Running - AnnaTheApple

January 2, 2013January 2, 2013

What I Ate New Years Day

Happy New Year everyone! Wow it sucks to be back at work. The alarm went off at 6am this morning, which definitely makes a change from my usual 8ish wake ups this past holiday. There’s something so indulgently lovely about opening your eyes naturally and deciding whether to roll back asleep or gently get up. The alarm screaming at me to wake up, however, was not.

Despite this, I am glad to be back into normal routine. There’s only so much lounging around the house that I can really do. I do get a bit of cabin fever. And I am back at the usual office so this means my commute is under an hour – possibly even 35mins! Not like the hour and a half (sometimes two hours) that it was when I was working on the customer site before Christmas. It’s heavenly.

Anyway, it’s WIAW – first for 2013! Check out Jenn’s blog for more details. Let’s get started.

This is what I ate yesterday, New Year’s Day, with a recap of my New Year’s Eve.

Ben and I went to our friend’s house for dinner and a games night on New Year’s Eve. It was so much fun. It was two married couples and another guy and us.

They made chilli con carne for dinner with a roasted potato and salad, which was divine (I believe they used a Jamie Oliver recipe, so perfect in my eyes!) And pudding….well pudding was a mini Eton mess with fruit on top, a lemon cheesecake and bannoffee pie. I might have had all three (half a bannoffee pie serving I hasten to add!) Well, when you’re offered… Unfortunately I didn’t take any photos as it seemed a bit rude. But I can assure you it was yummy. And I was stuffed. There might also have been a couple of cheeky G&Ts and some bucks fizz.

Then we played a quiz game which was brilliant and then Mafia. Do you know Mafia? I didn’t before playing. Two people in the group are named mafia (they find this out by what card they pick from a bunch) and thennon-Mafia people are blindfolded and then the Mafia ‘murder’ one person. Then the group has to work out who the Mafia are, and it continues in that vein…it sounds very complicated but it was actually very simple. And we had been drinking!

Then we celebrated midnight with champagne, watched some fireworks and Ben and me then had to make our journey home. We decided not to get a taxi as it would be ludicrously expensive so we walked home. All 45 minutes of it…but this was great as it sobered us up nicely. And people are so friendly saying Happy New Years even at 1.30am!

As we woke up quite late the next morning (*cough* 10.30am), I decided to skip breakfast and put our lunch in the oven ready for lunchtime…turkey again!

Oh it was so good. Turkey with onion and cranberry stuffing, roasted parsnips and carrots, broccoli and cauliflower and a dollop of cranberry sauce. Heaven. And by 1.30pm I was definitely ready for it!

Then I had some melon for pudding.

Ben and I then slobbed out on the sofa watching Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets (slowly working our way through them all again) and then I watched several Nigella cooking programmes. I adore that woman. She is just mesmerising. She can make boiling an egg interesting.

Then dinner seemed to swing by in no time (after a fair number of cups of tea). I decided to go for a lighter meal after the monster feast at lunch. So I made my new favourite meal – chicken soup! OK sorry I know this might be boring. [And apologies for the re-used photo!]

It was nice and warming. Then I had my obligatory two apples afterwards for pudding and then a bit later a packet of Snack a Jacks and a hot chocolate. Simple, but it hit the spot!

Also, I must mention this meal that I had the other day which was amazing.

Chicken rolled in chickpea flour and herbs and spices (paprika, onion powder, cumin, basil, & thyme) then fried, roasted butternut squash, steamed broccoli and then the pièce de résistance…cauliflower mashed with goat’s cheese. Ah let me tell you, this was fabulous! I normally have cauliflower mash with mozzarella but the goat’s cheese was just 100 times better.

And, thankfully, my running is getting back to normal! Hurrah! I’ve been having some issues with running since being ill in that it’s felt so hard. Like harder than normal. I couldn’t sprint or do any tempo runs. It was all about just making it to the end alive. But this morning I went for a 3 mile run and I added in some tempo bits and raced along happily! It felt like a normal run. I’m so pleased! Especially since I’m now on week two of my 12 week training for the half marathon in March. Whew.

Not my fastest 3 miles, but definitely back into a good feeling when running! I missed it so much (yes, yes I know I sound like a loony but it really makes you grateful to be healthy when you’ve been ill for a period of time).

Oh and on a side note. Seeing this as I walked into work this morning was fairly devastating:

A Christmas tree in a skip!! How soul destroying. Our decorations are still up and won’t be brought down until Saturday…I just find it so sad that it’s all over!

What’s the best thing you’ve eaten today?

When do you take your decorations down?

