Sunday, 10-12-23: Christmas Challenge

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to my maintaining on Slimming World blog where I talk about the meals I enjoy while maintaining my target weight and keeping a healthy balanced diet.
Through December, I am going to try to incorporate as much Christmas themed food as possible while still following SW guidelines (mostly) and remaining within my target range.

Yesterday's meal photos:

Breakfast was an easy peeler, an apple and three plums which really needed using up.

All toasties are delicious and this was no exception.  Stilton worked just as well as brie (both are cheats on SW, to be fair) and, in the end, I made the cranberry sauce using three syns' worth of demerara sugar, some orange zest and some festive spice and it made enough for three portions so one syn per portion.

The turkey cranberry burger was delicious.  I did adapt the recipe somewhat - I added one rosemary and red onion sausage (free) and used fresh thyme 9nstead of dried thyme and sage.

It made enough for portions so I had the burger last night and I have some Christmas meatbaubles for dinner today.

And I didn't put cheese in the middle, I crumbled some over the top - easier and less messy! 

Dessert was an apple.

Today's meal plans:

B:  fruit

SW:  syn free

L:  Christmas Yorkshire wrap 🎄, various veg; fruit

This is a take on the Pinch of Nom beef yorkshire wrap.  I plan to make the yorkshire as usual and properly use it as a wrap with turkey or chicken, a piggy in a blanket and some cranberry sauce inside - and, maybe a roastie and a roasted parsnip, depending on how much room there is.

I thought this recipe was just in the book but it's also on the site:  I just make the wrap and add my own fillings or use it as a platter.  https://pinchofnom.com/recipes/yorkshire-pudding-wrap/#google_vignette

SW:  four and a half syns for the Yorkshire wrap, two syns for one chipolata and one syn for cranberry sauce.  Oh, and part of an A for milk.

D:   Christmas meatbaubles 🎄, cheesy pasta, salad

Lovely name, isn't it?  Another idea from Pinch of Nom but I realised that the burger recipe I used yesterday was very similar so I used half of what I made to make the meatbaubles for today.  I will add extra veg to the cheesy pasta to bulk it all out and make sure I have my 'speed veg' for the day.

(I think they'd also be nice with some crumbled chestnuts added but the syns are high enough today.  Maybe later on in the week.

Here's the actual meatbaubles recipe.  I'm not making the sauce.
  https://pinchofnom.com/?s=Christmas%20meatbaubles&type=recipes

SW:  it's a bit tricky to work out the syns but it's around two syns plus a healthy extra A to mix with the pasta and a bit of a B for breadcrumbs in the baubles

Exercise:   online pre-recorded shimmy class

Summary:

up to two healthy extra As

half (ish) a healthy extra B

nine and a half syns

For information:

The Slimming World structure:

While following the plan, you can have . . .

Any amount of speed and free food - BUT try to have a third of your plate as speed food as a sub for free food, NOT as well as . . .  Eat to satisfaction, not to stuffed-ness!

Two healthy extra As (calcium) and one healthy extra B (fibre) - details in the SW pack and on the SW web site/app.

Between five and fifteen syns-worth of synned food - again, details in the pack, site and app.  They are a limit to stay within, not a target to hit.

As a target member, I can also have . . .

Another two healthy extras each day
Another fifteen syns up to three times each week

BUT - only if I need/want to.  It's a limit, not a target

. . . with the ultimate aim of not needing to count healthy extras, syns, etc at all but just knowing and eating well instinctively.