Slimming World Friendly Pavlova

I made this beautiful thing for dessert after the Sunday roast. I tried to make syn free meringue, using egg whites and sweetener with 0.5tsp of vinegar as I'd seen other slimming world people talking about this. While the texture of the meringue was light and crisp, it had an odd aftertaste and wasn't as robust as bought meringue nests. I topped the layers of meringue with whipped fat free creme fraiche with vanilla extract and sweetener and lots of berries. 

Overall, it wasn't a complete fail. It was pretty, and the family liked it. The creme fraiche with the berries as really lovely. But there is certainly room for improvement. with the meringue, at least I didn't waste any syns on it! I think I will try the Slimming World recipes next time either the Summer Fruit Pavlova or the Double-Chocolate and Berry Pavlova. Or there's always the simple choice of a bought meringue nest for 1 syn. Has anyone found a syn free meringue recipe that works? Thanks for reading!
M x

Summer fruit pavlova

Summer fruit pavlova

Lampshade DIY

I've had a stripped back lampshade frame in my possession for years now with the intention of re-covering. But it has always been something that I have not got around to. However, since having more time on my hands, I have been able to do these kind of projects again.

I took the frame and simply wrapped each section in a different colour of tissue paper using a pva and water mix - like we did when we were kids. It was a little fiddly to begin with, but I'm really pleased with the end result: 

I have not covered the bottom section of the frame as I quite liked the openness. I've installed it into my Studio in the garden to add a bit of colour to the white walls and I'm really happy with the outcome. I'm still working on getting the place all sorted - the weather isn't helping! But once it's done I'll be in there drawing and painting. What do you think of my DIY effort?  This process could be transferred to all kinds of different frames from charity shops. You could try newspaper or patterned tissue paper depending on your room.Let me know if you try the DIY, I'd love to see your versions. 

Thanks for reading!

M x

Slimming World Week 4 Round Up

So as the title suggests I have just finished my fourth week of Slimming World: weighing in last night. I've never done a diet with group support and have also had a bit of a rocky time of it. I had a great loss of 4lb in my first week and then put on 3lb of that over the next two whilst following the diet plan. However, to make excuses for it, I started exercising again which can put your body in shock making your muscles bloat to protect themselves, and have been very hormonal. The group were also really supportive and although not losing I still would eat the way the Extra Easy suggests, because it just makes sense.

Anyway, the pattern was broken and I had a good loss of 2.5lb last night, which I'm really happy with, but -3.5lb in 4 weeks - not the best of outcomes. But you have to be positive about these things - a loss is a loss and I'm starting to feel smaller.

This week I tried out a few different meals that have been really lovely. The boyfriend and I had Beef Bourguignon on Sunday with lots of veg. It was a really simple recipe and cooked down beautifully. I did not leave it in the oven for the full 2 hours but 90mins instead, which was fine, I had halved the recipe as it was just myself and the boyfriend, but I think if I had left it any longer there would have been no sauce left. The boyfriend found it a little too sweet, there is because of the shallots, however I really enjoyed it.

I made Pea and Ham Soup for lunch on Tuesday which turned out to be the best I've ever tasted. It contains tarragon which flavours the soup beautifully. Mine turned out nice and thick. I added two slices of chopped up ham to my portion along with some yogurt and pepper on top and it was really lovely. It also kept well in individual tubs in the fridge for lunches the rest of the week. 

On Wednesday I made Katsu Curry. Again it was a straightforward recipe, the only fiddly bit being the breadcrumbing of the chicken breasts. The was really lovely, although I think I added a little too much fromage frais at the end - it should have been less creamy, more spicy. I made egg friend rice to go with it which again was lovely. Good dinner. 

The same night the boyfriend was craving naughty snacks so we did a midnight run to Tesco. I wanted something savoury so I bought some Ryvitas, light cheese triangles and some figs to make this lovely combinations. I think this is my new favourite. Three of the sesame Ryvitas are a HEB option, and I syned two triangles. 

It's been a good week for food and I'm hoping that I get another good loss at week 5 weigh in.
Does anyone have slimming world recipe suggestions?

