Hey
How is Saturday here already? I cannot believe that the marathon was a whole week away! Strange.
Anyway, I have been on half term, so have had more time to potter about! I went to get my hair cut the other day and sadly the bookshop next door was closing down- it did mean everything was super cheap so I picked up a couple of bargains. The Raw book has loads of recipes in it, and the Food Doctor book has a little bit of info about keeping blood sugar levels stable and then a lot of recipes too.
Exciting! I was off to a BBQ on Friday so I decided to use my food processor (still a novelty) and make some pesto for a salad (a recipe from the raw book). I had to soak the almonds overnight, and then blitz them with tomato, olive oil and basil leaves.
I cooked some quinoa and roasted some veggies and then mixed it all up.
It went down pretty well- a couple of my friends were brave to try it and they both liked it too!
I have a lot of the pesto left over, and apparently it will keep for a week if you seal it with more olive oil.
I had some today on some rye bread for lunch and it was delicious 🙂
I am looking forward to having this for lunch this week yum 🙂
OK, onto the mistake.
I was most excited when I went to the Galleria (shopping centre) to see that the Julian Graves is now a Holland and Barrett! And it has buy one get one half price on everything (permanently according to the member of staff I spoke to), so I got a few things I had had my eye on for ages.
Wheatgrass and Spirulina to add to smoothies and stuff (getting a bit carried away with the old green smoothie possibly) and some flavoured rice milk. I have read a few times that those things are good for smoothies- the Spirulina is about 50% protein, plus lots of other vitamins, so seemed a good idea to give foods a little boost. I liked the plain rice milk but those flavours sounded so good I had decided already I would try them if they were on offer.
Well, I was hot and tired when I got home, and so I decided to make a smoothie- 1/2 frozen banana, cherries, the nutty milk and 1 tsp (yes, teaspoon) of spirulina.
It was a very very dark colour indeed. And it was so salty, and smelled sort of fishy. I got a bit paranoid and had to read and re-read the packet- yes it was vegetarian and vegan, no it did not contain fish or fish oils or anything. Anyway, I could not finish it and spent the rest of the day feeling like I had swallowed seawater. I did eat quite a bit of milk chocolate, but that did not take the taste away. So, any ideas on how to disguise it will be gratefully received!
The rice milk was lovely (I tried some on it’s own, also in an attempt to get the taste of the sea out of my mouth), but then I also had it in porridge and found it too sweet.
I also got a bargain when shopping! Hooray that Whitards were having some kind of crazy 3 for 2 deal, with a load of stuff also 25% off.
Tea pyramid! I got some Chai, Spice Imperial (black tea with orange and spices), Mango black tea and vanilla black tea. Plus some freebies- all for £7! Wow!
As for exercise, yesterday I did some yoga before breakfast (I am still rubbish at it, but I can see that it will help build strength too), and then had a little walk.
Today I went into London to meet some friends (I managed to get very lost outside Kings Cross Station- they are doing loads of building work and I came out of a different exit and walked for about 15 mins in totally the wrong direction before I rang Andy and got re-directed!)- I also walked back from the station and it was so hot outside- by the time I got home I was tired! Anyway, I was thinking of having a run this afternoon, but I run worse in the afternoon anyway, and it is warm, so I am going to go out tomorrow after breakfast. Fingers crossed. Anyway, with all the walking today my legs feel fine- the tightness in my ankles/ calves/ shins/ whatever it was has completely gone, so I am thinking it will be OK tomorrow.
I am also getting a bit obsessed with tahini! This was my lunch from the other day- some roasted veggies (the ones that did not go in the BBQ salad) and tahini on rye bread. Sooooo good 🙂
So, any ideas on how to disguise the salty fishy taste?
And have you ever bought something you had seen (on TV/ adverts/ blogs etc) and regretted it right away?
I must learn by my own mistakes I suppose!
You are a master shopper lol! I am so jealous of all the deals you’ve found!
