A breakfast Papaya!

Happy Monday friendly friends!!

You know, I can't think of anything better than starting off my week with a nice, easy run in the cool Sunny, Summers morning, followed by the prospect of not having to go to school and papayas.

Papayas?

Yes, papayas :)

When I was out grocery shopping on Saturday, I was perusing around all the glorious fruits coming onto the fresh sections shelves and couldn't help myself when I saw the large number of beautiful whole papayas at quite the low price!

So ofcourse I jumped on that, took my precious little fruit baby home and come this morning...

Enjoyed a glorious breakfast treat!

After slicing my papaya in half I filled it with banana cheesecaek ice cream and topped it all off with peanut butter granola.

And for your enjoyment too, here is the recipe!!

Ingredients:
Banana cheesecake ice cream: This one is completely up to you, I stuck pretty plain with simply banana and yoghurt, but feel free to add in some berries, cacao powder, protein powder or any other flavouring/ add-ins you would like!

1 large chopped, frozen banana
2 heaped tablespoons greek yoghurt (optional- adds cheesecake flavour)

Peanut butter granola:
3/4 cup rolled oats (I used rolled oats and a rolled barley and oat mix)
1 teaspoon chia seeds
optional- pinch cinnamon- to taste
1 heaped tablespoon peanut butter
1/3 cup almond milk (or any other milk)

Other ingredients:
1/2 papaya

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Line a tray with baking paper
2.Make the banana ice cream by throwing ingredients in a food processor/ blender and blending until smooth (may need to scrape down sides). Spoon into papaya and place in freezer to harden up slightly until required.

3. Place the oats, chia seeds and cinnamon in a bowl and stir to combine. Place the peanut butter and almond milk in a small bowl and microwave for 30 seconds.
4. Rub warm peanut butter mixture into oats
5. Place raw granola onto tray and bake in oven for 15-20 mins until golden brown (and smelling amazing!!)
6. Remove granola from oven and leave to cool for 10 mins or so

 7. Once granola is cooled place on top of banana ice cream and ENJOY!

Leftover granola never goes to waste- eaten out of the almost empty greek yoghurt container! :P

This was such a lovely refreshing breakfast filled with all the beautiful flavours of fruit and Summer and peanut butter granola!!!

 Which is why it was eaten with a yellow spoon :)

It's funny how people either love or hate papaya... I get that it has a kind of funky taste, but I just love the sweet and almost creamy texture- I'm a fan papaya- good job nature!

 It didn't last too long...

Your turn:
What would be included in the best morning for you?
Do you ever stuff your breakfast into another fruit/ veg?
Papaya- yay/nay?

Well, I hope you enjoyed that as much as I enjoyed eating it (which would be quite impressive!!) and I hope you have a wonderful day! Eat something delicious!! Bye!!! :D

Two Bowls of Deliciousness!!

Hi there friendly friends and HAPPY MONDAY!

Yeah, sure, Monday has that bad stigma around it that being the very beginning of the work/ school/ uni/ whatever it is you do week, it automatically brings with it feelings of despair, angst and just plain negativity. But alas! I believe Mondays should be celebrated for what they are! the beginning of another week of opportunities, experiences and discoveries!! Who knows what the upcoming week will bring and without Monday to kick us off, we'd never find out!

And to also brighten your Monday a little further I have not one but two utterly delicious breakfast bowl recipes that will simply knock your socks off on the YUM-TACULAR spectrum, so grab that blender, magically freeze those bananas in record time and gift your taste buds with the creamy, dream,y fudge-y, sweet, dessert-like experience of either of these two happy-inducing and nourishing bowls!

1. The Raw Granola Green Smoothie Bowl:

 Who else loves my baby pink 'Seconds?' Bowl :) :)

This bad boy featured that ginormous mountain of uncooked, rich, fudge-y and nutty, nut butter granola with a big bowl of creamy mango banana green smoothie/ ice cream underneath for that creamy, sweet, refreshing factor!

