Laura’s amazing banana bread

So, you guys know that I have bought some coconut flour but have never got on that well with it. I did manage to have it in pancakes, which I quite liked, but I still prefer the buckwheat flour so tend to go to that.

At the weekend (I think) Laura posted a photo of her grain free banana bread, which included coconut flour, and it just so happened that we had 2 bananas rapidly going brown. Of course I had to make it.

Well it turned out so well! Delicious! Because of what I had at home I made a few changes- I only had 3 eggs so used those and a little almond milk, and instead of blueberries I used dark chocolate chips and desiccated coconut.

I bought myself some pretty dessert forks, plus a matching cake slice that I have not used yet.

It has been keeping me going this week! I have been so busy this week- I have only managed one run (sad face) so far this week (I was home too late for Sweatshop on Wednesday)- on Tuesday I was home early (I had a course, and they usually finish early, plus no marking= bonus time) so I went on a 5 mile run, but it was baking- after a couple of miles I had to stop in the shade and cool down as I was so hot. I am not used to this! It was making me worry about my half marathon (next weekend) but I am not going for a fast time there as it is a trail run, I am going to enjoy the experience.

Anyway, when I got home Andy had picked our first garden strawberries! So after dinner I had them with a slice of the banana bread- they were so sweet and juicy- shop bought ones just don’t compare.

I went to pump this evening and managed to up my weights for the chest (10kg on the bar! Which is a lot for me), but now my arms are not liking all this typing!

What are your weekend plans?

I need to get up early for my final long run- I did 11 miles last weekend and want to do a similar distance this week. I need to make a cake as practise for my next cake club meeting (don’t want a repeat of last time!) and also a pile of work which I just won’t think about now!

Things I wonder when I watch Gogglebox

So, at first when you hear the concept of Gogglebox, you just wonder what is the point? We thought the same- we were flicking through channels and came across it and both thought “watching people watch TV- we can just watch the TV ourselves”. But then we watched for five minutes and became a bit addicted to it. Seeing how people react to different TV shows is just really funny (and can be rather worrying too). Now it has moved to prime time Friday night viewing it means I can look forward to it all week too.

So here is what I wonder:

  • How much alcohol do the B&B owners actually consume? Is he what we would call a high functioning alcoholic? And how red will his face get by the end of the episode?
  • How many tea cosy’s does the vicar own?
  • Does the vicar’s dog have a head? All we ever see are the legs.
  • How do the two girls from Brixton function with nails that long?
  • How much takeaway do two people need (again the girls from Brixton)? And was there really a mouse?
  • Is there anyone that Leon actually likes? (Although worryingly we often agree with him!)
  • How many times will the guy in Clacton fall asleep?
  • Most importantly, will that girl’s boyfriend ever speak?

Are you a Gogglebox fan? And if so, what do you wonder when you watch it?

PS. I started writing this a few weeks ago, but sadly now it is not on, so it might not make sense. If you are wondering there are some old episodes on channel 4 on demand. Go on, give yourself a giggle.

3 run weekend

Hey peeps, I hope you are all doing well. Last week we got back from Berlin on Wednesday evening (too late for Sweatshop!) and then on Thursday I was meeting someone at work early on, plus I was going to pump in the evening, so by the time Friday rolled around I was itching for a run!

I went out before breakfast- as I had been to pump the night before (and that was the first time for 3 weeks as for the previous 2 weeks I had late meetings for work) I had achy legs so took it easy. I went up to the field where the cows are, luckily they were away from the path, and I enjoyed being out in the cool air. 4.35 enjoyable miles.

On Friday night I could not decide about parkrun, so decided to see what time I woke up.  Saturday morning I woke early so after some pottering about I headed out. Because I had a long run planned for Sunday, and because my hip was annoying me on the train journey to Gatwick the previous Friday, I was going to take it easy.Famous last words eh?  I was pretty good to begin with- I flipped my watch around so I could not see the screen and just ran on feel. At one point my hip felt weird, so I told myself to ease off, but of course for the final bit I had to try to finish as fast as possible (although the gentle finish slope has never felt so steep!), and then when I stopped my watch and saw 27 something I wished I had pushed a bit harder (although as soon as I stopped I felt a bit sick so I had pushed hard at the end). Later on when I got my text I was surprised to see I managed 27.12- this is now the third time I have managed that exact time! I also managed a royal flush negative split, with every mile being faster than the previous one (I know that is easier with 3 miles than longer races!)- not really taking it easy! I ended up putting Deep Heat on my hip later on as it was a bit achy, but nothing too bad. 3.1 (mostly) enjoyable miles.

On Sunday I was up bright and early for my long run. Annoyingly, just as I was about to leave, I found that my Garmin had run out of charge. It would not normally bother me too much (although I am loving adding my runs to Daily Mile and tracking my monthly and yearly miles) but I hadn’t decided on a route, I knew I wanted to run 9 miles but could not remember which route I needed, so had to have it on so I would run the right amount. I charged it for a bit, and then headed out, but this was not so good because by then I was hungrier and the weather was hotter. I started off OK, but for the final few miles I was too hot and thirsty; I was annoyed with myself for not bringing any water with me, and by the end I was struggling. I managed 9 miles, although the Garmin ran out of battery at 8.94, a bit before I got home. 9 miles and lesson learned- charge my Garmin the night before, and bring a drink if it is a super hot day!

