A foot step too far?

Genius! Gave me a right chuckle when I saw this on the tv today. JML, whatever will you come up with next?

Winter Warmer – Sweet Potato & Chorizo Soup

Today was such a horrible day, weather wise anyway. Really dreich, as they would say back home.  The only thing for it was to make a stew or soup. As I hadn’t taken the beef out of the freezer to defrost, soup it was.

I tend to make soups out of whatever I have in the fridge or cupboards. Today, I had some chorizo and sweet potato and here is the recipe I came up with.

Ingredients:

  • 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled & diced
  • 1 ring of chorizo, sliced
  • 2 carrots, peeled & sliced
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic, grated or crushed
  • 1 parsnip,peeled & sliced (not essential, I just had one that needed used)
  • 2 handfuls red lentils
  • 2 litres (or thereabouts) or chicken/vegetable stock

Method:

  1. Put your chopped onion, garlic, carrots, parsnips & sweet potatoes into a large pot with some olive oil over a medium heat
  2. Cook for around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the onions are soft
  3. Add the chorizo and cook for a further 5 minutes
  4. Add the lentils and the stock and give a good stir. Season with salt and pepper
  5. Simmer over a low heat for 20-25 minutes
  6. Take off the heat and blend with a hand blender in the pot. If you don’t have a hand blender then let the mixture cool a bit and blend in a food processor
  7. You have your soup!

I think that this would taste nice with some finely chopped chilli ir chilli flakes in it and a dollop of creme fraiche. I may try this tomorrow but was making it child friendly to start. Serve with crusty bread & butter. Yummers :)

Enjoy!

The XFactor Live Shows – Week 1

My week 1 roundup:

1. XFactor hairdressers STEP AWAY from the razors/clippers
2. A newspaper does not a dress make – I don’t care how edgy the girl wearing it is
3. Singing “Collecting your jar of hearts” can sometimes be misheard as “Collecting your jar of Farts”
4. Telling someone you love how much weight they have lost is not ok Louis Walsh
5. When wearing bright pink lipstick, ensure it’s not smeared all over your face after your performance
6. If you see someone with bright pink lipstick smeared all over their face then tell them and give them a tissue, don’t just pretend it’s not there
7. When you have a “larger” lady singing then please don’t make her look like Peter Kay’s Geraldine, she has a great voice but that really detracted from it
8. Can somebody please check that Johnny doesn’t have some kind of terminal illness. He doesn’t look long for this world
9. Kitty needs new eyebrows that don’t make her look so surprised and harsh. Maybe use some of the hair that has been shaved off – just a thought.
10. Kitty in general – WTF???
11. Janet Devlin is proof that 16 year olds should be in the XFactor. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!

Looking forward to tomorrow night’s show already!

Silent Sunday – 18.09.11

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The Baby Weight Battle – 1 year on

On Thursday, my little boy will be one and his mummy is STILL carrying around far too much of the weight that she gained whilst carrying him.

I looked at myself in the mirror today and was really quite unhappy with the sight I saw. The belly is big and it has to go.

Pre final dress fitting for my wedding I had started using a rather fabulous Slim Pod and had lost 7lb in 2 weeks. I then stopped as I didn’t want to lose any weight between my dress fitting and the wedding. To explain, a Slim Pod is a rather fabulous MP3 download from Thinking Slimmer. In short, you listen to a 10 min voice recording every night for a minimum of 21 days and without willpower, dieting, calorie counting, you will gradually lose weight through small changes to your lifestlye.

I realise that you’re probably all laughing me right now. I suggest you read some of the success stories from fellow bloggers, truly astounding. I’ve met some of these ladies and the weight loss they have experienced is unbelievable.

Today, I changed my Drop 2 Dress Sizes slimpod to a Drop 2 Jeans Sizes slimpod. I am more a jeans girl than a dress girl and the slimpod is more likely to work for me as it’s more in tune with me. There are many to choose from though, just pick the one best for you.

I have set my goals, will write in my diary this evening and then listen to Trevor’s dulcit tones. Each week I will aim to update on my progress. I have also taken a picture of my current body (will not be grossing you out today) and if I get to my 10st 7lb target, I will share my before and after shots with you.

Wish me luck!

Ness x