January 20th 2011

Whatever you are, be a good one. Abraham Lincoln
Another fab day on the weight loss front yesterday, bringing this weeks total up to 59 stone, can we beat our record, can Bloxwich lose 11 stone today – I think they can!

Well as I was walking Alfie yesterday morning my phone beeped to wish me happy birthday and I walked round thinking about what had happened in my life over the last 41 years, some amazing things, some not so good and some life changing things. All in all I’ve had a good life so far and long may it continue. Then I started to smile to myself as I thought about the diets! O my word, someone asked me yesterday how long it took me to lose my weight, my reply was 22 years, and joking aside that’s probably right, I’ve lost weight more times than I care to remember, I’ve got 5 or 6 gold Weight Watcher cards with different dates and different weights on. Dieting has on occasion consumed me over the years, it’s even stopped me enjoying myself sometimes because I’ve refused a night out. I’m glad to say now though that since I got to goal in August 2004 I’ve finally got this dieting sussed. It didn’t automatically happen the day I got to goal, it’s more kind of slowly happened since. I still have the odd blip where I let it affect my mood but that’s very occasionally, yesterday I put my dress on for work and thought how it felt tighter than the last time I wore it, I had a little emotional wobble but soon talked myself round by saying to myself, “a dress that’s got a little tighter does not define you, it does not have the power to ruin your day, you are still as happy as you were two minutes ago, so get a grip and smile”. And you know what it worked! Yep, don’t get me wrong, I still gain weight and lose it again, never gain as much as I was which is a bonus, and I think the reason for that is because I no longer give myself a hard time about my size. I never deny myself anything, if I fancy it; I have it and move on. All day yesterday I promised myself I could have a donor kebab from the chippy for my birthday tea after I finally finished my meetings, then when I’d finished I didn’t want one ;-) things become less appealing when you’re allowed them!

Didn’t manage to cook anything yesterday so was very relieved to have a freezer full of home made ready meals, I had chicken casserole for lunch and curried carrot soup for tea. But I’ve just seen this recipe on esource (esource is free for monthly pass subscribers, please always buy your monthly pass in your meeting, it’s the same price, and I will get paid also) and think I may make it at the weekend.

Chicken Tagine with Apricots and Almonds

ProPoints® Value per serving: 7
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 40 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy

Liven up some chicken breasts with this easy stove-top recipe, with its spicy Moroccan overtones.

5 spray(s) Cooking Spray, Calorie Controlled
4 medium Chicken, Breast, Skinless, Raw, each cut into four pieces
1 medium Onion, All Types,
1 tbsp Ras el hanout seasoning (from the spice racks)
2 teaspoons (grated) Ginger, Root, fresh
1/4 teaspoons Turmeric, or saffron
100 g Apricots, Ready-to-Eat, roughly chopped
400 g Carrots, Old, Raw, sliced
600 ml Chicken Stock, Fresh
4 sprig(s) (fresh) Parsley, fresh, roughly chopped
20 g Almonds, flaked

· Heat a large flameproof casserole dish on the hob and spray with low fat cooking spray. Add the chicken pieces, cooking them for 2-3 minutes over a medium heat without moving them, then turn them over to cook for a further 2 minutes. (This will brown them nicely).

· Add the onion, Ras el hanout seasoning, ginger, saffron or turmeric, apricots, carrots and stock. Stir in half the parsley. Cover and simmer over a low heat for 30-40 minutes.

· Check the seasoning, then serve, sprinkled with the almonds and remaining parsley.

Cook’s tip: Couscous would be the ideal accompaniment to this tagine.

Have a great day xx