Recipes - Maria Runs

National Porridge Day!

Yes!

One of the best days ever!

This morning when I was mooching around on facebook (while eating my porridge) I noticed that today is World Porridge day. What a perfect day to continue with Pimp my Porridge!

Some of these are ideas I have used before, but I am sure we all love a good recap anyway.

For my porridge I always make it the night before- put the oats, milk and dried/ fresh fruit in a bowl, and leave it in the fridge to soak and plump up overnight. Then in the morning I cook it in the microwave for 2 mins 20. I would then top with spices, nuts, nut butter or anything else that I do not cook.

Enjoy:

Banana mashed with cocoa powder + oats + almond milk.

Chopped pear + blackberries + oats + almond milk + spices

Banana mashed with carob powder + oats + almond milk

Tinned peaches + oats + almond milk + cinnamon

Chopped apple + grated carrot + raisins + oats + almond milk + cinnamon

Dates + oats + coconut milk + cinnamon

Blackberries + oats + coconut milk + mixed spice

Cherries + oats + coconut milk + dessicated coconut

Tinned peaches + oats + coconut milk + dessicated coconut

Frozen raspberries + oats + coconut milk + drizzle of pb + dessicated coconut

Oooh bad pic! Cherries + cocoa + oats + coconut milk

Raisins + oats + coconut milk + cinnamon

Cherries + dried apple + oats + coconut milk + flaked almonds.

Yum! So many tasty ideas! I still stick to good old raisins and cinnamon before a morning run, before a race or when I am trying to save money! But I am loving having different breakfasts each morning.

I know I asked this last week, so what is your favourite way to pimp your porridge?

I had a rest today as I was quite stiff from the run yesterday, and I decided to not push it, and go out strong on Wednesday instead. That is the plan anyway.

PS I am well informed that the fairy hobmother may well be perusing your comments on my wishes post, so have a comment if you have not already 🙂

And PPS (is that a thing?) thanks for all the sponsorship! I am getting so close to my target! Remember the minimum is £2, and those £2’s will add up pretty quick and all for a great cause. Plus some fab prizes (and a couple more to add over the next day or so)- so look here please! 🙂

This is an example of the baking I could add to the prizes, but really it is just an excuse as I love them in the little bags so much! 🙂

Final question- which would you choose- a dark chocolate brownie, peanut butter white chocolate blondie or white chocolate fudge? For market research purposes of course 😉

Butternut and goats cheese wraps and WISHES!

Hello

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.

Last week (inspired by Lucy) I decided to have a go at making butternut squash and goats cheese wraps- Lucy called her enchiladas- I am never sure of the technical meaning of the different mexican names, but these are baked in the oven with a sauce.

Anyway, here is mine!

First I browned a red onion and some butternut squash (I cheated – gasp– by using ready chopped stuff- it was about 2/3 of the bag I think)- I used a tsp coconut oil in the pan.

Then I put 4 wraps in a dish, and put the veggies in there, and then sprinkled with some goats cheese. This goats cheese was herby stuff from Delamere Dairy, which is yummy (and all suitable for veggies too). Mistake alert– I should have greased the dish as they were hard to get out! I do normally so not sure why I forgot!

The folding is the hardest part!

Then covered them in tomato sauce- Lucy used passata I think, but I only had tinned tomatoes so I reduced it in a pan for a bit with some sundried tomato paste. Could have done with some more but I don’t like them too saucy.

These baked for 20 minutes (I think). This is clearly not a real recipe as I cannot even remember what I did! Whoopsie!

I had one and a half with some salad, and they were lovely- a nice change from our usual bean wraps. If I made them again I probably would add some beans, or maybe some other veggies, but I loved the goats cheese and butternut combo. 🙂

I used the rest of the goats cheese and butternut another day to have a warm salad which was amazing. This was spinach leaves, quinoa cooked with beetroot, peppers, courgette, tomato, with roasted butternut and sprinkled with herby goats cheese and some caramelised onion chutney.

