Nelly's Cupcakes

Boiler Shop Steamer Event - Newcastle.

2013-05-14T07:00:00.000+01:00

Earlier this month I went along to the Boiler Shop Steamer event at the Stephenson Works in Newcastle. I had been to Urban Night Feast in the same venue last September and absolutely loved it. So I had rather high hopes for this event too.

The event is basically a combination of live music, street food and awesome people. Each month (on the first weekend of the month) there will be a selection of street food vendors, bands and musicians, boutiques, comedy etc... etc... All coming together to make for a rather enjoyable evening.

We arrived for the event opening at 5:30pm, which meant it was free. After 6pm its £2 entry.

Being one of the first to arrive meant we got a table, then took it in turns to go to the various food vendors to try their wares. I started by inhaling a pork bun from Lulus Chinese, quickly followed by a vegeable samosa from Dabawal. The samosa was so full of flavour and spice I had to wash it down with a sloe gin and tonic from The Cumberland Arms.

After a brief rest I grabbed a mini pizza from the Pizzette van outside. Wild board, ricotta and artichokes (although there didnt seem to be any artichokes on mine). The pizza was OK, but to be honest I have had better. <>

After the pizza I was pretty full, so spent the rest of the evening listening to great music, chatting with friends and generally having a blast.

It started to get pretty busy by 8:30pm, so I headed home early to avoid the crazinesses of Newcastle on a Friday night.

It is so exciting to have an event like this in Newcastle on a regular basis (the first weekend of each month, on both the Friday night and the Saturday from 12pm). I look forward to going along to other events and trying different vendors, and hearing different music. My suggestions for future one would be more sweet options, like ice cream or even cake! Also, the porta-potties are pretty grim, proper toilets please!

Did you attend the event? What did you think? If you didn't go, seriously, get yourself there next month! (If you are not local, hop on a train, totally worth it!)

Lazy Girl: Barre Class

2013-05-13T07:00:00.000+01:00

When I decided to broaden my fitness horizons and try new things, Barre was at the top of my list. A lot of people I follow on twitter are barre regulars and rave about the benefits. I have been wanting to try it for a while now but always came up with excuses not to. I watched youtube videos and decided it was far too intense and I was far to unfit to even attempt it. Of course this is utterly ridiculous but that little nagging voice of doubt tends to be pretty ridiculous.

So back to The Barre. What is it I hear you ask? Well, it is based around ballet/dance. It is a series of small intense movements which targets individual muscle groups to achieve a burn, followed by stretching. The workout not only burns fat but also tones and improves flexibility.

The Barre studio in Newcastle is located behind central station in one of the railway arches. It is a little on the small side, with room for only 10 people in each class. While this does make for a nice atmosphere, and ensures one-on-one attention from the instructer, it does mean that the cost of each class is quite high.

Each 60 minute session is £12, although the first one is half price. You can also purchase blocks to bring the cost down slightly.

So how did I find the class? Well, I did feel a little like one of those hippos from fantasia trying to get my legs up on the bar, and get into certain positions. However, I did really feel a good burn and got complete jelly legs afterwards which must mean it was doing something good right?

Personally, I would love to incorporate Barre into my weekly workout. It is low energy yet effective and really conveniently located for me. Unfortunately I just cannot afford to spend £12 a week (or fortnight) on it.

Here is me after the class, I worked up a bit of a sweat and felt pleasantly sore. I definitely was feeling those lovely endorphins at this point.

So I give The Barre 3/5 stars. The place and the people were amazing, but the cost just isn't practical for me at the moment.

Have you tired a fun new exercise class or routine? I am always looking for new things to try.

Photos courtesy of The-Barre.com, used with permission

Noughts, Crosses and Monkeys. Oh my!

2013-05-10T13:59:00.001+01:00

Crisps, potato chips (for my American pals), beautiful little morsels of potato and pure heaven, am I right?

Despite my blog being named after a sweet little cupcake, I am much more of a savoury snacker. My total weakness is big ol' share bags of kettle chips. I could rather easily sit in front of Netflix and munch my way through a whole bag without batting an eyelid, and team that with a pot of hummus and I am in snack heaven.

Since being on Weight Watchers I have avoided crisps completely. A lot of the "healthy" alternatives masquerading as crisps leave a lot to be desired. So I think it best to just avoid them and dip cucumber and carrot in my hummus.

Walkers sent me some of these new "Noughts & Crosses" to try. They are 85 calories a bag and 2 Propoints. Which is perfect for a pack lunch, or mid-afternoon snack for me at work. Often if I am having a sandwich or wrap for lunch I miss having something crunchy for afterwards.

The packaging and branding seems to be geared towards kids, and the promotional material was all about increasing how much wholegrain we eat. I am not too concerned about this, but if I had a child it would definitely be a factor.

Me and the Boyfriend sampled the Roast Beef flavour which I personally did not enjoy, not because they were bad in any way, I just don't like roast beef flavoured crisps. The Boyfriend however really enjoyed them! He likened them to Monster Munch in texture with the signature walkers flavour. I would definitely be up for trying the salt & vinegar flavour, and a little birdie told me they are on special in Asda and Tesco.

So that is next weeks packed lunches sorted.

Along with my sample bag I got this adorbs little monkey toy. Although I am a big kid at heart I decided to gift this little cutie to my little godson Louie. He is nearly 2 and loved the little cuddly monkey.

What are your thoughts on "healthy" crisps? Worth the effort, or just not as good?

This is a sponsored post, all opinions are my own

Quick One-Banana Bread.

2013-05-08T08:00:00.000+01:00

We've all been there, you are all ready for a nice lazy weekend when unexpected guests descend. Maybe they just were passing and popped in, or maybe your boyfriend claimed he told you weeks ago, but alas you completely forgot. Either way, I am the kind of person who likes to be prepared for visitors.

I like the bathroom scrubbed, living room looking semi-respectable and smelling nice, and something yummy in the kitchen. However, when you roll out of bed at 10:30am and they are arriving at 12pm it really doesn't give a lot of time for rustling up a tasty treat.

If in doubt, bake banana bread.

I stumbled upon some lovely looking banana breads on pinterest and thought it would be the perfect sweet treat to go with a cup of tea. I set about weighing ingredients for my usual recipe when I suddenly realised I only had one banana! The downside of my new running habit, is I love a nice banana afterwards, so I go through them twice a fast now.

In desperation I quickly googled "Can I make banana bread with just one banana?" and I found that you can! There were lots of american recipes and a couple of scaled down versions so I sort of combined them all into this delicious recipe...

print recipe

Quick One-Banana Loaf

by May-8-2013

Ingredients

1 ripe Banana
75g Plain Flour
75g Caster Sugar
50g Butter (Softened)
1 Tablespoon Milk
1/2 teaspoon Bicarb of soda
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 whole Egg
50g Blueberries (frozen or fresh)
a pinch Ground Cassia or Cinnamon

Instructions

This is an all-in-one cake, so I just popped all of the above in my Kitchenaid and mixed until a batter formed.Pour the batter into a small greased loaf tin. I sprinkled the top with some demerera sugar for crunch.Bake at 180C for 25-35 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

I managed to cut this small loaf into 12 slices, which worked out at 2pp per slice. *bonus*

I threw in some frozen blueberries and some ground Cassia (cinnamon bark), it added a little more interest to a plain banana bread. I wish I had had some walnuts or hazlenuts to hand, as they would of made a perfect addition.

