Thursday, 29-09-22

 Hi, everyone.
This is just to say that this blog will be properly back on Saturday with plans and Sunday with photos and plans.  These last few days have certainly been 'delicious' but the rest of the title bears no resemblance to what I've been enjoying these last days of my holiday.

See you all soon.  xx

Tuesday, 27-09-22

 Where has the month gone???

Morning, everyone.  Still no photos - they're just not happening this week, sorry.

Yesterday started with scrambled eggs (delicious) on toast (wholemeal) and I had some smoked salmon pate (very more-ish) on the other slice of toast.

Lunch was at the cottage and was cheese, pate, olives, etc, on ryvita, with a simple side salad followed by fruit.

Dinner worked well.  We had leftovers of chicken tagine into which I had tipped the leftover couscous.  We had it on a jacket potato and I cooked some pak choy, something I have never knowingly had before and which Suzanne had brought with her.  It was far from SW friendly as I stir fried it in a little butter and added a dash of cream.  REALLY nice!!  I must explore more SW appropriate ways of cooking it.

Today's food:
B:  probably weetabix, yogurt and fruit
L:  we might be out but if not it will be the same as yesterday - ryvita with cheese, pate and salad
D:  I have a little Be Good To Yourself gammon to cook and we will have it with a tomatoey/veg sauce, sprouts and, possibly, a bit of broccoli and the other head of pak choy - it sounds off, I know, but it should work.
E:  lots of walking.

Monday, 26-09-22

 Good morning, everyone.

Confession time first - still no photos.  I just forget because I'm totally out of routine.  Sorry!
Suzanne isn't terribly excited about cooking, etc, so we are quite happy that she does the driving and I do the meals - something that suits us both perfectly!   

Yesterday's food:
Breakfast was weetabix, yogurt and milk and then an orange.  Nice and SW friendly!
Lunch was in a little café at the foot of Peveril Castle hill and it was a delicious brie and bacon baguette with a little side salad.  I couldn't finish either¬ but it was very good.
Then dinner was the Simply Cook chicken tagine and that, too, was really good.  It made loads so that's this evening sorted out.

Today's plans:
Very subject to change but that's OK.

B:  probably scrambled eggs on toast for me

L:  really not sure.  We might lunch out or we might come back to the cottage and have ryvita, cheese, salad, etc.

D:  jacket potato with the leftovers of the chicken tagine from yesterday plus a bit of salad.

E:  I had loads of exercise yesterday - first down into Peak Cavern and back up again and then up the hill to Peveril castle and back down again - and well over 12,000 steps.  Today might not be quite as energetic but it'll still be more than OK.

Sunday, 25-09-22

 Morning, everyone.

Really sorry, I didn't get any food photos taken - I'm in full holiday mode and focused on chatting to the friend I am holidaying with rather than taking food photos.

Breakfast was toast and jam and a yogurt.  

Lunch was bits and bobs we had brought with us - ryvita, a simple salad of lettuce, pepper and tomatoes, Bombay mix and fruit.

Dinner was the first of the Simply Cook kits I've brought here, pasta (really penne but I brought fusilli) alla rustica and it was absolutely delicious.  It was chorizo, tomatoes, single cream and pasta plus the spice pots but I added onion, pepper and mushroom and some spinach.  I'm definitely getting that again, it was amazing, and I'll try exchanging ingredients like chicken and bacon for chorizo and yogurt for the cream, not just for SW reasons but also because I think it would be good.
With it, we shared a bottle of ale we had bought at a food fair and it went perfectly.

Today's plans are a bit vague.

Breakfast will probably be weetabix or muesli with some fruit and some yogurt

Lunch will be out somewhere so no real idea.

Dinner is the other Simply Cook kit I have brought, chicken tagine.  I will again add some extra veg and this one looks much more SW friendly than the pasta yesterday.

Saturday, 24-09-22

 Good morning.

Yesterday's food was fine until the evening when we went to the Devonshire Arms and I had fish and chips (the most gorgeous batter!) and Bakewell tart with cherry sorbet, washed down with a large glass of vino and I don't regret one mouthful.  It was lovely!  No photos though - will try to do better.

Today's plans:

B:  I've had toast and home made plum jam (yummy) and a Millerlight.

L:  no idea - we're going shopping and will eat out.

D:  penne alla rustica (a Simply Cook meal); fruit and/or yogurt

E:  A nice up hill and down dale walk.

