Sunday evening, 30-06 24

Evening, everyone!

Last day of June today nd in the interests of a fresh start for a fresh month, I did another freezer audit.

Now I have a little list of Things To Use Up - not as long as last time but enough, all the same.

What I ate today:

As you know (because I have said time and time again) this is one of my favourite breakfast.  Home made and SW friendly (with a bit of a 'cheat') waffles with fruit and yogurt.

Are they the best waffles ever - no, of course not.  To make good waffles, you need melted butter, proper sugar, etc.  But, within more healthy limits, I love these, even if they are not 'crunchy' in the mouth.  

The recipe is in the recipe tab but I will reproduce what I did today at the bottom.

Half a healthy extra B.

This recipe is on the SW site and it's actually a party/bbq type thing.  It makes a lot.  I cut it down and used my common sense because, really, it is just a crustless quiche type thing.  I used four eggs, 60g not-parmesan, all the veg and I found some ends of bacon in the freezer so chopped that and added it.
It was scrummy!

And it made two portions so that's lunch tomorrow sorted.

One healthy extra A for cheese and I had more cheese later for another A.

Dinner was simple.  I spray toasted sweet potato, onion, red pepper, mushroom, apple and a pork steak with all the fat removed.  No seasonings, I just wanted the vegetable flavours.  When the pork was cooked, I just sliced it thinly and it was all lovely!  Sometimes simple wins out.

Afters was a nectarine.

Syn free.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

syn free

My meal plans for tomorrow:

B:  more of the leek, corn and roasted red pepper slice with tomatoes and mushrooms.  It had some chopped bacon so it's breakfast-y

L:  leek, sweetcorn and roasted pepper square, salad; fruit

D:  chicken arrabbiata, salad; fruit

Exercise:  circuits

Recipe for SW friendly (with a bit of a tweak) waffles

This is the waffle recipe but I need to say that I count 40g wholemeal SR flour as a healthy extra B.  Bs are all about fibre and 40g of this flour has pretty much the same calories and fibre content as 40g oats which very definitely are counted as a healthy extra.  So - application of common sense and a bit of nutritional; know-how.

Recipe:

Ingredients for one serving
20g wholemeal SR flour (Dove does it) which I count as half a healthy B - not SW canon, just what I do.
pinch of baking powder (neg. on SW)
one medium egg
a splodge of 0% Greek yogurt
a splash of water if needed
flavourings - I used vanilla and sweetener today but you could go neutral or savoury.

I have one of those circular electric waffle makers - really cheap from Aldi but it does a good job.

Method:
Mix together all the ingredients and leave to stand while the waffle maker heats up.
Spray the hot plate with spray oil.
pour in the batter and cook in whatever way you waffle maker works.
(this recipe also makes nice pancakes)

Serve with whatever you want. Today I used sweetened yogurt and some mixed fruit. Sometimes I splash out on some maple syrup!

Saturday evening, 29-06-24

Evening, everyone!

I had the most wonderful start to the day.  Nothing fancy, it just felt good.  I sat in the garden enjoying my first coffee in the sunshine, spent some time planning the week after next's meals and then went inside and prepped the fruit for breakfast.

Isn't the fruit delicious right now, especially berries, and yes, my plans will change, of course it will, but it's a start and forms the basis of my next shopping list (probably for next Friday).

Micro managing - well, maybe, but it works for me.

What I ate today:

Breakfast during a summer walk - with sparkling water with ice and lemon.  Couldn't be better, could it?

Syn free.

Lunch - toastie with onion chutney, cheese, bacon and a big slice of tomato.  With a side salad it was so, so good.

Afters was a couple of rounds of watermelon, cut into quarters.  So refreshing.

One healthy extra A for cheese, one B for the bread and two and a half syns for chutney, a bit more than usual.

Dinner was Middle Eastern style chicken and loaded couscous, a recipe from one of the Slimming World Kitchen recipe booklets, and it was absolutely gorgeous.
The chicken on its own, without the loaded couscous and with some feta and, maybe, watermelon would be so delicious at another time too.
I just loved it.

It's been such a warm afternoon, I made some of my frozen cherry yogurt and, because I don't syn blended fruit, the whole meal was syn free.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

two and a half syns

My meal plans for tomorrow:

B:  waffles, fruit and yogurt

L:  leek, sweetcorn and roasted pepper square, salad; fruit

(recipe is on the SW site for those who have access - basically, it is just a crustless quiche thingy)

D:  pork chop, veg, roasties; fruit

Exercise:  a rest day.
Here's a few photos I took on our very pleasant walk this morning . . .

