Recipes - Maria Runs

Unexpected encounter!

Pancakes were on my mind during my run- made with the last of my Orgran Buckwheat pancake mix, with a cooked apple, flaked almonds and some chocolate pb.

So on Sunday morning we were up and out running by 9am. It was windy. It was really windy. So windy in fact that when the wind was behind us it was blowing us along- normally I don’t notice the wind behind me.

We chatted a bit at first, and then as it got tougher this changed to Andy talking to me, and me replying with one or two word answers. I managed the first 6 miles fine, although I had only taken two tissues with me and my nose was running a lot- not so good. The next few miles were tough with combinations of hills and running into the wind, so I slowed quite a lot. Then, our encounter. We were about 2 miles from home and a man walking along the pavement stopped us (I thought for directions or something- wrong)- the conversation went like this:

Him- Do you run often?

Me- Yes.

Him- Have you heard of Parkrun UK?

Me- Yes.

Him- Have you heard of Danny Norman?

Me- Yes, I listen to the podcast (for those of you who don’t know, Danny co-presents The Parkrun show, which is available on the marathon talk website).

Him- I’m his Dad (he then got out his wallet to show us some kind of ID as if people would usually challenge this).

He then proceeded to tell us about the history of Bushy Parkrun, about how Danny went to school in Hatfield, and a few other bits, asking me which Parkrun I go to, before saying “You’d better get on with your run then”.

I love that his Dad is out promoting Parkrun to runners- I do hope that he stops lots of people to share the Parkrun love!

Although starting up running again was so tough- my legs felt like lumps of rock (we were stopped for 3 mins according to my Garmin)- at least I was smiling for the last two miles. I was very impressed with my estimating of distance too- last week I did a little over 10 miles, so I thought adding an extra little loop at the start would make it up- the loop was .88 miles, and literally as we got to our front door my Garmin beeped for 11 miles on the dot. Even with that stop we did the route in 1 hr 47, with an average moving pace of 9.55. I did stretch when I got home, but for the rest of the day I felt pretty wiped out. Luckily I had done most of my work on Saturday so only had a small bit to do. We popped to see Andy’s parents, then watched an episode of Elementary for some chill out time.

Later on I decided to make a clementine cake using this recipe as we had a batch that were very hard to peel.

You had to boil them first for 2 hours, so my plan of having tea and cake in the afternoon went out the window. Later on I read in the comments that someone just microwaved them for 10 minutes instead- I think I would try that next time.

Then you whizzed them up, and then added the other ingredients (sugar, ground almonds, eggs, baking powder) and whizzed again. (I then realised I had no baking powder so improvised with silver foil- think it worked OK)

It smelled so good when it was baking.

We both enjoyed a big slice in the evening- replenishing those carbs after our long run. It was lovely- not too sweet with that almost bitter tang from the clementines as well as the lovely texture from the ground almonds.

Monday night chilli

Hey peeps,

How are we all doing?

At the moment I am very much enjoying our Monday night dinners. Andy has been making sweet potato chilli (based on this recipe)- he makes a big batch one week which we then freeze and have for the next few weeks which make for super easy dinners.

Yesterday I had mine with some spinach and an avocado- so tasty and filling. I had just been on a run (4.3 miles- gradually making my after work runs a little longer) and it was cold outside so this was just the ticket.

Last week I made some peanut butter brownies- they went down very well with Andy’s family so here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

100g butter/ spread

160g caster sugar

30g dark brown sugar

125g dark chocolate

1 tbs golden syrup

2 free range eggs

100g plain flour

2 tbs cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbs peanut butter

Method:

Easy! Put the butter, sugars, syrup and chocolate in a large pan and heat gently- keep stirring until they melt. Leave to cool for a little.

Preheat the oven to 170C and line a brownie pan with baking paper.

Stir in the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder, and then finally the eggs. It will be quite runny.

Pour into the pan and then spoon over the peanut butter. Feather with a knife so it swirls about a bit. Yes that is a technical term.

Bake for around 20 minutes, depending on how gooey you like them. I check that there is a little wobble in the centre, as they will firm up as they cool (the chocolate will solidify).

Slice once cool.

Optional icing:

Melt together 2 tbs peanut butter and 80g white chocolate (I did it in the microwave). Drizzle over the top. You could do this with dark chocolate for proper chocolate hit but I wanted the colour of the icing to show up, hence the white.

Mmmm, slice into many many slices. This made 28 very rich and delicious brownies.

I had plenty of the icing left, so decided to make pb cups with it, of course. I chilled it in the fridge so I could spoon it into the cups more easily.

Melt some white chocolate in the microwave, spoon into paper cups, fill with a little tsp of the pb mix, and then top. I also found these super cute hearts (from Dr Oetker) so added them to the top of each one.

Yes the white chocolate heart does not show up that well on the white chocolate cup. But they taste pretty addictive- not something to make all the time! You have been warned…

On Sunday evening I did some yoga and it made me feel so much better after. It does have some challenging moves in there, but also some of the stretches just feel so good, almost like a massage from the inside if that makes sense? I must remember to keep up the habit.

