Don’t forget……

Don’t forget…there’s a NEW blog now!

http://www.britchickruns.com – NO DOT WORDPRESS!!
xx

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Don’t forget…

…to go to the new site!

www.britchickruns.com

Thank you 🙂

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What ya doing!?

Get off this site!

Drop the DOT COM and head on over to :

 

http://www.britchickruns.com

 

For the new improved me!!! Oh, and ignore the post below – it’s on the new site anyway 🙂

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It finally happened!!

I bet by now you were thinking this face/butt/boob lift for the blog would never happen right? Well, how wrong you were, cos it has!!

The dot wordpress has been dropped (thank goodness) and I’m now all lovely and self hosted – plus, recipes have been updated, the About page has been updated, and there will soon be QUESTIONS answered in the FAQ page! Expect a post about that soon, so if you have anything you wanna ask, write it down now or forever hold your peace 🙂

Sooo anyway, update your google readers, blogrolls, cross out the ‘.wordpress’ on all the Post-Its you have stuck round your house reminding you of my blog, and for my single fan who has http://www.britchickruns.wordpress.com tattooed on himself? Well…you’re beyond help.

I also have to give a MASSIVE shout out to my beloved Jess, who has helped me SO much with this – I can’t thank her enough! (cue Oscars-speech worthy crying)

—–

Onwards and upwards 🙂 (and excuse the mega length of this post – it’s been 2days, what’s a blogger to do!?)

Oh gawsdshshdhs! Was it really only Thursday when I last blogged?? Judging by the amount of photos on my camera, you’d think whole lifetimes had passed. Instead, there’s just been many, many bowls of oatmeal:

Ok, two.

Two is enough.

Cinnamon overripe pear though – you can never have enough of them!

Did you know I eat the core and all? The ONLY bit I don’t eat is the stick at the top 🙂

—

Ok, now let’s take a journey back in time; you may recall my socca FAIL on…Thursday? Well, I am not one to be beaten by bad food, oh no. I will fight back, fight hard, and fight dirty. In the case of the aforementioned socca, it did NOT get thrown away. Instead, I mixed it with the remains of my curry soya mince….

Served alongside….what else, roasted veggies!!

HA! The socca was TASTY! Take THAT, world!! I think the flavah-flaves infused overnight or something, cos it really was faboosh 🙂 In fact, I decided to make yet more socca today for lunch 🙂 This time, I loosely followed Ashley’s socca recipe, although I adjusted the measurements cos there’s only one o’ me. Oh, the life of a singleton ay?

You know what that is? GREASE. Yes, I GREASED my pan today. Non-greased pan = one messed up messy load of mess (shan’t be making that mistake again).

Ummmm…did it work?

I baked that early in the day, and then just let it sit and hang around for a while whilst I did other things (*cough-play007JamesBond on the Wii like a little boy – cough*). Theeen I served it, with a brussels sprouts/shallots/garlic stir fry (using the same spices + tomato puree, thrown in for good measure)

I got a bit carried away taking pictures 😛

It WORKED! It

was

delicious

🙂

I really can’t describe the texture – kinda like seitan, but…more dough-y, less chew-y….honestly, I think the best thing would be if you just made the darn stuff. It’s so easy! Chickpea flour is pretty common (it’s called gram flour too) – Waitrose have it, I’m preeetty sure Tesco have it, and loads of independent shops/probzably ethnic stores have it. Make it your Sunday mission! My Sunday mission will be to make more of it, fo sho – I think it’d make a hotdiggity quick nutritious lunch to eat at uni (I normally only have a 10-minute midway lecture break to eat lunch). Sooooortttiiiiddddd.

—

Twas an odd start this morning. I rented a film last night (The Switch – I LOVE Jennifer Aniston, she be my girl crush, but the film…? Hmm…not so much. It was ok, but the ending bugged the hell outta me. Plus I think the lead bloke had an annoying face. Heh.) so I drove into town quickly this mornin’ to return it. When I got up though, the appetite had vamooshed, so I forwent (forgoed?) breakfast (:O that NEVER happens!) and instead treated myself to a lovely cappuccino 🙂

By the time I’d got home, I was ready for oats!

