Scan Bran Challenge Day 2

Okay, so it's day two... and I've switched from the cardboard-like Scan Bran to the Finn Crisp Original Thins. I was surprised to find out that I could have 6 of these as my HEb as they are very high in fibre! I loved these before I started Slimming World... but I used to eat them with peanut butter and cheese... yummy, but not too good for the waistline! I had a look in my local Tesco's last night for the Laughing Cow Extra Light (6 for a HEa) but I couldn't find it... so I stocked up on the Laughing Cow Light (5 for a HEa).

I had four of the Finn Crisp for my breakfast with three Laughing Cow Light cheese triangles...

Rather than use milk as my HEa, I'm just syning it... 15ml of skimmed milk is only 0.5 syns, and since I've cut down to two cups a day, I think I can spare a syn for milk and save my HEa for some tasty cheese!

Night times are usually my downfall... I get home and I'll be so hungry that I will snack while I wait for my dinner, so last night I made sure that I had some fat free Spelga yoghurts in the fridge (the fruit flavours are all syn free) and I had a strawberry one as soon as I got in... that staved off the hunger until dinner was ready so no snacking! For dinner last night I made slimming world chips, boiled rice and oh so lean curry sauce for over the top... all free on green. I had a chat with a lady from my Slimming World group who said that Extra Easy didn't work for her either... glad to know I'm not the only one who can't lose weight on Extra Easy!

Some things I also stocked up on this week are -

The Slimming World hi-fi light Rocky road bars are delicious! Problem is they just aren't big enough. They are very tasty though and so satisfy the chocolate cravings. They are 3 syns each or you can have 2 bars as 1 HEb

 The Alpen Light Double Chocolate bars are new o the range and absolutely delicious! The are much bigger then the hi-fi bars but still the same syns - 1 bar is 3 syns or you can have two bars for a HEb

 The Pink N' Whites are a new thing to me, but at only 2.5 syns per slider (and they are pretty big) I'll munch them down to kill the sugar cravings! And they are pretty tasty... two of these and a cup of tea and you feel like you've really had some serious naughtiness... but you haven't!

I have always like Spelga yoghurts so I was pretty pleased to see these in the refrigerator aisle! I found the Muller Light's were a bit too watery for my taste, but these Spelga ones are just perfect! All the fruit flavours are free and the vanilla with choc sprinkles is 1 syn for the pot... I wouldn't recommend it though as the chocolate pieces in it have much the same taste as the ones in the Muller Lights vanilla and choc... which I didn't really like... they leave a strange taste in the mouth. I'd rather save my syns for something else

These little sugar free jellies are only 0.5 syns per pot and are a fab snack or after tea treat.

I also stocked up on Galaxy Chocolate fingers - a long finger of galaxy chocolate, only 6.5 syns each. I bought them in Home Bargains in Newtownards beside the Tescos. I couldn't find an image online to show you what they look like. Crunchies are another one of my favourites - they come in at 9.5 syns, but for a whole chocolate bar that is not bad at all. Cadbury flakes are only 6.5 syns too... so I popped some of them in the trolley. I can't not keep chocolate in the house because J loves it, and is always rifling through the cupboards for bars, but if I only buy chocolate that is low in syn then even if I am tempted I can stay within my syns for the day - good idea I thought!

So in an earlier post I was telling you that we were going to go for dinner and see The Host in the cinema on Wednesday night... I had a gain in weigh in before we went so I went off the idea of going out to eat and instead had a Slimming World friendly tea in the house. I have read The Host a couple of times now (the phrase 'dog-eared' is apt since Turf chews the corners of the books as I read them!), but to be honest was a bit worried about seeing the movie as the trailers made it look BAD! But the film was not at all like the trailers, in fact it was brilliant! I would thoroughly recommend it. You don't have to have read the book to enjoy it. 

I'm an avid reader - and I've been very (very, very, very, very, very) slowly (for me) making my way through the  Call the Midwife trilogy - I stopped reading them so I could watch the series, but now I'm back reading the last book - Farewell to the East End. They are excellent. I had a massive collection of books which I recently sent to the charity shop... I now only download books onto my ipad - keeps them all in one place and it's highly portable. Anyone else reading any good books at the minute?

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.