Month: December 2011

I-heart I-herb and other shopping

I placed an order from i-herb a while back, for some Luna bars and a few other bits. The delivery was fab and I love browsing the products- I can see me ordering regularly! I was super excited when my next order arrived the other week:

I ordered myself some peanut flour, pumpkin spice tea (how amazing does it sound- rooibos tea with spices and vanilla pods, plus it comes in a pretty tin), some free bits of cococardio (saw this on Laura’s blog) and also some free pea protein which they added in- looks a bit scary in the green packet! What I love is that you can search on the website by weight (as well as price etc)- I had a little bit of weight left so I also got some ginger peach tea- the pack is only 20 teabags so did not weigh much. Plus I got a free pen- I love pens! Result.

The pumpkin spice tea is so yummy. A bit like Teapigs rooibos creme caramel tea, or Waitrose rooibos and vanilla, but a little more spiced and a little less sweet. It has been keeping me warm this week as it is naturally caffeine free too.

The ginger peach tea is also amazing- I treated myself to a cup before we went to see Hard Fi (who were brilliant- but it was the night before I went to hospital so it seems a distant memory!)- I loved the ginger peach tea I had at Sweet Tomatoes in the summer and it was similar. But it is black tea which again I am off because of the caffeine not agreeing with me right now. Anyway I have a coupon for $5 off your first order  (code QOC914) if you fancy it.

It looks very dark in that photo but I don’t brew it for very long!

Before Hard Fi I popped to Dunelm Mill and picked up a few nice festive bits too:

The gingerbread boxes are ones you have to build, but they are going to be the hampers for our parents. They also did cake trays with boxes (perfect for giving away Christmas cakes in), and I got myself a nice non-stick rolling pin for icing. And that big Kilner jar was only £1.99. Looking good for almond milk. It is hard to see the size but it is a one litre one so pretty big- seemed much cheaper than I had seen them before so get yourself to Dunelm 🙂

I also treated myself to some Starbucks mugs when they were half price. Pretty!

I think they are festive, but not so Christmassy that I could not use them the rest of the year 🙂

Oh, and also, I got myself a starbucks card here. They are meant for gifts I suppose, and you have to pay postage, but it seemed easier than trying to find them in store. Plus you get some exciting benefits- free soya milk, free shots (? I think that means flavours?), free syrup, free tall drink if you buy a bag of coffee beans, free tall drink if you buy a 12 pack of the VIA coffee (I got some for Andy as an early Christmas present and he is a bit addicted!). It will make up the postage in no time.

Thanks again for all the wishes- today I went to see my GP and had more luck (and more fuss as the hospital said they would fax the scan results through but didn’t so the poor doctor could not tell me much and ended up phoning me later once she had got hold of it)- the short version is that I need an emergency outpatient appointment as the cyst is quite big. She said I should not fly because also it could burst- scary stuff and no-one told me that before. So this Friday we were due to fly to NYC ( to see some shows and the fab Rockefeller tree), then train it to Phili and Washington before flying down to Orlando (Disney Christmas) and then some time on the gulf coast. But we have started cancelling it. Perhaps we should not try to go away at Christmas any more? On the plus side with all this time I will be able to make a gingerbread house! 🙂

So be warned- there will be no running for a while (even walking seems to make the pain worse at the moment) so that means an increase in general ramblings and probably baking too! 🙂 Watch out!

PS Accredited online colleges have nutrition classes if you have a passion for living healthfully.

Jam – tastic!

Hooray!

