Recipe: Mellow Okra and Chickpeas

Although I have a wealth of recipe books and try to base my meals on what I have in the house already, there are times when the yellow sticker section of the supermarket comes up trumps and I find some gems that are too good to resist. The latest example of this was a pack of okra for 20p. I rarely see okra, let alone buy it, but I've had enough good dishes in Indian restaurants to know I enjoy it. 

I'd remembered seeing a recipe in Plenty that featured okra but in the end I made up my own version of a dish that was colourful, different and satisfying. It has elements of curry recipes I've made in the past but is far gentler. 

Mellow Okra and Chickpeas

Ingredients

• 1 pack okra (~150g)
• 1 red pepper
• 400g chickpeas, drained
• 400g chopped toms
• 1 tbsp corriander seeds
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 80g quinoa, dry weight
• Fresh coriander, chopped

Method

1. Melt the coconut oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the cumin and coriander seeds and cook for 1-2 minutes.
2. Cut the stalks from the okra, trying not to cut so low as to expose the seeds, and slice the red pepper into strips. Add to the pan and cook for 5-6 minutes
3. Add the tomatoes and chickpeas and simmer until the okra is tender and the chickpeas are warmed through, about 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, cook the quinoa according to the instructions, this usually takes about 8-10 minutes.
5. When cooked, drain the quinoa and alongside the okra and chickpea mix. Serve with fresh chopped coriander or a little sour cream or yogurt if you like.

Have you been inspired by any unusual reduced items at the supermarket?

Event Review : Leith Hill Half Marathon

About three years ago someone suggested the Knacker Cracker race up Box Hill to me as a "fun" way to start the New Year. That's when I first became aware of Trionium events. Two years ago my now-ex boyfriend decided he was going to run the Leith Hill Half Marathon that they also organise. I decided that I could support him *and* marshal at the same time. It was an amazing day out, cheering the runners up the hill and seeing just how hard Rob, the organiser, works behind the scenes to ensure everything goes smoothly and that runners and marshals alike are well looked after. As a marshal I was entitled to free entry into a future event, something Rob very kindly let me cash in two years later.

And that was how I found myself in Dorking last Sunday morning, in a school car park, eating a hot cross bun before registration. I'd had my usual race day breakfast but with an oh-so-civilised start time of 11am, I decided an early elevenses was in order too, particularly as I'd wanted to arrive early enough to watch the Wife Carrying race that precedes the half marathon every year. I'd not had the chance to watch this previously, having been dispatched to my marshal point but it was well worth getting there early for. The write up on the Trionium website is worth a read but participants from all over the world took part on the tough but short course, over hay bales and through water obstacles, one man with two "wives"!

Prizes for the wife carrying race.

So with a coffee inside me (provided free of charge) and last minute loo trip made (no queues!!) I joined the crowd on the start line to do something I'd never done prior to a race before, sing the national anthem! And then we were off. The courses is predominately trail, mostly up hill (1836m of ascent) on the way out and up to the top of Leith Hill where the Leith Hill Tower stands (a National Trust property, well worth a visit). I've walked up there before so knew roughly what I was in for. I'd also seen my ex, rather broken two years prior, having completed it in 2h19. Trionium are know for putting on "challenging" events and this was certainly going to be that. My aim was just to complete it and as I found myself in the last 4 or 5 people shortly after the start I prepared myself to be last. Well someone has to be.

Made of tough stuff.

There were a couple of lovely downhills near the start, which I used to gain a couple of places, realising with a sinking heart that I'd have to face these as uphills in the last two miles of the race later. The weather was cool but bright and the route quite pretty, through woodland with few places for spectators to gather. But with only around 250 entrants it soon felt quiet at the back. I played "leapfrog" for course places with a couple of guys and looked forward to seeing the marshals on route, all of whom were cheery. Although it was pretty much a straight track I worried that I'd missed a turn, especially when I'd not seen anyone for a while. But no sooner than I'd had the thought than there was a marshal or a bit of tape or a paint marking.

Not enjoying the hill at this moment in time.

I started to see the front runners coming back the other way as I reached the 4.75 mile mark, haring down the hill. Maybe it was the jaffa cakes I'd discovered on the water stations, or the knowledge that I was almost at the top but I caught myself starting to actually enjoy the event. The hill got steeper as I approached the turn around point but the views at the top are worth the climb. I'd used my walking time to take a few videos and snaps and I even managed a star jump or two for the photographer at the top.

