This weather is all about the comfort food....

30^th November 2013

A man would prefer to come home to an unmade bed and a happy woman than to a neatly made bad and an angry woman.  Marlene Dietrich

Well I have to say the beef stew that I made on Wednesday has been the only thing I’ve eaten for three days other than my breakfast!  I think that says how delicious it was (recipe on Thursday’s blog), 60pp in total and it’s done more than 6 bowls, and today I will eat something else I promise!   I’m thinking stuffed mushrooms maybe, making a cauliflower cheese too so mom has something to microwave tomorrow for her lunch as I’m out.

Yesterday felt like such a rushed day, I had my paperwork that took till noon because I couldn’t get it all to work out, then I nipped to the shops but didn’t stay as they were so busy I didn’t stay!  Had my eye test at two and I’m happy to report I don’t need glasses still, at least one part of my body is in good working order ;-), then I had my massage to help ease my aching joints so the rest of my body feels better now.  By the time I got home at 6ish I was ready to chill, some days just fly by like that don’t they!

I don’t have to be anywhere or do anything today, I’m too scared to go to the shops, they’re going to be crazy busy today aren’t they, I might wait till Monday to brave them again, it means I miss out on the wine offer in Morrison’s (buy 6 & save 33%) but I haven’t the energy for it and if it’s not in my house I won’t drink it will I.  I’m going to cook and craft instead today and enjoy being home, might watch a movie too, or USA XFactor this afternoon – how rock and roll am I?  I do like my quiet life though I have to admit.

I fancy something with rice and I’ve just found a recipe for Pilau rice in the new WW Freezer Friendly cookbook, if I make that with wholemeal rice it’ll be F&H, and the Dauphinoise potatoes in there look to die for too, there’s some good stuff in that book.  I’ve also found a recipe in the new Hairy Biker book for ‘all in one spicy pork and rice’ which works out at 9pp, think I’ll make that Monday when I’ve been shopping, if you use brown rice, it’s almost F&H (except chorizo), I’d par cook the rice first though I think, or use the ready cooked stuff and add it near the end.

All-in-one spicy pork and rice

Serves: 4, 9pp per portion or 395 calories per portion.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 tsp olive oil (3pp)
• 1 medium onion, sliced into thin wedges
• 500g pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into 1cm slices (15pp)
• 50g chorizo sausage, skinned and cut into 5mm slices (4pp)
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 red and 1 orange pepper, deseeded and sliced
• 100g green beans, trimmed and cut into short lengths
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• ½ tsp hot chilli powder
• 150g easy-cook long-grain rice (14pp)
• 750ml chicken stock, made with 1 stock cube
• flaked sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Cooking Method

1. Heat the oil in a large, non-stick deep frying pan or sauté pan. Fry the onion wedges over a medium-high heat for 3 minutes until they’re softened and lightly browned, stirring regularly.
2. Season the pork with salt and black pepper, then add it to the pan and stir-fry with the onion for 2 minutes until lightly browned. Add the chorizo, garlic, peppers and beans and stir-fry together for 2 minutes more. Sprinkle with the spices and stir in the rice, then pour over the stock and bring to the boil.
3. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, stirring regularly, until the liquid has been absorbed and the rice and pork are both lovely and tender.

Right I’m off, need a cup of tea to get me started, enjoy your Saturday, I know I’m going to…

Are you a Jekyll and Hyde Dieter

Friday 29^th November 

Have you ever read Stevenson’s classic, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Good guy Dr Jekyll treating the sick and doing good deeds then at night he’d turn into the evil, out-of-control Mr Hyde. Well I’ve got to admit at times I feel like the diet version of them both, only this week, Wednesday morning I woke up feeling like I was ready to get on track and lose some weight, I spent the entire day in complete control—I was the perfect Jekyll, had a fantastic filling and healthy day and stayed on track,  yesterday however, it took all my strength to keep Hyde under control, I managed it just about!  However there have been many occasions when I have totally morphed into Hyde and attacked the kitchen cupboards or a bottle of wine, I’ve even stood in the kitchen eating slices of boiled ham and chunks of cheese straight out of the fridge.  

