Wednesday, 01-04-26

Evening, everyone.  It's April, new month, three weeks to lose as much weight (sensibly) as I can before my holiday in Crete (assuming it still goes ahead - in the current 'situation', it might not, of course).

Weary Wolf has posted another goodie in YouTube.  He made WWII ration recipes and filmed some of it.  I've watched a bit of it (it is quite long) and got some ideas already.
I Ate WW2 Ration Recipes for a Week… (Real 1940s Leaflet Recipes)

And newsflash - I went to Morrisons today and they have their Easter veg - carrots, parsnips and swede all at 4p.  Four pence . . . that's so good.  I got two bags of parsnips (I'm going to blanch and freeze them for roasting), one bag of carrots and one swede.  That plus this weekend's Oddbox will make sure I eat plenty of veg over the coming two or three weeks, won't it?

No fruit in the morning, I wasn't hungry.

I used my usual pancake/waffle recipe with peanut butter powder and mashed banana (I don't swip mashed fruit).  The strawberries were really rather nice, sweet and juicy.

Half a fibre and one and a half swips for the peanut butter powder plus a bit of a healthy oil choice.

The SW Kitchen box arrived mid afternoon and I made my decisions regarding what to have for dinner . . .

. . . and that was Singapore-style mushroom noodles.
Dead easy to cook and really satisfying.  Tasty too although I think it would be nicer with more colourful veg - carrot and red pepper, for example.

The ingredients provided were all free or speed foods but I used one tbsp garlic infused olive oil to stir fry.

However - as expected, portions were huge and I have two more portions, one for tomorrow and one for the freezer.  I can add more colourful veg to tomorrow's meal, can't I?

Summary - which is going to look a bit on the meagre side but, believe me, I have been very satisfied today.

Health extras:  half a fibre and half a fats/oils (a few sprays of avocado oil in the pan for the pancakes and a third of the tbsp oil for stir frying)

One and a half swips.  

I might have some cheese a bit later on but, right now, I am super satisfied.

Lunch:  I have a friend round and I'm going to do another SW kitchen meal, Moroccan chicken with roast veg couscous.  Again, I will use my fats/oils choice.

D:  Singapore style mushroom noodles with added stir fry veg - I will swip the oil used.

And fruit.

Tuesday, 31-03-26

Good evening, everyone.

I had an apple late morning.

This was lunch - a beany pasta bake using leftovers, a simple mixed salad and some Ainsley Harriott Mediterranean inspired couscous, bulgur wheat and green lentils.  It was so good and, looking at the ingredients, not terribly ultra processed.

I'm typing this just after I finished it and, boy, do I feel full!!!

One calcium for cheese, half a swip for some salad dressing and one swip for the couscous.

Salmon traybake with the rest of the Med couscous from lunchtime.  The veggies weren't burnt, that just the colour mushrooms go.

One oils choice and one swip.

Summary:

Healthy extras - one cheese and one oils.  I might have a bit more cheese later on.

Two swips.

Br: banana and peanut butter waffles or pancakes with fruit and yogurt

D:  not sure yet but the SW Kitchen delivery comes tomorrow and it will be one of those so it will work with The Plan.

And fruit.

Monday, 30-03-26

Good evening, everyone.

Does anyone watch the YouTube channel, Cooking with Carter?  
As an ex teacher of little ones, sometimes I laugh until I cry . . . he is adorable, just the right side of twee and he has a pretty good singing voice for his age.
He does mostly shorts and here's the link.  If you fancy a chuckle in a very nice way, take a look.

This was lovely.
The veg was roasted sweet potato, tomato, onion, mushroom and pepper.

One fibre and four and a half swips (for oil)

Afters was an orange.

Dinner was half a large jacket potato with cheese, a beany tomatoes mix, leftover broccoli and cauliflower and, maybe a bit unnecessarily, some coleslaw.

I had some fresh pineapple for afters - pineapples are rather delicious at the moment.

Two calciums for grated cheddar and two swips for salad cream.

Summary:

Healthy extras:  two calciums and one fibre

Six and a half swips.

Brunch:  pasta bake and salad - I have a bit of the bean and tomato mix left from today to use up

D:  salmon traybake

And fruit

Sunday, 29-03-26

Evening, everyone.  

I did have my calcium choice later in the evening yesterday,  I love nibbling on a bit of cheese.

Through the morning I had an apple, an orange and a few grapes.

Lunch was home made wholegrain toast, mashed avocado and poached eggs.  Simple and very delicious.

