Hearty soup that became a stew.

We made the ham hock soup on Sunday, and had this again today.  With the addition of a few more new potatoes and a couple of dumplings floating on the top, it was more of a stew than soup.  The flavours had also had time to develop - and boy were they intense.  I'm definitely going to make this one again, as it is now one of our firm favourites.  It's not only filling and tasty, but so low in calories too - around 300 calories (if that).

Tomorrow is a busy day, but we will be having either the lamb, with new potatoes and salad, or a jacket potato.

I don't know what is happening to our body shapes, but it seems that all of a sudden, I am in the next dress size down!!  I can't quite believe it, as it was the size I aspired to, and thought it would be a dream come true.  In need of a few more warm clothes, I set out on my search, and returned with a couple of items in my target size!  It seems that the scales are not clocking up this achievement as much as I would have thought.  That could be down to muscle increase?  Whatever.  It's not just me either - my partner is experiencing the same shrinkage.  We've experienced this before, with the scales lagging behind the reality.  I guess it all takes time, and we're not in a hurry after all.  We KNOW when we have had some really good days (without sneaking biscuits etc) and in the end we KNOW they all add up.