Posts Tagged by Courgette
FRIDAY FAVES!!
| June 3, 2011 | Posted by Sweet Tooth Runner under Friday Favourites |
HEY friends, and Happy Friday/Weekend!! Had a good Friday?
It’s Friday Faves time!! 
1. Special Friday Breakfast! Katie’s (Chocolate) Banana Bread in a Bowl!
I looove it!! I used Ultra-Bran cereal and added cocoa powder, and topped with crunchy sunflower seed butter. Can’t beat that on a Friday morning!!
2. Friday Sweat!! Spin with my FAVE spin teacher was AWESOME!
LOVED every second, even though I was the gimp who couldn’t do any of the standing stuff! 
It is really paying off though!! I haven’t done ANYTHING that might put stress on my shin, and today I was down to a 1/10 on the pain!! YESSS!! Anyway, I also did 15 mins of upper body weights before, and as soon as I left the spin room, I saw Friends was on TV, so obviously I glued my butt to a bike until it finished!
It will NEVER get old. Ever.
3. Recovery smoothies!
My usual tropical one, topped with muesli and PB&Co Crunch Time. Tofu in smoothies is just amazing trust me, and makes them so much higher in protein! Tofu love 
4. The SUN!! It was out today in London, and it was actually quite hot!!! So I took Buddy out on a nice long walk in a country park.
Hello runner’s feet. I need a pedicure and BADLY, but I don’t want to put any poor beautician through that torture!
5. Hummus Obsession. Spicy Sabra hummus to be precise. My lunch involved half a tub of it:
Roasted courgette/zucchini, sweet tater with hummus, and a hummus+nooch stuffed mushroom. I may have gone back to top the veggies with hummus…not obsessed at all…
6. Blog work! The BLOGROLL is up friends!!
I hope I spelt everything right and got the right URLs! Please tell me if there are any mistakes!
I also updated my Emma’s Eats page! I’m loving the Pancakes section personally 
Bring on Pancake Sunday I say!
6. Dry shampoo. I stopped buying it for a while in an effort to get myself to wash my hair more, but I saw it on sale and caved.
Sorry guys but I may never wash my hair again. And dry shampoo I will never again forsake you for the real thing. You are so much better.
What was one of your Friday Faves? Share with me pleeease!
Favourite hummus flavour? Roasted red pepper, and this spicy Piquant one!
Random Q: What is your favourite colour? Green I think! Haha I guess you can tell by my blog colour!
Have an AMAZING weekend!! Love you friends!!
Do most runners need to lose weight?
| January 6, 2011 | Posted by Sweet Tooth Runner under Discussions |
Hey friends!
Thought I’d spark up a lil’ discussion today about something that has been bothering me for a while, but first, breakfast! 
Stovetop oatmeal (I rarely have it any other way now!) topped with a huge dollop of lovely PB.
WHY is marriage between humans and peanut butter not allowed? Pure MADNESS I say!
My first time combining nut butter and oatmeal! Won’t be my last either! 
For lunch, I was craving houmous, as all normal people do on at least a tri-weekly basis! But shock horror, there was none to be found! 
However, a can of chickpeas and Allrecipes saved me, and I made my own! 
Sadly, it tasted like blended chickpeas, not houmous. Maybe because there was no tahini in it…? Don’t know but it was blaaaand. Still, chickpeas are chickpeas, and unspoken rule #1 in my book is never let food go to waste! So I fried me up some courgettes (love) and had a houmous and courgette sandwich!
Houmous + courgette = match made in heaven. Trust me on this one.
Snackage today was mainly a ton of trail mix. “Warning: highly addictive” should really be on the packet to warn innocent, naive foodies like moi.
And possibly a couple thousand spoonfuls of my current favourite thing in the entire universe:
Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter. Complete foodgasm.
In the evening, it was BodyPump time! And man was it busy today! New Years Resolutioners…and my mum was one of them! 
I’ve never worked out with my momma before, so it was really fun! My muscles will be achey tomorrow, but her’s are gonna kill! 
Triceps push-ups = die. I considered calling an ambulance to take me away on a stretcher at that point! What muscle group do you find hardest to work on? Mine is triceps, then biceps, but my momma said she found the lunges the hardest (my easiest!).
Yesterday’s sweat was a killer lunchtime workout! I did speedwork on the treadmill (1k @ 12mph, 2 min walking break, x 5: so a 5k run with walking breaks every kilometre) and then a 30 min mini circuits class. Circuits are great, because they incorporate weights and cardio! I have to go to a proper full-length one at some point!
