Food & Fitness

Chicken Korma

2010-02-09T08:47:00.004Z

It’s time for tempt my tummy Tuesdays again, and this week I am sharing a recipe I slightly adapted from one of Jamie Oliver's books. Chicken Korma.

Gather together:

800 g Skinless and boneless chicken thighs, cut into about 1 inch pieces
2 medium onions, finely sliced
a Thumb sized piece of root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
a small bunch of fresh coriander
1 tin chickpeas, drained
vegetable oil
a knob of butter
1/2 a jar of Korma curry paste
1 tin of coconut milk
a small handful of flaked almonds
2 heaped tbsp desiccated coconut
salt and pepper
500g natural yoghurt
1 lemon

At this point you might look at the only tiny piece of ginger in your fridge, realise it's a bit soft and choose to replace it with the ginger mush out of a jar. Not saying I did that or anything, ahem. . . . But if you were to, I would say a couple of decent teaspoons would make a thumb sized piece.

You might also realise that you had measured out 2 tbsp of ground almonds rather than coconut (it was a distracting morning) and quickly swap it for the coconut.

Pick the leaves off the coriander and put to one side. Finely chop the stalks.

Heat a large pan on a high heat and add a couple of lugs of the oil. Put the chopped chicken into the pan, stir around and brown lightly on all sides for about 5 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the pan to a plate or dish.

Toss the onions, ginger, coriander stalks and butter into the pan

and then wish you could "record" the wonderful smell to share with all your friends on the internet.

Stir it enough to prevent it catching and burning, and cook for about 10 minutes until starting to turn golden.

Add the korma curry paste, coconut milk, half your flaked almonds, the drained chickpeas and the desiccated coconut to the pan.

Return the chicken to the pan. Add 1/4 can of water and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer.

Simmer for 30 minutes, checking occasionally to see if it is drying out, and adding more water if necessary.

When the chicken is tender and cooked, season with the salt and pepper.

Serve sprinkled with the rest of the flaked almonds and the coriander leaves, and with natural yoghurt and lemon wedges and rice.

If you want to check out more recipes, head over to Blessed with grace by clicking on the Tempt my Tummy Banner at the top of this post.

Menu Plan Monday

2010-01-24T19:20:00.002Z

MONDAY
Breakfast – Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Probably going to grab a sandwich in town either before or after my swim.
Dinner – Pulled Pork, rice and mixed vegetables
Snacks –
Remember to:

TUESDAY
Breakfast – Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Sandwich at home, probably tuna mayo
Dinner – Sausages and mashed potato for the boys, as hubby and I are going to a meal with our small group from church.
Snacks –
Remember to: Go do the grocery shopping on the way home from small group

WEDNESDAY
Breakfast – Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – CHICKEN SOUP!
Dinner – Baked tuna and tomato pasta
Snacks –
Remember to: Start the chicken soup early enough.

THURSDAY
Breakfast - Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – SOUP
Dinner – Pizza and wedges for the boys. Hubby is cooking dinner for me and him for date night.
Snacks –
Remember to: Check we have everything hubby needs for tonight's meal.

Friday
Breakfast - Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – SOUP
Dinner – Pie and Mash. The pie is in the freezer and I think it is a chicken and gravy pie. I will hopefully be able to get desiree potatoes as i think they make better mash.
Snacks –
Remember to:

SATURDAY
Breakfast – Bacon Sandwiches
Lunch – might still be some soup left, if so, I'll have that and the rest of the family are welcome to join me.
Dinner – Sticky 5 spice pork with rice
Snacks -
Remember to: Get the duck out to defrost

SUNDAY
Breakfast - Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – We never decide on this one until it's time.
Dinner – Roast Duck with roast potatoes, steamed veggies, stuffing, gravy, and anything else that comes to mind!
Snacks -
Remember to:

If you want to check out more menu idea, go to Organizing junkie by clicking on the menu plan Monday banner at the top of this post.

Menu Plan Monday

2010-01-18T07:35:00.002Z

MONDAY
Breakfast – Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Tinned Soup or lunch out in town (if I have a meeting there)
Dinner – Roast Pork, with lots of steamed veggies and gravy.
Snacks – banana after swim.
Remember to:

TUESDAY
Breakfast – Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Could be a busy day, may be making a sandwich rather than anything else
Dinner – Leftover Pork, in a curry sauce, served with rice.
Snacks – If time bake a cake for small group.
Remember to:

WEDNESDAY
Breakfast – Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Butternut Squash Soup
Dinner – Spicy Chickpeas and tomatoes. With crusty bread and salad.
Snacks –
Remember to:

THURSDAY
Breakfast - Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Soup
Dinner – Date night at the carvery.
Snacks –
Remember to:

Friday
Breakfast - Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – soup
Dinner – Pie and mash
Snacks –
Remember to:

SATURDAY
Breakfast – Bacon Sandwiches
Lunch –
Dinner – Eating out at friends house if weather co operates. If not will go and get a pizza from the supermarket pizza counter. - MY BIRTHDAY!
Snacks -
Remember to:

SUNDAY
Breakfast - Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch –
Dinner – Tacos meal, with crisp corn taco trays (rather than shell shaped ones), spicy mince, salad, sour cream and grated cheese.
Snacks -
Remember to:

If you want to check out more menu idea, go to Organizing junkie by clicking on the menu plan Monday banner at the top of this post.

Menu Plan Monday

2010-01-11T10:01:00.002Z

MONDAY
Breakfast – Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Lentil & Carrot Soup
Dinner – Baked Risotto with Chorizo & Cherry Tomatoes
Snacks – crackers and Shropshire blue Cheese
Remember to:

TUESDAY
Breakfast – Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch –Lentil & Carrot soup
Dinner – Small Group After Christmas Meal - I think we're having a roast dinner.
Snacks –
Remember to: Make sure the boys know they are doing their own dinner.

WEDNESDAY
Breakfast – Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Lentil & Carrot soup
Dinner – Chicken & Cashew nut Stir Fry
Snacks – Any last portions of the soup
Remember to:

THURSDAY
Breakfast - Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Eating out. Hubby has the day off because of the installation of something with our cable supplier here at home, but our installation slot is the morning, so he and I can go out for lunch. Will probably be either Frankie & Bennys OR Pizza Hut. MAYBE Chinese but that involves a longer drive.
Dinner – Hearty Chowder with fresh baked crusty bread
Snacks –
Remember to:

Friday
Breakfast - Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Cook Yourself thin Proper Chicken Soup
Dinner – I will make something with the sausagemeat and pastry that it is in the freezer. To be served with steamed vegetables
Snacks –
Remember to: defrost lamb for tomorrow if needed

SATURDAY
Breakfast – Bacon Sandwiches
Lunch – Proper Chicken Soup
Dinner – Rhogan Josh and Pilau rice made with a Jamie Oliver Spice mix
Snacks -
Remember to: defrost tomorrow's dinner

SUNDAY
Breakfast - Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – We never decide this before hand as even when we do we rarely stick to it. It will usually be whatever we can throw together easily when we get back from church.
Dinner – Unpulled pulled pork, steamed veggies and rice or pasta
Snacks -
Remember to:

If you want to check out more menu idea, go to Organizing junkie by clicking on the menu plan Monday banner at the top of this post.

Using Up Leftovers

2010-01-06T19:37:00.003Z

This is one of my favourite recipes for using up leftovers. In this case leftovers of gammon (ham for my American friends) and vegetables.

When we had a roast gammon joint on New Years Day, I knew there was going to be leftover meat so I cooked extra vegetables at the same time so that I could make this the day after.

So, the first thing you will need is leftover vegetables and gammon. In this case I think we have potatoes, carrots, cauliflower and parsnips, but you could use pretty much whatever you have on hand.

Chop these into bite sized pieces and place in an ovenproof dish.

Then you will need the ingredients for a cheese sauce. Again this is leftovers. I used up the last of the Holiday season cheeses, Gouda, mature cheddar and Shropshire Blue! If you have never eaten Shropshire Blue you should try it. I have never liked blue cheese, ever, and some times last year I finally tried some Shropshire blue and I LOVE IT!

Grate the cheese

Then you need butter, flour and milk. For 4 people I used 80 grams butter, 80 grams flour and 1 pint of milk.

If you prefer a thinner sauce, use more milk.
I didn't weigh the butter out, I used the 50g marks on the packet as a guide and cut through it Jamie style.

Melt the butter in a pan

Add the flour

and whisk in, remembering to use a non stick friendly whisk such as this one if you have non stick pans.

Cook for a couple of minutes. This is an important step and removes any raw taste from the flour.
THEN, remove the pan from the heat and GRADUALLY add the milk, a little at a time, whisking thoroughly after each bit.

It will actually get THICKER first, not thinner. Do not panic, this is meant to happen!

Keep adding the milk a bit at a time, whisking as you go, and eventually you will get back to a very thin sauce. Put the pan back on the heat, and whisking fairly often to stop it sticking, bring to a boil. As it comes to the boil it will thicken. Once the bubbles start to appear it is best to then whisk as it comes to a proper boil, just to make sure it doesn't stick.

Once the sauce has thickened

you can add the cheese

and season to taste, although with all that cheese it probably will not need any salt, just a bit of pepper. Taste and see what you think.

When seasoning always add less than you think you need and taste again as it is easy to add more but very difficult to remove it.

Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables

Cover with foil

and bake in the oven for 45 minutes, removing the foil about 15 minutes before the end, or sooner if you like a nice crispy top.

Remove from the oven and serve.

I know that at times with these recipe instructions it might seem as if I am teaching my grandma to suck eggs as it were, BUT I am putting these together for my late teens son who will be leaving home next year, and may need every step explaining, if I am not around to ask details.

Go check out some other Tempt my Tummy Tuesday posts by clicking on the banner at the top of this post.

Menu Plan Monday

2010-01-04T07:15:00.000Z

Just getting back into the swing of organising and planning for the new year.

MONDAY
Breakfast – Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Tomato and basil soup with crusty bread
Dinner – Chicken Ragu with pasta
Snacks – extra soup, but on it's own
Remember to: Go to supermarket early enough to get the stuff to make the soup for lunch.

TUESDAY
Breakfast – Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Tomato and basil soup with bread
Dinner – Chicken Breast Steaks, Potato Wedges and steamed vegetables.
Snacks – crispbreads with low fat soft cheese and possibly a slice of cake at small group.
Remember to:

WEDNESDAY
Breakfast – Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Chicken Soup with bread
Dinner – Chicken with White Wine and olives
Snacks – extra soup on it's own
Remember to:

THURSDAY
Breakfast - Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Chicken soup with bread
Dinner – Leann's Lentils and Rice, Tacos, salad, grated cheese
Snacks – fruit
Remember to: start crock-pot early enough for the lentils and rice

Friday
Breakfast - Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Carrot and Orange Soup with bread
Dinner – Lamb Stew with Potatoes
Snacks – extra soup
Remember to:

SATURDAY
Breakfast – Bacon Sandwiches
Lunch – Carrot & Orange soup with crusty bread
Dinner – Chicken Tikka with fragrant rice
Snacks -
Remember to:

SUNDAY
Breakfast - Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch –
Dinner – Grandmothers Chicken Fried Rice
Snacks -
Remember to:

If you want to check out more menu idea, go to Organizing junkie by clicking on the menu plan Monday banner at the top of this post.

Back to the weight loss efforts.

2009-12-07T16:01:00.001Z

It's been a while. First of all i got a bit off track, then I got incredibly busy and got way off track.

I think I might have put back on 6 or 7 pounds, but I am going to drink all my water for a few days before I weigh in again, to see if I can flush and water weight.

I have to remind myself sometimes of WHY I am doing this, and some of my weight related health issues returning has certainly helped me along that line of thinking. OK so they're not as bad as they were before, much milder, but still they have returned and given me a kick up the backside!

I am still busy, but busy in different ways, ways that don't get into my head and mess my thinking about, ways that don't keep me out of the house at all different times so I never have a routine to settle into. THIS busy I can handle and I have taken steps to ensure that this period of time next year will have less of the head scrambling busy attached to it.

So I decided before the weekend that MONDAY would be the day I would start taking this seriously again, and so I did. I ate breakfast, I logged it, i started drinking my water and got on with my day.

Then I went to a local school to speak in the assembly. They invited me into the staff room afterwards. There were cakes. Very good cakes, cakes made by a lady from my church who also works in that school, but is leaving when they break up for Christmas. I KNOW how good her cakes are, I have tasted them many times before, as she is in our small group at church.

I RESISTED!
I sat there with a glass of water and watched all those teachers helping themselves to large slices of cakes, and I RESISTED! Go Me!

Menu Plan Monday

2009-12-07T11:45:00.004Z

MONDAY 7th
Breakfast – Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Thai Style Chicken Soup with wholemeal oatbran bread
Dinner – Roast Chicken, Mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables
Snacks – MIGHT make some cookies
Remember to: Get frozen chicken carcasses out to defrost

TUESDAY 8th
Breakfast – Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Leftover mash with leftover chicken
Dinner – Pork Steaks with pasta in cheese sauce and steamed vegetables
Snacks – ?
Remember to: Make chicken stock with all the carcasses together.

WEDNESDAY 9th
Breakfast – Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Might treat myself to lunch out and do a bit of shopping at the same time.
Dinner – Sausage Casserole with Jacket Spuds (baked potatoes)
Snacks –
Remember to: Skim fat off yesterday's stock, bottle and freeze for Christmas day.

THURSDAY 10th
Breakfast - Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Tomato and Basil Soup, bread
Dinner – Shepherd's Pie (make extra and freeze for during Christmas week when we're fed up of turkey)
Snacks –
Remember to:

Friday 11th
Breakfast - Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Sandwich
Dinner – Beef Thin Steaks, Potato Wedges, Steamed Vegetables
Snacks –
Remember to:

SATURDAY 12th
Breakfast – Bacon Sandwiches
Lunch – This never gets decided until about half an hour before we want to eat, ho hum!
Dinner – Pizza and salad
Snacks -
Remember to:

SUNDAY 13th
Breakfast - Cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Out for the day at relatives
Dinner – Out for the day at relatives
Snacks -
Remember to:

If you want to check out more menu idea, go to Organizing junkie by clicking on the menu plan Monday banner at the top of this post.

Menu Plan Monday

2009-11-23T09:46:00.002Z

MONDAY 23rd
Breakfast – toast and low fat butter spread
Lunch – Something from the supermarket reduced cabinet probably!
Dinner – Pork Chops, mashed potato, vegetables
Snacks – ,
Remember to:

TUESDAY 24th
Breakfast – cereal, semi skimmed milk,
Lunch –
Dinner – chicken drumsticks and thighs, cooked in the crock pot with lots of veggies. Hmmm, no idea what flavour route I will take, I usually make crock pot things up as I go along. THIS is subject to being able to find the lid for the crock pot!
Snacks – ,
Remember to: put crockpot on in plenty of time and leave instructions for 18 year old to add any last minute items to it.

DEFROST braised mince for tomorrow

WEDNESDAY 25th
Breakfast – toast and honey
Lunch – Packed lunch at shoebox warehouse.
Dinner – Quorn (vegetarian meat substitute) curry with microwave rice
Snacks –
Remember to:

THURSDAY 26th
Breakfast - cereal, semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Packed Lunch at shoebox warehouse
Dinner – Sausages and mashed potato
Snacks –
Remember to:

Friday 27th
Breakfast - toast and honey
Lunch –
Dinner – chicken Breast Steaks with Potato Wedges
Snacks –
Remember to:

SATURDAY 28th
Breakfast – Bacon Sandwiches
Lunch –
Dinner – Shepherd's pie
Snacks -
Remember to:

SUNDAY 29th
Breakfast - toast, jam
Lunch –
Dinner – Something with chicken breasts from the freezer - maybe I will let 15 year old cook dinner in his new Tagine!
Snacks -
Remember to:

If you want to check out more menu idea, go to Organizing junkie by clicking on the menu plan Monday banner at the top of this post.

Interesting Weekend

2009-10-14T12:08:00.002+01:00

Most people who read my blog will already know about this, but for those of you who haven't heard, I have had an interesting weekend.

It was our church weekend away in Wales.
It is always interesting sharing with families you have not shared with before, and we had a great tiem getting to know people better.

Saturday afternoon is always left free for people to do whatever they want, either individually or in a group, etc.
My husband and I decided to walk up the "mountain" that is right by the site. I say "mountain" in inverted commas because strictly speaking it is not a mountain at only 1542 feet, mountains have to be 2000 feet, but all the signs marking the route call it a mountain, so I will too. To understand the significance of this you have to understand just how much I have been limited physically these last few years. With the fractured tailbone and resulting back pain, my weight, pain in my feet and legs from fallen arches, and the sleep apnoea before it was treated causing lower and lower energy, I had become incredibly limited in what I could do. I walked nowhere, and certainly did not go on walks for the fun of it.

Over the last few months as I have begun to lose the weight and been on my CPAP machine etc hubby and I have begun to tackle walks I would never have dreamed of being possible even before I hurt my back, each building on the last.
I CLIMBED A "MOUNTAIN!" I stood at the top yelling it at the top of my lungs! It was an incredible experience physically, emotionally and spiritually, because this whole process is not just physical but spiritual, it's all about taking back the ground the enemy had stolen!
I get the impression the enemy was not impressed because I had a slip coming back down the "mountain". I landed on my bum and slid a good 5 feet or more, fairly near to a steep drop off on one side.

