Monday, 31-01-22

Good morning!

The freezer is rather more full after the weekend's work.
It now has four portions of the savoury mince, the fifth being planned in tonight.

Then, in the fridge, I had two broccoli stalks and a leek.  I thought I'd make leek, broccoli and potato soup but then remembered that I had some butterbeans from Dad's freezer so I added them instead of potato as I know they make soup lovely and creamy.  So now there are frive portions of home made soup in the freezer too and I must start planning them in this week!

And, finally, I was able to freeze one portion of roast lamb and gravy,  Yum!

Yesterday's meals:

I know these overnight oats look a right mess but that's the nature of the beast.  It was delicious!

Lunch was a roast lamb dinner with Beth and Alex.  Lamb, roasties, roasted parsnips, peas, cabbage and cauliflower.  I also made Yorkshires as Alex loves them - so do I, in fact, but I restricted myself to just one.  Can you see the halo?

No dessert.  No photo either!

I was going to load up this macaroni cheese with lots of different bits but there was quite a lot of cauliflower left from lunch and, as I wasn't feeling that hungry either, I just used that.  Didn't have much - that roast dinner certainly did fill me up!

I finished with a Mullerlight yogurt.

Today's meal plans:

B:  plain coddled eggs, toast dippers
I'm not going to bother with adding anything else apart from seasonings, there's no need.  I will have to syn the toast as I have planned my B choice for lunch

SW:  three syns for one slice of toast

L:  leftover lamb pitta with tzatziki sauce, salad on the side; fruit
I did a search for ways to use up cooked lamb and found this recipe.
https://www.justalittlebitofbacon.com/leftover-lamb-gyros-with-tzatziki-sauce/

I will use a wholemeal pitta, of course, and probably add some olives as well; I love olives.  And the lamb will be shreds, not slices - slow roast lamb does not slice!!
SW:  one healthy extra B for the pitta and maybe one syn for some super light mayo.  Eight olives is one and a half syns

D:  cheesy triple topped mince pie, veg; yogurt
As I have several portions of savoury mince now, I may as well use one portion.
I plan to spray roast some frozen butternut squash and sweet potato chunks, add leftover roast potato from yesterday (I made sure there were a few leftovers - planning ahead!), sort of crush them all together, add some grated cheddar for extra loveliness, spread it over the top of some cooked mince and bake in the oven to brown the top.
It sounds nice; hopefully, it will taste nice too.

There's still cabbage and cauliflower left over from yesterday so I will just reheat them.
SW:  one and a half healthy extra As for cheese, half a syn for dessert

E:  kettle squats, circuit training

Summary:

one and a half healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

six syns

From the freezer:

bread

pitta

butternut squash

sweet potato

Sunday, 30-01-22

Good morning, everyone.

I so enjoyed yesterday's food.  It was so delicious and good and filling too.  Lovely jubbly!

Yesterday's meals:

A most uninspiring photo of a deliciously simple breakfast - choccy weetabix with oat milk.  So good!

I didn't have the planned fruit.  Later on, I fancied something but fruit didn't wing it.  Instead, I had some baby beets (the pickled kind) and they hit the mark perfectly.  

Leftovers can be lovely, can't they?  These certainly were and I chopped some red pepper, cucumber and tomatoes to go on the side.  Nice and crunchy.
Afterwards I had three tiny easy peelers for afters.

Later on, I had a cuppa to try out the oat milk and liked it.  It didn't lighten the drink as much as cow's milk does but that was OK.

Well, Pinch of Nom have done it yet again.  This was amazing.
I thought I had found a link but it took me to a 'buy this book' ad and it's so new out that I really don't feel I can reproduce anything here.  It's p 50 of the new book.

I added too much beaten egg to the meatball mixture so had to add about 20g wholemeal breadcrumbs to compensate and I think it made them better.  They weren't in the least dry or hard of texture.
Quite spicy.  Fine for me but if you don't like spice, use less (or no) sriracha sauce.
As you can see, I had mixed corn and peas and at the back there's some basmati rice too.  The leftovers from both of those went into the savoury mince in the slow cooker!

I finished off with a kvarg.

