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mrssavageangel

First time mother just trying to figure out where to go from here.

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Our Favourite Five – May 2016

27/05/2016 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

The summer is well and truly under way in our part of the world. And this is what the Savage family have been enjoying this month.

1 Eurovision

Of course! What else could start a list of things my family has enjoyed in May? My husband put the televised song competition in our shared diaries as soon as the date was released! This year we found out our neighbours were as bonkers about the show as we are, so invited them to come down and watch it with us. It’s so much fun sharing the madness with someone else. Although to be honest, there was a lot less crazy in Eurovision this year. Much more slick and a little bit less fun for it unfortunately (I mean Justin Timberlake, while the votes were counted? Seriously? Sigh) Anywho, we had a lovely time just hanging out, drinking wine and commenting. Much as we all agreed we like Graham Norton as host, we were also in agreement that we miss Terry Wogan getting gently sloshed and more acerbic as the evening went on. And as a fitting tribute to the man, who died earlier this year, we were sure to raise a glass of his favourite tipple at song number 9 (his personal cue to start the evening’s drinking). It was an emotional moment. And yes, tears were shed!

To Terry
To Terry!

2 Ribs

Whenever I used to have friends over, pre Oscar, my go to choice of food was always ribs. They never failed to please, but I haven’t made them for years.  So, I decided to do them for our Eurovision shindig. In the past I have always marinated the ribs overnight (a Nigella recipe) and then baked them in the oven. What a faff! This time I decided to utilise my slow cooker and boy were they a massive hit! Tender and juicy and sticky and delicious. And so much easier to make. I bought the ribs from the butcher instead of the supermarket for a start and that made such a difference. They were so much bigger and had so much more meat on them! Then I just chucked them in the slow cooker with the following ingredients. Blooming gorgeous!

Spicy BBQ Ribs

  • 1 X 500g bottle of BBQ Sauce (I used a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray Barbecue Sauce)
  • 50g of brown sugar
  • 4 tbsp of cider vinegar
  • 3 tsp of oregano
  • 1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp of cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp of chilli powder
  • 1.3 lbs of pork ribs (I got a rack from our local butcher who cut them into individual ribs for me)
  • Salt & pepper
  1. Combine the bbq sauce, brown sugar, cider vinegar, oregano, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, and chilli powder in a bowl.
  2. Salt and pepper the ribs. Place ribs in slow cooker, and cover in sauce. Cook on low for eight hours or high for four hours
  3. Devour.

I served them with coleslaw, roasted new potatoes and sweetcorn.

No, they weren’t Slimming World in any way, but saved for a special occasion, I’ll definitely be doing these beauties again. Only I may have to make double quantity next time! Yum!

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Delicious!

3 M&S Food Hall

A month or so ago Haslemere got it’s very own M&S Food Hall. Regardless of your opinion about whether our town needed a M&S Food Hall, you can’t deny that their food is good quality and often different to what’s on offer in the ubiquitous chain supermarkets (one of which is just over the road if you’re that bothered by it). I’ve found myself popping in throughout May. I bought some of the nicest and biggest (they were a ‘King’ variety) Strawberries I’ve ever had, to take to a friends house, a beautiful bouquet to say a big thank you to a neighbour, and on days when it’s all been a bit much and I need somewhere to take five, I am happy to admit I’ve been Found wandering their aisles. I’m not saying I’d get my weekly shop there, I wouldn’t. But for occasional nice ‘bits’, it’s been a boon.

The M&S Haslemere Coffee Shop has made a nice occasional change.
The M&S Haslemere Coffee Shop has made a nice occasional change.

4 Our deck

I’ve mentioned before that our garden is bigger than our house and as soon as the sun came out at the beginning of May, we were straight out there, tidying up the garden for the summer season. We have a long lawn, but a few years ago we also built (with the help of some very kind friends) a deck. Big enough to take a decent table and chair set, it’s becoming my favourite part of the garden. It’s definitely where I spend most of my time out there, so this month I’ve been adding a few sweet little touches. Cushions for the chairs, a parasol, a wall mounted planter and wild flowers in a jar have all made this corner of the garden a lovely little nook for eating, writing and just hanging out!

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Bright, comfy cushions from Sainsbury’s.
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Bluebells and rosemary, all picked from the garden.
Is this not the cutest planter you've ever seen? A perfect spot for my Thyme and Oregano
Is this not the cutest planter you’ve ever seen? A perfect spot for my Thyme and Oregano.
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I wanted a cream parasol, but picked up the wrong box in Homebase. Hey ho! Oscar doesn’t care and asks me to put the ‘umberella’ up as soon as the sun comes out!

