Versatile Food Choices

This is a bit of a follow on from yesterday's post where I talked about making Deliciously Ella's mint and cashew pesto. 

I have read about people complaining that they can't diet because it's too difficult to choose meals or it costs too much. Well, if you make the right choices then meal planning can become much easier and making one versatile dish can help you plan your meals for days.

When I made the pesto, I was really only thinking about the chicken dish that I had planned for dinner that night but I discovered many more uses for it.

The pesto made a great salad dressing

It made a tasty quick supper just mixed with some pasta.

Possibly the best use was to add the pesto to scrambled eggs.

And of course the original dinner with chicken was great.

So that's one batch of pesto used in four different dinners. It literally took five minutes to make and made my food preparation so much easier this week. So the right choices can make dieting much easier.

You can find the recipe for the mint and cashew pesto in Ella Woodward's book Deliciously Ella Every Day. Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Chicken with Pesto and NoodleSlim spaghetti

I'm a great fan of creating recipes to use up leftovers and this is a fantastic way to use up chicken left after your Sunday roast dinner.

I can't claim responsibility for the pesto. It's the Fresh Mint and Cashew Pesto by Ella Woodward in her new book Deliciously Ella Every Day. I'm a big fan of hers and if you are interested in a plant based diet then I would definitely recommend getting her books. They are available on Amazon and Ella is on Twitter and Instagram.

Chicken with Pesto and NoodleSlim Spaghetti

100g Deliously Ella's Mint and Cashew Pesto

Leftover chicken equivalent to one chicken breast

Half a red onion sliced into rings

Handful of chestnut mushrooms 

Portion of NoodleSlim spaghetti 

1. Prepare the pesto. Copyright means I can't copy the recipe for you but it involves mixing mint, pine nuts, cashews, garlic and lemon together.

This made about 400g of pesto

The remainder can be stored in the fridge for up to seven days. You must add a layer of olive oil to the top though.

2. Use low fact cooking spray and fry the onions and mushrooms.

3. Cut the chicken into to pieces, add it to the pan and cook for about 3 minutes until it is heated through.

4. Add the pesto, reduce the heat and stir thoroughly until the chicken is fully coated.

5. Prepare the spaghetti by rinsing it in warm water.

6. Add the spaghetti, stir until it is fully mixed in and coated with pesto.

7. Cook for about another 3 minutes until the spaghetti is heated.

There you have it, a quick, healthy and delicious dinner. I worked it out as being about 14 Smartpoints which is mainly the pesto. You can obviously reduce the points by using less pesto. This is another recipe which uses my favourite NoodleSlim pasta which has zero Smartpoints!

Let me know if you try making this. Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

2nd Transformation Thursday Post - 10 weeks difference

I thought it was probably time to do another one of these and see my progress from when I started up to now, as my total weight loss is up to 18 pounds. So here it is ....

The biggest difference is definitely my belly but as I've said before, I tend to carry most of my weight there. My thighs have also slimmed down a bit. 

The side on shots show a more dramatic change 

You can definitely see the improvement. I really find this visual proof of my progress encouraging and it does help to motivate me. I would recommend to anyone who is embarking on a plan to lose a lot of weight to do this. Don't rely on just scales to chart your progress, take pictures and regularly check your measurements. It will all help to keep you motivated and focused!

Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Wednesday Weigh in - Week 10 - Feeling Good

I lost 1.75 pounds this week. This meant that I got the psychological boost of going under 16 stone. Yay me!!

This takes my total weight loss to 18 pounds in 10 weeks. It's been slow and steady but in my opinion that is the best way. I can maintain my healthy lifestyle choices and I'm not feeling deprived so I know that I am more likely to be able to continue to lose weight and to keep it off!

It's been a good week. Lots of exercise and good food. Next week should be more of the same. 

Having now gone under 16 stone, my next target is a total loss of 21 pounds which is one and a half stone. I like setting little targets for myself. I find that it keeps me focused and I don't get disheartened thinking about how much I have left to lose in total. 

Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

My first run in years!

I've been talking about running for a few weeks now so I thought it was finally time to stop talking and get on with it. I should explain that I used to be a regular runner, was in a running club and even did 5km races. That was however many many years ago and pre kids! 

I didn't want to run on the roads near home partly because I thought I might see someone I know! So I drove to one of the parks where my daughter does cross country practice at the weekend. This is where I was aiming to run

Basically I was looking to go from the car park at the bottom left, down to the lake, round the lake and then back across the field. I had no idea how far this actually was or if I would manage it but I thought why not aim high?

This is what the park actually looks like.

So I started off thinking this is really great and I'm fitter than I had thought. It was downhill to the lake which made it easier. Around the lake was tougher and it was quite muddy still. I only had ordinary trainers so I had to walk in a couple of places. This meant there was time for a a quick lakeside selfie

Once I was round the lake, it was much clearer. The only problem was that the rest of the route was uphill! This is when I discovered that I'm still quite unfit! I plodded on though and did make it back to the car while still able to breathe.

I don't look too knackered! Haha. Even my trainers survived relatively unscathed 

I rounded off my run by insanely deciding to have a go at the hill that my daughter runs up and down as part of her training

She does this six times in a session. I managed once and I walked half of it! Still you have to start somewhere!

My fitness tracker calculated that I ran 1.5 miles which I was quite pleased about. It was interesting that my body felt really strong but I just got terribly out of breath. I clearly need to build more cardio work into my weekly exercise.

Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

Monday Motivation - wise words to lift you up

So Monday has rolled around again and as usual I'm looking for motivation for the week ahead. I looked in my fridge for motivation and all I found was left over chicken and half a ball of mozzarella. Not too inspiring! It's going to be a busy week but hopefully a good one. I'm feeling focused so I'm looking to push myself a bit with my fitness and also mix up my diet. I've got a couple of recipe ideas so watch the blog later this week as I'll put them on if they turn out well.

Here are some of the wise words that I'm using to inspire myself today

The images are not mine but you can find them on my tumblr account.

It's a great spring day here with clear blue skies. I hope the sun is shining on your Monday too, wherever you are. Have a great day! Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx

St Patrick's Courgette & Banana Cakes

It's St Patrick's Day next week so I thought I would post this a bit early in case anyone wanted to make them. I've wanted to try baking with courgettes for a while but they are notoriously difficult because of their high water content. These are quite moist little cakes but they do taste yummy.

St Patrick's Banana and Courgette Cakes

100g margarine

2 eggs

400g self raising flour

2 bananas

75g courgette

80g honey

Green food colouring

1. Beat the margarine and eggs together.

2. Grate the courgette and then squeeze it carefully to remove as much liquid as possible. Otherwise the excess liquid will come out when the cakes are cooking.

3. Mash the bananas

4. Add the courgettes and bananas to the mixture and stir

5 Add the honey and stir until combined.

6. Add the flour and stir well. The final mixture may seem a little thick but it needs to be because of the water content of the courgettes.

7. Add a teaspoon of green food colouring. The courgettes give a green fleck to the mixture but the food colouring gives an overall green colour. Add more if you want a darker green.

8. Place a heaped tablespoon of the mixture in each cake case

9. Bake for about 15 minutes at 275 degrees.

You can leave the cakes like this but I decided to ice some. I just used 200g icing sugar with more food colouring and cold water.

The recipe makes 25 small cakes which work out at 3 Weightwatchers Smartpoints each. Add another smartpoint if you include icing. 

Let me know if you try making any for St Patrick's day. They make a great healthy little treat.

Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx