Charleybarley tries again - Jan 2013

[Charleybarley]

Hiya

What is Christmas Dinner Stew??!!! Sorry if you have already been asked this earlier in your diary! I've been away for a bit. Tx

Hello GinMummy

I hope you are well, welcome back, where have you been?? No, no one has asked about the Christmas Dinner Stew - it is very similar to the Christmas Dinner Soup, but I prefer stews as they are more filling and heartier. Mine goes like this:

Turkey Leg (you can buy them from most supermarkets at £1.50) or if you prefer the white meat, then just go for breast pieces
Gammon joint
1/2 pack of frozen casserole mix
Stock
Herbs: Sage and Thyme
pearl barley
carrots (cut into thickish circles)
parsnips (cut into bite sized chunks)
potatoes (cut into bite sized chunks)
In fact any winter related veg will do.
Stuffing balls (as many as you want to allow yourself - 1 syn per ball)

In the morning I:
Slow cook the turkey leg (4 - 6 hours)
Put the pearl barley in a jug with cold water so the barley gets nice and plump
Boil my gammon joint in cloves and peppercorns for an hour

When everything is cooked, leave the meats to cool a little before removing all fat/skin and cutting them up in biggish chunks.

Then I:
Boil up the frozen casserole in stock and herbs, not too much water is needed, just enough to almost cover the veg (15 mins)
Leave that to cool a little and blend with a stick blender so you have a soupy looking liquid.
Add your veg of choice and pearl barley and cook on for 20 mins
While this is cooking make up your stuffing balls and put them in the oven for 20 mins
Add your meats to the stew stir through until all warm
Serve and plonk your balls (!) on top of the stew.

Its utterly delicious - I made a batch last week and froze what was left, which is what we are having tonight. I have chicken left over from sunday which is going to go in and I am also going to add brussels as I have some of those leftover. I will add a pic to this post tonight.






xx

 

[TtMummy]

Aha, I see. What do you use for stuffing balls? If you can get hold of Linda MaCartney's rosemary and red onion sausages, once defrosted they can be reformed into very tasty stuffing balls and free too

I may have to try this one chilly Saturday...served up after a long crisp cold dog walk

 

[Charleybarley]

Aha, I see. What do you use for stuffing balls? If you can get hold of Linda MaCartney's rosemary and red onion sausages, once defrosted they can be reformed into very tasty stuffing balls and free too

I may have to try this one chilly Saturday...served up after a long crisp cold dog walk

Funnily enough I have just had two LMc red onion saussies for breakfast - I love em! Ye that's a good idea to make the whole dish free but I really love proper paxo stuffing, it's quite porous so the juices get zapped up in them hmmm. Have you tried the Bulgar Wheat Stuffing Balls? It's a Brit Mum recipe and they are amazing and only 2 syns for 10-12 balls!!

I know it's weird but I love it when the cold weather comes because it means lots of stews and big thick coats and coming in from the cold or rain and eating hot comfort food... Obviously I love summer and that but I find it harder to lose weight in the summer, to many bbqs and drinking and nachos and dips etc involved!!

Have a good day GM! X

 

[Charleybarley]

3rd October

B - 2 LMc red onion saus with bread (HEB) and onion marmalade



L - Leftover spaghetti with grated cheese (HEA)

EDIT: AH crap! An unplanned pub lunch was suggested as one of my work colleagues was a bit down, so I couldn't decline the offer - got to the pub and in true pub grub styley they had nothing much for me - I settled on sea bass with bubble & squeak and veg (minus the tarragon butter sauce). Sadly they never had it, the rest of the menu was pretty off limits so I decided to have a tapa dish which was basically prawns on three lettuce leaves. Of course the prawns were covered in sauce, which I scraped off. I also ordered a side of olives which came up swimming in oil, so I drained those the best I could. I would guess at 8 - 10 syns for a very unsatisfactory lunch. I came back hungry and had my leftover spaghetti with the cheese allowance on top!

D - Pork curry, rice and veg (1) for bisto



Syns planned - So I am guessing here but 12 syns??!

Water intake - 2 litres

Exercise - none

 

[Rosielea]

Food for today sound delish. Have a lovely day.

 

[TtMummy]

Funnily enough I have just had two LMc red onion saussies for breakfast - I love em! Ye that's a good idea to make the whole dish free but I really love proper paxo stuffing, it's quite porous so the juices get zapped up in them hmmm. Have you tried the Bulgar Wheat Stuffing Balls? It's a Brit Mum recipe and they are amazing and only 2 syns for 10-12 balls!!

I know it's weird but I love it when the cold weather comes because it means lots of stews and big thick coats and coming in from the cold or rain and eating hot comfort food... Obviously I love summer and that but I find it harder to lose weight in the summer, to many bbqs and drinking and nachos and dips etc involved!!

Have a good day GM! X

Totally agree re: autumn/winter but it's also the time I crave red wine and christmas sherry (!). I am really TRYING HARD to cultivate a love of green tea and hot drinks instead! x Must try the bulgar wheat stuffing balls.... x

 

[Charleybarley]

Totally agree re: autumn/winter but it's also the time I crave red wine and christmas sherry (!). I am really TRYING HARD to cultivate a love of green tea and hot drinks instead! x Must try the bulgar wheat stuffing balls.... x

Oooh, Harvey's Bristol Cream and and and BAILEYS!!!!! Good luck with the green tea thing, I think it tastes like brussel sprout water.

ps I crave red wine year round!

