Heatwave!

We are having some HOT weather here at the moment. Not complaining!

Hope everyone has had a good weekend. Mine went a little like this....

Friday me and my sister were going to go for a nice dim sum lunch together...my tyre blew on the way so we were stranded at the side of the road for 2.5 hours in the baking heat waiting for the RAC man! I have some weird tan/sunburn lines! Was not fun!

My car :-(

Friday night me and Phil spent most of the night watching Sky news on Rauol Moat. For those of you who don't know he was Britain's most wanted man last week and after a week long man hunt it ended with a stand off between him and the police. He then shot himself early hours Saturday morning. I know not a fun filled weekend yet!

Saturday we had a little lie in then took my car to get a new tyre. We then went into town and had lunch. I chose Cromer crab cakes with salad a new potatoes. Delish! I got a few little treats for myself, some new summery nail polishes and a nice electric blue eyeliner.

Crab cakes

I also got some Kallo chocolate rice thins. Really yummy and only 51 kcals and soothes that choco craving!!!

Saturday night we met up with some friends for drinks and then got in about 1am.

This morning I made me and Phil a bacon and potato frittata for breakie. Yum!

We then mooched around the supermarket for a couple of things for us to put on the BBQ.

I made some lemon and poppyseed muffins for Phil to take to work. And kept a couple by for us- really yummy.

So for lunch and dinner we had a nice BBQ feast!

Lunch: Spicy chicken and veg kebabs and salad.

Dinner: Mackerel (I did a paprika and garlic rub to go on it), sweetcorn, courgettes (with a spice rub of chilli flakes, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and pepper) and some sautéed potatoes. A good feast!

Now I'm going to plan some meals for next week, do some kundalini yoga, then a bath with a hair and face pack and read my book. Bliss!

Yesterday I made some goals/targets for July/August for me:

• Lose 7lbs (by 2/8/10)
• Do yoga 3 times per week
• Exercise 3 times per week
• Drink 2 litres of water per day
• Eat 3 portions of fruit and veg per day ( I know you should have 5 but working it up)
• Eat 2 portions of fish per week

Question for today: What are your diet/fitness goals?

Hi di hi campers, not long until the weekend now! I'm looking forward to spending some time with Phil as the last few weekends we have spent with family/friends. Nice to get some alone time. Also need to sort a load of stuff out for car boot and to get rid of. Especially as we will have to move soon so want to get things sorted.

At weight watchers this week I lost 0.5lbs. Not too bad but I really want to be losing 2lbs per week so need to step it up. Good news is yesterday I started my workouts again! It's been a month that i've not exercised for because of me recovering from my op but I think i'm back to full swing now! So yesterday started with a 30 min on the cross trainer. This morning woke up and did 20 mins Kundalini yoga. I got Maya Fiennes "Yoga for Real Life" and her DVD "Detox and de-stress" Loving them loads!

After yoga I had a breakfast of a 2 egg and 1 white omlette with ham and a coffee.

My sister came round so I could teach her some basic excel and we just chilled out a bit. Then lunch was a courgette and veg soup I made- really yum. With some wholemeal bread and a yoghurt.

Snack wise I've had a banana and a weight watchers cranberry and orange cereal bar.

Dinner was a special egg rice made with brown rice. Like egg fried rice but a healthier version!

Here is a strawberries and cream cupcake recipe that's a bit lower on the kcals and fat then the normal ones I sell!! Per cake 194 kcals and 5.1g fat.

Makes 12

Ingredients

• 2 medium free range egg
• 150g fructose sugar
• 200g peeled and grated courgette
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g rice flour
• 100g ground almonds
• 2 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 100g low cal jam

For the icing

• 150g fructose sugar
• 2 tbsp crushed strawberries
• ¼ tsp crème tartar
• 1 egg white
• Pinch of salt
• Fresh strawberries to top

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. Whisk up the eggs and fructose sugar in a large mixing bowl until pale and fluffy. Whisk the grated courgette and the vanilla extract into the egg mixture until well incorporated. Finally, whisk in the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, lemon zest and salt until everything is combined.

