Reviews - Maria Runs

More baking (are you bored of it yet?) and a storm in a teacup

Hello everyone, hope we are all doing well and that the snow melted before it had a chance to turn to ice.

Right, I have baked a few things over the last week or so, so just like the news, if you don’t want to know the score/ see me ramble on about baking, look away now.

First up, peanut butter bars.

Now don’t worry, I have not gone crazy, and yes I know these are biscuits. The recipe is from Sweet Vegan, and it starts off with 15 vegan “Graham crackers” (another recipe in the book). I think they are a bit like digestives? Anyway, I made them one day. As you know, I have the time!

Then they got broken up (why did I bother cutting them out into neat circles? Oh right, the having loads of time thing) and whizzed up with peanut butter and icing sugar. And maybe something else, can’t remember.

The topping is the prettiest part. It is meant to be chocolate melted with some butter substitute (as it is a vegan book) but I used Dark chocolate dreams instead, and let me tell you that is the most amazing topping for anything, ever. Ever!

I added the stars to pretty it up some more 🙂

As I was giving some away for friends who came to visit. It was very crumbly to cut, but it was really worth it. Although next time I think I would just buy biscuits for the base.

Next up- Carrot Cake.

Andy’s family were again coming over for the football, so I wanted to make something pretty. This was a Hummingbird recipe, but I swapped pecans for walnuts (not a fan of walnuts), and added in some grated coconut.

I made some sugar carrots for the topping- something I have always wanted to do! I had to use my gel colours (I keep them in the cute owl box) 🙂 I rolled the orange icing into balls, then rolled them into sort of sausage shapes making one end thin and one end fat. For the greens I rolled into very thin rolls, and used 2 for each carrot. I made a little hole in the end of the carrot with my little finger, and poked the greens in there. Then I used a knife to make nobbles on the carrots.

Hooray for my little carrots!

I baked the mixture in two tins, and then made some icing. Now my plan was to use coconut cream (the little tiny tins from Waitrose) to make a coconut icing. When you pour it out, it looks like loads! Anyway, I added in icing sugar and mixed until it was thick, and left it in the fridge to thicken further. I sandwiched the two cakes with some, and had the rest to put on top.

Now, the cakes were cool but I think the kitchen was warm because the icing really melted and kept pouring off the top of the cake. I shall call it a glaze. Andy’s Mum said she much preferred it to normal thick icing because it got in all the nooks and crannies. Anyway, it did taste really coconutty. More practise needed though!

I had some a day later and the icing had hardened more, so maybe that is the key.

Finally, hot buns.

From Great British Bake Off book. They are not hot cross buns, because I could not be bothered to make the cross. These were for my parents and I made them with half wholemeal as we all prefer that. Seriously, anyone who visits or has me as a visitor has got to expect some baking at the moment as it is a good way to pass the time.

Something else exciting- Andy had to pop to Tescos the other day, and I went along for the ride (I lead an exciting life)- anyway while preusing the “fancy pretend milk” section look at what I found!

Alpro almond milk! I love the Provamel Almond milk but it is hard to find, and I like the unsweetened Ecomil but that is pretty expensive. I am excited that other companies are making almond milk anyway, especially as this is fortified with calcium and vitamins. 🙂 Plus it is cheaper than the Ecomil stuff.

Finally, the storm in a teacup. Well, sort of. I was sent a few types of tea to review from Storm Teas (love the name) so feel free to check out my review here.

Stay warm people 🙂

And if you could top one thing with the chocolate/ dark chocolate dreams topping, what would it be?

A year of highs and lows

Evening all

Happy New Year first of all.

I am a fairly optimistic person, but when I saw all the 2011 review posts I did start thinking about how this year has been for me, and the post title reflects how I feel about it.

It started on a bit of a low, because we were meant to go on holiday last Christmas over the school holidays, but because our plane got snowed on (we were actually on the plane, they de-iced it, we even saw the air safety video!) the airport got closed and our flights were cancelled. What with all the snow it was a bit tricky to get up to much, although we did have a lovely weekend over new years in Bath.

But it was building up to something very exciting- our (mine and Andy’s) first marathon! I turned 30 in May and as a way of celebrating (?) we signed up for it. Even though I had already had my birthday by then it was a sort of present to myself! To help with motivation I signed up to marathon talk’s spring motivation challenges, plus the magic mile challenge later in the year- all brilliant so check them out! The training was really hard (up until then I had run 2 half marathons in the previous year, but my training runs had not gone over 12 miles), but I did enjoy the achievement of it all. I also leant to like ice baths, and had my first sports massages! My birthday weekend was spent in Derbyshire so we could complete a 20 mile organised training run. Anyone who ever worried about being the last person in a race, read my report. It is not that bad!

