Chilli and Ginger Prawns

Well .....I haven't posted in a while....my apologies for that ....I've had a bit of a minor health thing going on so my focus has had to be elsewhere.

But I'm back now.....

I had some stuff in the fridge that I needed to use up so I put this together. I didn't need to save any points but I'm delighted to say that this turned out at 2sp....you could use it with proper noodles (I used Butternut because they were in the fridge).

Ingedients

Frylight
Red onion (not shown in the picture because I had already started cooking it!!)
Vegetable stock
2 tablespoons of Philadelphia Lightest Cream Cheese
1 red chilli, halved, deseeded and sliced finely
Small piece of ginger, about an inch long peeled and cut into thin batons
handful of cooked prawns (I didn't weigh mine but I would estimate about 40g)

Method

Spray a medium frying pan with the frylight and bring up to a medium heat. Add the onion and stir around allowing it to soften in the pan for a couple of minutes. Add a couple of tablespoons of vegetable stock and stir to combine. Add the philly cheese and allow it to let and combine with the onion/veg stock mix, if it seems a bit dry add a little more vegetable stock (or water). Add in the prawns and stir to combine and allow to warm through.

I mixed mine with some butternut squash noodles and topped with a slice of weight watchers bread cubed and baked in our Breville Airfry.

Smoked Cod with Chilli and Ginger

I was tootling about Tesco yesterday and saw this smoked cod on the fish counter..........so I got myself a portion (190g). When I got it home I thought "What should I do with this?"....had a rummage around in the fridge and came up with this.

I had a piece of ginger and some fresh chilli left over from the Prawn Curry I did last week, so I took a lemon and zested it, squeezed the juice into a bowl, added the chilli (grated) and the lemon zest, spread it over the cod, topped it with the sliced chill and wrapped it in foil. It was baked in a moderate oven (160 fan) for 15 mins. I served it with butternut squash chips and "Creamed Leeks" and a spritz of fresh lemon juice to finish it off.

Pretty good for 3sp

Lets stay strong guys
Sue
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New goal update number 1....

Start goal and todays goal

Well......that was a surprise.....a very welcome surprise!! I don't know what I was doing when I weighed myself to post my news about my new goal. I posted that I needed to lose 8lbs to get to where I want to be...so I went to WW last week and had gained over the Christmas period...thats ok I can live with that...but I go again today and I've stayed the same...but when I worked out the difference today between where I am and where I want to be I only need to lose 7lbs.....my maths must be atrocious!!! But anyway I think there is a lesson there not to trust your bathroom scales.....(and maybe use a calculator!!!)

Lost my mojo a bit (I think it's still on holiday in Lanzarote!!) hoping it makes it home on the next flight so I can get some serious focus back again


p.s......if anyone has any words of wisdom I'd love to hear them in the comments :)

Lets stay strong guys (and oh how I need to at the minute!!)
Sue
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Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower Soup

This is a lovely thick creamy soup, comfortably warming on a cold winter day. Its from Gina Homolka at Skinnytaste....recipe here

Gina has it at 5sp but I've slimmed it down for my needs and I have it at 1sp. When I made this I think that a lot of the liquid was lost in the cooking (didn't have the heat low enough!!) and I ended up with an extremely thick, sauce like, consistency so I let it down with an extra 200ml of stock at the liquidising stage and as such got 5 servings (the sp stayed the same though). I served it with a srinkle of Sumac and a Warburtons thin spread with quark.


Ingredients

600g cauliflower florets cut into 1-inch florets

3 garlic cloves
frylight
1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional

1/2 tsp kosher salt, to taste

1 medium chopped onion

800ml vegetable stock
100ml reduced fat canned coconut milk, shaken well
2 tablespoons chopped coriander
 

Method

 

Preheat the oven to 200deg/180fan/ gas 6. Smash the garlic cloves with the side of the knife.

Place the cauliflower florets and smashed garlic on a baking tray and spray with the frylight. Shake a few times while you are spraying to coat the cauliflower evenly with the oil.
In a small bowl combine the turmeric, cumin, salt and crushed red pepper flakes. Sprinkle evenly over cauliflower, tossing well to coat evenly.

Place the baking sheet and bake in the center of the oven until browned and tender, about 25-30 minutes, turning the florets occasionally so they are evenly cooked. 

