Thursday evening, 16-054-24

Good evening, everyone.  

Weigh in tomorrow morning and, as always, I have absolutely no idea!  Hopefully it will be a pleasant surprise, not a nasty shock.  

What I have eaten today:

The egg custard came out more like a sweet omelette but it was delicious anyway.  

Syn free.

After I came home from shopping, I had an apple and a plum.

Toasties, as I have too often said, are my absolute favourite lunch.  This one was just cheese and onion chutney.

The salad was the usual veg with some pumpkin seeds and I made a simple dressing out half a tsp of olive oil, honey and dijon mustard with around t tbsp lemon juice and a pinch of sweetener, all mixed up really well.
So delicious.

One and a half healthy extra As, one healthy extra B, one syn for the olive oil, half a syn each for mustard and honey and one syn for mixed seeds

Later on, I nibbled on some crusts (loaf ends, not cut-offs) so that was six syns (or another B but I can only have one at present).

Definitely quite 'arrabbiata' so I had some 0% yogurt with it.  It was really nice though and easy to make.

Half a healthy extra A

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

nine syns

Tomorrow's meal plans

B:  fruit or nothing because . . .

L:  eating out with a friend

D:  provisionally Scott Baptie's nasi goreng, maybe salad; fruit

(it all depends on what I had for lunch)

Exercise: perhaps a walk or an online something.

Wednesday, 15-05-24

Good evening, everyone.  So, here we are, pretty much half way through May.  Time really is flying, isn't it?    We're only a month and a week away from the longest day - now I find that hard to believe!!

I'm not going to make my aim of being back in target range by the end of May but perhaps I can be back into single digit stones by then.  I'm giving it my best shot anyway and also really enjoying the meals I am making.  Win-win!

How's it all going for you?

What I have eaten today:

I made the guacamole with avocado chunks, tomatoes, red onion, chopped cornichons, lime juice and avocado topping from Just Spices.  The rest is what you see - scrambled egg, bagel, leaves and tomatoes.

One healthy extra B and two and a half syns

Salmon for lunch and this is the recipe I used, slightly adapted because of what I had and didn't have in.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQMT22hHzgU

It's self explanatory really.  The wholemeal; breadcrumbs were one syn, the parmesan was a bit of a healthy extra A, the olive oil was two syns, the mayo was one syn and a little honey was half a syn.

It was very tasty indeed.  It would work well with other fish too, not just salmon.

Dessert was a couple of east peelers.

I decided to make dinner pasta carbonara instead of spaghetti simply because it is easier to eat!

The sauce was the usual egg and grated parmesan with a bit of pasta cooking water and I softened/reheated onion, mushroom, peas and some cubed pork plus seasoning.  I finished it off with lemon juice and zest and sprinkled a but more cheese on top.  Very satisfying and filling.  No dessert needed but I did have an orange because I love oranges!

The parmesan was the rest of my A choices and the rest was syn free

Summary:

two healthy As

one healthy B

seven syns.

Tomorrow's meal plans

B:  egg custard with fruit and yogurt

L:  toastie, salad; fruit

D:  penne arrabbiata with shredded pork, side salad; fruit

(that should finish off the pork!)

Exercise:  SET online

Tuesday evening, 14-05-24

Good evening, everyone.  

I've been short of things to put in this section because things seem to be moving along very nicely.  I've been looking up and trying different recipes and it's keeping me satisfied and happy with what I am eating.
Fingers crossed it lasts!

What I have eaten today:

Perfect for a yucky wet morning, a bacon and egg muffin with tomatoes and mushrooms.

One healthy extra B and half a syn for some brown sauce.

The feta salsa was part of a SW recipe and was red onion, tomatoes, feta, capers, lemon zest and lemon juice and it really was rather nice.  It should have also had fresh parsley but I didn't have any.

One healthy extra A for feta (some in the salsa and some as a nibble), one and a half syns for pumpkin seeds and half a syn for salad cream.

I had a couple of easy peelers for afters and, later on, an orange.

I found this recipe in one of the excellent Sainsbury's magazines.

https://www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/mains/honey-mustard-chicken-and-apples

I adapted, of course - when don't I?  I made enough for one, used chicken breast, spray oil and fresh chicken stock because I had some in the freezer.  I synned the honey and the mustard, of course.

I didn't have the suggested accompaniments so I just used some mixed teaves and some air fried diced potato.