Today's plans:

B:  overnight oats

I haven't had this for ages and it's about time.
I used to struggle to think of different breakfasts - now I have so many that I like, it can be hard to choose and I go by how I feel when I think through the list (and which A and B choices I have to play with.

I mixed it all up overnight using oat milk and fruit from the freezer
SW:  I'm not using up enough oat milk for half a healthy A so I will call it two syns, one healthy extra B

L:  roast lamb dinner - lamb, roasties, roast parsnips, selection of veg; fruit
I have Beth and Alex over so I'm splashing out.  I'll be making a beany crumble for Beth.
SW:  around one syn for some oil (for the roasted veg) and half a syn for some mint sauce.  The rest should all be free/speed

D:  macaroni cheese with broccoli and cauliflower; yogurt
I'm going to use the weird recipe again and add to it onion, pepper and mushroom plus pouring it over cauliflower and broccoli so it's a sort of cauliflower cheese thingy.  And this time I will use some oat milk which, the internet assures me, is perfectly stable for cooking with.  Also, I'm going to try for a sort of fondue vibe using a mix of gruyere and emmental. I've bought some of each, grated it all up and popped it in the freezer for other melty cheese based things after this.  They are both healthy extra As for 30g
SW:  one and a half healthy extra As, I'm counting one syn for a bit of oat milk although I doubt it will be as much as that and half a syn for dessert

E:  kettle exercises, 

Summary:

one and a half healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

four syns

From the freezer:

fruit

half leg of lamb

peas

bean and veg mix

savoury crumble topping

mixed peppers

Into the freezer:

several portions of cooked savoury mince

Saturday, 29-01-22

Good morning, everyone.

A pound off at Slimming World.  Three cheers.  I'm happy with slow and steady although I do wish it was as easy to lose it as it is to gain it (I still love Christmas though).

While rummaging for the cooked mince yesterday, I realised that I'm now right out of portions of both beef and pork mince.  As it is so very convenient to have some, I will dig out some of the frozen raw mince today and do a slow cooker bolognaise-y sort of thing to put back in the freezer tomorrow.  It's one of those basics and while I know it's not actually 'using up', it is getting some freezer contents one step closer to being used up so I'm happy with that.

I also want to make a second batch of the syn free hash browns and, this time, cook them before freezing, just to see how that works.

Yesterday's meals:

I used the oat milk for the first time and I thought it was absolutely lovely!  How can I have never tried it before, eh?  It's definitely a regular from now on.

I used some frozen strawberry and banana smoothie fruit mix, 175g of oat milk, 20g oats, skinny syrup, a bit of sweetener and a dollop of natural yogurt, well blended, and it made two of those glassfuls.  Yes, I had them both (why not) and yes, they filled me up and kept me full.

Making it with frozen fruit means you end up with a sort of slush puppy effect which wold be really refreshing on those hot summer morning.  I made it early and kept it in the fridge until after SW by which time it was cold but thawed - and so lovely!

Leftovers from dinner the day before (the squash and chickpea traybake) with some added turkey (the last of the Christmas turkey slices that I froze) and I spent half a syn on some spray dressing.
Oh, it was tasty - no room for any fruit afterwards.

This is one of those recipes that could have infinite variation - the tray bake, I mean, not the salad.

Chip pie and peas.  Nothing special, just another way of serving mince and chips but it was really nice.  I finished off with a yogurt, as usual.
.

Today's plans:

B:  weetabix with oat milk and fruit
SW:  half a healthy extra A for oat milk, one B for the weetabix

L:  cheesy pasta bake, salad; fruit
The pasta bake is leftovers from the freezer.  On the container it says 'add more cheese' so I will.
SW:  one syn for the pasta bake and one healthy extra A for more cheese

D:  sweet and spicy meatballs, rice, veg; yogurt

This is a recipe from the new Pinch of Nom book, p 50 and I've been wanting to make it for ages.  It looks and sounds delicious!
I'm making one sub and that is agave nectar for honey as it's definitely lower calorie for a very similar flavour; agave nectar is rather a cross between honey and maple syrup.
SW:  The whole thing is four syns which seems quite a lot so I hope it is worth it - it's not that high in calories.  Also half a syn for the yogurt

E:  kettle exercises, 

Summary:
two healthy extra As (I'll probably drink the other half)
one healthy extra B

five and a half syns

From the freezer:

pasta bake

pork mince

also pork and beef mince, mixed peppers, peas and corn to slow cook

Into the freezer:

hash browns

Friday, 28-01-22

Good morning, everyone.

