Baps and Bakes!

Saturday 27th April 2024

I survived another day, not just any day - A Friday, not just any Friday but one where he was at home too, but I did not cave I survived and I finished on good form.

 

835 calorie difference there comparing what I burned to what I ate, Fiona suggests we change 'Deficit' to 'Buffer Zone', if you have more deficit, it's a bigger bugger! I like that, definitely a bigger buffer for me yesterday. My week so far; 

Now to make it through the weekend! 

Food was good yesterday, for Breakfast I made mushroom and onion omelette baps, delicious and I could've easily eaten two but one was enough, I wasn't hungry again until I made our dinner at 6.30!  I made it with 4 eggs, 150g chestnut mushrooms 1/2tbs oil and a medium onion, oh and a splash of milk.  I put cheese slices on his but mine didn't need it.

  

We were out and about a bit running errands, he asked about lunch at half two so I gave him some toasted teacakes I wanted using and I had a cuppa because I wasn't hungry.

Aryn and I went to gym after he'd finished school and I managed 10 minutes on the treadmill walking and 10 minutes on the bike, improving daily.  I smiled to myself when we were walking round a few shops yesterday realising I wasn't in agony like I have been in the last year or so, it's so good to be able to function like a 'normal' human who's legs work! 

Dinner time was easy Tuna pasta bake, cheap and cheerful, I bought 6 cans of tuna from Farm foods for £4.50, I used 3 of these, one each, I know some people would use less but for £2.25 that's a cheap source of protein!   

These were from Aldi, I love this cheese, Aryn likes frozen mixed veggies so that's a result. 

  

I used Heinz soup because I'd bought them on offer 12 cans for £10 a while ago but home branded soup is only 62p and it works just fine, my pasta was £1.29 a bag.  

The meal cost well under a fiver for 3 people, it could've fed 4 or 5 for under the fiver with the addition of a bit more pasta and cheese

Tuna £2.25

Pasta - I used 70g per person - 27p

cheese I used 80g to top it - 50p

Soup 83p

Mixed veg - I used 80g per person  24p

Total cost £4.09 

I did put a handful of spinach in there too because I had it but it didn't need it.  I cook the frozen veg in the same pan as the pasta, then drain when cooked, stir the tuna and soup into the pasta and veg, then put in a baking dish topped with the cheese and either brown under the grill or I did it in the oven because I had a pizza in there. 

I cooked a yellow sticker reduced pizza for them to share instead of garlic bread, I fancied a little taste so did this to make it so they still had 2 slices each :) I tracked it too!

  

I was cold all day yesterday, I seem to be cold in the day and them wake up sweating at night, can't win with the temperature control at the minute, I put the heating on in the end, I'm not being cold and we'd had a frost yesterday, my car was white over when I woke up!  Summer - where are you?  We've obviously skipping spring!

Another good day planned, I've already thought about our main meal as I've had an extra bit of time this morning thanks to Minnie waking us up throwing herself at the door to get our attention! 

I'm thinking Chicken in tempura batter with couscous and tenderstem brocolli, all I have already.  I have more buns to be used too, I've got some veggie bean burgers in the freezer I want to use too so if Aryn wakes and comes down before lunchtime, we could all have one of those for lunch, I won't tell them what they are, I'll just make them and see what they think.

Right I better get ready for work, I'm watching Minnie plan with a pellet of wood which has come from her litter tray and Coco is sat on the table considering attacking her!  Mad house, I live in a mad house and I love it!

Despite all the things life throws at us, the usual daily struggles that most of us go through as we were driving to the shops yesterday, I found myself thinking, 'I love my life', I said it out loud too because I want him to know he makes my world a better place.  Don't get me wrong - he drives me mad, the crap I have to sit next to him and watch for starters, deep sigh but the good outweighs the silly daft stuff, you can't beat cuddling up on the sofa and watching tele.

On that soppy note, I'll say have a great weekend, tell people you love them!

Mwah, luv ya

Love me x

Oops I did it again!

Friday 26th April 2024

Yeah I got cocky, not tracking, eating the same as the boys and I paid for it yesterday, gained 2.5lb so after a chat with Elle and AnnMarie, I've drawn a line, got me a pad and I'm going to get back on it with a tweak here and there.