Really nice.
I used half an apple in the dish and had the other half for dessert.

The honey was one and a half syns and the mustard was one syn.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

five syns

Tomorrow's meal plans

B:  avocado bagel, scrambled eggs, leaves and tomatoes

L:  honey soy salmon, salad, salad; fruit

D:  pork and mushroom carbonara, side salad; fruit

Exercise:  personal training

Monday evening, 13-05-24

Good evening, everyone.  

What I have eaten today:

I almost didn't get the overnight oats as I forgot yesterday evening.  A good thing about intermittent fasting is that I had time to make it all up this morning instead.  And very nice it was too.  

Tomorrow's meal plans

I had an apple before leaving for circuits.

How to make overnight oats look a little more attractive - add one and a half  syns worth of light squirty cream and a cherry on top.  It was scrummy.

One healthy extra B, one and a half syns for a bit of milk and one and a half syns for the squirty stuff.  

Lunch was a bit muddled.  I usually eat at two but had a hair appointment at two so I had my fruit before I went and the hummus and dippy veg afterwards.

 So it was one apple and two pears (which really needed using up) and this . . . and it was really nice.

One syn for the hummus.

And dinner.  I call it pasta-sagne.
I had veg, I had half a can chopped tomato, I had pork and I had some very reduced and fat free pork stock with spiced from the rub.
I cooked the together.

I cooked 40g penne.  I drained it, added two light cheese triangles and a bit of the pasta water and stirred until it was all 'sauce-y.

I put the red sauce in a dish, spooned over the pasta/sauce, topped with grated cheese and popped under the grill to brown the cheese.

It was flippin' delicious.

Two healthy extra As and no syns.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

four syns

B:  breakfast not-McMuffin, tomatoes and mushrooms maybe

L:  roast pork with feta salsa

D:  honey mustard chicken and apples

Exercise:  Groove class.  Probably no walk though as the forecast is for pouring rain.

Sunday evening, 12-05-24

Good evening, everyone.  

What I have eaten today:

The sweet soufflé omelette was really nice - I found the recipe here.  I think it should take you to the print page.  https://www.amummytoo.co.uk/wprm_print/45712

Perfect for a sunny Sunday breakfast and syn free (I used sweetener and spray oil).

When I cooked the pork loin, I knocked together a spicy rub using what came to hand and half tsp oil for one syn.  However, that was for the whole joint so I'm not counting that syn.

Afters was fruit and yogurt

One and a half syns for cranberry sauce.

And one of my favourites for dinner.   Instead of the planned bacon, I had pork - I have plenty of pork to eat up!  No afters - I was full up.

Two healthy extra As, one healthy extra B, one syn for some seeds in the salad and one and a half syns for chutney.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

four syns

Tomorrow's meal plans

B:  Black Forest overnight oats

L:  roasted red pepper hummus and veggie dips, salad; fruit

D:  pastasagne, side salad; fruit

Exercise:  circuits and housework

Saturday evening, 11-05-24

Good evening, everyone.  

Here's another YouTube channel I find really useful.  It's not a vlog, it's a recipe channel owned by Scott Baptie who seems to specialise in high protein meals.

It's called Scott Baptie's Food for Fitness and you can find it here.

https://www.youtube.com/@ScottBaptie

It's great for flavoursome recipes and starting point ideas if you want to change things a bit.

He's also published two books which I want to get at some point - they're not cheap although they do come as a Kindle edition for a bit less.  I might treat myself to the cheaper one at some point, maybe when I get back into target range, and see how it works in Kindle.

What I have eaten today:

My Saturday cooked breakfast.  While rootling in the freezer for something, I remembered I had some bubble and squeak patties so I had a couple instead of bacon.Two syns (one for each because that's what it said on the bag - I forget why)

A Jack Monroe kidney (borlotti, actually),bean, carrot and cumin veggieburger in a roll with cheese, chutney and salad.

The burger recipe is all over the internet - here's just one link.

https://oursouthend.wordpress.com/2018/02/19/carrot-cumin-kidney-bean-burger-17p-was-9p-vg-v-df/

Two easy peelers for afters.

One healthy extra A, one healthy extra B and one and a half syns for the chutney

Cottage pie for dinner.  I know it looks a big old plateful but the plate is small.  :-)

I fancied a different afters so I made my semi frozen fruit yogurt - just blend up frozen fruit with 0% yogurt.  I don't syn the fruit.

