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Onion Girl Runs – Music

I’ve been trying to perfect this music list for a while. Songs have been added.  Songs have been deleted.  As for the order, well I haven’t decided yet.  I might just put it on shuffle and go from there.

This is the music I plan to listen to when I run my 15km on Sunday for Run 4 The Kids.

1. Hung up – Madonna
2. Lanterns – Birds of Tokyo
3. Feel again – One Republic
4. It’s Time – Darren Criss
5. Everybody Talks – Jacob Artist & Becca Tobin
6. Animal – Neon Trees
7. Uncharted – Sara Bareilles
8. 22 – Taylor Swift
9. Catch My Breath – Kelly Clarkson
10. The Man Who Never Lied – Maroon 5
11. Jumpstart – These Kids Wear Crowns
12. We Love – Sneaky Sound System
13. Rest of my Life – Ludacris ft Usher & David Guetta
14. Feel this moment – Pitbull ft Christina Aguilera
15. Seal it with a kiss – Britney Spears
16. Always be here – Dane Rumble
17. Whenever – Black Eyed Peas
18. Let me Love you – Ne-yo
19. Don’t you worry child – Swedish house mafia
20. Finally Found You – Enrique Iglesias ft Sammy Adams
21. I need your love – Calvin Harris ft Ellie Coulding
22. Crazy Beautiful Life – Ke$ha
23. When can I see you again – Owl City
24. Locked out of heaven – Bruno Mars

So I hope these list of songs gets you through your next workout.

50% Done

One of my goals for the year is to read/listen to 30 books.

Last year I read 26. So I figured that 30 would be totally doable.

Well it looks like I’m going to have to reassess this goal because well it’s only March, and I’ve already achieved 50% of this goal.

The books I have read so far are as follows:

1. The Host
2. The little white horse
3. Parvana’s journey
4. Albert of Adelaide
5. The smarter science of slim
6. The débutante
7. Ten things we did
8. The 5 love languages of children
9. Something Blue
10. Even Now
11. The eczema diet
Audio Books
1. The Gift
2. Unbearable Lightness
3. Knitting

 

Feb Running Stats

We are halfway through March already! Far out this year is just flying by!

But um where are my running stats for Feb do I hear you ask?  Ok, ok, ok, I thought I had posted them, or at least scheduled to post them, but for what ever reason, that did not happen. So sorry about that.

So how did running go in February? Pretty good actually.  I ran 3 days a week as per my schedule and everything is on track. Yay!

Total distance 88.92km done and dusted for February.

The breakdown is as follows:
January – 83.7km
February – 88.9km
Total – 172.6km
To Go – 827.40km

I did have some pretty interesting runs.  I got to run all over Steve Monaghetti.  I made him by biatch. Ok so I didn’t exactly run all over him like you think I did. It was a track named after him in Ballarat, but still 🙂 I did have a good time on that track.

I also had a very long run where I thought I was dying, it was so hot and humid, you can read about it here.

Overall I’m really happy with how things have been tracking. I’m going to still be running 3 days a week, and strength train 3 other days, but I’m going to concentrate more on speedwork.

I have a love hate relationship with speedwork.  I don’t like it.  I do like hill training however (go figure).  So I’m going to incorporate v02 max workouts on the track at least once every 2 weeks.  Well that’s the plan at least.

It pays to ask

I never knew there was a difference between almond flour and almond meal.

Almond Flour is made using blanched almonds.

Almond Meal is made using almonds with its skin.

The reason I say this is because Carrie Brown uses both in her recipes, but she will say weather you need almond meal or almond flour.

Well the other day I went to the supermarket to get JUST milk.  Well I came out with milk, but almond meal and coconut milk (they were on sale ok).

So what happened? Ok so as I mentioned they were on sale, but I have to tell you my story.  So I was done the dried fruit/baking isle.  I was looking at the almond meal.  It was on sale.  $8 for 400g.
I then got my milk and then went down the cereal isle to the check out.  The cereal isle in our supermarket is also the ‘health’ food isle (supplements, and gluten free stuff).  I stopped because I saw Almond Meal. Not only was it cheaper $6 for 400g, but it was actually almond meal (Woolies Macro brand).  The other almond meal I had in my hand (Select Almond Meal), I put back.

I then paid for my stuff and went home.

When I got home, I decided to email Woolies. I knew it would take a while for them to get back to me as it was kind of an obscure question/request.

Got back to me they did.  This is the email that I got back from them,

Dear Matilda,

Thank you for your email regarding our Select Meal Almonds 150g.

The Select Meal Almonds 150g are made with blanched Almonds, this has been confrimed by our Quality assurance department.

I hope this answers your enquiry.

Once again we thank you for contacting Woolworths and look forward to seeing you in store soon.

Kind regards,

Hollie | Supermarket Specialist Team
Woolworths Contact Centre
PO Box 8000, Baulkham Hills, NSW 2153
t 1300 767 969

So it just goes to show, it pays to ask.  Now I know that the Almond Meal in the dried fruit section is not Almond Meal, but in fact Almond Flour! I was very excited to have my suspcions confirmed.

So yes, sometimes it pays to ask. Besides as I tell me kids, if you don’t ask, you don’t know, even if you think it’s stupid, it’s not, because to you it’s important.

So Ask.

 

Soufflé

The last time I made a souffle was back in high school.

