Saturday, 05-12-20

 Good morning

I was having a little think about how to manage the Christmas period with all its foody temptations.  It's tricky, isn't it?  Not something I have ever had all that much success with, to be honest but this year has been different in so many ways that you never know. 
Basically there's three choices - either stick strictly to The Plan (whatever that is) and risk feeling resentful and that I'm missing out, let go completely and end up feeling guilty, heavy and oooof with a long journey back or somehow find a middle path that involves some different things but, nevertheless, basically remains on track most of the time..

I'd love to take that middle path and maybe I could do it by looking out for new recipes or more festive choices that don't break the bank totally.  I've already decided that Christmas Day itself will be totally off plan but I'd like the rest to be fun, reasonable and maybe a bit new.

The 'plan' is, of course, the Slimming World structure with substitutes that make sense in calorie terms.

I started yesterday with a new pulled pork recipe and a sort of fruit sorbet that made five portions at two syns a portion.  Both were really nice and left me feeling satisfied in more than just the 'full up' way.

So if you have any ideas for festive meals, recipes, etc, that keep me on track but which are a bit different, please do let me know in the comments.  I'd be so grateful, thanks.

Yesterday's photos (I remembered!)

Overnight oats and very delicious they were too.  I've seen elsewhere that one could make overnight couscous that 'behaves' in the same way as oats - I must give that a whirl at some point.  It's counted as a 'tweak' but makes sense calorifically.

Spicy tomato and sweet potato soup and it was perfect for the cold and dismal weather.

Finally, the pulled pork.  It was in the slow cooker for most of the day with a spicy sauce made from some passata from the freezer and made with garden tomatoes plus lots of different seasonings and spices, the only synful bit being some maple syrup.  After such a long slow cook it pretty much fell apart it pretty much fell apart and was so delicious.  I used a couple of syns on oil for the parsnip and sweet potato too.

The dessert - fruit sorbet - was lovely too and so very easy to make.  I ended up with five portions, not four, so that's two syns each.  I remembered about photos half way through but they didn't come out very well, sorry

I write everything in my food planning file and adjust it at the end of the day so it becomes a fair account of the day.

Today's plans are:

B: bacon, scrambled eggs and mushrooms

I have two egg yolks left over from the sorbet so the scrambled egg will be quite rich.  More protein than speed in this meal!

SW:  free

L:  pulled pork toastie, tomatoes; fruit

SW:  one and a half healthy extra As (I want plenty of cheese) and one healthy extra B plus one syn for the pork

D:  pork, pepper and mushroom pasta, sprouts; yogurt or kvarg

I have plenty of pulled pork to use up so it's appearing in two out of the three meals in different guises.  What's left by the end of the day will go into the freezer.

SW:  one syn for the pork, half a syn for dessert and the rest is free

Body Magic:  Probably nothing in particular today

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