Fresh Start

Home today properly for the first time since December 22nd when we set off down south to visit friends! Since Christmas Eve we have been staying with my parents as there was so much going on it made sense to remain there. I have nipped home a few times to collect or deposit things but we are now all home to stay.

 

The advantages of a long stay away are twofold, firstly I am feeling relaxed and have more energy for 2013, secondly we have no naughty leftovers at home to tempt me! So now it's time to knuckle down for the new year.

 

I have tried to make sure none of our bits from Christmas are left cluttering up the already crowded sitting room. Tomorrow my mum will help my daughter sort out her chaotic room so we can see what she really wants to keep. I have to decide which room to tackle first on my own declutter mission. This may well be the kitchen as I am doing a lot more cooking from scratch to be healthier.

 

The healthy eating has kicked off with my new Hairy Dieters cookbook. It was a modified breakfast of crumpets and honey as my healthy food delivery hadn't arrived. Once my fridge was refilled with plenty of low calorie foods I set off to rustle up a Golden Vegetable Soup:

 

Because my children never eat my homemade soups I have now got soup already to reheat for the next few days. It was yummy and I resisted having bread with it and still felt full.

 

At tea time my children didn't fancy joining me with salmon with chilli ginger sauce so I managed to cook myself one meal and them a quick pasta dinner. It's useful having a stacking steamer to do pasta and new potatoes at the same time. I cooked a half portion of the recipe as I had a double pack of salmon and I'll have same dinner tomorrow - though maybe different accompaniments. There was a slight change to the recipe as I didn't have a chilli but my flakes seemed to add just the right amount of heat for my taste:

 

 

So as far as day one of healthy eating goes its a good one. Just need to work out what to have later for my last calorie allowance! Tomorrow I will have to think about exercising other than housework too.