Recipes - Maria Runs

Tahini cookies and a run!

So yesterday I mentioned my obsession with tahini (and Alison, I love the idea of having it with dark chocolate, and Shaman love the honey idea too mmmm). In my Vegan cookies invade your cookie jar book, there was a recipe for Tahini lime cookies. Well, it seemed rude not to!

Well, I didn’t have cornstarch, so subbed in some ground flax instead. They are yummy! The lime flavour really comes through (from the lime zest) and the sesame flavour is also lovely (it used 1/2 cup tahini). They have a lovely texture too, kind of chewy and crisp, like a good pb cookie. Another recipe that should be made again!

I also made some fresh mint tea 🙂 Ffion you were right- super easy!

A load of fresh mint (I have a few types in my garden, one might be spearmint possibly) and boiling water. I let it brew for a while, and voila!

It was tasty and I got 2 cups of it! It was not as sweet as the teabags, but maybe I should have used smaller leaves.

And finally the run;

I went out this morning, for a gentle run. My 6.7 mile route was calling to me! I ran past the Race for Life in Welwyn, which meant I spent a lot of the run reminiscing- that was my first race a few years ago, and the reason I started running. On the day I was so nervous as the most I had run for was 15 mins (then a min walk, then another 15 mins) but I really wanted to run the whole way. I was so worried and apprehensive, and I was also so proud when I crossed that line (and I did run it, in 35 mins). I love the whole ethos of the race, that everyone is welcome, and the messages people have on their backs of who they are running for, and of course the amount they raise for charity.

Anyway, I digress.

During the run my left hamstring started feeling tight again. It was sore after the marathon, but the sports massage really helped, and on Saturday I was fine walking. But I suppose I am still not fully recovered (I did not expect to be). Anyway, I just took it super slow (it took me 80 mins), and felt fine when I finished. I have decided I am not going to do the 5k next weekend. I think I would have to run it slowly, and I think I would be a bot disheartened if it took me a long time. So I will see if they need any helpers instead.

Anything else I can do with tahini?

🙂

Shopping mistake! and kitchen tales

Hey

How is Saturday here already? I cannot believe that the marathon was a whole week away! Strange.

Anyway, I have been on half term, so have had more time to potter about! I went to get my hair cut the other day and sadly the bookshop next door was closing down- it did mean everything was super cheap so I picked up a couple of bargains. The Raw book has loads of recipes in it, and the Food Doctor book has a little bit of info about keeping blood sugar levels stable and then a lot of recipes too.

Exciting! I was off to a BBQ on Friday so I decided to use my food processor (still a novelty) and make some pesto for a salad (a recipe from the raw book). I had to soak the almonds overnight, and then blitz them with tomato, olive oil and basil leaves.

I cooked some quinoa and roasted some veggies and then mixed it all up.

It went down pretty well- a couple of my friends were brave to try it and they both liked it too!

I have a lot of the pesto left over, and apparently it will keep for a week if you seal it with more olive oil.

I had some today on some rye bread for lunch and it was delicious 🙂

I am looking forward to having this for lunch this week yum 🙂

OK, onto the mistake.

I was most excited when I went to the Galleria (shopping centre) to see that the Julian Graves is now a Holland and Barrett! And it has buy one get one half price on everything (permanently according to the member of staff I spoke to), so I got a few things I had had my eye on for ages.

Wheatgrass and Spirulina to add to smoothies and stuff (getting a bit carried away with the old green smoothie possibly) and some flavoured rice milk. I have read a few times that those things are good for smoothies- the Spirulina is about 50% protein, plus lots of other vitamins, so seemed a good idea to give foods a little boost. I liked the plain rice milk but those flavours sounded so good I had decided already I would try them if they were on offer.

Well, I was hot and tired when I got home, and so I decided to make a smoothie- 1/2 frozen banana, cherries, the nutty milk and 1 tsp (yes, teaspoon) of spirulina.

It was a very very dark colour indeed. And it was so salty, and smelled sort of fishy. I got a bit paranoid and had to read and re-read the packet- yes it was vegetarian and vegan, no it did not contain fish or fish oils or anything. Anyway, I could not finish it and spent the rest of the day feeling like I had swallowed seawater. I did eat quite a bit of milk chocolate, but that did not take the taste away. So, any ideas on how to disguise it will be gratefully received!

