A little bit of this and that....

Who's for a skinny chocolate muffin??

So as you'll know i'm currently dieting and exercising in order to get my figure back from many moons ago! It hasn't helped that i've had a terribly bad neck over the weekend so exercise has been impossible, but i did manage to get back to working out this morning! 

Friday i went out and had pizza which i felt unbelievably guilty about but you are allowed to have treats on Weightwatchers surprisingly i barely went over the amount of points you're supposed to have per day. In fact because of the points you get for activities i think i'd struggle to use them all! 

Anyway, i have a bit of a sweet tooth and like to have something nice to nibble on after my tea but obviously i don't want it to have a zillion calories in it. SO each week i'm going to trial a different recipe i find online and give it a whirl. These i found on a website call A Sue Chef here. 
I did the recipe as per the website so in cups but then weighed everything so you get an idea how much it is in grams, plus that way i could work out how many Weightwatcher points they were. 

The little Chocolate Chip muffins are just 2PP each :) Don't get me wrong, they're never going to taste like a normal choc chip muffin you'd get from Asda or Tesco as they're ladden with sugar and fat and are around 300 calories! These are less than 100 calories each and taste not bad. Not very sweet but with a rich chocolate after taste. Now i couldn't find unsweetened Applesauce so just whipped up my own by cutting up 2 apples and boiling them in a pan with a little bit of water until soft and can be mashed.

So, here's the recipe:

Makes around 15

• 1¾ cup old fashioned rolled oats (158g) 15PP
• ½ cup liquid egg whites (about 3 eggs, 100g) 1PP
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder  (72g) 6 PP
• ½ cup unsweetened apple sauce (or one single serving container) 0PP
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract 0PP
• ½ cup non fat greek yogurt (124g) 2PP
• 2 tsp. vinegar 0PP (i used distilled)
• 1½ tsp baking powder 0PP
• 1½ tsp. baking soda 0PP
• ¼ tsp. salt 0PP
• 1 cup hot water
• ½ cup splenda (or other sugar substitute, i used Canderel) (13g) 1PP 
• ½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (85g) 12PP

Put all the ingredients in a bowl (except half the choc chips) and mix until combined. The mixture is quite wet.

Put into bun cases and bake at 175c, 350f, Gas mark 4 for around 13 minutes. Take out a couple of mins before the end and add the rest of the choc chips to the top.

Feel free to half the mixture above to not make as many.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy (and healthy) eating <3 

Re-inventing myself

So a couple of weeks ago i had a light bulb moment. 
I've had them in the past but they've lasted about 48hrs.
This time the light bulb must have exploded. Maybe it was the fact that i got on the weighing scales and really really did not like what i saw. 
I'm a tall woman, well, small tall at 5ft 8 and people always say to me 'Oh but you don't look fat!' No i guess compared to someone smaller in stature i'm not what you would class as obese but the fact my BMI tells me i am overweight means just that. 
I want to slim down for me, no-one else and so i am doing just that. I'm changing my diet completely as i'm a big over eater and eat all the wrong things and have got the fitness bug.

It doesn't help that i love to bake so, for now, i'm going to have to stop making stuff like this....

 

My Husband is a fitness fanatic and i've never had the urge to be massively sporty. I've run on a few occasions but always got fed up. Over the last couple of weeks i have trained at least every other day, this week most days and if i don't train then i walk at least 5 miles (or try too). I bought a FitBit watch a few months ago and it's brilliant, can't recommend it highly enough. I wear it 24/7 and it even logs how well i sleep. I've been really motivated to get active so i'm hoping that i can continue to be so. 

Week one saw me lose 6lbs but we all know the first week is generally the best and i'm not kidding myself that every week will be like that. Having said that, i would be disappointed if i'd not lost at least a couple of pounds. 

Cycling, aerobics, walking, jogging and Yoga....if you can think of any other ways i might find exciting then let me know :)

Thanks for stopping by! <3 

Holidays...

Decided to do a couple of layouts on last years Ibiza holiday. I know some people scrap in order but really i just scrap what i feel like at the time. I've been using Project Life cards increasingly and do really like them.  Most of the ones used in these layouts were from a set i found in TK Maxx but now can't remember who made them! 