I did it! I ran 20 miles and got a t-shirt to prove it! 🙂

And we even went on a nice walk the same evening!

One of the “lows” was that this year I kept on being ill- I had a few UTI’s (having never had them before), including one days before the Stockholm marathon. But despite being on antibiotics I felt OK so went for it. The race was a struggle, but I felt totally elated when I finished.

Totally all about the medals here! Yes, I was slow, but I ran the entire way, and finished under the cut off and nothing can ever take that away from me!

Just about managing to stand up straight after nearly 5 1/2 hours of running!

A high note before that was our trip to Italy- two of our friends got married out there and we were lucky enough to be invited- we spent lovely few days out there (of course sampling lots of the local gelato!).

We did share it by the way, this was a comedy photo in which Andy wanted to see how much ice cream I could get on the scoop at once! 🙂

So here is a serious photo as we spent a day in Venice after the wedding and even bumped into the bride and groom on their honeymoon- what are the chances??

Another fantastic high was our summer holiday- we managed to re-book most of the things from our cancelled Christmas holiday, and had an awesome time, especially at Discovery Cove (I still need to put some of those pics on here).

Key West at sunset was one of the many highlights.

Plus a weekend of girly fun in Bristol.

I can’t take credit for this photo- my friend took it but I just love the colours in it.

After the marathon I kept up running, and we booked a few shorter races in the Autumn. My absolute favourite run was the one in Sherwood Forest.

Running the Great South Run was brilliant as I raised so much for charity (thanks to everyone who sponsored me), although it was not the best race experience! On the plus side a post race lunch (enjoyed in the 3 hour car park queue) of a cinnamon roll and soya chai latte was pretty good!

In the background you can see the 4×4 that kept trying to back into our car, and also caused some road rage later on when it pushed in front of some other cars- people get tetchy when they queue that long!

The year was meant to end on a high, as we had booked a holiday (can you tell we love our holidays?) to NYC (I really want to see the big Christmas tree), Philadelphia, Washington, Orlando and the gulf coast, but before that a big old low in the form of me being admitted to hospital came along and scuppered our plans. There is always next year, and it is so much better than I found out I was unwell here and not whilst on holiday! Look on the bright side 🙂

We have been lucky to enjoy a lovely Christmas at home with Andy’s family, and I got to see my parents more as they were away, back for 3 days, then off to New Zealand for a month (although this turned into a saga when my Dad cut his hand and severed a tendon the day they were meant to go- honestly someone does not want my family to get on holiday right now! Luckily he has not done permanent damage and managed to delay their flights by 2 days- he is doing more tennis umpiring out there but only missed a day I think) so as we were here I managed to spend a few more days with them.

I don’t tend to set goals, but initially I had in my mind that in 2012 I wanted to speed up with my running- I wanted to get some half marathon pb’s and have booked the Brighton and Silverstone Half marathons. But at the moment I don’t have my next hospital appointment until the end of January, and the operation will be some time after that, so I highly doubt I will manage either of them. But again, there is always next year!

Of course 2012 brings with it the Olympics! I can still remember when we found out that London got them (and I actually was going “oh my word I will be 31 when they come” )and it seemed years away- we got some tickets in the second chance round so that is very exciting.

So, I am hoping that in 2012 I get my health sorted, get back into running, enjoy the Olympics, and also have an awesome summer holiday to make up for the cancelled Christmas one.

What are you looking forward to next year?

Happy New Year!

Recipes from Lucy Hyder

A while ago I was contacted by the lovely people at Rachel’s Organic. They are running a “Moments” campaign – they want to know how people spend their precious moments to relax, unwind and indulge. Lucy Hyder is the head chef for Hand Picked Hotels, and has developed some recipes using Rachel’s Organic Yoghurts.

A Brief Background On Lucy Hyder (sent to me by Rachel’s)

The only female head-chef of Hand-Picked Hotels, Lucy began her cookery career working an apprenticeship at The Mirabelle restaurant before being promoted to the position of Head Chef at The Hotel on The Park Cheltenham. At just 23 years old, Lucy’s culinary expertise successfully awarded The Hotel on The Park with their third Rosette. Her creative flair and passion for cooking saw Lucy win The British (food) Championships, representing Great Britain at the Food Championships in South Korea and even win the regional’s of Gordon Ramsey’s Scholarship competition 2003. In her current position as head-chef at Buxted Park, East Sussex, she offers her diners good quality British food, sourcing local produce with simple, but hard hitting flavours with contrasting textures and high visual appeal.

