Shepherd's Jacket Potatoes

OK you need to make these TODAY!

Shepherd's Potatoes!

I wish I'd taken a pic of the inside! But anyway, I got the idea from the Bosh! Facebook page, which is a must-follow, if you're not already! I didn't follow their recipe because I wanted to keep the filling free and I also didn't have any mushrooms, but what I did was:

Bake a jacket potato at 200°C for an hour.

Cut a hole in the top and scoop out the innards. Mash that with salt, pepper and a splash of soymilk.

For the filling I cooked an onion in frylight and then added a chopped carrot, half a chopped courgette a couple of handfuls of soya mince (make sure you get a free one) and then added some veggie stock and tomato puree, a bay leaf, some dried sage, a bit of garlic powder and a squeeze of marmite and let it simmer away for 20 minutes or so.

Then fill the jacket about 2/3 of the way up with the soya mince mixture and then top with the mashed potato.

I added some Sainsbury's vegan cheese* on top and then popped it under the grill for 5 mins or so until the Gary was bubbly and starting to brown.

These were delicious. I added extra speed veg on the side. I am about to devour the leftovers for lunch but I could easily have eaten both.

Sal xXx

Original inspiration from Bosh! on Facebook - HERE.

*I made 2 potatoes and shared 30g of Gary between them; it was kind of a lot and I could have used less but I shoved it all on there! haha. I counted these as 2 syns each.

A gain this week!

Well, shit.

5.5 lbs on this week! I didn't weigh last week and I've been off plan for 2 weeks so not really any surprise, considering the crap I'd been eating.

so....

Moving onwards and upwards. Had a nice breakfast of an Alpro Go On yogurt and a red grapefruit and I'm gonna make a tofu stir fry with loads of speed veg in for lunch.

Have an awesome weekend.
Sal xXx

I'm rubbish, so here's a recipe

I didn't weigh in last week as I couldn't get to group and I've been pretty much off plan since before then. So I'm guessing this week's weigh in will be a bit rubbish. But I'll update on Thursday/Friday!

I was eating a tin of bought lentil soup the other day and remembered an old recipe of mine off my other blog that I used to make a lot. It's easily made SW friendly with a few tweaks. The picture is of the original version, but the recipe below is the updated one:

Lentil & Sausage Soup
1/2 cup brown or green lentils
Fry light
1 medium onion
2 carrots
1 medium potato 
2 medium tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic, grated on a microplane or chopped finely
1 veggie stock cube
about 3 cups of water*
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sage
Good squeeze (tbsp or so) tomato puree
4 syn free vegan sausages (or syn as necessary) - optional
Salt & pepper to taste

Serves: 3-4
Syn Free (if using syn free sausages)

Method:
Pour boiling water over the lentils and set aside while you prepare the rest of the veg. 

Chop the onions, potato and carrots into rough dice. Saute the onion in the olive oil and a pinch of salt for 5 minutes.

Add the garlic, tomatoes, carrots and potato and stir well and cook for a few minutes. Add boiling water from the kettle *enough to almost cover the veg (I also added a bit more as the soup was cooking so I added about 3 cups in total). Add the stock cube, tomato puree and the drained lentils and a pinch of salt & pepper. Don't go overboard on the salt if your stock cube has added salt. Add the herbs and bring to the boil, then cover with a lid and turn down to a simmer and cook for 20-25 minutes until the veggies are cooked.

Cook the sausages while the soup is simmering and leave them to cool a bit so they can be chopped.

Turn off the heat and add the sausage if still warm. If the sausage is cold, cook it for a minute or so after you add the sausage.

In the photo above I used homemade seitan sausages but I am unsure of the syns of them, so would switch them out for Linda McCartney ones instead.

Sal xXx

Easy (SP Friendly) Syn Free Vegan Chilli Recipe

First things first, results of this week's weigh-in:

I lost 1.5 lbs this week! YAY.

Here is a super easy recipe for the SP day friendly vegan chilli I mentioned in the yesterday's food diary that I posted this afternoon.

I actually had it with rice the other night (and the leftovers on a baked potato for lunch yesterday) but this makes for a yummy SP day meal, either alone or with cauli-rice.

Ingredients:
1 small onion, diced
Frylight Spray
1 red pepper, diced finely
1 tin of kidney beans in chilli sauce
1 tin of cooked lentils
2 tomatoes, chopped
a pinch of sweetener
2 tsps of marmite
Chilli flakes or chilli powder (optional) to taste

This makes 3-4 servings but on SP days I often eat half of it as I have it without rice.

Method:
Fry the onion in frylight until it starts to soften and colour a bit then add the pepper and cook for a little more time. You could also throw in a clove or 2 of garlic if you want.

Add all the other ingredients (I add chilli flakes as the chilli sauce on the beans isn't that hot, but only add if you like it spicier) and bring to the boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook for at least 15 minutes, but anywhere up to 30-40 will be fine too. I pretty much just put my rice on once it's simmering and cook it til the rice is done.

Re the marmite - even if you're a hater, add it in. It adds a lovely savoury note to the chilli. If you hate it so much you can't bear to be around it, just add a bit of extra salt.

I added 3.5 syns worth of avocado mashed with a bit of salt and lime juice.

Have an awesome weekend.
Sal xXx

What I ate Yesterday

Here is a food diary of yesterday's eats:

For breakfast I had an Alpro Go-On Yogurt (1.5 syns) and a banana. And a litre of water throughout the morning.

For lunch, I had the last of the potato/leek soup I made the other day (free). I also had a packet of beef flavoured hula hoop pufts but forgot to take a pic (3.5 syns).

For a snack when I got home from work, I hate a massive hunk of raw cauliflower. I won't like, after a few mouthfuls it got weird! But I was hungry so I ate it.

Dinner was this chilli and rice. Super easy and tasty, recipe will be up later on tonight or tomorrow morning with my weigh-in results. The chilli and rice were free but I also added 3.5 syns worth of avocado on top because it's yummy!

I also made myself a mug cake out of my HEB oats that worked out at 0.5 syns and then I added some alpro coconut cream for 1.5 syns and a tablespoon of coconut choc shot for 2 syns. I didn't take a pic and it was kind of a stodgy mess, so I'm gonna have to work on that before I share the recipe.

I ended the day on 12.5 syns and used my HEA for Alpro Light Soya Milk and my HEB for 35g of oats. I drank about 2 litres of water, not including teas/coffees throughout the day.

Sal xXx