Spice N Tice Rubs

So after speaking to a few slimming worlders I decided to finally take the plunge and order some of the Spice N Tice rubs to see what all the fuss was about! Most of them are 0.5 syns per tsp and some are even free! Here's my first experience using them... I used the two rubs that are SYN FREE, coated some of the chicken in one and then the rest of the chicken in the other flavour. So simple to do yet so so nice! I'm thoroughly impressed with the intensity of the flavour considering I only let them sit for approx 30 mins before cooking! I would highly recommend these to anyone, they sometimes do discounts and giveaways over on their instragram so make sure you check them out :)

Slow Cooker Spag Bolognese

The beauty of having a slow cooker... I managed to make this last night and I just need to reheat it later in time for tea, as I knew today was a busy day so wouldn't really have time to cook. The joys of being prepared...

Chocolate Orange Baked Oats

So in my attempt to try new things... here's my Chocolate Orange Baked Oats.

 

Ingredients

40g Oats

Chocolate Orange muller light

1 Egg

Sprinkle of sweetener

Tsp of orange essence

Choc Shot orange spice 

Method

Combine all ingredients apart from the Choc Shot 

Pour into mould

Cook for 15 mins on approx 180

Take out and then syringe choc Shot into centre (or make a hole in the middle and pour in)

Cook in the oven for approx 45 mins on 150 approx

I find cooking it for longer at a lower temp makes it more cake like and doesn't go soggy.
Enjoy hot or cold

 

This recipe is 1 syn if you use the Oats as your b choice (the syn is for the choc Shot) or 7 syns if not using Oats as b choice

Pea & Ham Soup

So today I finally attempted Pea & Ham Soup, I've never once fancied it and I honestly never thought I would enjoy some green soup as much as I have.

Ingredients
1 bag of Frozen Garden Peas
Chicken Stock Cubes (I used 3)
Dried Mint
Salt & Pepper
1 Ham or Gammon Joint (I used a smoked Gammon Joint)

Method
Add peas to pan and cover with boiling water.
Add stock cubes and dried mint (do it to taste I added 1 tsp to start)
Add Salt & Pepper to taste
Bring to boil and then simmer for approx 20/25 mins
Leave to cool slightly and then blend
Add seasoning if needed

For the Gammon Joint I simply put the joint in the slow cooker and cooked on high for approx 3.5 hours and then shredded and stored in a separate container. This is so I can add as much or as little as I like.

All of this is syn free and perfect for an SP Day which is why I ended up making it to be honest! Will definitely be making it again at some point.

What a way to start 2017!

So I went to weigh in expecting a gain, and probably a hefty one at that! I was amazed to find out I'd lost 1lb. I lost 2.5lb over Christmas last year and I lost the same this year, I'm quite impressed. It's shown me I can still enjoy myself and lose weight, I definitely wasn't on plan! I also won Slimmer Of The Week, because hardly anyone had lost both last week and this week! The last time I got a SOTW Certificate was 2015, time to start adding some more I think!

I normally have a takeaway treat on weigh day, but I remembered I had some Egg Fried Rice to use up and after a hefty lunch I wasn't overly keen on a massive tea so I just had the rice and some Mayflower Curry Powder (4 syns for 28g) so easy to do and really nice, it felt like i'd nipped to the Chinese! Even better! Here's to a good week and another loss next week!

Fakeaway

So what do you do when you're craving a takeaway but wanting to get back on plan?! FAKEAWAY! Salt & Pepper chicken for 2 syns, 4 syns of mayflower curry sauce and syn free egg fried rice. AMAZING!

A Full Day On Plan...

Attempting to post a full day to make me scrutinise what I'm eating, I want a good loss this week! And so far i've forgotten to photograph everything so here goes...
Overnight Oats for today made with 40g Oats, a sliced up orange, raspberries, fruitopolis yoghurt (0.5 syns) and then some protein syrup from The Protein Works (0.5 syns worth) tastes amazing and a nice change from my usual concoctions. It's 1 syn for it all if you use your oats as your B choice. I had this from about 10am until 1pm, as I was busy working swell so I didn't feel like having lunch as it was super filling.

Once I got home, I'd decided to have the Heinz inspired tomato soup so I decided i'd have an SP day (I know you're not supposed to have yoghurt on an SP day but it was a synned one and it was my decision to make). But as I didn't fancy the soup right away I made these little Pizza Thins using my second B choice for the thins & my cheese as my A choice. The picture pretty much explains what to do, you can add any veg you like but as I didn't have any I just stuck to cheese and tomato!

Finally, the soup as promised!

