Thursday, 27 October 2016

D-Day! Or weigh in as some would say ;)



27th October 2016
Repeat after me, "My current situation is not my permanent destination"
WOW, that's it 4 weeks in the bag, weigh-in this morning, keep everything crossed for a good loss for me, I feel like I should get one, I can feel the difference both psychological and physically, I can see the difference when I look in the mirror and even better I feel like I can continue for another 4 weeks and it doesn't scare me, I can do this because I'M DOING THIS FOR ME!.  I've even had my mug printed with that written on to remind me each morning.  Yep if I do say so myself - I feel good!

I got back to my walking yesterday after my few days off recovering from the virus I had, it felt good.  I've even been and treated myself to a walking winter coat so I have no excuse as the weather drops colder.  You gotta love pay day!


I went to a Caribbean food place yesterday when I drove over to collect my mug, they do curried goat and that kind of thing, but as I've had that before I chose something else from their menu, oxtail with rice and peas, it was lush but too much, enough for two in my house anyway.  I've also had steak stew with rice and peas too, which I'll eat today. 

I've made my cottage pie as well ready for today so no reason to go off track on my busiest day, I'm all prepared - I'm not letting my excuses control me this time, I will be lighter at the end of the year than I was at the start.

What is it they say - believe it then achieve it!  That's my plan.

I'm enjoying feeling how I'm feeling and that's what's motivating me - amazing what a difference  4 weeks came make, it really is.

I have a to eat/cook list as long as my arm, I need to make the 40 clove of garlic chicken at the weekend for sure, but for now I need to think about breakfast and getting ready for work.

Moms just woke up early, so I better go make her a cuppa, keep her smiling.

With Halloween this weekend I'm thinking a GHOULash :) get it! 

Beef Goulash
Serves 6, 7sp per serving
1kg good braising steak, preferably chuck steak (29sp)
1 tbsp sunflower oil (5sp)
3 medium onions, cut into 12 wedges
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp hot smoked paprika
1 tbsp paprika (1sp)
1 beef oxo stock cube
600ml cold water
400g can of chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 bay leaves
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 orange pepper
Flaked sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat over to 170oC/Fan 150oC/Gas 3.5. Trim any hard fat off the beef and cut the meat into rough 4cm chunks. Season well with salt & freshly ground black pepper.

Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole dish. Add the steak and fry over a high heat until nicely browned all over, turning regularly. Tip the onions into the pan and cook with the beef for 5 minutes until softened. Add the crushed garlic and cook for a further minutes, stirring regularly.

Sprinkle both paprika's over the meal and crumble the beef stock cube on top. Add the water, tomatoes, tomato puree and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper, stir well and bring to a simmer. Cover with a tightly fitting lid and transfer the dish to the oven. Cook for 1.5 hours.

While the beef is cooking, remove the core and seeds from each pepper and chuck them away. Cut each pepper into chunks of about 3cm. When the beef has cooked for 1 ½ hours, carefully remove dish from the oven. Stir in the peppers, put the lid back on and put the goulash back in the oven for a further hour or until the beef is meltingly tender.

Serve with small portions of brown rice (for extra ProPoints) and spoonfuls of soured cream if you like (for extra Smart Points), but don’t be too generous soured cream contains less fat than double cream but still has 2sp per tablespoon.   Elmlea light single cream is quite good on Smart Points too.
On that note I'm off to get us mugs of hot steaming tea, it's still pitch black outside, I know that'll change at the weekend when the clocks change but I'm not a big fan of the clocks going forward and back each year, it messes with my body clock!

Here's to a tremendous Thursday BeYOUtiful, focus on the healthy and happy, oh yeah and maybe move a little xx

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