Friday: 31-12-21: New Year's Eve

Good morning!

It's Slimming World this morning.  I AM going and I AM being weighed, unlike last week when I ducked out.
This week has been another disaster but tomorrow is a new year and a new start.  I'm not so worried really, I've enjoyed the festive season and know exactly what to do from here on.

We should be getting new member packs today.  That's nice - new books for a new year.  I will ignore the recording space in the old book and start recording my results in the new book.  That's a nice little incentive for me.

It is New Year's Eve, of course, so there will be a few celebrations and some alcohol later on.  Beth and Alex are coming round and staying over and we're having the Kelly turkey I had delivered last week and bunged in the freezer.  That will be fine, it's just a roast dinner, that's all.

January is definitely a 'dry' month.  No alcohol whatsoever - it is such an overeating trigger.
I've also pretty much finished an up to date audit of what's in the freezers.  It's loads better than it was in terms of useable, healthy stuff with fewer ready meals and more 'cook from scratch' ingredients.
I'm bringing down the 'healthy' recipe books - the Pinch of Noms, the Chubby Cubs books and the new Slimming Eats book - there will be plenty there to keep me motivated and excited, I hope.

Yesterday's meals:

The first Pinch of Nom Comfort Food recipe I have tried.  Marmite mushrooms on toast.  Absolutely scrummy.  I could easily have had more mushrooms and another slice of toast to make a full B choice, it was delicious for something so very simple.

The second and last portion of the leek and broccoli soup.  This time, I grated a small potato and cooked it in the soup so it softened but kept it's 'shape'.  I also added the very last shreds of Christmas ham and a little bit of the cheese I grated for dinner.
Very nice and very filling.

Later on I had an apple and some easy peelers.

Again, dinner crashed.  It's always been a 'dangerous' time but will be easier once the remaining rubbish has gone.  Alex will be glad to take whatever remains tomorrow morning.

I did get as far as roasting the veg and they are now in the freezer for an easier meal (in terms of effort) sometime soon.

Today's plans:

B:  weetabix and fruit
SW:  half a healthy extra A and one healthy extra B

L:   roast turkey, pigs in blankets, stuffing, roasties and assorted veg; mince pies
Basically a Christmas dinner, I'm making this for me, Beth and Alex.

D:  a small buffet to finish off the last of the festive nibbles.

When I say small . . .

E:  a walk

Summary:

Unknown today but at midnight the line is firmly drawn

From the freezer:
the turkey
pigs in blankets

Beth's veggie higgidy pie
mince pies
nibbly stuff

And finally . . . to you all

Thursday: 30-12-21

Good morning!

I took a couple of hours yesterday to have a good trawl through the latest Pinch of Nom book that arrived before Christmas.  This one is subtitled 'Comfort Food' and the intro states that their definition of comfort food is 'Satisfying, homely dishes' that ' remind so many of us of childhood and give us a sense of nostalgia'
This suggests that there's nothing particularly new but, while there are a lot of familiar sounds recipes, there are also some clever tweaks and some 'sideways thinking' that make an awful lot of the recipes very inviting and 'must make'.

There's a lot of useful information at the beginning of the book under headings such as batch cooking, key ingredients and essential kit which are worth reading through before starting in on the recipes.
What is a bit different about this one is around half of the recipes are vegetarian and, with a bit of ingredient subbing, most of the others could also become vegetarian.

The other thing I like is that this time they have explored alternative ways of making many of the recipes so there are instructions for hob-top, pressure cooked, slow cooker or air fryer as appropriate.  Not Thermomix - I guess that is too niche still.

To be fair, all of the above are first impressions.  I haven't tried any of the recipes yet but am really looking forward to doing so.  The ingredients seem to be easily accessible; I felt that I could have gone straight into the kitchen and started making and, more importantly, wanted to

I will try my first recipe today.  

Yesterday's meals:

Porridge makes a great start to the day, especially with the little burst of sweetness you et from easy peeler segments.

The Stilton in the soup was absolutely delicious.  I also added a small splash of milk for a bit more creaminess.

