Lasagne

Last night I made lasagne for the first time ever and I was extremely impressed with the results! It turned out to be an easy, cheap and tasty meal and even my boyfriend ate it without moaning… This is the recipe I followed. It is syn free on Extra Easy and contains two healthy extra A allowances.

Ingredients -- serves 6:

1 small pack of extra lean minced beef;
2 tins of chopped tomatoes;
2 tins of mushrooms;
2 medium onions;
1 box of lasagne sheets;
1 pack of quark;
90g of light mild chedder cheese (2 x healthy extra A allowance);
3 tablespoons of natural yogurt;
1 egg;
Salt;
Pepper;
2 garlic cloves;
Mixed herbs.

Method:

1) Lightly fry the garlic cloves, mixed herbs, salt, pepper, onion and beef, until the meat is brown. Then add the tomatoes and mushrooms and allow the mixture to simmer.

2) In a separate pan, add the quark, 45g of the chedder cheese, natural yogurt, salt, pepper and an egg and blend until smooth. Then lightly warm the mixture in a pan.

3) Layer the lasagne in the following way:

Add red sauce and a layer of pasta sheets --

Add the white sauce:

Add another layer of pasta sheets and top with red sauce:

4) cover the lasagne in foil and cook at gas mark 6 for 35 minutes.

5) Take the foil off, add the remaining cheese (45g) onto the top of the lasagne and allow to cook for a further 10 minutes.

This is what the lasagne looked like after we had eaten three potions (I forgot to take a picture when I first removed it from the oven).

Overall, I was very impressed with this recipe. The lasagne was really tasty and the white sauce was more cheesy then I thought it would be. I also worked out that this recipe cost me less than £1.50 per portion, which I think is pretty good value.

I definitely recommend you give this one a go. I might make another one next week and use beans instead of mince meat. This will make this recipe even cheaper and it will also be free on a green day.

Exercising

I try to get to either the swimming pool or the gym between three and four times a week. I go with my friend Leighanne and I find that having a friend with me really helps to keep me motivated and it means that I don’t make excuses in my head to get out of it!

In April, Leighanne and I will also be taking part in a Swimathon for Marie Curie. I will be swimming 100 lengths, which will be a big personal challenge. I hope I manage it.

Feel free to take a look at my sponsorship page and if you have a few spare pennies that you’d like to donate then I’d be very grateful.

I will be swimming with my lovely Nanna in mind. She sadly passed away a week ago. This is one of my favourite pictures of her, aged 17:

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Quick and easy food

I find that I break my Slimming World diet when I'm hungry and I come home and don’t have anything prepared in the fridge. Here are some quick and easy bits for your freezer to make sure you don't get caught out:

Syne free on all plans:

Syn free on Original and Extra Easy:

1/2 a syn on Original and Extra Easy:



1 syn on Original and Extra Easy:

1 1/2 syns on Original and Extra Easy:

And for thos ethat like the odd glass of wine... Try this out... 5 syns for one whole bottle.



Weigh in three

I put on 2.5lb this week. I think a few factors played a part in my gain, but I am not going to dwell on the reasons why. Instead, I have decided to react positively -- I am going to exercise as much as I can, I’m going to try out some new recipes and I am also going to incorporate two days of ’Success Express’ into my routine.

Success Express is a way of boosting your weight loss. It is quite difficult to explain and I am no expert, but the basis of this is that you fill two thirds of your plate with super free food during each meal. You are allowed two healthy extra A’s and two healthy extra B’s and you’re also allowed 10-15 syns a day. However, you have to take the highest syn value out of green, extra easy and original.

During image therapy in this week's class, we were spit into groups to come up with some Success Express meal ideas and I discovered that baked beans aren’t super free. All these months I have been trying to loose weight thinking that beans were free on all three Slimming World plans! I am hoping this realisation that they are just free and not super free will effect my weight loss!

Anyway guys, I am aiming for a big fat 5lb this week -- which is more than I have lost in one week ever. Wish me luck!

Eating and taking out

I have had to eat out three times in as many days. Eating out can be hard on any diet, but I think I managed to exert control (all things considered).

On Thursday I met up with my family for lunch. Sadly, my nanna passed the night before and the whole family came together to discuss arrangements over food. I think I could have fallen off the wagon in spectacular style here, as I was upset, emotional and very tired. But despite wanting to eat a quarter pounder and chips from the menu (an approximately 37.5 syns), I went for a jacket potato (without butter) a side salad and chilli -- the chilli was no more than a two tablespoons full, so I reckon I probably consumer six syns tops. So the difference between what I wanted and what I had was 31.5 syns.

That evening, I was also thrown another fast food curve ball. My mum said the family was ordering in Domino’s Pizza. I have just looked online and one slice of my favourite American Hot pizza would have cost me 20 syns a slice -- I would have had about 4 slices minimum -- taking me to an eye-watering 80 syns. However, instead, I went to the local Chinese and ordered chicken in Oyster Sauce (4.5 syns) and boiled rice. This meant that I had my takeaway fix, but I didn’t break the syn bank.

