WI Week 14 Results! Stone #1 Reached!

Hi everyone! Well I've only gone and reached my 1st stone and also my 5% whoop! It has taken me 4 months, but the fact that I'm there now makes me not give a flying about how long it took! Am absolutely delighted! I was sick last week and didn't even make my meeting, so I honestly had no idea what the scales would say today, I could've been up 2lbs for all I knew! Thankfully not!! :-)

Now I'm going to say that that's goal #1 reached, now onto the 2nd goal and the 2nd stone!

I find that I have lost most on the weeks where I looked up 5 or so new recipes on sites like Laa Loosh and Skinny Taste etc, pointed them to check that they're within my point range & then went shopping for the ingredients for the week. You really cant beat it for knowing how many points you're having & making some yummy dishes while you're at it! Plus I find it enjoyable making new dishes I haven't made before & even more so when you find something really tasty for low points that you can make again. :-)

I have my BHS Horse & Yard Mgt exams next week eeek! So am hitting the books & stables hard ha ha! Wish me luck!! :-/

Hope you're all having a great week!

Whoo Hoo !!

Chocolate Philly - Yummo!

Just have to share for those that still might not know that there is now Chocolate Philadelphia available, and it is YUM! It's 2pp for 30g and gorgeous spread on crackers or rich tea biscuits for a snack, with crumpets for tea or with banana and frozen yoghurt for dessert. I absolutely love it & the options are endless! Enjoy! :-)

Very Tasty Treat & Great Value for Points!

Just have to share these! They've saved my bacon a few times from those damned sweet tooth cravings. They are Harvest Morn Benefit Cereal bars from Aldi. I get a box of the Sultana and Apple and a box of the Chocolate and Orange. They come in a box of approx 6 bars and are similar to Special K bars but actually much tastier because of the sweet tasting yoghurt on the top. I have one of the apple and sultana ones mid morning and then instead of a chocolate bar I have a chocolate and Orange one with a cuppa mid afternoon. They are fab! And drum roll please..... Only 2 propoints per bar. Now could you beat that with a stick?! ;-)

Valentines Day :-)

Hi all! Well did everyone have a nice Valentine's day?! And get spoiled rotten by the OH (other half!)?! :-) Well myself and my OH decided we were going to splash out and get a take out and watch a movie for Valentines Day. So that's what we did! I had a personal pizza from pizza hut and some nachos. Now I think I'm over my weeklies by about 10 pp, but couldn't be 100% sure. But you know - I'm owning the fact that I'm only human, and you do have to live your life! So I'm up on the scales or STS (stay the same) this week I won't mind. I'm never going to be perfect every week, and why would you want to be?! You have to splash out and celebrate sometimes, but once you get back on track afterwards you'll be fine in the long run. And as I keep saying I'm in this for the long haul, so as long as I stick to my WW plan 90% of the time, I will certainly be celebrating life with those I love on certain occasions. Within reason of course, I'm not going to suddenly pig out on an extra large pizza with everything! But have something of what I like, enjoy it and not over fill myself. As this is a life change and not a diet, there will of course be weeks where we are up and sts, sure if we just kept losing for the rest of our lives there'd be nothing left of us! ;-) There'll even be weeks where we should definitely have lost, but our bodies are not having it, and that's just the way it is, but those weeks will be few and far between hopefully. I've been walking at lunchtime every day for 40 mins and was good for the rest of the week. So watch this space!! :-)