I didn't bother with the planned egg on the ham.  The ham looks a bit scraggy because it's the last few slices.  The rest is now in the freezer, wrapped in four individual portions.  Very useful.

The fries are parsnips, by the way, not potato.

Today's plans:

B:  marmite mushrooms on toast
The very first recipe is the very first in the Pinch of Nom Comfort Food book.  Fingers crossed!
SW: half a healthy extra B for a slice of toast, three syns for some Philadelphia light

L:  leek, broccoli and potato soup; fruit

The rest of the soup (which I decided not to freeze) with added cooked and mashed potato.  I find that potato goes all gloopy when blended so I make the soup, cook the potatoes separately, mash them as usual and then mix the mash into the soup.  All the potato without any gloop!
SW:  I will add a spash of milk but not enough for it to count

D:  Christmas traybake, veg; yogurt

I know it is post Christmas now but . . .  you know, leftovers!
I have fresh sweet potato, parsnip and carrot and frozen butternut squash.  I have some leftover pigs in blankets (in the freezer as I type).  I won't use potato but I will roast some onion in the mix.  I'm going to sprinkle over some grated cheddar or other leftover cheese for the last five minutes, I think
Best of all, I can make it beforehand if I want and I have left over vegetables from yesterday that just need reheating.  Perfick.
Any leftovers would make a nice soup, I think.  We will see . . .

SW:  one healthy extra A for the cheese, five for the pigs in blankets and half for the dessert

E:  Festive blast (carefully)

Summary:

one to two healthy extra As
half a healthy extra B
nine and a half syns

From the freezer:
bread
butternut squash

Wednesday: 29-12-21

Good morning!

OK, well, yesterday did NOT go according to plan in any way whatsoever.  I'm rather cross with myself but life goes on and so does healthy eating!

Today's plans:

B:  porridge with easy peelers
SW:  one healthy extra B for oats and half a healthy extra A for milk

L:  broccoli, leek and potato soup, croutons (no longer Christmas shapes); fruit
While sorting out the fridge yesterday, I used up the broccoli stem and the top of a leek to make a soup which will act as a sort of base.  Today I think I will add some Stilton and make it a cheesy broccoli soup.  The rest will go in the freezer temporarily and next time I will add cooked mash to make a sort of leek and potato soup.
SW:  six syns for two slices of bread for croutons and one to one and a half healthy extra As for the cheese.

D:   ham, egg and chips, assorted vegetables; yogurt
Still working on the Christmas ham.  Today I am going to slice the remains and freeze the slices in single portions.  I know ham lasts for ages but I don't want to push it!
SW: half a syn for the yogurt

E:  it was supposed to be Festive Blast and then Personal Training but I've done something to my back, have had a bad night with it, and am going to rest up today.

Summary:

two healthy extra As
one healthy extra B
six and a half syns

From the freezer:
bread
I'm also taking the New Year's Eve turkey out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge

And some soup goes INTO the freezer!

Tuesday: 28-12-21

Good morning!

The family buffet went ahead yesterday so the evening wasn't 'good' (actually, it was delicious) but not to worry.  There's one more blow out and that's New Year's Eve when I'm doing a turkey roast dinner (which is SW fine) and then a light buffet come the evening.  And then it's new year and the track runs straight through January.

Looking through the fridge, I am definitely not going to need to do a food shop this week, unless I get a few bits and bobs for Friday night.  I need to just check the freezer for nibbles.

Yesterday's meals:

I decided not to roll this but to layer it and treat it to a dusting of icing sugar snow.  Lovely!

The Christmas ham quesadilla was very tasty - like all quesadillas, in fact.  The sweet pickled onion (fortified with some red cabbage too) was really nice and so very easy to make.

I also had some more easy peelers.

Today's plans:

B:  poached (or fried) eggs on toast, tomatoes
SW:  one healthy extra B for the toast

L:  crustless ham and onion quiche, mixed veg; fruit
I'm using up some cream in this quiche so it won't be syn free but will work with syns.  I have loads of sprouts left over and also quite a lot of parsnips so I might spray roast the parsnips - I like them.  I'll do double sprouts, some for lunch and some for dinner.
SW:  one healthy extra A for cheese, two tbsp double cream is seven syns (ouch)

D:  cheesy ham and potato bake, veg; yogurt
I made this last week but without the ham and it was delicious so I'm looking forward to having it again, the full version this time, ham and all.
SW:  one healthy extra A for cheese and half a syn for yogurt

E:  Festive Blast.  It was also going to be personal training today but we've moved it back to the usual day and time.

