Hello! This week I started my diet again after a long break from it! The other night I was really craving a nice hearty meal after a busy day at work, so I decided to make this delicious chicken and mushroom pie! With only 550 calories for half the pie, this is a great meal to make when you need a bit of extra fuel! 

Ingredients: 

1 leek, chopped thinly

150g button mushrooms, sliced 

75g peas (frozen is fine)

2 rashers smoked bacon, cut into small squares

2 roast chicken breasts, tear into medium sized pieces

500ml chicken stock

25g plain flour

2tbsp reduced fat creme fraiche

3 sheets filo pastry

Method:

-Pre heat your oven to 220 degrees celcius.

- Heat a small amount of sunflower oil in a frying pan and add the bacon and mushrooms. Cook for 3-4 minutes. 

- Add the leaks and chicken, cook for a further 1 minute.

- Sprinkle the flour over the mixture then add the chicken stock slowly whilst stirring.

- Add the peas to the frying pan and simmer for 4 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.

- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the creme fraiche.

- Transfer the mixture to a medium sized pie dish.

- Roughly place the filo pastry sheets over the mixture (the more crinkles the better), making sure to oil each sheet with a pastry brush as you go.

- Put the pie in the oven and cook for 12-15 minutes until your pastry is golden and crispy!

Voila! Your pie is ready to serve and enjoy! 

This does make quite a large amount so feel free to make it for 4 people and have some sides!

Let me know if you decide to make it! I'd love to see your results!

xx

TheSundayPost

Aloha! It feels like this week has been never ending! As usual, this week has been full of Uni and Work with a little bit of Christmas shopping thrown in too! (Finally getting somewhere with it woohoo!) Here is my picture round-up of the week! 

Not actually from this week, but I took this photo from the train on my way back from Aberdeen last weekend! It is the sunset over the River Forth with the famous Forth Road Bridge! I was really proud of this, especially since it was taken on a train travelling at 40mph! haha!

I had a right giggle at this picture! My research proposal for my dissertation is due in on Friday, and as usual I haven't even started it! Fourth year is really proving to be a struggle! I just want my degree now! 

On Thursday we got the first of our marks back for this semester. For one of my modules I got a first for my presentation, and I was one mark off a first for the report that goes with it! I was pretty happy with this, so I got a bar of my favourite chocolate to celebrate! I am expecting the first marks for my other modules back on Wednesday this week! Hopefully they are also good! 

On Friday, I had an afternoon off work so I finally got around to clearing out my wardrobe! I was pretty ruthless and got rid of anything I haven't worn in the last 9 months! I am pretty proud of how tidy it is looking! Now I just have to keep it looking like this...

On Saturday my other half was watching the rugby. I'm not that interested in rugby so I decided to cook a Lemon Chicken for dinner! It was pretty tasty. I'll put the recipe for it up later this week! 

After cooking dinner, I settled down with my favourite cider to watch X Factor! 

And finally, today has been a rather quiet day. We slept till really late then headed to the local shopping centre. I've been trying to get a storm trooper dressing up costume for my little cousin but it's out of stock everywhere! Obviously I had to treat myself to a hot chocolate from Costa whilst we were out! :) 

So that's pretty much it for this week! Now I'm going to sit down and get some blog posts sorted for next week as I'm sure I'm going to be rather busy with this dissertation malarky! 

Have a great week everyone! xx

Graze Box: Healthy Snacking!

I know I'm a little late to the Graze Box Party, but last week we got our first box delivered! When you are trying to diet, you need some healthy snacks for those days where 3 meals just won't cut it! 

In our box we got:

1. Walnut & Vanilla Truffle (sunflower seeds, fudge pieces, walnuts & raisins). I quite enjoyed this one but the other half wasn't as keen. I don't really like walnuts so I picked round them. The rest was great though! 

2. My Thai (mini rice cakes and sweet chilli dip). This was my favourite one! The chilli dip was lovely and sticky and the rice cakes soooo tasty! I will definitely be getting more of this one!

