Tag: carrot cake cupcakes

Busy baking

Hello all!
Today I managed two walks, both missing the rain showers which I was pretty pleased with.
I also have attempted to tie my pumpkin up with some string as the wind was blowing it all over the place and I would be very upset if it fell off the plant.

Today I had friends over so I was busy baking and getting things ready. I made some foccacia bread (from The I Diet ) which I think cooked for too long as it was a little crunchy!

I also iced the carrot cake cupcakes with lime cream cheese icing- I used the Hummingbird recipe and added in some lime juice and zest. Also sprinkled some with cinnamon.

I also made a few more chocolate cornflakes cakes (gluten free).


We had a lovely spread of nibbles like crudites, hummous, fresh fruit, and one of my friends made whoopie pies! They were a bit like two mini brownie/cookie things sandwiches with frosting. Pretty tasty.

We had a great time catching up with each other, and even managed to fit in some games too.
🙂

I didn’t get a run today, am hoping for one tomorrow before breakfast as there is a lot of rain forecast all day, plus I have a lot of other bits to be doing. Over on WLR someone was talking about their fave running routes, and it made me think. I always like the bit in runners world where someone comments on their favourite place to run, but it is normally somewhere exotic and scenic. My fave run is up to Stanborough Lakes in Welwyn. There are two lakes for boating and sailing and things, with a figure of 8 path around both lakes. They are set in a bigger park, so I can run around both lakes, then back through the park for a bit. I always see loads of people fishing, cycling, running, walking, plus often in the evening I see herons and rabbits ( I love rabbits).

I do love running in the countryside, but near me most of the roads don’t have pavements, and people go at silly speeds down them and I don’t feel safe, I do envy people near to forest paths to run through, although on the plus side even in the dark there are street lights (I do have a high-viz jacket to wear) so I can still run in the winter and feel relatively safe as there are people about.

I would love to live near a flat bit of coastline, as I think a run by the sea would be very invigorating, plus lovely scenery to keep you going.

So, fave running routes/ ideal running routes?

OK, here is the rain!

Well as predicted it rained loads on the way too and from the airport last night, not good as a lot of the journey is country roads. But all was fine, although I only managed about 5 hours sleep!

I popped into work this morning, and then went to Starbucks with some buddies- along with my usual chai tea (I love their chai tea, so spicy) I had a cinnamon roll. My, that was delicious.

After that I had to do a few jobs, and once I got home I decided to have my run before lunch. I was aiming for a shorter, faster run today, and was hoping that the cooler weather would help that.  So I headed out on the 3.7 mile course (this time with music for a change as I think I run faster to music). After 7 minutes it started raining, which was gentle at first, so cool and refreshing. I even passed a few other runners as the rain got heavier, and they were all very friendly and cheerful. I do think that when the weather is worse, runners are a more friendly bunch- we are all thinking “arent we crazy to be out in this?”.

By the end the rain was very heavy- the water was running in my eyes and I was regretting not wearing my tennis visor, plus I got a little worried that my top may start to go see-through (thankfully it hadn’t) and I am sure that helped me to speed up as I managed the route in 34 minutes. I am sure last time I did it, it was 37 minutes, and according to my Nike+ I did the first mile in 8.48 (wow), then 9.24 (still good and had a little stitch) and then 9.12. So a much faster pace than I am used to, but it is good for me to do this as I would like to speed up a little bit. I need to remember to take advantage of the cooler weather as I am much better in it.

Anyway, tomorrow I have friends over so guess what-

Yes folks, that means baking!

I made some carrot cakes (still yet to ice and may even take a pic tomorrow)- from the Hummingbird Bakery book. The recipe is for one big cake, so I did 1/3 of the recipe (as it was 300g this, 300ml that, 3 eggs etc), and made 8 cupcakes. Looking good so far.

Now one friend is a coeliac, so I have made some gluten free cornflake bites with G-F chocolate, plus some Nature’s Path flakes. I have baked for her in the past but it makes me so nervous in case there is a shred of flour left from previous baking, so making something like that was easier.

Anyone else worry about that? It would be similar I suppose to cooking for someone with a severe allergy, and although I do clean, put stuff through the dishwasher etc, the flour is so fine it gets anywhere. Anyway hopefully she will like them 🙂

I am off for some more spice imperial tea (black tea with vanilla, orange, cloves and cinnamon) – yum.

Thanks for all the comments too, I really appreciate them

🙂