Thursday, 31-03-22

Good morning!

Yesterday's meals:

Well, Tracy's chocolate and blueberry muffins were absolutely gorgeous.  The closest thing to proper cake I have made and certainly not bread-puddingy.  Not that bread pudding is bad, it isn't, but this was cakey.

The mixture made four (my silicon moulds are more cupcake size than muffin) so I had two for breakfast and had the other two for a snack after personal training.   The fruit was a perfect accompaniment too.

Not particularly bright and colourful but you can't go wrong with risotto leftovers, can you.  It was so flavoursome.

Afters was an apple.

I really wasn't sure about this, especially the sticky-pop onions.  It was just red onions, sliced, add same Dr Pepper zero and boil it all up until the onions are soft and the liquid has boiled away.
On their own, hmmmm, but on top of the burger in a bun with some mustard and leaves and wow!  The flavours just went together so well.
It was supposed to have a slice of pastrami but when I looked at the pack, it was salt beef which is not the same at all..  Doh!  So I just did without and it was scrummy anyway.

I also had a yogurt and finished off with an orange.

Challenge:

no alcohol

three syns

seventeen (yes, that's right) speeds

All going well.

Today's plans:

B:  a cooked breakfast of bacon, sausage, tomatoes and mushrooms
SW:  one syn for two chicken Italia chipolatas and half a syn if I have some bbq sauce

L:  crustless quiche, salad and coleslaw; fruit

I'll try using my new Ninja toy - I gather it works really well.

SW:  one healthy extra A for some cheese and one syn for mayo in the coleslaw

D:  braised beef, roasted veg, gravy
The beef is what I did in the slow cooker on Tuesday.

SW:  half a syn for the yogurt.  The rest is speed/free/protein

Exercise:  a swim

Summary:

one healthy extra A

no healthy extra B

three syns

I think it's an SP day today.

From the freezer:

bacon

sausages

beef and gravy

butternut squash

Wednesday, 30-03-22

Good morning!

I did a big shop yesterday but was very pushed for time so I didn't take photos or do a haul post, sorry.
After my lovely meal the other day, I looked for more Ox cheeks but they were nowhere to be seen - obviously I should have got more when I could.  However, I did see some lovely, lean, slow cook steaks which I thought would be a good sub.
I'm also proper stocked up with loads of veg and fruit.

In the afternoon, when everything had calmed down, I put the steaks in my little slow cooker using the same method as the ox cheeks (see Sunday's post) and gave them six hours on auto by which time they were melt in the mouth.  I took out the meat and blended the cooking liquid and the vegetables and, yes, another delicious gravy.  It's actually very similar to the M&S tinned chunky steak gravy but at about a quarter of the price, seeing as those cans cost £3.50.
They're now in the freezer with an extra portion of gravy.

I do rather feel I have got a bit of motivation back at the moment which is nice.  Hope it stays around!

Yesterday's meals:

I didn't take a photo of breakfast as I had it round at Beth's; it was an apple, two easy peelers and a Mullerlight

The other half of the Singapore noodles was just as delicious as the day before - more, perhaps, as the flavours had mellowed.  I will do this again.
I had a banana and some berries for afters.

In the afternoon a new 'toy' arrived (a Ninja - I am such a sucker for gadgets) so I had to make a few chips to test it.  SW free and I only used a very small potato so it wasn't too naughty!

Were they nice?  Is the Pope a Catholic? (as the saying goes)

The turkey and mushroom risotto was also absolutely gorgeous.  Because I added extra veg, there's enough left over to give me a lunch with salad so I guess that's what I will have,

Dessert was a kvarg.

This week's challenges:

no alcohol
thirteen different speed foods

two syns

All good!

Today's plans:

B:  Tracy Mouse's chocolate and blueberry muffins with extra fruit

Here's the link to Tracy's recipe.

I've just made them (to have later on) and they smell gorgeous.

SW:  one healthy extra B (for the hi fibre bran) and one syn (for one tsp cocoa powder).  I never syns a little bit of cooked fruit so I'm not starting now.

L:  turkey and mushroom risotto, salad, coleslaw; fruit
Leftovers from yesterday.