Yum.

Last night after work I went for a little 2 mile run,as I knew today I would be feeling antsy otherwise. It helps get rid of the ache from body pump too. Getting ready for the 10K tomorrow- fingers crossed for no rain.

So today I made some scones as my parents were coming over;

I used the recipe from The Great British Book of Baking (last series- I was inspired after watching the masterclass show this morning)- but it was way too wet and I had to add more flour. Anyway, they turned out pretty good. Also, what is the deal with Paul Hollywood? I just don’t get the attraction at all!

We walked up to the allotment (and my parents could not resist doing some weeding even though we were just going to look!)- and then came home to warm up- coffee for them and tea for me. My first “real” cup of tea for 4 weeks I think- ah teapot how I have missed you. My scone used up the last of my meridian raspberry spread- and it was delicious 🙂

I have also been baking (bribes for work)- but I will save that for tomorrow- this is just a hint- any guesses?

Oh, and look what arrived yesterday;

Yup! 6 jars of DCD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While I was on holiday I received an email from The Fairy Hobmother who works for Appliances Online- she was floating around the blogosphere all summer granting wishes to different bloggers- her mission is to bring joy and happiness to the world’s bloggers by providing treats for great, hard work in the blogosphere. I had mentioned my wish on this post, and it was actually granted! How exciting! They ordered them for me but they kept on getting delayed, (and I was even given the option to choose something else instead) but I decided that they would be worth the wait!

So if you have a wish, feel free to comment below (with your email) as this post may well be visited by the Fairy Hobmother too- good luck!

Also please don’t forget that my giveaway is still open- look here for details.

Oh, and what should I do with all the DCD? 😉

Pancake Sunday!

What??????? I hear you all cry- no porridge??

No, I answer. I fancied pancakes today. So that is what I have. But, do not panic (were you all panicking?)- pimp my porridge will continue next week. Especially when I get some more coconut.

These are super easy- 100g flour, 100ml milk, 1 egg, I tbsp sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, and cook away. I put on some dried cranberries and Andy had his with some maple syrup.

I had mine with Whole Earth caramel and chocolate spread. Mmmmm.

They look so much better in natural light!

We needed this as today we had planned to do a load of gardening. This warm weather has been fantastic, but it has sent some of our plants into overdrive. We spent an hour in the garden, chopping things back and getting out the nettles that grow from under the fence. Then we headed to the allotment for another hour- we planted some strawberries, a blackcurrant bush, some rhubarb and some daffodil bulbs. A lot of weeds had grown back, but the earth is so lovely and soft that they pull out easily. We decided to only weed the bits we need right now.

After that we were super hot and tired. I made us smoothies, which turned into soft serve! A frozen banana, some frozen mango and a carton of coconut water= 2 delicious smoothies that need to be eaten with a spoon!

It was a bit later for lunch, so I went for an apple and a pear covered in honey pb (from my blog swap). 🙂 Yum.

I also did a little review for Rawr chocolate- look here if you fancy seeing their lovely flavours, and one for Beyond Dark who make delicious (and healthy) dark chocolate drops- look here for that one. Have you tried any of these products?

I am about to have more autumn chilli with sweet potato fries- yummy 🙂

Hope everyone else is having a lovely Sunday 🙂

Parcels in the post!

I love getting things in the post! These last couple of days I have been super lucky and have been opening up so many parcels!

I did a blog swap with Errign and she sent me a massive pile of goodies! Nut butters, energy gels, different types of clif and luna bars, plus lara bars which I am super excited to try!

I had the mint brownie bite straight away and it was delicious! Thanks Errign 🙂

I also got my Graze box– we get one of these every other weekend and share the punnets as a snack at the weekend- it included a new one which was apples to dip in caramel sauce. Sounds yummy!

Some lovely looking almond desserts from Ecomil- I cannot wait to try these, perhaps in my new bowls?

