salad - AnnaTheApple

January 30, 2013

Meat balls, running and WIAW

Hi all. Hope you’re week is zooming by and that life is treating you well

I’m feeling a certain déjà vu today…I’m off to Derbyshire again this afternoon exactly like last week. And again, I won’t be back until Friday. But it’s a good project and I’m really stretching my skill capabilities so I’m a happy bunny (a happy terrified bunny I must add, being outside my comfort level – no gain without pain I guess).

And then Saturday Ben and I fly to Bulgaria to go skiing for a week! I might have mentioned this a few times already so please forgive me, but I am SO excited. I have images of myself gliding effortlessly down huge vertical mountains with the wind in my hair. I’m guessing that reality is going to be a leeeeetle different. More like me looking like Bambi on ice. Hey, a girl can set her expectations high can’t she!?

So it’s What I Ate Wednesday. As always thank you Jenn for hosting the party!

This is what I ate Monday. It’s a fairly typical day of what I eat at work, with a rather adventurous (for me) meal in the evening.

Breakfast: no changes here I’m afraid. Oatmeal cooked with almond milk. It. Never. Gets. Old.

I have about 2/3 cup (60g) mixed with water and almond milk (more almond milk than water). I am comfortably full after this. I always think that I’m a greedy beast with this portion as other bloggers seem to always go for 1/2 cup…but it’s not about comparison!

Though last week at the hotel I did shake things up a bit and enjoyed a bit of a fry-up (bacon, mushrooms, scrambled egg, tomatoes and a black pudding). And I imagine I’ll be eating the same Thursday and Friday this week as it’s the same hotel we’re going to.

Lunch: this is my usual go-to lunch for work. Tuna salad (leaves, beet, tinned tuna, tomatoes, cucumber, steamed random veg).

It’s a monster of a salad and I love eating it at work while reading blogs. It’s like my down-time of chilling. I hate it when people interrupt me during this time. I give them the ANNA STARE. Or at least I mentally give them the STARE while I pleasantly smile at them and hope they’ll hurry up their interruption

This is following by a goat’s cheese Babybell – best flavour EVER. Sorry no picture. Imagine a little circular wedge of deliciousness.

And then fruit with plain yogurt.

This time it was two kiwis. And thanks to a post from Jemma from Celery and Cupcakes ages ago I know I can eat the skin! Lovely.

And then mid-afternoon I snacked on these:

A re-used photo, but basically exactly the same; carrots!

Then an apple and a banana about 4 o’clock to tide me over until dinner (apple and banana o’clock I fondly call this time as it’s always the same at this time).

Dinner: I was torn between making meatloaf and making burgers with some beef mince that I had. In the end I based it on THIS recipe and instead of making meatloaf (as frankly I was HUNGRY and didn’t want to wait 45 mins) I batched up little balls of the mince mixture and put them in a muffin baking tin.

Beef Chunky Meat Balls (serves 2)

500g extra lean beef mince
Half bell pepper, diced
Small zucchini, grated
Small white onion, diced
2 egg whites
2 beef stock cubes, crumbled
1 garlic clove, diced
2 tbs. Worcestshire sauce
2 tsp. dried rosemary
2 tsp. dried thyme
Pepper (don’t need salt due to stock cube)

– Preheat oven to about 180C.

– Then combine it all in a large bowl, and then make individual little balls to pop into a muffin tin.

– Cook for at least 20 minutes, or until browned all over.

Mince never really photos well…but basically you can sort of see the little meatballs. Ben and me are not usually big beef eaters, we prefer chicken or turkey. We never eat steak just because we don’t like how chewy it is. These though were AMAZING, really nice flavour.

I had cauliflower mash (with a bit of Philadelphia mixed in) and steamed veg with this. Really good filling, hearty meal. Ben loved them as well. Though he had his with ketchup. I just had mine on their own and they were a flavour sensation

Fitness: So I was really proud of myself last week because I had a great week of running. And, to bore you all to hell and back, with my Garmin on the laptop now I can really analyse my runs. Apologies now if this is too much info!!

