Saturday evening, 16-05-26

Evening, everyone.

Breakfast:

A bowl of mixed fruit - pineapple, strawberries. grapes and apple

and some 0% Greek yogurt with sweetener.

Plans changed slightly. for lunch  After watching one of my favourite vlogs, Ali Lives Well on Less, where she made wraps, I had a go with quarter amounts and half and half white and dark rye flours.  I made three wraps and decided to have one for my fibre choice around the roasted veg.
The wrap was absolutely delicious and, seeing as it was a half and half, I am calling it half a fibre and three swips.  I don't think I will be buying any more commercial wraps, packed with UP ingredients.

The roasted vegetables had two swips worth of evoo - so that will be part of my healthy oils choice.

As I said, Ali is one of my favourite vloggers - she's very down to earth, straightforward and no-nonsense and I learn a lot from her.  Do go and take a look - she might become your favourite too.

Then I had a very easy salad with a hard boiled egg and some balsamic vinegar as a dressing.  Very nice indeed.

After was an orange and later on I had some grapes.

The chicken pasta arrabbiata . . . 

. . . with cooling yogurt and cheese.

Delicious.

Most of a healthy oil choice and a calcium choice.  Apart from that, it's all SW free.

Summary:
one calcium, half a fibre and two thirds of an oil
three swips

A good start but we all know it's one meal at a time.

B:  fruit and yogurt

L:  cheese salad wrap; side salad

D:  bread and evoo/balsamic vinegar; small salad; lamb and sweet potato orzo

Exercise starts properly again on Monday.

Saturday morning, 16-05-26

Morning, all.  I'm back from a lovely time at Center Parcs with family.  I did intend to post more but, to be honest, the food wasn't healthy and I didn't take many photos anyway!

I am not even looking at the scales until Friday at Slimming World but this is why I won't be happy with what they say . . . a typical evening photo.  Too much vino, too many nibbles, too much 'stuff'.
It was nice but I'm back on it, starting right now!

I have plenty of good stuff in the freezer and I have an Oddbox arriving overnight.  No excuses now.

These are yesterday's photos.
Breakfast was marmite on toast.

Lunch 1:  a simple salad of tomato, pepper, cucumber and beetroot

Lunch 2:  I sprayed two large mushrooms with evoo, added some sliced tomato and some grated cheddar and baked it in the oven.  Really simple and very tasty.

I planned to have fish and chips to finish off the holiday but couldn't be bothered to make the chips.  This is Harry Ramsden's battered cod goujons  - basically slightly posh fish fingers.

(not SW friendly!)

Today's plans:

B:  fruit and yogurt

L:  some roasted med veg and an egg salad

D:  a starter of raw veg to nibble on and then, probably, chicken penne arrabbiata.

And fruit.

As for exercise, I have plenty of housework and I want to go a bit in the garden too.

I will post again this evening to get back on track and into routine again.  

Tuesday, 11-05-26

Good morning, all.  Apologies for the silence - things were a bit hectic and now I am away again, this time for our now traditional five days at Center Parcs, Elveden - that's me, Beth and Alex.

I confess that these five days (four now) won't be very SW friendly or Mediterranean, but I'll bring you along for the ride, so to speak.  Posts will be in the morning because the internet connection in the evenings is dire.  So many people all going online at the same time, I guess.

Yesterday's food.
I polished off some chicken and some fruit as neither would last and I didn't want to either take it with me or waste it.
We had lunch straight after we accessed our lodge.  Toast with cheese and/or mushroom pate.

This was dinner, prepared by Beth.  A right royal feast, it was, and you may be relieved to know that we didn't finish it all by a long shot.

A close up of this because the 'tray' is mine - a gift from Beth.  It should have been for Mothering Sunday but it didn't arrive (Temu!!).  Nor did it arrive for Easter and I was away for my birthday.  

It has a cover that fits on securely and has handles so it can be carried.  It's very useful.

Today:

We have fruit, yogurt, muesli and bread for breakfasts this week.

Lunch will be rather like yesterday's dinner - sort of leftovers but planned!