Weigh day today and, as I've been a Very Good Girl all week, I am hopefully.  However, I had a surprise loss last week so . . . well, we will see.

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast - the muffin is in half for the photo and I did the egg like that deliberately!

A very filling soup, thanks to the lentils, I think.

Then I had an apple and a couple of easy peelers.

A little later I nibbled on some mini choccy weetabixes (so nice and crunchy) for six syns because I'd had my healthy extra B.  

It didn't stop me being on plan.

Dinner was unexpectedly gorgeous.  It was so simple too.  I spray roasted some frozen butternut squash for about half an hour.  Then I mixed in half a can of chickpeas (leftovers from earlier in the week, some cherry tomatoes, one tsp of ras el hanout and some chopped onion (more leftovers) plus pepper, a bit of salt and some garlic granules.  Back in the oven it went for around twenty minutes before I sprinkled over some grated cheddar (the proper kind) and gave it another fifteen minutes.  Yum.  There's about a third left over and I'll maybe reheat it and serve it over a salad or something like that, for lunch.
As usual, a kvarg finished off the day's eating.

Today's plans:

B:  smoothie using the oat drink, some oats and fruit from the freezer
A bit of a no-no, this, as SW says blended fruit must be synned and I don't.  Naughty me!  I've stuck to the rules all through January and now I'm back to using my common sense as well which works better for me.
SW:  half a healthy extra A for the milk

L:  yesterday's leftovers, reheated, salad; fruit
I'm looking forward to this, I really am.
SW:  about two syns for the cheese already on the traybake

D:   cheesy chip pie, probably peas; yogurt

I got the idea from Pinch of Nom but am using some savoury pork mince from the freezer.  Basically, you cook your chips, get your savoury mince ready (mine will just need heating up),  put the mince in an ovenproof dish, arrange over the cooked chips, add some grated cheese and pop it in the oven or under the grill to melt the cheese.
SW:  one healthy extra A for the cheese and half a syn for dessert.

E:  kettle exercises, a walk

Summary:
two healthy extra As

half a healthy extra B

two and a half syns

From the freezer:

fruit

savoury mince

peas

Recipe: a very odd macaroni cheese

Someone posted this in our local SW facebook page and it intrigued me so much I thought I'd give it a go.  It think it is a Tik Tok thing but am not 100% sure so apologies for not giving it proper accreditation.

The original was for four portions and I quartered it to serve one.  I have a small slow cooker so it was OK but I doubt it would be enough in a larger, family sized, slow cooker; you'd need to do two or more portions.
(you could also bake it in the oven, I am sure, or cook it on the hob)

Macaroni cheese - an alternative version

Not the best photo in the world, sorry - but you get the idea

Ingredients to serve one
160g carrots, boiled until soft (unsalted)
100ml of cooking water from boiling the carrots (the rest can be discarded)
40g macaroni

40g reduced fat cheddar (or 30g of the proper kind) plus 20g (15g) for topping - that last bit is optional

a dollop of plain yogurt

30 mls milk.  I use semi skimmed

seasonings to own taste - I used garlic granules and pepper.  Be careful with salt because of the salt in the cheese.

Method.
Blend the carrots to a smooth puree with the cooking water.
Add the yogurt and milk and mix well.

Add the macaroni and the cheese and season carefully

Pour the mixture into a small slow cooker and cook for two hours on low, stirring occasionally, if you can.

Check the seasonings and adjust, if necessary.

That's it.  However, I made mine earlier and warmed it up in an oven proof dish with some more grated cheese on top.

It was . . . rather nice, I thought.  Not a proper macaroni cheese but you don't get a real cheese sauce that is SW friendly, you just don't!  In its way it was tasty and had a comfort food vibe.
You can't taste carrot.