Yesterday I also went out for an Indian with family and friends. I decided to drive to avoid alcohol syns and I also chose what to eat before I went out. I opted for Bombay potato to start (7 syns), Chicken Dhansak for my main course (6.5 syns), with plain boiled rice (free).

I know that takeaways and eating out should be kept at a minimum when you’re trying to lose weight, but sometimes it can’t be avoided. I am please with how I did and I hope that the scales next week reflect the fact that I curved all of my usual, calorific favourites!

Weigh in 1 and 2...

I have weighed in twice since I rejoined slimming world and I lost 2.5lb in week one and 2.5lb in week two. I was really happy with this, because I have had a belated Christmas party (with free booze) and a 60^th birthday bash to contend with.

My 5lb loss also takes me back to a two stone overall loss. My aim is to have lost 3 and a half stone by the end of March -- when I have a bridesmaid dress fitting. If manage to lose 2.5lb a week then I will achieve this.

I can do it!

Coleslaw

I really like coleslaw, so I decided to make a Slimming World-friendly version to pop in the fridge and eat with jacket potatoes and with the salads I take to work. I looked online for a recipe and found about 10 different versions. Here is the one I went with:

Ingredients:

-Half a cabbage;
-1 large onion;
-2 carrots;
-2 tablespoons of light mayonnaise;
-10 tablespoons of fat free natural yogurt;
-1 tablespoon of French mustard;
-2 tablespoons of chives;
-Salt and pepper.

Syns = 3 for the whole bowl.

Method:

1) Chop the cabbage up coarsely;
2) Peel and grate two whole carrots and add to the bowl;
3) Finely chop one large onion;
4) Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl;
5) Add the light mayonnaise, yogurt, mustard and chives to the bowl and mix well;
6) Season with plenty of salt and pepper.

My thoughts…

This coleslaw tasted nice, but if I made it again I would use white cabbage rather than purple cabbage, because I kept thinking I was eating “healthy coleslaw” and not the real stuff. There’s no hiding cabbage when it’s bright purple!

Also, I think you’d be better off using fromage frais instead of yogurt within this recipe. I can’t seem to find fromage frais in my local supermarket, so I use natural yogurt as an alternative.

Overall, I'd say this is something I will definitely be making again. 

Roasted red pepper hummus

I adapted a recipe from an old magazine. I made A LOT of this, a bit too much in fact. I would suggest that you halved my ingredients because you will still end up with plenty...
　
Ingredients:

- 4 x tins of chick peas;
- 3 x roasted red peppers;
- 4 x roasted garlic cloves;
- Juice of 4 lemons;
- 500g cottage cheese with onion and chives;
- Salt, pepper and chilli flakes.

Syns = 4 for the whole lot.

Method:

1) Roast peppers and garlic for 40 minutes;
2) Juice two lemons;
2) Add all of the ingredients to one bowl and blend until relatively smooth.
3) Add salt, pepper and chilli flakes to season.

My thoughts…

This was ok, but I really missed the olive oil taste that you get with “real hummus”. That said, I did enjoy it and I would make a smaller batch again, as I think it’s a handy thing to have in the fridge for when you get hungry. It also tasted nice in a jacket potato.

Chicken and potato curry

I made this curry last night. The recipe is in the little recipe book that came free with this month’s Slimming World magazine (Jan / Feb). This recipe is free on extra easy…

Ingredients

-4 cloves, crushed;

-10 cardamom pods;

-2 tsp each of ground coriander and ground cumin;

-1 tsp each of ground cinnamon and chilli powder;
-¼ tsp turmeric;
-Fry Light
-1 large onion;
-5 garlic cloves, crushed;
-1 red and 1 green chilli deseeded and thinly sliced;
-300g potatoes cut into bite sized chunks;
-450g skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized chunks;
-400g can of chopped tomatoes;
-2tbs of artificial sweetener;

-300ml chicken stock;

-Salt an black pepper;
-Fat free natural yogurt.

Method

The recipe that came with the magazine is really well explained and comes with demonstration pictures that are much better than anything that I could produce, but here’s what I did:

-Add all the spices to a bowl;

-Fry the onion at a low heat for six minutes;

-Add the spice mix to the onions and add the chicken.

-Coat the chicken and then add the chicken stock, potatoes and tomatoes;

-Bing to the boil and leave to simmer for 45 minutes;

-Stir the yogurt in and serve.

The finished product should look something like this:

I really enjoyed this curry and it taste dissimilar to a takeaway curry. It reminded me of a Balti and my boyfriend ate it too. That said, I would probably add a few peppers into the mix next time.

I was fortunate to have a lot of the spices already in the cupboard and buying them all at once would be expensive. If you decide to do your own version of this they I do advise that you invest in cardamom pods. You get these in takeaway curries and I found that they added an authentic taste to this dish.

Gemma’s speed soup

I like making soups -- they are realy tasty and I find that they help to boost my weight loss. I found this recipe on my friend Gemma’s blog and I tweaked it slightly based on what I had in!

