Weight Watchers Apple & Raspberry Sponge

Having been to Weight Watchers on Saturday and buying my new recipe book I thought I would give a couple of recipes ago.  The first one I had high hopes for were the butternut squash rolls.  I am not too sure what I did but mine definitely did not look anything like the ones in the book.  Mine wouldn't have looked out of place on the beach, they had a distinctive rock type look and texture.  I was planning on uploading the photos but on this occasion they have gone in the recycle bin along with the rolls.  What a waste of time, money and effort!  All was not totally lost, this evening for dessert (Mike always has to have a dessert!) I made a fab apple, raspberry and blackberry sponge.  Not only did it taste good it was really easy to make.

Basically it is fruit baked in the oven with some golden
syrup and a swiss-roll style sponge poured over the top.

  

Re-motivation.

Today I have:

• Been to weight watchers to be told that I have gained half a pound this week.  The blimming silver 7 is eluding me!!  Since Christmas between my exercise classes and weight watchers I have lost 6lb and I can definitely feel it.  However my motivation has started to waver somewhat.  I think I was expecting some instant hit and slowly the naughty treats have started to creep back in.  This is not being helped by the endless amounts of baking I have been completing with Mimi lately!!!  My problem is that I track what I eat for a couple of days but I find it so difficult to keep within my allocated pro-point allowance that I become demoralised after a few days.  Also I really struggle with snacking.  This week I am feeling a bit more motivated and I brought a new recipe book.  I think it is new out this week as I couldn't find a link for it.  Its got some really good looking recipes in it like, butternut squash rolls and Sri Lankan pineapple curry which I am going to try this week.

• Spent some time in the garden with Mimi.  With the weather being so beautiful and the first signs of spring and the daffodils coming up I decided we would start potting up some seeds ready for our vegetable patch.  Today we planted two types of beetroot and some tomatoes.  I expect we will have hundreds of plants which I will be desperate to give away in a few weeks!  Every year I get carried away with the tomatoes - forgetting what a pain they are to look after and they always end up falling over.  This year I am planning on being more organised, I am going to order some bamboo.

1: Boltardy; 2: Alto F1 Hybird; 3: Pomodoro Ciliegia; 4: Pomodoro San Marzano

• Listened to Mimi witter on endlessly about her ever growing Birthday wish list which now includes:

1: Toyota Aygo; 2: Teacup Piggies; 3: Fifi the Flower Tots

• Shouted at some bl***y woman who's dog was in our garden.  I was so incensed by this woman I stormed outside.  To set the scene:  Our house and garden open out directly onto a field, this field has a set of regular dog walkers who walk the perimeter on a regular basis.  We have since moving in put up a fence to prevent the dogs getting in (one once punctured Mimi's paddling pool) and Mimi getting out.  Today a woman and her son were walking their dog when it managed to slip under the fence and was eating the bird food which had fallen off the table.  The poor dog got stuck in the garden and couldn't work out how to get back out.  It was not so much the dog that p***** me off but the dog owner who walked off and left her dog in our garden.  I went outside and shouted down the road after her asking her to come and collect her dog rather than just walking off.  Her response was to shout back telling me that there was no point running towards her dog as it would make the situation worse.  I explained that I have a child and that the dog was in MY garden to which she replied she couldn't do very much about it.  I told her that she was on private land and that in future perhaps she should find somewhere else to walk her dog.  Bloody woman - No mention of an apology.

• I have finally got round to uploading my new banner (Number 37 of 101 to re-design my blog).  I am really pleased with the new look.  I am considering moving over to Wordpress (Number 13 of 101) where there is more freedom in terms of the design element.  I have got it up and running you can check it out here.  However it is taking some time getting my head around the technical element of wordpress.  I have got some HTML knowledge however it is still proving a bit tricky. 

A busy day.

I am starting to think that perhaps I have an actress on my hands.  I was eating my breakfast when she appeared looking like this!  She made me laugh lots.  What you can't see is the magic wand which keeps turning me into a FROG!

I haven't been feeling too well today.  I think I might have a cold coming, but it didn't stop me from going spinning with K first thing this morning.  It was fairly tough going and I did feel better having done some exercise.  I managed to get a couple of jobs in before picking Mimi up from play-school.  She is so funny about play-school, she was fine on Monday although they said she cried a little bit after I had left, today Mike took her as spinning started at 9.30am and apparently she was hysterical.  Pick her up and she can't stop talking about what a lovely time she had.  Today they had done painting/printing with Lemons.

I attempted to put her down for a sleep but she was having none of it so instead we set about planning our vegetable patch for the summer and I made a body scrub, something I have been meaning to make for ages.  

Previously I have used the Aveda Body Scrub and the Soap and Glory Scrub.  Both of these are excellent however having left work I am on a bit of an economy drive and decided that it was time to try and make my own.  Also it is Number 77 on my 101 in 1001 list.  I got the idea from Pininterest.  

