Bank Holiday GIVEAWAY!

Because the weather has gone mental on us and the Bank Holiday looms... a little giveaway to cheer you up! 

The 'Cook it Your Way' is the latest cookbook from Weight Watchers, and I'm a bit smitten with it at the moment as it gives you a breakdown of the ingredients... there's a guide for Gluten Friendly recipes, High Carb, Low Carb, Veggies and all the Filling and healthy ingredients are (like the main books) highlighted in green... 

AND ... there's a table that lists every recipe via it's PP value, 

so if you only have 7 PP left... you can quickly see what you can whip up!

From breakkies to takeaways to desserts... there's a little something for everyone... 
well worth a look through if you're at a meeting! AND I've got one to  giveaway! So... *drumroll*

What day of the week is the Weight Watchers meeting 

in the Scouts Den, Bunting Road, Walkinstown, Dublin 12 on? 
I can't make it TOO easy! 

You'll find the answer >>> HERE  <<<

Comment the answer below and if you have trouble commenting you can post 

your answer on the Facebook page >>> HERE  <<<

All the names will go in the hat by midnight tonight and I'll post the winner on the FB page!!! Good luck! 

A picture...

'A picture paints a thousand words...' 

How true is that quote? How often have you been moved by a photograph? Love, loss, memories, joy, hurt, pride... all the feels can be in a single picture... you can be so moved by something that was caught in a moment in time... I LOVE instagram! LOVE IT! I love seeing other peoples non-scale victories... I love seeing recipes, manicures, following peoples fitness regimes and all the positive stuff on there... I follow a lot of very positive and funny people, and often I'll check it in the morning and be inspired by someone elses breakfast to try something new... Many times I've been sitting on my bottom and I open it to see people 'Map my run' stats and I put on my trainers! There's the 'before and after' hashtags #transformationTuesday and #transformationThursday pics that are all the motivation you need! 

So... how about a picture challenge? Just for the month of May to keep everyone on track... I'm all about the motivation at the moment! They don't have to be personal pics, if you want to paste them to your Facebook page then go for it... but if you're on instagram and you fancy tagging along, please do! You never know what image will give you the push you might need... or what someone else does every day that might be a game changer in your journey! You'll also find some like minded people to follow, who are struggling or succeeding and happy to share their tips! 

The 'clues' (or are they called prompts?) are all about a healthy lifestyle, things that are good and bad... and how you interpret them is entirely up to you! If you're wearing something cute that's never fitted properly before that's 'green' on the 21st, share it! AND it's not like other challenges, you can do all the days or some of the days... just add the hashtag #wwphotoaday and then you can see what everyone else has posted! I'm dead nosy me! You don't have to be following weight watchers to do this either!!! It's open season to motivate each other whatever plan you follow! Starting this Friday... who's with me?!

You can find me >>>  HERE  <<< 

Knorr Flavour Pots

One of my fav condiments at the moment are the Knorr Flavour pots! The curry one is epic! Check out my 'Curry in a Hurry' recipe >>> HERE <<< 

These just add LOADS of flavour to your dishes, and variety is the spice of life yeah? Literally in this case! There's so many to choose from but the staples for me are the garlic and curry ones! These are all 0PP (they're all under 15cals per pot!) or 1PP for two, which you might need depending on what you're making! I use two in my curry but they're SO full of flavour... *drools*

Flavour Pot Garlic, 1 portion - 0PP

Flavour Pot Garlic, 1 portion - 0PP

Flavour Pot Mixed Herbs, 1 portion - 0PP

Flavour Pot Mixed Chillies, 1 portion - 0PP

Flavour Pot Garlic, 1 portion - 0PP

2 portions - 1PP

Flavour Pot Garden Herbs, 1 portion - 0PP

This one is great for stuffings in pork or chicken!

Flavour Pot Ginger & lemongrass, 1 portion - 0PP

Handy for a quick stir fry without all the chopping! 

Flavour Pot Paprika, 1 portion - 0PP

Use 2 of these for a fab marinade on meat, it'll be 1PP for 2 pots

great for all the BBQs coming up!

Flavour Pot Mexican, 1 portion - 0PP

Sausage pasta bake...

Another recipe from the 'Cook it your way' book.. I've made a couple of changes, if I gave my family quorn sausages I'd be shunned! But I tricked 'em into the Low Fat sausages without even knowing! Mwhahahahahahahaha.... This recipe is quick, and all in one dish so you can throw it together, literally, and go about doing other more important stuff! Great for a Sunday evening if you've been out all day... comfort food at its best! 

   

Whats in it?