 

Reserve 1 cup.
Meanwhile, heat a medium pot over medium heat, spray with the frylight oil, add the onion and cook until translucent, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the broth and transfer the remaining roasted cauliflower to the pot, bring to a boil and cook covered on low 15 minutes.
Use a hand blender (or regular blender carefully in batches) and blend until smooth. Salt to taste as needed, stir in coconut milk and serve topped with roasted cauliflower and coriander with additional coconut milk for drizzling if desired (adding any additional sp) . Makes 4 servings.

New Turkey Burger...Yay!!

 You may remember a while back I posted about a turkey burger....it was nice but the texture was a bit too dense.....well I said I would be doing some work to resolve that issue and I have, I've been googling and found this here

It's tasty and the texture is a lot nicer than the one I did last time. This version makes 6 which each have a sp value of 2sp.

Definitely a keeper!!     :)

Lets stay strong guys
Sue
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Ingredients

500g Turkey Breast Mince, raw
1 slice Weight Watchers Sliced Malted Danish Bread, Blitzed into breadcrumbs
1 medium Onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons Tomato ketchup
1 tablespoons Lemon Juice, Fresh
1 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 teaspoons Soy Sauce
¹⁄₄ teaspoons Paprika
2 cloves Garlic, minced (I didn't have any so left it out)
¹⁄₄ teaspoons Hot Pepper Sauce (Tabasco)
1 pinch Salt, to taste1 pinch Black pepper

 Method

Combine all ingredients in large bowl.
Shape into 6 patties.
Pan-fry, or grill until lightly browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.

One Pot Prawn Curry

We fancied a curry this week....we planned to have one as a last treat on Saturday night when we got back from hols but it just got too late to start messing about phoning and collecting (or worse still waiting for delivery....)

I was googling curries a while back, I found this and was planning to do it soon anyway so I decided to bump it up to this week to satisfy our curry craving (the original recipe is here) .....I have to tell you this is fabulous....hubby is raving about it. Cooked using the ingredients listed it comes out of the recipe builder at 4sp....but I slimmed mine down by using frylight instead of the oil and it comes out at 1sp and does four servings. Because there is only me and hubby at home, whenever I find a recipe I make a decision as to whether to scale it down for two or to make up the full recipe and freeze portions. I made the whole thing and decided that we would have the other two portions with some chicken next week.

That whole plate in the picture was 2sp served with cauli rice and onion/mint/lemon salsa.

Ingredients

2  tablespoons Sunflower Oil
1 large Onion, chopped

1 inch slice Root Ginger, grated

4 cloves Garlic, crushed 

¹⁄₂ individual Red Chilli, finely chopped 
1 teaspoon Golden Caster Sugar (I used white Caster Sugar)
1 teaspoon Black Mustard Seeds (if you can't get Black use yellow)
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1 teaspoon Dried Coriander
1 teaspoon Turmeric 
1 tablespoon Garam Masala 
2 teaspoons Malt Vinegar (I used Cider Vinegar)
1 can Tinned Tomatoes
400g King Prawns, Raw

2 tablespoon Fresh Coriander, chopped, for garnish

Method

Heat the oil in a deep-sided frying pan and cook the onion for 8-10 mins until it starts to turn golden. Add the ginger, garlic and chilli and cook for 1-2 mins.

Stir in the sugar and spices for 1 min, then splash in the vinegar and tomatoes. Season with salt and simmer for 5 mins, stirring, until the sauce thickens.

Stir in the prawns, reduce the heat and cook for 8-10 mins until cooked through – if the sauce gets really thick, add a splash of water. Remove from the heat, stir though most of the coriander.

 

Serve with your chosen accompaniment (adding points if needed) and sprinkle the rest of the coriander over

Lets stay strong guys
Sue
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Turkey burger with Boodles and a Philadelphia Light Cream Cheese sauce

Quick dinner tonight.......turkey burger from the freezer made with my failsafe Philadelphia Cheese sauce.......6sp


So the turkey burger was made and frozen a few weeks ago. Its 85g of turkey mince with a couple of tablespoons of finely diced onion and the juice and zest of 1/2 lemon mixed in and to cook it I used our handy dandy Breville airfry ......

 .....I LOVE this gadget (except for the damn colour!!)......I'm finding new ways to use it all the time......so tonight instead of grilling/frying the turkey burger I put it in the Breville for 7 minutes and it was fab.... I always find turkey a bit tough and these burgers have been in the past....tonight this one was much better (still slightly tougher than a beef burger but I'm working on it!!!)