First of all thanks for all the wishes in my last post- I am off work all this week to hopefully get better. I am trying very hard not to get frustrated with the system (as I do love our NHS) but it seems getting hold of doctors is very hard work. After my scan Friday I was told someone would be up shortly to discuss the results. Well I waited all Friday and also all Saturday (the lovely nurses did keep chasing it up for me) before deciding to come home as I was feeling worse in hospital (those 6am wake-ups and noises in the night were not the most restful plus I know I bring it on myself by choosing to be vegetarian but the meal choices were starting to get a bit samey). I was told to call today, which I did- left several messages before eventually (late this afternoon) being told that the doctor I need is now on annual leave for 2 weeks, and that anyway I need to discuss the results with my GP and they will book the op. Well, no-one told me that before! Anyway, onto better things:

After the jam-tastrophe a few weeks ago I was a little apprehensive ( although it did make nice coulis…) about making some more jam. But I was determined to have jam in the little hampers for our parents, and a few other people. Plus you know you have to get right back on the saddle when you fall off! I really loved the sound of apple and mango jam (also from superjam ) but this time went for the sugar instead of the grape juice (all the recipes have the sugar in them if you want to sub it in).

So into the pan went 4 bramley apples and 2 large mangoes (the recipe said I might need more, but this came to 1kg fruit, half each) with a tsp lemon juice.

After a while (20 mins?  ) it went all mushy. I then turned on the oven to sterilise the jars.

Then in went the sugar (I used 1kg jam sugar with added pectin as I was taking no chances!).

It boiled for a while (I checked on the thermometer but also did the test of putting a bit of it on a cold saucer and checking that it wrinkled). It also bubbled and spat at me so I stood well back here- boiling sugar burns!

Then I poured it into the jars – even though I use a jam funnel this still makes a mess!

I tried the bit on the saucer and it is delicious- really sweet and tropical. Plus it has set really well. Phew!

Now I want to make some more! 🙂

What is your favourite jam flavour?

Secret Santa

Hello everyone.

This is what was waiting for me when I got home last night! How exciting!

Rewind- First, thanks for the comments (a few of you noticed that I did not post/comment this week)- on Tuesday I ended up in hospital. Skip the next bit if you get queasy. I thought it was another UTI as it was the same pains, but after being taken in an ambulance to another hospital, having loads of exams, waiting for scans (got the final scan on Friday) it turns out I have a big cyst  (about the size of an orange) which will need to be removed. I actually signed myself out last night as I was getting rather stir crazy waiting around to see the doctor, as they said it would not be an emergency op but a routine one in the new year sometime. I am hoping that I can go on a plane as we are meant to be going on holiday on Friday night. No use worrying about that now. Anyway, I won’t go on about it- I will know more when I ring the hospital tomorrow. Seems like the UTI’s this year were perhaps this cyst instead.

Onto exciting things- I unwrapped the pretty presents and the lovely card, to find out they were from the lovely Jemma:

How nice does Gingerbread spice tea sound???? It was very exciting upwrapping all the presents- some chocolate munchy seeds (looking forward to trying these), some mini luna bars (I love mini things), some packets of Justin’s nut butter (we can’t get this in the UK which makes it even more exciting!), a yummy looking Clif Mojo bar (Jemma must have known my clif bar obsession!) and a delicious looking Kashi granola bar (which again I have not seen in the UK and am really looking forward to trying).

Thanks Jemma– these pressies were perfect- tea and snack bars must make up half my diet haha! 🙂 And you know how much I love gingerbread men too! Just need to find space in my tea cupboard!!

Anyway these gifts were perfect- thanks so much to Laura for organising the secret santa swap- it has been fun. I noticed that Jess posted about the bits I sent her- it was fun putting that package together too. I will be spending some time over the next few days catching up and seeing what other lovely gifts everyone sent/ received.

Bye for now.

Best Brownie recipe ever!

I have tried other brownie recipes (normally when I get a new recipe book) but nothing matches up to these. They are chewy, gooey with a crispy top, have a really rich chocolate flavour and take hardly any time to make (and hardly any mess too- just a pan to clean- no bowls or anything).

They are based on a recipe from a really old recipe book called “Greatest Ever Cookies” which I got from one of those discount book shops. I can never find it on amazon or anything like that.

I use it as a basis for any brownie recipe- add in anything you fancy.

