Ah Monday. So we meet again.
Seems like just a few seconds ago it was Friday and I was leaving work. Ah well. And it seemed to rain from Friday until Saturday night.
This is the dismal view from the window by my desk at work. It looks like February. It felt like February.
Friday night I decided to whip up a different meal from usual. You might have seen that I eat a lot of chicken and not much other meat. I don’t mind pork and I don’t mind beef mince but I can’t stand lamb. Not sure why but there we go. Anyway, I saw a recipe and knew I needed to try it. Main ingredient? Steak.
Basically it’s steak with a honey marinade and goat’s cheese salad. I used THIS recipe but subbed the gorgonzola for goat’s cheese just because I love goat’s cheese. I also left out the walnuts and portabella mushroom as I thought I’d keep it simple.
The marinade was this:
- pinch of sea salt
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. onion powder
- 2 tbs. honey
- 1 tbs. soy sauce
- good splash of Worcestershire sauce
I used thin steaks (as the recipe says) which I was glad for as I’m not that adventurous to try a big old thick steak. They took next to no time to fry. So a very simple meal all in all. And very tasty. The goat’s cheese and steak went perfectly together.
Then we watched a whole lotta House of Cards (the new series we’ve gotten into as we signed up to Netflix). I love Kevin Spacey, there is something strangely attractive about him and his smooth talking. Am I alone in this?
Saturday morning I managed to dodge the rain and get out for a 9 mile run before it started again with a vengeance about 30 mins after I got back. I knew that the run would be tough because of Thursday’s super charged run. Honestly, even if I wanted to run faster I couldn’t have. My legs were so fatigued.
As soon as I started I knew it was going to be tough, so I kept the pace easy and just enjoyed being outside listening to my podcast. Sometimes it’s good to just let your mind wander and just relax into a nice pace.
And guess what I had for breakfast afterwards? You’ll be forgiven for guessing oatmeal, but I had something different. Yes. I know, shocking.
I was going to have some basic pancakes but realised I didn’t actually have any regular flour. Ages ago I bought some peanut flour but have never used it so I thought I might as well give it a whirl.
Peanut Flour Pancakes (Serves 1)
- 1/4 cup peanut flour
- 1 tbs. oats
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tbs. sugar/alternate preferred sweetener
- 2 egg whites/1 egg
- 1/4 cup almond milk (or regular milk)
- pinch of salt
– Basically, mix all the ingredients together, then heat a tsp. oil in a frying pan and pour in the mixture in batches to make about 4-5 pancakes.
– Then add your favourite topping! I served mine with some mango that needed using up.
A random choice perhaps and not particularly beautiful but it tasted pretty good. To be honest, I couldn’t really taste the peanut flour. It tasted just like normal pancakes, but I guess the mango could have helped disguise any differences hehe.
Hurrah a different breakfast for once! Though I did miss my oatmeal…well, you can’t have everything 
After getting ready we then had to take Alfie to the vets for his booster injection.
Bless him, he was all fine in the waiting room sniffing around but as soon as we got into the vet’s room he was not a happy bunny. And he really didn’t want his injection and tried as hard as he could to avoid it 
But in the end it was fine. Honestly he’s a big girl’s blouse. Also, check out the crazy dog hair products you can buy.
They were £9.99 for a spray to make your dog’s fur smell nice. I don’t even spend £10 on my own shampoo!! I think Alfie would be offended if we suddenly turned him into a pampered pooch. In his mind I’m sure he believes he’s a big scary Rottweiler (incidentally, one of my friends has a 2-1 shampoo and conditioner for her pug…).
Saturday evening we met up with Ben’s mum and went out for dinner at a local pub. Usually this pub is quite nice; we’ve been a fair few times. But it wasn’t amazing. Ben and me shared a mezze board for starters which was tasty but nothing spectacular (and we know our mezze boards!)
The falafels were nice, as was the hummus and obviously the sweet potato was good if not a bit huge for a starter. But three olives? Hmmm. And the square pastry things were tasteless.
The main I was really excited about, but the portion was quite small considering it was one of the more expensive things on the menu and this isn’t a fine dinning restaurant, it’s just a regular pub!
It was turbot steak with mango salsa and more sweet potato. The two bits of sweet potato at the top were actually from Ben as he had them with his meal and didn’t want them. They must have had a stupid amount of sweet potato in the that kitchen!!
It was tasty but just a bit small (I was grateful for Ben’s off casts – though I was feeling a bit sweet potato’ed out by this point). But the company was lovely and we had a good natter 
Sunday (today) we enjoyed another roast chicken, this time a bit bigger and I left it to roast without adding anything to it as I wanted some plain meat for other meals in the week.
I love how the house smells when you’re cooking a roast! So warming.
I had a whole lot of chicken with veg and, er, yeah more sweet potato…I obviously wasn’t put off too much last night! Deliciously simple. I could have made gravy to go with it but we just fancied something really fresh and simple. And Ben wanted to drown his with lots of garlic mayo sauce. Lovely.
Speaking of Ben…he was keen for me to mention that he’s still going well with not drinking alcohol (he gave up four weeks ago in effort to get more healthy, run more and be ready for the 10k which is in 4 weeks time). Unfortunately his running has had to stop for a bit as he’s had some knee and back issues but hopefully, after seeing the physio a few times, he’ll be raring to go again. Though he is counting down the days until he can have a glass of wine again haha.
