Slimming world biscuit recipe

This recipe is delicious! Honestly i can eat most things as i am not a fussy eater but i have tried some of the slimming world cakes, muffins and deserts and i was like what the...??!! 

Then i came across this recipe. I altered it a smidgen but oh my they are like my favourite snacks, they do contain syns but you feel you are getting a real treat. Darren likes them too and he can be fussy with certain foods so thats a bonus. I really like the texture too and they are so quick to make. Takes around 1-2 mins to get everything in a bowl and mix together and spoon onto your baking tray! 

So lets get started!! This is for one person (following the slimming world guide lines)

you will need;

+ 1 egg
+ 35g plain oats
+ 2 tbsp of sweetner
+ 3 tsp of low calorie hot chocolate powder such as highlights or options
+ 1 tbsp of vanilla extract/ orange essence

This is the sweetner i used 

And this is the hot chocolate options powder i used

All you do is mix all the ingredients together and spoon onto a oven tray lined with greaseproof paper (they peel off so easily this way) and pop into a pre-heated oven of 190 degrees celcius which is around gas mark 5 i think for around 10-12 mins and thats it!!

so quick and simple and honestly gorgeous. In the list of ingredients above i said you could either use vanilla extract or an orange flavouring perhaps, i say that because when tasting the biscuit with the chocolate flavour i know it would taste amazing but not only that, vanilla extract is very expensive, a small bottle cost me nearly 5 pound in asda and that would only make 4 batches of biscuits, so the orange essence may be something to consider.

I made a double batch here because darren wanted some too. What i do is use a table spoon to spoon out the mixture and i round and flatten the mixture with the spoon to make them bigger and that way you get more biscuits which just seems like you are having more of a treat.

There is my portion in my little box ready to take out. They are lovely honestly but we all like different tastes, you never know unless you try :) a lovely healthier version of an oaty biscuit thanks to slimming world!!!

If any of you follow slimming world and would like to know the syn value then read on :)

If you are not using the 35g of oats as your healthy extra B then it's 6 syns for the oats, the options powder is 2syns as is the highlights, any other powder you will need to check online, so the rest of the ingredients are free.

So if you are using only your syns it would be 8 syns which is quite high considering you can have your favourite biscuits for maybe around the same syn value but at least try them once :) and if you are having the oats as your healthy extra then its only 2 syns!! now that is impressive and worthit don't you think.. think of all the naughty syns you could have! curly wurly's, even ice cream! FYI these biscuits are delicious with ice cream, be creative with the recipe, you could put orange rind in the mix to give it a zing or lemon!! just remember if you are adding dried fruit to syn it accordingly.

Thanks for reading, if you do try this recipe please comment and let me know what you think. 

Bye xxxxxxx

Slimming World update #1

Hello everyone. So today is day 13 of my slimming world journey. I did the first weigh in on day 4 due to a hospital appointment and as i had my weight printed out i thought i may aswell go from there.

So I did my second weigh in on tues just gone and i have lost ... 2 Ibs in my first week. I have not been as careful or strict as i could be, not that you need to be as you can eat lots but if you want a bigger weight loss there are ways you can make that happen. 

The thing with me is that when i do diets, i give 100% effort and im so strict and although you get results, it is not fun because you have cravings for food that is not allowed on the diet and then you eventually give in because lets face it, us woman have times of the month where we do get cravings and increased appetite, so the one thing i love about slimming world is that you can have chocolate and crisps, they just have a syn value.

Fruit and veg is free (fresh) and all herbs and spices, dried pasta, noodles and rice are all free. Fish and most meat and meat substitues are free, and the idea is you eat as much free food as you like as they are lower in calories generally and fill you up and then the syned food is a treat and you are encouraged to cook healthily and freshly. 

The recipes and treats you can make from the slimming world website or online groups such as facebook and even the magazines are so tasty!! and you get lots in a portion! 

the magazine is only cheap and is so inspirational. If you are not following the diet that doesn't matter, just ignore all the syns and lingo and do the recipe. Slimming world isn't a diet as it's just normal food that you have in your cupboards, it's just careful food planning and being sensible with food choices which we should all be anyway.

I will post a recipe in a seperate post which looks and feel strange (do not let that put you off) but tastes amazing!! I think so anyway so yeah :) 

I will do another weightloss update again next week. So excited.

xxxxxxxxxxx

I'm doing slimming world :)

So i have been told i have to lose weight by september. Two stone, well she actually said over two stone. WOW. I will explain why at a later date when its suitable but yeah.. so i decided that i should join slimming world. 

