Seedy Flap-jack

Since I am trying to eat more healthily, I was looking around to see if there was a recipe for something that was tasty and high in complex carbs to help me feel fuller for longer. Since I couldn’t find anything I like, I then thought FLAPJACK even though it’s brimming with sugar, I thought I could offset that with seeds and fruity bits.

There are loads of online recipes so I had a look in my larder to see what I had but hardly any of it matched what the recipes called for so I used the basic sugar, butter and syrup start and added my own mixture to it.

And this is the result.


It’s not perfect but it will do for the moment. I know next time I will need to add more oats to make it a bit more chewy as this is more brittle than I’d like. I also need to reduce the cooking time, or possibly the oven temperature, or both. And I need to use a smaller tin as this came out thinner than I would have wanted it to be. Over all though, it looks okay and it’s edible and it’s ‘only’ 148 calories a slice

This is the recipe I made but as I mentioned above, it needs a bit of tweaking to get it right for me. This is the basic recipe but I think that it is very flexible and you should be able to change things or add whatever you have to hand.

Seedy Flap Jacks

80g butter	80g brown sugar
60g golden syrup	Pinch of salt
110g rolled oats (next time it’s going to be 150g)	75g sunflowers seeds
60g pumpkin seeds	15g sesame seeds

1. Put on the oven to 180 degrees
2. Line a small baking tray with greaseproof paper, or grease a non-stick pan. Basically you need something to cook it in. My tray was about 23cm square and too big so something smaller than that would be good.
3. Melt the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup in a pan together over a low heat. Once it’s nicely mixed and runny but not boiling
4. Add all the other ingredients and mix well
5. Turn into the trap and level out pushing the mixture down with the back of a spoon or you could use a potato masher (I used a spoon)
6. Put in the oven and bake for 15 minutes – mine was in for 20 and came out crunchy
7. Leave to cool for a short while in the tray then lift out with the lining paper (if you used it) and mark out the slices, I did 16. Leave on a flat surface until cold.

This should keep for about a week in an airtight box, but I have never made any cake that has lasted that length of time – Yum

Starting Reasons

I am not a natural athlete. Running around when I was a kid was all well and good. I had fun, I climbed trees, I rode bikes, I did the things that kids growing up in the 70s did but as I got older and realised that motorbikes and cars could get you around so much faster and in a more fun way, I gave up on the running and riding.

Skip forward many years and at the age of 41 I decided to take up roller derby. It was fantastic, a real life changer, but with the joy of finding a sport that I actually liked came the realisation that I needed to get so much fitter. Roller derby is great for fitness and within a few weeks it was beginning to come together. Then . . . disaster. I fell over whilst skating and something went crack, well more CRACK!!! I sat with tears in my eyes daring myself to get up and see what part of my ankle would pop out of place and when I did nothing happened. It was a bit ouchy and my right ankle was a bit tender but nothing terrible had happened.

Throughout last summer it twinged and complained and sometimes swelled to impressive proportions but I kept on even though my skating was suffering as I couldn’t push out properly ‘cause it just hurt too much. Then in August I did the Goodwood Roller Marathon along with many of my fabulous team mates. After 5 and a half laps I was ok, slowing down but still keen and then it happened again. I fell.

My ankle complained and I along with it. I sat there on a boiling hot day on the side of the track watching skaters in all shapes, sizes and abilities go past. Some stopped to see if I was okay and I, in that brittle way of the British injured, said I was. After 30 minutes I got up and carried on: slowly, oh so slowly for the next 5 and a half laps finishing in a time of 4 hours 32 minutes.

And then I gave up roller derby – only for the short term – to give the 3, yes 3 ripped ligaments a chance to heal. After 2 months out, doing a bit of physio I went back and although it was better, I was nervous as in the intervening time I had put on loads of weight and was just not comfortable on skates. Then I got work away so was off from November until March then in April I finally left the amazing, supportive Sheffield Steel Roller Girls as I just couldn’t get myself fit and it was making me sad.

After wallowing for a few months I have decided that I want to be fit and I am still young enough to get fit so I have started to run. And be much more careful about what I eat. AND given up weekday (and mostly weekend) drinking. The running is horrible but I am doing it and I shall continue to do it until I am fit enough and my ankle is strong enough to start skating again.

So the moral of this?

Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get off your arse if you want to do something. If it is that important to you, you'll make the effort.

Back again (again)

Wow several months have passed but not a lot has changed.

The briefest of round ups.

Got a job in November: contract ran out in March. Now unemployed again.

Decided that since I was just getting further and further behind in Roller Derby that I have left the team for a while until I am fit again. Hopefully back in the autumn.

Seem to have also given up knitting which is not a good thing as I am falling way behind with my vast sock knitting enterprise. However on a more positive note, I have stirrings of interest again so this might be shortly remedied.

There you go - 5 months of life and not a moment of it lived.
Must do better!