*insert picture of oats here*

I also did hay-unloading, which I think made my injured ankle very angry; it felt faaairly OK this morning, but after lugging big old hay bales about, it’s felt much more sore all day 😦 It’s been a week since I did it!! Gah. I am SO fed up with being injured, #stoopidcrankybody. I NEED it to be healed by Weds-ish, so I can go for a short run to report back to Mr FF (Mr Fit Physio, in case you forgot) about how my legs are feeling – we have another date (fine, APPOINTMENT) on Friday yee see…

Oh well.

I’m a firm believer that good food can heal.

So I made some more 🙂

Roasted celeriac, parsnip and butternut, with a 1/2 serving of peanut flour, mixed with cocoa powder and agave nectar…

…for the dippeh-dippeh, obvs.

5 stars 🙂

(FYI – chocolate peanut blob stuff goes REALLY well with curry socca!! – and that’s for realz yo!)

Now, this afternoon, I was craving oats in a jar. Problemo = no empty jars. So, I decided to bake my mum some peanut buttery bars, purely so I’d have an empty jar ready and waiting 😀

Bars:

Jar:

Mission: accomplished.

I didn’t actually have OIAJ this eve tho – I had YIA1/2C for a snack instead!

You didn’t think I’d let my peanut buttery measuring cup used for the PB bars go to waste did you!!??

That’s be yogurt in a 1/2 cup, for you lay folk :p

Noowww – I feel this post is approaching the heck-I-don’t-wanna’read-anymore stage (if it hasn’t already), so I’ll leave you with two other fabulous eats 😀

Item One: A beautiful Green Monster (kale, soya milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, banana)

Item Two: Blackened tofu (marinated in cocoa balsamic, ketchup, mirin, soy sauce)

Highlights of my weekend 🙂

Tell me, my lovelies – who do you have a crush on? I have a BIG crush on my physio, but other than him – Channing Tatum, Josh Hartnett (circa Pearl Harbour & Lucky Number Slevin) annnd…..hmm….one more…that’s a toughie. OH! R-Patz!! I am very Team Edward, he has stolen my heart 🙂

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My Physio is a Fox

/ That’s What He Said / A Humpday Miracle

Sometimes, one title is not enough 😛

Sooo I saw the sports physio today! Oh boy….he is a HOTTIE! For realz! But yeah, I’ll get onto that in a minute 😛

First up, I shall start this post with some lovely blog search terms, cos I know you all ❤ them!

– deer ( x 42!!!! Obvs a lot of people like to search about deer on the internet. Huh.)

– ελάφι (x 4 – if anyone can tell me what language that is…please do!)

– pretty men (that makes me happy :D)

– what’s green and runs (me, when I feel ill. Yes, a poor joke, I know)

– madonna operation before and after (Madonna had an operation? News to me!)

– madonna’s ageless (first Kate Moss, now Madonna! Well I never)

– bark-like cereal (I think you mean Fru-Grains?)

– swap ur wife with us (Lol)

– swapyourwife.com (I NEED to go on that website!)

– world’s best main course (ha, you won’t find that here!)

– amazed facial faces channing tatum (LOL)

– hey brit chick runs, where’s the funky new blog?

Well, in answer to the last one – when BlueHost help me out with getting the header changed! I’m actually not kidding when I say I am trying SOOO hard to get it changed, and I just CAN”T. FRIGGIN”. DO. IT There’s been tears, let me tell you! If I hadn’t already paid BlueHost, I would give up, but I’m not gonna waste that £££…

Anyway! Moving swiftly on – I started the day The Oat Way today:

Actually, that’s melon and yogurt – the oats came after:

Chocolate pudding oats in fact 🙂

On top of the parish magazine, cos I’m hip like that.

