One of Delia's

 For the last year I have been cooking my way through 'Delia's Vegetarian Collection' after being inspired by the film 'Julie and Julia' (a true story about a woman called Julie cooking all the recipes in Julia Child's book).

I attempted to cook the recipes in sequence, but ended up chosing recipes at random. I've cooked nearly

all the pasta dishes, but have hardly touched the dessert and baking section. I fear the amount of calories in some of the latter recipes!

This is the watercress soup I made the other day (tasted more like leek and potato). I added some home made croutons/dippers - the ones in the soup went a bit soggy, so I'm glad I left some on the side too.

Here's the recipe:

250g chopped watercress

110g butter

400g chopped leeks

700g peeled and chopped potatoes

3 pints of veg stock

4 heaped tablespoons of creme fraiche

salt and pepper

(it serves 4 people)

Method:

Melt butter in a saucepan and add the chopped leeks, potatoes and watercress. Stir to coat in butter

Add some salt, then cover with lid and let the vegetables sweat for about 20 mins, giving a good stir halfway through.

After that, add the stock and bring to simmering point, leave to simmer uncovered for 10-15 minutes.

Delia then recommends blending the soup in batches, but I just used a hand blender straight into the pan (but off the heat).

Stir in 3 tablespoons of creme fraiche and serve up with a swirl of the remainder creme fraiche. 

Result:

Delia's watercress soup

Winter Warmer

The cold weather has arrived, which is a perfect time for soup!

I love making soup as it's the best way to use up any veg in the house and it's super healthy. For this Winter Warmer I fried off some onions then added chopped sweet potatoes, runner beans, a chopped courgette, two grated parsnips, chick peas, pearl barley and about a litre of veg stock. The secret ingredient that makes the soup spectacular is roasted tomatoes. We tend to make huge batches of roasted tomatoes, blend them up and then freeze them so they are ready for pasta sauces, soups etc.

Grated cheese and some bread on the side completed the dish :-)

The first of many Winter Warmers

1 hour 50 mins 37 seconds

I feel like I should be pleased with my time, but in reality I'm disappointed. Over two minutes slower than my PB (1 hr 48 mins 5 seconds). So what went wrong? My pace was good until about the 9 mile mark where I was faced with a steep incline. I think my mind lost it at this point and fatigue in my calves set in. I ran the first 6 miles in 49 minutes so I was on course to get about an 1 hr 47 min time, my pace was good, but in the end  I overheated and started to slow down. If I had gotten just under the 1 hour 50 mark I would feel a lot more celebratory!

However, I did just run 13.1 miles early on a sunday morning when many people are still in bed, so I need to give myself some credit! And the meal and drinks with friends afterwards was a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Now I have to think of the next challenge. Some more half marathons for sure...but maybe it's time for the Big Marathon!

Half marathon tomorrow...

Hmm, not feeling my best. My legs are feeling ok, but I'm definitely coming down with a cold and have sneezed all day. Grr, if it's not one thing it's another!

Anyway, I'm going ahead and running. Kit is all ready, ipod is recharging and I'm getting ready for bed.

This time tomorrow it will all be over. Thankfully!

Alternative training

So, I still have shin splints. It's been a week since I last ran, and I have a week until the half marathon. I keep on kidding myself that there's no pain in my shins, only to be reminded when I try to put pressure on them. I think (well, hope) things are getting better and that I will actually be able to run the race. So far I've tried cross training, rowing, swimming and yoga so that I don't lose any fitness. Only swimming is completely pain free. Annoyingly, it's my least favourite sport - I get really cold in the pool and am not the best swimmer.

My plan next week is to swim at least twice and may be test out a little run on Thursday.

Keeping my fingers firmly crossed.

Shin Splints

Disaster has happened. Two weeks before the half marathon both shins are hurting - that old familiar pain of shin splints. I've been to yoga and one circuits class this week, but I have now resigned myself to resting. I'm hoping that two weeks off running won't impact on my race too much, but more worryingly I'm wondering whether I'll be able to run the race at all. Last year I was forced to take a few weeks out because of shin splints - I ended up running my race (this time the Bristol Half marathon) but the lack of training meant I was 10 minutes slower than the previous year.

So, it's rest, ice and compress for the timebeing. Maybe some swimming and yoga would be beneficial too.

This forum is pretty helpful:

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/forummessages.asp?UTN=2406