Friday, 27-02-26

Good evening everyone.

Well I got on those scales and - a one pound gain.  WHATTTTT????
Then I realised I hadn't taken off the fairly heavy knitted jacket I was wearing.
Heidi weighed me again and it was half a pound off - not great but loads better that a pound gain.
And now I know that particular item of clothing weighs one and a half pounds-ish!
< sigh >

Fruit for breakfast.  Swip free and all speed

Beans on marmite toast.  

One fibre choice

28-02-26

Sorry this is late.  I was so, so tired by the evening, I had a really early night and no photos.

Today I am on a coach trip.  I've packed some apples, etc, and I have checked that there's a Pret (next to an M&S) so I have places to go for lunch.  Evening will be something quick and easy - egg on toast or similar.

Back properly tomorrow (Sunday evening)

Thursday, 26-02-26

Hi, everyone.

Weigh in tomorrow.  I have no idea!

A two egg omelette filled with spray fried (not air roasted - the roasting tray was in  the dishwasher!) with onion, pepper, tomatoes and mushrooms and one swips worth of a Nando's peri peri sauce.

Also part of a healthy oils for avocado oil.

I was out for lunch and my lovely friend, Val, did salmon with salad and potato salad.
The potato salad dressing was made from yogurt but I am calling it one swip to be safe.

I also had some Fentiman's ginger beer for two and a half swips.

Later in the afternoon, I had a banana and an orange.

For dinner, I bashed out half a chicken breast fillet and had it in a roll with cheese and a spelt salad, beetroot and coleslaw on the side.

The spelt salad was half a pouch of spelt (grains), chopped salad veg, some olives and a dressing made with a level tbsp peanut butter powder, some balsamic vinegar and some water to slacken it.  It was delicious.

So . . .

One fibre for the roll and one calcium for the cheese.
Half a fats for olives and the last little bit of  my fats on a few sprays on the chicken before griddling it. Half a swip for spelt (from a pouch), one swip for salad cream in the coleslaw and one swip for the PBP.

Now to add it all up:

Summary:

Healthy extras:  one of each.

Seven swips - I think.  If I've got it a bit wrong, it's still well inside the swip range.

B:  fruit, yogurt and chia seeds

L:  no idea because I don't know if Alex is coming here or not yet.

D:  fish (salmon) and chips.

Wednesday, 25-02-26

Evening, everyone.  I hope all your meals have been happy ones today!

 The waffles look scorched but they weren't, not at all.  

Three swips for flour and half a swip for a very little spray oil.

One fibre and four swips for the sausage

Later on I had an apple and an orange.

Tis was made using some pasta I made using gluten free buckwheat.  It was OK pasta but just too solid in texture (unsurprisingly, given the lack of gluten.

I have another recipe to try and when (or if) I get a good outcome, I will share the recipe.

Two calcium choices and I nibbled a bit more for three swips plus two swips for some salad cream.

Afters was some grapes.

Summary:
Healthy extras:  two calcium choices and one fibre
Twelve and a half swips.

B:  thin omelette wrap filled with roasted veg

L:  at my friend's home for lunch - she always does healthy meals for me, bless her.

D:  Not sure - it depends on what Val makes for me

And fruit

Tuesday, 24-02-26

Good evening, everyone.

A cooked breakfast.  That's a blob of brown sauce in the beans.

Half a swip for the brown sauce and a bit of my healthy fats in the pan.

Leek and potato soup from the freezer to which I added some milk for one swip.

The bread is my fibre choice for the day.

Afters was an apple and an orange.

And dinner was chilli loaded chips with a side salad.  I also had some yogurt for cooling!

One calcium healthy extra for the cheese and I used the rest of my healthy oils on some avo oil for the chips and a bit of olive oil and a dressing (with line juice) on the salad.

And two swips for an extra nibble of cheese - it just fell off the block, I swear it did!  :-)

Afters was a lovely, sweet juicy pear.

