Weekly Update and SCC week 9 review

I nearly didn't write this update. I am about ready to give up, or do something drastic. This week I exercised 5 times, ate within my points every day except for Saturday (which would have been covered by the extra activity points I earned), got 2l of water every day, and had what I consider to be a "good week". So I should be celebrating a loss and giving my halo a polish. But I gained 1 1/2lbs. For no reason. I can't blame my monthly cycle, because I'm right in the middle of it. I'm perfectly healthy, not suffering from a cold or any other ailments. I sweated through a run, two zumba sessions, a pilates session and a legs, bums and tums DVD. I mostly ate clean, not too many carbs, lots of fruit and veg, lean meat and dairy. Over the weekend I had a few biscuits and an extra slice of bread, I refuse to believe a that would make me gain a pound and a half. Plus like I said, on the Weight Watchers system you can earn extra points from activity, and over the week I clocked up more than enough. I can't give up any more of the things I love! I drink mostly water and have almost completely given up caffiene - I used to drink almost 2 litres of diet coke a day, now I have a small 500ml bottle once a week and only allow myself one decaff coffee a day - which I don't even have any milk in. I snack on fruit, veg and rice cakes, instead of crisps, biscuits and bread. I never drink alcohol except special occasions - I've had a drink 3 times this year, whereas I would usually have a bottle of wine in the fridge on the go, and have a glass or two a few times a week. So why am I struggling to much? Why am I gaining weight when I look at what my diet and activity was like before compared to now and it is so different? I am so frustrated, and fed up. Two steps forward and one step back. I could cry.

I met my Spring Chick Challenge goal this week. I wanted to work out 5 times and I did:

Wednesday - rest day
Thursday - 30 minute run
Friday - 50 minute Legs, Bums and Tums DVD
Saturday - 20 mins Zumba + 10 mins Wii Fit
Sunday - 20 mins Zumba + 10 mins Wii Fit
Monday - 50 mins pilates DVD

This week I'll aim for the same if not more - some activity every day, even if it's just 20 minutes Zumba or a walk. This week's challenge is to try a new recipe - which is something I love doing anyway so I'll be sure to blog about it too. I got a new WW mag at my meeting today, so I'll try something from there.

I am so disheartened. I want this so badly, I am trying so hard, I can honestly say that since my birthday I have barely put a foot wrong, but I'm not seeing the results. It's all I think about, but it's making me miserable. I just don't know what to do any more.

Review: Weight Watchers Garlic and Herb Chicken Bag 'n' Bake

I eat a lot of chicken. Not every day, but at least 3 times a week, so I'm always looking for new ways to cook it without adding too many ponits/calories. I spotted these new bag 'n' bakes at my meeting this week and for 85p I thought I'd give it a go. I'e cooked with these baking bags before, the idea is that you put your ingredients, meat, veg etc in the bag, add the seasoning and bake, and you end up with moist juicy meat, no added fat and great flavour, and they do work! Chicken breasts come out much less dry than they would simply baked with a bit of foil over the top, and have a nice herby/barbeque/cajun or whatever seasoning.

The one I bought comes in a little box, which contains a favouring sachet, the baking bag and little tag to seal it with. It serves 2 and has a ProPoints value of 0!

The instructions (printed inside the box, took me a while to find them!) say to add 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts and 250g veg to the bag, along with the seasoning sachet. I used more veg than this because I wanted some leftover roast veg for the next day (courgette/zuccini, red onion, red and yellow bell pepper). I also added some new potatoes, so I wouldn't have to cook them separately.

This is what it looked like with everything in - probably too full!

 Seal it up with the tie provided, pierce a couple of holes in the top and put it on the bottom shelf of the oven (the bag mustn't touch any part of the oven) for 45 minutes at 180/360/gas 4. I stuck it in, went for a run leaving Mr FGS strict instructions to leave it alone unless it exploded and it was ready when I got back!

It was very tasty, and I'll definitely try it again, but there are a few changes I'd make. because I used so much veg, and cooked the potatoes in the same bag, the flavour wasn't as intense as I'd have liked. So next time I'd either add a clove of garlic to the bag, or cook the potatoes separately. I'd also change the veg up a bit - on the box it shows baby sweetcorn and cauliflower, which would be tasty! I get bored of the same veg sometimes, and I think roasted baby sweetcorn would be nice.

A medium (165g) chicken breast is 4ProPoints, and we had 200g new potatoes which is also 4PP. All in all 8 points for the whole meal is reasonable, and really I didn't need all of the potatoes. I will definitely buy this again!

