Slimming World Ginger Oat Cookies

Fancied a change from my usual Weetabix muffins the other day, so I mixed things up and had a syn free breakfast of fruit and a Muller Light and made some cookies for later.  

 I LOVE flapjack and realized the other day that I would quite like some and I made these ginger oaty cookies.  As I really like ginger I added some finely cut crystalised ginger to really boost the flavor and I have to say they’re really good and an excellent use of my HEB. 

The recipe is here and makes four which is a portion which meant they were a decent size, big enough to still be chewy in the middle rather than crisp which is exactly what I wanted.

These cookies are good to have with a coffee and my Mum, who isn’t on Slimming World but loves ginger said they looked delicious so look like I'm going to make her some to try over the holidays!  I see gossiping over diet cookies and coffee in my future.  Might be worth misisng out the crystalised ginger and swapping that coffee for wine.....

They’ll lend themselves to other flavour combinations too so watch this space!

Kathy xx

Ginger Oasty Cookies (syn free!)

Syn free stuffed mushrooms

I try to have a meat free day at least twice a week, I’ve found for me personally it helps manage my weight loss and am always looking for different things to make.  

Syn free stuffed mushrooms

Stuffed peppers and mushrooms have always been a favourite of mine and I decided to try them but using veggie sausages instead.  The only veg sausages I have are Linda McCartney rosemary and caramelized onion - I find the others a bit megh, these are a really good standby but I have to admit that I cook them far longer than you’re supposed to as I find that it improves the texture slightly.  Anyway, I digress. I don’t cook them for this recipe, defrost and squash but no cooking.  

As you can see, I added cheese which was my Healthy A for the day and I'm glad I did as it protected the rice from the cooking heat and stopped it going a bit crunchy.

Overall this is a very tasty meal.  I’m probably at the wrong time of the year as it’s more a summer dinner but, well I saw the mushrooms in tesco and just decided to give them a try.  I’ll try with peppers next.  The quantities on my recipe are for four but I made two, just put the rice mixture in the fridge overnight and had it again the next day….no problems at all.

So yes, definitely worth having as a big lunch or light dinner.  The recipe is here

Cutting down on red meat overall is a good idea health wise and I often have curried muffins on a week night if I'm in a rush as I can nuke them from frozen if I didn't plan especially well.  Increasing my veg has always worked for me and when others in class try it they seem to find the same, so it's very much worth a try.  I'll keep looking for good veggie recipies and look forward to sharing them.

Kathy xx

Chocolate Jelly Sweets

Yesterday I was at class and one of the awesome ladies brought chocolate jellies for us to try, they were absolutely delicious and really great for those days when you really need chocolate, even better they’re 2 syns for the entire lot!

I was inspired to try make my own...not as good as Sarah's but they'll do.

The ones I tried in class were chocolate, I played slightly and made chocolate orange jellies by using chocolate orange Muller light and a few drops of orange essence - absolutely delicious!  Next I want to try chocolate mint…they’re really decadent and I can’t tell you how well they help with that chocolate craving!

Chocolate jelly sweets recipe here

Kathy xx

Chocolate jelly sweets

Time for something different

Over the past seven months I’ve been fortunate enough to make some awesome friends at my Slimming World class. 

We encourage each other to succeed and have, between us, lost more than 13 stone…an absolutely incredible achievement.  To celebrate I had both my friends over for dinner at the weekend and was excited to make something new and different but still on plan.

In the end I went with a Chinese inspired menu as it allowed for fresh flavours, healthy foods and was something a little different.  The starter was chicken Yuk Sung, followed by baked salmon with spicy noodles and the pudding was a distinctly un-Chinese orange terrine with ginger vodka shots.

The total menu was less than 7 syns (including shot) so less than half a day’s allowance, and after dinner none of us could eat any more.  

It was absolutely awesome to celebrate our joint loss with good food and better company!

Here’s to the next seven months, all of us hitting target and maintaining the incredible losses!

