Monday, 12 March 2018

Weekly Meal Plan - #MealPlanningMonday 2018 Week 11

Hello and welcome to week 11 of my weekly meal plan.

Last week, blog wise, things were quiet. It was a manic week, as always and I simply did not have the energy to post. But do not worry, I have plenty of recipes to share and tomorrow the fantastic #CookBlogShare linky is here on Hijacked By Twins.

This week's meal plan is a mixture of using what we have got in and meals that my mother in law can help to prepare. Fingers crossed she will be getting moved over soon, but for now she is staying with us. When we were looking in the freezer the other day we were amazed at the food that we found at the bottom. I cannot be the only person the puts foods in the freezer and forgets about them. I did start to write a list of what was in the freezer, but life took over and time became sparse. In the Easter holidays I am planning to invest in a white board that I can list everything that is in the freezer and as we use it I remove it from the list. I am sure that this will not only help to keep us on track of what we have got but should inevitably save us money on food shopping.

I have mentioned in previous blog posts about how the Hubby needs to reduce his cholesterol and blood pressure. If we are completely honest, not a lot has changed with our diets but after discussions over the weekend we are going to make a conscious effort to make small changes which will, hopefully, make a big difference. We are going to reduce the amount of red meat that we have to once a week and when we have meals that use minced beef I will substitute it with Quorn. I have discovered that nobody realises that it is Quorn if I add beef stock to the sauce. We are also going to have more chicken, turkey and oily fish.

This week's meal plan is not going to be structured to days as I think that we will need to be a little bit flexible but one day that will remain the same will be Thursday's freezer meal. After the twins swimming lesson all I want is to be able to cook a quick, easy meal.

This is what we will be enjoying this week...

Monday, 5 March 2018

Weekly Meal Plan - #MealPlanningMonday 2018 Week 10

Hello and welcome to week 10 of #MealPlanningMonday 2018.

Last week was certainly an eventful week after the Beast from the East descended upon us. The temperatures dropped dramatically and the children had Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at home thanks to the school closures. However I was still at work as the Hubby was not able to get to work, thankfully my work is a lot closer and in the opposite direction so I had no excuse!

The week may have been upside down but our meal plan still went well. The only day that was different was Wednesday's meal. The only reason that it changed was because I was not sure if our online shopping delivery would arrive so I picked something up on my way home from work. But I was worrying for nothing, I was astounded when our delivery arrived 15 minutes early by Paul in the Onion van from Ocado!

On Saturday we all tucked into what is becoming one of our most favoured meals as a family. We had a Mexican meal. I made some crispy chicken for fajitas, a Quorn chilli for tacos, salad, rice, nachos and dips. I always find that the children enjoy being able to dig in and pick their food. Meals like this make meal time a really enjoyable experience!


Do you have a family favourite meal? I'd love to know what it is. I am currently looking for ideas for Saturday!

Now onto this weeks meal plan. This is what we will be enjoying...

Wednesday, 28 February 2018

Beef and Lentil Cottage Pie

Sometimes you just need a good comforting meal and a favourite in our house has to be cottage pie or shepherd's pie. To keep my lot guessing I do like to make changes to this dish. So far we have enjoyed my Marmite cottage pie, venison cottage pie, butternut squash topped cottage pie and a curried cottage pie which I am yet to blog! I love how versatile this dish is, it can be adapted to suit all tastes.

Today's cottage pie contains low fat steak mince, fresh vegetables and lentils for extra goodness which also act as a fantastic thickener for the sauce.

This is what I did...


Monday, 26 February 2018

Weekly Meal Plan - #MealPlanningMonday 2018 Week 9

Hello and welcome to week 9 of #MealPlanningMonday!

Last week really was not great. On Monday I ended up leaving work at lunchtime feeling ill, which ended up lasting all week! After a couple of visits to the doctor I finally got some antibiotics so am now, thankfully, feeling more like myself. I returned to work today and it was lovely to get some normality back.

Last week I did manage to blog about a subject which has, in the past, haunted me. In my post Body, Size, Acceptance I wrote about how I feel about my body and where I am both physically and psychologically. This post has been so therapeutic and I feel that it has lifted such a weight of my mind and I have a new found confidence, which I am loving!

This weeks meal plan is full of delicious meals and I have to admit that I am looking forward to each and every meal. I am keeping my fingers crossed for some leftovers for my lunch the following day.

This is what we will be enjoying this week...

Thursday, 22 February 2018

Body, Size, Acceptance

In the past I have written a lot about wanting to loose weight, I have been on numerous "weight loss journeys" and thought that being a small size was important.

This post is different.

This post is about finally having acceptance.

Acceptance that there is no "perfect" size, acceptance that you can never please, nor should you have to please everyone, acceptance that as long as I am happy, my husband loves me and our children are happy, size really has no significance.

This year I turn 40. The big 4 0 or as I like to say that fantastic 4 0! I am finally in a place where I am looking forward to embracing my 40's. I went into my 30's constantly seeking to please others and was way too concerned of what people thought of me. Not what they thought of me as a person, but what they thought of how I looked. Over the years, other peoples perception and the medias interpretation of the perfect body led me to bouts of anorexia and bulimia. I am not proud of this but I am not ashamed to discuss it. Eight years ago my life changed. Eight years ago I met the love of my life who 10 months later became my beloved husband. I am going into my 40's with him by my side, showing me a love like I have never known before, with our happy, healthy children and that makes me the happiest I have ever been.

He has always shown me unconditional love. He loves me for the person that I am, regardless of whether I am a size 12 or a size 18. He has given me so much confidence and it is thanks to him and his love that I am finally in the place that I am.

I am saying goodbye to fad diets, goodbye to calorie counting and hello to life. Of course I am going to eat healthily, I am just not going to constantly count calories or syns. Life is much to short to be stressing about whether you have put on or lost a pound in weight, it is too short to be beating yourself up because you had a slice of cake. I love food, I love drink, having good food and drink makes me happy and if it means that I am a bigger size, then so be it. I do love having curves, and I know that my husband loves me having curves and I think that now it is time to start embracing them. It is time to start loving my body. My body changed dramatically after having the twins but they are not changes that I should feel ashamed of, they are changes I should be proud of. Proud because my body carried 2 babies at the same time, carried 2 placentas and grew, protected and nurtured them both until they were ready to arrive. Little I weighed 5lbs 13oz and Little T weighed 6lbs 0.5oz, they were both good weights and my body paid the price. Now I look at the twins who are now 6 years old and I am still amazed by them and amazed by what my body did. Now it is time to celebrate my body and what it has done!

Wednesday, 21 February 2018

Chicken and Pepper Pasta - Perfect Mid-week Meal

During the working week it is always great to have a quick and easy meal that you know that you can rely on. People often associate quick and easy with processed ready meals. But with this recipe I am aiming to show you that is not the case! 

This meal is quick, easy, low fat and super healthy but more importantly is a meal that the whole family will love, even the kids and the fussy eldest, wanted more! In my mind, that makes a meal a success. There was even enough leftover for me to take to work the following day for my lunch.

Chicken meals always go down well in our house, especially with the cycling Hubby. Chicken is a fantastic source of protein and is low in fats. This meal is the perfect muscle repairing dinner for when he gets home after a ride home from work. To make it even healthier I have used Quark instead of cream which gives him an additional boost of protein.

This is what I did...