Hunter's Chicken

I love Hunter's Chicken and would regularly have it if we went out for a pub lunch before I started Slimming World.  So now I have my amazing LiveLean chicken breasts, I knew I had to make a slimming world version to have at home. I recipe I used was from the blog she cooks, she eats and I just adapted it for myself a little.

This recipe is to serve two people.

Ingredients:

For the BBQ Sauce:

1 Medium Onion
Half a Teaspoon of Chilli Powder (or more if you want it hotter)
200ml Passata
2 Tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar
1 Tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tablespoons of Sweetener

2 Chicken Breasts
4 Slices of Lean Bacon or Bacon with all Fat Removed
80g Reduced-Fat Cheddar Cheese or 60g of Full Fat Cheddar Cheese (which can be used as your HexA)

Method:

• Chop onion finely and fry until soft.
• Add the chilli powder, passata, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and sweetener.
• Stir and simmer on a medium heat for around 10 minutes or until thick enough.
• While the sauce is cooking make a small cut in the top of each chicken breast to make a pocket. Be careful not to cut all the way through the breasts. Place the chicken in a baking dish suitable for the oven.
• When the sauce is ready, spread evenly between the two breasts, ensuring sauce goes into the pockets made in the chicken.
• Wrap bacon around the chicken.
• Place in the oven at around 200 degrees for 20 minutes.
• Take out of the oven , sprinkle cheese on top and place back into the oven for 10 more minutes.
• Serve with choice of sides. I made slimming world chips, but should have added green beans or asparagus too for speed.

Happy Cooking!

Leanne x

Week Seven

Hi everyone,

I am going to be honest with you, this week has been a disaster! I started off the week very positive, planning my week and going shopping, but then I got ill and this is where it all went a little wrong. I know I shouldn't use being ill as an excuse to eat unhealthy, but for some reason I couldn't help myself! I had a cold, which effected my sinuses quite bad, meaning I had a contest headache and just felt rubbish for a few days. I couldn't be bothered to cook and only fancied chocolate, which unfortunately is what I ended up having. This has meant I have come in this week with a 1lb gain, which is not as bad as I was expecting!

This week I am feeling much better and ready to get back on the band wagon and have a good, healthy week :) I have already planned my week so I feel ready to do this! In case you didn't know I am also a teacher so I am in week 5 of my 6 weeks off, this week school is open for us to go in and set up and get ready for starting back the following week, meaning I can have a test run to getting back into planning meals to take to work.

Unlike some people, I seem to be able to follow the plan and make better choices when I'm not at work, which from talking to members in my family and friends, isn't usually the case. I find it easier being at home because I can take time to make my meals, which I enjoy and I don't buy things that could tempt me like chocolate and sweets. Whereas at work, it is always someone's birthday, so cakes and sweet treats are constantly floating around the staffroom and there is the kids prize box stuffed with sweets to dip into at the end of the day! So going back to work will be the ultimate test to see if I can make healthy choices!!

I hope you all have a great week and wish me luck!

Leanne x

Week Six

Hi All,

Just an update to tell you all about my week. This week has been a bit of a funny week for some reason :/ I'm a primary school teacher and so I this is currently my 4th week off work, and I think the boredom has finally got to me! But on the other hand I haven't been able to motivate myself to do anything! So I'm afraid I have been a little lazy and lounged around most days watching the Olympics, which I'm sure is meant to inspire you to become more active!! Anyway, although I haven't been the most active this week, I have still made sure I have stuck to plan, which has lead me to a 2lb weightless this week :) I could not be happier as I was a little worried that the few extra syns I had towards the end of last week would show this week, but I have held them off!

This week I have also fancied chocolate a lot more than I have any other week, I think it may be because I have purposely stayed away from chocolate till now as I know once I have some, I will want more and more. So because of this, I did have a chocolate treat after I weighed this morning to satisfy my craving. I may also look up some low syn chocolate treats to buy when I go shopping incase I feel the cravings again, any ideas please let me know :)

This coming week is going to be a little bit of a struggle because I am running out of speed foods and can't afford to go shopping until I get paid on Friday. I am going to try my best to rustle up meals with what I have left, but there might not always be a great amount of speed foods with them :/ I am about to do my food planner for the week, so I am going to look through what I have left and make sure I can last!

