Happy Valentine's Day!

Bradford Valentine's Day Road Race Recap:

Yesterday Tim and I ran in the Bradford V-Day Road Race. It was an interesting race, where one of us ran a 5 mile loop, the other a 6K loop, and the team with the lowest total time was the winner. The beginning of the race we ran together, but then separated to run our respective loops, only to rejoin at the end for a glorious finish. What a fun race!

The runners:

The finishers + cheering squad:

What do you think of those socks? :-)

I decided to run the 5 mile loop, as I was a bit behind on miles this week. I was happy with my 44:38 finishing time. Running fast is a whole different beast than running long. I was surprised with how exhausted I was when we returned home! I guess I can say I'm becoming a long distance runner. The "speed" (and I use that term lightly, as my pace was a swift 8:56) work will definitely help me as I up my mileage even more in the next 6 weeks.

After the race I googled "cafes in Haverhill" and ended up with the Wicked Big Cafe. We headed there and had a pleasant post-race lunch.

I ordered a hummus and veggie sandwich and a steamy mug of the Mighty Leaf African Nectar tea. This rooibos tea was delicious. I'm definitely going to need to pick some of this up next time I grocery shop.

This Valentine's morning included a steamy cup of coffee with coconut creamer...

... and a batch of Ginger Chocolate Cream Scones, recipe courtesy of Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone.

I recently received a huge shipment of samples from Turtle Mountain of coconut milk, creamer, yogurt, ice cream and ice cream bars, and I've incorporated the creamer into the scone recipe. The ginger, chocolate, and coconut flavor were a perfect combination for a Valentine's morning treat.

While coconut has a somewhat bad nutritional rap for its saturated fat content, the plant-based medium chained-fatty acids (MCFAs) that contribute to its make-up may not be as health-toxifying as traditional saturated fat found in animal products like whole milk, beef, etc. Just keep in mind that MCFAs are still fat, and contributes double the number of calories per gram than protein or carbs. So, use it in moderation.

On that note, I have five coupons for five readers who would like to try one of Turtle Mountain's products! Check out the Turtle Mountain website, check out their products, and leave a comment on this post about your opinion on coconut, how you use it (or not), or what you'd like to try.

Ginger Chocolate Cream Scones

(recipe adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, Deborah Madison)

1/3 cup chopped candied ginger

1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

4 Tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces

2 eggs

1/2 cup cream + 1 tsp

1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly butter a sheet pan. Toss the ginger and chocolate chips with 1 Tbsp flour. Add remaining flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter with your fingers until the mixture resembles meal. Combine the eggs, cream and vanilla in another bowl, then stir it into the flour mixture. Turn the dough onto a floured board and lightly knead 8-10 times. Pat or roll the dough into a circle about 3/4 inch thick, then brush the top with a tsp of cream. Cut into 12 wedges, transfer to the sheet pan and bake about 20 minutes, or until top is glazed brown. Serves 12. (Try not to eat every one.)

Oh yes, and this showed up this morning, too.

Can you guess what's in it?

Don't forget to submit your recipes for the Super Breakfast Bowl Challenge for either avocado, flax seed, lentils, quinoa, or walnuts to thesuperbreakfastbowlchallenge@gmail.com! Check out posts from last week for details!

Happy Valentine's Day!