beetroot risioto

Well I have just had the featured recipe on slimming world - beetroot risotto. It was OK but I could not finish it so don't think I will have it again - so will not put the recipe on here. Have just made myself a sugar free jelly to eat tonight with a kiwi fruit as I think I might be peckish later.

This is the TOBY kit

This is the Toby set:-

Absolutely fab Mod scraps kit!!

Well after waiting for what seemed like ages my mod scraps Elsie Flannigan kits have arrived. They are so fab that I have taken loads of photos of them. This is Roxie - my favourite. Not quite sure how I am going to use them yet - especially the fabric papers.

HER SPACE- MY SPACE HOLS

Just checked the her space - my space web site and the girls are on holiday for a month till August so no prompts for a while. I have only managed one in the last week anyway so here is 'soap'.






I just love Loccitane products. I use this soap everyday and my (fat ) skin is very smooth and not dry at all becasue this soap contains all natural products. I have tried to get Janet to try it - but she stubbonly refuses because she has sensitive skin - so perfers to use products for sensitive skin - even though they are loaded with chemicals!!!!

Just catching up after nights

Well I have had an interesting few days - first of all I lost another 4 1/2lb at Slimming world on Monday and was slimmer of the week again! Mandy (the consultant) has set me a target of 1 1/2 lb loss next week which will take me my first stone loss. I do hope I can do it - a stone in 4 weeks is pretty amazing - since I have never felt hungry and in fact have eaten more than I usually
do. I am getting really keen on red days now - considering it was all green at the beginning.




Here are a few pics of some of the red days food I have been eating. Sunday, Grandma came for tea and everyone was having quiche so I made a vegetable frittia with onions, mushroom, peppers with a beaten egg over the top - cooked on the hob then under the grill. Had a few baked beans with it. It was OK - but I am not a great egg fan - it was however quite filling.



Then on Monday I made a cottage pie. I had made one last week but it was just mince in the bottom so I managed to find a Rosemary Conley recipe to do it properly with gravy in the bottom - so had a go at that and it was much better - Steven & Liam loved it and want it again!
As I could not have potatoes I used mashed Swede on the top of mine with a little sprinkled grated cheese. With a few carrots and mushrooms it was lovely and the did did me an evening meal Monday & Tuesday. The large bowl is Steven & Liam's - did just one meal! and mine is the smaller one behind it.

A few calories burnt up in the garden today.

Today's photo prompt is' write' so as I am writing everything I eat in this little note pad , it just had to be this. 

Unfortunately I loaded it up on the large computer which does not
 have photshop on and I can't see a way to add text to photos in
Picassa - so it has to be title-less!

I write everything down that I have to eat in this lovely little book and then transfer it to the slimming world diary sheets when I have time to work out my syns and healthy extras etc.



Today was an original day and I have eaten very well. Had usual breakfast, the grilled bacon with mushrooms, tinned toms, a poached egg and 2 small wholemeal slices of bread (as healthy extra b). Then for tea the most gorgeous pork kebabs with mushrooms, onions, cherry toms and peppers. I marinaded the pork in a barb-b- que sauce from sainsburys - I am sure it was not healthy at all but it made the kebabs taste so delicious that I don't mind - well I do but I have worked very hard in the garden today - so all those calories burnt up will make the allowance for the bbq sauce!

Still no Mod Scraps kit!!!!

The self adhesive matt stacks from DCWV came - not sure about them really so will have to see if in fact I will use them. They should be useful in my big shot - but as I only have one set of alphas - it might get a bit tedious. I don't really want to invest in another set as I am trying to save up for a circut.

Some QVC goodies in the post.

Some goodies came in the post from QVC today.
These are the jelly alphabet letters from DCWV and they seem very nice.

These are the embellishments from Heidi Grace - again these look nice as well. I don't use a lot of embellishments on my layouts so hope I use these. Wish I had gone for some of her papers - perhaps when she is on again.