I've used a variety of items including, Stampin Up! Project Life cards, Simple Stories, MME, acetate, Studio Calico wooden embellishments and American Crafts alphabets.

Thanks for taking a look :) 

x

Productive!

I've been quite productive over the last week or so getting about 6 double layouts in my Smash book complete and finishing one off that i'd started. You may think it's easier doing smaller layouts but in truth i'm finding it harder as you have to make the photos so small, then there's all the fiddly cutting out and trying to fit everything on to a page.

Anyway it's coming on a treat but still lots to go and i'm not sure how i'm going to fit it all in, it's already looking quite full! 

In other news i've been making progress on my bread making. I decided i would try making sourdough so in order to do this you need whats called a starter. In basic terms you grow your own yeast by fermenting flour and water and letting the natural yeasts grow. You then add this to more flour and water when you want to make a loaf. It's obviously a bit more complicated than that but it can get a bit technical! The first one i tried to make failed to rise but i persevered and now have this great 'starter'. 

The top line is where it was after i'd fed it and then it grows! Fascinating stuff really.

So now to try and make some bread with it! 

Smash book....at last!

I think as scrappers we will never ever be able to catch up on the amount of photos we need to scrap. Sometimes we go through periods of time where we hardly scrap, other times we do loads, also some people scrap slowly with intricate detail, for others clean and simple is the way, we're all different.
We visited Florida in 2013 and i bought a load of stuff which i haven't really used until now. I sat down at the weekend and thought i'd better start scrapping the photos so I unwrapped one of the many KandCo Smash albums i bought and set to work making a (tiny) start! The alphabet letters on the front are also KandCo Wild Saffron.

I've also been on another Paperchase excursion buying more notebooks and planners, i have a serious addiction and piles of notebooks everywhere but they make me happy :)

Also a bit more bread making. Tried a new recipe which worked lovely but it was quite a flat loaf and i didn't score it enough but it was delicious. I'm trying to go a whole week without any bread so it's going to be interesting!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Getting motivated......

Yes i'm starting the yr off well, crafting, baking and trying (i say trying) to get fit! Got a lot of things going on at the minute including a course in parenting a child with Autism so i'm keeping busy.

I actually tidied my craft space which motivated me to sit and craft. For any crafters out there you'll know how terrible messy our spaces get unless you have an OCD condition! Last time i posted i showed a very messy craft space, here's a picture of after:

 So i made a few cards using mostly the SU Everyday Occasions card kit. I really like it cause you can make cards in a matter of minutes and there's a handy leaflet with ideas.

I've been putting my perculator i got for Christmas to good use. Now i know they're pretty old fashioned but i just wanted something that made filter coffee. Up until recently i had an all singing all dancing Gaggia machine but it never got used, i've used my perculator most days since Christmas.

Now to go with that coffee you need something to eat! I've got a fabulous bread making book for Christmas, Bread Matters by Andrew Whitley. It tells you all about bread and how it works as well as lots of recipes so i made some wholemeal bread and it was yummy! (this was my 2nd attempt though as the first failed to rise) I don't think there's anything finer that fresh bread and butter (my waistline disagrees!)

 

Phew....

Happy New Year to you all! (well there's at least one reader right??!)

Seems to have been non stop since the New Year i don't know about you. Yes i'm a SAHM but i still manage to keep busy.

I've been baking, renovating, cleaning and crafting during the last few days. As well as not sleeping it means i'm absolutely shattered already and it's only Tuesday! I want a nice lie in!

Anyway, as the usual New Years goes i'm trying to eat a bit healthier and to get more fruit and veg into Corey. He was a premature baby and tube fed for the first 2yrs of his life. He then had quite a big oral oversion to textures and still struggles so it's not always easy. He will eat soup so i made this towards the end of last week which he has had some of with some homemade bread.

Very simple and easy to make, the ingredients were: (although i halved them as i would have had too much, it makes A LOT):

2l veg
1 Butternut Squash
2 sweet potatoes
1 small swede
4 medium carrots
1 Courgette
1 onion

Chop everything into small cubes. Fry the onion in a little olive oil til soft, add the stock then the veg and simmer for about 30 minutes. Blend. Really it's that simple and so tast. I didn't add salt as there is enough in the stock cubes.

