Easing into healthy eating...

I'm into the second week of my Weight Watchers "lifestyle" and I am really enjoying it.  I love this type of salad plate and it came in at 5 points (only because I added 25gms tasty cheese for 4 points).  Otherwise it would have been 1 point for the little tin of tuna in springwater.  I love cheese but I counted it in and its still a good low point meal.

~

Dinner last night was a tasty Chicken and chickpea tagine and a one pot wonder in my new casserole. I sauteed off an onion (and I added celery for taste) then added 1 1/2 tbspn Moroccan spice, 2 teaspoons of fresh ginger and garlic then nestled the skinless chicken legs in.  In went 400gms sweet potato, 2 parsnips and I also added a carrot (I like to bulk up the veggies where I can), 1 1/2 cups chicken stock and a can of drained chickpeas.  I then popped it in the oven for 2 hours at about 170C, turning the legs a few times.  Just before serving, I threw in a huge handful of baby spinach and nestled that in to wilt.

~

~

I served it with plain cous cous and steamed broccolini.  The best part is that I have a nice meal for tonight's dinner as I will be dining solo - no cooking! Yum!

~

Another 2.5 km walk this morning.  It was quite cool at 6.20am and hazy clouds hiding the sun...

~

The local council are developing this parkland area and it is really lovely.  It has good walking tracks and they've planted a heap of native plants along the drain bank.  It is a great place to brings dogs for walks and of course we have our Domain mega playground and a new Nature space playground in the works.  I'll try and take pics tomorrow.  Kids are going to nuts about that!  They have also re-developed the old tennis courts, re-fencing the area and putting up basketball nets.  Its great to see initiatives to get kids away from their screens and having a run around instead.

~

Breakfast this morning - 25gms quick oats, 1/3 cup Pura Tone skim milk, 2 tspn maple syrup, 15 gms muesli....6 points.

~

~

Have a great day!

Cheers - Joolz xx

Steel cut oats and getting stuff done...

Six for six days walking.  I quickened my pace today by more than a minute on yesterday's walk. There weren't many people around this morning, must be sleep in day.  It was nice and cool, just how I like it...

~

I tried steel cut oats for the first time today.  They took a while to cook, which is a negative.  I can have a bowl of quick oats made in 3 minutes but these took around 15 minutes on the stove.

~

They were nice - quite nutty and a bit chewy so I guess they are good for my insides.  They are more costly in WW points compared to quick or rolled oats.  A 1/4 cup of these is 5 points compared to 2 for quick oats. I used pure maple syrup and had a tablespoon for 3 points but will cut back to 2 teaspoons for 1 point as it was over sweet.  

~

The bananas and blueberries make it really nice...

~

I buy blueberries when they are on special for $2.50 - $3.00 and freeze them.  I will not pay

$5.00 + a punnett.

~

With breakfast done, I did a few jobs around the place.  Namely get rid of all the Christmas crap tidying things away off the tables.  Just bits of Christmas left lying around.  I didn't decorate much or put up a tree here as we had Christmas in Adelaide.  We had Gus's side of the family over on the Saturday before and I stole the tree (simply decorated with baubles) from work and put that in the family room for the day, then it was returned to work the next day. Lol!  When we got home from Adelaide, it was nice not having to undecorate the tree. 

~

I fixed my garden hose by replacing all the connections and joiners so they don't leak - that really annoys me.  I tidied my corner 'plastic container' cupboard.  It wasn't too bad, it just needed reorganising.  I keep lids with containers so you don't have to go hunting.  I did 3 loads of washing and got all caught up.  I even hung most on the line and got it dry within the hour.

~

Another thing I did, was set a timer for 30 minutes (while I had a load of washing going) and I sat and read my novel without moving.  I went to get up once and thought, no, sit! 

~

Lunch was Rye Mountain bread with turkey, cranberry, lettuce, mango, cucumber, tomato and beetroot.  Dinner will be fish as Gus bought some Kingfish from Robe when he went there this morning.

~

We're enjoying some cooler weather now for the next few days so I hope the fires on Kangaroo Island settle down.  It is utter devastation there.

