What I’ve been cooking and eating...

I’ve tried to stay on track this week.  It is so much easier to do that if you don’t eat out.  It’s really hard to work out WW points when you don’t know how food has been prepared...

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For instance, when you order a skim latte...how skim is the milk?  Now, I was in a homewares store and I came across this gadget.  It’s a battery operated milk frother.  You just heat your milk then whiz it!  I can make a nice instant coffee (Moccona Indulgence is my fave) then add in 1/4 cup of my really skim, no fat milk for 1 point.   A normal skim latte is 3 points.
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Just like a bought one!  I rarely buy coffee when I’m out.

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I found these instant soups which are only 1 point per serve. Most Cup-o-Soups are 3-5 points.  Quite tasty.

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I made a ham salad wrap...
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This is Bri’s diet...

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This was naughty ... but I didn’t eat any!  Kirby asked me to make her a pasta dish to take to work for a shared lunch with her colleagues.  My Chicken Penne Pasta a la Joolz! 

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Another latte! 
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WW Lemon tarragon chicken bake - delicious!

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Porridge with banana, strawberries and a drizzle of maple syrup...

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I had to laugh at this car wash console.  Needless to say, I paid cash instead of using my card!

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Cupcakes for Brianna!

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Pumpkin, fetta and spinach muffins for Kirby...

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Mauve frosting...

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Mmmm, salmon!

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Pan fried then finished in the oven...

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This was a dish that featured on MasterChef this week. Absolutely scrummy!

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I’ll leave it there before BlogTouch crashes on me...

Cheers - Joolz xx

Tonsillectomy for Bri...

After having glandula fever when she was 16, Bri has suffered from swollen glands and gets run down very easily.  She’s never really been plagued with tonsillitis as such but her tonsils are huge.  That’s her tonsils either side of her uvula.  See that white thing in the left tonsil?  That is a tonsil stone.  Gross!

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So Monday, she had a tonsillectomy.   Here she gowned up, ready to go to theatre...

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She was gone about 2 hours, although the surgery only takes about 15 minutes, the rest is spent in recovery.  I went and had a coffee and sat and read a magazine for the first hour.  Then I went up to her room where she’d come back to.  It was a little spartan but at least it was a  private room.

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Here she is! I was surprised that she could talk quite normally...

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She had an overnight stay then I picked her up at 0930 Tuesday morning.

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Here’s an after pic - see those white bits down the back? That’s where her tonsils used to be.  The white stuff is called slough (pronounced sluff) and is part of the  healing process.

Today is Day 4 post op and she’s finding it pretty sore and can expect to get worse on days 5-7.  She has lots of pain and anti-inflammatory meds to take.  Hopefully, there will be no complications.

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She has been eating jelly and ice cream, icypoles, mac n cheese and crumpets and sleeps fairly well at night.

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Cheers - Joolz xx

Catching up...

I’ve finally had a chance to catch up on my boring old blog...life gets in the way so sometimes!

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I’m still enjoying the Weight Watchers meals that I cook.  

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Monday, May 14 weigh in - 80.3 kgs so a loss of 400 gms but what a yo-yo I am!  For 5 weeks I have been in the 80 point something kg range, going up and down but can’t crack it into the 70’s!

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I made this yummy breakfast burrito on Thursday.  Pioneer woman makes them for her hard working family to take out on the prairie - except her scrambled eggs feature cream and lots of full fat cheese...mine was a bit kinder to my waistline...so I like to think! 

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Assemble whatever you’d like to put into the eggs.  Clean out the fridge and use all those tired vegetables lurking in there!  That broccolini had been in there a day or two, leftover...

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Gently dry fry the veg until tender then add in 2 whisked eggs and let it cook away gently...

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That’s how you want it...

