P is for pasta, Passata and peppers.

Tomorrow night at Slimming world we are having a bit of a party. Our consultant is leaving after nearly a year. Jen was only ever temporary, standing in until a new consultant could be found, but we have all grown very fond of her and will be sad to see her go, hence the party.

We love any excuse to share recipes and food ideas so my contribution will be the above - so so so simple yet always goes down well.

I use a packet of Pasta Sauce mix (Bachelors) and make up with 450ml of boiling water.
I then add passata, peppers, red kidney beans, spring onions, left over cooked long grain rice and chilli powder, salt & pepper. I will serve in a Chinese lettuce leaf with extra salad.

This is my P contribution for ABC Wednesday - all about food!
For more fun follow the link in my sidebar.

O is for Out of this world.

 

We don't do Macdonalds - haven't done for years. When the gals at Slimmingworld were raving about this new recipe I had to give it a try! It was deeeeeeeeeellllllicioussssssss!

 

 

Burger in a bowl

 Frylight

500g extra lean mince. (I used one of my very low fat burgers)
1 onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves crushed (I didn’t use any)
Salt & Pepper
½ iceberg lettuce shredded
8 gherkins sliced
1 red onion finely chopped
2 tomatoes roughly chopped.

 

SW super sauce

3 level tbsp extra light mayonnaise

5 tbsp fat free fromage frais
1 level tbsp American syle mustard
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp white wine vinegar (I didn’t use any)
½ tsp garlic salt (I didn’t use any)
¼ tsp onion granules (I didn’t use any)
¼ tsp sweet smoked paprika  (I didn’t use any)

 

Frylight mince, onions and garlic until beef is cooked and onions softened.

Season.

Put all Sauce ingredients in bowl and whisk.

Mix together lettuce, gherkins, onion and tomatoes and divide between 4 wide bowls.

 

Spoon bees mixture in top, drizzle over the sauce and serve.

 

THEN EAT AND ENJOY THE LUSHNESS!

 

This is my late contribution for ABC Wednesday - for more exciting stuff follow the link in my sidebar.

Time flies when having fun.

It's been 10 days since Sadie moved in and Bing and her are loving life. Every morning we are down on the beach making the most of the good and not so good weather. Sadie seems to have a calming effect on Bing and on 2 occasions we have left them home alone for a couple of hours, returning home to a quiet kitchen - with no damage or signs of any nibbling.

Bing continues to develop and grow into a very lovely natured dog - so proud of the little chap!

 

 

 

Taken after lunch!

 



New Potato Salad with Salmon and Eggs

New Potatoes are just so awesome right now....salads all the way!
Hello Spring.

Ingredients

for the dressing:
10 tbsp fat free salad dressing
1 level tbsp. dried mustard
2 tbsp finely chopped dill
Juice of 1 orange
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
for the salad:
600g small new potatoes
200g green beans, trimmed
6 eggs
200g watercress
600g hot-smoked salmon, skinned and flaked into large chunks
8 spring onions, thinly sliced
400g red cherry tomatoes, halved
1 punnet mustard and cress

+ anything saladlike

 

1. Make the dressing by whisking all the ingredients together in a bowl. Season to taste and set aside.
2. Cook the potatoes in a large saucepan of lightly salted boiling water
for 15-20 minutes or until just tender. Drain, cool slightly, then halve.
3. While the potatoes are cooking, blanch the green beans in plenty of boiling water for 4-5 minutes until cooked but still with a slight crunch. Drain, refresh in iced water, then drain again.
4. Cook the eggs in a saucepan of boiling water for 3-4 minutes. Drain, cool under cold running water, then peel.
5. Arrange the watercress on a large platter and top with the potatoes, green beans, salmon, spring onions, eggs and tomatoes. Scatter over the mustard and cress and drizzle over the dressing. Toss gently to mix well before serving.

 

 

With the change in climate, the egg laying production increase and happy days ahead this is going to be the regular recipe, be it adapted henceforth!

Let the good times roll!

 

 

This is my N contribution to the wonderful ABC Wednesday! For more takes on this idea follow the link in my sidebar!       

 

Timing,chance or destiny.

We knew we would have to start the long process of a new sister for Bing as he's never been on his own.....we expected it to take a while to find just the right one......so I rang Val Seymour of East Pastures Boarding Kennels....who happens... to breed German Shepherds.......and guess what!

 

Sadie, 3 years old - adores Bing and Bing adores her!  She is wonderful and the house is back to normal! (Hmmmm well normal by the Nesbitt standards!) Bing has been fantastic - he is such a lovely boy and it is all down to our lovely devoted Elsie and Freida, RIP you lovely girls.

 

 

My Devoted Freida

Freida had not been well for a couple of weeks. Over the weekend she began to fail and was obviously unwell. We took her to the vets yesterday where she was scanned. Her temperature was extremely high so she was given a strong anti-biotic and we brought her home. No appetite despite a dish of cat food which the dogs normally love. I took her in this morning for another scan and had to leave her so the vet could give her a good examination. The vet phoned me at lunch time to say the scan had shown a tumour and Freida's spleen would have to be removed. There was evidence it was on her kidneys too. There were options - 1. Operate and find the extent of the tumour. 2. Medication to ease the pain but leave the tumour to grow. Concerns - anaesthetic with Freida being old the vet was concerned about this as with a blood supply issues......Freida was asleep when the vet was talking to me, asleep and peaceful. "Let her go.... she is at peace."

Responsible pet ownership is hard - but when it comes to such moments the pet must come first.
In her time with us Freida was devoted and faithful and had a great role in bringing up Bing. We will see this in the years to come.

M is for Meat Free Mexican Chilli!



Like many others I try to be economic with the food shopping. I despise waste and love a bargain. As I have explained on endless occasions (just tell me to shut up about it :D) I attend Slimming World on a weekly basis to keep track of my weight. Whilst I am at target I still feel it essential to keep an eye on matters as we don't want any issues ballooning, ie me! From time to time we have a taster night where we all take along a dish for the supper table. The condition is that the food must be an appropriate choice, ie which ties in with the Slimming world regime.

 

A few weeks ago on one such occasion I made a Meat free chilli - straight from a packet! Price of packet - 74p! It is totally syn free. I added extra vegetables it was definitely one of the favourites of the night!

 

( Syns is shorthand for synergy – Slimming World believes it’s the synergy between the three components of the plan, ie. Free Foods, Healthy Extras and Syns, that makes Food Optimising effective at enabling weight loss. Nevertheless, many of the Syns are effectively what other diet plans would call treats. But Syns also includes foods found in the Healthy Extras, allowing you to eat bigger portions of these foods if you want them).