Friday Faves!

Hey guys!! Hope you’re having a great Friday!!

ger

If you’re new to the blog (hello!!) or are a reader but suffer from chronic memory-loss like me, then you should know that every Friday I post my Friday Faves!! So here are today’s favourites…

gre

1. Double Oatmeal Raisin Cookie oatmeal…

Oatmeal topped with a crumbled oatmeal raisin cookie and more raisins

It is perfectly normal (and highly recommended) to include cookies in your breakfast by the way, especially delicious Happy Herbivore ones you made. Little tip there.

gera

2. The reading-on-the-elliptical trick.

I don’t remember how I ever managed to last on this machine before discovering this. (And FYI, if you are looking to increase your speed in the 5k or 10k, this book is AMAZING!) Anyway, Friday cross-training was a lunch-hour special: 30 mins elliptical, 15 mins spin bike and weights.

grea

3. Getting started on my March Goals! I am going to be looking around a pretty high-end Virgin Active gym soon and I can’t WAIT to check it out!!

(source)

I also did two YogaDownload classes (Yoga for Strength and Yoga for Runners).

It felt SO good to stretch out! My hamstrings were SO tight!!

gae

4. Chocolate chips straight up.

Little drops of heaven.

grea

5. Using the (remaining) chocolate chips in some Friday Baking Fun!

Vegan Double Chocolate Chip Muffins

These bad boys are moist and delicious, and yet are healthy! Made with spelt flour, sweetened with agave and can be oil-free too!

(Make 5-6 large muffins, depending on how much ‘batter tasting’ you do)

• 1 cup wholegrain spelt flour + 1/4 cup all-purpose/plain flour (you can use all spelt if you prefer, or a different flour)
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 1 tbsp wheatgerm or bran
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 tbsp oil or unsweetened applesauce (I used 1T applesauce+2T melted vegan butter)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup non-dairy chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Spray a muffin pan with non-stick or use liners.
2. Mix all dry ingredients together except the chocolate chips. Then add the wet and chips and stir in.
3. Bake for about 10 mins, depending on your oven (my speedy one only took 7!) and then remove, transfer to a cooling rack, and ENJOY!!

Seriously, these are amazing. So sweet and delicious…mmm….

hs

6. Broccoli. My favourite veggie. I ate a whole head of it.

I actually do eat some things other than chocolate and oatmeal, despite what it tends to look like on here! And you know when my birthday is now, so I expect THIS:

(source)

That hint was very subtle I know. Subtlety is one of my strong points. As is modesty apparently!

htsr

What are some of your Friday Favourites? Share with me PLEASE!!

efs

What is your favourite veggie? Mine is broccoli! I love spinach too…and squash…and mushrooms…man I love veggies!!

fwae

And if you could get a T-Shirt saying “I love…*something*”, what would that something be? I think the broccoli one is pretty cool personally!

wfa

I might go and wash my hair now and fulfil another of my March Goals…be proud people!

gera

Have a great weekend friends!!

I’m a child at heart

HEYA friends!
rffar

First up, a big THANK YOU to all the offers of UK-US swapsies! To be fair, I’ll make a list of people who offered and then Random Number Generate it, then email you if you were that number. Love you all and thanks for the offers!

grea

Okay, so there’s one thing that you should all know about me: I’m a child at heart.

trhs

I love having fun and playing about with my breakfasts. This means fun size comparisons…

Baby DCD and Big Daddy DCD

 

…playing the game of ‘see how much oatmeal you can stuff in the small empty jar’…

Answer: most of it!

…and then seeing how much topping you can put on before it overspills…

Hehe topping mountain…

thga

I like summer a lot more than I like winter.  It means I can wear cool hats and cute sundresses…

Emma+big bro aged 5

…and it means I can bake foods with lemon in them! Lemons=summer. So I kidded myself that it was sunny and 30C outside by making some sunny lemon drizzle muffins.