Then later in the afternoon as we were preparing dinner I managed to spill a kettle full of hot water over myself, causing a very nasty scald. I responded quickly and was up and running for the bathroom shouting "cold shower" before the lady who was in the kitchen with me even realised what had happened. Unfortunately the showers are push button ones that warm up after you press the button and you can't put them onto cold, so the other friends who were sharing with us formed a chain bringing me every container they could find filled with cold water. I was yelling out instructions for people to go tell the other chalets and get them to pray, then telling them where the directions to the nearest hospital are kept and so on! At one point I realised i was going into shock and said so, so some kind soul made me chew 3 glucose tablets. It was weird, usually glucose tablets taste awful, and these didn't, I don't know if it was because I needed it so much or what.

So eventually hubby was ready, with directions to drive me to the hospital. It was only my upper half that was scalded, so they got me some dry trousers from my case and blankets to wrap around my upper half to maintain some dignity. As I walked out to the car, there was a crowd in our chalet who were all cheering and clapping! Gotta love em! It was over 30 minutes to the hospital, without any fresh cold water, so by the time we got there I was in a lot of pain! We were seen immediately! Walked straight in and were dealt with straight away! They gave me one of the gel burn dressings for my arm, and a dressing pad with burn gel for my side, which we kept in place with my bra. The cooling effect of the gel dressing did not kick in for at least 2 hours, OUCH that was a painful 2 hours. I was in tears at times. But when it did kick in it was amazing!

Now I don't have any dressings on my arm, I just have a piece of tubigrip on there to protect the skin. Today my arm is itching. That means it is healing, but it is incredibly frustrating!

I am not stopping, I will continue to climb my hills and mountains. In fact I have a feeling the Wrekin is not far off, something I have never managed to complete since we moved to Telford! A friend from the local newspaper who went to Belarus with me last year on an Operation Christmas child distribution trip has promised to come up with me and take photos!

I wasn't sure about staying for the rest of camp and did wonder about going home a night early, I'm glad i stayed, it truly was the right decision, I would have missed out on something incredibly significant Sunday morning had I not stayed!

At the beginning of every year I and a number of friends each seek God for a personal theme for the year and a bible verse to back it up! This year's theme for me was BREAKTHROUGH and this year's verse was Joshua chapters 1-6, in particular chapter 3, verse 4a, "Then you will know which way to go since you have never been this way before."

And indeed that was the verse that was preached on for Sunday morning. We had an awesome powerful time.

Menu Plan Monday

2009-10-05T09:43:00.002+01:00

Hmmmm, not all details filled in on this one, I'm busy during the day in the week and we have church weekend away Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon.

MONDAY 31st
Breakfast – carrot and pumpkin bread roll with low fat cheese and relish
Lunch – Probably a bowl of soup or maybe cereal
Dinner – I don't know yet, it was supposed to be cuban chicken and beans but that meant a drive to the bigger supermarket and I can't do that because my car is waiting to have it's rear windscreen replaced. I will nip to the closer smaller supermarket on foot and see what they have.
Snacks – ,
Remember to: actually go into that supermarket since I will be on the way back from somewhere else when I do it, there's a chance that I might forget because of having my mind on other things.

TUESDAY 1st
Breakfast – cereal, semi skimmed milk,
Lunch – ?
Dinner – breaded fish portions and oven chips (fries)
Snacks – ,
Remember to: leave instructions for 18 year old who will be putting dinner in the oven for me.

DEFROST braised mince for tomorrow

WEDNESDAY 2nd
Breakfast – cereal, milk.
Lunch – ?
Dinner – Economy Gastronomy Cottage pie
Snacks –
Remember to:

THURSDAY 3rd
Breakfast - cereal, semi skimmed milk
Lunch – ?,
Dinner – Sausage and mash for the boys, me and hubby going to 2 for £7 curry night.
Snacks –
Remember to:Buy and pack food for church away weekend.

Friday 4th
Breakfast - cereal, semi skimmed milk
Lunch – ?
Dinner – Church away weekend, friends we are sharing with are responsible for this meal.
Snacks – .
Remember to:

SATURDAY 5th
Breakfast – cereal, milk, toast, jam.
Lunch – ?
Dinner – hmmmm, we're responsible for this meal for us and the family we are sharing with, have to come up with something that is friendly to being cooked in a kitchen that may have limited facilities, but is also friendly to most "tastes" and is friendly to my current healthy eating plan.
Snacks -
Remember to:

SUNDAY 6th
Breakfast - cereal, milk, toast, jam
Lunch – Bring and Share meal at church weekend away.
Dinner – tinned soup, refreshed part baked rolls.
Snacks -
Remember to:

If you want to check out more menu idea, go to Organizing junkie by clicking on the menu plan Monday banner at the top of this post.

Menu Plan Monday

2009-08-31T08:00:00.000+01:00

MONDAY 31st
Breakfast – cereal, semi skimmed milk, yoghurt
Lunch – Pork Ribs with salad
Dinner – Pork Lasagne using leftover pork and tomato sauce from yesterday.
Snacks – ,
Remember to: also make gnocchi dish and freeze it.

TUESDAY 1st
Breakfast – cereal, semi skimmed milk, yoghurt
Lunch – something as light as possible, saving calories for dinner.
Dinner – Small Group BBQ
Snacks – ,
Remember to: check if we need to bring anything to the BBQ. MAKE BREAD. Defrost Chicken breasts for tomorrow.

WEDNESDAY 2nd
Breakfast – cloudberry jam (a new IKEA find) on home made bread.
Lunch – Pork sandwiches if there is still any left.
Dinner – Jamie Oliver's Chicken Tikka
Snacks –
Remember to: DEFROST portion of basic mince.

THURSDAY 3rd
Breakfast - yoghurt cereal, semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Cous Cous and tuna,
Dinner – Cottage Pie.
Snacks –
Remember to:

Friday 4th
Breakfast - cereal, semi skimmed milk, yoghurt
Lunch – Tin of soup with bread or crispbreads
Dinner – Sausages and mashed potatoes with veggies.
Snacks – .
Remember to: Go to butchers and buy piece of gammon (ham before it's cooked).

SATURDAY 5th hubby and eldest son not here.
Breakfast – Bacon, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms, with baked beans.
Lunch – Crisp Breads, ham, salad
Dinner – Hot and Sour Chicken Broth with home made bread.
Snacks -
Remember to:

SUNDAY 6th
Breakfast - cereal, semi skimmed milk, yoghurt
Lunch –
Dinner – Boiled Ham Bedrock meal with spinach dumplings and veggies.
Snacks -
Remember to:

If you want to check out more menu idea, go to Organizing junkie by clicking on the menu plan Monday banner at the top of this post.

ECONOMY GASTRONOMY ADVENTURES - Part 3

2009-08-21T17:05:00.000+01:00

Macaroni Cheese.

Now I know Americans are MUCH better at macaroni Cheese than us Brits, on the whole, but this was AMAZING, the MOST delicious Macaroni Cheese I have ever tasted.

According to the book the recipe serves 4 but it was far too much and for me would easily serve 6, which is what I have listed it as on Spark Recipes:
recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detai
l.asp?recipe=728944

My hubby and teen sons all ate 1/4 each, I only had my 1/6, and saved the other part for lunch the following day.
It has bacon lardons in it, but only 100g in the whole dish, so that's nto going to break your diet. it also has artichoke hearts, which I have never eaten or cooked with before. You top the dish with sliced tomatoes and a sprinkling of grated parmesan before popping it into the oven.

I made the sauce slightly lower fat by using sauce flour which is an extra finely milled flour that you can use to make white sauce with milk and the flour without using butter.
But the cheese is obviously the big problem.

I have finally found a low fat cheese that I like, Cathedral City Lighter Mature Cheddar.
I lost count of how many low fat cheeses I tired over the years on my way to finding this one, but finally I did.

So next time we make this I might try using that cheese and see how it turns out. If it works well, I will alter the Spark recipe accordingly.

ECONOMY GASTRONOMY ADVENTURES - Part 2

2009-08-21T16:54:00.000+01:00

So, if you've been following this, first I wrote about the theory behind Economy Gastronomy.

THEN I wrote about what we've done with chicken this week.

Now onto what I'm doing today with Turkey Mince (or ground turkey). I'm using their bedrock recipe for braised beef mince, but using turkey mince for the lower fat content. In all other ways the recipe is as theirs.
recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=731380

So that is currently cooking in a pan right now. Again I made a double batch, so I peeled and chopped lots of onions, cheated on the garlic by using the ready chopped stuff in a jar, and added some herbs. This I fried in a bit of oil until softened and slightly coloured.
I put that to one side, then fried the mince in batches and added it to the pan with tins of chopped tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce and beef stock.

That is now simmering away uncovered for over an hour until it reduces nicely.
I would say you do NOT need as much stock as the recipe says, but it might work differently with beef mince, but go careful with how much you use.

In a short while that will be ready, I will split it into 6 portions each will make a meal for the 4 of us! 4 of them will go into the freezer once cooled and the remaining two will go on this evening to be made into Bolognese sauce, half of which I will serve over pasta tonight and half of which I will keep in the fridge to make into lasagne on Sunday.
The Bolognese recipe is here:
recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=731389

Later I'll share about the totally decadent macaroni cheese. WOW it was amazing!

ECONOMY GASTRONOMY ADVENTURES - Part 1

2009-08-21T16:42:00.000+01:00

I really must get back into the habit of taking photos when I am making recipes I want to share.

As it is you will have to imagine most of this stuff.
For an explanation of the theory behind ECONOMY GASTRONOMY check out this link to my previous blog post.
www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=2334246

This week I have made 2 of the bedrock recipes
I am used to the concept of batch cooking so I doubled both of the basic recipes to give me more to work with.

First I poached 3 whole chickens in water with a couple of carrots, leeks, onions and peppercorns.
I cut the chicken into portions BEFORE cooking it and also skinned it then too.
When the chicken had finished poaching, I put the portions to one side to cook and put the water through a strainer, to get out the veg and put the stock aside to cool.

I stripped the chicken off the bones, chopped it up and put it into containers in the fridge. Once the stock had cooled I did the same with that.
Once all the bones had cooled I popped them into a freezer bag. I doubled that with another layer of freezer bag in case of any sharp bones breaking through and popped them into the freezer.

That evening I used some of the chicken meat with a jar of cooking sauce and served it over boiled brown rice.

Yesterday I used 600g of that chicken and 1.5 litres of stock to make a chicken pie.
recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=730888

ABSOLUTELY delicious but not exactly low calorie or fat.
The sauce mixes the reduced then thickened stock with double cream (heavy cream). I am sure there has to be a lower fat alternative that we could use, but I don't want the sauce to split or anything. Does anyone have any suggestions.
The sauce is mixed with the chicken meat and vegetables and placed in a pie dish where it is topped with puff pastry.
Obviously the pastry is not particularly low fat either, so I am thinking about, rather than putting pastry across the top of the whole pie just placing a smaller piece of pastry on top of each portion, next time I make it. If that works, I will alter the recipe on Spark Recipes accordingly.

Today I have frozen the last of the chicken meat (enough for 1 1/2 meals for the 4 of us) and the last of the stock (which I froze in used and rinsed 500ml cola bottles), which I will probably use with the chicken bones to make a broth at some point.

Stay tuned for more adventures in ECONOMY GASTRONOMY!

ECONOMY GASTRONOMY! - an explanation

2009-08-21T16:25:00.000+01:00

Economy Gastronomy is a new TV cookery show with book of the same name.
The BBC Website for the show is here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m1c34

The show takes a different family each week who need to slash their food bills.
Absolutely shocking to me was the family in the 2nd show who were spending £17,000 a year on food for a family of 5. At current exchange rates that is over $28,000. I don't know how huge that is for my American readers, but for an English family that is a HUGE figure.

By the methods in the Economy Gastronomy programme they drastically slash the food bills of these families, whilst still allowing them to eat wonderful tasty food.

The system is based on what they call Bedrock recipe. This is where you make a batch of something that you will then go on to alter further to make 3 different meals over the week. (you can of course also freeze to use later than that). They also have other quick and easy meals such as a section on beating the take aways at their own game and making delicious take away type meals at a fraction of the cost, another covers the same thing but with traditional pub meals. Another chapter covers quick midweek meals. Yet another covers entertaining. One fantastic chapter covers making something from nothing, just using what you have in your cupboards, fridge etc.

So, that's what it is, stay tuned and I will share my adventures this week in ECONOMY GASTRONOMY!

Long Day

2009-08-10T19:40:00.000+01:00

I helped out with the food and drink at the wake of a friend's mother today.
I spent 3 1/2 hours on my feet.
I am not used to spending 3 1/2 hours on my feet
and now they ache!

It also meant I had to change up my cardio a bit.
Normally on a weekday I would do up to an hour of EA Sports Active on the Wii or on Wii fit. I knew this morning that I did have time to do that, but did not have time to get washed, changed and get my hair dried afterwards, before I had to go.

So I went for a walk instead, figuring I would not get too sweaty doing that and could go straight on.

I am blessed that where I live there is kind of a built in circular route I can use. The housing estate I live on (group of houses and flats, with school, shops, community centre), has a perimeter road with the roads that the houses etc are on, coming in towards the centre.
I live in a house on the perimeter of that. So if I head off up the road and keep going, I will eventually get home again, having completed the circuit.
It is 1.66 miles.

Today I completed that in just 29 minutes. That's probably about equal to my best ever (we've lived here for 14 years) and so much better than I could have dreamed of achieving 10 weeks ago when I started this journey towards health. There is also no way I could have then done 3 1/2 hours on my feet back then either. It is awesome to see how much things have changed already and I am looking forward to continuing this journey.

Rainbows of Fruit & Veggies

2009-08-04T12:28:00.001+01:00

This week's nutritional Challenge for the Turkey Day team over at Spark people is
......................................................................................................
to get rainbows of fruit and veggies.
We can aim for as many as we want, from just 1 over the week, up to 1 of each type every day, or more.

Here are the SUGGESTIONS:

Red: apples, cherries, strawberries, tomato, watermelon, red bell pepper

Orange: oranges, nectarines, grapefruit, peach, carrots, cantaloupe, orange bell peppers, apricots

Yellow: banana, squash, corn, mushrooms, melons, onion, yellow bell pepper, pineapple, cauliflower (did you know that a lot of f&v that are NORMALLY other colours also can be found in a YELLOW? Have you had yellow watermelon, yellow string beans, yellow courgettes, yellow baby carrots- just to name a few.)

Green: spinach, courgettes, grapes, melons, bell peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, peas, string beans, bruussel sprouts, collared greens, apples

Blue/Purple: Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, grapes, plums, eggplant, cabbage, figs, radishes
..................................................................................................

So let's see, since Monday morning, I have had:
RED: red peppers, tomatoes and watermelon
ORANGE: nectarine
YELLOW:
GREEN: grapes, cucumber, broccoli
BLUE/PURPLE: grapes

Thinking I might place my grocery delivery order later today.
Will have to keep this in mind when I do that.

REWARDS

2009-07-31T16:09:00.001+01:00

Start Weight - 275 lbs - 19 st 9 lbs - May 26th
Current Weight - 255 lbs - 18 st 3 lbs - July 31st
Target Weight - 168 lbs - 12 st 0 lbs - Whenever I get there, hopefully some time next summer or autumn.

REWARDS
265 - 18 st 13 lbs - Buy a belt or the stuff to make one (gonna need to hold these trousers up soon).
260 - 18 st 8 lbs - New nail Polish
255 - 18 st 3 lbs - Get hairdresser friend to help me colour my hair.
250 - 17 st 12 lbs - £5 to my Trip to America fund
245 - 17 st 7 lbs - do a home spa afternoon
240 - 17 st 2 lbs - Buy a new CD
235 - 16 st 11 lbs - PAST THE 10% lost mark - Night Away with hubby.
230 - 16 st 6 lbs - New nail Polish
225 - 16 st 1 lbs - £5 to Trip to America Fund
220 - 15 st 10 lbs - Pedicure
215 - 15 st 5 lbs - Home Spa afternoon
210 - 15 st 0 lbs - Nice new scented candle
205 - 14 st 9 lbs - Buy a new cd
200 - 14 st 4 lbs - HIT the 200 mark - SPA DAY! (proper one not a home one)
195 - 13 st 13 lbs - £5 to Trip to America fund
190 - 13 st 8 lbs - Manicure
185 - 13 st 3 lbs - Professional Photo Shoot
180 - 12 st 12 lbs - £10 to Trip to America Fund
175 - 12 st 7 lbs - Buy the 2nd Artisan Bread Book
168 - 12 st 0 lbs - New Clothes

Motivation Board

2009-07-31T16:05:00.002+01:00

The site I am currently using to track my food intake and exercise is Spark People, but Spark people is SO MUCH MORE THAN just a tracking site. It has teams, challenges, stages, it is awesome. Part of the stage I am on right now is to complete a Motivation Collage and I did this a couple of weeks ago. The results are here.

If you can't make out some of my writing, check the pictures out at Flickr, where there are notes.

Menu Plan Monday

2009-06-22T07:00:00.000+01:00

My “stage” on spark people this week involves upping my exercise minutes. So far that is going well, but I’m still planning my meals.

