Maria Runs - Maria Runs

Veg box cooking

I got a veg box a while back, and have been working my way through the contents.

Onions, peppers and courgettes are what I eat most of anyway, plus pears and clementines are perfect for this time of year. It was the leeks and kale that I was not sure what to do with. I got a lot of suggestions for how to eat the kale- thanks to everyone for those. Online Colleges have culinary classes if you love cooking with veggies.

I tried to make kale chips to go along with chickpea stew. Well, I think I burnt them. The crunch was ok, but I was not keen on the cabbage-y flavour.

Sorry for the blurry photo but you get the idea 🙂

Then I tried to make some kale pesto. I love other pesto that I made, so I thought it would be good. In went a cup of soaked almonds, a couple of handfuls of kale, a roasted romano pepper (also from the box) and some herbs I think. Verdict? Cabbage flavoured. Not keen!

But I did have success with the leeks! I could not decide what to make (I did not really fancy soup), so I think I made some kind of frittata/ bake maybe?

I cooked the leeks in a tsp pure spread.

Then I whizzed up a block of tofu, some natural yoghurt (because I had some left but you could easily leave it out), some red pesto, some sundried tomatoes and a few bits of goats cheese. Then I added in the leeks and a little caramelised onion chutney.

Then I put the mixture into muffin tins (was not sure whether to use cases- I didn’t but think in the future I would as they were hard to get out) and topped with a little more goats cheese.

I baked them for maybe 30 mins at 200C I think.

Turned out pretty well for something made up!

I enjoyed one (for quality control of course) with sweet potato, rocket and hummus, and it was really tasty. The leeks had a nice mild flavour which went well with the sharper goats cheese and sweet caramelised onions. They had the texture of maybe an omelette but without the eggy flavour (I don’t like eggy flavours!). I have frozen the other ones for a later date- I love a good freezer meal.

At least I know I do not like kale now- the flavour is too strong for me- I will stick to spinach/ rocket/ watercress etc for my greens! 🙂

Anyone else not a kale fan? I see it on a lot of blogs so a lot of people must like it but I have realised it is not for me!

WIAW- lunch out

Happy WIAW everyone and thanks Jenn! I was sad to miss it last week, but had already taken the photos, so I am a week behind. Plus this week I have mainly been eating hospital food which I would rather not think about. So this week I am looking at Wednesday from 2 weeks ago, which here in the UK was a strike day for a lot of public sector workers. I did not go on strike, so it was a weird day at work as not many classes were in. My lunchtime meeting had been cancelled weeks ago, as the one who runs them was on a course, so as Andy normally works from home that day we arranged to go out for lunch- how the other half live!

So- breakfast:

Porridge with cranberry and blueberry compote. Ahem. Tasty!

Snacks– unpictured Clif z bar for morning break, and an apple mid-afternoon.

Lunch:

We were going to go to the local Starbucks, but as it was such a beautiful day Andy improvised and by the time he picked me up he had been to get us sandwiches and hot drinks. We went to the park in St Albans. (Photos from my phone so not sure how well they will come out as it is a 2 year old normal phone!).

Andy got for me a falafel and hummus wrap and a soya chai latte! He helps to feed my addiction! It was so sunny but fairly cold so I kept my coat on!

It was so lovely to be sat outside in the sunshine and just having a chat instead of tidying, marking, setting up for the afternoon etc. I love the red cups too!

Andy took a photo of the Abbey for me too- it just looked wonderful in the sunshine. I wish I could go out for lunch every day- I just felt so relaxed and unstressed all day.

When I got home I went on a run.

Dinner:

Sweet potato fries, rocket, hummus and a leek tofu bake thing. Recipe to follow at some point.

Dessert:

A gingerbread pumpkin loaf thing (based on the vegan pumpkin spice cake recipe). Yum.

Do you ever have lunch out? Do you get a lunch break? Officially we do, but in reality it is crammed with things to get done that you can’t do whilst teaching!

I am not complaining though as I do enjoy the job, and it does have some big positive points. Some people look into online universities when they want to take culinary arts classes- sometimes I have a look at these (things like nutrition always interest me) as you could train while still working but I am never sure if I would have the time.

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.