Category: General ramblings

It was a foggy day in greendale

Just for all the Postman Pat fans out there. By the way, did you know that the actress that plays Kalinda in The Good Wife was a voice on postman pat? Fun fact for everyone 🙂

Today I have not seen the sun! At points at work we could not even see the front gate or fence from the school building- crazy stuff. We have a lot of fields by us so I suppose it just hung about all day.

After work (and a seed stacked flapjack yum- seriously if you have not tried them yet then do- I saw them in Asda the other day so you don’t have to get them online or from health food shops) it was time for aerobics. I was excited because my friend who used to come with me (and has not been for ages due to work) was coming- yay! 🙂

But I am getting a bit of a cold- I had a really sore throat on saturday, and today I have been all sniffly and bunged up, so I was not bounding with energy like last week. Plus it was freezing in the studio (I think they had the air-con on- madness)- took a good 15 mins to warm up which is very unusual.

Anyone doing anything for children in need on Friday? We all have to wear something spotty, and the children are doing a bring and buy sale. I have spotty wellies (my only other spotty items are things like socks which they wouldn’t see) so I think I am having some kind of dress, leggings and spotty welly outfit! 🙂

Cosy evening

Evening all

I have been having a great week, exercise wise, and feeling really motivated. But today I was really looking forward to my rest day. Work was so busy (2 meetings at lunch and one after school, as well as the normal day to day work) and so when I got home it was so nice to put on the kettle, put on the TV (the last Come Dine with Me of the week) and check out some blogs of course!

I am currently enjoying my fave;

Teapigs chocolate tea with coconut milk (our shopping was delivered when I got home and I remembered to order some more hurrah!).

We are off to a friends for dinner this evening; I am guessing an evening of rock band or singstar might be on the cards 🙂 Perfect for this weather.

I am also hoping the rain will ease off as my race on Sunday is going to be a mudbath otherwise!! Have a lovely Friday everyone, and hooray for the weekend!

Seed-stacked lovin’

Hi everyone!

I had a great time at aerobics today! It is normally really fun, but today there was new music, some of which was old body pump music which was fab to hear. I have no idea about who it was by but it was fab!

I think my energy was helped by a yummy seed stacked bar which I had before I went.

Do you ever have those days where you feel full of energy? Today I was so busy at work, and I was tired, but when the music started I just felt good leaping about 🙂 Love it!

PS Still time for the teapigs giveaway 🙂

Rain, rain, go away pretty please

Evening all- what a windy and cold day! I think we were spoilt with the weekend weather.

Yesterday was a good rest day, I did a bit more baking to stock up the freezer. I was going to make apple and carrot muffins (they freeze well and are yummy for lunch with a bit of PB) but then I decided to try them in a tray, as at the moment my brownie pan is my fave cooking utensil. So anyway, I followed the recipe only I forgot the oil (whoops), but actually, they turned out pretty nice.

(Sorry it is a bit blurry).

So in one bowl mix 2 eggs, 120g agave (I used half rice syrup), 100ml milk and tsp vanilla (this is also suppoed to have 50ml sunflower oil but I forgot), then add in 230g flour (I did half white spelt and half wholemeal spelt), assorted spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice), 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp bicarb. Finally stir in 2 grated carrots, 2 grated apples and 50g chopped dates. Bake in the brownie pan 170C for about 25-30 minutes. Slice when cool. They are lovely and moist, but not very sweet, so if you like sweet cakes the maybe add in some more sugar. But I love them like this as they are delish with a bit of nut butter or something.

I also tried some of the Mulu chocolate;

The only ingredients are raw cacao mass, raw agave nectar, raw cacao butter, sunflower lecithin and bourbon vanilla. The little box has 9 squares, and a couple is enough. It has a similar texture to the conscious dark; almost a bit bubbly, or crumbly. Delish. I had it with some Teapigs chilli chai (which reminds me- don’t forget to enter the giveaway– the more recipes the merrier)- I was so nervous of trying it in case it tasted like salsa (what was I thinking?) but in fact it was lovely- like normal chai but amped up- a bit spicier.

Today after work I braved the rain (although the running fairy was with me as it was hardly raining at all)- I also braved the wind and the cold! It was interval time today, but I did less of a warm up and cool down (just under a mile each) and then one mile running intervals. It was pretty good and by the end (28 mins) my legs had at least warmed up. I also did level 2 shred today, and I am thinking that I need to get some heavier dumbells as the ones I am using are now feeling pretty easy (for all except the shoulder stuff- I find that the hardest in body pump too).

On a side note, did anyone see the New York marathon yesterday? It took me ages to find it (partly because I got the time difference the wrong way around so when I was up doing work at 8am I was thinking it was nearly be finished- whoopsie) but I did see a lot of the elite runners. My fave part was when the “normal” runners went over the start line to “New York New York” blaring over the tannoy! So, well done anyone who did it 🙂 and in fact who did any race over the weekend- there are stilla few about.

Hibernation

Evening all

Mmmmm banana bread! 🙂

It feels like the middle of the night already! Luckily I had no runs planned for today- I am on a long one tomorrow and already did one on Monday and Wednesday. Plus I walked into the washing machine door last night and bashed up my knee- a bruise and cut and everything. And I had to wait in for the shopping to be delivered. On my drive home it was really bad visibility from all the spray, but there were still car without lights on. Madness! So I was glad to come home and shut all the blinds etc!

So in tribute to hibernation (unfortunately I can’t actually hibernate) I did the next best thing and came home, had a cup of tea (teapigs chai) and watched Cupcake wars on the TV. 🙂 I also made some banana bread- the lower fat recipe from Veganomicon – only I used Rice Malt Syrup instead of molasses for a lighter flavour. Although I have made it before (that time I forgot the baking powder) I didn’t use the cups to measure this time, I just chucked it all in and hoped for the best. It made it super easy, and it turned out pretty good. I made it in a brownie pan so it cooked in about 25 minutes, and it smells so good!

Tonight I am having pumpkin pasta (hooray)- I made it the other day so it only needs heating up- gotta love a quick and easy dinner.

So, fave easy dinners? And fave easy hibernation activities?

PS- don’t forget my Teapigs giveaway.