Category Archives: Running

by | September 19, 2012

WIAW – I’ll bring the Mediterranean Vegetable Crumble (with recipe!)


The lovely Jenn over at Peas and Crayons has set ‘Falling into New Habits’ as the theme for this month’s What I Ate Wednesday (WIAW) parties. Maybe the first new habit I should ‘fall into’ for Fall is actually turning up at the WIAW parties. I’ve been missing all summer! Sorry guys! There was a serious lack of food photography going on in July & August as I was too busy (having fun) with Lil’ L. Now he’s back at school, there’s no excuses!

However, one new habit that I have taken up this month is going for a 30 minute run straight after school drop off.  I’m not a ‘morning person’, but this quick run in the fresh air is making a world of difference to my day. By the time I get back home, I feel really alert, and the fact that I’ve actually ‘achieved’ something before 9.30 spurs me on for the rest of the day.

My productivity levels have definitely increased since I made this simple change to my daily routine. Let’s hope I continue with it!

I’m also enjoying the opportunity it gives me to spend an extra half hour outside in the fresh air, enjoying the morning sunshine (we’re having a great September here in Bath!) and taking in the beautiful views. Here’s my favourite pics from this week’s runs.

I’ve always struggled to run in the mornings but I do feel like I’m getting a bit better at it. I have no trouble running at night… it feels effortless, like I’m flying rather than running. In stark contrast, in the mornings, I feel like I’m glued to the ground, and it takes a huge amount of effort to pick up my legs and run. Weird eh? Does anyone else experience this or is it just me???

When I get back from the run, I’m doing a simple 5 minute core strength yoga sequence, then it’s time for breakfast.

On the subject of food, since coming back from the Summer holidays, I’m full of renewed enthusiasm for cooking fresh home-made meals. I just need to get into the habit of photographing them! For this week’s WIAW party, I thought I’d share my favourite breakfast, lunch and dinner from the past seven days. Fortunately, these were the three meals that I did actually manage to photograph! I hope you enjoy them as I much as I did! :)

Breakfast
Continuing with my recent chocolate-banana obsession, my favourite post-run breakfast has been a chocolate-banana energy shake. It tastes fantastic, is packed with goodness, and leaves me feeling full up all morning.

Here’s how I make it…

Raw Chocolate Banana Energy Shake

Serves 2-3

Ingredients
1½ cups fortified non-dairy milk (I use Alpro almond milk)
½ cup non-dairy yoghurt (I use Alpro plain pouring yoghurt)
1 large ripe banana (or use frozen banana slices for a deliciously cool shake)
3 tbsp raw cacao powder (or regular cocoa powder)
1/2 cup fine rolled oats (I use Mornflake superfast oats) (omit oats if you don’t have a high speed blender)
1 tbsp chia seeds (for a nutrition boost including omega 3)
1 tbsp raw cacao nibs (optional, but they add nutrients, great flavour and texture to the shake)
1 tbsp agave syrup, or to taste

Method

  1. Place the milk, yoghurt, banana, cacao powder, oats and chia seeds in a high speed blender. Pulse to break up the banana, then blend on high speed for a couple of minutes until completely smooth. Add the cacao nibs (if using) and agave syrup. Blend on high speed for 30 seconds. Check the flavour and add more agave if needed.  Blend for a few more seconds, then serve.

Lil’ L and M love this shake too. As well as being great for breakfast (and especially good for those mornings when you’re in a rush), it also makes a great after-school or post-work snack.

Lunch
I’ve had lots of lovely lunches this past week, but my favourite was this Thai Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup.

So delicious! I’ll write up the recipe and post it on Friday. I promise!

Dinner
It was hard to choose a favourite dinner, as I’ve been cooking lots of our favourites this week. However, this is the one that I managed to photograph… Mediterranean Vegetable Crumble.

This is so yummy and can be eaten hot or cold. Any leftovers make a great addition to work lunch boxes.

Here’s how I make it….

Mediterranean Vegetable Crumble

Serves 4

Preparation: 15-20 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

Vegetable mixture:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 red pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
1 medium courgette (zucchini), finely chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
100g / 3½oz / 1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
400g / 14oz can borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
10 black olives, chopped
2 tsp dried mixed herbs
2 tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp tomato purée
500ml / 17¾ fl oz / 2 cups organic  tomato passata
1 tsp vegetable bouillon
Sea salt & ground black pepper

NB. To save time chopping, I give the veggies a quick blast in the mini chopper or food processor.