Lemon Drizzle Muffins (adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance)

These muffins have only a few spoonfuls of sugar and oil, and are made with wholegrain spelt flour, but taste deliciously sweet and are light and fluffy…

Makes approx 9 muffins

• 200g/7oz spelt flour (you can use all-purpose if you prefer)
• 4 tbsp sugar or substitute
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 5 tbsp coconut oil (or other oil, or you could try subbing applesauce for a low-fat option, but I like my healthy fats!)
• 175ml/6 fl oz milk (I used rice)
• 175g soy yoghurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Zest from 2 large unwaxed lemons
  For the drizzle:
• 40ml lemon juice
• 2 tbsp sugar or substitute
• 1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest

1. Preheat oven to 200C/400F.
2. Sift together dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) into a large bowl. In another bowl whisk together the oil, milk, yoghurt and vanilla, then stir in the lemon zest.
3. Spray/grease a muffin tin. Fill each cup about 2/3 full, depending on how big you want your muffins. Bake for 20-25 mins, then remove from oven.
4. Combine all the drizzle ingredients in a saucepan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Then brush over muffins with a pastry brush.
5. Enjoy!!

Kids love muffins, and so do I.

IT'S SUMMERTIME!!

 

I hate washing up though, and may have left my kitchen in a mess for a number of hours…!

gera

I love Disney more than life itself. When I met up with a friend at the cinema today, the choice was out of a whole list of serious movies, or the new Disney film Tangled. Guess what I voted for?

(source)

I have to get my way, or I throw a tantrum. It was okay though, because my lovely friend accepts me for who I am and conceded. VICTORY WAS MINE. We were surrounded on all sides by screaming and giggling children, and I fitted right in.

thr

I can never have too much Disney. I followed up the Disney movie with more Disney. On my Tuesday Tempo run, I plugged my iPod into the treadmill and watched away!

TOY STORY 3!!

I never got to see it when it was out, so I rented it and watched the first bit today! So SAD so far!!

grea

I love brightly coloured things. Like this chocolate that was on sale in Whole Foods yesterday:

How cool is THAT?! Tasted like heaven…

few

I find balls hilarious. So apparently, I’m not just any child mentally- I’m an 8 year old boy. But I do love balls.

Tropical balls: cashews, dried apricots, coconut + spices made Averie’s way. Seriously, I could live off balls.

gea

Before I get too carried away with my list of endless child-like traits (this post would be so long it would break records), I thought I’d tell you about the exciting event I mentioned in the last post!

gre

Yesterday when in WF, I was given a leaflet about upcoming events at the store this month.

And check out what’s on tomorrow!

I’ve booked a place at the talk by a Sports Nutritionist!! I’m SO excited- I can’t wait to hear what he has to say, and hopefully I learn a lot! And obviously, another WF trip is hardly a bad thing either, although I’m not sure my bank balance will agree…!

grea

So are you a child at heart, or mature all the way? I have my mature moments…but I think my childish ones overshadow those!

rge

Do you love Disney? What are your favourite Disney movies? The old classics are my faves, like the Little Mermaid and Aladdin. I always wanted to be Jasmine so badly when I was a kid!

gers

Have you ever been to any talks like this one? If so, was it useful I haven’t, so I can’t wait to hear what he has to say!! I think I might bring out my inner geek and make notes…!

grea

Have a great day tomorrow lovelies!!

grea

P.S. I am in the process of moving to self-hosted blogging, so if something goes disastrously wrong and my site explodes, you’ll know why!

You know life is good when…

Today was actually the BEST DAY EVER!! Other than Christmas. And my birthday… Well anyway, it was SO MUCH FUN!

gta

You know life is good when you start the day in a chocolaty way.  I love a good ryhyme almost as much as I love breakfast cake:

Made with cocoa powder, PB and jam, and topped with coconut butter and shredded coconut

You’d better believe I ate that whole thing!  Monday Special Breakfasts are the BOMB!!

grrae

You know life is good when lunch is munched (rhyme time! ) at the Hummus Bros hummus bar!Hummus is definitely where MY heart is!! My mushroom hummus bowl, served with a side of warm wholemeal pitta.