I think a lot of us have done or even still do this, we go from dieter to overeater within the blink of an eye, some do it on a daily basis, fab for the first half of the day, then once darkness looms we turn into a Hyde eating loony!  What you thought was easy to control in the morning feels impossible by tea time.  The Jekyll side of your diet personality just can’t keep up with your Hyde, that beast can do some serious damage in a really short space of time.

I find my Mr. Hyde seems to be able to take control far easier when I’m tired, stressed or rushed, that’s when I have to really notice my behaviour and thought patterns because it’s too easy for me to think ‘sod it’ and go party as Hyde!   Dr Jekyll’s the smug one who finds the good times easy enough, he soon disappears when times get hard! Mr Hyde’s also a bit of a hormonal bitch too, so much harder to cope with!

No wonder so many of us give up and let Hyde win, because that’s the easier option, I’m never letting Hyde win again, not long term anyway, I’ve been kicking him into touch for the last 9 years, my Dr Jekyll side has got stronger year on year, and I found that just admitting that both sides of me existed helped me enormously, I stopped trying to be the ‘perfect’ dieter, there’s no such thing! I then identified when I’m most likely to lapse and let Mr Hyde appear and I made sure Dr Jekyll was ready for him, I pinpointed my weaknesses, for example yesterday when I wanted to eat my own head, I acknowledged it was because I was rushed and tired and instead of turning to the chocolate/crisps/wine I had another bowl of beef stew and stuck with my F&H, I was so full I couldn’t possibly have eaten anything else!   Who am I kidding, I could’ve eaten more, especially of the wrong stuff, I could’ve cracked open a bottle of wine too, very easily but instead because I’d eaten plenty of good stuff I found it easier to resist and I had an early night instead.

It’s not always possible to ensure you don’t get stressed or hungry or tired so make sure you have your own strategies and tactics in place to help you deal.  Have a healthy snack in your glovebox or a ready meal to hand in the freezer, have some lower ProPointed treats for when you just fancy something nice, have a big pan of stew on the cooker for when you get in so you have food ready.  Don’t have a kitchen full of junk you have to resist – you most likely won’t be able to at certain times!

Don’t expect perfection, it’s impossible, it’s also boring!  Willpower doesn’t last, motivation has to be topped up regularly, focus on you ‘Wantivation’ and realise you are BeYOUtiful, make this journey as easy as possible for yourself.

Comfort Food enjoyed in the right way...

Thursday 28^th November 2013 

When a man gives his opinion he’s a man.  When a woman gives her opinion she’s a bitch.  Bette Davis

Day one back on track, breakfast, Spanish onion and spinach omelette with a couple of spoons of baked beans, lunch smoked haddock, jacket potato, broccoli and 40g cheese (from weeklies), then for tea I had scouse.

Now I’d tried to make this scouse in the slow cooker and it didn’t work, it just turned out as a stew with quite runny liquid, whereas this is the recipe;

Scouse

Serves 3, F&H or 11pp per serving

420g Lean Diced Casserole Beef (16pp)

600g of Potatoes, Diced (12pp)    

5 or 6 Carrots, Sliced

1 large Onion, Sliced 

6 Beef stock cubes (3pp)

2 tsp Olive Oil (3pp)

Spray Olive Oil in a large pan and heat.  Add the beef and cook on high to seal it.  Drain any fat and add the onion and cook for a couple of minutes.  Add the carrots and potatoes and add enough hot water to cover.  Add the oxo cubes and stir.  Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 3-4 hours until the liquid reduces and it goes really thick – you know when it’s ready as you can stand a spoon in it! Delicious the next day.

I have to say cooking it on the hob made a massive difference and dicing the potatoes smaller helped too I think, I used different quantities because I’d bought 1kg of beef (35pp) reduced in the asda so I added 1kg potatoes (21pp), 6 large carrots and 4 medium onions and 9 oxo cubes (4pp), only used a bit of spray oil and the bowl I ate for my tea last night was perfect – just like the stew my mom used to make and I’ve never been able to replicate, I can’t wait to eat it today and I’m sure small diced potatoes and cooking on the hob was what made the difference for sure. 60pp for a huge pan of scouse that will easily make 8 bowls I’m sure, mmm love food I do!  