Crumble:
75g / 2½ oz / ½ cup wholemeal (wholewheat) flour
75g / 2½ oz / ¾ cup rolled (porridge) oats
2 tsp mustard powder
2 tbsp nutritional yeast (gives a cheesy flavour & a nutritional boost)
85g / 3 oz / 1/3 cup non dairy margarine (e.g. Pure)
27g / 1 oz / ¼ flaked almonds
27g / 1 oz / ¼ cup finely chopped nuts (e.g. Brazil nuts, walnuts, cashews) and/or seeds (sunflower, pumpkin)

Method 

  1. Preheat the oven to 200C (180 fan) / 400F / Gas 6.
  2. Heat the oil in a large, heavy based saucepan. Cook the onion on a medium heat until it starts to soften. Add the garlic, pepper, celery and herbs, and cook for a further 2 minutes.
  3. Add all the remaining vegetables and the beans to the pan, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in the mustard, tomato purée, passata and vegetable bouillon. Bring to the boil, then cover and gently simmer for 15 minutes. Season, to taste.
  4. While the vegetables are cooking, prepare the crumble by mixing together the flour, oats, mustard powder, nutritional yeast and ground almonds. Rub in the margarine until the mixture forms coarse, chunky crumbs. Mix in the remaining nuts and seeds.
  5. Pour the vegetable mixture into an ovenproof casserole dish. Top with the crumble and bake for 20 minutes or so, until the crumble is lightly browned and crisp.
  6. This dish is delicious served warm with crusty home-made garlic bread and salad as a main meal, or cold for lunches.

 Dessert
My favourite dessert of the week has got to be the instant dairy free chocolate banana ice cream with chocolate sauce and nut sprinkles. Yum yum yum!

Time to head over to Jenn’s and join the party!

Enjoy the rest of your week everyone :) xx

This time last year…. my first appearance at Jenn’s WIAW party!!!  WIAW Party – I’ll bring noodles

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by | July 11, 2012

WIAW Fun, Food & Fitness

Fun and Fitness

Since July is the month of WIAW Fun, Food and Fitness, I thought I’d begin today’s post with a quick rundown of my current exercise regime.

When I left salaried work a few years ago to set up my own business, I stopped my gym membership to save money. Ever since then, I’ve been exercising in the great outdoors. When I went to the gym, it was all about the exercise. Now it’s so much more. As well as helping me to stay fit, exercising outdoors gives me the opportunity to get some fresh air and take in the beautiful views. It helps me to feel connected to my local environment.

It gives me the opportunity to recite mantras and get connected spiritually.

I also love the opportunities it gives me to interact with members of the local community. There’s lots of smiles, ‘hellos’ and words of encouragement as I make my way along the road or tow path. 

 

For me, exercising outside has had a huge, positive impact on my well-being, both physically and mentally. I used to love going to the gym. Now, the thought of being cooped up in a sweaty room, with no fresh air, and with only machines and screens to look at just doesn’t appeal anymore.

At the moment, I’m running on average twice a week. I have two favourite routes, one flat route along the Kennet & Avon towpath, and a second hilly route up to St Catherine’s Court.

 

4-5 mile runs suit me perfectly and I run around 10 miles per hour now (a whole minute quicker than this time last year. Woo hoo!)

I also cycle 1-2 times a week. I love mountain biking at the weekends with the family, and tend to cycle into Bath once a week too.

 

I sold my car a few years ago (to cut costs) so these days  cycling, walking and running are my modes of transport. I love getting about this way, for the same reasons as I love exercising outside.

Over the past decade I’ve found the optimum level of exercise to suit my body. In my teens and 20s I was prone to knee injuries and seemed to always be at the physio. For the past ten years, I haven’t had a single injury. Long may it continue!

Fun and Food

For this week’s WIAW foodie party, I thought I’d show our eats from today.

Breakfast
A delicious bowl of porridge for me & M. In mine, I added ground cinnamon, mixed spice, almonds, walnuts, pecans, Brazils, ground linseed, shelled hempseed and goji berries. It was made with Alpro Original Soya Milk (the version sweetened with apple juice) and I lightly drizzled some Sweet Freedom Fruit Sweetener on top.

For some people, porridge is a winter breakfast but I can happily eat it all year round :)

Lil’ L chose to have a mix of granola and Shreddies, and I added in some flaked almonds, chopped walnuts, shelled hempseed and ground linseed for a nutritional boost.

Lunch
The night before, while we were washing up, I quickly made some tomato pasta for lunchboxes. It only took a few minutes to prepare. While the organic wholegrain pasta twists were cooking, I finely chopped some veggies – carrot, fine green beans, mushrooms, red pepper, red onion – and let them gently cook in a frying pan with a little olive oil. When the pasta was cooked, I mixed in half a jar of Seeds of Change Organic Tomato and Basil Pasta Sauce and the veggies. I also added some sunflower seeds, shelled hempseeds, pine nuts and nutritional yeast for a nutritional boost.