MONDAY 22nd
Breakfast – cereal, semi skimmed milk, yoghurt
Lunch – I’m out just before lunch, so I’m treating myself to a 6 inch turkey breast sub from subway. Only 280 calories, as long as I don’t put any cheese on it!
Dinner – Turkey Chasseur, with microwave rice and salad
Snacks – ,
Remember to: Make any last minute changes to grocery delivery order.

TUESDAY 23rd
Breakfast – cereal, semi skimmed milk, yoghurt
Lunch – Lentil Bake, salad
Dinner – Boys eating something quick and easy, hubby and I eating out with church small group.
Snacks – ,
Remember to: DEFROST BEEF.

WEDNESDAY 24th
Breakfast – passion fruit curd on home made bread.
Lunch – Lentil Bake, salad
Dinner – Jamie Oliver's Basic Beef Stew with steamed veg and potatoes
Snacks –
Remember to: DEFROST BEEF.

THURSDAY 25th
Breakfast - yoghurt cereal, semi skimmed milk
Lunch – Cous Cous and tuna,
Dinner – Spicy Fish Stew wish home baked bread.
Snacks –
Remember to:

Friday 26th eldest son not here for dinner.
Breakfast - cereal, semi skimmed milk, yoghurt
Lunch – Tin of soup with bread or crispbreads
Dinner – Diced chicken in a jar of cooking sauce (flavour to be decided), rice or pasta, salad or steamed veggies.
Snacks – .
Remember to:

SATURDAY 27th hubby and eldest son not here.
Breakfast – Bacon Sandwich
Lunch – Crisp Breads, ham, salad
Dinner – Jamie’s Bolognese Sauce over Pasta with a salad (Eat half and freeze half!)
Snacks -
Remember to: shop for son’s choice of meal for tomorrow, bake bread for the church meal.

SUNDAY 28th hubby and eldest son not here for breakfast or lunch, will be back for dinner time BUT will have had main meal already.
Breakfast - cereal, semi skimmed milk, yoghurt
Lunch – Soup and bread at church for the ladies and children. Men are on men’s weekend.
Dinner – Younger son’s choice of meal.
Snacks -
Remember to:

If you want to check out more menu idea, go to Organizing junkie by clicking on the menu plan Monday banner at the top of this post.

Staying on track

2009-06-20T18:00:00.001+01:00

So, our friends came round for dinner last night as planned and even though we served raclette and they brought an ice cream dessert, I still JUST managed to stay within my calorie range for the day! I really enjoyed their company and felt blessed by their willingness to come and spend time with us.
WOOHOOO! Planning ahead really works! Hubby and the boys are having the leftovers tonight so I got myself a ready meal and will have that with a big pile of salad.

Been and bought a lot of the food for eldest's 18th celebration in 2 weeks time. Got frozen party foods that I will just pop into the oven on the morning of the party. Still need to get crisps (chips), potato salad, coleslaw and bake the birthday cake, but that's not bad. Oh and a big platter of raw veggies with a tray of dips too.

Tomorrow at church will be fun. The 11 to 15 year olds are in charge of the whole meeting from the coffee bar before and after, to the worship, leading and preaching! My 14 year old is co-leading.

It's the turn of the age group I lead in July! 5 - 11 year olds! Wooohoooooo! We're having Messy Church! Can't wait!

Today was my rest day on EA Sports Active for Wii, so I did a Wii Fit workout instead, and pushed further on that than I did last time I used it for the rest day! I might not be able to get out to the gym, but I can still work out! Great fun!

I am DONE!

2009-06-18T21:35:00.001+01:00

Over at Spark People one of the teams I have joined is the "DONE girls" because I WANT to be DONE with a few things!

1. I WANT to be DONE with pain in my knees from my weight.
2. I WANT to be DONE with pain in my feet, from fallen arches, due in part to my weight.
3. I WANT to be DONE with needing a CPAP machine at night because of Sleep Apnoea due to my weight.
4. I WANT to be DONE with fearing the mirror, particularly the full length ones.
5. I WANT to be DONE with fearing that if I get any larger I will no longer be able to shop for clothes in even the high street plus size stores.
6. I WANT to be DONE with NEEDING to shop in the plus size stores at all.
7. I WANT to be DONE with anything over a size 16 (UK sizes).
8. I WANT to be DONE with having to choose bras and swimming costumes really carefully because of rolls of fat, rolling over the top of the fabric under my arms.
9. I WANT to be DONE with walking across the house to the phone and having the person on the other end ask if I ran to the phone because I sound out of breath.
10. I WANT to be done with not being able to dance in worship for as long as my heart would desire to.
11. I WANT to be DONE with not being able to wear an underwire bra because it digs into the rolls of fat on my stomach when I sit down and causes pain.
12. I WANT to be done with cringing every time someone wants to take my photo.

In order to reach those goals I am ready to be DONE with a few things.

* I am DONE with not putting my health as number 1 priority, after God.
* I am DONE with making excuses not to exercise.
* I am DONE with extra large portions, a family of 4 does not need the extra large bucket at KFC.
* I am DONE with hidden eating.
* I am DONE with lying to myself.
* I am DONE with setting a bad example to my teen boys.
* I am DONE with avoiding the doctors out of fear that they will just blame all issues on my weight.
* I am DONE with not taking care of myself.
* I am DONE with allowing others to sabotage me.

I AM DONE!

Father God, I am putting these goals in Your hands. I cannot achieve any of them on my own. I KNOW You have my well being at heart and that Your will is for me to be fit and healthy, therefore I KNOW these goals are in line with Your will for me.
I pray that you make these goals a reality. I pray that You give me the grace and the strength I need for this journey. Grant me patience with myself and others as I take the time I need, to do this.
Guard my joints, bones, muscles and all other body parts as I exercise. Let each mouthful of water I drink, be as living water to my body and remind me of Your living water.
Father, I thank You that You have promised that where we pray in accordance with Your will, we will have what we ask.
I pray for myself and others, that where there are spiritual or emotional reasons, soul ties, ancestral ties, ungodly beliefs and soul spirit hurts, that You would reveal them clearly, that You would show us and give us the grace to and the tools to deal with them.
Amen.

Oven Baked Pork Steaks With Rice

2009-06-17T07:00:00.000+01:00

4 pork steaks (the packs we buy have 5 thinner ones in them, I use all 5 and either freeze a whole portion of the meal if we’re eating lighter, OR give everyone an extra bit of meat if not).
2 cups brown rice
1 (or more) onions, chopped
1 (or more) peppers, chopped
1 tin sweetcorn, drained
frozen peas. (I don’t measure them, just throw a few out of the bag straight in.)
1 can condensed soup of your choice and 1 1/2 cans water
OR
1 can ordinary soup (condensed is not the norm in the UK) and 3/4 can of water

Preheat oven to around 200C
in oven proof dish mix everything except the pork steaks.
Lay the pork steaks on top and season.
Cover the dish (with foil if necessary) and place in the oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until most of the liquid is absorbed.
Remove foil for last 30 or so minutes, to brown the pork steaks a little.
Remove from the oven and serve.

This makes 4 HUGE portions, if your appetites are smaller, use less rice, but remember to lower the quantity of water to go with it.

I might try cooking this in the crockpot as the weather gets hotter.

To freeze, I just take a portion of the rice, put it in a foil dish and pop a pork steak on top. To serve from frozen, defrost and either bake in the oven for half an hour until heated through, or remove from foil tray and mcirowave.

If you want to read other tasty recipes, head on over to Southern Fried Mama by clicking on the tasty Thursday Banner at the top of this post.

Thai Roast Chicken

2009-06-16T07:30:00.000+01:00

This is a recipe we’ve made a few times now and it tastes delicious.

You will need:

1 whole chicken
1 cup of coconut milk
2 teaspoons Thai green curry paste
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grates
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 small fresh chilli, seeded,sliced
2 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped
freezer bag that the chicken will fit in
roasting tin / baking tray

Combine all ingredients except chicken. Put the chicken in the freezer bag.
Pour mixture inside and over chicken.
Seal the bag tightly and allow to marinate in fridge for at least 1 hour. Try and leave it longer, but 1 hour will do. I rarely manage to remember to do it more than a couple of hours ahead.
Move to a roasting tin. If you have one with a wire rack that raises the chicken up off the tin, so much the better, but it will work without.
Bake, uncovered, in preheated 180C (350F) oven for 1 1/2 hours or until cooked. Occasionally, open the oven and baste the chicken with the pan juices.

Note, prep time does not include time to marinate.

I’ve made this with soy sauce instead of the fish sauce when I didn’t have any and I usually use prepared chilli in a jar rather than fresh chillies. It also works well with Indian curry pastes rather than Thai, depending on your tastes, but I would leave out the fish sauce if doing those.

Menu Plan Monday

2009-06-15T07:23:00.000+01:00

Last week was a busy week for me, this week should not be so bad.

I’ve started using Spark people to track what I eat and make some healthy changes. I’m in a “stage” where you get a new set of challenges every week. One of this weeks challenges is to plan my meals ahead. So this week I am sharing all 3, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

MONDAY 15th
Breakfast – cereal, semi skimmed milk
Lunch – I’m out just before lunch, so I’m treating myself to a 6 inch turkey breast sub from subway. Only 280 calories, as long as I don’t put any cheese on it!
Dinner – Leftover Pulled pork, served over pasta with salad.
Snacks – yoghurt,
Remember to:

TUESDAY 16th
Breakfast – cereal, semi skimmed milk, yoghurt
Lunch – Lentil Bake, salad
Dinner – Fish Pie
Snacks – passion fruit curd on home made bread.
Remember to: get dinner started early enough, we have church small group tonight. DEFROST turkey thigh for tomorrow.

WEDNESDAY 17th
Breakfast – passion fruit curd on home made bread.
Lunch – Lentil Bake, salad
Dinner – Diced turkey thigh in a jar of cook in sauce, instant microwave rice, veggies, choc ice / ice cream
Snacks – yoghurt, choc ice, quavers
Remember to: check if friends ARE coming.

THURSDAY 18th
Breakfast - yoghurt
Lunch – cereal, semi skimmed milk,
Dinner – Friends Round For Dinner (move if they’re coming a different night), - Dipping oil and home made bread for starter, followed by Raclette. Boys will have to have something from the freezer earlier.
Snacks – NONE, if hungry before dinner eat raw veggies or fruit
Remember to: Shop for the raclette items.
DEFROST pork steaks for tomorrow

Friday 19th
Breakfast - cereal, semi skimmed milk, yoghurt
Lunch – Cous Cous and tuna
Dinner – Baked Pork Chops and Rice
Snacks – apple, passion fruit curd on home made bread.
Remember to: Start dinner early enough, it takes an hour and a half!

SATURDAY 20th
Breakfast – Bacon Sandwich
Lunch – Crisp Breads, ham, salad
Dinner – Thai Roast Chicken
Snacks - apple
Remember to: make sure we have the right stuff for tomorrow.

SUNDAY 21st
Breakfast - cereal, semi skimmed milk, yoghurt
Lunch – Ginsters Cornish pasties.
Dinner – Kebabs on the BBQ (hubby’s choice), with salad and boiled potatoes. Fruit kebabs for dessert.
Snacks -
Remember to:

If you want to check out more menu idea, go to Organizing junkie by clicking on the menu plan Monday banner at the top of this post.

Beefy Mexican Rice

2009-06-09T13:45:00.000+01:00

I made this for the church bring and Share on Sunday. I kind of made it up with what I had on hand really.

1 large pack of beef mince (ground beef). - I fry this then drain it thoroughly then put it in a sieve and pour boiling water over it to get the last of the fat off. It finishes up as low fat as lean beef at less cost! Obviously that doesn’t work for recipes where you would fry the beef WITH spices or other flavourings as you would wash some of them off with the boiling water, but for this it worked well.

Put the mince aside to cool.

In a large sealable container mix together the following ingredients.

1 large onion, chopped
1 pepper, deseeded and chopped
1 can of sweetcorn, drained
1 can of kidney beans, rinsed and drained
3 tins of tomatoes (14 oz tins)
2 cups of brown rice
1/2 to 1 pack of taco seasoning or other Mexican seasoning.
you could add chopped celery if you had it or change the beans and corn for other beans if that was what you had.

When the beef is cold put that in to the container and refrigerate until needed!

I did all that the night before.

Simply tip the whole container into your crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours.

Serve with grated cheese and possibly flour tortillas or tortilla chips.

Menu Plan Monday

2009-06-08T11:53:00.001+01:00

I forgot to defrost the whole chicken for the Thai Roast chicken yesterday, so we quickly defrosted a pack of diced turkey thigh and made something with that.

Here’s this week’s plan.

MONDAY
Lunch – If I don’t pop out to the shops shortly, It’ll have to be a sandwich and salad I think.
Dinner – Hubby is cooking! I think he’s doing a chicken stir fry.
Remember to do – Do online grocery shop for delivery later in the week.

TUESDAY
Lunch – School assembly early, but back in plenty of time. Cheesy Lentil Bake (put some spices in it this time)
Dinner – Small group later, Pizza, oven chips, salad
Remember to do – Start lentil bake early enough (it takes about an hour). Grocery Delivery now booked for 3pm – 5pm slot!

WEDNESDAY
Lunch – Ladies prayer before lunch – Sandwich & Salad
Dinner – Thai Roast Chicken, rice, salad
Remember to do – Put chicken in with spiced coconut milk for at least an hour before cooking.

THURSDAY
Lunch – school assembly early, at a friends for coffee after, so possibly eating lunch at hers, but if not Lentil Bake and salad
Dinner – Beef steaks, Jacket potatoes, Salad
Remember to do – Put jacket spuds on in plenty of time (baked potatoes)

FRIDAY
Lunch – Sandwich & Salad
Dinner – Beefy Mexican Rice
Remember to do – Put the Mexican rice in the crockpot early enough. The one I did on Sunday (for bring and share meal at church) had 4 hours and was fine.
Defrost pork for tomorrow

SATURDAY
Lunch – Noodles
Dinner – Pulled Pork in the crockpot, served with potatoes and veggies.
Remember to do – Put the pork on early enough, this one needs a long time!
Defrost pork steaks for tomorrow

SUNDAY
Lunch – ?????????????
Dinner – Baked Pork Chops on Rice
Remember to do – Write next week’s menu. Put dinner in early enough, takes 1 1/2 hours in oven.

If you want to see other menu plans, head on over at Organizing Junkie by clicking on the Menu Plan Monday banner at the top of this post.

Yet another reason to lose weight!

2009-06-04T10:25:00.002+01:00

What was it I said about finding new physical symptoms every week or so?
YES, we have another one to add to the list!

I now have a rash underneath my boobs!
Not good! It itches, but I know I'll make it worse if I scratch it. Guess I need to go into town and get some cream for it. Think I'll be reading packets though, there's no way I'm asking the pharmacist about this one!

Hmmm, it's Thursday 13 day for moms (yes it's going again, someone new took it up), so maybe I should go write a post with 13 reasons to lose weight. Wonder if anyone will bother to read it.

DID IT! The link is here.

Menu Plan Monday

2009-06-01T09:25:00.002+01:00

Last week, I reckon we ate 6 out of the 7 planned dinners, but not necessarily on the day I had planned to do them. But that’s not bad!

Yesterday it was supposed to be pulled Pork but I had such a bad afternoon sleeping on the sofa that it never got put in the crockpot. So we’ll be having that today.

Here’s this week’s plan.

MONDAY
Lunch – I’m out for a meeting and shopping this morning so I’ll probably pick something up!
Dinner – Pulled Pork in the crockpot, which I will do on high and not switch on until lunchtime. Served with boiled potatoes and steamed veggies. - Will make far too much, freezing the leftovers.
Remember to do – Put Crockpot on at lunchtime and make a batch of bread dough!

TUESDAY
Lunch – Cheesy Lentil Bake
Dinner – OUT at church straight after dinner, so keep it simple – Shepherd’s Pie
Remember to do – Start lentil bake early enough – 15 minutes soaking and nearly an hour in the oven!

WEDNESDAY
Lunch – Ladies prayer before lunch – Dentist in the afternoon – Sandwich & Salad
Dinner – Teeth probably tender, keep it simple and fairly smooth! – Fish Pie
Remember to do – Defrost pork steaks for tomorrow.

THURSDAY
Lunch – Lentil Bake and salad
Dinner – Baked Pork Chops and rice. Serve with steamed veggies or salad.
Remember to do – Shop for ingredients for tray bakes for Saturday. – Defrost chicken breasts for tomorrow.

FRIDAY
Lunch – Sandwich & Salad
Dinner – Chicken Corn Chowder with fresh baked bread!
Remember to do – Bake tray bakes for tomorrow (any good recipes?)- Dinner recipe uses cooked chicken, poach the chicken breasts earlier.

SATURDAY
Lunch – Helping a friend cater for an “emerging church” workshop, get lunch provided! – Hubby and boys will have to fend for themselves.
Dinner – I’ll be exhausted after long day – Breaded Chicken Breast Steaks (from freezer) with oven chips (fries) and salad.
Remember to do – Defrost whole chicken for tomorrow. Prepare anything we are taking to the bring and share!

SUNDAY
Lunch – Bring and Share meal after church
Dinner – Thai Roast Chicken (everyone really enjoyed it!), serve with boiled rice and salad or steamed veggies.
Remember to do – Make next week’s menu plan! – Go buy cucumber seedling for veggie garden. Consider replacing mangy looking tomato seedling.