My monthly kit from Mod Scraps did not arrive which was a bit disappointing as other people on UKS have got theirs and are raving about the lovely Elsie Flannigan stuff.  I am having 2 this month -Roxie & Toby - having missed the K & Co kit last month. I have also ordered a couple of mags and card stockfrom here - so it will be a lovely treat when it does arrive.

I have been constructive today finished the T & U pages for the A-Z BOM - will try and take some pics later. Only 3 pages left to go and these are 3 of the hardest letters X, Y & Z - I would like to finish them soon so I can start on my next project - A year in the life of Liam!

This week's reading & watching material

Just thought I would show what I am reading and watching at the moment

Fosse is a fab DVD - it is the show Fosse about the choreography of the legendary Bob Fosse. It has lots of different dance routines and music from his different shows. My favourite track is a toss up between - Steam Heat from The Pajama Game - great beat and a track from Chicago - which has to one of my all time favorite musicals. I love the way Fosse uses exaggerated hand movements in his routines.

This is a book a bought from Slimming World on Monday night and it is full of free recipes - will be very useful but most of the recipes are for 4 people and Liam doesn't eat well at the best of time - so he will not want to join in - will have to see if I can cut them down for 2 folks.

Surprisingly I actually enjoyed this book as I remember watching the TV show about it - she did very well to loose so much weight. It is a few years old now and Michelle has disappeared from public view so I hope she has has been able to keep the weight off. I must admit about being very perplexed about her passion for alcohol. It was a major catastrophe when she could not have alcohol. I don't get it myself as I don't drink. There was a girl at SW on Monday complaining about the same thing - how sad that alcohol plays such a large & important part in their lives that they feel so very deprived if they can't have it.

What I did take from the book was the importance of eating natural food when changing your diet. It is far better to eat something which is higher in calories but is healthy and natural rather than something low calorie and very processed. I think I have taken that message on board - someone on UKS suggested having a packet mix pasta & sauce and in my slimmer of the week bag was a packet of meat free bolagnase - full of rubbish and all processed but low in caloreis - but I have stuck with natural instead.

Deb's pineapple fruity cake

I have done the 'R' page of my A-Z today , but instead of doing John Rutter  I chose recipe.  So to get a photo of a recipe I had to bake and I made my favourite pineapple fruit cake. Unfortunately I feel asleep on the sofa in the afternoon and it burnt a bit - typical when I wanted a nice shot of it. This is my fave cake and I can't have any - but in fact I have not craved anything sweet & stodgy yet because I am so thrilled with my weight loss. I am sure when it tails off a bit the temptations might come back.

I choose Ross for the other R - but despite a thorough search still no photos of him so have had to leave it blank and I will have to grab him for a pic when he has his next days off.

yesterday - first day I could not follow the plan

Yesterday my diet had to go a bit pear shaped - for the first time. I was on a late and had eaten
breakfast - all bran & grapefruit, then lunch - pasta and a sainsburys pasta sauce which works out to be only 1/2 syn and was quite tasty. I was organised and made a rice salad for tea at work but the whole shift was manically busy and I could not get a break at all. By the time I got home I was starving but did not want to eat a big meal before bed so had a bowl of cereal and a glass of milk.

I still feel hungry this morning and I feel a bit disheartened that things outside my control stop me from following it properly. But that's life I suppose and I should not be too surprised as I very rarely get chance to have a break at work anyway - better get used to it.

Did a page on my A-Z BOM yesterday morning - O for occupation & Oxford. I am going to have a go at another page today - have already done P & Q so will have a try a R for Ross and Rutter - John. I have not got any decent  photos Ross lately -all his PGL ones show him having a good time (read drunk) with lots of his PGL pals - will have to try and get one of him when he comes home next.
I am floundering a bit with this A-Z  now as I have lost my note pad with all the letter suggestions in and as I am getting to all the hard letters - am having to exercise a bit more brain power than I want!

Slimmer of the week!

Well I am really chuffed with myself, I lost 3 1/2 lbs at slimming world last night and was slimmer of the week! I got a sticker for reaching half a stone weight loss.

