Hi, my name is MsStale and I'm addicted to Snack a Jacks Rice Cakes

Its true, I can't get enough of the Salt and Vinegar Snack a Jacks, whether the big cake or the individual bags (although I have noted that the big cakes often dry out after a day - even when stored in the bread bin, and therefore the vingegary goodness isn't as acidic, boo!). I literally can not get enough of them, I think about them throughout the day, my mouth salivates at the thought, in the same way I used to think about cupcakes and chocolate (or in the way that I am now thinking about cupcakes and chocolate!)

I've also tried the Tesco's version - just as yummy! Although they have a flatter back - I'm yet to discover if this increases the pungency or not!

I'm now having to wean myself off of them as my mouth is literally cut to shreds inside - eek! But I suppose that is to be expected when one wolfs down entire bags throughout the day?! I also thought that the salt and carb content probably isn't that great for me on my new diet - fitted in to my 'skinny' Ruby London jeans yesterday - yesss! 

I guess I'll just have to iradicate them from my life, in the same way I have with other food baddies!

Anyway, baby crying.... x

Blackbean Stirfry

Just a simple stir fry made using Quorn Chicken and blackbean sauce - no noodles/ rice to save the heavy carbs but I do add a good tablespoon of mixed seeds which really makes the texture interesting.

I make it with a mix of 1 tblspn olive oil (good fats!) With 1 tblspn water (add water when oil is still cold!!)

My toddler loves blackbean sauce so I cook a little extra and let him dig in.

Nom nom nom!

Halloumi , basil and veg BBQ kebabs

I made this for my mother in law who is a vege who loves cooking - eeek! Was surprisingly delicious!

1 x courgette
1 x red onion (sliced in to wedges)
1 x red pepper
1 x yellow pepper
1 x green pepper
Cherry toms (halved)
Halloumi (cubed in to 2 cm cubes)
Basil chopped
Olive oil
Lemon

1. Mix chopped basil and oilve oil with a squeeze of lemon juice
2. Marinade chopped veg (2cm chunks) and halloumi in the basil mix for min 1 hr
3. Thread the ingredients on to BBQ skewers
4. Roast on BBQ until browned or cook under grill / griddle

Serve with BBQ'd corn on cob, sweet potato wedges or wholewheat Pitta breads.

Deliciously summery!

Stuffed chicken with feta and basil

I decided I needed less carbs and more protein so off I went to buy some chicken, and find something in the fridge to go with it!

1 x low fat chicken fillet
2cm slab of feta
Teaspoon of basil

1. Cut open chicken fillet through the middle
2. Stuff chicken with cubed feta and basil
3. Close breast and cook in oven for rougly 20mins at 200'c

Serve with steamed veg.

Love this meal, can't believe how full up it made me! Amazing!  

Roasted veg, feta, basil and egg

I discovered this from the ASDA magazine and tweaked it to the ingredients in my cupboard. Absolutely delish!

1 x egg
1 x onion
1 x shallot
1/2 red pepper
1/2 yellow pepper
1/2 green pepper
1/4 courgette
2cm stick feta
1 x teaspoon basil chopped

1. Fry shallot until nearly burnt
2. Add onion chopped
3. Add courgette
4. Add peppers sliced in to sticks and cubes
5. Fry together for 5 mins and stir in the basil
6. Meanwhile cube feta
7. Tip the fried ingredients in to an ovenproof dish and mix in feta
8. Make a well in centre of fried bits, crack egg in to well
9. Bake in oven until egg cooked (roughly 10 mins at 200'c)

Nom, and full of protein!

Roasted radishes - low fat carb substitute!

My favourite low fat discovery - whilst giving up 'biggie' carbs I bought radishes on a whim.

Trying them raw - bleugh!

I decided to dice them up and chuck them in to some roasted veg I was already making - amazing! I lightly coated in olive oil and salt and pepper and roasted for slightly longer than the other veg (put them in the oven on their own before chopping and adding the other veg)

They seem to take on the place of potatoes so happy days!

