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by jo

Weight Watchers Weekly Challenge 1 – Sort Your Fridge

As a Weight Watchers blogger ambassador with badge, I’ll be getting weekly challenges – I won’t have to do them all, but if I can, I’ll try. Week one is a nice simple one – Sort Your Fridge.

My Fridge

I’ve found that a few of my friends who’ve followed my journey so far have wanted to think about starting Weight Watchers – and asked for advice – especially after Christmas when we’ve got tons of cakes, chocolate and biscuits around that need to be eaten (especially those fresh ones). So, the challenge involves us checking our fridge to see what we’ve got that have high ProPoints value (PPV) and either portion control them, or find things to substitute them with once they’re gone. I would say that having already done WeightWatchers for three months, that the portion control is our way – though actually we were pretty good over Christmas. However, there are things which aren’t so friendly…

Hummous (good for a few more days yet), passata (ditto), cheese (needs to be used up) and loads and loads of vegetables. There are potatoes in the cupboard too.

So. What works well with those last few Christmas bits? Soup, of course!

Soup veg

Here’s the recipe :

Leek (two) (0 PPV)
Butternut Squash (half) (0 PPV)
Courgette (one) (0 PPV)
Sprouts (five – one was a bit yucky on the picture) (0 PPV)
Broccoli (two sections) (0 PPV)
one low salt stock cube (1 PPV)

cheese to splosh in there once cooked (3 PPV)

Sprouts

Mars Galaxy ‘A Gift For You’ Chocolate for afterwards (5 PPV) (well the chocolate isn’t going to eat itself, is it?)

Wash and chop all the vegetables. Stick everything in your soup maker, and add water up to the maximum. Leave until ready – when ready open lid and add cheese to let it melt a bit.

Result? This : Christmas Vegetable Soup

So I ate the Mars Galaxy bar, which has taken me to the maximum for my points today – a grand total of 29. I should have broken it in half and shared it with Shaun. (he’d agree with that).

Anyway, if you take away the chocolate, then the soup comes to around 4 PPV, which divided into our portion sizes I reckon would come in at 2 points. However, I had bread with it. I didn’t have any WeightWatchers bread in the house (I’d normally have a WW bread roll with soup – 3PPV) so used my home-made, which has now taken me six points over my daily allowance. Sob! If only I hadn’t had that chocolate..

So yes, we’ll be living on vegetable soups and stews for the forseeable future which is absolutely fine by me…

I’ve been given six months of Weight Watchers membership and various goodies to try, all opinions are my own.

by jo

Achica Love

We were introduced to Achica a few months ago by Rachel, and I was immediately drawn to the things they have for offer. We rent (rather than own) our house, and always have done (though all furniture is our own) – which means when we move we have a mish-mash of things which don’t quite match, which I like to think has some kind of charm.

Which is where Achica comes in – they have loads of homeware items, and what with the new year being here I’ve been browsing and dreaming of my ideal bedroom and living areas – after all, our decor is neutral with only our various settees and beds that don’t quite match – I feel like we need some colour!

So I had one of those imaginary spending things I do from time to time – have you ever done that? You browse online, add all the things you want to your shopping cart, but don’t check out… sort of like you’re spending, and then you’re left admiring a hefty shop which you have to sadly let go.

I chose some really nice things and got a bit excited by it all!

I’m a sucker for spots and stripes, and this jumped out at me – it’s grown up without being too grown up – it sits with what I like (and what Shaun has to put up with!) and is still quite grown up looking – a Mocha and Cream super king size duvet set. Mmmmm.

Achica Mocha and Stripe Super King Size Duvet

Our two settees don’t match at all – they’re from different places, so I tend to cover them with a throw or two to blend them in a bit – however, one thing you can never slack off on is bright colourful cushions – you need something that jumps out a bit, fits in with our style (or lack of) and looks good. In fact, the only downside is that it is dry clean only, so will be kept well away from the three-year old…

Achica Spot Cushion

Finally, way back when H was born, she was sent a gorgeous quilt cover/throw for her bed for when she gets older – it’ll be perfect for the summertime, and is almost identical to this cushion I spotted. We didn’t get a pillowcase to match (though to be fair, I think a cushion would suit it better than a pillowcase), but I can see this on H’s bed with the other cover – while I look on jealously at how lovely it looks.

Extra bonus – it’s machine washable, so perfect for the three-year old! (then again, maybe I should just keep it for myself…)

Achica Patchwork Cushion

Now, earlier I did say about a hefty shop that I’d be doing, adding these to my shopping cart – but actually, all of these come in at £46.98!! Which when you consider most super king size duvet sets can cost more than that, is a really good bargain.