If you want to see other menu plans, head on over at Organizing Junkie by clicking on the Menu Plan Monday banner at the top of this post.

More reason to stick at this

2009-05-31T18:40:00.001+01:00

I feel like every week (or near enough) I am gaining a new physical symptom related to my excess weight.

So this week my feet started to swell.
Well actually yesterday it was just one foot! That was weird.
I'm pretty sure it's water retention, so have sat most of this afternoon (after church) with my feet up. Trying to raise them on a pillow at night too. It's not bad yet, it's only the main body of my feet, no toes and no ankles so far, which is good. But it's worrying!

So far, from what I can tell I need to lose weight, exercise more (like I didn't have enough reason to do that already! duh!), not stay on my feet too long in one go but not stay sat down for too long in one go either! If working at the computer or otherwise sat down, get up and walk around every hour or so!

Good news is it looks as though I might have lost some weight this week, which is good!

Satay Beef With Aromatic Rice

2009-05-29T10:12:00.001+01:00

You will need 24 bamboo skewers for this recipe; soak them in water for at least an hour to avoid them splintering when you thread on the meat. Beef skewers must be thawed before being grilled.

2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
4 red Thai chillies, chopped finely
2 tablespoons finely chopped lemon grass
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/3 cup peanut oil (8Oml)
2kg beef sirloin steak, sliced thinly
3 cups water (750ml)
2 cups coconut cream (500ml)
3 cups jasmine rice (600g)
6 kaffir lime leaves, shredded finely
1 cup crunchy peanut butter (260g)
1 cup coconut milk (250ml)
1/2 cup beef stock (125ml)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh coriander (Cilantro)

Combine spices, chilli, lemon grass, ginger, garlic and oil in large bowl; add beef, stir to coat with spice mixture.
Thread beef onto 24 skewers, patting any spice mixture remaining in bowl onto beef once skewered. Cover; refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. [Can be frozen, in four 6-skewer portions, at this stage.}
Bring the water and coconut cream to a boil in large heavy-base saucepan; add rice and lime leaves. Simmer, uncovered, until rice is just tender; drain. Pack rice firmly into eight 3j4-CUP oiled timbales or souffle dishes. [Can be made ahead to this stage. Caver; refrigerate overnight.}
Meanwhile, combine peanut butter, coconut milk, stock, sugar and juice in medium saucepan; cook, stirring, about 5 minutes or until sauce thickens. [Can be made ahead to this stage. Cover; refrigerate overnight.}
Cook skewers on heated oiled grill plate (or grill or barbecue) until browned all over and cooked as desired. Stir coriander into hot satay sauce; serve with rice and skewers.

SERVES 8

per serve 62g fat; 4996kJ

serving suggestion Serve with deep-fried rice crackers and fresh cucumber spears.

You can use pork loin or chicken thigh fillets, chopped into pieces, instead of the beef if you prefer.

This recipe is being linked to the following sites, to visit either and get more recipes, just click on the image.

Here we go again!

2009-05-28T14:58:00.002+01:00

Last week I took delivery of Ea Sports Active and began the 30 day challenge.

Yesterday I restarted at a diet blogging site I had used in the past, and then found one with easier to use food entry, which apparently I had also used in the past at some point, as I already had a log in! It was news to me, but anyway. I'm over at Spark People.
But I figured, not everyone uses that site, so if I post something of interest over there, I'll post it here too!

Well, day 1 went OK. I'm using the recommended calorie amounts suggested by the system.

At 275 pounds that is actually an awful lot of food and I am worried about getting used to eating so much, because I know that smaller amounts are coming as I begin to lose!

I have the new EA Sports Active for Wii and have been following the 30 day challenge for a week now. It's going well. We also have Wii fit, and so are using the balance board WITH the EA Sports Active, which is fun.

When it tells me to run I am sticking with a power walk pace and anything that requires more than tiny jumps I am avoiding. So there's one exercise where you jump from a lunged position to both feet level (or something like that), I just skip that if it comes up.

I love the constant change of pace, do 10 reps of one thing, then 12 of another, then some cardio, then 8 reps of something else, then a different cardio, then maybe back to reps of something you've already done, constantly changing it up!

You get a rest day every 3rd day.

And it starts you with just a few exercises but introduces more variety and increased difficulty as you go on.
Today I did basketball on it for the first time and next time apparently I'll be doing volleyball. Hubby says he wants to watch that and I told him I would not be wearing beach volleyball costume! Honestly! heeheee.

After drinking no water for weeks, I got to about 4 glasses yesterday and am on my 3rd today. Refilling a water bottle each time it runs out. I just buy a sports cap bottle of water and reuse that bottle until it's starting to fall apart, then get a new bottle.

Tasty Thursday

2009-05-28T08:54:00.001+01:00

French onion soup with cheese croutons

4-5 large onions
3 tablespoons butter
2 garlic cloves, crushed 2 teaspoons sugar
300 ml/Y2 pint white
wine or cider
1.8 litres/3 pints chicken or vegetable stock
6 slices baguette
100 g/4 oz Cheddar or Gruyere cheese, grated

Method

Slice big onions into thin rings.
Melt the butter in a big heavy bottomed pan. Tip onions in. Add garlic. Stir to coat. Cover pan. Cook gently for 15 minutes.
Remove the lid. Add sugar. Cook onions gently for 40 minutes till soft and caramelized.
Increase heat. Add wine or cider. Bubble. Add stock. Season. Bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Toast bread slices. Top with grated cheese and grill till bubbling.
Ladle soup into bowls. Float the cheese islands on top.

If you want to read other tasty recipes, head on over to Southern Fried Mama by clicking on the tasty Thursday Banner at the top of this post.

Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays

2009-05-26T07:55:00.001+01:00

It’s time for tempt my tummy Tuesdays again, and this week I am sharing a recipe from one of my 14 year old’s favourite recipe books.

Brilliant Beef Burger – the real McCoy

Keep these plain meaty. Or jazz them up. You choose. Buy best minced steak (ground beef for my American friends, buy the best you can get) from your butcher or blitz your own.

A little olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 pound beef for mincing or best steak mince (English pounds are different to American pounds, so please check your conversion tables, this recipe is written in English measurements)
Few sprigs fresh thyme or 3 tbsps chopped fresh parsley
1 small egg, beaten
1 tsp tomato ketchup
salt and black pepper
4 soft bread rolls

Method

Heat oil in pan. Add onion, garlic, bit of salt. Fry gently till soft. Cool.
If making your own mince – cube the beef. Stick a few cubes in the food processor and blitz, repeat.
Slap the mince into a bowl. Add herbs, egg, ketchup, seasoning, fried onion and garlic.
Mix well with fork. Form into 4 burgers. Refrigerate for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile prep the bread rolls, stacking them with anything you like to have with your burger, relishes and so on.
Preheat the griddle, frying pan or grill (broiler). Brush burgers with a little oil. Cook 3 minutes on each side. Repeat till cooked to taste – medium rare (if you have good quality meat) or well done. The timing will depend on the thickness of the burgers you have made. Rest for 1 minute and stack them with your favourites.

Sam Stern is this amazing young chef who has been tipped to be the next Jamie Oliver. He started publishing recipe books when he was just 15!

If you want to check out more recipes, head over to Blessed with grace by clicking on the Tempt my Tummy Banner at the top of this post.

Menu Plan Monday

2009-05-24T22:00:00.001+01:00

Hubby is home all week, because he’s taking some time off to get a few things done around here. Kids are home all week because it’s half term break from school.

MONDAY 25th
Lunch – French Stick Sandwiches (using part baked French sticks and whatever sandwich fillings we have available)
Dinner – Pork Chops with mashed potatoes and steamed veggies. I might use the Brady Bunch Pork Chops Recipe

TUESDAY 26th
Lunch – Tuna Pita pockets and salad
Dinner – Shepherd’s Pie

WEDNESDAY 27th
Lunch – Nigella Soup (as it’s known in our house), a Nigella Lawson Recipe for soup made from just a jar of pasta sauce, basmati rice and water. Served with bread and grated parmesan.
Dinner – Oven baked Pork Chops and Rice

THURSDAY 28th
Lunch – Tuna Mayonnaise Wraps
Dinner – Hoping to invite friends round for dinner – Probably what we call a “Picky Supper” – cold meats, cheeses, a few chicken drumsticks, dips, fresh baked bread, salad. – If they can’t come we might still have the picky supper, just less of it.

FRIDAY 29th
Lunch – Would like to make some Slimmer's World Lentil Bake (if I can find the recipe), to serve with salad.
Dinner – Thai Style Roast Chicken with rice and veggies

SATURDAY 30th
Lunch – EATING OUT OR TAKING A PACKED LUNCH – It’s Walk For Water Day
Dinner – Ground beef pasta bake

SUNDAY 31st
Lunch – Fish Finger Sandwiches
Dinner – Pulled Pork in the Crockpot, potatoes and steamed veggies.

If you want to check out more menu idea, go to Organizing junkie by clicking on the menu plan Monday banner at the top of this post.

Menu Plan Monday

2009-05-18T12:53:00.002+01:00

My breakfasts will probably be some combination of cereal, fruit, milk and yoghurt.
Everyone else sorts themselves out.
Lunches are me on my own during the week, but family at weekends.

Monday
School assembly in the morning, hours bus journey away.
Lunch - I had an instant past thing that you make in a mug! Probably not particularly healthy, but easy and quick.
Dinner - According to my menu it's fish melts with oven chips (fries), but I know hubby was saying something yesterday about he and I eating on our own, after the boys, so I'm not sure what will happen.

Tuesday
School assembly in the morning and another in the afternoon, just 10 minutes walk away. Home Group in the evening.
Lunch - Probably a sandwich or another mug pasta thing. I'm out in the morning and again in the afternoon.
Dinner - Pizza, Oven Chips, Veggies

Wednesday
Lady's prayer in the morning. Grocery shopping delivery in the evening.
Lunch -Sandwich or cheese on toast.
Dinner - Minted Lamb Chops / Spicy Meatball Skewers, savoury rice, veggies

Thursday
Youngest out from 6pm - 11pm in the evening, at the Birmingham symphony concert.
Lunch -Savoury rice with a small tin of tuna.
Dinner -Chicken in the crockpot with veggies and mashed potatoes.

Friday
Day Time soaking session in the morning. OCC committee meeting in the afternoon.
Lunch -Veggies and dip
Dinner -Shepherd's Pie

Saturday
Hubby might be working overtime.
Lunch -Soup
Dinner -Diced turkey thigh in a jar of cook in sauce (whichever one takes my fancy on Saturday), boiled rice or pasta depending on which sauce we use.

Sunday
Church - thankfully I am not teaching Sunday's Cool this week.
Lunch -Sausage rolls or something like that.
Dinner -Roast Pork, roast potatoes, peas, carrots, stuffing, gravy, apple sauce.

If you want more ideas for your menu head on over to organizing junkie by clicking on the image at the top of this post.
Or, why not head on over there and participate yourself!

Chip Topped Shepherd's Pie

2009-05-15T08:47:00.005+01:00

A new twist on my traditional Shepherd's pie recipe.

The Cast of Ingredients and Utensils
Minced turkey (ground turkey to my American friends)
You could use any other minced meat, I had turkey in the freezer, so that is what I used.
Frozen Mixed vegetables
Frozen Oven Chips (fries to my American friends)
Instant Gravy Granules
Oven proof Dish for baking the finished dish in
Frying pan for the mince
Jug for cooking veg in microwave and making gravy in
Teaspoon for measuring gravy granules
Sauce whisk
Spatula

1. Put the oven on to 200 C. That is 400f.

2. Put the frozen mixed vegetables into a jug or other microwave proof container and zap for a few minutes. I used half a full bag. Don't worry if they are not completely cooked through, don't forget that they are going to be baked in the oven later.

3. Fry the minced meat until browned all over.

4. When you are setting your sink up ready to wash the dishes, don't put too much dishwashing liquid in, or this is what happens. (GRIN)

5. When the meat is browned, pop it into the ovenproof dish.

6. Mix the vegetables with the meat.

7. Following the instructions for amounts on your packet of instant gravy, make up 1 pint.

8. Mix the gravy into the meat mixture. If you are going to be freezing this for cooking another time, allow this mixture to cool before you continue.

Meanwhile sneak into the living room and catch a photo of your eldest son on the treadmill!

9. Pour the frozen oven chips over the top of the dish, distributing evenly. If freezing for later use, wrap here and freeze. Bake in the oven at 200 C for half an hour or so.

10. Remove from the oven and serve!

Entered into Freezer Food Friday and Favourite Ingredient Friday.
Visit either of those sites by clicking on their banner below.

Tempt my Tummy Tuesdays

2009-05-12T08:05:00.001+01:00

Nigella's Chocolate Chip Cookies!

INGREDIENTS

125g dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids

150g flour

30g cocoa, sieved

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

1/2 teaspoon salt

125g soft butter

75g light brown sugar

50g white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg, cold from the fridge

350g (2 bags) semi-sweet chocolate morsels or dark chocolate chips

Serving Size : Makes 12

METHOD


1.	Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3. Melt the 125g dark chocolate either in the microwave or in a heatproof dish over a pan of simmering water. (If you're melting it in the microwave remember that it retains it's shape even when it is starting to melt, so check regularly)
2.	Put the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl.
3.	Cream the butter and sugars in another bowl. Add the melted chocolate and mix together.
4.	Beat in the vanilla extract and cold egg, and then mix in the dry ingredients. Finally stir in the chocolate morsels or chips.
5.	Scoop out 12 equal-sized mounds – an ice cream scoop and a palette knife are the best tools for the job – and place on a lined baking sheet about 6cm apart. Do not flatten them.
6.	Cook for 18 minutes, testing with a cake tester to make sure it comes out semi-clean and not wet with cake batter. If you pierce a chocolate chip, try again.
7.	Leave to cool slightly on the baking sheet for 4–5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to harden as they cool.

I make these as small cookies, by using my mini ice cream scoop or cookie scoop. I think it holds just 1 tbsp, but does it in exactly the same shape as an ice cream scoop. I level them off just as in the recipe. 18 minutes is more than enough for these.

When you check them they will feel very soft and it's tempting to think they are not done yet, but as long as your cake tester or knife is coming out clean (other than when you poke a chocolate chip), they really are done!

If you want to read other tempt my tummy posts, click on the image at the top of this post and head on over there.

Conversations

2009-05-11T13:52:00.002+01:00

I had an interesting conversation yesterday with a couple of other ladies at church.
About our weight, our inability to change it on our own, our thoughts that there might actually be something spiritual involved as well as the physical and our intention to get together again and talk about this some more.

I will keep you filled in on what happens.

Menu Plan Monday

2009-05-11T12:02:00.002+01:00

MY breakfasts will probably be some combination of cereal, fruit, milk and yoghurt.
Everyone else sorts themselves out.
Lunches are me on my own during the week, but family at weekends.

MONDAY
Lunch - cheese and ham sandwich, vegetable crudites and dip
Dinner - Diced turkey thigh in a jar of mystery cook in sauce with rice and steamed veggies.

TUESDAY
Lunch - Savoury Rice with a tin of tuna mixed in
Dinner - Fish Pie

WEDNESDAY
Lunch - I may be out at lunchtime and need a packed lunch, not sure.
Dinner - Curry made with TVP soya mince. (need a recipe)

THURSDAY
Lunch - Might make my favourite cheesy lentil bake
Dinner - Shepherd's Pie

FRIDAY
Lunch - If I didn't need the packed lunch on Wednesday I MIGHT need it today.
Dinner - Tuna Pasta bake

SATURDAY
Lunch - Nigella Lawson basmati rice tomato soup!
Dinner - Stir Fry

SUNDAY
Lunch - Sandwiches, wraps, something of that nature
Dinner - small 1/2 lamb shoulder in the crockpot with loads of veggies. It probably wouldn't be big enough for the 4 of us sliced, but if I do it in the crockpot until it is falling apart, I can shred the meat into the dish.

Check out the linked recipes and if you want more ideas for your menu head on over to organizing junkie by clicking on the image at the top of this post.
Or, why not head on over there and participate yourself!

TASTY THURSDAY

2009-04-23T13:28:00.003+01:00

I KNOW that this recipe is in no way diet friendly, but sometimes, just sometimes, a girls got to do what a girl's got to do!

Nigella Lawson Chocolate Chip Cookies
125g/4oz dark chocolate
150g/5¼oz plain flour
30g/1oz cocoa, sifted
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (don't heap that spoon, JUST 1tsp)
½ tsp salt
125g/4oz unsalted butter, softened
75g/2½oz light brown sugar
50g/2oz caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 free-range egg, cold from the fridge
350g/12¼oz dark chocolate chips - just use 2 bags of chocolate chips if they are the size we have here.

Oven on to 170 degrees C

1. Melt chocolate in bowl over pan of simmering water.
2. Meanwhile beat the softened butter and sugars together in a large bowl.
3. While still mixing add in the vanilla, then the egg.
4. Add in the dry ingredients and mix.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips.
6. Using an ice cream scoop, fill the scoop, level the top with the back of a knife, and pop out onto a baking tray. You can at this point freeze half by flash freezing them on the tray, then popping them into bags once solid.
7. Pop the other half into the oven for 18 minutes, leave on tray for a few minutes, then cool on wire racks, if they last that long!

