Tuesday, 19-07-22

Good morning, everyone.

Yesterday's meals:

A nice, cool breakfast of berries - strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries - with yogurt and a shake of Sugarly.  Very refreshing indeed.

I've never really gone for blackberries before but those big ones in the shops are rather lovely.

A little later I had a Morrisons 'space rocket' ice lolly for two and a half syns.

The couscous thing worked really well.  It had couscous (obviously), chicken stock powder, red onion, pepper, cucumber, tomato, chickpeas, apricots (fresh, not dried), walnut pieces, mixed seeds, olives, orange and lemon zest and my dressing.  Plus the outside bits.
SW values were half a healthy B and two and a half syns.

Afters was some frozen fresh fruit salad, eaten when it was still a bit frozen.  Lovely. 

Another ice lolly might have made its way into my tum.  Just sayin'.

Dinner was the first of the Simply Cook meals, nasi goreng.
Basically, it is just a savoury rice but using nasi goreng paste which is a mix of spices, etc.  You can get it in places like Tesco and I am going to because it was delicious.  The sauce was ketjap manis, which I already have; it's a sort of intense soy type sauce.  The pickling powder for the salad was hot but not too hot.

As I rather expected when I read amounts, this made three of my portions, especially as I added some prawns as suggested as an optional extra.  The other two portions are not in the freezer - I know you have to be careful with rice but I have always frozen it and never had any issues whatsoever.

Apologies that the presentation is rather sloppy.  It was too hot and the flies were a bit of a nuisance so I just did it as fast as I could, making sure everything remained covered.

When I make it again, I will use less rice and many more vegetables.

It sounds like I'm having a couple of good days but, in fact, as well as what you're seeing, I'm picking and nibbling quite a lot - not good and it needs to stop.  Really, it's not been a good week so far.

Steps:  just over 8,000 which is good for a hot day when I was trying to take it easy.  All that walking into the kitchen for nibbles, I suspect!

Today's plans:

B:  fruit and yogurt

It's easy and very cooling - perfect for this weather.

SW:  one and a half syns

L:  Buddha bowl; fruit
You see 'Buddha bowl' recipes in all the food mags at the moment so I looked it up.  It said . . .
Buddha bowls are one of the year's most popular meals-and for good reason! They're healthy, affordable and easy to make. But what exactly is a Buddha bowl anyway? Each bowl is made up of 5 key components:

Whole grains
Veggies
Protein
Dressing
"Sprinkles," such as nuts, seeds, herbs or sprouts

https://www.eatingwell.com/article/290534/the-only-formula-you-need-to-make-mouthwatering-healthy-buddha-bowls/    

 So, basically, salad in a bowl!!!  I have some of the couscous left over from yesterday, to which I can add some leaves, etc, some of my dressing and I have some mixed seeds to add.  Ideally, it is vegetarian but could have meat and, as I have some cooked chicken in the freezer, I could add some of that, or, even better, some feta (actually lower fat Greek cheese!) which I could crumble over.

SW:  the couscous, as it is, came to three syns and one healthy extra B.  I had half yesterday so each portion is half a B (for the walnut pieces) and one and a half syns (for olives).  The rest is all speed/free/protein.  The mixed seeds are one syn per level tsp but will count towards a healthy extra B which is what I will do today and the dressing is one and a half syns.  The Greek cheese is one healthy extra A.

D:  murgh kari, rice, tomato and cucumber salad; yogurt

The second Simply Cook meal, this is a curry, pure and simple.  It is tomato based and sounds very fragrant.  I will do less rice than recommended and add more veg to the salad which is just a simple salad, nothing fancy.  The reviews on the site are generally very positive although contradictory as regards heat - some say too hot and some say not hot enough so I suspect it will be just right for me.
It will be really easy to cook and I can do it in advance and reheat.  Will it make two or three portions -  it might do as I intend adding pepper and mushrooms to the mix.  We will see.
SW:  the SW site says four syns per portion and adding extra veg won't change that.  The Mullerlight is half a syn.

E:  I intend going to Groove as it is at 9:15 so the heat won't have built up too much.  Lindsey is modifying it again and has sent advice would regarding what to bring.  I'll give it a go.

Summary:

one healthy extra A (feta)

one healthy extra B (walnuts and seeds - just to be different once in a while)

seven and a half syns