For the amusement I would post my pictures of Christmas day. Please don't ask why my brother in law is wearing a tea cosy on his head. I have no idea but I guess it suits him lol. It was so nice to have all of the relatives round and I felt good about all of the food we ate that day. We had fun racing santas and on the wii ringing bells on wii music. I didn't get a very high score mind you nor did many except my brother in law. Is that slightly suspicious since he and his wife were the ones to bring the game????
Anyhow I probably won't be on here as I will be celebrating new year tomorrow and weighing in Hopefully not too damage done.....

Christmas

So what do you have if you are having slimming world dinner??? Well turkey of course. I catered for 9 people and we had parsnips, carrots, Brussel sprouts with chestnuts, gravy cranberry sauce, dry roast potatoes. Stuffing and  pigs in blankets. We followed that with Christmas pudding and mince pies. Suffice to say we couldn't move afterwards but it was v yummy. Stuffing was through Joes sausage meat which is syn free and v tasty. Tea was lost of slimming world recipes too with dips and mushroom filo crackers, meats and trifle and meringue dessert too. Think I made far too much though and would cut down the quantities. However I was very proud of myself to be able to achieve it. The following few days however I kind of went off plan ate round various relatives/friends houses and messed up. So think I may have put on some weight oops, never mind I can rescue it back once I am back on track!!! Hope you all had a lovely Christmas too.

Slimming eats

Yes its me again I want to suggest a site to visit to you all as it is my favourite place to go and see what I can make dinner wise or pudding etc. In fact there is lots of inspiration and I have  tried some of the recipes from this site and its yummy!!!Its called slimming eats and as I am writing this I am darting between talking to you and looking at the creamy vegetable pasta bake and the Quinoa Stuffed Chicken Breast wrapped in Prosciutto drooling. Which would I like to try first mmmmmmm.
 I have to say the slimming world food is very tasty and I don't miss out on bad foods. I didn't really eat chips or KFC or doughnuts they vmight have been a treat but rarely. What I did realise was that I liked going to restaurants for a meal during lunch on saturday if I was shopping with hubby or if hubby had month end or was late we might have take out which was pizza or Indian and once a month maybe fish & chips. So with a lot of that stopping it has made a real difference. I eat pitta bread or Warburtons square wrap pizza (8syns) or I have Indian made at home with healthier ingredients including the bhaji and raita dip YUM! So do I miss bad food nooooooo only do I miss on bad treats sweets that appear in the staffroom for someone's birthday or leaving or Christmas or if it has a y in the day ;) If you work in a school you know what its like lol
I am off to eat ginger sponge pudding and low fat custard now and can confirm it is v v nice. I might post a recipe if its not on SW site as its a definite must try. Will I shift this 5.5lbs before Christmas? I am going to do my hardest to definitely :) Might have to try the banana and chocolate chip loaf on the slimming eats site next Mmmmmmmmmm

Almond biscuits

Ok here we are the Almond recipe....
If you are linked to the Slimming world website you can find it there though and I can confirm they are scrummy so definitely worth a try

Almond cookies

Serves: 24

Prep time: Ready in about 30 minutes (plus chilling and cooling)

Cook time:

Syns per serving:

  Green: 1.5

  Original: 1.5

  Extra Easy: 1.5

57g self-raising flour
113g plain flour
42g low-fat baking margarine
100g vanilla Müllerlight yogurt
4 tbsp artificial sweetener
6 drops almond essence
low calorie cooking spray

1. Sift the flours into a bowl and rub in the margarine with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the yoghurt  sweetener and almond essence and knead until the mixture forms a soft dough (add more flour if too sticky or more yoghurt if too dry). Wrap the dough in Clingfilm and chill overnight in the fridge.

2. Preheat the oven to 220°C/Gas 7. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment and spray with low calorie cooking spray. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and roll out to the thickness of a pound coin. Using a small, star shaped cookie cutter (or any other shape) cut into 24 cookies. Carefully place the cookies on the baking sheets and bake for 12-15 minutes until slightly risen and browned.