Due to finance at the moment i'm not officially a member as such, I bought the 2015 plan off ebay. Then researched the hell out of it and joined facebook groups and asked members questions and advice, so yeah im excited and i will keep you all up to date.

I'm not a big girl, well not really. I would say i am a size 12-14 and weigh around 83kg. So i have been told i need to be 72kg. 

Today is day 7 of my slimming world journey and honestly it's been a lot of fun. You are allowed cakes, chocolates and sweets. They just have a syn value. So for instance a curly wurly chocolate bar has a syn value of 6. You are allowed 5-15 syns a day. You really are allowed to eat lots of food. 

So i start my new job on tues and whilst i am in town i will do my first weigh in to see how much i have lost in a week. I am excited but nervous also.

There are lots of recipes you can all enjoy whether you are on the slimming world plan or not so i will upload them soon. 

Sorry i have not had as many new posts as i usually do, i have not been feeling very well. I have had a headache none stop for 5 days because of my saw jaw which is due to a car accident i had 5 years ago, so i have not been able to stare at a screen for a few days. 

So anyway i will be back soon with a new post and i will keep you updated with my slimming world journey and recipes too :) thank you for visiting and see you soon. Hope you are all well. xxxxxxx

Want longer stronger hair?

Hello everyone, sorry i have not posted in a while. Not been feeling very well and had a headache for 3 days on a run and im suffering :( but anyway..

So we all know what it's like, we want long hair and then we want short hair and as soon as it's cut we want our long hair back and it takes weeks and months to grow back. Well i have been doing myself some googling and i have found a few useful tips to help speed up the hair growing process.
We don't all have the money to buy certain products but these 12 useful tips will enable you to atleast do one as some of them include every day house hold items. 

1) Eat right-  Eating a well balanced diet including lots of protein such as eggs, fish and meat can aid in hair growth and fruit and veg are important for strong healthy hair. So it is vital to eat a well balanced diet, not only for your skin and body but also for you hair.

2) Egg whites- Egg whites are known for their healing properties ( and for making tasty cakes ). And this helps to nourish, restore and replenish the hairs softness and shine.

3) Brush your hair- Most importantly though, do not over- brush your hair. By brushing your hair in the morning and night you can actually aid hair growth by stimulating the scalp circulation. However - NEVER BRUSH WET HAIR!!! -- yikes! who knew? not me! 
Apparentley brushing wet hair can severley damage your hair causing breakage. To make it look presentable use a wide tooth comb instead and be careful with tangles, comb them through gently.

4) Drink water- We all know how important it is to drink lots of water, it helps to flush toxins from the body and hydrate our bodies, that includes our hair. Drinking 8 glasses a day helps to make hair stronger because when we are dehydrated our hair gets dry and when its dry it is more prone to breakage. 

5) Try not to blow dry your hair often- When your blow dry your hair you actually dry out your hair and causing heat damage. Cut down on the amount of blow drying you do to your hair and you will see a big change in the way your hair feels and in time this will help to encourage new growth to your hair.

6) Potato water- Weird right? thats what i thought when i read it, i actually read it back to check as i have never heard of this before. A lot of us lack vitamins in our diet due to too many bad foods being so cheap and irresistable. Vitamins such as A and B and even sometimes C. Without these vitamins in our diets our hair can get very brittle and dry. So if you feel like being brave.. Next time you boil some potatoes, keep the water to one side and after dinner rinse your hair with this water to help add some vitamins to it. failing that, stick to a healthy diet.

7) Homemade hair growth mask- Just like the tip above this is another potato based idea to help you grow you hair and in my research it has worked for people so if you have a juicer to hand this is a good one for you. Juice 3 potatoes and to them add one egg yolk and some honey and apply all over your hair and leave it to do its magic for as long as you can. Over an hour would be a good time. The potatoes help to grow your hair whilst the honey and egg yolk help to deeply moisterise your scalp.

8) Essential oils- This tip is not a cheap one unless you have all of these oils to hand, which a lot of us will not. 
Essential oils are used mainly on our bodies especially in massages, but this combination of oils has been said to help grow your lovely locks. Mix together 3 drops of lavender oil and rosemary oil, then 2 drops of thyme oil, cedarwood oil and jojoba oil and apply to your hair. When i was reading this handy tip the website did not state how long this mixture should be left on the head for. So be sensible and listen to your body. If it starts to hurt, itch or irritate then wash off but if it's not doing any harm then leave on for as long as you can as the oils will do wonders for your hair. Maybe do this a couple of times a week. Like i stated i do not know the exact instructions so be careful and safe if trying this.

