RECIPE - Cajun Chicken Burgers

These are another syn free burger, which I made specially for the BBQ, but are just as nice fried then oven cooked. You will need a food blender for this recipe though.

Ingredients
4 chicken breasts
1 tsp cajun spices (more if you want it really hot)
4 spring onions, finely chopped
1 egg
1 green chilli, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
handful finely chopped corriander
salt and pepper

Method

1. Add all the ingredients to a food blender, and blitz until the chicken is smooth.
2. Form patties with the chicken mixture
3. Fry for 2 minutes on each side to brown the chicken, then transfer to the oven and cook for a further 15 minutes.

These can also be frozen, but ensure they are fully defrosted before use.

RECIPE - Beefburgers

When I’m on a diet I always crave naughty things, and these burgers really help satisfy the cravings, especially when I serve them topped with a homemade salsa and Slimming World chips. It’s also fun when family members start questioning how you can eat such ‘bad food’ when you’re on a diet, as you sit scoffing the whole lot!

Ingredients

500g extra lean minced beef

1 egg

1 small onion, diced as small as possible

1 clove garlic, crushed

Mixed herbs

Beef stock cube, made up with around 25ml of water (trust me!)

Salt and Pepper

(Fresh chilli, finely chopped if you want to add some spice)

Method

1. Put all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty - get stuck in and really squash and mix everything together.
2. Divide into balls and squash down to form a burger shape - thick or thin depending on your preference. (This mixture normally makes me about 5 - 6 burgers, but again, it depends how big or small you like them)
3. The burgers can be cooked straight away, by frying in fry light until cooked through, or oven cooking. Alternatively they can be freezed individually for when you have a burger craving

The Ultimate Compliment

I just had to share this with you all. I have a 4 year old nephew who says exactly what he thinks. In the past he has told me that I was fat, that I should go on a diet and stop eating chocolate (he had a fair point!) Whilst on holiday last week, he said, completely out of the blue after we had been swimming, that my waist looked smaller and I was going to look good for my wedding! I was thrilled – recognition that I’ve lost weight is always welcome, but to have it come from a 4 year old who says what he means was such a confidence booster! Hopefully I’ll keep continuing to shrink my waist, and he’ll keep noticing!!

Holidays and Week 5 Weigh In

I missed my week 4 weigh in as I was on holiday, which was probably just as well. The day before I’d been to my future brother and sister-in-law’s house for an Easter Sunday meal, which consisted of a ridiculous amount of alcohol, 3 courses, cakes, Easter eggs and a massive cheese board!

The holiday then began the following day. It was a big family holiday, which we tend to do around once a year at a lodge in Dunkeld, Perthshire. It gives everyone a chance to catch up and enjoy ourselves in a beautiful part of the country. This year I had volunteered in advance to take over the cooking of dinner. I love cooking anyway, and none of the rest of my family are as keen as me, so they were happy for me to do it. This meant that for the 3 out of 4 nights which we ate in the lodge dinner was healthy. (Although my dad did question if I actually was on a diet!)

We had planned a BBQ for the first night, so I had made some beef burgers and Cajun chicken burgers in advance, which my mum actually preferred to the regular burgers she’d bought! Those and a baked potato meant I was nice and full without picking at the naughty sausages. The next night was a big cottage pie and lots of veg. This went down brilliantly with everyone, including my 4 year old nephew who doesn’t like potato but ate just about all of it! Finally we did a curry night, and I made chicken jalfrezi and syn free pilau rice.

So dinners were fine, as were breakfasts – most mornings I sat down to a good portion of Mexican scrambled eggs and some bacon, whilst everyone else had a fry up, though I have to confess to sneaking in the odd hash brown on a few occasions. Lunches weren’t too bad, as when we were out we tended to take picnics with us, so I could make up a sandwich using a healthy extra portion of bread, however I did tend to have crisps with my lunch! One day I also had a baguette from my favourite deli, which was very naughty but very enjoyable!

However, the worst problem was alcohol. When my family get together there tends to be a lot of alcohol drunk, and when I drink I eat badly too, so the evenings were full of nibblings on crisps and biscuits!

I did get some exercise in whilst on holiday too – being in the countryside gave me plenty of opportunity for walks, and I took the chance to play with my niece and nephew a lot, which I’m sure burned a few calories.

Overall I was pleased with how I’d done on holiday – I wanted to still enjoy myself and not feel like I was missing out, and I think that’s what I did. My aim for the 2 weeks was to stay the same weight, and when I weighed in on Monday I had actually lost half a pound, so I was thrilled.