Ingredients:

100g butter/ Pure spread

175g caster sugar

30g dark brown soft sugar

120g dark chocolate

1 tbs golden syrup

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g plain flour

25g cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

Line a brownie pan with baking paper, and preheat the oven to 180C.

In a medium saucepan melt together the butter, chocolate, sugars and golden syrup. Leave to cool for a few minutes.

Weigh out the flour, cocoa and baking powder so it is ready (I put it in a cup).

Beat in the eggs and the extract (quickly as you do not want the eggs to scramble), then gently fold in the flour mixture.

If you are using any add- ins then add them in now.

Pour into the brownie pan and bake for 20-25 mins- they will have risen a tiny amount and the top will look shiny and a little cracked. They will be soft when you take them out of the oven, but they will firm up as they cool.

Leave them to cool completely before slicing, otherwise they are really hard to cut. Then try not to eat them all at once!

See how gooey they are in the middle- Heaven! 

Variations that I have tried:

Double chocolate– add some chocolate chips into the mix/ sprinkle chunks of chocolate over the mix in the pan.

Mint chocolate– swap the vanilla for peppermint extract, and / or add some chopped minty chocolate.

Chocolate cherry– soak some dried cherries in warm water (this plumps them up a bit) before adding to the mixture.

Ginger and orange chocolate– Use orange extract and add some chopped crystallised ginger, and 1/2 tsp ginger/cinnamon.

White chocolate and raspberry– Mix in some white chocolate chips and sprinkle with frozen crushed raspberries.

Chocolate pecan– mix in some chopped pecans.

Coconut chocolate– take out some of the mixture and mix with dessicated coconut, swap the vanilla for coconut extract, then pour the coconut mix on top of the normal mix.

I keep meaning to try out a vegan version with flax eggs instead, but have not had the courage yet. If anyone tries it out, let me know!

Which would be your favourite brownie flavour?

Also I got an email today saying that a shoe designer (Patrick Cox?) has launched a cupcake book, called Cox Cookies and Cake , and they are having a competition to win a signed copy of the book, here. If you fancy it 🙂

PS I would love it if you would “like” me on facebook- there is a link on my home-page now. Cheers 🙂

Festive cupcakes!

My day started with pumpkin baked oatmeal from the lovely CCK website- recipe here– while listening to Hard Fi as we are off to see them tomorrow- woo!

I used one packet of gingerbread porridge, more spices, a big dollop of pumpkin puree and 1/2 cup coconut milk and baked for 25 mins. It filled 2 ramekins, and I had them both. Yum! I will be having this again for a weekend breakfast 🙂

Then I was off to the course run by Sweet and Floral (for anyone vaguely local).

I did one before and this one was a Christmas cupcake one.

We made:

A present wrapped in a bow, and a snowman.

A bauble (with glitter!!!).

We used a knife to create stitching detail on the bow- how clever.

I think the snowman is my favourite- so cute.

We also made a cheeky elf and a Father Christmas.

All of them together. It was such a relaxing way to spend Sunday morning/ lunchtime. There were only 6 of us, so we all sat around a big table. Rolling out the icing, colouring some of it, cutting it out…. it is all just really enjoyable.

After that I went on a quick run (4 miles- trying to get up to the 60 mile challenge- I think I have done 35 miles now) in the freezing cold! Then it was a quick shower before dashing over to Andy’s parents.

Doing the course reminded me of when we used to do art at school or uni- I always found it so relaxing. I was always al-right at art, not brilliant but it is always something I used to love (even though I am not that good with the really fiddly bits)- something about the colours, cutting, just doing something physical which you don’t have to concentrate too hard on, but at the same time your mind cannot wander to other things (work!)- I just love it- the three hours whizzed by. I loved science lessons too (for the opposite reasons- so interesting and they were so logical) but art somehow is just so relaxing.

What was your favourite lesson/ subject at school?