July Favourites: Slimming World

What I have loved in the month of July.

Free Food

My favourite fruits, great on their own or chopped up in a fruit salad.

Clementine, Nectarine and Strawberries

Quark is my favourite versatile ingredient it can be used in sweet and savoury dishes.

Quark

I have switched from white pasta to wholegrain pasta and it's so much tastier.

Wholegrain pasta

Pickled onions are great in a salad, chucked in a soup or just something to pick at when you open the fridge.

Pickled Onions

 Healthy Extra A

This has to be a staple in the world of losing weight, great on crackers or melted down to make a cheese sauce.

Laughing Cow Light. Five triangles for one healthy extra A choice

Healthy Extra B

I love these crackers they are so light and with an allowance of six it feels really naughty. Top with laughing cow light and tomatoes or use syns for a bit of low fat spread and top with ham and lettuce.

Ryvita Wholegrain Crackerbread. Six crackers are one healthy extra B

Syns

I love these crisps, they are low in syns and taste fantastic, a proper bag of crisps. Very similar to Golden Wonder Lights.

Asda Discs.  4.5 syns each.

Drinks

I would be lost without vimto.

Vimto. Syn free.

Favourite Recipe 

I have made this a couple of times in July and I love it, it's sweet and squidgy and lovely with a cuppa.

Swiss Roll

http://flab2fab82.blogspot.com/2011/07/low-syn-swiss-roll.html

Speed Soup

Speed soup

1 can mixed bean salad
1 can green lentils
2 cans chopped tomatoes
1 can baked beans
Handful of split lentils
2 large leeks
1 large onion
4 medium carrots
2 parsnips
Green, red & yellow pepper
2 beef or chicken or vegetable stock cubes dissolved in water
Salt pepper
Mixed herbs
Garlic
Chilli powder


1.Chop and put all vegetables in pan
2.Add all other ingredients
3.Cover with water bring to boil and simmer until soft
4.Can be left chunky or blended

This is delicious and really filling. You can add as much or as little seasoning as you want and also experiment with different seasonings.

A delicious way to serve the soup is by adding some Weight Watchers Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips (4 syns) either by crushing them on top or using to scoup up the soup.

Food Shopping

I went to Sainsbury's today to pick up a few bits that I won't be able to get from Aldi. Below are some pictures of things I bought.

45 calories each, so just over 2 syns per flake. 2 flakes = 4.5syns

Syn free and really make a difference to any pasta sauce

Syn free and lovely with chopped tomatoes.

3 slices for healthy extra b

Syn free and a absolute must on Slimming World

I got a sample of this coffee and fell in love. Currently on offer for £1.99

In addition to these items I also got :

• Shape 0% Yoghurts in Raspberry and Strawberry and Mango and Peach. These were on offer for 2 4 packs for £2.50
• Sainsburys No Added Sugar Iron Brew
• Sainsbury's Instant Mash Potato
• Beanfeast Bolognese
• Mushroom and Pepper Rice
• Mixed Herbs
• Eggs

Harvest Morn less than 70 calories Chocolate Orange bar

Today I thought I would review one of the new products that I have tried, the Harvest Morn less that 70 kcals cereal bar in Chocolate Orange. This product can be bought from Aldi for £1.29 for this you will get 6 bars each weight 21g. 

The packaging

Each bar comes wrapped

The product is described as cereal bars with rice and wheat flakes, oats, dried apple, sweetened orange peel and chocolate flakes drizzled with a chocolate flavoured coating. The pictures below will show you what the bar looks like.

The bar looks like most cereal bars and you can see all the rice and wheat flakes and oats which is what most of the bar consists of. The chocolate flavoured drizzled doesn't cover much of the surface of the bar, but I guess anymore would put the calories up. 

Nutritional information per bar is as follows:

If you are following the Slimming World plan these bars work out at 3 syns.

Now onto the taste. The orange of the bar is the prominent flavour of the bar and for me it is a lot sweeter than what I would like. I feel they could have used unsweetened orange peel to give it more of a bitter citrus taste. The top ingredient of this product is oligofructose syrup which I figured was the reason the bars are so sweet. I googled it as I had never heard of it before, please see this link to read what it is. I couldn't find any negative articles.

The less than 70 calories cereal bars also come in Apple and Sultana.

This bar controlled my craving for something sweet, however, for me it didn't hit the spot like chocolate does but at 3 syns it is extremely good value. I am going to try the others to see if they are less sweet.

Please see ingredients and allergy information below.