cup cakes

Yesterday after we had finished our breakfast and got dressed it was ready to make our cup cakes...

...I had already found a recipe on the web, and had weighed out all of the ingredients...

I put on her apron...

Evie wearing her apron

Evie mixed together the ingredients for me, everytime I tried to help Evie shouted out "its not your turn to stir yet mummy"

mixing the cupcakes

Eventually it was my turn and the mixture was ready

all made and ready to be tasted

Evie had a taste of the raw mixture but didnt like it

she didnt like the raw mixture

The mixture in the cupcake machine

all ready to be made

the cupcakes all made

our cupcakes cooling down

our cupcakes decorated

Evie had the biggest one

Evie eating her cupcake ;o)

Evie enjoying her cupcake

she had a sleep instead

Yesterday lunchime we were in Starbucks (hee hee not only did I have a pumpkin spice latte but I also tried the salted caramel mocha)...

...just after James went back to work I put Evie back into her stroller (she is too small to fit into the high chair there) so that I could give her her lunch.

I had given her about three mouthfuls of her potato and cauliflower concoction and she started really crying (with real tears) and James came back over (as he was still in earshot buying himself another coffee) and said that perhaps I should give her her milk.

So I took her out of her stroller to give her a cuddle and she started nuzzling into me like she wanted a sleep.

So Evie had a sleep...

...I let her sleep for just under an hour and clipped her into her stroller again and she ate her food and then had her yoghurt with no more fuss.

adding some meat

While out getting the food shopping yesterday I bought some meat that I will be able to add to Evies food.

I bought some chicken thighs, pork shoulder steaks, and lamb rump steaks.

Last night I had 2 chicken thighs, asparagus, sprouting broccoli, sugar snap peas and potatoes for my dinner, so I saved a tiny piece of chicken, a potato, a sprouting broccoli, and an asparagus spear  for her to have for dinner tonight.

I whizzed it up in the mini blender and added some mango to give it some sweetness.

Hopefully she will eat it ok ;o)

something she actually liked

It has been a real struggle to get Evie to eat more than a few mouthfuls most of the time.

Yesterday I was doing Evie a batch of apple puree and decided to add some to the half a potato and a couple of thin asparagus spears that I had saved for her from my dinner last night.

When I gave her her dinner (of this concoction) last night she really enjoyed it.

I shall have to make sure that I start adding some fruit to all of her meals as that may mean that she  will start eating more

Although one of the NCT Mums said that she read that "food under one... just for fun".  I know that I shouldnt really obsess about how much she is eating as she is putting on weight ok and is still her normal happy self ;o)

LOL the concoction that I gave her yesterday reminded me of the "recipes" as me & my brother would call them that Mum used to make when we were kids - I cant exactly remember what they were (and probably werent weird at all) but I am talking thirty years ago now...

...I feel mega old now thinking that it was that long ago ;o)

Bettys hotpot recipe in the pot

I was watching Coronation Street this morning, and Sean was trying to recreate Bettys hotpot after being left the famous recipe.

I paused the show to see what the exact recipe was and it fell into the cooking pot!

And when he tried to rescue the recipe it was covered in goo :o(

So Sean if you are reading this you are more than welcome to write the recipe down from my photo ;o)

Apple, grapes and plum

I finally set up the juicer this morning, whilst making a cup of tea for me & James. Luckily in my half asleep state I poured the boiled water in the mugs and not the juicer.


I have bought a whole load of fruit to juice this morning when doing our weekly shop...