Summary:

Healthy extras:  one of each

Three and a half swips - to 100% on plan, it ought to be between five and fifteen swips but I'm full up so it will have to stay as it is.

B:  pancakes or waffles with fruit and yogurt

L:  beans on toast

D:  veggie lasagne, coleslaw

and fruit

Exercise:  personal training

Monday, 23-02-26

Hi, everyone.  Have you had a good day?  It was a cooking sort of day here.  I ended up freezing two portions of gravy, one portion of four raviolis and two portions of linguini from the pasta dough I didn't need for the ravioli

I had an apple before circuits and another when I got home afterwards - they're quite small,

I haven't had avocado for a while so I really did enjoy this breakfast.

One fibre choice (I always weigh my bread because, being home made,  the slices are not consistent) and one healthy fats for the smashed avocado.

I don't normally have two 'proper cooked' meals in one day but - well, why not as long as it works with SW guidelines?

For lunch, I made some more gravy (two portions for the freezer and one for the hotpot). I used some base mix and some chunks of sweet potato with the rest of the roast beef and some of the gravy, topped it all with slices of cooked potato, brushed over a bit of oil and finished it off in the air fryer.

Really tasty!

(base mix is chopped onion, carrot and celery, frozen - I get it in Morrisons and it is so, so useful)

Two swips for a bit of oil.

Late afternoon I had an orange and an easy peeler.

Ravioli and veg.  Really tasty and very filling.
I'm not going into details about the swips.  I used all sorts of bits and bobs from fridge and freezer which would be too complicated to describe.
Sorry.

One calcium healthy extra and three swips.

That was it for the day.

Summary:

Healthy extras:  one of each

five swips

B:  bacon, beans, egg and tomato

L:  soup (from the freezer) and bread for dunking

D:  vegetarian chilli loaded fries

Exercise is Groove class and the walk there and back, hopefully.  

Sunday, 22-02-26 and a recipe idea

Good evening, everyone.

I enjoyed this very much.   The nice thing about keeping some bags of fruit in the freezer is that you can have a proper fruit salad - this one had mango, pineapple, blueberries, plums, blackberries and some fresh chopped apple.  
SW free.

Lunch.  The toastie had chicken, cheese (one calcium) and chutney (one and a half swips).  The bread was one fibre and I sprayed over a swips worth of oil before toasting.

During the afternoon, I had an orange and an apple

I so enjoyed this.

I slow cooked the beef (a tiny piece, the end of a bigger joint that I had cut into chinks - this was the pointy end) in water, beef stock cube a carrot and an onion.

The 'Yorkshires' were a dismal failure, flat as a pancake.  I used rye and spelt (I have no idea why because I knew I was swipping them so could have used white) and cooked them in an air fryer.

Six and a half swips and part of a healthy fats - what a waste!

However, the gravy was delicious and I will post what I did below.  It was swip free.

One swip for horseradish sauce.

Summary:

Healthy extras:  one fibre, one calcium and most of a fats

Nine swips

B:  avocado and egg on sourdough, tomatoes

L:  a small beef hotpot and veg

D:  hm ravioli using bits and bons from the freezer as filling

Exercise:  circuits class.

Ok, the gravy.

From the liquid in the slow cooker (made with water, beef stock cube, carrot, onion and the beef itself),  I removed the beef and set aside.  I removed the veg using a slotted spoon and put them in my mini blender.  I added some of the liquid and a bit of marmite for its savoury vibe and blended it as smooth as it would go.

I poured it into a small pan, heated to boiling and added one spoonful of Oxo stock powder (which thickens), garden vegetable flavour.

I was so surprised - it tasted really, really nice and it's swip free.

I have some more of the stock and I'm going to add more onion and carrot, cook until soft and make some more gravy for the freezer.  I'm not a great gravy fan but this was lovely!

I got the idea from this vlog.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDQKrwC93dg

Jane is very down to earth, calls a spade a spade and I am sure she has offended people from time to time.  However, I appreciate her straight talking, no nonsense approach and even when I disagree, I can usually see her point of view.  She is very much a Slimming World lady.