Between oat-eating and leaving for physio, I went for a 1hr walk, and did Level 2 of Jillian, skipping all the cardio (cos it hurt my injured ankle). I thought the walk would be ok – but it actually made my injury feel mucho worso, which = no walking now! Obvs I HAVE to walk (ie to get from my car to my lecture hall!) but no WALK walks. Boooohiss (I wonder if I can get a ‘boohiss’ into every post!? Man, I’m such a Scrooge!)

Late morning, my mumma and I headed out on the town – not to party, alas, but to go to the bank, the store, Boots and Holland & Barratt for my vegan drugs (aka vegan multivitamin :p). Whilst we were there, we made the most of Costa, the inferior, crapper version of Starbucks. Sorry Costa, but Starbucks really did have my heart at hello, and always will 🙂 I still got a kickass cappuccino though!

Whiiiich totally spoiled my appetite for lunch – in fact, I didn’t even eat it til 4pm, and even then I wasn’t hungry! What I DID do howeverz, was go and see the sports physio!

[I’m shallow, but thank GOODNESS I put on a full face of slap this morning, and took extra time to moisturise my legs – crikey, I would’ve died of embarrassment otherwise!]

Mr Fit Physio (from here on out, known as Mr FF) was, well, brilliant!

a) he was cuteness personified

b) he made me feel totally at ease

c) he has run 3 marathons (includ. 1 sub-3hr…cripes…and his first was in Hawaii!)

d) he runs in general

e) most importantly, he sure does know what he’s talking about (who are we kidding, a) is most important 😛 I KID!)

Here’s what the What is:

– he reckons my leg pain on a whole is compartment syndrome – whereby the sheath that goes round the muscles is being spazzy and nasty and not helping (to put it in my terms, so it makes sense!)

– my other injury – I can’t remember what he said it was, but he gave me ULTRASOUND on it to promote healing, as well as supercool massage to get rid of the swelling! He also told me to ice it (I have black eyed beans stuck to my ankle as i type), and to rest it – ie no walking. But he thinks it’ll clear up in a couple o’ days.

– when my ankle is healed, he said continue with the walk/running and see what’s what – he gave all my lower legs a good massage too, to loosen everything up, so hopefully they’ll be an improvement.

– he gave me this (excuse the horrific picture):

Which is one of those elastic band things..to do foot exercises with (it’s hard to explain here) when my injured ankle is healed, annnnd I’m going back next Friday – he’ll see me run on a treadmill to look at my style (I have ‘loose hips’ apparently, which is why I run like a doof) and to look at treatment stuff.

Most importantly – he is confident there is no stress fracture, he didn’t laugh me out of the room when I said there was a marathon in Oct I want to do, and he didn’t need to amputate my leg(s) –

A HUMPDAY MIRACLE!

Sooooo plan of action: rest. Then run 🙂

Wahey! i feel a lot better having seen him, so fingers crossed I’m on the path to SuperFitness again ay! 😀

‘Lunch’ today was some soya mince (I made it curry flavah) mixed with roast veggies:

Followed by a buttload of cereal and yogurt and an apple when I got home. I was somewhat rushed when we got in the door – i realised I wanted tempeh for dinner, which needed MARINATING immediatosso!

Annnnd my mum had requested yet more oatmeal bars, as she’s seeing a longlost friend tomorrow, and wanted to bring gifts of joy 🙂

Her wish is my command 🙂

Thheeeen I got to have my dinner – said tempeh, fried:

With a load of roasted kabocha, aubergine and parsnip, and a banana-peanut flour – cinnamon/nutmeg-vanilla-soya milk-CABBAGE (!) smoothie on the side:

A delicious meal, if ever one did exist 🙂 Plus, I seriously need to use nutmeg more. Nutmeg + banana + cinnamon is really rather scrummeh, if I do say so myself.

Buuuuut now, my bed calls, my Heat magazine calls, and my ankle is frozen solid and needs its’ bean cocoon removing, pronto.

Au revoir!