So why so long before making another? I had no ramekins. And that’s the honest truth.

Then one day a friend loaned me her ramekins after we were discussing recipes one day. So I decided to do something about the soufflé drought.

The thing is my kids as like any kids can be fussy when it comes to foods they are not familiar with. So I figured that I.would stick with something basic and not over powering, this is why I decided to go with a cheese soufflé.

The next dilemma was trying to find a cheese soufflé recipe. I ended choosing one from taste.com

Source: taste.com.au viaMatilda on Pinterest

They turned out awesome, and the kids enjoyed them too.

So I decided to make them again. This time a little more saner/paleo.

Straight out of the oven!

They didn’t rise as well as the last time I made them but I put that down to the coconut flour. I found that the ‘sauce’ didn’t thicken up as much as I would like, so I was a bit hesitant on how they would turn out.

I also used ricotta and cottage cheese to give it a really mild, subtle taste.

I ate two, kids ate one each, so there are left overs for tomorrow’s lunch.

Meet Lucy

This is Lucy.  She is my new bike (Mongoose Crossway 300).

I’ve been saving up for Lucy for about a year.  I had a 2nd hand bike prior to that.  It was ok, but nothing like Lucy.

Lucy is a hybrid.  She’s designed as a commuter bike.  I was tossing and turning as to what to get, between her and the mountain bike.  Then I thought about it, and I realised that I would not be mountain biking any times soon.  Not while the kids are so little.  When they are older yes, so in the mean time, this commuter bike does the trick.

She’s worth every penny I spent on her.

You can also see the bike trailer that I got last year as well.  The trailer I bought on ebay.  It also has the option of being a stroller as well (has a front wheel you can attach).

So Lucy is apart of the family, cause we all love going for bike rides, and although I’m only going at the speed that my kids can go, we still have a great time.

Carrie Brown’s – Almond Pear Porridge

So I stumbled across this recipe of Carrie’s about a week ago.  I was going on a printing frenzy (testing out my new mono laser printer), and printing off heaps of stuff, a lot of this ‘stuff’ was SANE recipes by Carrie.

I already knew the Strawberry Seed porridge was a winner, cause I’ve made it a few times.  Mostly with mixed berries (just as good), and the other day with blueberries (use only a 1/3 of the suggested amount, I just found it ultra blueberry sweet).

Since I had all the ingredients for this particular recipe in my pantry already I thought I would give it a go.

I wont lie, I did make a mess. I have  tiny little food processor, so I had to do it in two lots.  At least I know I can easily half this recipe if I ever want a single serve.

Source: marmaladeandmileposts.com via Matilda on Pinterest

This breakfast is seriously filling.  It has a blend of flavours.  Yeah it’s very almondy, but I was surprised the coconut milk wasn’t overpowering (as I found in the strawberry seed porridge, where I had to sub normal light milk instead as the coconut milk was just too much). The almonds meal give it a really great texture too.  And the pears, yum!

I’d love to try this warm, I might have to give it a go when the weather cools down.

I 13km V2

I’ve changed my long run days from a Monday to a Saturday or Sunday.

The reason I have done this is because most of the races I’m doing are on a Sunday, so it just makes sense to getting use to running on these days.

On the 18th Feb I had a long run scheduled of 13km.

Wow, I was utterly spend during this run. I ran with my fuel belt, and drank all my water, but the 9km mark I felt like I was dying, I really did not know if I was going to be able to finish, I was just super exhausted  I felt like I was going snail pace, but I kept at it and finished it.

Today I ran the same track.  Around the same, time, but totally different weather conditions (yes it was still sunny, but not humid), and my body felt really good. I only drank 3/4 of one bottle.  I also had my belt in a better position on my hips.
The other thing I did different was this time around I brought a gu energy gel with me, which I had at about the 50min mark (9km).

 

The distance is a little off, as run 1 I did with my garmin, run 2 I did with nike plus and mapped it out with runkeeper (as my garmin is being a poo AGAIN!).

So it just goes to prove that everyone (me included) have off days.  Today’s run, I felt fantastic, I seriously could have just kept going.  I also bumped into a running friend at the start of my run, so we stopped and chatted for a few minutes, we plan on running together soon, which I look forward to.

I’ve never liked humidity (I could never live in Darwin), it just doesn’t agree with me, and it gives me eczema break outs. But me running in humidity wow just sucks the life force out of me, I will still run when it’s humid, as it’s important to run in any weather conditions, well I think so at least. I’m just glad that summer is now over, and the cooler weather is upon us. Yay!

Two-Ingredient Banana Peanut Butter Ice Cream Recipe | Two Peas & Their Pod

So I came across this recipe on Pinterest, I thought I would give it a go.  I had 3 huge (like 9″ long) banana’s, that were getting brown.  Normally I would make Banana Bread, or Cake, or biscuits, but then I saw this recipe, thought it looked easy, so I would give it a go.

Two-Ingredient Banana Peanut Butter Ice Cream Recipe | Two Peas & Their Pod.

Um wow! Who would have thought that you could have banana icecream just from banana’s!

So my daughter is allergic to peanuts, so I didn’t add peanut butter, but you could sub it with sunflower seed butter, or almond butter.  Or you could just use a bit of yoghurt like I did.

Seriously really easy, and so good for you.

Try it you’ll be pleasantly surprised.