Recipes - Maria Runs

Let’s “chai” these cupcakes

Hello all!

So yesterday I decided to make some chai tea cupcakes. I was inspired by Lucy doing some chai baking, and ever since I made the Earl Grey cupcakes from my new Hummingbird book I was keen to adapt the recipe with chai teabags instead.

So that is what I did.

I only made 6 this time, as I know there will only be 6 of us at Sunday tea, and I had more success with the icing as I made it in my food processor.

Can you see where I poured in the teabag-infused milk??

Anyway, I had loads of icing left, as per usual, so I again took inspiration from Lucy and made a variation of her chai bites. I used 75g brazils, 75g dates, 30g coconut, a splash of date syrup, some vanilla, cinnamon and cardamom. This was blitzed up in the food processor, and then baked for 8 mins in a small tray.

Then I covered them in the icing, and had 2 for dessert last night- delish. The only thing was that the icing was butter icing (well, pure spread) but I find that too rich. I was planning on making it with cream cheese, but I could not find it in the fridge. Anyway, I think this would be amazing topped with some kind of chocolate/ coconut butter or peanut butter topping (like the one on the chewy rice squares). Love the idea thanks Lucy! 🙂

I managed to resist ordering more teapigs chai, but I did stock up on muesli as it was 3 for 2.

I love the crispy muesli, and decided to try another one- I like raisins but this one sounded nice too!

So that was breakfast this morning:

I love this, so summery! A chopped apple, muesli and milk. After that, exciting news people!!!!!!

We walked up to our allotment today! Yes, that is right! After being on the waiting list for 3 years, we have been offered a plot! It is perfect, about a 5 min walk from home, and the plot (apparently a “small” one) is the size of our current garden! It even has raspberry canes and potatoes growing in it! I am so excited! I was supposed to be meeting up with a friend tomorrow, but she cancelled as she is ill, so guess what- I will be doing some weeding! I am very excited about this as you can tell! So, gardeners- anything I can plant now? Apparently spinach? Although I think we may leave anything until we get back from our holiday so we can actually water it all.

Onto the review:

Monday- a run which I nearly talked myself out of!

Tuesday- nothing- was at work so knew I would miss aerobics.

Wednesday- audiofuel run- again nearly talked myself out of it but felt much better when I got home.

Thursday- good old body pump

Friday- rest day

Saturday- 10 mile run, little walk in the evening

Sunday- Yoga before breakfast, walk up to the allotments 🙂

I kind of eased off a bit this week, as work was busy again, plus I was getting tired. Next week should be better because I am off and so will have more time, plus I can go out in the mornings which I much prefer. Yay!

Right, off for Sunday tea in a bit- I am looking forward to a cupcake 🙂

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend too.

EDIT- Hey- the cupcakes were lovely! And I have updated my Running Calendar pace, in case anyone is interested! I put in links to my race reports, and also the races I have planned. So check it out here if you fancy having a look.

Rude Health Oaty Thins!

First of all, that is what I am excited about! When I got home from work today I tried a couple of them, and I love them! They are similar to rice cakes, in that they are big and sort of puffy, but without the weird stick-to-your-tongue texture that rice cakes have, plus they feel a bit more substantial.

One with pb&co maple peanut butter (not much of this left now!) and one with coconut butter and meridian raspberry spread, after this combo was recommended. I must say, it was lovely 🙂 I have never eaten coconut butter raw before, only used it in cooking, but it was nice to have that hint of coconut flavour to the snack. I also had my final Teapigs chai tea 🙁 Until my tea cupboard gets a bit emptier (remember my hoarding confessional post?) I cannot order any more. Although they do sell it on Ocado and I am about to do a shop……..

Anyway, I love those oaty thins and I kind of wish I had bought the multigrain ones too, just to try them. Once these have been eaten that will be my next stop I think.

I have body pump later so I made a pudding to have when I get home;

All my ingredients ready (well nearly, I forgot the xanthan gum). Mash banana, add cocoa powder and pb (Sainsburys pb with chocolate chips, which is nice but not as good as dark chocolate dreams), then pour on coconut milk, sprinkle on xanthan gum and whisk, then add chia seeds.

The bowl gets so messy from all the stirring but I am not putting it in a clean bowl just for the photo I am afraid! This is thickening up in the fridge as I type.

Also I have been reading everyone’s “What I eat Wednesday” posts and feel left out! I keep thinking I should join in, and then the week goes by and before I know it I am reading them all over again, thinking “whoops, I should have done it”. Next week I am off, so I might even get around to doing it (but then after that I will be away for loads of Wednesdays). Anyone else not jumped on that bandwagon yet?

Right, off to body pump and then, hooray, the last day of the summer term 🙂

Vegan Moussaka recipe

Evening all

I had a delicious dinner today so I am going to share the recipe. It was for a moussaka but I am not a fan of creamy sauces, so I subbed in some silken tofu instead. And I left out potatoes because I don’t like them, but for a real one you could add in a layer.

First up, slice and griddle an aubergine.

Then in a pan cook a tin of tomatoes, a tin of drained lentils, a packet of spinach, some tomato puree, garlic paste and basil.

Meanwhile blend some silken tofu with some sundried tomato pesto (but you could use any pesto you like, I like this red one at the moment). This was about 3/4 of a pack of silken tofu, as I had already used the other 1/4 in the brownies.

Then layer up 🙂 I put the aubergine on the bottom, then the tomato sauce and then the tofu sauce on top.

Then bake 200C for 25 mins. Excuse the blurry photos! But it is lovely- the pesto in the tofu is my fave way to liven up tofu sauce now, and this was lovely and thick and creamy and tomatoey. I would have added other veg too, but I didn’t have any. Anyway, this was lovely and I am pleased I have 2 other portions to go in the freezer (since we defrosted it the other week I am having to re-fill it again).

