The Things I Love Love Love!!

Happy Monday friendly friends!!

We're getting closer and closer to Christmas and are probably well under way with many celebratory dinners/ lunches/ catchups/ parties and just having fun!

And yet it seems that almost  every website I love to follow and frequent often (healthy living/ food blogs/ fitness etc.) are all centralised around one main topic at this present time; How to keep healthy/ maintain weight/ reduce kilojoules in this holiday season.

(finally learnt how to screen shot on a desktop!)

Now I'm not going to go off on a long rant about how the festive holidays and all the delicious treats and changes to normal routine only comes around once a year and should therefore be savoured and enjoyed, not stressed over and planned around to ensure you don't gain a single gram of weight!

Nope, I'm not going to go into that because I believe you are all smart enough to know that already and are instead focusing on the things (people and/ or food ;) you love these holidays! And so I am going to do the same!! :)

First of all, I love food. Food is healing, replenishing, rejuvenating, energising, tasty and down right happiness inducing. So these holidays I'm going to enjoy my food!

I love thick, chocolate smoothies:

 That require a GREAT amount of slurping energy to drink and also a spoon if required:

 I love bread and 'cheese' that doesn't give me a stomach ache (thankyou hommus, nutritional yeast and water) and tomato and combining them to make an old childhood favourite:

 Grilled cheese and tomato :)

 The crusty bit of my home-made wholemeal spelt bread topped with some vegan cheese, tomato slices and more vegan cheese:

 Popped under the grill at 180 degrees for 5-10mins until golden brown :)

 I also love my minions plate..

 I love super huge sandwiches filled with a rainbow of veggies:

 Hommus, veggie patty, spinach, grated carrot and beetroot, tomato, capsicum and avocado:

 And no, that is not a cucumber in the background, that would be my foam roller :P I was tricked for a second there too!!

 I love chocolate... especially for breakfast:

 Steel cut choc protein oats

 And I especially love warm, gooey oats with nut butter swirled throughout:

 I love, love, love roasted white sweet potato:

 As well as a big plate of ALL the roasted veg:

 And nothing can beat a cool refreshing smoothie bowl, topped with slightly warm, crunchy granola:

 Recipe here.

 And that's just the food!!
I love my friends, family, being together, watching corny holiday movies, baking, playing games, laughing, talking, soaking up the sun (Aussie Summer), the beach:

 I also forget how lucky I am to have a gorgeous white sandy beach at my backyard..

 And it truly fills me with so much joy to simply walk along the sand and just be.

Wow, that got a little lengthier than intended!

Your turn:
What do you love most about the holidays?
Best thing you ate this week?

I hope you all have a lovely day, be with those you love and as always; eat something delicious!! Bye for now friends! :D

PB2 and lovely links

Happy Sunday friendly friends!I hope you're all having a tremendous weekend so far (maybe getting some Christmas shopping done? I still need to start...)

Anywho, we don't need that kind of stress to think about on a day as relaxing as Sunday. No, instead we should be thinking about the really good stuff in life.

Like friends.

Family.

and FOOOD!

So when I was out grocery shopping yesterday I came across something that I had once again only seen on American blogs/ vlogs etc.

PB 2 ! I got kind of excited and spent all $11 (quite pricey!) on it to have my very own tester of the dried peanut spread creation.

So as to the directions I stirred 1 tablespoon of water with 2 tablespoons of PB 2, of course  quickly realised that i eat way more PB than that, added a bit more PB 2 and water and gave it a little try! Now I usually buy all natural peanut butter with no added salt or sugar and PB 2 actually has a little bit of salt and sugar in it, so the flavour was definitely a lot stronger and different to what I was used to, but I was pleasantly surprised how much it looked like PB and the identical texture it created when mixed with water!

I decided to top my breakfast of orange creamsicle oats (made with steel cut oats) with it (with some extra regualr PB dolloped throughout just for safe measure ;)

Yep, that's the dried stuff right there:

It was definitely a lot sweeter than I was used to and maybe a bit more peanutty? (I think maybe the salt brought that flavour out/ it was more concentrated in flavour having being dried/ sucked of moisture)

But I guess in the end, all natural, creamy, crunchy, honest to goodness peanut butter will always have my heart.

Because really- nothing can compare to that :)

And now, as it is Sunday I have some fabulous links for you to check out from the week that was!

Food:

Vegan Rustic Vegetable Spiral Tart

Creamy Beet Pasta With Beet Green Pesto

Apple Walnut Quinoa

Chocolate Peppermint Silk Brownie Bars

Gingerbread Banana Bread

Warm Salad with a Creamy Blueberry Dressing

Fitness:

10 Things People Who Exercise All the Time Know to Be True

What Month Are Top Marathoners Born In?

6 (Weird & Amazing) Workouts You Won't Believe Are Real

The 17 Best Foods to Eat after Exercising

Health:

Q&A Friday: Is orthorexia an eating disorder

Unhealthy Eating Habits To Ditch

20 Foods That Give You The Most Nutrient Bang For Your Buck

Good Reads:

Pregnant Runner Finishes Three Half Marathons, One for Each Trimester

23 Incredibly Disrespectful Things People Did To Food In 2015

What Does Your Favourite Smartie Colour Say About You?



I hope you found some good reads in there as  know I sure did! It always amazes me the sheer number of brilliant posts posted each and every week! Makes me very happy!! Enjoy the rest of your day, do something yo love and eat something delicious!! Bye for now! :D

Getting Oat-rageously creative!

Hidy-ho friendly friends.
I like oats, you probably like oats (unless you don't) so today you are going to enjoy a full post about...

