Monday, 04-08-25 and two recipes

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I'm now around my target range and am aiming to keep this steady while following Mediterranean diet principles and the Slimming World structure.

Four on plan days down now, no off plan days and twenty seven days to go.

What I ate today:

Lunch was so delicious and very filling.  I will post how I made the beanburger below, ditto for the coleslaw.

The coleslaw was one syn for salad cream.

The wholemeal muffin is my healthy extra B

The burger was a third of a healthy extra A for cheese in the actual burger and I used a very small amount of sourdough starter discard (explanation below) which I am calling half a syn - I don't think it is as much as that but because I am trying to be totally on plan . . .
On the muffin, I had one and a half syns in chutney and one A of grated cheddar on top.  Finally, two syns for avocado oil for toasting the insides of the muffin and cooking the burger.

Phew . . .

So - mini summary - one and a third healthy extra As, one healthy extra B and five syns.

I drizzled some balsamic vinegar on the salad.  It's Morrisons balsamic vinegar of Modena and it is so lovely and think, like a glaze,  I find it hard to believe that it is free - I keep checking it on the app and it genuinely is free.

Later on, I had an apple.

Here's dinner - cheesy penne arrabbiata.  Absolutely delicious with onion, mushroom, pepper and tomatoes from the garden plus the chicken and the penne.  It was very 'angry' (that's what arrabbiata means) so I mixed in some garlic and herb soft cheese (Morrisons, 50% lighter) which just muffled the heat enough.

Three and a half syns for the soft cheese, two thirds of an A for the Italian cheese (to go with the thirds in the lunchtime burger and that's it.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

eight and a half syns

(see my Slimming World halo?)

Tomorrow's plans:

L:  cheese and chutney toastie with coleslaw and salad; fruit

D:  maple chargrilled veg with chicken, apple and sausage; fruit
I couldn't decide whether to have chicken or sausage so I am going for both - one sausage and half a chicken breast fillet.  The chargrilled veg are from the freezer too.

Exercise:   a walk and a Lindsey class.

How I make my coleslaw:

I always make my own coleslaw.

It is cheaper and it is nicer (I think).

I shred cabbage, both red and green/white, if I have both.

I grate or chop carrot.

I chop some apple, skin on.

I add 70% lighter salad cream, preferring that to mayonnaise.  20g is one syn, 40g is two and a half (it is just the way the numbers round)

And I mix it all together.

No seasonings, no spices, etc, but you could, if you fancy.

It keeps well in a covered or lidded container for a couple of days.  The salad cream stops the apple from browning.

How I made the beanburger:

I have soaked and cooked pulses in the freezer but you can use single pulses or some mixed beans from a can.

I used around fifteen pinto beans, fifteen chickpeas and ten butterbeans (no, I didn't count them out, it's an estimate based on knowing I wanted one burger)

I chopped half a spring onion.

I grated a bit of carrot.

I grated 10g hard Italian cheese.

I added about a tbsp sourdough starter discard (see below for why)*

You can add your own seasonings - today mine were garlic granules, chilli flakes, cumin, turmeric, pepper (no salt as the cheese has salt) - just a small pinch of each.  However, you can add whatever you fancy really.

Pop the lot in a mini blender and pulse it or get going with a fork in a bowl.

It should shape nicely into a patty that you can wrap and chill until needed.  The nice thing is that apart from the starter, it's all cooked or edible so there's no need to worry about timings, just heat it through with a browning on the top and bottom.

(they could shape into falafels, of course)

A third of an A, and half a syn for the discard.

*  I keep a jar of sourdough starter discard in the fridge.  While looking for things I could make with it (pancakes, waffles, crumpets, muffins, pizza base . . .), I read that a bit of discard works well as a binding agent in a burger instead of breadcrumbs and a bit of egg.  So that's what I use now as it's easier and much cheaper.  However, breadcrumbs/flour and a bit of beaten egg would work just as well.