Winter Warmers

Hello, 

Well I have had a pretty eventful few days. On friday night I was greasy haired, no make up on and in my pjs but my boyfriend of 4 and half yrs popped the Big Question!!!and of course I said yes! 

So,  needless to say weight watchers got a little side tracked when the champers was popped on Saturday night!..... However, I did have a full 49 in my back pocket and going back over I hope I haven't done too much damage.

Saturday I had fruit for breakfast, a ww bagel and bacon medallions with cream cheese for a 6pp lunch.

I also, had 1 mcvities choc and raspberry biscuit (2pp) with tea! One of my mams great food finds :)

In the evening we popped the champers to toast our future!!  (6pp). 

I then had turkey satay instead of a take away between 6 of us! Here is the recipe.

Nevin Maguire style Satay...  Ours now!!

served with special fried rice.

16pp if shared with 4 or 10pp if shared with 6.

Satay on its own 8pp.

Why Take away when you can fake away?

This does not taste like diet food!! It's perfect for Friday or Saturday night fake-away! 8pp serving 4. We have split it between 6  before making it 5pp per person and nobody was hungry after. Serve with rice or stir fried vegetables. I have also included a special fried rice recipe. I don't have the full portion of this I will have 1/8th as its all too much. You could make the recipe smaller if you wish.

Marinade: (0-1pp)

            50ml light soya sauce.

            150ml freshly squeezed pineapple juice 0pp or 1pp if you use carton.

            3 garlic cloves.

            Wooden skewers

Sauce: (17pp)

2tsp rapeseed oil (1pp)

30g sweet chilli sauce (2pp)

1 diced onion.

1 red, 1 green and 1 yellow peppers in thin strips.

2 garlic cloves crushed.

1 1/2 tsps root ginger.

200ml Blue Dragon coconut milk (4pp)

50ml dark soya sauce

75g Tesco light peanut butter (10pp)

2-3 tbsp tomato passata

Salt and pepper to season. 

1/2 Carrot grated soaked in 2tsp Rice/white wine vinegar.

Meat

500g Turkey Breast steak raw 12pp (125g =3pp) Recipe shared with 4 8pp

400g Lean Braising steak 12pp (100g =3pp) Recipe shared with 4 8pp

660g Chicken fillets 16pp (165g=4pp)Recipe shared with 4 9pp

400g King prawns cooked 12pp (100g=3pp) Recipe shared with 4 8pp

Method

Soak skewers in hot water.

Mix all ingredients for marinade and skewer your chosen meat. Cover meat in the marinade over night or for at least 3hours to enhance flavour.

Sautee onion, garlic and peppers.

Add ginger, coconut milk, soy sauce and passata.

Simmer.

Meanwhile, cook skewers on griddle or grill or in a pan.

Add peanut butter and a few spoons of water to the sauce.

Season with a little salt and pepper.

Just before you serve the sauce stir in the pickled carrot. 

Special Fried Rice

31pp for total 8pp per serving if sharing with 4

(usually I will have 75g of boiled rice for 3pp its small portion and 1/8 of this recipe)

1 tsp of sesame oil (1pp)

1200g boiled rice or 240g dried(24pp)

4-5 Scallions

2 eggs (4pp)

60g prawns (1pp)

2 Bacon medallions (1pp)

Method

Cook rice to packet instructions.

Cook prawns and bacon medallions and blanch scallions in wok in tsp of sesame oil.

Beat 2 eggs and add tbsp water.

Add rice to a wok and add egg. Mix/Stir Quickly to prevent it sticking to pan.

Or you can add your egg to hot rice stir very quickly and put in microwave for 1-2mins ensuring egg is cooked. Easier way but tastes nicer in wok!

Sunday morning I ate a late brunch of 2 hodgins low fat sausages and a bagel slim. ( All for 5pp) 

In the evening we had mini engagement party and I fit into a smaller sized dress that has been hanging in th wardrobe for over 6months! woo NSV!!! 