~

Cheers - Joolz xx

Muesli and Le Creuset...

This was my delicious breakfast bowl this morning...

~

It looks a lot but there was only 1/2 a banana and 1/2 a pear in there and about 4 strawberries...

~

As you can see, most of it is zero points except for the muesli and maple flavoured syrup.  I could do better with the muesli but you compromise on taste when you get into the really healthy muesli's and I'm sorry, I am not eating cardboard!  I also realised (when I used the food scanner) that for 2 tsp real maple syrup, its still 2 points so I'll be using that in future.  Anyway, it was delicious and took over 15 minutes to consume.  I have walked 5 days this week, today being the longest at 2km in 19 minutes.  I am no Usain Bolt, with rickety knees and sore feet, but I'll take that time as good and besides, I'm not racing anyone!

~

This beautiful thing arrived today - Merry Christmas to me from me!  Gus and I didn't exchange presents at Christmas (because we did Kris Kringle with the kids) but we both had something in mind that we wanted.  Anyhoo, time ran out so I ordered this online (and on sale) and he has a hankering to get a new black lidded Weber BabyQ so he'll get that soon.

~

I think with this black beauty, I should be able to get rid of every stupid fry pan and skillet lurking in my cupboard.  Even my electric fry pan can go.  This can be used to fry, wok stir fry and casserole.  Together with my big blue le Creuset, that should be all I need.  I will still have a tiny little skillet for scrambled eggs for two and another cheapy for making my flatbreads in at high heat but the rest - adios!

I'm thinking I might even be able to make some Southern style biscuits in there!

Cheers - Joolz xx

Blueberry mug muffin...

This mug muffin is a very filling breakfast and the flavour options are numerous...

~

1/3 cup quick oats

1 tbsn wholemeal plain flour

1 medium, ripe banana, mashed

1 egg

~

You can add other flavourings, still using 1/2 a banana for moisture - apple, cinnamon, medjool dates, raspberries ... endless possibilities.  Grated carrot and sultanas makes a great carrot cake tasting one! 

~

I added frozen blueberries to this one.   Mix these ingredients together then pour into a large mug (I use one of those big soup mugs and line it with a muffin paper so it doesn't stick and is easy to tip out).

~

Now, these muffins are called 90 second muffins but for me they take way longer.  I microwaved this on high for 3 bursts of 1 minute then a further 30 seconds to finish.  

~

Here it is, topped with YoPro blueberry yoghurt and drizzled with 2 tsp Green's Maple flavoured syrup...scrummy!

~

This came out at 7 WW points (on the blue plan which I am sticking to).

~

I have updated my FitBit to a Versa 2 and it syncs with my Weight Watchers app so when I walk each morning, it tracks my movement by GPS and it gives me FitPoints.  That doesn't mean I can eat more, it just advises WW how much exercise I am doing each week.  It wakes me with an alarm (vibrate only) so that doesn't wake hubby up, monitors my heart rate, shows how many steps I walk, date, time and I can also play music on it too (haven't worked that out yet) and it tells me when my phone is ringing or if I get a text.  Very handy.

~

I am 4 for 4 mornings with my walks, this morning I went a little further and longer, just a bit...

~

This blog was published using  Blog Touch Pro - I downloaded the pictures first on my iPad at home then I wrote up the text on my pc at work.  If I do the text on my phone or iPad, BTP crashes and I lose my 'words'.  Not the mention the 'words' that come out of my mouth when this happens!  The pics come out larger and centred from my iPad but smaller and to the left with my iPhone.  Oh, the frustration!  I'll carry on this way until I sort out a computer/laptop for home (I reckon I've been saying that for over 2 years - I just hate change!) where I can Bluetooth the pics to it and blog from there.

I hope this finds you all safe and well
Cheers - Joolz xx

Overnight quick oats for breakfast...

