Sorellalinks...

My very talented cousins' have started making beautiful one of a kind handmade jewellery! 

You can check out the sorellalinks store on Etsy or find them on Facebook

Everything is extremely reasonably priced - between £1 - £6.50...

How cute are the last ones.. they are my absolute favourites!

New clothes in smaller sizes...

So everyone who has been on any kind of healthy eating and exercise plan knows that one of the most expensive things about losing weight is buying new clothes... especially the clothes that are only 'interim' clothes - the clothes you wear while you are inbetween your old size and the size you want to be...

In my post earlier this morning I wrote of how I have started rewarding myself with clothes when I lose weight... now I just want to point out that these are not expensive items... take a look a these examples and guess how much each outfit cost...

OUTFIT 1 - BLACK SILK SHIFT DRESS WITH RED MOHAIR CROP JACKET AND BLACK SUEDE GOLD TOE BOOTS

OUTFIT 2 - VINTAGE STYLE MAROON BIRD WRAP DRESS WITH BLACK SEQUIN WEDGE

OUTFIT 3 - BROWN FITTED TROUSER WITH CREAM KNIT JUMPER AND BLACK SUEDE STUDDED PLATFORM SHOE

SOME MIX AND MATCH EXTRAS FOR WITH THE BROWN TROUSERS...

 FUR TRIM BOOT

 STUDDED TENNIS SHOE

 CROCHET KNIT LACE TRIM JUMPER

LEATHER SHOULDER KNIT JUMPER

Did you have a guess at the price of each item? Bet no-one got it right.... all 12 of these items cost a total of £60... FOR THE LOT. Each item I have pictured here cost £5 each... that's right FIVE POUNDS EACH... cheaper than a Chinese takeway, and better for you too! Check out the items I have pictured here and loads more at everything5pounds.com

Happy Shopping!

Breaking the habit...

I don't know if I am the only one who has this habit or not, but I wanted to share some of the methods I'm trying to combat it.

My name is Kirsty and I like to reward myself with food...

I have a very bad habit of rewarding myself with food, which really needs to stop. Instead of going to weigh-in on Wednesday night and rewarding myself with food after I loose weight... I need to reward myself with something unrelated to food, like clothing, shoes or a new DVD.

I have been trying really hard to break this habit... rather than thinking "Great, you've made it all week without eating any syns, now you can have a Chinese takeaway and a glass or two of wine"... I've started to think - "Great, you've made it all week without eating any syns, now you can buy yourself a new jumper."

Trust me, I know this is a very hard cycle to break - but it's one that is definitely worth breaking. I have also started to think more before I eat syns - I think to myself "Do I really want this?" If I really want it then I have to work for it - do 30 minutes on the stepper, or take the dog for a 30 minute walk. If I'm not prepared to do the exercise in order to eat it then I don't really want it - bottom line. And sometimes after doing the exercise I get the endorphin rush that makes me not crave the syns, so I have the bonus of getting some extra body magic time in and not eating any syns!

It doesn't always work like this - over the weekend when it was freezing cold and blowing a blizzard I ordered Chinese takeaway AND had it delivered... no exercise involved at all. I have also started asking for my Chinese takeaway to be made without MSG... I find that this helps me stop eating when I'm full - although I don't know for sure if getting it without the MSG helps or if that is just in my head. It's worth a try though.

These are my new rewards...

I'm more of an Irregular Choice fan... but these new designs by Iron Fist really caught my eye!

Chicken Curry and Veg Instant Noodles...

I just wanted to share a quick picture of the Chicken Curry and Veg Instant Noodles. I have added the little orange pouch of oil in these ones but I normally don't. I usually just put in the soup base pouch and veg pouch. They are 1 syn per pack and don't require any heating - just hot water, so they are a great low syn snack to take with you when you travel!

There is a picture of the packet on my last blog... these are the polish brand ones

I'm away to enjoy these! Warm, tasty and low syn - just perfect for a day like this!

Family heirlooms, a free lunch and low syn noodles...

Really now, there aren't many things better than a free lunch? Especially a surprise free lunch from The Bay Tree in Holywood! I was all set for boring old Ramen Noodles for lunch when a courier van pulled up outside our office and delivered two brown bags filled with yummy goodness - one for my Editor, and one for me!

I have just scoffed this extremely tasty triple decker BLT on farmhouse bread...

And am about to tuck into this absolute divine looking slab of malteaser square...

The Bay Tree is located in the lovely little town of Holywood and is open seven days a week. That lunch was just DELICIOUS! I wonder if I could convince my work to relocate to Holywood?

Anyone who is friended with me on Facebook, knows all about my nan's glass door bookcase that was headed for the charity shop until I rescued it! I was in two minds about whether to have it shabby chic'd, or leave it as it is... so far I've left it as it is, and I think it looks quite well!

As you can see, we are in the middle of re-doing our living room (as much as we can in a rented place) so the walls are a bit bare! I'm forever throwing things away and it drives J mad, but I can't stand to have clutter ad mess around me...

But I think this antique unit really adds a little bit of character to this bare corner! And it's a great place to store all the little nick-nacks we pick up on our travels, and packs away books and DVD's neatly - I've just given about 60 books to the charity shop, I couldn't stand to have them cluttered on shelves around me! this little unit means the ones I did keep can be packed away neatly and don't bother me at all!