Have a great Wednesday!

December 30, 2012

The in-between bit

Though it’s sad that Christmas is over, this bit between Christmas and New Year is a nice chance to relax. Last year Ben and I didn’t have it off and were both working so it’s nice to spend this time off work together. Ben’s dad went back home the day after Boxing Day so we’ve spent the time just the two of us, which has been lovely.

Though I do enjoy doing nothing, I find myself getting a bit antsy at times and wondering what to do with myself. This is usually the time I decide to organise and tidy things or drag Ben on long walks with Alfie. Though we have been watching some films together and are now half way through Homeland, which is so good!

As we had so much food left from Christmas and the Boxing Day buffet every meal has basically been using leftovers, which is brilliant!

Lots of picky food! This was a few slices of ham, a couple of prawns, smoked mackerel, parsnips and carrots, stuffing, Brussels sprouts and salad. Whew! I love plates like this as I am a huge fan of variety.

And this was just salad and roasted butternut squash with a huge dollop of homemade hummus and some ham. Ben’s being enjoying eating lots of sausage rolls and cocktail sausages hehe.

Unfortunately we’re pretty much finished with the leftovers now sadly. Though we still have mountains of chocolate biscuits and Christmas cake leftover. It’s all so tempting!

And I’m back into my running. After running Christmas day, I ran the day after Boxing Day and I started OK and thought I’d push myself and do 5 miles. I felt fine until I got past 3 miles and then got a seriously painful stitch which meant I had to stop running and catch my breath for a bit. Now I never stop running so this really annoyed me. I wasn’t nearly as quick as usual either. I felt so frustrated as the stitch kept coming back and I had to walk and jog home. I did manage my 5 miles but it was painful and no fun at all.

I can’t really work out what’s going on. Before I got ill I was loving running and running faster than ever. Now since getting ill it’s like I’ve gone backwards. I still have a bad cough and at the end of a run I can’t stop coughing so I’m hoping that it’s just because I’m not 100% recovered yet. I ran 3 miles yesterday and it was still tough but not nearly as bad. Well we’ll see! Sorry to moan!

So it’s almost New Year’s eve! Normally Ben and I don’t do anything vastly interesting. But this year we’re going over to see some friends. There’s likely to be a lot of drinking and playing games which should be fun. Since my drinking adventures in Bruges I won’t be drinking a huge amount though! I just don’t want to feel so rough the next morning as it’s the day before going back to work. But I’ll have a few G&T’s I think, I mean it would be rude not to

For Ben and me, 2012 has been a brilliant year. I started a new job in January as a business analyst and have been really enjoying the different projects I’ve been on – and got a cheeky pay rise. Ben has been doing amazingly at his job and together work-wise and progression-wise we’re very happy. We’ve enjoyed living in our little home for over a year now as well. And of course, we got married!

It was a perfect day in every respect and if I could relive it over I definitely would a hundred times. It seems like a lifetime ago now!

And then we went on a brilliant honeymoon to Orlando and Colorado. Our first ever holiday just the two of us.

My sister announced she was pregnant as well so around April-May time Ellie should have a big sister too!

Very exciting! I can’t even imagine having one child at the moment let alone two! She’s an amazing mum.

Throughout this year I’ve found a great love of running and improved hugely from when I first moved from the treadmill to outside (when I started my new job). I also started up my blog! I love writing it and I’m over the moon that people actually read it! So thank you, lovely readers

So in terms of 2013, I only hope that things continue to go as well. I couldn’t be more happy at the moment with my life. I know I am extremely lucky to be so happy and to have everything I have and I am so grateful and thankful for all the good things in my life and the amazing family and friends that I have to support me.

So, goals for next year?

– Run a half marathon (planned for March!)

– Cook at least one new recipe every week.

– Go skiing.

– Run off road more (I would say every week but I think this might not be possible due to the weather and the mud baths that appear on the off road routes!)

– Eat less apples…

Other than that I can’t think of any more! I think they’re all do-able and not too scary.

Anyway, have a brilliant New Year’s eve and hope that your 2013 starts amazingly! See you on the other side

How are you spending New Year’s Eve?

Do you set yourself goals? What are your resolutions?

Happy New Year!

December 27, 2012

Christmas and Boxing Day

Well, doesn’t Christmas just zoom by? It’s sad how quickly it’s flies by. But I had such a lovely time! I feel so much better than I did thankfully. I still have a cough but my body no longer hates me!