What do you think? Have you ever tried a baking bag? What do you do to pep up chicken?

Hx

Pancakes - how do you eat yours? Plus no more binging for Lent...

Hello!

Since yesterday was Shrove Tuesday I thought I would share with you my pancake recipe - the basic pancakes are only 2 WW ProPoints each! So they'd make a great dessert or even breakfast any time of year, topped with fruit and greek yogurt - yummy! There's also a savoury version that's just as good!

Basic pancakes
Makes 8, 2 ProPoints each

150g plain flour
200ml skimmed (0.4% fat) milk
150ml water
1 egg
Calorie controlled cooking spray (I use FryLight)

In a jug combine the milk, water, and egg. Put the flour in a bowl and make a well in the centre, gradually whisking in the milk and egg mix until you have a smooth batter. It's best if you can leave it to rest for around half an hour before you use it, but you don't have to if you can't wait! Heat a frying pan until it's very hot, and mist with cooking spray. Using a ladle, spoon about 100mls of mix into the hot pan, turning it so it covers the base. Leave over a high heat until the edges start to lift-about 3-4 mins. You'll know the pancake is ready to turn if you shake the pan and it comes loose - you shouldn't have to use anything to "scrape" it from the bottom of the pan. Turn/flip and cook the other side for about 1-2 mins.

Toppings-

Lemon and sugar - sugar 1PP per teaspoon

Cherries and ice cream - tinned cherries (without juice) warmed gently, served with low fat vanilla ice cream - 2PP per 60g scoop

Nutella and banana - Nutella/chocolate spread 1PP per teaspoon

Savory Variation - Green Eggs and Ham

One of my son's favourite books is The Cat in The Hat so we made green eggs and ham by adding 2tsp of green pesto to the batter (over 8 servings it doesn't make a difference to the propoints, but if you are eating more than one add one propoint per 2 pancakes) and served them with some boiled gammon (2PP per 30g slice) and parmesan cheese (1PP per teaspoon). They made a great lunch!

 

My boys enjoying their green eggs and ham!

Did you have pancakes yesterday? What do you top them with?

Now, onto the serious bit. Shrove Tuesday rolls onto Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent, where it is traditional to give something up for 40 days until Easter Sunday. I can't remember the last time I even tried to give something up for lent, but one of my fellow bloggers Nikki set a challenge to give something up this year, so I decided to give up binging. Odd thing to give up? Perhaps, but I feel it is my biggest downfall. Every Tuesday after my weigh in, I have a "day off" the diet - which usually turns into a binge. I can't stop at one biscuit, or just buy a small chocolate bar. Once the crisps are open they're gone, and it often involves a take-away and alcohol too. I'm not saying I'm going to give up having the chocolate or the crisps, but I'm not going to stuff my face at every opportunity on a Tuesday anymore, I'm going to track the points and be accountable, use my weekly points for a treat if I want one. Eek, I'm a bit scared...but it's only 46 days, right?

If you'd like to join in, hop on over to Nikki's blog!

Are you giving up anything? Good luck if you are!

Hx

Recipre of the week - Pork and mushroom "burgers" with spinach salad and crispy potatoes

Hi loves :)

I wanted to share with you what I had for dinner last night. It's a recipe I kind of "made up" out of necessity - what we had in the fridge! But it was delicious, and I'll definitely make it again. You can throw in what you like really! I used regular pork mince, but if you used lean mince the ProPoint/calorie value would be lower. However it might be a little dry.

Pork and mushroom "burgers" with spinach salad and crispy potatoes
Serves 2, ProPoints per serving - 7

Ingredients:
For the burgers (5PP per person)
2 large flat mushrooms
250g pork mince
1/2 a large onion
1 clove garlic
1 tsp sage
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp olive oil (1PP, but nothing split between 2)

For the potatoes and salad
200g potatoes (2 PP per person)
Calorie controlled cooking spray (I use fry light)
2 large handfuls spinach
2 spring onions
Balsamic vinegar, to taste

Finely mince the onion and garlic and add to the pork mince. I used a food processor for this, but you can do it by hand if you don't have one. Add the say, soy and oil. Peel the skin from the mushrooms and remove the stalk in the centre (you could add the finely chopped stalk to the mince if you like). Place them on a baking tray and press half of the mixture into each mushroom, forming the mince into a patty.

