Stuck in a rut ... gotta get out of it!

Leisure centre lunch

Well another year has breezed in and is now already quarter of the way through, leaving me wondering how we got here again! On the weight loss front, it's been a story of ups and downs and not really going anywhere, resulting in my mood being high and low and this week hitting a bitter low.
It's not all been from nothing. It started with the annual chips and pickles get together with our friends, a four day training course in London, 2 weekends in a row celebrating my dad's 70th, Valentines, Mother's Day...there is always something and you've got to live your life. But when you also have a goal to achieve it's frustrating, you want to live and have a good time, but you do want to get to the finish post sooner or later.
So for this week I've agreed to go back to basics.
Plan my meals, write a food diary.
Thankfully, the book man came to work this week and I picked up a copy of Tom Kerridge's new book, I've not had a new one for ages and really, when you get them discounted, a cookery book is hardly more than the cost of a monthly food magazine.
Lose Weight for Good by Tom Kerridge is the inspiration for my meal plan for this week. I was interested in it when the series came on the TV. I was quite shocked to see a "chef" using sweetener and low cal spray oil, but there are some really nice recipes in there that I think I can adapt to make slimming world friendly. Tom's diet is about calorie counting and if that's how you are losing weight then all the recipes come with a calorie count.

Saturday

Favourite bru

Started in group as it does every week, I had my rant, put the numbers on the scale behind me and agreed to a food diary. I cant write on the silly ones they provide, so I'm hoping my consultant won't mind me turning up with a wad of A4 sheets next week! I had a satsuma to tide me over as I never eat or drink before weight in.

Brunch was 2 poached eggs - I do mine in a small frying pan using water instead of oil and baste them like you would a fried egg, baked beans with a little bit of spinach I had saved and tinned plum tomatoes. All washed down with a black coffee.

Lunch (main picture, above) I had hoped brunch would keep me going until tea time, but that's not how me and food work! We need regular contact or I get hangry and you wouldn't like me when I'm hangry! So while I waited for Lauren in the leisure centre, rather than opting for the chip cob of old times, I got a large black coffee, a banana, some apple and grapes and a bag of Hippeas (cheese - 4.5 syns). Big mistake, the fruit was OK, the Hippeas were disgusting - I should have gone for the Taco flavour, they really had an artificial cheese flavour.

Bit too brown!!

Snack I ferried Lauren away from gymnastics and on to dance, then headed off to Asda for the shopping, by the time I came out I was starving, so I had a quick snack of slice ham.

Dinner In the TK book, there is a recipe for Southern-Style Chicken (page 1350, made with buttermilk. Thought I would give it a go with yoghurt instead of the buttermilk.
I marinaded 8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs in 200ml plain low fat yoghurt with 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper, 1/2 tsp onion granules, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp dried mustard powder and 1 tsp mixed herbs (variation on Tom's recipe as I didn't have all his ingredients). The chicken sat in the marinade for a couple of hours but overnight would be best.
The next step is to make the coating crispy. Again, I changed the recipe, I reduced the flour to 2 tbsp rather than 3 as this keeps the syns per recipe to 9 (3 each, rather than 13.4 which would be over 4 per portion). Mixed into the flour is 1 tsp of garlic granules, 1 tsp smoked paprika and 1 tsp mixed herbs and some salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. The object is to coat the yoghurty chicken in the dried mix, I dipped mine in but by the time I got to the last few pieces the flour was all claggy and stuck to the bowl, so if I did it again I would sieve it over the chicken turning it half way though. You then roast it for 30-40 minutes at 240C, that might seem high,  but do it, I had the oven at 180C as I was cooking something else at the same time and the chicken didn't go crunchy enough.
I served it with roasted new potatoes, Parmesan courgette chips (just strips of courgette coated in beaten egg and Parmesan and baked til golden) and a coleslaw made from chopped gherkins, sliced cabbage and grated carrot with 2 tbsp low fat plain yoghurt, 1/2 tsp mustard powder, 1 tsp low fat mayonnaise and 1/2 tsp cider vinegar.

Coffee snacks

It's was a mixed reaction from the family - Lauren loved the chicken, think Tony wasn't too fussed and neither of them liked the coleslaw but I thought it was OK for 1/2 syn.
If I make this meal again, I will make the chicken spicier with a bit of hot paprika, cook in the recommended temperature to get it nice and crispy, I might swap the flour for breadcrumbs too and I would serve it with salad and a spicy rice.

Finally before bed I had a black coffee with hi-fi bars and a cinnamon Fibre One, my new addiction - just like a cinnamon danish but for only 4 syns.

Summary
Portions of fruit and veg: 10
Syns: 12 - Hippeas 4.5, chicken 3, coleslaw 1/2, fibre one 4
HEA: Cheese mix of low fat cheddar and Parmesan
HEB: 2 x hi-fi bars