BACK AGAIN! :) :)

I'm Baaaaack!!
Did you miss me?
Well I missed you!!! When I returned from my week away from my usual world (6 hour drive down south to Albany) I checked everything. Boy was that over whelming! Emails, face book, messages, blog posts- I had missed so much, all in the space of one week! So I decided that last week just didn't happen to me in the technological side of things and that I'd just start a fresh this week. To keep last week as simply the week that was camp!

I. Loved. Camp!

Now I usually hate camps- the only ones I've been on being school ones, so when I was getting ready to go on this one I was sort of apprehensive. Along with only recently publishing my post about orthorexia and how being in control of my food and diet has affected me simply added to this worry.

But that's the thing- camp helped me so much with that!

I wasn't in control of any of my meals, I was thrown out of my comfort zone and I was left with a choice on how I wanted this week to pan out. And you know what- I did it. Not only that I enjoyed it. I met brilliant people, formed extremely tight bonds with some and had the time of my life everyday without the constant worry of what I had eaten or how much sitting I had done.

I ate a lot of tofu because that's what the camp chef decided was my only source of protein ;) I ate processed foods like veggie soy sausages and heavily marinated tofu. Lot's of my food was fried in oil and there was significantly less veggies on my plate than I'm used to. I didn't have a shred of spinach for 8 whole days and not only that- no pumpkin!

And can you believe it? I survived! Haha, very funny. In all seriousness though this camp truly opened my eyes to the important things in life. Relationships with other people, good times, just hanging out and of course seeing as it was a Christian/ bible camp learning and loving God. I could finally see that the world would not end if I had a squirt of tomato sauce from a bottle or some dip that wasn't dairy free. I ate what I was given and I enjoyed it. The end.

Now that's not to say I wasn't absolutely thrilled to come home and cook up a storm with a bucvket load of veggies- because that's exactly what I did!

 Roasted pumpkin, carrot, swede, parsnip, beetroot, potato, sweet potato and brussels sprouts with some wilted spinach and two poached eggs!

 I missed my veggies!

 I will admit that after 8 days of a different style of eating my body wasn't all that happy. I did get quite a bit bloated after the white rice and lack of veggies and some other stuff that we don't need to go into detail about, but nothing too serious.

 Because we were always so busy on camp I know I ate quite a bit less than usual but I didn't even realise it until we sat down in the dining hall for the next meal and I was famished!

Also, breakfast was at 9:00am every morning and I was up at 5:30 am... so I did have a snack of something I had brought along to hold me through until second breakfast (apple/ muesli etc.)

That's the other thing I was looking forward to- smoothies for brekky!

 Along with chocolate steel cut oats!

 Topped with some coconut butter= YUM!

 I didn't have any yoghurt in the fridge so this smoothie was 1 frozen banana + 1 small frozen mango + 3 chunks of frozen spinach (didn't have any fresh stuff- must go grocery shopping) some chia seeds, LSA mix and oat milk all whazzed up until smooth:

 And very green!

 This filled me up nicely after my hour long run (another thing I missed) and tasted sooo good!

You know what they say- absence makes the heart grow fonder! And I definitely greatly appreciate being at home and all the wonderful things I can eat and do etc. Although I would go back to camp any day any time!

To sum my week away up in one word- helpful. It helped me realise that I wouldn't die if I didn't have a green smoothie, that I didn't have to run every day that I could just be with others and enjoy life. For that I am truly thankful!

Onto you guys:
Did/ do you go on camps?
Do you sometimes like taking a break from your usual routine?
Do you enjoy returning and being in control of your food again?

I have a lot to do today (school's starting back in a week!) so I best be going! Talk to ya later! Bye! :D

WIAW #25

Welcome, wacky, warm blooded, weirdos (sorry ran out of w words) to the weekly, wonderful Wednesday, wonderland of WIAW!
Thanks Peas and Crayons for the wicked link-up!

What an intro eh'?
Ok, moving on... to the eats!
After doing this little workout (gotta keep my legs strong for running... NO MORE INJURIES!!!) I was more than ready for breakfast, my favourite meal of the day:

Almost forgot to snap a picture of this one (note the few bites missing) as my memory card was still in the computer. Quick sprint inside, then back out (I had ice cream people!) and snappy-snap-snap!