Friday, 23-09-22

 Morning, everyone.

And so the holiday starts.  Everything is ready apart from changing some sheets for my house sitter.  This time tomorrow, hopefully, I will be typing this on my laptop leaning on my knee in my bed, in a very comfortable holiday cottage!

Nice.

Today's plans:

B:  fruit and yogurt

L:  really don't know at the moment

D:  eating out at the Devonshire Arms - a lighter meal rather than one of the heavier offerings on the menu, simply because I couldn't plough through some of what's on the list!

Exercise:  Packing, unpacking, and, I hope, a nice walk in the evening.

Thursday, 22-09-22

 Morning, everyone.

It all gets a bit more tricky for a week now as a friend is coming over today and tomorrow we are off for a week in Derbyshire, in the Peak District.  Thank goodness, my friend is a healthy eater so I'll probably do better than I would if I went alone but this blog will look rather different and is more likely to consist of what I HAVE eaten rather than what I PLAN to eat.
And there might be a few days missing, I just don't know, but if I do disappear, that will be why.

I'll try to stick to general SW guidance but won't be analysing meals too carefully and we will probably eat out a few times too.

Yesterday's meal photos:

Breakfast.

A change of plan.  I realised I have bacon to use up so I did, in a roll with ketchup.  That mans a few more syns (see the bits of fat I didn't cut off) and a healthy extra B, all of which are absolutely fine.

Lunch

The leftovers of the macaroni pie thingy and just as nice as the day before.  I have stacks of tomatoes still so focused on them rather than knock up a salad.

I didn't photo dinner but it was nice - steak and chips.

Today's plans:

B:  probably fruit and yogurt

SW:  half a syn per yogurt

L:  I have bacon to finish off so probably a bacon roll or something similar.

SW:  a healthy extra B for the roll

D:  chicken and bits and bobs risotto.

I have to go through the fridge and, apart from the usual stuff, it will contain whatever I have left that needs using up.  My friend will be here by then and we'll probably have a few glasses of white as well

SW:  definitely a healthy extra A for cheese plus syns - I don't know how many yet.

Exercise:  It will be a very active day in the house

Summary:

two healthy extra As (the other isn't planned yet)

one healthy extra B

no idea really, it depends.

Wednesday, 21-09-22

 Morning, everyone.

Yesterday's meal photos:

Breakfast was just fruit and yogurt and I didn't bother to photo that - very ordinary.

Lunch was a very nice tuna jacket potato.  I nearly added some sweetcorn but decided I didn't want it enough to bother!!

Dessert was a pear.

Dinner

The macaroni cheese beef pie worked really well.  I added more cheese than I thought I would but then it made two portions so I have enough left for lunch today so that's good.

A yogurt finished the meal off.

Today's plans:

B:  sweet omelette with fruit and yogurt

SW:  half a syn for a Mullerlight

L:  macaroni pie with a salad; fruit

As already mentioned, leftovers from dinner and it should be fine heated in the microwave.

SW:  one healthy extra A for cheese and half a syn because I added some thickening granules.  Also one syn for 20g salad cream

D:  steak, chips, tomatoes and mushrooms; yogurt

I planned this for Monday and never had it.  One of my favourite dinners!

SW:  half a syn for yogurt

Exercise:  Personal training

Summary:

one healthy extra A

no healthy extra B

two and a half syns

Tuesday, 20-09-22

 Morning, everyone.
Yesterday was terribly muddled and topsy turvy, not good at all.  I ate at odd moments while watching events as they happened on TV and still have leftovers to finish off.
No photos, sorry.

Today's plans:

B:  fruit and yogurt

I have quite a lot of shortish date yogurt to finish off so it will feature strongly in the next few days.

SW:  one syn for yogurt

L:  tuna jacket potato, salad; yogurt

What it says really.  I love salad cream with potato (weird, maybe, but there you go) so will use that, not mayo.

SW:  a level tbsp of the salad cream I have is one syn and I'm not going to stint so counting three syns.  I can use any left over on my salad.  Half a syn for yogurt

D:  macaroni cheese pie, veg; yogurt and fruit

OK, this might be a bit weird but worth a go.
I still have a bit of beef left over (that joint was better value than I thought) so I am going to mince it and mix in the gravy and, maybe, a bit of brown sauce.
Then I will cook some macaroni, mix in some soft cheese (I have Primula lighter and I have Seriously lighter so will have to choose) so it melts, spread the pasta over the mince and bake it briefly in Ninja.  Fingers crossed!

