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| Recipe of the week... ... Slimming World Syn-Free American Style Pancakes |
Ingredients:
4 eggs, 80g oats, 8 tablespoons fat free Greek yoghurt, 2 teaspoons vanilla
extract, 1 ½ tablespoons sweetener, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, Frylight, and
fresh berries to top! OPTIONAL - Add 1 tablespoon per person of maple syrup
drizzled over the top for 2 syns.
Serves:
2 stacks of delicious pancakes
Time
taken: Half an hour
Dietary:
Vegetarian (and syn-free on Slimming World! Using just your healthy B)
--
Hi
readers,
How
are you all today?
How
is life this weekend?
How
is life in general, of late?
As
I write it’s a Sunday, we’re mid-Jan in 2019. I’m almost a fortnight into Dry
January, and although I can’t say I enjoy
the distinct lack of wine in my life right now, I’m staying strong. It’s
for the greater good, readers – overcoming the need for a glass of wine to
close the day, every day – and I know wine is going to taste sooo good when
enjoyed responsibly in February. Or, at least, when enjoyed responsibly from
the 2nd Feb onwards… because the 1st Feb is certainly going
to be a FUN with reunion with my dear friend, a generous glass of red.
I’m
also, readers, ten days into my Slimming World journey, and still all on board
with that one too. I’m actually enjoying it, which is a big surprise. I’m not embarrassed
to say I’ve signed up, I’m not miserable with the food I get to eat, I’m not
better than anyone else that goes to the meetings. I’m enjoying making healthy
food choices and I’ve already lost 2 ½ pounds! My appetite is on the up (now I’m
actually getting hungry in between meals – as opposed to constant buffet
grazing), and I know my weight, and I’m working on getting that down. I’m in
control of food without being crazy over controlling – it’s all good, readers. And
I’ll keep you posted.
But,
how about you? How are you getting on with your new years’ resolutions and
great intentions for 2019? Are you keeping those in mind? Following through
with them? Staying on track? Are you feeling good, 13 days into the year?
Please take a moment to wonder..
--
- Food
for thought -
This
week, readers, I have a thing or two to recommend for you. I’ve been…
Listening
To: Beach Side – Kings of Leon
This
week, I’m enjoying listening through the Come Around Sundown album from Kings
of Leon. It’s an album which will always hold a place in my memory, as I went
with my dad to the arena to see Kings of Leon on the Sheffield date of their Come
Around Sundown tour, in like 2011 or 2012 maybe? And that was my first ever
Proper Gig. It was big and bright and loud, and some drunk guy kept falling
into me. And I didn’t know how to dance in a cool way (what to do with my
arms??) but it was such a good night. And tracks like Beach Side, Birthday and
Pony Up are still excellent to sing and whistle along to with great passion.
Watching
Luther
We’ve
got on the hype! After hearing here, there and everywhere about how intense the
new series is, me and the Mr have committed to watching from the start. Both
totally new to Luther, we’ve ploughed through series one and we’re onto the
second series already. Getting really into it! I love watching, from the distant
green north of England, the show’s dark portrayal of the streets of London – stark,
grey, corporate, heaving, rushed, tatty, and all tarred with despair. It’s like
watching Scandi dramas and imagining Stockholm or Oslo to be these ruthless
hotbeds of crime and death, with blood and gore flying everywhere… who new
London could be so bloody bleak?
Reading
Kill Your
Friends, by John Niven
This
book came into my hands as part of a festive book swap at my Book Club – each year,
we end with this exchange where we all wrap and enter a book of ours that we’ve
read but won’t reread. It could be a great book, but just of the kind that you
know you won’t return to again, or it could be a book that you didn’t get along
with maybe, a book you have two copies of, or just one you think is utterly
rubbish! I picked Kill Your Friends out
of the pile, and it turns out it was put in there by my cousin – I’m now very
interested in her taste in books! As this is a tale of the drug addled London
music scene in the 90s… with a just bit of murdering thrown in for good measure!
I’m gripped, can’t put it down, what a page turner.
Enjoying
Love
Stories, by Dolly Alderton
I’ve
not really delved much into the world of podcasts before now, but with a
90-minute round trip on my hands driving to and from work each day, and with
adverts and inane babble and the same ten or so songs seemingly on a loop and taking up so much radio time, I’m beginning to
really appreciate having something more engaging to listen to as I drive. I’ve
previously subscribed to Audible and listened to books which driving, but I’m
trying to save money this January and so I can’t really justify the expense.
At
book club, someone recommended Love
Stories as a podcast they really enjoyed and so I was inspired to give it a
go. Each episode, all about an hour long, Dolly interviews someone new and they
have a conversation around interviewee’s loves – which can be people, places, or
passions, addictions perhaps – that have defined their lives. The episodes vary
greatly and yet I’ve so far found them all to be interesting, and I think about
them throughout my day. It’s good to have food for thought.
