Tag: peanut butter blondies

More recovery

Yay I got out for a run today! All day at work I was looking forward to it. When I woke up this morning my legs were still a teeny bit stiff, but not sore, so I knew I would be ok and a run would help. After work I had a yummy Trek peanut bar, and then headed home to change. I could not decide how far to go so thought I would see how my legs felt. My mind was wandering and then I realised I had already run past the furthest point on my shortest run. So I carried on down to the lake. Even though the sun was shining there was quite a strong breeze so I stayed quite cool (or I didn’t overheat!). Going around the lake was lovely, although I didn’t see much wildlife and got a rather sarcastic-sounding whistle from a bunch of guys packing up their fishing stuff. I like to ignore it and then think of replies in my head (my choice today was “I bet you couldn’t run a half marathon”- topical!). Once home I did quite a few stretches outside, then came in and had an apple sprinkled with cinnamon. Super tasty! More stretches before and after the shower just to be on the safe side!

There was almost a disaster then because half way through dinner the oven stopped working. Somehow it had tripped the fuse, so luckily dinner was saved! It was my rainbow dinner too- not sure how many veggies were in it- spinach, courgette, red onion, red pepper, tomato, basil, lentils, quinoa, served with green beans, butternut squash and beetroot! Woah!

I also had a peanut butter blondie (the ones made with apple sauce and agave) to top up my reserves!

I had a look at the photos today from the half marathon. It’s the first time I have seen any- other races have never photographed me before (or it never shows up in the searches) but this time there were loads of me- all in the last 5 minutes so I was looking rather pained in some. I was pleased though as there are a couple of action shots (yes I am actually running) plus my face is nowhere near as red as I thought it looks after a run- super impressive as these pics were taken after over 2 hours of running!

Bread baking part 2

So today we are having pizza for dinner and I have taken some pictures as I went along to show how simple it is! Excuse some of the pics- battery ran out so I used my phone for some of them!
I used a recipe from The I Diet , but I have adapted it a bit (made it veggie, removed some of the stuff, swapped the toppings over).
Step 1- Put flour, yeast, salt and tsp oil in a bowl. Mine has 90g strong white flour and 90g strong wholemeal flour.


Step 2- Pour in warm water (I use some from the kettle and some from the cold tap) and mix together a little bit. This needed about 140ml water.
Step 3- Tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and don’t panic when it looks messy! Stretch it about a bit (this works the gluten in the flour) and keep on kneading it, After about 5 minutes you should have a ball of lovely smooth dough.
Step 4- Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a cloth and leave to rise for around an hour.


Step 5- Pre-heat the oven. Flatten the dough into the pizza base shape that you want (I like on massive super pizza that I can slice once it comes out the oven), then go crazy with toppings! I spread red pesto over the base then covered it with sliced pepper, sliced courgettes, and light mozzarella.
Step 6- Put in the oven only once the oven is super hot. Cook for about 15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the edges look brown.
Step 7- Remove from oven, slice up and serve with a massive salad. Yum! I did mean to put some fresh basil on it after (from the window-sill) but I forgot. Oops.

I also experimented today with the blondies from Rachel Allen’s Bake. I have read that you can swap some of the fat in a recipe for apple sauce. After those muffins I made the other week I decided to try it with a different recipe. So I used 50g butter and 50g apple sauce. I also reduced the sugar and used a little agave nectar instead, and used wholegrain spelt flour. They are very tasty still, although I think I would cook them for a little less time as they were a bit more like cake and less like brownie. I do like brownies that are nice and squidgy.

While we are on the subject of food, I made some delicious fake frozen yoghurt today, and I even took a photo! In my mini chopper I put 80g frozen raspberries, whizzed them up a bit, then added 100g Rachel’s low fat cherry yoghurt, whizzed it up some more, and served. I did think it might need some sweetener as the raspberries can be a bit tart, but actually it was good. There is sugar in the yoghurt so that’s probably why it was ok.

I haven’t been up to much else that is of any interest; I did some work, I went on a walk, I went in the garden (the apples on the tree are getting big eeeee- one is the size of a cherry tomato!), I did some housework. I have been drinking lots and trying to get everything ready for my half marathon tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Peanut butter blondies

After seeing Rachel Allen make peanut butter blondies on her Bake show the other day I decided to make some to take to work on Monday. They are like brownies, but made with white chocolate. They are so tasty, and are better when left for a day or two before eating. The recipe I use is from Rachel Allen “Bake”, but I have adapted the method a bit. I make it more like a traditional brownie recipe; put the butter, peanut butter and brown sugar in a pan and heat gently. Sometimes I add some of the white chocolate in this part. Leave to cool (this is when I weigh out the other ingredients, chop the chocolate and line the baking tray with baking paper). Once a little cool I beat in the egg and vanilla extract, stir in the flour and pour into the tray. Then I sprinkle the chopped white chocolate over the top (you can add it in before but I find it melts and this way it is evenly dispersed throughout the cake). It then goes straight into a warm oven for around 25 minutes. I also leave it to cool for a bit in the tin, then onto a wire rack, and then leave to cool completely (even overnight) before slicing.

They have a delicious chewy texture and you can really taste the peanut butter (heaven), perfect with a cup of chai (or normal) tea. It does suggest serving them with ice cream, which I think would be lovely, like a dessert in a restaurant, but a bit too much for normal.