Time for exercise - family style

Since Charlotte was born, I have learned (rather quickly) to not take the opportunity to exercise for granted. Gone are the days when I could head out for a long run, or spend the whole afternoon pedalling away on my bike.

While the temptation to ‘forget’ exercise for the time being is ever present, exercise has always kept the ‘happy’ endorphins running through my body. And, given that I am a strong believer that a happy mum = a happy baby, I have had to get creative to keep those exercise endorphins flowing.

Be it a daily walk, a weekly mountain bike ride, or as was the case today, a family exercise session.

Mr BBB had the morning off work, and I knew that I would be busy this afternoon with work myself (from home, nonetheless). Throw in  glorious sunny day, and it seemed that the exercise gods had well and truly spoken.

So, we changed into our workout clothes just before Miss C’s morning nap, bundled her in the pram, and walked up to the local oval for a family exercise session in the sun.

The plan?

A tag-team circuit session.

While one of us ran a 500m loop around the oval…

(go Mr BBB go!!)

The other got ‘busy’ with some exercises (lunges, squats, step-ups, pushups, planks and situps) -

Using nothing but our bodies, and with the help of some ‘equipment’ we found nearby (for the step ups).

Then when the runner returned, it was time to swap…..

And so on, and so on, until we had both completed 6 running laps – or 3km overall. Add to that the 500m walk to and from the ovals, and the variety of exercises performed in between each running lap, and we had ourselves quite a decent exercise session overall.

Well for 2 of us at least ….

The third sleeping through the whole thing!

What about you? Been ‘creative’ with any workouts recently?

Blueberry lemon friands

I think it will come as no surprise when I tell you that friands are one of my favourite treats to bake. The reason is three-fold.

One – they only require only one mixing bowl.

Two – they can be made gluten free.

And three – you can really be creative and make any variety you like.

On this occasion, which happened to be Mother’s Day, I decided to make a blueberry / lemon variety.

For no other reason than I had blueberries in the freezer, and a couple lemons in the fruit bowl.

Mixed under watchful eye of my little baking buddy…of course…

And 18 minutes later…

We had ourselves a plate of freshly baked friands.

Light and fluffy…

And a little sweeter than their blueberry muffin counterparts. But with  a nice hint of tartness from the blueberries and lemon nonetheless.

They are best eaten the same day, however, so be sure to gobble them up with haste!

Blueberry lemon friands (GF) – makes 12

• 6 egg whites
• 150g butter, melted
• 1 cup almond meal
• 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
• 2/3 cup GF plain flour, sifted
• zest and juice of one lemon
• Frozen blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 180C and lightly grease a friand pan.
2. Whisk egg whites in a large bowl until foamy. Add butter, almond meal, icing sugar, flour, lemon juice and lemon zest, and stir until just combined.
3. Divide among friand pan, and top each with 3 to 4 blueberries.
4. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown.
5. Allow friands to stand in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool.

What about you? What is your favourite blueberry dish?

From the mountain to the sea…. kind of

Another Sunday…

And another mountain bike ride completed.

This time in the glorious Canberra sunshine.

We opted to cover a shorter lap this week, to try and avoid the anxiety of last week. The climb was the same, as were the lungs on fire, but we took a different descent along an old favourite trail  of mine - cutting out about 3km of trails in the process.

I think the last time I travelled along the descent trail was during this race – almost 2 years ago! Boy a lot has changed since then – including the trail. Which was a lot rockier than I remember – but still a lot of fun!

1 hour and 13km later – we arrived back at the car - and headed home to spend the rest of the day with our little munchkin. And while our morning had been all about the mountain, our dinner was all about the sea. Kind of.

Prawns, marinated in garlic and coriander.

Pan-fried…

And served with a whole range of other tasty sides – peas, pumpkin, potatoes and asparagus.

Yep it was a ‘lets use up what’s left in the fridge’ kinda night –

Resulting in a rather random, but delicious, end to the day.

What about you? How was your Sunday?

Memory loss & muffins

I have never been someone who has a particularly good memory. So much so that photographs, diaries and blogging have really been my saviours when it comes to keeping track of what I did yesterday, last week, last year…

You get the drift.

Then I fell pregnant. And  ‘baby brain’ kicked in.

Then my daughter was born. And sleep deprivation kicked in.

And it seems that my memory is now completely gone as a result, with me  forgetting even the most obvious of things.