Thanks for reading!
M x

Monday Organising

Today was spent organising mine and the boyfriend's things into our room, and out of the spare room where they had been stored. It is quite an odd feeling to finally being moving in permanently again after three years of only half living with my parents and therefore unpacking properly. It is quite a laborious process and was interspersed with breaks of drawing cats. 

At the end of the day I cooked up another Slimming World recipe that I had not tried before. All the recipes I've been trying are from the Slimming World Extra Easy All in One book. Tonight was the turn of the Honey and Mustard Chicken Casserole. And this is what mine turned out like:

Once again I ended up adapting the recipe. I exchanged the parsnips for butternut squash, which was really lovely with the honey and mustard. It was quite a subtle flavour rather than what I was the strong flavour I was used to when making it as a glaze for gammon. I used red onion for a little change from white and a mix of chicken breast and thigh which was really lovely. I did however misread the recipe and rather than cooking it in a covered pan, I popped it in the oven with tin foil over it, and uncovered it after 15 minutes, cooking it for a further 20 to get some nice browner bits. To accompany the chicken I made fried new potatoes, using Fry-Light and added lots of veg. 

Overall the recipe was really lovely with subtle flavours. I think I will include less stock next time so there is more of a sticky sauce produced. But I would really recommend it to anyone, even if you're not doing Slimming World and in fact the book itself is definitely worth buying. Is anyone else on Slimming World? What are your favourite recipes?
Thanks for reading!M x

Weekend Treats

As I'm job hunting at the moment, money is a bit of an issue but this weekend the boyfriend and I went to the city nearest us, Peterborough, for a little trip out. We mostly just wanted a wander and to get out of the house, but I did pick up a couple of bits that I thought were so cute that I would share them.

These couple of things are from H&M. I'm a little obsessed with stationary and I fell in love with the three patterns on this set of little lined notebooks. As you can probably tell from my banner I'm a fan of gold and I think the little touched of gold on these are so darling. I thought they would be great to slip into my handbag. I love a 'To Do' list so these will be perfect and with this little pencil case I can stop pencil getting onto the contents of my bag. I thought it looked a lot less childish than most and matches my purse so well. Altogether these two were just under £8, which I thought was really reasonable. 

I also picked up this A6 sketchbook which I intend to start filling tomorrow. The small size means that I can carry it around easily and it is a little less daunting. I'm really looking forward to getting back into drawing more regularly and simply for pleasure rather than my degree. 

The final stop was Lush, a real treat. My boyfriend was kind enough to buy me these two lovelies. The first is the Blackberry Bath Bomb which smells amazing and the second is the Creamy Candy bubble bar which smells sweet and is moisturising. I haven't used either of these before and am excited to try these after a hard day. For dinner I cooked up something really comforting. I have just started Slimming World, so I've been trying out a lot of their recipes. This was the Beef and Bean Hotpot. I adapted it a little, adding more beans than I should have. It turned out so lovely and was perfect comfort food for a rainy Sunday night.

What are your favourite Lush products? I really haven't used many and would love to know! Is anyone else on Slimming World, and got any recipe recommendations?
Thanks for reading!M x 

Back again.

So I've just graduated with a degree in Fine Art: Sculpture. It's been an amazing three years and I have learnt a huge amount, but it's quite hard to know exactly what to do now. I've moved back home, and I'm spending my time split between trying to cram mine and my boyfriend's things into one room and looking after my grandmother who lives with us. It's quite a change of pace compared to uni life: going from only looking after myself, and possibly my boyfriend to caring for an elderly lady and cooking for the family. It's not anything I can't handle, and am happy to look after everyone, to take some of the strain from my hardworking parents, but it is quite an adjustment.

And now I need to find that job that I can be passionate about, and put all of my energy into. I am really passionate about art, and my own work. Please take a look at my website if you're interested. But I've not done any work since I handed everything in at the end of my degree a couple of months ago and I'm itching to get drawing. I've been part of a good number of exhibitions and would love to continue to help organize, mount and show my own work within more in the future. I have also had quite a bit of experience of organizing fundraising events and was thinking that this could be a path to follow too.

So I guess that was a catch up, another introduction to me as I want to start blogging regularly. I'm going to start a new sketchbook tomorrow, drawing everyday, because I never want to stop for too long! And will be posting the results periodically. And will have lots of other content too that should be interesting... I hope.

Thanks for reading!
M x