Made it through day 1 and even went for ONE drink over the pub before dinner.  My fitbit looks healthy at almost 10k steps on a work day, chuffed with that. 

My Nutracheck tracker app looks equally as good with me consuming 1624 so that's my first deficit in the bag, I don't like the word deficit if I'm honest, but that's the word that the industry seems to use, it's the difference between how many calories you burn and how many you consume, it needs a new word making up, suggestions required :)  

Anyway whatever we wanna call it, my difference was 614 calories, give or take, I'll take that because I ate well and I had a drink so didn't feel like I missed out. 

Breakfast was coffee and tea, no food wasn't hungry, when I got back at one though I was fancying beans on toast and I only had curry beans and they were lush, I weighed the portion, same with the bread and that's a cheesy triangle - I'd slipped back to using butter on EVERYTHING, no wonder it caught me up and bit me on the bum with gaining 2.5lb. 

I then prepped dinner, Aryn wanted burritos, not gonna lie, I didn't fancy them at all especially when I worked out the calories but I have to say, they were delicious, I managed to resist having a second one, was so glad I went and bought some salad, although next time I won't buy cheap tomatoes, they had no flavour.

There's a good 400g of the mince/rice and bean filling left too so Aryn can either use the last 2 wraps for a snack later - yeah I said snack, he ate 3 of them last night!  

I also spent an hour sorting the Gousto recipes I enjoyed and putting them into a folder, I've bought a planner book to keep the meals that I make and everyone enjoys in so I can just have a look for what to make and plan our week.  I need to have meals that are good on calories for me but enjoyable for us all.  The easy way is to give them bigger portions and me have a smaller one but I need to work out the calories out regardless.  Like the burrito I had last night, beef mince, seasoning, black beans, brown rice, salsa, sour cream and guacamole, all mixed together in the wrap, that's definitely going on the 'to eat' list. I'd use a different seasoning and salsa next time but only because the one I used was a freebie. Actually I might not as I've just looked at them online and they're not that expensive and they were tasty.

The pack with both the salsa and seasoning and wraps is £4.  

The seasoning sachet is £1.20 and only 75 calories in the sachet.

the salsa is £2.50 and 58 calories in the bottle. 

 

We're just chatting about the price of food and how no supermarket is 'cheaper' than another anymore, even M&S and Aldi have been compared and come out level on the everyday stuff like bananas, spuds and milk so it's time to put together healthy meals using cheaper ingredients! 

I'm gonna make tuna pasta bake today using a tin of chicken soup in the cupboard as the sauce, once it has cheese on top the lads won't notice. I'll put frozen mixed veg in with it too so I know they're getting some fibre, I'd serve it with garlic bread but I don't have any so I won't be doing that, I buy the cheap ones and put a bit of cheese in them now - I don't have it so it's okay to add more calories. 

I'm waffling again ain't I but it's helping process stuff in my head so feel free to skip paragraphs, this is my diary really isn't it. 

Gonna do a meal plan today and make use of the stuff in the freezer, can't remember if I mentioned buying stuff from Farm Foods, 8 Birds Eye for a tenner, so I bought four packs of fish in batter and four packs of chicken in tempura batter because we like both of those and they're a quick easy cheap meal, if I slice the chicken it looks posher like I've cooked them from scratch myself :) 

Right I'm off, things to do, places to be (not really, I'm still sat here in my dressing gown with no desire to do anything, I've just had a coffee to try and give me a boost but as yet, it hasn't kicked in! 

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me xx 

Where's this year going?

Thursday 25th April 2024

Thursday already, the weeks just rush by, I can't believe it's almost the end of April, we're a third of the way through the year, that's just flown!  Now if it'll just warm up and stop raining that would be nice.

I had a lovely slow day yesterday, after our morning huddle, I came home finished my book and started a new jigsaw and that was all I did for a few hours.  The only other thing I did was wash up, one load of washing and cooked dinner.  Oh and we went to the gym so at least I moved a little bit!  We went to bed ridiculously early too and both agreed that we won't do that tonight because we end up waking loads in the night and having crazy dreams!  

For dinner I used the tandoori chicken I'd made, took them off the bone before serving because they leave too much meat on the bones and it's a waste, I then made egg fried rice with leftover white rice that Aryn had made and put in the fridge.  It's still not perfect but I'm getting there, it's definitely good enough!  Bugga I'd bought some MSG and forgot to use it to see if that makes a difference. 

