Weigh in 28 and 29

I forgot to update last week, I was up 1.5lbs, I’m surprised it wasn’t worse after a celebratory week of cakes, and more cakes! Junior 2 was the big 1 year old last week and we had 2 parties! The first, a cupcake class for 4 of Junior 1’s friends and cake of course (will blog about the cakes again), then a family gathering on saturday with more goodies and more cake of course!! And THEN a party for a friend this weekend with you guessed it, more cake. I love cake.

Today, feeling slightly delicate after seeing a band last night and having a cider or two too many, I wasn’t feeling like cooking so I decided to try this packet of Knorr Pastaria Pasta Bolognese. At 4.5 syns for the entire package, which is supposed to serve 2 (I ate it all) it is worth every syn and really tasty. I’m not a fan of the “mugshot” thingies, I think they taste fake and bland but I have to say – this is lovely and I will get a couple to have in the press for emergencies.

 

Last week, I had my first adventure with Quorn Mince. I’ve never even tasted it, never mind cooking with it before! I can report that my first foray was sucessful, I made a rich red wine sauce, with onion, pepper, a grated carrot, onion, rosemary, thyme, 2 glasses of red wine, well reduced and some passatta. I added the quorn, simmered for 10 mins and stirred it into spaghetti and topped with parmesan. Hubbie ate every scrap and was astonished when I told him what he had eaten – he didn’t notice it wasn’t mince! I will absolutely use this again to try and have a few more “meat free” dinners during the week.

 

 

A little while ago, I blogged a review of Glad Ziplock Steam Bags. I have been using them very regularly, my favourite use being corn on the cob, with a little butter, chilli and oregano in the bag with the corn – delish!

However, on a rainy day recently, a movie was called for and Junior 1 asked (demanded) popcorn! I read somewhere that you can pop kernals in a brown paper bag, I had no brown paper bag, but I did have a stash of the Steam Bags so we had an experiment. Junior thought it was hilarious watching the corn popping and it turned out to work very well, I put in a tablespoon of butter (naughty) and added salt after (even bolder). Delish and the perfect amount for us to share too!

Weigh in 24 & Ziplock Steam Bag Review

So weigh class yesterday. I’m having an internal battle with how I feel about the class set up, lately it’s been queuing for ages to pay, queuing again to get weighed, So many people…although I suspect it’s more to to with my current mood than the actual class, but I’m working on that!

Anyway the good news is I was down 2lbs!

I’ve realised that since October I’ve only lost 5lbs, through gaining 1, loosing 1 or 2..yesterday was a breakthrough the 5lbs to a “new” weight so hopefully the start of a downward streak!!

I promised a review of these Glad Ziplock and Steam Bags. I’ve been asked (by more than 1 person!) why not just use a bowl with a lid – very true! However, these are my new favourite cooking aid! So far I’ve cooked baby potatoes, brocolli and asparagus and as pictured above, cabbage and asparagus! Perfect results each time and no water needed, no bowls with lids needed just pop the veg in, microwave for a couple of minutes and perfect results!

Pictures above the bag is full to the brim with 2 sweetheart cabbages chopped, and a small pack of asparagus tips…I also added a tablespoon of butter and some salt and pepper

4 minutes later.. Volume has gone down considerably and the cabbage and asparagus are cooked perfectly – slight bite but softened and very tasty!

At almost €4 for 10 bags, il be watching out for deals and in the meantime – even though it dosen’t say on the box, I’ve rinsed and re-used them twice before discarding!