Ps – thank you to all your comments yesterday – it meant a lot to know that other people feel the same/have been through something similar/had wise words to say – I felt 10 x more at ease after reading them.

Question – favourite smoothie combination? Mine is withouta doubt, banana, peanut butter, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg. SO GOOD!

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I’m going to tell you a secret…

…That’s right, I am! In fact, TWO secrets (I’m generous like that). But first, you wanna see what I’ve been up to the past 24hrs?

Much of this:

And this:

(That would be a black bean brownie, in case you weren’t sure :p)

And this:

And this:

A bit of baking this:

Tina’s oatmeal raisin bars for my mumma, with added nutmeg, apricots and sunflower seeds.

Chewing this:

(In case you didn’t know, I am a gum addict! There, I’ve said it, my dirty secret is revealed…I know gum is hardly faboosh for you, but I like the taste 🙂 I think I’ve become a stress/boredom chewer actually. Surely better than biting my nails, or pulling out my hair right?)

And way, WAY too much of this:

My animal behaviour essay on instinct is far, far harder than I thought it would be. As per usual, my response to that? Boooohiss :p

I did find time to make the bestest breakfast ever! And I’m going to give it the honour of becoming an official recipe too 😀

Chocolate Pudding Oats

It sooounds like a time consuming recipe, but I promise it’s not! Just be efficient, be a woman (aka multi task) and you’ll be fine 🙂 Or just take the morning off of work/school to eat this, cos it’s tasty – it tastes just like chocolate pudding!

• 1/2 c. oats
• 1.5 tsps cocoa powder
• a tiny, weeny pinch of salt (think like a mouse)
• 1/2 – 1 tsp cinnamon (I’m a cinnamon freak, so I add the heftier portion)
• 1/2 – 1 tsp vanilla extract (it depends on your brand – some are stronger than others izntit)
• 1.5 c. water/milk/mix
• drizzle-y sweetener of choice (agave, maple syrup etc)

Combine everything apart from the sweetener, and cook on a stove til it’s thick and … well, cooked 🙂 probably 5mins or so, depending on your oats.

Get a small individual size baking dish and pour the oats into it. Drizzle with the sweetener (to taste), and mix it up with a fork [lick the fork clean. We don’t like waste in this household!]

Put into an oven, approx. 160-180degrees (350F) for 20-30mins – it depends on your oven 🙂

Go and do some jumping jacks, level 3 of Jillian’s Shred, a power walk, go back to bed, brush your teeth, pack your bag – do whatever you need to in the morrrnin’ that takes 25mins.

Go fetch your oats out of the oven – When it comes out, it’ll look runny still – these don’t set straight away – and probably have bubbles, like so:

Now this bit is tricky – ignore the oats.

Leave them as is for about 25mins, or as long as you can. Again, entertain yourself! Put some slap on, run a fast 5k, do some homework; the choices are endless!

Once the wait time is up, scrape round the edges with a knife and throw it all into a bowl 🙂 If you’re like me, you can pour some cold (soya) milk over, or just have as is:

Dig in!!

I simply adore the creamy skin and thick texture and pudding-likeness – it’s divine 😀 Not a pretty dish…but still. It’s worth the time, IMHO!

Heh 🙂

Ok, secret time now!

1) I really didn’t want to reveal this til the Big Reveal (that makes sense..oh yeah…) but now I HAVE to, cos I need HELP! My secret is that Brit Chick Runs is GROWING UP! (this is what I was referring to when I said about the face lift earlier in the week :p) The dot wordpress will go and a new blog will be born [this way] 🙂 but here’s the problemo – I’m using Bluehost as my host (if that’s the term, idk) and I’m trying to load up a header. But – it. won’t. work. I’ve spent hours tearing my hair out, studying tutorials, watching videos, getting upset, getting stressed, getting angry, and really genuinely not knowing what to do. I don’t want to start the new blog without a header cos it looks crap, so PLEASE –

SOMEONE HELP ME!!! Again, I’ll pay you with love and roasted parsnips 🙂

Secret Numero Duno:

2) I’m scared.