Friday evening, 28-06-24

Evening, everyone!

Phew, what a relief.  Last week at SW I had gained 3.5 lbs.  That was partly lots of painkillers (dental problems) and partly comfort scoffing plus bloat.  I admit - I was upset although I knew it was deserved.

This week I had lost 4 lbs.   Now I can move on again.  

What I ate today:

Possibly a bit more than it should have been but I was celebrating and fruit is so delicious at the moment, isn't it?  

Syn free.

Ooops, you almost didn't get this photo because I nearly forgot.  That's why it's not all there and not looking as nice as it started.

I made a nice mixed salad, cooked a bit of lean bacon, hard boiled an egg, cut up the leftover chicken and warmed up the leftover chickpeas.

The dessert was a few strawberries.

Three syns for the light Caesar dressing.

Later on I had a nibble of cheese which sorted out my healthy extra As

A bit of a whoppa-burger for dinner and it was delicious.  I also had some choppy salad.

Absolutely no room for any fruit whatsoever.

One healthy extra B and one and a half syns for some mustard ketchup.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

four and a half syns

Despite it being Friday and weigh in day, I stuck with the SW guidelines and was perfectly happy to do so.

My meal plans for tomorrow:

B:  fruit half way through a walk

L:  cheese, bacon and onion chutney toastie, side salad; fruit

D:  Middle Eastern style chicken with loaded couscous

. . . from the second SWK booklet using home ingredients

Exercise:  a walk

Thursday evening 27-06-24

Evening, everyone!

Apart from the pot pies, this evening has seen the last of the Slimming World Kitchen leftovers and now I have a week and a half of fending for myself - which I am glad about as I have a backlog of recipes I want to try!

Weigh day tomorrow - we will see, won't we?  Last week was a disaster (tell you about that tomorrow) so fingers crossed for this week.

And finally, an extra photo - about four inches long at time of photo.  I wonder if this will feature in next week's salads at some point.  It's growing very fast!

What I ate today:

Change of plan for breakfast.

This was new - I heard about 'cottage cheese wraps' via YouTube and wanted to give them a go - very SW friendly and plenty of protein as well but I really wasn't sure, partly because it sounded odd, partly because cottage cheese isn't a great favourite and partly because it involved turning the oven on for half an hour - so expensive.  However, someone had mentioned them in the lovely Slim Win group on Facebook and I was intrigued.

I thought I could try a slow cook in a pan on the hob which has to be better value than heating a whole oven, so I bought some cottage cheese last time I went shopping.

I'll post what I did at the bottom but I will say I was very pleasantly surprised.  It was certainly different in texture and surprisingly cheesy in flavour, filling and I will definitely make it again.
It worked in the pan and then under the grill to brown off the top a bit and, as you can see, I cooked some mushroom and tomatoes to go inside.

Syn free.

Moving on to lunch and a lot of leftovers.
The pitta filling (chicken, chickpeas and minty raita)  was all leftovers apart from the leaves (which were from my little pot of salad leaves).  The salad was partly leftovers and it was lovely.

I didn't use the whole of the chicken fillet so that's for tomorrow lunch.

I was really full so no dessert.

One healthy extra B for the pitta.

Later in I had an orange

And dinner was the very last portion (from the freezer) of the veg and chickpea bakev from the first SWK box.  It's definitely mellowed with freezing and, with some cheese melted on top, was simply delicious.  Must make that again.

One healthy extra A for cheese and one syn for salad cream.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

one syn

All the ones today!

My meal plans for tomorrow:

B:  fruit and yogurt

L:  egg, chicken and bacon Caesar salad; fruit

In other words, using some Caesar dressing and some croutons plus the usual!

D:  cheeseburger, chips and salad; fruit

Exercise:  a walk

Cottage cheese wrap

Ingredients to make one pan-shaped wrap

half a cup or 120g cottage cheese (any kind but I used fat free)

one medium egg

a scant one tsp stock powder

black pepper

I also used a pan with a lid.

Method.  

Measure the cottage cheese into a blender (or use a stick blender), add one medium egg and blend until smooth.

This is the basic recipe.

I also added some stock powder and black pepper for flavouring.

Heat a medium non-stick pan to lowish medium.  Spray with oil.  Pour in the batter and tilt the pan so it spreads to the edges.  Pop the lid on top and leave it to cook, shaking the pan now and again to prevent it sticking.