  

It was lovely to have the house to myself for a few hours, the tranquility didn't last long, Aryn walked in after the gym and we had to watch Daryl Dixon, then himself walked in and he put on some crap on Youtube, I've got stuff to watch on tele but I didn't turn it on yesterday, I wanted to listen to my book and I enjoyed it.  I read 'What if' by Shari Low, I really enjoyed it, really easy read I'm now on 'What Now?' which is book 2, I didn't know there was a book 2 either so really impressed.  Turns out she's wrote 35 books, I'd never heard of her, but I can see me reading more, I like chick lit as I would call it.  

Today I've got a busy work day, 3 huddles, we're changing the evening time for Bloxwich so the chat will start at 5.30 so our members can get on with their evening by 6, they're all there by that time anyway so when the sunshine does arrive it'll be nice to get home to enjoy it or on the dark nights it'll be good to get out of Bloxwich town earlier.

Dinner tonight is going to be burritos, requested from Aryn, I've got all the ingredients I reckon, might look for a recipe or just make it up, it's beef mince, beans and cheese mostly isn't it, put into wraps!  Not high on my to eat list, but I'll go with it.  On a positive, it's using up food we already have in the kitchen.

I didn't track yesterday, I am trying to eat 'healthy' though, I feel the need for some salad in my life, it'd go nice with the burritos too wouldn't it, I might just nip in the shop and buy a ready made bowl because it's wasted on the boys, they'll just look at it, I do have spinach which I can hide in the wraps, maybe some sweetcorn and then there's the beans, so I'm getting some goodness in them! 

We'll see what the scales have to say to me this morning, every day is a new day, I'm looking forward to it and what it will bring.  I need to think about breakfast, not particularly hungry this morning but won't get home till 1, so do I take something with me? 

Anyway, have a great day,

Mwah, luv ya

Love me x 

Gotta love a pie....

 Wednesday 24th April 2024

Another day in the bag, yes I was over my allowance, but I ended the day under what I'd burned on my fit bit, so that's success to me.  As long as my weight isn't going up, I'm good and I'm long past letting it get me down, do my best that's enough for me. 

I love food, I love a bargain and I don't like waste so yesterday when I went shopping there was a block of shortcrust pastry reduced to 80p, I rolled it out and made a pie with the leftover lamb and gravy from Sunday, I was impressed with how much was left to say they had sandwiches Sunday night as well.  

The pie worked well, lads want it again, so that's a success.  It was high on calories at 1155 calories but if I hadn't had the cupcake I was given because of Josie's birthday, I'd have been within my allowance, proving you can have pie and high calorie meals. 

  

I had some chicken thighs that needing using yesterday so I've cooked them and we'll eat today, 15-20 minutes in the air fryer, I mixed some tandoori masala and yogurt together and let them marinade all afternoon and they look good, I'm going to take them off the bone and think I'll serve them in pitta breads or wraps, we'll see what I fancy later.  I don't have much in the way of salad, but they're not a fan anyway, but I do have spinach, peppers and a bit of lettuce I think.  

He came home early again yesterday, I got back from work and shopping at 2 and he walked in at 2.15!  Seriously, I was making the pie and planning an hour chilling before Aryn got home and I had to go back to work!  Third time lucky ay, let's see if I get a full afternoon to myself today....

But first I need to go get ready for work, physio complete, the cleaning workout Monday has left me in pain but it'll ease off, my arthritis in my hands is a bitch, we can thank the damp weather for that I think.

Here's to a good day whatever comes our way! 

Go easy on yourself if you're struggling, things can be hard and like I've always said, when life's easy - weight loss is easier, when life's hard well yeah, it's harder but the secret is to go easy on yourself, do what you can and don't give up on yourself because you matter!  Talk it out too, voicing your shit helps, we prove it regularly in our huddles. 

Mwah, luv ya

Love me x

What will you choose to.... this chooseday :)

Tuesday 23rd April 2024

I had a damn good day yesterday, very productive I was, I put together the chat for the week, then I attacked the housework!  Hoovered and mopped downstairs, washed all the covers on the sofa, put everything away somewhere so there's clear worktops and tables etc in kitchen and living room.  I even emptied the fridge and cleared that out too.  I was cooking on gas when he walks in at 11, they'd sent him home because there wasn't a risk assessment for the job so he couldn't start - deep sigh!  