6 sausages - I've use the Mallon Low Fat Gluten Free ones for 6PP ... 1PP per sausage
200g pasta - 20PP ... 5PP per portion
3 tbsp tomato puree - 1PP
   The recipe uses tomato ketchup I just prefer puree...

Cheese - I've used the Tesco Half Fat Mozzarella, for the whole pack - 5PP

ZERO HEROS
Spray Oil
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1/4 tsp of paprika

500 ml stockSalt'N'Pepper

Italian/mixed herbs - there's loads of different herbs to choose from, use the flavours you really like, basil, oregano, garlic salt... take your pick! 
Total ProPoints serving 4 - 32PP
Total ProPoints per portion - 8PP

How?

Spray your dish with your spray oil...

Weigh out your pasta...

Then chop your sausages and layer them on top...

Mix your tinned tomatoes, stock, herbs, paprika and puree together and season... 

Pour over your sausage/pasta base and mix well... 

I added some left over baby plum tomatoes I had and a few basil leaves...

but there's nothing to stop you adding onions, courgette 

or any of the zero PP veggies to bulk it up

Tangent... I kill every basil plant I buy... send help! 

Cover it tightly in foil.... 

Pop it in the preheated oven - Gas mark 6 - 200c - 180 c fan oven

and bake for 30 - 40 mins until the pasta is tender... 

Take it out and sprinkle your cheese all over 

and stick it back in for 5 mins to get all melty!

Ta da! Pasta bake! Done! It's SO comforting and for 8PP per serving,

 you could even make some garlic bread to go along with it! Stuffed I tell ya!

Make a happy life...

Something I was thinking about over the weekend... No one is handed happiness... No one is handed a free pound weight loss at the scales for the craic... Anyone who follows me on social media knows how I celebrate the half pound loss... because of PCOS, because of a gammy knee, because I have so much weight left to lose, losing half a pound is hard work for me... Wouldn't it be lovely if when we got to the scales our leader just looked at us and said, 'don't worry about getting on that... Here's a silver 7... I think you've lost a couple of pounds...Off you go...'  sadly it doesn't work like that.. after a week of tracking, swimming, walking and drinking ALL the water, a half a pound gets a round of applause in my camp! Because it's not easy...  

If you want it bad enough, make it happen for you, no one can do it for you.... you want to swim a mile, then go for it... positive people will encourage and applaud you when you swim half a mile and that will push you forward to swim the full mile... don't rain on anyone else parade because you think they're doing better than you are, losing more than you, getting fitter, and are happier, they worked bloody hard for it... so get your pompoms out and pat them on the back... we all set goals that we think we can't achieve and when we reach them we're in shock! It's all relative... some who gets their first stone in class is as over joyed as someone getting their 4th stone... they both know how hard it is... and everyone knows it gets tougher as you get closer to goal... so pompoms out this week and cheer on someone you know is working towards a goal... tell them you're in awe of them... tell them you'd never be able to achieve what they have... it's all good karma baby! 

Baristas cafe, Sandyford... #brunchclub

I was up in the Beacon Hospital recently with a pal who was poorly... The Beacon is one of the nicest hospitals and honestly in reception you would think it was a luxury hotel but when your there for the not so fun stuff, and you need to get out of the building, it's nice to find a cafe to deflect any conversation of illness... So step up Barista's Cafe in Sandyford... this is just behind the Microsoft building and you could see a busy stream of various employees getting coffee and goodies but the morning we were there there were just a few sitting down... which was kinda nice because once the rush was over there was a nice lull to the place... 

All the usual suspects... 

Plenty of seating, I'm pretty sure they're very busy at lunch hours!

If you're on your own waiting there's a cute book stand with lots of variety... 

Sometimes the waiting part about hospitals is the worst bit... 

so it was perfect for me to stick around and read for a hour whilst she was busy...

Tangent: GLITTER LOO SEAT!!! I know! 

The coffee is excellent... and the juice cold... 

The tea drinkers get the cutest little pot and a top up of hot water isn't a problem... 

Herself had the small grill, 2 sausages, 2 eggs, tomato and bacon... 

I'm told it filled the hunger perfectly! 

I went for the eggs on bagels with bacon... 

all gooey like I like em... and everything was piping hot! 

If you're just passing or breakfast was over... 

they have a fab selection of teas, coffees and cakes... 

Paleo friendly cake... 

and they tempt you at the till to try a bit! 

This is a lovely little cafe in the middle of an industrial estates and lots of offices... 

Its comfy, the staff are lovely and it's a short stroll to the hospital or the luas

and if you had to wait for a service on your car it's very close to all the car garages too!