Saturday, 31-10-20

 Good morning!

Bacon and mushroom omelette for breakfast yesterday.  Three bacon medallions, cut into squares and cooked, three mushrooms sliced and three eggs - two didn't look quite enough although I think it would have been.
I added salt (unnecessary), pepper, a pinch of mustard powder and a tbsp nutritional yeast flakes and that was too much too.  Half a tbsp would have been fine.

Mid morning, I had an options choccy drink for two syns.  

Very brown, I know, but this chicken tikka masala was absolutely loaded with speed and free veg and it was delicious.  Didn't miss the rice at all.

The pizza base looked an odd colour and it ended up very crunchy around the edge but it was really lovely and I enjoyed every mouthful.

I'll have another go at that half and half dough, maybe using lentils next time - see how that works out.

I went shopping in Aldi and they had some 50% fat mature cheddar which I've heard about.  You get 45g for a healthy extra A.  I thought I'd give it a go although I wondered how it would melt.  Surprisingly (for me), it melted OK on the pizza and tasted OK too.  Not the strongest in the world but fine for this context.

Today's plans:

B:  A cooked breakfast of bacon, sausage, egg, tomatoes and mushrooms . . .

. . . all cooked the SW way!

SW:  half a syn for one Aldi skinny sausage

L:  tomato and sweet potato soup with grated cheese; melon

I opened a carton of passata yesterday to make the pizza sauce so I will use it up making some soup.

SW:  one healthy extra A

D:  a roast dinner; bread and not-butter pudding

I wrap a chicken breast fillet in bacon and roast it for around half an hour until cooked through before slicing it.  It makes a good substitute for a roast chicken when it is just for one.  With it, I plan to have roasties (done in the oven as it will be on for the chicken and the dessert anyway), sprouts and either cauliflower or broccoli (or maybe both).

The dessert is something I saw on an old Tracey Mouse vlog yesterday but I had been thinking about it for quite a while anyway.  This recipe skips the butter, substitutes blueberries for dried fruit and uses yogurt instead of milk.

Here's the link - you have to fast forward to around 40 seconds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRyG1alUZB4

SW:  one healthy extra B for bread in the dessert.  I don't syn cooked fruit or skinny syrups.  Two syns for some oil for the roasties

Body Magic:  maybe a walk, if the weather isn't too bad, otherwise something online.  I need to get back to some exercise now I'm feeling a bit better again.

Summary:  one and a half healthy extra As (the other half is for some milk) and one B, two and a half a syns

Friday, 30-10-20

 Good morning.

Yummy breakfast.  The gingerbread flavour came from some syrup, half a tsp ground ginger and some gingerbread mullerlight.

I changed lunch - the thought of an instant curry just didn't wing it, what with torrential rain and the dentist in the afternoon.  Instead, I had a can of baked beans with a tbsp sweet chilli sauce stirred in and it was lovely.  Half a syn instead of two syns and more protein, I am sure.

Then dinner got all messed up too because I was bad, bad, bad.  Ho hum.  Back on track today!

Today's plans are:

B:  bacon and mushroom omelette

I'm going to make this in a pan rather than in my omelette maker, just because that's what I fancy.

SW:  free

L:  chicken tikka masala; fruit

As I didn't use this yesterday, it is on today's menu.  I'll just have that without any rice.  I was going to make it from scratch but discovered a tub of the SW from Iceland tikka masala sauce so though I'd use that instead.  I've not always had good things to say about this range of ready meal stuff but I think this one is rather tasty.  I used onion, sweet potato, carrot, pepper, mushroom and chicken, so it's loaded with veg.
SW:  this should be completely free

D:  pizza, wedges and salad; yogurt or kvarg

I've been thinking about pizza bases.  When I did Do The Unthinkable, their pizza bases were made of 'pea protein' so I looked up a few things and I've made a base using 40g SR wholemeal flour (my healthy extra B) and 40g split peas, ground to a powder in my thermomix.  To that, I added a bit of salt, a bit of pepper, a pinch of mixed herbs and a quarter tsp of baking powder (which I think is probably unnecessary) and into this mixed 80g of 0% Greek yogurt.
It made a dough half way between a bready dough and a pastry dough, kneadable but not all that soft and pliable.  It rolled out easily and thinly, unlike a bread dough, and I baked it for about 20 mins at around 160-ish. It came out fairly firm, rather like one of those pizza bases you can buy but thinner.