*** I’m still waiting to hear back from SlimKicker regarding the giveaway, I’ll post the winner as soon as I know***
What did you get up to this weekend?
What’s your favourite way to roast a chicken?
Do you have a dog? What’s his feelings on the vets?
Ohh yum! I love both recipes, especially the pancake one! I really don’t think you can ever have too many pancake recipes.. am I right, or am I right? Ha Ha!
Bummer at the pub. I hate when you pay a certain amount of $$$ and the portion size is so tiny!
Have a fabulous week hunnie and enjoy all that chicken! <3
Oh definitely, you can never have too many pancake recipes!!
Kevin Spacey YES! Not sure what it is about him, but ever since I saw him in American Beauty… I just finished the first series last night, love it!
I always feel if you order anything at all healthy at a restaurant then the portions are small, wheras if you ordered a burger and chip you’d get a huge portion!
Ahhh we’re so close to finishing it. He’s just so slick and smooth.
That is so true! I guess the more healthy meals have better and more expensive ingredients I guess wheres chips are cheap…as chips! 😉
Ah, that roasted chicken looks so good! I basically live on chicken made in the crock pot day in and day out. Lol.
Those pancakes sound marvelous Anna! I’m sure you’ll have lots of pingbacks with people trying them. Bloggers seemed to be obsessed with peanut flour, and with good reason I’m sure— It sounds delicious!
I need to try doing chicken in the crock pot. I can imagine it tastying so much more juicy and tasty!
I’m a big fan of peanut flour now, I can’t wait to find more recipes to use it with!
I’ve started to like roasting my chicken with just butter, it makes a lovely gravy with the juices at the end. The pancakes look fab, can’t beat pancakes for breakie on a weekend. Well done to Ben too on the alcohol front!
Mmm I bet butter works magic with it, I need to try that!
I love a good roast chicken, so yummy! Lovely post full of great eats! Those pancakes look fab!
Thanks, Jemma!
Those pancakes are so pretty! And good idea adding the mango. Yum.
Thanks, they tasted great 🙂
oh gosh my older dog hates the vet. she loves going for car rides, but as soon as we get to the vet OR hair salon its like she can smell it. She pulls so hard to get away from me! I literally have to pick her up to get her through the door, poor thing!
Awww bless her!! What are they like? But then I hate the doctors so…
I have to disagree, I find Kevin Spacey so creepy in that show! Each to their own I suppose!
Fair enough. Actually one of the scenes did make me majorly cringe when he was seducing someone. It was a bit like “urrrghhh”.
Hehe at first I thought they were Steak and chicken pancakes 😉 Everything looks great per usual! Have a great night Anna!
They would be some crazy pancakes! I wonder… hehe.
I’m droooooling over the steak and goat cheese salad you made! Honey marinade! Swoon! A small percentage of my enthusiasm *might* be attributed to the fact that I haven’t eaten dinner yet (I’m starving!) but I’m pretty sure that 95% is because it sounds and looks absolutely delicious. 😀 The same can be said for the roast chicken, but you already know how I feel about that! 😉
YAY for mixing up breakfast Saturday morning! I’ve never tried making pancakes with peanut flour, but I’m inspired. I wonder if PB2 would work just as well…It might be worth a shot, especially since I think it has more of a peanut buttery flavor. Either way, your pancakes look delicious! And I love that you topped them with mango–one of my favorite fruits, but one that I rarely have!
Aww, poor Alfie! I’m glad he survived the trauma! I think it’s crazy that people spend so much money on dog accessories and products! My future dogs will be budget pups. :-p
I hope you had a fantastic Monday, Anna! Sending hugs across the pond! xoxo <3
Hehe the marinade was pretty good. Anything with honey in, like you said, is a winner!
Do you know what, the peanut flour actually smelt of PB2 so I reckon it would work. And PB2 definitely tastes sweeter I think.
Hehe budget pups, I like that term. I think Alfie is a budget pup and proud!
That rain was mental at the weekend, so cold! Didn’t you get some sun on Sunday though?
Those pancakes sound good, I’ve still got some peanut flour that needs a job and your roast looks lovely.
Did Sue from Slimkicker get in touch about a blender giveaway? She did me too, saying it had to be US only and when I asked whether we could do an equivalent for UK readers she said it wasn’t possible and got quite arsy – even though that’s exactly what I did with her last summer!
We did get some sun thankfully on Sunday, though it then became overcast. But hey, this is Britain, overcast and moderately warm is our summer!
Yeah it was Sue who contacted me. I did explain that I was a British blogger and it was odd to offer it just to the US. At first she said it was OK and then she back-tracked 🙁 It was a shame I had to limit it.
Aw, hopefully Ben’s injuries sort themselves out soon and he’s feeling better and ready to run again! Great job on your long run, and I’m loving the look of those pancakes! haha, the mango is definitely a random flavor combination, but I totally would’ve done the same thing in that situation. I’m a huge fan of using up foods that need to be used and not wasting anything!
I just hating having food floating around. And it worked (at least I think it worked) hehe. Mango is definitely a winner of a fruit. So juicy.
Sorry to hear about Ben! Fabio’s taking a break from running too since his foot has been really bothering him. He got new sneakers to support his arches (he has really high arches) but still hasn’t joined me in running again. Boys!