This is all I ate all day, I wasn't hungry and I sipped plenty of Winter Spice throughout the day too. Im shocked as I could normally eat 5 times this so I'm not sure whether I was just that busy I forgot to eat or if I just genuinely wasn't hungry.

Best Voucher

For anyone wanting that bit of help before the festive season kicks in properly, I cannot recommend Slimming World enough, you don't have to go without. I still manage to enjoy all my favourite meals using my syns or just cooking things different. It's amazing. There is a voucher on sale from TUESDAY in BEST magazine that will give you free registration. What more could you want?

I'm looking forward to indulging this Christmas and if I gain a few pounds I know it will be worth it. I know I won't gain all the weight i've lost and as soon as I'm back on plan 100% it will be off. Trying to get as close to target as I can beforehand, 10lbs TO GO! This has by far been the hardest 10lbs to lose, I got down to 3lb from target and just couldn't maintain it but I am feeling a lot more positive this time round and I'm ready to get there!

Speedy Bolognese

I love a good bolognese but I hadn't made one for AGES! My other half makes a great bolognese and it's actually syn free.
Even managed to use my hex a for cheese now that I have my winter spice! I will get the recipe off him at some point...

Successful Day On Plan!

I've decided i'm going to try and photograph all my meals not just the pretty ones. And really look at what i'm eating vs. my losses etc. I had a beef stew for lunch after my Overnight Oats for breakfast (see previous post), followed by Salt & Pepper Chicken with peppers and onions and then a Fibre One bar with muller and raspberries for dessert.
All of that totalled by B choice + 6 syns, leaving me with 9 to use on snacks if I wanted to. I won't lie, I used it on chocolate, but that's fine, I satisfied my sweet tooth and I had the syns there to use. Winner!

The beef stew was done in the slow cooker and was quite literally some diced beef, 2 stock cubes and a bag of frozen casserole veg. I even chucked in some mushrooms and carrots that were left over and added salt and pepper. Popped the slow cooker on low for about 8 hours and thats it. Simple yet a real Winter Warmer.

Weigh Day

So after 2 weeks on holiday I finally went back to group tonight. In my head I wanted 7lbs but after not being on plan for about 75% of my two weeks off I was doubtful. Safe to say I was pleasantly surprised to see I'd still managed to get my target! 8lb's to go until I reach target now and I want that by Christmas!

Salt and Pepper Chicken

So I use this recipe the most I think out of all the takeaway ones I've tried. I always feel I need to take new photos so I don't look like i'm just re blogging old stuff so here goes...

I would recommend this to anyone who is missing a good salt and pepper chicken dish in their SW lives! it's low syn and worth it!
Ingredients

Chicken breast, cut into chunks
Plain flour (25g is 4 syns)
Salt & Pepper
Garlic granules
One egg, whisked
Fry Light
A pepper
An onion
Soy sauce
White wine vinegar
Sweetener

Method

Preheat oven to approx 180 degrees.
Combine Four tablespoons of flour in a bowl (25g is 4 syns), with half a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper, along with half a teaspoon of garlic granules. (I now double this so please amend to suit your own preference).
In another bowl, whisk your egg and add a splash of soy sauce to season.
Pop your chicken chunks in the egg and then in the flour mix.
Once this is all done, arrange on a nonstick baking tray, sprayed with some Fry Light first.
Then spray the chicken with Fry Light - this will help it to brown.
If you're using the oven, leave the chicken for 15 minutes, and turn over, and then give it another spray of Fry Light and then give it another 10 minutes, or until golden.
When the chicken is on the second round of cooking, in a non-stick pan, gently soften your peppers and onion.
I'd add a splash of soy sauce for extra flavour.
Once everything is soft add your cooked chicken from the oven.
Mix together two teaspoons of sweetener with two tablespoons of white wine vinegar and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
Add this to the pan and stir on a gentle heat.
This will be quite dry, as Salt & Pepper chicken is, but that vinegar/sugar mixture really makes the dish.
Taste and add some further salt and pepper if it needs it.

The only syns are for the flour - I used 25g so 4 syns and 2 of us had it so was only 2 syns each!

Fakeaway Feast

There's nothing like a Fakeaway to bring in the weekend! Salt and pepper chicken for 2 syns. Syn free egg fried rice and then 3 syns for the mayflower curry sauce. Yum!

Salt and pepper chicken recipe previously posted!

Treat/Cheat Nights

A lot of people have different views on what they do for cheat/treat night. I'm not saying what I do is right or wrong, the same with the choices that other people choose to make, but I thought I would write a little blog post about what I do as I've been asked a few times.

