Spiced Apple Cake (Serves 10 at 5 pro points per serving)

Well, I decided to make the apple cake as we had some cooking apples to use up before the banana's (and Dave doesn't like banana's so the other cake would only be for me and Henry !!).

450g cooking apples, peeled, cored and cubed roughly
8 tbsp artificial sweetener
low fat cooking spray
100g polyunsaturated margarine
225g plain flour
2 tsp mixed spice
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs, beaten

1. Put the apples in the pan with 2 tbsp water and 1 tbsp of the artificial sweetener. Cover and heat gently until they break down to mush, helping them along with a fork or potato masher.

2. Spray a 23cm (9 inch) square tin with low fat cooking spray and preheat the oven to 160C (fan).

3. Rub the margarine into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fresh breadcrumbs. Now mix in the other dry ingredients, including the remaining sweetener. Stir the eggs into the mixture.

4. Put slightly less than half the mixture into the bottom of the prepared tin and spread it round evenly, pushing it into the corners with the back of a spoon. Pour over the apple and then sandwich it with the remaining dough mixture, spread it gently & evenly over the top to cover.

5. Bake for 30 mins or until golden brown and firm to the touch. Allow to cool in the tin and then slice into 10 slices.

Banana Cake (34 Propoints per recipe)

OK, I'm going to try this today maybe and will cut it up and see how many it serves after baking it. The recipe says it serves 8 at 4 propoints each, but I might try and make it go further than that !

low fat cooking spray
225g white self-raising flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
50g margarine
2 medium eggs
2 tbsp low fat plain yogurt
3 medium ripe bananas
2 tsp ground allspice

1. Preheat the oven to 170C and spray a 20cm (8 inch) cake tin with the low fat cooking spray and line with non-stick baking paper.

2. Place all the cake ingredients in a food processor and mix for a few mins.

3. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 1 1/4 hours or until a thin skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in an airtight container to keep it moist.

Thursday 28th April - another Bank Holiday is on its way !!!

Hooray, can't wait till another long weekend. Had a thoroughly indulgent time last weekend and am not going to be weighed this week so heaven knows what next weeks weigh in will be like, but we will deal with it when it comes !!!

I have managed to only eat small pieces of Henry's easter eggs and 1 creme egg, the problem is the extra food with having people over for meals and so on. We've had BBQ's, cheese (in abundance ;-)) and lots of other nice stuff ! However things willl return to normal once this weekends out the way.

I have also managed to get onto the Wii Fit as well this week so hopefully that will make things not quite so bad ! I'll have a go later today and see what it tells me about my weight since last Thursday !

Maundy Thursday - apparently !

Well, I have neglected the blog recently, but things have been going OK. After my 5 lbs loss I was quite good the following week but managed to put on a pound last Friday at weigh in. I had just started my period though and so partly blame that as I wasn't expecting to put on. However it spurred me on to be good this week, and apart from Sunday night which went pear-shaped with some cheese (Phildelphia though !) and biscuits followed by a couple of chocolate bars (shared too!) the week has gone alright. I have used the Wii fit a few times and have really enjoyed it. I think it has cemented the idea that we will have to get one. Henry loves it and I have used the Wii fit quite a lot - more than I thought I would. So this week, I was due to get weighed tomorrow morning but as it is Good Friday they have decided to open on Thursday morning this week and next so I got weighed this morning instead of tomorrow. And, even though I got weighed a day earlier than last week I have managed to lose 3.5 lbs :-) I am now only 5 lbs off my goal !! I obviously have the 'Easter' problem now though and plenty of meals out and meals in and CHOCOLATE !!! However I shall have a good time, enjoy myself and try and get back to being really good on Tuesday.

Weigh in Day - Hooray !!!!! :-) :-)

5 lbs off ! Over the moon needless to say ! I had tried very hard this week but didn't think it had really paid off until I stepped on those scales this morning :-) So pleased with myself - and credit must go to my mum who lent me her Wii Fit while she is off her feet after breaking her foot. I think that has helped me this week too. I am determined to keep it up so when Dawn gets back from her holidays (4 weeks today) I hopefully will be less than when she went away ! Feeling good :-)

Monday

Well, I was feeling pretty down this morning. I felt fat and just not good for some reason. I have been super ace today though and have easily stuck to my points. I have 5 propoints left for the day and have also earnt 2 propoints through exercise and also done half an hour on the Wii Fit and burnt 122 calories :-) Feeling much better about myself this evening than I did this morning. We had leftover Chicken Paprika tonight for tea and I did roasted vegetables with it. I then had an Asda low fat chocolate mousse (2 propoints) which was lovely and only 50p for 4 !! Might have to fight Henry for them though !

Holey Moley !

Well, as expected I had put on at weigh in today - however I was a little shocked to discover it was 5.5 lbs !!! Oops, is all I can say. 2 weeks of no tracking and eating everything in sight is not the way to go I feel ! I have had a lot of eating out/3 course celebration meals and drink these past 2 weeks, so they were by no means normal weeks. However I am feeling on top of things (for now ;-)) and hopefully by the time Dawn gets back to WW (5 weeks) I shall have lost that weight and a bit more ! Fingers crossed !