Once the wedges are in the actifry, I will add some tomato sauce and pile on onion, mushroom, pepper and cooked chicken with some lower fat mozzarella and see how that turns out.  I think it will be OK but whether it is something I want to continue to work on - well, we will see.

SW:  one healthy extra A, maybe two, for the cheese; one healthy extra B for the flour and I think the rest of the pizza is free.  Also half a syn for the dessert
Please be aware that, while pulses are free on SW, I am pretty sure that grinding some split peas to make a pizza base would be considered a 'tweak', even though grinding some to go into a soup would be OK.  It's the purpose, not the food item that makes something a 'tweak' I guess.  If that bothered me, I would syn it.

Body Magic:  nothing organised but I will be very active at home today

Summary:  up to two healthy extra As and one B, half a syn - low in SW terms, but fairly substantial and filling all the same (I hope)

Last weekend, I wrote up the recipe for the weetabix and fruit muffins and will post it today.  The photos are lousy but the end product was lovely!

Recipe: Weetabix and fruit muffins

 Weetabix and pineapple chocolate muffins:

ingredients (to make around four, depending on how big you make them)
two chocolate weetabix, crushed (one healthy extra B)
a few squirts of caramel skinny syrup
two eggs
half tsp mixed spice
half a tsp sweetener
around eight pieces of pineapple, each piece cut into four
10 - 20 g wholemeal SR flour (20g is the equivalent of half a heB or 3 syns)
quarter tsp baking powder

A suitable baking tray, spray oiled.  I used a silicon mini cake tray.  A muffin tray with paper cases would work fine too.

Method:
Preheat the oven to 190C
Place the crushed weetabix in a bowl and moisten/soften with some skinny syrup and a splash of milk.
Add the eggs, spice, sweetener and pineapple and mix well.
Add 10 to 20g wholemeal SR flour, depending on how sloppy the mixture is (mine was very sloppy so I used the full 20g).  Add the baking powder.  Mix well.
Spoon the mix into the cases/container and bake for around twenty minutes or until cooked.
Allow to cool a bit before turning out as they are very soft at first.

These turned out very nicely.  All these SW friendly cakes/muffins tend to be a bit pudding-y, but that's OK.  These were very filling and very satisfying.

Variations:

use ordinary weetabix

different skinny syrup

different spice

different fruit

The original recipe is here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUglTKxadF8&t=115s

I have added my own bits to it though.

Thursday, 29-10-20

 Good morning.  Thanks for bearing with me for a few days while I sorted things out - mental stuff, getting things back to what I want 'normal' to be like, and so on as well as not feeling 100%. 
This blog is part of my normal so I'm glad to get back to it.

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast was a wholemeal thin, spread with one tbsp brown sauce (one syn) and filled with three bacon medallions.  The tomatoes are token speed - no longer garden grown ones, sadly.

Lunch was what I thought was going to be bean and veg soup but it turned out to be bean and veg curry with added baked beans and some cheese on the top for one healthy extra A.  Very nice, just not what was expected.

Dinner was simple.  A chicken and veg casserole from the freezer, some packet couscous and some sprouts.  I wasn't sure about the couscous which was the bottom half of a packet opened goodness knows when and was probably stale but the rest was nice.

Today's food plans:

B:  pancakes, fruit and yogurt

The pancakes will probably have a sort of gingerbread vibe about them, I think.

SW:  one healthy extra B for the SR flour and half a syn for the yogurt

L:  katsu curry; fruit

This is a 'pot meal' - add water and stir!

