An Oat Bar Recipe... Without Oats!!

Hi friends, happy whatever day of the week it is because I'm too frazzled to even remember!

But thankfully, I have enough brain power to type up a recipe (probably not to create one, what with hot elements and cooking etc.- so lucky for me I cooked this up on the weekend!!) and so get ready because...

This 'granola bar' recipe is oat free, sugar free, wheat free, dairy free, ancient grain filled, extremely delicious, filling, protein filled and quite simple to prep together for a make-ahead brekkie/ snack!

The majority of my make-ahead, convenient recipes are as a result of me requiring a make-ahead breakfast to grab running out the door for a few hours later.. and this recipe is no different!

I had a pre-brekky of plain greek yoghurt mixed with frozen banana slices (so yum!) an then grabbed my frozen granola bar wrapped in foil to enjoy approximately 3-4 hours later for second breakfast!

 Pic

Now, I'm not usually a fan of eating plain quinoa or plain buckwheat on their own, like my usual obsession with plain brown rice. Instead I seem to cook them into delicious, sweet breakfast (enter rich chocolate buckwheat 'porridge'.)

So when I needed a bake and then freeze-ahead recipe (ok, it didn't have to be bake, but the chocolate fudge brownie was getting a little old- though still so, so tasty!!) but wasn't really feeling the oats (I think I'd had oats about every day for the past week!) so instead I rummaged through my pantry shelf and pulled out some quinoa and buckwheat groats. Let's cook!

Quinoa and Buckwheat, nutty, cinnamon-y, coconut-y 'granola' bars!
Ingredients:
2 heaped tablespoons quinoa
2 heaped tablespoons buckwheat groats (add more if you're a hungry beast like me!)
1 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
sprinkle of chia seeds
small handful chopped mixed raw nuts
2 dates, chopped
1- 2 teaspoons coconut oil

Method:
1. Preaheat oven to 180 degrees celsius, line a mini loaf tin with baking paper (or alternately line a ramekin)

2. Rinse quinoa and place in saucepan with buckwheat, cinnamon and  almond milk in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until absorbed (add some extra water if liquid absorbs and quinoa and buckwheat are still crunchy!)

3. Stir in chia seeds, nuts and dates
4. Pour into mini loaf tin or ramekin, flatten with a spoon/ hands and place in oven for 20-30 mins until golden brown

5. Leave to cool and then cover in foil/ gladwrap and pop in the freezer overnight or until whenever required.

And this is me enjoying my oat-free granola bar during my break at work:

 NOM :)

It may not look like the most vibrantly coloured meal- but boy did it taste good and leave me energised and full for hours!!

All in all, this is such a great, healthy, filling, nutrient dense recipe that I reckon all of you should make when you're in a time-jam and need some awesome food to positively fly through your day!

Your turn:
Are you a fan of granola bars?
Do you make your own homemade versions? What do you put in yours?
Favourite way to use quinoa/ buckwheat?? I'm keen for some more ideas!!

Alrighty! I hope you all have a fabulous rest of your day/ week, nourish your body, love your body! Smile lots, love more and as always; Eat something delicious!! Bye for now friends! :D

The smoothie bowls are back in town!

Hi folks, how are we all today? I'm pretty fabulous because it's almost Summer here in Aus. The good fruit is coming back in season. The bright sun is warming up the place and I've been craving smoothies like it's no body's business. Especially smoothie bowls!

 Post

I started this blog back when it was Summer, so if you're a long term reader, you've probably seen a few of these bowls... however they seemed to disappear for a bit in winter in favour of my warm comforting oats!

Don't believe me? Here's a look at the past few weeks:

Cannot get enough!
This is my kind of cereal and milk!

All the granola in the pics are home made and you can find lots of different recipes for them on the blog here, here, here, here and here!
There are also heaps of different smoothie recipes on my recipe page:) So get cracking on those smoothie bowls. It sure does beat soggy flakes of processed stuff in bland milk!

I am not a creature of eating the same thing day-in-day-out, so I either change up the smoothie.. or change up the granola. Usually just the flavour of the granola, but the other day I changed it's very form!

My smoothie base consisted of 1 chopped banana (didn't have any frozen ones left) a handful of mixed frozen berries, a big handful of spinach, 3 big scoops of greek yoghurt and a splash of almond milk all whazzed up in a blender until smooth. Poured into a bowl and placed in the freezer until ready to eat.
I wasn't ready yet because I was making my granola.. balls:

:)
All I did was make a typical granola (1/2 cup muesli in a bowl with 1/3 cup almond milk and 1 tablespoon of peanut butter heated together in microwave and then rubbed into muesli) and formed into balls, before baking in oven at 180 degrees celsius for 15 mins until golden. Left to cool slightly because you don't want a warm smoothie!