Summary:
two healthy extra As
one healthy extra B

seven and a half syns

From the freezer: 
bread
and that's it but  you know - leftovers!!

Monday: 27-12-21

Good morning!

Right - back on track now, back to the SW structure good and proper with just one blip.  The week starts off with Festive Blast at nine.  Each day this week, Lindsey is doing a general work out, aerobic, get the pulse up session for half an hour, online, and I'm booked in and looking forward to it.  It's going to help a lot in getting all the other stuff back into place.

However - the Boxing Day buffet had to be postponed as Beth and Alex were both feeling rough - not Covid, they both tested for that.  It was probably a slightly delayed reaction from the booster just before Christmas.

I have decided that, like last November, January is going to be an alcohol free month.  It worked brilliantly then and, once New Year's Eve is over, I don't think there are any 'celebrations' for the whole of January.

Yesterday's meals:

It's nice to get back to more simple fare again!

This was good - there are two more bubble and squeak patties in the freezer but they won't stay there for long; I will have them at some time this week.

I'm afraid I rather overdid things with leftovers in the evening.  Oh, well, once they're gone, they're gone and I am going to give the fridge a clear out today.

Today's plans:

B:  citrus roulade with easy peelers
I do love this roulade and I have loads of easy peelers to use up so let's combine the two.  It's just eggs, kvarg (or quark) and some sweetener.
SW:  half a syn for the kvarg

L:   Christmas ham quesadilla with sweet pickled onion, bit of salad or maybe some coleslaw

A BBC Good Food recipe:
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/christmas-ham-quesadilla-sweet-pickled-onions
It's for two so I will make half and, obviously, use a wrap instead of a flour tortilla.  I might use sweetener instead of sugar or I might just pay the syns and have proper sugar - perhaps a bit less than it says.
The leftovers element is the ham.
SW:  one healthy extra A for cheese, one healthy extra B for the wrap

D:  buffet, postponed from yesterday.
I doubt there will be much alcohol flowing.  Both Beth and Dave will drive over so it will be J2Os and fizzies.  The food will not be healthy but I doubt I will be terribly hungry anyway.

E:  Festive blast.  Lindsey's half hour of energetic movement!

Summary:
one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

half a syn

and the buffet!

From the freezer:

a wrap

Sunday: Boxing Day

 . . . and the start of the Great British Leftovers Challenge - yum yum!  I will be searching both the internet and my own collection of recipes for likely looking ideas.  A pleasant task for this morning.

I thought I would be straight back on it today but find the family are descending on me again this afternoon so we can have the buffet tea we didn't have yesterday.  It's all there, just needs baking or whatever.

I hope yesterday was wonderful for you, that you ate, drank and were merry and that there's no guilt feelings.

Yesterday's meals:

This was my Festive breakfast and it was lovely.   I also had a lemon wedge but forgot to put it on the plate when I took the photo.

This was as far as I got with the Christmas dinner photo but imagine it with rather a lot of serving dishes and five dinner plates!

It was scrummy, slow roast belly pork with piles of veg and some nice roasties - they really are nicer when you par boil them before popping them in  the actifry!
Pretty much all the Christmas Pud got eaten (it was a small one) plus copious amounts of Bailey's cream.

By mutual consent, we skipped the cheese course and moved straight on to coffee and mints.

I think it is safe to say that we were absolutely stuffed and I am going to have to get out my size bigger jeans for a few days.  Thank goodness I had them.

No-one wanted a proper buffet so I just put the cheese board and crackers out with some crisps and some mince pies.

And we won't even mention th4e alcohol, OK?

It was a really lovely day!

