Teapigs Giveaway!

Hey I am so excited about this giveaway! You guys know that after I was sent some Teapigs tea to try, I have fallen in love with their teas. After drinking all the trial packs, I swiftly ordered some more (including chocolate flake tea to try). My faves are the chai (obviously) the caramel rooibos and the spinced winter red tea.

Teapigs are offering UK residents the chance to win some special wintery teas (chai, spiced winter and chocolate flake)- perfect to warm you up after a run/ walk in the cold winter air. Now, what goes perfectly with a warm cup of tea? Well, that is the question indeed. You all know I am a fan of baking, and baking goes perfectly with tea, so (we have to have some kind of fun competition) I would love to know your favourite recipe to go with a cup of tea in the winter.

The way to enter the competition is simple; use the comment section of this post to either post your recipe directly, or leave a link to where the recipe is (e.g. on your blog). I am looking for winter/ Christmas themed baking, and it has to go nicely with a cup of tea. Entries close at midnight on Sunday 14th November and the winner will be chosen soon after! So have fun getting creative in the kitchen!

If you are unlucky and do not win, do not fear because Teapigs now make Piglets (how cute is that?)- which are little trial 2 packs of tea. Perfect if you fancy trying a new flavour (or perfect as a stocking filler perhaps??). Plus ordering piglets sounds so cute!

Dark evenings

Evening all.

I am not a fan of the clocks going back. Although light mornings are nice, in a few weeks it will be dark again anyway. And now, when I get home, it is dark which means it feels like the day is already ending. I mean, unless you do shift work/ part time work, can anybody get through the winter without getting up in the dark? Even if you don’t need to be at work until 9 or something, it will still be dark when you get up. Unless I suppose you live right by work and roll right out of bed. OK, moan over!

After work I gobbled down a seedstacked flapjack (love those), quicjly changed into my running gear and headed out. It was getting dark by the time I left, so I had to find a new running route as my current after work 5 mile route goes around the lakes, and there is no street lighting or anything like that, and I do not feel safe in the park. So it was back to running laps of a residential busy street. It is ok, but not scenic, and I had to stop loads as there are loads of roads to cross. All in all I managed just under 5 miles in 48 minutes, and at one point I had to stop and sort out my trousers (the zips at my ankles had worked their way loose), plus loads of stopping at roads, so I think I kept up a good pace. It felt quite fast, which is what I wanted. πŸ™‚

Once home it was time for some lovely teapigs chocolate tea with coconut milk- my new fave combo! I am running low on supplies- uh-oh!

So, how do you feel about the clocks going back?

Oh, and stay tuned for some exciting teapigs new tomorrow πŸ˜‰

Cooking galore

Warning; If you don’t want to read about my cooking, then look away now!

Yesterday I felt like something warming and filling for dinner, so I had a chilli (aubergine, peppers, tomatoes, chilli, garlic, kidney beans and quinoa).

T’was delish.

Today it was time to deal with my garden home-grown pumpkin (a lot of pictures were taken to commemorate the occasion).

Farewell beautiful orange pumpkin!

Chopped in half;

In the pan with a tsp pure spread, a squirt of olive oil and some rosemary;

Then add some stock (I was excited to try this in place of normal crumbly veg stock cubes; verdict= smelled like marmite, dissolved OK in hot water, I possibly added a little too much) and some garlic;

Simmer for about 20 minutes, and then blend away baby!

Then enjoy it while it is still steaming away (and put some in the freezer for another day). Scrumptious pumpkin πŸ™‚

I also made some snickerdoodles. False advertising alert- they do not contain snickers. Neither do they have a snickers flavour. They do not contain peanuts, chocolate or even caramel. But I had seen them on a few blogs, and there happened to be a recipe in my Rachel Allen Bake book, where she describes them as “A somewhat soft and cakey biscuit with a spicy, autumnal flavour”. Sounds good to me. They were fun to make- you made up the dough (which is normal cookie dough with nutmeg grated in), then you put cinnamon and sugar in a bowl, rolled the dough into little balls and then roll them in the cinnamon mix, before they go on the baking tray. My hands got covered in dough (so no pics lucky you!!!) but I did take a picture of them out of the oven.

They went down a treat at Sunday tea today πŸ™‚ I would make them again for sure, as they were really tasty- the right amount of nutmeg and cinnamon. Perfect for this time of year.

I also had an empty jar of peanut butter, so this morning one my porridge was cooked I added it to the jar. Porridge with a hint of PB is such a treat!

