Busy weekend

Hey all

This is a random heart-shaped potato that I dug up the other day! Plus it sort of fits with the wedding weekend?? Maybe ??

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend. I was off to a family wedding yesterday, which was great. I did not take any pictures (fail), but what was brilliant was that the colour scheme was so bright! The bride had a lovely deep green sash on her dress, and the groom had that colour (what are those hanky things called that go in the top pockets to match the ties?) tie etc, but then one bridesmaid was in bright red, one was in purple, and then each of the men in the party had a different colour tie etc- yellow, purple, red, blue- it looked fab! And at the reception each table had a different colour (we were on the red table)- so the flowers and favours all co-ordinated. It actually looked brilliant. Anyway, it was fun (although I did have a rather interesting man next to me who kept on and on about how his meal looked better than my veggie meal- I always find those situations awkward as I do not mind other people eating meat- I am not a militant type and I do not lecture people, but I also think that some people can be very insulting!) although it was a late night!

Today we went out for breakfast, and then to a family garden party to continue the celebrations. I am home now for a little bit, to unpack,and then repack (ahem and read/write blogs as I eat my lunch/dinner) as I am off for a girly trip to Bristol for a couple of days!

So not much blogging will be going on still! Anyway it is Sunday so time for the weekly review;

Monday- faster 5.8 miles.2 and a hlaf hours of weeding at the allotment.

Tuesday- 3 hours digging, aerobics.

Wednesday- audiofuel run before breakfast. Small amount of easy weeding.

Thursday- Yoga in the morning, body pump in the evening.

Friday- 10 mile run.

Saturday- Yoga before breakfast.

Sunday- rest.

I am planning on having a run tomorrow morning before we leave, but the only exercise will be shopping over the next couple of days! Then it will be time for my magic mile for marathon talk! Not holding out much hope but participation counts for more than a good time! And it is all about the taking part, yes?  🙂

Byeeeee

Holidays are busier than work days!

Sort of!

I somehow thought that I had loads of free time, but in fact I have been super busy these last few days. Wednesday I went out and did my Audiofuel run before breakfast, as I had loads to do. This was good, but hard work- probably a little further than I normally would run before any food. Plus it was warm, but I did take water with me.

Then it was a busy day of going into work, a quick rush to the shops (not to put a downer on it, but I need to find something to wear to Discovery Cove- swim shopping is what I dread the most) and then cheering myself up at the allotment!

See this bed at the bottom? Well it goes the whole length of the allotment and that was what I spent a lot of the 3 hours digging up! And that pile of rubbish is what the lady left behind- after clearing 8 tubs of the stuff I dug up I could not be bothered to move her stuff. Plus I was a bit worried that there might be a frog or a hedgehog living in it.

This is it from the other side- I was not going to attempt digging up the potatoes (they cover about 1/3 of it I think) and apparently the lady is coming this weekend to take away her shed and dig up the potatoes. This picture makes it look like there is loads to do, but honestly it is just the potatoes now!

Thursday I did some yoga before breakfast (yoga for weightloss- I downloaded a few other ones which looked good, and at my level as this was a beginners one). Then I had some friends over. I was pretty pleased (food related) as we all bring something, and tend to snack and chat- often I get tempted by the crisps, nuts, cakes etc. But this time I had a Food Doctor pitta, some crudites, half of a berry crumble bar, and a lot of watermelon.

Watermelon just looks so refreshing 🙂 Love it!

Then it was body pump time, and actually I was really pleased. We always do a stretch at the end (for the glutes I think)- you lay on your back with one leg up in the air, then you cross that leg over the other one, reach through and hold on to the other leg. Not sure if I have explained it? Anyway, I have always struggled with this, being inflexible,and have always had to hold my leg first, then hook the other leg over the top, but the last couple of weeks I have managed to do it properly, and I am wondering if the yoga is actually making a little difference. It will be a long time til I can put my forehead on my knee though!

Anyway, I was hungry after that, so I went for a Moma porridge pot, as I have been sent a few Moma products to try and I could not wait for breakfast!

Verdict? Delicious. It is ready made bircher muesli- this one is made with yoghurt, apple juice, oats, apples, peaches, agave nectar, rice starch and lemon juice. It was lovely and very filling. Yum.