5 Driving Lessons

I wrote about learning to drive a few weeks ago (you can read about why I don’t already have a licence here). It’s been a big part of May for me, although to be honest I’m not sure I’d call it a ‘favourite’ as such. It’s hard learning a new skill any time in your life, but the older you get the harder it is (not my words, words of clever science type people in white coats) and I am finding it hard. But every week I’m noticing little things improving and my anxiety (which behind the wheel has been at a spectacular all time high) slowly fall. Slowly. I’ve done four lessons and now I have a two week break. I only hope I don’t forget everything in that time!

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What have been your family favourites this month? I’d love to know!

 

 

Filed Under: Family, Home Tagged With: #FiveFavouriteThings, alfresco, Driving lessons, Eurovision, Family, Favouirte, food, garden, m&s, May, Motherhood, mummy, Personal, Recipe, ribs, summer

Mrssavageangel Slimming World Week 14

14/04/2016 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

I know, I know. I haven’t written one of these for the past two weeks. That’s due in part to the boy being off on his preschool Easter holidays. I find it so hard to concentrate when he’s around, particularly to write these posts, where I have to think hard about what I want to say. And if I’m honest it’s also in part because I’ve not had much to say. I gained 3lb over the Easter break. I stopped trying so hard when we went away and then it was so difficult to refocus when we came back. Why is that? Why is it so hard to fall back into negative habits, but so hard to stick to new positive ones?

Anyway, I’m disappointed with my results over Easter, but actually when I think about it (and look back at last year’s blog post) it’s almost exactly the same as what happened last Easter. And I pulled it back then. That’s good to know.

So this week, I actually started, albeit very slowly, to turn the tide, with 0.5lb off.

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So I’m back to having lost 13.5lb, dipping just back under the stone. And as that makes me sad, and I don’t like feeling sad, I need to change that asap!

And I plan to do that with the aid of a slow cooker.

My friends have been going on about their slow cookers forever, and this week I finally capitulated and got myself one. And I swear I may never use the hob again 😉. First day I had it I made bolognese and then on Saturday I got hold of the most enormous piece of brisket Waitrose were selling off cheap. Oscar loves watching the Buzzfeed Tasty videos at the moment (over and over!) and they occasionally have slow cooker recipes. One that really caught my eye was one with a huge piece of chuck steak. So when I got this brisket I had to try it. I halved a load of new potatoes, some carrots, placed half the brisket on top of the veg, seasoned and added Worcestershire Sauce, a splash of water and, 5 hours in, a couple of springs of rosemary and thyme. 6 hours on high and BOOM! We had the most amazing dinner. So amazing I didn’t get any pictures 😞. Anyway, the plan was to freeze the other half of the brisket and make pepperpot stew later in the week. Didn’t happen. We just had exactly the same meal on Sunday! Basically we ate half a cow this weekend! Half a delicious cow, mind. And this week I’ve already made Pork Vindaloo from the Slimming World Curry Heaven Book. I made double the amount and one half has already gone in the freezer and the rest is for dinner tonight. I’ll report back next week!

Syn free Slimming World pork vindaloo in the slow cooker!
Syn free Slimming World pork vindaloo in the slow cooker!

So other than slow cooked deliciousness, my other discovery over the past few weeks has been chicken burgers! When I wrote about how much I loved Heck sausages (they’re a freezer staple in this house and we buy them in bulk online!), the very lovely people at Heck Food sent me some of their Chicken Italia Burgers to try. Each burger is only one syn each and blow me if they aren’t blooming gorgeous! And so flipping versatile! I’ve had them as just delicious burgers with jacket potatoes and veg, but they’re fab chopped up and added to things too.

Heck Chicken Italia Burgers. In all their glory!
Heck Chicken Italia Burgers. In all their glory!

One lunch time I was planning to have burger, beans and mushrooms, you know, separately, then I decided to just mix them all together and accidentally invented a lunch time ‘Quick Casserole’. It was amazing and so filling!

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My own invention the ‘Quick Casserole’! Beans, one Heck Chicken Italia Burger and chestnut mushrooms. 1 syn for the lot!

And then another day, inspired by a picture on the IG account of @Shanonnagain58, I had a crack a Mexican style breakfast burrito. Chopped burger, with spicy scrambled egg in a BFree Wrap (1 x HEB) with a side order of mushrooms (I love mushrooms can you tell!). It made so much burrito ‘filling’ that I had trouble picking it up! Amazeballs!

