^^^ Mini shopping basket, not HUGE snacks

Finding convenient, tasty snacks that are good to ‘grab and go’ can be difficult.

I like to keep snacks around me at all times… in my bag, in my car, in my desk drawer. I’m a grazer and could nibble away all day plus have two young kids that seemingly want constant feeding.

I’ve been a fan of Graze for years, having had their mail delivery service on many, many occasions. So when they announced a new in-store range, I confess, I was more than a little excited.

Graze Good To Go

Graze’s new Good To Go range are perfectly portioned snacks in handy little package that are ideal when on-the-run. With tempting taste combinations and everything from sweet to savoury and spicy, the hardest part is deciding WHICH one to try?

They are (were!) all so delicious. My favourites being:

– Thai Sweet Chilli Dippers. Mini baked soy ‘crackers’ with a sweet chilli sauce and only 83 calories

– Chocolate Pretzel Dippers. I mean, who can resist little salted pretzels with a creamy chocolate sauce?!

Now, as someone who follows the Slimming World plan I was keen to find out how many syns are in these Graze packs as I’d love to keep a few of these on hand for those snack time emergencies! And the good news is, they all fall within the recommended 5 to 15 syns per day – however, some are clearly way higher than others! I’ve listed the syn values for the Graze packs below so you too can make wise choices next time you are in the supermarket!

How many Syns are in Graze Good To Go snack packs?

• Graze Thai Sweet Chilli Dippers – 4 syns
• Graze Herby  Bread Basket – 4.5 syns
• Graze Juicy Peach & Raspberry – 5 syns
• Graze Mini Strawberry & Banana – 6
• Graze Veggie Protein Power – 6.5 syns
• Graze Smoke House BBQ Crunch – 6.5 syns
• Graze Chocolate Pretzel Dippers – 7 syns
• Graze Dark Chocolate Cherry Tart – 9 syns
• Graze Punchy Protein Nuts – 10.5 syns
• Graze Original Fruity Flapjack – 11 syns
• Graze Salted Fudge & Peanut Cookie – 11 syns
• Graze Lemon Drizzle Flapjack – 12 syns

Which ones would you like to try?

The post Trying out the new Graze ‘Good To Go’ range appeared first on One Busy WAHM.

Cereal has become a school-day breakfast staple in our house. It’s quick, it’s easy, the kids love it and it gets us out the house with minimal fuss each morning.

I know cereal isn’t the perfect breakfast choice. I’m not trying to be perfect.  I buy the wholegrain, healthier versions when I can, but some days, I just cave to the demands for Weetos.

We have a cupboard full of half-eaten boxes of cereal the kids have now lost all interest in and it seems so wasteful to throw them away. Instead, I’ve devised a way to re-purpose the cereals into on-the-go cereal snack bars

Make Your Own Cereal Bars

Ingredients

• 1 serving (approx 30g) cereal
• 12g mini marshmallows

Optional: melted chocolate to drizzle, sprinkles, desiccated coconut

Directions

• Place cereal into a microwave-proof bowl and top with mini marshmallows
• Microwave on high for approximately 20 – 30 seconds, until marshmallows become molten and puffy
• Quickly stir to combine ingredients
• Empty ingredients onto a small piece of greaseproof baking paper and pull the sides around to shape into a bar
• If adding sprinkles, top your cereal bar with chosen topping before the marshmallow begins to harden
• Put in fridge to set

My Cereal Bars

From left to right

#1 – Branflakes with sultanas + pink marshmallows + chocolate drizzle + desiccated coconut
#2 – Weetos + white marshmallows + pink sprinkles
#3 – Cherry muesli + white marshmallows

May Your Own Slimming World ‘HiFi’ Cereal Bars

If like me you follow the Slimming World plan, you can enjoy these cereal bars too. Simply use a ‘Healthy B Choice’ cereal for a high fibre boost and to safeguard your weight loss success.

Check your book or app for the full list, but my faves include:

• 35g Dorset Cereals Simply Delicious Muesli
• 30g Kelloggs All-Bran Red Berry Crunch
• 35g Kelloggs All-Bran Sultana Bran
• 35g Sainsburys Puffed Wheat
• 35g Nestle Shreddies
• 30g Weetabix Chocolate Spoonsize (crushed)

… and 12g of marshmallows are just 2 syns on the Slimming World plan.

The post How To Make Your Own Cereal Bars – using up cereal leftovers appeared first on One Busy WAHM.

You know what I love about eggs? Apart from the fact they are utterly delicious… they are the ultimate FAST food and so versatile!

Take my scrambled eggs with sausage and thyme for example. Perfect for breakfast, but great for lunch boxes or a light supper, too. Wrap a little baking paper round and you’ve got a great snack on-the-go!

