WIAW - AnnaTheApple

March 13, 2013

Old favourites

I know I begin pretty much every post talking about the weather but I’m British and it’s our small talk, what can I say. It is cold. Windy, freezing. Snowing (well, a slight smattering). This is not spring behaviour.

It is, however, What I ate Wednesday. Hurrah midweek already.

Thanks Jenn.

I have to say this week has been fairly quiet. Nothing exciting has occurred. Though I’ve found a programme on TV that I’m now inexplicably hooked on. 16 and Pregnant. It’s car crash telly. I only put it on when Ben was away so I could have some background noise while I chilled in the evening reading blogs and surfing the Internet. But I got drawn in and absorbed. It’s gripping. No judgement please

Breakfast this week has been the obvious. Oatmeal, almond milk, done.

Breakfast is one of my favourite times in the day. I eat it with my book. Currently I’m reading the Eragon series…yes I know, I’m a geek. I’m a very eclectic reader; I don‘t have a particular genre that I go for. I just read a blurb and if I like it I go for it. I read Michael Crichton, to James Patterson, to chic flics, to historical fiction, to classics, to non-fiction. Anything goes as long as it’s interesting. As soon as I finish one I’m on to the next.

I’m not a big talker in the morning so this time to myself munching and reading is bliss. Ben gets the Death Stare if he interrupts. And Alfie too.

I can’t say that lunch has been any more exciting than usual unfortunately. I’ve been loving my sandwiches. No more ravishing hunger towards the end of a working day.

Turkey and cream cheese sandwich with lettuce

And of course my side salad.

Lettuce, beets, random veggies (carrots, peas, broccoli and cauliflower)

After this I have a fruit salad (chopped melon, grapes, orange segments and peach).

Throughout the day I have a few snacks and drinks to keep me ticking over. Usually this is chopped carrots, a banana and an apple. Drinks are black coffees (usually one in the morning, one in the afternoon) and ~~hundreds~~ a few herbal teas.

Last night I had one of my favourite dinners. This is the main reason I stocked up on tinned pumpkin. I love this meal.

Chicken with pumpkin and cream cheese sauce

I made this ages ago and was desperate to recreate it but didn’t have any pumpkin. Unfortunately I didn’t have any tinned pineapple but it was still so good. Plate licking good.

Then my usual chopped apples. Nothing beats chopped apple as a pudding. OK obviously a lot of things beat chopped apples as a pudding (brownies, cookies, cake, ice cream, chocolate…). Nothing beats chopped apple as an everyday-eat-it-all-the-time-run-of-the-mill-working-week-healthy pudding.

And in the evening some Snack a Jacks and a hot chocolate. And maybe some Lindt chocolate…gotta get those important antioxidants from somewhere after all!

On Friday night I finally made something I’d been meaning to make for ages. Moussaka. As you might know, I’m not a big pasta fan. And big sheets of pasta do nothing for me. So I made a pasta-less (paleo/primal??) moussaka. The terminology escapes me.

Not the greatest picture I grant you (am I always saying this?? Whoops #mustdobetter)

I followed THIS recipe, though I omitted the kale and fill as I didn’t have any and I used beef mince as I prefer it to lamb.

Basically it uses aubergine/eggplant instead of the pasta. It made three good servings (one which is currently awaiting my consumption tonight). I know the recipe says 4-6 servings but it clearly hasn’t made the Anna Adjustment whereby I am a ~~greedy~~ hungry hector and require a lot of food.

Does anyone else find that recipes say a certain number of servings and then when you make it you’re like “OK that would serve a child”, or is that just me…?

Regardless, this was a good, hearty meal. But I will warn you, it took quite a while to make. What with salting a load of sliced aubergine, rinsing, frying, then making the filling, then making the topping. It’s not an easy mid-week meal. Fiddly and lengthy. But tasty.

In terms of my running…It is getting closer to the half marathon. I was frustrated to find on my five mile run Monday morning that I had a pain in my Achilles on the last mile. I thought I had gotten over this. However, I sensibly took the next day off of running and I’m taking it very easy for the rest of the week (probably two easy 3 mile runs). And I have my last session with the phsyio on Friday where she’s going to give me a good sports massage which she claims will give me wings for the race, or at least make me feel fresh. Here’s hoping.