Dice the potatoes to about 1cm cubes (you can leave the skin on!) Spray a baking tray with cooking spray, add the potatoes, season and spray again. Bake the potatoes and "burgers" for about 20-25 mins at 200o c/400o f, gas mark 6, turning the potatoes a few times.

Serve with a large salad of raw spinach and spring onion, dressed with balsamic vinegar.

Yum!

Hx

Weekly Weigh In - have I hit a plateau?

Well, after staying well within my ProPoint allowance all week, having Jillian kick my butt every day and generally being saintly, I stayed the same again. Grr. Wasn't impressed. But I have had a couple of nonscale victories instead. I had a gift card left from Christmas and needed some retail therapy, so we hit the shops yesterday afternoon. Browsing the sale rails I found 2 cute jumpers that I loved - one in a size 16, one in a 14. I usually buy an 18 but suddenly thought I should try a size smaller. The 16 was too big! Only a little, but still, as I plan on losing more, not worth getting since it wouldn't be long (hopefully) before it was completely too big. I tried on the 14 and not only did it fit perfectly, but it looked pretty damn hot, if I say so myself. I walked around the shops for the rest of the afternoon with a very smug look on my face :)

Then, yesterday evening with it being Valentines, Mr FGS decided that we would have a date night at home once the kidlets were in bed. He put on a shirt and I decided to try a dress that I bought for a friends wedding back last May. I bought it online and it fitted...just, and looked awful so I got something else. Well, I tried it on last night and it looked lovely :) Almost 3 stone lighter, a ton more confident, and finally taking control of my body.

This week I WILL lose 1 1/2 lbs to take me to 40lbs. There really was no reason I shouldn't have lost weight last week, so hopefully I'll "catch up" this week. I'm moving onto level 2 of the 30 day shred tonight (terrified). Food is planned, Mr FGS is working the whole weekend so any temptation he brings with his unhealthy habits will be removed and I WILL do this! The Spring Chick Challenge this week is to use smaller utensils when eating, so my porridge and soup will be eaten with a teaspoon out of a mug, and I may even use the children's cutlery...as if everyone didn't think I was insane enough...

Have a good week everyone!

Hx

A Tale of Two Suppers

I was in a pinch for what to make for dinner last night. It's still freezing cold here, and my youngest has an ear infection so I didn't want to take him out in the cold to go shopping, so I had to use something from the freezer. I dug deep and found two frozen breaded haddock fillets - something I wouldn't eat usually any more. I worked out the ProPoints and it came to a rather high 9. I usually try not to go over 10 for my whole meal. But I had salad in the fridge, so I made a big salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, and red pepper and dressed it with balsamic vinegar and a teaspoon of parmesan (1PP). I really enjoyed it - it felt like the fish was a little bit of a treat, but combining it with the 'free' salad meant I could enjoy it without any guilt.

My 10PP dinner

Mr FGS, however, can only be described as a salad dodger. He would have eaten a tiny bit of the lettuce, cucumber and onion, but coated in mayonaisse. Instead he had his with oven chips and baked beans, totalling a whopping 22 ProPoints (at least) - and that's without the bread and butter, and mayo on the side.

Was I jealous of his high-carb, high-fat dinner? Not one bit! I know mine was more nutritionally balanced, as well as lower cal and generally healthier. And while his dinner still had all the elements of a healthy meal (protein, carb and veg - baked beans count towards your 5 a day!) you can tell just by the difference in colour between the two plates that mine would contain a wider variety of nutrients. I know it wasn't a perfect meal, but I managed to fit it into my diet plan without ruining it.

How do you fit "treats" and "bad" food's into your diet without going overboard?

Hx

Recipe of the Week - Healthy Breaded Prawns

It's been a wee while since I posted a recipe, and I wanted to share what I had for dinner last night because it was YUMMEH! It's a little involved but totally worth it, and felt like a huge dinner for only 8 ProPoints. It's a recipe I found on Pinterest but I modified it for British weights and measures, and ingredients, but it's easy enough to figure out!

Healthy Breaded Prawns and homemade wedges

Serves 2, 8 ProPoints per serving (5 for the prawns, 3 for the wedges)

Ingredients
For the prawns:
250g raw king prawns
1 slice white bread
1 egg white
1 tablespoon (15g) grated parmesan

For the wedges:
300g (approx 2 medium) baking potatoes
Fry light/calorie controlled cooking spray
1 tsp Smoked paprika/chilli powder
Salt

Method:
Cut the potatoes into wedges. Spray a baking tray with cooking spray and add the wedges. Sprinkle over the paprika or chilli and season with a sprinkle of salt. Give the tray a shake to coat the wedges before spraying again. Oven bake for about 40-45 minutes in a 200 degree oven.

