Athletic eating.

Hello, hello friends.
No don't worry I haven't started eating competitions or stuffing my face in an athletic manner, or taken up sprinting and javelin whilst eating. What I meant by athletic eating was what I ate on the day of my school's athletic carnival :)

You might remember from this post and this post me mentioning that I couldn't run because I did something to my ITB band/ muscle thingy down my leg.

Well, I had signed up for 4 different running events and long jump before this happened, so with the help of my wonderful physio's remedial massage (I have bruises to prove how wonderful) and some acupuncture and some taping... I could compete!

Good to go!

I went equipped with a little chemist in my bag. Voltaren gel, snap ice packs and extra tape. 

The real way I prepared myself for today? A good hearty- DELICIOUS- breakfast:

 Chocolate steel cut oats and berry froyo (frozen berries whazzed up with greek yoghurt)

 Using this method, I heated up 1 tablespoon of cashew butter and spread it round!

Full of protein, complex carbs and good fats- I was ready to start the day!

Chocolate not up your alley?

How does overnight oats mixed with mango fro-yo sound:

 With some bananas split in half and smothered in peanut butter?

 Stirry-stir:

 YUM!

 In relation to how I did in the carnival... not great to be honest :D

I sort of expected it... I didn't lose anything (second last isn't losing!) and I did come 4th in the 800m (out of like 25 girls) so I guess I'm sort of happy, it just means no inter-school this year. I was pushing it competing anyway!

But there you have some great brekky's for a busy/ tiring/ energy requiring day!

What did you have for brekky?

Are you a sprinter or long distance runner?

How do you feel about acupuncture? (I might talk about this in a later post :)

See ya later! :D

Food: why do you have to be so awesome?

Hi my name is Stephanie and I love food.
Hi Stephanie
Wow, that sounds familiar (cough cough)

 Yeh ok, I know...
Anyway- food is just soooo amazing! The way it tastes, smells, feels, looks, and the things that happen when you combine these features, or heat them up, or whip them or bake them or fry them or chop them or... ok you get the picture.
While I was making some meals recently I noticed all of the different things I did to my foods to make something new and exciting and create great flavours etc.

Like with a green smoothie; it's super simple to make, but it's the things you add together and the fact that you blend it right up that make it so tasty! I mean I wouldn't want to eat a bite of bana and then a bite of kale and them sprinkle some chia seeds into my mouth!

 And granola- by first creating a muesli by combining oats, raisins, and nuts and then rubbing in nut butter and baking in the oven you've created s masterpiece.

And further still, combining the two textures of crunchy and smooth and also nutty and sweet, you've got a party right there in your mouth.

I thought about oast and they intrigued me further- raw oats are great, but then adding a liquid and heating them up to create oatmeal- totally different! Then adding flavours and textures... well lets just say breakfast looks pretty inviting:

Chocolate steel cut oats with a side of PB+J yoghurt
Don't even get me started on the beauty of whipping up your own flavoured yoghurts- I'll just show you:

(greek yoghurt, frozen berries and peanut butter)

I've got to say though, it's breads that fascinate me the most- loaves, pizza doughs, flat breads, you name it- I think they're awesome!
So I experimented at dinner last night to create my own little flat bread... wheat free... grain free!

Whazzed up some yellow and green split peas, until I could sieve out some flour, added some chickpea flour and mixed.

Along with some olive oil, chopped chili, crushed garlic and torn basil and water until I got this:

(naturally green from the split peas :)
Flatten it out and place it on a hot non stick pan- flip when golden:

Y-U-M!
So I don't know why this sudden thought of how awesome food is and how far we have come to creating delicious meals with the use of all the things mentioned in my intro, but I'm just glad humans eat food (I guess I'm thankful we're not robots?) and that we also have creativity to make said food special!:)

I'm also super glad it's the weekend and hope everyone has a fabulous one! :D

Secret project revealed!

You may have remembered in this post I talked about working on a secret project that I would reveal to you on a later date. Well today is that later date!
First of all though, I needed a good hearty breakfast to help me power through! (the whole 9 hours it took me! I did not do it all in one day:) And you know the bestest, heartiest breakfast always feature a little...
CHOCOLATE!

Super-duper green smoothie (1 frozen banana + a handful of frozen mango +kale+ spinach+ rice and soy milk)
and.... a cup of extremely chocolate steel cut oats:)

1/3 cup steel cut oats+ 1 scoop choc protein powder + 1 tablespoon raw cacao + dash of cinnamon + 1 cup (maybe more) milk of choice.
Bubble away for 20 mins (add milk if neccessary) then sit for another 10.
Then.. stir in some coconut butter for good measure:

YUM!
Now onto the project!
Initially I wanted to do a chalk board wall, but then I found a poster I had made ages ago and decided to wall-ify it...

 It's my little motivational wall now :)

So colourful.. perfect!
After a job well done I celebrated with PIZZA!
What kind of pizza? Well, there was pumpkin involved:

Which formed into dough:

Yes it's my famous pumpkin pizza dough!
Recipe for the dough is linked above. Then I topped it with-you guessed it- pesto ;)

Walnut and spinach this time.
I also topped it with some black olives, mushrooms, dried tomatoes, sliced tomato, capsicum, beetroot and vegan cheese:

And after 45 mins of resting the dough:

I punched it down, rolled it out and topped it off!

Placed in an oven at 180 degrees for about 30 mins:

And gobbled up:)

I hope you like my art (both with my wall and my food) and have a great weekend! :D

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