New Eating Plan Plus Red Cabbage, Sprouts and Giant Couscous Salad Recipe

January seems to be the time of year when everybody either wants to get fitter, eat better, lose weight or simply make resolutions that they know they will not keep. We all do it at some point. I think that is because of all the over indulgence of Christmas and the promise of new times. But when they arrive we all realise that making resolutions do not work. We need to make changes that will last and make realistic goals. If you set yourself goals that are out of reach you will be disappointed when you do not do what you set out to.

As a family we have always been interested in eating healthier, better food. That was one reason that I started to write my food blog. It was my way of showing that even when you are on a budget, you can eat good wholesome meals. Cheap does not always mean processed and lower quality foods. Shop around, go to local independent suppliers, visit the market and find the best prices. In the past we have tried different diets from Slimming World, clean eating, FODMAP I think we have tried most 'fads'. I know that Slimming World is not a fad diet but there are parts that I do not agree with. After trying so many plans we have a good idea of what we like so we have decided to combine our favourite parts of different plans to create an eating plan that is both healthy and something that we know we can stick to.

One of my favourite foodie writers has to be Deliciously Ella. I love how she has changed her diet and improved her health dramatically. Her recipes are great but for us they are missing something. We are meat and fish eaters and this is one food that we will not cut out so meals similar to Ella's but with meats are an ideal choice. I also find that her recipes are quite strict and I understand that, for her, they need to be. So we will be going back to basics, cutting out processed food, cutting out dairy (apart from cheese every now and then!) buying fresh vegetables, fruit, meats and fish, using more grains to bulk out foods but still having wholegrain pasta and other gluten products. We feel that if this becomes a way of life, the health benefits will be worth it.

Today I am sharing with you a really simple, yet really tasty salad that uses some of the best produce that is available at this time of year!

This is what I did...

Weekly Meal Plan - #MealPlanningMonday Week 2 2018

Oh my goodness! I had so much planned for last week but after the Christmas holiday and returning to work and school we were all so tired so once we got home all we wanted to do was rest! We decided that we all needed to have a weekend where we did very little and it has been lovely. It was just what we have needed. We have been in all weekend, had lie ins and have been so lazy. But, for once, I genuinely feel rested. So now I am back on it and have lots of posts planned!

Last weeks meal plan was not a huge success. Life took over and I had to make changes. On Tuesday we did not have the butternut squash orzo risotto as I had a lot of leftover beef so I went for my trusty beef ragu which was a huge success. It really is a family favourite that I must share! On Wednesday we ended up visiting my mother in law and had dinner out with her so that was an easy start to the working week so I still have lots of soup in the freezer that will come in over the week for lunches. Thursday's meals went to plan, yay! Friday was a long evening thanks to an opticians appointment for me so to make life easier I popped into Iceland on my way home and picked up some Slimming World meals. I find that having the hubby on-board I am even more motivated with a healthy eating plan.

I selected my weigh in day to be Friday's and despite only starting my plan on Tuesday I did jump on the scales. The result wasn't great but I did maintain which I suppose is good as I had only been following the plan for three days. In hindsight I should have waited until this week to weigh in but I did not. But never mind, fingers crossed for a better result this week.

Now on to our meal plan. This is what we will be enjoying this week....

Weekly Meal Plan - #MealPlanningMonday Week 1 2018

Hello and welcome to week one of MealPlanningMonday 2018!

I am planning to continue meal planning throughout the new year. I find that having our meals planned it eases some of the pressure of daily life. That is one area that I do have under control, most of the time!

After way too much over indulgence over the Christmas holiday (and in the run up to) both the Hubby and I are going to be following the Slimming World eating plan to get some weight shifted. I have done it before so I know that I can do it again. We are also going to try and complete dry January, this in itself will be a challenge but will give our health a much needed boost. I will keep you updated with how we get on. As soon as January arrives we always crave healthier foods, I think that this is due to all of the sweet treats, drinks and snacks that we all have over the festive season. I for one and looking forward to no more mince pies or puddings!

I have a feeling that this week will go in a flash. Monday is about over, tomorrow the Hubby returns to work then all of the kids and I return on Wednesday. So by the weekend I know that we will have tired children but more settled now that we are all back into our daily routine.

This weeks meals are all easy meals that are Slimming World friendly. I am going to have my weigh in day on Friday so that I can have a treat at the end of the week.

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

2017 - A Year of Food

Last December I wrote a post about my favourite recipes of 2016. I loved looking back at what I had written and rediscovering recipes that I had forgotten about. As soon as the end of 2017 beckoned I knew that I wanted to do the same again. While the kids were busy baking with their gran I took the time to sit back, enjoy the peace and look back.

Here is my year of food for 2017...

The Best of #CookBlogShare 2017

Hello and welcome to the final #CookBlogShare of 2017!

Yes, we have had another year full of delicious recipes and we have seen this lovely linky becoming more of a foodie community. We started the year as three hosts, Eb from Easy Peasy Foodie, Mandy from Sneaky Veg and myself. Part way through the year Mandy stood down from her hosting duties which left Eb and I with a space. Thankfully we had the two ideal additions to join the hosting gang. Jacqui from Recipes Made Easy and Monika from Everyday Healthy Recipes did an amazing job guest hosting for us so they were our immediate choices. Luckily they were both delighted to join us. Hosting the linky can be time consuming so to have two extra people on board certainly eased the pressure and they are doing a great job and have fitted in perfectly with Eb and I. It is thanks to these three ladies that the CookBlogShare linky has grown as much as it has. I returned to the world of the employed in the summer and they have been the lifeguard that has stopped me and CookBlogShare from drowning. So thank you Eb, Jacqui and Monika, I really am so grateful to you all and look forward to continuing to work with you all in 2018!

As this is the final week of the CookBlogShare linky of 2017 I thought that I would look back over the seventeen weeks that I hosted and share with you my favourite recipes that have been shared. As you can imagine, over the seventeen weeks, there were a lot of recipes that have been shared and selecting just seventeen recipes was very hard. But after a day of re-reading I finally chose the following recipes as the best of 2017.

Enjoy...

Stick to Stigu Planner 2018 - Review

A couple of years ago I reviewed the fantastic Stick to Stigu planner and I loved it. So when they got in touch to ask if I would like to receive one of their 2018 planners I could not wait to see what it would be like. When I first reviewed the planner it was new to the market. After a couple of year I was curious to see if it would be as good as the previous planner or if it would be better!

I was not disappointed!

The one thing that I didn't like about the old planner was the lack of colour, as you can see the 2018 planner is definitely not lacking colour! I love the bright vibrant colour theme and design. As for the inside the concept is, thankfully, the same as before. Lots of space to write what is going on each day. Being a busy, working, blogging mum means I often juggle not just life but also diaries. One diary for work, one for my blog, one for the kids, the list goes on! Thankfully with a Stigu planner there is enough room to merge all of the diaries together in one book.