Tear the bread into chunks and process to fine breadcrumbs. In a dry frying pan, brown the crumbs until they're crispy and dry, then place on a plate to cool. Once cool add the parmesan and mix to combine them equally. Put the egg white in a shallow dish. Rinse the prawns and drain well. Dip the prawns in the egg and then the crumbs, before placing on a tray sprayed with cooking spray. Repeat with all the prawns and then bake with the wedges for the last 10 minutes, turning halfway through.

I forgot to take a picture when I was done (probably because I was hungry...) but I served them with the wedges and a huge 0PP salad of lettuce, pepper, onion, tomato, cucumber, and balsamic vinegar. Sooo yummy.

It makes such a difference to try a new recipe and love it, and I'll definitely try this again. The crust would be good with chicken too....ooh now I'm thinking goujons!

Hx

Weekly Weigh In and SCC Update

Morning,

I had a good result on the scales this morning, but it's somewhat bittersweet as I have flu and have eaten very little since Friday. I don't think I've had more than 10 ProPoints any day the whole weekend, and yesterday my total was 6 (I'm usually allowed 29 a day plus a weekly allowance of 49) since I've just felt so sick. So although I weighed in at 2lbs less than last week, I'm pretty sure it's not a true representation. Although I have been drinking gallons of water (4 litres yesterday) so I know I'm not dehydrated, it's going to be interesting to see what happens this week once I am feeling better.

Previous weight: 13st 9 1/2lbs (191.5lbs)
Current weight: 13st 7 1/2lbs (189.5lbs)
+/-: -2lbs

I am hoping to at least maintain this week, as I've now entered the 180s!

Last weeks goals were:

Lose at least 1lb so that I enter my 30s at my lowest weight ever - Yep! 30 tomorrow....
3 workouts at least, including a swim and something new - nope :( I ordered myself a skipping rope though, and a little birdy told me that a Jillian Michaels surprise might be waiting for me in the morning...
Cheer the eff up! - Yes! A good night out really helped, even if I have been at deaths door ever since...

This weeks goals:

Maintain my weight at least, lose if I can.

Work out! Anything is better than nothing. Re-do week 3 of C25k minimum.

Continue to track and drink 2l of water.

Spring Chick Mini Challenge: Go caffeine free. Think I can do this. I barely drink any diet coke any more, and I'm sure if I want coffee I can cope with decaff. As it happens I've just run out of regular coffee and only have decaff in the cupboard, so if I do my usual trick of forgetting to buy more anyway it wont be hard!

Tomorrow is my birthday, so I will be hibernating. Not looking forward to it for a variety of reasons so plan to mope about and act like a sulky teenager all day. Then Thursday I'm going to put on my big girl panties and get over it! Onwards and upwards!

Now I need bed and a box of tissues...

Hx

Menu plans

I'm slowly getting into the habit of menu planning although this week's one is incomplete so far. I'm going out on Friday night and I don't know what food choices there will be at the place I'm going to. So because I undoubtably wont be able to restrain myself, and will be drinking alcohol (which I rarely do now) I'm trimming my points for the rest of the week. Weight Watchers say this isn't the way to follow the plan, and give you a weekly points allowance for times like these, but it has worked for me in the past and seems like "damage limitation" to me. I will be having a good old dance to burn some of the calories off though!

There also isn't a planned meal for Monday evening either. I weigh in on a Tuesday morning, so I usually have something very light such as fish and salad or chicken and steamed veg on a Monday night, and Mr FGS has something different - so I don't have a "meal" to plan as such. I have some quorn fillets in the freezer and there is always fresh veg in the fridge, so I know that's there and I don't have to "plan" it as such.

Snacks are the same. I have plenty of fresh fruit and veg - celery, carrots, apples, bananas, grapes, mango - and things like plain fat free yoghurt and cottage cheese, as well as low-fat crisps and Weight Watchers snack bars.

Getting my mojo back this week! For my new exercise I ordered a skipping rope! Once it comes I plan to do 5-10 minutes of skipping a day and I think this is manageable. I'm restricted to doing exercise in the evenings once the children are in bed which means my time with Mr FGS is cut into, but 5 minutes of skipping I can fit in while DS1 is at pre-school and DS2 is safely strapped into his highchair eating lunch or whatever. I can't wait for Spring when I can rely a bit more on the weather being better.