Trouble is, NEXT week is chocolate week on Tasty Thursday, so i will have to find ANOTHER chocolate recipe for then. Oh well, if I must . . . . .

If you want to check out the other recipes in Tasty Thursday, or even participate yourself. Head on over to Southern Fried Mama by clicking on the banner at the top of this post.

Slow Cooking Thursday

2009-04-23T08:17:00.003+01:00

I don't participate in this as often as I would like, because I just don't use my crock pot that often.
BUT yesterday I did. So here goes.

I kind of made it up, so this is what I did.

Sliced some carrots and put them in the bottom of the crockpot. Then I sliced a couple of onions and added those into the crockpot on top of the onions. I took a beef stock cube and crumbled it over those veggies.
Then I took, straight from the freezer, 2 bags of cubed "cook from frozen" beef. I tipped both bags straight into the crockpot and crumbled another beef stock cube over that.
I took a bag of baby new potatoes, halved them and tossed those in.
About half an hour before the end I defrosted some frozen peas in a jug in the microwave and added those to the crockpot as well, with a dash of Worcestershire sauce.

This only had 4 hours on high because I was late starting it. The beef was fine but the potatoes weren't quite done, they probably needed another hour.

So, if you want to read some more slow cooking recipes, or you want to share one of your own, head over to Diary of a stay at home mom by clicking on the banner at the top of this post. (although at the time of posting this week's post is nto up yet. This is what I get for being in the UK and up before all my American blogging friends.)

Menu Plan Monday

2009-04-20T14:38:00.003+01:00

I haven't posted for a while. I have been menu planning just haven't been sharing.

Well, I'm on the look out for frugal recipes, seems we need to tighten our food budget a little. That's OK, but when your kids (aged 14 and 17 and really should know better by now) won't eat beans or eggs (two frugal staples in my mind), it's not SO easy! Hmmmmmm?????

Well, for this week anyway we still have a certain amount of stuff in the freezer, so it won't be too bad. The other things is finding frugal recipes and ideas that work as well over here in the UK as they do in America where most frugal sites are based. Certain things such as couponing just do NOT transfer to the UK.

MONDAY
Pork Shoulder joint - I still need to decide what to do with it, will probably roast it.

TUESDAY
Pork Mince (ground pork) - Will probably make Bolognese or something like that.

WEDNESDAY
Crockpot beef stew made with frozen cubed beef.

THURSDAY
I have a small 1/2 lamb shoulder, probably only JUST enough for the 4 of us, so I might put it in the crockpot to cook it until falling off the bone, and then mix it with whatever else I put in the crockpot to make it go further. Maybe some Moroccan flavourings since they go well with lamb. I still have some ras el hanout somewhere, I can use that, and chick peas, and maybe serve it with couscous.

FRIDAY
Pork Steaks with apples.

SATURDAY
I have a large joint of beef in the freezer. I am going to cut in half once it has defrosted.
I'll use half on Saturday in the crockpot.

SUNDAY
The other half of the beef joint, roasted, with Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, stuffing, gravy, peas, carrots, etc.

If you want to take part in Menu Plan Monday, click on the banner at the top of this post and it should take you there.

Friday 27th March

2009-03-27T09:32:00.003Z

I know I don't fill these in every day, but they at least give you an idea of what goes on around here food and exercise wise.

2 1/2 hours ONLY on CPAP last night. I'm having issues with leakage around the mask. A few nights ago it fit fine and I had a great night, I had not adjusted anything and the last few nights it's been leaking all over the place, I GIVE UP!

Well, not I don't, cuz I can't, but it IS frustrating.

46 minutes on Wii Fit this morning.
I do 15 or so minutes on balance games to warm up.
I usually do the ski slalom advanced, the ski jump, the bubble one, the one where you drop the balls through the holes (I'm now on advanced and some days it just doesn't go well, heehee), the advanced tightrop walk (Watch out for that wind), whatever that is and occasionally the penguin one.
Then I do the super step, followed by the advanced rhythm boxing.
By then I usually need a short breather, so I do the breathing yoga exercise and maybe one of the other poses.
Then I go back and do the advanced step again and finish sitting down with Zazen and the candle!

Depending on how long exactly I spent on the balance games, that usually works out at somewhere around 45 minutes total.

FOOD:
Yesterday I tried Slim Fast for the first time!
I HATE THE STUFF! the first mouthful was not so bad, even pleasantly surprising, but after that the texture started to get to me and it was a real EFFORT to get that stuff down! YUCK.
So, no more slim fast for me.
Back to eating sensibly, and keeping track with the WW online tools.

For breakfast I had a banana and a pro biotic yoghurt.

I know I will go off plan tonight. There's a part plan party (Body Shop) at a friends house tonight, and she's been baking goodies all week!

Tuesday 10th March

2009-03-10T09:38:00.002Z

Bad weekend, ate things I shouldn't have eaten and got little exercise.

BUT yesterday and today I have done 43 minutes on Wii Fit.
I start with balance games to warm up.
Then I do some hula hoop and the advanced step programme. Today I had done slightly less time on the balance games and so I did the 6 minute hula hoop programme, that was HARD! The last 30 seconds on each direction were really hard!
By then I'm usually puffing a little (hey, you gotta remember I'm big), so I settle down with one or two yoga poses.

Then I do the 10 minute boxing programme and finally finish up with the sitting still thing.
Yesterday I managed to get to the end for a full 3 minutes. Today I only got to 150 seconds. Oh well, not bad!

Thursday 5th March

2009-03-05T08:39:00.004Z

Ooops, forgot to log yesterdays food etc on here, btu did keep track of it over at weightwatchers online service.

Yesterday was still an on track day. I did have a packet of crisps (chips to my US friends), but it was a small packet of Walkers French Fries and they were only 1 1/2 points per bag, so I felt OK about that.

Anyway, onto today.

Breakfast -cornflakes, skimmed milk and a banana

Lunch - Leftover Noodles, spring onions, mushrooms, tomato and a couple of slices of ham, heated through with soy sauce.

Dinner -

Snacks -

Exercise - 35 minutes on Wii Fit. Started with balance activities, did advanced hula hoop and advanced step, then a bit of yoga, and finished with the super advanced 10 minute boxing workout. Ached a little bit toward the end of the boxing, but well worth it!

Fluids - 4 large glasses diet cola so far!

Tuesday 3rd March

2009-03-03T13:04:00.004Z

Breakfast - cornflakes, skimmed milk and a banana

Lunch - Potato, onion, tomato 2 egg omelette

Dinner -Spicy Mince with Rice and Spinach, cooked almost entirely by my 14 year old son. Served with Pita breads instead of naan breads, to keep the WW points for the bread down.

Exercise - 30 minutes slow walking on the treadmill. I have to start low and build it up after what happened to my feet and ankles with all the walking we did in London.

Fluids - Probably only 4 large glasses all day. Really MUST do something about that.

WEIGH IN DAY

2009-03-02T08:55:00.004Z

Soooo, a weekend in London celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary kind of put the weight UP a bit.

BUT then a week stuck on the sofa with a nasty cold that made me eat less at times, put me back where I started.

I guess it could be worse, I could have comfort ate my way through this cold instead, so this is better than that.

So the weight loss is a big fat zero, back where I started.

TODAY
Breakfast a light cereal bar and a banana

Lunch, crispbreads, some low fat cheddar, tomato and a gherkin

Dinner grilled steak, jacket potatoes, home made coleslaw, and a bit of butter light spread on the potato.

Snacks I had another potato late evening because eldest didn't want his when he came in from a college drama thing. I had a raw carrot, some raw white cabbage and a slice of ham at some point too.

Exercise - NONE

Fluids - Not enough but not drastically low either!

Tuesday 10th Feb

2009-02-10T10:51:00.003Z

Breakfast - 2 banana nut muffins home made! Fairly low sugar.

Lunch - leftover roast chicken, 4 crispbreads with low fat soft cheese, home made low fat coleslaw.

Dinner - Spicy Mince with Rice and Spinach

Snacks - grabbed a little bit of cooked chicken from the fridge about 10:45, feeling peckish.
raw white cabbage while preparing dinner

Fluids - 1 big glass of diet cola between getting up and 11am Another between then and 5:30pm - oh DEAR I'm really NOT drinking enough am I?

Exercise - 20 minutes on Wii fit, would have done more but my back is worse with my weight at its highest ever and that was all I could manage.

To be updated during the day as things happen.

New Blog Address

2009-02-10T10:00:00.001Z

My Food and Fitness Blog is now being hosted on Blogspot.
Please note the new web address.

Diet Tribe

2009-02-10T09:12:00.003Z

OK, so I'm the heaviest I have EVER been!
I MUST do something about this.

An online friend and a few others are going to be supporting each other, and encouraging each other through this.
So check out Cheryl' Fab Not Flab page, and also the links in my sidebar.

So, I am not abotu to tell you what I weigh because it si scary!
What is even mroe scary is my BMI.
yesterday Cheryl said she wouldn't be posting her weight, but might post her BMI. I told her that if I did that someone might faint, so if you are of a nervous disposition look away now.

...

have they gone

....

good, here it comes

....

my BMI is 44.4

.......

wasn't that scary?

.......

It's OK, you can look again now

.........

Are you back?

So, it's easy to assume that my weight is affecting my health dramatically as well as being just an issue of how I look!

I need to do this.
So go check out Cheryl's page and also check out the others in the side bar and we'll see where it takes us.

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

2009-01-13T11:03:00.003Z

I am new to Tempt my Tummy Tuesday. I meant to start last week but ran out of time.

This week, I just want to make a quick post that links to ALL my step by step photo or video recipes, here together, in one place.

So, for your enjoyment we have:

Chicken Lentil and Potato Curry (I'm actually making this one for dinner tonight as it happens)
Garlic Prawns (video)
Spicy Mince With Rice and Spinach
Toad in the Hole
Bacon, Mince and Pasta

So there you go, other than the video post, at each of those posts you will find a recipe with step by step photos taken by me of me making that recipe!
I do want to do more of these, but right now, with my sleep apnoea I rarely have the energy to do anything other than actually cook the dinner.

If you want to take part in Tempt my Tummy Tuesday, head on over to the site by clicking on the banner at the top of this post.

Health Update

2009-01-12T16:02:00.002Z

I thought it would be a good idea to put in one place the current status with my health so that anyone who wants to check up on me can do so easily.

Sleep Apnoea
What is it?
Sleep Apnoea is due to the obstruction of the upper airway, caused by the throat muscles relaxing during sleep. The airway may become partially blocked or collapse completely, causing pauses or breaks in breathing, preventing air from entering the lungs and forcing the person to wake briefly to breathe before falling back to sleep again. The period of wakefulness is so brief that even though it may happen hundreds of times a night, the person usually won’t remember waking up, however, sleep will have been greatly disturbed.
As a result, people with Sleep Apnoea suffer excessive sleepiness during the day, often blaming their work-load or age, but potentially leading to dangerously reduced levels of concentration, changes in mood and personality and a general reduction in quality of life.
In tests of simulated driving, Sleep Apnoea patients had worse driving performance than drivers over the alcohol limit.

Do I have it?
YES!

How do I know that?
I finally got my GP to agree to refer me for a sleep study. He didn't want to, kept insisting there had to be another explanation for this and so on, but in the end he agreed to do so. THANK THE LORD!
I saw the consultant, he listened to me talk about what life has been like and one of his questions to me was "Why haven't you done anything about this sooner". That made me smile because I really have been trying to get the GP to take me seriously for quite a while.
So he put me through for a home sleep study where you wire yourself up to all these machines and it records when you move, when you breath, when you don't breath, how your heart is doing, etc.
That clearly showed that I DO have sleep apnoea, and we now move forward to treatment.

But What Made Me Think I had in the First Place?
I had suffered with daytime lack of energy for a number of years. I KNEW I was a snorer, and I had heard of Sleep Apnoea and the fact it was more common in overweight snorers, but did not put 2 and 2 together at first. as my daytime sleepiness got worse and I began to fall asleep sat up at the computer desk, or mid conversation with my children, I also became more and more aware of night time wakings. I would wake up, sit bolt upright on the side of the bed, fall back to sleep before I made the decision between getting up and nipping to the loo, or lying back down and then wake up with a start when I finally fell over. Heeheee. Occasionally these wakings would be accompanied by a feeling of choking, but this has not happened recently.
At this stage I first sought help from the GP, had various blood tests to rule out other causes of energy loss, and was refused a sleep study because no one had heard me stop breathing in the night! That made me so angry. I mean, just because no one had heard it, didn't mean it hadn't happened!
Finally this year, about 2 years after that last rebuff I got so fed up of the symptoms, which were worsening, that I sought help again.
Again the GP insisted on the blood tests, which all came back normal, and finally I got my referral. The rest as they say is history!

What is the next step?
I actually have two next steps. I will be picking up a CPAP machine next week, AND I am being referred through to an ENT surgeon to discuss removing my tonsils since they are over large.

What is CPAP, and how does it work?

CPAP works by blowing air at pressure into the back of the throat via a mask to keep the airway open during sleep. It prevents the airway from collapsing, allowing you to sleep better and helping to maintain correct oxygenation while you sleep.

There are several different makes of CPAP machine but they all work on the same principles.

When Do I get my CPAP?

Thursday of NEXT week, on my birthday!

What about my tonsils?
Well, as I mentioned I have been referred to see an ENT surgeon and I will be seeing him in February. the Sleep consultant noticed that my tonsils are in fact huge and thinks that removing them will help greatly in the reduction of my symptoms.

Aren't There risks involved with Adult Tonsillectomy?
More than one person I have spoken to has mentioned this, so it is worth covering here. I have yet to see the surgeon and therefore haven't had a chance to speak with him in person, but, from online research, this is what I have discovered:
I have read many different view points from moderate pain for a few days to HORRENDOUS pain in days 4 - 9 to risk of hemorrhaging, to safe, normal, easily got through operation and recovery. I refuse to allow the worst of what I have read to alarm me and will wait and speak to my ENT consultant and see what he has to say.

Oh and in reading the History of Tonsillectomy page I am just glad I live now and not then and that is all I have to say!

What about driving?
Yes, as expected I have had my driving licence revoked on medical grounds. I don't like it, but I'm not surprised, it is for the best.
I do have my free bus pass provided jointly by the local council and central government, which everyone who has their licence medically revoked is entitled to. It's the same bus pass that OAP's receive and entitles me to free bus travel throughout England on ANY LOCAL bus. It cannot be used before 9:30am and after 11:00pm.
I used it for the first time today, went in to town, but am determined to tackle some longer journeys at some point.
Because of the way they are issued, my pass is valid until the end of 2012, and will continue to be valid even after i get my driving licence back.

When can I expect to get my licence back?
I really have no idea! I see the consultant again in March, I will have had my machine for 8 1/2 weeks when I see him, so hopefully there will be enough improvement for him to say "yes, reapply for your licence", but he may want to wait another 3 months until I see him again after that. Either way, it then takes up to 8 weeks for your licence to be processed, while they make the medical investigations. So, I guess the earliest I would have it back is the end of May, but it could be longer, and it could be MUCH longer, we just have no way of knowing.

Recap on Upcoming Timings
Thursday 23rd January - Pick up CPAP machine and get mask fitted properly.
11th February - See ENT consultant and discuss tonsillectomy.
23rd March - See sleep consultant again for review.

Menu Plan Monday

2009-01-12T15:37:00.003Z

Yes, it's Monday, time to look at what you will be cooking this week.

I'm back on weight watchers, so all these meals are WW friendly, and where they are actual recipes, I have taken them from WW recipe books.

MONDAY
B - Cereal, milk, juice
L - Chick Peas, Pasta, Tomatoes, Mushroom, Onion, Cumin
D - Mini Toad in the Holes with mash and vegetables

TUESDAY
B - Ham and tomato scrambled eggs on dark rye crispbreads
L - Jacket Spud and beans
D - Chicken, Potato and Lentil Curry

WEDNESDAY
B - leftover curry, cold, YUM!
L - Tuna Mayo Rice Salad
D - Sesame Chicken

THURSDAY
B - cereal, milk, banana
L - Home Made Vegetable soup
D - Jacket Spuds (baked potatoes), cold meats, pickles, salad, coleslaw

FRIDAY
B - Cereal, Fruit and yoghurt
L - Vegetable Soup
D - Sausages, mash and vegetables

SATURDAY
B - Bacon Sandwiches
L - Use up leftovers (I'll be taking a packed lunch and a packed tea too)
D - Basic Spag bog (make double to use rest in Lasagne tomorrow)

SUNDAY
B - grapefruit and sweetener, warmed under the grill
L - Noodles
D - Lasagne

So that's it, that's what we'll be eating around here for the week. I keep threatening to take photos of a week's meals but I NEVER remember.

If you want to take part or merely want to check out other participants, please head on over to organising junkie by clicking on the image at the top of this post. I'll see you over there!

MONTHLY menu plan!

2009-01-06T13:29:00.002Z

I know I normally make my Home Sanctuary posts, over on my main blog, BUT this one is food related, so I'm putting it here!

Rachel Anne challenged us to come up with a monthly menu plan that we could come back to and repeat if necessary. We were to come up with 7 categories of meals, and think of 4 meals in each category, then, taking our weekly commitments into account, put each category to the same day each week.