For dinner, we are going to Huck's Diner.  That's Alex's choice as today we are celebrating his birthday (it was actually last Friday).  I'll probably have chicken fajitas but I'll choose after looking at the online menu.

As for exercise - it's swimming and plenty of walking!  Lovely!  

Saturday, 09-05-26

 Good evening, everyone.   Apologies for a few missing posts - life has been busy, meals have been all over the place and it's nice to get things back together again today.

I was out all day yesterday - fish and chips for lunch and a scratched together meal of bits and bobs when I got home.  No photos, of course.  

Lunch was most of the chicken and veg orzo made yesterday from leftovers with a mixed salad.  I could have made it look more Cretan by having them as separate items but it makes no difference really.

Two oil swips for some olives and one swip for the tomato sauce leftovers that I used.

Dinner1:  the butterbean dip with carrot slices

One swip (3/4 really but rounded up)

Dinner 2:  I was going to have salad but I had some orzo mix and some bulgur wheat and three colour quinoa so I mixed them together, added some grated hard Italian cheese and stuffed a couple of tomatoes.  Very delicious.

One oil swip and half a calcium healthy extra

Dinner 3:  at last, the imam bayildi and it was delicious.  I used about half amounts and ate a third of it so, working it all out, the other half of my calcium healthy extra for feta plus one swip and half an oil healthy extra for my portion.

I had a banana for afters.

Summary:

Healthy extras: one calcium and one oil, no fibre

Three swips

B:  fruit and/or yogurt, if needed

L:  Another portion of the imam bayildi, probably with salad.

D:  I have cooked chicken to use up so I might make a chicken curry.
Edit:  I'm going to knock together a sort of chicken souvlaki/gyros thingy with some chips on the side.  That will use us all sorts of odds and ends.

Wednesday, 06-05-26

Good evening, everyone.  This is a bit late because I've been out and about!  Good news though - no slip ups today.  Cheers!

Lunch 1:  the butterbean dip (very tasty) with a drizzle of evoo and some toasted sourdough.

I had two portions of the dip which made one and a half swips and half a tsp evoo was one oil swip.

Lunch 2:  a nice mixed salad with carrot, pepper, leaves, cucumber, tomato, olives and grapes and I also added a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

Two oil swips for the olives.

Lunch 3:  I finally finished off the gigantes plaki and had them on a bed of mushrooms.

One oil swip for the bit of leftovers, one calcium choice for some grated goat's cheese and three oil swips to cook the mushrooms.

So, altogether, lunch was one fibre, one calcium, one and a half other swips and seven oil swips (one oils healthy extra and one swip)

And I think that's it because my Harvester dinner is SW free/speed - I have checked. 

Later - yes, that's all.  Just back from the Harvester and today has been very firmly on plan.  

Three cheers!

Summary:

one each of the healthy extras

two and a half swips

L:  
smashed avocado on toast
salad
spiced griddled chicken 

(Alex is over and will be sharing this with me)

D:

butterbean dip with crudités

stuffed tomato 
imam bayildi - an aubergine dish.  I have chopped tomato to use up so that works well.

Tuesday, 05-05-26, and a recipe (and posted late)

Evening, everyone.

Confession time - yesterday evening was one almighty car crash so now I feel yucky and have to start again.

More confession - so was tonight (Tuesday night).  Once you start, it is hard to stop!

So - back on it quickly . . .

Lunch:  They did have the salad at the Angel and it was very nice but - not much substance to it so, although I felt full and brought some home, it didn't keep me going and that's where the rot started, I think.
I'll have it again but have some griddled chicken with it to make it more substantial.

And I did have a great time with my friend, M.  We talked and talked and the time just flew.  We're doing the same again next month when she knows she will be in town again.  Lovely!

I'm not talking about dinner.  It won't help, might trigger and I want to move on.  Sorry but I need to keep this real and honest.

So - moving on . . . 

L:  

butterbean dip with toast

salad

Yesterday's gigantes plaki with mushrooms

D:  out with friends.  It is the Harvester so I know what I'm having - salad for started and then griddled chicken with more salad.  I might take a little pot of fat free dressing with me!  Then coffee.
It'll be fine as it's in the evening which is my danger time at home.

Exercise is personal training.

The butterbean dip was lovely (although I only had a little taste because the evening went all upsy downsy!) and this is how I made it.  All amounts are relative and were what I had so you can play about with it.  The only things I measured was the swip items

What I used and did.

In a blender place . . .

Butterbeans (with a bit of aquafaba, if possible) - I used what was left after making the gigantes plaki, and treated myself to a jar rather than using a can.  More costly but you get a lot more and they are lovely

Roasted red pepper from a jar - I just had a bit left but you can use whatever you have
Bit of chopped red onion
A squidge of garlic puree

Blend well

One level tbsp peanut butter powder (one and a half swips)

Blend again and taste.

A squeeze of lemon juice

A bit of salt and pepper

Blend and taste

Good pinch sweet smoked paprika

One and a half tsps evoo (three swips)

Blend and taste.
I left it at that but you could add whatever your taste buds tell you to add.

This made six portions - not huge but I didn't want huge - for four and a half swips so 3/4 per portion - so you could add a tiny drizzle of evoo over it when serving!  It's not really worth counting it as a healthy extra unless you want to work it out.  I am trying to keep it simple!

Monday, 04-05-26

Good evening, everyone.  I hope everyone has had a good bank holiday and eaten deliciously healthy food.

After yesterday's difficulties working out my swips, I need to record it a bit differently, I think.
Maybe counting the oils/fats I have as just swips and converting six of them into a healthy extra when I do the summary might help - I am finding it very confusing at the moment.
Worth a try anyway.

And just to say that, although this is essentially a food diary for me, acting as a longer term record, I go into more details because some of you have told me that you find it helpful (which is lovely) so that's why, at the moment, I'm going into more details as eating patterns evolve.

For some reason, I wanted to eat this morning.  Noy hungry, just wanted to eat.  I had an apple and two easy peelers and managed to resist any other food noise.  Phew.
Edit:  actually, thinking about it, the house did smell of good bread.  Two sourdough loaves for Lindsey and some white - see below for why the white)

Lunch 1:

I have perfectly good and SW compliant whole grain bread on the freezer but I really wanted some white so, as simple white bread is easy peasy, I knocked up a small loaf, weighed it, worked out the swips . . . and the rest is now sliced and in the freezer. with the swip values clearly written on the bag  

It was lovely.

Three oil swips and six swips for the bread.

Lunch 2: 

A salad of leaves, tomato, cucumber, pepper, carrot, olives and mixed seeds with a drizzle of balsamic.

Two and a half oil swips (one for seeds and one and a half for olives).

Lunch 3:

Gotta love leftovers.
The stuffed pepper and the roasted veg were seven swips and the sauce on the pepper is free/speed because it was such a small amount and it was negligible anyway.

So seven swips.

Lunch total
five and a half oil swips so far and thirteen other swips

(hopefully doing it like this will make the final reckoning easier)

Dinner 1:  orange an feta salad - very flavoursome.  

Part of a calcium healthy extra.

Dinner 2:  

The gigantes plaki and very tasty it was too.  Butterbeans cooked in a tomatoey sauce.  I don't know how Cretan broccoli is but it's what I gad and I am using what I have.

Three oil swips and the rest of my calcium healthy extra.

I had a banana for afters.

So I have had ten oil swips which is pretty much two healthy extras and, as I didn't have a fibre healthy extra, that works well.

Summary:

Healthy extras:  One calcium and two fats/oils

Thirteen swips

I'll probably have a banana before Groove to give me some energy.

Lunch:

Eating out with a friend.  I've had a look at the menu and this looks both the healthiest choice and the most delicious too.    A bit low on protein, maybe but nice, all the same

Greens & Grains Salad (VE):  roasted red peppers, lentils, buckwheat and quinoa, tossed in a zesty pineapple & ginger dressing, served on a bed of mixed leaves and topped with pomegranate seeds.  250 calories

Dinner:

I'm not sure.  I have some of the gigantes plaki left, also some butterbeans and some chopped tomato.  I will need to have a think.  