Back to Work

Today is the first day back for the new year. I did work over the holidays but that was the old year, not this brand spanking new fabulous year so everything is that much better.

I'm currently writing up a report on a great site in Boston (Lincs) and looking out on a snow covered car park. I hope it's not going to stay too cold as I am back on site tomorrow and really would like to be warmer but it's very pretty too. I have brought along my knitting, let's face it, I hardly go anywhere with out something on the pins. This time I have my A Sock and I have the Wings of an Angel sweater test knit that I have been doing over the past few weeks. I meant to write more about it but somehow haven't managed to get round to it just yet. Will do soon though.

I should have it finished tomorrow so I'm hoping that I can have the snaps up and ready for the designer so she can see what a fab design it is.

New Year Plans (and a sock)

Happy New Year everyone (if you celebrate it). Do you have any resolutions? Why does the new year bring such things on in people? Anyway. I hope that this year is better than the last and that you enjoy yourself and make your and other people's lives easier.

I felt a bit lost a midnight but things have settled slightly and I am beginning to be a little more perky. Probably just that old feeling of being left out on things when I want to be in the middle of it all. However I know that when I'm in the midst I want to get out. See there's no pleasing some people!

I'm not sure what my plans are for this year. To keep working. To get things more sorted in my house. To be more creative. To smile and laugh more that's for certain. To buy less and use more of the things that I have about me. To not take people for granted and to try more. I'd also like to be fitter. So there you go - not much to that list is there. I should be able to get a few of those done in 365 days.

As part of my being more creative and using things I already have I have made a start on my sock for the UK Sock Knitters group on Ravelry. I'm doing Achilles Sock by Ingrid Marie. I'm using some space dyed 4 ply from Wingham Wools that I got years ago and from the looks of things this will be a quick knit (but only time will tell on that one).

New Year New Challenge

I have found a new project to play with over the coming year. The UK Sock Knitters group on Ravelry are having a Year Long A-Z KAL. Starting on the 1st of January we're going to be casting on a sock that starts with the letter A,then 2 weeks later it'll be a sock that starts with B and so on and so on until all of the alphabet is completed.

I went through my queue on Ravelry and deleted all of the projects that had been languishing there never being looked at and now in their place is a list of 25 fabulous sock patterns. The only letter I couldn't find was X but I'm sure that someone will design one in time or we can always play one of our two wildcards.

Luckily the socks don't have to be finished in the 2 week period,just cast on. As long as they are finished by Saturday 12th January 2012 then all will be well. Just as well really as I have selected some completed ones, some knee length ones, some easy ones, 4 ply ones, double knit ones, aran weight ones and some I have no idea what they'll be like as they have only had a few projects completed.

This is also a cunning way to get rid of my stash as I'm on a yarn diet until I get rid of most of my existing stash. In the future I want a stash that is full of beautiful yarns with which I actually make amazing things, not random balls of bits that could, if I scrabbled enough of the bits together could, if you squinted in the right light, look okay.

If you'd like to join us in this astonishing challenge then check out the UK Sock Knitters group on Ravelry. If you're not up to the entire year long adventure then it's quite all right to dip in and out as the weeks come up.

Skating mishaps

I was roller skating a couple of days ago, I haven't managed to get out and play much roller derby as the weather has been awful but also I have a new job that requires me to work away during the week. So in a frenzy (as much as you can get after over eating at Christmas) of energy I went skating with my friend at Skate central in Sheffield.

Now I know this rink fairly well, the Sheffield Steel Rollergirls train there and I have used it for practise many times. During the public sessions you always have to keep your eyes peeled for wayward kids, random falling adults and the occasional sweet or other bit of crud on the track. Well I did really well on the first bit and quite well on the second bit but was a completely failure at the third. A HUGE (well not that huge, okay it was fairly small) stone managed to get caught by my wheel and I fell.

This wasn't just tripping style of falling. Oh no,I landed with the grace of an unexploded bomb. Smash. Crash. Flat out. Hands hitting the deck. Body hitting the deck. Knees hitting the deck. It was shocking. As I lay there my first thought was "phew for my knee pads and wrist guards" but I also realised that my right knee was extremely painful so I gingerly got up and although it was a ouchy it wasn't too bad once I moved about a little. I sat out for a bit and then thought I'd have another go at skating but after a few laps I realised that it was a no go so we retired to the pub.

Sitting there in the warmth of the Rutland Arms we chatted and although my knee was sore it wasn't too bad. Until I got home a couple of hours later. By then it had swollen to a good size and was going a delicate puce colour. I managed to find a knee strap for it and by the next morning I could barely bend it and but I could still walk so I trotted off to work wearing the lovely sweaty neoprene strap.

Getting home from work that night I took off the brace and expected to find a swollen and angry looking knee instead I had this

How naff is that? I must have been the pads that helped. Can imagine how muchworse it would have been without them?

Anyway moral of the story if you want a moral. When going skating always,and I mean always wear your knee pads and wrist guards as a minimum.