Although what is a mystery to me is that I weigh out my porridge ingredients, so I know I have the same, but when it is in a bowl it looks like loads, and then when it goes into a jar it looks like hardly anything. Some kind of alternative jar dimension. Hmm.

So, cooked anything nice this weekend?

And normal running service should be resumed tomorrow! πŸ™‚

New running gear!

Evening all- and thanks for all the comments on my last post- I really appreciate everything you say πŸ™‚

I hope you all got out and enjoyed the beautiful weather today. I was raring to go, and got to try out my new sports bra;

I like Shock Absorber ones, but was put off this one before because of the double strap at the back. But Rose convinced me (thanks πŸ™‚Β  ) and I am so glad she did. I read on the Womens Running forum that the easiest way to put it on it so have the top strap done up (it’s like a bikini strap) and then do the other one as normal. It was really comfy (I was surprised) and this morning I did my fave 8.5 mile route and it was comfy the whole way. Hooray! I spent a lot of my run listening to the new marathon talk podcast, and now I can listen to it without feeling like a fraud πŸ˜‰ ! I am also tempted by some Thoosa running gear- I have a code for 20% off and free postage before the end of October so I think I will order some tomorrow. Once home, I had a fab snack;

My fave part was the yummy Cranberry Apple Cherry Clif bar- I love them! The fruity flavours are turning out to be my faves so I am looking forward to stocking up at Christmas. I still cannot get over how much bigger the American ones are.

Now I just wanted to mention marathon talk, and specifically one of the guests they had on this week. It is a guy who has so far lost 120 pounds, and has gone from being totally inactive, to competing in 5k, 10k, half, full marathons and even an ironman. There is a link to a video of him, which is totally inspiring- it has footage of him right frrm his first runs. My fave part is his tag line at the end- If you want to do it, all you have to do it do it. Anyway, I really enjoyed the interview and I would recomend the video if you are in need of inspiration.

This afternoon has been spent mostly laying in front of the TV, and partaking in some of this;

Teapigs chocolate tea with coconut milk- yum!

So, my question today is what inspires you?

The M Word

Hello guys! Can you guess what me and Andy did today? Here are some clues- yesterday I was looking here, and also here.

Guessed yet?

The other day I was reading Womens Running magazine, and it had a full page advert for the Ottawa marathon. Me and Andy were chatting, and he was saying how he would likeΒ a new challenge to keep him motivated to run. I have been half heartedly looking for a marathon to sign up for, but have yet to bite the bullet. We realised that this marathon was in half term and we both loved Canada when we travelled there a few years ago, and would love to go back and see more. Anyway, we looked into it but to cut a long story short you had to collect race numbers etc from the expo on the Saturday before 4pm, which would mean we would have to get a flight out on the Friday night, and as I would not be able to have a day off, we felt it was cutting it fine. Plus, although a Β£400 flight is not bad, times by 2, add the entry fee, accomodation, car hire……. it was too much.

But I had my heart set on a marathon- next May I will be 30 and I was thinking it would be a great way to celebrate my birthday. So we realised that the Stockholm marathon is on the same weekend, looked into it (got a lot of good reviews) and have signed up! Woohoo! I am very excited about it, but very nervous too. So at the moment I have been having training plan meltdown, as I am looking at books I have, and all over the internet ( Rose I like the look of your plan). I have some time to decide anyway!

So in celebration (and to help ease my body pump aches) I had a gentle 4 mile run this morning, before some shopping and some pumpkin baking.

Yummy pumpking spiced gingerbread, baked in a brownie pan so you have little squares of gingery pumpkiney deliciousness.

This afternoon (also in celebration) I treated myself to a scrummy Booja Booja truffle. These babies are organic, dairy free, vegan, gluten free chocolates which are handmade in Norfolk.

What a cute box! I love the way it opens;

This is an Italian hazelnut truffle (ingredients Dark chocolate (cocoa solids, cane sugar, soya lecithin), Coconut oil, Hazelnuts, Cocoa powder) and it is amazing! It is coated in cocoa (so make sure you don’t breathe in when it’s right by your mouth!) and is so rich and chocolatey. It is not bitter like some dark chocolate can be, but it is strong enough that one (or two) would be perfect. I got very messy hands – cocoa powder everywhere!!

So, back to the M word- if you have run a marathon- any tips? Any useful training plans? Also, any good ways to work out your estimated finish time (this one has a 6 hour limit eek)? And if you haven’t run a marathon- what are your plans to challenge yourself? (When I started running, the 5k race was my challenge, and it was a big challenge for me- see my running journey page if you want to see where I started!).

PS I have updated my recipes page so feel free to have a little look πŸ™‚