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 ๐Ÿ™‚ 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. ๐Ÿ™‚

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!)

Less rain this time

Hey peeps

So Monday when I left work it was teaming it down with rain again. I had a run planned, but during the drive home I talked myself into staying at home and doing a DVD (shoes in the airing cupboard drying- thanks Jessica for the hairdryer idea), but then as I got closer to home the sun was trying to come out, and the rain eased off, so I decided to just go for it as I knew the fresh air would make me feel better. Although I did decide on a few pieces of white chocolate fudge would give me an energy boost- note to self, fudge is not a good pre run snack unless you want to feel sick for half the run. ย Anyway, I did over 4 miles, in 43 mins, so for me (especially recently where I seem to have slower loads) was a good pace. And it did not rain during my whole run so my trainers stayed nice and dry!

Look! These are my garden blueberries!!!! They were delicious ๐Ÿ™‚

And I got a new toy!

I was ordering some other things from Lakeland (gifts, not for me) and I saw this strawberry thing, which gets the green spiders out of strawberries! So nifty! Normally I use a knife but then cut off half the strawberry, but this you push in and it grabs the green bits, then you twist it and it pulls them out! Magic! I was trying to take a picture of me using it but it needs 2 hands! And the brownies I made the other day are lovely- had one with cherries and strawberries, and even though it smelled like banana, it did not taste like it. Phew.

Today was not aerobics as I had a work thing, but I did manage in between meetings to pop to Waitrose and get some treats for me.

Actually I do not think quinoa is a treat! But I saw these bars on Lucy’s blog the other day- seedy, nutty and grain bars (they had none of the squashed fruit bars), and they were still on offer so I decided to get them. I also got some Montezuma’s chocolate- have not had this in ages and decided that those 2 flavours (minty and with cocoa nibs) sounded lovely. Then I was most excited to see that Rude Health now do “thins”. I never like rice cakes, but I used to get them as they were lovely spread with toppings. Anyway, they do oaty thins (which I got-made of 50% oats and 50% spelt, 24 cals per thin), multigrain ones with quinoa and brown rice and stuff (which I nearly got, and possibly were gluten free) and rice ones too. I am very excited to try these- I bet they will go super well with peanut butter ๐Ÿ™‚

So, fave rice cake/ oat cake topping? I think I will have to go with pb and raspberry jam/spread. Yum.

Before and after

Afternoon peeps, hope you are all having a lovely weekend.

Yesterday after work we went into London for a picnic concert! What a great idea! It was at Kenwood house, which is somewhere in London (we parked at a tube station and then there were free buses to take us to the park), and we sat in the park on a picnic blanket, while an orchestra (I think it was the London philharmonic but am not sure) played music from films- we had Star Wars, The Great Escape, Psycho, Jaws, and loads of others. It was a brilliant way to spend an evening.

Today it was time for a run, and I was a little nervous because of cutting short my Monday run. I did try to take a “before” picture, but this was my most successful attempt. The flash kept going off and I have no idea how to turn it off, and Andy was out running so he could not take it for me.

Anyway it was supposed to show that I was giving my marathon t shirt it’s first outing ๐Ÿ™‚ And also my tennis visor as it was gently raining at that point, and that is meant to keep the rain off my glasses.

Well, the run started out just fine. It was raining but my legs were feeling good and I was running consistently, and not feeling too tired or anything like that. I passed the poor regiment fitness people crawling under nets in the muddy grass, and went through Welwyn town centre, and was even contemplating running for longer. Then, 5 miles in the rain changed from gentle/hard rain, to bucketing down. I was drenched in less than a minute- I could feel my socks soaking up water, I could hear my trainers squelching with every step, my t-shirt and capris were heavy and dragging because of the water. To top that off an orange van drove past and caused a tidal wave of muddy disgusting road water to smack into me. I was no longer a happy bunny. I was basically furthest from home there- no chance of a short cut, so I just had to get my head down and try to get home as fast as possible. I did wave thanks to the nice drivers who either let me cross the road when I was waiting (there were so many that just drove on- come on people you are warm and dry in your cars) or who pulled out to avoid splashing me. But there were several more drivers who drenched me. Well, I think I was at saturation point already but you get my point. I mean, just because I am out running in the rain, does not mean I want to get any wetter!