Today I had another pot for breakfast;

This one was a blueberry one. Then I was off for a 10 mile run (I have a family wedding this weekend so would not be able to go out tomorrow or Sunday morning)- this was hard as my legs were getting stiff from body pump last night (I also drank a lot of water before I left so I had to stop at the toilets in the park!). It took me longer than last time, 1hr50 something, but with the stop that is not too bad.

After a snack and a shower I was off to meet a friend for lunch- we went to Starbucks and I was excited to see they sell their chai teabags!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woo hoo!!!! I mean, perhaps they have for ages, but I have not looked/ noticed them before. After resisting ordering Teapigs for ages, I am yet again adding to my tea collection.

Then I was off for a haircut (plus buying a dress for the wedding tomorrow- last minute much?).

So there we go. Some exercise, some socialising, and some de-stressing.

So nice weekend plans? The wedding will be keeping us busy as we have a family lunch on Sunday too. Hope you all have a good one.

Laters dudes 🙂

How to make peanut butter fudge

Plus some other recipes too.

Yes! I am very excited because I made some pb fudge. I was searching the internet, but all the pb fudge recipes either used icing sugar, or were no-cook versions which never seem as good to me. So in the end I decided to half freestyle it- based on the Rachel Allen fudge recipe that always works so well, I changed it up a bit.

Before you begin I always think preparation is the key. So have ready a pan lined with baking paper (I use a brownie pan, and I do not use any extra greasing or anything), have your whisk ready, have a saucer with water if you are not using a sugar thermometer, and also chop your chocolate if using. Then you can get on with making some delicious fudge.

So, first in a pan gently heat 100g butter (this is the only recipe I actually use butter, normally I use pure spread but I am never sure about using it when you need the chemical reactions), 450g brown sugar and a tin of light condensed milk.

Let it bubble away (stir regularly) until it gets to the soft ball stage. I use a sugar thermometer, which has it marked on there, but you can do the test yourself.

Then turn off the heat and whisk away. (Taking this photo was very hard!)

When it thickens and you can see the trails left by the whisk, add a tsp vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter.

Whisk a little more,

See how thick it is now? That is the look you want, where you can see the trails left by the whisk.

Pour half into the pan (optional, if you want chocolate in it) then sprinkle with chopped chocolate.

Then pour the rest over the top (the chocolate will start to melt very quickly, but that is good!).

It will look very messy! So flatten it down. I love this part- basically bash it really hard until it goes smooth!

Then leave for a while to cool. I generally put it in the fridge for a bit, but then take it out before slicing, otherwise it will be very hard to cut.

I cannot slice evenly ever!

Final step- try not to eat it all at once!

OK, onto other recipes. I was very taken by the look of chocolate-covered Katie’s berry crumble bars, and better still, she had asked for someone to try out the recipe with coconut oil. I was only too happy to oblige. I had some strawberries that needed eating, so I went for strawberry coconut crumble bars. I followed her recipe (look here) only I used coconut oil (melted in the microwave first), and arrowroot instead of cornflour. Plus I heated up the strawberries in a pan first to thicken them up, as per the instructions on the arrowroot box.

Then I layered it up in a dish (I used coconut oil to grease the pan too).

Then after it was baked:

I have to say that it smells amazing, and I was worried about getting them out of the dish, but they came out perfectly!

Wow, look at that crumble bar. Seriously, it is amazing! I had one after my dinner and it was amazing. Katie- the coconut oil works perfectly in the crumble mix too! 🙂

After seeing on Lucy’s blog some lovely looking sweet potato burgers, I decided to give them a go. Well, a variation. The original recipe is on choosing raw, but I did not have edamame beans, or any quinoa flakes, or onions, so mine are a bit different.

So anyway, my recipe is here:

1 large sweet potato, cooked (in the microwave) and peeled.

1 drained tin of kidney beans

15g quinoa flour (makes them gluten free! How exciting!)

Tbs ground flax

Juice of one lime

Chilli powder (1 tsp)

Ground ginger (1tsp)

Put it all in a food processor (or you could mash by hand). Add water if needed. Squash it into 4 patties.

Bake in the oven for about 30 mins, turning over half way.

Enjoy 🙂

I enjoyed 2 with some rocket salad and a corn on the cob, so summery. And bonus, I have 2 more in the freezer for another day.

Gosh that is enough for today I think!

So, foodie questions: Fave fudge flavour (for some inspiration), Fave bean burger recipe, and which fruits do you love most in a crumble?