9) Onion water- Boil some onions in a pan of water and when done, drain off the water into a container and when cool enough rinse the mixture through your hair and rinse off after. This water helps to grow your hair and leave lovely and shiny.

10) Aloe vera and brandy- Do you have an aloe vera plant? if you do then perfect! If not you can either purchase one at your local garden centre. They are only cheap. I would highly reccomend anyone to buy one anyway just because of how amazing they are but i will cover that in another post soon!
If you do not want a plant or can not get hold of one then you can buy the gel in most health food shops. But fresh is best. Mix together some of the aloe vera gel, one egg and some brandy and apply it to your scalp. Leave it in for an hour or more before rinsing. The longer the better. 

11) Apple cider vinegar- Want long hair? Apple cider vinegar is what you want. After each hair wash rinse through with a mix of apple cider vinegar and water and if you are worried about the smell you can add a few drops of your favourite essential oil. This mix helps to stimulate the hair follicles, making your hair grow. 

12) Avoid the sun- Exposing your scalp to the sun is not only dangerous for your skin but very damaging for your hair. To help your hair, wear a hat. It will take longer for your hair to grow if its damaged.

I have not tried these yet but i am excited. Im currently trying to grow some aloe vera from a cutting so hopefully i can make the hair mask soon. Not all of these will be suitable for each one of us but i have listed a variety so we have options. I love options. There is nothing worse than having a solution to a problem which we can not afford or your allergic too haha.

The website i got these ideas off was allwomanstalk.com. They had lots of other ideas too but i like the natural ways, i like to use what i have in my home so i know there is no chemicals in it as this will see that my hair is completley healthy and i know i have done my very best.

There will be lots more posts like this coming soon, i just need to do more research.

I hope you are all very well and had a lovely monday and i will be back soon with something else to talk about :) byeeeee xxxxxx

Post op update

So it has been just a day over 3 weeks since i had my Appendix out and i was healing very slowly at first. That first week i had my operation i honestly thought i was never going to heal, but since then its been quick-ish.

The one thing you are told is take it easy and do not over do it. That i think has been the hardest part. When you have had the operation and you can feel the pain of not only your insides but your wounds also, it really is easy to take it easy because you know 100% what your boundaries are because if you move into a certain position, it hurts straight away so you know that it's too much.

However, when you have started healing some more and moving around becomes easier then that is when you tend to do too much and forget that just because you can see your wounds are healing well, it does not mean that your insides have healed.

It tends the be the little things that you do such as, getting something from the cupboard, bending down to put a wash on, walking too quickly to catch your bus and even hanging washing on the line.
I did all these things days after coming home from the hospital and it really is hard not too, when you have a home which is yours, you need to clean it. That my friends is how a few times i have over stepped the mark with my sore insides.

I have been discharged form the nurses who changed my dressings, so i have not had dressings on for a week today. When i went on the 22nd April, the nurse said that i was healing well and she was happy to dishcharge me and then she told me i wont need dressings anymore. I looked at the nurse as if to say ''are you sure now?'' (worried face). And that walk home from the clinic with my jeans rubbing my stitches was the strangest. 

I went to see my doctor on Monday just gone to ask when i will be able to excersise again and she told me 3 months!!!!!! WHAT!!??
She went on to remind me that although it was key hole surgery it was still a major operation (which is scary to think of). The surgeons don't make it out to be anything big because they do these operations so often, but yeah it was a big op and they went through muscle and tissue and i have stitches inside me where my Appendix was and i need to be careful not to aggravate any of that so i heal properly. So that kind of sucks. 

Now i have a countdown app on my phone to alert me when i can workout again. Currently i have 61 days left. That was 3 months from the date of my operation. So i look forward to being completely healed.

I am still signed off sick, so i have still not started my new job but i will be in a couple of weeks i hope. Just do not want to over do it as there are a lot of steps and heavy lifting and stretching involved in my job role. 

My family, Darren and his mum have been so good to me whilst i've been sick and my lovely Auntie June who was asking how i was on a daily basis whilst i have been recovering. When i uploaded the post about my operation i did not go into detail with how helpful my family where as i did not want to make it longer than it already was. 