I’m seeing the sports physio tomorrow, but I am terrified of what he’s going to say. My new injury (which is kinda near my ankle bone, on the inside – feels a bit like a muscle strain or tendon thing, is sore to touch, and I’m limping even in walk. Unless I make my foot face out, then it’s not as painful) is really, really sore. I was le idiot this morning, and did my usual hour of Jillian workout, despite the pain. Why? Cos I suppose I just don’t want to believe that I’m injured, and wanted to work through it. But after, it felt 10 x worse, and has been off all day 😦 Soooo I’m taking tomorrow totally off. But anyway – I’m scared the physio will say it’s something really bad, that leads to 6months off from all impact exercise or something. And this leads to a fear – I’m kinda ashamed to admit it, cos I feel like I shouldn’t feel this way, but I do – I’m scared I’m going to put on loads of weight without exercise. There! I said it. I can’t help being worried about this; I’ve been at the same weight for sooo long, I can’t imagine being any different, and so I really am anxious about it. Plus, exercise is a huge stress reliever for me, and considering I’ve got the most stressful time in my life approaching, I’m worried how I’ll cope!

The other exercise options are tough; the nearest pool is a 15min drive away, plus costs £10 a pop (car parking fee and entrance), and is open at stupid hours. The nearest gym (that is open when I could go) is 30mins away. We only have one bike, and it’s this tiny, crappy tinny thing which is NOT a comfortable ride!! So…I’m not really sure what i could do….

Anyone have any advice? Have you ever had to take a long time off from exercise? How did you manage?

And of course – any Bluehost users who can help me…speak now!! 😛

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Forgetful

Oohhhh dear, it’s one of those days! My brain is NOT working today – proof? It’s not often that I only have *one* meal with photos to blog about:

1/2 c. oats, cooked with cocoa powder, agave, cinnamon, salt, then baked for 25mins – oh. my. joyous. days. With a fresh date on top!

Annnd a bit more close up – cos I know you love it :p

You’d think after 13months of blogging, I wouldn’t forget to take photos. You’d also think after 20years of having the same name, I wouldn’t forget that either, but alas – these things happen.

I put it down to the fact that I’m tearing my hair out right now;

1) I can’t for the life of me work out how to change my header on the new blog, which will be coming up asap, I promise!! It’s just….man alive, these things aren’t simple!

2) I can’t for the life of me write this darned essay I’ve been working on for the past 2months. I think I’m actually going to die trying. ACTUALLY die.

3) I have yet another injury!! Yep, I think on Sunday I did in some muscle or tendon or something on my inside right leg, near my ankle. I was actually limping round uni today!! Oh my poor old body is falling apart..but on the PLUS, I am seeing a PHYSIO on Weds! 3pm, Sports Physio Man and I are going to get to the bottom of my Angry Leg problem. Fingers crossed!

And with that, I have to love you and leave you. I know, this was a terrible short and crappy post – but I will make it up to each and every one of you, individually! I’ll come to your houses one by one, cook you some gross looking oats, make you a Green Monster, roast you a parsnip, and be on my merry way 🙂

Goodnight!

Ps – Happy Valentine’s Day! The worst day of all IMHO (probs cos I don’t have a boyfriend, and the one Valentine’s card I did receive [in front of the whole class] turned out to be a joke, sent by the nasty girls in high school. Bad memories 😥 Are you a Valentine’s day lover or hater?

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No Gaga, No.

I’m really not feeling the new Lady Gaga song. Like, really, reaaally not feeling it. In my own nasty little way, I’m highly relieved she isn’t number one today. But seriously – does anyone else find that she annoys the heck out of them, or is that just me!!?? Heh.

——- AAANNNYYWWAAY ———–

My Heidi-Montag-esque makeover shoooould be coming tomorrow, I’m hoping – but we shall see 🙂 In the meantime, I’ll do a normal, pre-surgery post 🙂 And let me tell youz – there’s a lorra food photos I want to show y’all! I know that can be boring sometimes, but och ay, there’s been some scrummy stuff 😛 Let’s start from the beginning shall we? Walk with me….