When it has set (fifteen to twenty minutes but check now and again, turn on the grill to between medium and high and pop the pan under the grill - this gives the top a bit of colour.

(I was careful with the heat first time - maybe the pan and grill could have been a little bit hotter at the end.)

Take the pan out of the grill and leave on the side for a short while (it's a bit fragile to start with but firms up), them turn the wrap out onto a plate - I had to turn the pan upside down and it fell out easily.

Fill with whatever savoury you want.  Enjoy.

It was tasty.  The texture was definitely different but it was OK

I am now wondering about using flavoured cottage cheese - pineapple, maybe, and going sweet.

Or using one of the savoury flavoured cottage cheeses.
I'll let you know,

What I do know is that it was filling, satisfying, tasty and kept me full for ages.   Win win all the way!

I didn't use any one YouTube video as a starting point, but if you want to see an original, just go into YouTube and search for 'cottage cheese wrap'.  There's plenty to choose from.

Wednesday evening, 26-06-24

Evening, everyone!

What I ate today:

Breakfast plans totally changed.  I had broccoli left over from last night.  I fork mashed it, added some grated Italian hard cheese and some seasonings (not salt.  I soaked twp level tbsps orange lentils with four tbsp water and some stock, left it to soak and then blended it into a 'batter'.  I mixed the two together and shaped rather soft patties.  They I spray fried them - so a sort of bubble and squeak thingy really but without potato.
Eaten with an egg and some tomatoes and mushrooms, it was delicious.

Just one healthy extra A for the cheese.

I was cross with myself at lunchtime because a totally forgot to take a photo.  It was the second of the pot pies, reheated in Nellie and with a nice,  crisp, colourful side salad.  The pie was still nice bit too much rosemary for my taste, I think.

Afters was a pear, at perfect ripeness.  I enjoyed it very much.

Lunch was one healthy extra A for the cheese in the mash topping.

I made absolutely sure I remembered to photo dinner.  It was very tasty although I don't think I would 'pickle' the veg like that again.  Apart from the cucumber (a whole one) and the rice (way more than I usually have), the amounts were about right.  Filling but not too much and I'm looking forward to lunch tomorrow.

Syn free.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

no healthy extra Bs

syn free for once

My meal plans for tomorrow: 

B:  fruit and yogurt - nice and simple

L:  tandoori chicken salad wrap or pitta with minty raita (using yesterday's leftovers), finger salad on the side; fruit

D:  veg and chickpea traybake (more leftovers, from the freezer) with cheesy topping, salad; fruit

Exercise:  personal training - because of the heat, Lindsey rescheduled to tomorrow morning.  

Tuesday evening, 25-06-24

Evening, everyone!

Everything seems to be going nicely this week after a not-terribly-great week last week, what with dental stuff, trips out and emotional scoffing.  The heat is helping - I don't have such an appetite when it is this warm.

What I ate today:

I had planned to have eggy bread with fruit and yogurt but decided I fancied pancakes - pretty much the same ingredients.

Half a healthy extra B

Lunch was leftover salmon and dressing with a salad and I added some pumpkin seeds because they are lovely.

No dessert.

One syn for a tsp of seeds.

Dinner was the SWK herby chicken pie.  I really didn't fancy a mash topping using water and yogurt to mash into the potato so I did my usual and added a beaten egg plus 90g grated cheese (to make three portion) - much nicer!

I got four - FOUR - portions of the size in the photos which was more than enough as the dish is quite deep and one more lot of just the bottom - chicken, veg and sauce.  I can do so much with that - a soup, add extra veg and maker pasta, with rice, all sorts.

One healthy extra A (just under, in fact, but let's call it one for convenience).

So that's one pie for tomorrow and two plus the base in the freezer for other times.  That does make it much better value.

I had some fruit for afters.

Summary.

one healthy extra A

half a healthy extra B

one syn

My meal plans for tomorrow:

B:  boiled eggs and toast dippers; fruit

L:  herby chicken pie, veg or salad; fruit

D:  tandoori chicken, kachumber rice and minty raita

Exercise:  personal training

Monday evening, 24-06-24

Evening, everyone!

Firstly, I have added the lentil wrap pizza and today's lentil omelette breakfast wrap on the recipe links page,  tab at the top.  There are loads of recipe there, if you want to take a look.

