Snow gives you an appetite apparently!

11^th 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)

Easy to make, it’s healthy and completely dairy- and gluten-free, too. Serve up this pâté as a crowd-pleasing starter, nibble or as part of your Christmas celebrations.


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