Little shout outs to my family are;

my sister hannah who came to see me every day i was in hospital bringing me supplies such as dry hair shampoo, face wipes, a bobble ( as i didnt have one when i went in), pjs and lots of other stuff. And putting up with my awful mood! So thank you so much!!

Mum who came in pretty much every day that i was in and even took Darren for a drink and cake to make sure he was ok too.

My dad and other sister (including her partner) who came in to see me looking dreadful and bought me a magazine and chocolates and my dad who took me home- very greatful.

and Ofcourse my Darren who saw me everyday whilst trying to juggle work, being home to let the dogs out and rushing to see me at visiting time. Bringing me allsorts in from my tablet so i was not bored in hospital to ice lollies when the heat was too much and just being there for me when i was sad and cried to him when that evil doctor hurt me. And his lovely mum an family for buying me flowers and asking how i am all the time.

Sorry if that was boring to my readers but it wasn't mentioned and it's important to have a lovely family that supports you and i am very greatful.

Thank you for reading my blog, it means so much to me that these words i mumble interest you and make you want to come back- or is that the cake recipe?? haha.

See you soon xxxxxx

Cake recipe

This past week for some reason had me wanting to be a really good girlfriend and make my man some cakes (they where for me really, don't tell him). I have no idea where it came from. My mum always bakes and i suppose that is where my love of baking comes from but i go through phases and it also depends on my bank account too, baking isn't cheap.

Anyway the first thing i made was Biscotti biscuits from the Hairy Bikers diet cookbook which will be pictured below in this post. They where so lovely but i didn't have proper spoon measures so alls i could taste was baking powder as i had used too much so i really would like to try them again with the correct measures. It's all in the practising. 

(sorry the photo is dark. Was late at night when i took this photo.)

The next thing i made was this Hairy Bikers tea cake. It was really lovely.

 Mine did not look anything like theres because i did not use the baking tray that they say to use within the recipe. That is only because i simply did not have one. So instead i used two small loaf tins and it was a nightmare. Only because it was not setting in the middle, so i was calling my mum for advice. Basically if you have this book or buy it (which i do reccomend) then i would suggest you use the items they say to :).

So after these i decided cookies.. however i kind of ate them all :/ sorry everyone. no photos. I didn't like the recipe anyway so i will find one i like soon and share it with you all. When i return to work i will be baking everyone cookies anyway so you will get to have a sneaky peek.

Next up.. I know can you believe all this baking and in one week!

Next up was the coffee and walnut cake. 

Oh it was delicious.

So to do this you will need;

• 115g self-raising flour
• 115g caster sugar
• 115g butter (suitable for baking with)
• 2 large free range eggs (i say free range because i won't use any other kind)
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1tbsp of espresso powder (finely ground)
• 50g walnuts

 And for the frosting, you need;

• Mascarpone cheese (one small-medium tub) 
• 1tbsp caster sugar
• 2 tsp espresso powder
• a drop of milk to losen
• 8 walnut halves to decorate

So lets begin..

Firstly wash your hands.

preheat your oven to 170 degrees celsius.

To make the cake all you do its measure out your ingredients and set them to one side. Now before anything else you know those 50g of walnuts, well they need to either be crushed by hand in a pestal and morter (like i did, mine is a mini one and it took me like an hour! no joke), OR and this is what i 100% suggest, blitz them up in a food processor. They need to be quite fine unless you want bigger chunks in your cake. Once that is done you can carry on.

This is really easy. All i did was put all the ingredients except the grounded up walnuts, into a big mixing bowl and mixed them all together until its a lovely thick creamy texture. Then fold in the walnuts, very gently so you do not lose any of the air you have just made when mixing. Once its all been gently mixed then you pour the mixture evenly into your two cake bases.

I used two silicone cases, i'm not certain on the sizes but they worked perfectly.

 bake them in the oven for 25-30 mins. All ovens are different so be sure to check on them towards to 20 min mark. Do not open the oven any less than that as your cake could sink in the middle due to the temp change.

Once they are baked, turn the cakes out and leave to completley cool. 

Make the frosting.

So empty your mascarpone cheese into a mixing bowl, add your sugar and espresso powder and a drop of milk (you can always add more as you need to). and mix together until you have your perfect consistancy. And when your cakes are cool, spread the frosting in the middle and on top of your cake and add your walnut halves to decorate and there you have it. Coffee and walnut cake. 

* I must add that you need to refridgerate this cake because if not your frosting starts to go brown and it isnt at all fresh the next day.

 Next up is the victoria sponge cake..