I wanted to include more "NEW" recipes, so put that down as a category twice.
THIS IS what I came up with, this is what is now stored on my computer: To make it readable you'll have to click to open it in a new window.

So you can see, 4 weeks of 7 days, with the regular events listed at the top. I have the recipes for 5 categories entered in. These are Pasta, Grilled Foods, Paper Plate meals, Rice, and Family Favourites.
The two empty columns are for nights when I want to TRY SOMETHING NEW!
I do not want to do the same NEW recipes each month, so I've left them blank on the computer version, so that each month I can print one off and do this:

Again you'll need to click and open in another window (or this one and come back) to read it properly. But you can see that here, I have written in the dates for the month (starting next Monday), I've made note of a special event that only happens once, not every week. And I've added in a new recipe to each slot.
Next month, I will do the same, I will print out a copy as further above and I will enter a DIFFERENT set of new recipes.

I'll still need to plan weekly for my breakfasts and lunches, but I'll only have to glance at this for the evening meals.
I hope I've got a reasonable selection of meals, costs wise, but if it turns out to be too much, we'll have to look at it again.

So to see what meals other Sanctuary Girls have come up with, click on the logo at the top and visit Rachel Anne.

Menu Plan Monday

2009-01-05T20:44:00.002Z

If you want to check out other participants, go visit Laura by clicking on the image above.

Here's my plan for this week:

Monday -
Breakfast - I ended up eating Hubby's lunch sandwiches (they were egg) because he had forgotten them.
Lunch - Cooked some past and tossed it in some sun dried tomatoes in olive oil that I had chopped up. Yummy.
Dinner - Gammon steaks, boiled potatoes, peas, various pickles (I think we had red cabbage, gherkins, onions and beetroot).

Tuesday -
Breakfast - 1/2 grapefruit with sweetener, 1 slice toast topped with sliced tomatoes and cheese, grilled (griddled).
Lunch - Mini Pizza, salad, apple or other fruit
Dinner - Seafood Paella, pita bread, rhubarb and squirty cream

Wednesday -
Breakfast - 1/2 grapefruit, 1 slice toast and jam
Lunch - tuna mayo sandwich, pear or other fruit, yoghurt
Dinner - Chicken breasts with orange and watercress, boiled potatoes, sweetcorn, grapes or other fruit

Thursday -
Breakfast - juice, cereal and milk
Lunch - tuna nicoise, bread roll, fruit
Dinner - Stir Fried Chicken Breasts and lots of veg, in soy sauce and 5 spice. Rice, pitta bread, fruit.

Friday -
Breakfast - toast, baked beans, fruit juice
Lunch - Cheese and pickle pita bread, salad, fruit
Dinner - Sweet and sour pork chops, egg noodles, (veg in the sweet and sour), tinned fruit.

Saturday -
Breakfast - grilled bacon, tomatoes and mushrooms, maybe a poached egg too.
Lunch -
Dinner - 1/4 pounders, oven chips (fries), peas, sweetcorn, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms

Sunday -
Breakfast - cereal, milk, juice
Lunch - Jacket Potatoes, cheese, coleslaw (IF I remember to put them in the oven before church, on timer).
Dinner - Roast Chicken, Roast Potatoes, vegetables, gravy

So there you go. Can you tell I'm back on the dieting wagon? I've not beating myself up if it doesn't go to plan, I can wait until I have my CPAP and it is working properly if I need to, but I might as well try!

Live Casino

2008-12-08T13:08:00.002Z

If you're already into the online gambling scene, you really ought to check out the live roulette at Lucky Live Casino. They have a range of live action games with real live dealers, no playing to a machine!

Live online video and audio is broadcast from the famous Fitzwilliam Card Club and Casino in Dublin, Ireland. You can see your dealer, and you can see that you are not being cheated by the machine that is the internet! This is real live dealers in a real live casino, with you playing along at home!

There's no installation it's all played online via software you should already have.

And best of all they will match your first deposit all the way up to 100 Euros.

You don't have to play for cash, when you join up you are given a supply of fun tokens which you can use to play the games for fun only. So have some fun, without it costing you a penny, or play for real and have them match your first deposit.

As always please stay safe, don't spend money you don't have, or that should be going on somethign else, but if you have spare cash and you're into this kind of thing, this seems like a fun new way to play.

Menu Plan Monday (vlog)

2008-11-10T07:54:00.003Z

Yes, I decided to Vlog my menu plan Monday entry, so here goes!

Menu Plan Monday

2008-09-22T10:24:00.003+01:00

So, it's Monday again. I didn't take any of the photos I promised last week, and I know better than to promise that this week.
On Thursday I have my first appointment with the local NHS Why Weight + clinic, on Friday morning I have my first Operation Christmas Child school assembly of this year's season and on Friday afternoon as soon as youngest gets home from school and changed out of his uniform we are off to church camp.
So this weeks menu looks a little different, but here goes:

5 breakfasts
1. Pain au chocolat
2. Cereal, milk, banana
3. Yoghurt, fruit
4. 1 egg, +1 extra egg white, omelette
5. Wholemeal toast, boiled egg

5 Lunches
1. Tin soup, ryvita & ELF soft cheese
2. Leftovers
3. Home Made Soup
4. Pea & Ham Frittata
5. Rice, veg and tuna stir fry

5 Desserts/Snacks
1. Fruit
2. Yoghurt and fruit
3. Use up ice cream from freezer
4. Grilled peaches with sweetened fromage frais
5. Sugar Free Jelly

Main Meals
Monday Turkey meat loaf with extra veggies hidden inside, potatoes & veg

Tuesday Potato Wedges and home Made Chicken Nuggets

Wednesday Turkey Mince Lasagne – (use no fat in white sauce, only sauce flour and count points for cheese on top, add extra hidden veg into meat sauce)

Thursday Lemon Dijon Turkey steaks, pasta, veg

Friday Eating take away on the way to camp, OR something VERY simple on arrival.

Saturday B/fast – there will be cereal, toast, jam, chocolate spread, bacon (for sandwiches)
Lunch – sandwiches, crisps (chips), fruit, cucumber, & tomatoes.
Main Meal – rice, chicken bake (Take 2 packets of microwave rice, empty into an ovenproof dish, mix into it a defrosted bag of frozen mixed vegetables and a shredded cooked chicken, Stir in a jar of cooking sauce, flavour of your choice and top with grated cheese, bake in the oven for half an hour.)

Sunday B/fast – the same as yesterday
Lunch – Bring and share, everyone eating together.
Main Meal – Home Now – Tuna pasta bake

So, go over to Organising junkie by clicking on the image above and you'll be able to check a whole load of other menus. Sign her Mr linky, and mine. I was going to say "If there's something you'd like made into a photo recipe just shout, but actually, like I said, I'm heading into my silly season, so who knows what will happen!

Menu Plan Monday

2008-09-15T13:16:00.002+01:00

Well, it's that time of the week.
I had a few days OFF Weightwatchers Core over the weekend, but I was hormonal. Today I am back on track. So this weeks plan is as follows

MONDAY
B - I had an onion and ham omelette
L - Bubble and Squeak
D - Lamb Saag with boiled rice. Followed by Rhubarb Fool.

TUESDAY
B - Strawberry Smoothie, boiled egg and crispbreads.
L - Tuna Tabbouleh
D - Baked Spanish Risotto followed by pineapple meringue pie.

WEDNESDAY
B - Cereal, bananas, milk
L -Jacket Potato, cut the top off, scoop a bit out, put an egg in and pop it back in the oven. With baked beans.
D - Special Chow Mein

THURSDAY
B - Grilled (griddled) lean back bacon, grilled tomatoes, and mushrooms and a dry fried egg.
L - Cup a Soup, crispbreads, low fat pate, yoghurt.
D - Pork and vegetable Bake followed by fruits of the forest Crumble

FRIDAY
B -Cereal, bananas, strawberries, milk
L -potato and Cauliflower soup with crispbreads
D - Chilli, crab and sweetcorn fishcakes with Potato Wedges followed by fresh fruit salad

SATURDAY
B - Breakfast Fritatta
L - Turkey Party Loaf
D - Baked vegetable Samosas, Baked popadums, Baked onion Bhajis, onion relish, mango Chutney, Lamb Rhogan Josh, Pea Pulao.
SUNDAY
B - Smoked haddock and poached egg
L - Speedy pasta stew
D - Mustard Chicken with Mushroom and Pear followed by banana drop biscuits

I very rarely stick to the plan for breakfasts and lunches exactly but it's nice to have an idea of what I might be eating.
Photographs are NOT mine.
I MIGHT make tonight's dinner into a step by step photo recipe, BUT I do have an appointment at the dentist between now and cooking tonight's dinner, so no promises!
Which other recipe from this week would you like me to turn into a step by step photo recipe?
Leave a comment, sign the Mr Linky and who knows, I MIGHT do it!
then you need to head over to Organizing Junkie, by clicking on her banner above, and check out all the other participants.

Menu Plan Monday

2008-09-08T12:42:00.002+01:00

Hey, it's Monday and I remembered to blog today. That means Menu Plan Monday! YEAH!

I'm on Weight Watchers Core Plan at the moment, so all of this is being cooked from scratch

MONDAY
Lunch - Sardine Noodles
Dinner - Sweet and Sour Chicken with steamed rice.

TUESDAY
Lunch - pasta, tuna salad
Dinner - Moussaka (although I still might swap this to lasagne because the rest of the family make a fuss about aubergines.)

WEDNESDAY
Lunch - Spicy Italian Pasta
Dinner - Caribbean chicken with jacket potatoes

THURSDAY
Lunch - Ham and tomato fritata rolls
Dinner - Teriaki Turkey Noodles

FRIDAY
Lunch - Chicken Tikka Lunchbox
Dinner - Lasagne (although if I swap Tuesday's moussaka to Lasagne, I will swap this for something else).

SATURDAY
Lunch - Tuna Tagliatelle
Dinner - Pork steaks with apple mash

SUNDAY
Lunch - Roast Chicken dinner
Dinner - Jacket Potatoes and cottage cheese.

Go check out other menu planners by clicking on the image above.
But leave a comment before you go!

Medical Tests

2008-09-04T08:38:00.002+01:00

oooh, I've got to go to the doctors today for some medical tests.

The main thing they're doing today is some blood tests.

You see, I've been EXTREMELY tired, falling asleep during the day, even mid conversation recently. I am overweight, I snore and my husband thinks he has watched me stop breathing in the night.
All of which, to me points towards sleep apnoea.

So, YES, the GP agreed to refer me to the local sleep specialist, but in the meantime he wants to rule out other things. I have most "I'm feeling tired" blood tests taken a year ago, but he wants to add a couple more and redo a couple just in case.
So I haven't eaten since after dinner last night and I haven't drunk anything other than water either. And in about half an hour I head off for a fasting blood sugar level test.

At the same time they will take bloods for cholesterol, thyroid function and Feratin (I think that was the name he gave it, it's the blood's capacity to carry iron) levels.

I'll have to wait as much as a week for the results, but I'll let you know what they say.

In the meantime know that I am STILL sticking to this new diet! It's going well, I am enjoying the food and enjoying cooking and so on!

Day 4 and I'm still going

2008-08-28T16:22:00.002+01:00

Yes, it's day 4 of this current eating programme and I am still going, still sticking with it.

So what have I been eating?

Well, for instance, lets take today.

I had a repair man coming early so while I was dealing with that I had a banana.

After he had gone I had some very lean bacon (you probably have seen the sort that is JUST the oval from a slice of back bacon, with no fat at all, well it's that stuff), with grilled mushrooms and grilled tomatoes and a couple of microwaved eggs, since I am useless at poaching eggs.
(BTW this is by no means an every day breakfast but is allowed on the plan)

For lunch I had 4 ryvita (crispbread), with very low fat soft cheese, lean ham, mushrooms and tomatoes. Followed by a fruit very low fat yoghurt.

For dinner we will have chicken casserole.
Sliced carrots, onions, mushrooms, chopped peppers, herbs, tinned tomatoes and pearl barley.
Put skinned Chicken legs in an oven proof dish with all of that and cook until done.
Serve with baked potatoes (done at the same time) and steamed broccoli.
And then yoghurt and fruit for dessert.

Between meals is fruit and veg only. Today I had a few raw mushrooms.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-08-27T13:45:00.002+01:00

My New Toy!

Will I use it? Have done so far! not every day but at least every other.

So, if you are taking part in Wordless Wednesday, sign the Mr Linky (if I can ever get it to work on here!), and go over to the host page for Wordless Wednesday and sign in there too!

UPDATE

2008-08-26T19:32:00.002+01:00

Where am I? What have I been doing? What am I doing now?

1.) Still here!
2.) Eating too much and exercising too little.
3.) Paying for it and now doing something about it!

What?

Weightwatchers Core plan.

huh?
Yeah, I was like that. I've always been a points gal myself, but I thought I'd give Core a try and so far I'm just nearing the end of day 2.

So what is Core? No counting points! Well, almost no counting, I still have a few to use for those little extras.

About Core Foods and the Comfort Zone

Core Plan™ Guide

Core foods are nutritious, and easy to remember. The foods on the list were chosen because of their energy density so they’ll make you feel fuller with fewer bites. That’s how the Core Plan works!
Core Foods
During mealtimes
The Core Food List includes nutritious foods, from easy-to-understand Core food groups.

Whole fruit, vegetables and fruits	Whole-grain cereals without added sugar, nuts or dried fruits	Lean meats, poultry, fish and eggs
Soups (including ingredients only from Core Food List)	Brown or wild rice, potatoes and grains	Skimmed milk and low fat dairy products (listed in the complete Core Food List)

Use the complete Core Food List as a reference — it’s in your Plan Manager. It provides more specific details about exactly which foods are in each group, and additional details on some Core food daily limits.
For recipes that include only Core Plan ingredients, look throughout the site for the Core Plan symbol.
For snacks
You’re free to have as much of the following as you need to feel satisfied until your next meal:

	Fruits and vegetables
	Weight Watchers Fruities

Before you eat, ask yourself: Am I really hungry?
Because of this, you’ll need to learn to recognise the way your body feels when it’s full, and the way it feels when it’s hungry. The trick is to stay within a Comfort Zone; don’t let yourself get overly hungry, or stuff yourself so you’re overly full.

That's the basics.
I'll try and find time to post later about what I've been eating so far.

Today's eating

2008-05-01T13:36:00.002+01:00

Points Available - Officially 26, but I'm trying to eat at 20, since it's my first week back on the diet.

Breakfast - 2 slices of weightwatchers bread, toasted, lots of sauteed mushrooms. Glass of apple juice.

Lunch - sandwiches made with WW bread, and WW tuna and sweetcorn in mayo, cucumber, onion, tomato. Packet of crisps (chips) (only 2.5 points for the crisps)

Mid Afternoon -

DINNER - Should be - Turkey steaks with steamed veggies

Evening Snack - I'll probably grab a packet of sugar free mints when I am at the church meeting I'm going to tonight. I know I'm going to be up late and if I go too long without eating at least something I will feel nauseous.

Fluid -

Exercise - I'm guessing I will be dancing in worship tonight.

Menu Plan Monday

2008-04-14T09:04:00.002+01:00

We're still using up the contents of our freezer around here.
Once that is done I can concentrate on more healthy meals, suitable for weight loss.

Monday 14th April
L - still not sure, I MIGHT be seeing a friend, so won't plan until I've heard from her.
D - Shepherd's Pie

Tuesday 15th April
L - tin of soup
D - Roast from Frozen Joint of pork (must remember to get it into the oven on time!)

Wednesday 16th April
L - Sandwich
D - Lemon, Chicken, Pasta.

Thursday 17th April
L - vegetable stir fry
D - Pork Chops, boiled potatoes, vegetables.

Friday 18th April
L - Veg curry
D - Spinach, potato and chick pea (garbanzo beans I think) curry.

Saturday 19th April
L - Usually something quick and easy
D - Chili Chicken

Sunday 20th April
L - Whatever I decide will get changed, so I won't bother.
D - Lamb Chops, potatoes, vegetables, gravy, stuffing.

So that's my menu!
Go check out other menu plans at Organizing Junkie.
And please, sign my Mr Linky.

Menu Plan Monday

2008-04-07T13:34:00.002+01:00

Yes, it's that time of the week again, and although I managed to get my menu written on paper yesterday, it is already nearly 2pm and I don't have it on the computer yet, oops. Here goes.
We are aiming to use up freezer contents for this week and the start of next week, so that we can start really fresh on the healthy eating.

I've planned lunches (for this week at least), but not breakfasts, because whenever I do plan them I never end up sticking to the plan, so there's no point.

MONDAY - 7th
L - I had leftover vegetables in a cheese sauce.
D - Chicken Chili with rice and home made raita. I have a tub of home made base for the chilli from my freezer, enough for 2, but this stuff is way too hot (I put too much chili in to it), so I have to add things to it to coll it down and bulk it up to enough for 4. I was thinking about tinned tomatoes, but I can't see any of those in the cupboard. Hmmmm. I definitely plan to use natural yoghurt some how.

TUESDAY - 8th
L - Mushroom and sweet onion pasta (A WW recipe)
D - Golden drummers (pre formed turkey things), potato wedges, vegetables, lots of vegetables.

