Category: General ramblings

An orange day

Brrrr is it cold out there now! I have had a lovely, but busy weekend.

On Saturday I did another cupcake decorating class. The theme was vintage cupcakes, and I just loved them!

When I got home I had to put them on my cake stand as the colours went so well!

I got my hair cut on Friday, which was waaaaay overdue- it had got so long. Feels so much better now!

As well as walking up to the shops, I also did some baking. This was fridge cake (from Hummingbird)- to take to work. It is very easy- crushed digestives, butter, golden syrup and cocoa powder all melted and mixed up, plus cranberries (the recipe said raisins)- and then to make it pretty I added melted white chocolate on the top, and sprinkles.

Oh my word it made loads!

Still half left when I took the photo in the box!

We often go to a fireworks show, but this year decided to stay in the warm and watch a film instead.

This morning I started off with pancakes:

Pumpkin pancakes, and they turned out loads better than last time as I added less pumpkin (flour, baking powder, spices, almond milk, pumpkin purée and chocolate chips)- served with a chopped cooked apple.

Alongside some tea, because it was so cold! This cardamom chai was delicious.

I also wanted to make some crystallised orange peel- I will save it for another post. Anyway, stupid me, when I was peeling the orange I was not holding the peeler correctly, and managed to slice my thumb nail in half. Gross. At first I thought I had just peeled off the nail varnish, but no, the nail has come away from the thumb too. Andy was on the phone and had to come to the bathroom as he could hear my “I am about to faint this is so disgusting” noises as I was looking for a plaster. The typing is taking me much longer because I can’t use my thumb!

Anyway, we popped to see my parents who are back from a holiday in India (they even brought us back some tea 🙂  ), and then went to the shops (new cushions for the sofa, as two cushions were more like flat bits of fabric!), and of course we had to go to Starbucks as they were doing buy one get one free for the seasonal drinks. They were all coffee ones, but I asked the guy if I could have a gingerbread latte without the coffee, and he said yes! It was lovely- much nicer than the pumpkin one I think- possibly even nicer than a chai latte. Yum.

By then the rain had stopped, so I decided to have a run, even though it was dark. Although, on the plus side, I can’t see my feet so I can pretend that I am flying. I did 4 miles, and again at around 10 min miles, so it felt pretty good. I think gingerbread latte is my new favourite running fuel!

Home to some yoghurt as I was rather hungry- I was sent these total yoghurts, and they are quite nice, but I was not so keen on the fruit bit, so I left that and mixed in some orange curd- fits my orange theme of the day.

OK, the photo does not make it look that nice! But I had an orange dinner too- I roasted up the little pumpkin with some rosemary, cooked some quinoa, and then when it was cooked, stirred in a big spoonful of pumpkin puree. I mixed in the cooked pumpkin, some chopped sundried tomatoes, and sprinkled on some goats cheese. It was lovely (and enough to freeze some too). More orange food. The only thing missing is chocolate orange, but I am not sure I have any!

And now I am cooking the other Christmas cakes- smells amazing. They have orange zest in them, so they fit with the theme too.

Right, back to the grind tomorrow 😉

Did you watch some fireworks this weekend? Or, did anyone go to a bonfire party? I used to love those when I was younger, but never see them any more.

Half term fun

Hello! I hope everyone is well. I have been having a lovely half term so far. Our trip to Italy had a little hitch at the start, when we arrived at Heathrow bright and early (and in the snow!) to be told that our flight to Bologna was cancelled. We joined a massive queue (and it is a bad sign when people are sat in chairs in the queue)- luckily Andy rang up and changed us to a different flight, to Pisa, later that afternoon. So we had a long boring wait in the airport, as we could not even put our bag through until lunch time! Anyway, it did mean we got to go to Giraffe for lunch (once through security)- I had a yummy snack plate with toasted sourdough, avocado, hummus, salad, cherry tomatoes, and of course some sweet potato fries.

