Food is amazing!!

Food, you are amazing.

Not only do you nourish our bodies with the nutrients- vitamins, minerals, fats, carbs, protein, fiber and everything else our cells need to survive, but you also give us a means to be creative, to explore your different physical and functional properties (hello egg coagulation!) and also create a party for our taste buds.

You are pretty much that perfect student who gets straight A's. That people actually like to be around... ;)

So today I thought I would show you how in the last 24 hours food has given me a creative outlet, nourishment for my craving/needy cells and a whole lotta party for my taste buds!

For Easter we were having a family lunch with my grandparents.. which meant food... which meant I was cooking dessert (I have been permanently assigned dessert duty- mainly because I have permanently baggsed it ;)

An image of an Easter cake flashed through my head and I searched through my large collection of Taste magazines in order to find what I was looking for- this guy!

Chocolate bought, pans lined, oven pre-heating, I got to work!!

The finished product:

A rich, moist (sorry!) chocolate mud cake (similar to a brownie recipe), covered in chocolate ganache with a pine nut (didn't have almonds) praline, spun toffee nest and truffle 'eggs'. (As I didn't have my own Easter egg moulds and the supermarket we went to had sold out of Easter eggs. On Easter. Can you believe it? Well, yes, I can actually ;)

 So I simply entered in plan B and made some easy Easter truffles (crushed biscuits, coconut, condensed milk- stirred together, rolled in cocoa powder)
Job done!

 I love, love, love baking and creating desserts and seriously don't mind not eating my creations! It's the question my friends always ask me:
'How can you make something like that and not want to eat it?'
My answer:
'I make things because I love to make them, I love simply creating awesome things!'

 I was still feeling a little tired and sore from my long run on Saturday, yesterday, so I knew I needed to fill my body up with lots of nutrient dense foods.
Enter dinner:

 An oven baked sweet potato with cashew butter (Mmmmmm) taco spiced beans, peas and mushrooms, roasted in the oven for 15 mins at 180 degrees celsius, and some air popped pop corn. So much yum!

 Low-GI carbohydrates from Mr. Sweet Potato, awesome healthy fats from cashew butter, protein + fiber from bean/pea/mushroom mix and wholegrain goodness (plus so much deliciousness) from the popcorn- who could ask for anything more?

And finally, the food that gave my taste buds a party!
This morning's breakfast:

Creamy green smoothie

 Plus brazil/cashew/almond nut butter granola

 Equals an amzingly delicious (and healthy!) breakfast!

 For some reason both the smoothie and granola were on point more than usual and just tasted so, so good.

 Food is amazing.

What about you?
Did you cook up an Easter treat for dessert yesterday? 
What foods nourish your body?
Favourite foods that give your taste buds a party?


That's all from me today folks! I hope everyone's enjoying their long weekend and having lots of fun/ happy times with friends and family! Challenge for today- give someone a BIG hug! :) Bye! :D

Healthy eating= boring???

Healthy eating= boring.
How many times have I heard someone ( *cough* brother, friends, peers at school, people on tv etc.) say this. If I had a burger for every time someone said this.... the world would be forced to eat healthy because there would be a burger shortage! (Hmmm, plan?)

Ok, maybe not ;)

Any who, it bugs me! I mean sure steamed broccoli and plain old celery sticks are considered healthy... but if you think that is all that's considered healthy, boy do I have news for you!!

I find it utterly hilarious when my friends gawk at me when I tell them the basic outline of my diet (vegetarian, no processed sugar, low wheat, no cow's milk- just can't tolerate it, and very little processed foods) and then come out with the typical question of; 'What do you eat then?' The hilarious part of all this is telling them about the last meal I ate and watching their reactions.

' Oh, you know a super rich chocolate-y pudding like creation.'
'That would be some peanut butter banana ice cream.'
'A super yummy veggie pizza.'

I don't know about you, but if I'm going to nourish my body with the best possible foods... as well as eat for the rest of my life- it's going to be tasty!

Without further ado I present to you an insight into the utterly delicious meals (and extremely healthy) meals I enjoy on a daily basis. What even is deprivation?

The smoothie bowl:

I. Love. Smoothie bowls. I reckon they are one of the tastiest ways to get so many nutrients into your body. Fill the smoothie up with fresh/ frozen fruit, greek yoghurt, tons of greens (that you can't even taste!) and you're good to go!

This guy was 1 chopped frozen banana + 1/2 chopped frozen mango + 1 handful of kale + 1 handful spinach + 3 big scoops greek yoghurt + 1/4 cup water- whazzed until smooth!

So much goodness! Then to top it off (literally) some home made granola (super easy and delicious!) to add the fibre, wholegrain goodness and filling healthy fat to the meal!

Simply microwave 1-2 tablespoons nut butter with 1/3 cup milk (I use almond milk) for 30 seconds and then pour on top of 1/2 cup muesli and stir to combine (rubbing may be required) Bake in oven at 180 degrees celsius for 15 mins and voila! Some crispy, mainly doughy granola to top your smoothie off!

Healthy is...

That spoon full of joy!

Lunches can be just as tasty, if not more, especially when you know a few tricks of the trade in the vegetable department!

For example roasting deliciously sweet pumpkin, sweet potato and red onion with a little olive oil and ground cinnamon to create a deeper, richer flavour! (roasted for around 30-45 mins at 180)
Then marrying those flavour together with some cooked pearl barley, spinach, drained chickpeas, chopped fresh coriander and lemon juice:

Don't mind if I do!

