Clear out your clothes for a great cause :-)

I had a lovely email from Anita Pekdemir....read on....

Due to the recent loss of a friend who died with a severe form of cancer, I'm trying to raise money for Cancer Research.
Therefore Ive decided to organise a bring and buy sale of clothes, shoes and accessories on Friday 21st May at the Little Paxton Scout Hut from 7-11.30pm
I thought that as some SW members might want to get rid of some "LARGE" clothes it could be an opportunity to donate clothes they've grown out of and be given the opportunity of buying a dress size down at a fraction of the cost.

Clothes will be displayed in sizes and a changing area provided to try things on. Of course, refreshments will be on offer (mainly of the grape variety - but limited!!!) and a raffle.

With your permission I could collect bags of unwanted clothes before the meetings on Tuesday which in turn gives people a ticket to come along to the evening and buy a new "thinner" wardrobe.

As the saying goes, "One man's rubbish is another man's treasure!!"

What a chick :-)
Urs xxx

Bargain alert!

Muller lights are 5 for £1.50 at Co-op Eaton Socon :-)

Thanks Becca!

Urs xxx

What a difference a week makes!

Oh those words rang joyfully in my ears last night. Top chick Ann not only pulls herself back from the brink but loses 4lb to share the Early sesh Slimmer of the week with 'scared' Jim! HAPPY DAYS!! Late sesh chick Kelsey stormed to victory with a monumental 4.5lbs to claim her Slimmer of the week crown too :-)

BRING IT ON!

And both sessions were punctuated with flashes of brilliance with losses of 3, 4, 5lbs (mainly 5 and 6 for last weeks new ones - first week determination and passion is something we could bottle and sell eh?) and then to completely knock our socks off, along came two quite incredible women.........

Grab a coffee and ponder these two chicks:

Carolyn (early chick) battled a veritable roller coaster slimming career, lost faith in herself more times than you could count but along with awesome support from you guys and falling back in love with Food Optimising via Extra Easy; she somehow gathered the strength to carry on. And carry on she did - all the way!
Getting to target is an immensely personal experience which ironically (when shared with the group) brings immense joy to the masses. Carolyn, you are a true inspiration and I cannot put into words how happy and I am for you and how proud I am of you :-) Happy days!!

Maria (late chick) top target chick of over a years standing made a commitment last week to get back to target after a month of thinking "it'll be OK". Maria needed 9lb to get back to target and in true shooting for the moon style, set her mini target at 9lbs - OMG!!!!
Result? 9.5lbs off!!!! In one week!!!!! Happy days!!!!

So I am now at home working - considering what lies in the week ahead for my incredible members and hoping you will all have made a personal commitment to be your best this week.

Aiming for a 5lb loss is NOT setting yourself up for failure... it's setting yourself up for a week of change, a week where you truly mean business, a week of non stop pee-ing :-) a week where you put your dreams into focus and make them happen.

Over the top? Me?
Bloody right - love you all to bits!
BE THE CHANGE!!
Urs xxx


PS Did you know that you can commnet on this blog and as such you could all have a mini forum going on after each blog post?! Feel free to comment and let your passion, enthusiam, possitivity and food ideas FLOW!!!!!

Turns out Gay is a Goddess in the kitchen too :-)

Chicken Cacciatore - SW Friendly
Serves 2
2 large chicken joints / breasts – skinned and all visible fat removed
2 rashers of lean smoked bacon, all visible fat removed and chopped small
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
8oz mushrooms, sliced thickly
½ carton passata
125ml red wine
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
3 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
Salt & black pepper
Frylight olive oil spray
· Mix together the wine and passata and stir in the herbs.
· Place the mushrooms and bacon in a casserole that has a lid.
· Brown the chicken in a frying pan using Frylight spray. When golden brown remove and put into the casserole. In same pan, cook the onion until slightly coloured, add the garlic and allow to cook for a minute or until it is nearly golden. Do not allow to burn!
· Pour the liquid over the onion mix and stir well.
· Pour the onion and liquid over the chicken and mushrooms. Stir.
· If the liquid level looks a bit low, add some water – more can be added during cooking, so don’t drown it, the sauce needs to be slightly thick at the end.
· Cook at 170C for 1 hour, then turn down the heat to 150C for a further ½ hour
· Check for dryness / wetness and either add more water or leave the lid off for long enough for the sauce to reduce
Serve with a selection of vegetables. Courgettes and carrots work well with this.
2 ½ Syns per serving on Original/Extra Easy

Tony's hot in the kitchen!