I'm definitely making it again and next time I will add bits.  Some onion maybe, bits of bacon, bits of pepper and mushroom.  It will take all sorts of variations.

SW:
The cheese is one healthy extra A, one and a half, if you add the extra
The milk could be a bit of the remaining A choice or call it around one syn

The rest is free and those carrots give it a bit of unexpected speed content which is always nice.

Thursday, 27-01-22

Good morning, everyone.

Yesterday was a bit of an odd day.  I often say that I've had a hungry day when I've had to fight the nibblies all the way through.  Yesterday was quite the opposite - it was very much a not-hungry day.

I had breakfast as usual although it was a bit late, around eleven thirty, and enjoyed it very much indeed.

By the time it came to lunch, I just wasn't hungry but I knew I ought to have something because of personal training a bit later.  I nibbled on the turkey and bacon and had a bit of yogurt.  Then, after personal training, I toasted the bread and had some of the turkey pate with it because it was a strenuous session, I had planned this anyway and I didn't want to crash later on.  So I didn't have the salad, the chutney or the mayo.
Dinner was fine although I wasn't as 'ready' for it as I usually am and there's a little bit of tagine left which I will most likely toss in the soup at lunchtime, so as not to waste it.

Yesterday's meals:

Here are the egg coddlers, two of them anyway.  The strawberry one was mine, given by a parent ages ago and the flower one was Mum and Dad's.  The eggs were fine.  It's nothing fancy, just a boiled egg outside of it's shell or a poached egg not in water.  Next time I will add the cheese first as it was had to tell when the white at the top was cooked and I overdid them a bit.

It was good and filling.

The tagine was very tasty.  I decided to just have raw tomatoes with it rather than cooked veg.  I finished off with yogurt, as usual.

Today's plans:

B:  bacon and egg muffin with tomatoes and mushrooms on the side
Because I love it!
SW:  one healthy extra B, one syn for some bbq sauce

L:  tomato, lentil and red pepper soup, grated cheese; fruit
I had half a can of chopped tomatoes and the fag end of a jar of red peppers left over from making the tagine so I chopped a bit of carrot and a bit of onion, bunged it all in Thermione with a tbsp red lentils, some vegetable stock powder and some seasonings, let it simmer for twenty five minutes, blended it all down and pushed the resulting gunk through a sieve.  
(and I will add a little bit of tagine leftovers - odd but it will work ok, I am sure and anyway, waste not, want not!)
SW:  one healthy extra A for some grated cheddar

D: spicy butternut squash traybake, veg; yogurt
I also have chickpeas left from making the tagine so I searched on the SW site and found this recipe which rather appeals.  You can only access it if you are a SW member, sorry.
https://member.slimmingworld.co.uk/recipes/spicy-butternut-squash-tray-bake 

I won't be adding the coriander and, as I have a healthy extra A left, I might grate that over the end product.  I'll be using frozen butternut squash so it will be cubes, not chips.
SW:  possibly one healthy extra A and half a syn for the yogurt

E:  kettle exercises, a walk

Summary:
up to two healthy extra As
one healthy extra B

one and a half syns

From the freezer:

wholewheat muffin

butternut squash

Wednesday, 26-01-22

Good morning, everyone.  

It was another good day yesterday, thankfully.  I may not be losing the December weight quickly but I do feel I'm eating 'better' again after all the Christmas and New Year junk.
People say following SW is 'restrictive'!  Do you think my meals are restrictive?  I don't.  Yes, I can't have everything I might want to eat but that's not SW, that's wanting to get rid of the festive gain.  If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.  If you want change, then you have to make those changes happen!

In my weekly shop, I bought some lighter cheddar cheese, just to try it out, as you can have 40g for your healthy A rather than 30.  It's OK, I am happy to use up what I have bought, but I think I will stick with less of the proper stuff.
I haven't started using the oat milk yet.  It has a reasonable life span so that's not a problem.  Does anyone reading this use oat milk?  Do you like it?

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast and the last of the current batch of hash browns.  I'm going to make some more and this time bake them before freezing them, to see how that works.