Those are just two of the ways healthy meals can be great! I could go on for days... but then I feel like this blog post would be too long. Maybe.

What about you?
Do you ever forget how awesome healthy food can be?
Do your friends ever use that as an excuse to why they don't like healthy food?
Favourite meal that is healthy and tastes out-of-this-world amazing? 

I hope this has given you some inspiration and as usual I will always be popping in with fun new recipes to try when your lacking inspiration in the healthy (but ridiculously tasty) department!

Have a great day and make something that not only makes your bod feel great, but also you entire being :) Bye! :D

Be Back Soon!

Happy Friday everyone!!

 Who's excited for the weekend? ME ME ME! Whyza? Becuaza I'm ma going camping!

Yeah!
 So unfortunately that means a little holiday from blogging with you guys- but I'll be back baby! Bigger than ever! Maybe... :P
Any way- before I head off on my little adventure I'll leave you with something I seem to like to talk about a lot... that be food in case you were wondering!

 Pink food!
Seeing as I'm going away I don't know how much control I'll have over my food so I've decided to eat all of my favourite foods until I go. Starting with this delicious breakfast of frozen grape and blueberry ice cream topped with nutty granola!

 The 'ice cream' was simply I large frozen banana + a handful of frozen grapes and blueberries whazzed up in a food processor until ice creamish. (Placed in freezer until ready to eat)

 Then topped off with the cooled granola:

 Soooo good!

 On the menu tonight, I'm thinking pizza. Yep definitely thinking pizza.
Who knows maybe I'll do a pink beetroot base? Maybe the theme of the day will be pink? Only time will tell!!

What I do know- this brekky is good, you should try it and then wait until I'm back next week to thank me. Because you'll want to thank me. ;)

 Seriously- who wouldn't want dessert for brekky? (besides all those people who prefer savoury breakfasts).

 Any who I best be going to finish up some packing- I just know I'll forget something!

I hope you all have a great day and then a great weekend and then a great week and I guess I'll see you guys soon!

Will miss you!!

Bye! :D

Catching up

Happy Friday friendly friends! Anyone else like Friday? Of course you all like Friday!

 Any-who, I feel like we haven't had a sit down and talk for quite a while now, it's been all the recipes/ link-ups/ all the other stuff! You wanna just talk? About food? Ok let's roll!

Firstly, I did not know you could make your own popcorn just by bying plain popping kernels and putting them in a bowl in the microwave/ in a saucepan (both requiring a lid of some kind) until just a couple months ago.

 I always thought popcorn only existed in those paper bags that had microwave instructions and heaps of oil and salt in them, or already popped at the movies, or in packets at the shops.

 I know, I know... really Steph? Really? So ever since I realised how easy it was to make plain old air popped popcorn without any butter/ oil/ salt, I've made sure I made up for the time I was without the pretty puffed corn.

 Like yesterday's lunch for example!

 This was exactly what I felt like and therefore exactly what kept me full and happy and satisfied (which is the same as full, but I ran out of words ;)

 It featured this delicious oven roasted sweet potato, which was then cut open, fluffed with a fork and then drizzled ( or dolloped..) with almond butter.

 A fresh crunchy salad of spinach, capsicum, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, lentils, red kidney beans and peas.

 And a pink bowl of popcorn. For some reason I always end up making waaaaaay too much popcorn and so this bowl was actually only half of what I popped. Lucky for siblings sitting nearby with similar popcorn fetishes. :)

Oh and I'll just throw in another photo of my baked sweet potato... because it was that good (almond butter and sweet potato has to be one of my favourite combos EVER)

 Moving backwards from lunch to breakfast- y'all know how much I love my smoothie bowls, right?

 Well, recently I've been feeling slightly under the weather (the cold hasn't come yet but I think it's trying to break down the door) so when I saw Amanda's post about her favourite green smoothie and how she uses fresh orange juice as her liquid, I thought that this would be a great addition to my fav green smoothie + help with the on-coming cold  and so subbed it in for the milk.

 Topping my spotty-dot bowl off with some peanut butter granola!

 Simply mix together 1/3 cup rolled oats, a handful of chopped raw nuts and a small handful of cranberries and raisins (chia seeds= optional) then place 1 heaped tablespoon on peanut butter in a small bowl with 1/3 cup milk (I used almond milk) and heat in microwave for 30 mins- stir then add to oats.

 Place in the oven (180 degrees celsius) for 15 mins or until golden :)
Topping off the yum-tacular green smoothie:

 And then devoured....

 The orange juice in the place of milk gave the smoothie so much life and zing! It tasted sort of tropical and fruity and the extra vitamin c is a big tick!

 The peanut butter granola just made the whole thing sparkle.

 With deliciousness :)

 So, whenever I'm feeling a cold coming on, I know what to do! A big bowl of hot chicken soup cold creamy nutty smoothie bowl will do the trick!

 I still think this is the best 'cereal and milk' on the planet ;)

 Great fuel for a day of Christmas present shopping, wrapping and working on my secret project (whilst belting out the odd carol or 25).

So there you go. A little catch up into the food of my life. No wonder I'm in such a good mood! I definitely believe food has the capability to turn a bad day into the best day- it has magical powers you know. :D

What about you?
Do you like Fridays?
Do you pop your own popcorn?
Does food change your mood?

Well I'm off- I hope everyone has a good day, eat something yummy and enjoy yourself. Do something you love. Be with the ones you love. Smile. Catch ya later! :D