Saturday, 21-02-26

Evening, everyone!  Hoping all is well with you.  
Hmm - not sure about the new banners - I need to use lighter backgrounds, I think.  

This was a proper weekend breakfast.
Bacon, one sausage (four swips), tomato, mushrooms, egg and I decided I would make myself savoury waffles.  I seasoned them with some light miso paste, salt and pepper.  Half a fibre choice, a bit of a healthy oils for avocado spray and half a swip for a bit of Crucials brown sauce.  Plus the sausage, of course.

Just a close up of how the waffles come out - not that 'substantial' and you don't get that butter flavour, obviously, but lovely, light and fluffy.

I also had an apple.

I'm annoyed with myself - I totally forgot to take photos of lunch.  It was a choppy salad with lettuce, tomatoes, carrot, pepper, cucumber, beetroot, capers, potato salad, croutons, seeds and a hard boiled egg.
Half a fibre for the croutons, one swip for salad cream and a bit more of  my healthy fats sprayed over the bread cubes before air frying them and for the mixed seeds.

I had an orange and an easy peeler late afternoon.

Dinner was a mix of fresh and freezer.  Onions, pepper and mushrooms were fresh and the rest was from the freezer - tagliatelle, sauce, chicken, peas and corn.  Plus seasonings and cheese, of course.

I had the rest of my healthy oils choice and my calcium was half grated cheddar that I stirred into the sauce and half was shards of hard Italian cheese.

It was really tasty, packed with speed and good and filling.

And that was today's foods.

Summary:

Healthy extras - one of each

Five and a half swips.

B:  avo on toast, scrambled egg and tomatoes   Edit:  fruit and yogurt

L:  cheese and chutney toastie with salad

D:  roast beef dinner

And fruit

Friday, 20-02-26

Evening, everyone.
It was not Good News at group this morning.  One and a half on.  However, it would have been a lot more last week so I'm calling it a win - sort of!

Drawing that line and moving on.

Not the best photo in the world but a very delicious and filling portion of overnight oats with chia seed jam and yogurt.

One healthy fibre choice and a bit of a healthy fats for the chia seeds.

I dug a bacon and butterbean soup out of the freezer and, to make it more substantial, added a pot of chicken bits in stock (also from the freezer) and a cooked sausage.

I thought Alex was coming over and cooked sausages in preparation but he wasn't able to come.  I sliced one for the soup, nibbled one and the other two are back in the freezer.

Eight swips for two sausages and another bit of my healthy fats for the mixed seeds.  I had decided not to call these and the chia seeds a healthy fats because I wanted to use that for dinner.  But then I remembered that I hadn't planned any calcium today so I could have two healthy fats.  Yay.

And here we are at dinner time.  I saw someone making this on their vlog, copied what they put in the description box and made it pretty much as they said.
I have now found the original Hello Fresh recipe which has a few more things in it but not to worry, it was super tasty anyway.

https://www.hellofresh.co.uk/recipes/sweet-and-sticky-chicken-on-rice-63c6ae684494e24a69b3c170

As you can see, I had it with some mini skin-on roasties and a choppy salad.

It was lovely!

One healthy oils for toasted sesame oil and, of the other ingredients I used, one swip for cornflour, two and a half swips for ketjap manis, one and a half swips for ketchup and half a swip for a bit of sugar.

Summary:

Healthy extras - one fibre and two fats

Thirteen and a half swips.  A bit higher than usual because of the sausages but I don't regret them one bit and I am still within the swips banding.

B:  baked oats with fruit and yogurt

L:  egg and potato salad

D:  chicken, tomato and roasted red pepper pasta

And fruit

Thursday, 19-02-26 and a review

Evening, everyone!

Breakfast:  hm waffles with strawberry and raspberry chia seed 'jam' and yogurt.

Almost one fibre choice, a bit of a fats choice for the chia seeds for chia seeds and one swip for a bit of milk.

