LoChan's diary - hello!

[LoChan1984]

Hi, I thought I'd come and have a nosy over here

your carrot soup is inspiring - I've a load of carrots in the veggie rack atm. And purple caulies .... wow!

The soup is so simple so it'd be very easy to adapt it to whatever you feel like bowl by bowl - I was going to have it with butterbeans but I'd run out so just went with spices instead. Orange would be nice too though would have some syns

I used this basic recipe Carrot Soup | Slimming Eats - Slimming World Recipes - can swap chicken for veg stock natch

The cauli looks really shocking on your plate - especially as it seems to get darker by the day lol It was a find from the local co-operative shop - they do lots of unusual things

 

[LoChan1984]

Feel quite good today, not so snack-happy for once. Kinda wanting to do another green week from saturday but will stick to the red challenge plan.

Been out to the local co-op again today on the hunt for different veg, ended up buying more pumpkin :8855: Obsession! Found celeriac for once with it's bushy top still on, need to look if you can do anything with it.


Also bought a ready-made vegan tofu desserty think to try out. It was quite surprising how creamy it is. Had to guesstimate the syns a little based on what I could see but there was only four ingredients in it and the majority was the tofu which is free and prunes which I could count and syn.

Got a packet of silken tofu to try making my own more accurately synned pudding - probably pumpkin given the current trend in my eating habits

Just the walking done today - we were quite busy in the afternoon. My son rang me at lunchtime from school to remind me not to pick him up at the wrong time - never have done yet. He had to go out for the afternoon on a 'forest crew' project and think the out of the ordinary freaked him out a bit. He was fine once we got out of school though.

Food diary bit:

B - Magic porridge with alpen (hexb), yoghurt, chopped plum and fig.

L - Carrot soup - this time jazzed up with around 1/3 tin of spicy mixed bean salad and some more ground coriander/cumin. About an hour later I had a banana and yoghurt but I'd still count it as part of lunch.

Afternoon - 'apple pie' nakd bar (5 syns) and a starbucks skinny vanilla latte (hexa)

D - chicken dhansak, last of the purple cauli, griddled lemon courgette/red onion/green pepper, 1 puppodum (1.5 syns) and 1tbs chutney (1 syn).

Evening - apple (surprised at how time consuming eating one is!) and half of the tofu passion tub - guessed around 7 synsish.

I've got a tofu cheesecake one to try too but not sure on how to syn that. Probably save it for the weekend once WI is done with so there's a fresh week's syns to play with if it's higher than expected.

 

[Micci]

you do have interesting foods - and another thing we have in common is the plantar faciitis - which I can't spell and firefox speller thinks I'm trying to talk about fascists

Pumpkin huh? I've never managed anything remotely edible with it except the seeds, it always seems such a waste at the time I call Samhain.

 

[LoChan1984]

you do have interesting foods - and another thing we have in common is the plantar faciitis - which I can't spell and firefox speller thinks I'm trying to talk about fascists

Pumpkin huh? I've never managed anything remotely edible with it except the seeds, it always seems such a waste at the time I call Samhain.

Lol yeah my mussolini feet are quite a bother and totally against my polical leanings

I love pumpkin - mostly inspired by the american's madness for it (that and peanut butter). It works really well in savoury and sweet dishes but it can be fiddly to work with. Carving pumpkins for that time of year aren't much good for eating though - too stringy and watery.

 

[LoChan1984]

Phew - glad the weekend is here, need to catch up on some sleep! Son is pleased - he's getting a star of the week award with a little prize and certificate in assembly on monday - they're going to send me home a photo

Got him booked in for an afternoon in the after school club next wednesday as two of his support TAs run it on that day so he'll feel safe. Hoping I can take advantage of the extra hour and go swimming before I pick him up - if my swimming costume can be found and still fits

Need to do a bit of recipe research for next week on red as I'm not 100% geared up to it. The weekend is pretty sorted though - but I'm going to a farmer's market tom'ow with a fair few temptations - cupcakes, french macarons, west indian dumplings, sausage tastings, paella Don't plan to be silly but I'm glad it's after my WI and it's only on once a month (thank goodness lol)

Food today:

B - Apricot filled bar 6 syns (odd italian branded thing I found in the co-op, made with spelt) and a yoghurt.

L - Spicy tomato soup - used this recipe http://www.minimins.com/slimming-wo...superspeedy-superspicy-tomato-super-soup.html but I doubled the worcester sauce and chilli flakes, added a tsp of cumin, 2 tsps of chopped ginger and a few shakes of cayenne pepper. It makes a huge panful so it needed a bit of extra oomph. Cooked some pearl barley separately and added this to my bowl to make it more filling on it's own

Afternoon - 1 apple. 1 pot of fresh pineapple chunks.

