Erm's Photo Diary

[ermintrude]

Hello my lovelies, Im back and we did get a smidgen of sunshine so had a few BBQs I've roughly STS/maybe put a pound on depending on time of day, so we'll see if I can shift it by WI on Weds

Made some yum yum new stuff plus some old faves. No particular diary as it would take an age but here's some piccies with a rough syn value: Brekkie was toast & coffee every day and snacks were free stuff to allow for vino

Saturday: Green

Curry! 5 syns

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Sunday: Red

Wrap 4 syns & 1 HEXA:

and Spanish kebab with swede chips 1 syn (bit OOF as slightly squiffy )

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Monday: Red

Wrap 4 syns & 1 HEXA :

and Feta chicken in Parma ham with swede chips and veg - 5 syns and an "unofficial" HEXB *cough*

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Tuesday: Green

Morroccan chickpea soup 1 syn :

And lentil shepherd's pie 1.5 syns and 1 HEXA - O. M. G. This is THE best veggie shepherd's pie ever! :drool: And it was HUUUUUGE! we had it 2 days in a row and the portions would probably fill 8 normal people, but Im totally happy with having a double portion

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Wednesday: Green

Black bean citrus soup 2 syns :

And leftover shepherd's pie 1.5 syns and 1 HEXA :

Again I was slightly squiffled by the time we ate it...

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Mm Ill put the rest in another thread or Ill fall off the page....

 

[ermintrude]

Thursday: Red

Crispbread & cheese with veggies (being good! ) HEXA & HEXB

And kebab with celeriac chips & salad, 1 syn

Ommmmmmmmm... :drool: :

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Friday: Extra Easy... or that was the theory... but I dont see a lot of superfree... but what the hell, it was my last day

This was soooooo good I had to photograph it, er, lots of times...

Om om ommmmmmmm such gooooodness :drool:

I was then a bit full

Then basically we just used up all the leftovers. Harrissa, chicken, swede chips, veg, salad, veggie sausages, you name it... er still only 2 syns I think. (Sozzled pic again, sorry )

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Then when we got back Saturday I was starving and had chicken sandwich on the train and then takeaway curry with pilau rice, onion bhajis, poppadoms & dip... :sigh:


Oh well, got til Weds to shift it again

 

[Honeyoc]

Hey Erm!! Gad you had a great time, your pics are gorgeous as usual. LOL @ sozzled pics, so cute!

 

[blackwidow]

all that food looks lovely.. especially the lentil shepherds pie!

glad you had a lovely time - im sure with all your tasty food you'll drop that pound by WI x

 

[*Emsie*]

Wow! fab pics! Please please please can i have the recipe for the lentil shepherds pie it looks soooooo yummy! I want to eat it now!

 

[ermintrude]

Yup, here we go:

Veggie Shepherd's Pie

Serves 4 (huge portions though, I reckon you could serve 6 or even 8 if you have it with veggies etc)

Works out about 2 syns plus 1HEXA per portion on Green/EE

Ingredients:
1 large onion, sliced
3 or 4 cloves garlic, crushed
400g carrots, cut into very small cubes
2 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
200ml red wine (7 syns)
400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 stock cubes
2 bay leaves
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp tomato puree
Good few shakes Worcestershire sauce
200g dried Puy lentils (or you can used drained tinned ones if you work out the relevant weight)
500g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
500g baking potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 tsp cinnamon
113g mature cheddar, grated (= 1 HEXA per portion)

Method:
- Simmer lentils in 2-3 times their weight of water for 15 min until half-cooked (skip this if you use tinned ones). Drain.
- In the meantime fry onion and garlic until golden, about 5 min
- Add lentils, carrots, wine, tomatoes, stock cubes, bay leaf, cumin, chilli, tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce and all but a sprinkling of the thyme and simmer for 20 min.
(You might have to add about 100ml of water to feed the lentils depending how fast your hob cooks. But at the end you need the mix to be reduced to a nice thick pie-contents consistency, not runny)
- While that's cooking boil both types of potato for 10-15 min until tender, then drain well, add cinnamon, season well and mash
- When it's all ready put the lentil mix in a casserole dish, spread the mash over followed by the cheese and sprinkle the remaining thyme on top
(If you're not cooking it right away leave it to cool before putting the cheese on)
- When you're ready to cook heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and cook for 20 min straight from the hob, or 40 min from chilled


I adapted this recipe from here to make it tastier and more SW-friendly

Here's some piccies:

 

[dirtydancing]

glad you had a nice holiday. thanks for the recipe for veggie shepherds pie,looks yummy as always.

