Weetabix Cake

I've seen a few different variations going round of a Weetabix Cake so finally decided to give one of them a go as I'm getting bored of using my B choice on the same things.
This recipe is for 2 B choices so half of the cake is your B choice for the day or if your doing SP you could have it all. There is also 7 syns worth of dried fruit (50g) so 3.5 syns per half.

Ingredients
4 weetabix
1 muller light
50g dried fruit
2 eggs
1 tbsp of sweetener (optional)

Method
crush Weetabix into fine powder
add muller light of your choice (I used banana and custard)
add eggs and sweetener and combine then add dried fruit and stir through
put into loaf tin and cook for 20 minutes
I then turned it over and cooked a further 20 minutes as it looked soggy
leave to cool then slice and serve.

Half of the cake is your B choice + 3.5 syns

KFC Chicken And Gravy

So there has been this massive hyper over the new Southern Style Gravy that Mayflower have released... and I finally managed to pick some up yesterday!

 

 

I even picked up some for the girls at group as it's the only place i've been able to find it as yet! I currently have 15 boxes all allocated to different members and I need about 6 more. I feel like some kind of drug dealer!
ANYWAY! armed with this new gravy I thought it was only right that I tried it out with the good old KFC Inspired Chicken...

 

Ingredients for KFC Chicken
Chicken Breasts
1tsp of dried oregano
1tsp of garlic salt
3tsp of paprika
Black pepper
Pinch of salt
Pinch of ground ginger
An egg
Smash

Method
Combine the spices with the smash
Cut up the chicken
Beat the egg in a bowl and then dip the chicken in the egg followed by the spice & smash mix
Cook in the oven for approx 20 mins on 180 degrees
Turn and cook for approx 15 or until golden brown.

To make the gravy...
According to the box 50g of powder makes 270ml, and according to the app 100ml is 3.5 syns.
I made it up as directed on the box and this filled 3 ramekins (see picture), I would reduce the water ratio going forward to make it thicker but obviously that won't affect the syns. I had one ramekin so would still syn this at 3.5 syns for the portion I had.

Chicken & Doner Kebab Fakeaway

So since Thursday night all I've thought about is tonight's tea. 

I used the BFree Pitta as my B choice and it was 3.5 syns for the Garlic Mayo but everything else was prepped using syn free methods!

 

Ingredients for Doner Meat:
1tsp dried oregano
1tsp dried herbs
1tsp garlic powder
1tsp onion powder
1/2tsp cayenne pepper
1tsp salt
1tsp black pepper
500g extra lean beef mince 

Method:
Combine all ingredients
Shape into a loaf and place on baking tray
cook in oven (180c) for 1 hour, turning over half way through
Remove from oven and wrap in foil, leave for 10 minutes to rest

To make the Tandoori Chicken:

Combine Natural Yoghurt with the juice of half a lime add some tandoori powder then marinate chicken and leave in the fridge for a few hours to marinate. 

Then place under grill until cooked - turning half way!

The carrot chips were just placed in the oven with a sprinkle of paprika whilst the doner meat was cooking I usually cook them for approx 40 mins. 

Absolutely stuffed and feeling great that I've only used 3.5 syns for all of that. It really felt like I was having a takeaway! 

Slimming World Nacho Feast

So i've been doing Slimming World since March 2015 and I have only just got round to trying this recipe...I did make a few changes such as carrot chips instead of wedges and I had to substitute some spices as I thought I had them all then got home and realised I didn't... BUT! Here is the original recipe for anyone wanting to try it... I would highly recommend!

Ingredients

2 baking potatoes, cut into wedges
Low-calorie cooking spray
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
250g lean beef mince (5% fat or less)
1 onion, sliced
1 red pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
230g can chopped tomatoes
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp fajita seasoning
1 tsp paprika
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
150g tube Primula Light Cheese
Fresh green Jalapeno chillies, finely chopped (optional)

Method

Preheat your oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas 6.
Put the wedges on a non-stick baking tray, spray with low-calorie cooking spray and season.
Bake for 25 minutes, then turn, spray again and bake for a further 25 minutes until golden.
Meanwhile, spray a frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray and place over a medium-high heat.
Add the mince and stir-fry for 10 minutes, then add the onion and cook for 5-6 minutes, or until softened.
Add the pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes, then stir in the canned tomatoes.
Sprinkle in the cumin, fajita seasoning, paprika and a few twists of black pepper.
Cook for 10-15 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated.
Stir in the fresh tomatoes.
Remove from the heat.
Preheat your grill to high.
Tip the wedges into an ovenproof dish, spoon over the mince and squeeze over the Primula Light Cheese.
Sprinkle with the chillies, if using, and grill for 8-10 minutes, or until the cheese starts to brown.
Divide between 2 plates and serve.

