Author: Maria Runs

It’s easy being green

There is a green theme to this post in case you had not guessed.

Green section 1.

I tried the matcha tea from my beauty box parcel.

I am not a green tea fan at all- I do keep trying it in case I change my mind, but I find it bitter and weird tasting, not for me at all. I looked about on the internet and the consensus seemed to be that it went with creamy flavours, and lattes seemed to get thumbs up, so I went for that. I used Alpro soya light, as I think it froths up really well.

It was hard to get the powder out of the packet, especially as the pack contained 2 servings but it was all stuck to the sides, so I have no idea if I used the right amount. I heated the milk, added a little warm milk to the cup, frothed (love my aerolatte) and then added the rest of the milk. It frothed up so well it only just fitted in the cup!

It looks more grey than green in the photo, but it was bright green! It smelled more like normal black tea, and the taste was not bitter at all. I could not put my finger on the taste, and of course the soya milk tastes quite sweet, but it was nice enough. Not sure it gave me loads of energy (it is meant to give out a steady stream of caffeine instead of a big burst and then slump) but I got on with some baking and cleaning after that.

Lots of green froth left at the end!

It was quite hard to dissolve all the powder- I still had a few lumps in there. But I would have it again, now all I have to do is decide on how to have the second half of the packet.

Green section 2:

I made Laura’s fudgy avocado brownies.

I halved the recipe as I only had one avocado to use, and instead of walnuts (not my favourite) I added dried sour cherries and flaked almonds. I only cooked them for 30 minutes and they were pretty well done- I think my oven runs fairly hot.

I had one in the afternoon with a cup of tea and it was very good. You can’t taste the avocado (not that I thought I would be able to) but they are so rich and chocolatey. Of course, as Laura says, they are not exactly a health food, but compared to a brownie with white flour and plain sugar they measure up much better.

I am going to freeze the rest so I shall have a delicious brownie in stand by for when I fancy something sweet.

It has also persuaded me to try the chocolate avocado cup things I keep seeing on blogs- next time I have a ripe avocado anyway.

Have you tried something new recently? What shall I do with the other bit of matcha?

Coconut flour and how not to recover well

Ages ago I bought some coconut flour, but I just could not get on with it. I tried it in a few different recipes but it seemed to make things so dry and some of the cakes seemed to not cook.

Last week I used the last of my lovely Orgran Buckwheat pancake mix (sad face) so was looking to order some more, but Ocado don’t stock it. They popped up with a suggestion of Biona coconut flour, so I thought I would give it another go.

So after my 12 mile run on Sunday I gave them a go. I have been having a few dates before a run, and then some almonds and a nuun tab in water when I get back, which tides me over until after my shower.

The recipe on the box seemed a lot, so I halved it:

1 egg

1 tbs melted coconut oil

3 tbs milk

1 tbs agave (I used maple syrup)

1 tbs coconut flour

1/3 tps baking powder

Method:

Mix together the coconut oil, eggs, milk and maple syrup. Add the coconut flour and baking powder and mix until smooth. Heat some coconut oil in a pan and then cook them as small american style pancakes.

I was not sure when to flip them- they seemed to have a bit of a funny jelly-like texture.

I had them with a cooked apple and banana, a little chocolate pb and a sprinkling of coconut. Plus coconut water (from my treat box) and a tea.

After that the day didn’t quite go as planned (well for optimum recovery). We had taped the snowboard cross to watch as a treat after our run, but after that I didn’t want to sit around as I knew I would get stiff. So in the afternoon we drove and parked near town, walked in and went to Starbucks- my first iced chai latte of the year. We shared a cinnamon roll as we were both hungry again. Then after a bit more of a walk we visited both our parents- I had made Andy’s parents a cake (the same clementine cake I made last week) so we had a small slice of that with some tea after a little walk with them, but didn’t get home until about 7pm- we were ravenous as had missed lunch. Luckily we had a pizza and some salad in the fridge so we got it ready pretty quick. I think all the walking was good, but we should have thought through our timings a bit better!

The runger well and truly got me on Sunday! What do you normally do to help recover after a long run/ hard workout?

Jantastic week 6

I am sure I say this every week, but the time is flying by!

This week was not that easy for me to get my 100% score, but I managed it, just.

I made some little chocolate pb cups for Andy (we don’t do Valentine’s but he bought me some popchips tp celebrate half term)- they are not really a recipe just something to do- melt chocolate, spoon into cases, melt some chocolate and pb together and use as the filling= delicious.

Back to the running:

Monday was a rest day as I had run 11 miles on Sunday and wanted to make sure I was recovered. I also got home late from work, and although I actually felt OK I didn’t want to push anything too much, especially as I had run on the Saturday too.

Tuesday I went out after work- I didn’t think I would go too far but in the end did 4.1 miles.

Wednesday and Thursday were both rest days due to being at work both evenings, and by the time Friday appeared I was crawling towards the weekend so decided to just chill out and watch some of the Olympics with a cup of tea.

Saturday I went out for a run- our parkrun was cancelled due to the council not liking them using the off road route too much, but that suited me fine as I went out for a little run by myself. After all the crazy wind I decided to run by the allotments and saw that our shed has blown over again. I tried to lift it but could only get it about 6 inches off the ground. We shall have to go at some point together. Anyway, I told myself I would just have to go out and run 1 mile (the minimum for a Jantastic run) but I felt OK and in the end did 3.6 miles- half a mile more than a parkrun.