When I got home the first thing I did was have a coconut ice lolly- even more refreshing than some cold coconut water.

After that I had to pop to town, and then went to the allotment for a couple of hours of weeding and planting. I have some weed resistant matting, so I put that down with some new strawberry plants, as our own strawberry plants are really hidden in the grass now! I had a very sore back when I got home though. Perfect timing, as I had a sports massage booked for Monday evening.

Three runs in a row is really my limit- after that I just slow down loads and get really achy. I am always amazed at people who run 6+ times per week. Although I have found that I quite like a short run the day before a long run, but I know I really need a rest day after a long run.

Where do you like to have your rest days?

White chocolate and raspberry loaf cake

A few weeks ago now we had a busy weekend- on Saturday Andy’s other brother was getting married (one got married nearly 2 years ago now) and after a big breakfast…

Yep, pancakes with cooked apple and some caramel sauce (leftover from my cake club cake)- I knew we would not have lunch so needed something filling.

We then drove there, changed, went to the wedding and generally had a fab time.

See how many weeks ago it was!

They had very cool giant cocktail glasses in each table filled with sweets (we were on the fudge table), plus a sweetie buffet (bar?) and so everyone had their own little paper bag to fill with sweets. My poor flower did not last well in the heat (this photo was taken on Sunday).

On Sunday we went out for breakfast, wandered around the shops for a bit before driving home, where we were then invited out for dinner, so I decided to make a cake- I can’t go somewhere without taking one and I had not baked so far that weekend!

I found a recipe in the Clandestine Cake Book, but changed it a bit.

Raspberry and White chocolate loaf

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a large loaf tin.

Mixing in the frozen raspberries

Ingredients:

125g butter

175g caster sugar

2 large eggs

125g plain flour

50g ground almonds

3 level tsp baking powder

4 tbs milk (I used almond milk)

1 tsp vanilla extract

150g frozen raspberries

75g white chocolate

Optional- freeze dried raspberries/ raspberry powder

Directions:

Cream together the butter and sugar.

Add the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla.

Sift in the flour, then add the ground almonds and baking powder.

Stir in the milk, and then finally fold in the raspberries. Frozen ones should be quite resilient to a bit of stirring.

Pour the mixture into the tin, and bake for around 50-55 mins (the original recipe said 35-40 mins, but mine needed a lot longer than that)- until a skewer comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin.

While it cools, melt the white chocolate- I do this in the microwave and as long as you only cook it for 15 seconds at a time it is fine.

If you are using it, stir in the freeze dried raspberry powder, and then drizzle over the loaf.

I was sent some gorgeous dried raspberry powder from Zingology and this went perfectly in the white chocolate (they use a very unique process which uses light to extract the water molecules. This is a very gentle process that means that the nutrients, enzymes, colour and taste remain intact). I then sprinkled it with some freeze dried raspberries (Waitrose sell these in little tubes in their baking section).

This was all that was left after dinner!

The ground almonds made it super moist, and the raspberries burst a bit when the cake bakes and go all jammy. The sweet white chocolate balances the tart raspberries too.

Do you like baking with fruits? I love using frozen raspberries or blueberries- fresh ones can get all squashed when you mix them, whereas the frozen ones keep their shape until they are baked.

Greek yoghurt pancakes

Pancakes and parkrun go together like peanut butter and jelly. Or some other excellent combo. Today was a parkrun day for me.

I was sent a lovely breakfast hamper recently from Streamline, and then found this amazing looking recipe for using greek yoghurt in pancakes.

The granola has been delicious on its own, and my friends and I enjoyed some of the jam on scones for an afternoon tea.

But I saved the greek yoghurt for the pancakes, and today was the perfect day to try them out. I could not decide about parkrun as I had a late night last night, but I woke up early so decided to head on out. Once I got home, I showered and then got on with breakfast.

The batter was easy to make- I whisked up the egg a lot before I stirred in the yoghurt. I added some freeze dried raspberry powder and a few frozen ones to the mix too. I used the buckwheat pancake mix instead of plain flour and baking powder, but I have found loads of recipes on-line just like that one and all sorts of flour seems to be OK.

The batter was very thick, but seemed to cook OK- slow was the way to go.

They still had a pink tint but it didn’t come out in the photo very well!

The recipe made 9 little pancakes, plenty to fill me up, and I added a splodge of yoghurt with some of the reduced sugar jam, plus some almond butter as I think that goes well with raspberries.

These turned out really well, especially for a first go. While I was eating them the parkrun text came through- 27.12 was my official time, the third time I have run that exact time! At least I am fairly consistent I suppose. Plus it was a royal flush negative split (yes easier to achieve on a shorter course, but still impressive that I kept on speeding up the whole time).

The breakfast gave me loads of energy to power through a lot of housework, then we popped out to the shops to look at a new laptop and some paint tester pots, before getting home at about half 3 and realising I was hungry. They did me well!

The Streamline website has some lovely looking recipes on there, I quite fancy trying the strawberry breakfast bars at some point.

Any other good recipes that use jam?