3. Remove the cookies from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Let the children help to decorate the cookies with brightly coloured decorations (1 Syn per tbsp).

I made twice the amount using the mixture and then drizzled icing over the lot so I believe I still made 1.5 syn bisc but probably over estimated the syn value. 

I would rather over estimate then under estimate and mess everyone else up.

I can confirm that both 5.30 and 7.30 group enjoyed the biscuits at least I had good feedback :) 

I'll have the beef...

Woohoo the beef roast meal worked. So did the horse radish and yorkshires too. All very yummy

I must admit though not necessarily 3rd super-free the cauliflower and carrots were but Andrew served it up and I still think I need to educate him on 3rds and what is super-free  The whole meal was soooo  nice though and I felt like I could enjoy it fairly guilt free as such low syns (please see past posts for recipes).
I also can report that I have lost 2.5lbs this week and now have 5.5lbs to get to target I think this blogging lark is officially working :D will I get to target for Christmas....
Look out for tomorrow as I will post the almond biscuits and will the slimming groups like them????

Cookieeessssssss

Yummmmmmmm

Making chocolate chip cookies today especially for Slimming club tomorrow. Have already tested them and they are not as nice as my last batch but I do have some almond cookies too the recipe is on the slimming world website. I am also testing the roast beef recipe today with Yorkshires so I can let you know whether they are as tasty as people say... The roast smells sooooo yummy and feeling v v hungry at the moment.
I may have to try just one more cookie........ 3 syns each mmmmm
I made them smaller so less sins but up to you ;)
Out of the SW best ever recipes
Makes 18 (I made 24 so they came out as 3 syns or just under)
original/green/E.E.= 3.5 (if only 18 made)

• 175g/6oz Self raising flour
• 75g/3oz low fat spread
• 12 tbsp artificial sweetener
• 60g/2.5oz choc chips I used dark
• 3 tbsp v low fat fromage frais (fat free)
• 1 egg yolk

Preheat oven to 180C/Gas mark 4 and line baking sheet with greaseproof paper
Sift flour into a bowl add the spread and rub it in using your fingertips until mix becomes breadcrumbs add sweetener and mix well.
Stir in chocolate chips, fromage frais and egg yolk, then knead with your hands to form a soft dough. Divide the mix into 18 pieces (22) and roll each one into a ball. Place the balls on the baking sheet and flatten them by pressing lightly with the back of a damp fork.
Bake in the oven for 12 - 15 mins or until golden. Transfer to wire rack and cool before serving (if you can wait that long) ;)

Margaritas anyone??

Yum who wouldn't want a magarita? I love cocktails and am really excited at the new extra easy entertaining book is out. It has loads of ideas for meals for 2, Sunday lunches, buffets canapés and more importantly cocktails. The last challenge for 'Come dine with me was to lower the syn of a magarita and I found this the hardest challenge as alcohol is quite high in syns.

So what do you do you make a mocktail?
Not to everyone's taste and be warned I have not tried this...

margarita mocktail (1syn) serves 4 – (¼ syn) per serving

• no sugar limeade 177ml (tesco) (F)
• freshly squeezed juice of 1 orange 59ml (1)
• crushed ice

This brought the normal magarita which was 8 syns down quite a bit. mix altogether and then rub lime juice on rim of glass and dip in salt
but... in the new book there is a magarita cocktail for 5 syns on all...

Lime and watermelon margaritas
makes 8

• juice 1 lime
• 200ml tequila
• 50ml Cointreau or triple sec
• 2-3 tbsp sweetener
• handful of ice
• salt to serve

Chill 8 glasses. Place all ingredients including the ice in a blender or food processor and blend for 1-2 mins
serve with salted rim glasses see above, fill with magarita mixture and scatter a few watermelon seeds for decoration. YUM
If you want other cocktail recipes please get the book it is worth the money and really helps for those getting together and what am I going to make meals.