Kathy xx

Chicken Yuk Sung

Salmon with spicy noodles

 

Orange terrine with ginger vodka shots

 

Finally, a pudding I’m not embarrassed to serve!

OK so being on a diet, or living with healthy eating options is straightforward until it comes to puddings.  I really struggle as by their very nature they are usually super sweet, chocolate, pastry cream filled calorie bombs.

That in mind I decided to have a couple of my friends from Slimming World over and challenged myself to come up with something low syn but still fun and interesting.  I’ve used the basic faux-ribo idea and made it into a far more impressive, multi-layer fruit terrine which came in at about 1.5 syns for a huge slice…the accompanying shot was more syns!!!!

Orange Terrine with Ginger Shots

It was a hit, we all really enjoyed the freshness of the mandarins and it was a realy refreshing end to a meal.  I’m definitely going to try it again and next time I think will use raspberries and/or strawberries for an even lower syn option but you can try this orange recipe here.

Kathy xx

Go to chilli

This time of year I love to have chilli, I batch cook it and freeze to have with pretty much anything, boiled rice, jacket potato, courgetti spaghetti and even make it into a delicious pasta bake.   OK, I even had it on cheese on toast the otehr day...but that isn't a usual thing!

I find chilli's so versatile and when I make it in the slow cooker couldn’t be easier so here’s my recipe for what it is, I am a big believer in adding a touch of this and a bit of that to the pot but definitely try this meaty chilli it’s really tasty and great for a cold night.

Chilli recipe here

Quick chilli and pasta bake from the freezer

Kathy xx

Courgetti Spaghetti

I’ve had a birthday month, yes I’m too old for a birthday month but I don’t care.  It’s included lots of meals I wouldn’t usually eat (yes, that would be you pizza), champagne and a lot of wine but so far I’ve managed to stay on track in fact I've lost another three pounds over the past few weeks.  

I’ve tried not to go too far off my Slimming World routine and it’s been ok (says the woman who has a weigh in tonight!).  I’ve had more carbs than normal but managed to stick with the dried pasta and where possible I’ve been replacing it with my courgetti spaghetti which really does help me stop the weight piling on.

So I’m sharing a photo of my syn free slow cooked chilli from the freezer with courgetti spaghetti in the hope that it will save me from a gain tonight!  

Chilli with Courgetti Spaghetti

If you need to cut out the carbs give it a try, it’s surprisingly tasty, quick and easy.

Kathy xx

Musings on my first non plus sized birthday

It’s been my birthday week and for the first time since I started this journey I relaxed the diet just a little.  Yes, I know I’m old enough to stop celebrating them, but I believe birthdays are very special and a celebration of your day and this year took a moment to reflect on my year as it’s been quite something.

I was surprised to feel very emotional about everything.  I don’t think I’d realized how much being bigger bothered me and acknowledged that in less than 7 months I’ve lost almost 6 stone, and it was my first birthday in 15 years as a non plus sized woman.  I have to be honest and say I don’t really believe it still yet, it’s hard to explain but it’s truly overwhelming.  

In class recently we talked about non scale results and one of the Group said she’s further away from the steering wheel.  We sort of laughed but it’s true.  There’s the obvious and wonderful being able to shop for clothes  pretty much wherever I want, and that really is such an incredible freedom but there are funny little changes; I don’t look around me in restaurants to see if I’ll fit in the space between the wall and the table, having lost 12” off my hips, my work chair seems really big and the smile I get every time I pull my jeans out of the drier and know that whilst they might not be tiny to someone else, to me they look like I stole them off Barbie and I’ll take her – she’s not having them back!

So I relaxed and celebrated not just my birthday but my birthday week with some absolutely wonderful people that I am honored to have in my life.