• gala apples
• white grapes

I guess I'm a pretty weird person because there are some fruit I like to eat and others that I only like the juice of such as apples and grapes oh and oranges (perhaps I'll get some of those next week).
As you can tell by the blog title my first concoction was an apple, some grapes and a plum and it was really nice, James liked the taste of it too (although what he actually said was "its really sweet").
I'll have to see if the fruit juice goodness works its magic ;o).
The juicer was pretty easy to use as the apple fitted down the chute, I cut the plum in half to remove the stone (as I didn't want to ruin the machine's motor on its first use ;o)) and I removed the grapes from their stalk.
As ever the clearing up is never as much fun as the "making" itself, luckily my resident "responsible adult" was on hand to wash up the bits (as I was annoying him with how I was wiping the pulp off). I think next time I will take up James' offer to do the juicing for me ;o).
I've had a naughty couple of days again...
...yesterday not only did I have a massive garlic bread (according to the pack a portion size is only a quarter of the garlic bread!), I also had a cappuccino cheesecake slice (which was extremely nice) I have the other slice to eat tonight and am not willing to share it ;o).
Oh last Sunday I also had a tiramisu dessert and the two baklava I bought.
When I weighed myself this morning (not surprisingly) I have put on two pounds!
This week I am trying a vegetarian option for my dinner one night, thanks Another Number for the recipe idea ;o)
this is what I have bought

• courgette
• mushrooms
• baby leeks
• red pepper
• kidney beans
• one can of chopped tomatoes

As ever, I shall let you know how I get on.
I think I have to go now as the fruit juice seems to be working ;o) Sorry for the toilet humour ;o)

Yummy Curry

The Thai Green curry was really nice...

...first of all I browned the chicken then added the thai green curry sauce and added chopped up leeks, spring onions, mushrooms and a can of chickpeas.

I then served it with pasta and potatoes. I had it over two days (so as not to be too bad ;o)).

I hear you ask "so, what did it do to your weight?" Well, I put on 200 grammes.

I'm not too surprised as I've had a few naughty bits this week...

On Monday I met my friends for lunch and had a baked potato (not too bad) topped with sausage casserole. And as if that wasnt bad enough that evening I had a krispy kreme glazed chocolate cake donut.

On Saturday, I had no fewer than four drinks in Starbucks, split into two nonfat lattes and two frappaccino lights.

And as if that little lot wasnt bad enough...

I then had a quarter of a strawberry clotted cream cheesecake! The old me would have had the whole lot in one go but the better me has split it into four and had a quarter each night ;o) I even got James to have a quarter of it last night ;o).

Last Monday saw the return of the Hairy Bikers with their new series The Hairy Bakers. Throughout the show Dave Myers was getting Si King to do the kneading for the bread. Dave then says to "get a passing blundering buffoon to knead the bread for you..."

...Poor James with a look on his face not dissimilar to Lord Percy Percy from Blackadder II when Edmund tells Lord Melchett that only idiots get kidnapped ;o).

Today me and James went to Southend. Its amazing how whats endearing about a place when your younger just seems full of chavs when your grown up!

We got to Southend at about 8 am hoping to have a drink and some breakfast in our beloved Starbucks (but they were both shut!). We ended up going into McDonalds to have a coffee before the shops opened. Most of the shops didnt open until 10 am so we had two hours to kill. We ended up having a coffee and a pastry in Costa Coffee (I do hope our mates in Starbucks dont find out).

My main purpose for wanting to go to Southend was to eat a portion of chips on the Seafront. Yes I know "little things please little minds" ;o) and to that end Southend was not a disappointment to me.

When I was a lot younger me my Mum and my Brother would always eat a portion of chips on the seafront everytime we went to the coast.

With today having typical Bank Holiday weather (and me finally being a fully fledged grown up - it had to happen eventually) I now know that we would have a portion of chips to keep the cold out ;o).

I guess your wondering so whats she going to have this week?

Well, I shall stop your anticipation...

...its back to bolognese, this is what I've bought...

• turkey mince
• one jar of onion and garlic sauce
• two peppers one green one red
• one onion
• one pack of mushrooms
• one can of chickpeas

Anyhow, I shall let you know how I get on next week (as ever).
ps a big thank you to the person who has completed my poll

Bolognese... Chili... Whatever!

The chili that was made with what turned out to be a Bolognese sauce turned out really well.


First of all I browned the turkey mince, then I added the sauce and the chunkily chopped up peppers and the kidney beans. I left it simmering whilst the potatoes and pasta were cooking - just a handful(ish) of each.


