Recipes and wounding

Urgh, Monday again. I had a lovely weekend, but really struggled to get myself out of bed this morning. I hate dark mornings, especially when I can hear the wind howling outside!

Thursday night's babysitting was fairly uneventful, other than my paranoia - seriously, I'd be a nervous wreck if I had kids. I must've run up and down the stairs about 30 times every time I heard a cough or a snuffle. Still, it must've been a good workout as my calves were killing me on Friday.

We spent Friday night over in Twickenham having dinner with friends which was lovely. We went to Pizza Express and I didn't over indulge too badly, no starter or dessert, but a fair amount of Prosecco. It was nice to see all my friends in one place for a change (due to families and pregnancies, we rarely catch up all together these days).

On Saturday we were treated to lunch at Zuma in London. The food was amazing, we had lots of different sharing plates and predictably I ate too much. Still, it meant I didn't need any dinner or breakfast on Sunday. Yes, I clearly ate far too much.

Yesterday I decided it would be a good idea to cook up a few Slimming World friendly meals. Unfortunately, during this process, I managed to slice the end of my finger off. This led to a lot of panic on my behalf as Matt had gone out with his mobile and I was literally bleeding all over the kitchen and bathroom. Once I stopped shaking and managed to stick my finger back together, I finished off the two little beauties below. One with a helping of finger end and possibly some finger nail. 

Exhibit 1 - Lamb and Vegetable Curry

What you will need:

• Diced Lamb - all visible fat removed (as much as you fancy)
• 1 Onion
• Mushrooms - as many as you like
• Other Veg - I used Squash and Red Chard as I had these in my Veg box
• Tinned Tomatoes
• Teaspoon of garlic, ginger, garam masala, chilli 

Spray a pan with fry light and fry the onions and spices for a couple of minutes, add in the meat and brown. Stir in the rest of the veg (and the stalks from the chard, not the leaves yet) and fry until the veg softens slightly. Chuck in the tinned tomatoes and give it a good stir. Simmer for about 20 mins until the sauce has reduced and then throw in the chard leaves. Voila. Syn free and tasty as hell.

Exhibit 2 - Creamy Leek, Bacon and Mushroom Pasta

What you will need:

• Pasta - I used Penne 
• 2 leeks 
• 4 large mushrooms or about 8 smaller ones
• 4 slices of bacon, fat removed and chopped
• 1 tub of Low Low Cheese Spread
• 2 chicken Oxo Cubes

Spray a pan with fry light and fry the mushrooms, leeks and bacon until the bacon is cooked and the veg is softened. Crumble over the Oxo Cubes and pour in a glass of hot water - enough to cover. Stir and scrape up any of the nice brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Simmer for around 5 mins. Stir in 1 tub of the Low Low Cheese (or dairly lea light/ laughing cow would work) and mix to combine. Serve with Pasta. 

This makes 2 large portions and is syn free if you count the low low as one of your healthy extras. I guess you could use Quark instead to make it totally syn free.

Tastes bloody good too and will be today's lunch.

This week should be fairly uneventful. My last birthing class tonight, visiting a friend on Wednesday and SW on Thursday. Hopefully there will be some sort of minor loss. 

I am actually really struggling to type this, I didn't realise how much I relied on my left index finger for every day activities. Woe is me.

Frustration and Stress

In the grand scheme of things, life for me is generally not stressful. I consider myself fairly lucky in this respect, I work hard, I earn a decent wage but my job is not particularly stressful and life is generally good. I have come to discover, I don't deal overly well with stress. I am a comfort eater most definitely, I want to hit the wine or eat bad food. Not overly helpful when I am trying to lose weight.

I had an unofficial weigh in this morning, which showed me a pound down. Better than expected since last night, I decided to eat my way through a lot of bad food (think 'Global Buffet' at our local Indian Restaurant) and drink half a bottle of wine.

I felt stressed yesterday, work was really frustrating me. I spent a lot of wasted time trying to get something in our application working, only to be told the configuration needed to change, to a version that doesn't work and no one can now tell me how to fix it, but they expect me to do that all the same - even though my version was working. I was also told I was going to be on my own in my team (usually 4 of us) for the whole of December again (this happened last year and it nearly finished me off). Couple that with the fact work is really stalling with any news on pay rises or promotions (we should have found out mid Sept) and my tenant has not paid his rent on time for the 2nd month in a row - well I just felt like it was all too much. I'm also not feeling quite right - dizzy spells and a sick feeling - which has me presuming the worst (I am a major hypochondriac).

