"Fall into Autumn with SW"

NornIronRose

Thanks so much for all the tips. Had a huge loaded salad last night with some chestnuts chopped onto it. Had spotted that they were the lowest syns of all the nuts and saw them in Aldi so grabbed a bag. Weird to eat on their own but chopped in a salad they gave little bursts of sweet, soft nuttiness. 

Will get some dairylea light today. Or Aldi's own if it is the same. 

Had dessert last night of frozen berries (free and blasted in the MW so thank you for that tip), banana and a meringue crumbled up,  with a tbsp of passionfruit and mango coulis (been in the fridge and was only 1 syn). So a huge bowl of deliciousness for 3.5 syns. Had more syns yesterday but was writing them all down so kept track. 

Do you guys use the app to keep track? I have been writing it all down but think I may start using the app for my diary if that is a thing. I used the 'Lose it' app before and found it easy. 

Right, off for the first cuppa of the day and to get a couple of washing loads done. Not warm but is sunny at least. 

joedenise

@NornIronRose - I use the diary on the website as find it far easier to type on than on my phone and tend to have my laptop switched on for most of the day rather than just opening and closing it down all day.  You just use the "Planner" at the bottom, press the + and then the circle saying Food or Recipe if that's what you're using, type in your food in the box and choose your food and it click on it and then click Add to Planner.  Hope that makes sense to you!

If you click on the 3 dots on the bottom right the app comes up with a list of helpful categories.  Choose Food Guides and you can see a list of Free Foods, HEAs, HEBs, and Syns.  If you want to use nuts it's worth looking under HEBs to see which you can use.  I sometimes use chopped walnuts in a salad as HEB as they give a nice crunch and flavour (they're probably one of my favourite nuts apart from Brazil nuts!)

I think today's the only dry day for at least 10 days so there's definitely going to have to be wet washing hanging around this week at some stage.

NornIronRose

Thanks joedenise. That's exactly the help I needed. Will use the app as I am on my phone a lot! 
If I sit down and put the laptop on I will get too distracted. 
Will give it a go today. I like the idea of not having to figure out what is a HEA etc. 

First load of washing on! 

NornIronRose

Started using the app and it exactly what I needed. Thanks for the step by step instructions. Saved me faffing around. 
Right better get dressed. Then I will start getting things done. 

maman

It's laundry day here too @joedenise. I had to be creative with use of pegs but managed to get it all on the line. 🤞🏼 it will all dry.

You're really getting the hang of this @NornIronRose. I'm sure the app will help you. Probably the two most important things are keeping a track of syns and making sure you have enough Speed. I'm glad you enjoyed your meringue. I find the frozen berries can give a nice sharpness to offset the sweet meringue and I love them on porridge too. 

I get on better with Primula than Dairylea or Babybel. I use it for melting into a coating sauce for mushrooms or similar. It's on offer this week in Sainsbury's.
Primula Cheese Original 140g | Sainsbury's (sainsburys.co.uk)

We're having rolled breast of lamb today @joedenise. It's difficult to say how many syns. Depends how much visible fat I can bear to cut off! 🤣 Are you having the Iceland lamb shanks? 🤔

Today's EE plan-
B- HEB toast, HEA milk for drinks, bacon, eggs (P), baked beans (F)
L- JP (F), prawns (P), salad (S)
D- lamb (P), roast potatoes, LM stuffing (F), many vegetables (S)
Syns- LTL mayo 1, HM gravy 4, weekend wine😁

joedenise

@maman - thanks for the heads up on the Primula cheese but unfortunately I don't think they do the Light which is what I prefer but think I can cope with having a bit less of the Original for the good price reduction!

I didn't bother cutting off the fat and just weighed the whole lot as it gives syns on the app/online with fat (5 syns per 100g).  It's a lot of syns but for the flavour so worth it but of course it's not a regular!  The only reason we had it last week while we were away is that when we went into the Tesco Local it was the only joint they had which wasn't chicken!

We are having the Iceland lamb shanks - best value ones around.  Works out cheaper than buying from the butchers and cooking them myself and of course the app has the syns listed.  For some reason the red wine gravy ones are lower syns at 2.5!  Also found they taste better microwaved than boiled in the bag which are the 2 options for cooking them.

maman

I really must try the Iceland shanks @joedenise. They're really good value compared with cooking them yourself. 

I'm only having the rolled breast because I'm 6 weeks away from WI! 🤣 I try to have things like lamb and pork roasts after WI then work towards chicken and beef when I'm tightening up on syns.

I did butter beans in the SC yesterday. I can't remember exactly how much I paid for the dried beans in the Asian supermarket but looking at online prices, they're about half the price of tinned. 👍

joedenise

Interested in what you did with the dried beans as every time I do butter beans they seem to split and be overcooked!  Having said that I usually pressure cook them so really must try the SC next time.  Do you soak them overnight?  Cook on High or Low and for how long?  Sorry for all the questions!

I always pressure cook my dried chickpeas after soaking overnight and they work well, just not butter beans.

I've got a pack of soya beans in the cupboard - no idea where they came from or why I bought them!  No idea what I'd use them for even.  Must look up some recipes as they've been in the cupboard for some time now.

maman

I don't soak the butter beans first @joedenise, just wash them. I do 500g of beans and the water about 2 inches above the beans and a bit of salt . I cook on high until simmering then switch to low. Takes about 5 hours and then check in case they need a bit longer.

It's rained on my washing. ☹️

joedenise

Thanks @maman.  Will give it a go.  Assume you freeze in about tin sized portions.  

Shame about the rain.  None here and managed to get 3 loads washed, dried, folded and put away including the bedding.  Will be nice to get into fresh bedding tonight!