Exercise:  Groove and the walk, weather permitting

Sunday, 03-05-26

Good evening, everyone.
I was sitting this morning with relevant recipe books and printouts gazing at my rough meal plan for the week and realising that, with the arrival of this fortnight's Oddbox, I need to change quite a lot.
I know it was coming, I just hadn't factored it in.
And then I though 'this is the better way to do it - look at what you've got and work out your meals accordingly'.  I do that anyway but had to redo it to include good stuff like avocado, aubergine and courgette.  All the good stuff!
Thank goodness for the index in a recipe book.  Those without do annoy me a bit.

In the morning I had an easy peeler that was going a bit squishy!

Lunch 1:  I had a bit of the tzatziki left over from yesterday so I mashed 40g avocado and mixed the two together with a tiny bit of mint sauce.

The avocado was half a healthy fats and the toast was one fibre.

It was lovely.

Lunch 2:  the salad bit - leaves, cucumber, tomato, red onion, green olives, feta and some seeds.  I sprayed over some evoo and after the photo was taken, drizzled over some balsamic vinegar.

The evoo was one swip or part of an oils (I'll work that out at the end of the day)

The olives were one swip.

The feta was half a calcium.

And the seeds were half a swip.

(I'm writing it all down as I add it at the moment)

Lunch 3 - bear with me!
I halved and deseeded a red pepper, sprayed each half with some evoo (12 sprays or one swip in total).
I used half of the left over rice mix from a pouch, added chopped onion, mushroom and tomato, added half a tsp evoo and some seasonings.
I baked the pepper halves in the air fryer for fifteen minutes before filling them with the rice mixture and topping with one and a half swips of soft goats cheese (which doesn't count as a calcium choice) and another 12 sprays of evoo and baked again for ten minutes.

So three swips or half a healthy extra for evoo, plus the cheese for one and a half swips and two and a half swips for the pouch rice .However . . . I only ate half so half of seven - three and a half which includes the evoo.
I'll have the other half tomorrow at some point.

Phew.
(if that's wrong, please do say - I'd rather know than not)

Through the afternoon, I had a pear.

Dinner 1:  two little figs (free) with 25g feta (half a calcium) and one and a half tsps honey (one and a half swips)

I washed and cut the figs and put them in an oven proof dish with the feta crumbled on top.
After eight minutes on 180, I lifted the dish out and drizzled over the honey.
I can't remember that last time I had a fig but this was so good, I will definitely be doing it again.

Dinner 2:  This was a pack of roasting Med veg with a lime and basil dressing (Morrisons, one and a half swips) but, of course, you also need oil.

I added one tbsp - six swips - of oil.

What you see is half what I cooked so if you call the veg one swip, the other half can be half a swip.

So four swips for this.

Dinner 3:  I got out of the freezer some roast lamb in a swip free gravy and a pot of home made, fairly watery passata from last year's crop.
I softened some onion and sliced mushroom in one swips-worth of evoo, added garlic puree and tomato puree and then added the gravy and the tomatoes and let it all simmer down to a thick sauce to which I added the lamb.
I had preboiled some mini new potatoes so I just halved them and added them to the tray with the rested veg for the last ten minutes.

So good!  And just half a swip.

There's some sauce left over so I can have that tomorrow plus the roasted veg and the half stuffed pepper.

Now to do the maths.

Summary:

One each of the three healthy extras

Fourteen and a half swips - just under.

(I think)!

L:

bread with evoo and balsamic vinegar
simple salad
stuffed pepper and roasted veg

D: 

fruit and feta

simple salad

gigantes plaki (baked butter beans)

And fruit

Saturday, 02-05-26

Good evening, everyone.  What a gorgeous day it has been round here.  This morning I went into town and was a bit spendy, all in the good cause of making my meals look good of course.  I found a lovely wooden platter, a long thin oval, made of olive wood, a really nice oil and vinegar set and a flat and straight sided bowl.  Well worth it!
So that's some of this month's Premium Bonds win sorted!