What is your go-to recipe for last minute guests?

Lazy Girl - a new adventure.

2013-05-04T08:00:00.000+01:00

Well, you all know I have been following the Weight Watchers plan for about 21 weeks now. With around a stone and a half lost I am finally getting around to upping my activity levels. I am inherently lazy so gaining motivation and momentum is a rare thing indeed. So I have decided to incorporate some of this new found fitness into this blog.

With the warmer weather and lighter nights I seem to have come out of my winter hibernation with an unnatural (for me) desire to exercise! Needless to say I am taking advantage of this rare moment of energy.

I know this is a bit of a departure from the usual food-related fare, but I hope you don't mind. I mean this blog is a bit of an extension of me, so if I am running/zumba-ing/bootcamping etc... Expect to hear all about it.

Don't panic though, I shall still be cooking and baking up a storm.

So, where does the Lazy Girl element come into it? Well, I have spend an exorbitant amount of time googling various fitness classes, gyms, crazes etc... And there is so much out there but a lot of it seems to be targeted at people who know what they are doing or who already exercise a lot.

What I really want is someone like me to try these things, then tell me honestly how horrible/tiring/impossible it all is, or hopefully the opposite. So, rather than wait for this magical person to do this I decided to simply try things myself and review them from my unique slightly lazy perspective.

So these posts will all be entitled - Lazy Girl's review.

If you have any recommendations, tips, tricks, warnings please feel free to share. Wish me luck!

Roasted Red Pepper Soup & A Giveaway!

2013-04-30T07:00:00.000+01:00

Soup is a wonderful, magical thing. No matter what mood you find yourself in there is a soup to match. When you are feeling under the weather there is earthy vegetable or chicken/noodle varieties. When you might have overdone it with cake and chocolate there is light miso or broth.

This weekend I was completely bitten by the fitness/health bug and knew I had to consume as many vegetables as I possibly could so decided to make soup!

The timing of this could not of been more perfect as I had just received my shiny new hand blender. The lovely people at Littlewoods sent me this beast of a blender to road test and review.

I have been eyeing up hand blenders for a while now. Previously I had been using this old smoothie blender that I acquired when me and Paul moved in together. It was not particularly powerful and always smelled like burning when you used it in anything more than short bursts. I had a brief flirtation with one of those £5 supermarket hand blenders but it broke during a particularly thick butternut squash soup recipe. Not ideal.

This beauty came with a few different attachments; the regular blendy one, a whisk, and a mini food processor bit, which will be great for making pesto. At 700W it certainly is powerful and it made short work of the below soup recipe.

I also made a quick smoothie and a tarka dahl with it and it was flawless everytime. It was very easy to clean and easy to store as it comes apart into quite small pieces.
My only criticism would be with the mini processor part. It didn't seem very powerful, although I do have a Cuisanart mini chopper/processor which would be hard to beat. To get your very own Tefal 700-watt Hapto Hand Blender, enter using the rafflecopter widget below

I have to say I would never of thought of buying homeware or electricals from Littlewoods but I was impressed with their small collection of brands. *pst* they also have a sale on at the moment...

Anywoo, back to the delicious food...

I decided to make something light yet flavour packed. I popped to my local food market in search of vegetables on Friday and saw these amazingly huge red peppers. I decided to run with this and grabbed some red chillies, plump tomatoes and a handful of basil. I salivated all the way home.

I started by roasting all of the above with some garlic and a drizzle of olive oil.

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Rad Red Soup

by Nelly April-30-2013

a fresh and flavourful summer soup.

Ingredients

1 XL or 2 regular. Red Pepper
1 (whole) Red chilli
4-6 cloves Garlic
3 medium Tomatoes
1.5 Pints Stock (veg or chicken)
A glug Worcester sauce
2 good pinches Kashmiri chilli powder

Instructions

Roughly chop and roast all the vegetables in a drizzle of olive oil. Keep the garlic cloves in their skin. I slit the chilli down the middle and left it whole.Bring the stock to a boil and add the Worcester sauce and chilli powder. Boil for around 10 minutes until reduced by just under half.Take stock off the heat and squeeze the roasted garlic out of its skin into the stock.Add the rest of the roasted vegetables (I de-seeded the chilli before adding) Blend with the hand blender until smooth.I added a pinch of salt and pepper to taste.

I served my soup with a handful of peppery rocket and a sprinkling of Parmesan.

This soup is jam packed with flavour, with a beautiful warmth. It is not too heavy or thick so perfect for a light summery supper.

To win your very own Tefal hand blender worth £69 enter below:

UK participants only I am afraid.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Meal Planning Monday - 15th April.

2013-04-15T13:23:00.000+01:00

Its been all quiet on the blog front for the last few weeks, for which I can only apologise. I have been a little lacking in kitchen related inspiration. I do have a couple of recipes posts lined up for you, I just need to sit down at my laptop long enough to write them.

Feel free to give me a swift kick up the arse.

I have also been a little lax on the weight watchers, I think once you have been doing it a while and lose a bit you get a little complacent with it and think you can relax the reigns a little. Well, I have learned that this is not true (at least not for me) and I have lost absolutely no weight for about 4 weeks.

So here is me trying to be good and planning my eats for the week...

Monday
Breakfast: Cup of tea and a banana - 1pp
Lunch: Porridge made with soy milk and cinnamon - 5pp
Dinner: Off to an ice cream party at Lauren's house this evening, which I am pretty excited about. Lauren is testing out her new Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment, so a few of us selflessly volunteered as guinea pigs.
Tuesday
Breakfast: 40g Porridge oats with unsweetened soya milk and fruit - 5pp
Lunch: Tesco Light Choices lentil and veggie soup - 5pp
Dinner: Quorn chilli with brown rice 10pp
Wednesday
Breakfast: 40g Porridge oats with unsweetened soya milk and fruit - 5pp
Lunch: Leftover Chilli and rice - 10pp
Dinner: Garlic Chicken Thighs with sweet potato mash and green veg - 14pp
Thursday
Breakfast: 40g Porridge oats with unsweetened soya milk and fruit - 5pp
Lunch: Tesco Light Choices Falafal ready meal - 12pp
Dinner: Veggie pasta bake - 11pp
Friday
Breakfast: 40g Porridge oats with unsweetened soya milk and fruit - 5pp
Lunch: Tesco Light Choices curry ready meal - 12pp
Dinner: Pork loins with rocket salad and homemade spicy potato wedges - 14pp

I haven't fully planned my weekend yet, I think I have a night out to factor in and we will definitely be having a roast chicken on Sunday. I also hope to squeeze some baking in.

I will be tweeting and instagramming my meals using the #WWfooddiary hashtag, as will my fellow ambassadors, so if you need a bit of inspiration, check it out.

I have entered my meal plan into Mrs M's linky.

Cleaning tips for the inherently lazy.

2013-04-11T09:15:00.000+01:00

Due to lack of appropriate pictures for this post, here is one of Ruby lounging on some freshly washed sheets

I am not one of those people who loses sleep over a messy house. I remember as a child my Mum repeatedly asking me to do my chores and me screaming that I didn't even notice they needed doing. She would swear I was being deliberately lazy to avoid being given more chores but honestly I just don't notice things until they get to the "oh dear god, what is that smell?" stage.