They sent me a lot of yoghurts and some recipes to try out.

A lot of yoghurt! The apple and elderflower yoghurt is so refreshing, and the greek style with honey was so luxurious. I also had some of the coconut, banana and pineapple with was lovely (although I would swap out the banana for something like lime as I am not always a fan of banana flavoured things). I am really looking forward to opening the coconut yoghurt!

Lovely with a chopped pear as a post run snack 🙂

Anyway I was asked to try out a Moroccan Lamb Tagine (I did check before I agreed that they would not mind me subbing the lamb for lentils!).

The recipe is here on the Rachel’s website, so you can make it yourself if you want to! All I did was swap in lentils for the lamb, and use vecon stock instead of lamb stock.

I served mine with some roasted orange veg (sweet potato, carrot and butternut)- it was very spicy but also very filling. The yoghurt was a nice touch to cool it down a bit- I never usually add yoghurt to savoury things but I am thinking it would go well with my chickpea stew too.

I am not sure I liked the apricots in it- I think the prunes added a nice sweetness but I think maybe the apricots were a bit too sweet? I am not usually into the sweet and sour combo, and I think it reminded me a little of that. A lovely winter warmer anyway.

Lucy also complied her top culinary tips:

Ø Top tip for an autumn day – warm raspberries thrown in to a pan with a little bit of sugar served with granola and yoghurt – perfect start to the day!

Ø On fireworks night or Halloween – enjoy pumpkin soup while outside enjoying the fun. Top tip – dry out the seeds from the pumpkin and create toasted seeds to add texture. Great with a lightly spiced yoghurt too!

Ø Selecting a healthy option when dining out – In order to select a healthy option, always discuss recommendations with your waiter – ask for sauces and dressings to be served on the side to give you the option to eat or not.

Ø Food presentation – use a piping bag for items such as mashed potato and purees. Think about colour and food height on the plate too.

Ø Finishing touches – use fresh herbs to garnish plates for extra appeal.

Ø Extra flavour – season water for blanching vegetables to enhance the flavour and also retain their colour

Ø Drink water – while dining to clear your palette to enjoy the food to the maximum

Ø Super food booster – Lucy makes her own muesli that contains a variety of nuts and dried fruit. Add granola for more of a treat.

Ø Super dooper curry booster – Daal curry is a superfood option cooked with lentils and works well as a vegetarian or meat option. Serve with yoghurt, with added cucumber and onion for a great finish!

Ø When holding a dinner party – always serve a cold (prepared) starter, a hot main and pre-prepared dessert to allow maximum time with guests and minimal kitchen time.

Ø During the summer months – use the fresh seasonal items and make soup, chutneys and jams and freeze for consumption during the winter months.

I am also going to make a cake with the yoghurt- sounds yummy right?

What is your favourite way to use yoghurt?

And what do you do to relax/ unwind and have time to yourself? I find baking so relaxing and rewarding, and also getting some fresh air (either a run or a walk) can help blow those cobwebs away. But for a special treat I love to sit down in the afternoon with a good book and a cup of tea- normally I read before bed so reading in the afternoon somehow seems like such chilling out time.

Brilliant Brighton

Hey! I hope everyone has had a lovely weekend. I headed off to Brighton for the weekend, and the weather was just perfect.

A while ago I was emailed and asked if I would like to visit Aloka, a vegetarian, vegan and raw restaurant in Brighton. From the website it looked amazing, so we jumped at the chance and were really looking forward to it.

We travelled down on Friday night, and then spent Saturday morning chilling on the beach.

The weather was just fantastic.

The sun was shining and the beach was busy.

I enjoyed collecting coloured shells and stones while we sat in the sunshine.

Then we headed to Aloka for lunch. The idea of the cafe is brilliant- they have a variety of food on offer, and you help yourself, then weigh your plate so you only pay for the food you take. Their chefs are all vegetarian or vegan, so they are really passionate about the food they are making. The menu changes all the time but they have sample menus on their site. I actually took a notebook with me, and I am so glad I did as there were so many dishes on offer that I would not have remembered them all!