So to make this cake all you need to do is follow the instructions for the coffee cake except where it has 1tbsp espresso powder you swap that for 1tsp of vanilla extract and you do not need the walnuts. 

so this is what you need.

• 115g self-raising flour
• 115g caster sugar
• 115g butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1tsp vanilla extract

Mix them all together and bake.

for the filling;

You will need a jam of your choice, i used strawberry. You will also need double cream, 1tsp vanilla extract and caster sugar.

So in a mixing bowl pour in your cream (i only bought a small tub), sugar and vanilla and whisk them together to form a stiff peak, you will know when its ready. and you are done. Really is easy. Now spread a thick even layer of jam on one side of the cake and on the other the cream. i sprinkled some icing sugar on the top but that is optional.

The coffee and walnut cake and the victoria sponge cake are not my recipes. I found them on a video on youtube and quickly wrote down the recipes. I will try and find who uploaded them. The victoria sponge was my favourite. It tasted amazing. It should do for all the effort i made. I hand whisked the cream for 32 mins with a fork!! haha.

i baked another victoria sponge but this time i used a heart cookie cutter to cut the sponge cake and made these gorgeous little cakes.

 I gave them to my dad to take home. Mum already had some cake and theres lots of people to eat them at dads so off they went. Look how cute they are!!

I have really enjoyed making these cakes and biscuits and i hope you will try this recipe, if you do please comment below. I will have to stop baking soon or i will end up so big i wont be able to leave the house to buy more ingredients haha. My friend once had a sign in her kitchen saying 'never trust a skinny cook'.

So i kind of use that now haha. I hope you all have had a lovely day. 

Come see me again soon xxxxxx

Lady Green Garden centre

So Mum and i went for a little drive to the garden centre yesterday. Mum wanted some plants for a hanging basket and i just fancied some fresh air and it's nice to spend some time together.
For those of you who have not been to this garden centre, you should. It is built on 10 acres of land (i think) and it is just so beautiful! It is in liverpool and i will include the post code within this post, just because if you are like me and would love a nice drive, cup of tea and to be surrounded by gorgeous plants and gifts.. well this is the place for you. 
This post does contain a lot of photos haha, but i know you will enjoy them. 

This is a photo of our journey down, it was gorgeous but the sky was pretty miserable. Was raining on and off the whole day.

                                                                 We made it!!

Lady Green has a lovely entrance. Lots of beautiful trees and flowers.

so first things first, we had a look around the shop area, they have gorgeous home products and fun gift ideas.

 Mum and i loved these two hanging verses. We laughed so much. Mum said the one about the bedroom was me when i was little, haha so true!!

 

 This painting you are about to see has magical powers haha because mum says she can see herself being many things when she stands in front of it. 

 She can imagine herself walking her dog along the beach everyday and believe it or not she is an author! well i never. We laughed as both of us had the same ideas as one another when we looked at it, i had a massive house on the beach which was spotless (see why i say magical?) and i see myself reading and walking lots and im like half the weight i am and its always sunny. Life is almost perfect when you stare at this painting for a while haha.

Next stop was the cafe ofcourse! There is not one member of my family that i know that goes to a garden centre and does not have a cup of tea atleast.

These mini jam jars are great for storing jewellery and also sauces for salads, they are handy to keep a small portion of nuts in to snack on or even your daily medication so you know you have it safe. 

how lovely is the view from the window. I remember when we where younger we came for lunch and it was a lovely day so we decided to sit outside under the sun umberella. Needless to say we basically spent the whole time running away from wasps whilst still trying to eat. Never sat out since, the view is great though :p 

 

How fab are these owl water fountains?!

The main reason this garden centre is probably my favourite is because of the out door plants area. It is huge and the scenery is just beautiful. I would love to work there, it would never be a case of ''i don't want to get up for work''.

Beautiful isn't it.

Who remembers as children either putting your finger inside this plant or a leaf or twig so it shuts?

They have a cute little craft shop. The very basics and small variety of yarn. I love it. I love browsing the craft shops, see if it doesn't spark any bright ideas :)

Well mum got the plants she wanted and i had a good old nose round and it was home time. How lovely is this, they have it outside as you leave.

I hope you enoyed the photos. If you like garden centres and have never been to this and you live in the Liverpool area then have a visit. Honestly it makes for a lovely day out. The post code is L38 1QB.

Me and mum had a fab day and thank you for visiting me.

Tomorrow i will be putting up a post on all the baking i have done this week. lots of cakes and a recipe! xxxxx