Marmalade and ginger tea loaf (recipe)

Hey peeps,

I was contacted by Sainsbury’s asking if I would like to create a recipe using some of their Basics ingredients, as they are trying to help people make the most of their money and Live Well for Less (see their website for more details and lovely recipes). They kindly sent me a parcel with some products:

Seeing the teabags, flour and mixed dried fruit all together put the idea of a tea loaf in my head- perfect for a relaxing Saturday afternoon.

Ingredients:

250ml hot water

3 teabags (I used 2 Basics- which are Fairtrade- and one chai)

4 tbs marmalade

175g mixed dried fruit (Basics)

3 pieces of stem ginger in syrup, chopped finely

375g plain flour (I used half plain and half wholemeal)

1 tbs baking powder

2 free range eggs

1 tsp mixed spice

Icing- optional- 2 tbs marmalade and 4 tbs icing sugar

Method:

Place the dried fruit, ginger and marmalade in a bowl along with the teabags, and pour over the hot water. Leave for around 10 minutes, then remove the teabags and soak for around an hour.

Preheat the oven to 150C and line a loaf pan (or use a paper loaf case).

Add the rest of the ingredients to the dried fruit mixture and stir well. Pour into the loaf pan and bake for around 75 minutes- test with a skewer; it should come out clean.

Leave to cool on a rack. If making the icing, warm the marmalade in a microwave for around 30 seconds, then stir in the icing sugar and spread on the cake.

It should keep for a week in an airtight container, or you could freeze slices if you left it un-iced.

I love any recipe that includes soaked dried fruit as I think it plumps up so well.

I went on a 10 mile run this morning, and this afternoon was feeling super hungry so had a slice with a cup of tea- perfect.

I love the slight bitterness you get from the marmalade, and the chunks of ginger add a warm spiciness to it.

Are you a fan of tea loaf?

Protein pancake experiment

So a while back I was sent some Cherry recovery mix to try. It is basically a protein powder, and although I tried it as a drink I was not that keen. I kept seeing recipes for pancakes using protein powder, so thought I would have a try. On Sunday morning I went on a run with Andy- we did the short loop which is around 6.7 miles. After stretching, showering and warming up, I attempted the batter.

The recipe I found was 2 scoop of protein powder, 2 eggs and some fruit. I went for 1 egg, a little of the buckwheat pancake mix, and some soya milk so it made a normal looking batter. It smelled a lot like cherry!

I added some blueberries to the pan, but this didn’t work out so well as they were huge and so the pancake split when I flipped them.

They didn’t look very appetising (I burnt them a bit by being impatient and turning up the heat), but they tasted quite nice (and after running nearly 7 miles I am not that fussy!). They had a different texture to normal pancakes, but I much preferred that way of eating the protein powder than in a drink.

After that I tried out my new compression socks- I love them!

After pottering about a bit we headed to the cinema to see Wolf of Wall Street- much more light-hearted than our earlier cinema trip. I smuggled in some nuts and chocolate as it was 3 hours long (and no interval!) and we had missed lunch.

Do you tend to eat in the cinema? We don’t usually- sometimes I take a little chocolate bar with me for us to share, but I usually forget about it.

* I was sent the powder in exchange for a review- all opinions are my own.

Mince pie bars

I know, I know, Christmas is over. But you might have the odd jar of mincemeat lurking in your cupboard. Or, like me, you might have bought some scrummy mince pie filling in the Holland and Barrett penny sale. Who knows.

Anyway, because I had this, and some leftover marzipan, I made some bars. I am not a pastry fan, so the base is a bit like a caramel shortbread base, but with oats added in for some texture. I used some wholegrain spelt flour and some white, but all white would be fine. Wholegrain spelt (I use Dove’s farm) seems to work well in most baking- often I use it in cookie recipes to replace all the flour.

Anyway. If you fancy making it here is the recipe:

For the base:

150g margarine (I used Clover additions)

40g soft light brown sugar

180g plain flour (I used part wholegrain spelt and part white)

60g oats

1 tsp mixed spice

Topping:

400g mince pie filling (I used Meridian so I needed a little more than a jar but you could use normal mincemeat)

100g (approx) marzipan

Flaked almonds to sprinkle

Icing sugar to dust

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a pan with baking paper (I use a brownie pan from Steamer Trading Cookshop- the best size for most of the things I make).

Make the base by creaming together the butter and sugar, then stirring in the oats, spice and flour until it resembles crumbs. Pour it into the pan and press down with a metal spoon.

Bake in the oven for 15 mins until pale.

Meanwhile make some pretty shapes with the marzipan by rolling it out (dust with a little icing sugar to stop it sticking) and then cutting it out. You could cut it into lines for a lattice effect but I prefer shapes.

Remove the base from the oven and spread the mince pie filling over. Sprinkle with flaked almonds, dust with a little icing sugar and then top with the marzipan shapes.

The marzipan shapes are the best bit.

Then return to the oven and bake for a further 10 mins- this will finish cooking the base, toast the nuts slightly and melt the marzipan.

Leave to cool and then slice into bars/ squares.

These were for Sunday tea. So much nicer than a mince pie.

In other news, I totally rested over the weekend (well I did a lot of walking but that was it)- I was feeling totally fine so went on a short (2 mile) run after work yesterday. I did loads of stretches when I finished, and I am pretty sure I had no trouble. I was worried about this morning (because it seems to be delayed after a run, so not sure if it is related) but all good so far. No two runs in a row for me though, so today will be a rest. At least I have kicked off Jantastic now!