Saturday evening, 19-10-24 and a recipe - cheesy bean and bulgur bake

Good evening, everyone!  

I had to laugh - I was getting dressed on Friday morning and struggled to pull up my jeans, just like I used to before I got properly to target.  They went up so far and then wouldn't go up any more - you know what I mean, I am sure.
Oh, no, thought I.  Surely I haven't gained that much extra stuffing in four days!!

And then I looked down and . . . they were zipped up.  I had been trying to pull them up with the zip closed and the button done up!!

Phew - panic over.

What I ate today

Let's start with yesterday (Friday).  I didn't have the lunch I had planned because I fancied just fruit after having a plum for breakfast.  So I had an orange and an apple and that did me until around five.

This was 'dinner'; my favourite toastie with a salad.  So, so good to get back to normal again.

Now on to today - the usual.  The fruits were two plums and an orange and the yogurt is hidden underneath.

One syn for mixed seeds.

Lunch was avocado toast with smoked salmon.  Morrisons didn't have any smoked salmon as such but there were some lightly smoked salmon steaks so I bought a pack of two and, when I got home, I took off the skin and sliced them as thinly as I could before individually freezing.  It was just as good!

One healthy extra B for the toast and two and a half syns for the avocado.

Nothing else as I was full.  No fruit later on either.

I made up a cheesy bean and bulgur bake and will put what I did in the Extra Bit below.  It was really tasty!

Two healthy extra As, two syns for oil and one for seeds.

Again, no dessert.  I had my flu and covid vaccines middle of the day and was starting to feel a bit achey.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

six and a half syns

My meal plans for tomorrow:

B:   fruit, yogurt and seeds

L:   a roast beef dinner; fruit

I have a very small 'length' of fillet of beef, beautifully lean, that will take no time at all to roast.  There might even be a few leftovers but it is very small so maybe not.

D:   either leftover beef and salad or some canned fish and salad - I have plenty of canned oily fish nowadays.

Exercise:   rest day

The Extra Bit

Cheesy bean and bulgur bake

I used:

one tsp garlic evoo (made myself) or use evoo and some chopped gsarl;ic

a shallot, peeled and sliced

a third of a pepper, chopped

some mushrooms, sliced

two good sized tomatoes, chopped (or use some from a can of chopped tomatoes)

some stock powder - I used chicken but if you use veg, it will be suitable for vegetarians)

pinch chilli flakes

some Italian all rounder spice mix (use whatever you fancy really)

a squidge tomato puree

some mixed beans

two level tbsp bulgur wheat

water, if needed

salt, pepper

50g Seriously Lighter cheese spread

30g grated cheddar

Method:

soften the onion in the garlic evoo, then add pepper, mushroom and tomatoes, bring to a simmer, cover and let everything soften.  The tomatoes should give out some juice.

Add the beans, stock powder, chilli flakes, spice mix and tomato puree with a splash of water, if needed and bring back to a simmer.

Add the bulgur wheat, mix well, cover and simmer to rehydrate the bulgur wheat.  Season to own taste.

When everything is nice and soft (add more water if needed), stir in the Seriously Lighter cheese spread until it is all melted in.

Spoon into an ovenproof dish , sprinkle over the grated cheddar and pop under the grill to melt the cheese.

Serve piping hot.

It was really delicious and one I will make again soon.  You could use pasta, rice or couscous instead of bulgur wheat if you wanted and ring th changed with the veg.