SW:  one healthy extra A, half a syn.

Exercise:  well, it was going to be Groove but I fell asleep in my chair and missed that.  Ooops.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

no healthy extra B

five syns

Monday, 19-09-22

 Morning, everyone.

Yesterday's meal photos:

Breakfast

Easy peeler, apple (somewhat wizened but fine to eat still), blueberries and blackberries plus 2% yogurt.  Delicious!

Lunch

Oh, this was so good.

Usually I go for a slow roast but I thought I'd following the instructions on the pack today as I do like a slightly pink steak.
It was delicious.

The boulangere potatoes were scrummy and I'm going to make them more often.  An hour in the Ninja bit that would be more economical that the oven and maybe I could do most in the microwave and just crisp it all up in the Ninja - must give that a go.

I don't go much for gravy but - wow.  I had saved from gravy from the canned steak, popped it into the roasting dish to sort of deglaze it and then added the juices that came out of the beef while it was resting.  So good!

I saved the fruit salad until later.

Dinner

The beef rollups worked fine although I think chutney would have been better that horseradish and cheese spread.  I treated myself to a drizzle of salad cream (the 70% less fat kind - I didn't go entirely bonkers!)

I froze some bananas that were almost over and then blended the frozen chunks zizzed frozen banana worked a treat - definitely making that again.  Another fruit that would puree smoothly would be nice to add - perhaps mango.  Banana and mango - that sounds rather good, don't you think.  Or some toffee Mullerlight - mmmmmm.
 Or I could add chopped nuts or choc chips or . . . no, better not start thinking that way.  But it was delicious and quick and so, so simple - just as long as you remember to freeze your banana chunks beforehand.

Today's plans:

B:  bacon sandwich with tomatoes and mushrooms

I'm having tomatoes and mushrooms for dinner too - I have quite a lot to use up and anyway, I love them!

SW:  one healthy extra B for bread

L:  Sunday leftovers - beef, boulangere potatoes and veg; fruit

All speed and free unless I have some horseradish which I will count, in case.  Exactly the same as yesterday for which I am extremely grateful.  It was so, so delicious!

SW:  one syn for two tsps horseradish

D:  steak, chips, tomatoes and mushrooms; 

Rather a beefy day today, isn't it?  I might change the steak for chicken but the SW values will be the same.

The ice cream is just some very soft bananas that I peeled, broke into smeller bits and froze.  You just blend it until smooth and, I gather, it makes a very nice ice cream type thingy.  Have you done that?  Was it good?

SW:  speed and free and protein and I'm not synning banana just because it has been blended.

Exercise:  early morning circuits

Summary:

No planned healthy extra As (but I probably will have some at some point)

one healthy extra B

one syn

However, I also have a half bottle of prosecco which I will open to drink to the late Queen - obviously not to her health but in memory - and to our new King and Queen Consort.  Old fashioned, maybe, but it feels 'right'.

Sunday, 18-09-22

Morning, everyone.

Yesterday's meal photos:

Breakfast.

Not these actual fruit, just posed afterwards because I forgot to take my camera.  

An apple, a blood orange and an easy peeler

When I got home, I had a café au lait.

Lunch.

Oh, my goodness.  Just two onion and rosemary sausages, half a can of beans, a squidge of tomato puree, a slice (crust) of wholemeal and some grated cheese.  Oh, and a bit of spray oil to crisp up the bread.
It was so satisfying in a very simple way.

I'm going to call the bread a whole B because it was quite a thick crust and must have been equivalent to two ordinary slices.

I had the planned apple later on in the afternoon.

Dinner

This really worked quite nicely.  It made a whopping big helping or it would have been two pretty small portions - I went for the former so eight syns and it was lovely.  I haven't had any kind of pie for quite a while really.

Even though I was pretty full, I had dessert because I've been fancying this for days - a sliced banana with a banana and custard Mullerlight on top.  Very nice too.

Today's plans:

B:  fruit and yogurt

I'm not feeling particularly hungry and lunch will be a biggie so I thought I'd stay light with some fruit and some 2% Greek yogurt

SW:  the fruit is speed and free and the yogurt is half a syn

L:  roast beef, boulangere potatoes, carrots, broccoli, sprouts, gravy; fruit salad and yogurt

Beef is the roast choice this week and I thought I'd ring the changes with boulangere potatoes instead of roasties.