Ingredients

-Fry Light;

-1 can mixed bean salad;
-1 can green lentils;
-2 cans chopped tomatoes;
-1 can baked beans;
-2 large leeks;
-2 medium onions;
-2 small tins of carrots;
-2 red & 1 green pepper;
-2 beef or chicken or vegetable stock cubes dissolved in water (I used chicken);
-Salt;
-Pepper;
-Mixed herbs;
-Garlic;
-Chilli powder.

　
Method

　

-Spray the pans with Fry Light and fry the onion, peppers and leeks;

-Add the salt, pepper, mixed herbs, garlic and chilli powder and fry for a further three minutes;

 

-I had to split the ingredients across two pans:

 

-Add all other ingredients, boil and simmer for 40 minutes;

-Blend.

The recipe above resulted in five very generous portions.

This soup is really tasty and comforting. Perfect for cold winter days.

Buying lunch

On a Friday in work I like to treat myself to lunch. Obviously this can be calorific, but this week I bought a Subway sub salad. It was yummy…

I had it with sweet onion sauce -- which is two syns, but since then a friend said she buys a tub of syn-free cottage cheese to go with it so it is syn free.

Rejoining Slimming World

As I mentioned in my first post, I have decided to rejoin my local Slimming World class. I decided to do this because I find that having the support of a leader and a weekly weigh in that I can’t duck out of helps to keep me on the straight and narrow.

I have been away from Slimming World for around nine months and in that time I have regained 7lb and I have kept 21lb off. It could have been worse, but it could have been a hell of a lot better.

There were two ladies in group on Thursday that I last saw at Easter and after losing 7stone and 8 stone respectively, they look like different women. Big weight losses can be achieved…

Anyway, let my battle commence… I am carrying my food diary and book around me all the time until I’m back into the swing of it.

Lunch ideas

I work in an office that doesn’t have a microwave. This means that I have to be inventive when it comes to creating healthy food that is tasty cold. I hope that some of the ideas I post on here inspire you too.

Today I made this…





















I just made up a Batchelor’s savoury rice. I often do two packs at once -- making two lunches during one kitchen session.

I then roasted some vegetables -- in this case mushrooms, onion, tomato and peppers -- I added a couple of prawns and mixed it all up!

I will enjoy this cold at lunch tomorrow!

Roasted red pepper and tomato soup

The festivities have now ended and I put on about 4lb during the merriment, but tomorrow I am back in work -- after 10 days off -- and I am determined to kick start the weight loss.

Here is a lovely winter warming soup I made to help myself along.

Roasted red pepper and tomato (serves 6).

Ingredients:

-Fry Light;
-Chilli flakes, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce (to season);
-4 red peppers;
-4 fresh red tomatoes;
-3 tins of chopped tomatoes;
-1 big onion;
-1 carrot;
-2 cloves of garlic;
-2 stock cubes.


Method

Spray Fry Light onto a baking tray. Chop the peppers and tomatoes up, sprinkle with chilli flakes, salt and pepper and squirt fry light over the top of the vegetables.

Put the baking tray in the oven for 40 minutes at gas mark 7. When they come out they should look like this:

Next fry light a pan, add the onion, garlic and carrot and fry until soft.

Add the roasted vegetables to the pan, along with two pints of vegetable stock (made with the stock cubes) and the three cans of tomatoes.

Add a dash of Worcester Sauce.

Simmer for 30 minutes and blend.

This is what the finished product looks like:

Yummy!

A little bit of background...

Well it's 2012, which is the year when I will be a bridesmaid... twice!

I am going to be following my friend Sammy down the aisle. She will be marrying Chris on Friday 25 May. The dresses have all been ordered and I will be wearing a midnight blue number. However, the dress doesn't currently fit. Here's what I need to lose inch-wise to fit into the little beauty...

-2 inches from my bust;
-5 inches off my waist;
-5 inches off my hips.

The other three bridesmids are all size 8's, so I am by far the biggest, but I just want to look my best on my friend's big day. Aso, the thought of not fitting into the dress when we have our final fitting in March is giving me nightmares, so it's all hands to the deck to fit into it and to hopefuly have it taken in!

I have also been luckily enough to have another close friend ask me to be her bridesmaid and on Friday 10 August I will be following the lovely Christell down the aisle. She will be marrying Jon in a summer Somerset wedding.

I have not been measured for the the dress I will be wearing on Christell and Jon's big day, but I want to be much smaller than I am now. These pictures will be around forever, so looking good and feeling confident on my friend's big day is important.

Since I was originally asked to be a bridesmaid, I have tried to lose some weight and to get a bit fitter. I was a member Slimming World (rejoining on Thursday), I have been going to the gym with my friend Leighanne (I'm going back tomorrow) and I have been using the iPhone app My Fitness Pal to help monitor my progress. I have lost about two stone in total, which isn't masses, but I think you can sort of see a difference. Here's a couple of pics for you...

Before...

Now -- two stones lighter...