So I window shopped a bit more and drooled over the Pantone dining things on offer, dreamed about them a bit but knew as we bought new plates not that long ago that it’d be silly to buy more. Well, maybe just a Tangerine Tango cup… swoon…

What I like about Achica are the brands they offer – and the discounts. I don’t like paying full price for something if I feel it’s a lot of money – whereas with Achica I feel like I’m buying good quality goods at a fantastic price. This must therefore mean that I win!

I received a voucher for this feature, all opinions are my own.

by jo

App Time – Disney Fairies Lost & Found

We mentioned this app before Christmas – and have had a good play on it. There’s a few things which spring to mind – the main one, this is suitable for older kids – or at least ones who can read. If I could change one thing slightly I’d have made an option to have the objects names spoken, though all it meant was I played it with H and we didn’t try for any time challenges – as I quickly realised this game is about a good time and finding as many objects as possible as closely together.

Disney Fairies - Lost and Found

So, what’s it about? There’s the new Tinker Bell movie which has just come out (which we saw two days ago, and H loved), and this is based around scenes from the movie. There’s six sections, each with a different fairy and within those there’s three stars to get. You also have a time challenge. To gain stars you need to find a number of objects which are listed at the bottom of your screen. It starts quite easy but is quite difficult at the end.

Disney Fairies Lost & Found

This is the bit where I also add that Shaun and I were both playing this last night, determined to get three stars in each section – as in we were both on the one screen. It’s pretty difficult to get the three, the objects to find are random, though none of them ever move from their location. H doesn’t have the ability to finish it, though it means we can play the game and find things and each chapter of the book is now unlocked – though we’ve one final challenge to do, find all objects, which will unlock one final thing (I’ve no idea what!).

As far as the game goes, the graphics are gorgeous, the objects are easy enough to find if you know what you’re looking for – you may find you need to play each section a few times to remember locations. You’ll recognise objects and scenes from the films, and of course the fairies too. The book you unlock is the story from the film, so now we’ve seen it I think things will make a lot more sense to H – and game-wise she’s happy to find things as long as we’re around to tell her what she needs to find.

Disney Fairies: Lost & Found is available at the App Store and is still only 69p (and it says there’s an update due soon too, ooh goody!)

 

 

by jo

Ice is a nice crowd puller for Polesden

Mrs Greville would have been so proud… Not only did the National Trust welcome more than 11,300 people into her former home over four Edwardian Christmas weekends, a welcome this inveterate hostess stipulated when she bequeathed Polesden Lacey to them, but they followed this with the creation in the grounds of a 2m high ice statue of the lady herself!

Hamilton Ice Sculptures, the first professional ice sculpting company in the UK who have worked for many famous clients including Elton John and Justin Timberlake, were invited to come to Polesden on the last weekend of 2012 to create two unique pieces in front of visitors.

“Many of our sculptures are created behind closed doors” said Jack Hackney, one of just four expert craftsmen on the Hamilton Ice Sculptor team, “so it was refreshing to be able to showcase how we work and to be able to answer questions. Working in the outdoors after all the rain we’ve had lately also presented a lot of challenges, but I was really pleased with the results.”

Ice Sculptures at Polesden Lacey

Andrea Selley, Polesden’s General Manager, was also very pleased “There was so much interest before the event, and Ben and Jack certainly didn’t disappoint. We moved the ice sculpting point up to the Stable Courtyard so that visitors could enjoy watching the team at work from under our canopy. The weather hasn’t been on our side, but we still wanted to allow as many people to enjoy the experience as possible.’’

Following the success of the Christmas weekends, Santa’s elves have also been busy the past few weeks replying to the nearly 1,200 letters sent to him by children whilst visiting Polesden. It was heart warming to see that the most popular presents requested were traditional favourites, the top three being: dolls, lego and remote control cars.

by jo

Giveaway – What To Expect When You’re Expecting Exercise DVD

Hot on the heels of the ‘What To Expect When You’re Expecting’ film is a more-faithful-to-the-book workout designed for expectant mums, released on the 26th December 2012, ‘What To Expect When You’re Expecting – The Workout‘ which features exercises put together and presented by Heidi Murkoff, the author of the original book.

What To Expect The Workout

This exercise programme is broken into five segments – three cardio, one for core exercises (based on modified pilates) which also features lots of pelvic floor exercises (which they’ll tell you again and again are important, and they ARE – if you need reminding please read Hollie Smith’s guest post) and toning your buns (it’s American, okay?) as well as some gentle Yoga moves to help rejuvenate your aching body and tight muscles.

What To Expect When You're Expecting - The Workout

The good thing about the DVD is you don’t have to do it all – you can pick sections that suit you. You’ll never get a view into the future and where your body might need more strength, and having watched (and tried!) these exercises, I feel like the core ones were the ones I’d have benefitted from the most. There’s also suggestions for different stages of pregnancy within each segment to make them do-able. In other words, you should be able to do some form of exercise – unless you’ve been advised otherwise of course – and this should suit you.