Luckily I do live with a bit of a neat freak, he isn't too OCD about it but likes to keep things at a respectable level. So our house is not awful but looks appropriately lived in.

I have over the last year or so - since moving to our lovely new house - been making more of an effort to keep things nice, so thought I would share my tips on cleaning for those who may not be naturally inclined to do so - or people who are a bit lazy, like me.

Clean as you go...
I know, I know stating the obvious here but seriously putting shoes in the cupboard when you take them off, rinsing that glass you just drank out of right away, hanging that dress you tried on this morning but didn't like back up instead of throwing it onto the growing pile on the floor... These are all things that build up over time to make you look like you belong on a particularly bad episode of hoarders.

Break it down...
Break down the jobs through the week, so you don't spend your whole weekend cleaning (or in my case out of the house to avoid the cleaning). One of my favourite blogs A Thrifty Mrs did a great feature called Daily Housewife Prompts which broke down all the tasks into small manageable chunks through the week, which took 5 minutes. In rare moments of organisation I do make myself a list and try to tick at least one off each day.

A Place for everything...
Having a set place for all your crap to go really helps with the clutter pile up. We have this bowl in our living room which we throw clutter into, hair pins, necklaces, spare change, post, etc... Which helps in the short term making the house seem less cluttered, but eventually this bowl overflows and needs sorting. So now we have a cute pink mail thingy for keeping important letters in, my necklaces and hair pins have their own pot upstairs etc...

Make it fun...
Cleaning is never really fun and everyone would rather be sitting watching Gilmore Girls right? No? Just me? Oh.

No seriously though, if I have some music blaring I am 100% more likely to wash dishes, I even have my very own cleaning playlist on spotify which is packed full of cheesy dance tunes and Britney Spears to get my up and moving.

Invite family round..
And finally, nothing gets my cleaning juices flowing than an impending visit from the in-laws!

So the reason for this lovely little insight into my messy home is to enter the Foodies100 competition to win a Morphy Richards steam cleaner from the above video. I mean, imagine how clean and sparkly my house could be if I had one of these suckers? I may even begin to *cough* enjoy *cough* housework!

Feel free to share your own cleaning tips below, because I really do need the help!

Meal Planning Monday - 8th April

2013-04-08T10:32:00.001+01:00

I have been rather disorganised of late, the run up to the long Easter bank holiday and all that time off led to some rather questionable food decisions and absolutely zero planning. This is basically how my 6 day Easter went;

Paul: What are we doing for dinner later?

Me: Ummm, I don't know, what do you fancy?

Paul: Chippy?

Me: Yes please.

So I am back on the Weight Watchers and meal planning bandwagon today and hoping that my naughtiness won't refelct too poorly on the scales or my bank balance.

So here is my meal plan for this week...

Monday
Breakfast: 40g Porridge oats with unsweetened soya milk and fruit - 5pp
Lunch: Lentil and veggie soup and an apple - 5pp
Dinner: BBQ chicken thighs with new potatoes and greens - 16pp
Tuesday
Breakfast: 40g Porridge oats with unsweetened soya milk and fruit - 5pp
Lunch: Veggie pasta in homemade tomato sauce - 8pp
Dinner: My special fried rice (with leftover chicken) - 14pp
Wednesday
Breakfast: 40g Porridge oats with unsweetened soya milk and fruit - 5pp
Lunch: Leftover rice with extra veggies - 10pp
Dinner: Toad in the Hole with sweet potato mash and veggies. - 12pp
Thursday
Breakfast: 40g Porridge oats with unsweetened soya milk and fruit - 5pp
Lunch: Subway - 8pp
Dinner: Leftover Toad in the Hole with roasted new potatoes and veggies. - 12pp
Friday
Breakfast: 40g Porridge oats with unsweetened soya milk and fruit - 5pp
Lunch: Sushi - (not sure of the points yet)
Dinner: Pork loin with mashed potato and cauliflower cheese - 12pp

I have yet to plan the weekend, but I am away in leeds on Saturday and will be doing a roast dinner on Sunday.

It is amazing how in control I feel just by writing and pointing all of these options. Even if I do not stick to it 100%, or swap days around. At least I know I have these choices open to me.

I will be tweeting and instagramming my meals using the #WWfooddiary hashtag, as will my fellow ambassadors, so if you need a bit of inspiration, check it out.

I have entered my meal plan into Mrs M's linky.

A busy few weeks...

2013-03-27T08:00:00.000Z

I have had a rather busy week or so, which goes somewhat towards explaining the quietness on the blog. So I thought I would share a couple of the things I have been up to.

Last Friday I went to an Indian cookery class with Maunika Gowardhan, an Indian chef and blogger over at Cook in a Curry. I have never been the biggest fan of Indian food but I have been making an effort to broaden my culinary horizons. My idea of Indian food was your usual take-away, tikka masala, rice, naan... But the main thing I learned from this class is that there is so much more to Indian food and cooking. Including, I was surprised to discover, a vast array of Indian desserts.

The event started with me arriving my usual 30 minutes early, which actually worked out great as I got a chance to chat to Maunika, who is just the loveliest person. The event included a 3 course meal which started with some Punjabi chilli and garlic lamb chops, a couple of varieties of chutney (the grape one was delicious) and a savoury cake which I was a little unsure of at first, I mean savoury cake? It was in fact beautifully moist and packed full of flavour. It went really well with the spicy chutneys.

Whilst we were all demolishing the starter Maunika starting cooking our main course. While she cooked we asked questions and listened to stories about the origins of the dishes and the best spices to use etc...

The main course was so delicious I didn't even get a picture of it before it was gone! It included a chicken curry with coconut milk, a white cabbage dish, which had the most amazing flavour, and a potato curry.

The main things I learnt from the class was that the first flavour you put into the pan will be the predominant flavour of the dish. Also you should treat spices as you would seasoning, don't go overboard.

I will definitely be trying some Indian food at home, this course boosted my confidence and helped show me that Indian cooking is not as complex as the long list of ingredients may suggest.I would highly recommend going to one of these classes if you can; upcoming events can be found here.

The morning after the cookery class my sister and I hit the road. We were heading down to Suffolk to visit our Auntie (*waves at my Auntie Hilary, who will be reading this*). I love roadtrips with my sister as it normally involves warbling along to the radio and eating lots of sweets. We also tend to stop at the OK Diner on the A1 for burgers and milkshakes.

The trip was so lovely. On the Sunday I taught my sister how to use a sewing machine and hemmed some curtains. It was great to get to use my rusty sewing skills again, I will have to get myself a machine and get back into the swing of it.

On the Monday we headed for London for dinner and a show. We arrived mid afternoon so decided to wander around the National Portrait Gallery, which was lovely. We got to see the official portrait of the Duchess of Cambridge (which is not very flattering to our lovely Kate) and there was a fabulous Tudor exhibition on as well. I love all the royal historical portraits, I could of stayed all day.