Marigold Nutritional Yeast with Vitamin B12 is one of my all-time favourite health food/vegan products. It’s got a delicious cheesy/nutty flavour which works really well in pasta dishes. I also use it for savoury crumbles, pizzas, pesto and, ground with raw cashews, as a vegetarian replacement for parmesan.

It’s got an amazing nutritional profile. As well as being high in protein, it’s packed with B vitamins and zinc. Just one small 5g serving provides 220% of your B12 RDA.

You can buy the Marigold Nutritional Yeast from health food stores and online. I tend to buy mine from Harvest in Bath, or online from Goodness Direct.

Snacks
- Lil’ L morning snack – seeded flatbreads with home-made humous
- Lil’ L post-school snack – small bowl of raw cashews (he loves these!)
- Lil’ L pre-swimming snack  - 3 mini banana pancakes (leftover from Sunday) with chopped pecans and a drizzle of Sweet Freedom Fruit Sweetener
- My post-school snack – a mixed bowl of raw nuts (cashews, walnuts, Brazil nuts, almonds) and raisins.

 

I’m loving this snack at the moment, but I end up eating a pretty big bowlful. I’ve heard that raw nuts are actually a negative calorie food but I must check this out for sure!

Dinner
For dinner, we had one of our all-time favourite meals …. Veggie Fajitas.   This is my favourite kind of ‘fast food’ – it’s ready in less than 10 minutes, only uses one pan (gotta love the ‘one pans’!), it’s really tasty and healthy! I wish all ‘fast food’ could be like this!

You can make veggie fajitas simply by using veggies and seeds, but I also like to add in half a pack of Fry’s Vegetarian Chunky Strips for added flavour and texture. These can be bought in the freezer section of health food stores like Holland and Barrett.

 

 To make the fajitas, I simply stir fried some veggies, seeds and the vegetarian chunky strips in a little olive oil. I then sprinkled on some fajita seasoning mix (not too much as Lil’ L doesn’t like his dinners too spicy). Once I’d removed Lil’ L’s portion I added some Linghams Chilli Sauce to add more heat for me & M.

Just look at all those beautiful colours in the pan :)

The fajitas were served in Tesco wholemeal seeded tortilla wraps. We had two each, and Lil’ L took the leftovers to school the next day for his lunch.

Dessert
For dessert we had some fresh pineapple chunks and a fresh strawberry jelly. Lil’ L absolutely loves these jellies…. and I love the fact that they’re sugar-free, gelatine-free and contain real strawberries (which he normally runs a mile from!) Recipe coming very soon! 

After dinner Lil’ L and M tried one of the raw chocolate-coated lime creams that I made yesterday.  They got a big thumbs up :)  

Here’s how they looked before I added the chocolate coating…

They really do make a refreshing after-dinner treat.  Both M and Lil’ L loved the raw chocolate coating I added after the pic, whereas I prefer them without. Lil’ L said that I’m over-ruled so the chocolate’s staying!

Well, that was another great day of eats. Time to head over to the lovely Jenn’s and check out the yummy WIAW food gallery.

Happy Wednesday everyone! :) xx

Do you enjoy exercising outside or do you prefer hitting the gym? 

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by | July 17, 2011

I did it!

I woke up this morning to the sound of heavy rain pounding on the windows.  “Great!” I thought.  I hadn’t factored in adverse weather conditions!  Fortunately, the rain eased off by the time the race started.

My strategy was to plod round the track in my usual, casual running style.  I’d never run 10k before so I didn’t want to burn out early on.  My friend D gave me some great advice, which was not to be tempted to set off at the pace of the others.  It was only last night I realised that I’d accidentally entered a serious race  (part of the Wiltshire Championship series).  When I entered online, I hadn’t read the blurb, but had just seen the words ‘suitable for beginners’.  I now think this meant ‘beginner competitors’ rather than ‘beginner runners’.  I tried not to panic though and kept reminding myself that I was doing it for Jodie and Macmillan, and it didn’t matter if I came last.  In fact, I should expect to come last and any other place would be a bonus :)  

So everyone sets off and I start my plod. 

Everyone soon deserts me.  It doesn’t matter though; the main thing is to enjoy it (this is what I keep telling myself!)  I do pass a couple of people that did set off too fast ;)

Here I come for lap 2, cheered on by one of my greatest supporters.  I’m starting to look like a beetroot now.  Still no one else in sight!