Monday: 6 miles tempo run. I kept it slow on the first mile, then tried to keep around 8 mins/mile for the three middle miles but slowed down again at the end.

Tuesday: 4 miles interval running, with my intervals aiming at 6mins/mile.

Wednesday: rest day.

Thursday: 3 miles interval running (no details as I was a total treadmill dunce).

Friday: I had intended to just do an easy run or some rowing but I got into it and did another 3 mile interval run (and figured out how to view the summary of my run!)

Saturday: my first 10 miler. This run was one of those amazing runs when you enjoy the whole damn thing. I started off running with Ben to ensure I kept my pace down at the beginning. Then I naturally found myself speeding up after we parted (2 miles in) and I was comfortably running between 8.30mins and 8mins a mile. I didn’t feel that I was even pushing myself, it was just perfect. So I’m fairly pleased with my overall time:

My legs ached a lot after this. I went to Pilates afterwards which was really nice as it stretched my muscles out soo well. I also recently purchased a foam roller…

This was SO PAINFUL. Like good pain, but PAINFUL pain, you know. Ben thought it was hilarious but I made him have a go and that stopped his laughter. Ha. Definitely going to try and use this more as it really felt like it helped my muscles.

Though I’m enjoying my little business trips and having a change of scenery I just want the next few days to speed up so I can go on holiday!

Have you used a foam roller before? Love or hate?

Which do you prefer, meatloaf or burgers?

Do you over-analyse your work out stats?

January 9, 2013

Full steam ahead! WIAW

Hi guys. Thanks for your reassuring comments regarding my latest confessions. I don’t feel so alien and crazy now

This week at work has been a ‘thrown in the at the deep end’ kinda week. We’ve got a new project going on so suddenly there are a hundred pages of documentation to get my head around and understand.

Fun, fun! But I do love my job and the people I work with are great. Working with a bunch of software developers is always quite relaxed and jovial.

Enough shop talk. Today is Wednesday so, as always, it’s WIAW. Thank you, Jenn, as always for hosting! This is yesterday’s eats.

As always, nothing exciting for breakfast, just my usual oats and almond milk cooked in the microwave until a beautifully stodgy consistency.

This filled me up perfectly. Nothing added, just pure oats and milk. I am an oatmeal purist and not ashamed!

Lunch time I took my usual salad to work and copious snacks.

So for actual lunch I had my usual tuna salad with lots of random veg and salad bits (tomatoes, leaves, carrot chunks, peas, beets – just anything really).

Eaten at my desk while reading blogs. I know should go out and have a walk and get some fresh air but I also love this time to enjoy my lunch while reading some good old blogs. I followed that with a Babybel…

…and a big dollop of Soya yogurt over a fruit salad [took this photo in the morning – I use frozen fruit so it’s defrosted by lunch].

I love Soya yogurts, so creamy and vanilla-ry. As you can see, I’m loving my Alpro products at the moment!

Then a bit later I snacked on some carrots that I had peeled and chopped.

A bit of an embarrassing snack considering they crunch so much in the office…oh well!

I had two black coffees, peppermint tea and lots of water with squash in my funky glass during the day.

Then I had an apple and a banana about 4pm when the munchies set in [old picture sorry – it’s embarrassing enough sneakily taking photos of lunch but snacks are quite tricky!].

And then home-time an hour or so later and dinner – my favourite meal of the day as it’s the one meal Ben and I eat together. It’s lovely because he’s usually in before me and has walked Alfie and then while I cook dinner he sits and chats with me about his day and my day and it’s just a nice catch-up time. I made a salad with chicken fried in balsamic vinegar, with mozzarella dusted with basil and had roasted vegetables also in balsamic vinegar (addicted to that stuff).

Delicious and very easy! I’ve basically been eating a lot of these style meals. You know I love my salads and adding balsamic roasted veg just rocks my world.

This was Monday’s dinner: grilled halloumi and salad with roasted veg.

Other than that I’ve been snacking on lots of chocolate…

These are chocolates from Bruges which I’ve kept in the fridge…oh so good!

And I made some banana bread at the weekend.

What’s life without a few treats?