Week 3 Weigh In

I'll admit now that week 3 wasn't the best - I had 2 birthday meals out, birthday drinks, and dinner at a friend's house, all in the space of 4 days. I ate curry and naan bread, I drank copious amounts of wine, I had a few crisps, so all in all I was a bit worried about tonight's weigh in. However, there were two things keeping me going - I'd done a lot of exercise this week (clocking up a total of 200 minutes), and I'd had a few non-syn days during the rest of the week, both of which I hoped would at least balance out some of the bad stuff. I also managed to fit into a pair of jeans that were a bit tight the week before, so I felt I'd lost a little bit.

My target for this week was to lose at least 1.5lbs, as this would get me my half stone award, and as I went to class tonight I was doubtful of even losing that much, so I was incredibly surprised to find that I'd actually lost 3.5lbs. This means I've now lost 9lbs in the last three weeks, and I got my half stone sticker on the book!

I honestly have no idea how I managed to do so well again last week, but really hope that this will continue. This week is as busy as ever. Tomorrow is my fiance's birthday so I have yet another birthday meal out, and then on Friday I'm meeting my mum for our regular Good Friday shopping/lunch/wine trip! This is then followed by a meal with my future in-laws on Sunday for Easter (and I really want to try and avoid the Easter eggs given the syns our consultant told us were in even the small ones!).

I won't be weighing in next week, as I'm away for a week's holiday in Perthshire, so it'll be another 2 weeks before I see if I can sustain these losses!

Come Dine With Me

Over the next few weeks my calendar is full. I have birthdays, a holiday and a wedding reception, all of which could involve eating and drinking all the wrong things. However, I still have a slight control over what I'm eating at these occasions - and should be able to select appropriate foods from the menu that have lower syn values.

The biggest difficulty coming up in the next month or so is some Come Dine With Me style parties. This is the 3rd time my friends and I have done this - we keep it like the TV show, and all go around to each others' homes for a meal, although ours are considerably more spread out! The menu is revealed shortly before each dinner, and we all score each other in secret! We don't take it too seriously though - instead of £1000 prize, the winner gets treated to a meal in the restaurant of their choice. Its good fun creating a menu, and having a few nights of great food with great company (another bonus being that we all actually like each other!).

When discussions were had about having another set of dinners, I definitely wanted to do it, however my problem is syns! Obviously there's no choice of what to eat at these, and wine normally flows relatively freely as well, so there's massive potential to break the diet. Last night saw the first of the dinners, and I think I coped relatively well.

Starter was chicken liver pate, toast and salad. I'd saved my healthy extras yesterday, so I counted the toast as my B choice, and just had a very small amount of pate, plus lots of salad. This was followed by a main course of chicken stuffed with cheese and pesto, gruyere potatoes, roast carrots and broccoli. I'd also saved my A choice for the day, which was more than used up by the cheese in the main, and I'm hoping that the extra syns I saved this week will have helped make up for the rest of the cheese and pesto. Deserts were my big worry, so I've said to everyone that I will only have a very small bite of their desert. However, last night's lovely host also gave me some syn free fresh berries and natural yogurt - so bonus points for a perfect dieter's desert, and it meant I didn't feel too envious as I watched everyone else tuck into banana and chocolate cake.

Fortunately the dinners are all spread out - I have another on Wednesday, but following that, the third night isn't until May, so hopefully a similar tactic each week and the spread of the nights will mean the diet doesn't go off track.

Week 2 Weigh In

Yesterday evening saw my second weigh in, and despite feeling positive about it, I was shocked that to find that I'd lost 3.5lbs. I was also thrilled obviously! This takes my total loss since starting classes to 5.5lbs, so I'm hoping for at least 1.5lbs this week so that I can get my half stone award at next week's class.

Looking ahead to this week, Saturday is going to be a difficult day. It's my finace's birthday next Tuesday and we are going out for lunch on Saturday to celebrate. I'm confident that I can make low-syn food choices (soup followed by steak), however our lunch deal also includes a bottle of wine. Then, on Saturday evening, I've got a night out in the pub to celebrate another friend's birthday, which will involve a few more drinks, so overall the alcohol on Saturday could be my undoing. To try and compensate I'm trying to up my exercise this week, and have started with an hour gym workout plus a 30 minute swim today, and I'm also trying to have some low syn days in the run up to the weekend. Hopefully this tactic will help me stay on track despite my planned 'bad' day.

Good luck to everyone else weighing in this week, and if anyone has any hints and tips for compensating for my bad Saturday then please let me know!