Wondering
Too
much about things to come
Will
I make it to the end of Jan without a drink? And will I make it to my Slimming
World target weight? Then will I keep the weight off forever? Will I be happy
with my figure then? What am I going to eat for my tea? Will the ingredients in
my cupboards last me all week? What will I do with myself this week? Have I made
too many plans?... WHO KNOWS, readers. And I could be hit by a plane falling from
the sky at any moment. Life’s too short and it’s my intention for the week
ahead, to be more present in the present, and stop my mind racing away. It’s
been like the roadrunner this week, and all over the shop – I fear I’d be a
madwoman by now if I listened to it even half the time. Ever get this feeling,
readers?
--
- Feeding a friend -
Now,
recipe time! My recipe this week, readers, is one I cooked for breakfast this
morning and it was just delicious. It’s Sunday today, readers, and on a Sunday me
and the Mr like to have a slow start to the day. We watch our fave tv show Sunday
Brunch, often in bed, and sometimes I read a newspaper. That’s about it.
Often
the Mr – being a dreamboat – will bring me breakfast in bed or, going all out,
he’ll cook us a fry up or his signature BOSH! recipe, maybe, for creamy mushrooms
on toast. He feeds me on Sunday morning and for this, as I’m a worshipper of
all things breakfast food, he’s basically on a fast track to my eternal love
and gratitude.
BUT
– equality and all that. And I’ve gone and joined Slimming World which is kind
of confusing for anyone on the outside, who isn’t going through it and doesn’t
know a Healthy A from a Healthy B (a pun which will make sense for those on Slimming
World only). They wouldn’t know a syn if it poked them with its pitchfork!
Anyway
– radical decision from me – I decided to cook the Mr breakfast this morning.
Yes. Something that doesn’t happen very often and, yet, it went really well!
Hurray, readers! I’ve survived a Sunday morning session in the kitchen, while
the Mr sipped his cuppa and watched on from afar, and I’ve totally rocked it
preparing us platefuls of Slimming World Syn-Free American Style Pancakes,
served with lots of delicious fresh berries.
You
should do this yourself. I’m telling you, readers! Be that person – get out of
bed first and get your chef on. Make the first move and you SHALL eat pancakes
in a haze of glory. If you’d like to give this syn-free recipe a go yourself,
here’s it is in just eight simple steps…
--
- Slimming
World Syn-Free American Style Pancakes -
Ingredients:
4 eggs, 80g oats, 8 tablespoons fat free Greek yoghurt, 2 teaspoons vanilla
extract, 3 teaspoons sweetener, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, Frylight, and
fresh berries to top! OPTIONAL - Add 1 tablespoon per person of maple syrup
drizzled over the top for 2 syns.
1. Put
the kettle on for a brew, open the curtains wide, and streeetch really tall!
Give your surfaces a wipe and clear them in prep for your cooking sesh – then get
all your ingredients out so you’re ready to begin…
2. Heat
your oven on a low heat (e.g. 100C).
3. Measure
the oats into a blender and whizz until smooth, or grind them into a fine
powder using a pestle and mortar.
4. Crack
the eggs into a mixing bowl, spoon in your yoghurt, and then the other dry ingredients.
Mix to combine and then leave to sit for about 10 mins, just for the oats to
soak in some of the liquid.
5. Spray
a non-stick frying pan with Frylight and place over a low heat. Once the pan is
warm, spoon in 2-3 tablespoons of batter mix at a time, and cook each pancake
until you start to see bubble appearing on its surface, then carefully flip
over using a spatula.
ChefBeHere
Top
Tip: Depending on the sizes of your pan, you might be able to cook two pancakes
at a time, so long as there’s enough room in the pan to easily flip your
pancakes over without them sticking together!
- Once your pancake has
cooked on both sides, spoon it onto a plate or baking tray which you’re heating
on a low temp in the oven, so it keeps warm while you make the rest.
- Repeat with the remaining
mix until all your batter is used up. Keep refreshing your pan with a
little more Frylight as you go.
- Then divide your
pancakes between two plates, drizzle with maple syrup if you’re using 2
syns for the pleasure, and serve up your pancakes topped with fruit or other
slimming toppings of your choice. Tuck in!
--
- Recipe
round up -
And
that’s all there is to it, readers! Very straightforward, easy to pull off
while singing along to TV advert music at the same time, and not requiring much
equipment or skill in the kitchen. Children flip pancakes – you can too.
This
recipe is based on one I found on a website called Slimming Eats, you can read
the original here, and we really rate it! Our pancakes tasted delicious, we got
massive bowlfuls to tuck in to, and I was so pleased to be able to enjoy a
really good, big breakfast meal and not have used up loads of syns for it.
Double happy!
Even
if you’re not on Slimming World – do give these pancakes a go. I highly
recommend and I don’t think you’ll eat them thinking it’s a ‘slimming’ meal at
all. Just a really great tasting, colourful and flavoursome meal. And a great
way to start the day.
Good
luck in the kitchen, readers! Wishing you all a restful Sunday filled with love
and good grub. So long…
Flip
safely,
Hayley
--
-
Closing thoughts -
If
you’ve been inspired to give this recipe a try, readers, whether I’m speaking
to you on the day of this post or you’re reading some far out time in the
future... please drop me a line to let me know whether it went okay. I’d love
to hear how you got on in the kitchen and your thoughts on this dish. Plus,
it’d be fab if you’re able to share any tips you have for success, or your
suggestions to improve the recipe? Please send your wisdom my way.
Thank
you for reading!