The cottage pie is half a healthy extra A plus two and a half syns.

Summary:

one and a half healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

six syns

Tomorrow's meal plans

B:  fruit and yogurt

L:  roast pork, roasties, veg; fruit

D:  toastie, salad; fruit

Exercise:  a walk, weather permitting.

Friday evening, 10-05-24

Good evening, everyone.  

I had to go shopping today, despite not planning to go until next week.  It was pretty much all fresh stuff - fruit, veg and milk.  It's almost scary how much f&v I manage to get through in a week.

Worth it though.  While I did gain a fair amount during my two holidays, I have lost three pounds of that as of this morning so that is encouraging in the extreme.

What I have eaten today:

A delicious breakfast of toast spread with guacamole and avocado topping sprinkled over before topping with a poached egg.
I had planned to have mushrooms but fancied some mixed leaves and tomatoes - so that is what I had!

Half a healthy extra B and one and a half syns.

I made this hummus by blending some roasted red pepper (from a jar) with some chickpeas (also from a jar), drained but adding a little of the aquafaba, garlic, peanut butter powder (as a sub for tahini which I'm not that fond of), salt, pepper and cumin.  I think that was it.  The whole lot was three syns for the peanut butter powder.

It made a lot so I have frozen some.  It will be nice with pasta or on chicken or pork, I think.

One syn for the powder (less, really, but let's be sensible) and four syns for two slices of multi seed Ryvita Thins.

I had an apple and an easy peeler later.

It must have been the day for picking roasted red pepper based recipes to make.  I found a recipe that required roasted red pepper paste, which I don't have, so I looked it up and put together a recipe based on this one. . .
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/really-easy-roasted-red-pepper-sauce
. . . but using the rest of the jar of roasted red peppers in brine, no oil, no oven roasting, a pinch of red chilli flakes and making less than full amounts, all in Thermione and then pushed through a sieve after blending.  It's not quite a paste, more a very thick sauce, it's made plenty and tastes absolutely fantastic with just a little tongue tickle from the chilli.
I shall freeze what I don't need tonight in little pots.

As far as syns are concerned and the way I made it, the red pepper sauce had ground almonds and what I used was two and a half syns.  The coleslaw was half a syn (salad cream) and the broccoli, etc, salad - well, I'm saying three syns.  It's probably a bit less.

It was delicious and I am glad I have five more portions of the basic red pepper paste/sauce in the freezer.

Summary:

No healthy extra SAs (ooops)

half a healthy extra B - neither the almonds nor the Thins count as a B choice, sadly.

twelve and a half syns - but all on what you might call more healthy add-ons to enhance meals, not as snacky rubbish.  No worries.

Tomorrow's meal plans

B:  cooked breakfast

L:  Jackburger with trimmings, salad, chips; fruit

D:  cottage pie, veg; fruit

Exercise:  providing the back agrees, online SET class.

Thursday evening, 09-04-25

Good evening, everyone.  

What I have eaten today:

Just a bowl of fruit from the freezer and I added a nice dollop of Greek yogurt for extra yumminess.

Syn free

On a lovely sunny day like yesterday, you really want a big bowl of salad veg.  In the wrap us cooked turkey, loset mayo, tikka spice mix (syn free) and some chopped apple.

I had the rest of the apple for dessert.

One healthy extra B, two syns for mayo, one for salad cream in the coleslaw and three for the broccoli, pepper and apple salad.

This was nice.  I spray stir fried onion, yellow pepper, carrot, mushroom, strips of cooked turkey and basmati rice leftovers from yesterday and then added the sauce which was one tbsp each of honey, soy sauce, lemon juice and balsamic vinegar.  Quick, easy and very tasty.

Dessert was an orange.

Three syns for a tbsp honey.

Summary:

no healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

nine syns

Tomorrow's meal plans

B:  guacamole toast, poached egg, tomatoes

L:  roasted red pepper hummus with dippy stuff, side salad; fruit

D:  spiced chicken with red pepper and almond sauce; fruit

Exercise:  after doing my back in, today has to be a rest day.

Wednesday evening, 08-05-24

Good evening, everyone.  