I'm rubbish at uphill running. I don't train enough for it. But downhill is my forte. I've enough confidence to go quickly, not holding back too much, so the return leg was glorious. As I overtook one chap I'd been leapfrogging he referred to me as a tortoise, steady if not fast. I understood his point but he didn't catch me again. I felt free and happy, even when it started to sleet, making aeroplane arms on the steeper down hill sections and skipping around puddles. I gained a few more places in the last two miles, despite the uphill sections I'd been dreading. As I turned the corner in to the last downhill stretch to the finish line I noticed a familiar shape near the finish line... my mum! A total surprise, prompting me to whoop and sprint to the finish, overtaking one more chap in the process. My Garmin hadn't been fully charged and gave out in the last half mile so I was truly delighted to find out I'd achieved a time of 2:29:57, coming 217th out of 232! Not a patch on the female course record of 1:33:21 of course.

I reckon I could have taken 5 minutes off that if I'd not gaffed around with photos and jaffa cakes but I was never going for a time and in this case I'd rather feel buoyant than broken. I collected my goodies, gave mum a huge hug and we made our way back to the school hall to find the canteen.

Normal entry costs around £38 and includes a technical T-shirt with everyone's names on the back, a hefty medal, a pint glass and free cooked "breakfast". I'd rather that than a goody bag any day! There was a bit of a queue for food but the single chef was doing a fine line in poached eggs and there were even vegetarian sausages to be had so no complaints there.

Now that's what I call recovery food!

All in all a great event, and one that I'd recommend to anyone in search of a challenge. Brilliantly organised and I can't fault it.

Friday Night Swimming

Friday evening, the end of a long week. All I really wanted to do after finishing my work at the gym is to go home, have dinner and curl up in bed with a book. Especially as my 6:30pm cancelled at short notice so I have an hour to hang around before going to swim training. As I sit in the gym, all be it with a cup of tea, I feel the motivation ebbing away so I get in the car and drive over to Reading to  sit in the car park for half an hour and call my mum. I reason that the nearer I get to the pool, the more likely I am to do it.

It was only the third time I'd joined the Thames Valley Triathletes swim training session, and only the second in recent weeks. And I'm yet to get to the point where I stop trying to make excuses not to go; I swam last night, my arms ache, I’ll be late, they will have their maximum number of 15 already, I’ll make a fool of myself, I should have had a snack, my housemate will have used all the hot water by the time I get back and I'll have to have a cold shower (I dislike showering at the pool)… all ridiculous and unfounded.

But ultimately what gets me there, signed in and peeling the second ticket out of my booklet of swim session cards is the thought that it will be so much harder to swim the 2.5km for Sport Relief if I don’t go. I don’t want to fail and I know that great things happen at the edge of your comfort zone. I reassure myself that everyone was a beginner once. 

The pool is colder this week but the welcome is even warmer than before. I'm starting to recognise people, learn a few names, find my place in the pack. Lyn, our coach explains some terms on the warm up sheet for me (long dog?) and I find I'm not the only one who didn't know. My arms feel heavy after a 1750m swim the night before but somehow I get through everything, fighting the drowning feeling on the catch up drill. I'm the only one in my lane who seems happier with bilateral breathing than single side and I take huge comfort from Lyn telling me that I'm doing really well. When I get home I find hot water, a light dinner and notice the definition my arms are starting to develop. 

I only started my training 3 and a half weeks ago, swimming once or twice a week at the local pool to build up distance and the proportion of lengths I do with front crawl, and now attending the swim training sessions to improve my technique. This is in addition to my usual exercise regime of 2-3 runs, a yoga class and a HIIT or Boxing workout. It’s been hard work, and frustrating at times when the pool is busy, or I have to go late at night because of work, but I’m starting to feel as though I can do this; I’m not the slowest in the slow lane on club training nights and I’ve swum further in the pool in one session than ever before. I think I'm beginning to look forward to the Swimathon!

Recipe : Breakfast Quesadillas

What do you go for when you want a breakfast that tastes a bit naughty but is actually fairly good for you? Banana pancakes? A "carrot cake" smoothie? Maybe porridge with nutella? I've got a new one for you... breakfast quesadillas.

I love the traditional quesadillas and have made them myself for lunches or dinners before now but it's only recently I've tried them for breakfast. Sweet or savoury, it's all good and definitely feels like an indulgent breakfast. Here is my suggestion for a sweet version, but you can certainly play around with the fillings to your heart's content.

Sweet Breakfast Quesadilla

Ingredients

• 1 wholegrain tortilla wrap
• 2 tbs nut butter (I like crunchy peanut)
• 1 small banana, sliced
• Handful of blueberries
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp coconut oil

Method

1. Heat the coconut oil in a pan large enough to hold your tortilla wrap folded in half
2. Spread the tortilla wrap with the nut butter and arrange the banana and blueberries onto one half of the wrap. Sprinkle with the cinnamon.
3. Fold the rest of the wrap over and place in the pan. Cook on a medium heat for 5-6 minutes, until the underside is golden. Carefully flip over and cook on the other side for another 5-6 minutes until golden.
4. Remove from the pan, cut in half and serve with a sprinkling of icing sugar, some greek yogurt and more fresh fruit as you see fit.

