Sunday, 31-05-26

 Good evening, all.

Every fortnight I get an Oddbox delivered and, apart from a few mistakes, I have been extremely pleased with the contents.  Last night's delivery was no exception and I now have some beautiful produce to use up.
I've started by making a pot of ratatouille plus.  It's plus because I have added other good things too - lentils, mushrooms, other veg.  Perhaps I should call is Mediterranean vegetable stew although I think 'stew' is such a boring name for such an explosion of flavours.

Breakfast was an apple, an orange and a nectarine.  All speed fruits and all lovely and juice.

I started lunch with a colourful salad and I added balsamic vinegar to it after taking the photo.

I made some lentil crackers in the morning and they were delicious with the ratatouille to which I added lentils and mushrooms.  I had one portion and there are five others in the freezer now.

Afters was a couple of easy peelers.

The lentil crackers were one healthy oil choice and the ratatouille was two oil swips and half a swip for the lentils (from a pouch).  That creamy powder was half a tbsp nutritional yeast for half a swip.

I knocked together a salad for dinner.  The protein was a mix of chicken, lentils and feta with a dressing made of oil and balsamic.

The dressing was four swips (so, added to the ratatouille oils, that made a second healthy oil), half a swip for the lentils and one swip for salad cream while the feta was my calcium choice.

I had an apple for afters.

Summary:

one calcium and two oils
two and a half swips

B:  fruit and yogurt

L:  stuffed aubergine - a BBC Good Food recipe.  Stuffed aubergines recipe - BBC Food

D:  out and no idea - hopefully minimal

Exercise:  circuits today!  

Saturday, 30-05-26

Evening, everyone.

I had a banana before working in the community garden and when I got home I had some pineapple and two easy peelers - very refreshing.

This was lunch.  A simple, crunchy orange salad.

And waffles with tomatoes and an egg.

The waffles had smoked paprika, cumin, salt, pepper and nutritional yeast (nooch) and were delicious!

Half a fibre for the flour, half an oil for evoo to cook the tomatoes, one swip for a level tbsp nooch (I had to check that) and half an oil swip for spraying the waffle maker plates.  They are supposed to be non stick but  . . . 

While I was making lunch, I was thinking about how many tomatoes I get through at the moment and wondering how long before mine start producing - they're doing well and there's loads of flowers on first trusses.

Dinner was so delicious.  For once, I got the quiche just right in terms of cooking and the whole meal was very satisfying.

The cheese in the quiche was one calcium, salad cream in the coleslaw was one swip, the milk in the quiche was two swips and I had one oil swip to spray on the chips and to coat the quiche dish (pastry brushes are so very useful).

I may have some fruit later on but, right now, I am 100% satisfied.

Summary:

One calcium, half a fibre and, counting up the oil swips, under one.

Four swips.

B:  it is Sunday and I will treat myself to fruit and yogurt

L:  chicken fajitas, salad

D:  I quite fancy a roast chicken dinner but let's see how hot it is.  I might go for a good old buddha bowl instead and keep the roast dinner idea for the rainy day we are supposed to be getting next week.

Friday, 29-05-26

Good evening, everyone.

A very positive outcome at SW group this morning - an encouraging start to my fight-back.  :-)
And I won the raffle - some strawberries and some meringues and I handed the meringues on to someone else - sugar is definitely a trigger for me and I find it almost impossible to have just one and leave the rest.

Then I went shopping and was very happy with what I brough home - nothing in the trolley that wasn't SW friendly.

My halo is shining.  lol

When I got home from group and shopping, I had some grapes to tide me over until lunch time.

It's not that clear in the photo but it was avocado on toast with a dreadfully over-poached egg on top - and it was delicious.
With it, I had a simple mixed salad with some pumpkin seeds.

One fibre and one healthy fats plus one swip for the seeds.

I goofed with the planning - I planned in two fibres so I changed the evening meal.  Yes, I could have swipped the second fibre but, to be honest, I get loads of fibre anyway.

Later on, I had two very tiny Oddbox pears.

So for dinner I had a Caesar-ish salad,  Salad veg with seeds, avocado (left over from lunch), shredded chicken and feta and a M&S lighter Caesar dressing.

It was delicious.

Three and a half swips for the dressing, three swips for the avocado, one swip for the seeds and the feta was my calcium choice.

I had an orange to finish off the day.

Summary:
One of each of the healthy extras
Eight and a half swips

I'm helping out at our local community garden tomorrow so I will have some fruit before I go.

L:  might have savoury waffles with egg and a salad but I will see how I feel when I get there.

D:  crustless quiche, salad and chips

And fruit

Thursday, 28-05-26

Good evening, everyone!   In a comment, Melanie asked about my drinking patterns through the day - and she didn't mean alcohol!!!