Not sure if you can see how wet I am but I was dripping all over the place (I had to take them off after this and put them in a bag so avoid soaking the carpet etc!)- and my t-shirt was stuck to me with all the water! (Andy took this picture having got home right after I left and missed all the rain basically! If only I could run that far before breakfast). Andy had even put his phone off silent in case I rang him (although I did not take mine with me oops!).

I jumped straight in the shower (very unusual for me as normally I have some drink and food first) and my hair was so wet I could have just put on the shampoo straight away. I was so cold!

Anyway, after that I had another treat from my bloggie swap box;

Another delicious Clif bar (chocolate almond fudge), and some Kara coconut milk and nesquick.

Yum look how dark and chocolatey it is ๐Ÿ™‚ Sorry it is a bit blurred!

Right, for the rest of the weekend I have a fudge makingย extravaganza planned (as gifts for people at work)- I am thinking dark chocolate mint, and some kind of coconut one (would white chocolate go with coconut?). And maybe those tofu brownies that Katie made and Rachel has converted into UK weight measurements. Oh, and hopefully get to see Bridesmaids as this weather is perfect cinema going weather in my opinion!

So, running in the rain- yay or nay? Do you get rain rage?

And exciting weekend plans?

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. ๐Ÿ™‚

Back with a bump

So after the excitement of the weekend it was back to work with a bump!

I also realised I forgot (yet again) to do my Sunday training review and my memory is terrible! So here is what I remember:

Monday- run after work. Think it was about 5.7 miles or something.

Tuesday- Aerobics. Super sweaty. Full press ups! (Although my hands were sliding across the floor due to being so sweaty)

Wednesday- Audiofuel run- found it hard work but did it. Plus 25 mins yoga for runners.

Thursday- Body pump. Right, I have a question. At the moment I can do 15kg squats, but by the end it is my neck/ back that hurts. Do people have those special bar coater things to help with this? In the winter I kept my hoody on for that track and used the hood as a cushion- no way can I do that in the summer. I am putting it on the right place, according to my instructor anyway. So tips welcome.

Friday- 3.1 mile run before work. This set me up nicely for the day and helped with the body pump aches I am sure,

Saturday and Sunday- walking around Silverstone. I even forgot yoga because it did not feel like a Sunday! Whoops!

After work I planned a run- I headed out (complete with new red shock absorber Run bra ๐Ÿ™‚ ย – I could do a magazine thing; “Top- Nike running specially chosen to clash with; ย Bra (just seen)- Shock Absorber, sweaty messy face and hair-models’ own”) but I think I was probably a bit dehydrated from the weekend. I really hate using public toilets, and while I do use them (silly I know) I also drink way less when out so I have to queue for less. So at the race yesterday I think I had less than 1 litre of water all day (I did have stuff at home too, but it was hot). Plus I could not work out when would be a good time to go because I wanted to see the drivers parade, the red arrows and stuff, and had to allow half an hour for queuing. Anyway today a mile or so into my run I felt really weak and a bit shaky. I had taken water with me so made myself push on, and then the water I was drinking started making me feel sick. I had to stop for a bit, and then walked for a few minutes. I was having a conversation with myself that went like this;

You have run 3 miles already, you can do 3 more”.

“But I feel really bad, I don’t want to make myself ill”.

Mind over matter, come on you are just lethargic“.

“No, I think I am actually not in shape to run- come on you are not training for anything at the moment, and at least you did a run today”.

OK, fine, we will try again on Wednesday“.

So that is what I will be doing. Home for some coconut water with pineapple! Yum! Tastes like pineapple juice. ๐Ÿ™‚ Once home I felt fine, but I think I probably was dehydrated, and it is warm out there (plus yet again, I spent all afternoon outside teaching PE so not ideal). I have cooled down now!

So body pumpers- how do you cope with a heavy bar?