SW:  half a syn and half a healthy extra A for the risotto and one syn for the coleslaw

D:  pastrami burger with sticky pop onions, chips, salad; yogurt

Another from the new SW magazine, p. 52
The sticky onions look - er - intriguing.  Fingers crossed!

SW:  one healthy extra B and half a syn plus half a syn for dessert

Exercise:  personal training with Lindsey today

Summary:

half a healthy extra A

two healthy extra Bs (I'm swapping an A for a B today)

three and a half syns

From the freezer:

wholemeal roll

mince for the burger

Tuesday, 29-03-22

Good morning!

Well, yesterday's plans went topsy turvy.  Not bad, just really wonky.

I decided not to have the egg in the bacon roll because I was having eggs for lunch.  When I got back from circuits, there was a message from my daughter in her house of plague - could I get some medication-type stuff.  So I popped to Morrisons to get what she needed and a few cheer up treats and took it all round, by which time I didn't really have time to make the planned leek and mushroom frittata so I had a chicken salad instead.

Thankfully, dinner went according to plan.

Yesterday's meals:

With or without the egg, this breakfast is always tasty.

And this was OK - I finished off the last of my home made green tomato chutney (unless there's another jar hiding in the cupboard).  

I'm sure the frittata would have been really nice and I will make it later on in the week, I hope.

The Singapore noodle recipe from this month's SW magazine was delicious and easier than the list of ingredients would indicate.  I could have used some frozen stir fry vegetables instead which would save time and make it very quick and easy, and I could vary the meat - chicken would work as well as the pork or even a mixture.  

I made half quantities and this is half of that so that is tomorrow's lunch all sorted out.
 Dessert was a kvarg.

Challenges:  

no alcohol

thirteen speed veg/fruit (minimum of ten)

three and a half syns  ( seven or less)

(but no healthy extra A)

Today's plans:

B:  fruit and yogurt
I'm taking this with me to the spa.  It won't be too complicated to eat there.
SW:  half a syn for the yogurt

L:  Singapore noodles; fruit

It was going to be the other half of the frittata so it's just as well I made two portions of the above for dinner yesterday.  It just needs reheating in the microwave.

SW: syn free

D:  turkey and mushroom risotto, perhaps side veg; yogurt
I'll use a bit more of the Christmas turkey (and stock) from the freezer and the basic risotto recipe I used last week, in Thermione.  I'll add extra veg too.
SW:  one syn for a tbsp lighter crème fraiche and an A for some cheese.  Half a syn for dessert

Exercise:  I'm off to the spa today for a swim and exercise on the machines.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

no healthy extra B

two syns

From the freezer:

turkey in stock

peas

corn

perhaps mixed veg

Monday, 28-03-22 and Tracy Mouse's challenge

Good morning!

Well, yesterday really didn't work out as planned.  Beth contacted me to say she was feeling rough so I froze the meringue I had made (thank goodness they do freeze) and decided to have what I should have had Saturday evening, the prawn and smoked salmon pasta, for lunch instead.

Doers anyone watch Tracy Mouse.  She has a YouTube channel and is a SW target member.  She's lovely - very practical and down to earth, loves cooking and 'Mr Mouse' is a character too!
Anyway, she's been struggling to keep motivation high and has just started five weeks of challenges to focus her food plans and keep her interested.  It's things like reducing syns or upping speed.
As SW rather tweely says:
The more speed you use
The more weight you lose.

Anyway, she was sharing the 'paperwork' Mr Mouse has created for this and the new file she's bought for it, etc.  All stuff right up my street so I thought I'd join in and do similar and see how it goes.
So this week's challenges for me are
1.  no alcohol (every week up to my birthday - alcohol and SW friendly do not walk hand in hand!)
2.  minimum ten speed foods, a good mix of fruit and veg, each day (not the same as a 'portion')
3,  under seven syns each day

I'm still continuing with the Intermittent Fasting, whenever possible.  Sometimes it just won't work with Real Life but mostly it does.

Fingers crossed!

Yesterday's meals:

A very simple breakfast - the orange segments were lovely dipped in the yogurt!

The delayed prawn and smoked salmon pasta was - OK.  I didn't have fromage frais so I used quark and some lighter crème fraiche but some soft cheese would have been very much tastier.  I'll remember that for the future . . .

