So far so good

It's going well so far :-) I made a menu plan on Sunday night and it has worked out great! We have enjoyed some yummy meals this week and I am going to share links and pics so everyone else can enjoy them too! I'm generous like that :-)

 I am in the - this is so easy why have I not being doing it all along phase!
It wont last.
OR it might! Positivity LeeAnn!

 Maybe this is the time that I am actually ready to stick to it! I am crazy enthusiastic about soup and cous cous! lol So that HAS to be a good thing, right?

The cous cous I have enjoyed the most was this stuff

Aldi lemon and coriander cous cous with tomato, cucumber and spring onion chopped up through it. Yummy! I added feta cheese the first time and it was too much for me. I prefer it with just the veggies. I ate this for lunch two days in a row and it was great. I always need good alternatives to bread when on slimming world.

Pinterest has been amazing for me , so far. So many yummy recipes at the click of a button! This dish is

 Ginger and garlic prawn stir fry with noodles

So yummy. So so yummy! The only thing I changed was to marinade the prawns in the sauce as I prepared and cooked everything else. Delicious! AND totally syn free! I made more in the evening and ate it for lunch the next day. This will definitely be on our menus many many weeks I think!

Tonight I made this.

Garlicky prawn and pea risotto

This was yummy too, I ate mine with a large side of steam fresh veg. It was very filling and I couldn't eat it all

And these little lovelies are going to be my life line. 3 syns each or two bars as a B choice healthy extra. They are yummy and chocolaty and filling enough to warrant using a healthy extra for but yummy enough to seem like a treat. Very good.

So thats it so far, thankfully as I am typing this I was chatting with Lor Lor and she enlightens me to the fact I have actually been doing something wrong all week! Holy smokes! Hopefully I will still lose weight and thank goodness I found out now! Oops!  No wonder it has been so easy this week :-)

Tomorrow we are having a lovely lazy, cosy home day. DVDs, family time and maybe catch up on some laundry.

It has also been snowing all day but not lying at all, so its perfect weather for snuggling.

Happy Friday everyone xx

Pumpkin bread

This is a repost of one of my favourite recipes of all time. I just can't wait for Autumn to come around and there is no better way to celebrate than tracking down a pumpkin and whipping up a batch of pumpkin bread.

I originally found the recipe here and have made a few teeny tiny changes but really not much.

Pumpkin Bread


3 cups Self Raising flour
3 - 4 tsps pumpkin pie spice
2 1/2 cups sugar (I used soft brown sugar)
4 eggs beaten
1 cup melted marg
2 cups cooked pumpkin puree
1 cup pecans chopped (optional but definitely recommended!!!)

Sift dry ingredients into lge bowl
Make a well in the centre
mix all other ingredients in another bowl
put into well
mix well
grease loaf tin(s) (I use 2)
Bake at (350f) 180C for about an hour
I couldn't find pumpkin pie spice anywhere so I googled how to make my own.

Pumpkin Pie Spice

4 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp mixed spice.
It smells like heaven! I made around 3x the amount above and kept it in a little sealed plastic tub. It kept fresh all season.

Also for anyone who hasn't cooked pumpkin before, I just took the seeds out, cut the skin off and chopped it up. Put it in a pyrex casserole dish with a teeny bit of water and a sprinkle of brown sugar, maybe a tbsp, put the lid on and microwaved it for about 25 mins.  Once it was cooked I blended it.  Not sure if that was right or wrong but it still worked and was yummy,

After an incredible pumpkin bread fail last week - I wouldnow recommend that you make sure the pumpkin puree is cool or room temp!

Enjoy xx

Nothing could be fina'...

Than to spend some time with

Ina

In the kitchen!!

Ina and I have been spending lots of time together.

Our latest endeavours?

Bread.

Ina's dough hook takes most of the hard work out of it for me. The kids are enjoying fresh bread and it feels super satisfying to me.

We have also made some amazing Mocha muffins.

The recipe is from Sonja at Homecooking with Sonja. These muffins went down a storm, which goes a ways to explaining why I don't have a pic of them all pretty on the cake stand. They never made the short distance between the cooling rack and the cake stand.

You should pop over for a looky, Sonja has some amazing recipes, and she is very sweet. I always prefer to try a recipe that someone has already tested. At least I know what it should look like! ;)

Harvest Time

We are very proud of our apple harvest this year! Last year we thought we would lose our apple tree as it seemed sick. But with a little TLC it seems to be feeling better!

This is our entire harvest!! LOL

It was exactly enough to make 8 mini apple pies with the girls ,

we even used our special autumn leaf shaped cutter for the lid!