SW:  two syns

D:  chicken tikka masala curry, rice; kvarg or yogurt
It's just the usual - some onion, ginger and garlic, tikka paste and various vegetables as well as some chicken thigh.  If I add light coconut milk (and I might, it's nice)  it will be three and a half syns for 100mls 
SW:  two syns for a tsp oil, three and a half syns for some coconut milk and two for some mango chutney

Body Magic:  none - I'm still feeling a bit wobbly

Summary:  one healthy extra B, half a healthy extra A for some milk I've taken to enjoying a cuppa tea in the afternoon) and up to ten syns.

Just taking a bit of a break

 Back soon.  :-)

Monday, 26-10-20

 Good morning!

Well, yesterday certainly went topsy turvy.  After Saturday evening's splash out, I just wasn't hungry for most of the day so didn't eat until the evening.  I decided to use the whole day's planning on Tuesday, got some steak out of the freezer to roast and sear and cooked some veg.  It was so simple and really nice.

Also nice is that there's some steak and some veg left over for lunch today

Today's plans:
Again, it's not simple.  It's Beth's birthday and she's coming round for a meal this evening.  So I'm going to keep it really small and simple through the day, try to keep the calories under control overall and not worry about syns, healthy extras and so on today.

B:  yogurt and a selection of fruit

L:  steak with veg 
Last night's leftovers should see me through.

D:  vegetarian lasagne, actifry chips and salad; a mini cupcake
All of this is what Beth wanted.  She likes my home made beany tomato mix which I use for the base and I've actually made a potful, some of which is going in the freezer for her Christmas dinner (probably beany crumble, another Beth favourite).  She loves actifry chips so that was a special request too.
As well as that, there will be 'salt and vinegary nibbles' (her words) and alcohol.
I will do my best but I'm going to enjoy her birthday.  Tomorrow will be totally back on track with the weekend meal plans I didn't use.

Sunday, 25-10-20

 Morning!

Yesterday's photos:

A rather messing looking breakfast but it tasted fine and filled me up.  Fine by me!

Beth was round for lunch so no photos and the evening went a bit Saturday-ish!!

Today's plans:

B:  fruity weetabix muffins
I found this recipe on KazzaSW's vlog.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUglTKxadF8&t=100s
It uses weetabix instead of oats or flour and, as I've got some right now, I thought I'd give it a go.  I will adapt, of course.  I'll use choc weetabix, soften with skinny syrup, and the fruit will be from the freezer, not dried.  I might also add a bit of baking powder.
Worth giving it a try anyway.
SW:  one heB for two weetabix

L:  bean and veg soup; fruit
One of my throw it all in together soups from the freezer!  I have some baked beans left over from the lunch I made for Beth yesterday so they can go in too.
SW:  should be free

D:  cod mornay, broccoli, sprouts;  kvarg or yogurt
I found this recipe on Lifeline Online and thought I'd give it a go.  It includes spinach (SW seems to have a thing about spinach) which I really don't like, so I'll just do extra veg instead.  The sauce is made from quark, fromage frais, garlic and mustard powder although I thought mornay was supposed to be cheesy, so I might add some nutritional yeast to give it a sort of cheesy flavour - or maybe use some REAL cheese!!  Radical!
(By the way, nooch has suddenly started appearing in my planning because I found some at the back of a cupboard and don't want to waste it.  It's one syn per level tbsp.)
SW:  one healthy extra B (breadcrumbs), either a healthy extra A or one syn, depending on what I do, half a syn for dessert

Body Magic:  a lot of lifting and carrying and moving things around today

Summary:  two healthy extra Bs and a smattering of syns!

Saturday, 24-10-20

 Good morning!

Yesterday's photos.

Instead of poaching the haddock in milk for breakfast, I gently fried it in some butter flavoured spray oil and added a dash of lemon juice and it was really nice.  it came out firmer and definitely the way to go if I wanted to use it for a kedgeree sort of thing.

Quite a lunch, this was.  There's no way I was going to want anything else before dinner time.

(don't the 'heritage' carrots look pretty inside?)

Dinner was just fab.  If you have the current magazine, it's on p 25 and I adapted it by adding red pepper and mushroom and using garlic and onion granules and sumac as well as seasonings and balsamic vinegar (but not the stated oregano and basil).