Today's plans:

B:  weetabix and fruit
SW:  one healthy extra B and half an A for the milk

L:  Christmas ham, bubble and squeak, probably some sprouts; fruit
I prepped mounds of veg but there wasn't an awful lot left, just carrots, a little bit of parsnip and some broccoli.  Not to worry, I have already peeled the potatoes and will Actifry them before turning them into bubble and squeak because it has to be roasties for bubble and squeak, right?
SW:  a couple of syns if I have gravy (I may not) and I think the rest is free/protein/free

D: Boxing Day buffet
SW:  not the foggiest!

E:  Good question.  Maybe a walk, it depends on the weather.  Or maybe something online.  Or maybe not!

Summary:
again, a bit unknown.  I thought I'd be on my own today and intended to get straight back on track but that's tomorrow now.  Not to worry!

From the freezer:
nothing and I'll probably be freezing some bubble and squeak patties for another day.

at the moment I am trying to keep things OUT of the freezer.  On Christmas Eve I froze a small turkey (for New Year's Eve) and six smaller turkey breast rolls for roasting throughout the year - just the right sixe for me and Alex or for me with leftovers.  I do love turkey leftovers.
However, with the specifically Christmas stuff being used up, there are still some gaps and I'm working towards more spaces in the next couple of months.  

Saturday: 25-12-21 - Christmas Day

Good morning, everyone. 

Slimming World was brilliant yesterday.  I didn't have to weight - I didn't even have to argue my case.  A number of folk turned up for the weigh-in and a bit of a Festive chat, there were some really good losses, the social team stayed around and it was just lovely.   Back to normal next Friday and there are new Members' Packs for the New Year.  Nice.

Yesterday's meals.

OK, so not good Slimming World examples here.

Late breakfast/early lunch.  The marmite chips were so lovely - definitely doing that again as it was dead easy!

In the afternoon, the Campari was ceremoniously opened - my favourite drink and I only ever have it at Christmas.
I might break that rule this coming year as it will be my seventieth sixty-tenth birthday.  I think I can justify that.

This beige plateful was the nibbles I had for dinner.  A mix of bought and home made and very nice they were too.

Today's plans:

B:  oat blinis, cream cheese and smoked salmon.  Yummeroony
I have so many really delicious breakfasts I could have chosen but I decided on this, having watched Jamie making the blinis.  I mixed them up on Thursday and made them yesterday.  The taste tast was most successful - I can recommend them.
Here's the  recipe - you have to isolate it from the rest of the dish.
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/salmon-recipes/smoked-salmon-oat-blinis/
I'm not too far removed from SW though - I'm using Philly Light!

L:  The Feast.
Just a list: 
slow roast belly pork (with a Higgidy pie for the vegetarian amongst us), roast potatoes, roast parsnips, sprouts, broccoli, carrots, stuffing, pigs in blankets, cranberry sauce, gravy; < takes deep breath >
then Christmas pudding, mince pies, cream, Bailey's cream, custard;
a selection of cheeses and crackers, port;
coffee and mints.
plus related alcohol

T:  nibbles
A selection of 'party food' from M&S/Morrisons, vegetarian sausage rolls, more cheese . . . etc . . . Christmas cake and various other sweet bits and bobs.
Or not a lot, depending on how we all feel!
And a cuppa tea!

I will try to take photos but no promises!

Back on it tomorrow with leftovers - got to love leftovers!

I know I don't get a load of comments on this blog (sadly) but I do have many regular followers/readers and , if you have read and enjoyed it, for whatever reason, this is for you, with my thanks.

Friday, 24-12-21: Festive challenge day 24 - last day

Good morning:
Well, here we are at Christmas Eve.  Yesterday was delicious but naughty!
I'm off to SW this morning, helping out at the drop in hour.  I will ask if I can not be weighed - there's little point - I know what it will say and I don't need to have it confirmed.
I hope Jen will be OK with that!

The hollandaise sauce worked out really well, thanks to Thermione.  I just bunged everything in, accessed the recipe and turned it on and eight minutes later - wow.  