I'm back on the band wagon with Weight Watchers so I made overnight oats with quick oats, chia seeds, grated apple, cinnamon and greek yoghurt.  This morning I tipped it out and drizzled a teaspoon of maple flavoured syrup on it.  Delicious!
~

~


These little wallabies were in town, looking for a bit of green feed I think.  One was inside the cricket oval fence and the other on the outside.  I hope they got reunited.
~

The town was very hazy with smoke this morning and the sun was a fiery bright red (my pic doesn't show the brightness) as I went on my walk.
~

I believe the smoke is from the Kangaroo Island fires.  So much devastation across Australia, I don't know how everyone will recover...
~
Cheers - Joolz xx

Italian stuffed cob loaf..

 We went to the beach on Sunday and being a little over having barbecues, I decided to make a stuffed cob loaf.

~

I hollowed out the loaf then proceeded to layer it with cream cheese spread, caramelised onion jam, pastrami, baby spinach leaves, mortadella, cheddar cheese slices, salami, basil leaves, sun dried tomatoes, cheese stuffed peppers, repeating the layers...

~

It was so good!  Very easy to transport, wrapped in cling wrap then foil and popped in our Engel car fridge.  Sliced into wedges, it was enjoyed very much and there was no clean up!

~

We still have Ruby, our Land Rover Defender (she just turned 10 years old and has only done 40,000 kms).  We didn't get to go camping much in 2019, we just seemed too busy with work and other things on weekends.  I think we have a yabbying trip planned for early February.  Each weekend in January is already planned out.  I think it's going to be a busy year.

~

Cheers - Joolz xx

Banana blueberry bread...

This is a very moist loaf but very nice and not to bad for the waistline!

~

Weight Watchers Banana blueberry bread

Preheat oven to 170C fanforced.

Line and spray loaf tin

~

1 cup banana, mashed (2 bananas)

125g blueberries

1/2 cup caster sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup olive oil - I used a bit less

1/4 cup skim milk

3/4 cup wholemeal SR flour

1/3 cup white SR flour

~

Combine banana, berries, sugar, egg, oil and milk in a large bowl.  Add flours (you can sift but I don’t) and mix to a smooth batter.

Transfer to the loaf tin . Bake for 1 hour, turning around at half way point.

Stand bread in tin, before turning out to cool. Can be cut into 12 pieces, wrapped and frozen for later or enjoy warm.

~

*please note - the picture shows white plain flour - Yep, I made a booboo and should have used SR flour - but it really didn’t affect the loaf...

~

~

~

~

I’m back from our wonderful month away overseas...Scotland and Greece! I’ll try and get some pictures up soon!

Cheers - Joolz xx

Photo dump catch up...

My Vegepod is on it’s last legs.  The strawberry plants in the front have failed to produce anything and that one tomato plant is hanging on, it still has green cherry toms on the vine but our temps are just too cold to ripen them now...

~

Time to rip it all out and maybe plant some broccoli ....

~

Winter has come to us with a vengeance - lots of rain last week and this week, just plain cold, still days.  Porridge is keeping me warm...

~

I’ve been making biscuits to sell at our community Hub, but I find it very time consuming for the return...

~

Last Friday night’s dinner - simple bolognese...

~

More baking on Saturday morning for the Hub...

~

All packed up ready to deliver!

~

I was given some apples and rhubarb so I stewed them up to pop into the freezer for a cheeky crumble or two!

~

Good grief!  I took this pic on Saturday at 2pm! Only 7C!

~

I thought a Mulberry gin and ginger beer might warm the cockles...and it did! 

~

I made spelt bread rolls to pop into the freezer...

~

Gus made this WW meal which turned out lovely.

~

~

Sunday morning I made those 2-ingredient bagels, doubling the recipe to make 4.

~

~

Very nice with scrambled eggs!

~

Mmmm, apple and mulberry crumble! 

~

Made even better with a scoop of vanilla icecream!

~

My Monday weigh in this week 18/06/18 - 77.8kg (which is the same as Tuesday last week.  No loss or gain but I’m okay with that (8.2 kg lost so far).  Winter is a time for eating foods to sustain you and I must admit, eating a nice salad plate when it’s 7C outside, really isn’t that appealing! I’ll keep plugging away, being mindful of what goes in my mouth.

~

Cheers - Joolz xx