Monday evening, 21-10-24, an unofficial weigh in and Bean and Barley Soup

Good evening, everyone!  

It truly is very autumnal now.  The it's colder, damper, mornings are darker, the evenings start earlier and my thoughts turn to filling, delicious and nutritious soups.  I love soups - they are so very easy and you can just use what you have.

When I was working, I regularly made what I called either Saturday Soup or Fridge Rubble Soup which mopped up all the bits and bobs before I did my weekly shop.

Some were outstandingly delicious, some were - well, edible, and all were frugal and prevented waste.

It doesn't have to be Saturday nowadays - every day is a weekend day now - but in autumn and winter I still like to toss into my slow cooker vegetables, stock, maybe meat and maybe beans/pulses for protein, grains and seasonings so that five or six hours later I have a hearty and balanced SW friendly meal.

Sometimes I blend, sometimes I mash, sometimes I have it just as it comes out of the pot..  

Sometimes I have it several times in a row, sometimes I freeze portions.

It's always win-win!

Changing the subject completely, I got on my own scales this morning.  They are pretty accurate and I seem, to get identical results from the SW scales as from my own scales.
I have put on one pound from my last home weigh in just before my holiday which puts me slap bang on my target weight.  I am so, so happy with that and it has never, ever happened before. 

What I ate today

Fruit, yogurt and seeds as usual.  Two plums and a pear and it was delicious.

One syn for the seeds.

Lunch was bean and barley soup, made through the morning in my slow cooked.  It was warming, filling and made three generous portions!  Recipe is in The Extra Bit.

Syn free.

I had nothing else through the afternoon.

(apologies for the bad light)
For dinner, I made a pared down version of spicy chicken fajitas.

I used 2 tsp evoo for the onion, pepper and chicken - four syns.

The 'soured cream' was 0% Greek yogurt - free.

The guacamole was mashed avo with finely chopped onion. lime juice and avocado topping (Just Spices) - two and a half syns
The 'tortillas' were two of those Mission mini wraps, not officially a B but . . . one B and three syns.

I've just realised I forgot the cheese.  Drat.  Oh, well . . .

It was most satisfying anyway!

Summary:

no healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

ten and a half syns

My meal plans for tomorrow:

B:  fruit, yogurt and seeds

L: toasted bagel, egg, smoked salmon, tomatoes and mushrooms

D:  mushroom and broad bean carbonara (I have mushrooms to use up)

Exercise: Groove class and the walk there and back.

The Extra Bit

Bean and Barley Soup

Recently, two of my favourite vloggers, Roe and Nicky, featured pearl barley in a soup recipe. 

I can't find the exact link to Roe's specific vlog so have given you the general link to her channel instead.

I've made a big effort to widen the range of 'ancient grains' I use recently so I thought I'd have a go at including some barley in a soup too.  This is what I used and it is dead easy.

Ingredients:
one small to medium onion, chopped

one medium carrot, washed and chopped

one 400g can chopped tomatoes

one 300g can of mixed beans, drained but no need to rinse

two slightly heaped tbsps. pearl barley

salt, pepper, garlic granules, a pinch of chilli flakes, some Old Bay seasoning - actually, whatever you fancy!

a splash of water and some chicken stock - I used stock powder, ot use veg stock to make this meat free.

some cubes of frozen sweet potato, butternut squash and peas (or whatever you fancy)

A slow cooker.  Yes, it could be done on the hob but the glory of this is that you put it on overnight or first thing in the morning and there's your lunch!

Method:

Put all of the first group of ingredients in your slow cooker, mix it up well and cook for as long as you want  - I used the auto setting.

After about two hours, add the frozen sweet potato and squash (if using fresh, add them at the start).

Around half an hour before eating, add the frozen peas.

Check and adjust seasoning, if necessary.

Enjoy!

(and the house smelled warming and delicious too)

This made me three very generous portions.  I had one and the other two are for another time.

If I had planned to have a hunk of bread and some grated cheese on top, It would have made four portions - what I had kept me full all afternoon.

I've scheduled one portion for Wednesday or Thursday and I think I will add a bit of bacon or some chorizo for a different flavour.

Perhaps, for the third portion, I could add some fish, maybe smoked fish.  Heat the soup to simmering, add chopped up fish and it will cook in about one to two minutes.

Watch this space . . .