A day of Filling & Healthy complete, I’m going to do it till Sunday when I’ll eat what’s put in front of me because I’m at my conference and someone else will have cooked it, plus I’ll have been on a coach for hours.

Sat here this morning think, boo I’ve got to wash my hair, had it cut yesterday and even though it’s still shoulder length, the front bits are chin length and I can’t easily get it in a bobble like I usually do for convenience, I’ve woke up with it a bit of a mess.  So why did I have it cut because I want to grow the colour out, I’ve had all the split ends cut out too, I’ve decided to go grey disgracefully ;).  Everyone last night was saying how they liked my hair, how fab it looks down, how it made me look younger and I just kept moaning, saying “I don’t care how young I look, it’s not practical – I can’t tie it up and its getting in my eyes and up my nose” Don’t get me wrong I love the cut it’ll just take some getting used to, I want to persist to see if I can get used to having it down and if not I’ll get it in a pony tail however lame it looks trust me!

Right I better got because I need to get all my usual stuff done and blow dry my hair, have a fab day all, whether ProPointing or F&H enjoy it, I’m mostly eating scouse all day except for breakfast.

BeYOUtiful. xx

Oops, the scales went Up!

27^th November 2013

Not only is women’s work never done – the definition keeps changing!

Oh well it appears it’s official Bailey’s and Maltesers make my belly grow!   My not so great week has resulted in a two pound gain at the scales, the second one in a fortnight, so that 4lb I worked on losing has gone back on much easier.  And that is how easy weight gain is, it’s also why I’m a Weight Watcher because left to my own devices, I’d gain and gain and gain, I need to keep myself under control and aware of the scales because ignorance for me doesn’t lead to bliss. 

Okay this week it was mostly the fault of the Bailey’s and Maltesers, why the 2lb gain the week before you may be thinking – well….. daft as it sounds, one of the reasons was because my kitchen scales were taken and used in all my meetings therefore they were in the car and I wasn’t using them to weigh or measure anything, whereas usually I use them to weigh EVERYTHING, even my wine!  I realise without my scales, my portion sizes grow which is why they’re now back out on the side.  That 4lb will be gone before I leave for my Christmas break, I’m making that promise to myself.

Now here’s the first glitch, I’ve promised my two helpers I’ll make them cheese and potato pie for their tea today, and I’m thinking ooo that’s a lot of ProPoints and it certainly isn’t F&H, so what shall I do.  How easy is it to think, ‘sod it’ I’ll just start tomorrow?  But tomorrow never comes then does it because there’s always something else stopping your progress.  Instead I will make the pie, using

350g cheese = 40pp

1kg potato 21pp

Total = 61pp

This will serve at least 6 good portions at 10pp each or use 7pp from my weeklies if I decide to make today a F&H which I might because then I can have my baked beans with it as a F&H option!  Start the day with scrambled eggs and there you go a perfect day of scrumptiousness and comfort food.  It’ll mean going without my daily glass of vino but I can live with that, on this occasion the pie is higher on my ‘want it’ list!

Depending on how I feel later I actually might have the pie with vegetables instead of beans, as I’ve got a cauliflower in the fridge needs using, it’ll make for a very ‘white’ coloured meal but I can’t bear waste and that cauli need using!

Oh man I haven’t got time for this messing about on the pc but I’ve just found a fab recipe for Cauliflower and Almond Madras on the Weight Watchers esource, wonder if I have the time to make that today?

Anyway, whatever I have I’m on track for a weight loss next week, the only time I’m eating out is Sunday lunch at a conference, however I’ll be stuck on a coach for half the day and in a conference for hours so I won’t exactly be overeating/drinking for the rest of the time and I’m guessing as soon as I get home I’ll be going to sleep!

My members lost 124lb yesterday, Julie received her 50lb weight loss certificate and Emily got her gold membership having lost just over 5 stone – this is my motivation, if these amazing people can lose weight at this time of year when life is throwing stuff at them left, right and centre then I can get this 4lb off before I start celebrating Christmas.

What’s your plan to stay in control today?  Do you have one?

Eat Gorgeous, BeYOUtiful and know it’s really worth the effort, because you are. xx