Its amazing because I have felt so full this week as I have had 2 original days - they were so filling that I didn't think I could possibly have lost weight - so it was a lovely surprise.

My first proper red day

Well yesterday was my proper first red day and it was actually quite good! For lunch Steven & I had turkey rashers, plum tomatoes, 
mushrooms, 2 slices of wholemeal bread and 1 egg. Then tea was homemade shepards pie made with lean mince, onions topped with mashed swede on top instead of potatoe. Sugar free jelly with kiwi fruit and bannana.

Might do another red day after this one.

Couscous salad

Well - it was horrid - don't think I can eat it again. I added onion, celery, pepper & tomato but it did not help much and I was 
conscious of the onion on my breath
 when I talked to the patients afterwards - so not a good idea for work 
- will have to find something else to take.
I have been very good diet wise this week but still not sure of red & green days. I am really hoping to have lost 2lb tomorrow when I go to be weighed- but how much of any weight loss I hopefully will have, will be because I still have not eaten any chocolate or dieted properly I am not sure.

Fathers day today - so better make Steven a cake I think. Eleanor has sent him a lovely card, DVD and chocolate.

Watched the Heidi Grace show when I got in last night - oh what beautiful stuff - but quite expensive - glad I was at work and was not tempted. They did not show the stuff I had ordered form the web site - which was a shame as I was hoping to get some ideas. Will jusy have to wait for it to arrive now.

My craft room AKA Ross's bedroom

Here are 2 views of my craft room It is actually Ross's bedroom (hence some of the artwork on the walls!) but as he is away working and only comes home one day a week I have hijacked it!

I love the luxury of having my own craft room which I can just shut the door on when I have to join in with real life again and not have to clear away. Its so nice being able to find everything as well.

The large storage unit is from IKEA and we have had it in the play room for many years full of children's toys but as they are all grown up now and Steven has hijacked the room for his memorabilia, I have it now for all my craft storage. it works very well.



My work top is a 3m length of kitchen worktop - laid on top of an assortment of table, Hi-Fi unit and chest of drawers! - which I thought would be plenty big enough but by the time my printer, laptop and paper & cardstock are on it, there is not a lot of room left to create on - especially when I get all my stuff out!

If Ross ever moves out permanently I would like to do this room up properly with proper fitted worktops all around, wall shelves and floor units.

QVC craft day

Well I am having a good time watching QVC craft day - thankfully I do not like the TSV - HOTP card set, so am not tempted, but have succumbed to some jelly alphas from DCWV and self adhesive card mats from DCWV also. I do like this brand - find their quality excellent.

I am on a late today so will miss the first ever Heidi Grace show. I have never seen any of her stuff so will be sorry to miss it, so have ordered something online from her range as I am sure it will all be sold out by the time I get home. I ordered some embellishments and if I don't like them I can send them back.

Going to make my first ever coscous salad for work now.

good day but horrid tea

Well I have been house bound today as it as been pouring with rain all day. Apparently we have just had all of June's average rainfall in just 24 hours!

Good breakfast - same as ever - 2 weetabix (HEb) , linseeds (syns 3) 300 ml skimmed milk (HEa) and 1 whole grapefruit.

Lunch - wholegrain rice, celery, tomatoes, peppers, red onion with fresh strawberries for pudding.

tea - I was looking forward to - a recipe for the slow cooker from SW forum on UKS. Turkey chunks, onions, bag of frozen stew vegtables, chicken stock - cornflour added at the end. It was vile!!! What a shame as I was really hoping to start making better use of my slow cooker - I have a book on order from Amazon- slow cooker recipes - may cancel it now.

After a bit of housework this morning I read for the rest of the day Michelle Macmannus diary about her 8 stone weight loss on the you are what you eat plan - it is quite interesting. 

Well if there was ever an incentive to loose weight - here is the photographic evidence!

Well if there was ever any incentive to loose weight it is these photos taken at Norwich this weekend.
My face is round and piggy with no definition. My eyes look very rough but I did have an infection in my left eye - I think from having my eyelashes dyed last week.