It all kicked off with one of my all-time favorite meals, bruschetta with lasagna and prosecco.  I did make a low fat version of both but not as low fat as I could’ve done and I gave the Prosecco a good run for its money….big treat….the week carried on with wine, more wine and a rare dinner out so whilst it is Throwback Tuesday it’s also Terrified Tuesday as I have no idea what the scales are going to say.  But and to me this is the key, it’s just a day – well ok, a few days (!) – and it needs to be done.  Not all the time but when it’s time to celebrate that’s what you do.  You enjoy the people you love.  You have wine and enjoy yourself as that’s what life’s all about and the next day you start again.  You don’t let it drift, you get right back as the routine is the careful eating, treats are the exception which is what makes them treats.

I’m back on it of course and last night I had soy and chilli baked salmon with samphire for dinner.  Fat free, syn free and not taste free but not a drop of bubbly in sight.  Well, not for a week anyway….

So here’s my throwback Tuesday photo and I am very proud of what I’ve achieved and very grateful for the people that supported me to get here as when I looked back on the year I smiled a huge birthday smile before having my Weetabix muffins and fruit!!!!

Throwback Tuesday

Kathy xx

Banana choc chip Weetabix muffins

I admit it, it’s my birthday tomorrow and I decided that on my pre-birthday eve (yes, that does exist!) I wanted to have something different and a bit of a treat.  I’m pretty much always very good so of course it had to be chocolate and banana seemed like a good partner in crime.

So here we are, my beloved Weetabix muffins with a birthday, chocolate twist.  They’re ¾ of a syn each when using as your heb to my Slimming World family and to everyone else, well they’re diet food that doesn’t taste nasty!

They’re different – more solid/less squidgy than my blueberry and apple muffins but really great for a treat.  I’m finding that these and the cherry bakewell ones are almost like puddings or treats and so low in syns that I never feel like I’m dieting, plus I can have them in the car when I’m on the go.  Taking a lot of beating for my breakfast attention!!!!

Banana choc chip Weetabix muffins

But back to the birthday bit, this morning I was getting ready for work and realized that this will be the first birthday in about 15 years where I haven’t been plus sized.  The journey so far has taken about 7 months and I’ve been thinking what to wear to celebrate.  I don’t have many clothes now although some pre-birthday gift shopping has somewhat rectified that (yay!) however I’ve a couple of ideas and know that no matter what I pick this is the first year of many that I won’t have to be upset that I didn’t manage to lose weight.  Again.  This year I did and I couldn’t be prouder of myself and more grateful to the people around me that have supported me.  That’s the best birthday present there is.

Kathy xx

Quinoa, edamame and chargrilled peppers with prawns

At a meeting last week I had a salad from M&S with quinoa, edamame beans and chicken.  I admit it, I felt (a) very healthy and (b) slightly like a pompous ass when I said what I was having.  I can barely pronounce quinoa, had no idea what it was and certainly hadn’t eaten it before but I was avoiding the sandwiches and cakes like the plague and gave it a try.  Surprisingly to me it was actually really tasty so I decided to use it as inspiration for a new, healthy dinner.

I was a woman on a mission trying to find edamame beans and searched high and low, finally finding them in Waitrose.  I got a couple of bags of frozen and some tinned beans as I wanted to see what the difference was.  I see that they’re higher in fat than I imagined at 5% but as they’re a soy bean that’s not a huge worry.  I checked the Slimming World website and the beans are syn free.

While I was at the grocery store I picked up a packet of Uncle Bens whole grain rice with quinoa, tomato and basil (2 ½ syns).  I decided to add my edamame beans, sweetcorn and grill some red peppers and add prawns as the protein.  

The end product was a big bowl of healthy food that’s low in syns.  Yes, it was tasty but I like my food hot both temperature and spicy and this kinda missed the mark for me there.  On reflection a smaller portion would make a really good lunch.

Quinoa, edamame, chargrilled peppers and prawn salad

So this was a good, healthy dinner that's low in calories and fat and I'd have it again but I'd much rather have a big chilli so I guess I'm not that much of a pompous ass!

Kathy xx

Crumble for breakfast!

Anyone that knows me or my weight loss journey knows that I’m a stickler for my Weetabix Muffin and fruit breakfast, but there comes a time (normally on a weekend) when I want to mix it up a bit.

