Chicken Nuggets - Recipe

I am a mum of two amazing children and sometimes they don't want to eat 'grown up food' and want nothing more than nuggets and chips. I have made a point from the start of my journey that I wouldn't be making several different meals for us all as I felt by including us all into my lifestyle change I was showing my children the beauty of moderation and occasionally the food that is so bad for us, is ok.
This recipe made 8 servings (5 nuggets per portion) for a total of 40 nuggets. I had enough left over to freeze and re-heat for another night. Perfect, easy dinner!
These are also fun to get the kids involved with helping too although it can get a bit messy.

Ingredients

3 slices of brown bread (I lightly toasted them so they dried out a bit)
75g Plain White Flour
3 eggs
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 clove of garlic
335g chicken breast (diced into approx 40 nugget size bits)

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 200* (180* fan assisted) and then place your brown bread, mixed herbs and garlic into a food processor untill they've been blended into crumbs
2. In 3 seprate bowls add your flour, eggs and breadcrumbs. Take your chicken and coat it in the flour then the egg and lastly the breadcrumbs. Then place onto a baking tray. Repeat until all bits of chicken have been coated and placed onto the tray.
3. Place into the fridge for 10 minutes to give the breadcrumbs chance to 'stick'
4. Pop into the oven for 20 minutes.

My nuggets, fresh from the oven.

Thankful Thursday

The past few days as I have glanced in the mirror as I am getting ready for the day I couldn't help but notice the not-so-positive thoughts that had slithered there way into my mind.
I felt fat and horrible and couldn't see past the person I used to be over 2 years ago.
During my journey I have taken a lot progress photos to help me see the transformation myself. Today after looking back at some old photos I stumbled upon these beauties...

This was taken on my 21st Birthday on mine and my Husbands 'Honeymoon' to York in 2009.

This was taken a few days later when we was doing the touristy things like the Jorvic centre. I think I was taking one of my many stops to catch my breath! 

These shocked me... I always knew I was big but sometimes I do forget just how big I was. I was never in denial over my size. I was the first to put my hands up and admit I was a large lady who liked to eat meals that matched my husbands portion sizes then some.

As I was looking through old photos today it was like looking at photo of someone else. I am completely different to who I was there. That person wasn't happy no matter how much she tried to convince herself she was.

Today before he went to work I handed my husband my phone and asked him to take a couple of photos of me. I knew it was time to add another photo to my ever growing collection of 'during' photos. This is me, today.  

12st6lbs of completely different person. I have a new lease on life and goals I will achieve this year. I never thought I'd buy clothes from a normal shop...especially non elasticated ones. To let them photos sink in a little more... Here they are side by side.

So what am I thankful for? I am thankful I realised I needed to change because hand on my heart the way I was going I don't think I'd have seen 30.
It's never too late to start!

Monthly Weight Loss - January 2015

I figured instead of posting weekly update on whether I had lost or gained at my meeting I figured at the end of every month I would just upload it in one go, with a little summary of how I felt that week.

I feel like I have had a pretty good month. I am almost back to pre-Christmas weight so everything from here on out is my lowest ever weight!

I started this month on the 7th of January 2015 weighing 12st 10lbs (178lbs). That was my first weigh in after Christmas and I was up 5lbs from my last weigh in before Christmas. I was very happy with that as the week before I went back to class I was on damage limitation mode as my home scales was showing a 14lb gain!! No way did I want to walk back into class and be up by so much.

14/01/15 - 12st 8.5lbs (176.5lbs) - 1.5lb off this week. I was very happy with this as it was *ladies week* so I was expecting a gain or a STS as is my normal at that time of the month.

21/01/15 - 12st 7lbs (175lbs) - 1.5lbs off this week. Pleased again this week as we ate out twice this week so it just shows that with a bit of planning ahead and pointing properly you can still enjoy your self and loose weight. This weight loss also took my total overall weight loss back over that 100lb mark. Yay!

28/01/15 - 12st 6lb (174) - 1lb loss. I am happy its a loss as 1lb is still a good amount to loose in a week. I am trying to keep positive even though I wanted to loose 2lb this week to get me back down to my lowest pre-Christmas weight.

Total weight loss for the month - 4lb. I am very happy with this as we have only had 3 weigh ins since Christmas.

January has been a pretty easy month for me to stay in control. We've not really had any big events or family occasions to celebrate so its been easy to stay focused. I am ready for February and I am hoping for the determination to carry on through for another month.

Fakeaway Donner Kebab - Recipe.