Chocolate steel cut oats, with a few cacao nibs thrown in:

 Cashew butter ice cream:

1 tablespoon cashew butter + 1chopped frozen banana whazzed in the food processor (scraping down sides) until smooth :)

Filled and fueled for the day I did some blog stuff, cleaned the pool (took a good couple of hours!) then went grocery shopping for some much needed veggies! By the time I arrived back home it was 12:45pm and I was Hangry!

This must have been the fastest, while at the same time still filling, lunch I've ever thrown together (that wasn't a microwave pie!)

Cous cous with carrot, peas, corn, tomato, avocado and a torn up veggie something or other I picked up at the shops. Whatever it was it was good- kind of like falafel :)

Snack:
For the rest of the afternoon I went about baking some cookies and a red velevt cake for the family whilst watching the Hunger Games (don't you just love holidays?)

 Cookies based off this recipe

 Check out how red it is!

Red velvet cake based off this recipe

After all that baking, I was ready for a snack:

 2 small kiwifruits with some black grapes and a glass of soy milk ;)

And yes, if you're wondering, that is my printer that my snack is on as it has the best light at 4:00pm in the afternoon!

Dinner:
Dinner was easy-peasy simple-pimple with some steamed veggies (sweet tater, tater, pumpkin, kabocha, swede, beetroot and parsnip) along with some toasted sesame seeds and pine nuts, dried cranberries, lentils, spinach and chili tofu:

 You can't really see all the other stuff because I did it in layers and the top layer happened to be steamed veg ;)

Quite tasty!

What did you eat on this fine Wednesday?
What's your go-to-quick-to-put-together meal?
What is your favourite word starting with W ;)

See ya later guys! :D
Don't forget to check out what everyone else is nom-ing!

Coconut butter, oats and pesto!

Coconut butter, oats and pesto! Not all at once though... I wonder... no that's a bit far fetched even for me :)
First of all as promised I'm gonna show you a quick picture-ish tutorial about how to make coconut butter (using cheap-as-chips bulk bags of dessicated coconut!)
It's so simple I feel a bit silly, but why buy $10+ jars of coconut butter when you can make a full jar by using a $2-$3 bag of coconut!
Now step one:
Place a 500g bag of dessicated coconut into a large food processor:

Process for what seems like forever (is really about 10-15 mins) stopping every few mins to scrape down the sides, until the oils start coming together and forming a paste. Then blend for a few more mins to get a nice and smooth texture (mine was slightly gritty)

 Place in a jar (I just used a recycled peanut butter jar) and store away for future yums!

Simple pimple- put it in, process, your done!
It seems I was in a processor groove these past few days, as last night I decided to get my mini one out to make some kale pesto:

 You can find my traditional spinach one here, this recipe however was about 5 big leaves of basil, and then a big handful of torn up kale, placed in a food processor with a small squeeze of lemon, 1 heaped tablespoon nutritional yeast, 1 heaped tablespoon pine nuts and about 2 teaspoons of olive oil (add more if it doesn't come together) whaz until combined, then whaz some more to get it a nice light green colour and smoothy-smooth!
Did I make pizza? Pasta? No, no.. I made... steamed veggies!

Pumpkin, swede, beetroot, white sweet potato, orange sweet potato, brocoli, brussels sprouts, peas and some sauteed mushrooms, all covered in pesto! Mmmmm

 Finally my last food processor experience of late was some rich chocolate oatmeal, spiked with some raspberry sauce!

The oatmeal was steel cut oats + 1 chopped banana+ a sprinkle of chia seeds + 1 tablespoon raw cacao + 1 tablespoon cacao nibs + a dash of cinnamon + a lot of milk (according to packet instructions.. I used oat milk) placed in a saucepan over high heat. Once boiling, turn down heat and simmer for around 15-20 mins:

I always then leave mine to cool in my mug for 10 or so mins so its not too hot and is slightly thickened :)
The sauce? Frozen berries heated in microwave for 1:30 mins and then whazzed up!