Last night J and I sat down to watch a bit of TV - Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners was on... I love that show! I can't believe the state of some peoples homes! Anyway... one lady was talking about how she started hording after some very traumatic events in her life - first, both she and her husband were stabbed in their shop... then their son died. I am the complete opposite of this - I used to hoard loads of crap, and I mean I would have piles of junk in my bedroom, things I would never use or need in a million years, but after Karl died in 2009 I literally stopped collecting things and now I can't stop throwing things away, I just can't stand to have any kind of clutter of mess around me - sometimes I have even thrown out things that we actually use, just because I can't stand to have them sitting around.

I used to have a collection of literally hundreds of books, but I threw half them away when J and I moved into the apartment a year ago and last weekend I got rid of the rest... this little unit and another very small bookcase in the dining area hold all that remain after the cull! I have just done another cull on shoes and handbags too... not that I've bought many new ones, just that I'm throwing more and more away... J says I'll end up with nothing left, lol, and he is probably right! Does anyone else have this problem? Is there a word (apart from mental or mad) for a person who enjoys throwing things away?

I also promised to share with you pictures of the low syn noodles I eat... I'm a big fan of Ramen and I love Curry Noodles. These are the lowest syn ones I could find -

You can find the ones above in the Chinese section of your local Tesco's. These are the chicken flavoured ones, but Tesco's also stock the Beef and Sesame flavoured ones. If you can, go to Camseng, the big Chinese superstore just off the Lisburn Road - down Lower Windsor Avenue, you will find lots more flavours there - I bought the pork and veg ones and also the duck ones to try this week. Each packet made up as directed is 3.5 syns - I checked this with the syns calculator online.

These noodles are found in the Polish food section of Tesco's (I go to the one in Newtownards) - they are delicious and only 1 syn per packet.

Both the ramen and the noodles make great lunches or snacks, but sometimes for a quick slimming world dinner, I will fry up some value stirfry veg and some thin sliced chicken to eat with each. For anyone who hasn't heard of ramen before, it's basically a noodle soup - lots of tasty noodles in a tasty broth - it's a really filling dish and it only takes 3 minutes in the microwave to make.

Slimming World Chinese Spring Rolls...

I work very close to Camseng, the Chinese superstore in Belfast, so it is really easy for me to get hold of lots of super low syn Chinese food. The wrappers I used for these Spring Rolls are 1.5 syns each, I would normally buy the Wonton Wrappers, which are slightly smaller, but only 1 syns each, but they didn't have any left. They are very cheap, around £1.50 for a packet of approx. 50 wrappers. With the big ones, you can stuff these with any ingredient you want... they are also really handy to layer in a tart dish and make goats cheese and roast tomato tartlets, yum! I also like to cook up some apples with sweetener and some nutmeg then fill the pastry and bake... you can use any fruit though, sometimes I use pear and apricot, which is delicious! I also want to mention the Tesco Value Raspberry Ripple Mousse... this is only 4 syns and tastes great with the fruit puffs I mentioned above.

You find all the wrappers in the freezer section and need to leave them out to defrost before use. They don't keep very well when they aren't cooked as you need to keep them moist, so I would normally make up as many spring rolls (or whatever I'm making with them) as I can, then throw out the leftover wrappers. There usually isn't many left.

So here is the recipe for the Spring Rolls, each one is 1.5 syns each. I was in a bit of a hurry making these as I was on my second glass of wine and was feeling the need to munch, so these are not the neatest ones I've made and look more like little parcels than rolls, but they taste great all the same.

Ingredients:

Chinese Wonton/Spring Roll Wrappers
Bag of Vale Mixed Stirfry Veg
Frylight
Soy Sauce
Lazy Garlic
Lazy Chilli
Curry Powder

First thing first... open your wrappers and separate them, they are quite thin, so be gentle or they will tear. Dampen a clean tea-towel and open it out flat. Layer the separated wrappers on the tea-towel and then fold the tea-towel in on itself to cover the wrappers. This will keep them moist while you use them.

For handiness, I always keep a bag of Tesco Value Stirfry Veg in the freezer as you can cook it straight from frozen. You can add many other things to these wrappers - shredded duck, chicken and beansprouts, minced prawns or pork etc...

Get your wok on and add the frylight, lazy chilli and lazy garlic... then empty in the whole bag of veg...

Once the veg has started to cook, add the curry powder (as much as you want) and a splash of soy sauce...

Once the veggies are cooked it's time to wrap... lay out one wrapper....

Place a spoonful of veggies in the corner of the wrapper... I've used a bit too much here, about half of that would have been better...

Wrap the spring rolls like this...

Lay them on a baking tray sprayed with frylight and put in the oven for approx. 15 minutes or until crispy...

I used too much filling in each of these which is why they didn't wrap properly, it's much easier to roll them with less filling. It's also a good idea to drain off any excess liquid from the wok as the dried the veggies, the crispier the wrapper! Tuck in!

If you do make the sweet filled ones, serve them with some of the Tesco Value Raspberry Ripple Mousse.... it's only 4 syns per tub and very tasty - I usually put one filled sweet pastry wrapper in a bowl and top with half of a tub of mousse - it's only 3.5 syns (if you use one of the big wrappers)! You could even have second helpings!