Through the morning, I had a couple of apples and then fell for one of the Cretan rusks I made.  I wish I hadn't, but it was nice and the others are out of temptation in the freezer now.  So that was three swips.  I always weigh my bread products because of being home made and therefore not standard size.

Lunch starter.  This spicy cheese dip was from the Mistral Hotel cookbook (which is available in Amazon if anyone's interested.  I will post the link at the bottom).
I needed to reduce it down and it still needed too much feta for my calcium healthy extra so I used the ingredients and did my own thing.  Would it have been nicer with more feta?  For sure.  Was it nice anyway?  Yes, it definitely was.
The feta was one calcium healthy extra, the toast was half a fibre healthy extra and the evoo was two thirds of a fats/oils healthy extra.
The other ingredients were a bit of roasted red pepper from a jar, a bit of white wine vinegar (not time I will try lemon juice), some Geek yogurt and a pinch of chilli flakes.  The dippers are carrot and yellow pepper.

Then I moved on to the mains which was spanakopita with a big old salad.  I meant to sprinkle over some mixed seeds but totally forgot!

The spanakopita (from M&S) was four and a half swips and a bit of low fat dressing was half a swip.

I really enjoyed this lunch and was far too satisfied to have any fruit for dessert.

This was the bowl I bought - I loved eating from it.

Gyros for dinner and very nice it was too.

The wrap - home made with some failing sourdough - was the rest of my fibre and 

I used oil that finished my healthy fats plus three swips.

Swip free.

Summary:
One each of the healthy extras

eight swips

B: I think I might treat myself to a little breakfast of fruit and yogurt.

L:  Tzatziki (left from tonight) with avocado and and melba toast; stuffed peppers and salad

D:roast lamb with spaghetti (a recipe I found by Googling) with veg or a salad.  Figs with goat's cheese, honey and yogurt

No idea about exercise yet

The six key elements of the Cretan Diet

 The info below is copied straight from Cretan Diet - The 6 Key Elements of the Cretan Diet

It's on the Botanical Garden of Crete site and was basically what we were told in the preliminary talk during our visit there.  The bit about no fixed recipes is interesting and chimes with how I have understood it.

Τhe Cretan Diet: The 6 fundamental elements of the Cretan dietary model

The six core elements of the Cretan dietary

The Cretan diet is a time-tested successful model that promises longevity and good health. The six core elements of the Cretan dietary model form the heart of one of the most studied and esteemed dietary patterns worldwide. Rooted in the island's rich culinary traditions, these elements highlight the importance of consuming whole, minimally processed foods, including fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and using olive oil as the main fat source.
Specifically:

Olive Oil: Cretans consume a significant amount of olive oil daily, unique globally for its high olive oil intake. Studies show an average Cretan consumes about 25 litres of olive oil annually.

Wild Greens, Fruits, Vegetables, and Legumes: These foods form the diet's foundation. The island's biodiversity allows almost universal consumption of wild greens, cooked in various ways and enriched with olive oil. Remarkably, Cretans know how to distinguish poisonous from edible wild greens, knowledge passed down through generations.

Locality and Seasonality: Especially in villages, more than in cities, people following the Cretan diet philosophy are aware of local and seasonal produce, adjusting their diet accordingly, aligning with this rationale.

No Fixed Recipes: There are no fixed recipes for many reasons. After the Minoan period, due to various dominations over Crete through centuries—Roman, Arab, Venetian, and finally Ottoman—Cretans primarily focused on survival. Though Crete joined modern Greece about a century ago, its residents remained economically challenged, emphasizing primary needs over culinary experimentation. Adaptation to local and seasonal availability was necessary; for example, the abundance of wild greens due to the island's rich biodiversity became the preferred choice.

Wine: An accompaniment to lunch and sometimes dinner. The historical bond between Cretans and wine production dates back to Minoan times, making wine an irreplaceable part of the Cretan diet.