What are your old favourites that you keep going back to in terms of meals/snacks?

What trashy TV can’t you give up? I’m all over any reality TV. Kardashians, Made in Chelsea, The Hills, Real Housewives…I draw the line at Big Brother though.

What’s your favourite book genre? Or do you read anything and everything?

March 6, 2013

Spring is round the corner – WIAW

Hello! And what a beautiful week it’s turning out to be. The sun is shining and it definitely feels like spring.

I just love this time of year. There’s a lot of hopeful feelings of summer being around the corner. Waiting for that one blissful week of the year in British weather where the sun peaks out behind an overcast sky…no I joke, maybe it’s two weeks!

Either way, there’s a feeling that winter is almost over and longer days and warmer weather could be on the way soon.

And to keep with a happy mood, let’s get on to What I ate Wednesday.

Thank you Jenn!

This is pretty much my usual routine for a working day in the office.

Breakfast is the same as usual. Eaten just before 8am.

Good old oatmeal and almond milk. Can’t beat it. I tend to buy Scottish Oats because for some reason they always turn out a bit thicker and stodgier than normal plain rolled oats with the same volume of oats (so more almond milk is needed, yum).

I try to make sure breakfast is one of the last things I do before I start my ‘wonderful’ commute to work. I don’t like eating too early in the morning if I can avoid it as otherwise come midday I’m starving. This is the case even if I run in the morning. I know some people say you shouldn’t run on an empty stomach but honestly I a) couldn’t stomach breakfast at 6am or before, or b) don’t have time to eat breakfast and then digest properly before running. Plus how good does breakfast taste after working out?

Lunchtime at work usually happens 12.30-1pm. I don’t have a snack in between breakfast and lunch, just black coffee and peppermint tea. Last week I mentioned feeling really hungry and needing more food. I experimented a bit and have come to the shocking conclusion that maybe a good old fashioned sandwich would be the ticket (sarcasm alert). I did try those bread thins last week and beefed out a bit on the filling but I think that was missing the point…whoops. They really weren’t that filling (shocking, I know).

So in said sandwich is turkey, cream cheese and salad. With a side portion of more salad. Just because. Alongside this I also have a beasty fruit salad. Definitely been feeling better after this. I do love my salads but I love running fast more

Snackage in the afternoons at work is usually some chopped carrots (to the delight of those nearby my desk), a banana and an apple. And more coffee and herbal tea.

Honestly, I drink so much throughout the day I’m up and down all the time either getting more drinks or going to the loo. People will start talking…

Dinner: there is no denying that the first thing I want to do when I get in from work is EAT. But Alfie needs to be walked if Ben hasn’t got back from work before me and comfy clothes need to be put on. Occasionally some jobs are done, like putting washing on and general tidying but usually we’re fairly ship-shape and dinner is on the agenda pretty quickly. So dinner is usually 7.30pm. This is dinner from Monday night.

This is what I like to call Single Anna’s Dinner. No Ben hasn’t left me, he was away in London. Essentially that meant that I could eat whatever I fancied without fear of the Healthy Food Alarm going off (aka Ben). Anything too healthy and he runs a mile. It doesn’t look great but it tasted pretty darn amazing and used up a lot of veg that needed consuming.

In the mix was salad, cucumber, beets, tomatoes, chopped plumb, roasted veg (1/4 bell pepper, 1/4 zucchini, couple of mushrooms, sweet potato, butternut squash), chickpeas, half an avocado and breathe. Hmm, yes quite a bit. I think Ben’s head would have exploded.

And last night I had one of my favourites:

Chicken paprika with grated sweet potato. I love this meal but I really, really hate grating sweet potato. Seriously one of the most annoying tasks. Ridiculously strenuous as well on my arm! And then I’m always finding tiny flecks of sweet potato about the place afterwards. Grr.

Pudding is my usual two apples chopped. And then later I always tend to have a packet of Snack a Jacks…

…and a couple of squares of Lindt Mint Intense dark chocolate:

(Old photo: it’s the top one…obviously)

There’s something about an evening that just requires chocolate. I feel sad when dinner is over…I just need that little something else before going to bed. Bliss.

So that’s my day…hope you enjoyed!

