Author: Maria Runs

Iced tea time

Evening all

So while I was away I got into having iced tea quite a bit- when eating out it was more refreshing than hot tea! At one place they gave me a bottle of mint and honey tea (normally I was given brewed stuff) which was yummy, so I also bought a few ready made bottles when out and about. I tried a few different brands (I was really excited to find Tazo iced chai, but I didn’t like it, and I didn’t like the other Tazo one I tried- a mint one- they were sweetened with stevia and I think I do not like that taste as they tasted too sweet for me) but I was excited to try my own at home.

My first try was pretty good! I used Whitards black tea with mango- added an inch of hot water (to help release the flavour) and then topped up with cold. I think I left the teabag in a bit long though- next time I would make it weaker. It took ages to chill though! I added a couple of lemon slices to help the sweetness. It was good for a first try anyway. (Like my Stitch straw?). Alongside some Rude Health Multigrain thins it was the perfect after work snack. Yep, that is right, autumn term is here.

Yesterday after popping to work I went to the shops and could not resist this bargainous bag from accessorize. I wanted a bigger bag anyway to fit my diary in, and this one was only £8.40! Wow! Plus a cute gingerbread car air freshener that actually smells like gingerbread 🙂

To help me at work I also had a treat for in between meetings:

A Clif kids bar. These are yummy! More chewy than the normal Clif bars, and of course anything peanut butter flavoured must be good.

On Wednesday I felt bad (I still had a headache from the day before) and actually accidently fell back asleep in the morning, so I only had a little run before lunch (just under 4 miles) which again I had a walk a little. I was quite stiff again after that, so Thursday morning I did some yoga before breakfast.

This was a pear and a nectarine, with some soya yoghurt and rude health crispy muesli. Feeling better! I then popped to work and on my way home (as well as the bag, gosh I am jumping all over the place today) I got a new purchase! Any guesses????

Here is a clue:

Sabre Hummus!!!!! I like hummus sometimes when it is in a sandwich, but whenever I have bought it from a shop I find it a bit gritty and a bit garlicky. After reading that Ffion found it too smooth, I decided to try. I went for the piquant one which was topped with spicy roasted red peppers (but it is really not too spicy). I love it!!! 🙂  I was wanting to give up cheese for a bit after this holiday (mainly because I always feel in the USA I have too much cheese) but I love my red pepper and cream cheese sandwiches at lunch. Well I have found something even better! Andy got the sandwich thins free, and the pitta chips (which we never had in the end), so I had that with hummus and lettuce, and a red pepper to dip in more hummus. Hummus crazy! I had some more today at lunch (and some on top of my lunch salad!).

I also went to body pump last night. I was actually really really nervous about going, silly me. I did go lighter than usual for squats and lunges, as my legs were still stiff from my first runs back (although the yoga did help). At one point in the chest track I did think I was going to drop the bar, and my arms were so so tired today. Oh, and I had to go back to the old dumbells for the shoulders track. Plus I realised that I might miss it next week as I have a parent talk that evening- not sure if it is worth the stress to try and make it. Anyway, post body pump I wanted a snack.

Yep, that is what happens when you leave your cereal bars in that back of a car when it is 94F outside. It is (was?) a chocolate dipped coconut luna bar, and it was yummy- in fact I think the squashiness made it even tastier. And mint tea which does not look nice but was delish.

Right, I think that is quite enough. So, anyone out there a fan of iced tea? And do you like it sweetened or un-sweetened? I am in the unsweetened camp all the way. And if you make it, how do you make it at home? Do I really need the ice ?(you may have noticed although it was called iced tea, it only included tea and no actual ice in my recipe, hmm).   🙂

The Keys and more

I will try to keep these recaps as brief as possible!

After our flight to Miami and the longest immigration queues I have ever seen, we drove through some crazy storms to Key West.

We got to watch the sun set over the water,

while musicians played in the streets.

We visited the home of Ernest Hemingway, and a turtle hospital.

After a few days we drove up to Miami (stopping at the 7 mile bridge)- it was super hot!

We got to spot all the sights from one of my fave TV shows, Burn Notice (which is actually filmed in Miami, unlike Dexter which moved).