THE best hummus I have ever tasted, hands down. This is my new home. Henceforth I shall be Crazy Hummus Girl.

grea

You know life is good when you hit  not just one, but two Whole Foods stores!

I went to my usual WF first (Kensington- the biggest one!) and then on to the hummus bar, which happened to be a street away from another WF!! I ended up buying stuff from both of course…my poor bank balance…!

trhs

You know life is good when you discover they now sell the BIG tubs of Dark Chocolate Dreams!! I couldn’t resist!

My haul included:

Unsweetened applesauce and coconut oil for baking and DCD.

Bar madness! 2 Trek bars, my 2 fave Nakd bars and 3 Clif bar flavours

Brown rice syrup, chia seed and raspberry+coconut dark choccie!! Had to get some chocolate of course!

You know life is good when you have an amazing friend, who takes you to a cafe a few streets away that sells vegan cakes. Hello chocolate raspberry torte.

Mrs Marengo’s is my second home now. Fortunately very close to my first home.

Took the torte to-go and enjoyed on the train journey home. My fellow passengers were clearly beyond jealous, but slightly weirded out by my excessive ‘MMMmmmm’ing…

Seriously, I am RECREATING this as soon as I figure out how…so delicious…so decadent…

tra

You know life is good when you have a rockin’ hour of cross-training of speed intervals on the elliptical whilst listening to this:

On repeat. For pretty much the full hour. Yes, I danced along too. I could tell by the expressions of my fellow gym-ers that they wanted to join me really badly…

gre

You know life is good when you get your life’s essentials on the way home from the gym:

4 packs of dates and brocccoli

 

I was seriously panicked for a while, but order has now been restored. It’s okay.

hgera

So now it’s your turn: You know life is good when…?

gser

If you could live in one restaurant/cafe, what would it be? It used to be Starbucks for their gingerbread lattes, but hummus and chocolate torte have trumped it!

grea

Do you have a bar stash? Seriously, I have a whole cardboard box of snack bars, and the lid won’t shut any more after today’s additions!

grea

OH, and on the whole bar thing, I had two UK-US foodie swaps organised, but they’ve BOTH had to drop out sadly! (I know it’s not your fault guys, chillax, I still love ya!!) So an exciting thing for YOU is that YOU can do a lil’ foodie swap with ME if ya like! Shoot me an email if you’re interested at sweet_tooth_runner@hotmail.co.uk or leave a comment! Cool!

grea

Alrighty, so have a GREAT week friends!!

gera

P.S. I have a VERY exciting event I’m going to on Wednesday!! Tell you all tomorrow

Pancakes, Hills and the Sunday Slob.

I had an awesome Sunday. Sundays are just generally great, a) because there are pancakes involved, b) because it means a hill run, and c) because it means being a Sunday Slob.

a) Pancake Sunday!! Did you know I am officially the worst pancake flipper in the world? Case in point:

Course I scraped it outta the pan and ate it anyway!

Katie’s Red Velvet pancakes (go check hers out- they’re delish and look so much better the way she made them!!), sans the red part because I had no food colouring…

Topped with coconut butter and choccie chips, with PB+J for dippage

The Katie obsession continued that evening with yet another Banana Bread Muffin For One, topped with raw chocolate pudding as frosting and shredded coconut:

Sorry for the Katie obsession. I am not joking when I say you HAVE to try these and her recipes in general because they will send you into a FOODGASMIC COMA.

grea

The Sunday Pancake theme was carried over to dinner, with a Triple Chickpea plate.

Socca (like a chickpea pancake), topped with spinach, nooch and Angela’s delicious crispy chickpea bites, with a side of roasted red pepper hummus. Gotta love those chickpeas!!

htra

b) Hill run!! I have a love-hate relationship with hills, because they totally kick my butt! I did manage to up the speed of the 30 min pre-set hill workout this week slightly, with the first half in 8.00min/mile and the second half in 7.47 min/mile…yahooo!

7% inline is no joke, and equalled a very sweaty beast afterwards! Chilled out on the elliptical for about half an hour afterwards with Paula Radcliffe.