Yesterday's meals:

This was so self indulgent!
I wasn't hungry at breakfast time so it became brunch instead.  Two potato waffles, two slices of bacon, some smoked salmon and that Hollandaise sauce which came out absolutely brilliantly and was utterly delicious.
Mind you, so it should be with so much butter.  No way can I make that a regular event but maybe, for high days and holidays, a few times each year for a real treat . . .

 I did a quarter amounts and hoped for the best and it was fine.

The afternoon was a naughty nibble time (I'm not going to say 'unfortunately because it's Christmas!) so I wasn't hungry and didn't have any dinner.  It will do for lunch today!

And the old not-gallbladder behaved itself beautifully - phew!

Today's plans:

B:  Nothing - still not hungry after yesterday.

L:  chicken in batter, marmite chips and salad
I'm having what I planned for yesterday evening.  The chips are all prepared and I'm not wasting them!

D:  Festive nibbles and drinks while watching Carols from King's on BBC 2 - sheer bliss!

E:  ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha etc

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve everyone.

Thursday, 23-12-21: Festive challenge day 23

Good morning:  The Christmas feasting has definitely begun now and today's plans will reflect that.  SW plans will start again on Monday but I'm going to continue posting anyway, describing how the next three or four days should go.

It won't necessarily be SW friendly but it will be predominantly home cooked and tasty.  Stay with me and SW will soon be back, I promise.

The freezer challenge continues anyway!

Yesterday's meals:

This was my lovely, filling breakfast.  I added a potato waffle to the mix, just because . . .

I didn't take a photo of the Chinese takeaway, just on the table beforehand.  That table cloth now needs a wash!!

It was a lovely mix of food, not too much and, apart from some prawn crackers, the only thing left was a bit of rice which went straight in the bin.  The prawn crackers are still sealed in their bag so should last over until Christmas day or whenever . . .

Today's plans:

B:  potato waffle, egg, smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce
Now, I have never, ever, in my whole life, made hollandaise sauce but I have a Thermomix recipe from Cookidoo.
For those of you who don't know, Cookidoo is the Thermomix recipe site and it connects electronically with my Thermomix and takes me through the entire recipe, instruction by instruction, with all the settings pre-set.  I just click through each step, doing what it says (e.g. when it says 'add 20g milk', the scale function shows automatically so I can add the milk and then click 'next') and let Thermione work the magic.  This recipe uses the 'thickening' function.  It's usually very reliable so fingers crossed.
Interestingly, it seems you can freeze leftover hollandaise sauce so I will definitely be giving that a go.  One has to reheat carefully but it's worth a try.

L:  Not sure.  If I feel hungry, I will have a cheese and onion toastie but the chances are I won't want anything so substantial so I might have a cuppa soup or similar - I think I have a few sachets somewhere.

D:  chicken, Marmite chips, salad
I have a couple of 'convenience' chicken in batter thingies and thought I'd use one of them.  I've actifried chips many times (they're so lovely) but I've never made Marmite chips.  Marmite roasties are definitely a thing so why not chips?
Have you every made them?  Are they nice?
The salad will just be simple - lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes and maybe red pepper.

From the freezer: 
potato waffle
maybe bread
chicken in batter

Wednesday, 22-12-21: Festive challenge day 22

Good morning:  Having said I'd do one more day on SW, I had totally forgotten that I have a take away with Dave and Anna planned for this evening.  That, with plenty of appropriate liquid stuff will mean that I start my off-SW time at around six o'clock this evening rather than tomorrow morning.   

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast was marmite on toast followed by two easy peelers and an apple.  I didn't take a photo.

This was the previous night's leftovers with some additional veg - cabbage, sprouts and carrot.
It was very nice although I won't used drumsticks again.  If I add chicken, I will use chunks of thigh or breast.

I very much enjoyed this toad in the hole although it would have been better with real sausages.  On the plate you can see half - I had the other half too!  No yogurt though.

It looks remarkably similar to lunch - that's the veg!

And no butternut squash chips.  When I looked at what I had, it was rather beyond the point of no return.  Bad me!