My home-made sugar body scrub.

It was really easy to make.

225g sugar I used light brown sugar

200ml of oil (having gone into the local health food shop they suggested that for dry skin I could try sesame oil)

The grated zest of a lemon.

I mixed it all together and popped it into a jam jar.  I haven't tried it yet, I will let you know what its like in the morning.

Finally we topped the day off by taking Mimi to the Fish & Chip shop for tea.

I think that my first week at home has gone well.  I have loved every second of it.  Now I look back I am not too sure why I didn't do this sooner.  Only downside is that I need to work on my budgeting skills.

A day at the Zoo

We thought that we would take advantage of the gorgeous weather and spend the afternoon at the Zoo.    

We went straight from music with my friend M and her two children.  I think a good time was had by all - what is even better is that because I used my Howletts passport I spent a total of 95p on an ice lolly!  Talk about good value for money!  The girls played beautifully together and were really cute.  I haven't really seen Mimi playing like that before although I am sure she does at playschool.
I can not believe how fab the weather has been today.  We had a picnic and it felt like T-shirt weather, the sun at this time of year is good for the girls, it is such a valuable source of vitamin D.  We had home-made jelly jam things (jam tarts) and cheese hearts which we made last night.  
I am on an economy drive (now that I have given up work I have to look willing!) so having gone to Sainsburys to buy packed lunch treats I decided that it was considerably cheaper and far more fun to make our own hence the home-made jam tarts, cheese straws and bread rolls.
My Howletts Passport runs out soon but I will definitely be renewing it.
    

Happy Days

Damm, whilst I am sitting here wondering what we have been upto all day I have remembered the bread I left to rise about 3 hours ago!!!  Just gone to check on it..........I think its a gonna!

We haven't really been very far today, however we have been fairly busy.  When I was looking for my box of seeds at the weekend I came across a bag of Allium's and Hyacinth's that I think Mike might have been given earlier in the year.  Anyway they had started to grow and despite the bags saying plant in the Autum I decided we would pop them in and see what happens, otherwise they will stay there - forgotten indefinitely.  So we spent a few hours in the garden and what a beautiful few hours it was - the sun was shining and in the shelter it was really warm.  We also made some more birdcake - Mimi loves making these especially the bit where she packs it into an old yogurt pot.  We attempted bread which needs no further comment!

Then traditionally as today is Shrove Tuesday / Pancake Day we had Pancakes for dessert.  Mimi had "Pancake Pillows" - These are rolled up pancakes with raspberry sauce.  She ate so much I was a bit worried she might pop!  Mimi took it all very seriously and made Mike flip the pancakes just like Daddy Pig, luckily ours didn't get stuck on the ceiling!

Mimi has played non-stop with the new play-doh (the old stuff had all dried up so I replaced it at the weekend) and is slowly driving me a bit bonkers.  I keep finding it everywhere including in my shoes and wrapped around the dolls house chimney.  I was sitting down earlier when a spoonful was thrust towards my mouth.  It is a nightmare to collect all the little bits up and I am thinking of hiding it for a few days.  Or is that really mean?!?!

Spots & Stripes

Dress & Leggings GAP SALE; Kicker Boots (in the SALE!)

Someone has become obsessed with dressing themselves!!!  Initially I found this to be fairly traumatic.  She will only wear dresses, skirts, tights and occasionally leggings.  There are cupboards full of really cute Monsoon romper suits and trousers which have never been worn.  Previously I would try and force her to wear the clothes I wanted her to wear only to turn round two minutes later to find her taking them all off again, either that or we would have a total melt down resulting in screaming and throwing ourselves on the floor.  As you can imagine when you are running late and trying to get out of the door this is less than the perfect start to a day.  In the evenings Mimi will tell me what she intends to wear to playschool the next day to show her little friend N.  Sometimes we end up with some strange combinations, however she is happy and I have learnt to deal with it.  In fact I might sell some of her unworn clothes on ebay.  I wonder if I was this fashion concious when I was her age!?

Wish List's

Mimi has started to get a concept of what a Birthday might mean and hence her "Birthday Wish List" is growing by the day!!!!

This is today's list.  Unfortunately for poor Mimi her Birthday is not until May.  So between now and then I am sure that it will change.  The other day she told Pa that she was going to get a "Pink" Aeroplane!

1:   Slinky the Dog from Toy Story.
2:   Buzz Light Year
3:   Play-Doh (although Mimi does have a tendency to eat it!  YUCK!)

Earlier I was talking to Mike about it.  I am undecided about this.  Do you think it is wrong to buy a present for Easter instead of a traditional Easter Egg?  On the one hand I do think it's wrong, it misses the whole point of Easter and it will end up becoming another gift giving session, however on the flip side she will end up with so much chocolate that she will end up looking like an Easter Egg.........Ummmmmm food for thought plenty of time to decide!!