Her book is amazing. If you are interested in running, I really recommend it!

gre

c) Sunday Slob

Slob Example #1: A lie in. When you have pancakes to make, and a church service to get to, a lie-in means sacrifices. And that meant no hair-brushing, no make-up, and not even changing out of my PJ top. Priorities people!!

Shhh...they'll never know...

 

I just didn’t take off my coat. Our secret, k?

ytsj

Slob Example #2: Work procrastination. I settled down with the laptop and vegan instant soup-in-a-mug to tackle some work, and then doing no work at all, and instead bookmarking 1000 more recipes to make.

This happens every time. Bad Emma!!

Slob Example #3: Cereal munching straight from the packet. I couldn’t be bothered to make a proper snack after my workout, so the cereal and I got well acquainted on my bed, and got caught in the act by my momma.

Oooops!

Must. Get. Every. Last. Crumb…

Shameless.

ger

So now I’m off to finish possibly the only productive thing I did all day: washing these bad boys after yesterday’s run.

Obviously the most efficient way to do it is in the bathtub. You have to get in there too of course.

That’s how I spend my Sundays.

rts

So how did you spend your Sunday? Bonus points for anyone who wore their PJ’s to church too.

ger

Are you a pancake person, and if so, what is your fave flavour or recipe? Please tell me you love pancakes as much as I do, or I will cry.

grea

What are you looking forward to this week? I’m looking forward to tomorrow! I’m going with a friend to the Hummus Bros hummus bar for lunch, and then to Whole Foods! Hopefully I’ll get in a run too, and it’ll be the perfect day methinks!

grera

Hope you’ve had a great weekend friends!!

Friday Favourites

FRIDAY FAVOURITES time again friends!! I love it. I love Fridays. And I love you.

fgera

1. Triple Chocolate Oats.

Banana Oatbran with cocoa powder, topped with homemade DCD and a Hot Cocoa Fudge Baby.

 

I lay down in a state of complete bliss after eating this. HA that rhymes…!

THE best bowl of oats. Ever.

gre

2. Being on a sugar high. Not really an unusual occurrence for me, but it’s just as great every time

Yeah, blame these bad boys, and my mum for being a primary school teacher who hands out fruit bars to the good kids instead of chocolate buttons like everyone else does.

She knows these make me high, and make me feel like the 8 year old I know I am inside, so she gives me them when I have been good. Daughter points for ironing = fruity bars!!

grea

3. A practise run for my trial! Tomorrow I will be participating in a:

Parkruns are free weekly timed 5k’s, and there’s one that happens to be on the exact same course as the one my upcoming trial will be on! So I thought I’d do a bit of prep and check it out! Not aiming to break any records tomorrow, but just see what I’ll be up against course-wise in a fortnight’s time!

Still SUPER excited though for my first Parkrun! Got my ‘barcode’ ticket thing ready!

gea

4. Banana hunts. You may or may not know, but I hide bananas. This is so that they can get nice and ripe so I can use them in the kitchen without anyone eating them first. Only problem is, I often forget where I put them… So after a loooong hunt, I opened my airing cupboard and saw…

Can YOU spot my banana?

 AhHA! Found ya you little yellow devil!!

Then I remembered. I put it there yesterday. Darn.

5. Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffin for One.

After seeing Katie’s post today (I know, I know, I have a crush on her!), realising I had to make that goodness immediately, and then embarking on my hunt, I threw the ingredients together (+ chocolate chips of course!), nuked it the the microwave for 90 secs, and voila!

To show you my gratitude and undying love Katie, I put it on the Peter Rabbit plate I know you like so much.

I love you Katie. I love you Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffin. This is actually the best thing EVER, and I WILL be making this every day of my life until I die. Or until I am unlucky on a Banana Hunt.

htrs

What are YOUR Friday Favourites? Tell me please, and I will send you a virtual hug.

rge

What are you looking forward to this weekend? I have my run tomorrow morning, and am seeing the movie The King’s Speech too with my friends! Also seeing Black Swan over the next few days as well! Not to mention Pancake Sunday and tackling those Sunday Hills!

gera

Have an amazing weekend friends!!

