ANOTHER SYN-FREE BREAKFAST SENSATION

Recipe of the week...
... Overnight Oats

Ingredients: 40g oats, 4 tablespoons low fat natural yoghurt, 1 big handful of fruit, and optional sweet extras can include sweetener, cinnamon, or hot chocolate powder

Serves: 1 decent breakfast

Time taken: 5 mins max

Dietary: Vegetarian (and syn-free on Slimming World!)

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Hi readers,

How are we all today?

How’s your weekend been? Has it been a good one?

As I write it’s a Sunday evening in January, and the weekend is once again drawing to a close. How is it that they fly by so quickly???

This weekend I’ve… run a parkrun – go me! Such a good way to start the weekend when one can drag oneself out of bed on a Saturday, for a 9am start in the drizzly rain. All worth it for your feeling of achievement at the finish line.

I’ve also… been for a lovely meal out this weekend, at the Venus Restaurant in Dinnington. For any readers local to the Sheffield area, where I live, I would highly recommend. The service is kind of fancy and the prices are a little high, so you’re definitely talking a special occasion sort of restaurant, but if you have one coming up then I say book yourself into the Venus. And try the carrots! They’re not to be missed, I’m telling you.

Also this weekend, readers, I’ve… endured a blowy walk in the country with an unhappy toddler in tow. High winds and chilly temperatures – it would seem – make for a very unhappy one year old. Sobbing, snotting, wailing her little eyes out. Not the best of walks we’ve been on perhaps! But character building, if nothing else. More than a little alarming.

And how about you, readers? What have you got up to over the past couple of days? What’s been the highlight of your weekend, would you say?

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- Food for thought -

This week, readers, I have the odd bit to recommend for you. I’ve been…

Listening

To first episode of the new series of Love Stories

A fave podcast of mine, by Dolly Alderton, in which she interviews someone new each episode on the greatest loves and passions of their lives. It makes for great listening. Always, she picks someone interesting and well-spoken to talk to, and we get to hear all about the most important parts of their lives past and present. There’s a new season just beginning, and Dolly’s first interview is with the actor, Stanley Tucci. Well worth a listen… here.

Watching

Beautiful Boy

There are so many great films out at the cinema right now, with awards season upon us, that it’s hard to know what to go see. I’ve recently been to watch The Favourite, Colette, Stan & Ollie, Green Book, and Mary, Queen of Scots. All good films! The Favourite was a bit batty perhaps, with more rabbits than I’d imagined, but all excellent films which I would recommend. If you’re going to see one though – Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet’s father-and-son tale of the hurt that meth addiction can cause, in Beautiful Boy, is the film I would recommend most. It’s intense and upsetting, but good. Watch the trailer… here.

Reading

Becoming by Michelle Obama

A Christmas gift from my dad… who knows me well. I love Michelle Obama and am loving reading about her life. Just – what a woman. I’m not done with the book yet but can’t imagine it will give me any reason not to recommend to everyone I know. If reading about Michelle Obama helps in any way to make me more like Michelle Obama, then I think we should all be reading it. We should all be more like Michelle.

Enjoying

Pink skies

Did anyone else catch one this week, at sunrise or sunset? Maybe it’s just Sheffield, maybe it’s everywhere, but there seems to have been great skies around this week. Peach and pick and purple. It’s nice to take a moment to look up. And imagine being warm and soaking up the summer sun… we’ve only a few months to go. Until then, I hope there are more colourful winter skies to keep us all going, and dreaming of summer.

Wondering

About the miracle of life

My friend has just given birth to a six-pound-something little baby girl. Who is just nine days old, and is probably asleep right now. With tiny fingers and toes. And another friend of mine is pregnant with twins… growing two babies inside of her right this very minute. And I do not want a baby right now – as was confirmed on a long walk with a screaming toddler earlier today – but I am blown away by the miracle of pregnancy. And then new parents raising their children to become people, who will one day raise their own children. This is nothing remarkable, in theory, but when you see it happen in real life, I find it mind blowing.

@yogakiss

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- Feeding a friend -

My recipe this week, readers, is one I prepared for myself for the first time the other day. And then enjoyed it so much I made it again. And then this morning I even made this for breakfast for myself and the Mr. And he tried it and liked it – which, coming from the boy who thinks muesli or granola are a sad breakfast (rather than, in my opinion, an amazing way to start the day), has been ground breaking.

My recipe for you this week, readers, is for Overnight Oats. Have you tried making them before? I’ve heard of Overnight Oats before, certainly, but it’s just not something I’ve had a go at before now. I like oats, I love oaty breakfast cereals, so why I’ve never tried this recipe is a mystery.

Newsflash: I’m a major fan now of overnight oats.

They’re so simple to prepare, they taste great, they’re filling, they’re syn-free on Slimming World, and there are loads of variations you can try to vary up your Overnight Oats, so you’re always enjoying them and never bored. Why not give it a try??

If you might like to try Overnight Oats for yourself, here’s the recipe in just five simple steps…

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- Overnight Oats -

Ingredients: 40g oats, 4 tablespoons low fat natural yoghurt, 1 big handful of fruit, and optional sweet extras can include sweetener, cinnamon, or hot chocolate powder

1.     Stretch really tall and take a big, deep breath. Gather your ingredients together and find an exciting glass or jar or Tupperware to prepare your Overnight Oats in.

2.     Measure 40g oats into your glass/jar/Tupperware.

3.     Add 4 tablespoons of low-fat natural yoghurt.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: If you fear yoghurt alone might be a bit plain for you, you could also add a shake of sweetener, cinnamon, or hot chocolate powder, for some added sweet flavour. (If on Slimming World, remember to check the syn-values for any optional extras)

4.     Add a big handful of fruit.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: Perhaps apple and pear? Or strawberry and banana? Or I’m quite enjoying mixed berries at the moment, which I tip in from a big 1kg bag of frozen ‘Wonky Berries’ that I bought from Morrisons. You’re fine to add your fruit while it’s frozen, and it will thaw in the fridge overnight.

5.     Give everything a big stir together and then chill in the fridge overnight. Tuck in!

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- Recipe round up -

And that’s literally all there is to it.

What do you think? Would you be tempted to give this a try, readers?

Only 5 minutes prep the night before and then you can enjoy your tasty Tupperware of oats in bed while catching up on the news perhaps… savouring a last few glorious minutes warm under the covers, before you begin your day. That’s how I do it. Or – enjoy your oats any way you like! While sat out in your garden, or commuting on the train, while at your desk checking email, or pausing for a moment on a park bench… so long as you enjoy your oats.

If you’re looking for a healthy way to begin the day, readers, with a full stomach and lots of energy, at little cost to yourself in time or money, then I do recommend you give Overnight Oats a go. You never know, maybe the new favourite breakfast that you never ever before though to try?

Everyone – I’m wishing you all a fabulous week ahead. Go live it to the full and I dare you all to give someone a MASSIVE big hug. Make their day.

And breakfast safely,

Hayley

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- 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!

THE SYN-FREE BREAKFAST SENSATION

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)

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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 2^nd Feb onwards… because the 1^st 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..

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- 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?

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- 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…

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- 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!

6. 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.

7. Repeat with the remaining mix until all your batter is used up. Keep refreshing your pan with a little more Frylight as you go.

8. 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!

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- 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

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- 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!