I added extra veg - some baby corn, some mushroom and salad leaves as I didn't have spinach.

Dinner was the braised ox cheek - it doesn't look anything special but oh, my goodness, it was so, so delicious and just melted in the mouth.  I had gravy too and the remains of that will go in the freezer for another time when it will be nice to have a proper gravy rather than bisto.
Definitely doing this again!

Then I blended a cookie dough mullerlight with some frozen cherries to make a sort of semi-frozen mush - nicer than it sounds!

By the way, the mash was delicious.  I cook the potato (chopped small so it doesn't take too long), mash it in my ricer which does an amazing job at giving me such smooth mash and then add an egg yolk (I have loads of egg yolks after making that meringue), a tbsp creme fraiche (lighter - one syn) and a bit of salt/pepper.  beat it all together and yum.

Total speed foods:  14

Total syns: 2

Today's plans:

B: bacon and egg roll with tomatoes and mushrooms on the side

SW:  one healthy extra B for the wholemeal roll and half a syn for a tbsp bbq sauce

L:  leek and mushroom frittata, salad; fruit

This is on p 21 of the new mag, the Sunday lunch idea and I have some very dismal leeks that really need chopping up, buts discarded and the rest used fairly quickly.  It doesn't use any cheese but I think I will add some.  It will make enough for two portions so that's tomorrow's lunch sorted out

SW:  one healthy extra A and one syn for some mayo with the salad

D:  Singapore noodles; yogurt

This is an all in one recipe, found on p 59 of the magazine.  I don't have vermicelli noodles but I do have other noodles so will have to use them instead.  It's going to be easiest to halve the recipe and I will have a portion left for another day.
Fingers crossed it works OK.

SW:  half a syn for the yogurt

Exercise:  It is circuit training today and I have to go into town first thing so that will be a nice walk around.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

two syns

From the freezer:

bread roll

pork steak

sliced peppers

prawns

Finally, here's the link to Tracy's vlog post where she talks about her challenge.

Sunday, 27-03-22 and cooking an ox cheek

Good morning!

I had a go at cooking the ox cheek in my little slow cooker.  All the recipes indicate using red wine but that meant opening a bottle which is a bit of a no-no at the moment (guess where the rest would end up - yup, yummy yummy yummy, wine in my tummy) so I googled and ended up using a red wine stock pot, half a beef stock cube and some strong tea.
I picked up the tea hint from Jack Monroe, ages ago, and, weirdly, it works, trust me.

This is what I did.
I patted the ox cheek dry, seasoned it with salt and pepper and set it aside.
I chopped half a small onion and a small carrot and fried them in spray oil to soften them a bit,.  At the end, I added some garlic granules.  That all went in the slow cooker.
Then I sprayed both sides of the ox cheek and seared it in the same pan until all sides were crusty and caramelised.  Then it went on the veg in the slow cooker.
Into the same pan I put some strong tea, a red wine stockpot and half a beef stock cube with a bit of extra water.  I heated it to simmering and scraped all the crusty bits off the pan (deglazed is the term, isn't it?) before tipping all that into the slow cooker.  I popped in some fresh thyme and a couple of little bay leaves from the garden and set it to auto cook for ages and ages, turning the ox cheek over once or twice.

This morning, I removed the ox cheek and used my stick blender in the cooking liquid and veg to make a gravy.  It needs no thickening at all.
I have to say, it did smell lovely while it was cooking and it looks very 'meaty'.

I have some cubed beef in the freezer that really needs using and I think I will do the same thing with it.

Yesterday's meals:

A very patriotic breakfast, don't you think.  A base of Greek yogurt mixed with a splash of caramel skinny syrup with raspberries and blueberries plus a crushed weetabix in the middle.

The baked halloumi worked really well and I will do it again, maybe cutting the cheese into sort of nuggets instead.

Sadly, the planned dinner never saw the light of day - it morphed into a cheese sandwich instead.  Oh, well . . .