3. Using a large spoon, ladle a couple of generous spoonfuls of the mixture into the bottom of each paper case. Add a teaspoon of jam, then cover that with a small spoonful of mixture, in order to seal in the jam.

4. Place in the oven for 20 minutes until risen and blonde on top. Once the cupcakes are cooked, cool them in a tin for 10 minutes. Cool the completely in the fridge for a further 20 minutes, as they need to be cold before icing.

For the meringue icing:

1. Place all the ingredients in a big mixing bowl over a pan of boiling water. Stir with a clean metal spoon for 2 minutes exactly to dissolve the sugar.

2. When the mixture is warm and the 2 minutes are up, remove the bowl from the heat and beat with a whisk. Whisk for 9 minutes until cool. The mixture is ready to use when it’s standing up like snow-covered Swiss peaks.

3. If piping the icing, simply fill your piping bag in the usual way. Be sure to ice the cakes very quickly, as the icing will start to set and alter its flexibility as it sits.

Jobless bum

Hi peeps, Hope everyone is well. Sorry for being quiet the past few weeks. Had a bit of a tough time. Without going into detail I just could not cope with my job anymore so handed in my resignation. So looking for something else. It was a big decision to make as me and Phil have not been in a good financial position for about 18 months but my mental health is more important! But I'm thinking positive and that something fab will come up.

Health wise I've been a very bad girl on the diet.As you know I've been recovering from an operation and haven't been able to exercise and it's made me get into old habits.

Need to pull my socks up and get it sorted! Today I'm going to get back on the cross trainer and see how it feels as I've not had any pain really for a week.

Need to also get back on the healthy food wagon, been eating pretty much what I wanted. We all have blips but I need to turn this around now before it turns into a more permanent blip :-0

Not taken any foodie pics as been eating naughty things so here's a couple of randoms.

Here is a cupcake tower I did for a wedding. Mix of vanilla, strawberry and lemon. www.jessicascupcakes.com

And here is me (middle) with two of my best friends Niccie (R) and Lydia (L)

Right i'm off job hunting and meal planning!

Jess xx

Shoes, Shoes, Shoes

Hi di hi campers, another scorchio day here in Oxfordshire :-)

Started the day with a bowl of cornflakes, to hot for much else at the mo and didn't have anything else in really.

Lunch again I was feeling really hot and couldn't be bothered really to eat anything so I had a smoothie.

I baked some cupcakes ready for my cupcake class tomorrow and then Rach and Cat picked me up at 2pm to go to Milton Keynes shoe shopping. We were looking for bridesmaid shoes. We either want brown or orange to go with our dresses. We must have looked at 100's of shoes but nothing!!! So another trip is to be planned! I did however have a lush caramel lite frapp from starbucks- pure heaven!

Dinner tonight was a carbonara but a bit lower fat. Recipe here from "Cook yourself thin". Love that show, she has some really nice recipes and looks like my all time idol Audrey Hepburn. Her website is here.

Picture of the day is of our gorgeous Molly. if you have time could you please vote for her in an Iams competition, she wins some yummy food if she gets enough votes. Just click here to vote

Right i'm off to cool down and watch Big Brother in bed then a bit of reading. What's everyone reading at the moment? I'm reading "Ask & It's Given: Learning to Manifest the Law of Attraction"

Catch ya laters

Jess xx

I'm back!

Sorry guys for not posting for a couple of weeks. As you know from my last post I had an operation to remove my gall bladder. Well shortly after that post I was rushed back to hospital as I had a bile leak. They had cut my bile duct while doing the op. The pain was like nothing I have ever experienced. The doctors have said it's one of the most painful things. So I spent quite a while longer in hospital. But now back home and able to recover properly thank god!! Feeling a lot better but still not allowed to doing any exercise apart from walking. So not sure how it's going to affect weight loss. I did lose 2.5lbs this week though so not too shabby.

I'm going to concentrate on eating well and recovering from my op until I get back doing my workouts.