3. Chilli and Lime Pistachios- I didn't really like this one but I don't like pistachios. The other half liked it so I let him eat them all! 

4. Jaffa Cake Flapjacks- mmm this one was also good! If only it was a little bit bigger haha! 

I'm sure I will be ordering more graze boxes. They are so handy for popping in your lunchbox! 

Have you tried Graze boxes? What other snacks would you recommend from their huge selection? 

xxx

Weigh-In Wednesday!

Hello Everyone!
It's weigh in Wednesday again, and once again I have maintained the same weight! It is starting to get rather frustrating that I'm not losing any weight each week so tonight I am going for a big healthy food shop! As we've been away so much lately, we've not had time to fill our fridge, which is probably contributing to me not losing weight! We keep having to grab a ready meal on our way home! 
Fingers crossed next week will be more successful!
xx

Weigh in Wednesday #3

So in the last week I've kinda fallen off the diet wagon. Oops!
What with deadlines at uni and our anniversary at the weekend, I just haven't had time for healthy eating! It's been so easy to grab a ready meal or fast food on the way home from the library, and we spent the weekend indulging in great food.
However, in saying that last week I was 12st 4lbs.
This week I am still 12st 4lbs!
I can't believe I have stayed the same weight after all the junk I've eaten this week! Hopefully next week I'll manage to lose a bit!
Xx

MondayMunchies: Sweet Pepper Omelette

Hey Everyone! Today I have a tasty recipe for one of my favourite, easy meals! Monday nights are just the worst. You've hardly had any sleep the night before (is it just me who can't sleep on a Sunday night?!) and work has drained any energy you may have had! So this recipe will make your Monday much more relaxed, when you can't be bothered cooking! 

You will need:

3 Large Eggs, 

20g Cheddar (I use 1/2 fat cheddar) 

2 sweet peppers (or 1 normal pepper if you can't get your hands on the sweet ones) 

1tbsp of sunflower oil

Some salad as a side dish. 

Finely grate the cheddar, chop up your sweet peppers and whisk up your eggs (season with salt and pepper) 

Heat the oil in a frying pan, let the eggs cook for about 2-3 minutes, then add the cheese and peppers down one half of the pan (it makes it easier to fold I think)

I use a metal fish slice to get under one side of the omelette and fold over to make a semi circle! 

After letting it cook for another 2-3 minutes to let the cheese melt, serve with a yummy crispy salad! I like to drizzle some white wine vinegar and olive oil over mine to give it a little bit of flavour! I've found my favourite bagged salad is one from Asda called Italian style salad. It has a bit more flavour than your standard bagged salad! (I hate salad but I need to get my 5 a day somehow!)

So there you have it! Such an easy meal to make after a hard day at work! It can be made with almost anything as a filling too! Sometimes we have minted pea and feta cheese in ours too! 

Happy cooking!

xx

Weigh In Wednesday #2

Hey everyone. Just a very quick update on my weight loss progress this week.
So last week I was 12st 4lbs.
This week I am...12st 4lbs.
I suppose staying the same is better than gaining weight right?
I was fully expecting to not lose anything this week, as dieting has been affected by impending coursework deadlines! I've got a double hand in tomorrow, then it's mine and my other half's anniversary on Friday! I wonder what he's got up his sleeve this year?
xx

Banana and Pineapple Loaf

Today I've got a really yummy recipe for you all! This banana and pineapple loaf is such a nice treat with a cuppa! 

Ingredients: 

175g self raising flour

2tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1tsp nutmeg

75g light brown soft sugar

2 eggs

3 mashed bananas

100g melted butter

1tsp vanilla extract

1 small tin of pineapple chunks, drained. 

And it is so simple to prepare. You just throw everything in a mixing bowl, mix together until smooth (apart from pineapple chunks in the mixture). Oil a 2lb loaf tin and pre heat oven to 180 degrees/gas mark 4. Cook for 50-60 minutes and hey presto, you have a yummy cake! Leave to cool for 10 minutes before eating though or it's impossible to cut without crumbling! And guess what? There's only 210 calories per slice!