Today's plans:

B:   fruit and yogurt

SW:  half a syn for the yogurt

L:  chicken wrapped in bacon, veg; pavlova

I'm eating round at Beth's.  The pavlova is the Mothering Sunday thing and I'm certainly not ignoring it.
SW:  unknown but, hopefully, not too fat outside syns

D:  slow cooked ox cheek (I will remove any fatty bits), gravy, creamy mash and green veg; yogurt
The meat is already cooked so just needs warming up.  

SW:  one syn for one tbsp crème fraiche, half a syn for the dessert and I think the rest is free.  Thank you to Eileen for confirming the ox cheek is counted as a free/protein food on SW - precious little fat has come out of it, if any, so that's all good.

Exercise:  some of the exercise clips on the SW site

Summary:

unknown today - I might count calories instead.

From the freezer:

nothing - ooops

Saturday, 26-03-22

Good morning!

Ooops and ouch - that's all I can say about yesterday's weigh in which was shocking.  Nobody's fault but my own!

Anyway - I'm back on it as from today.  I have one meal out planned for this coming week and that is tomorrow at Beth's.  She's doing chicken wrapped in bacon which is fine but there will also be a pavlova.  I think that, if I am careful and sensible, I can accommodate it.

I have the new SW magazine beside me as well as the previous one and it looks really good for recipes so I think they will feature heavily during the week.

Does anyone know whether ox cheek is a free protein food?  I picked one up in Morrisons yesterday as it looked so lovely and lean and is supposed to be delicious; I will be cooking it in the slow cooker to perhaps have either tomorrow evening or Monday.  It doesn't seem to be on the web site but I found a recipe that seemed to indicate that it doesn't carry any syns.

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast was a bit of leftover risotto and mixed veg - an off breakfast but it was there, it needed using up so . . .
I didn't take a photo.

This was lunch.  I had planned tuna mayo but I found a random tin of salmon.  I'm not terribly keen on tinned salmon but I had it so I used it.
I cooked 50g pasta.  I picked all the skin and bones from the tinned salmon as much as I could) and mixed in a sort of seafood sauce made with two tbsp superlight mayo(one syn), one tbsp tomato puree, one tbsp lighter crème fraiche (one syn) and some Henderson's relish (veggy Lea and Perrins) before adding it to the pasta.  It was OK, quite nice really and it made quite a lot.  I might do it again but with tuna or with fresh salmon.  As you can see, I had it with salad veg for plenty of crunch.  Nice.

In the evening, Beth and I went to Prezzo and, while I didn't go bonkers, it was hardly SW friendly.  Oh, well . . .

Today's plans:

B:  weetabix with fruit and yogurt

This might sound a bit weird but I have a lot of weetabix crumbs so I'm going to mix one biscuit's worth (I will have to check the pack for the weight) with some natural yogurt, flavoured with skinny syrup and top it with some blueberries and raspberries.
SW:  half a healthy extra B

L:  halloumi in breadcrumbs, salad, coleslaw; fruit
I have some lighter halloumi which is 45g for a healthy extra A and I will use, probably, half a B on some wholemeal breadcrumbs.  I plan to egg and breadcrumb halloumi sticks and fry or bake (probably bake) in some spray oil, serving it with salad and some caramelised red onion chutney.

SW:  65g halloumi for one and a half As, half a B for breadcrumbs, one and a half syns for a tbsp salad cream (coleslaw) and one and a half syns for a tbsp chutney

D:  prawn and hot smoked salmon pasta; yogurt

From the new magazine, p 24

I have some smoked salmon fillets but raw so I will bake that at the same time as I cook the lunchtime halloumi.

I don't have farfalle pasta so I will use some of my fancy heart shaped pasta that I won in the raffle at group just before Valentine's Day.
I'm not sure if the fromage frais in the fridge is still good - if not, I will sub some of the lighter crème fraiche and some quark, mixed together.

It all looks very straightforward so I will give it a go and let you know.
SW:  one syn for the crème fraiche and half for the yogurt

Exercise:  Not sure - probably something light and inside.  I'm still feeling very post-virally weary.

Summary:

one and a half healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

four and a half syns planned but I might have more chutney at lunch time - I have the syns so it will be fine.

From the freezer:

breadcrumbs

prawns

Friday, 25-03-22

Good morning!