Creamy Quorn Chicken and Sweetcorn

Super low fat and low calorie but creamy and satisfying! Nom.

1 x Portion of quorn chicken style pieces (roughly a handful per person)
1 x tablespoon of low fat cream cheese
1 x small can sweetcorn
Splash of skimmed milk
1 x shallot
1 x red onion
Salt and pepper to taste
Dried crushed chillis to taste (not for everyone but boosts metabolism)

1. Fry chopped shallots until looking burnt (more black bits - more flavour)
2. Add chopped onions
3. Add pinch salt, pepper and chilli
4. Add chicken and cook through
5. Add sweetcorn
6. Stir in cream cheese until melted and coating ingredients
7. Add milk and simmer to create creamy texture.

Serve with roasted veg - nom nom nom 

Fat is a swear word

Fat, chubby, podge - Banned from my household. Possibly the biggest insult anyone could say to me, or my child, reducing me to a sniveling mess in the corner.

Why? I'm not sure. Yes I've always been 'insecure' about my weight but aren't we all? Would anyone genuinely be able to walk through Regency Street naked and not 'prepare' beforehand with a vat of Slim-Fast?

It occurred to me that I felt uncomfortable using the word 'fat' when reading The Hungry Caterpillar to my son. An old book granted, in the days when less stigma was attached the word, but I found myself whispering it (for fear of hurting the caterpillar's feelings?) And double checking that that was what it actually said.

I wouldn't say I have an eating disorder, I'm not 'bony' enough to give myself that label, but I'm always striving to 'eat less', 'be the smallest size they stock here', 'you ate a banana AND an apple earlier, therefore you can't have this handful of grapes' etc. Eating disorder? No. Unhealthy attitude towards food and 'excess flesh'? Yes.

I don't think its a problem however, granted I don't want my son to grow up with the same attitude towards food, honestly its not a lot of fun not having biscuits. But on the same page I desperately don't want him to be fat. That is no life for a child, and in my book a selfish choice by the parents. Whilst I can control it he eats mainly fruit and veg, wholegrains and whatever Holland and Barrett have to offer - not a bad thing in my books.

In a few years I will teach my son that it is on a par with 'naughty words' and to not use it to insult the cake-fed child at school, whether he's thinking it inside or not. Afterall, FAT is a swear word, that caterpillar may have turned in to a butterfly but he certainly wasn't much cop in his big brown cocoon.

McQueen to Mothercare

After two short (long) years of muddling through pregnancy, newborn-zombie-ness and cooing over baby drool and the amazement that my child instinctively knows how to fart, I'm finally having independent thoughts again.

Yes those thoughts that aren't penetrated by when MiniStale's next feed will be or humming the 'Wolly and Tig' theme tune whilst trying to get intimate with Mr Stale (simultaneously praying the doctor finished my episiotomy relatively attractively since I've not had the courage to squat over a mirror yet). It hit me whilst sat in the bath, having conquered MiniStales erratic sleeping, that I need somewhere to compartmentalise my thoughts and experiences through the day. Like babies do when you catch them talking to themselves.... Alas I digress.

Anyway, and more for my records, MiniStale is now 15 months old, walking, talking, blah blah competitive mummy blah. It's been a long ol' journey to get to where I am now, leaving fashion school aged 21 and a generous size 6 with nothing to do but wander around the maternity isles of Hennes, armed with a vodka damaged student loan - not how I imagined spending my mid-term first year of uni. I've done a hell of a lot of growing up since I last graced this blog with my presence (if reading my old posts is anything to go by).

Life now is steadier, by the coast, and punctuated by occasional outings with the girls to the local bars, rather than the occasional sober moments spent begging someone to fetch me a hangover-McDonald's. Hell I even go to church run playgroups now - for fun!

A x