I was very industrious this morning.  I prepped two salads that I know last for more than half a day (unlike lettuce, etc, that goes limp) and improve in flavour.
I made another batch of broccoli salad, including some carrot this time as I didn't have enough broccoli and I made some coleslaw with carrot, cabbage and onion.  I can add some fruit to what I have each time - apple is nice but so is pineapple and I have some of the latter in my freezer.

It always feels good to have stuff prepared and ready.  It helps me stick to plan.

What I have eaten today:

My breakfast tray half way to the garden room.
I used left over Jersey Royals, leftover spray roasted parsnip and sweet potato, onion, pepper, mushroom and tomatoes, all diced and all reheated in Nellie with some vegetable all-rounder from Just Spices and with a spray fried egg on top.  It was lovely.

Syn free.

I know it looks a messy plateful.  The pizza is on the right - well, half of it is; I had the other half afterwards.
But what a lovely load of vegetables, eh?

The coleslaw is one syn (a bit under in fact) for the salad cream, the broccoli salad is two syns and the pizza is one healthy extra A and one healthy extra B.

I called dinner a turkey stroganoff(ish) thing.  It worked out really well and I will post what I did at the bottom.  I had no room left for any fruit.

One tsp grain mustard was half a syn and three cheese triangles was just over half an A.

Summary:

almost two healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

three syns

Tomorrow's meal plans

B:  fruit

L:  a sort of turkey coronation chicken wrap or pitta, salad; fruit

D:  sticky turkey (like sticky chicken), veg; fruit

Exercise:  SET class online

Turkey (or chicken) stroganoff(ish) dinner

Ingredients (amounts to own choice)

half an smallish onion, finely sliced

two mushrooms, finely sliced

some cooked chicken or turkey, cut or pulled into strips

chicken stock

garlic granules

half a tsp paprika

one tsp grain mustard

three laughing cow light triangles (or whatever you have)

some 0% Greek yogurt

basmati rice

salt and pepper

Method

Put the rice on to cook

Soften the onion and mushroom in spray oil.

Add turkey/chicken, chicken stock (not loads), grain mustard, garlic granules and paprika, heat until simmering and allow to reduce a bit.

When the rice is almost cooked and most of the stock has reduced down, add the cheese triangles to the turkey mixture and mix until they're all melted down.  Drain the rice, take the sauce off the heat and carefully stir in the yogurt - if it's just below boiling, it shouldn't split.  Taste, add salt and pepper if needed and serve with rice and a bit of salad on the side, if you want.

Tuesday evening, 07-05-24

Good evening, everyone.  

What I have eaten today:

Using Roy's recipe as an egg custard worked really well in Nellie.  Details below.

A bit of a healthy extra A

Leftovers for lunch - Spanish chicken, rice and veg plus and orange for afters.

Half a syn.

I enjoyed this too - a very simple 'creamy' pasta dish and I'll post the recipe at the bottom, not that it's anything unique.

Dessert was two easy peelers

The cheese was one and a half As altogether and I added some mixed seeds (and nibbled some) which came to half a B.

Summary:
two healthy extra As

half a healthy B

half a syn

Tomorrow's meal plans

B:  breakfast bake

(using some leftovers)

L:  h m pizza, salad; fruit

D:  turkey stroganoff, rice; fruit

Exercise:  personal training today

The egg custard was two medium eggs whisked well with two tbsps milk, some vanilla, grated nutmeg and sweetener to taste.

I slices a banana into the bottom of an ovenproof dish and poured over the egg and milk mix.  It cooked in the Ninja on Bake, 160C for 14 mins - check after about twelve minutes.

Really nice - filling too.  Thank you, Roy.  x

And the pasta dish was:

Ingredients (amounts are however much you want to make and you can add other stuff too):
sliced onion

chopped red pepper

sliced mushroom

halved cherry tomatoes

cooked turkey, chicken or whatever you have, cut into chunks

pasta shapes of some kind

mixed seeds

salt and pepper

three light cheese triangles

one healthy extra As worth of grated cheese

Method:

Soften the onion in spray oil, then add pepper, mushroom and tomatoes and gently simmer to soften.}While that's happening, cook the pasta.  Reserve the pasta water.

Add the meat and the mixed seeds to the vegetables.  Dain the pasta and add that.  Add the cheese triangles and some pasta water and stir until; the cheese is all melted - add more pasta water if needed.  Season to own taste.

Serve in a bowl with grated cheese on top.  I melted mine a bit in the microwave.