Author: Maria Runs

Chocolate peanut pancakes with caramelised banana

So, on Saturday I decided to put back my weekend long run to Sunday. I was glad when there was no snow on Sunday morning, but not so happy to see the rain and drizzle. I had some porridge and pottered about (sort of delayed going out) but after a while I had to get out there and just do it!

For most of the run I really enjoyed it- I wore my tennis visor to keep the rain off my glasses, but by the end the rain was coming down harder and I was getting a bit cold. I wanted to go a bit faster today. For the past few weeks my long runs have been slow- I think last week I had no had a rest day for about 5 days or something, and before then I had the end of a cold so kept having to stop to wipe my nose. But on Sunday morning I was feeling good, and I know from doing my Sweatshop runs that I can run faster than I give myself credit for. There is an 8 mile loop that I do, and I was planning on doing that, but recently the last couple of miles of that loop have really dragged, but I didn’t want to find a new route as I enjoy most of it. So I ran out for just over 4 miles, then turned around and came back, adding a little bit on the end to make it up to 9 miles. I finished in 1.36, which is fast for me. Seeing that the 8 mile loop was taking me around 1.30-1.33, and I do 10 miles in about 1.50 usually.

As a bit of bribery (can you bribe yourself?) I had made up some pancake batter so I could have them for lunch when I got home.

For the batter I used:

20g peanut flour

20g wholegrain spelt flour

1 tsp baking powder

40g pumpkin puree

100ml soya milk (for some reason this batter needed more liquid than the last ones- I just add milk until it is a fairly thick batter, but pourable).

I mixed it up and left it in the fridge overnight, so it was easy and quick to cook.

For the banana I just used a banana, 1tsp coconut oil and probably a tbs coconut sugar (although butter/ brown sugar etc would work just as well).

When they were cooking I added on some chocolate chips (the yummy beyond dark ones I picked up on Saturday) as I fancied the peanut butter/ chocolate combo. I also sliced the banana and cooked it in a tsp coconut oil, and added a little coconut sugar to make it go a bit caramelised.

When I dished them up I sprinkled on a few more chocolate chips, added in a little bit of dark chocolate dreams, and sprinkled on a few honey salted peanuts (I fancied a bit of salt after my run, and the salt/sweet combo is very trendy at the moment).

The banana, chocolate and peanut butter combination was lovely, and perfect for a post run meal. Of course normal banana slices would be good (banana and nutella is a wonderful combination) but I wanted something warming, plus I think the cooked banana goes better with the peanut/ chocolate flavour somehow.

Now, the energy team at confused.com have found out that the pancake is one of the cost effective meals you can make, as it is so quick to cook. They have a competition for the most creative pancake recipe, you can check it out here.

I think my favourite topping is cooked apple with mincemeat, but I only have one jar of the mincemeat now so am saving it for a bit.

When I was younger my Mum would always make “real” pancakes (you know the thin ones, and she could flip them in the air too!) and we would have savoury ones first, and then a sweet one for after (orange or lemon juice and sugar). My favourite savoury combination was cream cheese, marmite and cucumber. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it! I am tempted to have that at some point this week now…

What is your favourite pancake topping/ filling?

Ultimate gym bra and Alibi drinks

Hey everyone, I hope you are all having a lovely weekend. This morning I headed into London to meet up with a couple of friends- we ended up going for breakfast at Bill’s, (french toast and mint tea for me- delicious) and had a lovely catch up.

By the time I had got the train back, and walked home, it was mid-afternoon, and I was very undecided about what to do for the rest of the day. I want to do a long run this weekend, and the weather was drizzle, although tomorrow we might have snow (but probably rain), but then I run much better in the morning, plus french toast and no lunch is no running fuel. I also had a lot of work, and housework to be getting on with, and wanted to pop to the shops…. so many things to weigh up, and as Andy was out all day I only had to think of myself. In the end I had a snack and a drink and headed to the shops.

I was kindly sent a couple of these alibi drinks to try, and today I tried the citrus one which had a nice lime flavour.

In town I had a lovely chai tea latte, picked up the Healthy mag from Holland and Barrett (so excited for Laura, Phil and Alex!), and then bought a few goodies from Sainsbury’s.