Around 4:30pm we headed for an early dinner at Bills in Soho. I consulted the twitter hive-mind before going to find the perfect restaurant and Amy and Ashley assured me it would be the perfect place for a relaxed pre-theatre meal. I really enjoyed my giant rack of ribs and sweet potato fries, my sister and auntie opted for the beer battered haddock, which was a little disappointing as the batter was a little under-cooked. The service was OK, although we arrived at a weird time during a staff handover from day to night. Our first waitress Francesca was amazingly helpful and friendly. Our second waitress (who did not tell us her name) was less helpful and a little grumpy and looked quite offended when we complained about the under-cooked batter.

Despite the challenges we enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and the puddings went down a treat.

The show we went to see was Phantom of the Opera, it was spectacular although the balcony seats were a little on the small side, I couldn't feel my toes by intermission and the view was a little restricted thanks to the frightfully tall person sat in front. It was a wonderful show though, exactly how I imagined it would be.

We traveled back up North on the Tuesday with a car loaded full of gardening supplies. I am embarking on a vegetable growing adventure! I am utterly terrified and everything will probably die the second I plant it, but it should be fun! Any tips you have please feel free to share them.

So that was my busy busy weekend, I am now looking forward to a relaxing Easter to recover. Happy Easter!

Broccoli and Cauliflower Pasta Bake

2013-03-26T08:00:00.000Z

I know I harp on and on about meal planning and the benefits of being super organised. However, occasionally I find myself getting home from work with absolutely no idea what to make for dinner. These are usually the nights where Paul is busy or out and I am fending for myself.
I live exactly 150 yards from an amazing Chip Shop so on these night the temptation to scoff chips is overwhelming. This is the precise reason that I meal plan.

So the other day I was at a complete loss and lacking any sort of culinary inspiration, I took to twitter to have a moan (as you do) and it ended up turning into a bit of a Ready Steady Cook challenge where I listed he contents of my fridge and people gave me ideas.

Thanks to Roswen from Roswensian I ended up making this fabulous broccoli and cauliflower pasta dish.

Despite being shamefully simple this dish really blew me away with its deliciousness, so I thought I would share. This dish is so adaptable that you could really throw anything you like into the mix. I happened to have a few capers and some Serrano ham which needed using up, so threw them into the mix.

print recipe

Broccoli and Cauliflower Pasta Bake

by March-19-2013

A very adaptable recipe, great for using up leftovers.

Ingredients

60-80g Pasta (cooked al dente)
500g jar pasatta
a generous amount of broccoli and cauliflower
2 tablespoons capers
2 slices roughly chopped Serrano ham
2 cloves (minced) garlic
spoolsh of Red wine
40g cheese

Instructions

Steam the broccoli and cauliflower until they are soft yet still firm.Fry the garlic in a little oil or frylight, add the pasatta and red wine and gently simmer for around 5-10 mintes.Add the pasta, broccoli, cauliflower, capers and ham. Stir through on the heat until everything is combined.Turn into a suitable oven dish and sprinkle the cheese on the top.

Cook at 180C for around 25 minutes, until the top is golden and crisp.

I found the cauliflower really took on the sauce flavour and made the small amount of pasta go much further. This made two individual sized portions for me which were 7pp each. Although I could of easily eaten the lot all in one for 14pp!

Whats are your go-to meals on disorganised days?

Sunday Summary.

2013-03-24T17:59:00.000Z

Hello lovely reader, I decided to try my hand at one of these summary type posts. I am a huge fan of Amy's Sunday Summary over on She Cooks she Eats, one of my favourite UK food bloggers.

As I spent the week itself at work I won't bore you with the details, I will stick to the weekend.

So I had a remarkably quiet weekend, it was pure bliss. After my crazy busy weekend away last week (a blog post on this is coming, promise) it has been lovely to hibernate for a couple of days. My wonderful friend Sacha popped over on Saturday to catch up. She moved to St Albans in January, so we made ourselves some fancy coffee and ate homemade scones while we chatted the afternoon away.

An added bonus to her visit was that she hasn't seen me in so long that she noticed my weight loss; The first person to comment on it. Can't deny that it put a smile on my face for the rest of the evening.

The evening was spent curled up on the sofa with my Ruby watching Merlin. I tend to get a bit obsessive about certain TV shows and Merlin in the latest in a long line of obsessions. It is just such a wholesome BBC, Sunday night viewing. Sort of like Last of the Summer Wine with swords. I am probably not selling it to you but its just so refreshing to watch show without blood, swearing, serial killers etc...

So if you enjoy a bit of the supernatural, historical, witty banter and fun! I can highly recommend this show. I am onto season 5 which is the last one, so expect me to enter into mourning over Easter. It won't be as bad as the Gilmore Girl decline of 08, but expect a few straight legged toddler tantrums. If you have any TV show recommendations to help ease he pain, please share.

On Sunday I decided to make some soup. Weekends at home can be disastrous for the diet, so its good to have something low or free from points to eat, keeps me away from the snacks and grazing. The soup was a bit of a random concoction but I have to say it was the best soup I have ever made! So I thought I would share the recipe with you all...

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Butternut Squash, Carrot and Ginger Soup.

by Nelly. March-24-2013

A warm, filling and delicious soup for long, cold weekends at home.

Ingredients

1/2 medium sized Butternut Squash
1 large Carrot
1/2 Red Onion
Small Piece of Fresh Ginger
2 cloves (minced) Garlic
a good pinch. Indian 5 Spice
1 1/2 pints chicken stock
tablespoon. oil

Instructions

Peel and chop carrot and butternut squash and set aside.Finely chop the onion, and grate the ginger.Heat the oil and add the onion, garlic, ginger and spice. Cook until lightly browned.Transfer the cooked onion mix into your large soup pan with the chopped carrot and BNS. Add the stock and stir.simmer on the hob until half the liquid is left and the veg is nice and soft.blend in a blender or using a stick blender until smooth.Serve with a nice bit of crusty bread, and enjoy.

Sunday was spent getting my clean on, the kitchen got blitzed, wardrobe got cleared and I discovered a new favourite coffee. Previously I absolutely loved my Dolce Gusto lattes but since I am not eating dairy at the moment (a story for another time) I cannot drink them. So I started drinking the regular Dolce Gusto coffee, which was perfectly lovely black but on a whim I decided to try some hazelnut milk and YES! It was gorgeous! So creamy and smooth, not like regular milk though. I strongly suggest you try it, now.

Here are a few posts you can look forward to on the blog in the coming week or two include;

Broccoli and Cauliflower Pasta Bake

Manchego and Chive Scones

A round-up of my weekend away, including my super fun Indian cookery class and trip to London

Homemade Tortillas

The evening was spent relaxing in a scolding hot bath and listening to 70s classics on BBC Radio 2. Yep, its official. I am old.

I hope you had an equally relaxing weekend, and don't forget those TV recommendations...

Caramelised White Chocolate Profiteroles.

2013-03-22T08:00:00.000Z

In March we celebrated our 7 year anniversary. We are not married but always celebrate the day we met, it is handy that it was at my friends wedding so she always reminds me when the exact date was. Rather than go out and spend lots of money we decided to stay in, cook and watch a film together.

Most special occasions in our house are celebrated with steak, it is too expensive to eat all the time but we love it so much that any occasion, no matter how small is an excuse to buy steak.

We prefer sirloin as it is easy to cook and bloody delicious. I served the steak with truffle oil mash and a mountain of rocket.