I had a few more grapes and a banana for afters - and forgot to save the skin, darn it!

One fibre and part of a healthy fats for the avocado.  

Dinner was a big old plateful of roast chicken, roasted potato, parsnip, carrot and onion and steamed sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower, with gravy and some chutney.

It was so satisfying!

One healthy fats for evoo that I roasted the veg in and one and a half swips for the chutney.  The gravy was free as it was chicken stock thickened with the Oxo gravy thickener thingy which is a free food on SW.

Summary:

Healthy extras:  one fibre and nearly two fats.  No calcium but there you go!  I'll make sure I have some tomorrow.
One and a half swips.

Brunch:  bacon and egg roll with tomatoes and mushrooms

D:  jacket potato with tomato bean filling, topped with cheese, salad

Fruit as and when

No exercise class so I will do something on YouTube

Saturday, 28-03-26

Good evening, all.
If you read my previous blog, you will know that I have occasionally used meal subscription services, just to try them out.  These have included Bodychef (a very long time ago and very good), Hello Fresh (good but costly), the one that you have to provide most of the ingredients and you get the sauces, etc - I forget its name (much later edit:  Simply Cook) - and Slimming World Kitchen.

They were all good in their way and I've been thinking of treating myself to a one off box.
I went back to the Bodychef site and it's expanded considerably.  I'm glad about that, it really was very good, and I've put it down as a possible for another time but for now I've ordered a SW Kitchen box.  They come in two, three or four portion sizes so I for the two portion, five meals box.  The nice thing is that you choose your meals from a possible fifteen, the instructions come in a booklet that has all the recipes so you can make some of the others and provide your own ingredients (halving to make enough for one).  And now you can have a one off box, it doesn't have to be part of a subscription.  

So I have ordered enough for at least ten main meals (I 🩷 my freezer): portions are generous so I can see some lunches as well as the main meals.  They start on Thursday which is the day I have Diane round for lunch.  Now Diane is also a Slimming World lady so using one of the meals will be just perfect.

Frugal?  Well, no, but let's call it an Easter treat!

This was lovely although I forgot I had planned to use banana so I could try making 'facon'  (fake bacon) with the skin.  Maybe I'll have one as a snack later on.

 Half a fibre choice and one and a half swips for a level tbsp peanut butter powder.

The Thai green chicken curry was a bit swippy.
Four swips for coconut milk, one and a half for the curry paste and three and a half for the buckwheat noodles - a total of nine.  The oil, plus the bit of oil I sprayed on the waffle maker, was my healthy oil.

It was well worth the swips - it was absolutely delicious!

Summary:
Healthy extras:  half a fibre, one oil and no calcium.  Not brilliant and I might cut myself 30g of cheese to nibble.

Ten and a half swips - that's OK.

Brunch:  not totally sure but I might go for something toasty, eggy and avocado-ey with roasted veg or salad

D:  chicken roast dinner - I would like to use up the cooked roast chicken in the freezer before I roast another one.

And fruit

Friday, 27-0

Good evening, all.
I was utterly shocked to get on those scales at SW today and find that instead of the big gain I fully expected, I had lost half a pound.  I have no idea how but I'll take it with gratitude.

And so we go on . . .

After I got home from Slimming World, I had an apple with a coffee.
Alex wanted a cheese and chutney toastie so that's what we had.

One each of fibre and calcium plus one and a half swips for some chutney.

Afters was an apple and an orange.

I felt very hungry later on so I went for some baked beans with a bit of bbq sauce.  One swip for the sauce but no photo!  :-)

This went down a real treat!  I was so full, I didn't want anything else.

One oil choice and that was that.  

Summary:
One each of my healthy extras.

Two and a half swips.  Nice.

Brunch:  sweet peanut butter waffles with fruit and yogurt

Dinner:  Thai green chicken curry with rice .  I have just a bit of paste left in the jar to use up.  

And fruit!

Thursday, 26-03-26

Good evening again.  Have you had a good day?

I had a friend rounds for lunch and made a soup with cheesy toast.  No photo - we were far too busy chatting!!

Dinner was a couple of leftovers that I had frozen.  On the right is a turkey spaghetti thingy and on the left is a bean lasagne.  No idea of swips but it will all be within swip limits.

L:  Alex is over so I will need to ask what he would like.  It'll probably be something like a toastie or beans or similar.

D:  I think I am going trad. with steak, chips and salad!

And fruit!