 

[Charleybarley]

Thursday 4th October

B - wholemeal muffin (HEB tweak) with butter (2), marmite and 28g of cheese (HEA)





L - tuna pasta salad (1) for olives (1) for Mayo



D - chorizo and bean in tomato sauce (2.5) with leftover rice.

Snacks - grapes, apple, banana

Syns - 6.5

Water - 2 litres

Exercise - none.

We are going to the cinema tonight so the usual battle of me versus popcorn will commence!!

 

[Mumma K]

Subscribing Charley
Will have a proper read up when I get home and on my Ipad later but just came to find you first...
Have fun at the Cinema I always take my own popcorn so I don't feel left out Tyrells do a jalapeno and sour cheese one to die for 20g works out at 4.5syns ...far nicer than the ones they serve at Cineworld ...

 

[vintagepockets]

We are going to the cinema tonight so the usual battle of me versus popcorn will commence!!

Good luck!

 

[HPSaucy]

Hey hun hope you had fun at the cinema, what did you watch this week? X

 

[Charleybarley]

Hey hun hope you had fun at the cinema, what did you watch this week? X

Hey Sug, the cinema was fantastic - we saw Looper - if you get the chance go ad see it, it was brilliant, pretty dark and a bit confusing in places (but that could be just me!!) but oh wow a brilliant film with lots of twists. I live Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon Levitt (who played Bruces character as a younger man). I said to Mick when we came out that I couldn't decide which one I would want to bed more - the young Bruce or the older one!!!

 

[Charleybarley]

Ok so Charlotte v Popcorn, I am pleased to say j won this battle.... but before anyone highfives me minimins styley I couldn't just go in empty handed and so in my infinite wisdom whilst queuing up for the tickets I said ti Mick 'did you know there were over 800 cals in a large salted popcorn' he was suitably gobsmacked. I then picked up a pack of Walkers Sensations purely for example purposes and said 'see these are only 504 cals for the pack' and he said 'so you mean to tell me that those crisps are better for you than popcorn?' and I said yes.....so thought hmmm 25 syns is not so bad... And bought them and ate them...all!!

 

[Mumma K]

Ok so Charlotte v Popcorn, I am pleased to say j won this battle.... but before anyone highfives me minimins styley I couldn't just go in empty handed and so in my infinite wisdom whilst queuing up for the tickets I said ti Mick 'did you know there were over 800 cals in a large salted popcorn' he was suitably gobsmacked. I then picked up a pack of Walkers Sensations purely for example purposes and said 'see these are only 504 cals for the pack' and he said 'so you mean to tell me that those crisps are better for you than popcorn?' and I said yes.....so thought hmmm 25 syns is not so bad... And bought them and ate them...all!!

Lol...whoops

 

[Charleybarley]

Friday 5th October - WEIGH IN DAY -

And I lost another 1lb - I did want 2lb, but hey 1lb is good enough, especially after my Walkers Sensations last night - man did I enjoy them.

So it is coming off slowly but surely as it usually does with me when I try 90 - 95% but do not incorporate exercise - I know what I need to do and I know I need to do it soon. I am far too sedentary in my job, but I just cannot get my arse into gear exercisewise. I am still quite nervy about my achilles which still plays me up, but really I am just using that as an excuse now because I could still go swimming. HEY HO, I will get there. Slow and steady and all that jazz...

So food today:

B - Porridge (HEB and HEA) Maple Syrup (2) then I had a whole pack of chocolate covered coffee beans (6 syns!) WHY GOD WHY!

L - Tuna Pasta Salad (2) for mayo and olives

D - ??? Weigh in day, so its usually a Nandos or something like that.

 

[Rosielea]

Charley well done on losing 1 lbs. Still good. Why do not you go walking at lunch-times. you can start with 5-10 minutes a day and then build up. Have a great weekend.

 

[Charleybarley]

Charley well done on losing 1 lbs. Still good. Why do not you go walking at lunch-times. you can start with 5-10 minutes a day and then build up. Have a great weekend.

Hi Rosie

Thanks. I used to go walking when I worked in Fleet Street, I used to walk all along the river during my lunch, then we moved to Liverpool Street and the area is heaving with people around the surrounding area - I have tried but you can't get your "speed walk" on at all - plus I am so addicted to minimins that I spend my lunch hour (and some!) on the computer!

I think I need to do some big time exercise, walking just doesn't cut it - I do walk quite a bit as it is and I need to step my exercise up a notch or two anyhow.

Right, you have given me a little kick up the bum bum I am going for a walk at lunchtime, I am not far from Brick Lane and I need curry leaves so I am going to see if I can find some! Thank you Rosie!

 

[hells2012sw]

1lb is good, better down than up!


I have done no exercise for about 2 weeks, and have promised myself I'll go to the gym tonight!

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins

 

[StephieJayne]

A loss is a loss, so well done to the lb loss! Only just found your diary but loving it so far!

I never used to exercise and found it hard to start but eventually I got up and now I try and go 3-4 times a week! Try and find a gym buddy if you can, it definitely encourages you to get up and go! haha!

xx

 

[Mumma K]

Well hopefully you survived Brick Lane alive lol and armed with Curry leaves