Today's plans:

B:  yogurt and fruit platter
SW:  half a syn if I have a flavoured yogurt

L:  spicy mince with protein noodles and veg; fruit

I have some protein noodles to use up so I will get out a little pot of savoury mince to have with them.  I want to save my cheese for the evening so I'll sprinkle over some 'nooch' for a cheesy flavour.
SW:  one syn for the noodles and one for a tbsp nutritional yeast flakes

D:  home made pizza, salad; kvarg or yogurt

I'm going to make the SR flour and yogurt type base so it may be a bit scone-like but none the worse for that.
I'll use some of the tomatoes that have ripened on the window ledge to make the sauce and the topping will be a bit of ham (or bacon), onion, pepper, mushroom and maybe pineapple (don't shoot me - I LIKE pineapple on pizza) with some grated cheddar.

This is the sort of thing I have in mind.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/quick_cheats_pizza_88026

SW:  one and a half healthy extra Bs (I can have an extra healthy extra as a target member (albeit a bit up right now) and two As; half a syn for dessert

Body Magic:  I rather fancy a walk along the country lane today, weather permitting, but for most of the day Beth is helping me put up some shelves so it will be quite energetic, what with sorting out all the things to go on them, etc.  I'll get my body magic in, for sure.

Summary:  two healthy extra As and one and a half Bs, three syns

(not having evening snacks really does help to keep the syns under control)

Friday 23-10-20

 Morning!
Five pounds off at weigh in yesterday evening.  Woo hoo!  It just confirms to me that there were other things in play last week - meds, for a start - and that's all settled now.
If I lose two and a half this coming week, I'll be back in my 'zone' again next Thursday

I'm happy with that!

Yesterday's photos:

Nom nom.
I mixed 0% Greek yogurt with some raspberry skinny syrup and tipped it into a bowl.  The chocolate weetabix was crumbled over one half and some melon and a fig popped on the other half with some pretty old raspberries in the middle.

And it was delicious!

Freezer soup for lunch.  Dave, my son, came over and ended up staying.  Luckily I had some leftover passata so I added that, some stock powder, tomato puree and seasonings and it worked fine.

There's a bit left over so I will posh up today's lunch with an extra course.

Rather a beige dinner, don't you think?  I couldn't be bothered to open a can of mushy peas!!!

So not the best balanced dinner but I enjoyed it, all the same.

Today's meal plans:

B:  smoked haddock, poached or spray fried egg, mushrooms, tomatoes
I'll poach the haddock in milk but won't need to count the milk.
SW:  free

L:  tomato soup, smoked salmon pate, melba toast, salad; fruit
I used one leftover slice of the smoked salmon I had on Wednesday and blended it up with 40g lightest philly (two syns), one tbsp lighter crème fraiche (one syn), lime juice, dill and black pepper.  It's been in the fridge since yesterday so the flavours should have developed nicely.
I will make the melba toast by firstly lightly toasting two sliced wholemeal, then splitting each slice in half across the way to end up with four thinner slices.  Then I will cut each slice into triangles and pop them in the oven to dry out.
A three course lunch - how about that then!
SW:  one healthy extra B, three syns

D:  chicken, sweet potato and tomato traybake, salad; yogurt or kvarg
I found this in the new magazine and it looks very straightforward.  I think I will use a tsp oil instead of spray oil - there's no getting around it, roasting in real oil does make for a better texture and flavour, it really does.  
I will probably also add some red pepper and some mushroom to the bake for more speed veg
SW:  two syns for one tsp oil - I might use toasted sesame for the extra flavour.  Half a syn for dessert

Body Magic:  A walk

Summary:  one healthy extra B and five and a half syns

Thursday, 22-10-20

Good morning:
Weighday today.  I have no idea, remaining true to my resolution not to step on the scales between Thursdays for now.  I hope I have lost a bit, in spite of Tuesday's blip but I won't be back in my 'tolerance zone' for a few weeks to come.  A bit galling to have to start paying again but there you go - I made that choice, didn't I?

Yesterday's photos: 

I was very pleasantly surprised by the weetabix layer thingy.  It was really satisfying.  The main fruit was peach and nectarine slices (from the freezer, thawed) but I had a few berries to use up so I popped them on top.  