After shopping, I had an orange.  

Lunch:  a delicious leek and potato soup.  Easy too.  In Thermione I put some base mix from the freezer, one leek chopped, some water and some chicken stock powder.
In the simmering basket I put two medium peeled and chopped Maris Piper potatoes.  

I always make it like this because otherwise the thermo-blades cause the potatoes to go all gloopy and over-starchy.
When it's all cooked, I removed the basket with the potatoes, added some garlic granules and pepper (no salt because the stock is salty) and blended the vegetables and stock until smooth.  I mashed the potatoes in my ricer and then mixed the two together.

Today it made three portions so two are now in the freezer.  And all swip free.

(And talking of freezers, I now have a clean, defrosted, sorted out freezer with contents listed.  Yay)

Afters was an apple.

It looks a big old dinner but it was mostly vegetables in various forms.   There's half a chicken breast under the tomatoey veg sauce.

So - one calcium choice, one and a half swips for some Crucials bbq sauce mixed with the tomato, two swips for some salad cream and that is about it.  
No room left for afters and I do have some of the sauce left which, I think, I will freeze to have with pasta at some point.

Summary:

Healthy extras:  One calcium, almost one fibre and a bit of a healthy fats

Four and a half swips, I think.  

B:  overnight oats with the reast of the chia jam and yogurt

L:  not sure.  Alex is over.

D:  sticky chicken, salad, maybe some rice or some noodles

And fruit.

After reading Rachel's comment yesterday, I realised I didn't review the SW tomato and mozzarella ravioli so here we go.

It's part of the new range from Slimming World that includes a healthy extra, found at Iceland/Home Warehouse and, I gather, The Range has started selling some SW meals (don't quote me on that though, I'm not 100% sure).
This particular meal has one calcium healthy extra and is swip free.

It's very easy to cook from frozen.  Just tip the lot into boiling salted water, they separate as they cook and it doesn't take long.

However, it doesn't come with a sauce so you need to be ready with something to add after they're drained.  I happened to have some tomato-ish sauce in the freezer so used that, but I reckon just some good quality chopped tomatoes with some seasonings would be fine.  I also spent four swips on some grated cheese and melted it on top in my air fryer.

The pasta was fine - just white pasta.  I would love it to be made with wholemeal something or other - rye, spelt, etc but it isn't.  The filling is slightly under seasoned to my taste but perfectly acceptable.  Perhaps there could be a little more filling in each one but it didn't skimp.

Sadly, the packaging didn't include the recipe.  I must look around because I could then make it with my own pasta sheets.   

As with all SW meals, it wasn't cheap and, unlike some, it really couldn't stretch to two portions unless you made a nice, chunky veg and tomato sauce to go with it - I might do that next time!

In summary - one of the better ones, I think, and one I may very well get again, but I am going to look for a recipe!  

Wednesday, 18-02-26

 Evening, everyone.  After a very dodgy few days at the end of last week, everything seems to have settled again, thank goodness.  

A cooked breakfast using up the rest of the spicy beans.

One swip for sauce in the beans and part of a healthy oils choice for cooking the mushrooms.

Two throw it all in together and blend it down veg burgers (mushrooms, chickpeas, last of the rice and grains, onion, carrot, seasonings and sourdough starter and rye flour.

They were nice.

Two thirds of a fibre choice in the burgers, one swip for brown sauce, one swip for salad cream in the coleslaw and another bit of my healthy oils to air fry the potato.

Afters was an apple.

I went for the SW tomato and mozzarella ravioli (one calcium choice) with some tomato sauce from the freezer topped with cheese (four swips) and - green at last - broccoli and runner beans, both from the freezer!

Afters was an orange.

Summary:

Healthy extras: one calcium, most of a fibre and most of a fats

seven swips

B: waffles, fruit and yogurt.  Yes, more waffles - they are delicious and filling and give me that sweet hit!

L:  leek and potato soup

D:  hunter's chicken, side salad, coleslaw

And fruit