Frosty Under Foot

I planned to go for a run today at my local country park but my mom asked if she could come with me for a walk and I didn't want to leave her so we went for a brisk walk instead. It was so beautiful, the sun was going down and the water and the frost was glistening. Some parts of the park were fine, some really muddy and some really frosty under foot. I tried to use the Nike+ app to see how far we were walking but it just kept saying 'Walk around to start your sensor' and never actually did anything! So I tried to iMapMyFitness app instead and that too wouldn't connect, we must have had poor GPS signal. It still timed how long we were walking for and it was 44 minutes. According to the calorie counter app on my phone this burnt 224 calories. I never usually do anything on a Saturday so I was happy with this, and everything is better than something. Walking around I also came up with some good ideas for where to run so I think I might be visiting more often. I think I'll start by driving down there and running around and gradually run there and then run around as its not too far away from home.

A few photos of the gorgeous views and park not even 5 minutes drive from my house! And a sneaky picture of mine and my mom's shadow!

Walk: distance 1.8m 2.9km-224 cals  44mins

One of the worst parts of eating healthily for me is having something sweet for a snack that isn't too high in calories. I decided to adapt the Chocolate Swiss Roll recipe I previously posted to just a plain Swiss roll. Instead of 75g flour and 25g cocoa powder, I just used 80g flour and a splash of vanilla extract and filled with Diabetic jam rather than butter cream or cream. I've cut it into 9 slices and worked it out at 94 calories a slice. I know you can get snacks for less than this such as Muller light yogurts and Snack-a-Jacks etc but sometimes nothing beats a slice of cake and a cup of tea!

Here is a low carb carrot cake recipe that is lovely! I made this when I was doing low carb last year, I don't think its particularly low calorie or low fat but most of the calories and fat come from using ground almonds as opposed to flour, this decreases the carb count significantly.

Carrot Cake Recipe

FOR THE CAKE 
* 1 medium orange
* 80g chopped walnuts
* 75ml olive or vegtable oil
* 230g ground almonds
* 2 tsp baking powder , plus a pinch
* 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
* 1 rounded tsp ground cinnamon
* 40g splenda
* 170g finely grated carrots (about 200g carrots before peeling)
* 2 eggs

FOR THE FROSTING
* 100g light soft cheese , straight from the fridge
* 100g Quark
* 12g splenda
* 1 finely grated orange zest
* 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1. Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3.
2. For the cake, finely grate the zest from the orange and squeeze 3 tbsp of juice. 
3. Pour the juice over the walnuts in a bowl, stir in zest, then leave to soak while you make the cake. 
4. Grease 2 x 8” cake tins. 
5. Mix the almonds with 2 tsp baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon.
6. Separate one of the eggs. Put the white in a small bowl and the yolk in a large one.
7. Break the remaining whole egg in with the yolk, then tip in the splenda. 
8. Whisk together for 1-2 mins until thick and foamy. 
9. Slowly pour in the oil and continue to whisk on a low speed until well mixed. 
10. Tip in the almond mix, half at a time, and gently stir it into the egg mixture with a rubber spatula or big spoon. The mix will be quite stiff.
11. Put the extra pinch of baking powder in with the egg white and whisk to soft peaks.
12. Fold the carrot, walnuts (and any liquid) into the almond mixture.
13. Gently fold in the whisked egg white, then spoon half into each tin. 
14. Jiggle the tins to level the mixture. 
15. Bake for 1 hr until risen and firm or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin 5 mins, turn out onto a wire rack, then leave until cold.

16. To make the frosting,

17. stir the soft cheese, Quark, splenda and orange zest together - don't overbeat. 
18. Stir in the lemon juice. 
19. Spread the frosting over each half & place one on top of the other. 


Total carbs for cake = 100 so divide by the number of slices. 

I never actually made the frosting for this cake as the cake was gorgeous and moist as it was and I felt it didn't need it. I did get this recipe off another website, I think it may have been a diabetes website but I can't find where I got from, when I do I'll post the link. 

I've decided if I'm going to start running outside more, which I need to, I need to get a coat. I was looking on eBay but nothing really jumped out at me so I decided to look on sportdirect and found loads of stuff I want! In my basket at the moment I have a coat, some running socks, a running t-shirt and just an addidas top, I'll let you know what I actually purchase and how I get on with it. I found a gorgeous Addidas running windproof coat that matches my bright blue running trainers for £11! I clicked on it and they had size 12,14 and 16 left, I thought well if I've got to fit a hoody underneath it then the 12 would be fine, I clicked on the 12 and it came up £21, only the size £16 was £11! Which has annoyed me, because I don't really like pink clothes and would prefer a blue coat rather than a pink one! 

Still thinking of fundraising ideas but I think I've come up with one I love, A PARTY!

Love x