(Now I totally have images of Hugh Hefner, walking through his Perv Mansion smoking a bubble pipe and wearing a dressing gown. Oh my mind is bleary, late on a Sunday eve!)

Friday

Bah, mucho stresso came on Fritag. I originally thought I was going to have a lovely relaxing day, going into town, getting a cappuccino, looking in the charity bookshops…til I got a phonecall which changed my life forever. Well, it changed my Friday plans at least. To cut a long story short, I ended up standing around the PC World carpark for a half hour, holding a laptop to give to my dissertation partner. Not fun times.

Breakfast was ace though! I tried out some new oatmeal that my delightful friend Jess sent me!

Maple Apricot Walnut oatmeal, to be precise! Full of chunks of walnut and a maple-y flavour and bits of plump dried fruit – it was the BOMB!

9g protein per serving too 🙂

That milkyish blob in the middle? Why, it was maple cream of course! Fresh from a cardboard box which was fresh from the hills of Vermont – tedious link, I know 😀

One word – ohmygod.

A pear was also consumed –

– why you need to see a picture of a half eaten pear is beyond me.

Equally so for a picture of tofu:

My only explanation is that the glaze on it (tomato puree, balsamic, maple syrup, cinnamon, soy sauce, and apple cider vinegar) was out of this WORLD!

Green Monster:

Craving: satisfied.

Saturday now 🙂

Well, the Holly’s Oatmeal oats yesterday kept me full for hours and hours and hoooouuurrrsss. Normal oatmeal on Sat – I was a Starvin’ Marvin’ after about 1.5hrs!

What’s with that!?

Despite the addition of melted banana with Mighty Maple PB & Co. And a Snackimal, for good measure :p

Oh well, the stomach gods demanded food, the stomach gods received food – in the mighty fine and dandy form of KALE CRISPINS and BLACK BEAN BROWNIES!!!

It was my fourth time making these, and I seriously love them more and more each time 😀 I even cut the sugar down on this version – 1/4c., not a 1/3rd (or maybe that was the agave I cut down..I forget) and they still turned out SO moist (errh), gooey and rich and delicious!

I’ve already had three 🙂

Now, here’s something else I made:

Wtf right? It iiissss:

Kabocha Squash and Peanut Banana Soft Serve!

Quite the moutful, to say and to eat, but ohholywozer was it iiiiiinncredible.

• roasted kabocha squash – 1/2 c. maybe? I left the skins on :p
• 1 frozen banana
• approx. 1/4 – 1/3 c. frozen melon
• 1/2 serving (15g) peanut flour
• a dash of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 2-4tbsp water (maybe more – it depends on your blender and how thick you like it)

Put everything in the blender, starting with the liquid at the bottom and the hardest thing on top, and BLEND.

Simple but oh so good! I wish my pictures could do it justice – I took a whole bunch, but the nasty yellow lighting in the kitchen + yellow food made for bright orange pics 😥

See? Bah.

There’s also been OIAJ action this weekend:

And more chocolate :p

Sunday now yah? (wow, I cannae believe how long it’s been since I last did a proper post..sheesh.)

Oh, today was a Bad Day. After the success of last Sunday’s 6mile run, and a random one in the week, I was feeling pretty pumped for today! I ate a huge massive apple, wehatgerm and a few other bites before I left, then set out on my merry way. Merry it was NOT.

The Angry Legs were back with a vengeance! Shin pain at times, calf pain at times, alternating the area and amount constantly. One minute my left shin hurt, then that would be ok and my right calf would hurt. It was nasty! There were a lot of tears on that run, a lot of tears…

By the time I got back, I was ready for some stir fried pear, yogurt and date syrup:

(that was really yummy!) And some good ol’ oats:

Whilst the oats were setting, my mum and I went on a 1mile cool down/stretch out walk, and do you know what she did? She offered to pay for a sports physio for me! I almost cried when she offered!!! So yes, this means that I have officially declared war on my blasted legs. Next week will be my 6th week of pain, and really – the joke is wearing thin. Tomorrow morning, I gather my ammo! (ie, make an appointment).

