Let's hope it helps

[sarah83]

Congratulations on becoming an Auntie - you must be so pleased!! I'm due to become an Auntie in Feb - although my SIL only lives in the next town over so not as far as for you!!

Thinking about your lunches in work... how about taking soup in a thermos? I've also heard about people taking other meals in a thermos like pasta, meatballs in sauce, casserole etc. Never tried it myself but might be worth doing as it gets colder

 

[Katerpillar]

Oooo, congratulations on your new little nephew! I love my nieces and newphews to bits!! You will get to spoil him rotten

and your king prawn curry choice sounds goooorgeous!! and looks like you made very sensible choices! so well done you

 

[kibou1]

Thanks girls,
I had written a really long email, including my menu for today but my computer crashed!
My nephew was already spoiled before he was even born, and I couldn't help buy him a few clothes this weekend despite having assured my sister-in-law I wouldn't buy anything for a few months because he would get so much as present anyway!!!

Thanks Sarah for the meal ideas. I was also thinking of buying a plain jacket potato from the canteen and bringing my own filling (a colleague who follows WW often does that)

Today's menu:

Breakfast:
2 slices wholemeal + ham + cheese (HEA + B)
banana

Snack: 1 mini brownie + 1 mini caramel shortbread (colleague's bday)

Lunch:
chicken salad sandwich (6 syns + 1 for mayo)
fruit salad

Dinner:
Beef cobbler with horseradish dumplings (I had less dumplings than the recipe so 5 syns instead of 5.5)
Yogurt
banana

 

[sarah83]

Birthdays are so rude aren't they... what with those tasty cakes and biscuits!!
Good idea about the Jacket potato, you could take cottage cheese or chicken mayo with EL mayo...

How was the cobbler - I want to try some recipes from the new mag and DH would love beef and dumplings!!

 

[kibou1]

Beef and dumplings were really nice. It's 7.5 syns per serving but to be honest it made almost 6 (5 adult servings and a baby's!) rather than the 4 it's meant to be for. They're recommending 3 dumplings per person too but I only had 1 1/2 to cut down on the syns and with all the potatoes it was really filling (I swapped celeriac and suede for potatoes!).

I went to class today and lost a pound. I think it's down to making my own lunch. The only thing I need to do now is to stop the snacking or at least snack on free food...Easier said than done, I've been craving bread and cheese in the afternoon recently, I'm not even hungry! Anyway, I'll keep on trying, hopefully something will click soon.

 

[sarah83]

Congratulations on the loss! Snacking's a problem for me too - either reaching for chocolate from the vending machine when I'm stressed in work, or grabbing something quick when I get home! But like you said in my diary - WE CAN DO IT... as long as we put our minds to it...

Beef and dumplings does sound yummy... think I'm going to try the Lancashire hotpot on Sunday from the comfort foods book, DH fancied both of them but we rarely eat lamb so thought it would be nice for a change...
I've decided I'm starting again on Saturday from scratch - to re-spark my motivation... wish me luck!

 

[Katerpillar]

Congratulations on your loss!!

 

[kibou1]

Thanks.
Good luck Sarah, you can do it.

Menu for today:

Breakfast:

yogurt + 28g cornflakes (I don't actually think cornflakes are a healthy extra but that's all we had left today)

Snack: Aldi's chili and cheese oaty bites (5 syns)

Lunch: rice salad (rice, tuna, sweetcorn, tomatoes, radishes, gherkins, EL mayo 1 syn), 2 peaches

Snack (home from work): 1 crumpet + philadelphia light (4 + 2 syns)

Dinner: Ebly + mushrooms + courgettes + bacon + cheese (HEA, although if I'm honest I haven't weighed it...2 handfuls of grated cheese for the 3 of us)
1/4 of cheese scone (3 syns)
raspberries and strawberries + tiny bit of squirty cream (2 syns)

TOTAL: 17 syns

 

[kibou1]

I'm really not very organised recently and I can't even remember what I've eaten exactly on Thursday and Friday...
I think I've been pretty much on track for lunches, breakfasts and snacks except that I've blown it on Thursday night with an Indian take away. We got home late from mothercare and my husband didn't fancy the bolognese I had taken out of the freezer...I didn't really fancy cooking anything (even if really it would have been boiling some spaghetti and putting the sauce in the microwave!) and Eliza (baby daughter) had had her dinner already. Anyway, it's in the past and on Friday I was back on track (and we had the bolognese then!!!).

Saturday 18/09/10

Breakfast:
Sausage sandwich (HEB, 1 syn for 2 sausages, 1 syn for ketchup)
Banana

Lunch is going to be:
Criques (grated carrots and potatoes mixed with beaten eggs and "fried" into pancakes)
fruit and yogurt

Dinner will be some fish, rice and courgettes and peas.

 

[sarah83]

Mmm your criques sound yummy - I cooked something similar a while back with spring onions too and some spices, cumin and chilli I think. I served them with sweet chilli sauce as a veg fritter starter type thing.
Criques sound nice too - are they a traditional French dish?

