Time to celebrate!

Hello all!

I am in a celebratory mood tonight! After yesterday where things were not so good- busy day at work (which was fine), home late, went for a run still (how dedicated)- again that went fine but then our shower decided to not work- only cold water would come out, and if you turned the dial around to hot the pressure went. We do have a bath too, luckily, but the shower hose is old and leaky, so it does not work! Cue a lot of trying to fix it, before resorting to a bath and dry shampoo, and Andy spending half the night trying to fix the shower before we gave in and went to get a new shower hose for the bath! (We are having the shower room re-done soon and have the new shower sat in our garage so don’t want to waste money fixing something for the next couple of weeks). Anyway, it was quite an annoying evening.

But today!

I had a hospital appointment in the afternoon for a scan- just as a follow up to check everything is OK. I pretty much thought it was, but it is nice to be sure (seeing as I had no idea about the cyst in the first place!)- I had to drink a litre of water an hour before, and when I got there, they had a sign saying appointments were running late- ahh! But actually mine was bang on time, and the person (radiographer?) doing the scan said everything looked as it should, which was a great relief. So I celebrated with a soya chai latte- mmmmm. Even sat outside as it was quite warm (or maybe I was warm from rushing about and generally being nervous being at the hospital).

I also had time to pop to the shops and treated myself to a few bits.

Chai tea (mainly for Andy but I do have it sometimes), dark coconut chocolate, a raw coconut bar (looks a bit like a Lara bar I think) and a mini coconut chocolate bar (I am loving coconut right now) and, the most exciting thing of all, some sunflower seed butter!!!! Even the lady at the checkout was interested in it as she had not seen it before- it took me ages to choose smooth over crunchy as they had both. It is this stuff, (but smooth) and I have never heard of the brand before but it seems to be all over the internet.

I then went to get my hair cut, as they are open late on Thursdays (taking advantage as next week I have decided I am starting back at Body pump- yay- more reasons to celebrate).

Always looks so shiny after that, and I love having someone wash my hair 🙂 OK so you can’t really tell in the photo but it was cut, and is so much tidier than it was before.

Anyway, good things all round 🙂 I feel like my energy levels are finally returning to normal again, and although my stamina for running is clearly much lower, I am building up again and managing OK with it. I might make the half in September after all (well not have to walk some of it I mean).

So, the virtual cafe is open- what will you have to join with me celebrating?

🙂

 

8 mins!

Yup! I did it! Perhaps it was not such a good idea as I went out on Saturday and Sunday morning, but I didn’t get home too late today (I had brought work home with me instead) so I decided to go out for my first run of this week.

The plan was 8 min run, 1 min walk, repeated for the 3 mile route. It still takes me ages to run it, as I think when I am moving I am going at 11-12 min miles on average, but I didn’t need to stop at any time, and kept to the time limits. The jump up from 5 mins seemed big in a way, but I basically made my head tell my legs they could do it.

I also made a lovely lemon and lime cake at the weekend (for Sunday tea)- it was a basic lemon cake recipe (sponge cake with lemon zest in it) to which I added lime zest to. Then you pour it with lemon and lime juice when it comes out of the oven (pierce it first), leave it to cool and then top with a lemon/lime icing (lemon and lime juice with icing sugar) and then sprinkle with zest.

Look at how yellow it is on the inside! It was delicious- the recipe was from my National Trust recipe book and I am very sure I will make it again. It went perfectly with the summery weather over the weekend- shame it is back to rain now!

Share a celebration with me please- I am in the mood for positives right now!

Cutty Sark Tea and blueberry almond scone recipe

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. I managed to get out for another run this morning- I have it in my head to do 3 runs a week at the moment, so now I have. Again I did the 3 mile route, with 5 min run and 1 min walk. It went well, and I was feeling pretty good- I feel like I can get into more of a rhythm now and I am not desperate for the walk breaks like I was in previous weeks. Next week the idea is 8 min run, 1 min walk so we shall see how that goes.

