Feta stuffed burgers

It's a familiar scene for everyone - peering into the fridge only to be uninspired, to the freezer to be even less inspired, to the cupboard, er, yeah, don't even go there. Back to the fridge - mince! Feta! Surely I can do something with them?

Burgers it was. The mince, cayenne pepper, chopped garlic, soy sauce, nutmeg and some breadcrumbs all went into a bowl and in went my hands. I mixed it all together and shaped as many burgers as the mix would allow. Then I pushed a couple of large cubes of feta into each and sealed by pressing the meat over the hole.

I flash fried the burgers in a hot pan on each side for a minute each and then grilled until cooked.

Serve with whatever you want, I had coleslaw and grilled tomatoes. I made the coleslaw with grated carrot, beetroot and cabbage, added natural yoghurt and finished with a squeeze of lime. Mmmmmmmm!

I'm not losing!

I'm struggling. After the initial weight loss I've come to a grinding stop. Last time I weighed myself I was 2 pounds heavier even though I'd had a really good week. Every time I'm weighed myself since I've yoyo'd up or down 2 pounds. I can't understand it. I did wonder if it's because I ate pasta, I haven't for years you see.

So, after a few weeks of feeling frustrated and generally a bit rubbish and wondering what the point was, I've given up weighing myself. I'm still sticking to the plan though. I have no idea how I'm doing weight-wise but inch wise I appear to be losing. The tape measure proves this and I feel so much better in my clothes. I think what I may do is weigh myself once a month as I felt so discouraged last time.

So, those of you experiencing a slump, let's get through this together. Get those tape measures out, let's support each other and not give up!

Moussaka

Wow. This was incredible. That's all I'm going to say before giving you the recipe, except that it's free (apart from the cheese from your allowance) on both green and red days - honestly, delicious. This recipe makes 3 massive servings and it freezes well.

You'll need:
1 small pack of Quorn mince (300g)
1 large aubergine
1 large onion
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
Tomato puree
1 tub of Quark cheese
2 eggs
Reduced fat cheese
Ground cinnamon
Whole nutmeg
Bouillon
Salt & pepper

This is a variation of a recipe that can be found on the Slimming World website.

Slice a large aubergine into discs, pat dry with kitchen roll and griddle in a pan using fry light until browned on both sides. Set aside.

Fry one chopped onion with fry light until soft, then mix with chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, chopped garlic, a teaspoon of cinnamon, a tablespoon of bouillon and a small pack of Quorn mince. Heat in a large saucepan until hot (adding salt and pepper while you do so).

Arrange the aubergine slices on the bottom of a rectangular oven dish and spoon the Quorn mixture on top.  Then cover with another layer or aubergine.

Mix a pot of Quark cheese with 2 beaten eggs and 3 times your daily allowance of reduced fat cheese (grated). Spoon all of this mixture on top of the aubergine and Quorn mix layers. Then dust the top of the dish with grated nutmeg and pop in the oven for 30 mins on a medium heat. Don't forget like I did (see the burnt corner?!).

This is a diet? REALLY?

Red day saviour

I love my meat, but I also loves my carbs. I made delicious burgers the other night (I'll post a recipe later in the week) but it was cold and I didn't just want to team them with salad. So instead I made use of the butternut squash I had in my vegetable box.

I simply sliced the squash so I had discs, steamed them for 3 minutes and then brushed with egg before dipping into breadcrumbs (from my healthy extra allowance). I then cooked them in the over for 25-30mins on a medium heat.

Delicious and filling!

Oh noes!

What happened? Stepped on the scales this morning and have GAINED 2 1/2 pounds. How does that work?


I've been so good all week - ok, I went to a Thai restaurant, but I had a salad as a main and despite having desert there wasn't much of it and I saved all my syns up for it. Have been in the gym or swimming every morning before breakfast too. I'm hoping it's time of the month/water retention from eating pasta. Whatever it is I'm feeling slightly disheartened. 


Going to flush out with water over the next few days and honour my weigh in on Sunday and see what happens. 



I made the Slimming World baked cannelloni last night. The recipe can be found on the site. I had some butternut squash come in my veg box though so I cooked it up, masked it and added to the spinach and cottage cheese mix. I also used my daily allowance of cheese instead of parmesan too.

GAH

Just been editing some photos from Thursday night and there were some on the camera that someone took of me when I wasn't looking and I look hideous! Double chin galore. Gah. Was feeling quite good after losing this 12.5 pounds. Am going to be extra good this week and hope for another 3 pounds next week. Hating seeing myself!

On a side note, does anyone else find they lose more when they use their syns? The weeks I don't use them much I don't seem to lose much. Maybe it's a metabolism thing?


On that note, had this for lunch ('scuse the rubbish photo) - a massive plate of salad and spinach with chickpeas tossed in lime juice and balsamic vinegar and topped with 42g feta, 8 pitted kalamata olives (1 syn), some tomatoes and pomegranate seeds. Wholeheardedly recommended, it was delicious.

Weigh in day

This week: 3 1/4lb. 
Total: 12 1/2lb


Why did I pick Sunday as a weight in day?! It happened accidentally and there's no way to change it now, so I've been weighing myself on Saturdays instead. Though this morning showed no change from Weds so I already knew what was coming. Have been feeling a bit flat about it all this week for this first time even though I've been swimming every day with the odd gym visit. Sure I'll pick up again next week (fingers crossed).


Had my girlfriends over for dinner last night, made a feta salad as a starter and pork with roasted root veg and a pomegranate and cognac sauce. I made the sauce by reducing the juice from an orange, a few teaspoons of honey, some soy sauce, some ginger, some sliced onions, pomegranate seeds and a little bit of water adding a splash of Courvousier at the end. Was delicious and I stuck inside my syn allowance. 


Did feel rather indulgent though so I'm off to the gym on a mo! Also reverted back to fruit and yogurt for breakfast. I do find it does really fill me up though, who'd have thunk it?