I have a chippy most Thursdays after weigh in, It's the one meal I don't include in my syns. And that works for me. It gives me the little blowout I need and then I get right back on plan on a Friday. Some people have weekends off or a full day, some people go crazy. If I did that I'd find it so hard to get back on plan so this is what I do and it works for me. :)

Obviously if I know I have a family meal or something over the weekend that is somewhere I can't really 'be good' with I may not have as big a meal as that or will just flexi syn for the week after the meal. Theres a number of different ways people chose to use their syns but I know using them daily works best for me so I tend to stay away from Flexi synning as I know it can get out of hand for me. Would love to know other peoples thoughts?

Jelly Sweets

I make this recipe every so often, usually when I'm craving sweet things!

49 jelly sweets made for 1.5 syns. Would quite happily use 2 sachets and make it 3 syns per batch as they would set a lot firmer.

1 sachet of jelly crystals - 1.5 syns (I use the hartleys ones and these are blackcurrant)
Make it up with the hot water as it says on the packet, let it cool and then stir a muller light (or any other syn free yoghurt) through the mix and then pour into your moulds to set. As simple as that. I chose the vanilla yoghurt with the chocolate bits to keep it relatively simple in flavours but you could use any.

Bangers and Mash

So I had a craving for sausage and mash but I didn't want to over do it with the carbs so decided to improvise.

Ingredients
2 SW Sausages - syn free
Swede - syn free
Small Mash - counting 1 syn for the little bit of milk
Gravy - counting 2 syns
Salt and Pepper to taste.
Onion Rings - syn free

To make the onion rings I simply sliced an onion, dipped in egg and then coated in smash then popped in the oven for approx. 20 mins.

Such an easy meal to throw together and it feels like a massive plate of comfort food which is always good.

NEW Slimming World Diary

These are due in group from 20th June or from 29th May with 12 week countdowns!

Super excited!

Too many people charge ridiculous amounts on eBay so glad to see Slimming World have put together an affordable yet really good journal! 

4lb Challenge Result...

Stayed on plan. 

Used my syns wisely. 

Upped my water intake. 

Tried new recipes and was never hungry. Couldn't be happier! 

Here's to another fab week, aiming for 3lb next week!

I'd be totally honest and say I didn't deserve it, if I felt that way. But I've made such good decisions and worked really hard that if I hadn't have got it I would have been gutted! My aim for the week is to mix up my healthy extras again so I'm not having the same everday. I also want to keep up my increased water intake & try some new recipes. So hoping it all works in my favour and I can get the 3lb I want next week while will take me back to where I was a few weeks ago (I lost 8lb in 2 weeks and then gained 8lbs over 3).

I have 4 weigh ins left of my 6 week countdown and then I go to Frankfurt with work, I want to aim to be on the stone mark (or even into the next stone bracket) by then, so from now I need 6lbs. Meaning I need 1.5lbs per week for the next 4 weeks to get it or a little bit more if I'm honest. It's totally do able as I've shown myself this week, I'm just glad that it isn't more so I don't feel as pressured to get it.

Currently 13lbs from target!

KFC Fakeaway - Smash

Recipe for KFC Chicken: 

2 large chicken breasts (or cuts of chicken of your choice) 
4 tablespoons of smash
1 teaspoon oregano 
1 teaspoon chilli powder 
1 teaspoon ground sage 
1 teaspoon basil 
1 teasppon pepper 
2 teaspoons salt 
2 teaspoons paprika 
1 teaspoon garlic powder 
1 teaspoon garlic salt 
2 eggs 

Method: 
Slice the chicken breasts into mini fillets or to the size of your liking 
Put smash into a bowl and add all of the seasonings and mix until everything is blended together to create your coating. 
Crack the eggs and mix together.  
The chicken needs to be dipped in the egg and then to the smash mixture and repeated to get an even coating. 
Bake the chicken in the oven for 20-25 mins on a medium heat, until cooked through.  
Cut one of the thickest bits to make sure it is cooked in the middle. 
Enjoy  Recipe for the gravy:

2 Chicken OXO Cubes
2 Knorr Stock Pots
Garlic Salt
Black Pepper
Boiling Water

Method:

Add ingredients to pan
Add boling water a little at a time until you reach a consistency you're happy with
Taste test and adjust the Garlic Salt/Pepper until you're happy.
Make sure all ingredients are combined before serving

Day 4 of the 4lb Challenge

So as you know, last Thursday 12 of us at group set ourselves the challenge of achieving a 4lb loss this coming Thursday. Obviously I wouldn't say no to more but the aim is a minimum of 4lb!

Anyway! I'm on day 4 and actually feeling really positive. I'm well within my syns, I'm not hungry which is always good, and currently feeling super positive for weigh in. You can see the meals I've had in previous posts, and had leftover Chilli & Rice for lunch today.

Determined to stay on plan all week!