Wish I could arrange food better.  It was lovely but it looks a bit of a mess.  :-)

The 'calzone' was really tasty.  It asked for one tbsp passata and there was no way I was opening a carton of passata for one tbsp so I use tomato puree, a bit of bbq sauce and a splash of water and it was great!

Dessert was an orange and I had an apple at about five.

This really was an odd recipe but I was surprised how nice it was.  I have given up on proper cheese sauces that are SW friendly but this was a pleasant alternative and I enjoyed it very much.  There was a little bit of the corn, pepper, turkey and cheese filling left from lunch so I just tossed that in once it came out of the slow cooker and before it went into the oven to reheat with some grated cheese on top.   This definitely added something good to the mix and I'll do that again.

I can't locate the recipe which is on TikTok but it involves cooking and blending carrots, would you believe and I'll post separately about it at some point.

I finished off with yogurt.

Today's plans:

B:  coddled eggs, toast, tomatoes
Not really coddled eggs, more like baked eggs but I have a set of egg coddlers that used to belong to Mum and Dad and I thought I'd use them.  I will just put some chopped tomatoes and roasted red peppers in the bottom with some seasoning/herbs, add the egg and a bit of grated cheese, pop on the lid and put the coddlers in a pan with boiling water and into the oven.  Fingers crossed!

The toast is for dipping!
SW:  half a healthy extra B for one slice toast and half an A for 15g (or 20g depending on which I use) of grated cheese

L:  turkey and bacon open sandwich, side salad; fruit
I haven't had an open sandwich for ages!
I have turkey left from Sunday that really MUST be used up today and bacon always goes well with turkey.  I might blend some of the turkey with some mayo to use as a spread and shred some more to go on top of the bread.  A shame I don't have any gherkins - I'm not terribly fond of them but they would be nice in this context.  Maybe I will pop out and get some, not something I normally do, but they do keep, don't they?
SW:  I'm going to cheat a bit and call the Philly light I will use to make the meat paste half a healthy extra A.  The bread is the other half of my B choice.  One syn for some mayo and one and a half for some onion or tomato chutney.  The rest should all be free/speed.

D:  beef and apricot tagine, couscous, veg on the side; yogurt
I found this on the SW site and thought it looked really very tasty.  I had all the ingredients to hand apart from fresh mint (it also asked for leaf coriander but urgh!!!) - I even had some ras el hanout spice mix!

I made it in the slow cooker, ingredients halved to make two portions and it was enough for three portions.  No complaints there
SW:  half a syn for the spice mix and two syns for some dried apricots.  Also half a syn for the yogurt

E:  kettle exercises, personal training

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

five syns

From the freezer:

bread

the tagine (made earlier and frozen)

Tuesday, 25-01-22

Good morning, everyone.
Another 'good', on plan day although the temptations are still there.  Wouldn't it be nice if we could really enjoy food at meal times and yet not be tempted at any other time.
Dream on, Joy, dream on!

I'm trying the lower fat cheddar with the lunch recipe - hopefully, it will be acceptable but is the extra ten grams worth the different taste?  I suspect not but - we will see.

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast was so delicious.  As the egg was pretty small, I used 30g oat bran and it made five pancakes, just a perfect amount for breakfast.  Must remember that!
I only needed one tbsp agave nectar, not the two I planned for, and the fruit is a mix of a few bits in the fridge and some from the freezer.

I know this looks more like a dinner and it would be if it was more but it went down well after circuit training, followed by an apple and a plum.

The carrot and lentil soup was really tasty.

Later on I had an orange.

Turkey curry with veg and a good old dollop opf Greek yogurt on the top..  

Yes, an odd mix but it was really very nice.
I finished it off with a yogurt.