Now the evening before Valentines Day the OH had said he hadn't gotten me anything, which is fine, and we usually just exchange cards and make a nice dinner. But I knew that he was looking into getting some new earphones. So I did some research and found some that had good reviews and were not too expensive. Now as it turns out, the 'over the head' earphones are very square and my OH's head is quite round, and we both nearly passed out laughing when he tried them on! So as it turns out, I now have a new set of earphones haha! :-) So this is still the evening before Vals day and he said he felt bad that he hadn't gotten me anything and decided that he was going to head off and make me a card. I know, so funny! So he pops his head into this sitting room a few minutes later 'do we have any blue tack?!' So I mentioned where we might have some blue tack. Then another few minutes later 'do we have any of those long white bendy things?!' No, we do not have any pipe cleaners! What are you planning to make with blue tack and pipe cleaners haha?! So he comes back in and is finished apparently, but I cannot have it until the morning. Right so, no problem, I can wait till the morning :-) So we're going to bed and he says 'I couldn't find stuff to make you anything, so I haven't made a card!' Ha ha ha, and after throwing me off the scent with all the questions! So funny! So I said again that it was grand, coz sure I wasn't expecting anything anyway! So that was that. Now I decided that I would get up and make a hot breakfast on Valentines Day morning (amazing wife that I am!). So while he was out walking the dog at 6am, I got up and went down to start breakfast, and when I opened the fridge, what was hiding in there only a card and a bottle of my favorite perfume!!! Amazing! It has to be said, he is the master of deception!! And absolutely hilarious! Thank you darling! xx

I hope you all had a great Val's Day and are doing well on your weight loss journeys!

Horse Course Starts Tonight (and brings with it a foodie dilemma!)

So I've mainly been 'fooding' on here to date, but as you can see in my description I have mentioned that I'll be starting horse exams also. These are my two resolutions for the year 2012! To lose weight and to get some BHS qualifications under my belt. (The BHS is the British Horse Society for those that might not know).
So while I cannot wait for my first class tonight (woo hoo!), it does pose my first foodie encounter also - I get home at 6pm, change and head out the door at 6.20pm to get there for 7pm. What am I going to feed myself?! That's not enough time to get changed into my gear and make something to eat! I'll be starving & probably get trodden on because of my slow reflexes due to food deprivation ha! And not only is it only a few minutes to grab something, it'll have to be propoint friendly. This thought should've honestly crossed my mind last night, I'm obviously not as dedicated as I though haha :-)

Okay, so wish me luck this evening & here's hoping that I get devine inspiration on what I can have to eat before then!! :-)

Oat Cookies - 2pp Each

Hey all! I made some delish-iohso oat cookies the other day for 2pp per cookie! Can't beat that with a stick for pp value :-)
The recipe is from the March issue of Easy Food.

Oatmeal Cookies - 36 Cookies at 2pp per Cookie

(This recipe also had added raisins, which I have omitted.)

200g Brown Sugar
180g unsweetened apple sauce*
1 lg Egg White, lightly beaten
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp Vanilla extract
120g Rolled Oats
140g Plain Flour, sifted
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Pre-heat your oven to 180C conventional oven or 160C fan assisted ovens.

Whisk together sugar, apple sauce, egg white, oil and vanilla until smooth.

* I did not have any apple sauce, so made my own no less! 1st time! Just chop up 1 cup of apples, add half a cup of water and simmer for approx 15 mins, until apples are soft. Then blend. Ya Daa! :-)

Then in another bowl, yes a separate one to the wet ingredients, add the oats, plain flour, wholewheat flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix well.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix with a wooden spoon until just blended. Then I placed walnut size balls of the mixture onto a baking tray approx 1-1 1/2 inches apart and baked for 15 minutes! :-)

Let cool (if you can wait!) on a wire rack & enjoy!

Veggie Stir Fry & Noodles

Hi all! For dinner this evening I made a vegetable stir fry. It's been years, literally since I made a stir fry so wasn't so sure how it would turn out, especially as I didn't have a recipe and was winging it :-) Well it was divine! Even the OH said so, and that is saying something believe me haha :-)

4 Portions at 5 Propoints per Portion

2 Carrots
1 Red Onion
Some Sugar Snap Peas
Some Baby Corn
A Medium Sweet Potato 4pp
(All chopped)
3 Cloves Garlic grated into the veggies in the pot (as I love it!)