Then I mostly relaxed (and did a little work)- we walked up to Aldi later in the day for some washing bits, and I was very excited to see these:

Chocolate marzipan hearts! They sell them at Christmas (in a different box) but I have never seen them at any other time of year.

Sunday morning we were off on our longest run- 12 miles. I wanted to do it in under 2 hours as I have been trying to keep to a sub 10 minute mile pace for longer runs. Last week we had to add on some small loops to our usual route to get it up to 11 miles, so Andy had planned a different route that he used to run when we were marathon training. It was all new to me, which I am never sure if I like or not- ignorance can be bliss when I don’t realise a big hill is around the corner, but also it is harder to pace myself when I don’t know what is coming. Anyway, from the start I think I had decided it was a bit too much of a challenge, I was tired after such a busy week at work, I was regretting my Saturday run in case it had tired out my legs too much. At least the weather was beautiful and we saw plenty of spring flowers out- snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils all in bloom. I kept worrying that I would need to stop and walk too, but luckily I won that battle against my mind and kept going. There were some tough hills, both up and down, so all we kept saying to each other was that we hope Bath is flatter than this! Nearing home we weren’t quite close enough to 12 miles so we had to add on a small loop and then our front door was dead on 12, with a time of 1.59.50! Phew.

So, 3 runs out of 3 completed. 12 miles as my longest run (that was what I set for myself).

Next week won’t be as successful as I am resting today (I did some yoga first thing)- tomorrow I am hoping to get in a 5 mile run before a busy day, and then we are off to see Pompeii- I am not taking my running things with me so shall enjoy a lot of walking and sightseeing. At least I can play my joker.

What I am loving too are the motivational messages that appear when you log in to your Jantastic homepage- today it says “Even a little run is better than no run. Yes you can.” That was what got me out the door on Saturday and although during tough moments on Sunday I was wondering why I did it, actually I am very glad I did as I felt loads better for the rest of Saturday.

One day it just said “Love running“. Which is the most important statement of all. Of course when the weather is rubbish/ you are tired from work it can be hard to get out the door, and we can get a big bogged down with trying to get faster or run further, but actually the reason I run is because I love it, all the rest is the icing on the cake.

Treat Yo Self!

In the spirit of Parks and Rec (which if you don’t watch, then hunt it out as it is so funny), I would urge everyone to Treat Yo Self this weekend.

I won’t spoil it for you, but there is another very funny clip where Ben treats himself. Worth a google.

Anyway we don’t really celebrate valentine’s day, I think it is a bit cheesy and would rather celebrate days that belong to us, like our birthdays.  But this week has been tough at work, what with end of term assessments due, general end of term tiredness and two parents evenings. So after seeing Laura mention on her blog a box from Latest in Beauty- I ordered one for myself as it had some lovely treats in there including a little box of granola, some coconut water, a 30 day supply of multivitamins, a bounce ball (love those coconut ones) and a little sample of Teapigs matcha which I have always wanted to try. I also ordered a little set of shampoo and conditioner as they were on offer and will be great for travel.

It arrived yesterday, just in time for the weekend.

Last night I treated myself to some (Christmas) chocolates.

I needed the sugar to get me through to the end of the week! These are so good- a perfect mix of flavours with a mandarin one, brazil nut butter one, ginger and lime, almond praline and a cherry one. No yucky coffee/ weird strawberry ones that need avoiding so I don’t even need to read the “menu” I can just have a lucky dip! I had 3 and then today to celebrate 3 more when I got home.

So, what are you treating yourself to? What chocolates do you always avoid?

Have a lovely weekend <3

 

Bistrotea TeaPods- Your chance to win!

Hey peeps,

A while ago I was contacted by the folks at Bistrotea to see if I would like to sample their TeaPods, and also host a giveaway for my lovely readers. The TeaPods are very clever- you pop them in your cup and they infuse the water.

They sent me a couple to try- a really lovely herbal one (herbs n’ honey- the honey flavour really came through so great for me as I had a bit of a cold) which I enjoyed on Saturday afternoon:

And Green tea with ginger, which I had on Sunday.

Green tea is never my favourite no matter how many times I try it- this one was very gingery so good if you like a strong flavour.

Because of the way they are wrapped they would be great to pop in your bag- I always take herbal teabags to work and try to buy the individually wrapped ones as I would not want teabags loose in my bag.

They have a lovely flavour selection of 11 different blends- if I could choose any flavours I think I would go for Earl Grey (always a safe bet), black tea with apple and cinnamon (you can’t go wrong with cinnamon) and the red tea with vanilla and peach- I love peach tea.

Anyway, on to the competition. You can win  a one year’s supply of Bistrotea TeaPods- this is in fact over 365 TeaPods as they come in boxes of 32 (so 12 boxes = 384) which has a value of over £175.

In order to be in with a chance of winning, visit the website here and answer the question “How many blends of Bistrotea TeaPods are currently available?“. Please note that other blogs will link to the competition too (and check the website for the T&C’s). Good luck!

You can also get a 15% discount if you click on this link.

Good luck!