Scrambled Eggs With Sausage & Thyme

Ingredients
(Per person)

• 2 ‘Happy Co’ eggs
• Splash of milk
• 2 sausages, cooked & sliced (I used Chicken Italia sausages)
• 2 chesnut musrooms, sliced
• 4 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 5 sprigs of thyme, leaves stripped from stalks
• Salt and pepper
• Tsp olive oil
• 1 wholemeal tortilla wrap

Method

• In a small frying pan, heat your olive oil and part-cook your mushrooms until soft and lightly coloured
• Add the tomatoes and sausages to warm through
• In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, milk, seasoning and thyme and pour into pan
• Allow to sit for just a moment until the base begins to set
• Using a wooden spoon, gently stir the egg mix to scramble
• Fold a tortilla wrap in half and in half again, and serve your scramble in a tortilla cone

Tell me, what is your favourite scrambled egg combination?

xoxo Natalie

This post was brought to you in association with The Happy Egg Co. #happyeggtastemakers

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Sometimes, I just want something sweet to eat.

Not hungry, not bored – I just want to eat sweet stuff. Do you get that way, too?

These sweets are a fun way to kick that sweet craving whilst staying on my Slimming World plan. And because they’re only 2 syns for the whole lot, you can scoff away and not feel guilty about it!

Slimming World Jelly Chocs

Ingredients

• 2 sachets of gelatine
• 1/4 pt boiling water
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 3 heaped tablespoons on Muller Light yoghurt (I used After Dinner Mint)
• 2 tablespoons of sweetener

Method

• Empty your sachets of gelatine into a bowl and dissolve using the most of the hot water. (Save just a splash).
• In a small cup or bowl, dissolve the cocoa powder with the leftover splash of hot water and whisk until blended and no lumps remain
• Add your cocoa paste, Muller Light and sweetener to the dissolved gelatine and stir until combined
• Spoon into a silicon mould and refrigerate until set

Tip: If you like your sweets more chewy, then simply add an extra sachet of gelatine to the mix. 

Why not experiment with the flavours and have some fun! I bet a raspberry Muller Light would taste great too, and maybe add a drop of flavour essence for a little extra ‘punch!’

Slimming World Info:

If you’re following the Slimming World Extra Easy plan, you can enjoy ALL of these sweets for just 6 syns.

The cocoa powder is just 2.5 syns per level tablespoon. Sweetener is 1/2 syn per tbsp. All other ingredients are free. Source: SW app.

These would be great to take to the cinema. You know where it’s so easy to mindlessly munch for 2 hours and then forget everything that passed your lips. No? Maybe that’s just me!

xoxo Natalie

The post Slimming World Sweets: Jelly Chocolates appeared first on One Busy WAHM.

It’s Guy Fawkes Night / Bonfire Night / Firework Night tomorrow.

Whatever you call it, it’s the wonderfully British celebration (commemoration?) of King James I surviving Guy Fawkes’ gunpowder plot to assassinate the King and bring down the Houses of Parliament – foiled only by his arrest whilst he guarded the explosives. How crazy is that?!

As with any celebration, there is always food. Hot dogs seemingly mandatory, with warming jacket potatoes and mugs of steaming hot chocolate to accompany whilst we watch bonfires burn and fireworks light up the smoke-filled sky.

I like to try and sneak in some extra fruit and veggies into my kiddos diet, and this year I’ve made these fun Firecracker Sparklers with popping candy to enjoy!

Check them out…

Red, white and blueberry: Firecracker Sparklers

Ingredients:
(Makes 12-15)

• 1 small punnet of blueberries
• White chocolate
• 1 pack of popping candy
• Teaspoon of red sprinkles
• Small wooden skewers

How To:

• Begin by threading 7 or 8 blueberries onto each of your skewers.
• Gently melt your white chocolate in a pan or in the microwave and spoon into the corner of a food-grade plastic baggie.
• Snip the tiniest amount off the corner of your bag and pipe in a wiggly line onto your blueberries.
• Whilst still soft, sprinkle over your popping candy and red sprinkles and place in the fridge to set.
• Enjoy!

Remember, remember the 5th of November,
the gunpowder, treason and plot;
I see of no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
‘Twas his intent.
To blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below.
Poor old England to overthrow.

 

If you’re following the Slimming World plan:

Blueberries are a SuperFree food // 25g of chocolate is 6.5 syns // popping candy is 5.5 syns per 25g // sprinkles are 1 syn per 1 level tsp.

Depending how generous you are with your toppings, these work out around 2 syns per 3 sparklers

Do you celebrate Bonfire Night (or whatever you call it)?

Tell me what you get up to with your family!

xoxo Natalie

The post Red, white & blueberry: Firecracker Sparklers! appeared first on One Busy WAHM.