A Day of Eats

My blog is designed to help those who have any kind of restricted diet (mainly vegan, dairy free, wheat free, sugar free) or who simply want to eat well without missing out on awesome foods, I mean come on, how many people do you know eat this and this for breakfast!

Back to my first point though. I want to show you an example of what a vegetarian, dairy free, sugar free person eats (that's me by the way ;) so anyone who can't think of ideas might get some.

I just picked a random day, each meal changes daily!
Breakfast:

This is my big mug full of overnight oats.
You simply put about 1/4-1/2 (depending on how hungry you are)of rolled oats/ muesli (muesli has yummy dried fruits and nuts) into a bowl with a tablespoon of chia seeds and either 1/2- 1 cup of milk of choice (depending on how much of the oats you put in- you double the milk) give it a stir and sit in the fridge over night.

In the morning give it another stir:

Then add whatever else you like. I added a pluot (plum/apricot), some grapes and a drizzle of nut butter. Yum!

Lunch:

A toasted scrambled egg, veggie stuffed wholegrain wrap!
All you do is saute whatever veggies you like in a fry pan with some garlic/ oil (optional), scramble two eggs in another fry pan, stir together fold up in wrap and toast- too easy!

Dinner:

That is roasted herby root veggies atop some yellow split peas that are on top of some warm polenta.
The veggies are seasoned with oregano, basil and cumin seeds, drizzled with oil and baked in the oven on a low temp (140 degrees maybe) for about an hour.

I simply put the split peas in lots of boiling water in a saucepan and let them cook for about 35 mins.

The polenta was 1 minute polenta so I added about 1/2 a cup of water to a small saucepan, brought to the boil, added polenta (maybe 1/4 cup) and whisked until it looked like cooked oat bran :)

Which brings us back to breakfast, where I have a real recipe for you.
Fruity, nutty, apple-y oat balls:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup fruity muesli
3/4 cup milk of choice ( I used almond milk)
1/4 of an apple grated + 1/4 of an apple chopped into small squares
coconut butter!

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius
2. Get your fruity muesli:

add it to a saucepan with the apple and milk, stir on medium heat, then leave to sit until starting to thicken.
3. Once thick:

form into balls, place on a tray lined with baking paper and bake for about 15 mins, until golden brown:

Drizzle over your choice of topping (I used coconut butter.. yum!) ie. nut butter, jam, nutella etc.
Enjoy as cereal with milk, or stirred through a smoothie or with banana milk like I did:

Enjoy!
I hope you have some inspiration now, go have a yummy day!
:D

Colourful meals all round!

Hey guys! I thought I'd start off today's post with a budget meal!
 You have probably seen this lunch of mine before (it is one of my favourites) and it has definitely started making a come back (I've had it almost every weekend for the past month)! Then I realised it's dead easy and cheap and uses up any leftover veggies you have lying around... seriously you can throw anything into this dish:

It's one of my big veggie-filled, stir-fry, scrambled egg-y, concoctions!
Into my frypan with some olive oil and garlic went some grated carrot, grated brussels sprouts, grated zucchini, chopped capsicum, (red and green) chopped mushrooms, chopped cherry tomatoes, chopped semi-dried tomatoes, sliced brocoli, frozen peas and corn, lentils, spinach and... that's it! On high heat for a few mins and you get a big bowl of yummy!

 To add some protein boost and yummy flavour I simply whisked up an egg with some water and sea salt flakes:

 Placed in the exact same pan:

 And slowly pushed the eggs around until scrambled:

 Mixed into my veggies:

 Topped with salsa (not optional!!!) and devoured!

 The reason why it's considered a budget meal is you really don't have to go out and buy anything. You can pretty much throw any sort of veggie lying around into this dish and use up any less-than-fresh produce in the process!

 Filling, cheap, extremely healthy (lots of serves of veg!) and extremely delicious!

 The picture says it all:

And just because I'm in the mood for bright colourful meals..

How about a papaya stuffed with overnight oats with a side of peanut butter +frozen banana soft serve for breakfast? Oh yes.
I got this bad boy:

Stuffed him with this bad boy:

3/4 cup of muesli mixed with 1 cup almond milk and sprinkle of chia seeds, left in fridge overnight.
And whazzed up some greek yoghurt with 1/2 frozen banana and a spoonful of crunchy PB!
Delicious!

Then I ate these bad boys!

 Perfect bowl for my oats!

 This tasted like a peanut butter cheesecake:

 And then a peanut butter cheesecake with papaya!

Nom

What's your favourite colourful meal?
Are you a fan of stir fry's?
Do you like papaya? It smells a bit funky and has a strange taste at first, but over all I like it!

Bye for now folks! :D

Another dough boy!

