Overnight oats.

I've seen this around a lot on twitter, people rave over them, so I thought I'd give them a go as other than alpen light bars I struggle with my B option some days and usually only have a muller light and a banana for my breakfast.

So it's just, your 35g of porridge oats - B option

muller light

fruit - I used blueberries.

layer them in a jar, pot, bowl...

let them stand overnight.

Will let you know how they are in the morning :)

Syn Free Cheese Scones

Wow.

I was over the moon to come over this recipe.

I am a real lover of anything savoury, bread, crisps and yes, scones.

Working in a cafe, serving them daily is a very cruel task when trying to be good.

So, as soon as I found this recipe on PINTEREST I rushed out to get the ingredients to give them a go.

I was not disappointed :)

RECIPE:

Pack of smash

Three eggs

250g fat free cottage cheese

125g fat free natural yogurt

1tsp dyjon mustard

 1 tbsp mustard seeds

salt and pepper to taste.

30g low fat cheddar cheese (A option- count as 6 syns if not using as A)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl apart from the cheddar cheese. Add a little water if needed to bind together into the consistency of dough.

Roll and cut out. Wash with egg. Add a little cheese onto the top of each and bake in a 180/200' oven for aprox 20mins.

Enjoy.

Joy x

Low syn baking...

Spent the afternoon baking some low syn treats/snacks.

Wanted to try out the scran bran that I bought in class.

The first thing I made was the

CURLY WURLY CHOCOLATE CAKE.

Ingredients

4 Scan Bran 

2 eggs 

3 or 4 tbsp sweetener (to taste) 

1 sachet Belgian Choc Options

26g Curly Wurly bar

Soak the Scan Bran in boiling water to soften. Then drain and mash. 

Beat the eggs and stir into mix, along with the sweetener and Belgian Choc Options 

Chop the Curly Wurly into pieces and add to the mix 

Pour the mixture into a microwavable bowl and cook for around 6 minutes

When cooked the cake will be springy to the touch and will have pulled away from the side

You can also cook the cake on 200°C/Gas Mark 6 for approximately 30 minutes

It's just 12 Syns for the whole cake and can be divided into as many slices as you like

I found the recipe HERE.

It is quite nice, I was a little sceptical. Definitely nicer when it's cooled.

Next I made a...

SPICED TEA LOAF.

The whole cake is 9 syns on all plans, or you can have it as a Healthy Extra B choice plus 4 syns (5 Scan Bran = HEB). Alternatively it would slice nicely into 9 pieces to make 1 syn per portion. A single slice would probably fill you up more than an Alpen Light bar!

Ingredients

5 Scan Bran

a large mugful of strong tea (I use 2 tea bags to make it)

28g dried mixed fruit (4 syns)

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 teaspoon baking powder (0.25 syns - I don't bother to count it's so small)

5 tablespoons sweetener

2 tablespoons mixed spice

Method

1. Soak the Scan Bran and dried fruit in the tea until soft and mush it up
2. Add the remaining ingredients and mix
3. Pour into a microwaveable container (I use a silicone loaf tin) and microwave on high for 6-7 minutes/ in an 180' oven for 30 mins (which is what I did)

I found this recipe HERE.

This is also a lot nicer than it actually looks. 

Enjoy,

Joy x

Weigh in week 3 update

I lost another 2lbs! 

I'm very happy with that! 

It means I've now lost 8.5lbs in the 3 weeks and I got my first half stone award! 

I'll update with pics later on when I get onto the laptop.

Joy x

Here's my weigh in pics :)

Some handy Syn Values.

Here are a few handy syn values that I found on pinterest

Ever find yourself out with nothing handy and a grumbing stomach? At least with a little advanced knowledge and a handy look to guide you have a sort of idea what you could grab without blowing the whole week...

I thought they might as well go on here so they are all handy in one place...

Joy x

Slimming world friendly loaded potato skins.

My own recipe...

LOADED POTATO SKINS WITH BEANS AND SALAD.

 

4 1/2 syns on EE

INGREDIENTS.

1 Baking potato
15g cheese grated. 3syns
Laughing cow light cheese triangle. 1 1/2 syns
Wafer thin ham cut into ribbons.
Fresh or dried chives.
Pinch of chilli powder
Baked beans and a side salad to serve. 