All you do is thinly slice potatoes, soften sliced onion and prepare some stock.  You layer the potatoes and onions, pour over stock and then bake - I will have the oven on for the beef but I want to see if it does well in the Ninja and can be reheated so I'll make it earlier.

For dessert, I and going to grab some odds and ends of fruit from the freezer and dollop on some 'custard yogurt' - 0% yogurt with sweetener and some vanilla which, to my mind, tastes quite like cold custard.

SW:  one syn for two tsps horseradish sauce.  The gravy is from the can of chunky steak I  used yesterday so is SW free.

D:  sliced beef rollups, salad; yogurt

As I will have leftovers, I though I would thinly spice some, spread some soft cheese (a healthy A kind) on a wrap, spread over the beef, some lettuce and some grated cheddar and roll it up, wrap it tightly in some cling film and just before eating, unwrap and cut into circles.  I might mix some horseradish with the cheese, or maybe some mustard as I had horseradish at lunchtime.

SW:  half an A for the Primula cheese and the other half for the grated cheese, one healthy extra B for the wrap and one syn for some mustard.  The yogurt is half a syn.

Exercise:  A Lindsey Youtube thingy

Summary:

one healthy extra A plus maybe another half for the treat coffees (café au lait)

one healthy extra B

three syns - I'm pleased with that for a nice sounding day's eating.

A week in meals . . .

 .. . starting Saturday 10th

(Just mains, no fruit or desserts)

Saturday

no photo of breakfast - just fruit

egg and bacon muffin

campfire stew with macaroni

Sunday
porridge, fruit and yogurt
ham and veg soup
gammon roast dinner

Monday
pancakes, fruit and yogurt
ham melt
meatballs and spaghetti






Tuesday
no photos - it all went rather ooopsy daisy!

Wednesday
potato and ham frittata part 1 with mushrooms and tomatoes
ditto frittata part two with salad
chicken and ham pasta bake

Thursday
hm waffles with fruit and yogurt
chicken and ham pasta bake (leftovers)
five spice chicken stir fry

Friday

cooked breakfast

toastie and salad

fish and chips

And that was my week!

Saturday, 17-09-22

Good morning

Maintained.  Yee-hah!!!  I'm good with that!

On one of the YouTube vlogs I regularly follow, A Bit of Kazza, the other day she had a go at making crisps (potato chips) in her Ninja and it seemed to be very successful.
I am sure SW would call it a 'tweak' and fair enough but, if I had some with a meal, as part of the meal, instead of any other carb, I am sure I could make the case for it being a free food - potatoes, spray oil, salt and pepper - that's all it took.  Oh, and fifteen minutes in Ninja.

I'm going to give it a go sometime anyway and I will let you know.

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast

I had planned to have egg but when it came to it I realised my gastronomic soul was crying out for baked beans so that's what I had.

And it was gorgeous!

Lunch

Apologies for the photo - the sun was very bright.
The toastie was delicious and the salad very simple - just tomatoes, lettuce and beetroot.

Later on, I had an orange and rather a lot of little tomatoes from the garden.

Dinner.

It doesn't look much but the cod was a nice chunk and filling.  I didn't fancy anything else with it and I'd attacked the tomatoes earlier so I wasn't short on speed!

The fish took 15g hm breadcrumbs so that was one and a half syns and the whole lot cooked in the Ninja, twenty minutes for the chips and ten for the cod, set to synch so they finished at the same time.  It was a doddle and much cheaper than having the oven on.

I'm rather loving my Ninja at the moment.

Today's meal plans:

B:  fruit

It's the Group's occasional parks walk this morning so I will take some fruit with me to have when we stop for coffee

SW:  speed and free

L:  beans on toast, maybe a couple of onion and rosemary sausages; fruit

I have half a can of baked beans left over from yesterday's breakfast to use up and I'll decide on the sausages when I get home from the walk.  They thaw pretty quickly.

SW:  half a healthy extra B for one slice of wholemeal and a healthy extra A if I grate some cheese over the beans.

D:  steak pie, assorted veg; yogurt

This feels a bit naughty but well within SW channels.