The sauce is super easy to make, I use it for everything...the basic recipe is a bit of finely diced onion fried off in some frylight (add a bit of water so they don't stick) with 2 tablespoons of Philadelphia Light Cheese allowed to melt into it then mix it over the butternut squash noodles (this sauce had two turkey rashers cooked off in the Breville and cut into pieces mixed in also). I then topped it with my turkey burger........yummy.......

My new goal.......

Jan 1st 2017

 
So I've been a weight watcher for about 3 1/2 years.....I got to my goal weight within 10 months and have maintained that weight (give or take a couple of pounds) for almost 2 years. When I set that goal weight I wanted to ensure that it was sustainable. Like many people I had done WW before and had limited success and therefore had limited confidence in my ability to succeed. The second reason was that I will be 60 in April so when I set my goal I was 58 and I was concerned too much weight loss would make me look ill. Well things have changed since then and I have very positive expectations of myself now.....I got to goal and I maintained. Late last year I set myself another, second goal and got there .... maintaining that even over the Christmas period (a 1 pound gain is acceptable I think!!) As far as the weight loss not affecting the way I look.....I trust my family and friends to tell me if they think I am doing too much so if and when that happens I will review where I am and make my judgement.

So......I have now decided to set myself a third goal....I'm going to try and lose another 8 pounds....I don't have a time frame for this but a steady loss of 1 pound a week would be nice.....if more comes off then thats ok too....the quicker I get there the quicker I can start to maintain....then I'll try and maintain that weight .....think that might be enough for me then. I'll be 60 in April and am currently the slimmest my husband has ever known me.....I feel great and my husband tells me every day that I look great (I know he's biased but its still nice to hear!!) my WW journey has become my WW life.....so the picture at the top is the the 8 pounds represented by 1 pound post it notes posted on the inside of my wardrobe door.....I'm going to remove the equivalent amount of weight loss from the door each time I get weighed and if I gain I'll add the equivalent.........

........and this picture is me from last week in the Canaries......I'll post another picture if and when I get to my new goal weight .....as well as regular updates about my progress.....and if I decide to stop I'll update you as well.

I get weighed on a Thursday so will update on those days......stay tuned and wish me luck......

Lets stay strong guys
Sue
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We've been away.....

Sunset from our room

 So.....we spend Christamas in the Canaries every year....it started 8 years ago when we lost my mum....she and dad came to us every year for Christmas and then when we lost dad Mum came Christmas eve and went home boxing day (or later).....when she left us in 2009 I couldn't cope with Christmas (or anything else for that matter but thats a different story!!) so hubby took me away so we didn't have to think about them not being with us......it was only meant to be that one year but we go every year now and it looks like we'll continue for a while yet.....so we go there and chill ....same hotel....same routine.....we get complimentary wine and chocolates every time we arrive now......I wouldn't be surprised if we were invited to the staff Christmas party next year we know them all so well!!!.....but its my comfort zone and I've pretty much incorporated my WW life into the whole shebang. So we've eaten stuff I wouldn't normally eat....milky coffee everyday......peanuts (with the beer!!)...cooked breakfast every day.....drank a lot and had pizza and tapas a couple of times......this photo was our Christmas Lunch......its our tradition

.....so was expecting a gain with that lot......but then realised that I had also made some good choices as well......like Tuna salad in our room a couple of times.....

 

........and wise restaurant choices......prawn salad

And also we racked up an impressive number of fit points (I still wear my fitbit on holiday and on those days where I don't feel like we've done much walking I chuck on my gym stuff and go walking on the hotel gym treadmill) .....so check this out for a two week holiday in the sun.....

......that day with the 0 is the day I forgot to put it on.....but we did about the same activity as the day before......anyway.....I wasn't sure what to expect with that kind of activity so imagine my delight when I got on the scales at home this morning and I have only gained a pound!!!
Considering I haven't tracked one mouthful of food while we've been away I think delighted isn't strong enough to describe how I feel....but I have to say that 2 weeks off my WW eating plan is about as much as I can take.....I'm really craving my healthy food and will be having a couple of kitchen days this week for some therapy...!

 Look who joined us for dinner one day.....nearly brought her home.......

Going to do my slow cooker pork chops with apple butter today for our New Year dinner Recipe Here.

Hope everyone has had a great New Year and you're as motivated as I am......I'll be here quite a bit now that we're back....see you soon

Lets stay strong guys
Sue
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