SW Macaroni & Cheese ..

This is a variation of mac and cheese I found. The whole dish serves 4 and is 3.5 syns if using your HeA for the cheese. It was gorgeous and creamy just what I needed, I put a little bacon, mushroom and sweetcorn in to make it a little different. It's a real feel good meal. Here's how I made it.

 

 

Ingredients:

300g macaroni

150g Philadelphia extra light

185ml semi skimmed milk

100g reduced fat cheddar cheese

300g bacon, fat removed and cut into squares

200g mushrooms sliced

half a can of sweetcorn

Frylight

 

1. Preheat oven 190c.

2. Cook the macaroni according to packet instructions, while doing this fry the bacon and mushroom in some Frylight until the bacon is golden and the mushrooms are cooked.

3. Mix the Philadelphia with the milk and half the cheddar cheese.

4. Drain the pasta and return to the pan, stir in the Philadelphia mixture, bacon, mushrooms and the sweetcorn, then transfer to an oven dish.

5. Top with the remaining cheese and bake in oven for 20 mins until cheese has gone golden.



Weigh In .. Getting Motivated ..

I'm a little late putting this up I know, but Tuesday evening was weigh in day and I had put on 1 and a half pounds, a little disappointing but also expected I guess. I had too much bread I know this and I wasn't getting into my diet at all, I was just generally struggling. I have yet to lose my 3 stone weight loss though so this I am pleased about.

 

A good thing to come out of a gain though is motivation. So after I had my Tuesday treat of a pasty I gave myself a stern talking to, got to keep going and start trying harder!

 

I'm only two days in but I am doing well, from snacking on syn free things to low syn meals. I've already been to the gym and I'm going again tomorrow. I will have a loss next week!

SW USA Feast ..

Tonight I had USA Sloppy Joe's, Wedges and Corn on the Cob.

 

Nice easy and gorgeous tasting dinner and for the whole lot it's syn free! I took the American method of sloppy Joe's and converted the ingredients so they are SW friendly. No syns but you have to use your HeB if wanting bread roll with it and it serves a family of four.

 

 

Ingredients:

400g extra lean minced beef

1 large onion chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

400g passata

1/2 pt beef stock

Seasoning

Corn on the cob

3 large potatoes, cut into wedges

1 tsp mixed herbs

2 tsp paprika

Wholemeal bread roll (no more that 60g for it to classify as your Heb)

Frylight

 

1. Preheat oven to 180c

2. Place onions and garlic in a frying pan sprayed with Frylight, stir-fry for 5 mins then add minced beef and cook until browned.

3. Meanwhile sprinkle the wedges with the paprika and mixed herbs and place on Frylight sprayed baking tray and bake in oven for 25-30 mins.

4. To the minced beef add the passata, beef stock and Worcestershire sauce. Mix thoroughly and bring to the boil. Season and lower to a simmer. Cover and cook for 25-30 mins stirring occasionally until thickened.

5. Ten mins before the end of cooking time place the corn on the cob in a pan of boiling water and boil for 10 mins.

6. Cut the bread roll in half, place a large spoonful of the Sloppy Joe mix on top and plate up with the wedges and corn.



Weigh in .. Speechless

This weigh in blog is going to make me sound like a liar.

In my last post I mentioned how I had a bad week and I was expecting a large gain. I stepped on the scales to be shocked into oblivion, not only had I NOT gained or even maintained I had lost 3 lbs!!

How you ask? I haven't a clue. The only conclusion I could come up with is the stepping up of my exercise and the healthy meals I was having, because even though I was snacking I was still having my low syn meals.

 

This week I am taking no chances though. I believe last weigh in was just an unbelievably lucky fluke. So this week is a low syn week, plenty of superfree and lots off exercise.

 

Also this week I got my gold body magic certificate and sticker for stepping up my exercise for 8 weeks, I going to celebrate this by going to the gym.

 

In group this week there was lots of new starters. It was great see, all new people starting a fresh and making a new change in 2013! I wish them all the best of luck!

Syn Free Sausage Roll Pasties ..

My journey continues but it is not going well, I haven't stopped eating, all bad things as well. I have weigh in tonight where the scales will show my downfall but I'm prepared. I've seem to write this week off, now I'm drawing a line under it, going to group this evening to get my motivation back and start a fresh! I'll let you know what the damage is but I'm expecting about 10lbs (no exaggeration).

 

I started my diet back up last night with some syn free sausage roll pasties. Obviously there is no pastry in them. For the outside crust I actually used instant mash. It's not the same as a pastry original but it's a damn good substitute!

 

 

Ingredients:

200g extra lean pork mince

125g instant mash

2 small onions

1tsp thyme

1tsp mixed herbs

1tsp Shultz spicy season all

Frylight

 

1. Chop 1 onion very finely and add to a bowl with the instant mash and mixed herbs, add some hot water, enough to make the mixture into a bread dough consistency. Put in fridge for at least an hour.

2. Preheat oven 200c. Chop second onion very finely and put with thyme, spices and mince, season and knead until forming a paste.

3. Lay out a sheet of cling film on a flat surface and place the mash mixture onto it, then cover with a second sheet of cling film. Using a rolling pin, roll out until a 4mm thickness. Peel back the top layer of cling film and tidy the edges and cut the width you want to the rolls/pasties.

4. Add a layer of the meat mixture and using the bottom layer of cling film roll the mash to form a tube with the meat inside. Seal the join and egg wash.

5. Spray a baking tray with Frylight and place the rolls/pasties on it. Bake in oven for 30 mins until gold brown and crispy.

 

So there we go a syn free alternative to rolls and pasties, this is just a simple filling I decided on, but you can change it up, use a filling you wish just remember to not have a wet filling or this recipe won't work.



SW Sweeties ..

Just come back from an amazing gym session, feeling great. I extended my treadmill PB to 11 mins of running in 30 mins, I nearly died after it, haha, but now I feel great, even got some cycling, rowing, weights and cross trainer in this evening!

 

Been having a bad couple of days of snacking, only myself to blame, no self control. Today also I was making a chocolate cake for a friend and there was some chocolate left that just had to be eaten. But, I am starting a fresh, I've written out a meal plan which I haven't done in a while and I'm looking forward to next weeks meals.

 

Also today I tried a recipe I stumbled across when I was browsing the Internet. Jelly Sweets, an extremely easy recipe I thought, not to mention I already had the ingredients in.

 

Ingredients:

Sugar free jelly crystals (11.5g pouch)

3 tbsp gelatin powder

1/2 pt boiling water

 

1. Put the crystals in a jug with the boiling water and stir. Next stir in the gelatin until all is dissolved.

2. Pour into trays (I used ice cube trays) and put in fridge to set.

They have the same consistency of gummi bears with the jelly flavour. The mixture made enough for 2 ice cube trays and the whole lot is only 2 syns. You can have them as a treat, or maybe take them to the cinema to snack on, or if you have a 5 year old you can leave them on the side for him to steal. As you can tell by the pictures the kids love them!

Back To The Gym ..

I have never been so happy to see a gym in my life. It was the first session back after Christmas and New Year. I took it slow but I'm glad of what I achieved. I could feel though it had been a while since the last time I had any excise, not too mention the very heavy night of alcohol on NYE. It was all weighing me down so I'm glad that I had a salad today as well.

 

I'm back on it and hoping a high syn, mixed drinks night didn't do too much damage but the results will show next week.

 

Tomorrow is chili day, quite looking forward to it, I know, quite sad but I do love that meal.