So I get this lovely email from Tony after him telling us about his yummy sweet and sour recipe in group........


Hi Ursula
Here is that syn free sweet and sour recipe for your blog,

Serves 4 You will need
2 onions2-3 garlic cloves
about 2 handfuls of sliced mixed pepper's (can be iceland's frozen)
2 large carrot's sliced or grated2 handful's of frozen peas or any other veg you fancy
half a fresh pineapple chopped
2 tspn of ginger
1 tspn of coriander
(1 tspn of tikka curry powder and 1 tsps of tandoori curry powder optional if you like it a little bit spicy)
1 to 2 tbsp of malt vinegar(to your taste)
1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp of artificial sweetener(to your taste)
3 tbsp of sugar free undiluted orange squash(optional)
2 tin's of chopped tomatoes or 1 tin of chopped tomatoes and 1 box/jar of passata
2 tbsp of tomato puree (syn this but if you use passata prob won't need it as very tomato-ey already)
1 chicken stock cube
frylite.

Then depending on what day you are on you will need either chicken meat chopped into bite size piece's or chicken quorn fillet's or chicken quorn piece's, if you use chicken meat don't add the frozen peas unless you use as a healthy extra.

Method
chop the onion and garlic and fry in frylite until soft, then add the ginger,coriander,tikka curry powder,tandoori curry powder,mix all in then add both the malt and balsamic vinegar.Then add all the other veg, with the chicken stock cube and about 1 cup of water, then add the tinned tomatoes' and orange squash,then add either you're meat or quorn.bring it all to a boil then turn it down to a medium heat for about 10 mins and add the tomato puree.If you feel like you need more liquid then add more water.then turn down to a gentle heat for about 20 to 25 mins or until meat and veg is cooked the sauce should thicken slightly as you cook it.Then add the sweetener 1 tbsp at a time and keep trying and adding to you're taste.then finally add in the chopped pineapple and serve eat and enjoy.

This recipe can be played around with you can adjust all the quantities and ingredient's to you're personal taste it took me a few goes to get it how i liked it, just keep tasting it all the way and adjust things to how you like them, sometimes i add soy sauce or Worcester sauce depending on what i fancy,.you can have the sauce thicker if you like with cornflour but you would have to syn this. anyway enough from me i look forward to seeing how you all get on with this i hope you find it as tasty as i do

all the best
Tony x x x

What a top chap eh?? Bon appetit all :-)

Urs xxx

1, 2, 3 GO!!!

BOO!


1, 2, 3? Yes it really IS that easy my little slimming superstars:

1. Fill up with Free foods (feel fab and BOOOOOST your losses with plenty of superfree fruit and veg)
2. Measure those healthy extras
3. Limit (but do enjoy!) those syns

Tah dah!!!!! Result? Deep joy and tingling success :-) :-) :-)

Or am I teaching you to suck eggs?.....whatever! as long as they are not chocolate ones!

Have a tremendous week - you can make it happen - oh yes you can!

BE THE CHANGE!
Urs xxx

Left feeling eggy after Easter????

Could you have guessed how many syns are in a standard Cadbury creme egg Easter egg? It contains 1 Easter egg, and 2 creme eggs.

Before you remove the foil and throw it in, read on......





This 'little' Easter treat is 46.5 syns!!

Was your guess hugely underestimated??? I guess I win the egg then! :-) YUM YUM!! (BIG TUM!! eeeek!)


Hey! Fret not, time for new beginings........let's get back to group and sort things out! Sun is shining, birds are singing, summer is coming.......BRING IT ON!!!!!

See you later - don't forget we are at Longsands tonight for one night only! :-)

BE THE CHANGE!!
Urs xx