After breakfast, my mum and I decided to take the dawg for a walk in the forest. We thought we’d do about an hour/3miles.…but we got lost. Alone, we can navigate fine. Together? Not so much! We are masters of getting lost 😛 I’m surprised we don’t need a map to navigate our own kitchen sometimes.

So anyway – 5miles/1hr45mins later, we made it back to the car 🙂 We were both hangry for lunch when we got home!

I whipped up a pear-melon-vanilla-banana soft serve:

As well as other bits and bobs, but apparently that is the point where I forgot to photo anything else – abrupt finish, I know!! Other eats did include black bean brownies though, you can be sure of that 😛

Anyway – I have blog work, uni work and sleep work to do now 😀 so I be off. Fare yee well my loves 🙂

Question: Are you good at getting lost?

Best thing you ate this weekend? Mine was the kabocha peanut banana s-s, without a doubt :p orrrr the black bean brownies…..

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Doing a Heidi Montag

Oh yeah.

Brit Chick Runs is getting a FACE LIFT!

And a BUTT LIFT!

And a BOOB LIFT!

Maybe some lipo…

Maybe some lip fillers…

And possibly a nose job, but I’m not so  sure about that.

Sooo bear with me, and stay tuned for the grand unveiling soon!!! Hopefully you’ll be more impressed than I was with this:

(Source)

Hmm. Say no more.

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Hear me Rawr

Brit readers near the south east – this post is for you 🙂 keep reading to the end!

I had a GOOD day today! Lots to talk about (well, it feels like it) so let’s jump straight to it shall we?

The day started off with rain. Lots of rain. Maybe not so good? But I did fit in a lovely Jillian-esque workout and a walk/run, so I’d say that was leaning to the positive, wouldn’t you? There’s nothing like getting your heart rate up early on, it makes the day 😀

Next good thing – breakfast of course!! It was my third day of baked oats, and it was without a doubt, the best one yet. I did the usual mix (1/2 c. oats, 1.5 c. water, salt, cinnamon, vanilla) and cooked it on the hob, then transferred it to a baking dish, where it was baked for 35mins or something –

– maybe a little crispy round the edges today 😛 I let it sit out for a 1/2 hr whilst I put some slap on for the day, did the horses’ hay in the field, and made a super delicious sauce; a peeled extra ripe pear simmered with blackberries and cinnamon/nutmeg til soft 😀 The result:

Oh. Mydaysmydaysmydays. The TEXTURE you guys! Seriously out of this world! I can’t describe it – so creamy, yet sticky, yet smooth, yet clumpy, yet tasted-like-pancakes, yet sheer amaze………it was eaten with a big smile on my face.

But boy did that smile get bigger – a bloke arrived whilst I was eating the bowl-of-yum. Sadly, he wasn’t holding red roses or bearing an ‘I am your one true love’ sticker, but he WAS holding a big box.

A box?

A box.

Not any old box, but a box from the grand old U S of A! And what was in this box? Why, presents from my wonderful blog friend Jess of course!

Way back when we were but wee nippers, we decided to do a foodie swap – and it sure was worth it! This lady sent me some AMAZING stuff, fresh from the snow covered hills of Vermont 🙂 She had made me promises of peanut flour however – but when I read her note, my heart sunk a little. They’d sold out.

That is, until I dug a little deeper into the box –

HAHA! I did an actual real life LOL out loud 😀 I’m not sure if my mum quuuuite got it, but it seriously made my day 😀

I just know that peanut flour is gonna stay wrapped up in its’ safety bubble for the forseeable future; now that Trader Joe’s has discontinued it, there is no WAY I’m going to risk it getting damaged/stolen/burnt/frozen/anything-negative-whatsoever. In fact, i’ll probably never even break into the packets, purely because I don’t want them ever to end :p that stuff will now officially be known as Peanut Gold Dust.