OATS!!

YES!!!

Ok, ok I know oats may not be the most exciting thing in the entire universe but before you go jumping to such oat-rageous claims, hear me oat! (Ok, I'll stop now ;)

I love being creative with the different flavours I can add to my oats to keep them new and exciting (because let's keep it real here, I eat oats A LOT) and of recently I have come up with some rather delicious creations!

So read on below to find two of my (if I do say so myself) rather fabulous oat experiments that you just might like to try out yourself!

The first concoction to enter my bowl:

 Creamy lemon cheesecake oats:

Topped with a pool of melted coconut butter! Nom!

I've added citrus to my oats before (see orange poppy seed oats) so I already knew adding lemon to a creamy bowl of whipped banana oatmeal would be brilliant:

So into a saucepan went 1/2 cup steel cut oats with 1 chopped banana, sprinkling of chia seeds, zest and juice of half a lemon, 1 cup almond milk, 1 cup water- bubbled away on medium heat until all the liquid is absorbed (may need to add more). Then leave to cool slightly before adding in some greek yoghurt (optional) and transfer to a bowl (lined with coconut butter if you want the ultimate delicious experience) and top with more coconut butter!

Lemon-y, cheesecake-y, coconutt-y... this was a pretty good way to start off my day!

Big spoons is the only way to go:

I'll just let the pictures do the talking :)

My next oat success came in the form of chocolate... and orange.

Now, I was never really a big fan of the whole choc-orange combo.
My entire childhood was spent avoiding the deadly choc-orange chocolates in those mixed variety chocolate boxes people love to give as presents.
And then I made Mindy's tart for the first time and was converted. (If you're not a fan of chocolate and orange- MAKE THIS NOW- it is so good!

So these oats feature that traditional flavour of citrus and chocolate and boy-ohboy does it do it proud!

To make this guy I simply placed 1/2 cup steel cut oats in a saucepan with 1 chopped banana, sprinkle of chia seeds, 1 heaped teaspoon raw cacao powder, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 cup almond milk, 1 cup water, bubbled away until the liquid was absorbed (stirring every so often for about 15 minutes), before folding in 1/2 of an orange's zest. Then I folded in some greek yoghurt (again, optional) transferred to a mug (in thirds, as there was nut butter scattered throughout!) and topped with some cashew butter:

And once again, a big spoon of oats is utterly essential for full enjoyment of this flavour-packed delight!

There you have it! Two very different bowls of oats, filled with fresh, vibrant flavours to please anyone's palate and jam-packed full of wholegrains, vitamins, minerals, fruit, protein- it just doesn't get much better than a bowl full of dessert-flavoured oatmeal for breakfast!

Your turn:
Lemon cheesecake or choc-orange cheesecake? I don't think I can decide between them! It all depends on what I'm feeling like on the day!
Favourite oat cration you've ever made?
Typical ingredients you always add to your oats? Mine would probably be a thinly sliced banana. Nothing can beat that delicious creaminess with bonus sweetness!


I hope you all have a wonderful day, do something you love and, as always, eat something delicious. Bye for now friends!! :D

WIAW #76 Back to Old Favourites!

Hello there lovely people!

The week is halfway over already, can you believe it!? Where has this year gone?? Any who, I hope you've all had a great week so far, ready to finish it off with a bang- and if not a bang, then atleast with some delicious meals!!

Speaking of, it's Wedensday and on Wednesdays we share a full day of eats! WIAW style!! Thanks as always to Peas and Crayons for the creation of this weekly link-up and all the bloggers who participate and allow me to drool over their fantastic eats!

Now onto the FOOOD!

Breakfast: 7:10am
Back into the school routine of up early, brekky early, pre-packed lunches the night before and being super organised!

Holding no negative influence over my breakfasts though- they're still as big and delicious and filling as ever!!

A big bowl of blueberry/banana cheesecake steel cut oats with almond butter and peanut butter spread throughout!

There's nothing like a big bowl of oats to warm your heart!

This was also eaten after a short (but intense!!) blogilates workout- new favourite fitness craze of mine in case you were wondering! Cassey Ho is just so enthusiastic and motivating- half the time I don't even feel like I've been working out for that long because she would have been talking about the weather or something else!! ;)

So these oats were even more enjoyable as a result! (everything tastes better after a hard workout!).

Lunch: 1:40pm
Sorry about the blurry photo, but it was actually the clearest one I got (my camera has been acting up a bit lately) but in that tupperware container was some roasted-night-before cold potatoes and sweet potato (so good!), spinach, lentils and mixed four beans.

This lunch will never get old!

Snack: 4:00pm
When I returned home from school today I was rather ravenous, so I chopped up a granny smith apple and some honey dew and crunched on that with a mug of soy milk to wash it down.

 Homework followed...

Dinner: 6:45pm
Cooking motivation= 0, therefore favourite low-maintenance meal to the rescue!!

 Two boiled eggs with spelt bread toast soldiers (hommus and avocado) and some oven roasted eggplant, capsicum, zucchini and mushrooms rubbed with minced garlic and roasted for around 45 mins at 180 degrees celcius.

 After dinner featured a piece of Lindt Excellence 90% chocolate because I am hooked!! So delicious! :)


Your turn:
Are you a blogilates fan/ have another favourite fitness youtuber?
Do you like to stir greek yoghurt into your cooked oats?
Favourite low-maintenance meal when you just cannot fathom cooking?

I hope you all have a great day, do something you love, do something cool for someone else and if all else fails just smile- you'll feel better for it! Bye for now friendly friends!! :D