Saturday, 23-10-21

 Morning, everyone!

Weigh in results - half a pound off.  Not much, I know, but better than a maintain and even better than a gain.  I'm happy.
Mind you, if I continue at this rate it'll be almost Easter before I get back into my target range (OK, slight exaggeration here), but slow and steady is fine by me.  It feels less urgent now I am into my smaller sized clothes again.  I want to lose a bit more, sure, but I'm not getting stressed about it

I got the pork and veggie bags sorted out.  I found several more lamb items there so some of them are now in the correct bag and the rest is thawing.
These are some 'sizzle steaks' that weren't very nice, I remember, too tough for a quick sizzle and also some very fatty and random sort of chops (cheapo from Aldi, I think) that are very, very old.  I'm thawing them out (well, thawed them by now)and will casserole them long and slow in some stock I also found before chilling the results and removing every last bit of fat, both from the chops and from the liquid.  Yes, it will all go back in the freezer in single portions but ready to use which will make life easier.  Can't waste lamb, it's so expensive.

At the moment it's all scribbles in my notebook so I will take some time to type it all up properly on a document.  I'm already finding planning is so much easier with a definitive list in front of me that tells me what I can cheese from.

This is a lo-o-ong intro, sorry, but I want to say a great big thank you to Eileen who sent me a really, really helpful email yesterday.  Many, many thanks, Eileen, I will reply in kind later on  xx

Yesterday's meals:

Apple pie pancakes.  I used oats, ground into flour, an egg, some yogurt, some water, some apple pie spice mix, some caramel skinny syrup and some grated apple for the pancake.  It tasted great but the texture was a bit pudding-y.   Maybe next time I will try blending the apple with the oats to get them finer.

Perhaps it was a bit too stodgy because later on I didn't feel great again so the rest of the day's eating was minimal with no photos.  I was also desperately tired, didn't have the energy to photo my shopping (sorry, no food haul post this week) and slept most of the afternoon.

I do hope today is back to normal although I'm still feeling quite tired, despite a good night's sleep.

Today's plans:

B: potato cakes with smoked salmon, tomatoes and leaves on the side.
This is a recipe from the new SW magazine.  The potato cakes are not the conventional ones, there's no flour or butter but I will add one Laughing Cow triangle to the potato and egg yolk mixture.  The 'sauce' will be lighter creme fraiche, Greek yogurt and horseradish (don't have any fromage frais which is what the recipe asks for.
It's supposed to be on a mixture of spinach and rocket leaves but, as I don't really like spinach, I will just use mixed leaves instead.
I'm quite looking forward to this - it's a bit different and, if I really like it, I might earmark it for Christmas or Boxing Day breakfast.
SW:  the triangle will be one and a half syns and the sauce will be one syn (for the crème fraiche).  The rest is speed or free

L:  easy meatloaf with bbq sauce, salad; fruit
Someone on our local SW Facebook group suggested this recipe, from the SW site.  It's a mix of lean beef and pork mince with added 'stuff' while the sauce is a mix of bottles sauces which I won't use as I found some pots of home made bbq sauce in the freezer so I'll use one of them - it's leftover sauce from when I made the PoN hunter's chicken so I know it's OK to have and I know it's really delicious.
I'm not convinced that this recipe is any different to a burger recipe really but I'll give it a go and see.
SW:  one syn for breadcrumbs.  It also asks for milk but it's so little it doesn't really register on the syns scale!  Maybe half a syn for some mayo.

D:   salmon, smoked cod and haddock fishcakes with loads of veg; yogurt
These are the Morrisons fishcakes that are not in breadcrumbs and have a little bit of cheese in the middle and they're really nice.
SW:  four syns for the fishcakes and half a syn for the yogurt

E:  Really not up to much today - I'll see how things go.

Summary:
Not exactly good SW plans - no specific healthy extras.  Never mind, tomorrow is another day as Miss Scarlett famously said.
eight and a half syns

From the freezer:   pork mince, beef mince, bbq sauce, fishcakes - and all that lamb and stock but that doesn't count because it will all be going back in again, won't it?