That was fuelled by an NRG energy bar that I got free from the London Running Show back in November.
Certainly gave me energy, but wasn’t a huge fan of the taste to be honest! The chocolate and toffee flavour I sampled there was much nicer (obviously! )
***
Discussion time! Oh I do love a good discussion! Please feel free (by that, I mean obliged) to comment with your thoughts and opinions! I love hearing from you all!
So, do runners need to lose weight? At least, that’s what magazines seem to be saying! A few days ago, I bought my favourite magazine (Women’s Running), but was once again disappointed to see the main feature on the cover. 
Can you see it?
And the main feature in the January issue?
The December issue of Runner’s World:
So many of the dietary articles in running magazines are about weight loss! This concerns me as most runners do not need to lose weight! It is a direct contradiction as well to the healthy athletic cover models! In fact, what I would really like to see is an article on how to gain weight in a healthy way, as I think this would benefit many more of us. I do understand that some runners are trying to lose weight, and this targets them, but I believe that many more of us do not want, and do not need to lose weight!
Not only this, but I think it sends out a certain message- that everyone runs to lose weight. Often when people hear I run, they assume this, and I sometimes feel self-conscious and even embarrassed to admit I run in case people think I’m trying to lose weight!
So, thoughts and opinions on this topic? Has this ever struck you, have you not noticed, or does it not really bother you?
Tackling the 2011 goals
| January 2, 2011 | Posted by Sweet Tooth Runner under Uncategorized |
Hello lovelies! How’s 2011 treating ya?
I woke up behind schedule today after another late night (bad habit!) and was slightly late for church! Whilst throwing on clothes, I threw a slice of bread in the toaster and the ingredients for a breakfast smoothie in the blender. BLEND.
Just had enough time to gulp it down and slather PB on my toast before dashing out the door and running down the road to church. Whilst eating my toast. And wearing this hat:
Okay, I don’t have that ultra-cool hat (yet), or this equally cool shirt…
…but my birthday’s only 9 months away…got the subtle hint guys? 
And yes, I do look like that person on the shirt when eating PB. Foodgasm alert.
Anyway, moving swiftly on! I had a quick lunch before going shopping (yes, again!).
Houmous and sautéed courgette on toast, with more courgette and smoked almond+sesame seed tofu on the side. Followed by…
Dark choccie x3. Obviously.
Shopping mission today? To get hand weights to help accomplish 2011 goal #7! Mission accomplished. 2 x 2.5kg hand weights which were half price! 
But it wasn’t easy, I can tell ya that! Getting them home involved 5 plastic bags, which subsequently broke, and so I had to stuff them in my handbag.
Poor handbag. It wasn’t designed for carrying >5kg, and neither was my shoulder! 
But hopefully I’ll do a weight training post this week, so keep your eyes peeled!
I also used up the last of my book shop gift card on this book which totally caught my eye:
This book is the bomb. Yes, that good. Looking through the recipes, I loved everything!
And with ingredients lists like this…
Ingredients for raspberry scones
…and with pictures like this…
Double chocolate crumb cake
…can ya blame me? I can’t wait to bake some stuff from here!
So I’m off to spend an hour all night looking through this book.
Do you get excited over recipe books, or is it just me? Seriously, I could happily spend whole day perusing one! And have any of you started making headway on your New Years Resolutions/Goals? I’ve stuck to doing some yoga everyday so far (well it has only been 2 days to be fair!) and am getting moving on the weight training. Also, I’m planning to go to some new exercise classes over the next few days which is exciting! 
So numbers 5, 6 and 7 on their way!
Have a great evening! I know I sure will!
Tempeh time!
| December 9, 2010 | Posted by Sweet Tooth Runner under Uncategorized |
Hello lovelies! 
Breakfast was a delicious warming bowl of pumpkin-spiced-raisin oatmeal! It was: 3/4 cup oats, 3/4 cup coconut milk, 1/2 cup water, 2 tbsp pumpkin, and some cinnamon and mixed spice:
I can’t believe I was ever a person who always skipped breakfast. It is my favourite meal of the day now! Can’t live without a good breakfast!
I was going to go to a step class today, but seeing as I ran yesterday, I decided to play it safe with my ankle! But I might try another short treadmill run tomorrow, and am praying that it’s fine then!