Earlier in the year, I made some not-sausage rolls with bought puff pastry and what was left I froze in small sheets, eight syns per sheet.  I'm going to use a can of the lovely M&S steak in gravy (and if I need more meat, I will use some cooked and frozen ox cheek that's in the freezer and needs using up), spoon the meat into an oven proof dish, lay one of the puff pastry sheets on to and it should (fingers crossed) make two portions, one for today and one for Monday, probably.  I think that will be four syns per portion although I must just check that the canned steak is still free.

I'm going to spoon off some of the gravy because I have a mini beef joint to roast for my Sunday dinner.

SW:  four syns for the pastry, or eight if I have the lot, yes, the steak in gravy is still a SW free food.  Half a syn for yogurt

E:  parks walk

Summary:

one healthy extra A

half a healthy extra B

a maximum of eight and a half syns

Friday, 16-09-22

Good morning

Weigh in - and I'm not fussed.

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast

Lovely home made waffles.  I grabbed some frozen plums and strawberries (both from Lathcoats) and then noticed that I have a few Autumn raspberries to pick so I added them and wow!  Delicious.

We're definitely entering waffle/pancake/porridge season now!  :-)

Lunch

I always love leftovers.  Not only are they no trouble at all, the flavours definitely improve overnight.
And see that lovely selection of tomatoes.  The garden plants are still producing at a reasonable rate.

Quite a bit later on, I had an orange.

Dinner.

The stir fry recipe was really nice and very easy to make too.  I just added some beansprouts as I had some in the freezer.

You could easily ring the changes by using different vegetables.

I was too full for any dessert

My step counter says 11,500 plus but that's not right - I suspect the arm movements involved in crocheting is triggering the counter and I have done a lot of crochet today.

Oh well!

Today's meal plans:

B:  bacon, egg, tomatoes and mushrooms
Hopefully, a nice, filling breakfast will ward off the Friday nibblies later on!

SW:  speed/free/protein

L:  cheese and ham toastie; salad
I do love a toastie!
SW:  one healthy extra A, one healthy extra B and one syn for 10mls chutney

D:  fish, chips and peas; yogurt

On Fridays, I do like to have something a bit 'fakeaway' in style so . . . fish and chips.

All home made though.  I will use some cod from the freezer and three syns-worth of wholemeal breadcrumbs plus a tiny bit of flour (I will call it a syn for safety's sake) and beaten egg and the chips will be made the usual way in the air fryer.
I will do it properly with some tartare sauce (assuming I have some), etc.

SW:  three syns for breadcrumbs (I will weigh them properly and it might be less), one syn for flour and half a syn for yogurt.

E:  Lindsey has given us some 'homework' so I'll do that.

Summary:

up to two healthy extra As (thinking café au laits here)

one healthy extra B

five and a half syns - that's not bad considering!

Thursday, 15-09-22

Good morning

Thankfully, yesterday went according to plan.

I was so determined to stick to it and to use up any food left that by about nine (a.m.) everything was ready for the whole day.  The chicken, semi-thawed, was in a pot with the ham and the tomato veg sauce, simmering away, both halves of the frittata were in foil awaiting a reheat, the breakfast veg was in the other half of the Ninja, the lunchtime salad was ready and ditto the evening veg.
It worked.  All good!

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast

frittata part one - with tomatoes and mushrooms.  Yummy and filling

Lunch

frittata part two - with salad and a dollop of salad cream for one and a half syns.

I stayed full all afternoon so no fruit needed.

Dinner

Lovely chicken and ham pasta bake and it made enough for two portions so that's three syns saved.

Again, too full for any dessert.

Today's meal plans:

B:  waffles, fruit and yogurt

I haven't made waffles for ages.

SW:  one healthy extra B and half a syn (probably) for the yogurt

L:  chicken and ham pasta bake, probably tomatoes and cucumber; fruit

It was lovely yesterday for dinner so I was so pleased there's some left for today as well

SW:  half a healthy extra A

D:  five spice chicken stir fry; yogurt

This is from an old magazine, sent to me by Jen, our group consultant, and really is is supposed to be turkey but I don't have turkey and I do have plenty of chicken so - swap.  It sounds nice so fingers crossed!  It uses noodles, turkey, red pepper, mange tout, broccoli and spring onions and the sauce is garlic, five spice, cornflour, soy sauce and chopped chilli.  With those ingredients, it really can't be nasty.

SW:  half a syn per serving, it says, plus half a syn for a Mullerlight

E:  A walk

Summary:

one healthy extra A (including a couple of treat café au laits)

one healthy extra B

one and a half syns (nice and low today)

Wednesday, 14-09-22

Good morning

Well, yesterday started off well and tumbled into a fair old disaster.  Emotional eating - not for sadness, quite the opposite, in fact, but the impact was the same, darn it.

