I would die if I didn’t have my blender.
Like actually, physically, die. The blender in question has been worked off its’ socks today 🙂 Carrots, smoothies, more smoothies, breadcrumbs….bless its’ lil heart 🙂
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Before the blender action, I had the usual apple/wheatgerm/chocolate snack, and then went on a 5mile run, as per day2 of Marathon Training. Again, it was super super hot out!! I let myself walk for 30 seconds in each mile, so I could drink and – if needed – have a quick stretch. I’ve definitely noticed a correlation between hot weather and achey legs. All I can say is thank GOODNESS my marathon won’t be hot! Anyway, the run was done and dusted in 42minutes 🙂 Though I seriously need a head/sweat band…I could feel sweat drip into my eyes at one point..isn’t that rum!? I long for the days when I used to run in a whooly hat and gloves…….*sigh
Breakfast was [shockingly!] NOT an EGM! Oh no people, I mixed it up today 🙂 I had a big banana-peanut butter smoothie, consisting of:
- 1.5 frozen bananas
- 1/2 cup yogurt
- 1/2 cup milk
- a big blob of peanut butter ( a tbsp maybe?)
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- granola sprinkle
The resulting deliciousness:
SO good. It’s such a novelty having a smoothie that isn’t green!! The carby bit of breakfast was a cupful of mixed cereal with some strawberries:
Fabulous darling. Fabulous.
I then spent a good few years slathering the sun cream on, before taking Poppy out for a desert forest walk. We did a good hour and a half of power walking, which was pretty cool! Though she actually managed to get tired on the way back (it never happens!!) – so much so she had a little lie down 🙂 I think it was cos I didn’t bring any dog water with me (oops…), so she was panting rather a lot. Howeverz the forest is only 5mins from home, so as soon as we got in, she kicked back with an iced pina colada and a Magnum 🙂 I did actually try and give her water on the walk – by trickling my own bottle in front of her – but alas, she is a dumb dog and actually ran away from the water!! And they say dogs are smart….:P
My forest trek took up most of the morning, cos I was hanging out with Chika before I left, and then when I got back, I went to a cafe to hand in an application form…the nice people there gave me one when I went on that epic Find A Job expedition on Thursday or whenever…anywayz.
When I got back, I was starving! I ate a hunk of parsnip though so I was fully able to create a proper lunch 🙂 and what a lunch it was! I picked this up while I was at the cafe place:
It’s a melon…but I have no idea what sort…anyone care to enlighten me!? A few slices of it made up part of my lunch:
I also did some more blending action 😀 A pear, frozen strawberries, xanthan gum, nutmeg, a tsp of maple syrup, and spinach. It looked so pink and lovely before the spinach grubbied it up Pre-grub:
Post-grub:
Hurrumph. Despite the colour, it still tasted wonderful – almost like kiwis!!
I’m not done yet 😛 The third part was a veggie burger in a wholemeal English muffin, with bbq sauce, and roast parsnip/fennel:
Praaaaaiiiissseee BE for the glory that is all that food! STUPENDOUS meal folks, STUPENDOUS. As were the So Crispy bites for dessert 😛
Then the kitchen magic reaaaally got going…first up – Jenna’s lentil loaf. I’ve seen this recipe all over the darn blogosphere recently, and it won her a lifetime supply of lentils, so I figured a) it had to be good, therefore b) it was high time I made it.
The only slight alterations I made were using fennel instead of celery (I had none), using mixed herbs instead of oregano (likewise) and 1/2 cup walnuts, not 3/4 cup (I ran out). Oh, and I made my own ketchup out of tomato puree, vinegar, mixed herbs and sugar, cos we had no ketchup either! Other than that, I followed it to a t 🙂
Just before topping…
After topping….
And you’ll have to wait til dinner to see how it turned out 😛
Next on my list was these chocolate cupcakes, that I saw baked on Jess’ blog. But..they didn’t work 😦 For one, the mix only made 10 cupcakes, and they also took about 1/2 hour to bake – yet even then, they were all sinky and weird:
I’m yet to have one, but I was a bit miffed 😦 Soooo, what do you do when baking goes (possibly) wrong? You bake again! This time, I consulted the expertise of my favourite vegan cooking book:
I love Isa 🙂 The recipe in question:
Carrot raisin muffins! These guys came out much better:
That book is so wonderful – afterall, it holds the recipe for those AMAZING pumpkin muffins from a while back 🙂 If I could marry it, have its’ children, and be buried next to it when I pass, I would.
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I ate my afternoon snack of this:
Whilst watching England get proper thrashed 4-1 by Germany. Oof! I’m a little bit ashamed to call myself English 😛 I swear we once used to be good at football….oh well. We’re good at eventing! Did you know the British eventing team (that’s horse riding, with 3 phases, instead of just one) has won 7 consecutive team gold medals at the European championships, which happen every 2 years? That’s 14 years of being freaking fabulous (and beating those pesky Germans who seem to win everything :p) Pretty darn impressive!!
Moving on –
Dinner!
Lentil loaf:
Looks good right!!?
I had my serving with celeriac, parsnip and kabocha:
It was SO delicious! My mumma and step dad loved it too – that Jenna girl is a genius 😀 Seriously guys, if you haven’t made this recipe yet, you totally should – it’s worth it!