The Slimming World website has warm oats as a suggested breakfast choice so I thought why not.  If they were nasty I could always bit them…I started off by making my cherry bakewell muffins just in case.  If the oats were bad I had breakfast and if they were good I was all set for my Monday morning commute (smart!).

Warm breakfast oats with mixed fruit

When they were cooking away I decided to give the oats a shot and it couldn’t really have been any easier.  When the recipe is basically ‘throw everything in the bowl, stir and cook’ I know it’s a Sunday morning I can deal with!!

What I wasn’t prepared for was how absolutely delicious they were…and I mean really, really good in fact it’s like having a crumble for breakfast, or a warm fruit flapjack which, in my book, can only be a good thing!

Give them a try, the recipe is here and very much worth a go!

Kathy xx

Slimming World Potato Poppers

With the party season almost here, I’ve been thinking about little nibbles I can serve to my guests that won’t push me off track and the first one I’ve come up with is potato poppers.

Basically is an adaptation of my sausage rolls with mashpastry and it’s Smash, rolled out and cut into rounds that are filled with whatever you want.  The recipe and a bit of a how to guide if you want to see what I mean is here.

I made mine with a few different fillings:  slimming world meatballs, laughing cow cubes (1/4 syn each), the cheese cubes with bacon.  You can stuff them with whatever you like including caramelized onion, peppers, sausage – pretty much anything but I tried these three flavours first.  The laughing cow cubes work really well because they don’t melt and disappear, you still have a gooey cheese filing when they’re cooked.

As you can see, I heated some passata and just added some chopped fresh basil to serve.  It’s incredibly easy and perfect for party finger foods.

Slimming World Potato Poppers

I’m sure there are loads of different potential fillings, I’ll keep trying new ones but for now these are most definitely a hit!

Kathy xx

Syn Free Pizza

I miss pizza, my Mum used to tell me it was all the food groups – that might answer where my weight issues started!  
 

Anyway, I’ve really wanted pizza recently and have been thinking about what I can do to incorporate it into my Slimming World diet and have made a pizza omelet (or as my friend calls it a pomlette!!).

Bear with me, I know it sounds disgusting but it isn’t!  It’s an omelet with passata, cheese (healthy extra a) and whatever toppings you like.  Today I made cheats meat feast with SW meatballs, 

 sausage, bacon medallions, onions and peppers.  It was really, really good!  Plus it tasted like pizza.

I tried two different ways to get the toppings done, under the grill on a tray and leaving it in the pan under the grill.  Leaving it in the pan worked slightly better to slide onto the plate but the actual taste was no different.  

Syn free pizza

No, this is not exactly like having Dominos deliver you a delicious pizza to your door but that comes in at a whopping 8 ½ syns a slice while the ponlette is syn free which works for me.

If you fancy trying it the recipe is here.  

Kathy xx

Cherry Bakewell Weetabix Muffins

Last week I went to Costa Coffee and while I was in the queue for my coffee I couldn’t help but look at the cakes - they all looked really good.  Don’t know about anyone else but I often play the ‘before my diet what would I have eaten/done’ which entertains me still so I looked at the cakes and tried to decide what ‘old me’ would have had.  The Bakewell Tart won, although flapjack was a very close runner up and so was….ooopsie, I digress.  

As you know, I’m all about making this diet not a diet so I decided that if I really wanted a Bakewell Tart then I could have one but maybe I could make it something that didn’t use a lifetimes worth of syns.

Every morning I have blueberry and apple Weetabix muffins, so I’ve tweaked them to be Cherry Bakewell Weetabix Muffins and I have to say they’re really, really yummy.  I’ve shared this morning’s debut batch to a chorus of thumbs ups so I guess I’m on to a winner.  

By the way, a portion is four muffins but I'd already eaten one when I took the photo!!!!

Cherry Bakewell Weetabix Muffins

Note of caution, whilst relatively low for a big serving, unlike the plain muffins they are not syn free.