Last week I was kindly sent some Twinings tea, to celebrate the relaunch of the Cutty Sark. Following years of renovation, the Cutty Sark (the fastest tea clipper) is now open again. They have some Cutty Sark Twinings tea caddies to celebrate- with either gunpowder green tea or black tea. They sent me the black tea, which is a blend of black teas from China. I love the tea caddy, first of all- the design is fab with the ship and all sorts of equipment (anchors, telescopes, light-houses etc) all over it. Plus I much prefer loose-leaf tea to teabags and I can re-use it once it is empty.

The tea is great too- nice and strong, and perfect with something sweet!

Today I had some with a blueberry almond scone (and lemon curd)- perfect.

There is information about the history of the Cutty Sark here– it is very interesting (I love the picture of the old map on the page)- my favourite fact is that when it arrived it contained 1450 tonnes of tea! More than in my tea cupboard! And of course you can buy the Cutty Sark tea on their website.

And onto the scones:

The recipe I found was here, and I changed it a teeny bit, making them vegan (well of course until you cover them with lemon curd). I weighed out the ingredients to make it easier next time, but you can use the cups measurements too.

Blueberry almond scones (vegan)

Ingredients:

2 cups plain flour (270g)

3 tsp baking powder

3 tbs caster sugar (45g)

1/2 tsp mixed spice and cinnamon

5 tsb softened pure spread (55g)

1/2 cup almond milk (110g- 110ml?)

1 tsp almond extract

1/2 cup fresh blueberries (80g)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 220C, and grease a baking tray.

Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and spices in a bowl, and stir to combine.

Add the spread and rub in until it forms breadcrumbs.

Put the almond extract into the milk. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture, and pour in the milk. Stir to combine briefly, then pour on the blueberries. Mix until it forms a soft dough. I added a splash more milk to mine, but you might not need to.

Pat it into a round, and then cut into wedges. Mine made 8.

Place on the greased tray, brush with a little more almond milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15-20 mins, until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

The dough being shaped.

Fresh from the oven.

Cooling on the rack.

And finally being enjoyed with some lemon curd. Yum. Seriously these were pretty easy to make, don’t need any unusual ingredients, and are so tasty too. You could probably grate in some lemon zest to add to the flavour too.

I have been craving scones for ages, and these hit the spot! What is your favourite treat to go alongside tea? 

Great start to the weekend

Hello all

Thanks for the comments about my hip- I looked up loads of stretches on the internet in the end, and didn’t even go on a walk on Wednesday or Thursday. By Friday it was loads better, and was just stiff if I sat for too long, and so Friday evening we had a walk after dinner, just to test it out.

Anyway, all was well so this morning I went out on a run.

In one of my new Thoosa vest tops, and my lovely Bondi band too! I love the Bondi band- when it was colder I was having it over my ears too, to keep them warm, but now it is warmer it just works like a hair/sweatband.

I did a 3 mile route, 5 mins running, 1 min walking, and all was well. The wind was pretty chilly, but that is much nicer than being too hot.

Smiley and shiny when I got back home again! I like the before and after- see how much my mood improves when I get to go running 🙂

Then I got to use my new bowl and cup for breakfast!

This breakfast was amazing! Blueberries (massive ones on offer from Ocado that taste delicious), Dorset muesli, almonds and Kara coconut milk, all left to soak overnight. Then I added some cinnamon this morning. It was so creamy. Plus a mint tea as I was a bit cold.

Earlier in the week I made some more macaroons (mostly because standing up was more comfy than sitting down):

The pink ones (were meant to be orange- I used some yellow and some red food gel but the yellow didn’t mix in very well!) are orange flavour, and the purple ones are coconut flavour.

I made a ganache for the filling- equal amounts of cream (I used some Alpro soya cream) and dark chocolate. You warm up the cream, then pour it over the chocolate and stir until it melts the chocolate. Then leave it to thicken up.

