Chocolate, hazelnut and cranberry truffle balls {London marathon fundraising}

It has been far too long between fruit and nut truffle recipes. These go some way to making up for lost time. I think they are now amongst my favourite truffles (although I have a tendency to say that with all new truffle ball recipes!). The mix of hazelnut, cocoa, dried cranberries and coconut is gorgeously balanced, and utterly delicious.

Alas, my running this week has not been quite as perfect. I discovered the meaning of "hitting the wall" last Saturday, when I had an experience at mile 17 (of an intended 21) that I hope not to repeat in a hurry. My legs didn't want to move, I felt light headed and dizzy, and I wanted to sit on the pavement and cry. Having run 20 miles the week before, it was a disconcerting experience, only offset slightly by coming down with some kind of virus since. I'm glad to have a possible reason for my Saturday experience, but being unwell means I've missed some shorter runs too. I'm trying to remember that one disrupted week of training won't make or break the marathon, but it is frustrating.

Hopefully next week will bring full health and a smoother long run. In the meantime, these aren't a bad way to top up energy levels, irrespective of physical health.

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Hazelnut carrot cake oats

I haven't spoken about exercise on here for quite some time. I have a post on the topic in the making (or at least, I have a post in my mind...) but a key point is that I am registered for a half marathon at the end of September. It will be my third half marathon race, and my first organised running event for 2014. This means that my long runs are getting longer again, and nutrition is even more important to me than usual. Sometimes 'nutrition' means "I need carbohydrate now", but I do try to strive for the more balanced sense of the word most of the time!

Hazelnut carrot cake oats

My long runs happen on Saturday mornings, which mean Saturday breakfast is an important meal. Sometimes a jam-packed smoothie is the star of the show, but other days I want solid food. Yesterday was one such day and these hazelnut carrot cake oats were the result. I think they may now be my favourite porridge recipe of all time. Yes, they even surpass my recent chocolate zucchini oats! You don't have to be a runner to appreciate them either - I think this dish will be featuring across my weeks from now on.

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Vegan hazelnut praline chocolates, and spread - for 3 years of blogging

Today, Bite-Sized Thoughts turns three. I thought we could celebrate with chocolate.

I have commemorated previous blog anniversaries with raw dishes. In year one, there were three different types of raw vegan cheesecake (that post is still one of my favourites!) and in year two, there was raw sushi and raw chilli-cinnamon-sea salt chocolates.

When thinking about what to make this year, I was struck by my comment on raw food in last year's anniversary post: it is, to me, like kitchen alchemy. At heart, that is what I love about blogging. The magic of kitchen creations - and in my case, creations without animal products.

Today's recipe is not raw. However, I think it captures kitchen alchemy perfectly. The picture below shows the transition from whole hazelnuts to creamy hazelnut butter, in what may well be chemistry and physics at their best. 

Clockwise from top left: Roasted hazelnuts; shelled hazelnuts pre-processing;
after 5 minutes of processing; after 10 minutes of processing

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