Already I’m being lapped by the guys.  I need to learn from their running stance because it’s far more effective than mine :(

By lap 3 I’ve got a humongous stitch.  A guy who’s running past me asks if I’m alright.  When I yelp that I’ve got a stitch, he tells me to “push it in”.  I’m not sure exactly what he means so I try pushing my hand into my ribs where the pain is.  It doesn’t seem to help much, so I decide to just get on with it and use it as an opportunity to practise a bit of Tonglen :)

I even tried to smile for the camera, although it was more of a grimace than a smile :/

I finished the race in 58.22 which is far, far quicker than I’ve ever run in my life.  You wouldn’t be able to tell from the photos, but I didn’t come last either!  I came 156th (out of 182) :)   It doesn’t really matter where I came though, because this is what it was all about…

A big thank you to everyone that sponsored me and offered words of support and encouragement.  I am very, very grateful.  At last count, the total raised was £295 which has far exceeded my expectations!  Thank you so much for the very generous donations xx

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by | July 8, 2011

I’m Running a 10K to Raise Money for Macmillan

In 2008, at the age of 31, my little sister Jodie was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  This diagnosis came only a month or two after our Dad died of cancer.  For 2 years, Jodie fought this cancer undergoing many rounds of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and, in the end, a stem-cell transplant. 

Last month, Jodie reached the important milestone of 2 years in remission.  To mark this important occasion I am planning to run a 10k race on July 17th at Castle Combe race track to raise money for Jodie’s favourite charity – Macmillan Cancer Support. 

For those of you that have read my blog posts, you’ll know that this race will be no picnic for me as I’m rubbish at running, but I just wanted to do something to pay my respects to Jodie and everyone else who has been affected by cancer, and the wonderful Macmillan nurses that provide such valuable support to individuals and families.

If any of my wonderful cyber friends would like to sponsor me, all donations will be very gratefully accepted.  Here’s the link to my ‘Just Giving’ page:

 http://www.justgiving.com/bitofthegoodstuff

This morning on the way to school, one of Lil’ L’s friends (who’s also 7) gave me some tips and a demonstration of how I could run faster.  Thanks to ‘S’, I managed to run 4 miles tonight with an average pace of 10.5 minutes per mile (compared to my usual 11 minutes) :)

As I only have a week until the big race, I decided to pop out for a quick run this evening along the canal.  As I emerged from a tunnel on the towpath, I saw a reflection of a rainbow in the canal water.  I’ve never witnessed such a thing before.  It was incredibly beautiful!  As I ran home, the rainbow was reflected in every puddle I passed. 

The rainbow reminded me of one of the girls in Lil’ L’s class who told me today that she wanted to be a “weather spirit”.  She said that her favourite weathers are rain and cool summer breezes.  I asked her whether she could possibly be a rainbow too as I love them so much.  She said she would… and tonight I saw one of the most spectacular rainbows I’ve ever seen, stretching across the whole of Bathampton. Magical! :)

(c) Eric Rolph

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by | June 24, 2011

Nut Kofta Kebabs… and fitting rocks into a box!

Fresh veg supplies are low in our house, but last night I spotted a couple of carrots and some frozen peas and decided to make some vegetable couscous for our dinner.  For a protein and calcium boost, I made some nut kofta kebabs.  The two went really well together.  Lil’ L loved the dinner and described it as “yummy” and “scrummy”. :)   The recipe can be found here.

For his lunch today, Lil’ L took the leftover couscous along with a seeded pitta bread. 

Nut Kofta Kebabs with Vegetable Couscous

 Today, I woke up thinking “I must revise!!!”  I’ve got an important Buddhist exam coming up on July 12th and I need to memorise around 140 pages of text.  If I don’t seriously start revising now, there’ll be no chance of me learning it all! 

A teaching came to mind that I heard last year which gave helpful suggestions on how to prioritise activities in our busy daily lives.  I can’t remember the exact analogy used, but it was along the lines of ”what’s the best way of fitting a pile of rocks into a box?” (rocks = tasks we need to accomplish / box = today)  Basically, we need to put the big rocks in first otherwise they won’t fit!  I totally get this now as all week I’ve been trying to fit revision in with the million other things I need to get done.  Revision seems to get squeezed into the hour before school pick up, which is no way near enough time. 

So, today, I decided to put the big rock into the box first… and did 2 hours revision first thing before I started to tackle the smaller rocks.  I needed to go into Bath and buy Lil’ L some bigger daps (in Essex we call them ‘plimsols’) because he mentioned a few weeks ago that his daps were too small and I don’t want to stunt his toes by leaving this rock any longer.  I realised I wouldn’t have time to do any proper exercise today, so decided to “kill 2 birds with one stone” and run into Bath.  (Is there another saying I can use instead of the killing birds one?  I really don’t like it!)

I decided to try out the Adidas ‘running’ rucksack that M had bought me for Christmas.  It’s got lots of straps on it and is meant to fit snugly on your back while you run.  I don’t think I did it up correctly though, as the rucksack kept bouncing up and down and chafing my neck.  In the end, I ran along holding the rucksack down with one hand.  It wasn’t the greatest running style, but I managed to get to Walcot Street in 18 minutes, which is quicker than the bus :)

Still got a million things to do today, but at least I got the big rock in (and a few smaller ones as well) ;)

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