I enjoy coming home after a holiday.  When I have just had such a lovely holiday though there is a part of me that wishes I was still there, with dear friends and the children in Kas in Turkey.  But we are home and there is much to do.  After getting the first load of washing on the line I went to Waitrose to restock the fridge.  While there I decided to try 2 of their recipe cards; Asian prawn and noodle salad for lunch and Moroccan couscous with harissa and chick peas for supper.  I will have to add some meat for my meat eating husband.  Waitrose had sold out of some of the ingredients but that didn’t put me off – I am used to adapting recipes and often use recipes for inspiration rather than a prescription to be followed.  I also stocked up with loads of fresh fruits and some veg.  Not too many veggies as the veg patch in the garden is looking gooood!

I joined Weight Watchers about 2 months ago.  I have lost 19 pounds so far but have been very slow at losing recently so I want to be super good and have a big loss this week so I have promised myself I will track points diligently.  I had porridge with a mashed banana and a tsp of cashew nut butter for breakfast.  I try to make sure every meal has carbs, protein, fat and fruit/vegetables.  I try to restrict tea and coffee to 2-3 cups each a day.  I drink water, rooibos tea and recently fresh mint from the garden steeped in hot water, which is refreshing and tasty.

Mint "tea"

Lunch was great.  Using the Waitrose recipe card, I made the dressing: 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp Nam Pla fish sauce, juice of 1 lime and 1 tsp clear honey.  I cooked and drained the noodles and then stirred through the dressing.  I then added the prawns, grated carrots and a handful of green leaves from the garden (spinach, beetroot tops, corn salad and rocket).  It was delicious and very low in points.

In the afternoon I set up this blog!!!  This is my first one ever so it is rather basic to start with but I will keep these early day posts as they are and hope they get quicker and easier to write and look more professional as I become experienced.

I had a lovely afternoon;  I walked the dogs through the woods over the road and the children ran laps round my route so we bumped in to each other and the dogs were confused about who to be with.  It was sunny and warm but not too hot so perfect for walking.  Back home we sorted and edited all our holiday photos and whittled 500 down to about 300 and posted the best 50 on FaceBook.  Happy memories.

So on to supper.

I chopped up peppers, carrots, mushrooms and tomatoes.  Roasted them in the oven with a little bit of rapeseed  oil.  The couscous and harissa  paste was mixed with vegetable  stock and left to fluff up (took  about 10 minutes).  I threaded  some chicken on to skewers  and rubbed Jerk seasoning on  them and then placed them under the grill.  I mixed the roasted veggies in with the couscous and hey presto, supper was ready.

Le voila – Harissa couscous

with chicken kebab.

Mmmmmmmmm.

Today was a great day.  Still feeling mellow and relaxed after the holiday, I ate really healthily and exercised.  I completed lots of chores, and set up my first ever blog 🙂 And I finished the day 5 points below my daily limit which is unusual!  But I am not at all hungry.  And I am now sitting back and relaxing watching a DVD of the film ‘Burlesque’.