How is your menu shaping up for the week? Link me to it if you've posted one!

Hx

This week's menu plan...

Morning!

I've managed a menu plan again, but am doing it a little different this week. I decided that planning my snacks wasn't working - I rarely ate what I had planned and swapped the planned things for other days when I wanted them, so instead I have left the snack area blank and just written how many points I have left for the day after my main meals have been taken into consideration. On some of the days I've left more points for snacks than I have included for meals! But, in reality, it probably wont work out like that, and I'm not intending to use all my points every day. Once again, if there are any specific recipes you'd like to see please ask!

I have had to repeat meals and lunches more this week, for reasons I'll go into in a later post, but I don't mind and it means less cooking!

For snacks, as well as fresh fruit and veg and a huge batch of 0pp veg soup and fruit smoothies I will have the following options available:

WW rich toffee bar 2         Ryvita 1

WW crisps 2                     60g cottage cheese 1

150g lf plain yogurt 2         Tbsp lf hummus 2

Rich tea biscuit 1               Boiled egg 2

6 mini breadsticks 1           Cooked veggie sausage 2

I struggle for snack ideas, so if you have any suggestions please share! I am a big snacker and while I know I shouldn't be reaching for the crisps I can't help it! But as long as my choices are measured and accounted for, I'm not too worried. I'm trying to include more protein in my choices too.

Have you planned this week? I found it really helpful last week, knowing what to have and when, and it helped me spend less too.

Hx

Lunch Of The Day - Spinach and Red Pepper Fritatta

I thought I'd show you a recipe from my menu planner. I made two servings on Wednesday, had one for lunch and will have the other tomorrow. It tastes great hot or cold, so it's great picnic or packed lunch food too.

Spinach and Red Pepper Fritatta

Makes 2 servings, 4 ProPoints per serving

Ingredients
3 mediums eggs, beaten
1/2 red pepper, deseeded and chopped
1 onion, sliced
1/2 courgette, chopped
100g potatoes
Handful washed spinach

Chop the potato into chunks - I cut it in half then sliced about 1/2cm thick. Heat a frying pan with a heatproof handle, add a few table spoons of cold water and the potatoes, onion, courgette and pepper. Cover and cook for around 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are cooked but still firm. You will need to stir occasionally and add more water if it starts to stick. Add the spinach and stir until it's wilted. Season well. Add the beaten eggs and make sure the filling is evenly distributed. Cook for a few minutes and the finish under a hot grill to set the top.

I served mine with a side salad and it was really nice. I like to make it with roasted veg too, and if you have left over boiled potatoes (waxy ones work best) you can just warm them with the veg in the pan before adding the eggs. Or throw it all in an oven proof dish and bake it like a crustless quiche/flan. If you've got some points/calories spare add some cottage cheese to make it even yummier!

What are you having for lunch today?

Hx

Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance...

Hi loves, hope you're having a good week!

After last week's disaster I took some time on Tuesday afternoon after my weigh in working out to what I was going to eat for the week, down to the last snack. I've planned my menu to around 20-25 ProPoints per day as I'm allowed 29 and this will give me some leeway! Already yesterday I found it so much easier to stick to, and didn't even eat 2 of the planned snacks. I've included more variety in there too, which I think now it's getting harder I'm going to need. Having mostly the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day is repetitive and makes me not look forward to eating it. Today I was really excited about my bagel and enjoyed it, and as a result I feel satisfied. What has my life come to, that I enjoy looking forward to a bagel?! There are still some repeats of meals, but it is a lot more varied than what I was eating before.

Anyway, if you're interested here is my menu plan for the week. If the pic comes out really tiny, click it to look a bit closer. I plan on posting about some of the recipes but if there's any you specifically want to know, leave a message in the comments. I'm also planning to make this a regular thing, so have added a Menu Plan tab to the top. At the moment it just contains a link to this post, but I'll hopefully build it up with recipe links and menu plans as the weeks pass. It is time consuming planning this way, so I might not do it every week, but will definitely try and plan more!

Once I'd planned out everything, yesterday morning I walked to a farm shop to buy veg for the week. I spent £11.20 on this little lot:

Grapes, peppers, butternut squash, red onions, kiwis, courgettes, cucumber, tomatoes, lemon, spring onions, broccoli 

When I went to the supermarket after for a few more bits I had a quick wander round the veg aisles and looked at the prices to compare the farm shop prices, and found out that some things cost a few pence more, while some things cost a few pence less, so all in all I think I probably broke even. I will definitely walk to the farm shop more often (it's a 2 mile round trip) as most of the produce is British if not local (obviously not all of it!), and it means I get a nice walk in too. I was nice and warm by the time I got back yesterday, so plenty of calories burned.