WEDNESDAY - 9th
L - Ham, Leek and pasta soup (another WW recipe)
D - Diced Turkey thigh in a jar of cooking sauce (which will depend on what we have in the cupboard and my mood that day), rice or pasta (depending on which sauce) and vegetables.

THURSDAY - 10th
L - Yesterday's soup (I'm making a double batch)
D - Minted Lam Burgers, home made potato wedges, or savoury rice, vegetables.

FRIDAY - 11th
L - Mushroom Curry (recipe on WW website)
D - Fish Pie

SATURDAY - 12th
L - I don't know what everyone else will have but I will have mushroom curry again.
D - Taco Meal Kit, with extra salad.

SUNDAY - 13th
L - I don't know, we never tend to decide this until we get home from church.
D - Roast from Frozen Pork Joint, stuffing, vegetables, gravy.

Go check out other menu planners at Organising Junkie. Sign the Mr Linky over there for sure, but why not sign mine while you are here, too.

Nigella's Pomegranate Ice Cream

2008-03-18T17:58:00.002Z

Pomegranate Ice Cream from the wonderful Nigella Lawson, from her book of quick recipes.

You will need, 2 pomegranates, 175 grammes of icing sugar, 500ml of double cream and the juice of 1 lime.

First, remove the seeds from the pomegranate, carefully catching any juice, not letting it drip on the board as I did here!
There are two main ways of removing the seeds. First is illustrated above, slice the top off the pomegranate, then cut down the side at one of the seed bearing parts, and pick the seeds out that way.

The other way is to cut the pomegranate in half and WHACK the back of it with a wooden spoon. You get rid of any pent up aggression and the little seeds drop into your bowl (or jug as I used here).

Which eventually leaves you with an empty shell, like SO!

Put the seeds into a strong sieve (I had to do mine in batches the sieve was only small), and push the seeds against the sieve with the back of a wooden spoon until no more juice comes out. What's left in the sieve should look a bit like the photo above.

Add the juice of 1 lime. It really is a lime not a lemon, the lighting's not too good. Can you tell I cut it with the same knife I used to cut the pomegranates?

Add 175g of icing sugar. My friends across the globe might know this as powdered sugar or maybe confectioner's sugar, I'm not sure. And no, I don't know how many cups this is but there are plenty of conversion sites online. You should be able to work it out. Dissolve the sugar in the juice. I had lumps, so I just got my whisk out early and used it before I put the cream in and that did the trick just fine.

Add 500ml of double cream. I believe most of you would know this as heavy cream, and I do know that this is 2 cups.

Action shot time (and I think it came out well)! Whisk the mixture.

Until soft peak stage is reached.

Transfer the mixture to an airtight container. use a rubber spatula to get all the last bits out. Or maybe not. Last time I made this I licked the bowl instead! Heehee

Smooth the top of the mixture, fit the lid and pop in the freezer. Your ice cream will be ready in 4 hours. No churning, no breaking up of crystals, nothing like that. Simply remove from freezer, let sit for a couple of minutes before you scoop and then serve!

And don't forget all that fruit waste can be composted! I'll take this out to the compost bin later.

Menu Plan Monday

2008-03-17T21:34:00.003Z

So, it's Menu Plan Monday, and boy am I late posting this. I wrote this menu yesterday and today. I actually wrote a menu for the next three weeks. YES 3! That's because the kids break up school this week, and then we have a two week break, and I like to know what I'm doing for meals during the breaks, as much as possible.

Have you written your menu plan for the week yet?
Why not give it a try, and then go join all the other menu plan Monday bloggers at Organizing Junkie. Sign the Mr Linky over there for sure, and maybe sign mine too!

Tu18th Usual School Day Stuff
Cheese on Toast
Fish Pie (use frozen mixed veg & fish in sauce)

We19th USDS
tin of something
Hearty Hamburger Tomato Stew (from freezer), pasta
J coming for drum kit at 4:45. Small group @7:30pm

Th20th USDS
Sandwich
Chicken in a jar of sauce, rice, veg

Fr21st Muffins - make using mix - jam flavour
Tortilla wraps on George foreman
KFC after Matt finishes
Good Friday Matt working 4pm - 7pm

Sa22nd Bacon Sarnies
Cheese on Toast
Mustard Pork Chops, Gnocchi or potatoes

Su23rd Toast, etc
Sarnies & Smoothies
Raclette!
Easter Sunday

Mo24th Crumpets, etc
Buffet type stuff left laid out on table.

Easter Monday Extreme home Makeover on tv all day, heeheeee, break out the tissues

Menu Plan Monday

2008-02-25T08:39:00.002Z

It's been a few weeks I think, since I participated, but I'm back.
I haven't been sticking to my diet too well, but yesterday as part of getting back to that I wrote out my menu for the start of the week, so let's finish that up now.

MONDAY
B - WW bread, toasted, half with low fat butter spread, half with home made apple and ginger jam.
L - mushroom curry (need to go fetch a few things first) (make more than enough)
D - Hubby and boys having Pizza and chips (Fries) with vegetables.
I will be having a diet ready meal with extra veggies (purely because I need to clear some space in the freezer)

TUESDAY
B - cereal and milk
L - Tinned soup, bread
D - Hubby and boys - I shall do something I pick up from the supermarket this afternoon or find in the bottom of the freezer later (heehee). Rice and vegetables to go with.
I will be having mushroom curry with rice and vegetables

WEDNESDAY
B - yoghurt and fruit
L - Home Made Vegetable soup (using up what's left of last weeks veg box to make room for this weeks)
D - Cabbage Leeks and Bacon for everyone (i might cook mine separately so that I get less bacon to the same amount of cabbage)

THURSDAY
B - toast, and jam
L - home made vegetable soup
D - Hearty Hamburger Tomato Stew (OAMC recipe) for everyone.

FRIDAY
B - cereal and milk
L - yoghurt and fruit
D - Smoked Sausage Risotto

SATURDAY
B - As usual bacon sandwiches (I have xtra low fat bacon with WW bread)
L - Packed lunch (at conference all day). I'll probably take a sandwich, a piece of fruit, a packet of crisps (chips) and a pack of mints, with a bottle of something to drink.
D - I'll be either having a packed dinner as well, or eating out or going to a friends for dinner, won't know until later in the week.
Hubby and the boys will be having whatever they fancy from the freezer.

SUNDAY
B - Is uaually a free for all where I am so busy avoiding getting ready (hey at least I'm honest) that I run out of time for breakfast.
L - Soup and bread (I'll probably pop some part bake bread rolls into the oven)
D - Roast Chicken, roast potatoes and parsnips, other veg, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce

So that's me and my week!

2008-02-12T18:41:00.000Z

Diet and weight loss moving along slowly but usually in the right direction.
Have mislaid my pedometer again, although I do have a spare it is chunkier and I've never even go tit out of the box, maybe it's time to do that!

Answers

2008-01-16T15:29:00.000Z

The Hearty Hamburger Tomato Stew is an OAMC recipe.
I'll dig it out for you later.

Mash is mashed potato.
I usually remember to put that, but sometimes I forget.

2008-01-15T10:55:00.000Z

Does anyone remember when I was keeping track of my my steps and how far I walked each day, using my pedometer? And I was doing an imaginary walk around the UK, using those distances?

GOOD GRIEF the last time I posted was back in November 2006!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, where had I got to?
I would have just walked past Pwllheli, and would have finished up that weeks walk at Llangwnadl.

Welll, just over 2 weeks ago I started wearing my pedometer regularly again. My main problem has been I take it off at the end of the day and lose the blasted thing because I don't remember where I put it down. Well, this time I have been leaving it on the computer desk each night, and that seems to be working.

So this week's walk is actually 2 weeks worth but anyway, here we go.

Ooooh, looking at mapmyrun it seems I actually did another week after that one and actually made it as far as a place called Pistyll in Wales where there is an amazing waterfall.So, let's see. In the last 2 weeks I have walked a total of 23.1 miles, let's find out where that will take us. I'm going to continue along the coastal road. You can see a map here.

I'd go through the village of Pontllyfni. On through the village of bontnewydd where there is an amazing cave where archaeological excavations have taken place to discover some of the oldest remains discovered in Wales.

Then onto to Caernarfon where we can visit the huge castle,

See, THIS is why you want to come visit me, all my American friends. . . . We actually have LONG history! heeheeee.

from there we would follow the Menai strait inland a while until we reached Y Felinheli, where we would finish for this week.

Join me next weekend (or shortly after) for this week's walk route.

Menu Plan Monday

2008-01-14T16:57:00.000Z

Yes, it's that time of the week again already.
And here, in our household in England we are starting our week with, well, take a look:

MONDAY - Rabbit Casserole! - We managed to find a locally sourced wild rabbit a the local farm shop yesterday!

TUESDAY - Hearty Hamburger Tomato Stew, rice or pasta

WEDNESDAY - Diced Turkey thigh in a jar of cook in sauce with rice and salad

THURSDAY - Shepherd's Pie

FRIDAY - The boys are having fish cakes and vegetables we are having a prawn stir fry

SATURDAY - Those who are at home are having a chicken chilli. I have the base made up in the freezer but it's far too HOT, so hubby will add to it as he sees fit. I'm hoping to be off at a conference at a local church.

SUNDAY - Bacon, kale and leeks, maybe with jacket spuds (baked potatoes)

MONDAY - Sausages and Mashed potato

TUESDAY - Fish portions in breadcrumbs, jacket potatoes, and salad.

So there you have it, my menu for the week. Go check out other posties at Organizing Junkie and leave a comment and sign the Mr Linky. See you around!

Busy busy busy

2008-01-08T11:44:00.000Z

So much to do and so little time to do it in.

Heeheee, not really, I'm having a kind of relaxed day but I just did a Leslie Sansone 1 mile walk. There's a free one over on the website, YEAH, especially sine I couldn't get my video player to work this morning and I only have Leslie Sansone on video cassette so far :-( I had to phone my husband on our cordless phone and ask him how to fix the video player, but what he suggested didn't work. Then I found that free one online and I was a happy bunny.

Another thing that makes me happy is being able to get on with things if I'm on the phone, I don't like to waste that time. Cordless phones come in useful here. I can move around the house and still get things done as long as I only need one hand to do them. My friend has a cordless phone with a headset too! SNAZZY and it leaves both hands free to get on with stuff whilst you are talking. Sometimes I think she forgets that other people don't have one, but anyway.

Menu Plan Monday

2008-01-07T10:58:00.000Z

Back to school should mean back to routine right?
I'm back to cereal and milk on week days for breakfast, Saturdays breakfast usually involves bacon in some form and Sunday I often end up down at church not having had anything.
Lunches, the boys and hubby take packed lunches so that leaves me to fend for myself.

So, my plan is for evening meals, here goes:

MONDAY - Cheats Risotto. (I don't stand there lopping spoon after spoon of stock in, but I do fry the onions in a little oil and add the rice to that before adding the water. Other ingredients are added nearer the end)

TUESDAY - Crockpot Beef (I'll throw stewing beef, courgettes, parsnips, potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, onion and celery into the slow cooker in the morning. Maybe add a stock cube and some herbs and just leave it to cook!)

WEDNESDAY - Sausage and mash (have to try and remember to pick up some vegetarian sausages for me, they're lower in fat)

THURSDAY - Roast Gammon joint, with new potatoes, carrot, peas and sweetcorn.

FRIDAY - Stir fry chicken and vegetables with rice

SATURDAY - Fish Pie

SUNDAY - Roast Chicken, potatoes, peas, carrots, sweetcorn, gravy, stuffing.

Go check out other menu plan Monday participants, at Organising Junkie.
Please leave a comment and sign my Mr Linky.

shhhhhhhhhhh

2008-01-07T10:57:00.000Z

I'm back on weight watchers
shhhhhhhhhhhh

Menu Plan Monday

2007-12-31T14:54:00.000Z

Apparently there are problems over at mr Linky, so we're all having to leave our links in the comments at Organizing Junkie.

Let's see, the groceries arrived this morning, so now it is time to work out what we are going to have each day.
Tomorrow is a public holiday, so hubby is still at home, but he is back to work on Wednesday. The boys don't go back to school and college until next week.
I'm not going to make any new years resolutions as such but I do know that I want to lose some weight mainly to get healthier. As part of that I am going to kick start with two weeks of cereal for breakfast AND lunch. So that part of the menu is easy. Then I shall eat fairly normally in the evenings. Once that two weeks is over a more concerted effort might kick in.

So, I really don't need to list my breakfast and lunch each day.

MONDAY - We had our main meal at lunchtime because eldest has to work tonight. Yes, on new years eve. He and his brother are out at friends later, so hubby and I will be grazing on a small amount of buffet type foods. We have fresh baked bread sticks, cheeses, pate, mini spring rolls and mini pizzas, vegetable pakoras and crisps (chips).

TUESDAY - Roast gammon with new potatoes, and other vegetables.

WEDNESDAY - Spaghetti Bolognese

THURSDAY - Cheats risotto with frankfurters in it.

FRIDAY - Shepherd's Pie

SATURDAY - bacon and kale or green cabbage, with jacket spuds (baked potatoes)

SUNDAY - Roast pork joint (small one just enough for the 4 of us), roast potatoes, other veg, stuffing and gravy.

MONDAY - pizzas and jacket spuds with home made coleslaw

2007-12-03T12:27:00.000Z

OK OK, I've been away for a while. I KNOW!
Nothing dramatic happened, I think I just lost the passion for blogging for a while, got focussed on other things, none of them important particularly.

So here we are, it's Monday, and we're on my foody blog, so that can mean one thing only.

Hmmmm, seee, the thing is, that's another things that has been let slide during this period of time, any sense of organisation or planning! So here I am, starting from scratch!

MONDAY - Dentist 2:30pm, for a repair to a filling which he might or might not do today, if he does I need to eat soft stuff for tea tonight. Small group not on, one of the couples are away sunning themselves, but one of the guys is coming round here to chill out and play on the Nintendo Wii.
Sausages and mash with lots of fried onions! Mixed vegetables.

TUESDAY - I have to take car for welding repair in the morning. Then I have to take the car for an MOT re-test. I have papercraft club in the afternoon. I really ought to fit in a couple of hours at work at the church office, but somehow I doubt this will happen. Eldest at work from 6 till 10 which means he will probably ask for a lift to work (although COULD go on the bus) and WILL need a lift home.
Hearty Hamburger Tomato Stew with jacket spuds (baked potatoes). I might pick up a bag of salad to go with this, or I might make homemade coleslaw.

WEDNESDAY - Nothing during the day to worry about, except a couple of hours at work at the church office, BUT it's youngest's (13) school Christmas concert in the evening. 6pm - 7:30pm and he has to be there for 5:45pm. My dad and my sister are coming over for that. I figure we shall probably have to have dinner AFTERwards. hmmmm, wonder if eldest son remembers promising to take the family out for dinner out of his first pay packet from his new part time job? There's a really good Balti restaurant right next door to the school.
Otherwise we will probably grab something from the chip shop, since school is right next door to that as well.

THURSDAY - Have to do a couple of hours at work, and have to be there reasonably early because the art class are in and the caretaker isn't, or are they? Hmmm, the art class is run by the same college as my sewing class and I finished last week, I think they might have finished too then. Youngest has another performance which we'll need to pick him up from. Eldest at work, he will go straight from college and WILL need picking up at 10pm.
Breaded Chicken Portions with Potato Croquettes and mixed vegetables.

FRIDAY - Meet with the ladies who lunch at noon. Might go Christmas shopping before that. Not that I have that much stuff to buy but there might be one or two things. Eldest going to work straight from college, which means picking him up at 10pm.
Fish in breadcrumbs, chips (fries) salad or vegetables.

SATURDAY - Boys have golf from 11 until 12. Really want to finish putting the decorations up today at the latest.
Shepherd's Pie

SUNDAY - church from 10:30am - roughly 1pm (although we are usually there from 10 at the latest), don't think we have to be anywhere else though.
I'll probably do a roast, of some sort, probably the last one until Christmas. I might try out some new recipes for side dishes for Christmas, with this. We're thinking about doing something different with the potatoes rather than boring old roast ones. And I might make a batch of flavoured butters for the veggies. Those will easily keep in the freezer until Christmas, so one less job then!

THANKSGIVING - English style

2007-11-13T09:42:00.000Z

OK, so my family might not be very enthusiastic about the idea but I am determined to celebrate thanksgiving this year.

It is not about trying to turn my family into a bunch of little Americans, it is about reminding us that we need to step back and be thankful. SO THERE boys!
We will not, however, be doing that on the big day itself because for us it is an ordinary work day. I'm thinking about the Saturday afterwards. That gives me plenty of time for the cooking. I want to invite some friends and really need to sit down with hubby tonight and work out who that should be.

I don't want to go all out and do everything under the sun.

So my plan is

Turkey (I won't get a really huge one, just big enough, and they're on offer at the moment in at least one of our supermarkets, but only until the 20th)
Stuffing (I have a really nice Jamie Oliver recipe I might use)
MASHED potatoes (no roasties here)(I'll make them earlier and warm them through in the oven while the turkey is resting)
Green bean casserole (or I might do green beans in a flavoured butter, again a Jamie Oliver recipe)
Something with sweet potatoes (and no marshmallows, English people find that so strange)
Gravy
Dinner rolls (I shall probably just buy the part baked ones and finish them off in the oven).