I love takeaways and one of my favourites is a Donner Kebab lathered in lashings of garlic sauce. In fact Donner meat is one of the few foods I haven't really eaten much during my two years on ProPoints as there has never really been any definite way to propoint it so I just steered clear of it and would opt for a chicken kebab that I could dissemble and weigh.
However, I came across this recipe and we decided to give it a whirl. Much to my delight it tasted exactly like the Donner meat you get in the takeaway but with added bonus of knowing exactly what went into it and how many points it was. We made a large batch and from this amount have had 8 servings from it.

Ingredients

1160g lamb mince (we used diced lamb and blended it up)
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (add more if you want more of a kick)
pinch of salt and pepper

Method

1. Pre-Heat the oven at 180* then combine all the ingredients together working the mixture until there are no air pockets and it comes together all smoothly.
2. Shape into a loaf shape and place on a wire rack ontop of a baking tray and put in the oven for one hour
3. Remove from the oven and wrap in foil. Let it rest for 10 minutes while you prepare salad and pita bread. Unwrap the meat and slice thinly as possible.

I had mine in a wrap with lots of salad and butternut squash.

One Pot Cajun Chicken - Recipe

I am making a more concious effort this week to try some new recipies as recently we have been having the same rotation of meals and things can get a bit boring. This recipe is from my Weight Watchers My Recipies folder and came from the 'Meat' Pack of cards that I picked up from my meeting awhile ago.
Like most of my cook books they are bought with grand ideas and they just end up gathering dust so this Tuesday evening I dusted them off and gave them a good look through and picked a few out for us to try this week. This is what we had on Thursday evening and I must say I was really pleased with the simplicity of the whole thing. It went down well with the family and my husband even commented that 'It didn't look diety' - Which to me is the whole point. This isn't a diet, its a lifestyle change.

Ingredients

Calorie controlled cooking spray
4x 150g Skinless boneless chicken breast
1 onion, halved and sliced
1 red and 1 yellow pepper, de-seeded and sliced
4 cloves of garlic peeled and sliced
1tbs dried thyme
2-3tsp Cajun seasoning
200g dried rice
150g green beans
1 tbs tomato puree
600ml hot chicken stock

Method

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/200*c/Fan oven 180. Spray a large, shallow, flameproof casserole dish with the cooking spray, add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes until golden. Add the onion, peppers and garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the thyme and cajun seasoning and cook for a further 2 minutes.
2. Add the rice and stir to coat, then add the beans.Combine the tomato puree and the stock. Pour over the chicken mixture. Cover the casserole dish then bake in the oven for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Allow to stand for a couple of minutes before serving.

Hints and tips for the Supermarket.

Some of these may seem obvious but others not so much, In no particular order here are my top 5 tips on reducing your food bill!

1. DON'T shop on an empty stomach. This is the worst thing you can do as you go around and not only do you end up spending a fortune of things you don't need but the not so good for your point values things will sneak in! Go after your meal or have a small snack before your shop. Your wallet and waistline will thank you later
2. DO make a meal plan. This is very important. The night before you go shopping sit down and make a meal plan for the week ahead and work out the points values for all your meals this will not only stop the 'I don't know what's for dinner lets order take out' as you will know ahead of time what's planned for your day ahead. This allows us to follow nicely to number 3...
3. DO make a shopping list and inventory. Before you make your meal plan take an inventory of everything in your freezer, fridge and cupboards. Then you can make your meal plan around what you've already got. Then make a shopping list for the things you don't have.  
4. BUY loose and frozen. Most often then not the supermarkets try and trick us with their fancy labels and promise of offers when on a closer look the offer isn't that really at all. I have found some fruits and vegetables are cheaper to buy loose or frozen. Perfect example is a large bunch of banana's picked loose can be 89p but to buy a bag of pre-packed bananas that are a lot smaller cost £1 but because of the sticker making it like the £1 bunch is such a bargain you just gravitate towards the bag! Also buy bigger bags of frozen vegetables - they save you money and taste just as good as the fresh stuff
5. DO treat your self! If you fancy that bar of chocolate while your out, point and track it and enjoy. A treat every now and again doesn't hurt and wont break the bank. 

A little about me and my journey.

About me

I am a Emma and I am 26 years old. I am a married stay at home mum (SAHM) to two girls aged 7 and 2. We live in a small village in Yorkshire with our kitten River.  

I have ever since I could remember been teased for being 'fat'. I was even nicknamed Beefcake after the South Park character Cartman by a bunch of kids at school. Nice huh? Looking back at pictures I wasn't skinny but I was by no means 'fat' or at least the fattest I would become.