Hey guys! You may have noticed that ever since this post I have been a bit obsessed with smoothies lately! I first got the idea of the dough boy smoothie from Kath Eats. Check out her recipe page for heaps of flavour variations!
For today's dough boy, I decided to make a berry version!
Ingredients:
1 chopped frozen banana
1 big handful of mixed frozen berries
1 serving over night oats (see recipe below)
1/2 cup milk (I used oat milk)
optional- some greek yoghurt
Step 1.
Make overnight oats:

 I simply place 1/3-1/2 cup muesli in a bowl with 3/4 cup milk (oat milk) with a sprinkle of chia seeds. Give it a stir and leave it in the fridge overnight- simple pimple.
Step 2.
Place all the ingredients in a blender and whaz until smooth:

Yes this recipe was 2 steps and really simple- just the way I like it- especially on busy school mornings and after a sweaty workout :)

It's perfectly sweet (if a little too much for my tastes) and is super filling and yummy- also a well-balanced meal in smoothie form. Feel free to add spinach/ kale etc. for another nutrient boost!
I also happened to have a pinkish dinner too...

Yes, that is probably the biggest toasted wrap I've ever seen too!
Filled with mashed root veggies, brocolli, brussels sprouts, lentils, kale and chili tofu:

Lastly, did anyone know it was national hot dog day on Saturday? Well, as a die hard foodie myself... I forgot. So I made up for it 364 days early:

Very similar to this one.
Have a great day everyone! :D

Thinking Out Loud- The randomness of the week!

Hello, hello there friends, how are we all today?
 (I always feel a little strange asking how everyone feels from behind a computer screen, but I just imagine everyone reading that and unconsciously answering the question with how they're feeling... because that's what I do... and that makes me feel better! ;)

And if you thought that was a random intro, just wait until we get into this weeks Thinking Out Loud Thursday, hosted by the awesome Amanda, from Running with Spoons, who week-in week-out continues to supply us with a healthy dose of random and inspire us to do the same!!

So without further ado- a look into the week that was and all the things that made me think... out loud!

1. Do you remember this post I did a little while back where I talked about how awesome these odd-bunch veggies are that my grocery store is now selling for cheaper prices just because they look a little funny?

 And how they didn't even look all that different to the regular produce? Well I got another bag of those odd-bunch carrots and was a lot more pleased and the crazy shaped carrots in my bag!
For example, this guy:

Thank you for making my dinner more enjoyable :)

It's hiding in there somewhere!!

2. On the topic of dinners (yes, we were on that topic, see dinner picture above :) Segue master!) I just want to mention this one... because it was epic:

Pasta, roasted eggplant + zucchini + mushrooms + capsicum rubbed with garlic, spinach, corn and a chunky tomato pasta sauce.

However it's not the tastiness of this dish that I want to discuss (but just know that it was awesome!) it's the pasta. See I bought a bag of this high protein lower carb pasta (not in the intentions of lowering carb intake, purely for the fact that one serve boasts over 10g of fiber!) and was cooking it up like regular pasta. After about 8 mins (the usual time for my pasta) I tested a piece and it was pretty solid. I let it simmer for another 5 mins, tested again.. still pretty hard!  Another 5 mins- sort of getting there. I went to the packet, looked at the cooking instructions and saw that this pasta requires 18-20mins cooking. Right. Well, the pasta was a little later than the other components, but that's fine :)

3. If you need extra convincing that my carb intake is still in full swing, then check out this epic lunch:

Cold roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes with spinach, cherry tomatoes, capsicum and a torn-up curry veggie patty. This was so, so good and seriously filled me up! Wasn't hungry for ages after this container of yum!

And of course... nothing beats cold roasted potatoes. Nothing.

4. One thing that doesn't fill me up- normal salads:

Carrot, cucumber, beetroot, bean sprouts, spinach, capsicum, tomato and chickpeas

No matter how much salad I make, I'm still hungry a couple hours later. I was still really craving all the fresh veggies though, so this lunch was also delightful!

5.  Whilst cross country practice is still in full swing, I not only have to pack delightful lunches (see above) but also portable breakfasts and my breakfast of choice for the first few weeks seemed to be choc protein overnight oats- super simple, tasty and filling!

However it wasn't long before I got sick of them. Then I made some truffles- in the freezer overnight and then defrosted in my bag while I trained. Also- so delicious and filling!

To change things up yet again I thought I would make some baked granola bars and they turned out great!! I was so set to post a little recap/ recipe of them however when I was scrolling through my photos, this was the only photo I managed to take:

Yep, I know you're salivating over that alfoil!
So instead here's my pre-cross country training breakfast:

Chopped up banana stirred with greek yoghurt... just what I need for a grueling workout!! (beach running wrecks me!)

6. On the cross country note- I'll have a recap of the big race today soon- I am pretty stoked! (no I didn't win!! ;)

I feel like this post is getting lengthier than planned so I'm going to end the random here. If you still want more, head on over to Spoons to see what everyone else is Thinking about!Bye friends!! :D