The wild outdoors

On the couch...with achey legs and arms after a morning on my bike in Ballinastoe, Co. Wicklow. 3 hours with Niall Davis from allmountainexperience. What an incredible morning! And what a wonderful Christmas present from my partner Glenn. I managed a bunny hop for the first time, after several sweaty nights in the basement car park trying to achieve the same thing. Not only did I manage it, I even used it a few times on the trail. My track stand is coming along nicely too, even if Niall was holding the back wheel while I perfected it :-) No crashes either, although I have heard someone wise saying once 'if you don't crash, you're not going fast enough'.

recipe

I thought the recipe for Apple & Berry Crumble might appeal...sugar, yeast, wheat & dairy free, but still tastes yummy :-)

Crumble:
100g rolled oats
50g ground almonds
50g flaked almonds (I used flaked coconut last night!)
50g sesame seeds
50g sunflower seeds (pumpkin seeds last night, worked well!)
2 tbsp sunflower oil

Fruit filling:
8 eating apples, peeled and sliced
450g berries (raspberries, blueberries etc)
1 tbsp water
2 tbsp sugar free sweetener (Agave syrup is great)

Preheat oven to 180 C
Mix all of the crumble ingredients together in a bowl, mix well
Put the sliced apples in a saucepan with the water and sweetener and cook, lid on for 5 minutes
Add half the berries and cook for another 5 minutes, until soft but still holding it's shape
Put the fruit mix into an oven proof dish and top with the crumble.
Pop in the oven for 20-30 minutes.
Enjoy with cream, or for dairy free alternative use cashew cream (cashew nuts and water, blended to a smooth cream, yum yum)

My life in bullet points

Sometimes I wonder if it might be possible to live life as a series of bullet points. Wouldn't that be easier?
Wednesday 10th Dec
6am: Up out of bed
7am: School
7.05 - 7.15: Meditate
7.15 - 8.00: Nap on beanbags in library (yes really)
12.30: Trip to Tesco to buy ingredients for cooking with children tomorrow & Boots to buy headlice treatment (yes really)
2.30: Depart school with haste
3.00 - 6.30: Cook up a storm, shepherd's pie for my friend who has recently been widowed, apple & berry crumble for the NTOI (Nutritional Therapists of Ireland) committee meeting
7.00-11.00: NTOI Committee meeting
11.15 - 12.30am: Watch Horizon episode about allergies, fascinating!

Now that looks much more manageable! Today should be a bit calmer! Cooking with the kids, study in the afternoon - pharmacology assignment due in this Sunday and I haven't started yet! - and yoga at 6, followed by a trip to my friend's house with food for her freezer.

the next step?

Hello everyone, well it's been a while since I posted anything new...life has been pretty topsy turvy for me lately.

I have been trying to work out how my career path should be directed and while I'm still studying, I've decided to get back into full time employment. This decision is not an easy one, part of me wants to devote all of time and energy to study and developing my new path, but I have to pay the bills too! Of course, I am still working on my new website, which launched recently (www.ruthmckenna.com) and even managed to squeeze in a cookery evening about 10 days ago; a fundraiser for St. Vincent de Paul. An entertaining, giggly, fun night, in a beautiful castle in Co. Louth...

Off to read material from the 'Food for the Brain' conference back in October!