11th December 2017
When you can’t find the
sunshine – be the sunshine.
Well in case it escaped your
notice, we had a little snow yesterday!
I’d say 8in or more fell on my back garden and I only went out 3 times,
twice to walk my crazy dog and once to nip to the Co-op for milk, bread and
papers. I walked in the shop and spotted
sprouts and thought, ‘mmm, I fancy sprouts’, I’d already taken a couple of
chicken breasts out of the freezer so decided to do something with them
later.
This is what I did, I fancied
hot pot because of the weather, wasn’t up for cooking a full on chicken dinner,
I started with 8sp of bacon medallions and sliced onions, cooked them on top
for a little first, then added a diced carrot, sliced sprouts and sliced
chicken breast.
Next I put 10sp of peeled
potatoes in the microwave for a few minutes to start them cooking, then sliced
them and put them on top of the ingredients and poured some chicken stock over
it all.
Popped the lid on and put it all
in the oven with on Gas Mark 4 for about an hour, then removed lid, turned oven
up a bit and cooked until the potatoes started to brown.
Oh it was so good, I’m tempted to have a
portion for breakfast and that is why I’ll never be slim!
Speaking of which I lost
1.5lb this morning of what I thought was a 5lb gain last week but was actually
only 4lb so not quite so bad. That 1.5lb
off could’ve been 2lb if I hadn’t been attacked by a bottle of Baileys on
Saturday! There won’t be any more of
that coming in my house this year even though it was a very lovely gift of a
very lovely lady.
My Self-Care challenge
yesterday was to have a nice hot bath and I’m not going to lie – I didn’t! But I’ll have it today, today’s should’ve
been catch up on a show you enjoy and I
did that yesterday so I’ve just switched the days. To be honest, I’m really taking care of
myself again, prioritising me and time for me and I’m feeling so much better
for it, apart from having a really ugly head cold, my nose seems to have a
split personality, one minute it’s so blocked up I can barely breathe, the next
it’s streaming, that’s never normal but then nothing else about me is so why
expect my nose to behave.
It appears a lot of my members
struggled with being stuck indoors this weekend and it made them want to eat! However you did over the weekend, Monday is
always a great day to start afresh, if you’re stuck at home because of the
snow, use your time wisely, make a bit pot of soup or a nice stew, casserole or
curry. Do a meal planner for the rest of
the week, let’s work on a budget and save some money at this expensive time of
the year. Go through your cupboards and
use what you already have, get creative.
I think I’m going to make a curried lentil soup, something to warm me
through, clear my sinuses and low or zero points. Let’s spend this week being healthy as much
as possible as we know Christmas day ain’t far away and we all want to enjoy
that don’t we.
We’re all looking for nibbles that
won’t break our Points bank, I stumbled across this pate recipe that sounds
good;
Vegan and gluten-free mushroom pâté recipe – 6sp total
20g dried porcini mushrooms
½ tbsp oil (2sp)
1 garlic clove, crushed
175g wild mushrooms, chopped
175g chestnut mushrooms, chopped
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme, plus extra sprigs to
garnish
60ml port (4sp)
1. Soak the porcini mushrooms in 150ml boiling water for 30 mins to rehydrate them. Drain, reserving the liquid, and finely chop.
2. Fry the shallots in the oil over a medium heat for 5 mins until softened, then add the garlic and fry for 1 min more. Add the chopped fresh mushrooms and thyme, and simmer for about 10 mins until the liquid has reduced and the mushrooms have started to brown a little.
3. Add the chopped porcini mushrooms and the port to the pan, then allow to bubble until the port has cooked off. Strain the reserved porcini mushroom liquid, to remove any grit, and add to the pan. Allow the mixture to bubble until almost all of the liquid has cooked off. Season well and leave to cool completely.
4. Whizz the mixture in a blender or food processor to a rough paste and transfer to a bowl or jar to serve. Garnish with a few sprigs of thyme and serve. It will keep in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Right I’m off, need a hot
drink and the heating on, just realised I’m sat here in the cold!
Here’s to a snow day in my
world, so glad I’ve not got any meetings today, hoping it will magically disappear
by tomorrow morning, although I’m very fortunate my meeting tomorrow is only a
couple of miles away.
Here’s to a good day, if you’re
off work – use your time wisely BeYOUtiful, not as an excuse to no bother. xx
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