So, the wine was flowing and then we had margaritas! Then when I got home I had batch bread and cheese!!! :) 

An 8oz steak is 7pp and reckon that steak was a bit bigger I pointed it at 12pp, I had veg and baby potatoes. (3pp) as I only ate 2 and shared with my mam. I put down 3pp for oil and sauce. 

Myself and my mam also used a tip we learnt from Niptuck Foodblog. Dip your fork into your sauce and then onto your steak and you still get the taste! I was so pleased with myself when my 3 pots of sauce were left!! :)

I had 3/4s of a bottle of white wine (15pp) We then headed to the hard rock cafe!! Sipped 3 at margaritas 6pp each so 18pp. 

The alcohol munchies caught up with me and ended up have 3 slices of batch bread and 3 low low triangles. Oh and a purple a snack bar (3pp).

This batch is from aldi 1 25g slice is 2pp!! 

So the weekend is over and I hope I haven't done too much damage. I tracker everything and worked out I used roughly 39 weeklies but my 49 are scratched off and I am back on track!

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As the days are getting colder and Its that time of year where a nice warm dinners are just what are needed. 

Here is what I had for dinner last night. 

Liver and Sausage Beano

12pp per person

Ingredients

450g liver (14pp)

12 low fat hodgins sausages (12pp)

1 small tin of kidney beans (204g drained weight) (4pp)

2 onions sliced.

1 beef oxos

20g flour 2pp

140ml of tesco gravy made up to packet instructions (1pp)

Tsp paprika

Tsp garlic salt

1 bay leaf

1 pinch of mixed herbs

600g potatoes (12pp)

200ml alpro unsweetened milk (1pp)

Method

Dust liver in the flour. Fry with onions on pan in spray oil. Add chopped sausages cook. Make up stock and gravy and pour over. Add in paprika, garlic, mixed herbs and bay leaf.  Wash kidney beans and add to mixture. Allow to come to boil and thicken.

Transfer to caserole dish and cook n oven for 30-45 mins or allow to simmer on pan.

Meanwhile cook potatoes. Mash and add milk to make creamy.

Serve Beano on top of mash.

This dinner was my mams sneaky way of getting us to eat liver. It can be nutritious and delicious!

Tonight I had spag bol! 

Bolognaise Ragu 6pp per person

*recipe serves 4*

Ingredients

500g lean round beef steak mince (24pp) (125 extra lean mince=6pp)

1 diced onion

Stick of Celery and 2 Carrots grated

Tomato Passata

Basil leaves or tbsp dried

tbsp oregano

garlic salt or 3-4 cloves crushed

1 beef oxo

Tbsp Worchester sauce

Method

Cook diced onion and garlic in a few sprays of fryoil. Add celery and carrot cook until soft. Add mince and cook. If there is any excess fat drain and dry pan with kitchen paper. Add herbs and oxo. Pour in passata and Worchester sauce. Add few tbsp of water if needed. Simmer away!

Serve with 150g cooked pasta or 40g dried 4pp.

Spag Bol Dinner 10pp per person. 

Here is my mams stew recipe. This is dinner for Thursday after weigh in! 

Beef Stew and potatoes

48 for recipe      Serves 4               12pp each

Ingredients

800g braising steak 24pp (200g per person 6pp)

2 onions sliced.

3 Carrots chopped

2 sticks of celery sliced

1/2 a turnip

1 beef oxos

40g flour (3pp)

140ml of tesco gravy made up to packet instructions (1pp)

Tsp garlic salt

1 bay leaf

1 pinch of mixed herbs

40g  of soup mix (lentils barley etc) (4pp)

600g potatoes for mash (12pp) and 150g chopped for the pot (3pp)

200ml alpro unsweetened milk (1pp)

Method

Dust beef in the flour and fry with onions, carrots, turnip, 150g potatoes and celery on pan in spray oil. Make up stock and gravy and pour over. Add in garlic, mixed herbs bay leaf and soup mix.  

Transfer to a casserole dish and cook n oven for 2-3hrs. Or cook in slow cooker.

Meanwhile cook potatoes. Mash and add milk to make creamy.