Weather is amazing here at the moment and looks to be good all week. Me and phil are thinking of going on a picnic at the weekend. Can't wait. Trying to decide on where to go- we could go somewhere pretty close or could do a 2 hour trip to the seaside. Hmmm decisions!

This morning I had Nestle Oats & more honey for breakfast. It's so yummy. It's a bit too hot for oatmeal at the moment.

I then had some raspberries with Rachel's Pouring yoghurt for a mid morning snack. Still loving that ouring yoghurt!

Lunch was 2 poached eggs on seeded bread.

One of my best friends Nat came over to watch the England game with me. Sooo glad we won! Bring on Sunday!!!

I'm loving maxi dresses at the moment. In this hot weather they are great and hide my wobbly bits! I had another one arrive today from asos.com. It's so comfy. You can see it here.

Tomorrow afternoon me Rach and Cat are going to Milton Keynes shoe shopping! We need to choose some shoes for Cat's wedding. Me and Rach are bridesmaids! So looking forward to a girly day tomorrow :-)

Ok my new crush is Channing Tatum! I saw "Dear John" the other day and I have fallen in love with him, he is soooooooo sexy! Check this fine man out!(Source)

Bedtime reading

Top 10 Tips for a healthy diet

Hope everyone is good.

Mucho love

Jess xx

Feeling Horrid!

On Thursday I had surgery to remove my gall bladder. It should have been day surgery but there was a few complications so I ended up staying in for an extra day.

I'm now at home but feeling horrid, my wounds hurt a bit and feeling sick etc. To be expected I suppose. So apologies if I don't post regularly this week. Plus It's not really a good time to blog about healthy eating as in the past 4 days I have eaten: half a turkey sandwich, 1 yogurt, 1 weetabix, a few spoons of oatmeal, slice of toast and a small bit of lasagne my nan made which did not stay down!

I'm currently looking all over the internet for foods to eat after my surgery but not finding much so if anyone has any links or info please let me know.

I've asked Phil to pick up some soups and rice milk from the supermarket oh and some apple sauce baby food. I'm finding it hard to eat at the moment but It's been stressed I need to keep fuelled so my body can recover and heal.

Hoping in a day or 2 I'll feel a lot better. Hate being stuck in bed!!!

Sorry!

So sorry for not posting for a little while. Just been a bit busy which is no excuse!

Good news is I lost 2lb this week. Had my weigh in last night and I was really surprised as wasn't expecting to lose any. Need to get back on track with the exercise!

Today for breakie I had Nestle Honey Oats & More- they are so so yummy. My new fave cereal!

Was really busy with work today. I have a project going live this week and it's been throwing all sort of problems out so it'snot been fun. Also today was a massive disappointment as this Thursday I'm due for an operation. I've been told I need 2 weeks off and then I can work from home for a number of weeks after that. But I only have 8 days paid sick days left as i've not been at the company for a year. I was told by my boss originally I could book the 2nd week as holiday but now she is saying she can't. Me and Phil have had a lot of money problems for the past 18 months with losing jobs etc so my salary basically keeps us afloat. I can't afford not to be paid. So I told my boss I have no option but to return to work (from home) after a week. God knows how i'll feel. I just really want a job that I love :-(

Anyway doom and gloom over!

Lunch was a souper affair :-)

Then more work :-(

After working I made some walnut and carrot bread, was really nice. You can find the easy recipe here. I had a piece dipped in balsamic vinegar :-) and then another slice with honey :-)

Dinner I made a morroccan lamb tagine with cous cous, really yummy dinner.

I went to Rachel's house while Phil was at football practice. We are planning Cat's hen do so had lots of fun putting the goody bags together!!

Now i'm in bed after a stressful day and praying for that lottery win again so I can leave the stinky job and focus on my cake business!

Ok the pics for today are of our 2 house rabbits Muffin (black & white) and Poppy (white). Cuteness!

Ok question for today: If you could do any job in the world what would you do? Mine would be running a little animal shelter for rabbits and small pets. Love those little critters! Poppy was from a rescue home and there are so many pets just left unwanted by owners :-(