Luckily my Mum has a big apple tree in her garden and we still have a plentiful supply.

Does anyone have a good apple recipe for us?

I can do apple pie / tart but that is my limit. I would love to try something new

Pumpkin Bread

I am so sure I posted this recipe last year. However, I came on tonight to repost it and I can't for the life of me find it!, How strange.

Anyway, the kids and I baked pumpkin bread a few times last year. It was really good so I thought I would share it (again??) seeing as we are getting around to that time of year.

I found the recipe here last year

Pumpkin Bread

3 cups Self Raising flour

3 - 4 tsps pumpkin pie spice

3 cups sugar (I used soft brown sugar)

4 eggs beaten

1 cup melted marg

1/2 cup water

2 cups cooked pumpkin

1 cup pecans chopped (optional)

• 
  
  Sift dry ingredients into lge bowl
• 
  
  Make a well in the centre
• 
  
  mix all other ingredients in another bowl
• 
  
  put into well
• 
  
  mix well
• 
  
  grease loaf tin(s)
• 
  
  Bake at (350f) 180C for about an hour

I couldn't find pumpkin pie spice anywhere so I googled how to make my own.

Pumpkin Pie Spice

4 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp mixed spice.

It smells like heaven! I made around 3x the amount above and kept it in a little sealed plastic tub. It kept fresh all season.

Also for anyone who hasn't cooked pumpkin before, I just took the seeds out, cut the skin off and chopped it up. Put it in a pyrex casserole dish with a teeny bit of water, put the lid on and microwaved it. Not sure if that was right or wrong but it still worked and was yummy,

Enjoy xx

Coconut Cupcakes with vanilla buttercream

These were yummy! So yummy in fact that I stole one while they were cooling I iced it and hid in the kitchen cupboard (away from the kids)  to eat it!

I think I might make some more for the Birthday  that is coming up later this week!

Makes 12

110g Butter

180g caster sugar

2 lge eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp almond extract (optional)

125g SR flour - sifted

120g Plain flour - sifted

125ml coconut milk

25g desicated coconut

- Preheat oven to 160c

- Cream butter and sugar with hand mixer

- Add eggs one at a time, mixing in between. Add vanilla and almond at the end.

- Combine the two flours in a seperate bowl

- Add 1/3 of the flour mix to the creamed mixture and beat well.

-Pour in 1/3 of the coconut milk and beat again

- Repeat steps until all the flour and milk have been added

- Fold in the desiccated coconut using a metal spoon

- Spoon into the cupcake cases - fill to 2/3 full

- Bake in the oven for 25 mins

- Cool in tins for 10 mins before moving to cooling rack

Vanilla buttercream

110g Butter at room temp

60ml milk at room temp

1 tsp vanilla extract

500g icing sugar - sifted

- few drops colouring (optional)

- Beat in butter, milk , vanilla and half icing sugar until smooth.

- Gradually add the remainder of the icing sugar and beat until buttercream is smooth and creamy.

Add colouring 1 drop at a time and beat well.

** I didn't add colouring as I wanted pink but had no red colouring and they still looked sweet. Actually no one noticed the icing as they were inhaled in around 10 mins.

**Also I used muffin sized cases and it made 12 so I guess this is the right size to use

warming winter soup

I got this recipe at my slimming class on Monday night. I thought I would share as it certainly doesn't taste "slimming" and is so hearty and warming. Just what I need today as it is blowing a gale and hammering snow and sleet , not a good recipe for the nursery run :( EVERYONE took their cars so I had to park so far away! We were soaked through by the time we got home.

Sweet potato and lentil soup

1 1/2 Tsp curry powder
1 1/2 onions (finely chopped)
1/2  apple (grated)
2 garlic cloves (crushed or chopped finely)
1 1/2 inch piece of ginger (grated)
1 1/12 lbs sweet potato (chopped finely)
1 1/2 pints stock ( I used chicken)
3 oz red lentils
1/4pint skimmed milk
juice 1/2 lime
spray oil (or could substitute with 1 tbsp olive oil if you are not a chubster like me ;) )

- Toast curry powder - medium heat for approx 2 mins
- add oil
- add onions, apple, ginger and garlic. Gently cook for 5 mins stirring occassionally
- add stock, sweet potato , lentils and milk.
- check for seasoning
- cover and simmer for approx 20 mins
- blend until smooth
- stir in lime juice


This is the first time I have made it, I think next time I will add 2 pints of stock, as this recipe makes  a very thick soup.