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My attempt at a Heck Burger Breakfast Burrito! 1 Syn + 1 HEB for the wrap.

Who knew a burger could be so much more than just a delicious patty on a bun? I’m just off to place another massive order of sausages (seriously I think I have a bit of a problem with these sausages 😉 ) and I’m totally going to order burgers this time too!

So this week I’m feeling much more positive at my own capabilities than I have been. At least I am today (don’t you find it changes from day to day?). So lets take this a day at a time 🙂

love

Lisa

xxx

 

I honestly love these burgers. They are so delicious and at one syn each so easy to fit into the Slimming World plan. I’d like to thank Heck for gifting them to me. I was not paid to write about them and as always my opinions are my own.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Review, Weight Loss Tagged With: burgers, food, health, heck food, Losing weight, low syn, Motivation, mummy, Personal, Recipe, Review, Slimming World, slow cooker, Thanks, Weight, weight gain, Weight Loss

Mrssavageangel Slimming World – Week 10

18/03/2016 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Hi howdy hey!

Where has the week gone? Seriously, I feel like I’ve done loads but I can’t remember a bit of it! This week’s sunshine has been much appreciated though. Soft sunlight, cold breezes, sweet smell of cut grass. Spring has definitely finally arrived in Haslemere. It’s been so… refreshing is the only word I can think of.

The health has been slowly recovering. Every day I’ve felt a little bit better and I’m coughing just a little bit less. However, I’ve been exhausted for much of the week. That’s what getting better does to you I guess. Especially when you can’t rest. Motherhood does that to you! You get no days off, you can’t call in sick. You push on. Because you have no choice.

Anyway, enough of that nonsense. You’ll start to think I’m about to make an excuse for a gain or something. But I’m not! Ha! That shocked you didn’t it?! No some how, despite another week of inconsistent eating and not counting syns properly and a morning weigh in last week I managed to do this:

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So while I wouldn’t recommend illness as a long term weight loss solution, the lurgy clearly suits me ?.

As I had to weigh and run last week, I didn’t get my one stone award certificate. Got it this week though! Total lost now 1 stone 2.5lb (16.5lb)

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Due to said illness I’ve been sticking to tried and tested foods again this week, so no new recipes, sorry! We have had the Mexican Chicken Stew I wrote about a few weeks ago twice this week though and if you haven’t tried it I urge you to, particularly if you have a cold. A bit of heat is just what you need when you’re bunged up!

So with the health on the mend, I really have no excuse not to get back into the swing of the things. After all next week is Easter and our sojourn down to Devon and Oscar’s birthday shindig. I’m out tonight with my lovely NCT ladies, but other than that, well let’s just say I would like to lose 1 lb this week. For all sorts of personal reasons, but also because I’ve just ordered some new clothes and I’d really like them to fit! Eeek! ?

Have a lovely week and fingers crossed the sun hangs around!

Love

Lisa

xxx

Filed Under: Weight Loss Tagged With: food, health, Motherhood, Personal, Recipe, Slimming World, Weight, weight gain, Weight Loss

Mrssavageangel Slimming World – Week 8

03/03/2016 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

“No beating about the bush this week. If you read this week’s other post you’ll know my head’s been well and truly out of the game this week. However, regardless of the cupcakes and the odd bowl of granola (I’m sorry Ben I can’t make you any more. I just can’t have the bloody stuff in the house without eating it ?) meals have been either syn free or on plan and therefore this week’s result was appreciated (even if it’s not what I hoped for when we last spoke)

A maintain. I can live with that. For now. That means I’m still at 12.5lb lost.

I got to talking to another Slimming World member last night who had had a very, very tiny gain. She was so disappointed to begin with, so I asked if she knew why she’d gained. She said she absolutely did and then started telling me about the great time she’d had that weekend. Then she leaned forwards and whispered, conspiratorially, that she should feel bad about the good time she’d had, but that she didn’t. It broke my heart. We should never, ever feel bad for having a good time. Even when we might see it on the scales the following week. When you gain and you honestly don’t know why it’s hard, and if you gain doing something you didn’t enjoy then that sucks, but either way it is what it is. But don’t ever feel bad for gaining weight having a brilliant time. That’s called life. It’s called living.

Piece said.