Christmas morning I woke up early, got my running stuff on and went for a run. Hurrah! It had been far too long. And it definitely felt that way – it was really tough, like I hadn’t been running for months! How depressing. Also Christmas day was absolutely tipping it down so I only ran 2 miles – and definitely not a fast 2 miles! I started to get worried I was going to make myself ill again because I was soaked through. Luckily though I was fine.

Then I had a steaming hot shower and got dressed ready to face the day! Because I am quite boring and predictable, I just had my usual porridge for breakfast (sorry re-used photo).

The only sad thing is that I haven’t been eating my usual amount as I my stomach isn’t quite back to normal yet in terms of quantity food in the morning. So I had a smaller bowl, which I guess is a good thing considering there would be a lot of food later!

Then Ben’s mum came over to spend the day and my parents dropped by to give us some gifts. I got some brilliant presents. From my parents:

I am so pleased about the waffle maker!! I can’t wait to make some yummy fluffy waffles. And the Game of Thrones book is amazing. So many beautiful photos and behind the scenes information from the series. I am 75% of the way through the fifth book. It is EPIC. I need to read something lighter afterwards I think, it’s quite intense.

Then when my parents left I got into the kitchen and got things going. I put the two turkey joints that we were having in the oven, peeled carrots, washed parsnips, prepared the stuffing…and then when everything was in the oven I prepared our starter. I didn’t take a photo but we had little bite-sized cream cheeses wrapped in smoked salmon.

Because I had a fair amount to do I bought them ready made – don’t kill me!

Then the main event. My favourite meal of the year. I was so worried when I was ill that wouldn’t fancy it or have an appetite for it, but there was no issue hehe.

Absolute heaven! I roasted the parsnips and carrots in a little oil, salt and pepper and a tiny bit of treacle to make them sticky. Devine!

Because we were all stuffed and Alfie was antsy, it seemed liked a perfect time for a post-Christmas meal walk! OK, maybe I was the only one excited about this. I just love being nosey and seeing through people’s windows and what they’re up to [OK, to clarify, I don’t actually go up to the windows and peer through like a stalker!!].

Ben wasn’t too keen on leaving his new Xbox games for a walk, but what can I say? We’re married and he ~~is scared of~~ loves his wife.

Then we came back and had some pudding. I had my standard apples as I’m not a fan of Christmas pudding. Listen to this, Ben had brandy butter, brandy cream and Courvoisier cream with his. He said he felt quite sick afterwards haha.

However, later I did treat myself to my most favourite cake in the world.

Christmas cake!! And a corner piece of course (most icing and marzipan! Ben and I fight over these pieces).

It’s soo rich and delicious. That was supper!

Throughout the day we opened presents of course. I got some amazing gifts. Lots of running gear from Ben’s mum which I’m so pleased about as I never buy running stuff and it’s nice to have some brand new clothes!

I got a beautiful necklace stand, a couple of scarves and necklaces, some Next vouchers (amazing), DVDs and Jamie Oliver’s new cook book…and more!

I really am very lucky and very grateful. One of the best presents? ONESIES!!!

And then we played some cards and just chilled. It was perfect! Time well spent with the family.

Oh and Alfie for a few presents too

Boxing day was a bit more mad. I had invited everyone over to ours for a Boxing Day buffet. I had set myself the task of making lots of bits and pieces for people to eat. So I spent the morning cooking and preparing for everyone (Ben’s mum, my parents, my granddad, my sister, brother-in-law, niece and obviously Ben & Ben’s dad who were already over).

I made hummus, tomato salsa, smoked mackerel pate, chopped some veg for crudités, sticky chicken bites, broad bean and courgette salad, normal salad, garlic bread, prawns with lemon mayo dip, and then some bits we bought like ham and sausage rolls. Ben was Mr Drinks when everyone arrived – which he does so well, bless him. So attentive! I just ran around like a headless chicken getting food together.

Nick, my brother-in-law, kindly made his very tasty pulled pork as well!

Then everyone got stuck in.

I was starving by the time we began eating. I guess cooking for like 5 hours does that to you!!

And obviously there was pudding. My parents brought over several things, bless them.

We obviously had the Christmas cake to share and I had made stollen on Christmas eve (the right photo).

And then we watched Ellie, my niece, open all her presents from my parents, Ben and I.

And obviously brought out the big kid in us all…

It was madness with so many people in our tiny house but it was such a lovely day. And I think everyone liked the food, which was such a relief as I was so worried.

And then after everyone had left, we washed up and hoovered, and then flopped on the couch.

Shattered! But a brilliant couple of days. And now we’re living off leftovers – which I personally think is the best thing ever.

How was your Christmas?

What did you eat?

Did you have a fun family-filled time?