This was my plate; some salad leaves, beetroot and apple salad, fresh hummus, tomato and cucumber salad, pumpkin and rocket salad, black bean salad with corn and peppers, a sprinkle of seeds, and a lentil nut burger topped with apple sauce. This was all soooooo amazing- really fresh tasting and delicious. I think my favourite item was the lentil nut burger- the apple topping was such a great idea. But it was all amazing- the pumpkin was delicious and made me feel excited for autumn, the apple in the beetroot salad was so crunchy and fresh, the black bean salad was really tasty….

This was Andy’s plate- he had a few things the same as me (the lentil nut burger, the beetroot and apple salad/ pumpkin and rocket salad/ black bean salad) plus a few other items- a tomato curry, some basmati rice, potato wedges and a stuffed aubergine (stuffed with carrot and something- you can see it at the back of the plate- I had a bite of this and it was delish). Oh, and some massive croutons! He loves croutons. There were others items on offer that we did not try (other types of hummus/ bean spreads), plus side items like fresh bread, walnuts and nutritional yeast to sprinkle on top. Our plates were both empty as all the food we tried was fantastic!

We decided to try the smoothies from the drinks menu too- I don’t often choose them but the weather was so warm I thought it would be refreshing- mine was berry, apple and mint, and Andy’s was a mango one. Again so fresh and delicious.

The setting of the cafe was lovely too- right in the heart of the laines of Brighton- we sat upstairs right by an open window, so we could do a lot of people watching. Inside it was so bright and fresh and airy- sometimes specialist veggie restaurants can be a little filled with beaded curtains and incense and things like that (know what I mean?), but Aloka was so fresh and modern. But most importantly the food was delicious. And with such a huge selection it would appeal to most people- you would easily find something that you liked.

Our next trip to Brighton is next year when we run the half marathon, and we have already decided that it would be a great place to go back to.

Thanks Aloka– it was a fantastic and delicious meal, and I am already looking forward to my next trip to Brilliant Brighton!

So, have you ever been to Aloka? Or to another veggie/vegan restaurant?

Which item on the menu do you like the sound of the most?

Cupcake crazy

To celebrate National Cupcake week, I was sent some Cupcake books to look at (well, also to make some of the recipes).

I was sent Cupcakes by Sue McMahon, Special Cupcakes by Wendy Sweetser, and Divine Cupcakes by Tamara Jane, which are all published by New Holland Publishers here– you can also check out their facebook page here.

All the recipes look amazing (click on the names to have a look on amazon where you can “look inside”).

Cupcakes has several pages devoted to various toppings (how good does toffee topping sound?)- “normal” ones like butter-cream and cream cheese frosting, and fancier ones like swiss meringue butter-cream. It also has a little “special diets” section in the back.

Special Cupcakes is divided into different sections- party time, seasonal celebtrations, romance, cakes for kids to name a few. Sweet potato and orange cupcakes jumped out at me from this book.

Divine Cupcakes is filled with cupcakes (with the most beautiful photography and amazing decorations), then at the end there is a section for different frostings/ icings, and then a section for decorating tips (how to make sugar roses, or chocolate twirls)- I would need a steady hand there!

I could not resist the brownie cupcakes from Cupcakes, so that was what I made first. I loved that the recipe had 2 eggs, because then it was easy to only make half.

Yum- that is melted chocolate and butter, and a bowl with sugar and a whisked egg. Plus some scrumptious dark chocolate chips from Beyond dark.

They are more like little chocolate puddles than chocolate chips, but so so yummy.

The batter ready to go into the oven. The batter was super easy to make and smelled totally amazing.

When they came out- I love the appearance of the tops- like real mini brownies. The recipe had chocolate ganache as the topping, but I had no cream. It did say to leave that out for a less rich cupcake, so I went for middle ground.

Some whole earth dark chocolate spread, plus a few more chocolate chips.

Now to enjoy one while looking over all the other fabulous sounding recipes. 🙂

I also had a few bananas a bit past their best, so I decided to make the banana toffee cupcakes from Cupcakes too. Although I had used all my cupcake cases so I made them in mini loaf cases (and some in a bigger one too).

Looking lovely in their mini loaf case things.

And then with the toffee topping- this was really easy to make (and could be used on top of loads of different cupcakes)- I made it in the microwave (although it did bubble over) and made them a little more special. I took these to work (well I kept us a couple to share) and they were a total hit- I think everyone was really impressed that I made the toffee topping and that it was not out of a tin, and it really was very easy to make.

Alas now I have run out of eggs (for now, until I visit my Mum again) so the baking shall have to cease! But I am sure you will see more recipes from these books popping up pretty soon.

So- look inside one of them on amazon (click on their names above), and tell me what you would love to see me bake on this blog! 🙂