Today I had a run after work- I really was not feeling like it at all as the children at work are getting more and more hyped up, and there are so many end of term jobs to do. Anyway, on my way home I was again bargaining with myself about doing a short gentle run, as I had had a sort of headache all day. But in the end I decided just to try with Audiofuel, and in the end it was fine. Hard work, and it rained at the end (gently, which I appreciated), but my headache was gone and I felt loads better. 🙂

I tried one of those Waitrose grain bars today. It was quite nice- it was quite sweet as it had concentrated apple juice, and dried apricot, and the texture was quite chewy and chunky. It reminded me of a cereal bar I had once, which I got in Sainsbury’s and was aimed at children, but was made of oats, dried fruit and maybe apple juice. They had bright packaging and stuff but I cannot remember the name. Sorry. Anyway, I did not like them as much as regular nak’d bars, but still it was nice and made a change. When I showed them to Andy his words were “I am so glad you bought 3 boxes of cereal bars, because we do not have enough already”. Hmm. In my defence I eat one every day for a snack at work, and often have one as a pre run/ exercise snack too!

Potatoes- yes or no? I only like jacket potatoes really, as boiled, roast and mash are not my cup of tea at all, to be polite! And after about 2 chips I wonder what the fuss was about (and really chips are just a vehicle for vinegar!)

Baking extravaganza!

Evening all 🙂

Hope you all had a good weekend despite the crazy weather. I ended up stuffing my trainers with brown paper yesterday, as they were so soggy. Today I took the paper out and it was wet through, and so I put my trainers in the airing cupboard. Hopefully they will be dry for a run tomorrow.

This weekend I have mainly been baking.

First I attempted some mint chocolate fudge. I made my usual fudge recipe, and then added some chopped dark chocolate before pouring it into the pan. I then sprinkled it with sugar which I had mashed with a pestle and mortar with some mint essence. The fudge tastes fine, but it was so crumbly so cutting it was not so easy!

Interesting shapes no? Anyway, I hope it will still be happily received.

Then I made some peanut butter cookies from my Peanut Butter & Co cookbook. I was a bit wary of trying this recipe, mainly because the Hummingbird recipe is so good!

These were amazing- so chewy and almost gooey on the inside- stuffed with peanut buttery goodness. These were for Sunday tea so we have none at home now.

Then I made some of those brownies that Katie invented and Rachel also made.

I also had some white chocolate stars from Sainsbury’s so I added these on the top (sadly no edible glitter!). I had a minor problem in that I did not have enough apple sauce, so I used some mashed banana instead- hopefully they do not taste too banana-ey. I am going to freeze this in slices ready for later. 🙂

Then it was the piece du resistance- white chocolate and coconut fudge. I used the normal recipe (from Rachel Allen’s Home cooking) and added some shredded coconut to the middle and to the top.

There it is cooling (all the white chocolate melts from the heat of the fudge and pours out the sides).

And sliced! This batch sliced much easier, and looks so pretty too. These will be in bags soon, for end of term gifts. So not too much to tempt me with at home!

I did have a lovely lunch;

Andy bought some Wensleydale and cranberry cheese to have at our picnic on Friday (and he bought rocket salad too which I was very impressed with as he is normally very fussy with salads and only buys iceberg!)- so I had some on some toast with a red pear. And you can see my lovely teapot so of course I had to have some tea.

OK so time for a quick training recap of this week;

Monday- attempted a mid length run but cut it short due to having to stop and walk- think this was tiredness and dehydration.

Tuesday- Aerobics hooray!

Wednesday- Audiofuel run which is still hard work but in a good way I think! Plus yoga for runners podcast.

Thursday- Body pump hooray! Upped weights only for dumbells in the triceps track, and forgot to take a towel. Whoops.

Friday- Rest day.Picnic concert. Plently of body pump aches!

Saturday- Long and wettest run ever.

Sunday- Rest day- yoga for runners podcast.

So fingers crossed that my trainers are dry by tomorrow.

And it is on to the final week of work before the summer holidays, so I was wondering does anyone have any lovely school memories from the last day/ week of term? We used to get to take in games from home on the last day which always seemed like such fun! I was easily pleased I think!

More chia pudding

So a while ago the lovely Lucy sent me some chia seeds with the giveaway goodies that I won. I have quite liked them as a post body pump snack in some pudding, so I made some up today. I have to say it was the best yet. I mashed a small banana in a bowl with some cocoa powder and a tsp pb, then added in some Kara coconut milk (have not had this for ages, mmm) and whisked it up with a fork. Then I added some chia seeds (maybe a tbsp) and then some xanthan gum to help it thicken. I left it in the fridge for a few hours while I was out and when I returned I had this lovely (not so photo friendly) delight to enjoy!

The picture does not show how thick is was, and it was delicious. I did wonder if I would need some sweetener, but the mashed banana makes it so sweet anyway. Delish.

Body pump was fab- I decided to go with a heavier hand weight for the triceps as the last bit is only short, but it was so much harder (this is using a 3kg weight instead of 2kg)- I did not think that it would be that much harder! anyway the instructor said I would soon get used to it. Man that lunges track is hard- squats, lunges, squats, lunges, squats, lunges etc! No rest! I forgot to take a towel, but I did make a conscious effort to keep my shoulders relaxed during squats and that did help. But then getting the bar off after is so hard- how do people do that??

Yesterday I had a run after work- after Monday’s run getting cut short I was actually a bit worried about it. I did my Audiofuel run and it was fine. Well, it was really hard work- it makes other muscles in my legs ache. What is weird is that overall it does not make me any faster, but I suppose that makes sense as if I am running faster for short times, I need the recovery periods to be slower.

Also I finished trying those coconut water flavours and did a little review here. 🙂