 

[ermintrude]

Sunday 05th - Red

Nothing exciting today, just behaving myself to catch up after holiday

Breakfast: Coffee & Toast - 1 HEXA & 1 HEXB, 2 syns.
Lunch: Wrap stuffed with cheese and jalapenos and salad 1 HEXA & 7 syns for wrap & extra cheese
Tea: Harissa chicken with spicy swede SW chips and veg 0.5 syns
Snacks: Apples, carrots, Muller cheesecake 1 syn

 

[craftylucyloo]

Thanks so much for the lentil shepherds pie recipe. That looks so comforting. I am goign to plan to make this this week. Are you sure about the cinnamon in the potatoes??? x

 

[ermintrude]

Thanks so much for the lentil shepherds pie recipe. That looks so comforting. I am goign to plan to make this this week. Are you sure about the cinnamon in the potatoes??? x

Cinnamon's not necessary or anything, it's not in the original recipe. The original also wanted 100% sweet potato (not a mix of sweet and plain) but a lot of the reviews said that was *too* sweet and didn't match the recipe so I half-and-half-ed it (as did a few of the reviewers). Im sure you could use all plain if you like.

The original also didn't include nearly all the flavourings I put in, but I like my stuff pretty flavoursome It had less cheese too but I thought 28g a portion was handy

 

[Honeyoc]

So glad to have you an your yummy recipes back! That lentil shepherd's pie has my name all over it!

 

[*Emsie*]

Thanks so much for the recipe just what I need at the moment to help fill me up and keep me on track!

 

[MissHP]

Hi,

I've just come across this thread and all I can say is WOW!!!!!! Everything you make looks absolutely gorgeous!

HPxx

 

[ermintrude]

Monday 05th - Green

Breakfast: Coffee & Toast - 1 HEXA & 1 HEXB, 2 syns.
Lunch: Spicy beans and mushrooms with mixed veg. 0.5 syns for mustard.
Tea: SW Vegetable Tagine with bulgur wheat - Free
Snacks: Apple, satsuma, plums, box of blueberries in Coconut Mullerlight, Bovril


This was not bad although not that tasty. I put one and half times the spices in but it wasnt that amazing so I chucked a tsp of chipotle in at the end to spice it up. The cinnamon tasted great but it really, really needed to be sweeter and fruitier to taste Morroccan. Next time I'd use a HEX on some apricots/raisins etc and maybe a splash of fruit juice of some sort. (I don't like couscous so used bulgur wheat instead)

Not doing bad though, had three BIIIIG wees in the night so a couple of pounds down this morning. Hopefully they'll still be gone by WI tomorrow. That would make my holiday planning tres utile

 

[ermintrude]

Tuesday 06th - Green

Breakfast: Coffee & Toast - 1 HEXA & 1 HEXB, 2 syns.
Lunch: WW wrap stuffed with cheese, jalapenos & salad, with mixed veg 1 HEXA & 6 syns
Tea: SW Vegetable Tagine with bulgur wheat - Total b***s up - see below
Snacks: apple, plums, satsumas, box blackberries in Coconut Mullerlight, Finn Crisp with Laughing Cow 1 HEXB & 3.5 syns, Bovril.

If you think this looks exactly the same as yesterday that's cos it is, I made a boo boo on me HEXes :booboo:

I swear I had beans yesterday so as I was feeling snacky I trundled off and had a load of Finn crisp and cheese, as well as my usual fruit yoghurt Bovril etc etc - then looked at my diary and it dawned on me that was the day before and Id already had 3 HEXes and 8 syns for lunch & brekky...

So that kind ballsed up tea, which was gonna be pasta with HoneyOC's pesto as that would been ANOTHER 2 HEXes... 7 in total! So I deferred the pesto for a day and thought Id have some frozen leftovers - the choices were yesterday's veggie tagine or a chicken one... Chicken. ANOTHER damn HEX. So I had bloddy Tagine again.

Still, great news at WI this morning, lost... wait for it...


*****4 and a half pounds*****!!!!!!

And that's AFTER a week's holiday!!!! I don't get it I'm not complaining obviously but weeks when we behave like nutcases in a nunnery we STS or lose a half or whatever... then weeks where we get absolutely wazzled it just drops off! WTF is that all about? :sigh:

Still I ain't complaining cos that means I'm HALF A POUND away from my 5 stone award! So that's my aim for next week! :happy036:

 

[dirtydancing]

well done on a fantastic loss this week. you will get your 5 stone award next week

 

[lollypop1985]

well done i love looking at your food very inspiring

 

[NikkiP]

Congrats. That is fab-you-loss xx

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins

 

[Honeyoc]

WOOOHOOO Ermintrude :banana dancer: what an amazing loss!! Well done!

 

[craftylucyloo]

Wowza! Great loss hun. Well done. You are so close to getting that next stone. x