If you exercise in the morning, do you eat breakfast before or after?

What’s your favourite sandwich filling?

February 27, 2013

A Little Change – WIAW

Hi guys, hope you’re all well. As usual, it’s What I Ate Wednesday. Check out Jenn’s blog to get involved or peruse other people’s exciting eats. I can’t promise mine will rock your world, but I certainly enjoyed them

The theme is to get your veggies in and, to be honest, I never really have a problem with this. I’m a big vegetable fan (not you though, celery, you can stay back). Usually every evening meal is accompanied by a big serving of veg. Ben used to be shocked, but now he just expects it.

Breakfast is where I draw the line with veggies though. I just have my bog standard bowl of oats with almond milk, zapped up in a delightfully stodgy heap of deliciousness.

Are you surprised? I literally don’t change. I literally haven’t changed this for about 8 years. I think I just like how simple it is to make, how filling it is and how much I love eating it. Why would I change?

Lunch has been a different affair at work recently. Last week I had my usual monster tuna salad, Babybel and yogurt with fruit at work. It’s easier to throw together and I like it.

However, I’ve been finding that I hit the afternoon and find myself feeling FAMISHED. I tend to have a banana and apple to bridge the gap between lunch and dinner and that used to be fine, but recently this hasn’t worked. I would drive home feeling not so great and in need of food. LIKE NOW.

I’m thinking it’s because I’m running more. I never used to run 5 times a week and never the mileage I’m doing now. Because I’ve crept the mileage up quite gently I haven’t really thought about increasing my food as well. Typing this now actually makes me feel stupid. It’s another “well duh Anna” moment.

Now you might have noticed, I’m not a huge carb lover. You can take your bread, your pasta, your rice…I’d much rather have protein or fat. Salads piled high with veg, cheese and chicken. Roasted vegetables with melted cheese. Chicken stews with a side portion of veg.

However, this isn’t working for me right now.

It’s annoying because I like what I eat. I don’t want to change, but let’s be sensible here. So for lunch at work I’ve swapped the tuna salad for a turkey bacon and cream cheese sandwich…

…With a side portion of salad. I can change some things but not all! I also had fruit with Alpro soya yogurt and frozen fruit salad (that had nicely defrosted by lunch). This has definitely made me feel a bit better. I also adore the combination of bacon with cream cheese.

Then for dinner I tried something crazy (in Ben’s eyes). I attempted…savoury oatmeal. I was dubious going into this if I’m honest. I mean, I eat porridge every single morning and suddenly having it with chicken and vegetables. Well, that’s just weird…or is it?

Yeah OK it doesn’t look great, does it? It looks pretty much like sludge. But! It tasted so good. It didn’t remind me of breakfast at all. It was just a completely different meal.

I based it on THIS recipe but added a few bits and pieces to make it a bit more filling for my new found hunger.

Chicken Savoury Oatmeal (aka Sludge for Dinner) (serves 1)

1/2 cup (40g) quick-cook oats
Garlic clove, diced
1/2 onion, diced
2 small mushrooms, chopped
1/4 zucchini, chopped
1 chicken breast, cut into chunks
350ml (1 & 2/3 cup) chicken stock
1tbs nutritional yeast

– Fry onions in a little oil for 5 minutes, then add garlic for a minute.

– Add chicken, mushrooms and zucchini and fry until chicken is cooked.

– While this is happening, cook the oats on the hob with the stock. Add more water if it looks too thick.

– Then combine all the ingredients together and add the nutritional yeast. Then serve when at the consistency you want.

Yep, still sludge. But it tasted so good and was so filling.

Another meal I really enjoyed was Monday night. We had a lentil meal which we both loved (BBC Good Food recipe: Middle Eastern Chicken and Apricot Stew).

Very simple to make and really flavoursome.

So, more carbs I hope you noticed. OK I didn’t go crazy – I didn’t chomp my way through a full-sized French baguette obviously. But I’ve been adding bits and pieces and adopting this pattern now throughout the week and my energy levels are so much better. I’m not a horrific beast when I get in after work (can you hear that sigh of relief from Ben??) Small changes!

Have you found that you needed to change what you were eating to compensate an increase in exercise?

What’s your favourite carb?

Have a great Wednesday!