How cute are they???? I got them from Paperchase when I was getting some birthday cards, so not actually in the post, but I just love them!

Oh yeah, and a commiserations magazine. This was actually for Andy, who, when his marathon training was going well, decided to sign up for the London ballot (and he didn’t tell me until after the deadline! Not that I would have applied, but anyway)- after Stockholm he was hoping to have not got in, so he was very relieved to get this in the post!

Post run snack- Chocolate Cherry Almond Luna bar courtesy of Errign- delicious 🙂

With the running, it is proving hard to get back into. I tried a run this morning and managed 4 miles, but I had to walk as I was getting stomach pains- not sure what it is all about. Anyway we have the 10K next Sunday and I was originally hoping to be able to beat my previous 10K time, but I realise that it is not going to happen. So I am going to enjoy the run- it should be pretty scenic. We have the great south run at the end of the month, and we decided to sign up to this race– a 10K the week after the GSR. Maybe by then I will be back to running and might stand a chance of beating my time. And if not we have another weekend away and a run somewhere pretty.

Today I got on with more baking for my friends.

I made some carrot and raisin cakes to go with the peanut butter cookies I made yesterday.

Before the cream cheese frosting- I am getting a little obsessed with the mini loaf cases!

Oh, and one final photo- I ordered some bits from Lakeland- including piping bags and nozzles (so I no longer have to just dollop the icing on!), muslin cloth squares (for my almond milk hopefully) and these cool trays that are already divided up. I am terrible at cutting things evenly and so I am looking forward to making brownies, flapjacks, bars etc that are all perfectly the same size.

Do you love getting things in the post? I find it much more exciting than going shopping (plus no queues!). What was the last thing you received in the post?

Back pumping!

And more pimping (of the porridge kind)

I actually typed “pumpkin” for the title- shows what is on my mind haha!

First up- I went to body pump last night! Yay! I am practically all better now. Just drinking something stupid like 3-4 litres of water each day. Anyway, it was the new release- OW to the triceps track! I put a weight on my thighs for the dips- that was a mistake as I barely made it though the over the head bits at the end! I did find the squats track rather boring, but I did like the Living on a prayer song for the biceps (I think?). Good stuff.

I was hungry so I decided to try a Builders bar (20g protein- wow!)- a chocolate mint one. It was quite nice, very filling but not my fave texture.

Pimp my porridge has been going well.

Carrot cake porridge (grated carrot, chopped apple, cinnamon, few raisins, oats and soya milk).

Peach coconut porridge (small tin drained peaches, oats, soya milk, coconut extract and I think some cinnamon as always)

Carob banana porridge (mashed banana, carob powder, few raisins, oats, soya milk)

Autumn fruit porridge (chopped pear, frozen blackberries, oats, soya milk, cinnamon I think)

Stay tuned for more varieties next week! 🙂

I also had a carrot cake inspired sandwich one day this week (actually, I had run out of hummus and didn’t fancy pb!)

Tahini, grated carrot, raisins and cinnamon. This was delicious! 🙂

I went to the doctors again today for a little check, but she said that people go through spates of having these infections, so just to keep drinking lots.

When I got home I had lots of parcels to open, but I will show you those tomorrow.

I did some baking this evening- Andy has been requesting cookies for ages but I was making lots of cakes instead.

I used some Whole Earth Original crunchy and some Beyond Dark chocolate chips to make Hummingbird peanut butter cookies- the best ever recipe.

They turn into the most enormous cookies 🙂 Thin and chewy, yummy.

They do look a lot like the photo in the book too.

In a bit we are going to watch the last ever episode of The Wire . We have been working out way through the series and I cannot believe it is the last one. Anyone else a fan?

Enjoy the fab weather this weekend- it looks like it is going to be brilliant. I am hoping for a slightly longer run tomorrow (still cannot believe I am running a 10K next Sunday!) then doing some baking as I have some friends over on Saturday afternoon- and then planting some stuff in the allotment on Sunday. Any great weekend plans?