After feeling incredibly greedy the previous week by eating two thirds of what I had cooked, I had the bright idea of eating the chili over two nights. This was a much better serving size.


I know your thinking "so how did this effect your weight?". You'll be pleased to know that I lost the 200 grammes I put on last week and lost an extra 100 grammes. I'm still at the same weight in stones and pounds though.


Anyway this week I'm going to try and do a thai green chicken curry...


this is what I have bought...

• a jar af thai green curry sauce
• two organic skinless boneless chicken thighs
• leeks
• one tin of chickpeas
• mushrooms

I shall again cook it with pasta and potatoes, and will let you know how I have got on next week.
I can tell you're riveted ;o)
This weekend Chelmsford has been host to the V festival, I thought my journey home Friday night would be a nightmare, but luckily it wasnt too bad. NXEA in its wisdom won't allow people with cheap day train tickets to travel on trains leaving London between 16:45 and 18:00, hey presto most of the weirdos will ether travel early or late ;o). So glad this has finally worked in my favour.
At Chelmsford station there were about seven coppers and two police dogs. I guess the dogs were sniffing out people with drugs. There were only a couple of ticket touts outside the station too.
Going into Chelmsford High Street early yesterday morning we didn't see any of the revellers, and I had to go into town again yesterday afternoon and the High Street didn't seem any busier then either.
However, this morning Starbucks was overrun by the more affluent festival goers. We still got a seat though ;o)

Meatballs of Mass Destruction

First things first...


The meatballs turned out well...


They were the size of a tennis ball (no exaggeration there I'm afraid), as I really can't do "dainty", mind you I've never tried - and I ain't likely to ;o).


I ended up using all 500 grammes of the mince (as when I tried with half the pack there was more bread crumbs than meat), I also added the remainder of the Italian style herbs (oregano and rosemary) adding them whole (including some rosemary stalks as I couldn't remove the leaves properly ;o)), an egg, the breadcrumbs I used was a quarter of a french stick.


I cooked the meatballs in the oven for 20 minutes then added them to the sauce that I made...


The sauce was one can of chopped tomatoes, three chopped mushrooms and a chunkily chopped red pepper.


I ended up rinsing the can out (into the sauce) with too much water - meaning the sauce was really watery (and I couldnt get it to reduce down).

I then finished the meatballs cooking in the sauce for 10 minutes, and then added them to pasta and potatoes.

All in all they were very nice and more importantly, I didn't give myself food poisoning ;o).

This week I'm going to attempt a turkey chilli...

I've bought...

• a pack of turkey mince
• a red and green pepper (two peppers not one)
• a jar or tomato and chilli sauce
• oh, and some kidney beans

I shall let you know how I get on next week.

I weighed myself again today (I only ended up putting on 200 grammes) but its probably water retention.

They say one person can express the view of 100 people...

I was walking to Chelmsford train station on Thursday when a lady come upto me and said that I looked really good with all the weight that I had lost and that it made me look years younger.

I must say I was well chuffed all day ;o)

Mmmmm Meatballs...

I know you are extremely interested and are dying to find out if I lost the two pounds that I put on when I weighed myself last week...

...so I shall put you out of your misery and let you know that I lost four pounds (putting my total weight loss one pound shy of five stone ;o)).

When I ride the exercise bike I tend to watch either weight loss shows or cooking shows (yes I know they're either end of the scales ;o)), anyhow I was watching Tyler's Ultimate and have got inspired...

...to make meatballs!

I've just looked at that website and wonder if any channel will show some of the other shows? Lets hope so...

So when we went shopping in Sainsbury's I bought the stuff that I will need...

500 grammes of turkey mince (I will freeze half of it to use for a low calorie chili con carne that I shall attempt next week), one red pepper, a few mushrooms and two cans of chopped tomatoes.

I shall let you know how I got on next week - hopefully I won't be typing the post from the A&E at Broomfield Hospital ;o)

Oh, and an egg to bind the meatballs together.

Well this is the end of my second post and hope it hasn't been too much like number two ;o)

Just remembered I'm also going to use some bread too.