I have Andy hooked on that peanut butter too, and Sainsbury’s seems to be the only place that stocks it. Plus two types of mint tea, rye bread (I had some for dinner with mashed avocado- so yummy), some nice looking trail mix bars, eggs ready for making Andy “proper” pancakes on Tuesday, pistachio chocolate (could not resist as it was on offer for £1) and some Beyond Dark chocolate drops.

Then I got on with my work for a couple of hours, and after dinner did my housework. At least I have tomorrow pretty clear so I can be flexible when I go on my run, and hopefully we will go to the cinema or something too.

On to a couple of reviews:

I was kindly sent an Ultimate Gym Bra to try.

I really like the shock absorber brand, so I was very pleased to be offered one. It is pretty similar to the shock absorber Run bra, which I always wear when running. It has 2 straps at the back, but the top one clips (like a bikini top) and you can do that up, slip the bra over your head, and then do up the main strap as usual. It feels pretty secure- I have worn it to body pump a couple of times and I thought it was fab- even during the “leaping lemons” as we call the jumps you do in the lunges track.  I have not tried it out running yet, as it is not billed as a running bra, but I think I will at some point for a short run. I found it more comfortable than the run bra, because the upper strap was slightly lower down, although it did mean that I could not undo the top strap by myself- I am not very flexible! Of course you could slip it off and then undo it, but that’s how I take the other one off.

I felt that it looked really flattering- I really liked the double layer style on the front. It also had a handy little clip for a wire, so if you were listening to an mp3 player while working out it would stop the wire getting all tangled. Plus I felt it was really supportive- I know that sometimes when you are at the gym you are not moving that much, but you still need the proper support- it drives me mad when I see ladies working out with normal bras.

You can see information about Shock Absorbers Ultimate Gym Bra product here, and the picture shows the little wire clip too, as well as the double strap at the back, and other bras in the sports bra category too.

Thumbs up from me!

I was also sent some Alibi drinks to try.

They are drinks made with sparking spring water, fruit juice, vitamins, minerals and herbal extracts, and they come in two flavours- pomegranate and citrus. They have 100% of several B vitamins, C, D, E and K. You can see a bit more information here, although I can’t find the list of ingredients on the website anywhere.

I had the pomegranate one after body pump this week, as it is meant to rehydrate (it contains a little potassium)- although I am not a massive fan of sparkling drinks, I liked it as it did not seem too fizzy, and also did not taste too sweet or artificial- you could taste the pomegranate juice.

I had the citrus one today, and the lime flavour was nice, although I think I preferred the pomegranate one. I don’t think I would have this on a regular basis, as I prefer something like coconut water to rehydrate me, but I think if I was out and a bit hot and bothered I would be tempted to buy one as they are quite refreshing.

Anyway, they were nice to try.

How has your weekend been so far? How are you at making decisions?

Winner!

Hey!

Just a quick post to announce the winner of the Hairy Dieters book and green tea:

The winner is Emily, who said “I would definitely like a healthified banoffee pie! Is there any greater pudding?“, (I think the Banoffee waffle from the waffle house takes some beating)- so Emily please email your address to me, and I will send them off to you. Congratulations!

And thanks to the team at confused.com for providing the prizes.

Nameless runner

Hey everyone,

I hope you all had a good week. I am still on track for my 4 runs this week- the run on Wednesday was super tough- they did a route which I did once in the summer, but I was not quite sure of it. The people at the front rocketed off, and after less than a mile I could only see one person ahead (the person from the shop was doing a run/walk with someone behind me)- anyway, I went wrong and accidentally took a short cut- ended up meeting them again, they left me again, and when I got back to the shop (after 3.5 miles) they were not even back, having added on even more to the route. I looked at my miles on the Garmin after, and I was not going any slower, so they must have all been faster. I was so tired after that!