The Asian dressing I used on this smoked salmon salad was really very nice.  

half a tsp sweetener (or to taste)

a bit of chilli (to taste)

one tbsp lime juice (and zest, if you have a real lime - I used bottled)

one tsp toasted sesame oil (two syns)

half a tbsp soy sauce

I put it all in a small pot and gave it a good shake, 3 marinated the salmon in some beforehand and sprinkled what was left over the salad.  I'll do that again - it would be nice on poached salmon and other fish too.

Chilli for dinner - very nice!  Nothing special, just nice.

And no blips!

Today's meal plans:

B:  one weetabix with fruit and yogurt
Having bought a box of chocolate weetabix, I have to use it!
SW:  half a heB

L:  tomato and something soup, bread; fruit
It depends whether sweet potato or red pepper comes to hand first from the freezer!  I'll probably toast the bread for dunking.
SW:  half a heB

D:  fish, chips, mushy peas, mayo for dipping; kvarg or yogurt
I just fancied this today.  The fish is in the freezer and the chips will be actifried.  Lovely!
SW:  eight and a half syns for the fish, one syn for mayo (got to have mayo to dunk the chips in)and half for dessert

Body Magic:  after some more problems with my neck and shoulder following a swim while on holiday, I've decided to give it a bit of a break and see if it helps.  So I guess today will be a walk, weather permitting.

Summary:  one healthy extra B and tem syns.  Not brilliant on the healthy extras today

Wednesday, 21-10-20

 Good morning!
Today is going to be a weird old day for meal timings.  Breakfast is OK but I have a dental appointment at lunch time (two o'clock) and an online meeting at dinner time so the restricted eating isn't going to work.  I'll just have to work around it all!

Yesterday's meal photos:

Yesterday morning turned out to be a bit complicated as I did an early shop which took longer than I expected so there wasn't time to put a toastie together.  I decided to have one of my all time favourites - simple marmite on toast with a cheese triangle instead of butter and I topped it off with two easy peelers.

I hadn't had jacket potato in an age so this went down a treat.  The coronation tuna was some drained tuna, two level tbsps super light mayo, a scant tsp korma paste, a level tbsp mango chutney, chopped and a bit of seasoning, plus a bit of chopped yellow pepper and cucumber mixed in.

The cheeseburger pasta bake was lovely.  I used a portion of savoury mince from the freezer, added more tomato puree and mixed in the cooked pasta.  I layered it mince and pasta, sliced gherkin and sliced tomato, cheese, mince and pasta, , tomato, cheese.

I reheated it in the microwave which worked really well.

A shame I lost the plot later but line drawn (again).

Today's plans:

B:  chocolate weetabix fruit layer
A bit made up, this one - it's basically like overnight oats but using two chocolate weetabixes (or should that be weetabices?) instead of oats.  I've just put it together and it should be nice and soft by eleven - it looks nice.
And I may think I have made it up but it won't be original!
SW:  half a healthy extra A for some milk, one healthy extra B for the weetabix

L:  smoked salmon salad; fruit
Ooops - definitely not frugal, although smoked salmon isn't as expensive as it used to be.  I've found two recipes I could adapt for a dressing on the salmon - lemon and black pepper and an Asian dressing with lime, chilli, sesame oil and soy sauce - and I think I will go for the latter as it has fewer syns and sounds really nice.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/smoked-salmon-asian-dressing
SW:  two syns for the oil in the dressing

D:  chilli, protein noodles, maybe veg on the side;  yogurt or kvarg
Dinner has to be easy as the meeting is from six to goodness knows when and I have to be able to heat it up quickly afterwards.  I have portions of chilli in the freezer so will defrost one and I can add the noodles before popping it all in the microwave for a few minutes.
SW:  half a syn for the chilli, one syn for the noodles, a healthy extra A for 30g grated cheese on top and half a syn for dessert.

Body Magic:  Back to personal training after three weeks off.  It will hurt!