Bake the potato in the oven for approx 1hour or until cooked.
Half the potato and scoop into a bowl leaving just the skins.
Mash the potato and add the laughing cow triangle (as a substitute to milk/butter).
Add the chives, ham and chilli powder and mix.
Spoon half the mixture into each potato skin and top with the grated cheese.
Put back into the hot oven for approx 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
Serve with a side salad and some baked beans.

 

This meal is very filling and feels like you are eating something naughtier than you actually are.

Would highly recommend.

Enjoy.

Joy x

Hunters chicken sw friendly recipe.

HUNTERS CHICKEN AND WEDGES WITH BEANS.

FREE on EE

To make the BBQ Sauce

1. 3 shallots
2. Half a teaspoon of chilli powder (or more, if you like it hot)
3. Half a carton of passata — about 250ml
4. 4 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
5. 4 tablespoons of artificial sweetener

To make the chicken

1. The above BBQ sauce
2. 4 chicken breasts
3. 8 slices of bacon
4. 112g cheddar
5. Green veg, to serve

To make the sauce

1. Peel and finely chop the shallots. Put them in a frying pan, sprinkle the chilli powder over the top and fry them for about six minutes until they’re soft
2. Once the shallots have softened just add the rest of the ingredients and stir. Keep the sauce on a medium to high heat and stir it occasionally — it should thicken up nicely

For the chicken

1. Pre-heat the oven to about 210C. Spray a roasting tin/baking tray with Fry Light and lay the chicken breasts in them. Then slit the breast down the middle to make a pocket
2. When the sauce is ready, spread it in the slits and over the top of the chicken breasts
3. Take the bacon and either wrap it round the breast or lay it over the top. Then put the chicken in the oven for 20 minutes
4. Sprinkle an ounce of the cheese over the top of the breast and put back into the oven for another 10 minutes
5. Serve it with the vegetables

I got the recipe here.

We all enjoyed this, there was too much of the bbq style sauce left so I've popped it into the freezer for another night as we'll definitely be making it again.

I also made some home-made wedges, by cutting some potatoes into wedge shapes and par-boiling them, then spraying with oil and adding a sachet of mixed herbs and spices. We had baked beans with it too. Very filling. I know, technically, I should have had this with a side salad or veg to get in my 3rd superfree, however, there are totally onions in the sauce ;-)

Enjoy.

 

Joy x

Corned Beef hash sw friendly recipe...

CORNED BEEF HASH AND SALAD

... 3syns on EE

Gorgeous it was!!

INGREDIENTS.

200g tin of corned beef.
1lb peeled, diced potatoes.
1tbsp tomato puree
1tbsp worchester sauce
frylight spray
1/2tsp cayenne pepper

You cube the potatoes and spray them in frylight, cook them in the oven for 30mins, turning now and again. Fry the onions until soft and add the tomato puree, worchester sauce, cayenne pepper and corned beef and cook for a few minutes, then add the cooked potatoes and serve. 

The kids loved it too, although they thought it was a little spicy so maybe a little less cayenne pepper next time.

 

Enjoy.

 

Joy x

Saturday night's Fakeaway...

This weeks fake-away was pizza...

Of a sort, it was slimming-world friendly pizza.

Made using Cauliflower as a base, I was more than a little skeptical to start with but it was a definite hit and I will be using the recipe again.

It doesn't seem very inviting but is tastier than it looks!

CAULIFLOWER BASE PIZZA.

1/2 a head of cauliflower

1 egg

seasoning

1/2 a light mozerella (I used my A option for this)

toppings of your choice...

In a bowl, grate up the cauliflower, put into the microwave and keep checking every couple of minutes until it looks cooked and is soft, I think it took me aprox 6.5mins.

Add the egg and season, I added some paprika to the mix too.

On some baking parchment flatten the mixture and bake blind in a 200` oven for about 15-20mins.

Once it has a golden colour add your toppings to it.

I used, ham, tomato puree and mushrooms, some more paprika and my mozerella cheese.

I put it back into the oven for around 15 minutes.

