Back on my Slimming World Journey - Weigh Day

Lauren's tea today - a hoisin duck wrap - A weight watchers wrap, topped with salad leaves, cucumber and spring onion, sliced crispy fried duck, drizzled with hoisin and served with Actifry chips and curried courgettes and mushrooms . She said it was delicious and only slightly marred by a scary choking moment when she attempted a whole uncut piece of duck!

So it was weigh day this morning and no prizes for anyone who guessed I am not this weeks slimmer of the week, in fact with a 4lb gain I would say I had a very good holiday and I'd better get my finger out and work super hard this week as I have another holiday coming next week!

Scrambled eggs with ham and mushroom, with pickles
and salad leaves

The trouble is I don't want mundane when I'm away, I don't want to eat the same things I eat every day at home. There was of course the lack of vegetables in the whole of Center Parcs, but I won't insult anyone's intelligence by trying to say I couldn't have tried harder.

Today I've been back on track, fruit and quark for breakfast, scrambled eggs and salad for lunch, a snack of sushi for 3 syns. Tonight I've had 7 syns with my coffee.

I don't want you to think SW is just boring, repetitive food, so I'm on a mission to show you how you really can eat anything. You may know that Celebrity Masterchef started this week. In episode one Julia and Angelica were sent to Temper. Chef Neil Rankin showed Julia how to prepare a beef flatbread, it looked amazing so I thought I would give it the Slimming World treatment.

Beef and spiced aubergine bagel
2 syns (1 for spray oil, 1 for chilli sauce) and a healthy B for the bagel
Served with slimming world chips, salad, curried courgettes and mushrooms and pickles (all free)

Take 2 aubergines, prick with a fork and scald over an open flame if you can (do not leave unattended!), turn frequently, this will give them a smoky taste. Finish them off in a hot oven, 220C for 30-40 minutes until really soft. When they've cooled, scoop out the insides into a bowl. Add a tablespoon of harrissa spice. When roasting the aubergine I also roasted 3 cloves of garlic which I added to the aubergine flesh. You could use garlic salt or even grated garlic but that would give a much harsher taste. Add some seasoning and a squeeze of lemon and put somewhere warm until you're ready to serve.

Time to prepare your sides - I made chips cooked in the Actifry with fry light and some chopped courgettes and mushrooms stir fried with some medium curry powder and garlic salt. Also some salad and pickles.

Next, spray a pan with olive oil and get to a high heat, season 2 sirloin steaks and cook on a high heat for 3-4 minutes on each side so the outside is brown and crusty. For rare you want to achieve an internal temperature of 50C (cook for longer if you prefer your steak more well done). Once it's how you like it leave it to rest for 10 minutes before slicing ready to serve.

Finally toast your bagel, I used Fitzgerald's Multi-seed and Cereal Bagel Slims, one of which counts as a Healthy B.

Once everything is prepared you can plate up. Put your bagel on the plate, pile on the warm aubergine mixture, lay the sliced steak over the top and sprinkled with some finely chopped spring onion and red chilli if you like. I also added a drizzle of sweet chilli sauce.

So there you go, a Masterchef worthy, restaurant type dish all on plan.

I've also been preparing for the week ahead. Since I saw the pasty recipe on Pinch of Nom I've been wanting to make a quiche with "wrap" pastry and here it is.

Maria's SW Quiche
Serves 2 - syn free, one healthy A and one Healthy B

Get an ovenproof dish, line with grease proof paper and spray with fry light.

Line the dish with 2 weight watchers wraps (healthy B), ensure the sides are high enough that any filling won't over spill. Sprinkle chopped ham over the base of the wraps.

Fry some chopped spinach and sliced button or chestnut mushrooms and then drain them on some kitchen roll to remove the excessive moisture, before spreading them over the ham. Grate 80g low fat cheddar over the ham and vegetables.

In a bowl whisk 4 large eggs with a large dollop of plain quark mix really well to incorporate the quark without any lumps. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the cheese, ham and vegetables. Top with some sliced tomato.

Bake in the over for 30-40 minutes at 160C. You may have to protect the wrap with foil to stop the edges burning.

You can serve this with backed beans, boiled potatoes or a nice salad, would make an excellent picnic food. Eat cold or warm.

Today's summary

Some Coeur de Boeuf tomatoes that I picked up from
Waitrose today

Breakfast - Mixed berries, grapes and raspberry quark - all free
Lunch  - Scrambled eggs with ham and mushrooms, served with salad and pickles
Dinner - Beef  and spiced aubergine bagel (2 syns), chips and salad

Snacks - Sushi (3 syns), Hi-fi bar (3 syns), Nature Valley bar (4 syns)

Total Syns - 12

Drinks: Black coffee, water, diet coke