The Slimming World Kitchen box arrived this afternoon and, as before, everything was lovely.  Easy to sort out, everything there, the two packs of chicken went straight into the freezer and the rest is all in the fridge.

What I ate today:

Breakfast - I'll post the recipe below but it contained a lentil wrap, one egg, 35g avocado, tomatoes and mushrooms plus seasonings.

And it was both delicious and filling.

Two and a half syns for the avocado.  Everything else was free and protein, speed or free seasonings.

Oh, my word, this was filling.  The other half of the stroganoff from yesterday with salad instead of rice.  I added cheese on top of the stroganoff because - healthy extra A needed.

Half a syn for the coleslaw dressing.

Later on, I had an orange and a nectarine.  

The first of the new lot of SWK meals.  Zingy lime and ginger salmon with rice and salad.  What brought it all together was the dressing/marinade which was grated fresh ginger, finelychopped chilli (not that hot), tamari, lime zest and juice.

The salmon steaks were marinated in some of it before baking (in Nellie), it was a dressing for the salad (shredded red cabbage, ribboned carrot and quartered tomatoes, and I added some to the rice which I didn't follow instruction for.  This was because I had some left over from yesterday so I spray fried the cut pak choi and then added the rice and a bit of the dressing just to heat the rice.  

It said to break up the salmon, which I did, but it made the bowl look messy.  Oh, well!

It was delicious.

I cooked both the salmon steaks (good sized ones, far bigger than I usually have and next time I have a salmon dish from them, I might halve each portion and freeze what I don't need.  I just made one portion of the salad and the rice was one portion anyway - the provided rice has gone into my basmati  rice storage jar.

Syn free

Summary:

one healthy extra A

no healthy extra Bs

three syns

My meal plans for tomorrow:

B:  eggy bread with fruit and yogurt

L:  lime and ginger salmon, salad; fruit

(using the other piece of salmon and the left over dressing on the salad)

D:  herby chicken pie, broccoli; fruit

The second SWK meal of this week.

Exercise:  Groove.

lentil omelette breakfast wrap

Ingredients:

one lentil wrap 

one egg, beaten, plus seasonings of choice

35g frozen avocado chunks, thawed, mashed

seasonings (I use Just Spices avocado topping mix)

small fresh tomato roughly chopped

lime juice

mushrooms and tomatoes, halved and/or sliced.

Method:

Heat a non stick pan the same size as the wrap.  Shoot in the beaten egg and spread it round - it will be thin.
As it sets (very quickly), place the lentil wrap in top and press it down.  Them carefully, turn the whole thing over so the lentil wrap warms and the egg cooks.

Place on a plate in a warm oven so it doesn't go cold.

Respray the pan and add the mushrooms.  When they are nearly cooked, add the tomatoes.

Mix together the guacamole ingredients.

When the tomatoes and mushrooms are ready, spread the guacamole onto the omelette wrap, lentil wrap side up.  Then pile on the mushrooms and tomatoes.

Enjoy straight away while it is still hot.

(I'll post this separately too)

Recipe: lentil omelette breakfast wrap

Lentil omelette breakfast wrap.

Ingredients to make one:

one lentil wrap ( recipe here )

one egg, beaten, plus seasonings of choice

35g frozen avocado chunks, thawed, mashed

seasonings (I use Just Spices avocado topping mix)

small fresh tomato roughly chopped

lime juice

mushrooms and tomatoes, halved and/or sliced.

Method:

Heat a non stick pan the same size as the wrap.  Shoot in the beaten egg and spread it round - it will be thin.
As it sets (very quickly), place the lentil wrap in top and press it down.  Them carefully, turn the whole thing over so the lentil wrap warms and the egg cooks.

Place on a plate in a warm oven so it doesn't go cold.

Respray the pan and add the mushrooms.  When they are nearly cooked, add the tomatoes.

Mix together the guacamole ingredients.

When the tomatoes and mushrooms are ready, spread the guacamole onto the omelette wrap, lentil wrap side up.  Then pile on the mushrooms and tomatoes.

Enjoy straight away while it is still hot.

Tasty and filling too.

Recipe: lentil wrap pizza and an update

 I got the recipe for the wrap on YouTube.  Here's the link to the Frugal Queen in France vlog where you will find it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-c0g0XQMqY

This is what I did.

I used a third of a cup of orange lentils, two thirds of a cup of water, a bit of black pepper and some stock powder.  

I did what the video modelled except that I made the first wrap thicker and cooked it slower as I wanted it to have some substance as a pizza base.