It was delicious. You couldn't really tell it was cauliflower.

Enjoy.

Joy x

I'm loving YouTube

I'm loving YouTube at the minute, specifically a certain channel called (weirdly) My big fat journal.

The lady on there really inspired me to make the change and I'm loving the updates, food hauls etc that she does. 

I've tried weight watchers for a while now and although I went to the gym etc I never really found it helped much, if I stuck to it I was hungry, if I didn't I put on weight. No win.

My sister has lost 8stone 1lbs in a year by doing it, and she looks absolutely fantastic, so I'm not saying it doesn't work for everyone, it just didn't work for me.

So after watching those YouTube video's I decided I needed to join a SW class. I can't do it alone, cheating on a diet comes far too easily for me. SW classes it was.

The first week I lost 5lbs. Over the moon, went for 2 for the 2nd week... got 1.5.

Gutted lol!!

So, I've started week 3, started my blog and started to realise that this isn't going to come easily, I will have to work at it every day for the forseeable, but after seeing how happy and confident my sister is now and the lady on YouTube, it is most definately going to be worth it...

Soooo here goes.

Joy x

For anyone interested... this is the link to the youtube channel... here.

Saturday night FAKE-away

Last Saturday night I made a slimming world version of one of our favs...

Burger and Chips.

You can't beat it.

I used to work in McDonalds, so once over a saturday night trip to a burger bar was the norm. Which would explain the excess ass that I have now, perhaps.

So imagine my surprise when I was told I could make this meal and still stay completely on track.

I could have been healthier with my bun and used my B option to make this, meaning instead of the 8 1/2 syns that it cost me, it would have just been 1/2, however as I'd been so good through the day, it made no difference anyway.

We all had this and it went down a treat, not only with the hubby and I but the kids enjoyed it too.

BURGER AND CHIPS RECIPE.

 1 pack of 5% fat minced beef.

Seasoning.

garlic.

rosemary

spring onions.

bread roll

lettuce shredded

pickles

ketchup

Lightest cheese slices - A option.

potatoes

baked beans

In a bowl mix the thinly sliced spring onion, garlic, rosemary seasoning and mince. form into patties and put in the fridge for half an hour.

Slice your buns and dress with lettuce,ketchup,cheese etc.

Cut your potatoes into chips, place on a baking tray and spray with frylight, I also seasoned mine. Keep checking on your chips so they don't burn and turn as needed.

Put a frying pan on high heat, spray with frylight if you need to.

Add your burgers, browning on each side before turning them down slightly and cook for approx  mins per side.

Cut one through to check that they are cooked right through.

serve.

Enjoy.

Joy x

Today's Lunch

Lunch today consisted of a mad mixture of things...

I made some fresh pea and ham soup, I had crabsticks instead of crisps, 2 wholegrain ryvita and a muller light. A very strange mix!

However, all free and completely on plan.

I am determined to get my first half stone award on Monday... It WILL happen!

PEA AND HAM SOUP RECIPE.

1 bag of frozen peas.

Fat free ham or gammon peices (I used leftover gammon from the sunday roast and shredded it)

Stock cubes.

Fresh mint.

Garlic

Saesoning.

Simplest soup recipe ever, put the peas into a pan, add enough water to cover them and bring to the boil.

Add the garlic, stock cubes and mint.

Simmer for a few minutes and add your ham/gammon.

Simmer for aprox 20mins.

Blend.

Enjoy.

FREE on EE 

Joy x

Introducing me!

I'm Joy, I'm 30 and I'm from North East England.

I'm a wife and a mother to 2 . 5 monsters!

I've been overweight since middle monster came along 11 years ago. I turned 30 this year and made a pact with myself that I would not be this size when I hit 31.

I'm following the slimming world diet, I'm a couple of weeks in and loving it.

Oh and mentioning work... I work in a Cafe, possibly the worst place to work when you are trying to eat healthily and lose weight, surrounded by cake and lattes all day. So pre-planning is going to be the key, taking things to work that will fill me on my break and keep me going without wanting to grab something from there.

I'm two weeks in and 6.5lbs down so, so far so good!

So only another 82 . 5lbs to goal!!

I can do this.

J x