Summary:  one and a half healthy extra As, one B and four syns

(Later edit:  While writing the other blog, I realised why I lost the plot later on yesterday - I did some Governors' online training in the evening and it was all about being ready for the dreaded OF**ED.  Wish I'd thought of that at the time, it might have helped.  Oh, well!)

Tuesday, 20-10-20

 Good morning!

Yesterday's photos:

The breakfast smoothie was so good.  Very filling too, with the 20g oats that were zizzed in.  Because I used frozen fruit, it was a bit creamy-slushie-like as well.

Lunch was - well, amazing.  It was a Miguel Barclay recipe, found on YouTube and, I think, in his vegan book and wow!
I adapted it a little bit.  I added a bit of savoury nutritional yeast (flakes) to the cauliflower sauce, I spray roasted the cauliflower florets in the oven with some ground cumin sprinkled over and, just before serving, added some chopped mushroom and some shreds of ham to the roasting mix and gave them five minutes more. 
Oh, and the tagliatelle was wholewheat.

One I am DEFINITELY doing again; it was delicious double plus.   Mr Barclay is a clever chap!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsYvt5aaWn8

Dinner was pretty good too.  A fairly typical chicken tikka masala recipe using onion, carrot, celery, pepper and mushroom plus cooked chicken.  Spices, etc, were garlic, root ginger, a tikka spice mix, chilli, chicken stock powder and seasonings.  The liquids were passata, tomato puree and water.
I have a little add-on that, I think, really lifts the flavour and that is to chop the contents of about a tbsp mango chutney really small and add it to the curry right at the end and I like to add some yogurt too.

I didn't use any coconut milk powder, I sort of swapped it for a little bit of oil and the mango chutney.
And the cauliflower rice was just right.

Today's plans:

B:  breakfast toastie
I have leftover ham which I must use so ham, mushroom and some cheese for the melty element.
SW:  one healthy extra A and one B

L:  tuna jacket potato, salad; fruit platter
I might mix the tuna with a bit of curry spice as well as some mayo to make it a bit 'coronation'.
SW:  two syns for some mayo

D:  cheeseburger pasta bake, broccoli; kvarg or yogurt
This a recipe from the new SW cookery book and it looks nice.  I will adapt, of course (!), and use some cooked mince from the freezer rather than starting from absolute scratch.   Basically, it is just a pasta bake but I will add extra veg and other bits and bobs such as some sliced gherkin.  
SW:  one healthy extra A for 30g grated cheese, half a syn

Body Magic:  I've been quite lazy with my body magic so I think I will look up something on YouTube for today

Summary:  two healthy extra As, one B and half a syn.  Hmmm - maybe I could afford a little bit more cheese or some of my tasty burger sauce.  We will see.

Monday, 19-10-20

 Good morning!

Yesterday's photos:

The apple cinnamon pancakes went down a treat.  They do take ages to cook when they've got apple inside but they're really tasty - definitely worth the time.

Lunch was a roast dinner and, as Beth was round, I didn't take a photo.

I've had an unsettled, churning tum for a few days (I blame the penicillin) and by the evening all I wanted was something bland and carby so, instead of the chilli, etc, I made myself a ham sandwich (still fairly SW friendly) and that did help things to settle.  I feel fine this morning so it was the right thing to do.

Today's plans:

B:  smoothie
Not really a SW thing, I know, but when I was rootling in the freezer, I found an unopened bag of 'exotic' smoothie mix (pineapple, mango and papaya), bought goodness knows when!  I will blend some with 20g oats, some natural yogurt, some spices and, probably some milk from one healthy extra A.  If I blend it frozen, it should have a lovely texture.
SW:  half a healthy extra A for milk, half a healthy extra B for oats.  I won't syn the blended fruit but be aware that SW rules are that you should.