HOWEVER, I was pondering this whole thing a bit earlier and . . .

I am an emotional eater - always have been, always will be.  I accept this basic fact and move on.  

I am fitter than I have been for a very long time and am keeping on with this

I am healthier than I have been most of my adult life, both physically and, I think, mentally too and am seeking out positivity and good things.

I am slimmer that I have been since having children apart from one short spell and am continuing to plan and eat a good, healthy diet with plenty of fruit, veg and variation, cooked from scratch 99% of the time.

I'm in a good place really.  The fact that it could be a bit 'better' is neither here nor there.  There's nothing wrong with where I am right now and, while the scales on Friday might not be nice to me, that really doesn't matter.  What's important is the ongoing journey, scenic routes and all.

Sermon over!

Yesterday's meals:

I only took one photo and it's so boring I'm not posting it - a bowl of porridge with jam and yogurt - and it was lovely!!

I made the lunch time frittata but never ate it so it's the basis of two of today's meals, warmed up.  Nice and easy!

Today's meal plans:

B:  half the frittata with tomatoes and mushrooms

SW:  one healthy extra A

L:  ham and potato frittata, part two, salad; fruit

It's very hard to make something like to make just one portion - well, I find it pretty impossible.  On the plus side it cooked rather nicely in the Ninja so that 's a saving on electricity!  It should warm up in there pretty well too, wrapped up in a bit of foil.

SW:  one healthy extra A

D:  chicken and ham pasta bake, added veg; yogurt 

I have leftover ham and leftover tomato and veg sauce so it's a no brainer really.  And I do love ham and chicken together.

SW: six syns for cheese (I've already used my healthy As) and half a syn for yogurt

E:  today it is personal training

Summary:

two healthy extra As

no healthy extra Bs

six and a half syns

Tuesday, 13-09-22

Good morning

I'm pleased with how things are going this week.  Thank goodness I really enjoy cooking!  :-)

I was right out of cheese yesterday, something I rarely allow to happen, so I did a quick shop and decided to branch out a bit.  Cheddar isn't a terribly good melting cheese so I thought if I get some Double Gloucester (which is better at melting) I could mix it with cheddar for better melt and better colour too.  So I then went and fell for trying some lower fat mature cheddar instead of my usual kind.  In the past I have found lower fat flavour not so 'cheesy' but it might have improved since the last time.
Anyway, mix and match is the name of the game!  Fingers crossed.

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast

Lovely pancakes.  I used 30g wholemeal flour so added one and a half syns.

(apologies for the darkness of the photo)

Lunch

This looked odd - I used some Emmental (spelling???) from the freezer and it didn't really melt.  Nice though, really tasty.

Dinner

The meatballs were very good and the veg was leftovers from Sunday.  There's loads of the sauce for today.  It was absolutely packed with speeds, this dinner - onion, baby corn, pepper, mushroom, chopped tomatoes . . . plus the carrots and broccoli.   I'm glad there is plenty left.

Later on, I had an apple.

Steps - nearly 9000.  Getting better!

Today's meal plans:

B:  porridge, jam and yogurt

40g oats, 120 mls milk, one tsp jam and 2% yogurt.  Yummy!

SW:  half a healthy extra A, one healthy extra B, two syns for jam and half a syn for yogurt

L:  ham and potato frittata, salad

I'll have to syn any extra milk today as I'm using the last 15g (ish) cheese in this.  It's just a single portion so that's OK.

SW:  half a healthy extra A but everything else is speed/free

D:  chicken and ham pasta bake, added veg; yogurt

I have leftover ham and leftover tomato and veg sauce so it's a no brainer really.  And I do love ham and chicken together.

SW:  one healthy extra A for grated cheese and half a syn for yogurt

E:  Groove aerobics this morning.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

six syns (including three for two cafe au laits - which I might not have)

Monday, 12-09-22

Good morning

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast

I made half a healthy Bs worth of porridge that also used a quarter of an As worth of milk (I made it up to a full A with some café au laits).
The fruit is the last of some frozen mixed fruit I scooped from Lathcoats (local farm shop) plus three lychees and I'm going to get some more of the frozen mixed fruit from them - it's lovely.  And then there's one Mullerlight.
It was a gorgeous breakfast and, as hoped, the porridge helped to keep me satisfied until lunch time.