This morning I went on a 5 mile tempo run (as part of my training plan). I find 5 miles (dare I say it?) an easy distance.

It’s not too short, and not too long. I have a great route I always do and the time flies by. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still tough (especially the tempo run) and at times during the run I want to give up and go home (usually within the first 5 minutes), but there’s always those good moments throughout where the ‘power of the run’ feels damn good. Especially afterwards when you’re finished running

And I’d though I’d share with you my post-run picture and then my post-shower ready-for-work picture. As you can see, still dark outside before and after. Oh the joys of winter! And behind is the rowing machine that never gets used… (*whispers* I told you so, Ben!!)

My running is going good – honestly, having such a rigid goal works wonders for motivation. And it’s quite nice to not just run the same all the time in terms of distance and speed. Finger’s crossed it remains as good!

And that’s me! Have a great Wednesday

Are you back fully into the swing of work/education after the break?

What’s your favourite meal of the day and why?

January 4, 2013

The kind of weeks I like

Hi guys. Now if you’re back at work, commiserations. It’s no fun. Especially after all that lovely time off (and commiserations if you’re time off was limited). However this week has gone by very quickly. Well, there’s only three days of work so I guess it would do. And the commute has been a dream and not many people are back at my work so it’s nice and quiet. So it almost feels like I’m still on holiday. Almost.

However, I am feeling upbeat and ready to kick start this year with gusto. Never used that word before, thought I’d throw it in there. Maybe I won’t use it again…

So let’s get into the good stuff. Though this week I haven’t been crazily adventurous with food (due to excessive and wondrous amounts of left-over turkey – I’m afraid I’ve been eating the same turkey meal for three days.

I should have tried my hand at some inspiring turkey recipes but I just love that turkey meal so damn much. Blogging fail? Maybe. Happiness factor? Hell yes).

However, before I become that little bit more predictable (hello oatmeal every single day), I did try a new recipe at least once! Ages ago I spied THIS recipe from the lovely Chelsea and kept meaning to make it. So I gave it a bash the other night:

Breaded mozzarella sticks. Honestly it was so simple. I used some cheese strings cut in half, rolled them in wholemeal flour, then dunked in egg, and then a breadcrumb mixture (I just whizzed up a slice of wholemeal bread and added some tasty herbs and spices), then fried them. Done! We had that over salad and pomegranate seeds (and maybe a sneaky bit more of freshly torn mozzarella).

Yum! It tasted naughty but actually wasn’t that bad considering cheese strings are quite low calorie and I used less than two slices of bread for all of it. And Ben loved it!

So a while ago I mentioned I’d signed up to the Reading Half Marathon. It’s in March and currently less than 11 weeks away. I really want to give my all to this so I searched online for a training plan and I’m currently in week 2. I thought I’d give THIS training plan a go.

I’m vaguely working to the length of times I should be running as I prefer to think of miles rather than time. So today I was meant to run for 40 minutes, so I ran a 4.5 mile route.

Almost 40 minutes. And I think that’s how I’ll play it as for some reason I hate to make myself run for a certain time. I prefer to have a set of miles I have to do and then try and run that as fast as I can.

Also, instead of the 30 minute ‘easy’ run, I’m going to use that as another short, sharp interval run to really help improve my speed – between 2-3miles.

It does sound like I’m veering off the plan but I have to make it accessible for me and, if I’m honest, I can’t be bothered to trawl through a load of training plans. I just need something to vaguely plan to. It’s mainly the long runs that I’m really going to stick to as I think they’re the most important.

I love that the plan is pushing me and now instead of “oh I can’t be bothered” I think “I really should go for that run”. And there’s a level of competition that is keeping me going. A group of guys from my work are also doing it and you know I just have to kick their butts.

And it works quite nicely as I’ve joined Maria with her Jantastic running team to see if we can stick to our goals of how often we run a week. I said I’d run three times but with this plan I’m aiming for four.

To complement the running, one day a week I’ll do a short (no more than 20mins) strength training routine (things like planks, press-ups, squats) and a Pilates session.

I feel really chuffed with this plan and I really hope I stick to it and improve my running to do well for my first ever half marathon!