As I’ve a few different types of them now so a summary and links to their recipes would be:

Orange and ginger – syn free

Apple and blueberry vanilla – 1 syn for four muffins

Chocolate orange – 2 syns for five muffins

Cherry Bakewell – 3 syns for four muffins

I hope you enjoy them!

Kathy xx

Being weighed by someone else works!

I wonder if it’s just me, but when it comes to weigh day I can’t seem to stop thinking about those dreaded scales…being weighed in public is a huge deal for me and I think one of the reasons Slimming World works.

The first time I went to class I went on my own.  I didn’t know anyone and I was really nervous.  Being new to the area meant that I needed my sat nav to get the 2 miles to class and even the accents were weird, Brummie being very different to the Yorkshire accents I was used to.  I felt out of place, alone, frumpy and downright scared.

I sat through the new person talk with a few other people and liked the consultant, she was really friendly and easy going and made the diet seem pretty straightforward.  Then it came to being weighed and I was horrified.  I saw shock and pity in the eyes of the person weighing me and I was devastated.

The truth of the matter is that I didn’t see shock or pity in anyone’s eyes, it was me.  The person who weighs us is wonderful, helpful, kind, funny and absolutely non-judgmental – it was all how I felt about myself and my weight.  I was so upset when I got home but that was the first step, I’d done something about it and it was just a matter of putting it into practice.

So I did.  I started with my food journal and stuck to the plan.  I didn’t cheat and after a week I went back, I’d lost 5 pounds.  Insanely encouraging so I kept going, sometimes it was easy, sometimes it was the hardest thing ever, but every day I made the decisions to stay on track and not least in part because I knew I was being weighed on Tuesday and I couldn’t fudge it, postpone it, move the scales or hold on to the sink.  The best I could do was take my shoes off!

Every week I’d go back and I’d lost a little more, then a little more, then suddenly it was a lot.  At a stone people still couldn’t tell, at two stone they started to notice and by three it was obvious even to the most disinterested of colleagues but I kept going to class and I got on those scales.

Fast forward to 28 weeks later and I’ve lost 76 pounds.  That’s a lot of standing on the scales and breathing out (I really do!) but every week it was another little loss and every week I got closer to my goal.  Now I’m at target but still every Tuesday I get weighed and by Sunday I start thinking I should watch it as it’s weigh day soon!!!

Tonight will be scary weigh in number 29 and I know if I’ve lost, stayed the same or gained I’ll get encouragement and chat to my friends in class and whatever I have to do for my next target I’ll do.

So here’s to no shoes, no cardy and breathing out as I try to think thin and no pity in anywhere as I did think thin(ner) and 5 ½ stone later I’m ok with those scales.

Kathy xx

Sausage Rolls but not as we know them!

Our Slimming World group has a Facebook support page where the groups run by our consultant trade ideas and offer support to each other.  At a recent taster one of the other groups had Slimming World sausage rolls which looked great.  They were made with bread and I decided to try them with Smash potato as that would be sausage and mash on one bite – sounded like a good idea at the time!

I cut them when serving and they were more like sausage and mash poppers but I have to be really honest and say they’re not bad.  OK, it’s not like having a Greggs sausage roll but it’s syn free and just another thing I can eat.  Now the weather’s getting colder I’ve been looking for ideas as I think my salad’s will get cut back and these see like a really nice idea for lunch.  I think I can try tweaking the recipe and adding bits like caramelized onion or herbs, maybe even incorporate bacon medallions or swap for the Heck chicken sausages at some point but for now it was good enough to see if the idea worked and was it any good.....yes and yes!

It’s easy and reasonably quick…my friend from class was over while I made them and we both agree that they’ll be something we make again.

So another hit in Kat’s Diet Kitchen…now it’s time to fiddle with the ingredients and make it really tasty!

If you want to try the Slimming World Sausage Rolls with mash pastry the recipe is here

Enjoy!