I was in my stride so when he said I'm going to do some sorting in the motorhome, I was chuffed I won't lie, I love him but I had stuff to do and he'd be in the way.  He was in the way anyway, within minutes, he was back, "Bev, do you know where......is?", "Can you see if you can find one of these on the internet?"  On a positive, I found a charger he lost last year and I also found another charger which means he won't have to replace one of his expensive work tools so there was an upside to the day.

Thankfully I had a nail appointment at two so I escaped for an hour, I fancied a copper colour and when I saw this, which changes colour I was all over that. 

 

It's difficult to get on photo but they can be green, or a copper colour, it has pink in - I love it!  Had them cut down too, I can't cope with long nails, who'd have believed I'd be having my nails cut when I bit them so badly for decades. 

Arn and I went to the gym, then nipped to Aldi for a few bits so that I could make this for tea.  The pork chops I'd had from Lidls, £3.60 for 4 on the bone, I cut the fat off because they wouldn't fit in my frying pan but then I put the fat in the air fryer to crisp up, that worked.  The sauce was a bit of chicken stock, soft cheese and dijon mustard (great suggestions from Bernie) and it was a huge hit in our house, the men loved it and said 'we'll have that again'.  I need to add that to my regular 'to eat' list. 

   

I did well according to my Fitbit, although my back thinks I did so much more activity!   I ended my day on 1721 calories on Nutracheck, so thankfully a deficit there, 600 calories = impressive. 

I woke up lots in the night and got up in the end because of dreams, the final one that included mom was enough to stop me going back to sleep.

I'm ready for the day ahead, physio done, washing up bowl empty - I love that, it makes me happy.  I'm easily pleased.  3 huddles today and I need to nip to Sainsbury's for the stuff Aldi didn't have, I have to have Birds Eye petit pois, sorry if that makes me fussy but a girls gotta have what a girls gotta have and my freezer is without!

Here's to not having peas in the freezer being the biggest drama I have to deal with today :) 

Hope you have a great day too

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me 

Ready for the week - are you?

 Monday 22nd April 2024

A lovely weekend had in this house, nice and relaxed, pottered about in the garden, had a diesel heater fitted to the motorhome which will save us money in no time.  We have struggled to get a gas bottle a few times now and the last time was because it was coming up to Easter and everyone had decided to get one at the same time, we ended up paying £59 for something we usually pay £40 odd for and they've gone up since we started with it only a couple of years ago.  The cost of electricity when on a camp site has gone up too, so 10 days cost him £100 in total for gas/elec (he feels the cold bless him!) This diesel heater can also use kerosene so he's a happy boy now and it's been plumbed into our existing heating system so we can use either / or.  If you have a camper or motorhome and are interested, here's the chaps details who did ours vanlifefix.com | diesel heater | cosford shropshire England, UK or facebook (1) vanlifefix | Facebook.  He got in touch with us after he'd seen me post a question about them on Facebook, I like initiative like that!

That took up a bit of time going to take it and pick it up, the traffic on the M54 caught us out on Saturday as they'd closed the lanes between J3 and 4 for roadworks so we were stuck there for half hour!  

I found some fillet steak in the freezer that I'd had from Taylors butchers (1) Facebook when it was on offer, we ate outside for the first time this year and it was delicious!  

We ended up spending Saturday night with next door in the garden drinking, I would've been okay with just my wine calorie wise but Cheryl came out with a Mint Bailey's to try and it wasn't a small glass!  It's like drinking after eight mints, nice but I can live without it in my life at 156 calories per 50ml - ouch! 

Sunday was a lazy day, it's not very often I feel I should be doing something, yesterday was one of them, I soon talked myself out if it and we watched tele, the second series of Blue Lights is brilliant!  We ate outside again and had a lamb dinner, that was the frozen one I'd had from Farm Foods for £15, I like that price compared to the £36 it would cost you today in Sainsburys!  Trying to get our portions a little more under control, normally I'd do two types of spud, and too much food full stop!

Weirdly I fancied the Christmas pudding I hadn't eaten at Christmas and it was delicious! 