 It's like the breakfast version of meatballs in sauce :D

Ok, probably not the best comparison, but you have to admit they look quite similar ;)

Before I go I wanted to leave you with a smoothie no bowl included that was absolutely fabulous and that you should make right away (It would work wonderfully in a smoothie bowl too :)

 This was 1 chopped frozen banana + 1 handful of frozen red grapes + 3 scoops of greek yoghurt (omit if vegan- or sub in vegan yoghurt) a splash of almond milk (it all depends on how thick you want your smoothie)

 It's extremely creamy and makes you question whether or not you added ice cream to the mix! Seriously, if I hadn't made this myself I would be interrogating the maker to prove there was no cream/ ice cream- frozen bananas are amazing!

Y-U-M

Your turn!
What's your favourite smoothie?
Do you like green smoothie? I know some people get freaked out by them- not me!
Smoothie bowls- best things ever or what?

Bye for now friends! :D

Fav Links of the Week!

Happy Sunday friends!!!

And happy much needed rest day for me! Phew was last week an intense/ tiring/ full-to-the-brim week of 5:30am wake ups, sweaty workouts, full school days and then homework/ study thrown in there too! (as well as all the other commitments that come with my roles in the school!)

So, yes, when I woke up naturally this morning to the sound of nothing more than the windy howl of a winter's day in Aus, it was so nice to just lie for a few extra minutes, smile gratefully at the extra rest and recovery my body deserves and then slowly make my way about my morning to tick off some random errands here and there- waking up, making breakfast, showering, blogging, Instagramming, off to a uni open day and then finishing off my study for the weekend... pretty  cruise-y! :)

If you're anything like me, the very mention of eating breakfast is the first thing to spark my attention in that long-winded paragraph, on account of I want to know what the breakfast was, see the beautiful, nourishing food and witness the very image of what was consumed.

Well, here you go:

Exactly what I wanted when I woke up this morning; hit the spot and definitely filled my body with loads of the good stuff to rest and repair properly for the week to come (definitely don't think I ate enough yesterday after a tough hills session and was ravenous all day!!).

A deliciously creamy green smoothie with warm, crunchy home-made almond butter and peanut butter granola :) Eaten separately because sometimes I like to enjoy each of the textures and tastes separately- you know, the soggy cereal thing??

The smoothie was simply 1 frozen banana, 1 handful frozen persimmons, 1 handful kale, 1 handful spinach, 3 scoops greek yoghurt, splash of water et, voila!

The granola was extra special as the almond butter half was made with freshly made almond butter I whipped up the night before in the Vitamix- so, so good! You can find almost identical recipes for my granola here, here and here!

Yum!

Now, onto some of the links I've been loving in the small pockets of time when I actually get to chill-out and blog read during the whirlwind of the weekdays!

Food:

23 Meal Prep Photos That Are Almost Too Perfect

10 snacks with 10 (or more!) grams of protein

HEALTHY HIGH PROTEIN ROCKY ROAD BLENDER ICE CREAM

fudgy double chocolate mug cake

Fitness:

What Makes Running Memorable?

Health:

Gaining Weight Is Hard.

are you addicted to food?

Good reads:

Is The Five-Second Rule Legit Or Nah?

I DIDN’T WORKOUT FOR HALF A YEAR + THOUGHTS ON FLEXIBILITY

My Body (And Her Body) is Not Your Measuring Stick

Alrighty, I hope you found some interesting/ inspiring/ delicious reads in there and now I have to rush off to the uni open day! Quite excited- life is starting soooooon!

Your turn:
What day is your designated rest day/ does it change from week to week or how you're feeling?
Breakfast today?
Favourite way to eat granola? Generally I'm a big fan of smoothie bowls, but every now and then I just love to separate the two and enjoy them both equally :D

As always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS, and get ready for some more posts coming at ya through the week! bye for now friendly friends!! :D

Back...again and foods that fix me up!

Happy Saturday everyone!!
Phew- another night away, and back again!

This 'camp' was my year 12 study retreat in which we learned about our brains, various study techniques, did some activities, caught up with those we hadn't seen for the entire Summer and spent the night.

I think I've finally figured out why I'm always starving on camps for teens. See they give us heaps and heaps of carbs (I was so over rice and pasta!!) and yet no healthy fats at all. I ate my usual large servings of food and found that merely an hour later I was starving. And also, snack times revolved around brown fried foods (think sausage rolls, samosas etc.) and when I asked them for a piece of fruit they looked at me as though I was crazy.

I guess it is safe to say that I am glad I am home now for good for the time being as I've been missing on my nut butters, smoothies and large amounts of veg.

This is how I celebrated coming home after yesterdays return:

Two soft boiled eggs with multigrain hommus and avocado soldiers, sauteed mushrooms, tomatoes and capsicum and some nutritional yeast kale chips (wash kale, rub in nutritional yeast, bake at 180 degrees celsius for 10-15 mins until crispy.) with a glass of soy milk.

This helped ease the painful food baby/ bloat a little bit but I'm still hanging onto some nausea that's sprung up over the past few days. For some reason I feel like it was the overload of acidity in all of the dishes they served us and now whenever I think of lemon juice, or vinegar or something like that I feel quite queesy!