For the sauce -

2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
2 tbsp Toasted Sesame Oil 4pp
1/4 tsp Chili Flakes
Juice 1 Lime

2 Packs Straight to Wok Noodles 12pp

So veg into a large pot or wok with some spray oil. Keep turning so they cook evenly for approx 8 mins. Grate in the garlic & add your sauce. Stir for a minute. Add the noodles and stir every now and then for another 5/6 mins or when everything is tender and hot. Very tasty, so easy & great value for propoints! A definite staple in my weekly meals going forward :-)

The Nicest Thing I Ever Ate!

Warm Apple Crisp, need I say more?! Oh the warm cinnamony deliciousness of an apple crisp with low fat cream or ice cream. Just sooooo fulfilling for those of us now watching our sweet intake. Believe me, a little goes a long way to satisfaction with this baby! Quite simply one of the nicest things I ever ate. (Like the show on Food Network haha! Okay, too corny, I know :-) And so easy to make! Literally chop apple and top with mixture! You will not regret making this I tell you! The only problem may be stopping at one portion :-)

Okay so here's the recipe! Oh and enjoy..... :-)

Apple Crisp
10 portions - 6pp per Portion

4 medium cooking Apples
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Oats
1/2 cup Plain Flour
1/3 cup Low Fat Spread
3/4 tsp Cinnamon
3/4 tsp Nutmeg

Preheat your oven to 180C.
Peel and core your apples, cut into roughly one inch cubes.
Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl and then work in the butter with your fingers until you have a crumble texture.
Grease your baking tin with low fat spray, put your apples in and spread evenly, top with your mixture and also spread that evenly.
Now into the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
Add low fat cream/low fat ice cream/Greek yoghurt or anything else you fancy for a completely delicious and totally satisfying dessert!

After the Weekend!

Well what a roller coaster weekend I had, food wise! For the first Friday in I don't know how long, I didn't have any work or shopping etc to do. So myself and the OH decided we'd have pizza and a movie, just to celebrate Friday night! :-) Now we're still off the booze since Christmas, which is at least something! Because I dread to think of the extra points I could've clocked up if I had've added in a bottle or two of the auld vino ;-) So it turns out my pizza ( yes, mine alone!) was 26 points! Jesus, Mary, Joseph & all the Saints, I nearly passed out with the shock, and why I only pointed it AFTER eating it is madness! I obviously didn't want to know in advance, but I'll definitely bite the bullet in future and check before consuming item :-) So Saturday brought an Indian, Chicken Korma, rice & a nann. I looked it up online and the general consensus is 15 for the chicken korma, 13 for the rice and 7 for 85g of a nann. So needless to say,my weeklies are well gone! Now yesterday, I got up, spent a few hours cleaning the house and then made brunch. 2 bacon medallions, a poached egg, a slice of reduced fat cheese, a tbsp ketchup and an english muffin. Yep, you guessed it, I made myself a bacon mcmuffin at home, for 11 points :-) Later on I had a cookie with a cuppa for 3 points, and then I went horse riding, came home and made cauliflower soup and fruit salad for the week, had a bath and then went to bed. Totally forgot about dinner haha! So at least I reined it in after Friday and Saturday night ;-)
Am now prepared for the week, and am looking forward to the routine the week brings :-)

I hope you all have a great week too :-)

You would never think it's WW - Lasagne!

This evening I made the lasagne recipe from the WW book, the Complete Kitchen.
Well, you would not believe how good this is! I actually feel like I'm after having seconds I'm so full, and have to remind myself that I'm within my points! And it is so full flavoured, really delicious. I even made extra to freeze & for lunch in work tomorrow. So here it is, and I won't have to tell you twice to.... Enjoy! :) (Now I added some oven chips, so they are not included in the points mentioned below, much to your dismay I'm sure!) :)

WW Lasagne - 4 Portions - 11pp per Portion

I added mushrooms and a tsp of Oregano to this recipe, which spread over the recipe is 0 points per portion.