Its been a while since I made a proper dessert, normally opting for ice cream, fruit or something ready-made. Since it was a special occasion I decided to push the boat out and make some profiteroles. Paul has never eaten profiteroles until he met me (I know, weird) so I like to make them for him to remind him of how bleak his life was before me.

For Christmas I got the Skinny French Kitchen by Harry Eastwood. I absolutely adore this book, its not one of these books that simply tells you to use "low-fat" substitutes (with the exception of creme fraiche). Instead she encourages good quality food in smaller portions. I don't know about you but I'd much rather eat a small amount of something delicious than mountains of tasteless diet food.

I am not going to share the full recipe in this post as I think you should really check out this book. However, I can tell you that the profiteroles worked out at just 3pp each! This includes the choux pastry, creme patisserie and the chocolate topping. You could make them even lighter by removing the white chocolate and simply drizzling dark chocolate sparingly on the top!

I chose to make a caramelised white chocolate after seeing some delicious looking blog posts through Pinterest. I had never heard of it before but it looked pretty straightforward. I followed the instructions in this fabulous blog post from Food 52.

My chocolate was not the best quality, as I was reluctant to spend a lot in case it really didn't work. So the end result was slightly grainy but not noticeably so when on top of the profiteroles. I think next time I do it I will invest in some better quality chocolate.

The end result tasted a little bit like Caramac, but richer and smoother. I cooked mine for quite a while so got a pretty dark caramel colour, but you can alter the time to get the colour and level of caramel flavour to suit you.

My chocolate did not achieve the perfect runny texture in the oven, but a quick simmer in a bain-marie and it was gooey and lovely, as you can see in the gif above.

I hope you are not too disappointed with the lack of recipe with this one, but I would highly recommend getting the book, its only £12 on Amazon!

Weight Watchers FAQ

2013-03-15T08:00:00.000Z

One of the great things about being a Weight Watchers Blog Ambassador is that I get people asking me questions, over the last month or so I have had quite a few emails, direct twitter messages and facebook messages from friends and strangers asking for my advice on their menu's, details on how I am finding WW and even exercise tips (I know, this one made me giggle too).

I mean, I am no expert on this whole being healthy thing, but it does feel good to know I am inspiring/helping others. This also helps me stay on track as I know there are people out there who I am accountable too. I suppose its the online equivalent to going to a meeting.

I thought I would share a few Frequently Asked Questions with you;

1. How does Weight Watchers compare to Slimming World?
Now, I have never done slimming world before so am definitely no expert on this. The concept of red and green days, syns and free whatsits are completely alien to me. However, I have been told that Weight Watchers filling and healthy (F&H) plan is pretty similar.
The good thing about the filling and healthy plan is that there is no need to point every little thing you put in your mouth. As long as it comes from the approved "filling and healthy" list you can eat it. You still get the 49 weekly propoints to use on treats or meals out etc... (much like SW syns).

I sometimes have a F&H week when I feel like I am overwhelmed with pointing, or as a sort of break from the calculator.

2. How do you handle cooking different meals for yourself and your family?
A few people have asked how I find time to cook different meals for myself, and those in my house not following Weight Watchers, the quick answer to this is I don't! I plan my meals around things that me and my boyfriend will eat. I mean, who has time to be cooking 2 different things? For example, if I am cooking chicken breast's wrapped in bacon with potatoes and vegetables I will give him the larger chicken breast, cut the fat off my bacon, have less potato and load up my plate with salad or veggies.

3. I have started WW this week and am STARVING!!! What do you eat?!?!?!
This is probably the question I get asked the most. I have to tell you that for the first two weeks of weight watchers I was HUNGRY! Going from eating all the things at Christmas to eating a "normal" amount in January was hard, my body went into a complete sulk and my will power was tested to the max! After about 10 days the hunger went away and I adjusted to the new regime. I know it feels horrid at first but do stick with it.
Also, take advantage of the free fruit and veg to stave off the hunger, keep pre-chopped carrots in the fridge, take a pot of blueberries to work to nibble on.

4. So if I start WW now, will I lose 2 stone by (INSERT DATE HERE)
This is something I don't like being asked, if you are looking for a quick fix for a specific date I would say maybe WW isn't for you. For me weight watchers is a lifestyle change, its about changing habits and gaining control of your eating. I am such a lover of all things food that I could happily eat, eat and eat all day long, Weight watchers helps me realise how much I should be eating and makes me accountable for what I eat. I am happy losing 1-2lbs a week and seeing results in the longer term, which in my opinion last longer.

5. How do you allow yourself treats or rewards? The short answer to this is yes, I still eat chocolate and cake, just in much smaller doses than before. I still enjoy the odd MacDonald's breakfast, or trip to my favourite restaurant. Although, one thing I am careful about is rewarding weight loss with food. Throughout my life special occasions and accomplishments have been celebrated with food. I am trying to find new ways to reward myself which don't necessarily involve food. A manicure for achieving my first stone loss, a new dress to celebrate an anniversary.
I personally think making time for yourself is key to this whole lifestyle change.

I hope you enjoyed this FAQ post, and as it is rather wordy and not at all picture-y here is a photo of me for you, this is me 12 weeks into the weight watchers programme and 16lbs lighter. (apologies for the goofy facial expression)

So these were the top 5 questions I have been asked recently, if you have any more feel free to ask them below and I will try my best to answer them.

Ruby

2013-03-14T08:00:00.000Z

This weekend just gone was pretty exciting for a number of reasons, it was our 7 year anniversary, I made delicious profiteroles (more on this soon) and we got a cat! After we lost our beloved Tailsy cat last summer we were a little hesitant about jumping right into anything. However, after stumbling across Ruby on the Cats Protection Website we started to fall in love again.

This little beauty is just the perfect feline friend for us, she is around 12-18 months old and was taken in as a stray by CPL in November. From the description on the website we had expected her to be a bit stand-offish or shy at first, but she is actually the opposite! She loved nothing more than a good cuddle, and is a complete bed-hog.

She is a little clingy right now, which I am assuming is because she is in a new place and still finding her feet. Although it is pretty cute when she follows you to the loo, or sits on the windowsill when you do the washing-up.

She already has us wrapped around her little white paws, but we don't mind in the slightest.

So there you go, a new addition to our little family. I am sure you will be hearing more about our lovely Ruby-cat on the blog and if you follow me on twitter or instagram you will definitely being seeing pictures!

5 top tips for Smart Food Shopping.

2013-03-13T08:00:00.000Z

I love food shopping. Walking up and down the aisles and finding new and exciting things to try is my idea of a fun way to spend a Sunday! Unfortunately my bank balance and my waistline do not agree with me on this one.

I could easily wander around the supermarket loading up a trolley and end up spending hundreds of pounds without even thinking! Also all those BOGOF or 3 for 2 offers on naughty things are just too tempting. So I tend to save in-store shopping for special occasions (Christmas) or picking up small numbers of things in a rush.

Instead I do the majority of my shopping online. It is not always ideal and I inevitably end up with something I didn't order or without something vital to my weekly meal plan. However it is so much cheaper and I don't end up with that sneaky packet of doughnuts or share bag of crisps that tends to leap into my trolley when I am not looking.