February 20, 2013

Fruit coconut curry – WIAW

Hello! And to all my fellow Brits, I hope you’re experiencing the lovely sunshine like we are here in the South. Though it’s still fairly crisp and chilly, it’s just lovely to have those rays! However, does anyone else experience static hair in the cold? I’m a girl with quite a bit of hair and seriously, it’s not cool. All I have to do is touch it and it goes crazy. Any advice is much appreciated!

Speaking of hair, I finally got my hair cut over the weekend. After 5 months!! Here’s my before photo:

And my after photo:

Yep a huge amount of difference. Not. Hence why I don’t go for ages…[Also, can I just say that I am rubbish at taking photos of my self in the mirror. Seriously, there is an art to this and I have not mastered it. I feel like a right idiot smiling at myself…]

So it’s WIAW once again, how the time is flying!

Check out Jenn’s blog for more information and food envy.

Let’s get going. These are my eats from Sunday.

Breakfast: Since getting back from skiing, I have been having my good old fashioned oatmeal every single morning. Ahh bliss. No scary looking Bulgarian meats for me!

I’ve been browsing online and found some great looking savoury oat dinners as well that I really want to try. Ones that really appealed to me:

Gluten-Free Savoury Porridge with Bacon, Cheddar, Fresh Tomatoes, and Chives

Curry Oatmeal

Savoury Spinach Oats

I’d never thought of savoury oatmeal! Amazing. Watch this space…

Lunch: Lunch on Saturday was a random concoction. I was going to have an egg scramble with tuna (a very standard meal for me) but I couldn’t be bothered to open a tin of tuna (yep, I was that lazy). So I added a heaped tablespoon of Philadelphia cream cheese to my three eggs instead. And I also added chopped onion, mushrooms, tomatoes and zucchini.

With a small serving of broad beans The added cream cheese made the eggs so creamy. Really enjoyed this. Afterwards I had half a small melon (no photo sorry).

Throughout the day I enjoyed black coffee and my current favourite herbal tea:

For dinner I wanted to make curry but I couldn’t make my mind up what kind. I had coconut milk that I wanted to use but I also had some dried apricots I wanted to add…so I just kind of threw it all together.

I vaguely based it on THIS recipe.

Fruity Coconut Curry (serves 2)

1 tbs oil
1 garlic clove, diced
1/2 inch fresh ginger, diced
1 white onion, diced
1 small carrot, cut into small chunks
3-4 small mushrooms, sliced
Quarter of a zucchini, sliced
2 chicken breasts, cut into small chunks
1/4 can of coconut milk (light or normal)
Generous tbs. yogurt
150ml hot chicken stock
1 tbs. tomato ketchup
1 tbs. curry powder
1 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. chilli powder
Sprinkling of dried/fresh coriander

– Fry oil for one minute, then fry onions until golden, add garlic and ginger, fry for another minute or so.

– Add vegetables and chicken and cook until chicken is almost cooked.

– Then add coconut, ketchup, yogurt and the spices.

– Once all is cooked and hot, add coriander and then serve.

Really easy, really yummy. I didn’t have any mango chutney so I substituted with tomato ketchup as I wanted the sweetness and the tomato flavour as I also didn’t have any tomato puree. I added the yogurt to add a bit more creaminess.

We’ve also been enjoying balsamic chicken, tomato and mozzarella salads:

Yum! We ran out of basil which was hugely disappointing as you can’t beat basil with tomato and mozzarella. This was with salad and roasted vegetables.

And Monday night, while Ben was eating leftovers from the party on Saturday (sausage rolls, garlic bread, cocktail sausages and tomato mozzarella bites…*sighs*) I decided to try a recipe I’d seen on Chelsea’s blog that I knew Ben would never want.

Sweet potato cooked in the oven, then mixing the innards with a tablespoon of cream cheese, and mushrooms and haricot beans that I’d fried together in a bit of oil and herbs.

I slightly varied Chelsea’s recipe to fit with what I had available and this honestly rocked my evening. Really enjoyed this and will definitely be having it again!

Snacks: I have been a snacking monster this past few days. My hunger has been through the roof. I’m not sure why – maybe as I’m running more miles? Not sure! Anyway I’m still loving Lindt chocolate:

Kept in the fridge…so good. Such a satisfying noise of biting into it! We went a bit overboard on stocking up…

Seriously, people, you have got to be prepared for shortages or national crises. Chocolate is a necessity. Fact.