I then put it on my pizza tray, spread a mix of tomato puree, Hendersons and soy sauce for the pizza sauce, then added a mix of grated cheddar and grated mozzarella, then onion, mushroom and pepper that I had softened, topped the lot with sliced tomato and gave it about ten minutes at 180C until the cheese had melted.

It was really nice - not bready in the least bit, of course, but the flavours worked so well with the cheese and vegetables and it was pick-up-able

As lentils are free and protein on Slimming World, I didn't have to use a B - and lentils are high in fibre as well as protein so it's win all the way.

Update:  16-07-24

After making these a few times, I found them very fragile - prone to stick, easily torn and difficult to turn - so I have adapted it somewhat and it's much better.

One way of serving them.

Ingredients:  to make six pancakes/wraps of about 15cms diameter

1/3 cup split red lentils

1/3 cup x 2 water (can be hot)

1 tsp chicken stock powder

one medium egg

black pepper/other seasonings of choice

oil for brushing over the pan - I measure out half a tsp and use what I need - I reckon I use about three mls.

Method:

Put the lentils and water in a container and leave to soak for around four house.  Using just boiled water shortens the soaking time.

Just before cooking, add the stock powder, black pepper and egg.  Blend it all well together until the mixture is reasonably smooth.

Heat the most non stick pan you have and brush with oil.  Mix the batter well and pour in 1/6.  Turn carefully when the top has more or less dried off and briefly cook on the other side.

Tip onto kitchen towel to cool.

If freezing, wrap individually (I use Easyleave) and seal in an airtight bag or container to take out as needed.  They thaw pretty quickly.

Each wrap is Slimming World free (the oil is negligible) and 48 calories

Sunday evening, 23-06-24

Evening, everyone!

All seems to be going well so far.  No slip ups and a full week of SW friendly plans to follow.  

My second (extra) SWK box is arriving tomorrow and I'm feeling excited about it again - the first one was a great success.

What I ate today:

A cooked breakfast went down a treat.  I had a few strawberries, picked the other day, that needed using so I had them afterwards.

Syn free

I had a rethink about lunch because I watched Frugal Queen in France's Friday vlog where she showed how to make a very simple lentil wrap.  I'll put the link at the bottom.
I did some garden work and one of the things I did was to thin out the mixed leaved that I sowed three weeks or so ago.  There was no way I was going to chuck those thinnings away - I had them as 'micro leaves' in my salad and they were very nice indeed.

I put some chopped apple in the coleslaw so had the rest of the apple for afters.

One and a half healthy extra As for cheese, no Bs because the lentil wrap was made with SW free foods and half a syn for light mayo - I used one syn's worth but only had half of it.

Dinner was the SWK recipe, using my own ingredients.  The only thing I did differently was use a couple of sizzle steaks instead of two bavette steaks because that's what I had - and swapping the kale for broccoli, of course.

Very tasty.  Not how I remember a stroganoff but it was great and I will make it again.  I'm very glad I have the other half for lunch tomorrow.

Syn free.

Summary

one and a half healthy extra As

no healthy extra Bs

half a syn

My meal plans for tomorrow:

B:  lentil wrap omelette with avocado,mushrooms and tomatoes

L:  steak stroganoff, rice, broccoli; fruit

Exactly the same as Sunday dinner.

D:  zingy lime and ginger salmon with rice and salad; fruit

Exercise:  circuits

Here's the link to the Frugal Queen in France vlog.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-c0g0XQMqY

This is what I did.

I used a third of a cup of orange lentils, two thirds of a cup of water, a bit of black pepper and some stock powder.  

I did what the video modelled except that I made the first wrap thicker and cooked it slower as I wanted it to have some substance as a pizza base.

I then put it on my pizza tray, spread a mix of tomato puree, Hendersons and soy sauce for the pizza sauce, then added a mix of grated cheddar and grated mozzarella, then onion, mushroom and pepper that I had softened, topped the lot with sliced tomato and gave it about ten minutes at 180C until the cheese had melted.

It was really nice - not bready in the least bit, of course, but the flavours worked so well with the cheese and vegetables and it was pick-up-able

As lentils are free and protein on Slimming World, I didn't have to use a B - and lentils are high in fibre as well as protein so it's win all the way.

And I have another one, a bit thinner, to use another day, from what was left.  I wonder how well it would freeze . . . although I will want to use it tomorrow so I must make some more sometime.

Thank you, Frugal Queen.