Another good combination is banana and strawberry with chocolate hazelnut butter!

Let me know what you think and of any other tasty fillings you come up with.

Viks Picks : February 2016

February has been cold and emotional and frankly I'm fairly glad to see the back of it. There have been a good share of nice things too, though, and certainly my picks this month have made it all more tolerable.

1. This month I've been mostly cooking from Take One Veg. I love the simplicity of it and how it really highlights the vegetable. I've cooked roasted roots, made lettuce soup with left over salad, a sprout, lemon and cheddar salad and still have my eyes on a blueberry and goats cheese salad.
2. It's so easy not to pay attention to your toes  in the winter months, just stuffing them into thick socks, or pounding the roads in training but I've been trying to remember they need looking after. This Burts Bees Foot Creme is my new favourite foot cream! It's thick, nourishing and smells divine. That and some new nail polish has made me feet feel loved.
3. As a little extra motivation to get out and train I signed up to Bounts. Link up your apps and it'll reward you for your steps, runs and bike rides and with GPS location services you can also get rewarded for attending your leisure centre or yoga class. Premium membership gives you 3 times as many reward opportunities than the free account for less than £1 a month at the moment so you'll be on your way to useful rewards such as big brand coffee, restaurant, shop and cinema vouchers that much sooner. Use referal code vikkiroberts501 when you sign up and we'll both get rewarded with 100 points!
4. I've got to thank to Elle for the chance to try Muscle Mousse as I won one of her competitions. I won a pack of the Strawberry flavour and I'm getting through it rather quickly. I've tried The  Protein Works' version but I prefer Muscle Mousse. It mixes with water so I can always make up a great tasting dessert even when I've no milk in the house, it mixes well so I never get lumps, and it sets to a lovely thick consistency. It's not cheap but I think I will invest in the peanut-choc caramel flavour next.
5. My little treat of the month has been the stack of Superseeds Hazelnut Cocoa Kick from 9bar (another prize - thank you!). These are really delicious and although I don't find them filling enough for a breakfast on their own they're great with (and apparently in) a smoothie, crumbled onto yogurt and fruit and for a boost after a long race. Every bar they sell helps to provide solar lights to people in Africa, allowing kids to get their homework done, feel safer and generally experience a better quality of life, so I can feel doubly good about these bars.

What's been getting you through February?

Transforming Your Grocery Habits

Life seems to have a way of making me reassess my food buying and consumption habits every once in a while. Most recently it was the arrival of a housemate, necessitating the need to clear out kitchen cupboards and the fridge-freezer in order that she too could store food. I'm nice like that. But I digress...

I saw just how much I had in the kitchen cupboard; a huge range of lentils, flours, pasta, nut butters, preserves, dried fruit and nuts. There were a lot of oddments; things that I couldn't quite bring myself to use up so had a handful of cranberries here, a bit of couscous there and so on. Why?! There's no harm in using things up and in fact it's better to do so than just use the freezer as a stopping point on the way to the bin. I don't need 6 different types of grain on hand "just in case". So I reinvigorated my mission to use things up and even managed a whole week eating meals made only from what I already had in the cupboard, fridge and freezer. At the end of it, I realised I could do a second week, so I did.

I'm not the only one guilty of stoking up on too much food. Many of us over estimate what we will consume and ambitiously plan weeks in advance leading to eventually throwing out the excess. Something that surprised me in a recent report from the World Resources Institute was that about one third of all the food produced worldwide never makes it from production to plate. However, where it does, food waste is usually due to an overly prudent food industry, ambiguous food labelling, and over-cautious or ambitious consumers. Although written from an American viewpoint, there is still a wealth of good advice and tips in this article from fix.com.

Some of the tips to reduce food waste at home include:

• Taking cookery classes - learning how to make use of those random ingredients in the fridge
• Track your grocery and eating habits for a month to help you understand where you can buy less and use more
• Buy fresh more often - only buying bread, fruit and veg with the next 2-3 days in mind
• Understand the true meaning of use by and best before dates, and how storage can affect these
• Learn how best to store the fresh food you buy

Take a look at these info graphics for more insight.


Source: Fix.com


Source: Fix.com

Do you think you could eat for a week from what's currently in your kitchen without buying anything else? 

Event Review : Hampton Court Half Marathon

We're often told, as runners, to "run your own race". But what about the occasions when it's actually your job NOT to run your own race, but to run someone else's race? I don't mean the slightly shady practice of taking someone else's race number and running as "Bob Smith" but to run at a particular pace. This is what I had signed up to do for Hampton Court Half Marathon last weekend. I'd no previous experience of pacing races and although I knew I was completely capable of running the distance in the time, the weight of responsibility weighted a little heavy on my shoulders.