We got to our hotel in Florence at about 9pm on Saturday, so we didn’t go out and explore then. But we had a lovely few days- it rained all of Sunday, but we had a lovely time wandering around Florence. On Monday we caught the train to Siena, which was just wonderful. The weather was beautiful which of course helped, but it was so pretty. We treated ourselves to a slice of panforte (+ tea for me, coffee for Andy) for lunch (a cake made with dried fruit, nuts and spices- I have already found a recipe which I want to try).

On Tuesday we spent the day in Florence again- we walked across the river and up a hill to a lovely overlook, as well as walking around and seeing a few more sights (including the pizza place they worked at in the Jersey Shore show. Ahem). Then Wednesday we had to catch the train to Bologna for our flight home.

Anyway, Andy took a few photos, but they are still on his camera, so I might put some on later on.

Right, on to the rest of half term! One of my favourite projects is making Christmas cakes. I make one for us, and one for each of our parents, and although making the cake is not time consuming, they need ages to bake (a few hours) so half term is the ideal time for this as I am at home. Before we packed on Friday night, I soaked all the dried fruit in the brandy (or whisky, or whatever it is). I was inspired by The Pink Whisk (she also had some useful timing guides) and so decided to use my usual recipe, but bake it for longer at a lower temperature. The fruit I used this year was mixed dried fruits, crystallised ginger, cranberries, cherries, and a little more mixed peel, but any combination is fab.

I made one big cake, and had some spare, so of course I made some little ones as a surprise for Andy 🙂

The little ones took an hour (at 110C) and the big one is still baking at the moment, and filling the house with a wonderful spicy aroma.

When I got home on Wednesday, I went for a short run (in the dark- boo)- I felt like I was going slow because it was so windy, but in fact I was about 3 minutes quicker than when I did the same route last week- not bad.

Last night was pump, and then this morning I went on a run. I decided to just push myself and see how fast I could actually go. There is a 10K route which I quite like doing, and each time I glanced at my Garmin I could see I was close to 10 min miles, and at some points I was doing 9.45 miles- fast for me, especially on a longer route. In the end I did 6.09 miles in 62 mins- my fastest 10K race time is 61 mins, and I had to stop several times to cross roads, so I was so pleased with how fast I went.

I have not used the Garmin website that much- I mainly look at each run individually, but I noticed a “compare” button, and it searched for similar runs. I feel like I have built up my distance quite well, and really want to concentrate a bit more on speeding back up. I was interested to see that in September I did a 5.88 mile route in 1.09. I have not done that same route for ages, so it did not show up, but I have done several ones around the 5.9-6.2 mile mark, and every one of them was slower.

I had started to feel that I was never going to speed up, but looking at the overall trend today was really encouraging. Of course today I am rested, and it is hard to compare to a run done after work (which were the other runs on there looking at the times they were done) but I also think that the faster running with the Sweatshop group on Wednesdays must be really helping me too. And although my poor legs are feeling quite sore now, I am just going to give myself a pat on the back.

When I got home I had some Kara coconut chocolate milk. I have had it in the fridge for ages, but not got around to trying it. When I poured it out, it had a very thin consistency, but it was really lovely and creamy. I am not sure I would buy it again, because now I have to use it up quite quickly, and it is pretty sweet- I prefer to add some nesquick to milk as then I can use the rest of the milk as normal. But anyway, pretty nice.

After a shower I was still pretty cold, so I had the black cherry tea that was included in my i-herb order. This tea was delicious! But at the moment my tea cupboard is full to bursting, so I am holding off ordering any for now!

Right, I am off to have my hair cut in a bit (about time!)- give yourself a pat on the back for something, and tell me what it is please! Well done in advance.

No more get ups!

Hey peeps, half term is here! I am so relieved! And apologies in advance if my ramblings make even less sense than usual. This week has been even more flat out than usual, with parents evenings going on as well as the usual end of half term business.

But anyway, back to the weekend:

On Sunday I treated myself to pancakes for breakfast- chocolate chip pumpkin ones served with a chopped cooked apple (from my garden), and a little DCD.

