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

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