Today's plans:

B:  hash browns, egg and smoked salmon, tomatoes on the side
I'm looking forward to this very much!
SW:  all speed or free, no syns

L:  chicken and sweetcorn pizza calzone, salad; fruit
This is a Pinch of Nom recipe that looks really quite tasty.
https://pinchofnom.com/recipes/chicken-and-sweetcorn-pizza-calzone/

There's also one for ham and mushroom and one for 'Christmas' so I might change my mind about the focus.
SW:  one healthy extra A for cheese, one B for the wrap, one syn for some mayo

D:  slow cooker macaroni cheese, turkey, broccoli; yogurt
This is an interesting one - a TikTok viral thing, I gather, that looks weird but is supposed to be good.  We will see.  I have the turkey leftover from Sunday and it should work with the macaroni cheese.
I'll let you know!
SW:  one healthy extra A and three syns for cheese (I'm adding a bit extra) and half a syn for the yogurt

E:  kettle exercises

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

four and a half syns

From the freezer:

hash browns

smoked salmon

wrap

sweetcorn

mixed peppers

Slimming World food shop from Sainsbury's

 This felt like a bigger shop than usual as I was getting short of certain items such as Maldon Salt and baked beans.
Just to emphasise to anyone reading who isn't conversant with SW vocabulary, 'free' does not mean 'no calories'.  :-)

Frozen goods:

I was totally out of butternut squash and it is so useful to have this in the freezer.  When you're cooking for one, you don't usually need a whole squash.

As for the steam fresh veg, I know they are not the most frugal of purchases but they are extremely convenient.  One steam bag is usually two portions for me.
All speed on Slimming World.

Fruit, veg and salad:

Rather more this week although most is veg as I already had apples and plums in the fridge.

I'm starting to fancy salads again now, which is nice.

Apart from the potatoes, I think all of this is speed food.

Bread and meat:

Yes, that s a half leg of lamb - It's expensive and getting more so at the moment but Beth and Alex are coming over for lunch next Sunday.

Lean lamb is SW free and I will cut the fat off the bacon to make it free too

I will individually wrap the rolls and the muffins for the freezer.  Both are six syns or a healthy extra B

Dairy:

The usual cow load of yogurt, both flavoured and Greek, the usual kvarg (shockingly expensive but ever so nice), some fromage frais and I thought I would try lighter cheddar cheese this time and see if they've improved the flavour somewhat.  Worth a try anyway!

The yogurt and fromage frais are free, the yogurts and kvargs are half a syn each and 40g of the cheese is one healthy extra A or six syns

Coffee/drinks stuff:

When my friend Suzanne was here, she sang the praises of oat 'milk' in things like cereals, porridge, etc.  I just thought I'd give it a go.  350 mls of the kind I got (skinny) is a healthy extra A.

I do like my coffee.

Store cupboard bits and bobs:

OK, Maldon Salt is a luxury but I like it and anyway it is supporting a local industry, isn't it?

This is all free on Slimming World.

I also got other non-food items, such as loo roll and kitchen towel.

What with what I already have, this should see me through a couple of weeks, probably with only fresh stuff to get next week.

Monday, 24-01-22

Good morning, everyone.  

Another good day yesterday which makes me happy!  Three lovely meals - well, I enjoyed them although I am sure they're not everyone's cuppa tea - that kept me well satisfied.

I found a beef tagine recipe on the SW site and have planned it in for later on in the week.  It's been gently bubbling overnight, filling the house with a warm and spicy fragrance and I've turned it on top high with the lid off to try and reduce it down a bit.  If that doesn't do the trick, I can just use a saucepan instead.  I made half quantities because that's how much beef I had, but it's made absolutely loads, at least three portions, so no grumbles, even though it means some must go in the freezer.

Yesterday's meals:

Such a scrummy breakfast!!  

The hash browns are just as nice cooked straight from frozen, they just take a little bit longer, that's all.

Next time, I want to try the actifry.

And when I make the next batch, I will cook them before freezing them and see if that works as well.

The beans on toast (with feta, not cheddar) was pretty tasty too.  It was followed by an orange and two small plums.

And dinner was also very delicious.  The plum sauce wasn't very nice so I chucked that, grabbed a few frozen cranberries and boiled them up with some sugar.  It made two portions at one and a half syns per portion.

Extremely yummy!

Because the plum sauce wasn't nice, I added some no added sugar apricot jam to the Greek yogurt for one syn.  Very satisfying!