The rice milk was lovely (I tried some on it’s own, also in an attempt to get the taste of the sea out of my mouth), but then I also had it in porridge and found it too sweet.

I also got a bargain when shopping! Hooray that Whitards were having some kind of crazy 3 for 2 deal, with a load of stuff also 25% off.

Tea pyramid! I got some Chai, Spice Imperial (black tea with orange and spices), Mango black tea and vanilla black tea. Plus some freebies- all for £7! Wow!

As for exercise, yesterday I did some yoga before breakfast (I am still rubbish at it, but I can see that it will help build strength too), and then had a little walk.

Today I went into London to meet some friends (I managed to get very lost outside Kings Cross Station- they are doing loads of building work and I came out of a different exit and walked for about 15 mins in totally the wrong direction before I rang Andy and got re-directed!)- I also walked back from the station and it was so hot outside- by the time I got home I was tired! Anyway, I was thinking of having a run this afternoon, but I run worse in the afternoon anyway, and it is warm, so I am going to go out tomorrow after breakfast. Fingers crossed. Anyway, with all the walking today my legs feel fine- the tightness in my ankles/ calves/ shins/ whatever it was has completely gone, so I am thinking it will be OK tomorrow.

I am also getting a bit obsessed with tahini! This was my lunch from the other day- some roasted veggies (the ones that did not go in the BBQ salad) and tahini on rye bread. Sooooo good 🙂

So, any ideas on how to disguise the salty fishy taste?

And have you ever bought something you had seen (on TV/ adverts/ blogs etc) and regretted it right away?

I must learn by my own mistakes I suppose!

National Vegetarian Week

So in the UK it is National Vegetarian week, and as I have been veggie for, hmm, a long time now (I think officially 15 years, but really for longer!) I thought I should give it a mention. I am sometimes a little bit of a cynic with these National days and weeks, and this one is sponsored by Cauldron foods (who make veggie foods) so for them it is a lot of free press too. And some of the leaflets and information packs are a little full of scare tactics etc too. Aside from the ethical and health reasons (which I won’t go into), there are other reasons to eat less meat, as producing meat takes up a lot more of the worlds’ resources such as water (because you have to grow crops to feed the animals etc.), so I think it is worth even meat eaters to cut down a bit. But anyway, back to the food.

As some of you know, Andy is a meat eater, so some of our meals are separate(or we start with the same base, and he adds some meat in a separate pot. But, there are some meals we both eat now which are totally meat free, so maybe good for someone who eats meat to give it a try.

Mexican bean wraps served with a salad are a popular meal in our household. The beans are chunky and filling, and the spices give it a strong flavour (add as much chilli as you can take!), plus you could add whatever veggies you like to the wraps.

Roasted vegetable calzone is another popular one. If we eat out, Andy will often choose a (meat) calzone, but this one is also very tasty!

Lentil chilli is one of my faves (but you could use any beans/ pulses).

Chickpea stew is another one which I love.

I have also discovered silken tofu- I initially loved in in Pumpkin pasta bake, but I have had success using it in lasagne dishes too- it goes all creamy and really delicious so give it a go.

So veggies and non veggies alike, what would your choice of veggie food be this week?

Onto today. First of all thanks for all the wishes and huffing and puffing regarding the ash cloud (and thanks Rose for your good luck post– made me very excited!). I am trying not to worry because at the end of the day there is nothing else I can do. At Christmas we went to the airport the night before, just in case the motorways were too snowy (and it nearly worked) but here there is nothing like that, so I am going to try to chill!

I was sad to realise that my training plan has come to an end.

Look at all the ticks and stuff written all over. I even kept the same red pen by it because I wanted to keep it all the same. Except for the black pen in the bottom corner (this is about a local 5K in the Autumn that was advertised and I wanted to write the details down and this was my only paper option!).

It seems crazy that all those weeks have flown by, and all those miles have been run.

Dinner today was a veggie hotch potch- some roasted pepper, courgette, beetroot, with basil tofu (yum I have not had this for ages and I had forgotten how yummy it is), spinach and food doctor seeds.

Yum! Another good recipe for veggie week.

Last night I had a nice snack too- I heated some pumpkin puree with a little molasses and cinnamon, and then swirled it into some ginger yoghurt.

Scrumptious 🙂

In fact I might have some more this evening.

Night

Wardrobe malfunction!

Not as bad as it could have been!