This recipe would be syn free if you are using your A CHOICE for the primula light otherwise you would need to syn this so please amend accordingly :)

Porky Lights & Comfort Food

So I finally got hold of these Porky Light sausages that everyone is raving about. I even bought 5 packs because of how many people have raved about them... so I was hoping they would be good!
I decided to make Sausage and Mash for tea on Friday night. The total for this entire meal was 1.5 syns (for the sausages at 0.5 syns each) and I'd have thought I was eating full fat, meaty sausages. They were fab! I added some milk from my A choice to my mash and I cooked off some mushrooms and onions with stock and hot water which in turn acted like a gravy. I was thoroughly impressed with the quality of them and will definitely be stocking up my freezer!

I then had some more on Saturday morning just to make sure I was sure I liked them obviously... I can't fault them at all I just wish they were a little cheaper. But i'm more than happy to pay £2.25 per 6 sausages if they taste like that!

I may have also then had two on Sunday morning with my cooked breakfast... Definitely a winner in this house!

Low Syn Treats

Another one of the Photo Challenge pictures for this month is titled 'Low Syn Treats' so I thought i'd pick my top 9.
I've picked ones you can make rather than buy and I will post a link to each recipe.

1. Chocolate Orange Squares - Each piece is 2.5 syns. I haven't made these for ages but I think I need to, just been looking through my camera roll and completely forgot about these little gems!

2. Coconut Macaroons - Admittedly these look more like Meringues but they are still yummy and I love making these, I make them a lot for tasters as they're a huge hit at only 1 syn each!

3. Cinnamon Swirls - Easily one of my favourites. 1 syn each and worth every bit of it!


4. Lemon Cake Pops - These are simply the Lemon Loaf Cake recipe make into cake pops, I find it a lot easier to snack on and you feel like you're eating more!

5. Half A Syn Cake - Admittedly if you're a newbie I think you'll be disappointed with this if you're expecting an incredible Victoria-esque sponge, but if you've been doing the plan a while and struggling with your sweet tooth I think it's definitely a good substitute!

6. Low Syn Chocolate Cake - Similar to the above, they certainly don't put Mary Berry to shame but they're a means to an end and at 10 syns for the WHOLE cake, you can hardly complain!

7. Ombré Jelly Slice - 3 syns for this entire thing. I love it, especially in summer. You can add 1.5 syns for another layer if you like, it's easy enough to experiment with and the flavours can easily be changed!

8. Salted Caramel Loaf Cake - I amended the Lemon Loaf cake recipe and made it into a Salted Caramel one so really I could have posted them together but oh well here goes!

9. Last but not least, the Fake Jelly Sweets - These are 1.5 syns for the whole lot! I ended up portioning them up into 3 so I could sit watching TV and know I was only using half a syn munching on these!

I definitely want to try some new ones, there's probably a heap more that I could have included but I thought i'd just share some old and some new ones that I've found really useful in keeping me on plan!

Chinese Fakeaway

Saturday Night and I really wanted a takeaway... say hello to the Chinese Fakeaway!
In a bid to use up things in the cupboard before a mammoth food shop I decided to use the Mayflower Curry Powder again (you can buy from heron/b&m etc and it is 99p for a tub).
Decided to actually take photos of me making it this time so you can see how easy it is. The sauce was 4 syns for 28g worth of powder (which made a lot) and everything else in the recipe is free.

The egg fried rice was also completely free and is so easy to do. It works a lot better if your rice is cold as I find it goes sticky if you try and use just cooked rice.

A Whole Cake For 0.5 Syns

1 tub of quark
4 eggs, seperate whites and yolks
5 tablespoons of sweetener
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla exptract
Fruit of your choice to decorate

Method


1. Whisk egg whites till stiff
2. In another bowl mix yolks , vanilla baking powder half of the quark and 4 tablespoons of sweetener
3. Add half of egg white mixture and whisk some more. Fold in the rest of the egg white
4. Pour mixture into a lined tin.Bake in a preheated oven gas mark 4 for 20-25 mins or until cooked (approx 180degrees)
5. Mix the other half of quark with remaining sweetener an use to spread on cake when it is cooled.
6. Top with loads of fresh fruit

Cheese & Crackers

9 syns of heaven. 6 syns for the crinklys and 0.5 syns for each of the cheese blocks (they are the laughing cow ones that come in a variety of flavours) this felt like such a treat. And seeing as I hadn't had any syns up to this point it was well within my allowance! Silverskin onions added for speed! :)

Half A Syn Sausage Rolls!

I am far too excited to devour a plate full of these at Taster tonight, and the best thing...
THEY'RE HALF A SYN EACH!!!

They are beautiful and will definitely be made again, in massive batches so I can live off them over the Christmas period and not feel guilty!

They are from the new Festive Feasts book that is available in groups this week, I got mine free with the Countdown Offer last month at group. I can't wait to try some other recipes from this book especially if they are as good as these!!

Low Syn Chocolate & Sweets

I know a lot of people struggle with low syn treats, even more so near halloween when they're EVERYWHERE so I thought i'd post this. I bought these 2 bags today from ASDA to stock up my syn drawer and worked out all the syns. I could have my own little feast and still be within my syns! Hope these help!