I am also going to try and exercise more this week, my fiancé's mom gave us a rowing machine, so I am going to aim to go on that at least three times this week, if not more. I also need to start getting prepared for going back to work in two weeks as I am moving to a new classroom and new year group!

Hope you have all have a fantastic week also and good luck for the week ahead,

Leanne x

Spaghetti Carbonara

This recipe is one of my favourites! It is simple and very quick to make and is 0 syns if using your healthy extra A! I found the original recipe on BBC good food, but tweaked it so it was Slimming World friendly and I can't wait to share it with you :)

Ingredients:

500g Dried Spaghetti
2 Eggs
4 Egg Yolks
2 Packs of bacon lardons
90g Parmesan  (30g per person HexA)
Garlic
Salt and Pepper

This was to feed 3 people, so you would need to adjust the amounts according to how many the meal had to serve.

Method:

• Cook spaghetti according to the instructions on the packet.
• Meanwhile, fry the bacon lardons and garlic using FryLight, adding a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
• Whisk together the 2 eggs, 4 egg yolks, parmesan and seasoning.
• Drain spaghetti and add to the egg/parmesan mixture along with the cooked bacon lardons.
• Gently mix together to coat the spaghetti in the sauce. The heat from the spaghetti will cook the eggs in the sauce.
• Serve and Enjoy :)

As I said, the dish is syn free if using your healthy extra A, but I will warn you that the bacon lardons can be a little fatty, what I usually do it pick through and have the ones without fat for myself, but you could use normal bacon that has had the fat removed and just cut this into small pieces.

Good luck and if you have any questions, comment on this post or get in touch with me on my Instagram.

Leanne x

Week Five

Hi all,

I am pleased to say this week has been another successful week :) Although I have had a day off plan, I made sure I was straight back on it the next day to make the damage as little as possible and I came out of the week with a 1.5lb loss!!

The day I had off plan was when me and my fiancé went to afternoon tea, as we have started alphabet dating. I didn't hold myself back on this day, I just enjoyed our time together as I knew it was only for that day. There were also a couple of days when I went slightly over my syns for the day, which I thought might hinder my weight loss also, but I think because I didn't go mad and just think I might as well have more because i'm already over, it was not as damaging as it could of been.

Another thing that I think has helped my weight loss over the last couple of weeks is the tea I have been drinking. I ordered fruiteatox tea after seeing some great reviews on Instagram. Their teas taste amazing and I think have really helped with my bloating and weight loss. There is a morning tea, which you have everyday and a night tea, which you have every other night. I have now run out of tea :( as I only ordered the 14 day pack (you can order the 28 day pack also), so I am going to see if my weight loss slows down this coming week, and if it does, I am defiantly going to be ordering some more.

I also went to a BBQ yesterday and after already having a day off plan this week, I didn't want to have another one so decided I was going to make the right choices and stay 100% on plan. I am not going to lie to you, it was so, so hard, but I managed it and because I did I felt really proud of myself :) I made sure I saved all of my syns for the BBQ and filled up as much as possible on Speed fruit while I was there. Here is the food I had.

I had jacket potatoes, and used my Healthy Extra A for the cheese, and just syned the margarine for 3 syns. I then took my own slimming world burgers, topped with loads of onion and broke up 1 cheese slice for 3.5 syns and ketchup for 1 syn. I also knew everyone would be drinking at the BBQ so I found these Kopparberg Light cans in Morrisons for only 4.5 Syns! Considering a normal bottle of Kopparberg sets you back 15 syns, this did the job and I didn't feel I was depriving myself of a nice drink. I then had loads and loads of watermelon to fill me up and stop me picking at all the cakes that were there!

I hope you all had an amazing week also and got the results you wanted, or if you didn't, know why and don't feel too put off by it. Good luck for the week ahead :)

Leanne x

LiveLean Meat Bundle

Yesterday I had my first ever LiveLean delivery! LiveLean is an amazing website where you can order meat online that is free range, grass fed, British and very very yummy!! You can order meats separately or in a bundle which is what I did, I had the 'Best of British Slimming Meat Hamper' which I am going to detail what you get in this post.