I felt with the cardio exercises they moved quite quickly – you need to be ready to follow instructions, but my husband did the first two sections and found it to be a good workout.

What To Expect When You're Expecting - The Workout

There’s lots of advice at the start – reminding you to have water handy, don’t overwork yourself, and let the exercise work with you and your routine. They also remind you to have complex carbs before the workout – there’s lots of advice at the start anyway – make sure you watch as it’s all important.

Released: 26th December 2012
RRP: £17.99
Run Time: 60mins
Cat number: LGD94953
Barcode: 5060223768120

I have three copies of this DVD to give away – it’s a Rafflecopter entry, so please follow the instructions and give it a go! I would say that I wish I’d had something like this when I was pregnant. The giveaway closes on the 11th January 2013 – GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

by jo

Wreck-It Ralph Challenge! – Sponsored Video

We went to see the new Tinker Bell movie today at the cinema, and got to see the Wreck-It Ralph trailer – which looks like a lot of fun, and appealing to us old school game types (I’m not sure H is quite there yet, she’s a sensitive soul, but we may try…) as well as featuring voices from Sarah Silverman and Jane Lynch.

BUT!

Ralph has escaped!

 

If you head to Find Ralph to complete the missing Ralph poster, you have a chance to win a Galaxy Note II and some exclusive goodie bags.

You can also find some games and videos to learn more about the Wreck-It Ralph characters (our favourite has to be Clyde the PacMan ghost) – there are loads of things to check out.

Wreck It Ralph Challenge

Disclaimer: Prizes are available in UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Brazil.

This is a sponsored post

by jo

Smart Gift Ideas From Morphy Richards

Christmas may be over, and we’re heading into a new year, and already I know it’s one I’m going cooking much more – and when the weather is dreary then what better to do than a spot of cooking?

Morphy Richards have loads of smart gift ideas (and a new app so you can let others know what you fancy too). If I could choose just three things, my list would be this:

The Intellisteam Food Steamer – this sounds great – two compartments to steam your veg, with different settings so you can have several vegetables on the go at the same time – plus it looks easy to clean and is dishwasher safe – and isn’t too big to store either. I need more gadgets where you can add food and leave them to cook so I can spend more time with H in the evening – and this sounds ideal – plus it means I’d be saving on washing up pots and pans which are possibly the most boring things to wash by hand. Oh, and it’s also quite good for pasta and rice dishes, so that is a huge thumbs up from me – anything that means I get a bit of time with my daughter is a good thing.

I really like the Yellow Hand Blender set – I had to buy a food processor over Christmas as smoke came out of my hand blender when I was making some biscuits (this is when I realised I was doing it wrong and needed something bigger). I’ve not dared switch on the little old one yet, but I fear its days are numbered… and besides, I love a kitchen that doesn’t match, this colour yellow is nice and bright and adds some colour to the room. So I’d add this to the wishlist as it isn’t expensive – and looks bright and retro. Also: a whisk! I could make meringues and pavlovas!!

Morphy Richards Soup Maker

Finally, I’d add a Soup Maker to my wishlist. I have one already (as I’ve already gushed about a gazillion times on here), but I’d gift it to a friend who was envious of mine but hasn’t get one. I won’t say who.. but I know she’d use it as much as I use mine – and I’d be happy to pass it on.

So yes, my wishlist there. I’ll be working on more recipes this year, and hopefully H might help me…

(and disclaimer – I’d have added a kettle and toaster as our old ones were on their last legs, but they both blew before Christmas so we’ve already bought new ones!)

 

Foodies100 Index of UK Food Blogs

 

 

by jo

Smith & Western Restaurant Boxhill

We often pop to Box Hill for a drive – the views are great and as National Trust members we can park for free. After a walk around we’re hungry, more often than not, and often head to the Smith & Western Bar and Grill up the road – it’s literally one minute from where we park. Every time I’ve been they’ve been busy – they seat 150 people in total – it’s a popular place (although granted some of those times have been Mothers or Fathers Day).

Today we ventured out after Christmas, and got in straight away! We were led to our seats and straight away I was impressed at how our server picked out a magazine-type thing and some crayons for H – I often have to ask, even in places like Pizza Express. There were plenty of puzzles (she’s enjoying lots of Spot The Difference at the moment) and colouring in, as well as things for older kids too. We were given a small bucket of Nachos while we waited – I love it when restaurants do that (it’s the little things, okay?).

