Friday: 02-01-26 - longer post alert!

Hi, everyone.  

It was SW group this morning and weigh in was pretty scary but I'm glad I did it and am now on the downward path again  I'm not giving you numbers, it wasn't great but it was a fair bit better than I feared..  
I know what to do though, that's the important thing.

I've also got the new book.  There's a lot to read, learn and inwardly digest in it, that's for sure.  That's my bedtime reading for a few days!  There was also a magazine that I missed while unwell . . . 

AND . . .

I won the raffle today which was a tenner to spend in the SW shop or on SW things at Iceland.   That was a good one, wasn't it?  I will be popping down there at some point next week and I gather there's some new ready meals out.

Eileen, the roasted red pepper and sweet potato soup was an adapted BBC Good Food recipe.  What made it swippy was light coconut milk and I can't remember what spices I used apart from the paprika but I don't think I added the maple syrup and I certainly didn't add sriracha.

I've started the recipe links page again and added this link in there.

Looking forward . . .

I don't do resolutions but I have some strategies to bring into play.  Nothing new, just things that work for me.

1.  plan, make list, shop

For me, planning is key and I stopped doing that when the virus hit.  I like to keep the next planning sheet out so that when inspiration hits, I can write it down there and then.  I also have a list of my freezer contents so I know what I have got.  It doesn't have to be expensive.  Once I've planned, I know what I need to get to be 100% ready

2.  prepare

The day goes better when I get what I need for the day out and ready, semi-prepped as much as possible.  If it's half ready, I will stick to it.

3.  make what I like.
It can be the healthiest, most SW friendly meal in the whole world but if it contains spinach - no thank you!!

My fingers are crossed for the week ahead.  

What I ate today:

It was quite late by the time I got home from Group so I made do with an apple.

Poor old Alex is unwell (the same as I had?) so didn't come.  However, I still made the planned mini pasty which is just the same as the Pinch of Nom recipe and elsewhere too.  It was nice, warming and filling and you can ring the changes with the fillings.  I think tomatoes bubbled until thick with chicken and cheese would be lovely - or cooked pork and apple slices with cheese (I love cheese and apple).

So definitely an adaptable one.  It's from a book so I can't really post the exact recipe but I found a YouTube video which seems exactly what I did.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Fs-2sQ4Vx7E

I had hm coleslaw and tomatoes with it and felt very virtuous!  😇

One fibre healthy extra (wrap), one calcium healthy extra (30g cheese),  one swip for salad cream and four swips for sausage plus another four for a second sausage - I had defrosted three sausages so cooked them all.  I'm keeping one for breakfast tomorrow.

Dinner was a tasty version of fish (salmon) and chips with the rest of the coleslaw and some air fried tomatoes.  I've already counted the salad cream and I used some of my fats/oils healthy extra sprayed on the chips.

I enjoyed some grapes for afters.

So it was around half a healthy fats.

Summary:
healthy extras - one calcium, one fibre and half fats

nine swips

Tomorrow's plans:

B:  cooked breakfast:  beans and sausage (both leftovers), egg, tomatoes and mushrooms

L:  Spanish tortilla, the last of the baked beans

D:  chicken pasta bake or arrabbiata

And fruit

Exercise is an online groove class.

I've started some pages - the tabs are at the top and I will add to them as and when.