December 12, 2012December 12, 2012

What I Ate Yesterday

OK, so we’re pretty much in the second week of December and I am already feeling myself winding down. Probably because I’ve got Thursday to Monday off as holiday…but then I still have to come back to work and continue until Christmas. But the Christmas atmosphere is so infectious. Everyone seems to be winding down. What’s it like where you work? Where I worked previously there was a huge amount of stress and panic to meet year end. It was non-stop. Even emails over Christmas and panicked phone calls. I hated it. I guess it’s just different businesses. Before I worked in supply chain which depends a lot on fulfilment of the last orders and getting the books nice and topped off before the next year.

But I digress…Though I’m winding down at work I’m winding up (does that work?) for Christmas. The plan has evolved from it’s original state. It was just going to be Ben and me with Ben’s mum coming over to spend the day and have lunch. Now Ben’s dad is over too (Ben’s parents are separated). I’m over the moon that we can have Ben’s dad over. I’m just now getting nervous about making lunch. Three people to feed doesn’t sound so bad…now four sounds scary. And Ben’s dad hates salad and vegetables. This changes things. I need to have a think about our Christmas menu…

Now on with the important stuff: WIAW(thank you Jenn).

Here’s what I ate yesterday and some added meals at the end that I enjoyed at the weekend.

Breakfast: are you surprised? I can’t be separated. Pancakes come and go but oats are for life. Fact.

This lasts me until pretty much dead on midday, when it becomes socially acceptable to begin lunch. I’m one of those people who can’t eat before 12, no matter how much I’m gnawing at my own hand. I don’t tend to have a snack between breakfast and lunch. I have a black coffee when I get to work and then maybe a peppermint tea before lunch.

Lunch: Two days in the working week I have home-made chilli that I make on Sunday. It’s nothing terribly exciting. Mixed beans, onion, chopped tomatoes, bell pepper, zucchini and mushrooms.

Sometimes I add some Philadelphia into it to make it creamy but I didn’t both this week as I ran out. Bad times. I had two normal Baby Bells and an apple after this. I like the goat’s cheese Baby Bells usually but again I’d run out. *Sob* Therefore a sub par lunch. But it was filling nonetheless.

Then I tend to have a snack maybe an hour later. This week I had my graze box:

I nibbled consumed all the olives. They were lovely and garlicky. Probably not ideal for work but food over friends, people. Haha I am so totally joking…Sort of. And then a bit later I had a banana and an apple.

This tides me nicely over until dinner. I arrive home at about 6.30-7pm depending on traffic (bare in mind I leave at 5pm!!! I hate my commute!! And breathe…).

Dinner: last night I whipped up a new meal heavily incorporating my favourite ingredient of the month (coconut). Tropical Nutty Baked Chicken; I used THIS recipe from Julie. But I didn’t have any lime so used lemon juice instead. I didn’t marinate for as long as I should have as I was hungry (hungry Anna = whole new personality and no friend to anyone).

I loved this recipe! The flavours were incredible and it was such a simple meal. If I was more organised I could have done a lot of prep beforehand (like pre-marinating the chicken and have it sat in the fridge waiting). I had this with steamed green beans and a lot of cauliflower mashed with mozzarella. Beasty portion.

At the weekend I’ve still been loving my lunch of sweet potato, butternut squash and coconut soup (with chickpeas).

I can’t get enough.

And I tried a new recipe Sunday night. I based it on THIS recipe.

Chicken, Soy Sauce and Plum Bake (serves 2)

2 chicken breasts, seasoned
4 plums, stoned and quartered
Garlic, diced
1 tsp. lazy ginger
2 tbs. soy sauce
1 tsp. fresh coriander, chopped

– Preheat oven 180C. Bake chicken in a little oil in a roasting tray for 10 mins.

– Take out tray and add garlic and ginger, then roast for another 10 mins.

– Take out tray again and add plums and soy sauce, roast for a final 10 mins.

– Serve with a sprinkling of coriander.

I served this will beans (again) and cauliflower mozzarella mash with added spinach. Heavenly.

And a quick update with the living room wall (after Ben’s accident with the wall and red wine). Ben spent mot of the weekend painting, bless him.

He first washed the wall (again) and then used two freebie magnolia samples to paint over the wine marks. Alfie was a big help.

Not.

And then painted the wall using a completely different colour for our brand new feature wall! Basically painting over the wall totally with magnolia wasn’t going to work as the red wine was so dark.

And finished! It really warms the room.

I went for a quick run yesterday morning…

In the absolute darkness that is 6am:

Terrible pic sorry, I just wanted to illustrate what my corner of the world looks like at the end of my run. And it was stupidly icy. Scary times.