On most days I start with a double pod coffee to which I add my collagen.  I don't have milk in coffee and haven't for decades; nothing to do with Slimming World, I just prefer coffee black.
Actually, I probably drink too much coffee and am making the switch over to decaf but have some of the 'bad' stuff to use up.  I don't use instant, I use my pod machine and get my pods from Wonky Coffee.  I have to finish off the last 'full fat' box and I've changed my subscription to decaf boxes now.

So, scattered through the day, I have black coffees but the rest of the time I'm rather boring with mostly plain or sparkling water and a big old ice cube, especially at the moment.  I used to drink a lot of diet fizzy drinks but in my drive to eat more unprocessed and more Mediterranean, I have more or less stopped.  Occasionally, I add some squash to the water, or maybe a sprig of mint or a slice of lemon, but I do like it plain too.

I'll have the occasional cuppa tea to which I add milk (unless it's Earl Grey; then I add lemon).  It's just a splash and I tend to call it half a swip.

I haven't added sugar to tea or coffee for all of my adult life, nothing to do with SW/slimming/etc.

The good thing about the above is that it works fine with Slimming World.  Rarely do I have anything that needs counting.

Finally, when I do drink anything alcoholic, it acts as a trigger and that's when everything else goes ooopsie downsie too!  Two recent holidays have played havoc with things and now I am clawing my way back again.

That's about it - how about you?  Please say in the comments how you make this area work with your healthy eating regime, whatever plan you follow (or not).  

The lentil crackers with dips - totally yum and nothing left.

I almost forgot about the salad .  

There was some left for dinner.

And I DID forget about the stuffed tomatoes and lemon roasted potatoes which is a shame because they looked and tasted great.  The stuffing was the Aldi Spanish style rice plus some softened chopped onion and pepper and some grated hard Italian cheese.  Really good.
I can't even begin to swip lunch - definitely one oil and probably more - but it was all good, healthy stuff, the nearest thing to up was the rice and most was made from scratch.  And Val enjoyed it.

Later on I had an apple and an orange.

Dinner was almost all leftovers - left over mixed salad, potato, rice mix and grated hard Italian cheese plus some seeds.

And after was some water melon.

The summary is difficult.
I didn't have a fibre choice, I had my oil choice plus and ditto for my calcium choice, although that wasn't so over.
And, honestly, I don't think I was over on my swips but I can't be 100% sure because although the only obvious swips was the rice (one and a half swips)  The oil and cheese will have to be counted - and, while I weighed the cheese, I didn't weigh the oil and I certainty didn't monitor how much Val had and how much I had.

So I'm not worrying.

No breakfast unless I have a bit of fruit after Group

L:  avo on toast with a poached egg; salad

D:  some sort of quesadilla with salad
(it's salad all the way at the moment!)

And fruit

Wednesday, 27-05-26

 Good evening, everyone.  

A nice, simple (aren't they always) salad for lunch.

One swip for salad cream

And, to go with it, a wrap pizza - home made wrap, hence the odd shape.

One calcium, two thirds of a fibre and half a healthy oil choice (for the wrap and the sauce)

For afters, I had three very small pears.

And this was dinner.  Fairly plain - the rest of the coleslaw I made before lunch, some salmon baked in lemon juice and some Spanish style rice from a pouch.

One swip for salad cream and half for the rice (the whole pouch is two and a half)

And I finished off with an orange.

Summary:

One calcium, two thirds of  fibre and half a healthy oils
Two and a half swips

B:  probably nothing as I have a friend around for lunch and there won't really be time

L:  chick pea and roasted red pepper dip and hummus with lentil crackers*; salad, stuffed veg (probably pepper and tomatoes) with new potatoes

D:  salad bowl

*This is the recipe for the lentil crackers - it is a Facebook video thingy.  Very SE friendly but I bet SW would say they were a 'tweak' because that's what they do!  
The important thing is that not only are they healthy, they are absolutely and totally delicious and I have found it very difficult to keep my paws off them today.

Tuesday, 26-05-26

Good evening.
It's been another very warm day here and my plans changed.

Changed plan no 1:  I didn't have anything except water through the morning - I just didn't feel very much like it really.
I had some cooked chicken that needed using up.  Also some canned tomato.  So I made almost the same thing as yesterday but with extra flavouring and, yes, it was really nice.

(and there's some left)

I really did fancy making some savoury waffles.  I used pretty much the same seasonings as in the above and they came out beautifully crunchy and tasty.
I'm a bit 'chuck it in and see, but I think I used the usual starter and buckwheat flour, a medium egg, some quark (instead of yogurt) and for seasonings, cumin, smoked paprika, garlic, salt - I think that was it.

Two oil swips for the 'stew' and oiling the waffle maker, half a healthy B in the waffles . . . and I think that's it.

Later on I had some chilled water melon and an orange.  Very refreshing and juicy!

Changed plan no 2:  All I fancied was something simple so I knocked together a simple salad, added cheese and apple and then, after the photo was taken, some salad cream.

It was perfect, just what I needed.

The cheese was two calcium choices and the salad cream was two and a half swips.