Weigh in today - the first for four weeks - and I am rather dreading it.  If I wasn't on the social team, this might be the point at which I would duck out of SW entirely and bitterly regret it in the longer term but I am, so I can't, and I do know what to do so . . . let's face the music and dance anyway!

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast was nice - the rest of the crustless quiche with my favourite tomatoes and mushrooms.

Lunch was at Cressing Temple Barns with my friend, Val, and I had a delicious brie and bacon toastie.

Dinner was a disaster.  I think it is partly because, post virus, I am dreadfully tired come each evening and the will power is low.  I think also I have a touch of the blues.  Getting weighed today and then restarting should help with that, I hope.

Anyway, it is what it is and I can't undo it now so on we go!

Today's plans:

B:  I have finished off the risotto and mixed veg that I has planned for last night.  It had to be eaten or thrown.

SW:  half a healthy extra A for the cheese and half a syn for the crème fraiche - roughly.

L:  tuna mayo salad, fruit

Something light and easy
SW:  up to two syns for some super light mayo

D:  Out to Prezzo with Beth and absolutely no idea.  I will look at the online menu but I can't promise to make sensible choices.
Not a great start back but it's been planned for weeks and if SW can't cope with occasions like this, it's not worth the paper it is written on, is it?

Exercise:  a rest day today

Summary:

Eeeek!

From the freezer:

Nothing today

Thursday, 24-03-22

Good morning!

This week is not the best for getting back on track.
Tuesday was the day at the spa with a three course lunch thrown in
Wednesday was OK

Today I'm out for lunch with a friend

Friday I'm going to Prezzo with Beth

Sunday I'm round to Beth's for lunch.
Ooops!

Yesterday's meals:

Warm enough to sit in the garden for breakfast - the first time this year and never did tomatoes on toast taste better.  :-)

Lunch was also taken into the garden.  Half a crustless quiche with salad and I had an easy peeler afterwards.

The roasted butternut squash risotto was absolutely delicious.
I spray roasted some butternut squash and, when it was done, mashed half of it.

I did the risotto the usual way using some onion, the rice, a splash of white wine vinegar and some good chicken stock with a bit of seasoning.  When the rice was cooked, I added some grated hard Italian cheese and one tbsp lighter crème fraiche for one syn (no butter in the end) and cooked that in before finally mixing in the mashed squash and topping the rice with the rest of the squash.

So delicious and, in Thermione, really easy too.   Far more SW friendly than it sounds as I used spray oil, the stock was home made the cheese was one and a half As (so one for what I had), butternut squash is a speed veg and I think the lighter crème fraiche worked out better than some butter would.

Today's plans:

B:  crustless quiche, tomatoes and mushrooms
I have half the quiche left over from yesterday so that will be perfect for breakfast with the usual tomatoes and mushrooms
SW:  one healthy extra A

L:  Going to Cressing Temple with a friend and we are having lunch there.  They do nice soups . . . 

SW:  no idea

D:  chicken or salmon, leftovers of butternut squash risotto, mixed veg; yogurt
I'm not sure how I will cook the protein, whether it be chicken or salmon but it won't be complicated.
SW:  half a healthy extra A for the risotto, there's no point counting the crème fraiche as it is well under half a syn and half a syn for some yogurt

Exercise:  lots of walking around Cressing Temple with a friend

Summary:

one and a half healthy extra As

half a syn

Incomplete because of lunch

From the freezer:

chicken/salmon

mixed vegetables

Wednesday, 23-03-22

Good morning!
The spa day yesterday was fantastic.  No, it wasn't in the least bit SW friendly but it was a one off, a treat, and I don't feel the least bit guilty!  So there.   :-)

Yesterday's meals:

I won't mention the spa meal in here (pop over to my other blog if you're interested) but on the way home I could have murdered a chippie.  However, knowing I had stuff prepared, I held out and made chips when I got in to go with my hunters chicken.

I had a nice surprise - some chocolate in the post, just a little bit, to go with some beads Annabeth sent me.  That was a treat and a half, thank you so very much.  xx

Today's plans:

B:  tomatoes on toast

. . . because I ought to have my healthy extra B.

SW:  one healthy extra B for the bread.