I made a Swedish Apple cake for Sunday tea, and it was lovely. I caught a few of a new Rachel Allen series, called Cake Diaries. I love her baking recipes anyway, and I copied it down from the TV show and it worked so well. One to make again for sure.

As I had opened a tin of pumpkin puree, I decided to make some of Angela’s wonderful spiced pumpkin gingerbread. I used molasses whereas I am sure I usually use treacle, anyway it was not as dark as usual, but still delicious. I have frozen it in slices as it makes a big loaf. I didn’t make any of the buttercream, as I wanted to freeze it, but I have made it in the past and it is amazing.

Anyway, I have no idea what I have been doing this week! I know I went on 2 short runs on Monday and Tuesday, a 3.5 mile route. It is so dark in the evenings now. Anyway, that was all I managed to squeeze in around work, work in the evenings, extra meetings, parents evenings etc.

Andy surprised me with a little treat to help with parents evenings:

Some chocolate covered pretzels! I love the pretzel flipz (although not the z in their name), but you can’t get them any more. These were a welcome sugar boost, although I could not eat them while talking to the parents- not very professional!

I was very excited when I got home on Wednesday night to find my i-herb order had finally arrived! Gingerbread tea here I come! I also ordered some coconut tea, coconut lip balm, and maple pb, and they included a little black cherry teabag which sounds lovely.

Today was a staff training day, so I came home as soon as I could- I was not quite sure how much longer I could keep going for. I was planning on going on a run this afternoon, but I feel totally shattered, so I am staying at home instead.

Tomorrow we are off to Italy for a couple of days, so I need to pack, plus I think we will be doing plenty of walking. I don’t want to be so tired that I don’t enjoy the holiday.

What are your plans for the weekend/ half term if you have it? I am going to be making our Christmas cake when I get back, and I have another cake decorating course booked which I am really looking forward to 🙂

Project Pretzel

I have been wanting to make pretzels for ages. Last summer when we were in Savannah we went to a lovely cafe for a drink (and it was so lovely we went back another day)- anyway while we were in there they took out some freshly baked pretzels and gave them to the customers to sample. They were amazing.

Then I saw the Hairy Bakers visit a bakery in Germany, and bake them there. And I was given their book for my birthday.

When we went to the Olympics we saw a pretzel stand, but were so disappointed as we bought one to share, and it turned out to be a doughnut in a pretzel shape. Poor show!

Earlier this week I decided to add baking pretzels to my list of weekend things to do. I used the recipe from the Hairy Bakers book, only I added cinnamon to it to make them a bit sweeter.

Although they take time, they were fine as they fitted around my Saturday morning. I got up, had breakfast, made a cup of mint tea and did some work. Then when the water had cooled, I activated the yeast. Then I changed for my run, and then once changed it was time to make the dough.

The dough needed to rest for an hour- so I went out on a run. 7 miles which I found really tough.  I went to the Sweatshop run on Wednesday, and although I found the last little bit hard, it was not too bad and I still had the energy to run home. I went to pump on Thursday and didn’t do the heaviest weights for legs and back, mostly I kept them the same. Anyway, today I just was not feeling it. The weather was lovely and I did enjoy it, but my legs felt pretty tired and I had to fight the urge to just stop.

Anyway, once home it was time to shape them- this took some time as they had to be rolled into ropes. The recipe said 60cm ropes, but that seemed way too long, so mine were very small (probably more like 30cm). However by the time they rested and baked (time for me to shower and make some tea) they puffed up and lost the pretzel shape, so next time I would try to roll them even thinner.

Once out the oven I spread them with a little melted butter (well Pure spread) and then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. They were lovely- soft dough and sweet cinnamon sugar- perfect with a cup of tea. Good brain fuel for my next section of work this afternoon!

I also did a bit of baking earlier in the week. I had some chocolate chips left over from my American Soda parcel, so I made some more crispy squares.

Peanut butter + chocolate = perfection in my eyes!