Today's plans:

B:  sausages, egg and bacon
I'll probably also throw in some tomatoes and mushrooms for a bit of 'health'!
SW:  one syn for the sausages

L:  I'm going to try and not have much, just some fruit and some yogurt.  I want to enjoy this evening
SW:  half a syn for the yogurt

D:  take away Chinese with Dave and Anna
Definitely NOT SW friendly but it will be lovely!
SW:  unknown!

E:  personal training

Summary:
I hate to think but I'm not fussed!

From the freezer:
sausages

Tuesday, 21-12-21: Festive challenge day 21

Good morning:
Well, I'm giving it a good go but fading out every evening.  I'll do one more day of SW values (tomorrow) and then kind of forget about syns, etc.  I'm not worried - I've done it before and will do it again, both up and back down again.  I haven't met my Christmas target but an the better for having aimed for it anyway.

It's not the end of the story!

Yesterday's meals:

Nice breakfast before circuit training.

Leftovers from Sunday and jolly tasty too, despite what it looks like1

The Christmas traybake was absolutely lovely.  You can see I added a chicken drumstick - two actually - and also some sweet potato which needed using.
There's half left over for munch today, probably with some more green stuff.  I need to make some space before tomorrow's shopping.

And then - other stuff.  Ooops!

Today's plans:

B:  marmite on toast, fruit
I just fancy something simple and savoury.
SW:  one healthy extra B

L:  Christmas traybake leftovers, broccoli, cabbage; fruit
I found some M&S low fat sausages in the freezer so used them instead of the 'real' chipolatas so that brought the syns (and calories) right down
SW:  half a syn for the pigs and the rest is free, etc.  I still have the gravy and, if I have that, I will allow three syns - a bit guesstimate but I don't think it's far off.

D:  toast in the hole, butternut squash chips, veg; yogurt.
I just fancy this.  I've got out the rest of the low fat M&S chipolatas which are not amazing but the nicest I have found of that type, just to use them up.  I'll do four for my toad and keep two for breakfast tomorrow.  I'll make proper Yorkshire pudding batter and syn it - the mild will be a healthy extra A anyway, it's just the flour and any butter I use.
The chips are because the squash really does need using up now and the veg will probably be the same as lunch, more or less.  I'll prep it all at the same time.
SW:  two syns for the sausages, nine syns for the flour (ouch) and the milk is just over half a healthy extra A.  I'll use spray oil!  Yogurt is half a syn

E:  Ha ha ha!!!

Summary:
half a healthy extra A
one healthy extra B
fifteen syns (blimey!!)

From the freezer: 

Monday, 20-12-21: Festive challenge day 20

Good morning:
Yesterday went beautifully until the evening when it all rather crumpled.  Oh, well - carry on!

Yesterday's meals:

Yummy yum.  I was surprised how much squirty cream you get for 20g - well, 23g, to be accurate so I'm calling it three syns.

Just what it looks like - beans on toast with no hidden extras.  That's because it's Heinz beans (from Dad's larder) which are so expensive but a much better flavour and don't need any sauce to improve them.

The chicken and leek casserole was lovely!  I used a couple of chicken thighs which always have a better flavour and a tub of real chicken stock I found in the freezer, more or less followed the instructions although it didn't take as long as the pork would have taken, and added leftover peas right at the end - just because it was a convenient way to warm them up.
The potato was leftovers and the broccoli and sprouts cooked from scratch and all in all, it was delicious.
And there are leftovers for lunch today!

The recipe is in the new SW magazine.

I also need to confess that I may have had more than a passing acquaintance with some of my home made strawberry gin in the evening.  Ooops!

Today's plans:

B:  bacon, potato waffle and baked beans
One version of an 'English' breakfast.  The baked beans are leftovers from yesterday.
SW:  two syns for the potato waffle and one for some bbq sauce, maybe

L:  chicken and leek casserole, broccoli; fruit
I had originally planned for soup but have leftovers from yesterday so that's good.  A short time in the microwave and all done!
SW:  All speed/free/protein so no syns

