I started off today with a great gym workout. There were only 2 other people max in there at any time, woohoo. I did 45 minutes cardio (rowing, cross trainer, wave) and then some free weights arm exercises using 4kg weights (I usually use 2.5kg so this is good for me!) and some leg weight machines.
By the time I walked home, showered etc it was almost 11am, so I kept breakfast light. I picked up some kiwis on offer in Lidl the other day - they don't have a furry skin and they have golden flesh...
they look so vibrant! I will enjoy one whole soon, but these were chucked in the blender with half a banana and an apple...
plus a little leftover kale, some milk and a pinch of xanthan gum...
whilst this was blending, my daughter asked what colour it would be. She thought green, I thought yellow, we were both kinda wrong. This was a creamy colour with flecks, not really thick enough - very foamy!
despite the fact that the bowl was pretty full, I topped it with a packet of Bear tropical granola...
Those arms you can see in the background? That's my daughter, waiting
not so patiently for me to finish. She likes me to save her the last few spoonfuls, making sure there's still some "crunchy" bits left...what can I say, the girl's got good taste! She's also never not hungry - she'd already had a me-sized bowl of banana porridge topped with almonds & golden syrup while I was at the gym, and she was already by this time asking what was for lunch & dinner. Ooops, not such a good habit of mine to pick up!
Lunch time soon came around though. I try to cook a slightly bigger lunch on Fridays as Liam has work in the afternoon/evening. Today I made a frittata using 6 eggs mixed with frozen broad beans and sweetcorn...
topped with baby spinach and goat's cheese (I'm loving this combo!)...
before grilling to finish it off...
Served with a blob of ketchup (and bread rolls for the others)...not the prettiest meal but delicious nonetheless...
I love having a warm lunch, so much more filling and interesting than a sandwich! (although some sandwiches can be delicious too of course!)
This afternoon I did some baking. First off, flapjacks. After making my Mum some
healthier apricot & almond flapjacks a couple of weeks ago, she asked me to make her another batch with a few adjustments. This time I did x1.5 of the recipe to fill the pan, added some sultanas and substituted the molasses with honey, using slightly more honey and slightly less apricot fruit spread than the original version.
These turned out really good so I'll write down the recipe for me to follow again!
Apricot and Almond Flapjacks
(makes 12)
- 225g butter
- 120g apricot fruit spread
- 90g honey
- 275g porridge oats
- 100g apricots, chopped
- 30g sultanas
- 45g almonds, chopped
Same method as before. For a more detailed step-by-step method see
the original recipe post, but briefly - melt the butter, apricot spread and honey in the microwave/in a pan. Then stir in all the other ingredients, this time I had the help of a toddler to stir the mix...
this is what they looked like before going into the oven at 175C...
and 25 minutes later...
Mum let us keep one to try...
before taking the rest home with her...
Verdict: nicer than the molasses version (which had a slight tang/aftertaste) but still soft & crumbly rather than the soft & sticky I was after. Mum loved them though, she likes the subtle sweetness so I think a sticky version would probably be too sweet for her. Next time I think I'd add slightly more sultanas too.
Whilst the flapjacks were baking, I got the blender out again to whizz up some of
Katie's cocoa fudge babies. I made about half the amount of her original recipe, and used cashews instead of walnuts as that's what I had in - these were not planned at all, I read a reference to them earlier which jogged my memory that I wanted to give them a try!
I'm so glad I made these!
A little sticky to roll out but absolutely delicious! The only downside is that they're too easy to eat! I've eaten 6 today already! My Mum had one (and added them to the list of things she wants me to make her!), daughter had one and I've put the remaining 4 in the freezer to hopefully keep them safe from me until tomorrow at least! So chocolatey, these reminded me almost exactly of the
chewy chocolate oat cookies I've been making recently, although a lot healthier without all the added white sugar obviously!
Luckily I managed to stop myself eating any more babies before I
completely ruined my appetite for dinner! Simple roast butternut squash and red pepper...
topped with a big blob of sweet potato houmous...
Yum. I love roasted butternut squash, so glad I rediscovered it! & the sweet potato houmous is still lovely, almost all gone now, time to get thinking of other variations!