They are so tasty! All credit to Angela (Oh She Glows) for another fantastic recipe. Seriously if you have not given them a go already, then do, because they take hardly any time, and are just delicious.

While I was making them I had a nice cup of chai (this is a herbal one so no black tea, although I mainly bought it because it matched my nail varnish…).

I promise I have eaten some savoury things this week! I got home from work on Tuesday and realised I had forgotten to defrost anything for my dinner- I was planning on having a mexican casserole from the freezer. But luckily I found a beetroot and goats cheese roast thing (from Asda)- I had the first one ages ago and forgot all about it. Served with spinach and frozen roast veg it was pretty tasty, although it still reminds me of something I would eat in a pub. Also it looks a bit like a raw burger/ frozen around the edges still, but it was hot- the pink colour from the beetroot stayed during the cooking.

I also had some lovely sweet potato chilli (might have needed the flash!).

From the freezer- it contained roasted celery, red and yellow peppers, butternut squash, sweet potato, onions from my allotment, then once roasted I cooked them in a pan with a tin of tomatoes, a tiny bit of lazy chilli, and a tin of kidney beans. So good- the sweet potato goes very soft. I had it with some pecan crackers– they were OK but not that great- I think I only ordered them because I had some space in the i-herb parcel and they didn’t weigh much.

Are you a pretzel fan?

Chobani!

Hey peeps!
Thanks for all your lovely comments on my last post- I am still so pleased about my half marathon time. The official chip time was 2.20.51 (or some seconds, now I can’t check because the website won’t work)- I’ll take that!

While I was away on holiday I was sent a lovely email from the folks at Chobani yoghurt, inviting me to a launch party, as they were to start selling their yoghurt in the UK. I could not make the date (as it was during the day) but they said they would send me some yoghurts to try out. I had tried them before when I had been on holiday in the US (so many US yoghurts contain gelatin, so it was good to find some that were suitable for veggies), and I was looking forward to trying some more.

They sent me a lovely (chilled) parcel of their fruity greek yoghurts including  blood orange, peach and cherry. Each pot contained yoghurt and a fruity compote .

They also sent me some rather cute spoons!

I added some chocolate chips to the cherry one- delicious.

I also enjoyed some with some roasted fruit- nice and warming for the chilly evenings.

The cherry one was my favourite- I usually prefer peach yoghurts but I liked the cherry flavour with the creamy yoghurt more, plus I felt the flavour was stronger.

When I peeled off the top, I was pleased to see that they give away some of their profits to charity– I like it when companies do this.

I do usually look for organic dairy (but that is a personal preference), but on their FAQ page they explain that they work with local-area farming communities, instead of shipping organic dairy from further afield, and of course it makes it more affordable. They still make it hormone-free (which is not an issue I don’t think with UK produced dairy, but it can be present in non-organic US dairy).

Strained greek yoghurt is high in protein, and the stats for this yoghurt is impressive. Per 100g, the cherry one has 8g protein and 94 cals, and 0g fat (so a serving had 14g protein). The reason it has no fat is because it is strained, so there are no preservatives or anything- the yoghurt part just contains skimmed milk and various cultures. It does taste very creamy for something that is fat free. I liked the fruit part too (but of course that contains sugar, but I prefer that to artificial sweeteners or stevia or something).  I also found that the yoghurt was more even in texture- some yoghurts have that thin film of liquid on the top which I find a bit off-putting, but these ones were more uniform. I found them very filling as the pots are big- good for breakfast when it is warmer- I just wish they did them in smaller pots,  as you can’t really save half for later once they are open. They are now on sale at Tescos, so worth a look if you fancy trying them. I used to prefer plain yoghurt as then I could mix in my own fruit, but I liked these too and felt the balance was good between yoghurt (80%) and fruit compote (20%).

Thanks Chobani 🙂

Are you a fan of greek yoghurt? I used to have it quite a lot, but since I have moved to mainly organic dairy I have stopped buying it- this has reminded me how much I like it.