 For the smoothie:
1 frozen banana
1 handful frozen mango chunks
1 handful frozen zucchini (trust me you cannot taste it and it just adds more volume to your smoothie bowl!)
1 handful kale
1 handful spinach
3 spoons greek yoghurt
- whaz until smoothy-smooth, pop in freezer to harden slightly

 For the Raw Granola:
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 handful wholegrain cheerios
1-2 tablespoons nut butter (I used a mix of crunchy PB and mixed nut butter- just split the dry ingredients into two bowls then making)
1/2 cup almond milk
optional- maca powder, ground cinnamon, raw cacao (choc sensation) or anything else you would add to granola for that extra flavour kick; above recipe is just the simple nutty-flavoured base :)

-Simply combine rolled oats and cheerios and any spices/ powders if adding to a bowl
-Place almond milk and nut butter in a small container and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds until warmed through
- Use hands and rub into granola until combined
-Place on plate lined with baking paper and pop in freezer for 10-15 mins

 Then simply grab your cold smoothie base, top with your cold raw, chewy, delicious granola and NOM!

 Seriously guys, this is so refreshing and satisfying and literally kept me full for hours and hours!! Happy, happy days!

 So creamy and delicious; breakfast never tasted so good!!

 Nom.

2. Our second out-of-this-world breakfast bowl features CHOCOLATE. For breakfast. Oh yes.

 This guy came about from a craving for a HUGE bowl of chocolate ice cream. Of course, probably not the most practical of breakfasts but then again, I'm Steph. The girl who will make anything she's craving. Just tweaking the ingredients a bit to make sure all those awesome nutrients are entering the body along with those delectable flavours!

 Thus enter the HUGE Choc Hit Green Smoothie/ Ice Cream bowl topped with roasted almonds (because, seriously, how good are roasted almonds- whole new deliciousness level!!)

 This also followed a rather sweaty Blogilates HIIT and cardio sesh whereby the need for something nourishing, filling and delicious was real!

 Into the vitamin went:
2 frozen bananas
1 handful frozen zucchini
1/2 frozen avocado
1 tablespoon mixed nut butter
1 handful kale
1 handful spinach
3 spoons greek yoghurt
2 teaspoons raw cacao powder
-All blended up together until smooth and creamy!!

 topped off with a small handful of roasted almonds for that crunchy, nutty, roast-y addition :P

 And enter one very happy Steph:

 Seriously guys, this just hit the spot- creamy, chocolate-y soft-serve ice cream for breakfast... plus like 2-3 serves of veggies hidden in there that are literally untraceable. This makes me very happy indeed:

 Fairly sure I ate this whole bowl with my eyes closed just taking in every flavour and happiness.

And there you go!

Most definitely go ahead right now (or wait til breakfast, sure) and make one of these two delights because you will not regret it! The greek yoghurt can easily be replaced with vegan yoghurt; soy/ coconut etc. or just opt it out completely. I use greek yoghurt because of the high protein levels (growing girl who loves to exercise!!) and calcium fro strong bones but feel free to swap and choose your own add-ins! (I know silken-tofu creates that creamy factor just as well!!)

Your turn:
What's your favourite breakfast of the moment?
Best breakfast bowl recipe?
Roasted almonds- yay or nay? I usually prefer raw nuts over roasted but when it comes to almonds; the roasted babies are just miles above the raw variety!

I hope you all have a truly lovely rest of your Monday; do something you love, be open to opportunities should they arrive/ slap you in the face unexpectedly (the best kind really) and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Bye for now friendly friends!! :D

Chocolate Ice Cream Bowl... For Breakfast!

Hidy-ho there friendly friends!

Now have I got a treat for you! Both literally and figuratively I guess (well, if you decide to make whatever is to follow immediately that is..)

The other day I woke up.

Clap, clap Steph. Here is your medal.

Yes, I woke up- hurrah! Then I chucked on the usually workout attire, did some Blogilates vids (a little bit of everything really; some legs, obliques, abs, cardio etc.) followed by some quick boxing and skipping to get the heart rate up and then it hit.

It was the realisation that I needed brekky. And fast.

You see, I always work out fasted. That is, I haven't eaten since dinner the night before (definitely feel it in the morning when I had a small dinner previously!!) and as such, following a workout.. I'm usually pretty ready to EATTT!

And I know that on this particular morning I was in the mood for a real delicious brekky to kick start my day!

Enter this guy:

That my friends is a bowl of exactly what it says; Delicious-ness

A big bowl of rich, chocolate, creamy 'ice-cream' topped off with warm, freshly baked, crunchy, nutty granola. Oh yes. Oh yes.

And by the way my friends, it tasted better than it looks!

Alright, alright, I shall put you out of your misery with all these photos of the bowl that tasted like the sweet nectar of happiness (wow. Just wow.) by handing over to you the awesome-ness that is this oh-so-simple-recipe-it-should-not-even-be-considered-a-recipe  recipe!