WIAW newbie!

Hello all! This is my first ever WIAW 🙂

(And due to holidays etc will not be another one for a few weeks oops!).

After reading the rules I realised that I could choose any day, but just have it ready to post on Wednesday. So I chose Tuesday, and was diligently snapping away at home!

Breakfast– Chopped jazz apple, 50g Rude Health Early Bird Crispy Muesli, Milk.

Snack– Some dried mango (that Forest Feast stuff is lovely) and then a smoothie/ fake ice cream bowl- one small frozen banana whizzed with Kara coconut milk and cocoa powder.

Plus some end-of-term chocolates (pre-digging energy).

Then I headed to the allotment and ended up doing 3 hours of digging! I forgot to wear my watch- no wonder I was hungry when I got home! I was annoyed actually as I forgot to take the camera today, and as I took a proper fork (and not just the hand trowel from Monday) I actually dug up a load of massive plants. Ah well, maybe next time I will take a pic.

Lunch– some of the quinoa salad I made yesterday, with some wheatgrass powder stirred in (after the spirulina mistake I was nervous to open this, but I think it smelled a bit like tea) and topped with Righteous raspberry basil dressing. Yum.

Plus a pear and a rude health oaty thin covered with Sainsbury’s choc chip pb. I was very hungry after all that digging I can tell you!  A bulldozer might have been an easier option!

Afternoon snack– some Cosy Earl Grey tea, and a Waitrose nut bar (to give me me energy for aerobics).

Dinner– pasta with pesto, roasted courgette and pepper, and then I sprinkled it with some cheese.

Dessert; A chai bite, grapes and cherries. I am loving cherries so much at the moment!

Plus some mint tea, which I did not photograph.

Gosh, taking photos of all of that makes me think that was a lot of food! At least I got in a lot of fruits and veggies haha! Maybe not very much protein for today though- it was a carb-tastic day but then 3 hours of digging plus aerobics means you need carbs I think!

OK, well that was my first WIAW. I think the best thing for me was that breakfast, as it is such a summery combination. Best thing you ate today?

Seven Links

Afternoon all

So every now and then in blogworld it seems that little quizzes and things get sent around. Yesterday Sarah tagged me to choose 7 links to previous posts of mine, so here goes.

First up, THE RULES
Blogger is nominated to take part
Blogger publishes his/her 7 links on his/her blog – 1 link for each category.
Blogger nominates up to 5 more bloggers to take part.
These bloggers publish their 7 links and nominate another 5 more bloggers
And so it goes on!

Now, on to my posts.

Most Beautiful Post;

Dreaming of holidays.

I love holidays so much, and just looking at photos with blue skies or blue water lifts my mood. Andy always takes fab pictures anyway, so this is kind of cheating as they are his photos, but they were our holidays! (I took the “beautiful” to be literal, as opposed to something about self worth, that kind of beautiful).

Most Popular Post;

My marathon recap post. This showed a massive spike in views- I love seeing how other people get on with their races too.

Most Controversial Post:

It is a toss up between my post about managing weight, or how to run faster (which I posted really recently). Sorry, can’t choose which one! I don’t tend to post controversial things really, maybe I should start?

Most Helpful post:

I like this one– it shows you how to make easy peasy cinnamon raisin bread.

Surprise Success;

My post about me being a hoarder seemed to prompt a lot of discussion!

Not enough attention;

I did a post in the winter about staying safe when running in the winter evenings. Back then I had less readers, so I suppose that is why. So I am putting it out there again.

Most Proud:

I am most proud of my marathon- that was my biggest achievement to date, and something that even last year I never thought would be possible. So my little note to say I had done it, before I wrote and posted the big recap! 🙂

That was fun having a little look back over my blog posts, although my memory is terrible so most of these are very recent posts!

Right, now I need to nominate 5 bloggers, which is always the hard part. Especially as I bet a lot of you have been nominated already. Also, if you do want to do it, then comment on this one and consider yourself tagged 🙂

So, I nominate

Rose @ The Rose Runner

Jessica @ Almost Over Now

Eleanor @ Eating Like a Horse

Lauren @ Powered by Peanut Butter

Rachel @ Rachel’s Delicious Journey

But seriously, if you want to do this then go ahead! I found it fun to look through my old posts 🙂