Kathy xx

A coffee a day

I think a lot of people will agree with me that dieting is hard.  For me, every day I have to say no to things I enjoy like wine, Haribos, wine, cheese, wine, bread…oh, did I mention wine?  That sounds really bad…anyway, moving on.  There are some things I have that I’d have even if I wasn’t trying to lose weight.  I’d have my Weetabix muffins, baked salmon and faux-ribos no matter what as I really enjoy them but also I love my coffee.

Anyone that knows me knows I lived in New York for more than a decade.  It was an incredible experience and I thoroughly recommend everyone go if they can.  The people, the City, everything is wonderful but while I was there I developed a taste for Dunkin Donuts coffee.  Not the plan stuff, that would be too simple.  I like the flavoured coffee and love hazelnut and French vanilla, I think theyhave more now but I’m not sure.   

Special working at home treat of Dunkin Donuts coffee

Sadly there isn’t a Dunkin Donuts nearby where I can get my beloved coffee and in between using what I have in store and while I’m at work I always have Douwe Egberts flavoured coffees.  I never have syrup as I don’t take sugar and don’t like anything that sweet but these are really, really good plus they’re syn free.  

Flavoured coffees

So whilst this isn’t exactly food, I do drink a lot of coffee and apart from the fact it makes me very excitable it’s a really good way to have something I love that doesn’t make me feel like I’m on a diet, which in my humble opinion is the key to sticking with it and one of the reasons I didn’t give up.

Kathy xx

Slimming World Chocolate Brownie Muffins

This week it was the Christmas countdown in class and we had a taster.  As I’m always going on about the virtues of Weetabix muffins it was, of course, my job to make and deliver some and I decided in addition to orange and ginger muffins I’d try something new, chocolate brownie muffins.

I’m not a huge chocolate fan but recently I’ve had the chocolate munchies and have worked on a new version to my Weetabix muffins.  Unlike the other flavours, these are more like brownies and are not syn free, but a portion is FIVE muffins HEB and only 2 syns so I can live with that!  Warning though, they are bitter, as they would be using cocoa powder so if you don’t like dark chocolate you won’t like them, but if you do, well you’re all set!

The reaction in class was mixed, overall everyone liked them although there were a few faces pulled at first!!

So here is my slimming world chocolate brownie muffin recipe, I’m going to make them with a choc shot and see if they’re more of a milk chocolate flavor so watch this space!

Orange and ginger, chocolate brownie and blueberry vanilla muffins!

Kathy xx

One Pot Salmon and Roasted Mediterranean Veg

I love salmon and fresh veg but seem to have gotten into a rut of baking the salmon and serving with stir fry veg so decided to try something new.  It’s baby new potatoes, the veg I had in the fridge and added salmon.  It’s a one pot meal, it was really tasty and incredibly simple.

OK, it takes a little more time than I’d hoped but that’s balanced by a lack of washing up so I’m still happy.  Basically the meal is made in three steps:

1. Cooking the potatoes
2. Adding the veg and cooking again
3. Adding the salmon and cooking again

Clearly it’s not rocket science and I got on with other things as this meal needs no watching and no real effort.  Chop put in pot, chop put in pot and put in pot.  That’s pretty much it and having to wait an hour wasn’t the end of the world.  I liked the fact that it was all bite sized and I could sit on the sofa and watch NCIS as I ate it.  Not very sophisticated but I enjoyed it!

We’ve been talking in class about mixing meals up and how that seems to boost weight loss.  I think it’s worth thinking about.  I know it’s not a technical argument but I think new foods keeps our bodies guessing (as well as providing the variety or vitamins and minerals we need) and whilst I acknowledge that it’s not super different, it did give me some carbs which I don’t have often and was a welcome change for my taste buds as much as anything else.

I’ve a few friends that have been on diets for a while and have become so bored of eating the same things that they’ve given up and the weight is creeping back on, so in an effort to not do that I’ll continue to mix it up and share the successes and disasters along the way!

If you want to try the one pot salmon it’s super easy and the recipe is here.

Kathy xx

One pot salmon & roasted veg