Ingredients:
Choc 'ice cream':
2 ripe frozen bananas
1 large handful of chopped, frozen zucchini
1 heaped teaspoon raw cacao powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 big scoops greek yoghurt (optional; gives the ice-cream a more cheese-cake-y taste :P)
Granola:
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 large handful wholegrain cheerios
2 tablespoons nut butter of choice
1/3 cup almond milk/ milk of choice

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and line a baking tray with baking paper
2.Place all the ingredients for the ice cream into a blender and whaz until smooth and creamy delicious!
3. Transfer ice cream to bowl and place in freezer until required
4. Place the nut butter and almond milk in a small microwaveable container (or heat on stove until milk starts to bubble) and microwave until warmed through
5. Add to bowl of oats and cheerios and mix together until combined (should be kind of sticky)
6. Spread onto baking tray and bake in oven for around 15-20 mins until golden brown and crunchy (it will also smell amazing too!)
7. Leave to cool, then top ice cream off with granola and EAT!

Of course there was a heck of a lot more granola than the above pictures reveal because that would not keep a hungry Steph satisfied for very long and thus here is the true image of my breakfast:

Hello handsome!

There's just something about that smooth, creamy, sweet ice cream..

Paired with the crunchy, fudge-y nut butter granola...

That just makes my heart cry out with joy and my mouth instantly salivate (even though it is around dinner time right now and I should be thinking about dinner foods, not breakfast foods. Although... a smoothie bowl does sound pretty appropriate right now... :P Life of a hungry teen!

But seriously guys, do yourself a favour and whip up this marvellous bowl of delicious-ness because it will most definitely be one of the major highlights of your day (well, it was for me, but I'm doing year 12 so that's not too hard!)

And of course enjoy your extra granola on the side or plonked straight on top of your smoothie bowl; all depends on whether or not you want that chic Instagram shot :P.

Happy, happy days!

Your turn:
Favourite breakfast of all time?
Best smoothie bowl ingredients?
What was the best breakfast you had this week?

I hope you enjoyed this post and also have a fabulous rest of your day. As always; look after yourself, be kind to others, enjoy the simpler things in life and EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Bye for now friendly friends!! :D

A Fantastic Friday :D (RECIPE!!)

Hide ho there friendly friends and happy, happy FRIDAY!!

Always love a good Friday and everyone just seems to be that little bit more chipper and optimistic (stark contrast to Mondays!!) So, yes, I do love my Fridays and do you know what makes this particular Friday even better?? It's the first day of my mid-year holidays!

It feels like an eternity since I've been on holidays and the past term at school feels like it was two separate terms with the exam break in the middle. I will be honest here, I definitely burnt myself out over this last term and these holidays couldn't have come fast enough to help rejuvenate my mind, body and emotions!!

So, yes, this Friday I woke up to the sound of not-an-alarm-at-5:45am, instead waking up at a luxurious 6:11am, before making my way downstairs to grab my iPad, back to my cosy bed, blog scrolling and then up and at-em' for a quick tempo run followed by some quick Blogilates workouts (obliques and arms and back and butt). Following this... I did have to go back into school because I forgot to grab half of my school books for revision over the holidays... but after that? Well, I was in for a treat! And now you are too:

 That, my friends, was this morning's first-day-of-holidays breakfast celebration! And let me tell you, it was better than as good-as-it-looks!

Warm, home-made, crunchy, golden, cinnamon nut butter granola over the top of some creamy, plain greek yoghurt, sweet, perfectly ripe banana slices scattered throughout and a pour of ice-cold almond milk to finish it all off.... food heaven:

 This is one of those moments where the foodie in me comes out and appreciates all the different textures (smooth, creamy, crunchy, chewy) flavours (rich, refreshing, sweet, nutty) and gives myself a little pat on the back for gifting my tastebuds and stomach with such yumminess.

 Now, if you're still following, or maybe even perhaps drooling? (I only ask because I know I am... and I only ate this around an hour ago :P) I'm sure you're are itching for the recipe because you should most definitely make yourself a bowl of this yum! (if you follow me on Instagram; @steph2chef, you would have been the lucky receiver of the recipe practically as I was eating it!)

 Now, onto the recipe!

Nutty Cinnamon Granola Yoghurt and Fruit Bowl

Ingredients:
1/2 cup natural muesli
2 heaped tablespoons rolled oats
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I probably added way more :P)
1 handful wholegrain cheerios
1 HEAPED tablespoon- 2 regular tablespoons of nut butter (I used an LSA peanut butter mix- so good!)
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
greek yoghurt (as much as you want in your yoghurt bowl- I probably used around a cup)
1 banana, sliced
Extra almond milk to drizzle over when serving!