I went on my last “long” run today. I say “long” because it was 7 miles, which seems short, but just what I fancied doing. I think after next weekend I am going to enjoy doing this length of run a lot more. Anyway, Andy got a Garmin for his birthday and let me try it out, so I had that on alongside my Nike+. The plan was to compare the pace and distance etc, but it was only once I started that I realised that he likes km, and I like miles, and I just was not working out the maths that well in my head. Anyway, my pace went from 6.24 per km, up to 6.28 on a steep hill, got back down to 6.20 and finished at 6.19. Each time I glanced at it the pace was between those numbers, and I did feel quite fast but also like my legs were going like clockwork. I did the 10k in 63 mins (fast for me) and overall did 11.4 K in 69 mins. That seems to be about 7 miles anyway.

But, the worst bit- at exactly 5k I felt a ping! One of my bra straps had come undone. For the ladies, I have a Shock Absorber Run bra- it is brilliant, and has 2 straps- one across the back of the neck, and one normal one. At first I thought the top one across my neck was what opened (it is like a bikini clasp) but I soon realised that I was wrong. The straps adjust (again like a bikini) by sliding a plastic loop into slots of fabric. I am not sure if I just rushed to put it on, but that was what had worked its’ way loose. The one that goes down along the left shoulder-blade. Not sure if I have explained it right. Anyway, I tried but there was no way I was able to do it back up while running (and I was not going to stop and take it off to sort it out) so maybe that was why I ran faster??

Anyway, I enjoyed that run and glad that I felt strong and speedy- I have been feeling like a plodder of late so I am glad my legs still work. Those 20 miles seem ages ago now! This week I have a 3 and a 2 miler, so I might do a few fast paced bits on Monday, but the other one will be gentle to keep the legs ticking over.

Also, exciting news, I tried my new food processor today! It did take me about 20 mins (and then it took Andy to actually work out the problem) to get it to work. Turned out I was not quite putting the lid on properly. Anyway, after seeing these amazing looking raw brownie slice things on Emma’s blog, I knew I had to try them! The original recipe is here (I book marked it already!) but I changed it up a bit and only made half, so my recipe is below.

And of course any excuse for me to use my new measuring cups! This is the base + topping waiting to go in the fridge.

And this is a slice on my plate (spoonful so you can see the base).

Mmmmmmm it is amazing!

So, for the base, whizz 1 cup pecans and 1 cup chopped dates in a food processor. Then add 1/6 cup cocoa powder and a tbsp agave, and mix some more. Press this into a small pan lined with baking paper (pressing it with the hands was much more successful than with a spoon) and leave in the fridge to set.

Then melt 1.5 tbs coconut oil. Put into the food processor 1/6 cup date syrup, 1tsp agave, (I had no maple syrup), 1tsp rice dream milk, 1 tsp cocoa powder and blend it up. Then pour in melted coconut oil and 1 tbs almond butter (this has salt in it, which is why I missed out the salt from the original recipe). Pour this over the base and leave to set again.

Just in case you did not see before, here is the exact same picture again!

It really is that good! 🙂

So make some if you have not already!

Counting down

So, last night was my last body pump before the big day itself! It was good fun- I kept weights lower for squats, lunges and back, and all was fine.

I do at the moment keep imagining injuries- my knee was sore for a bit and it has not been sore for years, at one point at work yesterday I convinced myself that my back was sore (I think I was just sat badly and then got up quickly and it felt weird for a minute which normally I would not even notice)- possibly this is the paranoia about making it to the start line in one piece. I am starting to feel a little out of control, so I have started to make myself think about the things I can control (e.g. taking my training easy, food in the final week, packing, thinking about all those good runs that I had) to calm my nerves. It suddenly seems so close, and the last week of a half term is always so busy so I think next week will fly by! We fly out Friday night, and Andy is going to pick me up from work so I only have at home until next Thursday. Eeek!

Anyway, when I got home I had half a bag of spinach that needed using up, so I went for a green smoothie. In the blender went the spinach, a small frozen banana, some frozen cherries, 2 tsp cocoa powder, xanthan gum and some rice dream milk.

It turned out so thick it was more like melty ice cream, so I had it in a bowl instead!

I put some pb on there, but I think I should have made a sauce instead as of course, the smoothie being freezing cold, the pb did not melt! Duh. Anyway, this was delicious.

Right, catch you guys later 🙂