My favourite dinner this week has been another old Savage Family favourite we haven’t had for ages! It’s a low syn version of a BBC Good Food recipe and here it is:

Mexican Chicken Stew

  • Frylight
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 2 red peppers, deseeded and chopped into largish chunks
  • 3 tbsp chipotle paste (I use the Santa Maria Hot Chipotle Paste for 1/2 syn per tbsp)
  • 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
  • 4 skinless chicken breast
  • 140g quinoa
  • 2 chicken stock cube
  • 1 x 400g can pinto beans, drained
  • small bunch coriander
  1. Spray a deep frying pan with Frylight and fry the onions and peppers for a few mins until softened. Stir in the chipotle paste for a minute, followed by the tomatoes. Add a tomato can full of water and bring to a gentle simmer.
  2. Add the whole chicken breasts and gently simmer, turning the chicken occasionally, for 20 mins, until the chicken is cooked through. Meanwhile…
  3. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil with the stock cubes. Add the quinoa and cook for 15 mins until tender, adding the beans for the final minute. Drain well and stir in the coriander and lime juice, then check for seasoning before covering to keep warm.
  4. Lift the chicken out onto a board and shred each breast using two forks. Stir back into the tomato sauce and season. Serve with the quinoa.

Serves two. As the whole recipe is 1.5 syns, I’d count it as 1 syn per person.

I’ve also used rice in place of the quinoa which works equally well. Or as happened on Tuesday when I couldn’t be bothered to make quinoa or rice when I got in from yoga, I just chucked the pinto beans in the stew and added the lime juice and coriander. It was delicious!

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My very low syn version of Mexican Chicken Stew

I’ve also been shopping this weekend. I desperately needed a new bra, so popped into my ever faithful Bravissimo in Guildford. I tried on about 10 different styles, but I still went back to the same one I already have. Funny isn’t it. Even the assistant seemed surprised that none of the other styles suited my shape! So I have gone up a cup size since last summer, but it’s more important to be properly supported in that area than get upset by a number (or in this case a letter!) :0 I also found a BEAUtiful poncho in Joules and was so, so tempted, but I knew the bras were going to take up most of my money so I left it. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it and when I got home I remembered I had almost exactly what it would cost coming to me from my freelancing. So I well and truly treated myself. Its like nothing else I own and I LOVE it! I looks fab with jeans and boots and will be lovely for spring. And the best part is I found this morning is that I can actually fit it under my coat, so I can wear it even on chillier (or wetter) days. Perfect!

The Tessa Poncho from Joules. I just couldn't resist!
The Tessa Poncho from Joules. I just couldn’t resist!

So this coming week, myself and another girl at my group have agreed to aim for our 1 Stone award together. She has 1lb, I have 1.5lb to lose. It’s going to take some thought and planning (something I’ve not been so good on this week) but I know what needs to be done.

Happy Mother’s Day for Sunday to all the lovely mamas out there (even those of you in the US, who don’t celebrate until May). You’re all amazing and I hope you have a super day!

love

Lisa

xx

 

Filed Under: Weight Loss Tagged With: health, Losing weight, Personal, Recipe, Shopping, Slimming World, Weight, weight gain, Weight Loss

Mrssavageangel Slimming World – Week 7

25/02/2016 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

It’s difficult to start these posts on the weeks when things have been hard. What do you want to hear? The excuses? And they do feel like excuses. But then these are the little things that have constituted my life this week:

  1. We went out for dinner at our neighbours on Saturday. We had a brilliant time. And wine, so much wine.
  2. Sunday’s resultant hang over required medicating with bacon sandwiches. In white bread from the Farmers Market
  3. I made a bucket load of granola, ostensibly for Ben, but there were days my will power failed me
  4. I’ve had this bloody horrible cough for a week now. Proper chesty and ‘productive’ ? It’s either made me not hungry at all or starving
  5. Monday’s meeting with Oscar’s ‘team’ was unexpectedly negative. And left me in a right state. I don’t want to hold on to anger but how do you let it go? Sadness, anger, all those negative emotions convinced me half a tub of chocolate ice cream was a good idea. It wasn’t.

I won’t lie to you, this week has been hard, in so, so many ways. But….

BUT!

I did exactly what I hoped I’d do.


I didn’t lose, but neither did I gain. What a relief! Me and my SW buddy James did a high five across the room when I got off the scales. It was that much of a celebration! So I’ve still lost 12.5lb. Phew!