 

[kibou1]

Hi,
Yes they are, I think every French family has a slight variation of it though. My mum used to only do it with potatoes but before the last time I went to France I bought a recipe book all about using leftover and they mentioned grating any veg with it. We tried with carrots and beetroot and really liked it. It's a great way to eat more veg this way.
There's a restaurant near my hometown which offers mainly criques (with salads). I remember having a "pizza" one last time: basically a potato crique topped with tomato sauce, ham, mushrooms and cheese...it was gorgeous!

 

[kibou1]

I've just made a really nice chocolate cake for 27 syns in total.
I made it into a bread loaf tin so it would make 10 servings (obviously me being me I've had 3 already, but it's still under 9 syns...and one slice would have been satisfying enough but I'm just a greedy pig )

Here's what I put in it:
100g flour (17 syns)
30g cocoa (4.5 syns)
sweetener
3 eggs
1 mullerlight (vanilla with chocolate)
1/2 tsp baking powder (0.5 syn)
20g of pralin (that's something I bought in France, it's what's used to make praline chocolates, I've counted 5 syns for it but I think it might be just as nice without)
I've put it in the oven for about 30 min (180 degrees)

It was really delicious, especially straight out of the oven (hence the 3 slices ), I'll tell you if it's still as nice cold tomorrow

 

[sarah83]

Yum that sounds really nice - what flour did you use?
I'm going to have to try that...

 

[kibou1]

I just used plain white flour, it was really nice, even the day after.

Monday 20-09-10

Breakfast:
1 slice wholemeal, big loaf (HEB)
42g reduced fat cheese (melted)(HEA)
1 pear

Snack:
Lidl cereal bar (5 syns)

Lunch:
Chicken pasta salad (chicken, pasta, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, radishes, 1tsp EL mayo (1syn))
strawberries + a banana

No snack in the afternoon, no time for it even though I was starving!!!

Dinner: Couscous (tesco tomato one, is it 0.5 syns like Ainsley Harriot's, does anybody know?) + roasted peppers, courgettes and tomatoes. + 20g feta (3 syns)
mullerlight
strawberries

TOTAL: 9.5 syns

Also just come back from aquafit.

 

[sarah83]

I am definately going to be trying that cake this week... (minus the praline... can't think what I could substitute it with??)

Good on you going to aquafit - I take it that's like aqua aerobics??
Not sure about the couscous sorry, might be worth you posting on the syn values forum - someone's bound to know

 

[Katerpillar]

Hoya,
Have had a look on the webiste and these are the only options for Tesco cous cous:

Chargrilled Vegetables & Couscous Salad 270g pack
Couscous with Roasted Vegetable Side Salad 350g pack
Couscous, Lemon & Coriander, excluding oil, dried 110g pack
Discount Brands, Mediterranean Style Couscous, excluding oil & butter, dried 100g cooked
Finest, Moroccan Style Couscous Salad 225g pack
Healthy Living, Moroccan Style Couscous Snack in a Pot, ambient 60g pot
Light Choices, Roasted Vegetable Couscous Snack in a Pot, ambient 60g pot
Mediterranean Style Couscous, excluding oil & butter, dried 100g cooked
Wild Mushroom Couscous, made up as directed excluding oil, dried 100g cooked

If it wasn't any of these I will check on the website if you can tell me per 100g:
Calories
Protein
Carbs
Fat
Package size

 

[kibou1]

Thanks Kat, I've just had a look online and it's 0.5 syns for 100g. The packet is 110 but I'll leave it to that. Anyway, I used 2 packets for 2 adults and a baby so my daughter probably had the extra 20g!
I've just realised that you don't have to enter your pin everytime when you go onto the slimming world website now! The reason I hadn't checked yet was because the card with my pin on was upstairs and I couldn't be bothered to get it!!!

Sarah, Aquafit is the same as aqua aerobics, it might well be just called that and I made up the Aquafit name!!!
Praline is basically hazelnuts caramelised in sugar then grounded quite finely so you can maybe swap for grounded nuts but if I'm honest I think I'll save the syns and do without praline next time I make the cake.

 

[kibou1]

I went to class tonight and I'm a bit disappointed: I've stayed the same. Although I can't say I was 100% either.
Anyway, I think I'm going to try a few green days and maybe a bit of success express this week, see how it goes. I think I need the 2 HEB sometimes to prevent me from going into carb binge!

 

[sarah83]

Sorry you're gutted you STS. Keep focussed, and stick to your plan of Green and SE - I'm sure it'll pay off.

I'm thinking of doing SE in a couple of weeks if my losses start to slow down again after my re-start... inspired by 10st10lb's posts about it...

 

[kibou1]

Thanks Sarah,
I'll have a look at 10st10lbs' diary if she has one then. I'm planning my first success express day tomorrow and I'm wondering if the 2/3 superfree can come from fruit too.