Continuing with the planning theme, 3 of the meals I have planned for the week involve roasted veg, so this morning I baked a huge tray of it of which I had some for lunch today and the rest will go in the fridge for tomorrow's dinner and another lunch later in the week. Lessening the load! I just chopped 3 courgettes, 2 peppers, and two red onions, slung them in a tray sprayed with low-cal cooking spray with seasoning, balsamic vinegar and some dried orgeano and roasted it for about 45 minutes. So yum!

Now I just have to stop myself from eating it all and running out when I need it...

How do you plan? I would love to see links to menu plans if you have them!

Hx

Weekly Weigh In and Spring Chick Challenge Update

Morning guys and gals :)

So after my self sabotage last week I managed to lose 1/2 a pound. I got back on track over the weekend, and didn't eat anything I shouldn't and tracked it all meaning I was well below my ProPoints every day. Didn't get much exercise in, but that is going to change this week. I am having a tough time in my personal life at the moment, but I am not going to let it get in my way.

My plan for this week:

• TRACK. Everything. I have a habit of not writing down 'free' foods but even these are going in the tracker this week. I also get halfway through the day and stop tracking, which is dangerous as my snacky time is in the evening.
• Menu plan. To go along with the tracking I am going to write a menu plan, which will include 3 meals + snacks for every day Weds-Mon this week. This should also keep my budget in check.
• Exercise. Rest day today, and then get back on it tomorrow.
• Support. Read all the challengers blogs as much as I can, and ask for help if I need it.
• Blog. I have a couple of posts up my sleeve for this week :)

Exercise plan for the week:

Wednesday: Walk to farm shop and back with buggy (2 miles)

Thursday: 40 mins Zumba

Friday: 30 mins Wii Fit

Saturday: 40 mins Zumba

Sunday: Walk with family and/or run in the evening

Monday: 40 mins Zumba

I am going to add these to a side bar so I can tick them off each day, and continue with the Starter exercise plan I showed you in my last post. Another thing I am going to do is wear my sports bra under my normal clothes, and that way I can fit in a few star jumps or step ups on the bottom stair when the urge takes me!

The Spring Chick Mini Challenge this week is to eat with your non-dominant hand. At first, I thought that as I eat with a knife and fork, I don't have a non-dominant hand for eating! But actually, as I usually have cereal for breakfast and soup for lunch I can hold my spoon with my left hand and try it! I think I will need a bib though... The theory behind it is by changing hands when eating it will disrupt your normal patterns and break the habit of over-eating. We'll see!

Just a final thought from me, last week when I was feeling down, as I often do, I took to Twitter. If any of you are on Twitter, please leave your user names in the comments and I will follow you. It is a great support network and we can keep each other going! My user name is @HellBellUk :)

How have you done this week? I hope the new year is treating you well :)

Hx

Recipe of the week - Bacon and Butterbean hotpot

Morning!

I wanted to share with you what I had for dinner last night as it was so good! Filling, packed with veg and low ProPoint/calorie/carb - can't go wrong! It was adapted from a Weight Watchers recipe that uses sausages instead, and different veg.

Serves 3, 6 ProPoints per serving.

Ingredients

A few sprays calorie controlled cooking spray such as FryLight
250g bacon medallions, or back bacon with all visible fat removed (9PP)
1 can (420g) butterbeans, drained (9PP)
1 can chopped tomatoes
400ml hot chicken stock (1PP if made with 1 stock cube)
1 onion
1 clove garlic
2 carrots
1 yellow pepper
handful mushrooms
1/2 tsp mustard powder
2 tsp dried parsley

Cut the bacon into approx inch square pieces. Coat a pan with cooking spray and cook for a few minutes. Add the chopped onion, carrots, pepper and crushed garlic and cook for around 5-8 minutes, adding a splash of water if it starts to stick. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to the boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 30 minutes until veg is cooked but still crunchy.

Instead of the bacon you could use 350g chicken breast, 100g chorizo, 4 reduced fat sausages for the same ProPoint value, or leave out the meat altogether, replace the chicken stock with veg stock and the mustard with smoked paprika and you have a tasty veg hot pot for only 3PP.