Lunch was a salad, with sweetcorn, avocado, tomato and a few other things:
Funny about the avocado, because I’ve seen it all over blog posts today! Julie also had avocado in her lunch, and Angela’s chocolate tart that she posted the recipe for today has lots of avocado in it! Small world!
I also rediscovered rice cakes today! I’d forgotten how much I love these! They made a big feature in my afternoon snackage! I started with one topped with PB and one with Marmite:
And then went on to have a PB rice cake sandwich:
x 2! 
Dinner featured a new food for me:
I wasn’t sure quite what I wanted to do with it, but decided on simply frying it in EVOO spray then tossing in soy sauce, as this is what I usually do with tofu when I’m in a hurry. The pack says it serves two. Really?
I served half the tempeh with two baked sweet potatoes and sautéed courgette/zucchini.
Huh, one serving of tempeh! Hmm, not quite sure about tempeh to be honest. It grew on me the more I ate of it, but not sure whether I really like it or not! I prefer tofu at the moment, but I think I’ll try doing other things with tempeh and see if I like it better in a different way. Have you tried tempeh? Do you like it?
Dessert was, of course, dark choccie!
In my book, there is no such thing as a bad day when dark chocolate is involved!
This Saturday will involve some serious Christmas shopping. I am swapping presents with some friends on Monday, so I am slightly worried that I have no presents yet! 
Can you imagine how busy the shops are going to be this weekend? I actually like the mad Christmas shopping crush, but most people I know hate it! Do you love or hate Christmas shopping madness?
TGIF tomorrow! Have a good Friday!
Dear Santa
| December 1, 2010 | Posted by Sweet Tooth Runner under Uncategorized |
Happy December 1st!! To me, this is when the Christmas period really begins! To top off the happiness, I had a great stay-at-home day today because of the snow! 
It had snowed constantly yesterday and throughout the night, so it was very thick today! I can’t remember every having such thick snow! Check out how much has fallen on our sundial:
And this sight really gave me a fright when I opened my curtains this morning:
Icicles are scary!
Pre-breakfast workout was clearing the drive and the front of the house of snow. This was a good muscle workout! It didn’t help though that my muscles are still killing from Monday’s first ever BodyPump class! 
I wrapped up appropriately (it was still snowing at the time):
In my defence, this photo was taken very, very early in the morning for me! 
My well-earned breakfast was, you guessed it, a huge bowl of oatmeal! Made with this stuff…
…which is delicious! This coconut milk provides more than a third of your recommended daily amount of calcium! 
I may even like this more than oat milk…hmm…
I topped my oatmeal with a handful of Bodymatter granola:
I considered adding more granola, but I’m really trying to make this stuff last, and at the rate I’m munching it, it won’t last another week! Too. Darn. Addictive. 
Lunch was delicious too! Wholewheat noodles in soy sauce, with the remainders of yesterday’s smoked tofu and some fried courgette:
The bad thing about all this snow is that I can’t run in it! A little bit of snow might be fine, but with the heavy amount we have at the moment, it would be hard and quite dangerous. So I decided today to go to my local gym (which took me 45 mins to walk to, instead of the usual 20 mins!), and hit the treadmill, much as I hate it!
Fuelled by my peanut butter sandwich, packed half for a pre-workout snack and half for afterwards:
I only managed 30 mins on the dreadmill before giving in and hopping on the cross-trainer/elliptical for half an hour, then headed on the slow snowy walk home. I had thankfully wrapped up well:
On the way home, I enjoyed looking at our town’s Christmas lights and decorations, which are really quite nice this year!
And on that note, here’s what tops my Christmas list this year:
The Garmin Forerunner 305!!! I think I’ve been a pretty good girl this year, and hopefully Santa will agree! Other Xmas list items include…
A running non-slip headband from Sweaty Betty suitable all year round to keep my fringe+hair out of my face:
This Nike Thalia Two-in-One Women’s Sport top, that will be great for yoga, gym, etc:
And the Born to Run book by Christopher McDougall:
What’s on your Christmas list this year?
A Bittersweet Thanksgiving
| November 25, 2010 | Posted by Sweet Tooth Runner under Uncategorized |
Hey everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving for those of you who are celebrating it today! 
Sorry I didn’t post yesterday- I got back late from a concert, so I took a packed dinner:
Wholewheat noodles in soy sauce, with tofu and courgette (zucchini), which made a great, filling dinner that took less than 10 minutes to throw together!
