HELLO!!
WELL MY GOODNESS IT HAS BEEN A WHILE. SUMMER HAS KIND OF GOT IN THE WAY OF THE BLOGGING AND A LITTLE IN THE WAY OF MY WEIGHT LOST QUEST. PLEASED TO SAY I ONLY GAINED ONCE AND LOST IT AGAIN THE NEXT WEEK SO THE JOURNEY HAS CARRIED ON DOWNWARDS JUST VERY SLOWLY.

SO SUMMER IS OVER, ROUTINE HAS NOW RETURNED AND IM FOCUSED AND READY TO MOVE FORWARDS AND REACH MY GOAL.

I ALSO HAVE A PHONE FULL OF PICS OF SOME OF MY FAVOURITE RECIPES THAT IM EXCITED TO SHARE. I KNOW HOW MUCH INSPIRATION I GET FROM THE WORLD OF THE INTERNET SO HOPEFULLY SOMEONE ELSE WILL GET SOME ENJOYMENT FROM THEM.

SO HERES TO SOME TASTY TEAS AND TREATS!
XX

I was feeling in the mood for a bit of inspiration and I spied this book at class. Asian food is probably my favourite. When I first had Thai food it rocked my world. That heavenly mix of sweet, sour and salty. Real Thai food is so fresh and vibrant and alive. Its also in the most part really healthy, if you avoid the deep fried goodies.

This book is great. There's nothing over 5 1/2 syns and plenty of totally free recipes. I'm spoilt for choice an don't know which one to do first! There's a great sushi recipe in there and a green curry for only 2 1/2 syns!! Heaven.

Will post how I do! Hxx

I love slimming world quiche. It's so versatile and you can make a big tray of it and pick away at it when you need it. I was particularly pleased with this one. I used budget smoked salmon pieces as I'm also watching the pennies a bit. I also added some mint to the mix which I think added a really nice fresh element to the flavour.

6 eggs

1 pot cottage cheese

Half a packet smoked salmon pieces

1 teaspoon Dried mint

2 teaspoon Dried dill

salt and pepper

I blitzed the eggs and cottage cheese together. Then added the mint, dill and seasoning and gave it another quick mix.

I then added the salmon to the mixture and poured it into a greased medium baking tray.

I baked it for about 35min at gas mark 5 till set as cooked through. Allow to cool somewhat (if you can!) and then cut as serve. Delicious warm or cold and a great staple for parties or picnics or in fact any time at all!

Well this week I will be having my 6th weigh in at Sw (although must be week 7 as I missed a week while away) and so far I have lost 10lbs. While I know this isn't bad and I definitely feel LOADS better for it already, it is always around this point when failure comes a knocking.

Although I've been to slimming world several times before I have never achieved my stone award. I've lost 13lbs I think but never got that stone. Previously though that was always enough to get me to a place I felt happy and so I lost my motivation. This time however I have to loose nearly 3 stone to get to that same place and 10lbs is not going to cut the mustard.

I guess it's just a case now of adjusting my mind set for the long haul. Accepting that actually the kind of weight loss I'm looking for won't happen in 4 weeks or even 8.

I have to say the new extra easy plan really is just that, and once Id got my head round it I've found it a doddle. I do miss my second A choice though as I love my cheese but love my tea and coffee more and I've yet to go full European. Maybe I should try it one day.

Also the group is great, although they always have been, this one has so many inspirational weight losses. Nearly everyone there has lost at least a stone and some have lost 5!! It's great when you sit there thinking 'why's she here? She doesn't need to come' and then you hear she's lost 4 stone! It really is possible and it's not just the stories you read in the magazines.

So far apart from a few 'flexible syn' days I have managed to keep pretty much on track and I haven't gained yet (hope I've not just jinxed the weigh in!!). This is when you start to get really demoralised. There is a girl at group who has only ever seen the numbers go down and she is my role model. That would make me feel really good.

It's hard work though and after quite a rough week with very little sleep I've found it particularly hard not to reach for the bad stuff. I hope I've managed it well enough for those scales to be friendly on thurs. Please let them be friendly!!

So as you can tell by the quiet I've been a bit busy recently which has also meant I've been a bit off plan. It's so easy to do if you're on top of things but as soon as things slip a bit, like being away or at people's houses and suddenly your knee deep in syns!

So after a few dodgy days I'm trying to pull things back with 4 days of success express. It's a bit more involved than I thought but I'm really trying to stick to it.

My secret weapon is a big bowl of syn free coleslaw. I make a big bowl and then it lasts me 2/3 days and I know I always have something tasty and super free at hand. It's mega healthy too as its all raw veg.