The veg can be variable too. As long as you have onion and garlic you can replace the carrots, pepper and mushrooms with courgettes, celery, swede, green beans or anything you have!

I'll be having the leftovers tonight, and I'm sure it'll taste even better having sat for a day. Yum!

Hx

Spring Chick Challenge

I've signed up for the Spring Chick Challenge, started by Stormy at Big Butt Theory as a way to get myself motivated for the New Year and get off to a good start. The challenge starts on Monday 2nd Jan and ends Monday 19th March, and here is what I am committing to in that time...

1. Non-Scale Victory

• Complete couch to 5k (hopefully by 1st Feb, my 30th birthday :eek:)
• Comfortably run 20 minutes without stopping
• Comfortable size 16

2. Nutrition

• Water 2l per day
• 29 PP
• Tracked on WW esource
• NO Tuesday post-weigh in blow outs...

3. Exercise

• 3 hours per week - either 3 hours or 6 half hours - running, zumba, wii fit, swimming

4. Blog at least twice a week, with one of these being a challenge update.

5. Give (and receive) support to other people taking up the challenge!

Hello to any new followers reading my ramblings from the challenge! Stormy has asked us to introduce ourselves, so here I am...

Name: Helly/Helen/H
Blog URL: www.f-g-s.blogspot.com
Email: helen_louise_is at yahoo dot co dot uk

Facebook: Helen England (if you add me tell me it's for the challenge!)
Twitter: @HellBellUk
Age: 29 (soon to be 30 :/)
Location: Bedfordshire, UK (about 50 miles north of London, which is my hometown)

I will update with a starting weight and weight loss goal on Tuesday after my weigh in...


UPDATE: Starting weight 13st12lbs (194lbs)
Goal: 13st (182lbs)

So, there we go! Good luck everyone!

Hx

Recipe of the Week - 5 minute lasagne

Ok, so it takes a bit more than 5 minutes to cook it, but only 5 minutes to prepare, which is a good thing in my book. It means I can get the kids to bed, throw it together and get it in the oven, and have time to exercise before it's ready. It's vegetarian, very low fat and tasty!

Serves 4. 7 ProPoints per serving

300 grams Quorn mince (tvp mince)
6 lasagne sheets
500g carton of passata
250g virtually fat free soft cheese (I used Quark)
80g half fat cheddar

In a lasagne dish layer a quarter of the passata, a third of the mince and two lasagne sheets. Repeat 2 more times and finish with the remaining passata.

Mix the cream cheese with a little water and spread on top of the final layer.

Top with the grated cheese and bake at 200/400 gas 6 for 30-45 mins or until the pasta is tender and it looks like this.

So easy, and really tasty. Mr F-G-S hates Quorn mince but he didn't even realise it wasn't beef (and I'm not telling him either ;) )! Sneaky Helly! If you have more than 5 minutes a chopped onion, mushrooms or peppers added to the mince would be a welcome addition, and you could chuck some dried herbs (basil or oregano would be the ones I'd use) in the passata, but actually it was pretty tasty without it. Serve with a big salad, and you'd never tell it wasn't the real thing!

If you don't want the extra cheese on top, leave it off. The PP value would then be 6 per serving. You don't have to remember any weights and measurements because (here in the UK at least) most of the ingredients come in packages of the size you need. Just a simple, healthy, tasty meal! Yum.

Hx

Recipe of the Week - Fizzy Orange Chicken!

Yes, you read that right, today I made chicken marinated in orange pop! No, I haven't lost my (admittedly rather loose) marbles, and in fact I make a dish where the chicken is in diet coke too...but I'll save that one for another day! This dish is super easy, really yummy, and only 5 propoints per serving.

Fizzy Ornage Chicken - Serves 2 - 5 ProPoints per serving.

2 medium chicken breasts (4PP each)
1 cup (300ml) DIET fizzy orange (0PP)
100ml dark soy sauce (2PP)
1 onion or 3-4 spring onions (0PP)
chopped peppers (I use a big handful of frozen ones) (0PP)

Place the chicken breasts in a casserole dish and pour over the soy and fizzy orange. Leave to marinade for a few hours, or overnight in the fridge. Add the chopped onion and peppers and bake for an hour in a medium (190 degrees, gas 5) oven for an hour. Simples!

Serve with 0PP veg (maybe stir-fried), rice (30g dried 3PP) or noodles (30g dried egg nooles 3PP), or wedges of sweet potato (150g 4PP) or butternut squash (0PP). I had it this evening with rice, broccoli and baby corn.