I hope I can loose some weight and be able to look back at these photos and wince! It will be good to put an old and new side by side to see the difference. Got to loose 7 stone first - crikey! perhaps this time next year I will be able to see a difference.

My June scrapagogo kit has arrived

Yippee my June Scrapagogo kit arrived today - the 14th June. Got it a day early this month because Lorraine has changed to second class post so posted them all out on the 12th instead of the 15th thinking it would take longer to arrive.



The kit is full of lovely things - not sure how I am going to use them yet. In fact I have not done any scrap booking since I started this dieting lark because i have been too busy trying to read all about slimming worlds ideas. Must make a start again soon though as I have 2 monthly kits coming from Modscraps next week. - yes 2.  I did not fancy last month's K & Co kit- as I have loads of their papers and hardly ever use them and as she had 2 Elsie Flannigann kits this months decided to miss last month and have 2 this month - so I am going to be overloaded with stuff.

It is also Craft day on Saturday on QVC and I really want to get hold of some Heidi Grace stuff  but I am doing an extra shift (late ) so will have to tape it but I expect it will all be gone by the time I get home- will save me a few pennies anyway!

Off to read the Scrapagogo magazine for inspiration now!

A good eating day

Had a good day slimming wise yesterday - I ate such a lot though that I cannot see how I will have lost weight on Monday.

Breakfast: All Bran, linseed's (syn 3), skimmed milk (HEa), whole fresh grapefruit.

Mid morning: apple & peach

Lunch: Wholemeal rice, red onion, peas, sweetcorn, tomatoes with soya sauce to taste.

Evening meal: Chicken (HEb) & broccoli bake made with low fat condensed chicken soup (syn ?), potatoes and a small amount of cheese on top (HEa)

pudding - Cheats Eton mess from this months SW magazine - syn 4

I made this with strawberries, Shape lasting satisfaction yogurt - free, fat free fromage frais, sweetener and meringue nests. It was OK but a bit of a faff to make and actually would have just preferred the strawberries on their own so most probably won't make it again.

Then small glass of pomegranate juice (syn 3)  in evening - this is my daily treat to myself as I don't drink tea or coffee. Did try a smaller glass filled up with fizzy water but did not like the taste.

Our weekend away to norwich

We had a lovely weekend away in Norwich - Jess looked very well and was very happy despite having taken her end of year exams the day before we arrived and they did not go well at all - she is convinced she has failed the anatomy one. Liam was a bit of a grump as he had a big essay to hand in at school Monday morning - but had not bought it with him to work on so kept moaning to go home to do it! Hence his strops in the photos.



We stayed in  Premier Travel Inn as usual - but not our usual one at the Norwich showground as that one was full so we ended up at Norwich south which was a bit further away from Jess. I don't think we will go back to that one again as the cleaner barged in the room Sunday morning! and at breakfast our plates and bowls were not cleared from the table so we had to pile them up on the empty table next to us!.

Obviously a weekend away is not a good start to the diet - so I just ate sensibly - except for the 'eat as much as you can ' Chinese restaurant - I went up twice and then had fruit to follow. 
We shopped for Jess at Sainsburys in the evening and the others picked up snacks for a picnic tea - I choose fresh fruit from the salad counter and the had fresh fruit again for breakfast the next morning. I am sure that was too much fruit -but it was the lesser of other evils and I had a good weight loss Monday so must have done something right.

My first weight loss!

I did well! At my first weigh in Monday night I had lost 4 1/2 lbs! That is amazing as I still don't understand red days & green days. I think i lost weight because :-

1) I have not eaten any chocolate since last Monday  and as I usually consume at least half a ton a day - the absence of it must have made me loose half this loss.

2) most of this loss was fluid - I peed for England all of last week so once my body gets used to this regime all the fluid will go back on and I will be back to square one.





Anyway - no more negativity  - I lost and that's the main thing. I am aiming for a 2lb loss next week - trouble is I have been on nights and that's got the diet rather muddled so back to it tomorrow.