I’m going to possibly watch Come Dine With Me now..then later have a carrot raisin muffin – they look to good to resist! Have a relaxing evening my lovelies 🙂
QUESTION – What kitchen appliance could you not live without? Blender, hands down, for me!
Ooooh word just in – my mum saw Chahara’s foal again today briefly; apparently his legs are looking a little bit better, thank goodness! Still not there, but it’s a step in the right direction 🙂
Cantaloupe is my absolute favourite kind of melon! It’s soooo sweet and delicious 🙂
It’s cantaloupe? Aaah thankyou!!
Glad the foal’s legs are looking better! 🙂
Hmmm..kitchen appliance I could not live without – maybe blender?
Love the carrot raisin muffins – love carrot cake. Maybe I’ll make some soon.
Enjoy the Come Dine With Me! 🙂
It’s a cantaloupe!! One of my favorites 🙂
Yummy baking adventures– those carrot muffins look mighty tasty!
So glad for the news on the baby! Hope it continues in this direction 🙂
And I totally admire you for all of your blender use. I never have the patience for mine, it seems. And the carrot muffins look fantastic – bummer about the cupcakes, though! I hate having baking fails, too. I always want a “re-do,” but then know I’ll end up wasting soemthing! Hopefully they’ll still taste OK, though.
I definitely need to make vegan with a vengeance my next cookbook. I already swear by veganomicon – pretty sure if I have BOTH I’ll just be in pure heaven 🙂
Good luck getting the cafe job!!
Yeah the chocolate ones do taste good, so nothing will get wasted :D(though I have an inability to waste food :P).
I reaaaally want veganomicon..I might go see how much it is on amazon right now 😛
That little beauty would be a cantaloupeyloupe… possibly the best summer melon, altho i do like a bit of honeydew now and again :-p
(sorry, i am a BIGTIME melon lover. my fave fruit fo sho)
those carrot muffins look deeeeelish, ive been hunting for some good muffin recipes cos i need to up my MP to include more carby treats. i was tryng to figure out who had the blog with the pumpkin muffins…. i should’ve known it would be you… our very own little baking princess! cos i finally found somewhere to buy pumpkin in a can (is that what you used???) can you email me the recipes cos i am DEF going to get my bake on when i break up from school 🙂
p.s glad to hear the foals legs are looking more promising, fingers crossed!!! xxx
Yesss I used canned pumpkin! Where did you find it!!?? Itwas seriously like gold dust to me lol!!
I’ll email you the recipe now 🙂 xx
I agree, I would go absolutely insane without a blender!! I also use my little food processor a lot. And I can’t believe I’ve never thrown some PB into my smoothies.. yours look so yummy especially with the granola sprinkle on top!
You’ve never used PB in a smoothie!? Oh girl, you haven’t LIVED!!!:P
Aw, so sad the chocolate cupcakes didn’t turn out! I wonder what went wrong? 😦 But yay for the lentil loaf!!! It’s pretty much amazing, oh yes.
And I couldn’t live without a blender or food processor.. they’ll both make smoothies, which I also couldn’t live without. My blender recently died buuut thank goodness for the processor!
And I think I’ll be flying in on friday but I’m not positive, I haven’t booked my flight yet.
Love you girl!
ahhh i thought i could never live without my blender until it died last semester at my dorm 😦
i’m glad to be living at home for the summer cos i have mum’s blender to steal for the time being!!
also, that fruit looks like a cantaloupe. i’m not a big fan, i prefer honeydew 😛 but it still looks good!
Apparently it is a cantaloupe..I think it’s delicious! I’m in love, it’s official 🙂
I simply love smoothies! For me it’s just a plus that it’s healthy, for me it’s primarily yummy, lol! And you’re right about your smoothies, looks way prettier before the spinach, lol! I’m more into fruit smoothies than veggies. Though I find carrot smoothie and pumpkin smoothie really good. I’m not a big fun of the green ones, lol, though I’ve tried a few smoothie recipes with spinach or chard in it. Quite good, but not really up to my taste. Thanks for sharing this one by the way, I’ll definitely give it a go. I’ll try it both with and without the spinach. lol!
I’ve never tried chard…I’m surpised you could taste the spinach though! I’ve never tasted it..you must bevery sensitve :p
Carrot and pumpkin- sounds amazing!!
I am so glad to hear that the “baby” is doing better. Question for you: I know you have a little snack before your runs. I literally roll out of bed and into my running sneakers at about 5 in the morning and never eat anything before I run, but sometimes wonder if I would have a little more energy if I did. You seem to run pretty early in the am too. What is your standard snack before you go?
I normally have an apple and a square of chocolate – I thik it does make a difference, considering I wouldn’t have eaten for like, 10-12hours..need energy from somewhere! If I’m going for longer, a piece of toast and PB goes down well, or a proper protein/carb packed bar (like Trek bars or Clif bars). Experiment and see what works 🙂
It’s a cantaloupe!!!!! Well, technically it’s a Musk Melon but when they began to mass produce them farmers figured “Musk Melon” wasn’t an attractive name so they called the cantaloupes but cantaloupes are actually white or green smooth skinned melons, not to be confused with honeydew melons.
Wow, you know your melon knoweldge! I think musk melon is quite appealing..it sounds almost romantic! It’d certainly be more memorable than cantaloupe too
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