So many pretty buildings. I think if they were in the UK they would look tired and dated, but the bright colours and funky architecture works with the blue skies and laid back feel.

We are not ones for sunbathing so we walked up and down the beach. Within 30 mins of this photo it was chucking it down with rain- we were on the edge of a tropical storm.

Then after a few days in Miami (2 nights) we drove up to Orlando. First up we stayed near to Seaworld, and spent some days shopping, going to Seaworld (and Discovery Cove).

The dolphins at Seaworld have an underwater viewing thing which was very relaxing.

It was a super hot day so I was always trying to find the shade!

Good plan to visit the penguins- it is always icy cold in there!

Veggie food options at seaworld are still terrible- the only thing I found was a veggie wrap (literally, a wrap with carrots, lettuce and red cabbage, no spread, no hummus, nowt) which Andy and I shared for lunch, and also some massive chunks of pineapple 🙂

We also watched the Shamu show (Shamu is their name for the killer whales). I have been there before and sometimes the whales would not come out and so the show changed a lot. The trainers used to get in the water with them too, but I think someone was killed, so now they do not go in the water at all. But really seeing these impressive animals leap out of the water is the best bit, and there was a baby that was copying the older whales which was cute to see. It seemed less choreographed than before, which is probably a lot better for the animals.

Then we went to stay in a Disney hotel and had a few days there.

They always do amazing fireworks shows.

We also went to EPCOT (my fave park)- and Hollywood studios which was MGM but got re-named.It was hot (yet again, I was after the shade while Andy took a million photos).

Then it was farewell to Orlando and off to St Augustine.

We stayed in an amazing B&B, called AT Journeys End. The Innkeeper, Tim, cooked the breakfast for us and the other guests each morning, and as I had put I was vegetarian he had planned the meals around me. How amazing.

St Augustine has some beautiful buildings, and a lot of history to it. This was built as a hotel.

It also has a castle/ fort, and so we looked around that and even watched people fire a cannon into the water.

Look how fab it is, right by the water.

It was hot, so yet again I was finding some shade! I bought a bottle of water from the shop there and when the lady gave me my change she said “thank you for staying hydrated”. I love that!

More of the castle.

And some of the pretty old town area- lots of chocolate shops, ice cream shops, t-shirt shops but such pretty buildings.

This is Flagler college, and is another hotel. And I just noticed me in the picture haha! We did a guided tour of that too.

It was time to cool down, cue lunch in a cafe with a smoothie (and an umbrella!). Andy said I wasn’t smiling enough in this picture, so cue a rather “special” one next.

I think it is the lighting haha!

Then we drove to Savannah

Which was just beautiful, full of tree lined streets and squares.

And more

(Mercer House from the famous “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”. Which was not how I pictured it at all)

A beautiful fountain

A stunning church which was also totally amazing on the inside- stained glass windows etc

Leopolds Ice cream (because we all need ice cream to go alongside culture)

An impressive town hall

And a massive bridge

After that we went to Charleston, but we have not sorted out the photos from that yet. These pics were on Andy’s old camera, but he also got himself a new one (fancy SLR one- shouldn’t it be me, the blogger, who has one of those?) which has about 1500 photos (yeah, Andy takes a lot of photos) and we have not sorted them yet, surprisingly.  So they might emerge at some point.

So have you been to any of the places I visited? What is your favourite place to go on holiday to? And what photos do you like- people or places? We mainly go for the places (as you can see, out of all the photos I think there are maybe 10 with me in them!) but my parents always take photos of them, and also of random people like their waitress and stuff!

PS next post will hopefully be the foodie post 🙂

WIAW- first run back

So after just getting into this before my holiday, I have missed the last 3.

I was excited to join the party again! Thanks to Jenn as always.

So this is what I ate yesterday (as we can choose any day from the week).

Breakfast;

Porridge (oats, Kara coconut milk and raisins) in my Mighty Maple Jar (from the bloggie food swap). Delish.

Then I went on my first run since my holiday (about 5.7 miles I think) and I needed a snack when I got home!

Snack;

An alpro strawberry soya milk, and a cute clif mini bar! Seriously how cute is that??? I bought one box of them while we were away. I love mini things!