And for dessert I am told we have to have pies, so I will probably just buy a nice apple pie, rather than make the blasted thing. Maybe a rhubarb one as well. We won't do pumpkin pie, English people think that's weird.

I need decent recipes for the green beans and the sweet potatoes.
Is there anything else I am missing?

What do YOU consider to be essential?
What one item, if it was missing from your thanksgiving table would you miss the most, other than what I've already mentioned?

Still Going

2007-11-08T14:13:00.000Z

Well, I'm still keeping up with this. I haven't done so well at the eating for the last two weeks, but I have been good about exercise this week. I've done cardio 4 times and strength once, but since that strength was yesterday I won't make it to two sessions of that this week (on the wellness journey weeks run Friday morning to Thursday evening, because weekly handouts are published on Thursdays at big Picture) , it will have to wait until at least tomorrow. Don't want to injure myself.

I had decided to go for a walk to pick up the local paper, but about 5 minutes after I decided that would be a good idea it started to pour with rain! Great. So either that eases off and I still go, OR it's a Leslie Sansone dvd for me!

And tomorrow I will start focusing on the food a bit more again, while keeping up with the exercise.

MY WELLNESS JOURNEY

2007-11-02T17:11:00.000Z

I have started a new scrapbooking adventure with one of the classes over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. It is called "My Wellness Journey".

The class is described as follows:

Wellness Journey

Let's face it. We all struggle with balance. Still, balance IS possible when we consider that balance doesn't mean that everything is present in equal amounts, as if we are weighing happiness or food portions on a scale. Rather, balance means that everything is as it should be to create a healthy and abundant life. This means that sometimes the scales will tip in favor of one part of your life on some days (like when there's a deadline at work) and other parts of your life on other days (like when you have a cold). It's all about setting intentions and creating a successful environment where you and your health can *thrive*. That means starting with a healthy attitude toward your body. Yep, that's right. I said a healthy attitude toward your body! Forget that you aren't as svelte as the cover model on your favorite magazine. Life's not about that (and believe me, there's a bunch of airbrushing going on to get those fabulous cover shots anyway)! Your body serves you well in so many aspects of your life, so let's celebrate and improve what we have. If you've ever struggled in starting AND following through with a fitness program, then this workshop is for you. If you are a seasoned exerciser but have hit a plateau or are still seeking more out of life, this class will give you plenty of inspiration to live a more balanced life.

In this eight-week workshop, we will take the first steps towards a life-long commitment to wellness. We'll set goals and create a fitness and wellness plan that will *work* for you. And don't think I've forgotten all about our love for PAPER! I wouldn't do that!

Lisa Cohen returns to Big Picture Scrapbooking as a personal trainer, a nutrition counselor, a wellness and lifestyle advisor, and scrapbooker ALL wrapped into ONE. Join us as we document our wellness journey in an inspiring mini-album along the way. Each week, Lisa will introduce a new wellness project that will allow you time to acclimate before adding the next topic to your wellness repertoire. You will also receive guidance and support with weekly thought-provoking journaling ideas, photography prompts, layout inspiration, and monthly chats.

You can find the creative elements that I do in response to this class, over at my craft blog. But I figured since this is my food and fitness blog, I would share that side of things over here.

First of all I made an 8*8 binder from a normal binder, and then I decorated it like this:

The title page looks like this:

And then there was some journaling before the class started, to think about our relationship with our wellness, and why we want to do this, etc.

Those are all small images, if you want to be able to read the journaling I did, click on the image to get a bigger one. Then click on "all sizes" above the picture.

On the right hand side of that last image you can see the first of the daily journal pages. That's where I get to enter my exercise for the day. We have to choose a cardio workout that's suitable for us and then start strength training and stretching on top of that. I will be walking. It's cheap and it's about all I can manage really, with my back hurting the way it does.

Strength to start with will be done holding a coupe of tins from the kitchen cupboards, and eventually I will pick up a set of weights.

Walking

2007-11-02T13:26:00.000Z

I just went for my walk for the day!
And locked myself out of the house!

DUH!

Hubby had to come home and rescue me.
Trouble is he works an hours drive away!
So instead of walking 15 minutes and turning around to come back again for a 30 minute walk, I decided to walk the full circuit of where we live. I thought it would take me 40 minutes, but I actually managed to do it in about 37, that's cool.

With the wellness plan that I just started today I am supposed to aim for 30 minutes cardio at a time, that's only an extra 7 minutes! So, when the weather is suitable for outdoor walking, I will do the loop!

Favourite Ingredient Friday

2007-11-02T11:40:00.000Z

It's Cookie TIME! Oh yes!
hmmm, my bestest cookie recipe? Hmmmm? The one I love the most? I have to go on a search for the book . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . .

FOUND IT!

Citrus Sunflower Biscuits (Cookies)
125 g butter, chopped
2 tsp grated lemon rind
2 tsp grated orange rind
165 g caster sugar
1 egg
225 g plain flour
45 g coconut
40 g sunflower seed kernels
silver cachous to decorate (I usually go with 3 on each cookie)

Beat the butter, rinds, sugar and egg in a small bowl with an electric mixer until smooth.
Stir in flour, coconut and sunflower kernels. Drop level tbsp of the mixture about 3 cm apart on greased oven tray, flatten slightly with a floured fork and top with the cachous.
Bake in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes or until browned. Cool on trays.
Makes about 30.

I used to make these all the time but got out of the habit. You can use just lemon or orange rind, but the mixture of the two really makes a difference.

Keeping up

2007-10-18T09:37:00.000+01:00

I'm sorry, for anyone who has been following it, I haven't been keeping up with my daily diet reports, BUT I am still sticking to it! God is good!

I have started using my Bonus Buddy Weight Watchers Pedometer that automatically calculates points earned by walking!

So watch out this weekend for a return of my "walk around Britain" posts.

2007-10-11T18:09:00.000+01:00

Points Available -

Points Earned -

Points Brought Forward -

Breakfast - 2 soft boiled eggs, 2 slices toast with low fat butter spread.

Mid Morning -

Lunch - No point soup, pitta bread with ham and low fat mayonnaise.

Mid Afternoon -

DINNER - Home made spaghetti bolognese with pasta and a small amount of grated cheese.

Evening Snack -

WATER -

Pedometer -

Exercise -

Other Comments - I fully intend to eat ALL my points today as well as some of my saved points, if not all of them! It's good to mix up high point days and low point days, so tomorrow will be low in points. It confuses your metabolism into keeping going.

2007-10-10T20:38:00.000+01:00

Points Available -
Points Earned -
Points Brought Forward -

Breakfast - bowl of sugar puffs with semi skimmed milk.

Mid Morning - Nothing, because I knew lunch was going to be early

Lunch - I went to IKEA this morning, I had an early lunch of salmon and chicken rice medley. It was light and delicious!

Mid Afternoon - Again nothing, I kept busy.

DINNER - An early dinner because of the early lunch, we had gammon, new potatoes and vegetables. I did less potatoes and vegetables than I used to do, and I still felt full afterwards, I am getting used to the fact that my plate does not need to be piled so high to be satisfying.

Evening Snack - Don't know yet, I still have 3 points left at the time of writing and am starting to feel peckish. Maybe I'll have another scoop of that ice cream.
I decided to have a doughnut.
This is OK, I am allowed to have things like that as long as I think about it and stay within points. As you can see I am still within my available and stored points.

WATER -

Pedometer -
Exercise - Walked around IKEA, TWICE!

Other Comments -

Tues 9th Oct

2007-10-09T18:16:00.000+01:00

Points Available -
Points Earned -
Points Brought Forward - and a half

Breakfast - 1 slice toast with low fat butter spread, 1 slice toast with jam, both eaten in the car whilst driving son to college AGAIN! (He missed the bus, but that was his last allowed trip from me. If he misses it again he can get the next bus and deal with the consequences of being late)
Mid Morning - 1 digestive biscuit.
Lunch - Stir fry with zero point veggies, 4 seafood sticks and a few slices of wafer thin ham.
Mid Afternoon - Licked the spoon when mixing up the instant mash for dinner.
DINNER - Shepherd's Pie
Evening Snack - 1 scoop ice cream

WATER -

Pedometer - Wonder when my bonus buddy will arrive, with the postal strike that is on at the moment.
Exercise - My back hurts! I was leaning over a table pinning out my dressmaking pattern!

Other Comments - Today started out looking like a really AWFUL day, but it has turned out that I have still managed to stick to plan.

GOOD ice cream is worth waiting for and is worth having just the one scoop of. We had Carte Dor vanilla, it was heavenly!

Mon 8th Oct

2007-10-07T21:09:00.001+01:00

Points Available -
Points Earned -
Points Brought Forward - and a half.

Breakfast - Sugar Puffs, semi skimmed milk and a banana
Mid Morning - No mid morning snack because I was at sewing class.
Lunch - Jacket Potato (done in microwave) with tuna and sweetcorn mayonnaise (low fat mayo)
Mid Afternoon - raw cauliflower, 2 of the fish fingers the boys had for tea.
DINNER - Scampi, rice, stir fry veggies and sauce.
Evening Snack - raw cauliflower.

WATER -

Pedometer - YEAH, I made the winning bid on a BONUS BUDDY, got to pay for it now and hopefully get it by the end of the week.

Exercise - Got my sewing class this morning and church small group this evening, so I doubt I'll have time to do much of anything.

Other Comments -

2007-10-07T09:37:00.000+01:00

Points Available -
Points Earned -
Points Brought Forward - HALF a point (I don't have a picture for half a point)

Breakfast - 2 slices toast with low sugar strawberry jam.
Mid Morning - at church so no chance to eat, and I was good and did not have a cookie when they were handed around.
Lunch - ZERO point SOUP. I think I put too much freshly ground pepper into it, next time I make it I'll hold off a bit on that.
Mid Afternoon - ham sandwich, on oatbran bread.
DINNER - Hearty Hamburger Tomato Stew (OAMC cookbook I think) with pasta
Evening Snack - Meringue nest with half a tin of peach slices in juice (saving the juice for another time), and a probiotic yoghurt.

WATER -

Pedometer - Still waiting for a winning bid on a bonus buddy!
Exercise - I doubt there will be any of this. After dancing and leaping around at the bi monthly youth event at church last night I am so stiff and uncomfortable, I think I will spend most of the afternoon on the sofa.

Other Comments -

Diet Journal 6th Oct

2007-10-06T10:32:00.000+01:00

Points Available -plus another half used and half a point left
Points Earned -
Points Brought Forward -

Breakfast - whole tub of mushrooms sliced and dry fried, 2 slices of cooked lean back bacon crumbled in. Served on a slice of oatbran bread.
Mid Morning - Hmmm, breakfast was so late today that I think it counts as mid morning!
Lunch - Prepared salad from the supermarket that was reduced.
Mid Afternoon -
DINNER - Crockpot beef, just chucked it in there with some potatoes and loads of zero point veg.
Evening Snack - 1 packet of seafood sticks,

WATER -

Pedometer - Still can't get this one to work. Have a few bids in at Ebay on bonus buddy pedometers from weight watchers. Leg still hurting from the other day, so I wouldn't be walking far enough today to earn any points.
Exercise - Does jumping around and dancing with a flag count? Bi monthly youth event.

Other Comments - That oatbran bread is new to me but it tastes fantastic, and since I don't really get oats in other ways because I can't stand porridge or oatmeal, it's one way for me to get the goodness of oats into my diet.
Supermarket ready made salads, AVOID them, but this was mega reduced so I bought it anyway. It was tasteless!

HERE WE GO THEN!

2007-10-06T10:20:00.000+01:00

THANK YOU to everyone who commented either on here or over on women at home. I will be taking everything that was said into consideration, and certainly implementing some of it!
So, the first couple of the days are usually the hardest! Right? Get me through that and it should get easier. Let's see what happens.

Valerie, I love the idea about the beads.
Saw something similar, well, it's not a reward thing, but a visual reminder thing. You know those coloured bands that people wear on their wrists, with statements on them, or for charity etc? To get one of those, either with some positive statement on it, such as "I CAN do this" or an FROG one, or something like that. And just use it as a visual reminder.
I know that somewhere, I remember someone talking about bracelets with beads on that were used for counting points, but can't find the link. I shall do a google search and see what I come up with, but if anyone knows it already, can you share it here!

So now it's Weigh in time!

This morning I weighed and measured!

On here I'm only sharing weight and it's frightening.

18 stones and 12 pounds

Which totals 264 pounds (14 pounds per stone)

I will NOT be sharing my photo here either! But friends on Women at home can see it down in the Battling the Bulge section!

2007-10-05T14:09:00.000+01:00

OK, here's the deal.
I am going to spend this afternoon writing a menu for the next week at least that includes, all meals plus a couple of scheduled snacks per day.
Then this afternoon when I drive eldest o work I will go to the supermarket and buy anything I need for the next couple of days and I will DO THIS!

I still Need HELP, I still need support, PLEASE.

Tomorrow morning I will weigh in, before breakfast, and if I'm feeling really brave I'll let hubby post a photo of me, in something that really shows off how big I am.

I've done all of that before and never stuck to it, BUT, I'm going to try again. That's what the thing at the top of my blog says right? I'm not starting AGAIN, this is a fresh page, a blank sheet, un written on, not altered in any way by what has gone before it.!

Do you drink?

2007-10-05T08:30:00.000+01:00

If you've come here looking for my "help me!" post, please scroll down, or go to the main page and scroll down if you are on the page for just this post.

Do you drink?
We do, but not very often. I find that a couple of glasses of wine and I am ready to fall asleep. Not much fun huh? But one of the things we have discovered is that when we do have something it is worth the extra to buy something NICE, something that costs just that bit more, usually.

That definitely applies to wine for us, but I would imagine it also applies to drinks like tequila. The Tequila Guy has written a website all about the good quality stuff. Not the cheap and nasty stuff the supermarkets buy in bulk and sell cheap, but the REAL THING. He gives advice on which brands of tequila are which, on how to serve and drink tequila, on who is new and upcoming in the tequila industry as well as a whole page of recipes for tequila based cocktails. And we are not just talking about margaritas here, there is whole range of drinks to choose from.

This is a sponsored post - See disclosure policy

HELP, I need HELP!

2007-10-05T08:12:00.000+01:00

I'm scared!
Yesterday I went to the local mall to look for something I needed to buy for Sunday's Cool this week. I walked a fair way but was out of breath the whole time and my back was aching and yesterday my legs joined in too, so that I was limping as well, most of the time.
The only reason I can think of for my legs aching is my weight!

And I saw two people in motorised wheelchairs who were very obviously because of their weight and it frightened me! OK, so they were MUCH bigger than even I am, but that's not the point. I'm having trouble walking because of my weight. THAT is scary.

But do you know what is even more scary?
Going on a diet or weight loss program. Know why? Because I have this fear that I will get all enthusiastic and then fall at the first hurdle. I have tried many times over the last year, and most of those times fell apart within the first day, I think the most I lasted was 2 days!

I NEED to do this, I MUST do this! And I'm scared!
HELP! I don't need advice on which diet to try, although if you MUST do that please bear in mind I have to cook for an adult male and two teenage boys as well, and that because of my back I cannot stand in the kitchen for hours on end. Well, not even one hour.
I need help on motivating myself, on overcoming this fear.
HELP!

Save the Planet

2007-10-03T08:37:00.000+01:00

Find what you need online and save the planet at the same time!

Greenback Search is a new online search engine! Just use Greenback instead of Google or Yahoo, or whatever search engine you currently use, and Greenback will buy carbon offsets for every search that you do. Can't be bad, because it's effortless on your part. You can clearly see how much your carbon offset your searches have earned, and if you recommend other people you can see how much all of you together have earned too.

If you have firefox or IE7 you can actually add Greenback to your browser window rather than having to visit the site. Facebook users can show their current offset totals on their facebook page with another little gadget.

One of the nifty extras on the site is a link that allows users to switch to a black background if they are using a CRT monitor. This reduces energy consumption since CRT monitors consume more energy to display lighter backgrounds.

Click here to check out Greenback Search

This is a sponsored post - See disclosure policy

Bacon, Mince and Pasta

2007-10-02T13:09:00.000+01:00

I was going through my photos on my computer and found photos for a recipe that I have not yet shared. I do not remember taking these photos, and I don't have exact measurements for this recipe, but it goes something like this:

Ingredients:
Bacon
Mince (ground meat)
Pasta
Tinned Sweetcorn
Onions
Jar of spaghetti sauce
Cheese.

Method

Chop the bacon, Chop the onions, Open the tin of sweetcorn and cook some pasta.
Drain the pasta and return to the pan. Fry the bacon, add the sweetcorn and the bacon to the pan of pasta.
Fry the mince (ground meat), drain and add to the pan, with a jar or two of spaghetti sauce.
Fry the onions and add those to the pan. Heat everything through thoroughly.
Grate the cheese, add to the pan, stir through to melt the cheese.
And serve.

Need a Loan?

2007-09-26T08:29:00.001+01:00

Do you need a Loan ? Want a quick and easy application with fast response times?
Check out this site that offers Personal Loans.

So whether it's Auto Loans you are after, or a loan for other purposes, this might be the site for you. As always I say BE SURE you know what you are doing, take advice, make sure you can complete the repayments, but for some things in today's world we just have no option, and if that is the case, then this looks like a good site.
The front page site is easy to navigate, and once you click on the type of loan you want you are already into their secure area, so you know your details are going to be taken care of.