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 #35

Hidy Ho friendly friends! (Wow. Just wow, Steph)
How are feeling today on this fine Wednesday? Happy? Jolly? Christmas-y? I know I am!

In the glorious mood I'm in- I think I should talk about a glorious topic- FOOD! In particular- the food I have been nom-ing on. WIAW (on Tuesday) style! Thanks Peas and Crayons for this awesome link-up every week, where I always seem to find a fabulous new blog that I never knew existed!

Now onto the eats!
Tuesday was a day when the stomach wanted food. And a lot of it too. Hey- I'm only here to please!
So, bright and easrly, I skipped into the kitchen and nom-ed on a delicious medjool date and dried fig before lacing up my running shoes and going for a lovely run! Upon return, breakfast was created and bubbling away and lunch was being prepared too. Boy life's busy!
Breakfast:
On the breakfast scene was a big bowl of chocolate steel cut oats topped with mixed nut butter:

There was probably 1/2 cup steel cut oats with a scoop of choc protein powder, 1 teaspoon raw cacao powder, a few big dashes of cinnamon, sprinkle of chia seeds and 1/2 a banana with 1 cup of almond milk and 1 cup of water stirred in and then bubbled away on low heat for about 20 mins (left to cool for another 10 mins)

But that's not all. These weren't just chocolate steel cut oats, these were chocolate cheesecake steel cut oats!

Once they were done cooking I stirred in 2 spoons of greek yoghurt and let that sit for a few mins= deliciousness! It also makes it a bit more filling too :)

Can you believe I was still a bit hungry after this? Well I was! So I had a handful of green grapes  as well :)

Snack:
For my snacky snack at school I had a small pot of frozen peas. Yum. :) :)

 Lunch:
I sure was hungry when lunch rolled round as Tuesday happened to be our year day and we went ice skating. So after already running and then ice skating on top of that- feeding was required!

 This is a recycled pic because I was sort of in a rush but it's basically the same thing. A huuuuuge veggie sandwich with home made spelt bread, hommus, spinach, a veggie patty, grated carrot and beetroot, sliced tomato, capsicum, more spinach and top of bread. Yep.

Snack:
After school my snack of choice was a small fuji apple with some apricot and a glass of soy milk:

This apple was sooo crisp, sweet and delicious and the apricot was pretty good too!

Soy milk always tastes the same. Very, very scrumptious!

Dinner:
Dinner was another huuuge plate of food, (told you I was hungry) mainly veggies:

On top of a bed of spinach there was 2 scrambled eggs with garlic, pepper and garlic tofu, beside that was some steamed veg (pumpkin, swede, potato, parnsip and sweet potato and next to that was some roasted brussels sprouts and brocoli- so good!

Even after this mammoth of a dinner I still had a small handful of nuts because I was still a teensy bit hungry... (can you believe it!?!) you know what they say- growing boy girl! I'm lying- I think I've finished growing. Unfortunately I think I will remain this short.

What did you eat Wednesday? (or Tuesday, if you're like me)
Do you sometimes eat a lot on days you run/ work out/ do a lot of activities?
Do you like frozen peas?

Like snooping out what others are eating? Head on over to Peas and Crayons for even more eats!

Bye for now folks! :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!

Yes, I really do crave veggies

It's Friday, Friday! It's also the start of 2 weeks of holidays for me! If you can't already tell I'm extremely excited!
I started my lazy, not rushed Friday morning with a big almost empty jar of peanut butter filled with whipped banana cinnamon steel cut oats, with a side of mandarin slices and dates. Why? Because that's what my body really felt like today:)

This is exactly what I wanted to talk about today- cravings that may not make sense, but taste so amazing when fulfilled.

People often look at what I eat and think I'm on a crazy vegetable diet of some kind or that I'm torturing my body by stuffing it with steamed unmentionables (hello brussels sprouts)

I'm not crazy (entirely), I'm definitely not on a diet and I don't find eating brussel sprouts torturous.. I actually enjoy them (have for as long as I can remember)

Why have I all of a sudden started thinking of this? Last night I was craving veggies. Last night I ate a lot of veggies:

Baked sweet potato with coconut butter, some organic blue maize tortilla chips and half a plate of steamed greens (broccoli, brussels sprouts, beans, peas and corn (ok, corns yellow)

It was what I really wanted to eat so it all tasted absolutely amazing- especially the steamed greens.

I  also generally have more thanone craving at a time so the sweet potato and coconut butter satisfied my sweet/rich tooth..

And the tortilla chips satisfied my crunchy/salty tooth..

 On days when I don't eat many veggies, (I'm not gonna lie- these are very few. I just love my veggies so much!) I simply roll with it, because I know it's my body's way of telling me to ease up a bit, or focus on different nutrients it requires.

Some days I crave chocolate:

Overnight oats in an almost empty jar of almond butter with a side of chocolate-banana ice cream

This was my breakfast from a few days ago made by putting a chopped frozen banana, a few spoonfuls of greek yoghurt and some raw cacao into a food processor and whazzing until smooth. (scarping down the sides a few times)

It's what my body was telling me to have and it had never tasted better.

As you all know I also eat a lot of pizza. I won't ever say no to that craving:

You can find some of my favourite pizza recipes here, here and here

In conclusion (I had to write an essay yesterday if you hadn't guessed by my original concluding statement- yes they gave us an essay on the last day of school!) I have cravings, I satisfy them I'm happy. Most importantly I CRAVE veggies! I don't make myself eat them- I make myself cook them (or not) so I can eat them because I want to. Don't give me that look ;)
 

 

Sometimes a bowl/ plate/ glass full of veggies just hits the spot!

Make sure you satisfy your cravings not only for your tummy but your general well being! Happiness comes from listening to your body.

P.s. this is not a post giving you permission to eat that whole bag of chips or tub of ice cream. Satisfy your craving- don't over-do it because you never get to eat that kind of stuff. Moderation in any-thing is key... even my beloved vegetables :)

What are you craving right now?
Veggies. Love em or hate em?
Are you part of the minority loving brussles sprouts?

Catch ya later! :D