The week that was!

Howdy,

Here I am again to update you on my latest weigh in and tell you about some of the yummy things I've been eating.

So at this weeks weigh in I maintained, which is great. I've decided not to beat myself up anymore if I don't register a loss. It's about looking at the bigger picture and if I can avoid putting weight on I've done a good job.

This week we stuck to meals we'd had and enjoyed before. I do love cooking and trying new recipes, but sometimes I just want something quick, easy and delicious. All of these meals were made in 30 minutes or less.

Speedy Carbonara with Mushrooms

Once again this tasted delicious and has become one of my favourites.

Burger in a Bowl

Tim had been asking for this for a few weeks and I didn't fancy it, so this week I gave in and I'm so glad I did. Tasty and satisfying. Perfect!!

Lamb Korma and rice

You may remember that the last time I made a batch of Korma I froze a portion. I defrosted this in the fridge overnight which meant it just needed reheating, rice cooking and beans steaming. All ready in 15 minutes! Fast food at it's best!

Oven baked Salmon and New Potatoes

This is exactly what it says on the tin. Beautiful melt in the mouth salmon, that had been wrapped in foil and cooked for 20 minutes in the oven. Tender new potatoes, crisp and crunchy salad and a dill sauce (quark, lemon juice and fresh dill). No fuss but so delicious.

So there we have it. Lots of fresh, tasty, nutritious food and all ready to eat in less than 30 minutes!

Until next time.

Sarah xx

The week that was! (Well two weeks actually)!!

So my posts have become a little irregular and for that I apologise. 

I'd slightly lost my blogging mojo. But, after a few people mentioned how much they are enjoying reading my witterings (thank you lovely people, it's nice to know you are out there), I thought I better get back on it!

Anyway, enough of my jabbering on. Firstly an update on my last two weigh ins at Slimming World.

Last week I lost 1/2lb, not as much as I was hoping for but it still took me in the right direction. This week I lost 2lb, which took me to my 3 1/2 stone award. To say I was delighted is an understatement. Each time I get a certificate I pin it on the noticeboard in my kitchen as a reminder of how well I'm doing and how far I've come. It also keeps me focused in moments of weakness, which there can be a few!

Right let me tell you about some of the delicious things I ate during those two weeks.

Austrian Ham and Potato Hash

This recipe is from the October Slimming World magazine. Part of a section on simple, speedy and money saving recipes. This is syn free on extra easy, is ready in about 30 minutes and it claims costs approximately £1.30 a serving.

Basically stir fry chopped onion, garlic, celery and tinned new potatoes in a frying pan sprayed with Frylight for about 7 minutes, until lightly browned. Then stir in chopped canned lean ham, caraway seeds, paprika, grated carrots and stock and cook for another 7 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and most of the stock has been absorbed. We then topped it with an egg fried in Frylight. 

This was really lovely. I like recipes that can be made quickly and use ingredients easily available and usually in the store cupboard. I can see this one being a regular during the cool Autumn/Winter months.

Speedy Carbonara with mushrooms

This recipe is in the new paperback version of the Extra Easy Express cookbook, available from group for £6.99.

This is a much lighter version of a classic Italian comfort food. 

Ready in about 20 minutes and syn fee on extra easy, the combination of pasta, lean bacon, garlic, onion, mushrooms and egg is absolutely delicious. I did find the sound of the egg mixture being added to the cooked pasta a little odd, but it actually tasted really nice, as the heat thickens the egg as it coats the pasta. Yummy!

Grilled Gammon with egg, tomato salsa, chips and peas

This was fab. Lovely griddled gammon, Slimming World Chips, eggs fried in Frylight, a deliciously zesty salsa made with rocket, tomatoes, spring onions and lime and fresh peas. What more do you need?

This meal idea was in the August/September Slimming World magazine, takes about 40 minutes to make and is syn free on extra easy.

Lamb Korma with rice

Again from the August/September magazine, this recipe is great to make double of and freeze, which is what I did. Ideal for those days when you don't feel like cooking, but want something on plan and delicious.

Everything you want in a Korma, tender lamb, tasty vegetables and plenty of curry flavour. Serve it with Basmati rice, steamed green beans and wedges of lime. 

Takes just over an hour to make, but is completely worth it and is totally syn free on extra easy. Perfect!

Mixed Root Vegetable Soup

I bought the Little Book of Soups from group, as I decided that I'd like to start having soup for some lunches and they are ideal to have in the freezer ready for those colder autumnal days ahead.

This was the first one I made and it is lovely and warming, perfect for when it's chillier outside.  I made 4 servings, so I could pop some in the freezer. 