L:  cauliflower tagliatelle; fruit
I saw this on Miguel Barclay's YouTube channel and thought that, with adaptation, it would make a nice lunch.  Here's the link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsYvt5aaWn8
I have a small carton of Alpro single'cream' (I'm hoping I can freeze the rest) and will use less oil.  I also fancy spicing up the fried cauliflower and might actually do it in the actifry rather than in a pan.  Worth a try anyway.  I have some wholemeal tagliatelle which will be perfect and I can add some shreds of ham from yesterday.
Fingers crossed.
SW:  three syns for the alpro and either spray oil or two syns for one tsp oil

D: chicken and veg curry, cauli rice; kvarg or yogurt
I had put katsu curry on the plan but find I have a cooked chicken fillet to use up from the food I got in for my weekend visitor who couldn't come so it can make an ordinary curry instead, maybe something tikka masala-ish.  I have lots of spice mixes
SW:  three syns for a tbsp coconut milk powder (if used) and half a syn for dessert

Body Magic:  lots of moving stuff from A to B today!

Summary:  half a healthy extra A and half a B, eight and a half syns

Sunday, 18-10-20

 Good morning, everyone

Yesterday's photos

I changed my mind with breakfast because I couldn't be bothered to turn it into a 'bake', I just had a sort of 'full English', SW style.  Nice, filling and, despite appearances, very SW friendly.

A nice, satisfying lunch of soup and fruit.

Today's plan was a bit low on healthy extras, so I treated myself to two of the new lemon drizzle hi fi bars as my B choice.  Really nice.

Red Leicester cheese really does look nuked, doesn't it?  Almost luminous!  This pasta bake had onion, pepper, mushroom, carrot, broccoli, tomato, chicken, past and cheese with garlic, tomato puree, Cajun spice, veg stock powder and soy sauce.

Delicious!

Today's meal plans:

B:  apple, cinnamon and toffee pancakes with yogurt
Just a sort of throw together.  I'll make up the usual pancake mixture (40g wholemeal SR flour, one egg, 80g yogurt and a splash water, if needed) with the wholemeal flour as my healthy B.  Then I will grate some apple and mix it together with two tsps demerara sugar (for that specific brown sugar flavour) at two syns and some cinnamon before mixing it with the batter.  I'll cook the usual way and top with some yogurt mixed with a bit of caramel syrup and the remaining apple slices on the side.  A bit naughty but it works with SW and it certainly works with calories.
SW:  one healthy extra B, three syns.  I'm not synning the grated apple but be aware that the official rules say you should.

L:  roast ham, roasties and shallots, sprouts, carrots, maybe runner beans; fruit
As I had expected a friend to stay over the weekend, I bought a little gammon joint so I will roast that and have my main meal midday.   If I allow a few suns, it would work nicely.
Beth is coming round to share lunch - I've made her a savoury bean crumble.
SW:  two syns for one tsp oil for the roasties/shallots and one syn for some bbq sauce for the ham

D:  chilli, cauliflower rice, grated cheese, salad or leftover veg from lunch; kvarg or yogurt
I reckon my teeth are healed up enough to risk a bit of chilli by now so fingers crossed.  
I found this article on BBC Good Food about cauliflower rice and I will try method three, but using spray oil. 
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/whats-best-way-cook-cauliflower-rice
If there's no leftovers (and I bet there will be!!) I can put a salad together.
SW:  one syn for the chilli, one healthy extra A for the cheese and half a syn for the dessert.

Body Magic:  some gardening, maybe

Summary:  One healthy extra A, one healthy extra B and seven and a half syns

Saturday, 17-10-20

 Good morning, everyone.
I've been very good and planned all meals for the next week and it's all written up in my planning folder.  Things may change, of course, but it gives me a foundational plan, a safety net for the week.  I'm very happy with that.

Yesterday's photos:

Nothing special, just good, old fashioned beans on toast for breakfast, but the toast is home made bread so that's tasty!

(I did measure it out!)

The broccoli and stilton soup was most satisfying and there was a bit left over - enough for a little snack, maybe.  I'm not freezing it as it's not enough for a proper portion so I'll need to use it today or tomorrow.

This went down nicely - honey mustard salmon with some spicy wedges and a salad.  Very filling!

It was a good day's food and I stuck to plan.  Cheers!