This is the box the meat arrives in, straight to your door! It is then inside a very think plastic/insulated bag with ice packs inside to keep your meat as fresh as can be. This is what was inside my pack that I ordered:

• 5kg of chicken breast! That's roughly around 24 pieces of breast.
• 2 6oz rump steaks.
• 2 400g lean steak mince.
• 2 6oz Hache steaks.
• 24 peppered meatballs.
• 2 4oz lean chicken burgers.
• 8 lean chicken sausages.

Most of this is syn free apart from a few items which I will list here. I got these syn values from MrsMummyWright's vlogs on YouTube. 

• Chicken Burgers - 1 syn each.
• Chicken Sausages - 1/2 a syn each.
• Hache Steaks - 1/2 a syn each.
• Meatballs - 1/2 a syn for 2.

Once I had unpacked all the meat, I then separated the chicken breast down into smaller portions before freezing. I separated them into 2 breasts per portion and got 12 portions! This is what my freezer draw looked like when I placed all the portions of chicken breasts I had made up.

I also separated the sausages into portions, putting two sausages in each portion, so I can quickly get some out when needed. I left the rest of the meat in the packs they came in and just wrote on the front of each if they were any syns so I don't have to keep rechecking.

So far we have had some of the chicken breast and the chicken burgers. Both were lovely and the breast is huge! I can't wait to have a date night and try the steaks with some lovely SW chips and fried onions.

I got this massive bundle for just £54.95! On the website this bundle is currently advertised as £59.95 (On offer reduced from £116.73) but I had a code that gave me an extra £5 off. Again I got this code from MrsMummyWright's Instagram page and was SWKRYS which works if you are spending over £40 and can be reused!

I can't wait to eat the rest of my order and it makes it even better knowing that it is good, British, well looked after meat that I am eating :)

Leanne x

Week Four

Hi all,

This week has been a very successful week! I was very disappointed with last weeks weigh in after being on plan throughout the week, I maintained and didn't lose any weight :( but I didn't let this get me down or make me think it wasn't worth it, I carried on to make sure I had another good week so I could begin to see the results I want.

Although I don't officially weigh in until Sundays, I have had a quick weigh in this morning and it is looking good! So this has really spurred me on, even though I'm facing one of my biggest challenges tonight...the cinema! When I have been the cinema in the past, I have snacked on a big bag of popcorn, plus a bag of chocolate, but I do not want to let myself down or deny myself a nice treat. So I have been careful with what I have I used my syns on today, so I have enough left to be able to take some butterkist toffee popcorn for 5.5 syns and I will have one or two pieces of the fiancé's chocolate for the rest of my syns. I am also going to buy a large diet coke and have some of that whenever I feel I need something to help get me through.

I must say, the biggest success to my week again has been planing. I plan the week ahead on a Saturday, thinking about what food I have left, what I need to get, and then I find I do not deviate far from the plan because I don't need to!

Next week is going to more of a challenge personally as my fiancé is off work with me for the whole week, and he likes to pick at food, which I will have to resist. We are also planning to take my niece to Stratford for the day, although I have already decided to take a packed lunch so I do not go off plan,  I might not be able to resist an ice-cream!

Please also check out all the recipes I have posted on my blog this week. They are all really tasty and low/no syn meals and very filling, and it might give you some new meals to try incase you are getting a little bored of the same meals, which happens to me too.

I hope you all have a great week and I'll let you know how the official weigh in goes via my Instagram page.

Leanne x

Fish Pie

I love this yummy and tasty fish pie recipe, so thought I'd share it for all to use. I hope you enjoy making it and eating as much as I do!

