After a disastrous Christmas weight gain of 4.5 lbs I went into the Weight Watcher’s meeting today not feeling very optomistic. I was struggling with nibbling through out the day after having done that for 3 weeks.  When I looked down and saw the number on the scale I was shocked and thought I had  gained! The second number was too low so I thought I had gone the other way!  Needless to say there was much whooping and hollering, clapping and dancing!  So I’ve lost the xmas weight and an additional 1 lb off!  I’m now 1.5lbs from losing 2 stone! Can you believe it??!?!!?  Please please please let me get to that next week. It will be such a huge milestone for me.  I’m certain that I will meet it this month especially considering my mother will be visiting for 2 weeks… she’ll keep me on the straight and narrow!

I made this for dinner but of course I tweaked it for to make is low ProPoints and Weight Watcher’s friendly.  If I were to do anything different it would be to skip the cheese. I did use the Weight Watchers grated cheddar and it was only about 1 ProPoint per serving but I’m more of a rice person so I’d rather eat more rice.

73 ProPoints Total /9 ProPoints per serving

*these are staples so I haven’t priced them. I would say they wouldn’t add more than 20 p to the total cost and 0 ProPoints.

STEP 1: Add everything except the rice and cheese to the slow cooker. Give everything a good stir and make sure the chicken is covered in the mixture.

STEP 2: Secure the lid on your slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hrs.

STEP 3: Near the end of the cooking time, cook the two cups of rice according to the package directions.

STEP 4: Stir with a fork to shred the chicken (it should be super tender and will shred easily). Serve with the cooked rice

Like I said next time I make this in order to be a bit more Weight Watcher’s friendly I’d skip the cheese. I think I might also make some some sauteed cabbage instead of the rice if I need a really low ProPoint meal. This meal is super tasty  and you can make it as hot as you like. I used mild salsa and added some chili to it and about 1/2 way thru cooking I added the cayenne (wasn’t going to make it hot but Squidge was eating at a friends so no need to)

Please let me know if you’ve tried this and what you thought.

I found this recipe here.  I have tweaked it a bit but fundamentally it is still her recipe.  I love this website because she breaks things down by cost. This year I’m trying to be more thrifty so seeing how much something costs per serving is great.

Because I’m on social media and I tend to lurk I tend to notice things. One of the things I’ve seen an increase of is people complaining they don’t have any money when in reality they’re just trying to blag free stuff. Hell we’re all feeling the pinch and I’m not going to jump on you for bitching things are tough.  What I do want to jump on you for is your hypocrisy. If things are tough why upgrade to a new 3D HG plasma tv? If you’re having a hard time paying the bills why did you buy yourself a new car? You’re a stay at home mom you could have made do with your old one. If you’re hard up for money why aren’t you shopping at Tesco/Asda and other low cost retailers for your still growing children’s clothing?  Your new iPad? Not really something a person struggling to make ends meet will buy.

I guess I need some help understanding what their idea of BROKE is. My idea of broke is I don’t have enough money for petrol.  We’re eating spaghetti Bolognese for the 4 time this week because I got an offer on mince.  I find it insulting to those who have been made redundant, are on the verge of losing their house or have dealt with an unexpected financial situation when you’re moaning about how little cash you have then I see your kid flouncing around in a £100 coat.

Now I must say that we are doing OK financially.  This is just a general all purpose moan because I know people who are well and truly struggling in dignified silence. Moaning about struggling so that you can garner sympathy and blag free things from PRs is crass.

and we fought some dragons along the way.