So I finished the day a bit up in syns from planning, but had less cheese than expected

Today's plans:

B:  fluffy pancakes, fruit and agave nectar
A great start to the week, I hope!
SW:  one healthy extra B and a maximum of three syns for the agave nectar (probably less)

L:  carrot and lentil soup, leftover turkey and veg (broccoli and sprouts); apple

I really want to stay on plan this week and find the time around five-ish the most difficult time of the day so I am wondering if I have a little more for lunch, will that make a difference or is it emotional or habit issues?  I'll give it a try and see how it goes.
The mini turkey joint made plenty so I always have that to nibble on which might be better than fruit. if necessary.
SW:  one and a half syns for the rest of the cranberry sauce and a bit of a healthy extra A for milk to add to the soup when I reheat it.

D:  turkey leftover curry (from the freezer), veg on the side; yogurt

This is Christmas leftover turkey rather than from yesterday - it all needs using, after all.
I'll probably not have any rice or similar as yesterday was quite carby.
SW:  the turkey curry is two syns and half a syn for the yogurt

E:  kettle exercises, circuit training

Summary:

part of a healthy extra A

one healthy extra B for oat bran or oats

seven syns

From the freezer:

fruit
soup

curry

Sunday, 23-01-22

 Good morning.
Yesterday may have been rather jumbled and emotional but I didn't stray too far away from the beaten track, thank goodness.
Today is properly back on track, photos and all.

Yesterday's meals:

Just the one photo as I wasn't home for breakfast and lunch.  Instead of the mushroom sauce I had half-planned, I had a tbsp caramelised onion chutney from one of the half used jars in the fridge which I really MUST use up.

It was all lovely!

Today's plans:

B:  a cooked breakfast

Bacon, egg, sausage, hm hash browns, tomatoes, mushrooms and, if I am feeling very, very cheeky, some baked beans too.
This time I will try baking the hash browns from frozen and see how that works.
SW:  the hash browns are half a syn for five but . . . I'm going to call it half a syn anyway, to be safe.  The sausage is two syns.

L:  beans on toast; fruit
Good, old fashioned baked beans on toast- how delicious is that!
SW:  one healthy extra A for grated cheese and one B for the toast

D:  a roast dinner - turkey, stuffing, roasties, parsnips, carrots, broccoli and sprouts; yogurt 

I'm using one of those mini breast roast I made by cutting a full rolled breast into three.  The cranberry sauce is all gone but I found a little pot of plum sauce so I'm using some of that and mixing the rest into some Greek yogurt for dessert
SW:  There's no syns written on the pot of plum sauce but I will say two, just in case.  The yogurt and the stuffing will be free.

E:  kettle exercises and a walk

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

four and a half syns

From the freezer:

sausage

LM sausage for stuffing

hash browns

bread for toast

turkey

plum sauce

Saturday, 22-01-22

 Good morning.
Today is a bit different as I am off to my Dad's house to help brother do some more clearing and have an 'executors' meeting'.  I will take breakfast and lunch with me and will be home for dinner.

Weigh in was a miracle!!  Half a pound off and I have no idea how but I'm not arguing!
The rest of the day was rather muddled as I have described in the other blog - I had to eat when I could and I didn't take photos - nor will I today except, probably, dinner tonight.

Today's plans:

B:  fruit and yogurt
I'll be sorting out at Dad's and this is easy to take with me.
SW:  half a syn

L:  savoury mince, tea loaf
The mince is free but I have no idea of the tea loaf.  it is what it is really.

D:  steak, chips, peas; maybe a yogurt
I ended up not having this yesterday but a ready meal (I couldn't find the syns but it would have been OK) so am having it today instead.

SW:  one syn for mayo and half for yogurt

E:  kettle exercises, lots of lifting, carrying, up and down stairs.

Summary:

unknown today but I will be careful

From the freezer:

mince
tea loaf (has to be used)

steak

peas

Friday, 21-01-22

 Good morning:
Yesterday was better, much better.  Weigh in today and I'm not expecting any miracles but not to worry.  I will survive!

Yesterday's meals:

Well, nice breakfast but I won't be trying to 'poach' eggs in the actifry again, no way!  Talk about bullets!

Lunch - soup and cheesy toast dippers.  Nice!
Then I had a wee apple and two easy peelers.  Also nice.