And when I got back later, I snacked on an apple and cinnamon yoghurt mess:
Apple and cinnamon complemented this season perfectly! Thanks for all your comments on Tuesday’s post by the way- it seems as though the majority agree with me in thinking that autumn/fall is the best food season!
Breakfast today was pumpkin oatmeal with the last remainders of my open can of pumpkin. I have many more cans, but am trying not to go through them too fast as I am very miserly (they aren’t cheap!), so sadly it may be a while before it returns! 
Well actually, it probably won’t be that long- self control was never one of my strong points! 
That miniscule blob was all that was left in the tin! Still made it lovely and pumpkiny though! 
All stirred in and topped with a crumbled pumpkin cookie:
Today sadly was my uncle Raj’s funeral. If you didn’t know, my fit+healthy uncle Raj died suddenly of a heart attack two weeks ago aged just 48. The funeral was very sad, but it was great talking to everyone at the reception and hearing all their funny stories about him! He was such a joker! The funeral programme:
He shared my love of running, and was actually running when he had his first heart attack a few days before the second one that killed him. He also shared my love of food, so they made sure that the funeral reception had lots of his favourite foods. The buffet included these cute mini quiches:
And these cupcakes:
I had a ton of savoury food (quiches galore!), so by the time they brought out the cupcakes, I was too stuffed to eat them! But my brother made up for me by eaing three, and I did enjoy quite a bit of my delicious pumpkin gingerbread a few hours later when I got back home!
Also, this was waiting for me when I got home:
A package! And y’all know how much I love packages! 
I knew it would be my protein powder that I <
a href="http://sweetoothrunner.wordpress.com/2010/11/21/protein-time/">ordered a few days ago before I opened it, but I was in for a bit of a surprise!
Soya protein? I thought I ordered pea protein?
Nope, looks as though I accidently ordered soya protein instead! As I had had some stomach issues with soya milk, I had decided to go for the pea protein, but as I can’t really be bothered to send it back and get the right one, I think I’ll just try this and see how I feel! So it called for a quick Protein Green Monster:
Oat milk, pear, spinach, xanthan gum, cinnamon and protein powder, all blended:
Wasn’t quite sweet enough for me- had to add some agave. The stomach’s feeling fine at the moment, but we’ll see later! Hopefully there’ll be no problem
So what are you thankful for today? I’m thankful that Raj’s life was one filled with happiness and joy, and that his wife and children know how very much he loved them. Better to live a short but happy life than a long and unfulfilling one, right?
“Every man dies. Not every man really lives.” <—— So make sure you do!
Tough run :(
| November 18, 2010 | Posted by Sweet Tooth Runner under Uncategorized |
Hello all! This morning began with a planned run. I fuelled up with PB on toast for breakfast, which had to be enjoyed without my usual banana, as we had run out again! 
Still good though!
And can you believe it, there was actually some sun/blue skies this morning! 
So headed outside to soak up some Vitamin D on what was supposed to be an easy 4-miler. I don’t know what was wrong today, but I felt bad through most of the run! I’d overdressed again (although this wasn’t a problem- just a little annoying!) Should have followed Jen’s example and worn shorts, rather than running tights! 
Anyway, at about mile 3, my stomach started playing up. I felt really ill! It was a struggle to get home (I had to take a couple of breaks to see if the stomach pain would go; it didn’t) but I made it back, very disheartened, and with no idea why it had gone so badly! 
I have some fartlek/interval training planned for tomorrow, so lets hope the tummy is okay then!
Despite the dodgy tummy, I still managed an average pace of 8.40 min/miles, so which wasn’t bad considering! 
Post-run, I had soya yoghurt topped with my homemade granola:
I think this actually helped my stomach! After having this, my stomach felt fine!
I had a late lunch, as I had had a lot of mid morning snacks! I started by roasting up some butternut squash:
I would have squash more often (I love it!) except for the whole peeling/deseeding/chopping thing, which takes me ages! I also sautéed this cute little courgette in EVOO spray:
And served it with a nest of wholewheat noodles and some spinach. By the way, I recently got emailed by someone asking how they could up their fruit+veg intake. So here’s a little spinach wilting tip that is great for when you want to add it to pasta or noodles, and is miles quicker than doing it separately. Line your colander with the spinach…
…and then drain the pasta/noodles into the colander:
This wilts the spinach without any effort! A great no-fuss way to up the veg intake
Altogether, a delicious and colourful lunch:
Do you have any tips on how to increase your fruit and vegetable intake with minimal effort?
Have a great evening! 