Ingredients:

Fish Selection Pack (Can pick up from most supermarkets, or just buy fish you like separately)
250ml Skimmed Milk
1 Fish Stock Pot
Around 3 Potatoes (peeled)
Frozen peas
Onion (optional)

Method:

• Boil peeled potatoes in slightly salted water.
• Meanwhile, place fish in saucepan with milk, and gently heat.
• Add fish stock pot to fish and milk.
• When fish is cooked through, place in a casserole  dish with some of the liquid from the saucepan (save the rest of the liquid).
• Mix frozen peas (and diced onion) with fish.
• Drain poatoes, mash and mix in some of the liquid saved earlier.
• Place mash on top of the fish in the casserole dish and place in the oven at around 200 degrees for about 30 minutes.
• Serve with choice of sides, I chose asparagus.

Enjoy, Leanne x

Pizza Pies

I love these pizza pies for my dinner, they fill the gap when missing a normal pizza, but with a fraction of the syns! Plus they are super easy and quick to make.

Ingredients: (To serve 1)

1 Stand 'n' Stuff  Tortillas (4 syns)
Any toppings you would usually have on a pizza (I used chicken and bacon)
Tomato Puree
30g Cheddar Cheese

Method:

• Cook any toppings that you are using and then place in the bottom of the tortillas.
• Cover toppings with tomato puree.
• Spinkle over cheese and place in the oven at around 200 degrees for 20 minutes.
• Serve with desired sides. I had sweet potato wedges, roasted carrots and caramelised onions, a bit random I know but it was all syn free, yummy and very filling!

See very easy and quick to make and only 4 syns if using the cheese as your healthy extra.

These are what the Stand 'n' Stuff tortillas look like in the shops:

Leanne x

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

I absolutely love broccoli, so I was chuffed when I came across this lovely broccoli and cheese soup! It is simple to make, packed with speed foods, free if using your healthy extra A and makes up to three portions to freeze!

I make my soup in a slow cooker because I don't have a soup maker or big enough saucepan to make it any other way! But my friend makes hers in a soup maker, and it takes 30 Minutes! It also blends the soup as it cooks to save blending it at the end. You can also leave the soup chunky if you prefer.

Ingredients:

2 Broccoli heads
1 Onion
1 Leek
1 Medium Potato
2 Vegetable Stock Pots
700ml Boiling Water
6 Laughing Cow Light Blue Triangles.

Method

• Chop broccoli heads and boil in water to soften.
• Chop onion, leek and peeled potato and soften in frying pan using frylight.
• Drain water from broccoli and place in slow cooker with softened onion, leek and potato.
• Boil 700ml of water in kettle, add vegetable stock pots and mix.
• Pour mixture in slow cooker and turn to high for 4 hours.
• When there is 1 hour left, place 6 cheese triangles in the slower cooker and mix it a little.
• Once finished, allow to cool, then transfer to a blender and blend contents until smooth.
• Separate into portions. I can get two BIG portions or three smaller ones, depending on how hungry I feel at the time!

This is how I made in pictures also:

Boil the chopped broccoli heads to soften.

Fry chopped onion, leek and peeled potato to soften.

Add broccoli, onion, leek, potato and stock to slow cooker.

One hour to go, add cheese triangles.

After 4 hours.

Cooled and ready to blend.

Blended and finished!

Enjoy making the soup and please let me know how you get on, or if you need to know anything else, you can ask me by commenting on this post or on my Instagram page.

Leanne x

Ham and Egg Muffins

I made this gorgeous muffins for my breakfast this morning, so I thought I would share the recipe with you all so you can make your own.

Ingredients:

(To make 3 Muffins)

3 Slices of ham
3 Eggs
15g of mature cheese (3 Syns)
Frylight

Method:

Spray 3 spaces in a muffin tin with frylight.
Place one slice of ham in each hole, covering the bottom and sides.
Crack an egg in each hole.
Place in the oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.
With 5 minutes to go, sprinkle cheese on muffins.
Enjoy!

I only used 15g of cheese for 3 syns as I wanted to use my HexA for my dinner, but you could easily use all your allowance on the muffins.

I also served mine with mushrooms on the side, put you could put them in the muffins, just put them in before the you crack the eggs in. You could also put chopped tomatoes or even spring onions inside!

I hope your all enjoy making them and find them as yummy as me, please let me know how you get on :)

Leanne x