I Don't Want to Quark About It

I saw a fellow Weight Watcher post the other day that after being back off her holiday a week she’d now undone some of the damage and had “only put 8 pounds on” After getting back from my holiday I fully sympathise I appeared to ignore all the fruit, salad and healthy options and instead tuck right into fried breakfasts, pasta and then there was the chocolate fountain. Man those things are fun, what’s not to love about sticking a piece of marshmallow on a piece of wood and then shoving it into vat of melted chocolate? I’ll tell you what’s not to love about it getting on the scales when you get home!

  So since my return, I’ve really gone back to basics and have even started cooking things from scratch! Now if you read my blog regularly, you will know I’m not one of those people that posts pictures of how lovely their meals are and boasts about what a great cook they are!

  To recap, this was actually a crock-pot after an “over enthusiastic” casserole.

No one was injured in the damaging of this crock pot

  This was my attempt at a pancake

No really it's a pancake

And this was my popcorn effort.

mmmmm tasty 

 Although I’ve since bought a healthy popcorn maker so my corn now looks more like this (hurrah)

When in doubt buy a machine to make it for you!

  I’ve had my cookbooks out and decided to give the Weight Watchers “Filling and Healthy” a go; basically it encourages you to eat foods that keep you well … full and healthy. So this week some weird shit has been going down in my kitchen, (not in a Walter White fashion I hastened to add!) I’ve made my own tomato sauce using Passata. I’ll be honest I had to Google what passata was, I had a vague idea it would be something to do with tomatoes, but wasn’t sure.

Passata...posh word for tomatoes in a jar!

  I’ve also started using Quark. Again a product I’d never heard of,  but once you get used to the slight bitter taste it’s OK and I have crafted this into a make shift mayo to go with tuna and also into a nice red pepper dip.

  It makes me laugh that I’m using these ingredients in my cooking, when I didn’t know what Ciabatta was until I went to university. I remember a friend ordering a bacon and Brie Ciabatta and I shyly asked for the same, thinking well I know what bacon and Brie are, so it will probably be OK. When it came it turns out Ciabatta is Italian for “really hard bread”

  After just a few days back on the straight and narrow and my culinary efforts are paying off because I’ve already lost a couple of pounds, so hopefully by my next weigh in I’ll be back on track.

  At the weekend I’ve been persuaded to try a roast beetroot and trout salad, I’m still reeling from the news you can roast a beetroot and not just buy them pickled in a jar!

  Any healthy recipe (Katie friendly) ideas you have feel free to post them!

"This Last One is Just Right" Well If That's OK With You? If It's Not Then, I'm Sorry!

I have many good qualities; here are some of them;

• I am good company
• I am funny
• I have nice hair
• I have lovely eyes
• I am loyal
• I am a good friend.

This morning, I discovered there was something I am not good at. Making porridge.

The pan after my porridge making skills…hmmmm tasty!

This week, my weight loss has stayed the same. I have my friends hen do and wedding coming up and it will be very glamorous, I want to be able to wear something that doesn’t contain the same amount of material as the marquee, so I've decided it's time to mix it up a bit! You know what they say "you do what you've always done, you get what you always got" I think I need to give myself a kickstart.

  Lots of people in my weight watchers class have been trying the Simple Start / Filling and healthy plan over the last couple of weeks and have had some good results, so I’ve figured I may as well try it too! Although I may need to work on my porridge making skills, if I’m to survive!

  I think I’ve made leaps and bounds in dealing with my panic attacks and depression and although occasionally they still happen, I can handle them better than before.  I also think I’m generally more positive than I have been in the last few years, and although some people think it's nonsense I've found the works of Rhonda Byrne really helpful. However there’s one thing I am still REALLY bad at and that’s taking compliments.

  It occurred to me the other day as I was in Sainsburys with my Dad waiting for a jacket potato (yes I know a weird place to start pondering lives great mysteries) Behind us was a group of women. One of the ladies (who was probably a size 8) was saying how hungry she was and how she was going to have something hot and one of the other ladies (who was probably a size 18) said she was just going to have a sandwich. The skinnier lady said “is that all you’re having?” and the larger lady justified it by saying “I don’t really eat a lot, I know judging by the size of me, you think I do, but I really don’t”

  Immediately I thought, why are you saying that? If you just want a sandwich have one, you don’t have to justify it. Then I realised I do exactly the same thing ALL the time! I've eaten stuff and then heard myself saying "I didn't have time for breakfast / lunch" or when someone has uttered the immortal "one won't kill you line" made a joke about my diet and justified why I want to lose weight, rather than just saying no!

  A few months ago, I remember telling someone that we were off to Cancun for Christmas.  They replied with “well don’t you have a lovely life” This is true, I do, I am very lucky, for lots of different reasons and I am grateful for that. Rather than saying “thanks” I felt the need to justify why something nice should be happening to me. So I found myself explaining about my Mum’s death. 

A family selfie

   So this week my plan is simple.

1. Get better at making porridge
2. Learn to accept compliments!
3. Ask for help when I need it!

On that note, if you haven’t, then if you could take the time to vote for my blog in the UK Blog awards that would be marvellous, it will take you seconds and allow me to practise number 2. So when they say, “well done Katie. Your blog is fabulous, you’ve won an award”, I will simply say “why thank you”

Voting closes on Sunday.