Also: You casually mentioning Kings Cross Station makes me want to move to the UK. I am a total Harry Potter nerd and would die of bliss to be able to say “I’m going to Kings Cross!” every day. haha
Oh wow, thanks for that info about the new H&B in the Galleria, how exciting (yeah I’m sad enough to find that exciting!) I’ll definitely have to take a walk there tomorrow. Any shop that does permanent buy one get one half price sounds good to me! If it’s any consolation I also find kings cross station confusing at the moment, they keep doing renovations and it’s easy to walk round in circles and get lost! Oh and your roast veggies & rye bread lunch looks amazing, love me some roasted veg 🙂
Unfortunately the main product that I’ve wasted money on has also been spirulina. I absolutely cannot stand it, nor understand how anyone can drink something that contains it. To me it tastes bitter and…well, something’s ‘off’ about it that’s practically gag-inducing. Nothing I’ve ever done has disguised the taste (including dumping literally half a tin of cocoa powder in with it) so sadly I had to throw mine out. I thought it was just me, so it’s good to know I’m not alone. I used 1/2 a teaspoon!
I’d much rather eat your raw vegan pesto! And tahini on rye bread is indeed a lovely combination…although I’d need two more slices.
xxx
Tahini is sooo good! Have you tried it with honey?
Hello, thank you for stopping by my blog. Major congrats on the marathon! I got goosebumps reading your recap. The raw pesto looks amazing, I love pesto, I could (do) eat it out of the jar.
Holland and Barretts always have mega good deals, I usually wait to stock up. A few months ago they had buy one get one for a penny which was pretty awesome! I haven’t tried spirulina, maybe it could work with a more flavoured milk like chocolate.
Is spirulina the bright green powder made from grass? I bought some of that once. Used it twice. Threw it away. Maybe its an acquired taste but I found it over powering.
With the post marathon running just take it easy. On the face of it you feel fine and will still be on a bit of a high – that makes it easy to get carried away in doing more than you should. Two rules of thumb I’d suggest would be to remember that the deep tissue damage will take up to a month to go and, as a result, after a first week off just very slowly increase mileage and stay away from hills or faster workouts.
Thanks for that- I will remember that (and also pass the info to Andy who is being a bit more gung ho about the recovery).
Spirulina is some kind of seaweed- hence the salty taste I think!
Sable- that makes me laugh! The grass is always greener anyway!
Bronagh- I found it exciting too, don’t worry!
Jessica- yeah the pesto is lovely 🙂 And snap with the spirulina- never again I think!
Shaman- no I have not tried it with honey but I bet it would be amazing- I used to love those sesame honey snap bar things.
Leigh- thanks for coming this way 🙂
I think its that brand, I bought exactly the same stuff as it was cheaper than the small jar I had bought before. This one has a much more pronounced taste – and affect on colour. I think it may be more concentrated that what I’ve had before too. I’m going to just add it in tiny portions until I’ve used it all up then go back to my regular brand. Shame you’ve had such a bad experience with it!
there are so many things I want to buy online but never do 🙁 haha I guess I would be regretting them. Your smoothie looks sooo good btw!
I am a total tahini addict! I’ll eat it with pretty much anything, though in porridge or with dark chocolate are my two favourites.
I have to say I’ve never been tempted to give wheatgrass or spirulina a go. I’ve read enough about their nasty taste to put me off, and I’m rather dubious about these so called super foods anyway, especially for the price they come at! I hope you have some luck finding a use for them though.
Jealous of those cookbooks!
I remember accepting a free-sample freshly-pressed wheatgrass shot (just straight green sludge in a shot glass) in a health food shop once… I nearly spewed right there and then (sorry TMI!). Had to have a free sample chocolate to take the taste away ;-).
I also had a shopping fail yesterday with some “hemp sprouted bread”…. I’ve had other Sunnyvale sprouted breads before (only when they’re reduced!) and they’ve been really nice but this one was just rank and I had to chuck the whole loaf away. But I’d bought it half-price from the out-of-date section of the local healthfood shop so maybe it was off already. Seriously can’t understand why anyone would buy it if it was meant to taste like that – it smelled of fish, not nice :-P.
Hope you get on better with the wheatgrass powder and find some creative ways to use the spirulina….
x x x
Alison- I am not normally swayed by the health claims, but I read a bit and as you only needed a small amount it seemed like it would be alright. Ah well, tahini and chocolate, now that sounds good!
Laura- maybe it is that brand- do you feel a difference after eating it? I am not sure I would try another brand after this one though!
Britt- I need bigger cupboards for all the stuff I do buy!
Ursus-I always think sprouted bread looks nice but I have never tried that either. And oh no about the wheatgrass! I have not tried it yet! (But then I would have it in things, not on it’s own!)
🙂