I did plan to go today at lunch but I’ve been invited to the pub for lunch…ahh damn, what a shame… I’ll just have to run another time instead!

What are you eating today?

Pub or run, is there a contest??

What’s your favourite way to eat coconut?

Also, check out Laura’s blog for her exciting giveaway and her new amazing new website Uniquely Healthy she’s just set up. It looks great and I’m very pleased for her! She’s worked very hard and I wish her all the best.

December 9, 2012December 9, 2012

Christmas cake (finally!), new trainers and Total Greek Yogurt review

Howdy all! Hope you’ve been having a nice weekend. On a random side-note, I have literally just painted my nails and am typing like a right idiot trying not to smudge them. I hate painting my nails as they never last that long with me as I always chip them. And the waiting around while they dry drives me mad. I’m not a person who can sit still and do nothing…so here I am typing like an idiot.

This weekend has been jam-packed and I feel shattered! But I only have a three day week next week (can I get a woohoo!) as I’m off from Thursday. It’s our work Christmas do Friday and Saturday and we’re off to Bruges! And partners are allowed to come as well! So excited. But from what I’ve heard about the Christmas parties (as I wasn’t here last year), they are quite wild. So watch this space…

Today I finally made the Christmas cake. Yes, yes most people have made theirs by now…but this weekend was the only time we could really do it. It’s quite a lengthy process. We used Ben’s mum very old (from 1949!) cook book for the recipe.

It’s become a lovely tradition to make this cake. Before we had moved out, we watched Ben’s mum make it and then one year we helped her make it. And last year we made it on our own for the first time. And everyone will be able to enjoy it at Christmas. Basically we’re carrying on the tradition!

So this morning I got cracking. For once nothing went wrong (though saying that, it is currently still in the oven so…touch wood).

[Check me out being all Christmassy with PicMonkey]

Christmas Cake

350g (3/4lb.) butter
350g (3/4lb.) brown sugar
6 eggs
500g (1lb.) flour
500g (1lb.) sultanas
500g (1lb.) currants
100g (1/4lb.) raisins
150g (6 oz.) candied peel
50g (2 oz.) cherries, chopped
100g (1/4lb.) chopped almonds
1/2 tsp. mixed spice
2 tbs. dark treacle
1 small glass of brandy

– Preheat oven to 140C.

– Using a very large bowl, beat sugar and butter together until well combined.

– Beat in eggs one at a time until combined.

– Stir in the sifted flour, fruit, almonds, spice treacle and brandy. Mix well.

– Transfer to a tin well lined with baking paper. Bake for 6 hours and 20 mins.

Mixing all the ingredients together is like an arm workout. Seriously it’s so thick by the end. And our bowl was almost too small to contain it all!

The cake is still in the oven and the smell is deeeelicious. But when it comes out we’ll need to cut the top bit off it as this will be very crispy and might even be burnt. Then we’ll get a lovely square cake which we’ll let cool and then wrap up for at least a week until we then marzipan and ice it.

As there’s always too much mixture for the tin, we tend to do a mini loaf. Though this year I wanted to make something a bit different…

Mini Christmas cakes! Christmas cake muffins if you like. They themselves took an hour to cook! That’s how beasty and dense the cake batter is.

And this weekend I also went for a solo off-road run in my brand, new, amazing off-road trainers. I can’t stress just how much I adore these shoes.

Check out those amazing treads!! Technically they’re a Christmas present from my sister…but I was allowed them early. So I ran a nice and easy (read: I didn’t go fast) 6 mile this morning to test them out.

And my trainers rocked.

[Before and after]

Not looking quite as shiny as before now but who really buys trainers to keep clean??

And a while ago now I was sent some Greek yogurts to try out: Total Greek Yogurt split pots (honey, blueberry, strawberry, and raspberry with pomegranate).

I’m not a massive fan of snacking on Greek yogurt, or yogurt in general I must say. I prefer to add them into things to thicken up sauces etc. I’m not too keen on the taste of Greek yogurt on it’s own. That being said…the idea of adding something sweet and fruity to the yogurt appealed to me.

The yogurt was very thick and creamy and adding in the fruit/honey compote made them much more exciting I found. The sugar content is quite high for each yogurt (around 11g per 100g and they’re 170g pots) but they were very tasty. And very filling (8g protein)!

A lovely afternoon treat I’d say

Right I’m off to make dinner – baked chicken with plums! Nom nom nom.

What have you been up to this weekend?

Are you making/have you made a Christmas cake this year?

Do you like to run on roads or off-roads?