Later on I had another apple.  Am I having too much fruit?

I dearly love hunter's chicken and, with all that veg, it was both filling and healthy.

I could feel the nibblies coming on again around five so I had dinner much earlier than usual and it worked!

I had a yogurt and that was it for the day.

Today's plans:

B:  fluffy oat pancakes with fruit and yogurt
The usual but with the egg separated, while whisked and folded in.  Or I might do the roulade mix which is really low carb, like cloud bread, and pancake-cook that instead of baking it.  I haven't decided yet.
SW:  one healthy extra B - maybe

L:  keema curry, perhaps some konjac rice, salad' fruit
I have a little pot of this curry in the freezer that needs using.  I may or I may not have konjac rice.  If I do, I'll have to have the other half of the pack tomorrow as it doesn't freeze at all well, annoyingly.  I'll definitely have a salad on the side though.
SW:  one syn for the konjac rice and one for some mayo while the rest is speed/free

D:  steak, mushroom sauce, chips and veg; yogurt

I have a very small fillet steak in the freezer which I will hammer out so it looks bigger.
I'll make the sauce with a bit of veg stock, quark and a bit of cornflour, I think.
SW:  up to one syn for some cornflour and half for the yogurt

E:  kettle exercises

Summary:

maybe one healthy extra A for milk

maybe one healthy extra B for oat bran

three and a half syns

From the freezer:

little steak

keema curry

veg

fruit

Thursday, 20-01-22

Good morning.
Confession time again.  All yesterday's meals were very delicious and satisfying but . . . what a shame I went totally bananas in the evening!  Worse than bananas - bananas would have been relatively harmless.  Oh, dear.  Why do I do it?  This week hasn't gone brilliantly, sadly, but I guess we all have these times and there's only one thing to do - pick myself up, dust myself down and start again!  Again!

What do you do when that happens?

Yesterday's meals:

A most filling breakfast - one of these days I must just work out the calories of this sort of breakfast because it is SW 'free'.

The hash browns worked out well.  I took them out of the freezer and thawed them on the baking sheet I intended to use - which is just as well because they went all soggy and floppy and I couldn't have moved them onto the dish without them falling apart.  My heart sank but, in fact, half an hour in the oven with the bacon added after twenty minutes and they were most delicious.  I will never buy hash browns again, that's for sure!

Next time I will try them cooked straight from frozen and see how that works out.

A nice way to use up leftovers - the last but one lot of cooked chicken and the very last smidgeon of cranberry sauce that I made just before Christmas.

And then I had an orange . . . and another orange not much later.

It's great that leftovers can make such a tasty meal.  Leftover chicken (the last), left over stock from the carcass and leftover veg - plus onion, pepper, mushroom, risotto rice, hard Italian cheese (the veggie version of parmesan) and seasonings.

And there's a couple of portions in the freezer too!

Just a shame that wasn't the last of my eating for the day, isn't it?

Today's plans:

B:  poached egg on toast, tomatoes on the side
I'm going to try 'poaching' a couple of eggs in the actifry, using a couple of poaching pods.
Here's a link to the pods I have.  https://www.lakeland.co.uk/12116/Poachpod-Silicone-Egg-Poaching-Pods---Pack-of-2

SW:  half a healthy extra B for one slice of toast

L:  tomato and red pepper soup, cheese on toast; fruit
The soup is the last of the batch from the freezer.
SW:  one healthy extra A for the cheese and half a B for the toast

D:  hunter's chicken, veg; yogurt
I have some little pots of hm bbq sauce in the freezer so I can use one of those with a chicken sizzler and some onion, pepper and mushroom.  I'll probably soften the onion, brown the chicken sizzler (all in spray oil), then lay the chicken in an ovenproof dish with the veg under and over, top with the sauce and bake.  After around twenty minutes, I will sprinkle over some grated cheese and let that melt.  It should be nice - tasty and colourful.
SW:  the sauce is free, one healthy extra for the cheese, half a syn for the yogurt

E:  Kettle exercises, maybe a walk in the park.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

half a syn

From the freezer:

bread for toast

soup

chicken

bbq sauce

Into the freezer:

two portions of chicken and veg risotto