Chocolate & Strawberries

Some mornings I struggle having something filling like porridge or a full breakfast, due to time or just not being hungry. This morning I wanted something sweet so I had this that I had conveniently prepped the night before.
It's simply syn free natural yoghurt mixed with an options sachet (2 syns) then some strawberries chopped and thrown in. Then simply popped it in the freezer to set overnight. I took it out and took it to work so there was approx 90mins/2 hours between removing from freezer and eating which gave it time to soften a little. It was really enjoyable and satisfied my sweet tooth.

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!

No Appetite

I think the worse thing about Winter is the fact 9 times out of 10 I end up with a cold, and when I get a cold my appetite decides to bugger off. So here's my attempt at still trying to be on plan whilst suffering with a cold! I made a syn free Onion Bhaji loaf (same recipe as the balls but just in a loaf tin) and then made up some mayflower curry sauce to go with it. Counting 4 syns for the sauce even though I didn't have the full portion. Easy way to stay on plan and hopefully the spice will help make the cold go away!

Snacking for under 10 syns!

So i've been looking at different ways to use my syns that satisfy my sweet tooth. Here's some really useful infographics that Slimming World have provided to show you don't have to go without!

Need to get back into it properly and i'm really struggling at the moment as I feel like i'm getting bored so hopefully mixing things up will help.

Alcohol Syns

I'm not a massive drinker anyway but here's some handy tips on saving syns!

Low Syn Curry Loaf

Chickpea dahl loaf
1 packet of bachelors curry flavour rice
1 tin of chickpea dahl (I used sainsburys which is 5.5 syns because I couldn't find any others but aldi does a lower syn version)
3 eggs.

• Preheat the oven to 200 c.
• Make up the rice following the instructions on the pack.
• When the rice is done, mix in the three eggs and the tin of chick pea dahl.
• Spoon into a baking dish
• Cook for around 30 minutes or until the loaf is firm.

Total syns is 5.5 so cut into 6 makes it less than 1 syn a slice!

Nutri Bombz

In an attempt to use my syns on healthy snacking I decided to try out the Nutri Bombz that so many fellow slimmers seem to be into at the moment.
They are £4.99 per box of 12, so approx 42p each. 

I eagerly awaited and today received my box, I got Coconut, choccy orange, mint choccy brownie and super fruit. 

Decided to try a coconut one first and oh my word it was yummy. I expected a bland taste with it being all natural ingredients but I was pleasantly surprised. It was full of flavour and one satisfied my cravings which was definately a plus. 

The coconut ones work out at 4 syns each and I'm quite happy to use 4 syns on one Nutri bomb purely because it's packed full of flavour and I didn't feel the need to have another. I would highly recommend them to everyone, I will be getting a new selection in 4 weeks. Can't wait to try the other flavours. They seem to range from 3-5 syns it seems which I think is perfectly acceptable :)

200th post & a little about me.

So for my 200th post I thought I would do a little about me.

I've gained a lot of new followers on my Instagram (doylie_sw) and the views on my blog have rocketed recently and I can't thank you enough. 

I'm Alison and I'm 26 years old. I live with my other half and our two rabbits. I did Graphic Design at Uni and I love baking. I have a massive sweet tooth!

I've been following Slimming World a little over a year and I am so amazed with the results. 

I've lost 2.5 stone but more importantly I've not gone without.
I've enjoyed birthdays, Easter, Halloween and even Christmas (I somehow lost weight over Christmas).

I've had gains along the way believe me, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Taking progress pictures has really helped to keep me focused and has allowed me to see a change in myself that you don't really see day to day. 

I've gone from a size 14/16 to a size 10/12 and am oh so close to my target weight now. 

I'm part of the social team at my group too, which I find really rewarding. I've made so many friends via Slimming World that I probably wouldn't have met without.

I know I could have lost the weight a lot quicker if I had been more strict with my splurges but doing it slowly has given me the belief that I can keep it off. I lost 3 stone prior to Slimming World through basically not eating, so as soon as I went back to normal I piled 2 stone back on!

Here's some comparison photos to show what a difference 2.5 stone can make!

And here's some of my favourites things I've made, click the link to go through to the blog posts.

Salt & Pepper Chicken! - serves 2 (2syns each)
http://eatingyourselfslim.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/salt-chilli-chicken.html?view=classic
 

Lemon Loaf - 8 syns (1 syn per slice)

http://eatingyourselfslim.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/lemon-drizzle-cake-pops.html

Chocolate Weetabix Muffins
http://eatingyourselfslim.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/weetabix-brownies.html

Low Syn Chocolate Cake - 8 syns in total (1 syn per slice)
http://eatingyourselfslim.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/low-syn-chocolate-cake.html?view=classic

Cinnamon Swirls - 1 syn each
http://eatingyourselfslim.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/cinnamon-swirls-1-syn-treats.html

I would whole heartedly recommend Slimming World to anyone, if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment here or on my instagram and I'll get back to you!

x

Low Syn Treats!

Love getting to late at night and realising I've only had 1.5 syns! Indulged in an Options Caramel (1.5), Jam Hifi Bar (3) and a Goodies Muller Yog (2.5) whilst we watched some Person Of Interest last night ❤️