etc, as 'unlimited' (which it is on the plan but not in my plan!) and that can sabotage if you're not careful.

To be honest, today's menu is so plant loaded, it's quite hard to go wrong really.
Fingers crossed anyway!