Recipes - Maria Runs

Rice dreamy

So today I have been getting a bit obsessed with rice milk.

It started with porridge made with rice milk.

I added a tsp of cacao bliss, which went all melty and delicious. Tasty.

Then when I got home it was time for some baking- carob cookies from the Vegan book;

Yum! I only made 1/2 the recipe, but it still made quite a few.

Yum– super close up! I might well have one later after body pump 🙂

While cooking it was also time for some tea;

Earl Grey in the afternoon is so civilised don’t you know??

Yum. The rice milk is really good actually- I have only had it raw before (you know, cold) but it was fine in hot tea, and cooked fine in the cookies (well, it looks like they have- they smell delish), and was nice in porridge too. It does look a little thinner than cows milk (but less protein I suppose) but did not make the porridge watery or anything. Have you tried rice milk? I have seen they do other flavours like Hazelnut but have never seen them in the shops. I bet that would make amazing porridge.

Today I had some marks on me that look like bruises or maybe burst blood vessels (around my neck and stuff)- I think this is an after effect of the massage, as she did do my neck for a long time. Am feeling tender to the touch so I am going to be gentle at body pump tonight (is that possible??)- have lower weights for squats and lunges anyway.

Then Friday is here, hooray! Any nice plans for the weekend? I only (“only“) have to do a 12 mile run on Saturday- I will have so much time to spare! Although I do have to do a lot of work, I will also manage a trip to the garden centre 🙂 And I have to do my list for packing as it is only 2 weeks away- ahhhhh how does time go so quickly?? So help me (finish this sentence): “For my marathon I will need to take…..”

I will start off with safety pins as I nearly forgot them twice for the 20 miler.

🙂

Carrot crazy!

Today I was determined to get out on my run before it got too hot. I had breakfast at 8, and then left at 9. I think I should have left it a little longer, but I was fine. There was a lovely cool breeze, so I actually didn’t feel too hot during my run. The plan was for 9 miles, and I actually mapped out my route this time.

The run went well, and I didn’t even drink all my drink (had the rest once home) and didn’t have any energy gels either. I think often I leave it longer after breakfast so I get hungry during a longer run, but this time as I went out quicker I was fine.

And I saw some baby rabbits right on the path in front of me!! My route goes past a lot of fields and I was so excited to see them up close! So cute! If I could choose a pet I would love some rabbits, but the practical issues (and we like to go on holiday so would rely on other people to look after them) put me off.

Running stats in brief- Distance- 9.48 miles, time- 1 hor 40 mins, average speed- 10.33- faster mile-9.35 (I tried to up the speed at the end once I knew my legs could make it!!).

After my run I had some chocolate rice dream- (these were on offer so I bought a 3 pack to try)- it was lovely alongside half some graze rocky road (cranberries, pecans, dark chocolate buttons). I did not feel that hungry, but I think I should have had more, because when it got to lunchtime I felt quite shaky and weak.

I decided to attempt carrot pancakes for lunch- as I have a big bag of carrots that need using up! These were lovely, but not sure if I should perhaps cook them longer at a lower heat. Anyway, I mixed up 35g chickpea flour, 15g apple sauce, 30ml milk, some baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, 80g grated carrot and then water until it went to the right thickness.

With a salad of spinach and food doctor seed mix, and topped with tahini, this was a lovely lunch.

I also spent some time making some carrot and raisin spiced cookies (from the Vegan cookie book). Of course only to use up some more of my big bag of carrots!

They smell lovely (even if I missed out the walnuts because I didn’t have any and don’t like walnuts)- the recipe had orange zest in it, and I used lime zest instead (because that is what I had, and I think lime with carrot cake is yummy)- I had one and they are soooooo good- really chewy, quite sweet, just scrumptious. (I am also going to add grated carrot to my sandwiches this week).

I also popped to the shops and bought some of the most amazing granola! Apple and cinnamon- amazing!

I attempted a mint chocolate smoothie today- 40g spinach, frozen banana, water, cocoa powder, drop of peppermint extract. It was alright, not sure what was missing.

I am feeling pretty tired now, and I think some foam rolling is in order, so I am going to have a cup of tea and foam roll while it cools 🙂

Enjoy the evening folks- for me it is back to the normality of work tomorrow (until the 4 day weekend next weekend woo!).

🙂

The aftermath

Today I had to hang around at home all morning, as I was waiting for a parcel for me, a parcel for Andy, and a person to come and fix my windscreen. Did I get on with some work? No, of course not. I did some cooking instead. (P.S. I did do some work before dinner!).

I made some bean dip to have for my lunch first of all. This was from the meridian website- basically it was a tin of cannelini beans, 2tbs tahini and a roasted red pepper, all whizzed up. This went very well in a warm food doctor pitta for my lunch.

Next up was the lasagne, although I actually forgot that part of it. I made two separate layers- layer one is a box of tofu whizzed up with some sundried tomato and garlic paste.

Carefully layer on some of the blended tofu.

Layer two was some roasted pepper, courgette, a tin of artichokes, lentils, tinned tomatoes, spinach, garlic. I cooked this mixture, and then layered it into trays (two layers of each) -I topped it with a tsp of basil pesto, which I swirled into the top tofu layer.

Then I had one for my dinner;

It was delicious! The basil pesto swirled in really made it. The tofu layer was really creamy, and all the veggies and lentils were delish as usual. A success, even if I forgot the lasagne sheets!

I also made some peanut butter cups- basically melted some dark chocolate, put some in the bottom of a cake case, put in the fridge for a bit to harden up, then put on a little bit of pb, spoon on the rest of the chocolate (re-melt if needed!) and then leave in the fridge again. I was worried it would stick to the case, but no fear, it came away just fine. So amazing.