I served it topped with some fat free natural yogurt and a wholemeal roll (healthy extra B) spread with a tub of Philadelphia Light cheese (1/2 of my healthy extra A).

I plan on making some more soups from the book, over the next few weeks, Scotch Broth and Pea and Ham, so I'll keep you posted.

Minted Lamb Kebabs

We had my parents over for tea to celebrate George's birthday and also their Ruby wedding anniversary. We decided we wanted to make something we could all enjoy, so along with plenty of superfree salad and new potatoes, Tim made the lamb kebabs from the Fakeaways book. They went down a treat, even George loved them, Scarlett not so keen, but she's fussy!! And because they're syn free on extra easy you can enjoy as many as you like!

And that's it. Thank you to everyone who continues to support me on this journey, lifestyle change, whatever it wants to be called. I really do appreciate all of the encouragement, advice and nice things said to me. It keeps me motivated and if I can motivate others then I must be doing something right.

Until next time.

Sarah xx

The week that was!

Apologies for how late this post is!!

Phew, things are finally getting back to some sort of normality and routine now that school is back in session.  Fingers crossed my posts will become a little more regular! 

Firstly let me tell you about this weeks weigh in. I maintained, which, once I fill you in on how busy we've been, you will understand I am delighted with. Therefore I am still 2lbs away from reaching 3 1/2 stone. I have it in my sights and I'll be hoping to get closer to it this week.

So here is what I got up to and ate during that rather hectic week.

Tim's brother Sam and fiancé Hannah were getting married on the 30th August in Oxford and I had offered to make the wedding cake as their gift. We decided on a three tier cake consisting of fruit, carrot and chocolate cake. You may remember my trial run of the carrot cake that I talked about in a previous post.

With the cake preparation in mind we planned to eat things that we were familiar with and were easy to prepare. 

Hot and Sour Soup - Recipe can be found in the May/June edition of the Slimming World magazine.

Warm Breakfast Salad - As above.

Thursday was the busiest day, on my feet most of the day baking, filling and icing cakes! So by tea time I was rather pooped and neither myself or Tim had the energy to prepare a meal. We decided to have a Chinese takeaway, as I find this the easiest one to chose something healthier.

I chose a King Prawn Foo Young (basically an omelette with prawns, onion and peas) and boiled rice, I also stole a tiny drizzle of Tim's Sweet and Sour sauce! It was delicious, but I don't feel I was too naughty, just need to allow a few syns for any oil it was cooked in.

Friday was the day we travelled down to Oxford. After packing the car securely so that the cakes were safe, we set off just after lunch, arriving about 3pm. We stayed in a lovely apartment about 10 minutes drive from the centre of Oxford, you can take a look here http://www.theoxfordapartments.co.uk/Apartments_first_second_floor.htm. It was a fantastic base for our weekend.

After unloading the car and dropping off the cake at the venue in the centre of Oxford, it was getting towards tea time. So, as we didn't know the area we did a quick google search and decided to head for the local Harvester. I had a grilled chicken breast with jacket potato and lots of salad from the salad bar. Perfect.

Saturday was the big day. We had a brunch before we got ready to leave, as we knew we wouldn't be eating until late afternoon. I passed on the croissants and pain au chocolates and just enjoyed the rest.

The wedding was fantastic, we all had a wonderful time. The food was delicious. The kiddywinks had fruit salad to start, followed by sausage and mash and ice cream.  We ate seared seabass, followed by duck with mini roast potatoes and vegetables, then chocolate brownie and ice cream (which I gave to Tim and George).

The kids finally started to flag about 9.30pm, so we headed back to our apartment.

On Sunday we decided to have a visit to Stamford, as we'd read there was an Antique and Collectables Fair taking place.  We'd not been to Stamford before and it was beautiful. 

We decided to have some lunch at a local coffee shop. Unfortunately it wasn't as nice as we'd hoped. Sadly there wasn't a lot on the menu for me to chose from, so I plumped for the gammon and egg, with a jacket potato instead of chips. When it arrived there were no vegetables or salad and the gammon and egg were swimming in oil!! I ate what I could, but it didn't taste very nice. Next time we visit we will do a little research to find somewhere nicer to eat.

After a little walk round we set off home to get ready for George's birthday.

On Monday we celebrated George's 3rd birthday. I decided not to make a big cake, so instead made him some lovely chocolate cupcakes, just as he requested. We popped out into Loughborough for a nice lunch at Tylers. I had a lovely seafood salad, but didn't eat the ciabatta, the kiddywinks ate this as a snack later.

I had a tiny bit cake when I returned from weigh in on Monday night, it was delicious.

So there we have it, a very hectic week.  Hopefully next week will be a little calmer!

Until next time.

Sarah xx