I was off for an afternoon with some of my friends, so I had half my lunch before I went (mainly because I was hungry and we always eat quite late as it is about an hours drive away and we chat!).

Apple, nectarine, 2 rude health multigrain thins (I love these more than the oaty thins I think) with White chocolate Wonderful (from my holiday- I could not wait to try it!!).

Our lunch consisted of a Food doctor pitta, some dips (taziki and hummus), crisps,  and peppers, cucumber and carrots.

(we all provide different bits- so this was what I was taking).

I did not eat any of the crisps, and only had about a tablespoon of the taziki in the end, but I was given a glass of diet pepsi. I have not had fizzy drinks for ages. When I was younger I never liked fizzy drinks, and I think as I got older I trained myself to like them (plus as I don’t drink alchohol it meant I could still have something when out with friends). But I have really gone off them, and I read an article about how something (phosphorus?) in them basically leaches the calcium from your bones which put me off further. I also used to get more headaches, and did wonder if they were to blame. Plus they contain artificial sweeteners, they cause your appetite to go up- so many bad points. I don’t think I have had any in at least a year.  Anyway, I had the glass as I thought that it would not hurt. We had a fab time catching up, playing games and wandering around the town, but by the time I left (which was about 8pm I think) I was getting a headache. I thought I was hungry, so when I got home I made a proper dinner. (I was thinking I would have a bagel or something, as it was gone 9pm, but then I thought that if I was going out for dinner I would eat that late, and I was hungry!)

So dinner;

I baked in the oven a courgette, some tomatoes, pepper, some quinoa that was already cooked and some basil tofu, which I sprinkled with balsamic vinegar. This was delish.

While that was cooking I baked some apples and blackberries (from my parents garden- they have grown loads this year) and had some with an alpro pot. It would have gone better with vanilla, but I only had chocolate ones.

When I woke up this morning I still had the headache- it was only a fuzzy one, not really bad, but I think it actually might have been down to the diet pepsi- next time I will have to make sure I drink water like I normally do.

So my question is- do you drink fizzy drinks (diet ones or regular ones)? And do you feel that they affect you in any way?

First run attempt

So today was my first attempt at a run since my holiday, which worked out at about 3 and a half weeks with no running at all.

I did not want to put any pressure on, as I realise that my legs would find it a shock, so I took my time over breakfast, and headed out much later than planned. I ran up to the lakes and around them, which was really enjoyable. I did have to stop and walk after mile 2 and mile 3, as my legs felt very stiff at that point, so I did some stretching and walked for a few minutes each time. While I was running my Nike+ was reading between 10.20-10.40 per mile, but by the time I got home I had done 5.7 miles in over an hour- can’t remember how many mins, but some of that was walking and a lot was stretching!

I feel this is quite positive really- last summer I did not have much of a break as we went away for less than 2 weeks I think, plus I was not running as far anyway. I remember the first year I started running, after my holiday I had to go down to a walk break every 5 mins or so, and it took me a while to get back up to 10k distance.  I also managed to run up the steep hill (I had decided that I would be allowed to walk it), and clearly it should not take as long to get back up to my normal longer distances (I was doing 10 miles for my long run before I went away).

But when I got home I felt so tired! I think it really shocked my system. It also meant I was running late to meet my friends, but luckily they didn’t mind.

Hope all you UK bloggers had fun at your meet up.

So question- how do you get back into things after a break from your routine?

Coconut brownies = making up for missed baking

Can you believe that I managed three weeks without any baking at all? Three whole weeks? Also I did not even have one brownie while I was on holiday! There were so many tasty looking baked goods on offer all the time, and we did share a few cookies (we made the mistake on one holiday to each have a carrot cake cookie, and neither of us could finish them- they look normal sized in the cabinet but they are so much bigger than normal) and share a few slices of pecan pie for dessert, and share some cups of ice cream (peanut butter ice cream- I will get it while I can, and also toasted coconut ice cream= amazing) but no brownies at all. On our last day we went to a bakery to get a sandwich for lunch, and they had coconut brownies in the cabinet which I thought sounded fab.

So I decided to attempt to make my own. Also I was desperate to use some of my new coconut essence.

So here is the recipe ;

First I toasted 50g coconut by putting it in the oven on a low heat (140C-ish)- altogether took about 10 mins but I checked and stirred regularly.