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and line a small tray with baking paper
2. Place the muesli, oats, cinnamon and cheerios in a bowl and stir to combine
3. Place the nut butter and almond milk in a small bowl and microwave/ heat on stove until warmed through (I don't mix together generally because they will get mixed into muesli)
4. Add heated nut butter and almond milk to dry muesli mix and stir to combine (should be quite sticky)
5. Spread out evenly on baking tray and bake in the oven for around 15-20 mins until golden and crunchy on top (I like the extra crispy bits so I leave it in for the longer time!)
6. Leave to cool for 5 mins, then start layering your bowl; greek yoghurt, banana slices, granola, banana slices, granola, banana slices, granola, banana slices- drizzle over almond milk- EAT!!

Nom.

This breakfast is so delicious, comforting and extremely filling (thank you healthy fats from the nut butter and protein from the nuts and greek yoghurt) so you definitely won't hit a sugar slump from the regular bowl of sugary cereal! No way this bowl of 'cereal' is packed full of nutrients and will do your body so many favours!

Now go make it!

Your turn:
What did you have for breakfast today?
Favourite granola flavour/ add-ins? (I love adding in wholegrain cheerios- I did it once and have never looked back! Cinnamon also seems to be a must for me!)
Best breakfast you've eaten recently?

With that I hope you all have a truly fabulous Friday, relax for the weekend, unwind, relax and do something you love. And, as always, EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS! (But that's for any day of the week really :). Bye for now friends! :D

Recently- The Food Front- Rawesome!!

Okidokie, I have definitely noticed I go through phases like there's no tomorrow!

So you know how I was loving on eating my smoothie bowls separated for a while there..
 

 Well apparently now my body wants a proper smoothie bowl... but with raw granola (ie. not oven baked) so:

 I whipped up a delightful smoothie of 1 frozen banana, a large handful of frozen honeydew chunks, a handful of frozen zucchini chunks, a handful of spinach, a handful of kale, 3 big spoons of greek yoghurt and some water to get it all moving!!

And topped it all off with a mix of uncooked cashew butter granola and uncooked peanut butter granola. Steps as follows:
Place a tablespoon of each nut butter into two separate small bowls, place a tablespoon of almond milk in each, microwave for around 20 seconds, add to one of two bowls, each with 1/3 cup oats, sprinkle chia seeds, small handful of no-added-sugar wholegrain cheerios (or other cereal/ crunchy thing you like) and stir to combine!

 Then simply top your smoothie (which has been chilling in the freezer whilst making the granola) with the soft, fudgey raw granola and ENJOY!

 P.S. Adding honeydew to smoothies is a good idea!!

 Very good indeed!

 But when you don't have time to whip up such an extravagant brekky?
Say, you are scheduled in to start work at 6:00am, so are up at 5:00am but still need a little first breakfast to keep you sane?

1 frozen banana:

 + greek yoghurt:

 = Quick easy and delicious!!

And then when break time rolls round- second breakfast!!!

 Yep, I made my raw freezer frudge brownie again (I really don't like cooking things do I?)

To make this delicious bad bowl, simply place 3/4 cup oats, sprinkle chia seeds, 1 scoop of choc protein powder, 1 teaspoon raw cacao powder, dash of cinnamon, 2 dates, 1 heaped tablespoon peanut butter (or any nut butter) 1/3 cup almond milk (add more if required) to a food processor and process to combine (until thick and sticky)- transfer into a small container lined with baking paper, cover and freeze for a few hours or overnight!

 He may not look like the prettiest brownie, but boy, this guy tastes so gooood! Think of the fudgiest, richest, chocolatiest brownie you've ever tasted and I reckon this guy would give it a run for it's money. And it's good for you too! Bonus!!

Brownies for breakfast? Yes, please!

 The take-away from today's post? Steph's current new phase is raw foods. Or that healthy foods can-and do- taste amazing!

You can take your pick ;)

What about you?
What's your favourite frozen fruit to add to smoothies?
Ever tried uncooked granola? Are you a fan?
Ever had brownies for breakfast? The healthy or... less healthy kind?

I hope you all have a fabulous Monday in whatever it is you are doing (I'm heading out to breakfast!!) be brave, take risks and smillleee :) Bye for now friendly freinds!! :D

P.S> Don't forget to eat something delicious!! Thought I had forgotten didn't you? ;P