Apart from the basics, cabbage, carrots, onion, I like to throw in whatever I have that's crunchy in my veg draw, celery, radishes, gurkins, pepper, jalepeneos, apples, anything really. I also like to use fresh herbs as they really bring it to life.

I mix the dressing up too, sometimes I use fat free yogurt with a bit of white wine or cider vinegar with dill and caraway seeds. Lots of simple fresh lemon juice and parsley or lime juice and coriander.

Basically keeping it varied and interesting really helps. I can easily do 2/3 of a plate and then I can have whatever I fancy with it and its soooo filling.

As I said its my life saver!!

We have sunshine! Hooray. As a mother of 2 toddlers coffee is a very important part of my day. If I don't have my afternoon coffee I'm asleep by bedtime, theirs not mine! But a hot cuppas not want you want when you get in all hot and bothered so I love a nice ice coffee.

Most ice coffees however aren't very slimming friendly chock full of full fat milk and so sugary sweet. So I decided to try and make my own Sw friendly version.

I used my espresso pot an made it nice and strong then poored it in a jug over some ice and added milk and a touch of sweetener (nb. I'm not a big fan of artificial sweetener, I hate the chemical bitter taste so try to use as little as possible or even a bit of sugar and syn it instead).

It was really nice totally hit my caffeine fix and kept me cool and refreshed hxx

Well such a busy day yesterday I didn't even fit in a blog. Stayed pretty much to plan until I went out for the evening.... Still I didn't got too mad as had to be home early for the babysitters which was probably a good thing. Definitely a flexible syn day but not too much damage I reckon.

I went for lunch with my friend and our kids (4 under 4 so you can imagine the madness, and the mess!). We went to a lovely local community cafe where they do nice healthy food and but unles I had the old jacket potato and beans I couldn't help but have unknown syns. I have always thought that there's a big gap in the market for a slimming world menu in cafes.

Lets face it most people, well women, are rather conscious of what they eat and 'doing lunch' can be a calorie or syn ridden nightmare unless its the above mentioned jacket and beans. This gets rather boring and is particularly annoying when you know the gorgeous food you could be eating! I started having people round for lunch instead which was nice but part of the point is going out and I hate feeling worried about meeting my friends So I think a slimming world menu would be a right draw.

Knowing how we share tips and ideas at group I reckon the news of a slimming friendly cafe would spread like wild fire and the cafe would be packed out in no time. Others may also come to realise that actually the healthy option can Beth's tasty option too!

So what do you think? Any cafes out there ready to take the challenge? Hope so I'm sick of jacket an beans! Hxx

I like to have a hearty lunch. It keeps me going pretty much till tea time without a dip in the biscuit barrel. These slimming world quiches are fabulous, syn free, so filling and you can vary them in anyway you fancy.

Today I used some tinned potatoes (handy time saver but pretty tasteless by themselves) pepper, red onion and garlic. I fried them off a bit to add flavour. Then blended 4 eggs with a tub of cottage cheese and half a tub off quark. I added a teaspoon of mustard which is a syn for the whole thing but really worth it! Then baked it for 30 min at gas mark 5.

I had it with some nice simple salad with white wine vinegar. I always think a nice green salad makes it look much prettier is all the more free food!

As you can see I couldn't resist making my portion even bigger although to be fair my toddler ate all of that. Must have been good as he had it instead of his peanut butter and jam sandwich!

Morning Sunshine. Well actually it's blowing a miserable gale outside so I have given myself a bowl of tropical sunshine to cheer me up. Watermelon, pineapple, apple and a few blue berries have set me up in good style.

I love a big bowl of fruit in the morning and this is one of the things that slipped with the general madness of toddler breakfast time.

I got the watermelon for £2.50 from lidl and its lasted me all week so a right bargain. And I flipping love watermelon, reminds me of more exciting tropical times which can seem very far away on a wet windy morning!

Hello and thank you for looking at my new blog. I've never done a blog effort so bare with me.

I recently decided that I needed to loose some weight so I took the plunge and signed up to slimming world 3 weeks ago. I thought that maybe blogging about it would hell keep me motivated.

Plus ive cooked some really tasty teas, even if I do say so myself and thought if nothing else I might be able to share some tea time inspiration. I know I love searching the web for delicious recipe ideas, can you tell I like my food?

The food will be slimming world based, which these days is basically just healthy eating and I will include syns where I can. Please bare in mind though that they will just be syns as calculated by me who doesn't have a magic machine or anything.

I also hope to share any hints or tips that have worked for me along the way.

My motivation is all the usual stuff, feel better, be able to do more with the kids, not die or get any weight related illnesses oh and look nice in my clothes again!

So far I've lost 9lbs and am pretty pleased with that. I'm hoping that I'm addressing some of the really bad habits that I've got into and that slowly I will replace them with new good habits.

Right then time for breakfast!
Hx