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!

Wednesday, 25-03-26

 Good evening, everyone.

This was the banana skin curry.  I was surprised how nice it was although without any distinct flavour apart from the curry spices.  It would be nice with some chicken flavour - maybe it needed a bit of stock rather than just water.

Anyway - it was worth doing.

No evening photo.  I was late after a meeting that went on much longer than usual so I scoffed and went to bed.

L:  I have a friend round and today I made a pot of soup which we will have with cheety toast and fruit afterwards.

D:  beany pasta bake using things from the freezer.

No classes today.

Tuesday, 24-03-26

I wrote most of this yesterday (Tuesday) but didn't post it so, please, let's just pretend it's still Tuesday evening rather than Wednesday morning.  Thanks.

I have a recommendation for you this evening.  It's a YouTube channel from Karl, aka Wear Wolf.  He's a lorry driver who is also very interested in food, frugality, growing veg on his allotment, etc, and he has just posted about a week on a Pound a Day meals.  It's really interesting and I always get ideas from his videos.  Do pop over and take a look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzx2d9B0jiY

I had a banana before Groove and an apple afterwards.

This was lunch - I used the rest of the grains with some tomato, pepper, cucumber and low fat dressing with coleslaw and lettuce.  I lightly toasted the sourdough bread, spread some marmite on and added sliced ham and grated cheese before popping back under the grill for a short time.
So - one calcium, one fibre and two swips.

I am so cross with myself - I didn't photo dinner.
I used Thai green curry paste, coconut milk, chick peas, onions, the last of the roasted butternut squash, some red pepper, some peas and some sweetcorn to make a really nice leftovers curry.  I heated a pouch of wholegrain rice and had half with it.
It was lovely and I'll be doing something similar again

The paste was one and a half swips, the coconut milk was four swips and the rice was one and a half swips.

I'm having to turn things upside down as I will be out in the evening.

Lunch:  banana skin curry.  I know, very random but I was inspired by Weary Wolf, looked for a recipe and found this on the wonderful Happy Foodie site.  It's a Nadia Hussein recipe from her Cook Once, Eat Twice book.

https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/nadiya-hussains-banana-peel-curry/

I have pretty much everything available but will add chickpeas for protein and will cut it down to using one banana skin and the banana too.  I've made banana curry ages ago and it's actually delish.

Supper:  probably cheesy beans on toast - something quick and easy.

Today's exercise is Personal Training.

Monday, 23-03-26

Evening, everyone.

.  

I had an apple before circuits class and two small oranges afterwards.

This was brunch and I have to say adding some mashed spice roasted butternut squash to the batter was really delicious.

A close up of the results.

Two swips for oil, half a fibre and one swip for some sauce.

More fruit through the afternoon.

Change of plan.  I used leftovers - soup and veg from the weekend - plus fresh veg, roasted, all mixed together.

I warmed up some Mediterranean style grating in a pouch and topped the lot with some cheese.

Two swips for the grains, one calcium for the cheese and one healthy fat choice for roasting.

I had some sultanas in the evening for eight swips.

Summary:

Healthy extras - one calcium, half a fibre and one fats

Thirteen swips.

Brunch:  toastie with salad bowl

D:  chick pea and squash curry

Exercise is Groove class

Sunday, 22-03-26

 Good evening, everyone.  It's nice to be proper back on Slimming World today

Avo toast, scrambled egg and bits of salad I had in the fridge to use up.
One healthy fats for the avocado and one fibre for the toast plus half a swip for some salad dressing and half a swip for salad cream in the coleslaw.

I had a nice selection of fruit through the day.

Dinner was chicken, veg and sweet and spicy roasted butternut squash and onion.

Half a healthy fats.

Because I hadn't had a calcium choice, I decided to have some frozen yogurt with cherry.  I don't swip blended fruit but that's just me.   :-)

Summary:

Healthy extras - one and a half fats and one fibre

One swip - hmm - quite low.  Maybe I will have some cheese in a while.

Brunch:  butternut squash waffles with something or other on top!

D:  mixed bean pasta bake with side salad

Exercise:  circuits

Saturday, 21-03-26

Evening, everyone.  It's nice to get back to almost normal after a very muddled week of eating.