Seriously, how ridiculous is that? There is not really anything stressful in any of that - well except for the lack of rent money which means I am seriously struggling to cover my bills until my useless agents actually bother to chase the tenant and get my bloody money in. So, in my mind, that meant I could go out last night and stuff myself silly.

Gah. I am frustrated at myself.

Today I have tried to take control a bit more. I'm taking my meals one at a time, I've applied for a couple of new jobs (in all honesty, I don't really want to move companies, but I feel like I need to do something) and I've emailed my tenant to ask him if everything is ok. If he doesn't reply to me or pay up, then I need to cross that bridge when we come to it, I am blocking that out for now. I've also made an appointment with the doctor as this dizziness has been ongoing for a few weeks now - and well it's probably nothing.

Food today has not been stellar. I've not snacked on crap, which is a start and I've upped my water and fruit intake. Tonight I am babysitting, so dinner is in the hands of my friend, but I will not make a pig of myself.

Tomorrow night we are at a friend's house for dinner and then on Saturday they are taking us for lunch to say thanks for my attendance at their birthing classes and my future role in the birth of their child (eeeek). Other than that, my weekend is hopefully going to be very relaxed and on plan. I might even get myself to the gym.

Round up

I seem to have been a bit AWOL of late again. Life has been pretty hectic which has left me little time for blogging.

I joined SW last week, but then realised I can't actually make my first weigh in as I am babysitting this Thursday, about 35 miles away from home. I guess I can try and find a different class, or I just plough on in the hope that a 2 week loss will be amazeballs.

We spent the weekend Oooop Norf with my family so Matt could go to the Sunderland v West Brom game with my dad and brother in law. I went wedding dress shopping which was not as stressful as anticipated. I now have come up with a cunning plan. Since I can't find exactly what I want in a flattering style, I am having a dress made. Seriously, no idea why I didn't come up with this plan from the start.

The top will be something like this - the bottom will be nothing like this. I can't be coping with a mass of satin.

So fingers crossed this works. I am meeting the dress maker/ designer next month to discuss exactly what I want and hope that I don't need to re-mortgage to fund it.

The diet is going ok. The weekend was a tad suspect due to the massive amounts of food my mother always has in and a trip to the beach for Fish and Chips. I've been back at it since Sunday though so I am hoping not too much damage has been done.

We've also taken the plunge and signed up for Personal Training at the gym. I actually do need a mortgage for this - but I really need a kick up the bum with my fitness and this seems like the best option for now. I'm signing up for 5 sessions at first and then hopefully I can carry on under my own steam.... Well that's the plan anyway. First session is the 17th October (due to Birthing Class commitments, I can't do anything til then).

So, that's me in a nutshell. I am going to make an attempt to plan my meals better over the next week or so and to try some new SW recipes. Be prepared for lots of food posts if things go to plan.

Birthing and Boozing

Another lovely weekend Chez Linzerello. Once again, a few too many beverages were consumed, but food didn't feature overly in abundance, so I guess it kind of balanced out. Without fail, I am joining SW this week, even if I have to trawl the county to find a class.

Friday night, was just the two of us at our local pub, a few drinks, a bit of food and then home early to watch TV. I'm getting too old to stay out late. On Saturday we met friends for lunch, which became very messy. Let's just say, these were involved...

Our friends have a daughter, so when they get a chance to go out - well they kind of make the most of it. Surprisingly, lunch was therefore the only meal consumed on Saturday and I was in bed by 8pm!

Sunday was another lunch with friends at our favourite restaurant, no breakfast consumed due to a lie in and no dinner required. Following lunch we headed home for a quick power nap before heading to the theatre to see Cirque du Ciel. This was brilliant - if it's anywhere near you, I would highly recommend seeing it.

Last night saw a first for me, I attended an NCT class. No, I am not pregnant, but I am very honoured to be a birthing partner for one of my best friends who is due to give birth in November. Her husband has a massive hospital phobia and is therefore likely to be more of a liability than any form of help. It was fascinating - having made the decision that children are not for me (and I am fairly sure seeing someone I love, give birth, will cement that sentiment), it was very enlightening.