15th February = Valentine’s Day

Did ya not get the memo? Valentine’s Day is today. Well, at least I’m celebrating it today, in good old singleton fashion, aka, with FOOD!  I am so excited to share two yummy recipes  with you lovelies today!! Because it’s Valentine’s Day and I love you all.

jyt

Valentine’s Breakfast: Chocolate oatbran with strawberries.

Chocolate + Strawberries = match made in heaven. Cupid must have been involved there.

htr

Valentine’s Lunch: A bowl of chocolate chips with butter.

Are you drooling as much as I am?

 

HA no, only kidding! That was included in what I made after lunch…here’s a little clue in Spot The Difference form. Possibly the most fun game ever invented.

Did you spot the difference?

kuif

Oh yes. I made my own chocolate peanut butter, aka Dark Chocolate Dreams!! I searched high and low for a no-added-oil peanut butter recipe, and couldn’t find one, so I just winged it anyway and it worked!

htrs

Emma’s ‘Dark Chocolate Dreams’ (adapted from Angela’s recipe)

(Fills one 12oz jar like the one shown above)

• 2 cups peanuts
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1.5 tsp (vegan) margarine
• 1/8 tsp salt (optional)

1. Place your peanuts into a food processor and process on high, stopping to scrape down the sides when necessary. It is done when the peanuts have formed a smooth, oily looking butter. For me, this took 12 minutes (incl. scraping time).
2. Melt your chocolate chips and margarine. I zapped them in the microwave in 20 sec intervals, stopping once mostly melted. Then stir until fully melted, and add to the processor.
3. Process the peanut butter and melted chocolate together for a few minutes until fully incorporated and smooth.
4. Enjoy!! (For storage information see Angela’s recipe)

From this…

After 2 minutes

…to this…

After ~12 minutes

…to THIS:

Amazingly simple!! And so much cheaper than buying the ‘real’ stuff, at least for us Brits anyway!  BUT, does it taste as good? The all-important taste test…

A HUGE THUMBS UP!  Tastes completely decadent, and sooo chocolaty! In case you were wondering, I washed out the DCD jar I finished yesterday, and used it to house my homemade version!

 

 

It is official. I love my new food processor more than life itself. But not more than my version of Dark Chocolate Dreams of course! That stuff is my Valentine this year!

gtr

So do you think I ended the V-Day celebrations there? Oh no my friends, there’s more! Valentine’s Day Dinner:

Actually, again a lil’ white lie. My dinner was a pretty standard un-Valentinesy lentil stew+rice, but dessert makes a meal anyway IMHO, and this one certainly did!

gdf

Singleton’s Strawberry Puddin’ (adapted from Animal Aid’s free vegan recipe booklet)

Serves 1, obviously!

• 1/3 block firm silken tofu (I used Mori-Nu)
• 4 large strawberries (approx 60g?)
• 1.5-3 tsp agave (depends on your tastes, adjust as desired)

1. Combine all ingredients and blend away!
2. Chill in fridge for as long as possible, or for at least 30 mins.
3. Top with yummy foods and enjoy!!

My toppings of choice were chocolate chips and a strawberry. Cos it’s Valentine’s Day, and that is what you eat.

I would love to try this with other fruits like raspberries, and try adding cocoa powder for a chocolaty version!

htrs

So I’ve really enjoyed my Valentine’s Day #2! Maybe I should make this Valentine’s month…hmm… And I seriously LOVED reading all your amazing+lovely comments yesterday, and all the awesome V-Day posts that you bloggers wrote! You are all so INSPIRATIONAL!!

gegrea

And coming up soon is some v. exciting news and a hummus recipe! I love hummus almost as much as chocolate and running. Almost.

grea

What things do you love? Erm, chocolate, running, chocolate+running, hummus, and everything in life. Except tea.

gre

Did you have a foodie Valentine’s Day? Eat anything yummy you’d like to share with me and make me jealous of, hmm? I ate lots of chocolate. But hey, what’s new!

rgea

Hope you’ve had a great V-Day and enjoy the rest of your week friends!!