Take this week’s forgetfulness by way of example:

• I forgot to call my Dad on his birthday. He didn’t seem too fussed when I called the next day almost in tears, but I still get sad just thinking about it.
• I put a load of washing on, and completely forgot to add laundry detergent. Twice. In a row.
• I mailed a letter to my Mum, and forgot to write the postcode on the front. Here’s hoping it still reaches its destination.
• I stared at my computer for a good 10 minutes trying to remember my password to log in.
• I dressed Charlotte after her bath in a singlet and jumpsuit. Then realised it is probably a good idea to go back and  put a nappy on her too…
• I have put my sunglasses down somewhere. And I have no idea where.
• I forgot to eat up the bananas in our fruit bowl, that were rapidly nearing the end of their life.

So although I couldn’t take back many of the things I forgot this week, I could fix the final one in the list. For overripe bananas mean only one thing….

Baking time!

In this case…

Banana raspberry spelt muffins.

Fluffy on the inside, and with a hint of tartness from the raspberries.

Perfect comfort food when one is starting to lose their mind.

Banana raspberry spelt muffins (makes 12)

• 2 cups spelt flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 0.5 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 2 overripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tbs vegetable oil
• 2 tbs apple sauce
• Frozen raspberries- for topping

1. Preheat oven to 180C, and line a 12 muffin tray with paper cases.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl, then make a well in the centre.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Pour into the dry ingredients, and stir until just combined.
4. Divide among the muffin cases (about 3/4 full), and push 4 or 5raspberries into the top of each muffin.
5. Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the muffin comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool on a baking rack.

What about you? Do you have a good memory?

Birthday crumble

Thankyou all for your well wishes and congratulations about my birthday and yesterday’s post. It truly was a wonderful day.

And, although there was no birthday cake for me this year, there was indulgence of another kind.

A sweet, crumbly kind.

Apple crumble!

I have been meaning to make apple crumble for a while now. I think it has something to do with the chilly temperatures outside. Then, when a large amount of apples showed up in our weekly fruit / vegetable box, it seemed the apple crumble gods had spoken….

And I was only to happy to comply.

I simmered the apples in a mixture of brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and vanilla bean until caramelised.

Spooned into ramekins…

And topped with a mixture of oats, GF flour, butter and a little more sugar*.

* This is where I think I went wrong…

Baked in the oven for 20 minutes or so…

Until golden brown and the crumble became ‘crumble’.

Warm, rich and oh so comforting. The apples were delightful, but  sadly when combined with the crumble, it ended up being a little too sweet for me (*gasp* is there such a thing?!).

But  not to be deterred – we promptly added a scoop of vanilla ice-cream on top – which cut through some of the sweetness.

Thereby correcting sweetness with more sweetness?! but it worked.

So let’s call this one a work in progress. And I am more than happy to continue my quest for a perfect apple crumble!

What about you? Are you a fan of fruit crumbles??

31 today

Thankyou all for your lovely comments re my last post - it seems that ‘mummy-guilt’ is fairly common place.  I just need to relax a little – which the rational part of me knows will not only be good for me, but Charlotte also. If only the irrational part of me would listen!

Today has been a splendid one, thus far. For I went to sleep aged 30, and woke up a year older. And what better way to celebrate another year passing by than with my little family. I did have to go into work for a while this morning, but was greeted on my return  home by a big bunch of flowers courtesy of Mr BBB and Miss C…

And the promise of a shopping trip in the near future to select a new piece of artwork for our main living area. Most excited indeed!

Oh and in other exciting (and well timed for my birthday) news…I was thrilled to find out that I made it through to the next round of the Gourmet Garden Cook Off / Blog Off competition. So yours truly will be competing in a “cook off” at the Sydney Good Food and Wine Festival in June. Exited? Yes! Nervous? Most certainly!!!

Perhaps my impending birthday has had something to do with the sense of nostalgia I have experienced recently. For I have found myself reflecting more and more on the changes that have taken place in my life over the last 12 months. Big, wonderful changes.

Last year  I celebrated my 30th birthday with a Moroccan dinner party with friends and family at home…

And this year I am celebrating my birthday with the newest addition to our life.

The last 12 months really have been nothing short of amazing. I travelled both nationally and internationally. I ran, I biked, I baked. I stood at the edge of the Grand Canyon. I boated next to the Niagara Falls. I got pregnant, grew a baby and gave birth to our daughter. I went from blonde, to brunette and back to blonde again. We landscaped our yard. I gained 13kg, and lost 11kg. I went from working full time, to working part-time from home.

I feel as if I have grown as a person.

And my birthday wish from this time last year came true…

Time for a photo trip down memory lane…

 

 

Who knows what the next year will bring? All I know is…I’m pretty excited to find out!