Yum that ganache was good! I have never made it before but it was so simple. I don’t really like cream, and so I normally get put off recipes that use it, because the rest would go to waste, plus I never know if I will like it, but using the soya cream worked really well, and as it has a longer date than cream (and comes in a smaller carton) I might try it in other things too. Anyway, they went down well at work again!

This weekend I have plans to plant some new seeds, as I did plant some before but the little greenhouse they were in got blown over, and they were not salvageable. We need to get to the allotment and plant our carrot seeds too. I might make some blueberry scones, or maybe a lemon cake. And hopefully get out for some walks in this sunshine.

Have a lovely weekend everyone 🙂

 

Photos of food

Yup, an imaginative title indeed!

I have been taking pictures for ages, and not posting them. I was going to do it for WIAW but missed that, so here we go!

Breakfast:

(In my new cup and bowl)– peaches, muesli, almonds and coconut milk left overnight, along with mint tea.

Lunch:

I am having a bit of a crumpet obsession right now- one with pb and jam, and one with lime curd. Plus my lovely Whittards chocolate tea (black tea with coconut, cocoa beans and macadamia nuts). Soooo good!

Tea (who knows what kind it was) with a Hotel Chocolat penguin left over from Christmas. Pretty chocolate lasts a long time because I never want to eat it!

Bread making:

One lot of sourdough with hemp seeds (for a little loaf), and one lot with fruits soaked in lemon green tea (for mini loaves).

Yum!

Dinners:

I took this with me one day- spinach leaves, roasted sweet potato, red and yellow peppers, butternut squash (all roasted in hemp oil), sprinkled with hemp seeds and served with a little tub of hummus.

Spinach, balsamic, roasted squash, peppers, courgettes, baby corn, basil tofu, hemp seeds.

Wholemeal pasta with lovely zest pesto, peppers, courgettes, fresh basil and pine nuts. I am sure I added some cheese on the top too.

Mystery dinner! I defrosted something from the freezer which turned out to be sweet potato burgers/ patties, alongside a salad with cucumber, spinach, pepper, basil tofu and some hummus.

Snacks:

This is the best snack ever! 30g peanut flour, with a little coconut milk to make a sauce, then stirred together with a chocolate alpro pot, and sprinkled with some trail mix.

It is nice with the caramel or vanilla ones too, but the chocolate rules 🙂

Some baking:

I made some of the protein brownies I saw Laura make- as I have hemp protein powder and have not been that enamoured with the flavour. I had to use some raisins as I didn’t have all dates.

I sprinkled the top with some cherry raisins too, to add to the cherry flavour.

I weighed out the ingredients- mine came to:

120g raisins/dates

100g almonds (soaked)

30g dried cherries

30g cocoa powder

50g hemp protein powder

and a few tbs water.

I had one as a snack at work and it was nice- I can taste the hemp in there, but they do taste lovely and gave me energy for the afternoon. The rest are wrapped in cling film in the fridge and ready for other days.

And for fun, a new top:

It is a vest (from Threadless) but with this weather I have not worn it yet.

Running news:

This week I was feeling a bit worried about increasing the distance (this happened to me when I first started running too- I totally lose confidence in myself) but I went out for 5 min run, 1 min walk this week on Tuesday. All was good- but then later on that day I felt like my hip had popped out and needs to pop back in again, and have been limping since. It is not down to the running because I had it on Saturday when we were walking up some steps, but it went away again, and was fine when I got back from my run, it was only much later that it came on. I barely slept on Tuesday night because no position was comfy. I hobbled about all day Wednesday (it seems worse once I have been still for ages so I have tried to keep moving or standing at home) and looked up some stretches on the internet last night which seemed to help. But it is still a bit sore, and not normal, so not sure when I will get my next run in. Grrr. Any ideas how to get it to go back into place?