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I used 2 rye Mountain Bread which is 2 points a sheet but you could use one.  Being the first time I did this, I didn’t want it going soggy and falling apart.  You can use any wrap of your choice but these are the lowest in points.  Spread the eggs out along the wrap, season with herbs, salt and pepps as desired. I sprinkled on 25 gms 50% low fat cheddar because I am a cheese fiend!

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Wrap that baby up like a newborn then you can either wrap it in foil to refrigerate then rewarm in the oven a bit later...

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...or eat the deliciousness right away! That’s what I did!

Here’s the breakdown in points...

Eggs x 2 - O

50 gms lean ham - 2

Rye Mountain bread - 4

25 gms cheese - 2

Broccolini, onion, capsicum - all 0

So an 8 point very filling breakfast - or would be good for brunch! I would have added mushrooms if I had some.

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Dinner that night was pork loin steaks with roasted apple (why have I never done that before?) with braised cabbage (with balsamic and brown sugar) and a creamy mustard sauce...honestly, is this Weight Watchers?

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I am not usually a scarf person but this one took my eye in a local shop so I bought it.  It will come in handy when travelling to dress up plain black tops etc...

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Friday night, I made this Healthy Pasta Bake with chicken mince - an easy Friday night dinner.

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Saturday, I high tailed it to Adelaide to see my girlies! Brianna was having her tonsils out on Monday so I needed to be there for that and to “nurse the nurse” after the operation...

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This was our first Mother’s Day without mum...

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The Mother’s Love rose is still blooming...

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We had breakfast on Mother’s Day morning - I treated myself to a homemade Egg and Bacon McMuffin - I scored it 10 points but hey, it’s Mother’s Day, right?

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Then I accompanied Kirby to the gym where she did her routine set by her PT.  I hopped onto one of the treadmills (never been on one before!) and clocked up 3.5 kms.  I think that got rid of the McMuffin!

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Bri arrived home later in the morning and I then received my gift from them.  

Some beautiful Peter Alexander pyjama pants and a cute little Mimco bracelet. Spoiled!

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I provided the recipe and Kirby made lunch...

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It was delicious - we hadn’t tried the wild rice blend before.

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Then to totally blow my points for the day, we went out to Chianti, a lovely italian restaurant in the city...

This was Kingfish which we shared...

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Bri and I had this interesting pasta stuffed pillows with octopus...very rich!

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Kirby had the salmon...

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Oh, the rhubarb and ginger creme brûlée was to die for! 

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Tiramisu for Kirby...

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...and cannoli for Brianna...

Scrumdiddlyum!

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Cheers - Joolz xx

Sticky beef and a mug muffin...

For dinner last night, I chose this quick stir fry type dish...it took about 10 minutes to chop and assemble the ingredients...

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...and about 10 minutes to toss it all in the pan.  I used Thai rice noddles instead of egg noodles.  A little bit of sweet chilli sauce could be added but I didn’t have any. Still very tasty! 

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This morning I had a 90 second mug muffin ( but in my micro it takes about 150 seconds)...

(The recipe says to use 2 dates but one would be plenty)

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Mashed banana, 1 egg and 1/3 cup of quick oats and medjool dates...(3pt)

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Drizzle with 2 tspn Green’s maple flavoured syrup (1 pt), dust with cinnamon and serve with blueberries.  It is very filling and takes about 30 minutes to eat as it’s chewy.

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We’re in for a few cold days

Wednesday 17C (62.6F)

Thursday 12C (53.6F) thunderstorms and hail forecast

Friday 14C (57.2F)

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It’s time to dig out my winter boots and long pants.  I live in 7/8 capri pants from October through May.

Stay warm!,

Cheers - Joolz xx

WW update

This is my weight loss to date.  Very slow and I had a gain today, of 400 gms.  I haven’t been walking in the morning because the weather has been cold.  I have secured a second hand walking machine so hopefully I’ll get that soon and will be able to exercise on that.  My biggest trouble is that the food is just so darn good! Anyway, I’ll keep plodding along as I believe it is the best program for me.

Cherrs - Joolz xx