It was also hilarious when we first arrived at the class to see everyone trying to work out how the hell I fitted into the equation - was I a single mother? (possibly pregnant or just fat), was I a lesbian lover? Anyway, I've 2 more classes before I am ready to assist in her labour. Eeeeek.

So other than that, not much to report from me. I've a fairly quiet week ahead, I'm venturing back to the gym and refocussing my diet attempts (although I've been pretty SW friendly anyway). I've more wedding dresses to try on at the weekend (more on that later) so if that doesn't kick me up the bum after my hatred of it the last time, to shed some lard, I've no hope.

Slimming World fail

So, I've spent all week preparing myself to join Slimming World - when I say preparing myself, this can be translated as eating a load of shit knowing I was about to make a commitment to this weight loss journey for approximately the 9000th time in my life. I feel ready to knuckle down, I'm sick of nothing looking good on me, I need to lose weight. Imagine my discontent when I rocked up at my local class last night to discover it was off.

Well, I presume it was off, the hall was empty with the exception of some street dance class in the room next door (not sure I am quite ready for that just yet) so I hung around like a saddo for 20 minutes before admitting defeat and heading back home in a proper huff. This huff was duly taken out on Matt, who upon his return from Germany for 3 days, dumped his stuff all over our freshly cleaned flat and proceeded to sit on the sofa watching irrelevant football having turned over what I had been watching (I actually can't remember what that was, but it was very important at the time).

He's still in the bad books having spent the night star shaped in the bed leaving not very svelte me to lie on the bed frame for most of the night. Consequently I feel like a bus has hit me and I cannot turn my head to the left.

However, I'm spurred on to be good with SW this week by the fact that I purchased some new boots from Evans only to find that one fits me perfectly, and the other I cannot fasten more than half way. I either have one much fatter calf or the boots are dodgy. Anyway, I love them, so I am keeping them and attempting to slim down my left calf :) Failing that, anyone know how to stretch leather??

Other than that, I am in a glorious mood today. Actually, I am not really that grumpy, the sun is shining and it's Friday. We've plans with friends tomorrow and Sunday and I am possibly going to venture into London tonight. The world is not so bad really.

Have a good weekend y'all.

The wanderer returns

So I am back from a fabulous 2 weeks in Vegas. Can't say I am overly happy to be back at work today, post holiday blues are most definitely in attendance. I'm also suffering a bit from Jet lag, so I was up from 3am yesterday, which made most of Sunday fairly painful. Thankfully, I slept a bit better last night so I don't feel too hideous today.

I've somehow managed to escape with just a 1lb gain. I was fairly mindful of what I ate and drank the whole time I was away and we walked a hell of a lot - at least 3 miles a day I would say. I also found myself unable to eat a lot most of the time, the portions were either far too big or the heat just made me not really want to eat much. A revelation I can tell you. Thankfully there were scales in the hotel room, so I could weigh myself most days to keep an eye on things. Americans also have a lot more healthy options available (as well as really bad ones too!) - Light beer (as in low calorie) is fairly standard, so I drank that or Gin and Slimline mostly. I tried to employ the basic principles of SW mainly and ate a lot of lean meat and Veg mostly.

The weather was brilliant most of the time (we had rain 3 times, unheard of) so there was a bit of sunbathing action, we saw a couple of shows - Cirque du Soleil and Mr. Matt Goss.... as a former Brosette, this was most exciting.

We went to some amazing restaurants, we shopped, we drank a fair amount, we explored the Strip. All in all, a wonderful holiday.

I look fairly massive in these photo's so it's made me even more determined to crack on with this weight loss business.

So, back to reality. I am joining a Slimming World class on Thursday and exercise is back on the menu. Having walked a lot while we were away, it's made me realise that it definitely helps. I am even considering a few personal training sessions to get me started once I work out my finances.

So, back on the diet today and Wii Zumba tonight. No more messing around.

Right, I'm off to wade through 1000+ emails and catch up with you all. Happy Monday people.

Vegas baby

I'm off. A friend's wedding tomorrow followed by a 2 week holiday to Vegas. The sun has kindly made an appearance today, so all is good with the world. 1 hour and 15 minutes til I am free. This week has felt like forever.

I'll be back in 2 weeks or so, no doubt a little bit heavier, but with less than a year til I get wed, operation fat shift will begin in earnest. 

Have fun y'all.