Serve stew on top of mash.

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Here are some good food finds: 

Tuc sour cream & onion craks 20g (2pp) and 1 laughing cow blue cheese (1pp)

Wagon Wheels from aldi (4pp)

Big bite ice-creams plain (2pp) Chocolate (3pp) and Toffee (3pp)

Ginger bread men (1pp each)

After Eight dessert (3pp)

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So with 26lbs to goal, I now have the biggest motivator!! :) 

Lets hope I am down at Thursdays weigh in! 

Until next time!  

xxx

Sat on my ass for a week & still lost 2lb!

Hello everyone!

First blog nerves setting in here... I don't know what to say hahaha :)

Some of you might know I injured my knee and was laid up on the couch for about a week and half... Thankfully docs have let me ditch the crutches but still taking it slow but we will get there. So usually when a "life crisis" happens disaster strikes and the weight watcher hat gets thrown away... I have to say for the first few days...I felt very sorry for myself not even able to carry a glass of water or my clothes into the bathroom to have a shower. It was like roles reversed I am not meant to be the patient!!! But a light bulb went off in my head...

.

Don't let this defeat you... I have weights I got for a present which were gathering dust... So although my legs couldn't get exercise my arms did :) hahaha. Moral of this story there is always a way to exercise! 

However, I still felt having not moved my ass I would gain this week...but nope down 2lb... woohoooooo. I am back on track. You see most of the time I am a 1/2 lb looser! So to me that is a big loss and I didn't pound the streets or pump the gym. 

So the proof is in the pudding... It is all about the food... But then wait..... I had indian takeaway, I had apple pie, I had scones and jam and cream!! and I had hot chocolates!! :O SoI did not feel deprived.

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This is indian banquet is from marks and spencer. It is 58pp for the box. It was shared amongst 3 people and i bought stir fried veg and added cumin and tumeric to them to bulk the dish out. So I had some chicken tikka, korma, rice, naan, onion baji and veg for 20pp!! :) 

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My apple & raspberry pie after sunday dinner for 2pp. Served with 1pp of carte d'or icecream and 1pp of custard. Was just yummy...

Here is the recipe.

Individual Apple Pie

8pp for recipe serves 4 for 2pp each

Ingredients:

*2cooking apples    *Canderel*50g plain flour (5pp)       *25g lowlow (3pp)

                        *tbsp water      *tbsp alpro unsweetened almond milk            * tsp cinnamon

Method:

Sieve flour into bowl. Add lowlow and make a crumb. Add tbsp of water. Mix with a metal spoon. When forms a ball. Chill in fridge for 30mins.

Peel & slice apples and prepare other fruit. Eg. raspberries or strawberries. Place in 4 small dishes or 1 medium dish. Cover in canderel and cinnamon. Or if you have stewed fruit already use that.

Dust board/table with flour. Roll out the pastry and cut into 4 pieces.

Place the pastry on top of fruit to make a lid. If you want to make a bottom for the pie put one piece on bottom and one on top to make pie 4pp.  I don't think you need to... Sometimes you just need the taste! Shape down with edges with a fork. Bake for 20mins at 180degres. Serve with low fat custard or whatever you fancy! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 

(ps. bought these little dishes in dealz €1.49 each!!!)

My apple and raspberry tart is served with 1pp of custard and 1pp of carte d'or light icecream yummy 4pp dessert!

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My mam and I love hot chocolate! It's what we call our bedtime treat or our midnight feast or our lil party. You know when you've got the munchies and you want to eat all the chocolate in sight sometimes this is just what you need!

Also, I don't know we are in denial but it's a good excuse and we are sticking to the myth that hot milk helps you sleep!!

Before I go any further, I will tell you about the best milk find ever. It's alpro milk. Now i have to admit I was a bit sceptical at first. I always thought those soy products, quorn and tofu were all going to be a bit yuck! But the alpro almond un-sweetened has a nice taste. Its almost creamy when you use it in certain dishes. It's delicious used in the hot chocs, on porridge, in sauces. It's okay in tea, you just need to get used to it. But, the calculations are just too hard to beat. 100mls its 13 cals, when you put in calculator it comes up as 0pp. Now I don't fully trust that so I will either use 1pp from my dailies or if I have a few hot chocs during the week I will take 1 pp from my 49 for 400mls.