D - Chicken & leek pie (1 syn) with the freaky cauliflower. Mini crunchie (4 syns).

E - Pumpkin latte (hexa & 1 syn) - it went a bit wrong tonight as I let the milk boil over :sigh: Fibre plus bar (hexb).

Just the walking again today Need to get my bum in gear and do those three sessions of cardio I keep promising myself to do each week - two out of three this week but walking'll improve the overall fitness I guess.

I bought a gorgeous new mug from starbucks yesterday: It's become my herbal tea mug and I've had at least six cups today. I'll be earning some last minute body magic before WI in the morning with all that getting up in the night to pee :8855:

 

[tillymax]

Well done to your son or his star of the week award

That cauliflower looks a bit frightening. What was it like?

 

[LoChan1984]

Tastes like the regular kind - it's just trying to scare us away from eating it lol. The variety is called sunset cauliflower. With that and the cadbury purple one I had the other day it makes my meals look pretty weird if varied

 

[broadsbean]

ahhhh, well done on the star of the week for your son xxx

you have me really fancying trying pumpkin, fancy spiced pumpkin soup.
i have only ever used it to make pumpkin pie(won't be doing that this year far to much sugar)

browsed the slimming eats site today and have some stuff i would like to try.
thanks for putting me onto it

hope you have a good weekend and i am looking forward to your weighin tomorrow cos i bet it is a good one again xxx

 

[tillymax]

Morning

I don't know if you're aware but slimming eats is by britmumincanada who's on this site.

 

[broadsbean]

i realised this today lol, noticed on another thread. love some of her recipies.

 

[LoChan1984]

Aye I knew - also read it on another thread She knows her stuff!

 

[LoChan1984]

WI result = 3.5lbs off - 2st barrier breached!

 

[tillymax]

That's brilliant - well done you

 

[broadsbean]

:bliss:
well done, you are doing fabulously xx

 

[*SugarPlum*]

3.5lb!!!! WOW!!!!

I think I need to follow your menu for a week!!

Well Done Hunny!! Your doing AMAZING!!

 

[LoChan1984]

I'm really chuffed - 2lbs away from my next mini goal which is the max weight for the wii fit/wii balance board (23st 8lb). I probably need to get a few lbs below it though to be able to use it after eating/with clothes on lol 7lbs away from 10%

 

[LoChan1984]

27.5 syns today!

Now before you think I went mental and fell off the wagon - I promise I was completely sane when I chose to spend as many syns as I did today. I'm going to count them over the week instead of daily, an additional challenge to the all-red week.

If it turns around and bites me in the :massmoon: next WI then I'll have learned a valuable lesson

So, food today:

B - Leftover tofu passion (5 syns roughly, less prunes than the first portion) and chopped banana

L - chicken & leek pie (1 syn) topped with mashed carrot, swede and a hexa of cheese, broccoli & alien cauliflower. Stewed rhubarb (0.5 syns) and natural ff yoghurt.

Afternoon - milky coffee (hexa) & fibre plus bar (hexb)

D - Spicy tomato soup and a BLT (hexb & 1 syn for el mayo).

Evening - an apple and a piece of vegan hazelnut and mocha cheesecake (from co-op, guestimated 20 syns despite being tofu-based).


Apart from the cheesecake I was really good. The farmers market was a bit of a washout, no cheese or macaron women, the west indian lady wasn't at her stall when I went past so I didn't buy any dumplings and I walked away from the sausage lady!

The veggie co-op was having a 15yrs 'birthday' party and were giving away free pizza from a home-made clay oven outside (under a gazebo thing in the rain) - didn't have any as had already bought the cheesecake. I feel in control enough to be relaxed with syns but I shan't take the wotsit with them

 

[blackwidow]

well done you!! that cheesecake looks absolutely amazing! enjoy it

you know if you're not feeling the red week, you should just do another green week. you did fab on it, so no need to change if you dont want to

well done on those 3.5lbs.. you are brill xxx

 

[LoChan1984]

Thanks Rach - the cheesecake was soooo nice, it's hard to believe it's made with tofu lol I definitely think I'll have a piece from there every couple of weeks or so - if it doesn't knock my weight loss at the end of this week

I'm gonna try and stick to the red week, think these challenges are keeping my body guessing and I've done a bit more research so I've got some red-friendly recipes to cook up this week.

Wondering what to do for the week after - scan bran week Vs no chocolate week, both sound a torture :8855:

Hope you're doing okay - not seen you around minimins for a few days x

 

[tillymax]

OMG that cheesecake looks so yummy

What about doing a mixed week for the next challenge. Have EE followed by green followed by red and repeat or whatever way you fancy it

I'm having bacon for tea

I know it's only day 2 of your red week but have you found one plan easier than the others to follow?