Fitness: So far this week is going well in terms of running. I ran a 7 mile tempo run on Monday, a 4 mile interval run on Tuesday and today’s a rest day. I’ve got a 12 mile long run planned for this weekend which I’m strangely looking forward to. I’ve gone from the girl who was really worried and nervous about long runs to the girl who really enjoys them! I guess because I just run and there’s no pressure on speed or time. And the feeling afterwards is just amazing. Like you’ve conquered the world!

Also, on a random note…my mother-in-law has kindly said to Ben and me that she will buy us a camera as our wedding present but we haven’t a clue which one to go for or anything – hence why we still don’t have the camera yet we got married last year! Any tips? We don’t really know the price range we’re looking for so I guess something that’s not really cheap, but fairly decent (but not HUGELY expensive!)

I’d love to take better photos of my meals (as one of my friends kindly directed me to an article online about how to take good food photos – haha lovely hint ). And it would be nice for when we go on holiday not to just depend on the IPhone.

Hope you have a good Wednesday

Do you have days when your just strangely really hungry?

How often do you go to the hairdressers? Am I an embarrassment to the female race??

Favourite chocolate? Cadburys? Nestle? Milka? Lindt? Hersheys?

February 13, 2013January 2, 2020

What I Ate Skiing

Happy Wednesday! Well, I am fully back into the groove of work after my holiday (if you missed my recap of my skiing adventures, check it out HERE).

As much as I love going on holiday and getting away from it all, it is so good to be back in my own home and comforts with my regular food. That might sound boring, but I love our home and our usual routines.

As it’s WIAW, I thought I’d do a What I ate Skiing post.

I mentioned in my last post that the food in Bulgaria didn’t rock my world. Don’t get me wrong, I fully enjoyed skiing and the whole experience of it, but honestly the food at our hotel sucked. We went half-board so got breakfast and dinner. On the first morning we went down to breakfast and it was a small buffet of strange fried meats, fried bread, really dodgy looking yogurt, cold meats and salad. Yes, salad.

Now I don’t want to offend any Bulgarians, but it really wasn’t me. I didn’t know what the meat was and it all looked very sausage-like, which I am not a fan of so I tried to play it safe.

I had a piece of toast, two boiled eggs, some ham (I think?), jam and fruit and salad. Very strange combination I know but I wanted to make sure I had enough fuel for skiing later. Basically I was making the best of a not great situation. Maybe I’m really fussy but Ben wasn’t liking it either.

To be honest, the whole breakfast experience felt very canteen-like with people rushing around grabbing food and piling their plates high. I much prefer a calming morning and slowly enjoying my breakfast. This was not fun. What also irked me was that breakfast started at 7.30am, and as Ben and me wanted to get up and get out skiing asap we’d get to the breakfast room pretty much dead on. One morning we were TWO MINUTES early and the waiter looked at his watch, looked at us and then shut the door IN OUR FACES without saying anything. I mean, seriously, how rude is that? As I said in the last post, the hotel was shocking (food, rooms, customer service) so at this point we weren’t surprised.

One morning I was overjoyed to find muesli. You better believe I enjoyed a big bowl of this!

But it ran out the next day and obviously they didn’t re-stock *sighs*. So breakfast was a bit of a dud if I’m honest. The first morning back from holiday I practically danced my way to kitchen to make my oatmeal. I am that cool.

Lunchtime on the first day wasn’t amazing either (sorry I know this is so whiney). It was all fast food meats and chips. Meat that was vaguely “beef” or “pork” which you just ordered on it’s own and then could order slices of bread or greasy chips. Not fancying this every day Ben and me decided to hit the local supermarket and make our own lunch to take with us. Not only was this cheaper but it meant we could have a tasty lunch in the snow away from the hubbub.

I had a ham sandwich, some stolen cucumber from breakfast, an un-pictured Babybel (they had Babybels!!) and an apple. Oh and I stole some of Ben’s crisps each day.

It was great eating lunch sat in the sun on the snow. I’d have a diet coke and Ben would have a beer and we’d poke them into the snow to keep them nice and cold. Perfect!