Anyway, what I wanted to talk about was carrying ID with me. I mentioned this before, as I carry nothing with me- no phone (sometimes I do if I am going a long way but my phone is a bit bulky and annoying to carry, plus one less thing for a mugger to steal from me), no wallet or anything. I did at one point carry a pound coin in my pocket, but I keep forgetting to do that too (not that there are many phone boxes around anyway). I do sometimes worry about what would happen if I fell and hurt myself, as no-one would know who to contact etc. I always tell Andy where I am going, but I have a bad habit of running through worst case scenarios in my head (e.g. what if I get bitten by that dog and then I fall over into the road and a car runs me over…) so I finally got around to doing something about it.

I was looking at wristbands, but then it is another thing to remember, so I ordered a shoe tag from here. It is a little velcro pouch (apparently waterproof although as it is not water tight you could not submerge it) with an “I.D. Inside” label on it, so hopefully someone would notice it, but my name etc is not visible to people as I run past. Inside you just put a little card tag which you fill in with name, phone numbers, medical info etc. The pack I ordered had a spare one if any details change.

Then it just attached to my trainers- I just had to loop the tag through the laces and it’s done.

I went out on a run after work today (number 3 of the week)- of course I still let Andy know my route and when I leave/ when I should be back, but it is a little bit of extra precaution to take.

If you go out running/ cycling etc alone, do you carry anything like this with you? 

Perfect pancakes (again, and this time the real recipe)

Pancakes for a leisurely Sunday breakfast are becoming part of my weekend routine. I made the batter the night before again, to speed things up a bit, and they turned out so pretty again!

The black stuff is mincemeat, not burnt apples!

To make the batter, mix in a bowl:

20g peanut flour

20g wholegrain spelt flour

1tsp baking powder

40g pumpkin puree

60-70ml soya milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

I also added in some cinnamon, but I could not taste it in them, so next time I would leave that out.

Then, in the morning, I have it down to a fine art. I heat up the pan over a medium heat, and drop the first 3 pancakes on there (I like little ones- easier to flip), then heat a tsp coconut oil in a little milk pan. While that is melting, chop up an apple and add to the pan with the coconut oil. Sometimes I add a little coconut sugar here too if I fancy them to be more caramelised.

Flip the pancakes once little bubbles appear, and shake the apples in the pan a bit. Make a cup of tea (teapigs chocolate flake tea is my Sunday breakfast tea of choice currently).

Put the first lot of pancakes on the plate, put the second lot on to cook, and then add some mincemeat (I shall be so sad when my supply of the lovely Meridian stuff runs out) to the apple, just to heat it through.

Serve with a little pb, and enjoy.

After that relaxing start to the day, we headed into London. We had a little walk around Covent Garden, went for lunch at Pizza Express, and even managed a bit of time in the National Portrait Gallery, before going to see Let It Be. I was expecting more of a musical (you know, a bit of a tenuous story) but in fact it was basically Beatles song after Beatles song, being played and sung live. It was fantastic- very lively and good fun.

Then we popped to Starbucks for a drink before heading home. A lovely relaxing Sunday.

I mentioned on my facebook page that the Deep Freeze gel really impressed me, so I thought I would mention it here too. I really think that ice baths or cold showers really help after a long run/ hard effort, and in the summer I will often spray my legs with cold water at the end of a shower. Apparently they do it to racing horses? Anyway, the idea is that the cold water contracts the blood vessels, and then when you warm up again after, nutrients etc flood in and help with recovery.

Anyway, after the 11 miles on Saturday my knees were a bit stiff, and my hamstrings always get tight, so I put some on. On Sunday I felt tired (as tired as you would normally feel after a long run and a busy week I suppose) but my legs were not stiff at all. I am really impressed! So worth a try I would say, and more appealing than a cold shower in this weather. I must warn you, at first it just feels cool, but after a few minutes it does actually feel freezing- it did take me by surprise!

Jantastic is now into Febulous- we have to choose the length of the longest run each week as well as how many per week. I have started with 4 runs, as I managed this on 3 out of 4 weeks, even with the snow- it was having a heavy cold that put a stop to one of them. I think I put down to do 10 miles next week, then 13 (for Brighton) and then drop back to 6, as I am not sure what I will feel like doing for those last 2 weeks.

Oh, and don’t forget you can enter the giveaway on my last post– I am loving all the answers so far.

What is your idea of the perfect weekend breakfast? Actually, can I choose The Waffle House?