There are actually two Hampton Court half marathons, the second being in a few weeks time (with a more sparkly medal, so I've been told). But I'd had my eye on either for a while so it was great to get the opportunity. Race morning arrived and as I'd been instructed to arrive by 7:30 for the 8:30 start time I was rather bleary eyed as I fell into my kit and into the car, granola soaking in a tupperware pot to be eaten on the shuttle bus from Sandown Park to Esher College.

I didn't feel very awake

The park and ride cost £6, fairly reasonable, and although I found the process straightforward, I could see that queues were starting to build to get into the car park and I heard that later arrivals didn't find it so smooth. It was just a short bus ride and walk to the start village, one side of which seemed dedicated to portaloos (there were queues later but they moved quite quickly).

I quickly found Rick from Race Pacing, putting up banners and collecting race numbers for us in one end of the baggage tent. Race Pacing and Xempo were the companies behind the pacers, providing us with our places, flags and support on the day. I met my fellow pacers, some new like me, others old hands. We went through all the usual pre-race prep of pinning on numbers, making sure we had our gels etc and also fitting our back packs and flags. We drew a few curious glances from people using the bag drop and after a briefing and group photo it was nice to get out and mingle.

There were two people pacing each time slot from 1h30 up to 2h30 completion times, with one of us instructed to be at the from to the wave and one at the back. This served multiple purposes. Firstly our flags helped people to see where they should be lining up at the start. Having us spaced out also helped to reduce crowding, as it's chip time that's important so those starting further back would still have a pacer to follow, rather than all bunching up around one person.

Henry VIII in attendance. I felt small!

It took what seemed like forever to start. The front runner were set off at around 8:30am but it took us, in the 2h20 section, almost half an hour to cross the start line. I understand why, as there were so many people and the course was fairly narrow, but it was slightly annoying. It did give me a chance to chat to those around me though. I got talking to a chap who was planning to run a half marathon a month this year, and lovely RunFitter Lou surprised me with a tap on the shoulder, having kept her entry very quiet! You can read about her experience here.

Once we were underway I started to relax a little. I'd made myself a pace band and was keeping a close eye on my Garmin to ensure I wasn't going off too quickly. The aim was to achieve an even pace for the whole event. I was the rear 2h20 runner and the front pacer had quite a crowd around her from the start. Things were a little more chilled out around me. There were some PB chasers but few people stuck by my side, drifting in and out of my range as they needed to.

It was a dry, slightly breezy and overcast day, perfect for running and everyone seemed in a good mood. There were plenty of marshals on the route, which was well signed. Cars were kept well out of our way and there were plenty of pockets of support. The pace felt good in my legs and thankfully the back pack was comfortable. One thing I learnt very quickly was that I needed to be more aware of street furniture like signs and bus stops, and low branches... I was effectively 3 feet taller than usual and it only takes a couple of sudden pulls on your pack as you misjudge a tree to make you more aware!

At around the half way mark I found Adam, a guy who'd been in touch on twitter to say I was his perfect pacer for the day. It was great to have a chat with him and find out a bit more about why he was running. What was even better was to find him at the end and congratulate him on a great run. I wish him all the best for London and his fund raising efforts. You can read more about Adam's cause and sponsor him here.

Adam after the race

The last few miles of the race felt quite hard despite finally passing the race's namesake. It wasn't particularly difficult terrain, but I think the steady pace, the extra nerves and having to go round the houses a bit to the finish took a toll. But we powered in to the last half mile, PB seekers alongside me, and crossed the finish line in 2h19m15. It was the most even race I've ever run and I absolutely loved it. I got a medal and goody bag and the satisfaction of knowing it was a job well done that had helped people achieve their goals.

Thoughts on the event organisation? Well the water stations could have been longer; even though they were well spaced out along the route I wasn't able to grab a drink until about mile 9 due to over crowding. Water was in cups, which I don't mind but I heard a lot of people wishing it were bottled water. A bit more clarity on the staggered start times would have been helpful and more clear signage back to the Park & Ride bus stop would have been useful. There was a bit of a queue for the bus but that really couldn't be helped. What was quite nice was that the queue was along the route and so I was able to cheer some people on, including Lou! The goody bag was pretty well stocked. Dolmio seem to be a key sponsor this year as a few people have commented on these meals being in their goody bags at other events, but all useful or tasty treats.

Goody bag contents

Would I run it again? Probably not, although I may try the other event, but I would certainly pace again. And in fact I am pacing again at the Surrey Half Marathon on March 13th, same pace at 2h20. If you're there, do come and say hello, regardless of how fast you're intending to run. I'd love to see you and wish you a strong run! All in all a great morning and experience.

Have you run with a pacer before? Have you run either of the Hampton Court half marathons? Did you run on Sunday and if so what did you think of the event, how did you get on and did you run with a pacer? I'd love to know.