L:  crustless quiche, salad; fruit

In the interests of using up all those eggs, I'm going very SW-y with a crustless quiche.  I'm not sure what will go in it right now but I think I have one little slice of ham left in the freezer and if not, I will probably get out some bacon medallions.  I have peppers and mushrooms to add as well, so that should be tasty.
SW:  one healthy extra A for cheese

D:  roasted butternut squash risotto, mixed veg; yogurt

Yesterday, for lunch, Beth had a roasted butternut squash risotto that was so delicious I thought I'd look for a recipe.
I found this:

https://www.keeperofthekitchen.com/2014/10/12/thermomix-roasted-butternut-squash-risotto-recipe/

which looks OK, not specifically SW but not too evil either  and with the added bonus of being a Thermione recipe so not much stirring - and I have squash in the freezer!  
I don't have to keep it vegetarian so I will use some of my nice, home made chicken stock.
It won't be exactly the same as the restaurant one but it should be really nice.
SW:  one healthy extra A for cheese (I know the recipe doesn't require that much but I like my cheese), one syn for a tbsp crème fraiche (not in the recipe but hey!) and two syns for five grams of butter (more than it says but - flavour!) plus half a syn for dessert.  I will use spray oil.

Exercise:

It's back to proper personal training today and I'm looking forward to it very much.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

three and a half syns (at the moment - I might use more syns)

From the freezer:

bread

bacon or ham

butternut squash

mixed veg

Tuesday, 22-03-22

Good morning!
Today is the long awaited spa day that Beth and I are going to enjoy together.  It's an all day thing with lunch included and, while we haven't planned any 'treatments', we are looking forward to good old chats together, sauna, steam room, bubble pool, maybe time in the gym, and so on.  A perfect opportunity to rest and relax.

Sooze and Julia, thank you for your wise and helpful advice.  I'm pondering.

Yesterday's meals:

Instead of doing the planned eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes in a pan, I decided to make something shakshuka-ish.  I added some salt, pepper, some onion granules and some garlic granules and it was utterly delicious.

I confess that about an hour before I had an orange!  :-)

The hunter's chicken was delicious and I'm glad I have the other half for this evening.

I totally forgot to take a photo of dinner - I am so out of practise!!

Today's plans:

B:  Not sure.  I do rather fancy starting the day with coffee in the lounge at the spa and that might include something edible too - we will see.

L:  Lunch at the spa.
It will probably be reasonably healthy and tasty (it should, considering the all in price) and I'm going to enjoy it.

SW:  unknown at present

D:  the last of the hunter's chicken, vegetables; yogurt
SW:  one healthy extra A and half a syn.

Exercise:  A good old swim, maybe time in the gym - I don't know.

Summary:

Unknown

From the freezer:

NA

Monday, 21-03-22

Good morning!  The good news is that today is freedom day.  Yesterday's LFT was negative and so is today's.  That's great!!

However, I'm finding it extremely hard to pick up the pieces and get back on track again.  Yesterday went well during the day but the evening, always my week point, was an utter disaster - again.  To be honest, and I know I'm whinging, I'm feeling really low about it.  It's not that I'm hungry, it's just lack of motivation, greed and, maybe, a bit of the post viral blues;  I'm thoroughly ashamed of it too, thinking about how awful people are finding life in other parts of our world.  

I don't know what to do except to take each day as it comes and try to find some motivation again.  
Any ideas?  I'd really appreciate them.  Also vibes . . .  I'm ready to catch them!   :-)

Yesterday's meals:

Lovely beans on toast for breakfast which went down a real treat.  

And a very nice, fairly basic, roast chicken dinner.

As for the evening - oh, dear.  That's all I'm saying!

Today's plans:

B:  egg, mushrooms and tomatoes
I have no idea how I managed to order two boxes of a dozen medium eggs but somehow I did, so eggs are going to feature fairly strongly in this week's food plans, I guess, especially breakfasts.

SW:  speed and free, no syns

L:   hunter's chicken with salad and coleslaw; fruit
Poor hunter's chicken - twice planned and twice spurned.  It's in the oven now though so it will be all ready for me to warm up for lunch.
SW:  one healthy extra A for cheese and one syn for some mayo in the coleslaw.