Ok it is hard to see in the picture, but it is delicious. I have some mini cake cases so next time I might do bite-sized ones…..

Anyway, back to the running (and the massage aftermath); Today I was feeling tender in places, but yesterday I was recommended to try a gentle run today. So I did. After lunch (I hate running after lunch) I headed out- it was so hot out there! My shoulders were feeling much better, but my legs felt weird, like there were loose bits of muscle flapping about and pulling on my bones or something. Anyway, I kept it steady, pretty slow, went up to the lakes (which was packed), back around and straight home. I purposefully didn’t take water with me, as I knew I would be tempted to stay out for longer. Anyway, in all I did 5.7 miles in 62 mins. But then what was weird was that in the shower I shaved my legs, and that felt quite sore (as did putting on lotion after).

After that it was green smoothie time. Can you believe I forgot to freeze a pear for it? So I rummaged through the freezer and found another frozen banana (I hoard these as I do not like eating them when they get brown bits, and hate throwing them away, so our freezer is full of frozen bananas!), and a nearly empty pack of frozen mango chunks.

So today it was 40g spinach, 60g frozen mango, 1 small frozen banana, 15g flax seeds, 200ml Kara coconut milk, plus xanthan gum. I sprinkled some coconut on it, then tried to drink it- it was so thick I had to go and get a spoon! I suppose most of it was frozen. Tomorrow I might go for a cocoa one as I could not really taste the mango in it.

I had a nice walk before dinner, and my legs are working just fine.

So now I am being nosey (and curious as to who managed to get to the end of this post!)- any nice plans for the long weekend? We are having a pretty standard weekend- Andy has to run 18 miles on Friday, we have the wedding reception on Saturday, and will be catching up with Andy’s family on Sunday. Hopefully some garden time thrown in there at some point too.

Night 🙂

More gluten free baking

Hey

Before I head off to Italy I was due to meet up with some friends, including my friend with coeliacs. When I saw the quinoa flour the other day, I decided it would be perfect to try out in place of regular flour in some baking.

I found a brownie recipe in the Great British Book of Baking (a Christmas present which I have not yet used), and the recipe only needed 50g flour. So I thought it would be a good place to start.

I left out the nuts in the end, as my pack of pistachios said they were packed on a line that also handled gluten. The recipe was a standard brownie recipe- melt chocolate and butter, add eggs, vanilla, sugar, then stir in cocoa powder, flour and nuts. I baked them for a little longer than the recipe said, as although I like them squidgy, they were really really gooey. But they turned out really well. 🙂 I was a little apprehensive, as on the packet of quinoa flour, it said that it was typically used in savoury recipes (and it did smell like the packet of quinoa) but actually the brownies are very sweet. I needn’t have worried- we all enjoyed them anyway!

Before I headed round there I had time for one more run. I was supposed to do 5 miles, but in the end the weather was so lovely and I was feeling great, so I ended up doing 6.8 miles (in 69 mins- my fastest ever I think!). I kept my Nike+ on pace, and kept an eye- on the flat, down hill and gentle uphills I was under 10 min miles. I was feeling so strong (perhaps the slice of fruit cake- Andy’s birthday cake- last night was the key?)- the weather was fab as the breeze was cold, so in my vest and capris I was cold so I had to run fast to warm up. On the steep uphills I was slower, which is why my pace overall was a shade over 10 min miles. But for me, sustaining that pace on a longer run is great going.

Once home I had some yummy pudding- (sorry it looks like a mess- I mash it all up the sides and did not want to waste a bowl on making it look presentable!)- mashed banana, 15g ground flaxseeds, tsp carob powder (literally, 5g or something), a tsp (15gish) pb, and left to set in the fridge. Yummy! I topped it with a pear, and alongside some alpro milk with nesquick it was filling enough to be lunch! So good.

So, I am off for a few days. No guest posts lined up or anything like that (I am not that organised- also have no idea of the logistics of that)- enjoy the next few days 🙂

A foodie post

Hello!

I was busy yesterday, mainly in the kitchen as you will see (and also the garden centre- I love this time of year- time to plant out some seeds soon yay!).

First up a clue;

Pumpkin tofu pasta.Of course you all got it from the clue- well done- stickers all round. Only I changed it up a bit. I cooked 70g quinoa and 100g wholemeal pasta first. Then I whizzed up 1/2 tin pumpkin with the block of tofu and 25g sundried tomatoes.

I mixed that with the pasta/ quinoa, and layered it with some spinach.

And topped with sliced beetroot. It is going to be yummy I am sure (but currently it is all in the freezer- fab for a midweek meal).

I also made some cookies for sunday tea (which merged on the tray to make super cookies!) ;

I used the good old Hummingbird Peanut cookie recipe, and I used some new wholegrain spelt flour. Ocado didn’t have Dove’s farm stuff so I ordered this stuff- it is amazing! It has a proper texture, and the cookies were so nutty and chewy and delicious.

Can you see?

I also did some snacking!

Some yummy mango with no sulphur dioxide! How exciting! This was also amazing.

And some delicious dark chocolate. Although for some reason I thought this was going to have cacao nibs in it, but it was plain. Still tasty (and some left for another day yay).

Today was a 9 mile run and I slept fine (unlike before the 10 milers where I was really nervous). I think for some reason 10 miles after work seems like a massive deal, but 9 was fine. The pace was still a bit changeable, and I managed a few at 9.55 and 10.09 in the middle. 96 mins (9.2 miles) so not bad overall.

I am off to start mega commenting so watch out! 🙂

PS- do you know what I saw on my run this evening????

A man doing a poo in a field. And the weirdest thing? He had toilet paper with him and even wiped his bottom.

Sorry about that just had to share!