Derval O'Rourke's fit foodie: Granola, lentil dal and a mug of winter wellness
I love granola and I have an amazing recipe for it. This week I also profile a gorgeous lentil dal to get stuck into and a mug full of winter wellness.
PS .. I’ve been surrounded by runners in recent weeks, runners of all different standards but all with the common goal of enjoying it and making some money for causes close to their hearts. It’s been really uplifting to meet so many of them and I loved writing about them in my Fitness Focus this week (below).
Granola
I’ll be honest with you: Granola is always a winner for me. It’s the recipe that was most talked about from my first cookbook, Food For The Fast Lane. Whenever I do events I love to give out granola. Every week I make granola. It’s what my house smells of on a Sunday evening.
This recipe has stayed with me from being a professional athlete and bringing a Tupperware box of granola to races to becoming a mum and feeding my 15-month-old granola.
I’m constantly adapting it so here is the latest version.
100g jumbo porridge oats
50g flaked almonds
50g pumpkin seeds
50g sunflower seeds
50g walnuts
50g dried fruit
50g dessicated coconut
6 tbsp coconut oil, melted
3 tbsp agave syrup
A pinch salt
Preheat the oven to 180C. Place all the ingredients, except the dried fruit and coconut, into a large mixing bowl and mix until combined. Tip the granola into an ovenproof dish and bake for 20 minutes, stir occasionally. Add the fruit and coconut and cook for a further five minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Store in an airtight container.
Red Lentil Dal
Everyone can make a super easy and tasty lentil dal dinner. It’s a really healthy supper and a great way to have a lovely vegetarian dinner in your cooking repertoire.
This recipe will be beautiful the following day as the flavours come out even more so try to make enough for a few meals!
It will freeze well, it’s worth cooking enough to stock this in your freezer. This dinner will be done in simply one big pot, always good news when it comes to tidy up!
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely sliced
5 garlic cloves, crushed
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (Warning: this will add head to it, if you don’t like heat leave the chilli out!)
2 thumb size pieces of ginger, peeled and grated
2 tsp coriander
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp medium curry powder
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin coconut milk
300 mills water
3 potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite size chunks
250g red lentils
4 tbsp natural yoghurt
4 tbsp flaked almonds
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Heat the olive oil in a big pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for ten minutes, if the pot starts to dry out add a little water. Add in the garlic, chilli, ginger and spices and cook for 1 minutes stirring all the time.
Stir in the tomatoes, coconut milk, water and potatoes and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add in the lentils and simmer for a further 15 minutes, until the lentils are cooked.
Ladle the dal into warmed bowls. Serve with a dollop of yoghurt and scatter the flaked almonds on top.
Winter Wellness in a Mug
For years and years this drink has been a go to drink in my house.
In winter when it feels like I’m staring to get a little run down I make up a batch of this and keep it in the fridge in a jar.
I simply add boiling water and drink it in a mug. It’s a great drink for winter wellness.
Large batch for a few days.
A large chunk of ginger, grated
Juice of 3 lemons
1 tsp tumeric
Honey, as needed
Boiled water, as needed
Mix the ginger, tumeric and lemon juice in a small airtight container.
This is the base for the winter wellness drink.
Mix 2-3 tablespoons of the base with 1 tbsp honey in a large mug of boiled water.
Fitness Focus - For the love of running
I competed for years in sprints and I tend to train over short distances, but recently I found myself immersed in the world of long-distance running.
Myself and my “Fit Foodie” team had a stand at the Dublin Marathon Expo. This gave me a chance to meet thousands of people who were about to embark on the marathon.
This year it was the first Dublin Marathon held on a Sunday and it had the biggest field ever at 19,500 people. The change in day really helped with international entries, I met lots of lovely runners from all over the world.
I love to see people travel for sport and Dublin was buzzing from the convergence of all the runners.
The one common trait in the people I met was courage. To undertake 26.2 miles is a courageous task, it’s not something that you enter into lightly and it takes months of preparation. Regardless of your standard, to complete the distance is a marvellous achievement.
As I stood at my stand and chatted to people, the reasons for the courage became clear. Many are running the marathon for a great reason. I met Mark Lacey who pushed James Casserly, aged 10, the 26.2 miles in his wheelchair. They were raising funds for Barretstown. Their effort has raised over €40,000.
Their story is one of many that I heard during the two days. I had a box where people wrote down their goals and in the days after the marathon I was astonished by how amazing the goals were. People find strength in running and it gives them a way to process difficult situations. The love of running really brings out something special in people.
A few weeks after the in Dublin Marathon I found myself in Listowel as their official starter for the 10km run and the half marathon. It was a beautiful, sunny, winter’s morning in Listowel and a gorgeous setting for the runners.
Right before they started I chatted to some of the people running and again I was blown away by their various reasons for being there.
Running is a wonderful way to get fit but most people in Listowel were there to raise money for causes close to their heart.
As a child I just loved to run. It was that simple. And I was lucky enough to turn that into a career.
I see that love in so many people at events, to see that people love to run and that they are doing it for such great causes is incredibly inspiring.