I remember leaving Secondary School in 2004 at 16 and during the summer between finishing school and starting college I joined Weight Watchers for the very first time, Both my mum and older sister were members. My elder sister is still a gold member and has been for years now! I remember weighing over 16 stone but the exact number is hazy. I think I lost between 7-10lbs but once I started college I could no longer make the class and stopped going, Inevitably the weight crept back on and a lot more. 

Jump forward to January 2008, I had just had my eldest daughter at the end of October and waited to get the Christmas festivities out the way before deciding I needed shift the baby weight as a kind of New Years resolution. I was depressed and deeply unhappy with a lot of things in my life. I ended up diagnosed with Post Natal Depression and gave weight watchers up, yet again as I felt like I needed to get my mental health in order before working on my weight issues.

I got married in May 2009 and at this point me and Gary decided we wanted to try for a second baby. I came off the birth control pills and by November 2008 my period still hadn't shown up. After a load of tests I was diagnoised with Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) in March 2010. A lot of things made sense about my body with that diagnosis and I was told in no uncertain terms the cysts on my ovaries were blocking one side and the other side wasn't much better and no to expect lightening to strike twice.

I was told if I lost weight, things might improve and if I lost enough weight I would be given clomid to try and help me Ovulate and get pregnant. On the 10th of March 2010 I joined Weight Watchers again for a 3rd time. This time I weighed 19st4lbs and I stuck it out and got to my lowest weight of my adult life (at the time) of 16st and then I find out I was pregnant after my third round of clomid. 

Baby number 2 was born February 2012 and I joined the gym 6 weeks after she was born. I went to the gym a few times a week but didn't really change my diet. You can't out exercise a bad diet no matter how hard you hit the gym - fact. In July '12 my Husband got a new job that required us to move 50 miles from our friends and families and away from everything we knew. 
As the summer holidays came to an end I had to take my head out thr sand and acknowledge our eldest was about to start full time school. The thought filled me with dread. A new school, A new town where I knew noone. I wasn't scared for how my daughter was going to adjust as I knew she'd do fine. I was scared for ME. I was scared my eldest would get teased and bullied for how I looked. I am just under 5ft tall I weighed 19st10lbs. I was creeping up to the 20st bracket and I didn't want that. It felt like I had an epiphany. I had always said by the time our eldest started school I wouldn't be the fattest mum in the school yard picking up their child and I was. Something in my head clicked and I knew what I needed to do.
I looked up my nearest weight watchers class and found there was one across the road from my daughters school  - Perfect. I had to take her to school every weekday so I had no exuse not to go to weigh in. On Wednesday September 5th 2012 I joined weight watchers for the very last time. I was in the right place mentally and I knew this was MY time to change. I wasn't doing it because of people calling me names, I wasn't doing it because the doctor recommended I do something about my weight.. I was doing it because I wanted to change my lifestyle and to me, I do believe that has been one of the key factors in doing so well. 

My journey hasn't been plain sailing and there has been times where I could have thrown in the towel but I think back and remember the person I was and I don't wan't to go back to that - ever. The person I was is now just a memory I never want to go back to. Struggling to fit into a pair of size 28 jeans, Struggling to get up off the floor after changing the little ones nappy, having the backs of my legs hurt as I walked short distances and forget ever being able to run around after my kiddies . I was 24 years old and felt like an 80yr old woman. 

As I type this I have lost to date 102lbs and I still have about 40lbs to go till I get to my goal weight. Here is my most recent before and during picture...

I started this blog as a way to show other people it is entirely possible to do this program on a budget and that you and your family can all eat the same foods. I want other people to know that just because budget is an issue or you want to save a few ££ as well as lbs doesn't mean you have to sacrifice your health and what you put into your body After all, Weight Watchers is about doing it your way and this is my way.

The first step!

Hi! If you've stumbled upon my blog chances are you, like me want to loose weight. I am Emma and I have been a Weight Watchers member since September 2012. I walked into my very first meeting weighing 276lbs(19st10lbs). At the time of typing this blog post I have lost 102.5lbs (7st4.5lbs) with around 40lbs to go until I get go the goal weight I set myself way back when I joined.

I started this blog because I know how hard it is to loose weight. I also know how sometimes when we embark on a lifestyle change we think it's going to have a large impact on our food budget. Well I am here to show you it is entirely possible to feed you and your family cheaply, tastefully AND loose weight all at the same time.

Most of my recipes are to feed a family of four as when I joined weight watchers I said this wasn't a quick fix diet for me, this was to become a lifestyle change. So in order for it to become a lifestyle change I couldn't make two different meals. I also wanted to show my children that everything in moderation is okay!

I plan to upload my weekly meal plans, recipes to my family favourite recipes and of course I will include the propoints values and highlight when I can what is considered a filling and healthy food.

I hope you find this useful and good luck on your journey!