Smith & Western Box Hill

The magazine-type thing also doubles up as the children’s menu which had a decent choice of food, from meaty dishes to pizza options. When H’s food arrived it was a decent sized portion too – actually, all the food was – though vegetable options were a bit sparse (her choice though, she didn’t want celery and carrot or corn on the cob). Anyway, this wasn’t a huge problem as we eat a lot of fruit and veg at home.

As far as choosing for vegetarian food, there was only one option burger-wise and that was a mushroom. I hate mushrooms, and had already decided against salad so ordered a vegetable fajita dish – which came with five small wraps and plenty of veg – as well as some guacamole, salsa, cheese and cream on the side. There were a few other veggie options available (a bean burger option would be nice if anyone from Smith & Western ever reads this!)

Shaun went for a burger and chose chips as his side – and it was quite a generous portion size too. We were both pretty stuffed, although did notice H’s meal really was just a sausage in a bun – she’s not (yet) a fan of sauces on her food and prefers to dip it, so had a dry bread roll with no sausage (as she picked it out and ate it and dipped it on its own.. sigh, 3 year olds…).

Someone on the next table had ordered a ‘Filling Station’ – basically around 8 pints-worth of beer in a sort of blender shaped holder which keeps the beer just right – it looked good too! We looked on in envy… You just serve yourself from the table.

H chose ice cream with banana and strawberry for dessert but was too full to finish it, so we helped her.

Being sensible we opted for diet coke which was unlimited refills (we only needed the one), H’s fruit juice was also unlimited. The kids meal was a set price which was reasonable and included drink, main and dessert. I did notice you could only have one milkshake if you chose that option, however.

We spent a short while looking for deals on our phones thinking it would come in quite expensive, and failed – but were pleasantly surprised when we saw the bill – everything came in at around £35. We were also given a couple of discount vouchers for a trip back in the new year, which we may well use – I wouldn’t mind trying out their Caesar Salad (though it doesn’t look too WW friendly!) – then again a good walk afterwards will help.

Anyway, in a nutshell, how child-friendly was it? Very! There was enough space, the toilets were spacious too which is always good when you’re having to go with your little one. The overall cost was surprisingly good, and the food was tasty (a bit oily), and very filling. I didn’t see if there was buggy storage anywhere, there was decent parking so I’ll assume most people have got there by car anyway. There were loads of kids around, which is always a good sign anyway. The menu for kids had enough activities it kept H entertained, and the people serving our table were quick – food came quickly and we were out within an hour (I do hate waiting!).

We’ll definitely be back.

(note, if you do go, take the A217 route via Headley Wood as it’s much easier!)

by jo

Easy Nachos

I’m doing Weight Watchers in case you’d forgotten (there’s a little badge half way down to remind you) – and I’m pleased over Christmas I’ve only gained 2lb – although we’ve not really had much chocolate so there hasn’t been too much temptation.

Anyway, it was a rainy Boxing Day and we were bored, we didn’t want to go out, but we wanted something simple and savoury. After looking around, it’s pretty easy to make Nachos, so I adapted it a bit to be Weight Watchers friendly. I have no idea points-wise how much they’ll be, as a lot depends on how many you eat, but certainly not as much as regular crisps!

1. get some Weight Watchers tortilla wraps (4 points each). I always seem to have them and they’re often close to their use-by date – Poundland also stock them which makes these quite cheap.

2. cut them in half, and in half again, and then cut those in half again, so you’ve got a rough tortilla chip sized piece, 8 per round tortilla.

3. lightly spray them using your Weight Watchers Oil Spray – it doesn’t need very much at all, two or three mists.

4. sprinkle them with some paprika.

5. stick them in the oven – we have a fan assisted oven and had it on at 180c – I used one of those pizza trays with the holes in the bottom which helps make the underneath crisp.

After ten minutes check how hard they are (you might like them crispy, you might like them soft) and remove from the heat to let them cool down. I added a tiny bit of salt and some spices, then left them to stand and harden up a bit.

We had a sachet for some home made salsa which only needed some tomato adding (we used Passata – 0 points), and leave for an hour or so in the fridge until it’s properly spicy (we also added some coriander from our Gourmet Garden selection of fresh spices). I also bought some guacamole the other day so we added that.

Sit yourselves down, stick a film on and munch away for a good half hour or so.

Fab! Points-wise I’d say you’re looking at 4-5 per tortilla, extra for dips so adapt where necessary (the salsa may well have been 0 points)

Weight Watchers Friendly Nachos

by jo

Merry Christmas!

A big thank you from us all here for all your support and comments on Mum Friendly in the last year! We’ve had a brilliant year and long may it continue into next year – we’ve lots of features to come in the New Year, including Shaun’s Couch to 5K writeup (yep, I’ve persuaded him to write more!) – all manner of things. But most importantly for now, have a brillant, fantastic Christmas – and thank you again!

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