Baltic

All our hard work last week paid off with a 4 lb (me) and 5 lb (him) loss. Chuffed to bits with that, especially after the cake, naan bread, beer and wine on Friday night. 

Mr G is still feeling a tad poorly, so I've had a few solo walks this week. On Monday, I went down to the chemist to pick up his prescription and then went for a walk around the town. I managed to pull in just under 10,000 steps before it started to snow and I figured it was best to get myself home in the warm and sort tea out for everyone. Get this though. Absolutely not what you want to see on a bench when you're on your own on a deserted Belgian Promenade. 

How creepy is that? 

We had Two Chubby Cubs Chicken Tikka Masala with rice and a wholemeal pitta to dip in, followed by the most gorgeous raspberries that I picked up from Waitrose on my travels, with a meringue nest and raspberry yogurt. I know Waitrose is pricey but their fruit and veg is in a different class.  

Rather a bland looking plate but so tasty. 3 syns for each portion of curry due to the can of light coconut milk used, but this was shared between five, so it wasn't too bad. 

Tuesday we tried out a new recipe, Slimming Eats Slow Cooked Pulled Pork (recipe here). I had two medium joints of pork shoulder to use up. Now, we're not usually ones for barbecue sauce. One of my sons used to love barbecue ketchup, and the smell of it used to give me a headache. So I thought I would make the sauce and try it first before I cooked the meat in it. If Mr G wasn't keen, I would have cooked one joint with and one without, but he really liked it.

We gave it a blast under the grill once it was out of the slow cooker to just caramelise the top. It was absolutely lush! We had it with a brown pitta, mixed salad and a homemade potato salad. The leftovers; on Wednesday I made Slimming Eats Pulled Pork Pasta Bake (recipe here). I've gone absolutely mad on pasta bake of late, which is a bit odd as I'm not a massive fan of pasta, and I (supposedly) don't like cheese. But melted mozzarella, jeez. Anyway, this is a meal that shouldn't work, but it does. There's enough in the freezer to make two more pasta bakes in the next couple of weeks. 

Tea tonight was Two Chubby Cubs Leek and Sausage Bake with steamed vegetables. I didn't take a pic because although it tastes lovely, it doesn't look the prettiest. 

Lunch today was also a new recipe, Two Chubby Cubs Sprout and Bacon Risotto (recipe here). They posted it on their Facebook page this week and I was intrigued. I know bacon and sprouts go together really well, and I am a huge sprout fan to start off with (poor, poor Mr G). Having both bacon and sprouts in that need using up, and a cupboard full of arborio rice, it was a nice filling lunch that doesn't need any type of bread, and really tasty too.

We didn't make our morning Zoom meeting for SW, as I let Mr G sleep in, so we gatecrashed the evening meeting instead. It was nice seeing some new faces, some of the people we interact with on the page but hadn't met before. One girl asked if we used Strava, with us starting to walk more, and after group we both downloaded it and she added me. I think a bit of competition can get you motivated, although she is currently on furlough and walking about 20,000 steps a day. I told her that there was no way I'd be doing that many steps!

I did have a good walk yesterday, I went to Bangor, solo, and it was freezing! By the time I reached the bridge on my return journey, I could have cried. My knee was murdering me and I texted Mr G to have a coffee ready for me. I don't know how I made that final walk from the bridge up home, but I did. Took some painkillers. I've had a break from the walking today, though. Today was shopping day and while I was there we had the welcome news that our car was ready. Yeah, it's only been nearly 2 months without it. The bill was eye watering but there you go. Tyres or testicles, isn't it? 

Hopefully we will get a walk in tomorrow, if Mr G is feeling better, because the weekend is promising snow showers and strong winds, so I think we will have a lazy weekend at home with a couple of treadmill walks thrown in to show willing. 

Tomorrow is curry all round. I had planned on just making the Chicken's Vindaloo - from Pinch of Nom's latest book, and then they sent me an email newsletter tonight with a recipe for Chilli Chicken Masala. I thought it looked amazing and Mr G agreed, so I will make both, as it might be a tad spicy for one of the kids. 

Friday - Chicken's Vindaloo or Chilli Chicken Masala, Basmati rice and pitta bread 

Saturday - Chubby Cubs Ham and Pineapple Pasta bake

Valentine's Day - Pinch of Nom Crying Tiger Beef, new potatoes, homemade coleslaw and salad

Monday - 5% fat beef burger, SW oven chips and baked beans

Pancake Day - Home baked ham, salad, Coronation Potato Salad followed by Slimming Eats Pancakes (using Healthy B Oats)

Wednesday - Chubby Cubs Cheats Lasagne, salad and garlic bread

That's where we're up to. Settling down now with another episode of Most Haunted, a nice coffee, and my remaining syns for the day. Hot water bottles are ready to be filled to go in our bed in a couple of hours to warm it up ready. Rock n roll, folks...