For the bolognese -
Chop 2 onions, 2 carrots, 2 garlic cloves and (I added) punnet of mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and put in a bowl until later.
Cook 250g of lean mince until browned in your pan. When browned add back in your cooked veg.
Add a tsp of mixed herbs and (I added) a tsp of Oregano, 200mls of beef stock and a tin of chopped tomatoes.
Leave that to simmer on a low heat, stirring every now and then for 10 minutes.
To make the béchamel sauce -
Add to a pot on med-low heat 450mls skimmed milk, 40g plain flour, a bay leaf and 40g of low fat spread. Stirring constantly until it thickens and forms a sauce, approx 8-10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf.
To assemble the lasagne -
Put some sauce on the bottom of your lasagne dish for the pasta sheets to stick to. Place your pasta sheets on top. Place some of your bolognese on top of that. Scatter some low fat mozzarella on top of the bolognese. Then start again with the pasta sheets, the sauce, the bolognese, the mozzarella, more pasta sheets, more sauce and then sprinkle some Parmesan on the top of the lasagne.
Put into a preheated oven at 190C for approx 40 minutes!

Seriously tasty! You have to try it!

Silver Seven in Sight!

Hi there!
So went through my usual routine yesterday of disappearing into the kitchen on a Sunday in preparation for the working week ahead! I am actually so motivated to not go overboard this week. With my weigh in in sight for Thursday evening, where if I am lucky and loose 2lbs, I will get my 1st silver 7! Excitement! Now thank God for the weekly allowance of points we get in addition to the daily points, because I just use them on any given day when I find I need a little something extra to get me through. I haven't had any major nights out since the start of the new year, so don't need to save them for a night on the booze or a meal out. I am currently doing a course in horse care and stable management so all my funds are going into that, much to my waistlines delight I'm sure! :) So in work I am sticking to my 0 point veg soup for lunch and a 0 point fruit salad in the afternoons to ensure I stick within my points to hopefully get my target weight loss for this week!

Fingers Crossed!!

This week I made the following.

Fruit Salad - 0 ProPoints

Chopped mango, kiwi, pineapple, peaches and grapes. With a squeeze of lime juice over it all to prevent from browning.

Broccoli Soup - 6 Portions at 0 ProPoints per Portion

A chopped Onion, Carrot, Celery, 2 cloves of garlic - all sauteed in 1 tbsp olive oil (1pp) for 5 minutes until soft.
Then add a tbsp of mixed herbs (1pp), a litre of water and 2 chopped heads of broccoli.
Simmer for 15-20 mins and then blend.

Banana Bread - 12 Portions at 3 ProPoints per Slice

I use the American cup measurments for baking, much easier than measuring everything out :)

Mix -
1 cup mashed Banana
1 large Egg
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Sugar

In another bowl mix -
1 and a half cups Plain Flour
Half tsp Cinnamon
Quarter tsp Baking Soda
1 and a half tsp Baking Powder
A pinch Salt

Preheat fan over to 190C.
Mix both together. Use spray oil to grease the inside of a loaf tin and turn your mixture into it.

Bake for 15 mins at the 190C it's already at, then turn down to 160C for another 20-25 mins. It's done when you pit a skewer down into it and it comes out clean without any of the mixture on it.

WI - Week 2 Results!

Well all, I'm just back from my 2nd WW weigh in. Now I felt I had been a bit of a chancer with the plan this week :) I barely got off my back side I have to say and only went walking 1 day. Not the best in fairness! Now I did stay within my points, but literally, to the point! When I had a few points left over at the end of the day, I would be looking for something nice in the presses to use them up. I should've really saved them towards my weight loss, but sure tis done now and I'll try not to 'treat' myself with my leftover points this week and have something healthier instead. So I have to say I didn't have any ideas of grandure going to my meeting. But.... low and behold, 3lbs off! I'm delighted! My leader said that I had followed the plan and that's that, it works. She actually said not to add up activity points earned from exercising, just not to complicate things that much. Just to stick to the daily points and the weekly points and exercise because it helps your weight loss and you know it's good for your health. So I am definitely committing to doing some sort of exercise every second day this week and see where that gets me.