While doing Weight Watchers I find the online shop such an essential tool. For me Weight Watchers is all about being in control of what you are putting into your mouth. So here are my top tips for shopping online...

Start with a meal plan;
Even when shopping online it is easy to end up with things in your basket you don't end up eating. I find the best place to start is a rough meal plan. I do a rough weekly meal plan each week. On organised weeks I post them on the blog. You can see them here.
Even if I don't know exactly what I am going to make I try to write down a starting point, my first draft meal plan tends to look something like this:

Monday - Turkey

Tuesday - Pasta

Wednesday - Sausages

Thursday - Chilli (quorn? beef?)

Friday - Fish.

With this as a jumping off point I then head to the supermarket website and see whats on offer. If I see tinned tuna is half price then the pasta dish becomes tuna-pasta, if quorn is cheaper than beef the chilli is then quorn etc... Even if you end up swapping the days around, at least you know you have 5 days worth of meals and you avoid the midweek "whats for tea?" panic.

Use what you already have;
If you are anything like me you will always have things lurking in the back of the freezer, forgotten packets of sausages, mystery bags of meat that you bagged and forgot to label etc...
These are a great starting point for your meal plan if you already have some sausages, you'll only need to buy potatoes for your bangers and mash. This will really cut down on your bill and help stop the inevitable overflowing freezer.

Be savvy with deals and coupons;
I do my main weekly shop at Tesco using my Clubcard means that every few months they send me a £5 off voucher. Other supermarkets have similar loyalty schemes too, make sure you are aware of them and use them to your advantage. Sometimes eating healthier can mean things are more expensive; taking advantage of the offers out there can stop this being an issue. If the horse meat scandal taught us anything its that cheap meat is not all its cracked up to be.
Also there are sometimes offers on cash-back websites, I would highly recommend checking the Money Saving Expert site before placing your order!

Be careful with your fruit and veg;
I only buy certain fruits and vegetables online, this is mainly down to my own personal experience. I have found that berries, soft fruit and salads are a bit of a lucky dip, they are normally on their last legs or a day or two away from moldy. I do however buy root veg, green veg and citrus fruit. I normally buy root vegetables in bulk packs and when they arrive I chop them and freeze them in individual portions, perfect for stews, soups or mash. The green vegetables I buy weekly and they seem to last OK.
The fruit and vegetables I don't buy online I pick up from my local green grocer for half the price and they last twice as long. In an ideal world I would but everything from a local independent place but in reality this doesn't really work for me.

Check, check and re-check
Always always always check through your basket at least twice, I tend to add things that are on offer, then when I look back I think "do I really need 24 yoghurts?" or "Will the two of use really need 2.5kg of potatoes?". It is worth double and triple checking before hitting the order button.

So this guide turned into a bit of a money saving post rather than a weight watchers guide, but I do honestly think online shopping is a vital tool when you are watching your waistline. It allows you time to check the points on the items you are ordering, or create a recipe using the ingredients you are buying.

Do you shop online? What do you find good/bad about it? Feel free to share your tips...

I Love Cake.

2013-03-12T08:00:00.000Z

So I know its been all about the healthy eating round here lately, but fear not! I still love cake.

I lost my baking mojo for a while when I first started following weight watchers, I really didn't want the temptation and any attempt at low point baking just didn't seem to work for me. Many flat useless lumps of low calorie cake attempts ended up straight in the bin.

Having now lost 16lbs and feeling a bit more comfortable and confident with how Weight Watchers works for me, I headed back into the kitchen and decided to try a simple sponge cake to ease myself back into the swing of things. I had been sent this totally cute little heart-shaped cake tin from Tala, I actually own a few Tala bits and pieces as I tend to find them in TK Maxx. The mini tin is only 10cm x 10cm which seemed much more diet friendly.

I have other plans for the mini heart tin, which include cheesecakes, chocolate fondants and even a mini heart pie! Watch this space.

The cake itself was 26pp which is a little indulgent to say the least, but shared with a loved one it makes it a perfectly acceptable 13pp treat. Afterall what are weekly points for if not cake?

print recipe

Pineapple Mini Cake

by March-12-2013

Ingredients

125g Plain Flour
125g Caster Sugar
2 medium Eggs
125g Low Fat Margarine
60g Icing Sugar
40g Light Philidelphia
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
a couple of slices of Fresh pineapple

Instructions

I used Mary Berry's all-in-one method for this cake. I put the flour, sugar, butter, baking powder, salt and eggs into my Kitchenaid fitted with the paddle attachment and mixed until a smooth cake batter was formed. I filled two mini heart cake tins and baked at 180C for around 22 minutes, until the cake started to pull away from the edge of the tin and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake came out clean.I combined the cream cheese and icing sugar in my kitchenaid and chopped a couple of slices of fresh pineapple into small cubes and added them to the icing.I divided my cake into three layers, with a thin layer of the pineapple icing between each one.

How would you make use of this cute little tin? Always looking for a little recipe inspiration.

I was given this little cake tin by Tala to review, this post is therefore sponsored although all opinions are my own.

Breakfast Smoothies

2013-02-18T10:20:00.000Z

I really love a good homemade smoothie, a perfect way to smoosh as much fruit or veg into your body all at once. I say homemade as I have yet to find a store bought one I actually like. Much like the current horse-meat scandal I am never 100% sure what is in one of those cartons. Although it says its all natural, 2 of my 5 a day etc... I just don't quite believe it somehow. Plus from a Weight Watcher's perspective, bottles and cartons of smoothie tend to be quite pointy.

When I saw the Foodies 100 were working with Almond Breeze Almond Milk to find great breakfast smoothie ideas and recipes I jumped at the chance. I'd never actually tried almond milk but at only 2pp for up to 330ml it seemed like a great addition to smoothies for not a lot of points.

Tropical Green Smoothie
This smoothie is the perfect post workout, refreshing, Saturday morning smoothie for me. It was a little time consuming in terms of prep which is why its more of a weekend recipe for me, but I enjoyed a nice big glass after my zumba class and felt ready to take on the world.

print recipe

Tropical Green Monster Smoothie

by February-19-2013

Ingredients

About half Pineapple
1 whole Mango
a good handful Spinach
330ml Almond Milk
handful (6-8 cubes) Ice
Squeeze of Lime juice

Instructions

Bung it all in a blender and blend until smooth. My blender is very old and a little past its best so I pre-crushed my ice to help it along.

I do love adding a handful of spinach to smoothies, it makes it an almost alarming green colour and really doesn't taste of anything! Great way to sneak some extra iron into my diet.

Blended Coffee Smoothie
I decided to try a second recipe which would be better for a weekday morning. I am a big fan of blended coffee drinks from Starbucks, especially on a sunny spring day on my way to work. However, the sugary mixture they use does not appeal, and the cost is more than I would like.

So, I set about making my own version with Almond Breeze.

print recipe

Blended Coffee Smoothie

by February-19-2013

Ingredients

120ml Brewed Coffee with one teaspoon of sugar added
Almond Milk 250ml
a dash Almond essence or syrup
a handful Crushed Ice
half a Banana

Instructions

Bung it all in a blender and blend until smooth.

My first attempt at this smoothie resulted in a weird combination of slushy ice and watery coffee, it just didn't seem to want to blend together! It reminded me of when you make butter and it suddenly splits!