 400mls is only 1pp!!!!!!

So here is my recipe for Hot Chocolate with cream and marshmallows!! 2pp

Recipe serves 2 or you could make it all for yourself for 4pp! 

What you need:                                  

2 small cups                

Tip: I got these cups in ikea, they're the perfect size!

1 mug

A kitchen scales           

A microwave

Ingredients

1 mug of Alpro soy milk (technically 0 but I say 1pp to round up)

10g Squirty cream (1pp)

1 Sachet of low cal drinking choc (40cals) Between 10-15g (1pp) suggestions below

10g mini-marshmallows (1pp)

Tips:    4pp for recipe shared is 2pp each or 4 for one!

            I bought these mini marshmallows in aldi

            This squirty cream is 30cals per 10g but you can get lower ones and you can have more.      They're just hard to come across.

Method

·         Heat your milk in microwave until piping hot

·         Split sachet between the 2 small cups

·         Stir in milk on top and mix until all lumps are dissolved.

·         Weigh 10g of marshmallows and put 5g in each cup.

·         Put cup on scales and reset to 0 then squirt 5g of the cream on top.

·         Dust with nestle choco topping or a v tiny bit of drinking choc powder to decorate!

The low down on some hot chocs

I think people can be scared about the points for a hot chocolate! Yes, I would love a starbucks hot chocolate with extra whipped cream and marshmallows. But am I going to pay around15pp for it? Not a hope in hell. This is why I have done my research. Hot chocolate powder is not going to break the pro points piggy bank. You really only need a few grams. So, if you really want a hot choccer treat. Do it the low pp way and save at least 10pp!!

Cadburys highlights sachets all 1pp (11g in sachet) fudge flavour is my  fave! :)

Aldi 1pp per sachet (10g in sachet)

Options belgian hot choc 15g dry powder 1pp (options have different varieties mint, hazelnut etc)

Wispa hot choc 15g dry powder is 1pp

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I love scones. But shocked to hear they can be a whopping 17pp at times. Thats just crazy! 

My dad will pester my Mam and I to bake scones and I would always say no as the thought of the points would give me palpitations. But not anymore.... I decided to sit down and see what could be done. 

I adapted the recipe and decided to use the smallest cutter from the set. This meant I could have 2 scones!!!! We eat with our eyes.... If i made them bigger I would still be be tempted to say ah fizz it i'll have another! But in my head I have had 2 and they're not too small either! :)

So here is my recipe for mini scones.

Mini Scones 1 for 2pp or 2 for 3pp

Ingredients:

225g Self raising flour (22pp)     pinch of salt

20g caster sugar (4pp)                             tbsp sweetener

25g low fat spread (2pp)                         30g raisins (2pp)

125mls alpro unsweetened almond milk (1pp)

Method:

Sieve flour and salt. Rub in low fat spread. Stir in sugar and sweetener. Gradually add in milk until it forms a soft dough. Divide mixture add raisins to half or to all . Use a small scone cutters. Make 18 small scones or 9 medium.

Bake 220degres for 10-15 mins.

 I had my scones with 0pp jam and 10g of squirty cream for (1pp).

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 Whenever I can save a pp I will. So, when I came across this recipe for 0pp jam and fell in love!! Its my new best friend. haha. :)

Recipe for 0pp jam

Ingredients

Tub of frozen raspberries

2 sweetener

1 sachet of raspberry sugar free jelly

Method

Heat berries in pan until slushy.

Add sweetener to taste.

Add sachet of the crystals .

Put in plastic tub or jar. Leave to set in jar in fridge for few hours.

Lasts up to 10 days in fridge if not eaten by then!

There are loads of different variations.

                                                             Eg. Strawberries and strawberry jelly

                                                            Oranges and orange jelly for a marmalade

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