Reader request: Contents of a gym bag…

Hey friends!

fhuri

I absolutely loved reading your responses yesterday!! We are all TWINS I tell you!! Apparently most of you are drama queens too, and so we all go into a serious panic when there’s a lack of nut butter or chocolate. But there was no lack of either of those things in today’s AMAZING breakfast…

htshts

Monday’s are Special Breakfast Day. I try to have a super-nice breakfast so Monday mornings are just plain amazing. Take today for example.

Choco-Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal with Chocolate Chips

(1/2 cup oats, 2 cups water, 1/2 cup coconut milk, 1/2 banana, 3 tsp vegan instant hot chocolate powder, PB and chocolate chips).

ukyd

Seriously, this was the best bowl of oatmeal I have ever had. I know I say that on a pretty much daily basis but this was so so true! I am probably going to have this awesome combo next Monday too- can’t wait!

ytdjdj

Monday Reader Request- Gym bag contents

I thought I’d do a lil’ Monday ‘Reader Request’ series! This was a question where I got asked what my gym essentials were, and I thought it’d be fun one to share!

Firstly, gym bag schmim bag. It’s called using a huge handbag…

…so you can waste what mula you saved on your magazine addiction:

Still drooling over the gym bag though…

source

So ma contents include:

• Anti-perspirant and towel to help this Sweaty Betty
• Body Spray to mask what the anti-perspirant failed to prevent
• Food (duh). Today I packed an energy bar, a Graze box, dates, and a banana for snacksies.
• Entertainment (magazines, books, iPod)

Also, my Nike Tempo shorts which I love, but rarely wear, because I can’t always be bothered to shave. I do have my priorities you know, and baking+eating cookies > appearance/hygiene. Grossed out much?

Hair stuff! 

SO important, not just because of my ridiculous amount of hair (see my ‘About’ page for proof!) but for the hairband trick that I leaned from Janae! This allowed me to read this amazing book whilst on the elliptical, and look ultra-cool obviously.

And most importantly…

WATER! I got through three bottles in today’s workout (50 min elliptical+BodyPump)!! Yes, it does mean thousands of toilet trips, but yo that’s the life of an athlete!  

hgtrash

So hit me: what are your gym essentials? What weird things are lurking in your gym bag? I also may keep a bag of chocolate chips in there for emergencies…

grsrg

And what did you have for breakfast today? I love hearing about people’s eats!!

huilhu

P.S. If you want to send me a request for my Monday request post series, go ahead! I’ve got a few lined up alerady from emails, including my food staples, the vegan question, controversial posts, and posts on running technques like hill sprints, etc. Feel free to add to my list!!

P.P.S. Recipe day coming up tomorrow! I have a ton to share!

Hope you’ve had a great day today friends!! Love you all!

Giveaway winner and melodrama

Hey friends!! Hope you’ve had a great weekend!

htrsah

First up today is the winner of my yoga giveaway! Thank y’all for entering by the way!

rgeaer

True Random Number Generator: Result: 4 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

greg

That is…the amazing and lovely Keri over at Blue Eyed Runner!!

grar

Keri, on February 2, 2011 at 10:36 pm said: Edit Comment

Oooh love this giveaway! I love yoga, but should definitely be doing it more, so this would be great! Plus, it would be a fantastic bday present You are already on my blogroll. And I follow you on twitter!

jytsddj

Not only did she win the giveaway, but it is also her birthday, and she got engaged too this weekend!!  Congrats Keri and Happy Birthday!  I’ll shoot the Yoga Download guys your email address and they’ll contact you, k?

***

I am a pretty melodramatic person. Everything is either “AMAZING!!” or “THE END OF THE WORLD!!” Today, as with every day, there were a few panic situations…

feWFR

Panic #1: Unplanned lie-in. This morning I ignored my alarm. I slept in until 8.30, which is super late for me!! So usually I have Pancake Sundays….