Something less successful was my first attempt at wholemeal bread. Lets just say, even though you can leave bread to prove overnight in the fridge this didn't work. I did try to revive it the following day by leaving it out but it never rose and after baking it as per the instructions it looked and weighed about the same as a brick!

My best friend got engaged on Christmas Eve. I'm thrilled for her. I wanted to make her something personal so attempted to find my desk, it was difficult and i DESPERATELY need to tidy up, but i did manage to make this 3D shadow box framed hearts for her. The first heart has the date they met on it and the middle heart has the day they got engaged. I will give her the final heart on the day she gets married <3 I was really pleased with it and did the hearts in a plum colour which perfectly match the decor in her living room and she has put it pride of place  in there :) 'It was always you' is 'their song' :) 

Right, i best go and tidy that craft room of mine.....i may be some time! 

Hey, how you doing??.........

Long time no see!

As i say every year probably, i want to blog more next year.

2014 has been very up and down emotionally for me. It saw me and my husband split up for a short time, something that was wholeheartedly my doing and something that prays upon my mind very much.  It's seen lots of changes in me. It's made me a stronger and more motivated person i think, so i can honestly next year i will be a different me, a more motivated me, a better me, well, that's the hope anyway! I have lots of plans, lots of things i want to do, so i hope i can share some of them with you.

Anyway, back to now, i've just returned from a lovely, if not a bit wet, week in the Lake District. If i ever win the lottery i will move there in a heartbeat. Until then i will have to make do with visiting there 1-2 times a year. We've been lucky to spend the last 5/6 Christmases there and Corey and Dave also adore it. Here are a few pictures from our travels.

Se you all in 2015 :) Happy New Year to you all x

Soda Bread

I never thought making a loaf of bread could be so easy!

Having decided to get back into baking i thought i'd start with something easy, and it doesn't get much easier than this. 35 minutes from start to finish to make a loaf of bread. Who'd have thought it could be so easy. Making it i was sure it would come out tasting nothin like bread but it's actually really nice and i will be making it again for sure.

So the recipe:

500g Plain flour

400ml Buttermilk

1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda 

1tsp salt

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
• Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and then add the buttermilk. Stir until a sticky dough is formed.
• Turn out onto a floured sureface and shape into a round (no kneading required)
• Place on a non stick tray and score a large deep cross across the top.
• Bake for 30 mins. Cool before eating (if you have the willpower!)

Happy Eating!! 

Decisions, emotions and sensitivity

Don't seem to have been doing very well with this new blog do i??! Oh well, will try to do better.

So the last month or so has been a strange one. It's always different when the kids are off school, guess cause i'm at home more and not rushing about doing stuff it gives me time to sit and think, over think sometimes.

A few weeks ago it came to my attention that little whisperings had been going on behind my back. I'm not going to go into details but the thought that people had been discussing me behind my back, and malisciously at that really affected me. For anyone who knows me closely will know that i am sensitive, and overly so. I like to be liked, who doesn't, and i'm not a mean girl, never have been. I always try my hardest to help people, i'll go out of my way to do so, so when i heard about this i was shocked, and hurt, and yes it made me cry and i stewed about it for days. I'm kind of over it now, as some of my friends have said, these people must lead very boring lives if all they can do is talk about other people. Why concentrate on other peoples business when you could be concentrating on your own??! 

Anyway, this weekend i've had a bit of an Epiphany. I woke up and thought, what am i doing? If there are things that are making me feel bad or unhappy i need to change them so today i started just that and made some decisions that i'm happy with. I'm already beginning to feel like a cloud is lifting from above me. I have some hard emails and messages to write and i need to take some people out of my life but you know what, i'm the most important one here, and my family and close friends. I think for a long time i've always put other people before me and i need to put myself first for a change, that's going to make me a better person. So tomorrow is a new day and i'm going to wake up and be happy and not worry about what else is going on, not worry about stuff i can't control. As long as i'm happy and my family and friends (and by friends i mean the people i can trust and rely on!) are happy then that is all that matters to me.

If you read all that then thanks, i can waffle a bit but it's something i needed to write down and get off my chest..

Much love <3 

 

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