D:  Christmas Traybake; yogurt
I saw this on a vlog.  Basically, you par boil and then roast potatoes, parsnips and carrots in a suitable sized roasting dish.  Half way through, add sprouts and pigs in blankets (and I might add a few chunks of chicken too).  Serve with gravy (if you want) and cranberry sauce (if you want).
That's the basics but I will watch it again to get any seasoning details.  Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9erbAaB3KpU
SW:  all the veg and herbs, etc are free/speed/protein, the pigs in blankets will be four syns (two syns each for two chipolatas) and I do have some real turkey gravy in the freezer which I will call three syns for 'safety's sake'.  Half a syn for the yogurt

E:  the last circuit training of the year

Summary:
No healthy extras, ooops!
ten and a half syns (for waffles, sauce, sausages, gravy and yogurt)

From the freezer: 
potato waffle
chicken
sausages
turkey gravy

Sunday, 19-12-21: Festive challenge day 19

Good morning:

Thankfully, yesterday was back on track again,  Five and a half more days to go and then I will ease off over Christmas for a couple of days.  Mind you, SW friendly meals are so wide ranging and so many are favourites, I'm planning plenty of SW friendly stuff in because I want to.  It's the wine and the savoury nibbles that will put me off track and that's perfectly OK once or twice in a while.  Regardless of SW or any other food strategy, they are not things it is healthy to have too often anyway.

Yesterday's meals:

It was about half past twelve before I was remotely interested in 'breaking my fast' so it was a toss up between planned breakfast or planned lunch.  Breakfast won, as you can see, and I am glad it did.

To keep me going at around four o'clock, I had some almonds.  Nuts may be high in fat but they are 'good' fats and 25g is a healthy extra B so I was happy with that.

The cheesy potato bake was lovely.  I added one tbsp lighter crème fraiche to the beaten egg in the recipe and also a few sprouts that were left over from the other day and it made enough for two so that's tomorrow's potatoes sorted out.

I also cooked some mushrooms to up my speed food a bit.

No room for anything else.

Today's plans:

B:  Christmas roulade with orange segments
I think I might push the boat out and have a bit of squirty cream as well - just because . . .
I have popped the roulade recipe at the end
SW:  20g squirty cream is two and a half syns

L:  beans on toast; fruit
I didn't have it yesterday so I'm having it today!
SW:  one healthy extra B for the toast

D:  pork and leek casserole with fresh apple chutney, the rest of the potato bake, some peas leftover from yesterday and sprouts or broccoli; yogurt
This recipe is from the brand new SW magazine which was available in group last week so should be in the shops this week.  I'm not doing it in its entirety as it includes new potatoes; I'll just make the pork casserole but and the fresh apple bit
SW:  the magazine says it's free, the potato bake is one healthy extra A and the yogurt will be half a syn

E:  a walk, weather permitting

Summary:
one healthy extra A
one healthy extra B
three syns

From the freezer:
bread
pork
peas
chicken stock

Roulade recipe

You will need:
two eggs separated
one pot kvarg- I use the flavoured quark, one tbsp in the 'cake' part and the rest as the 'filling' but you could use the plain quark and flavour it yourself.
Skinny syrup - optional
some sweetener

An oven tray  (I use one that is 28 x 18 cms)
baking parchment
two bowls

Method:
Preheat oven to between 140 and 160C (fan) - you know your oven best.  I tend to go for 140C

In one bowl, whisk the egg whites until they are stiff.
In the other bowl, add one tbsp quark/kvarg to the egg yolk, plus sweetener and skinny syrup or any other spice flavourings you fancy using, and beat together.  Add the yolk mixture to the whites and fold together - it doesn't take long.
Line the oven tray with baking parchment.
Spread the mixture over the tray and smooth over.  Pop it in the oven and give it between 12 and 15 mins, until cooked through and going a bit golden.
Remove from oven and turn out onto a cooling rack, parchment uppermost.
Allow to cool a little bit and then carefully peel off the parchment.

When it is completely cool, spread over with more flavoured or plain quark and any fruit you fancy adding.
Roll up carefully.  It stays quite flexible so it isn't difficult to roll up.
Cut into slices, add any extras you plan to use and enjoy.

SW:  eggs are free, quark is free, kvarg is half a syn per pot, fruit is speed or free, you don't need enough sweetener or skinny syrup to have to syn it