New Piece of "Junk"

I had a little nosey around the charity shop today and came across this cute little picture.

It hasn't photographed well due to the glare of the light, but it is such a sweet little retro picture and just perfect to give to my niece who expects a little daughter any day now.

I think I will paint the frame a light colour though as the current one looks a little heavy and dark and it is going into a freshly painted light nursery.

Trouble is, when I was in there I spotted a small collection of blue and white china originally from BHS. Now I don't need any china but I was fretting as I really wanted it, especially as it was a bit retro and with the demise of BHS was a bit special.

So the picture was £4 and the china was £10.75. I had only £10 on me. Luckily the assistant said they would keep the china until tomorrow when I could collect and pay for it.

So there was a teapot, a gravy boat, three plates and three bowls. I will add a picture when I get them.

Slimming World over the weekend.

I said on a previous post that I let myself have 15 syns on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This seems to help me from losing it and cheating.

Below is one of my current obsessions. 

It is a version of Slimming World Chips but I cut them across instead. These are made with Albert Bartlett Rooster potatoes which are the best in my opinion but they cost more (of course). I have them with 2 x Quorn Cumberland sausages and 1Tbsp of original Hellmans Mayonnaise. The potatoes get done in Frylight so they are free. The meal comes to around 7.5 syns and I love it, especially on a Friday evening when it seems the entire world is getting take away!

Now on to my (maybe) invention of Syn Free lollies. I got these gizmos from Ebay  They came from China and they did take a few weeks to arrive but they are actually brilliant for making push up lollies.

You just take the little lid off and pour or spoon your mixture in.

So I mixed Quark with FF Fromage Frais and sweetened it with a little Candarel. First time I made them, I mixed in some lemon juice and then stirred frozen (but defrosted) raspberries through the mixture. They were really lovely and refreshing. You can also add vanilla essence.

This time though, I had some leftover sugar free raspberry syrup so mixed that in. I did it in a food processor but next time will probably do with a hand whisk as I hate washing up the plastic bowl etc.

This is the jug of the mixture.

I made quite a lot and only had enough for four of the lolly things as my freezer is full, but the rest I put in containers and it made an acceptable dessert, with some of my beloved Total 2%.

Last but not least I made a Yorkshire pudding which I love. 10 syns in total, and I have half one day and half the next. I make two roast dinners on a Sunday and have the second on Monday.

So that is

56 grams plain flour
1 egg
80 mls milk and water combined
I add half a teaspoon of Sage
pinch of onion granules.

As you can see it makes a really nice Yorkie which is 10 syns in total.

Slimming World Waffles - My take on it.

First of all here is the recipe.

40 grams of porridge oats
1 egg
2 heaped Tablespoons of Muller Light Toffee yogurt
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
2 teaspoons of sweetener

First off I blend the oats and sweetener in this wee gizmo. It has a flat blade for blending spices, coffee etc and that is the blade I use for this.

Then I add the rest of the ingredients, the egg, yogurt and vanilla essence and blend up with the cross blade.

This amount makes enough for two. It then gets poured into the second gizmo, The Waffle Maker.

I don't know how other Waffle Makers work but this one goes red then you pour the mixture in and it goes green then after a while back to red. I check the waffles throughout and keep them in if they don't look as brown as I like them.

Then, this is how they come out!

I think they are really nice. They are a B choice (the Oats) and I use 4 syns for 2 Tablespoons of cream and 1 Tablespoon of Maple Syrup.

When I first started making them, I was having them in the morning but I would much rather have them in the evening as they feel a bit of an indulgence.

Obviously you can have them with fruit and yogurt to keep it all syn free if you like. I am slightly addicted to them this way though.

Sometimes the waffles do stick, so about every third go, I will spray a little oil (not Frylight as I think that ruins things) and count half a syn for 6 sprays that I spread with a little brush.

Seems like a lot of syns to some but much more filling than some wee chocolate bar.

PS. I have had a major failure today in that I ate 4 x bags of Pomme Bears one after the other! Oh dear. Hope to do better tomorrow!

I'm a bit Retro - Doing Green Days on Slimming World.

Extra Easy is not for me. I get that it is easier in that the whole family can eat together but as a single person, I find that the Green day system is more appropriate.

