Saturday 1 January 2011

New Year, New Blog

Happy New Year Everyone! As it is the 1st of January 2011, I thought it was as good a time as any to launch my new blog...hopefully not a yearly occurrence but for various reasons I had to leave my old blog behind and relocate to this name! Hopefully those of you who read my old blog will recognise my posting style/the layout of my blog. Anyway, technicalities over, on with the post...!

I was totally lacking in inspiration for a name for my new blog!! The first part, "Porridge", is a huge part of my new, healthier life...I love a big bowl of porridge to get my day off to a great start!

After going out for a curry (king prawn pasanda, divine) and a few drinks last night to celebrate New Year's Eve, I needed some fruit in my porridge this morning to give me some much needed vitamins! I made up my porridge with oats, Kara coconut milk, a little vanilla extract and a lot of frozen forest fruits. I then topped it with Dorset Cereals chocolate granola with macadamia nuts, plus my last square of Lindt dark chocolate with sea salt for extra chocolateyness! This porridge was a lovely pink colour...my daughter thought it looked great!

Apologies for the lighting on this photo...I so need a new camera this year! :) This porridge tasted great, not that chocolatey but it had a lovely freshness to it, with a bit of crunch from the granola for extra interest...


not bad for a bowl that started off with me not knowing what to put in it...I will definitely be using frozen fruit more in future...health without the hassle...plus both my freezers are bursting at the seams so need to start using up what's in them!

So...the other part of my blog title, "Parsnips", bit more random this one as, whilst I do love parsnips, I don't find myself eating them that often. Like I say, I was really lacking in inspiration!!

Some of you may remember from my old blog's Christmas post that Liam brought home lots of freebies from work on Christmas Eve, including a giant turkey...


and today was the day to cook said turkey! We had a few of our friends and family who hadn't made it on Christmas Day over for dinner (as well as my Mum who helped me cook it), it was a lovely 2nd Christmas :) and of course, no roast is complete without parsnips...


these were roasted in turkey fat with the carrots and potatoes. I'm so annoyed with myself - with all the cooking and guests arriving, I didn't take any more photos after this...bad blogger! The parsnips looked much better than this once roasted obviously!! I didn't even take a photo of my plate so will have to cheat and use the photo of the very similar meal a week ago...


today's meal had broccoli instead of red cabbage and lots of parsnips instead of roast potatoes (the benefit of being one of the chefs, did I mention I love roast parsnips?!!) delicious! :)

No Christmas pudding today but Mum did bring her delicious chocolate torte...

I think it is a Delia Smith recipe - I will have to get the details off her someday - but it is basically lots of melted chocolate, glycerine, rum and lightly whipped double cream, with a crust made from crushed amaretti biscuits and left in the fridge to set...simple, tasty, but not so healthy!! An occasional yummy treat...we think we may have this as the dessert at our wedding, can't wait! :)

Bit of an odd post today, I hope to get back in to my usual routine of posting over the next few days now that the "introduction" is out the way! Have any of you made any New Year's Resolutions this year? I've made a few general ones:
  • lose 1-1.5 stone by my wedding in July (would be less but gained 9 lbs in December, oops!) - weight loss wouldn't usually be my main aim but I have gone so overboard with my eating this last month, so now I'm very aware of my need to lose weight as none of my clothes fit properly!! I enjoyed every mouthful at the time, but will try to be a little bit more restrained with my portion sizes from now on! 
  • exercise (gym/swimming) 3 times a week - I try to do this anyway but have struggled in the winter
  • drink at least 2 litres of water each day - again, I've been struggling with this lately
  • do more housework - Liam will be pleased!!
And slightly more specific ones until April:
  •  no snacks except fruit & veg - aim to achieve this 5 days a week
  • exercise - 3 days a week
  • at least half an hour reading - every day please...the peace would be lovely!!
for these goals I will be putting money into a jar each time I manage it to sponsor a family member who is running the London Marathon in April...a way to support him and improve my health at the same time. The no snacking aim will be the hardest for me, but will also help with my weight loss. Not starting properly until Thursday though - want to enjoy my baby's 1st birthday first...will try to reduce my food consumption in the meantime though!!

2 comments:

  1. I love the idea of sponsoring a friend as the reward for eating and exercising- even more motovation for you.
    Thanks for emailing- I look forward to reading more :)
    And if you find the chocolates hard to resist- keep giving them away (seriously I have given boxes to the milkman, postman, my hairdresser, family members, friends, work.....)
    x

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  2. It's a good idea isn't it - not mine I admit - my Mum did it last year too, but I'm joining her on some of the challenges this year. A good way to support a family member and help myself at the same time :)

    We have given most of the boxes of chocolates away - problem is all the ones we have left are half boxes so can't exactly give them away, will just have to encourage Liam to eat them instead...he needs to gain weight anyway!!

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