D:  salmon, pommes parmentier and either salad or veg; yogurt
I think I will cook two salmon pieces so I have one ready for tomorrow evening.
Pommes parmentier is just a posh way of saying mini roasties really.

SW:  I should have coleslaw left so if I choose salad, it will be another half syn (the whole lot was one and a half syns of mayo).  If I have some seafood sauce, it will be two and a half suns for one tbsp. The yogurt is half a syn

Exercise:  I'm back to circuits today.  I doubt I will be able to put in as much energy as before for a few weeks but I'll give it a jolly good go!

Summary:

one healthy extra A

four and a half syns

From the freezer:

chicken

salmon

Sunday, 20-03-22

Good morning!

Unfortunately, yesterday didn't go quite according to plan.  OK, to be fair, it was just the evening but I'm hoping today is 'better'.

Yesterday's meals:

I was sure I had taken the breakfast photo but it was not on the camera so obviously not.  Drat.  Anyway, the bean filled omelette wrap thingy was really nice.

Lunch looks terribly messy, doesn't it.  It's just the leftovers of the mac and cheese warmed up in the microwave.

By dinner time, I was feeling very weary and, also, not that hungry (which is odd because I had a bit of dry white in the afternoon and that usually makes me want to eat) so I didn't have the planned hunter's chicken, I waited and had a cheese sandwich a but later on.  I don't think I went out of syns and the bread was my B choice so I suppose it was probably more or less OK, just very random and haphazard.

Today's plans:

B:  beans on toast
I have half a can of baked beans left over from yesterday so that will work well.
SW:  Half a healthy extra A for 15g grated cheddar on the beans and half a healthy extra B for one slice wholemeal

L:  roast chicken dinner - chicken, roasties, assorted veg; fruit salad and yogurt
I will wrap the chicken breast in bacon medallions and roast, perhaps in the actifry as I roast some potatoes at the same time and steam the veg on the hob.
SW:  I won't bother with any extras so this should be all free/speed

D:  hunter's chicken, salad, coleslaw; yogurt

I know it's another 'big meal' but I thawed out the chicken so it needs to be used.  I expect half of it will be fine and I can have the other half for lunch tomorrow, so no problems really.
SW:  one healthy extra A (I will use two As-worth but half is for tomorrow) and up to two syns for mayo plus half for dessert.

Exercise:

Bits and bobs as I still feel very weary

Summary:

one and a half healthy extra As

half a healthy extra B

two and a half syns

From the freezer:

bread

chicken

possibly some veg

bbq sauce

Saturday, 19-03-21

Good morning!  Apart from the numerous boiled sweets, taken to help the cough and throat (both getting better by the day), yesterday was completely on plan which is great.  That's two days on the run (literally, at times, due to the 'sugar free' nature of the boiled sweets).

I'm thankful.

Yesterday's meals:

The cooked breakfast.  I know it looks loads but it was mostly tomatoes - a number of them were in need of - er - pruning, shall we say, so I decided to use all the good bits rather than put some back into the fridge.  Tomatoes are very good for you and low in calories so it didn't bother me.

I bought the cooked chicken slices for convenience over the past week, never used them and  didn't really like them in the pitta yesterday.  I rarely buy pre-cooked chicken anyway and probably won't again for a while.

The celery wasn't very nice either - it's quite an old stalk, I certainly didn't buy it last weekend, maybe not the weekend before.  I think it is a chop and in the freezer for casseroles job, once the outside ribs have been discarded.  

This was filling so I saved the planned fruit for later on.

Dinner worked really well.  I did the mac cheese bit as planned, using the newly cooked and still hot macaroni, a bit of the cooking water, two tbsp crème fraiche, two triangles of laughing cow light and about 15g of my 40g of cheddar, all stirred together over a low heat until the cheese had melted into a sauce.  It just needed some pepper although next time I will try adding some mustard and/or some garlic granules as well.

Piled over a portion of campfire stew, the rest of the cheese sprinkled over the top and in the oven for about twenty mins, it was very tasty and made enough for two portions - so that's my lunch today sorted out - and it halves the syns/healthy extra As

I finished off with a kvarg.