I took to google to find out what I was doing wrong and discovered that my sad little blender was not powerful enough! Some tips to overcome this problem was to add sugar or something to thicken it. So I decided to add a teaspoon of sugar to my coffee and half a banana, and it worked a treat! The banana added a bit of weight to the drink, without it being overpowering. I will definitely be making this in the summer.

Do you enjoy a nice smoothie? What combinations do you like?

5 Top Tips to Eating out on Special Occasions.

2013-02-12T08:00:00.000Z

Valentines is upon us folks, this is no a drill. If you have forgotton to buy a card, go out now... I'll wait for you. *whistles*

Right, back to the post now.

Lots of your are probably planning meals out with loved ones. If you are not planning anything for Valentines, this post is just a relevant for birthdays, anniversary, Friday nights etc... Basically any special occasion where you are eating out and have zero control over the food.

You can handle this one of two ways, either say f**k it! is a special occasion and accept how that may be reflected on the scales, or try you best to eat well and use the tools available to you to make the best choices. I am personally a fan of both options and tend to settle for a mixture of the two. In January I went for a romantic meal out with the boyfriend, I had three courses, enjoyed every minute of it and still managed a loss on the scales that week.

Here are my 5 top tips for handling eating out without being a diet-bore.

1. Research the restaurant beforehand.
Most places have menus online nowadays or if it is a chain restaurant a lot of places are in the Weight Watchers database. I would highly recommend sending time checking out your options. I found being prepared made me feel a lot more in control as I had an idea of the points in each option and made an informed decision.
You didn't need to sit worrying or checking the online app when you should be conversing or making googly eyes at your loved one.

2. Don't arrive hungry
It is tempting to not eat much through the day to save your points for the meal out, in my experience this is not the best plan. Arriving at the restaurant ravenously hungry usually leads to me devouring the bread basket, wolfing down my food, and not actually enjoying what I am eating! I find that some zero point soup or fresh fruit in the afternoon is a good way to fill up before going out. I am not saying fill up completely but simply don't starve yourself all day.

3. Restaurant Hacks
My local Italian restaurant offers any pizza or pasta dish in a half portion, served with salad or chips. So you could still have our favourite pizza or guilty pleasure pasta for half the points! A little bit of what you love, with plenty of fresh salad on the side. So absolutely no need to sit and pick at what you think is the healthy option! I know other places offer starters as mains, or will be more than happy to double the veggies with your steak and omit the potato! Just be a bit cheeky, shy bairns get nowt!

4. Get moving
It is surprisingly easy to use your full 49pp weekly allowance on a night out, if you are having wine it is even easier! If I know I am having a heavy night out in a week I make a concerted effort to earn those activity points! Taking the stairs at work, walking to the next bus stop, hitting the gym, squeezing in an extra zumba class... Every little helps! Earn that extra glass of wine or sneaky pud.

5. Sharing is caring
Pudding, my weakness. I always seem to manage to choose the worst possible dessert, double chocolate, whipped cream, caramel, pastry... Yum! I know I could always opt for a coffee or go without but where is the fun in that, it is a special occasion after all. One option during a romantic meal for two is to share! That way you get a few bites of what you fancy! Plus if your dining partner is anything like mine, he will eat most of it.

So those are my top tips to handling special occasions and still having a good time. At the end of the day if you want to go wild and enjoy a nice meal at your favourite restaurant, go for it. Weight watchers is a lifestyle change not a quick fix. If you deprive yourself you are much more likely to not stick to the plan in the long term.

Feel free to share any of your tips below, and have a happy valentines day!

Meal Planning Monday - 11th February

2013-02-11T08:00:00.000Z

Food-wise last week was really boring if I'm honest, although it may just be the inevitable comedown from my exciting trip to Groningen. I thought I'd use this post to show off a few photos of my trip. It really is a beautiful city and I would recommend visiting if you love food and culture. I was mostly working on my trip but I was lucky enough to eat in some fantastic restaurants and squeeze in a little sight seeing.

I was really taken by how relaxed and friendly it as in Groningen, I could really see myself living there. Maybe one day eh?

Anyway, back to the meal plan for this week. I am firmly back to weight watchers this week, I've been doing a lot of exercise recently and feel pretty 'in the zone'.

Monday
Breakfast: Fruit and Activia Yoghurt - 2pp
Lunch: Subway 6" Turkey on Wheat with all the salad and sweet onion sauce - 8pp
Dinner: Chicken thighs with sweet potato wedges and veggies - 14pp

Tuesday
Breakfast: Bagel with cream cheese - 5pp
Lunch: Avocado & Chicken Salad with french dressing - 10pp
Dinner: Healthy Carbonara with a cheeky mars ice cream for pud - 14pp

Wednesday
Breakfast: Bagel with cream cheese - 5pp
Lunch: Jacket Potato with light coleslaw and salad - 12pp
Dinner: Homemade Quorn cottage pie with sliced sweet potato topping - 10pp

Thursday
Breakfast: Bagel with cream cheese - 5pp
Lunch: leftover cottage pie - 8pp
Dinner: No quite decided, but something with chicken breast (Ideas welcome!) - 10-16pp

Friday
Breakfast: Bagel with cream cheese - 5pp
Lunch: veggie crudities and fruit - 0pp
Dinner: I am going to a Chinese supper club, so have no idea on he points.

My Zumba class isn't on this week so I will have to find other ways to get active, I am still toying with the C25K idea. Someone kick me up he bum and force me to do it please?

I will be tweeting and instagramming my meals using the #WWfooddiary hashtag, as will my fellow ambassadors, so if you need a bit of inspiration, check it out.

I have entered my meal plan into Mrs M's linky.

Skinny Pancakes

2013-02-08T08:00:00.000Z

Next Tuesday is pancake day, or for the more traditional among you; Shrove Tuesday. I think historically it came about so people could use up ingredients before starting lent fasting, but don't quote me on that. In my house everyday is pancake day, or at least I wish it was!

Pancakes are one of my favourite foods in the whole wide world, whether it be thick american style pancakes drowning in maple syrup with a side of bacon or the more traditional crepe style pancake with lemon and sugar. I am pretty sure I could live on pancakes alone.

I do still occasionally make traditional pancakes on weight watchers, and as long as you don't go wild with the sugar they aren't that bad! But like with most food I can't just eat one or two... (hence my need for weight watchers).

So, when I came across the idea for this recipe I was intrigued. It was actually a pin on pinterest with half a recipe written underneath. (btw I hate when people do this, the picture links to the source so you don't need to reproduce it verbatim on pinterest!) These pancakes had no flour and only egg whites which sounded like weight watchers heaven!

The recipe had no measurements so it was a bit of an experiment, I mean, I know a lot of pinterest recipe ideas tend to be wildly inaccurate or overstated - cauliflower mash anyone? *gag*.

Basically I just winged it and was pleasantly surprised! I simply chucked the ingredients into a blender until it resembled pancake batter and cooked it like I would regular pancakes...

print recipe

Skinny Pancakes

by Nelly February-8-2013

A great carb-free pancake recipe.

