This may seem like an off topic for a blog, but I thought it might be of interest to those of you on a post xmas diet.

3 years ago my wife and I decided to start dieting with Slimming World to loose some weight for our wedding: I lost 2 stones Emma lost 3 stones. Since the wedding we have loosely stuck to the dieting regime that we got into the habit of, but the weight as crept back up a little – half a stone for me and I value my life so wont tell you Emma’s! Although we are no-where near as heavy as we were before. Again we are going with Slimming World as it enables us to still eat some great meals without really having to calorie count. So below is a fantastic recipe for mixed bean soup that is in this month’s magazine (although slightly altered as we were short on some ingredients)

• 2 Carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 Onion, finely chopped
• Garlic, finely chopped
• 1 small carton of Passata
• Chicken Stock
• 1 large tin of mixed beans in tomato sauce
• Chopped Celery (I hate the stuff so didn’t use it)

Preparation is easy: chop the onion, carrot and garlic then put them in a saucepan with the passata and chicken stock (we made about 300ml of stock). If you want to add any herbs into the soup, throw them in now. Bring the mixture to the boil, cover and let it simmer for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes add in the mixed beans and sauce, cover and simmer for another 10 minutes then serve.

Dead easy to make and very nice, if there is any left over freeze it to be eaten another day.

If you’re on a post xmas diet have you found and great recipes?