Cocoa oatmeal pancakes

Pumpkin Spelt Pancakes

…but I woke up just half an hour before I had to leave for church!! So I instead had a lovely cereal bowl.

Optimum cinnamon+blueberry flax cereal with strawbs and coconut milk

Panic #1 resolved: I had pancakes for dinner instead!

Okay, those aren’t exactly pancakes buried beneath the tempeh, spinach and nooch. They’re socca (kinda like chickpea-flour pancakes), which I leaned about from Heather’s post. Darned tasty!

HJYTSHJY

Panic #2: Getting in a run. I had so much to do today, and fretted about not being able to fit in my tempo run. END OF THE WORLD.

YDTJ

Panic #2 resolved: Thankfully, after church, I managed to get to the gym for a quick tempo run before lunch. (Fast mile in 7 min/mile pace, and warm-up and cool down miles in 8.20ish min/mile). And 20 mins on the elliptical too. Such a runner’s high! I LOVE ENDORPHINS!

Panic #3: Lack of food essentials. I finished off my normal peanut butter on Friday OIAJ style, and had run out of all my other favourite foods!

Serious panic ensued.

Panic #3 resolved: Running straight to the supermarket from the gym to stock up, looking like a schweaty tomato.

It's ok, I did actually take the towel OFF my head before leaving the gym!

Got ma essentials! We can all breathe easily now

Broccoli, crunchy PB, smooth PB and chocolate chips

Panic #4: The chocolate monster hit. I needed a yummy+ filling chocolate fix immediately. A few squares of chocolate just wasn’t going to cut it. Not even delicious raspberry dark chocolate…

Panic #4 resolved: Raw Chocolate Mousse. The gorgeous genius that is Chef Katelyn saved my life (are you getting the whole melodramatic thing yet? ). I topped it with chocolate chips (duh!) and ate the whole thing.

Katelyn, your recipe is amazing. Seriously. Girl, will you marry me? We can feast on this and vegan chocolate chip cookies every day. Sound good?

yjtdjt

So are you melodramatic minnie, or a chilled chica? If you didn’t get the message already, I’m a tad melodramatic!

uktdku

And what ‘little’ things cause you to panic? What foods can’t you do without? Peanut butter, dark chocolate, fruit+veggies and oats. I think if I have all these things I could just about make it through life!

yhjthsh

Have a great week lovelies! Some savoury recipes for once coming at ya tomorrow!

Best breakfast and running confessions

Breakfast. I think most of you will agree with me that this is undoubtedly the best meal of the day. I get up extra-early every day so that I can make myself a killer breakfast. Totally worth it. Especially today…

That, my friends, is no ordinary baked oatmeal. Just lookie inside…

…the moment of truth…

…chocolate peanut butter.

Oh yeaaah!

Banana ‘Surprise’ baked oatmeal (adapted from Katie’s recipe)

Serves 1- makes 2 small ramekins, or one large.

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/3 cup milk (I used coconut)
• 1/3 cup mashed banana (just over half a large banana)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
• 2 tbsp nut butter of choice

1. Preheat your oven to 350F/175C.
2. Combine all ingredients except the nut butter.
3. Half fill the ramekins with the oatmeal, add one tbsp of nut butter to each ramekin (if using 2 small ramekins- otherwise add it all) then put the remaining oatmeal on top.
4. Bake for approx 15-18 mins, depending on your oven until done.

Unbelievably yummy. I’m even thinking of making a double chocolate one by adding cocoa powder, or maybe even a triple chocolate, with some chocolate chips thrown in there as well…mmm…

The layering bit is just the funnest (<—new word, so remember it) thing ever!

I can see you Dark Chocolate Dreams!!

This was heaven. Make it soon- you won’t regret it I promise!

 ***

I have some confessions. Of the running variety.

1. I went a little running mad. I blame the three days off (stupid ankle). I did hill sprints in the morning, up this lovely hill…

…gotta love that incline!!

Hill sprints kick serious butt, but they are so much fun! In the afternoon, I hit up the gym, and ended up doing 5k speed intervals (1k @ near race pace, 0.25k recovery, repeat) on the treadmill. Shouldn’t really have done both, but I couldn’t help it!