This week’s food relevalation has been Oyster Sauce. I’ve been doing Slimming World for more than two years and for some reason I had it in my head Oyster Sauce was high synned so had avoided it. Then at last week’s group I found out it syn free! What? So this week we bought some and it’s been a really welcome addition to the many and varied stir frys I tend to have for lunch. See, always learning!

My favourite meal this week has been an old favourite we haven’t had for blooming ages. I’m still going to Yoga on a Tuesday night and don’t like to eat beforehand (all that folding over I’m afraid I’ll throw up all over my mat!) so we eat when I get in. But starting to cook at 9pm is pretty late and not much fun. So I decided to make something in the day that could just be heated up and remembered an old Nigella recipe Pollo alla Cacciatore. With a few tweaks here and there I can make it syn free. It’s a one pot dish of loveliness that is quick to make, can be made in advance and needs no accompaniment. So I thought I’d share it with you here.

Syn Free Pollo alla Cacciatore

Serves 2

  • Frylight
  • 1 or 2 cloves of garlic
  • 5 Bacon Medalions (or rashers of bacon with the fat removed), diced
  • 6 Spring Onions, finely sliced
  • 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
  • 6 chicken thigh fillets, all fat removed, cut into bite size pieces
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 150ml stock (chicken or vegetable)
  • 400g can chopped tomatoes
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 can cannellini beans
  1. Spray a large pan with Frylight. Put the garlic into a pan with the, bacon, spring onions and rosemary and fry for a couple of minutes.
  2. Add the bite-sized chicken pieces, stirring well, and sprinkle in the salt.
  3. Pour in the stock and let it come to a bubble before adding the tomatoes and bay leaves. Put the lid on and let the pan simmer for 20 minutes.
  4. Drain and add a tin of cannellini beans and warm through.

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Delicious, nutritious and so simple! Give it a whirl!

So this week I want to get my one stone award. I have 1.5lb to lose and I’m damn well going to get there. After the week I’ve had I owe it to myself to get some happy! And getting that would make me super happy!

As did this outfit. Looking pretty good huh?

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Have a good one

love

Lisa

xx

Filed Under: Weight Loss Tagged With: food, happy, health, Losing weight, Motherhood, mummy, Personal, Recipe, Slimming World, Weight, weight gain, Weight Loss

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Totally petitioning to move Bonfire night to June. Totally petitioning to move Bonfire night to June. It’s not so dark you lose your family, it’s way warmer and the sky just looks more dramatic. Much more fun all round.
Jubilee Beacon Fireworks. Jubilee Beacon Fireworks.
What an amazing day! The little sister who came in What an amazing day! The little sister who came into our lives when she was a sweet little ten year old, is now a beautiful, strong wife and mother. We couldn’t have been any prouder to share her day with her. Oh yeah and James was there too 😜 Only kidding we love you guys so much! #family #wedding
All the chocolate, all the good food. Happy Easter All the chocolate, all the good food. Happy Easter, Passover or Ramadan. Hope you’re spending today with your people. 💐🐰🌱 #spring #celebrate
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Oscar’s party was a roaring success. The cousins Oscar’s party was a roaring success. The cousins all came and played together like they were best of friends, the Minecraft themed food was devoured, the castle was bounced to within an inch of its life, the grown ups chatted and most of all the boy had the best day! And now I’m so exhausted I’m off to bed. Thank you to the family (and chosen family) who helped make it such a special day for our special little guy. #whenoscarturnedten #happybirthday #familypartiesarethebest
Ten years old. Where has that decade gone? He’s Ten years old. Where has that decade gone? He’s ten years old. I’m ten years older. Sometimes it feels like we’re growing up together! Happy birthday beautiful boy. And Happy Birthing Day to me. 🥰
It’s that time of year again when I lay all his It’s that time of year again when I lay all his presents out and say I’m ready for him to be another year older and then quip that I am NEVER ready for him to be another year older. But 10 man? I don’t know, it feels so… significant. Double digits, a decade, it somehow feels different from all the other birthdays. I can’t quite believe it tbh. Anyway as he’s having his birthday here (tomorrow) but his party in Plymouth next Saturday it has been decreed it’s his birthday all week. And what with the grand age he’s turning, I think that sounds perfectly appropriate.
Breakfast in bed (toast and a makeshift cloche - w Breakfast in bed (toast and a makeshift cloche - we fancy!) and three cards and a sunflower he planted from seed at school 😱! Now off out for lunch. Very much a Happy Mothers Day to me! And to all the mamas I know. May you be treated like Kweens today!
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