And there you go!

 The berries really do lighten up the super rich oatmeal :) Yum yum!

I hope everyone has a great day and get those processors out and make something awesome! Ice cream? Veggie burgers? fro yo? :D

My 'perfect' morning routine

Phew! What a hectic week!
Of course I highly anticipated this and also of course, I didn't get into my usual prepping ahead and organising that I usually, meticulously, do when school is back on the cards. But we'll go into more on that in some later posts- for now, I'm just happy it's SATURDAY!

Snoopy happy dance totally happening over here!

Without a doubt, the best way to ensure that my day kicks off on an upbeat, positive and energetic foot, is to include my 'perfect' morning routine! I say 'perfect' because it is perfect! For meee! Someone else might find this to be the cruelest form of torture on the planet. Each to their own!

Firstly? Waking up! Specifically, waking up nice and early (unless I'm ssuupppeeeerrr tired, then sleep is higher on the priority list!) and now that it's Winter, that means waking up when the stars are still shining :)

Next? Water :) I drink lots of water because my body tells me it needs it- and then thanks me with feeling good :)
Then I researched why and discovered there was some actual science behind it:

After some water and a touch of blog reading (waking me up fully) I change into my running gear, stretch up the sleepy limbs, do some active stretches:

(really good for running!) and head out (or in- to the treadmill- as was the case this morning) for a quick run.
You may remember from this post that I've decided to take a break from my long (around 2 hours, 20km.. yep still can't believe I did those) runs and focus more on shorter and quicker runs.

The verdict?
Good decision! Apart from not stressing over getting to bed early enough to get enough sleep to wake up at 4:30am to run 20km (which, now that I look back on it, caused way too much stress for my liking) I've actually noticed some changes physically as well as mentally! I have more energy, I feel better, I don't have the runner's bloat that comes with super long distances, I don't get over-exercising head aches, or fatigue and I just feel... better!

So, today I ran it out nice and fast for 30 mins on the treadmill and felt great!
Something I had no idea about- how different shorter faster runs are compared to extremely long distances. I am out of breath about 10 minutes in to a quick run and quite worn out after only 30 mins- but in a really good way. Whereas I could run for 2 hours at a very slow pace and not collapse afterwards- but didn't feel the happy buzz of exercising.

Don't believe I get worn out after a quick run? I have picture proof:

Yep, sweat, puffing and frizz galore! We don't all look like models when we workout!

My final stage of a perfect morning?

BREAKFAST!!

(And maybe a shower first :)

This morning there were some overly-ripe plums in our fruit bowl, a small spotty banana, an almost-empty-jar of peanut butter and a girl with a slightly large obsession for oats ready for breakfast...

Can you guess what I did? ;)
Into a saucepan went 1/2-3/4 cup steel cut oats + 1 small banana + 1 juicy, chopped plum (I froze the other one for some plum fro-yo) + 1 cup almond milk + 1 cup water- cooked on medium heat for 20 mins, until liquid absorbed and the let to sit for another 5 to cool before adding in a few scoops of greek yoghurt for added protein and cheesecake-ness :)

Poured into an almost empty jar of peanut butter (with a little extra peanut butter in the middle and on top)

Mmmmmmm, this was so good!

May have gone a little over board with the peanut butter... but can you ever really go overboard with peanut butter? (I guess if you grab a spoon and the entire thing...)

Anywho, it was delicious, filled me up and is a great option for recovery fuel after working out

It also looks really pretty too- another fundamental element of my breakfasts (unless it's a chocolate green monster smoothie- no one can make that look pretty!)

That's what a perfect morning looks like for me! (Of course finishing it off with writing up a blog post ;)

What about you?
What does a perfect morning include for you?
Do you prefer running in the morning or at the end of the day? I've switched from after school to early morning- who knows maybe I'll switch back!
Favourite recovery breakfast? Oats, and lots of em'!

Well, I seem to have rambled on for far long than anticipated, so I'll leave you now to your weekend!Relax, have fun, take a breather (that's what I'll be doing!) and eat something delicious! Bye friends! :D