2. I talk to myself out load when running. And/or sing. People hear me and give me strange looks. They think I’m mad (not to mention tone-deaf). They could be right…I don’t think sane people look like this…

3. I got super-emotional and almost cried whilst on the treadmill. Not because it’s ‘that time of the month’ or anything, but because I was watching this…

If you recognise the movie from that, I applaud you. Australia! The happy reunion bit! Aaaw! I am SUCH a sucker for happy endings…especially with Hugh Jackman thrown in there!

4. When not running, I read about running. I went to the library to pay some overdue fines (oops!) and to renew my books, and ended up leaving with more books! All running ones too!

5. I’m an Eager-Beaver Reader. I’ve already almost finished one of the above books, and am halfway through one of the others!

I’ve learnt so much already about how to improve my technique, the importance of warming-up and cooling-down properly (which I’ve never really done!) and some stuff on training and racing for my 5k trial! I also took some notes… I am officially a geek, and proud of it!

Confession time for you! ‘Fess up people! Running-related or otherwise, I wanna know your confessions so I can feel better about myself!

And is breakfast your favourite meal of the day? What is your all-time favourite breakfast recipe/food? My favourite changes pretty much daily, but other than this, I would have to say chocolate pancakes (coming up tomorrow!) and breakfast cake too of course!

Have a great Sunday friends!

 

P.S. Tomorrow I’m announcing the winner of my international yoga giveaway! So enter now before it’s too late!!

The Chocolate-Covered Diet

The Chocolate-Covered Diet is clearly a great diet. And Katie is clearly a Chocolate-Covered genius.

A Breakfast Of Champions- Katie’s Pumpkin Boatmeal

SO delicious! I have a really great idea now for a variation on this baked oatmeal, which I’ll test out soon…

Katie’s mad tofu scramble was part of lunch.

Yummy!! I made with courgette (zucchini) and spinach

And to make Katie proud, I followed it up with…

CHOCOLATE!

You can’t beat this diet!

As I mentioned yesterday, I had a friend’s birthday celebration today. But first, I had to fit in a run. So en route to her house, I stopped off at the gym for a quick tempo run.

3 miles- fast mile in 7.09 min/mile pace!

Emma’s Fashion Faux Pas #1001- Pairing orange and red. Especially the fluorescent orange…

Clearly a great look. I suggest you try it too!

…but at least I wasn’t wearing the green shorts with it like I was last week…yeah there was a good reason I didn’t photograph that particular outfit!

And really it’s lucky my friends are loving and embrace the mad girl who arrives at a party sweaty and brings her own vegan ‘cheeze’…

My first experience with vegan cheese! Tastes oddly like real cheese...

  The cheese was for pizza making! We had a toppings table…

and makeshift rolling pins…

Must remember that if using a wine bottle as a rolling pin, to flour it first though….!

I made and ate my whole pizza. ‘Twas very yummy!

Topped with tomato sauce, vegan cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers and onions.

 

The vegan chocolate chip cookies I made yesterday were a huge hit too!

In fact, someone said (without too much coercion) that these were better than their normal non-vegan cookies! I had about five (because I am the cookie monster!), and I wholeheartedly agree with said person!

I did eat some healthy food though! Like the odd tomato…

(Please ignore the greasy+sweaty bangs!)

Clearly I achieved a good balance here! But I did successfully show that vegans can and do eat ‘normal’ foods like pizza and cookies!!  

So, tell me, have you tried any of Katie’s recipes? I’m also a huge fan of her pizzerts and peanut butter balls! Basically, I want to live with her so she can feed me yummy treats all day long. If you haven’t tried any of her stuff, DO IT NOW, seriously!

What was the last Fashion Faux-Pas that you made? Apart from the whole colour-clash episode, I think turning up to a party in a baggy jumper and jeans because you left your ‘nice’ clothes waiting by the door at home, is a pretty good one too…!

Hope you had a great Saturday, and enjoy the rest of your weekend friends!