In my excited daze, I immediately broke into the cookies:

SO delicious! And besides, cookies for breakfast? MMmmm you can’t go wrong! Especially when they’re sliiiightly healthy cookies…

…I see no aspartame, or other poisons, so I’m assuming they’re safe 🙂 Plus, how can a cute little lion be bad for you? Nay possible.

The chunk of the day paled in comparison somewhat – the highlight was my lecturer taking a full 30 secs to realise that the video she was playing on the cinema-sized screen in the lecture room was not showing picture (despite watching it herself). And she teaches me? Eh. No logic.

HOWEVER!

Two more exciting things happened!

1) Waitrose, my beloved, have started stocking the other beloved – KABOCHA!! It’s been…ooh…2months? since my last one, so you can imagine the joy. A happy dance may or may not have occurred in the aisle.

I stocked up. (What you don’t see is the other two, hiding out in Meredith :p)

2) RAWR!

If you’ve been reading my blog since August, you’ll know that I quite like raw food. So of course, when a lovely local company, Rawr, sent me some samples of their raw chocolate, I happily obliged 🙂

I broke into the Intensely Dark flavour last night…

LOVE the ingredients list!

It’s really great to see ingredients like mesquite and coconut butter appearing in English products; I so, so rarely ever see them over here. Refreshing!

Well well well! It was SO silky, SO intense, and SO lovely! And I’m not just saying that (I’ve had other brands of raw chocolate before and was distinctly unimpressed – too dusty textured), it truly was the smoothest chocolate ever. Melty deliciousness 🙂 Now, I am a serious dark chocolate lover, and this flavour is most definitely for fellow dark chocolaters too – it has a strong, almost fruity taste to it, with tiny tiny bits of crunchiness from the cacao nibs. But yeah, I was a fan 🙂 I can’t wait to break into the other flavours (and you’re totally going to know when I do – I never miss an account of a new chocolate breed :p)!

Thank you Kind Folk @ Rawr 🙂

I think raw food is becoming more of a big thing now – so many more companies in Britain seem to be popping up that are raw, and I’ve even seen some raw restaurants in London, albeit not many. I think it’s great though!! It always amazes me what raw foodies can make – ice creams, lasagnes, crackers, soups, cakes…the list is endless. The first time I tried raw food was at the Healthy Living Summit in Chicago last August, and I was seriously blown away by the variety. I remember when I came back home, I was desperate to try to make some of my own raw meals, but I just had no idea where to begin 😦

Whhhiiiich is why I have an idea of sorts! British readers, PRICK YO” EARS UP NOW!

Are you free on a weekend in April? Do you have the ability to travel to London? (Bus, train, super powers – you’ll find a way)

WELL.

I’m going to attend a raw food class, at none other than The Raw Food School!

The amazing people over at Gourmet Raw told me about this, and I thought it sounded BRILLIANT!

Sooo, I wondered – would any readers/bloggers want to join me? It would be on a Saturday in April in London, and I’d be there (OBVIOUSLY the best bit :p). Oh, and you’d get to learn about raw food :p

‘This class is designed for those that are curious about or new to Raw Food. They’ll guide you through everything you need to know about raw food, the why’s, the benefits and even overcoming the challenges. They then talk in depth about ingredients, preparation techniques, equipment as well as how to set your kitchen up. Then, through live demonstrations walk you through, step by step, how to create the most delicious raw food dishes on the planet. Their objective? To send you away from the class knowing how to take control of your health through raw food. Get ready to be inspired! http://www.therawfoodschool.com ‘

What do youz reckon!? If you’re interested, shoot me an email or leave a comment!!! 🙂

And with that – I fare yee well.

Goodnight!

PS – follow me on Twitter yeah? BritChickRuns. You know you want to 😛

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