Last May I cycled along the Camino De Santiago route across Spain, 550 miles in all including two mountain ranges. On the very first day we had 14 miles of non-stop uphill.
A long way up!
You're probably thinking, what's this got to do with food? Well Hopie over at hopie's kitchen has laid down an energy food challenge. Her Mum is preparing to cycle 109 miles to raise money for research into blood cancers. Nearly 1 million Americans are suffering from some form of blood cancer and each year 53,000 die, I'm sure you'll agree it is a very worthy cause.
A long way up!
Naturally cycling all that way will require a lot of energy. Hopie's chalenge is to create a recipe for energy food, whether it is a main meal, snack or drink. I thought back to my time cycling in spain, the food that powered us up all those hills was flapjacks. They are ideal for cycling with as they easily be stuffed into a bag or pocket without coming to too much harm and are packed with energy, not to mention how delicious they are!My entry for this challenge is flapjacks, but no ordinary flapjacks. I made Chocolate covered banana, honey and walnut flapjacks! The banana flavour comes through really well, it also helps keep the flapjacks soft and moist. Honey and walnuts just seemed a good idea and what can't be improved by chocolate?
I am very pleased with how these turned out, this is exactly the kind of food I like to take with me when I go on long bike rides.Enter the energy food challenge here. Get your entries in before the 22nd November!
14 comments:
They look good!
Thanks so much for entering the challenge Sam!! Those look yummy and nicely packed with energy :-)
They are delicious, and I want some for my next cycle trip!
By the way Samuel, there are 3 ranges of mountains on the camino - Pyrenees, Monte de Orca, and Monte Leon.
They sound great and will help me to clear out all those frozen bananas.
Sounds delicious, I must bookmark this recipe for future baking!
There was a 100-mile cycling excursion here locally and the newspaper talked to this guy. He said that all he took were peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because he could pack quite a bit of calories into one sandwich. (I don't think he is a foodie... =p)
Messing with flapjacks is fighting words... but you have sure packed a lot of nutrition into a small space! How perfect for the challenge.
I thought flapjacks were pancakes. These look amazing! I love the banana chocolate mix - you can't beat those flavors together. Great recipe Sam.
What a clever recipe! My husband adores anything with banana, so I'll have to try this soon.
The term flapjacks had me puzzled, though, once I saw the photo. I think of pancakes when I hear flapjacks, but I see from wikipedia that in britian flapjacks are a bar-cookie! I love these lessons in cultural diversity! :)
Joeli: thanks, they were really good!
Hopie: It's a cool challenge, I'm glad you liked them.
Jo: Whatever!
Gemma: They're really good you should try them!
Christina: He doesn't sound like a foodie!
Foodycat: I know, it's sacrilegious but they were so nice!
Pam and Amanda: Is that some special kind of flapjack? we just call pancakes pancakes!
when you said flapjacks, i thought they were pancakes!! that's what we call them here. these look really great. i want your recipe!!!
i love working out, running, and cycling too so i'm always making little bars to take with me.
Not anything special, Sam, just synonymous among us Yanks. :)
Those flapjacks look fabubulous Sam, I'll have to make some for my husband next time he goes out cycling - even though the route won't be as beautiful as Camino de Santiago.
They sound fantastic and would certainly be packed full of energy
these look so good! I'll make some before my next race!
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