Summary:

Two calcium choices and half each of oil and fibre

Two and a half swips

(I know you're not supposed to mix different healthy extras into one but tough!!)

B: fruit and yogurt if I have it

L:  I have that tomato-ey chicken to use up so I think a wrap pizza with a bit of salad

D:  later edit - I think I will have what I planned and didn't have - salmon with salads and either chips or new potatoes

Monday, 25-05-26

Good evening, everyone.  Phew, hasn't it been hot today?  I had intended to take some bread over to Beth and to do a bit of gardening but no thankyou!  It can just wait.

A very refreshing breakfast on a hot day.  The three little berries are the first pickings from my garden so I thought they deserved a space to themselves!

One oil swip for chia seeds.

Simple mashed avocado on toast.  I didn't bother with the planned egg, it was too hot.

Half a fibre and half an oil healthy extra.

To go with the avo toast, I put together a 'pickle salad' - a few of the usual ingredients plus capers, pickled baby beets and pickled pink onion plus some olives and some low cal dressing.  It gave my taste buds what they were craving.

Half an oil and half a swip

Later on, I had an apple and a pear.

Dinner was a simple chicken, tomato and pasta dish with some grated hard Italian cheese.  The cheese was my calcium.

I made some semi-freddo fruit yogurt dessert as I wanted something sweet.

Summary:

one each of the healthy extras.

just one swip, I think.

B:  fruit

L:  waffles with fruit and yogurt

D:  salmon, maybe chips, plenty of salad

Sunday, 24-05-26

Good evening, everyone.
Well, good morning really.  Sunday was long and hot and great fun and I was shattered by the time I got home.

Please, just pretend it's Sunday evening.  😉

Breakfast was an apple and an orange before going out.

Beth (daughter) and I had a lovely day with a joint friend who has taken a cottage round here for a week's break.  She didn't mind me taking photos so here's what I had.  There was quiche, some pre prepped salads and a lovely loaf of bread.  None of it particularly SW friendly but all delicious and I enjoyed it very much indeed.

I have no idea of swips, etc.

A late meal when I got home of half a jacket potato from the freezer with cheese and a simple salad.

No summary today - I couldn't even begin to start!

B:  fruit and yogurt

L:  avocado and egg on toast with tomatoes on the side

D:  Greek chicken pasta (from Jamie Oliver's 5 Ingredients Mediterranean book.

And fruit

Saturday, 23-05-26

 Good evening, everyone!

A very refreshing breakfast - orange, kiwi, strawberries and water melon with yogurt, chia seeds and maple syrup.

One swip for the maple syrup and one and a half oil swips for the chia seeds.

A rather scruffy but very delicious chicken salad wrap.

One fibre and four oil swips for the wrap, one swip for some salad cream and one and a half swips for some Ainsley Harriot couscous (the whole pack - I finished it off for dinner)

I had a banana for afters.  

I separated elements of dinner.  First a little salad with tomatoes, beetroot, the rest of the couscous, some grated cheese and some salad cream.

One and a half swips for salad cream, one calcium for the cheese and I've already counted the couscous

And then the Singapore style mushroom noodles, simply reheated.  Swip free.

Summary:

One each of the healthy extras (including the chia seeds and the oil in the wrap)

Five swips

I am out for the day, visiting a very dear friend.  I know she will have healthy stuff but I'm not sure what.

Friday, 22-05-26

 Evening, everyone.   Thankfully, the holiday/outings/erratic meals times are over for a while.  Yes, there's the occasional eating with a friend, either at home or at a local eating place but generally I can re-establish a routine that works for me again.

I'm out on Sunday but should have some control over my food choices and I have a friend here on Thursday but, again, my choice what I provide.

Weigh in today was so bad I'm not saying what it was.  Let's just call it a wake-up call.  Please send all the motivation you can spare.
Thanks.

I had a banana for breakfast after coming home from Group

For lunch I put together a salad bowl.  On Wednesday I made a chick pea, caramelised red onion chutney and roasted red pepper dip and to it I added some balsamic vinegar.  I had chickpeas that needed using up and I had half a pouch of glorious grains so used some of them too - both were delicious with the dip as a sauce.
With the weather turning hot, salad are definitely in again.

One swip for the dip and one swip for the glorious grains.

Dinner was a chuck everything in thing.
Red onion, mushroom, pepper, leaves, potato, the rest of the glorious grains, grated hard Italian cheese and shredded chicken, seasoned with cumin, garlic, smoked paprika, chicken stock powder and salt.
One oil swip which can count as a healthy extra and, seeing as the glorious grains swips are for olive oil, I'm calling lunch and dinner swips as a healthy extra too.  The cheese was my calcium choice.

I had a pear for afters.

Summary:
One calcium and one oil

One swip

Now to battle the evening munchies!

B:  a fruit platter with yogurt and chia seeds

L:  shredded chicken salad wrap

D:  Singapore style mushroom noodles with veg or salad on the side (a frozen third portion of a SW Kitchen meal some weeks ago)

And fruit