Today's plans:

B:  breakfast bake
This will use up the leftover baked beans from yesterday and will make for a substantial breakfast.  I have a visit to Hyde Hall booked (should have been with my friend, Suzanne, who can no longer come) and will have a slightly earlier breakfast that will keep me going until I get home later on.
So - beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon, perhaps a bit of sausage and potatoes on top.  Nice.
SW:  free

L:  tomato and sweet potato soup; fruit
From the freezer so it will just need heating up.  No need to go a-picking while I'm waiting.
SW:  free

D:  chicken and bacon pasta bake, side salad or veg; kvarg or yogurt
This is an old favourite, something I used to make a lot for the children, many moons ago.  I will be careful with the pasta and measure out the cheese carefully, but I can load it up with speed and free veg and I still have tomatoes ripening inside on a tray so will use some of them.  It should taste great.
SW:  between one and two healthy extra As for some grated cheese and half a syn for the kvarg/yogurt.

Body Magic:  a really good walk around Hyde Hall, weather permitting.

Summary:  between one and two healthy extra As and half a syn.
Quite a low count for what looks like substantial meals.  Maybe I will have some bread to go with the soup for a B choice.  The past and potato will keep the calories up so I won't be short on energy.

Friday, 16-10-20

 Morning!
This time last year was the start of a SW crash.  I went on holiday (Center Parcs, wasn't it?), gained weight, lost the SW thread and gradually gained and gained, stopped going to some meetings and when I went back after Christmas the weight was sky high, above my Club 10 weight. 
There's a pattern here and I don't want it to happen again this year.  I know I can do it better and this year I am going to.

So - having said that, the weigh in wasn't great.  Eleven pounds on.  Ooops!
However (not excuses but maybe reasons) . . .
I was on a full board holiday for nine days, two with Dad and the rest at Thoresby Hall Hotel - with alcohol!!!
I had an minor op on Tuesday.  Post op, I had to take some steroids.  They might have had a small effect.  I'm also taking penicillin for seven days and something else for three days so - who knows?
I've used the opportunity to get real and sensible again.  I've gone into my winter weighing clothes, including proper shoes (flip flops don't wing it in the frost and snow!!) and I'm going to eat a proper lunch, not go short on weigh day food. It encouraged a binge craving afterwards and that's silly.

So I have to lose seven and a half pounds to get back into my bubble again.  I can do that OK - certainly by mid November - and by the end of November I will be back down to target.

Yesterday's photos:

I decided to add some blueberries to the pancakes and spent a syn on some Sweet Freedom caramel syrup on the top - lovely.

That's the last of the current batch of soup - well worth doing and it gave me three very frugal lunches.

Dessert was two satsumas, a few blueberries and a few raspberries.

It's a bit hard to tell and looks messy but this is savoury mince with added mushroom, pepper and broccoli with 30g grated cheese on top, popped under the grill for a short time.  And very nice it was too.

I stayed on plan all day and it felt great!

Today's plans:
I was going to have a friend over for the weekend but Sunny Essex is going up to Tier Two tomorrow so that's off now.  Luckily, I had planned SW meals and all the extra food I got can either be used in time or can go into the freezer.  Very disappointing but it's a funny old world at the moment and we must all do what we can.

B:  beans on toast
Nice and simple.
SW:  one heathy extra B for the bread, one syn for a triangle of soft cheese

L:  broccoli and 'stilton' soup; fruit
I made this before my holiday and it was very tasty.  Using a broccoli stem rather than the florets makes it pretty frugal too.  Here's the link to an accessible version but you also find it on Lifeline Online, if you have access.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LOIWlKUWvY
SW:  three syns for two triangles of laughing cow blue light.

D:  honey and mustard salmon, wedges, salad; yogurt or kvarg
Another SW recipe which looks really nice.
SW:  one syn for honey and mustard (it's not very much); two syns for one tsp oil for the wedges and up to two syns for salad dressing.  half a syn for the dessert

Body Magic:  I was going to be very busy getting things ready.  I think maybe, instead, weather permitting, I will do some work in the garden and continue sorting shed and garage out.  That's always good exercise.

Summary:  one healthy extra B and nine and a half syns although I suppose three of those syns could be considered half a healthy extra A