Have you ever run a half marathon? Any tips?

How do you prepare for a race?

November 28, 2012

Turn back? Never!

Dear Britain, please stop raining. It messes with everything. The commute is longer and more dangerous…

[Took photo while in stand-still traffic!]

…choosing an outfit (and shoes!) requires more thought [real-world issues here], Alfie has to stay in the kitchen longer after going outside… It makes for a very grumpy Anna. I wouldn’t mind if it’s really cold and dry. Rain is just so miserable. We don’t have it nearly as badly as others around the UK but it still sucks.

It also makes for very wet and muddy runs! I ummed and arr’ed about going for a run at lunchtime on Monday. I had brought in my stuff but I kept looking anxiously out of the window and watching the on-and-off rain. Also I knew the woman who had originally invited me to run with her group wasn’t in the office. So it would mean running with a bunch of guys I didn’t know as well…

In the end I sucked it up and went. The guys were still up for running despite the weather and sheer amount of rain we’d had over the weekend (“Rain? Pah! We are men!”). This time I’d decided to wear my shorts rather than leggings because my leggings just got covered in so much mud that it made more sense that my legs just got covered in mud instead and that I could wash them in the shower.

It began with a lot of slipping and sliding in lots of mud, then sploshing through fields with lots of surface water…and then we got to the path that runs parallel to the local canal. Well, where it should have been. Normal people would have seen the sheer amount of water and flooding and would have turned around. Nope. We continued on – thigh deep in freezing water. Still running!

To be honest, it was good fun. It made for a rather interesting (albeit wet) run. My feet and legs were numb, very pink, wet and muddy by the end.

But it was great! And 6 miles, which I was so chuffed with as I haven’t run that distance in a while. My Garmin died of battery though which really annoyed me.

But all the guys had their Garmins on so at least I knew in the end it was about 6 miles (we were all beeping away on the run it was quite funny).

Anyway, it’s Wednesday! So here’s my WIAW (thanks, Jenn. Check out her blog to see what it’s all about).

I’ve got a bit of a mix of meals from different days as I’ve been changing things up a bit lately.

Breakfast: On Saturday I tried my hand at some coconut and oat pancakes. *Sighs* Disaster. My first one was promising…

But then it got progressively worse. They just all crumbled. So I just gave up and threw it all into a bowl.

Despite how it looks, it tasted pretty good once I’d jazzed it up with some toppings:

I added some frozen berries that I’d microwaved with some cinnamon and then a dollop of Greek yogurt. Not too shabby for a disaster! If anyone has tips for coconut flour pancakes, please let me know! I used 1 tbs. oats, 3 tbs. coconut flour, 2 egg whites, 1/4 cup pumpkin puree and a splash of almond milk.

I also made some rather delicious coffee that we haven’t been able to try until now. We got it in America but thought it was just instant rather than ‘proper coffee’. And we didn’t have a coffee machine or a cafetiere so we couldn’t try it when we got home! But we got one the other weekend purely to try this coffee.

French Vanilla…and it tasted fabulous. Not like donuts as I think Ben was secretly hoping

Lunch: I loved the sound of Laura’s cauliflower coconut soup so I made a variation for lunch for Saturday and Sunday.

I fried a diced white onion in coconut oil, then added some diced garlic and then several large florets of cauliflower. Once that had cooked for about 5 mins, I added 1.5 cups veg stock, mixed herbs, then 1 cup full-fat coconut milk and 3 tbs. Greek yogurt. I cooked it for 5-6 mins and then whizzed it up using a hand blender. Really yummy!

Alongside this on Saturday I made some cornbread using Kelly’s recipe.

A really quick recipe using the microwave. It was lovely and light and great for dunking. I used a funny mug hence the weird shape.

And then Sunday I had the soup with some butternut squash roasted in coconut oil on the side.

These were great to dunk into the soup. Nom nom nom.

Dinner: I’ve still be clinging to my salads despite the weather, but I’ve been adding in some ‘warmer’ ingredients.

With our usual feta salad, I added more of the roasted butternut squash.