We also treated ourselves to a more extravagant lunch one day at the more posh restaurant (you had to book). It was in this beautiful cabin with a lovely warm fire. They even offered us slippers to wear if we wanted to take our snow boots off!

As we only had an hour to eat, we kept to just a main course. I had a pork chop with lentils.

This was so good. The pork just melted in my mouth and the lentils were cooked to perfection. They also had warm bread on the side so we could fuel ourselves fully for the day. We thought it would be really expensive but actually it was surprisingly cheap (more expensive than buying the cheaper food elsewhere, but for a good meal out very reasonable).

Dinner *sighs*. Well I didn’t even take any photos of the hotel dinners because honestly it wasn’t worth it. When I asked the waiter/chef what one of soups was that was on the buffet table he shrugged like he couldn’t care less, picked up a spoon and swilled it around a bit and said “Um, not sure. It has beans in it.” Ah right. Thanks but no thanks. After a night of dodging some really suspicious bullets (seriously, all crazy processed meats floating in thick sauces and no vegetables), Ben and me decided to have dinner out each night. Best decision ever.

We went to a small, cosy tavern with some very friendly owners.

So rustic! We got a salad to start. Now Bulgarians know their salads that’s for certain. The list of different salads was quite extensive! We went for a standard Bulgarian classic.

Lots of vegetables and big chunks of feta cheese with a basil dressing. Even Ben loved this!

For the main, I had sea bass with grilled vegetables. The funniest thing was when I was ordering the fish the waiter asked if I wanted chips with it and I said no could I get the grilled vegetables and he looked at me oddly and went “Erm, no. You’re having vegetables to start.” I really had to force my point that, yes, I wanted vegetables AGAIN with my main. He seemed bewildered. Quite amusing. Clearly he hasn’t met an Anna before.

So good and so nice after the horrible dinner the night before.

Another night we tried somewhere else and, again, I ordered salad to start.

This is a really bad photo sorry, but basically it’s lots of salad, the feta cheese (which seems to be a Bulgarian speciality), roasted mushrooms, and beans in a tomato sauce. Very yummy. Ben ordered goat’s cheese roasted in honey.

Oh my goodness, this was the best tasting goat’s cheese in the world. Fact. I managed to snag a few pieces before it was gone in a blink of an eye.

For main I went for a Bulgarian chicken shashlik. This was basically chunks of chicken cooked on an outside BBQ with vegetables on a skewer. They brought it out on a huge wooden board and then removed the meat for me.

Honestly, this might not look that huge but the pieces of chicken were massive. I was absolutely full to my brim after this. As yummy as it was it was a bit overkill on the amount of chicken!

We didn’t snack much at all during the day because we were skiing all the time. We did however enjoy some après ski drinks.

Ben enjoyed a beer while I had a pear cider. So lovely sat in a warm bar while watching the skiers and drinking.

We also had some hot red white with fruit in the evening.

This was lovely and warming. There were bits of orange in the drink which added a lovely flavour.

We also went to a little sweet shop in the nearby village (how could I not??)

We went in to have a browse around and it became very clear we needed to buy something as the man was looking at us so expectantly. It looked like a pic ‘n’ mix so I thought we could help ourselves, but he took charge and I had to point at the sweets I wanted which meant he put HUGE amounts in our bag. It wasn’t expensive and we told him to keep the change so he threw in even MORE. We now have like a life-time supply of candied and chocolate covered nuts. Well, it was great to snack on those in the evening!!

And there was soo much Milka about.

Yum!

So though the food didn’t hugely appeal to me in the hotel – breakfast was such a disappointment every morning and dinner just not our thing at all – we managed to find ways to ‘cope’. That was the downside of the holiday that food wasn’t particularly easy like it was on our honeymoon holiday in that we had to really search for good stuff. But in the end we were there to ski!

As we are hoping to go back next year, we know where to avoid now!

And on an unrelated note. We found a Bulgarian Alfie in a little cafe.

Aww, isn’t he lovely? So soft as well. Just don’t tell Alfie, he might get offended.

Foreign food: do you try the local delicacies?

Ever been disappointed on holiday with the food?

How do you cope with horrible breakfasts in hotels?