I also very much enjoyed preparing my own delicious breakfast in which I could add all the healthy fats and filling protein and veggies I desired!

That my friends is a black berry not-so-green green smoothie with a side cup of warm cashew butter granola :)

Into the Vitamix went 1 sliced banana (didn't have any frozen ones :() 1 handful chopped frozen zucchini, 1 massive handful spinach, 1 handful frozen blackberries, 3 scoops of greek yoghurt and 1/2 cup water- whazzed up until smooth!

When I woke up this morning I realised- to my utter disbelief- that I didn't have any nut butter in the house!!! So I grabbed about 2-3 handfuls of cashews, chucked them in a mini food processor and processed for around 15 mins (scraping down edges occasionally) until smooth and creamy. Voila! Single serving cashew butter!

To make the granola I mixed together around 3/4-1 cup rolled oats, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, sprinkle chia seeds, 1 tablespoon oat bran and 2 tablespoons cashew butter and almond milk warmed together in microwave, and rubbed until combined. Popped in the oven on a tray lined with baking paper at 180 degrees celsius and baked for around 15-20 mins until golden brown and fragrant and DONE! Delicious, cookie-like granola chunks for brekky!

Smoothie + cashew butter granola bites= Happy, happy Steph :)

And I most definitely need to keep my strength up today as tonight is....

MY BALL!!

Crazy stuff! I definitely do not feel like a year 12 student and have no idea where this ball came from (out of nowhere perhaps??) but I am super excited and can't wait to see the rest of my year group looking utterly amazing and beautiful! It's going to be great!

Your turn:
Do you find that when you go away there is a lacking of healthy fats on offer?
Favourite fix-me-up dinner you make when you haven't been eating your usual foods?
Any funny ball/ prom stories??


I hope you all have a great rest of your weekend, doing something you love, treating your body kindly and as always; eating something delicious! Bye for now friendly friends!! :D

WIAW #61 A few strange ones ;)

Happy Wednesday friends!!
I must admit I have been enjoying these few days after exams and am literally doing nothing (except of course attending school... because, you know, for some reason I still have 3 weeks left until term break!) other than that I've been giving my brain a break, enjoying delicious food and getting my life back together (you know how un-important organisation becomes when you are going through a stressful/busy part of life!)

What delicious food you ask? Well it's a good thing it's WIAW! Below features a full day of eats from Tuesday, a rest day filled with all the yum! Thanks as always to Peas and Crayons for hosting this awesome link-up each week and gifting me with so much meal inspo!! Now- FOOD.

Breakfast: 7:15am
For breakfast I was in the mood for something cooling and refreshing (because it's winter. And I am strange) However I wanted to change things up from the typical smoothie I've been loving on lately. I decided to add in something warm and crunchy as well as chewy and fudge-y. Home-made granola!

Smoothie bowl topped with cashew butter granola

In my smoothie was 1 chopped frozen banana + 1 massive handful of spinach + 3 big spoons greek yoghurt + one handful frozen blackberries + 14 cup water- whazzed until smooth.

The delicious granola was a large handful of rolled oats + sprinkle chia seeds + sprinkle pepita seeds +  dash cinnamon +1-2 tablespoons cashew butter warmed with 1/3 cup almond milk in the microwave for 30 seconds- mixed together with a spoon until combined.

Sooo good! Perfect combo of refreshing, sweet, nutty, chewy, gaaaah!

Happy days :)

Snack: 11:00am
The usual snack for today:

Nothing beats a pot of peas

I'm usually still full from breakfast by the time recess rolls around but I also know I will be starving by 4th period (period before lunch) if I don't eat a little something. Peas to the rescue.
Lunch: 1:40pm
Brilliant salad for lunch featuring tri-coloured quinoa, carrot, cucumber, capsicum, spianch and avocado.

I didn't have too much time in the morning as I head to school earlier for period 0 (period before school starts) so this was a 'chop everything up and throw it in a tupper ware' kind of lunch. It was pretty good!

The quinoa made it ;)

Snack: 4:00pm
Again the usual snack. I feel like my snacks work for me, so why change them?

Delicious fruit (both the fuji apple and strawberries were perfectly ripe) with a mug of soy milk.

Nom.

Dinner: 6:15pm
I had a meeting that night at school so dinner was slightly earlier (but still mighty tasty!)

Under those two delicious fried eggs were some oven roasted sweet potatoes and potato, roasted with olive oil + cumin + oregano + basil, along with some steamed and roasted brussels sprouts and baked beans stirred through:

I was in a weird mood and didn't know what I felt like for dinner, hence the random collection of foods. It tasted pretty good though (and weirdly enough exactly what I wanted!)

So much yum in one bowl :)

Aaaand that's what I ate!

Your turn:
Do you make your own granola? What do you throw into yours?
Favourite fast throw together lunch?
Weirdest dinner you've put together lately that has totally satisfied?

That's all from me today folks, I hope you all have a lovely day, eat something delicious and smile :) Bye for now! :D