Today's plans:

B:  baked bean omelette wrap, tomatoes and  mushrooms

Some may (will!) shudder, but I really fancied this for breakfast. Two eggs to make a thin omelette/wrap sort of thingy and when that's cooked, pop on some hot baked beans and roll it up.  There's a couple more tomatoes that hadn't actually gone over enough to need cutting up so I'll use them up. 

(I'll finish off the baked beans tomorrow)

SW:  it should all be speed/free unless I add half a syns-worth of sauce to the beans

L:  leftovers of campfire mac and cheese, salad; fruit

As described above and I'm looking forward to it very much.

SW:  one healthy extra A for cheese and one syn for crème fraiche (both for the sauce) plus one syn if I have mayo or dressing

D:  hunter's chicken, maybe some chips, salad and coleslaw or veg; yogurt
Stupidly, while I was poorly, I had some chicken breasts in pack of two that I was going to use in a meal with Dave and Anna but, obviously, couldn't, so I just checked them into the freezer instead of separating and wrapping them.
So I will thaw two out today, have hunter's chicken with on (I have bbq sauces in the freezer) and roast the other one for a Sunday roast dinner.

SW:  one healthy extra A for cheese but the sauces in the freezer are free, I think.  The coleslaw mayo will be one syn and dessert, half a syn

Exercise:

As before, some of the stuff Lindsey gave me.  Covid has left me a bit wobbly so doing a bit each hour is good.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

no healthy extra Bs

four syns

From the freezer:

the campfire stew

chicken

bbq sauce

Friday, 18-03-21

 Good morning.
Yesterday was get back onto it day and it went well.  It's such a relief to enjoy cooking again and to be having crunchy, tasty, fresh foods once more.  It's also nice to have the mental energy to start planning ahead a bit.

Phew!

No SW today, of course, so no weigh in but I'm not sure I want one to be honest.  Next week, after a week back on track, will be a much clearer and accurate picture of the damage done.

Yesterday's meals:

Not the most exciting breakfast, I know, and normally I wouldn't bother with a photo, but in the interests of getting properly back on track, here it is.
Simple, it might be, but it tasted wonderful.

I saved the apple for late afternoon.

Leftovers lunch.  A very odd mix of chicken and pork with different sauces but it worked fine and I was stuffed by the time it had all gone.

I couldn't find any salmon in the freezer (I've ordered some now - can't be without salmon) but I did find a couple of sea bass fillets so I grabbed one of them, spend a few more syns on a mixture of honey, lemon and mustard, wrapped it all in foil and cooked it in the top pier of the steamer in which I cooked the broccoli and sprouts.  It was very nice indeed, even though it looks beige.
And what is it with potato and cheese? - a flavour combi made in heaven!  Cheesy chips are so good!

A yogurt for afters and then an orange finished off my first day back on the SW plan.  Yes, three oranges yesterday - all that lovely vitamin C!

Today's plans:

B:  cooked breakfast
My four chosen items today are bacon, egg, tomatoes and mushrooms.  Delicious!
SW:  all free/speed, no syns

L:  chicken salad pitta with a finger salad on the side; fruit
I have some cooked chicken that I ordered for my last delivers so that really needs using up.  The salad will be things like carrot and celery sticks, red pepper, tomatoes - anything that can be eaten with the fingers really.
SW:  one healthy extra B for the pitta and a couple of syns for some super light mayo

D:  campfire mac and cheese, speed veg; yogurt
I still have a lot of campfire stew so this is what I plan.
I'll just reheat the stew.  I will cook 40g macaroni for around 140 calories (I've just checked) and to it add some cheese triangles and some lighter crème fraiche to make a sauce.  I'll put the stew in an ovenproof dish, spoon the macaroni and cheese sauce over, sprinkle over some cheddar and bake or grill to melt the cheese.
It should work well.
SW:  the yogurt is half a syn, the cheese will be around one and a half As, the crème fraiche will be three syns (for three tbsp which will be plenty) and the rest should be speed or free

Exercise:  as I'm still quite chesty and full of coughs, I will do some strength and stretch rather than anything the least bit energetic.

Summary:
up to two healthy extra As
one healthy extra B
five and a half syns

From the freezer:
bacon
pitta
campfire stew
maybe some veg