For a start, I can't really afford loads of different fruits (and veg) that you have to have on your plate at each meal. I also would find it very hard to munch my way through a big salad at lunchtime as sometimes I only have 20 minutes to eat and I end up with indigestion!

Also I think it must be quite restrictive. Only one A choice and one B choice per day. 

On Green, you can have two of each. I tend to use both A choices for milk, or if I have had only five cups of tea that day, I can use the other A for some cheese. I generally have a B choice (bread) with my breakfast, which is mostly eggs and the other B I save for the evening so I can make my oat waffles, which I will share when I make them later.

I aim to eat at least three pieces of fruit per day. I tend to have 2 oranges and maybe a kiwi. When the price is right I buy some raspberries but you don't get a lot for your money this time of year.

I also keep frozen raspberries in the freezer but often forget to take them out.

Sticking to mainly green days is working for me at present. I may have up to 10 syns per day but I allow 15 syns for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I do have the odd red day, but as meat is expensive it may only be one or two days a week.

I no longer expect the weight to fall off quickly (it never has!), so I am ambling along, taking the slow and sometimes tortoise route but 8 lbs off so far.

So this has to some under "stuff" as it isn't junk.

Slimming World - Getting ready for the week ahead.

Yesterday I made a Slimming World Chicken Bhuna. Only I didn't have any chicken! I did have some Quorn chicken pieces however so made it with that.

The recipe came from Youtube @ Tastefully Vikkie. I can't seem to do a link so if you want to look it up just put in Chicken Bhuna Slimming World.

Anyway it looks like this :-

It was really nice and for an extra 2 syns I had 2 tablespoons of Elmlea Cream, which makes it a lot nicer.

For afters I had these :-

Obviously it is a Muller Light toffee flavour (which is my favourite) but I have it with Total 2% yogurt which is a whole lot nicer that the 0% and has only 1.5 syns for the entire 500 gram tub. I rarely even count it as I use a dollop at a time. It makes the yogurt a lot more filling. Also the tubs come in handy for storage. See below. **

On a Sunday, I try to get some food prepared for at least part of the week.

This is a bit of a Hotchpotch soup using up some bits and bobs plus broccoli.
It had a potato, some frozen butternut squash, broccoli,a carrot and some left over salad leaves plus a stock cube, some cumin and a shake of chilli flakes. I leave the seasoning until I eat it.

As you can see the Total yogurt tubs make good containers for it.  I also use them for heating stuff up in the microwave.

So I have to hand 2 Quorn Bhuna and Rice and 3 pots of soup. This means that if I am ravenous, I can have any of them syn free, or my beloved Elmlea which is 1 syn per Tablespoon. I usually take them to work with me to heat up in the microwave. It is nice to have something hot in this weather and they are reasonably quick to get down when I only get half an hour to eat.

** So far, I have only found the 2% Total in my local Waitrose which is a pain as I have to make a special visit for it.

Yes it is a simple thing to do - but I'm still pleased!

I found this pretty green leaf fabric the other day in the charity shop priced at only 50p, which is a bargain. I was determined that this weekend I would do something with it, no matter how simple.

There was not enough fabric to cover both sides, so I found this cream fabric amongst a stash I have.

So, here it is. My new cushion cover. I had bought the pad some time ago in another charity shop which had a horrible cover on it. It was my intention to make a new cover. Well it has only taken about 2 years but there you go!  I was a bit naughty in that my measurements and cutting were a bit slapdash as the table was a mess. Still it turned out ok and it means I have actually made a new blog post.

I really want to start blogging again and hopefully this little action may spur me on.

Today's Boot Fair Haul

So I was going to resist the Boot Fair around the corner but as you can see I caved in.

I was delighted to pick up this old Kenwood food processor for £3.00. Bargain! I gave it a good wash and clean down and had a go at making some butter in it which turned out very well. I had seen a tutorial on Youtube and thought I would try it.

The sock mates cost 20p - they were unopened as you can see. The piece of material was 50p and I think it may be big enough to make a table cloth, either way I shall use it for something.

I have included the tin but I did not get it from the Boot Fair. I rescued it from someone's recycling. It was actually covered in adverts for the cake which came in it. I thought it had potential and used some of my favourite wall paper to cover the adverts. It is not perfect but good enough for me.

I am using it to store my cotton reels in.

I also got a bread board 50p.

All in all a good haul. I am also de junking a lot of my old stuff and the hallway is full of things to go to the tip.