Project 366: day 335

We all met a very special person today.

Foodie Penpals – November 2012

This month my foodie penpal was Sarah-Jane who you can find tweeting here. Sarah Jane has had a hard month, from poorly children to escaping dogs! She still mamaged to organise me a foodie box with the help of americansoda.co.uk

I’m always fascinated by American food – it’s so different to the things we’re used to in the UK – so a great package for me!

Here are the contents:

Project 366: day 334

New babygro for the boy but this could be the motto for either of my kids.

Project 366: day 333

Walking with the baby.

Project 366: day 332

The veg box has loads of lovely things in this week.

And this free gift came to tempt me from my healthy regime 🙂

Project 366: day 331

Reindeer pasta.

Mushroom Soup – Getting Started on Elf for Health

I’ve made this cheap and simple mushroom soup recipe today. It makes about 4 portions.

Roughly chop an onion and using fry-light spray, soften in a medium saucepan over a low heat for 10 minutes. If it is browning too much, add a drop of water to lift of the delicious brown bits from the bottom of the pan before they burn!

Add a pack of chopped mushrooms. I used these low priced and dirty ones (375g) which were perfect after a good wash and trim. Stir in the hot pan for a few minutes before covering with hot water from the kettle, adding a stock cube and a teaspoon of dried thyme and the secret ingredient – 2 teaspoons of soy sauce. Stir, put the lid on and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

After this time, I removed it from the heat and blended with a stick blender. I then added about half a pint of semi-skimmed milk and gently reheated.

A delicious, low calorie and easy meat-free recipe!

The Advent Present Project

Kirsty aka @gazpachodragon has organised “The Advent Present Project”. You have to get together 24 presents to give to another person for them to open on the days of advent and someone else does the same for you.

We met today to swap the presents at Brewbar in Leeds.

Here are the presents that I have received; I will be opening them and posting a pic everyday until Christmas. I was also luck enough to receive a gift to open on Christmas day too.

My 25 presents

Elf for Health

At the end of last week I decided to bit the bullet and sign up for “Elf for Health”. It is only 6 and a half weeks since I had my beautiful baby boy, and I know that I shouldn’t worry about my weight, but I am getting really sick of having only one pair of jeans that fit me!

I think that I only need to lose 7-10 pounds to manage this, (which I think is pretty good after 9 months of pregnancy by the way) but it will make such a difference to have a choice of things to wear.

With “Elf for Health” we get challenges to keep us focussed and a buddy every 2 weeks to motivate us and keep us on track – watch this space!

The challenges for week 1:

Monday, 26 November

Go Meatless Today- Show us your delicious meat-free eats!

Tuesday, 27 November

Send a card or handwritten note to a friend.

Wednesday, 28 November

Try a new workout today!

Thursday, 29 November

Get up 15 minutes early to mediate and reflect

Friday, 30 November

How many different colors can you eat today? Challenge yourself!

Saturday, 1 December

Clean out your closet! Fill a bag with clothes to donate to Goodwill

I’ll keep you posted how it goes!

Project 366: day 330

Butterfly girl