These sausages from Lidl's are delicious if a little high in calories 347 for two, had a sandwich for breakfast Sunday with those - so good.  

Now it's Monday and I have so much to do, I don't like being a grown up and I don't want to adult at all today!  I've just done my physio, loaded the washing machine, managed to dry yesterdays on the line outside.  I've got a huddle chat to plan, a house that looks like it's been hit by a bomb and food shopping to get done.  What I want to do is get my jigsaw out and waste a few hours but I won't, I need to wash the covers on the sofa, mop the floors all that boring stuff.  It'll look lovely when it's done though and at least I've got the house to myself to do it.  

The sooner I start, the sooner I finish I guess, so here's to getting stuff done!  Hope your day goes well.

Mwah, luv ya

Love me  

Eating out twice - oops!

Saturday 20th April 2024

Well I didn't track yesterday , I ate out twice, I know I said I would but I chose not too because I got to enjoy time with my family.  It started with breakfast at the Toby carvery - very good and out of curiosity I have just tracked it using the Nutracheck app and it was 1345 calories!  It was delicious I have to say and honestly I could've gone all day and not eaten again because I had so much!  I wasn't taken with the Yorkshire pudding, it was a bit thin and dry - now I'm a yorkie lover so was curious to try with breakfast, it says it has roasted onion and bacon bits - I missed that, mine was just boring and I only ate two mouthfuls.  I did eat 3 sausages though, they were lush but 651 calories for 3 servings is a serving 1 sausage - it must be - oops!

Anyway, I did a little bit of gardening with himself, we removed another huge shrub from the front garden, we took the motorhome to have a diesel heater fitted to it, I sat waiting for him in my car for an hour whilst he talked about 'stuff' with the bloke, borinhell, but he loves it, I was happy in my car with my audiobook and a bit of candy crush.  

By the time we'd been to the tip with the garden waste, I just didn't fancy cooking for them especially as I wasn't that hungry, well he suggested we go eat out to save me the hassle and have curry.  Who am I to disagree, we were seated at six, I was really impressed too.

  

I had tandoori lamb - lush, followed by chicken tikka masala not very imaginative I know but I fancied it, I did have it with Arabian rice which was sweet & fruity and had almonds in too.  It was nice, but I'd stick to pilau next time, Aryn had a really nice rice think it was the keema pilau, we'd all eat that one again.

  

Himself had a lamb madras and Aryn had a duck dish, the madras was delicious, I got a taste and the flavour and depth of the curry before the kick at the end was delicious.  I like to try everyone's dinner to make sure it's not been poisoned, seriously though its a way of finding out if you'd like it yourself isn't it ;-)  We all had poppadoms and he had onion bhaji starter which looked tasty, I didn't try that one.  

  

Now there's not loads of meat in the masala, but it meant I didn't eat all the sauce, I have bought it home with me though, I can add some chicken to it today and I've got another meal.  I only ate a bit of the rice too, the rice is in a tub in the kitchen, I reckon it would be nice cold as a rice salad.  Aryn's a machine, he'll snack on that!   My meal was easily 1137, that was without eating it all of course, it would've been more  At least I've tracked after all, see it's not that difficult even if it's not pretty at over 3,000 calories!

Yeah it was nice to have a meal together where I've woken up this morning and there's not washing up, of course that wasn't the highlight of it, eating together and chatting without a tele on was.  

I've remembered to take meat out of the freezer so we have food for today, think I'm going to take the last leg of lamb out too, that was my bargain £15 one, there's a Sunday dinner in that and possibly a curry with the leftovers or maybe a lamb stew if I cut the meat off before I cook the leg?! I've never made a lamb stew!  We shall see...

First I've got a huddle to get too, looking forward to my day, no clue what we're doing if anything, I like doing nothing!

I had a chat on the phone with my brother too, he was upset over the loss of a friend but by the end of the call, I think we'd helped him feel better.  Life can change in a heartbeat which is why we shouldn't put things off or ignore things.  We honestly shouldn't be eating out at the minute but meh, that's what savings are for, we've not had a holiday so the odd meal out when we get the chance to be together is a necessary luxury - eating good food is one thing that brings the three of us together. 

Here's to a lovely weekend, be nice if it didn't rain wouldn't it! 

Mwah, luv ya

Love me