Then I preheated the oven to 180C.

In a pan I melted 100g pure spread, 100g dark chocolate, 175g xylitol (have not tried baking with this since I bought it), 1tbs brown rice syrup (but golden syrup would work), and 2tsp brown sugar. I kept the heat low and stirred to help it melt, then left it to cool.

In a cup I added 1 tsp coconut essence to 2 beaten eggs (from my Mum’s hens), and in another cup I measured out 100g wholegrain spelt flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder and 2 tbs cocoa powder.

Once the melted mixture had cooled, I stirred in the egg mixture, then added the flour mixture and stirred.

Then (this got messy) I spooned some of the batter into the empty flour cup (this just saves on washing up) and added the toasted coconut to it.

I poured the majority of the batter into a brownie pan.

Then I poured the mixture with the coconut on top, and then sprinkled with chocolate chips. I suppose you could sprinkle coconut on top, but I was worried it would burn in the oven so that is why I made a sort of coconut topping. Plus it is a bit more fancy than mixing it all the way through.

This went in the oven for 25 mins- it should still wobble a little when it comes out if you like a squidgy brownie.

For easy slicing, leave them to cool before you try to cut them.

I have also spent 3 weeks without running. I have never taken workout clothes on holiday (well unless we have gone away for an actual race)- often our hotels have had gyms, or there have been lovely running paths nearby, but for one I don’t want to use up the luggage allowance with all the extra gear (plus it would mean even more washing while on holiday). Also we keep pretty active and walk a lot, and I also think it is good to have a break. I was still getting little niggles from my hamstring every now and then, and also was sometimes starting to lose enthusiasm for a run, so I think a break means I get properly rested, and also feel rejuvenated and raring to go again.

My plan was for some yoga this morning before breakfast, but when I woke up I was feeling so dizzy- I get a sort of delayed motion sickness sometimes- when I travel I never feel bad, but often once we stop moving I feel like I am still tipping (especially when I do things like lean forward when eating, or bending down to pick something up) and it can take a few days to go away. I decided that being upside down was not such a good idea- it can wait one more day.  I was also so thirsty when I woke up, so I went for a delicious smoothie- frozen cherries, frozen banana, cocoa powder and Kara coconut milk, and topped it with a little pistachio and passion-fruit granola. I had managed quite a lot of fruit and veggies while I was away (often my dinner choice was the chicken salad without the chicken!) but I always crave fruits and veggies when I get home, plus this was nice and hydrating too.

We have been unpacking (and having a massive sort out of clothes and shoes and things to take to the charity bin), cleaning, sorting the garden and sorting out things for the tip. I had to find space for all my new purchases you see!

Trousers, jeans, 3 cardis (all the same but different colours- black, pink and turquoise) and a green knitted hoody thing all from Gap, 2 tops (on the left, one black and one blue with printed flowers on it) and the bright green track top from Old Navy, shoes from Skechers and a replacement tennis visor from Lululemon (which I had read about but never been in- I got a very cool bag instead of a carrier bag with all motivational quotes on it!) plus a cool Ron John (a surf shop) bag for life.  Also my Discovery Cove hoody but I realise I am wearing it right now so no photo (I am sure you will all cope 😉  ).You even get a close up of the tennis visor because I was so excited about it!

I had a lovely salad for lunch- spinach, raspberry dressing, tomatoes and apples (both from my parents garden), basil tofu and pistachios. Yum.

Plus some Rude Health multigrain things (which they kindly sent to me to try after I raved about the oaty thins) with the last of my maple pb (hm that did not last too long haha), chocolate coconut spread, and a delicious white nectarine. MMmmmmmmmmm.

We went to Andy’s parents for tea (hence the coconut brownies which were a success phew) and it was lovely to catch up with them.

So no exercise round up this week, but the plan is a run tomorrow in the morning, before I am off to a meet up with my girls in the afternoon. I am expecting that after a 3 week break I will find it hard going so I am not going to decide how far I go, just take it as it comes, and hopefully return to the normal routine during this week.

Hope everyone in the UK enjoyed the bank holiday weekend.

And question- your ideal brownie flavour??