So onwards and downwards for next weeks WI! :-)

Preparation for the Working Week Ahead!

So I did my weekly shopping this morning & have barely left the kitchen since I got home! All in preparation for my working week ahead.

At the office where I work there is a canteen where I could buy a relatively healthy lunch. But I am one of those people that would have the best intentions of getting a chicken & salad wrap, and then I get to the counter and visions of coleslaw & egg mayonnaise take over! So for my own good, I bring lunch and anything else I may need to get me through the day with me. Honestly without it, I wouldn't manage to stay within my points for the day!

So I have made Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato Soup and a fresh fruit salad to bring to work for the week. I've pointed the soup at 2pp per portion of which I got 5 out of this recipe and the fruit salad is 0pp which can only be a good thing! :)

For the soup -
1 Butternut Squash
1 Sweet Potato
1 Carrot
1 Onion
1 Clove garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 ltr veg or chicken stock
1 tbsp mixed herbs
Salt & black pepper to taste

Peel & chop all your veg into 1 inch chunks. The best way I have found to tackle a butternut squash is to cut both ends off 1st. Then cut in half. Then you have flat surfaces to work from to peel. Put one of the halves flat side down on the counter and peel with a knife downwards. When that's done, cut in half downwards again. Then scoop out the inside with a spoon, much easier & safer than a knife. Then chop away to your hearts content :)
Heat the oil in a large pot on low- medium heat. Add the onion and grate in the garlic. You can finely chop your garlic either, I just find it easier to grate straight into the pot. Let soften stirring occasionally for approx 5 mins. Add your herbs, salt & pepper and stir. After another minute you can add all your other veg, toss everything around together in the pot so all the flavours rub onto each other. Then add a ltr of veg or chicken stock and stir.
Place a lid on your pot, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 mins. When done, put into a blender and blend until smooth. This will keep well for at least 3 days refrigerated. Simples! :-)

For my fruit salad I simply chopped kiwi, apples and pears. I added in tinned pineapple chunks and peach slices, both in fruit juice not syrup. Stir to mix & then squeeze the juice of a lemon or lime over your fruit and toss to coat everything in the juice. This will prevent from browning. This will also keep well for at least 3 days refrigerated. Enjoy!

Am loving the iWatcher app by the way! Fabulous that once you have pointed something it's saved to your favourites so that you never have to point it again! Anything for an easy life I say! :-)

1st WI tomorrow Evening! Mexican Chili for dinner

So I have joined back to weight watchers! As I'm sure so many others have too given the time of year! New Years Resolutions & all that. So I was in weight watchers before 2 years ago to loose weight for my wedding. I lost 1 & a half stone which was fab, and has also crept its way back on which has resulted in the determination to not only loose that, but hopefully 3 stone this time! Now this is the first I've heard of the new ProPoints system, so am trying to wrap my head around that this week. It will take some getting used to having been used to the regular points system previously. But Rome was never built in a day, and I'm not in a mad panic to loose the weight. Slow and steady wins the race, so I'm aiming for at least 1 pound a week and I'll get there for this time next year. My 1st weigh in (WI) is tomorrow evening and I am hopeful, at least that the 1st pound will have been lost, so watch this space!
In lieu of my WI tomorrow I made a gorgeous Mexican Chili with brown rice. I used 125g of lean mince at 6pp, 60g dry weight of brown rice also at 6pp, a load of veggies and spices! Veggies I used are corn, kidney beans, mushrooms, onions, chili's and garlic. All no points except the corn & kidney beans, both at 2pp for 2 tbsp. Spices are cumin, oregano and coriander, a tbsp of each.

And as I did not eat this all in one sitting obviously! I am having the leftovers in a wrap for lunch in work tomorrow! Happy days!

Fingers crossed for tomorrow evenings WI!