For breakfast, I had a selection of fruit.

When I got home from the walk, I was so hungry that I knew yogurt wasn't going to do it for mde.

So I used up half a can of chopped tomatoes I had in the fridge with vegetable base mix, roasted red pepper from a jar, lentils, chicken stock and garlic, cooked it all together and blended it into a very thick and very filling soup that was SW free and had plenty of speed vegetables

All leftovers for dinner.  The last of the lasagne, a bit of hummus with carrot dippers, coleslaw and two titchy garlic bread balls.

No idea about swips but I am estimating top of everything so all my healthy extras plus fifteen swips - I think that's fair really.

Back to SW values tomorrow.

Brunch:  egg on avo toast with tomatoes and mushrooms

Dinner:  roast chicken (from the freezer) with roasted and steamed vegetables - lots of steamed veg.  Oh, and a portion of that swip free gravy

Exercise:  a walking video

Friday, 20-03-26

(Posted Saturday morning)

Sorry about last night - by the time my family had left and I had done a bit of clearing up, it was nearly midnight and I had no energy.

I didn't have a meal earlier but I did pick at what I was prepping - one has to taste it, after all!

The lighting is terrible in this part of the living room.

Table set

Different area, different lighting.

Starter was mixed olives from M&S, hm hummus, hm crispbread and carrot batons.

A very little left for today butno crispbread - but I can make some more.
All I did was get some mini slices from the freezer, thaw, lightly toast them, split into thinner slices and then dry them out in the air fryer on the prove setting.

Heavily paintshopped for terrible lighting!
Anna's just diving into the lasagne and there's also coleslaw, salad and some garlic mini rolls.

It was all really nice and there's just enough leftovers for today.

Today's plans are:

Br:  fruit eaten halfway round a walk, maybe some yogurt when I get home again

D:  leftovers of lasagne, etc.

Exercise:  a walk with my SW friends

Thursday, 19-03-26

 Good evening, everyone.  Back again.

Waffles with beans fotr brunch.  I added a bit of marmite to the waffle batter and it was lovely.

A ready meal for dinner because it needed using.  No idea of the swips, sorry.

Brunch:  probably fruit and yogurt

Dinner:  I have Dave and Anna round and I'm making lasagne with garlic bread and salad.  Should be lovely.  

And fruit.

Sunday, 15-03-26

Evening!

Talking about yesterday first (coach trip to Stratford-upon-Avon.
I took an apple, two easy peelers and some pineapple on the coach and it was very refreshing.
My friends and I had coffee and a lovely quarter of their speciality, a warm lardy cake.  So good and a tiny bit was enough.
For lunch, I had a cream cheese and smoked salmon seeded bagel and a small bag of crisps.

And then, when I got home, I had some potato topped steak pie (which just needed reheating) with a dollop of brown sauce.

I was too tired to cook any vegetables!
The steak pie was four swips but I have no idea of lunch.  It might have taken me a bit over but never mind, the calories will be more or less OK, it just wasn't all SW counted.

I decided to make today a three meal day but make the middle meal very light.

So breakfast was peanut butter waffles with fruit and yogurt.

Half a fibre choice and one and a half swip for peanut butter powder.

Very delicious and very filling.

I made mushroom soup for lunch, using the SW recipe as a starter.  Packed with speed food (onion, mushroom, cauliflower - yes, really) plus seasonings and stock.  It was tasty but very low on protein.  I'm going to make it again but add some butterbeans instead of most of the cauliflower.

It was swip free.

For after, I had some grapes.

This is dinner.  hm lasagne with a very simple salad.

One calcium choice plus three swips plus one swip for salad cream.

And I also had a small bar of 80% chocolate for seven and a half swips - worth it!

Summary:

One calcium and one fibre.  No healthy oils today

Thirteen swips.

I'm going away for a few days so I will have something cooked for a brunch and then just have fruit until the evening meal - I have no idea what I'm having but it's a sort of Mother's Day thing so I will just be sensible.

As I'm away, this will be the last one until Thursday.  See you then.