28th February 2011

 Old Friends are Gold! New Friends are Diamond! If you get a Diamond, don't forget the Gold! Because to hold a Diamond, you always need a Base of Gold!

Tuesday 8th March is Pancake Day and this week’s copy of ‘YOUR WEEK’ tells you how to enjoy them and stay on track, there’s a basic pancake batter recipe and also some suggestions on how to make them even tastier, mmm four cheese pancakes for 8pp, or chocolate and cherry pancakes for 10pp. There’s also a scrumptious recipe for hot chocolate and banana brownies for 1pp each which I made yesterday and they went down very well! I made them because I thought they’d be tiny, but was pleasantly surprised they were a fair size for 1pp, about 2” square, or two would be the size of my iphone ;)

Also this week is the last week the selection boxes are on offer at £3, and the humbugs for £1 - stock up whilst you can. The new Weight Watcher magazines arrived too and it’s full of some great reading.

I made stuffed mushrooms and onion gratin too yesterday and served it with spinach, my brother turned up just at the right time which meant we didn’t have too big portions because he stayed for lunch. I love this recipe and could eat it every week, yesterday I used blue cheese instead of the gruyere mmm. I also used soured cream because I hadn’t got any crème fraîche and it tasted fine and save ProPoints, crème fraîche is 3pp per tbsp, soured cream is 1pp per tbsp, or you could try low fat crème fraîche which is 1pp per tbsp also. Here’s the recipe

Onion Gratin

Serves 4, 6pp each, or 2, 13pp each

4 medium red onions, peeled, quartered, and separated
Tbsp olive oil (4pp) or 2 pumps from WW oil spray (2pp)
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
8 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
A small wineglass of white wine (175ml) (3pp)
4 tablespoons crème fraîche (7pp)
50g gruyere cheese, grated (5pp)
50g parmesan, grated (6pp)

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6. Break the onion quarters apart to give you little ‘petals’. Place these in a A4 sized dish or earthenware oven dish. Drizzle with a tbsp olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper, and toss in your thyme and garlic. Mix up well, add your white wine, cover with a double layer of tinfoil, wrap tightly and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 45 minutes, then remove the dish from the oven, take the tinfoil off and pop the dish back in the oven for 15 mins to start caramelizing. Once the onion is looking lightly golden, stir in your crème fraiche and sprinkle over your gruyere and parmesan. Turn the oven down to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4 and let the gratin tick away for about 15 minutes or until golden and gorgeous. You can eat this straight away, or cool it down and flash it under the grill later.

However your weekend went decide to have a fabulous week, I’m hoping I’ve lost some of that weight I gained last weekend in London, I’ve probably been 90% good, although I have used all my allowances – daily, weekly and activity so wish me luck.

xx