Lunch

Yes, it looks rather dark and gloomy (that's the broccoli) but, with added ham and mixed beans, it was really delicious.

Then I had an apple and a pear.

Dinner.

This was lovely, really lovely.  It's nice to be having roast dinners again.

I've got some carrots and broccoli left over for tomorrow and also a nice wodge of gammon ham for lunches through the week.

I had no room left for any dessert.

Today's meal plans:

B:  oat pancakes, fruit and yogurt

I'll use just 20g of oats (or, perhaps, wholemeal flour which is a bit off the record, OK?) and pick the smallest egg I have.

SW:  half a healthy extra B for 20g oats and half a syn for the 2% Greek yogurt

L:  ham melt, side salad (maybe a finger salad); fruit

Like a tuna melt except that I will use some shredded ham instead, seeing as I have some to use.

SW:  one healthy extra A in cheese and half a B for one slice of bread plus one and a half syns for some chutney and half a syn for a bit of mustard in the cheesy ham mixture

D:  nearly vegetarian meatballs in tomato sauce, spaghetti, salad; yogurt

My idea is to use one onion and rosemary sausage plus mixed beans, as I did for the burger, but to it add some grated cooking chorizo for some ooomph.
The sauce will just be a mix of tomato, pepper, onion and mushroom, as usual and, as I don't think I have any more in the freezer, it will be fresh.

SW: the little bit of chorizo I will use is two syns (and worth every bit).  The rest should be free/speed.  Half a syn for a Mullerlight.

E:  circuits today

Summary:

one healthy extra A (maybe a bit more)

one healthy extra B

two and a half syns

Sunday, 11-09-22

Good morning, everyone!

Yesterday's meals

Breakfast was just fruit - no photo.

Lunch

The bacon and egg muffin was so delicious and also extremely filling.

Later on, I had a pear.

Dinner

Campfire stew with macaroni and I added a bit of yogurt and some Italian hard cheese.
It was jolly tasty, I have to say, even though it looks a right dog's dinner.

No room for dessert!

Steps were just over 4,000 - not great but I've been watching telly all day.

Today's plans

B:  porridge, fruit and yogurt

I'll make a small portion of porridge with 20g oats because I find that if I add anything like fruit, sometimes it is just too much, too filling.

SW:  half a healthy extra B, half an A for milk and half a syn for a Mullerlight

L:  Sunday leftovers soup; fruit

The soup is what I froze earlier on this week.  If I have cooked the ham, I will shred a bit to add.  If not, I will cook and chop some bacon.  I also quite fancy adding some mixed beans to make it more substantial, more like a sloppy stew than a soup.

The soup is from the freezer

SW:  it should be free/speed

D:  roast gammon dinner; yogurt

I have a Sainsbury's Be Good To Yourself gammon joint to cook and use.  I really think they are the nicest easily available gammon hams you can get - always flavoursome and always really lean with nothing to discard.  I usually just boil them  and then leave the joint in the cooking water as it cools down - it seems to make the meat very tender and it's what Mum always did.

I'll probably have it with some apple sauce (no, I refuse to syn the cooked apple but will syn any sugar I use in the sauce), roasties (it's not a roast dinner without roasties, is it?) and a selection of veg.  Nice and I'm looking forward to it already.

SW:  assuming I use sugar for the sauce, call it one syn (I won't use more than that), and half a syn for yogurt

E:  I might walk out into the country and see if the blackberries are nicer following the rain.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

half a healthy extra B

two syns

A week in meals.

 My meals for the week starting 03-09-22.  Just the main parts of the meals, not the desserts, extra fruit, etc.

Saturday
fruit

leftovers of chicken pasta and salad

steak and chips

Sunday

bacon, beans and mushrooms

hm beanburger

roast lamb dinner

Monday

sweet omelette with stewed plums and yogurt

jacket potato with beans, bacon and cheese

lamb and veg pasta

Tuesday

scrambled eggs and toast

hm soup

no dinner photo - starting to feel unwell

No photos for Wednesday.  I was feeling not very well and didn't take photos . . . and anyway - you don't want to know.  It's called comfort eating!

Thursday

bacon and tomatoes

hm tomato and roasted red pepper soup

chicken on a sort of ratatouille mixture

Friday

porridge

jacket potato

nasi goreng

And that's what I had this last week.  :-)