Ingredients

40g Porridge Oats
2 Egg Whites
half a Banana
a drop of Vanilla

Instructions

Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.Pour into heated frying pan, this mixture should make 2 medium sized pancakes (quite thick and filling) or 3 smaller ones.Once cooked I served mine with warm bananas, but you could top them with anything! fruit and yoghurt, nutella, sugar and lemon... What ever you fancy

Details

Total Propoints: 5

The batter was very thick so took some encouraging to pour but the end result was delicious!

I think on their own they might be a little dry, perhaps a splash of milk added to the batter would of helped. Although with a syrupy or yoghurty topping they work a treat!

So there you have it! A fantastic low carb and low propoint breakfast treat!

If you are looking for some other fantastic pancake ideas, check out thisgreat post from Sarah (Maison Cupcake) on Baby Centre. 13 fabulous pancake recipes from some great bloggers!

The most important meal of the day...

2013-02-07T08:00:00.000Z

So Breakfast; the most important meal of the day and all that jazz. I was never much of a breakfast eater in the past, eating first thing in the morning always seemed to leave me ravenously hungry by 10am. Don't get me wrong, I love breakfast food, just not in the morning.

For the first 4-5 weeks of Weight Watchers I made a point of eating breakfast as they do say it helps kick start metabolism and mine needs all the help it can get!

On weekdays I tend to stick to porridge, working in an office with a limited kitchen and limited time to prepare anything Oat so simple sachets are a god send! Just 3pp for the sachet and 2pp for the milk.

I tend to spice things up a bit with toppings though, a vast array of fruit have turned a rather boring bowl of oats into a taste sensation I actually look forward to! My favourite combination so far has been peach and passion fruit.

On a weekend I tend to eat breakfast around 10:30-11:30, so it is more of a brunch really.
My latest obsession is a fried egg on toast, nothing in this world is more satisfying that spreading a runny yolk on warm buttered toast! And for just 7-8pp its a propoint bargain!

Although, if a little hungover or under the weather of a weekend I do like a nice green monster smoothie! which is basically any fruit you have handy, mixed with either milk or yoghurt, ice and handfuls of spinach! Surprisingly filling and tasty.

I do love my porridge and eggs but will be shaking things up in the coming weeks. I want to try and develop the perfect point-friendly pancakes, and quite fancy trying Weight Watchers bagels with a variety of toppings; smoked salmon and cream cheese anyone?

This is what I love about doing weight watchers, hardly anything is off limits because as long as you track it you can have it! There are some great weight watcher friendly recipes here.

What do you like for breakfast? Always looking for new recipes or ideas, feel free to post any of your breakfast blog posts below.

Move more, sit less.

2013-02-05T08:00:00.000Z

Working in an office is not the most ideal environment for an active lifestyle. Sitting for long periods of time and being surrounded by temptations can be challenging. Those who work in offices will know that it always seems to be someone's birthday or celebration of some kind, which means I am never more than 20 paces from cake at any given time.

I feel so rude always saying no to cake, or the odd biscuit so to counter-act any (tracked and allowable) treat I have I try to up my activity levels.

When thinking about upping my activity levels I started researching various exercise classes, local gyms and ways to squeeze these things into my schedule. However, after talking to my fellow Weight Watchers blog ambassadors and the friendly folks of twitter I realised I could fit activity into my day on a seemingly smaller scale and it could still impact my weight loss.

I decided to try out my handy Weight Watchers Pedometer Plus, I'd always been put off pedometers as the idea of wearing a little pager-like device on my belt was hardly the fashion statement of the century. But, after reading the pamphlet which came with the pedometer I realised I could wear it in a pocket or (as I chose to) on my boot. (see picture)

So, the first day I simply walked my regular amount and earned around 3pp, which was OK but it wasn't long until my naturally competitive side kicked in and I started trying to better my number each day. By the end of the week I was earning 5-7pp a day just getting off the bus a stop or two early, taking stairs instead of the lift and taking a lunchtime walk!

The thing I like about the pedometer is you have tangible evidence of how far you have walked and how many points you have earned. I am inherently lazy at heart and when not wearing the pedometer I tend to hop on a bus for just two stops or grab the lift as opposed to the stairs (even for just one floor!). Wearing my pedometer is like having a little weight watchers robot spurring me on and keeping me on the straight and narrow.

After having a terrible off week last week due to a work trip I am pledging to earn 4pp a day this week through walking, lets hope it makes a difference to the scales! Wish me luck!

What do you do to help increase your activity levels? I am always looking for exercise suggestions or tips for someone as unfit as I am! I am also contemplating starting the C25K programme, anyone done it? Tips and advice always welcomed!

Meal Planning Monday - 4th February.

2013-02-04T08:00:00.000Z

I had a wonderful week away last week in Groningen, although in terms of my diet it was dreadful... Dreadfully delicious. *guilt-face*

Back on the straight and narrow today though, and here is my plan for the upcoming week!

For breakfast and lunches I will be having porridge and fruit, and a selection of salads, soups and leftovers.

Monday
Dinner: Leftover Turkey Chilli Pasta Bake - 13pp

Tuesday
Dinner: Sausage and bean casserole - 11pp

Wednesday
Dinner: Leftover casserole with mash sweet potato - 12pp

Thursday
Dinner: Chicken Thighs with roast vegetables (and mash for Paul) - 14pp

Friday
Dinner: Quorn Cottage Pie - 13pp

I will be tweeting and instagramming my meals using the #WWfooddiary hashtag, as will my fellow ambassadors, so if you need a bit of inspiration, check it out.

I have entered my meal plan into Mrs M's linky.

Giveaway: A Right Couple of Mugs and a sappy post.

2013-01-23T07:00:00.000Z

Valentines day is just peeking its pink sparkly face around the corner and so I thought I would treat my lovely readers to a cheeky little giveaway.

Valentines for me has never been a big deal, we are not ones for grand gestures or schmaltz on February 14th. My opinion is pretty much that if you are only allowed to be loving one day a year, the world would be a sad old place to be.

Plus, our anniversary is in March so we save all of our pennies for a day when we are likely to get a table at our favorite restaurant, not surrounded by other loved up couples making grand gestures.

Now onto the sappy bit, so feel free to skip to the end if you like...

Hoss, my delightful other half (also known as Paulie) has been my boyfriend, best friend, chief recipe-tester, feet warmer, cheerleader, cheerer-uperer, and all round good guy for the past 7 years.

His constant support and encouragement has made this blog what it is, I have not always been the most confident person and when it comes to self promotion I am terrible. I am pretty much your typical self deprecating Brit. So, having that person in your corner, telling you they believe in you or that they are proud of your accomplishments is essential. That person for me used to be my Mum, and since she died I have really struggled. Having Paulie and his wonderful family has helped beyond words.

I guess I wanted this post to be a big soppy thank you to him. I couldn't have done it without you Bumder-face! (yea, we do pet names... what of it?!)...

So, back to the giveaway. The lovely people at T G Greens have offered up a set of these lovely Cornishware mugs, personalised with yours and your significant others name. Of course it doesn't have to be for a couple, you could get your children's names, days of the week, work or home... Whatever you want really! Simply complete the rafflecopter widget below to enter.

UK ONLY - Sorry to my international buds but this ones only for the UK.

Competition ends on Friday 1st February.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

T G Green's provided me with these mugs free of charge, to review and run this fantastic giveaway, so this is a sponsored post.