Had a nice tea last night - forgot to take a photo though - home made beefburgers with extra lean meat - hardly any fat ran out of them when they were grilled. Made with red onion and much chick peas - not sure why I added those but I did. one burger with lots of chick peas in fell apart under the grill - so perhaps not the whole tin next time. Served with potatoe wedges. sweet potatoe wedges and tomato & red pepper salsa - delicious. Steven liked it - Liam not so keen - but then he hardly eats anything at the moment so that is no barometer.

Cheese!

Well have just visited her space - my space blogg and todays word was cheese. 
A real coincidence as today I bought some cheese
that I have not had since the children were little - 
Dairylea Cheese triangles.
All in the name of slimming you see.
They are part of the diet - believe it or not- to make sure we get enough calcium.
So todays photo just had to be this.

My A-Z layout

My first slimming world recipe.

Well I am struggling still with the concepts of green & original days - so turned to Slimming world.com for some help. Found this featured recipe by Trudy Veale from Totnes called Creamy Cheese and garlic stuffed mushrooms.

I quite enjoyed it and think I will make it again. Here is her recipe Thankfully it had the frees, syns & healthy extras on the recipe becasue I am still struggling to work those out as well!


It was free on original & green. Cheese as healthy extra 'a' and Ryvita as healthy extra 'b'.

2 large flat mushrooms
1/2 small onion
I clove of garlic
fry light
3 Ryvita Multigrain
3 dairylea triangles
2 tablespoon Quark

Heat oven to gas 7
remove mushroom stalks and chop finely.
fnely chop onion
crush garlic and add them all to fry pan sprayed with a few squirts of fry light.
Soften gently for a few minutes then remove frypan from heat.
Put ryvita in a poly bag and crush with rolling pin and add to pan.
Add cheese triangles and quark to mix - stir throuoghly
spray mushrooms with fry light and add mixture to top of them
Cook in oven for 10 -15 minutes.

I served with 2 tomatoes.

some not very flattering photos of me

Here are some not very flattering photos of me taken the day before I signed in at Slimming World. I am not proud of them but have put them up as a reminder - not to get this big again.

Here is my weight loss ticker

A long way to go - but you have got to start somewhere.

I have signed up for slimming world!

Well I went and did it - I have signed up for Slimming World. I went along to my local group on Monday evening and it was not as awful as I expected - in fact I quite enjoyed it. I weighed in at an horrendous 16 stone & 13.5 lb - just half a lb off 17 stone  - now that is bad.

When you think that I was 9 1/2 stone when I got married and 10 1/2 when I started having children - thats 7 stone put on in 20 years. Time to stop the upward trend!

I know I have needed to loose weight for a long time but I was not ready to do it - but now I am. A few things have started the cause:-

1) had to scrub up for an emergency LSCS the other morning and could not fit into the extra- large theatre gear! - very humiliating.

2) Jessica' s scrapbook is finished - so I don't feel the need for every living moment to be spent thinking about scrapbook pages.

3) Steven & I are going to be 50 in 2 years time and want a special holiday to celebrate reaching our half century - perhaps China - and I want to able to be fit enough to enjoy it and look nice in the photos - not feel I have to hide away and just take photos of steven all the time.

4)  Health reasons - its not healthy to be as fat as this. My gamma GT liver function tests have been very slow to return to normal after my gall stone surgery  - this extra weight is not helping.

5 )  to get fitter - I am so unfit - Ido not do any exercise and huff & puff like a steam train.

6)  learn to control my eating - I am such a chocaholic that I live on chocolate - I eat tons of it at least 2 or 3 times a day

Anyway I have some targets - 3 actually. First target is to loose 3 stone to get to 14 stone. My treat to my self when I reach here is to consider getting a gym membership - depending on finances - not good at the moment.

second target - loose another 2 stone to get to 12 stone - not sure what my treat to myself will be here.

Final target - loose a further 2 stone to get to 10 stone. I wonder if that is achievable? I should look Ok at that weight as that was the weight I was for many years before the children came along. If I ever get there steven can treat me to something!!!!