Daily Walking: The average Cretan walks 10-15 km per day, embodying the diet's philosophy: olive oil, local and seasonal ingredients, vegetables, legumes, fruits, wild greens, no strict recipes, a glass of wine, and daily walking. Meat wasn't always a dietary staple, even historically, and many families today still consume meat only once a week.

By embracing these elements, we strive to promote a healthier lifestyle through the Cretan diet's philosophy. This approach could nutritionally enrich our world.

At the Botanical Garden, we aim to connect visitors with both the local economy and society. Supported by a restaurant and a local product promotion centre, efforts are made to advocate a healthy lifestyle via the Cretan diet philosophy, reinforced by research attesting to the Cretan cuisine's nutritional quality. Experience the Botanical Garden's restaurant, certified with the "Cretan cuisine quality mark" by the regional company, and combine your visit with authentic local flavours, stunning views, and fresh food using local ingredients, herbs, and fruits from the park.

Friday, 01-05-26

Good evening, everyone.  Welcome to May!  Weigh in was shocking - not that I was actually shocked, I expected it after a foody and drinky holiday - but you know what I mean.

So it's even more important to eat healthily and very well now, combining the best way of eating in the world with Slimming World principles.

And NO ALCOHOL!!

😇😇😇

As planned, I didn't have any breakfast and I really didn't miss it.   I think that as long as I can keep myself busy I won't think about food and when I don't think about food, I don't feel hungry until later.

Lunch was lovely.  I did a Cretan 'feast' for me and Diane and she said it was lovely.

We started with some bread, some evoo and balsamic vinegar and some hummus (I had some hm hummus in the freezer)

One fibre choice for the bread, half a fats choice for the evoo and two swips for the hummus (I always write swips on the freezer bag or pot).

Then we moved on to Cretan dakos.  I made the barley rusks yesterday and, while not exactly like the ones we had on holiday, they were still pretty good.

They are twice baked and very hard so you sprinkle a bit of water over the top and that slightly softens them.  On top you spread simple chopped tomato with maybe a bit of seasoning but you need the contrast between the sweetness of the tomato and the saltiness of the crumbled feta on top as well as the textural contrasts.

A bit of ground pepper and a spray or two of evoo and you're done.  Very simple.
Instead of barley rusks, you could bake any slice of bread to crunchiness.  It would still work.

Four swips for the rusk, half a calcium choice for the feta and the spray oil is negligible.
(I sprayed and weighed ages ago to find how many sprays to a swip using my spray bottle and it is twelve and a half)

Then I made these stuffed tomatoes.  I halved two san marzano plum tomatoes and scooped out the flesh (there's very few seeds in a plum tomato), a bit of finely chopped mushroom and ditto onion, a squeeze of lemon juice, a bit of salt and pepper and half a tsp evoo (one swip).

I mixed the chopped flesh with three or four chopped olives, a little bit from a pouch of wholegrain rice, quinoa, pumpkin and sunflower seeds (from Aldi).

I put the half tomato shells in an oven proof dish and spooned in the filling.  I roasted it, covered, in the air fryer for fifteen minutes.  Then I topped each half with a small round of goat's cheese and air fried, uncovered, for about seven minutes.

I was so pleased with this.
The cheese was the other half of my calcium and the pouch contents, the olives and the evoo together came to one swip (per portion, two halves)

After that we had a very simple salad of mixed leaves, pepper, tomato and cucumber with half a swip's worth of of M&S low fat French dressing (which is actually quite nice.

Last of all we had chicken and bean orzo.  I made it yesterday but didn't take any notes.  However I remember that it had four swips (each) for evoo; all the other ingredients were speed or free.

However, there are leftovers so I am calling it six swips for me altogether.

There were leftovers of the chicken and bean orzo so I enjoyed that with a simple salad.  Swips already counted!

Summary:

One each of the healthy extras
Thirteen swips

L:  spicy cheese dip with carrot and pepper batons; spanakopita triangle (from M&S) with salad

D:  chicken gyros

And fruit