And added some roasted sweet potato to our halloumi salad…

And then a range of roasted veggies to it another night…

One night I also had some smoked mackerel that had been sat in the freezer for too long. So I added some Greek yogurt, some spices, garlic, lemon juice and whizzed it up to make a very yummy pate:

Absolutely heavenly! And so easy

Snacks: well, obviously banana bread from the weekend has been picked at…

Very yummy. Definitely need to make more breads I think. Devine.

And more of these very nice yogurts:

Basically, I’ve really had some great days of nice food (perhaps not the best looking food: pancakes, I’m looking at you) but food nonetheless.

Fitness: obviously my off-road runs have been great! And what perfect timing with the weather haha. I hope to do three of those a week with the group but it really depends on how busy work is. And Pilates on Saturday was brilliant. I’ve also switched up my strength training a bit so I’ll do an update on that soon!

Do you enjoy running off-road?

What’s your favourite pancake variation? Have you tried coconut flour?

Have a lovely Wednesday

November 16, 2012

Super salads and an ego adjustment

Well, it was meant to be my day off today but work got too critical and I had to come in. If I’m honest I’m not too annoyed as work is really interesting at the moment (how sad do I sound??). But it’s Friday so weekend soon!

This week in the UK the Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 premier happened in London and it was Twihard mania. I mean seriously, over 5,000 people waited for over 32 hours in Leicester Square to see the cast. Unbelievable. My dad was in Leicester Square the day before and girls were camped out ready.

Jeeze. I work with an older guy (let’s call him Fred) who really isn’t in touch with current happenings in terms of new music, films, trivial celebrity happenings etc. Fred’s super smart and has an immense knowledge in history and things like that, but ask him about a TV programme or a film and he knows nothing – we’re talking, no knowledge of the X-Factor or Harry Potter.

So, it was around this time last year when the premier for Part 1 was going on when Fred was at our current customer’s London site (Leicester Square) and (I won’t say who I customer is) but they often interview famous people. Anyway, Fred only got into an elevator with Robert Pattinson and Kirsten Stewart. He had absolutely no idea who they were and clearly was nonplussed with sharing such a small space with them. And (this is an absolutely true story) R-Patz turned to him and said “You have no idea who she is, do you?” and Fred replied “No, sorry I don’t work here”. He was dutifully informed of who they were when he got out of the elevator though by another one of my co-workers who was gobsmacked by who he was stood next to.

How funny is that? I love that Fred literally had no idea who they were. I mean it must have been a reality shock for them that someone in the whole universe didn’t know them. Don’t get me wrong, I love Twilight and R-Patz is a hottie but I like it when celebs get their egos shaken a bit.

Now, this might surprise you but I love my salads. I know, I know, this is crazy talk. OK, well no it really isn’t. But I thought I’d do a post focused on my beloved salads as I have them so often, but mix it up with different variations.

I always start with a simple base of some standard veggies:

Lettuce, chopped cucumber, sliced tomatoes, chopped mushrooms and diced beets. Simple, cheap, easy flavours that go well together and are cheap.

Then I always have some protein. This is usually in the form of a cheese (goat’s cheese, mozzarella, halloumi or feta).

If I’m feeling really hungry or the cheese isn’t that calorie dense, I’ll add either chicken, egg, hummus or chickpeas to make more of a proper meal.

And I’ll always have some kind of fruit chopped up in there as well for sweetness, like plumb, peach, mango, figs, pomegranate, or peer.

Sometimes I’ll drizzle balsamic vinegar onto the salad, sometimes I’ll sprinkle nutritional yeast, or some toasted pumpkin seeds.

This might sound like a boring meal but I honestly love it and I never get bored because I can switch up the ingredients to whatever I fancy. Like randomly adding roasted pumpkin!

It’s great for using up food. My salads are usually fairly massive and they fill me up nicely without making me feel uncomfortable, which is great for the evening when I get in at around 7ish after work and don’t actually eat until 8. I tend to go lighter on the carbs at dinner just because I don’t think I need it. I need my carbs in the morning to get myself going.

I’m always on the look out for new flavour combos, so I’m open to new suggestions

Have you seen anyone famous?