Happy back to reality day everyone...

Thursday 2^nd January 2013

In preparation of a great year let go of the old (donate, sell, release, recycle), to attract & manifest the new.  Doreen Virtue.

Let’s focus on the positives shall we as I’m guessing with yesterday being the first of the month, not everything we did was perfect.  Firstly my mom, she’s managed to eat a little, drink fluids and keep it all down, she’s slept lots, barely remembers anything on the last week which is a bonus as I remember it all and it wasn’t pleasant.  This morning I’ll go and see my GP and find out what next!

Other positives from yesterday, I’ve given my living room and kitchen a super clean up, that took all morning, I’ve also watched all the dirty clothes from holiday – mine and my besties as she couldn’t fit that case in her car (mmm not silly is she, didn’t get me to bring the lager back ;) ).  Neither of us have had a great start to the year as her mother-in-law passed away yesterday after being rushed hospital on the morning, very sad time for their family, the only blessing was they’d come back from holiday early so were able to be there.

Sorry I only wanted to focus on the positives this morning but negatives happen and you know what, they’re part of life and how we cope with them affects everything else in our lives.  I’m not one for ‘putting on a brave face’, if I feel I need to cry – I do and as a sparkly wise friend who’s also having a tough time at the moment shared on Facebook yesterday “A good piece of advice I had recently was acknowledge the feeling and give it permission to leave. So if you feel sad, feel sad and then tell it I let you go. Crying is good; trying not to cry makes it worse.  Emotion is good for children to see, it makes it ok, we all feel sadness, and allow it to leave.  I see mine as a tsunami. It washes over me, I cry, I let it go, I move on. I'm ok. It works.”  She’s a wise lady who’s had a tough December but will always come out the other side even more sparkly than before. 

So back to the domesticated goddess that I became yesterday, I cooked too, so much cheese bought back from Wales, so I’ve made cheese and potato pie and will freeze some, I also made Parsnips, garlic, blue cheese soup mmm, the recipe I used is at the end of the blog.

What other positives can we focus on, well personally I’m blessed that so many people care about me and my mom, I’ve had so many people say if they can help just say, so I’m thinking of getting them to redecorate the house and my utility room could do with a complete makeover – or is that not what they mean!  Maybe one of them could deliver us SimpleStart meals for a week to get us off to a fab Weight Watcher start ;-) 

Today I’m going to tackle a little bit of work stuff so it’s not all overwhelming at the weekend, obviously depending on how mom is and what comes of my trip to the doctors.  I also might brave my bedroom and the bathroom in my journey into domestication, poor Alfie was totally confused yesterday following me round and in the end he decided the safest place was to sleep in the hallway, then he had visual on all exits, bless him.

I can’t wait to share Simple Start with my members next week, I’m hoping they’re not fretting having had time off their meetings and enjoying Christmas because I know that with the knowledge they’ve already gained from their meetings and this new Simple Start we will all get rid of any Christmas gain pretty damn quickly, we don’t need to fear the scales because we are in control and going to get/stay healthy & happy in 2014.

2013 was a good year for me, most years are as my selective memory blocks out the bad stuff that happens and as long as I make it out of the year alive, I see it as a good one ;) and I’m sure 2014 will be yet another BeYOUtiful success too where I’ll continue to Eat Gorgeous and love me and mine.

Happy back to reality day everyone – make it a good one. xx

Parsnips, garlic, blue cheese soup

ProPoints Total 16pp, 4pp per serving

or if doing F&H uses 6pp of the weeklies for entire recipe.

Prep time 10 - 15 mins

Cook Time 1 hr

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 500g parsnips (10pp)
• 1 medium onion, thickly sliced
• Spray oil
• 10 garlic gloves
• About 600ml hot vegetable stock (I used 3 veg oxos)
• 50g creamy blue cheese, cut into chunks (6pp)
• Garlic salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 190oC/Gas 5. Peel the parsnips, top and tail them, then cut into large chunks. Put them into a large roasting tray with the onion. Spray with oil, season with some garlic salt and pepper and toss the lot together.

Don’t peel the garlic, just put the cloves on a piece of foil, spray with oil, add some salt and pepper, and scrunch the foil up loosely around the garlic to enclose it. Nestle the foil parcels in among the parsnips and onion.

Roast for 40–50 minutes until the parsnips are tender and caramelised and the onions are soft, giving the veg a good stir halfway through. Unwrap the garlic. The cloves should be soft and golden inside their papery skins – poke one of the cloves with the tip of a small knife to check. You can always transfer them, still wrapped in their foil, to a smaller roasting dish and cook them a little longer if necessary.

Transfer the parsnips and onion to a blender. Squeeze out the soft garlic cloves from their skins into the blender. Add the hot stock and blue cheese, and puree until completely smooth, adding a touch more stock or water to thin the soup a little if necessary.

Taste and add salt and pepper if needed. Serve piping hot, topped with a grinding of black pepper.  Delicious!