Go on, be brave and try it! Make sure you use diet pop. It really doesn't taste very orangey at all, just savoury and yummy! And you definitely wont need any extra salt with all that soy. Use low-sodium soy sauce if high salt intake is a concern.

Hx

Recipe of the Week - Sweet Chilli Chicken Stir Fry

Hi lovelies,


Computer issues have prevented me from posting this week, but I have a scrummy recipe to make up for it, and it's only 7 ProPoints, super easy to do and really quick and tasty.


Sweet Chilli Chicken Stir Fry - 7 ProPoints per serving
Serves 2

2 medium chicken breasts (4PP each)
2 cloves garlic (0PP)
2 tbsp soy sauce (0PP)
1/4 tsp (or more to taste) dried chilli flakes (0PP)
stir fry veg (I used a pepper stir fry pack from tesco and added an extra onion and pepper) (0PP)
150g cooked brown rice (about 60g dried) (3PP each serving)
Large tin pineapple chunks in natural juice (0PP for the fruit, negligible for the amount of juice you'd use)
Fry light (0PP)

Slice the chicken breasts and marinade for as long as you have with the soy, crushed garlic and chilli. Could be done in the morning, an hour before or just while you prepare the veg.
Heat a wok or deep sided frying pan and spray with Fry light (about 5 sprays). Add the chicken in it’s marinade and stir fry until almost cooked through. Add the veg and rice, then the drained pineapple and a couple of teaspoons of the juice. Stir fry until the chicken is cooked, the veg is hot but still crunchy and the rice is properly reheated.

Quick, easy, and it’s not going to break the bank! Could substitute the chicken for prawns, pork, tofu or even cashew nuts. You could also use noodles instead of rice, but the PP will be higher and brown rice is more filling so this is a relatively small amount.

A really healthy dinner and  was absolutely stuffed when I'd finished. Chinese with no nasty MSG.

In other news, Mr F-G-S said tonight that he was absolutely sick of f***ing Weight Watchers food when I served him up a pumpkin and chickpea curry, so it looks like I'll be cooking two separate evening meals from now on. Fun times.

Hx

Recipe of the Week - Sausage and Butternut Squash Bake

Hello!

Butternut Squash is a great vegetable, and has a ProPoints Value of 0. Can't argue with that! You can mash it, bake it, roast and stuff it, make it into soup or wedges instead of chips. I find it quite sweet so I like to pair it with very savoury or spicy flavours. This is a one pot dish (less washing up is always a bonus!) and is warm and comforting now the nights are drawing in and it's getting colder. Even my kids liked it - another plus!

I used Weight Watchers Cumberland sausages, which have a ProPoints value of 3 for two sausages, but if you can't get those any low fat sausage will do although the ProPoints value will be different. For example, Tesco Light Choices Cumberland sausages are 4 ProPoints for 2 sausages.

Serves 4
ProPoints per serving (when using WW sausages) 7

8 low fat sausages (I used Weight Watchers)
1 red onion
1 butternut squash
2 tsp dried sage
Calorie controlled cooking spray
800g potatoes
Salt and pepper to taste.

Chop and deseed the butternut squash - there is no need to peel it as once baked the skin is very thin and edible (and good for you!). You can peel it if you like - wrestling with it is good exercise! I chopped mine into wedges, although chunks will do too!

Chop the onion into wedges, and the potatoes into chunks (didn't peel these either!).

Spray a roasting tin with calorie controlled cooking spray (I used Fry Light) and put the veg in, with the sage and seasoning, spray again and roast in a 200 degree oven for 15 mins.

Turn the veg over and add the sausages to the pan. Roast for a further 20 minutes.

Serve with green veg such as brocolli, cabbage or mange tout.

Yum!

Just a quick note about the calorie controlled cooking spray, as it isn't completely free of ProPoints. I use Fry Light 1 Calorie Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which, according to the Weight Watchers ProPoints online tracker doesn't contain ProPoints until you've used 19 sprays of it. I would usually use about 10 or so for a recipe such as this, and that's for 4 servings, so well within the limit before it starts costing points! Just be aware that if you're using it several times a day for more than one meal you might have to count a point or two.

You could add some red pepper to boost your veg intake and make it more filling too. You could also use chicken or pork chops in place of the sausages, or make a veggie version with more veg (courgettes and mushrooms might work well), chick peas and add some goats cheese or feta at the end.

What do you do with butternut squash? make the most of it while it's in season!

Hx