Thinking Out Loud- Running, resting and riding a bike!

Happy Thursday to everyone who reads this sentence! (And all those who don't too, I guess ;) I am in a particularly random and chatty mood right at the minute and this is actually quite acceptable for once, as it is Thinking Out Loud Thursday. So prepare for my thoughts. Out loud. On Thursday! 

As always thanks to the awesomely awesome Amanda from Running with Spoons for this fun weekly link-up (also Happy Birthday!)

1. Now speaking of running (Running with Spoons? See= relevant) this is a topic that seems to be of quite high focus in my life right now...
Running.
It has been just over a year since I began my long (and some times quite painful) journey into the enlivening experience that is running.

Never before have I been so stiff, so limpy (sure that's a word!) and so tired at the end of the day than when I started running. But never before have I been more happy.

Seriously! When you find that one special thing that just makes you feel alive... do it often! Unless your legs feel sore and jelly-like and extremely tired (as mine do at the moment)... then you should probably take a few days rest (as I am doing at the moment)

So that's one of the main things that has been on my mind this past week. Only recently I've started seeing myself as a 'runner'. Not because I've upped my distances or whatever but because I can finally see how much running has changed my life and how much it continues to do so. I'm a runner because I love it- all of it, good and bad.

2. This is where my second point of interest comes into it.
Resting.
Yes, I fall into the category of those who hate rest days. Yes I have those ridiculous worries of losing everything I've gained from a day or two or three of rest. Silly, illogical and just plain irrational... Just try telling that to my brain!

Recently though, my legs have been feeling it. As I mentioned before I have been upping my distances and I think all those extra k's are started to weigh down on my little legs. I've been feeling tight and sore and just plain tired, so had to take the (extremely hard) executive decision to take a few days rest. I''m keeping sane by telling myself that it's for my body and I love my body and my body deserves love.

Although this is basically me:

 3. To regenerate and replenish my tired body on these restful days I can't think of a better breakfast than a nice big green smoothie!

1 frozen banana+ a handful of frozen green grapes+ big handful of kale + a big handful of spinach + 3 scoops of greek yoghurt+ sprinkle of chia seeds+ splash of almond milk- whazzed!

I love, love, LOVE frozen grape smoothies- the sweetness and taste the grapes add is soo yummy!

Eaten here along side some choc truffles because you know... chocolate!

So I was taking my pictures of this brekky and noticed a sneaky little shadow in the corner of my lens.

Yep, I cheers-ed myself to breakfast! CHEERS!

3. On the topic of breakfast- Here is a look at today's.
You see I am on the firm belief that ugly meals always seem to taste better, even though they are more ugly. And so when I stirred my 3/4 cup muesli, 1/2 cup greek yoghurt and 1/2 cup almond milk in a bowl with some chia seeds to soak overnight.. I knew this brekky wasn't going to be pretty- but it sure was going to taste good!

To go with my overnight oats I decided I wanted to stir in some banana cashew butter ice cream; you know, for extra prettiness! So into the food processor went 1 chopped frozen banana and about 1-2 tablespoons of cashew butter, whazzed (and scraped down a few times) until smooth and creamy:

Stirred into the overnight oats. See I told you it looked great ;)

Placed in the freezer for 20 mins to harden a bit.
I don't even care that it was ugly... it was delicious!

 4. I haven't been completely honest with you about my resting though (yes we are back on that topic)
I have been doing some Purely Twin's workouts each morning and also...
RIDING MY NEW BIKE!!

^^This is so true! ^^

I like really close to the beach so I love riding on the bike trails that span right across the coast line and look out to the gorgeous blue sea (remember it is Summer here in Aus) so everyday I've been trying to get out for a ride on my beloved bike

This is sort of what my baby looks like, however mine is cream:

If running is my number one outlet to relieve stress and help me think, then riding my bike is a close second- it is so relaxing and leaves me so happy. Thank you endorphins!

Aaand I feel like I've rambled on enough about all the random stuff happening in my life right at the moment!

Be sure to check out what everyone else is thinking about over at Spoons.

Tell me:
Do you like/ hate rest days?
Do believe ugly meals taste better?
Bike? Do you love to ride a bike?

Bye for now folks! Have a fantabulous day! :D

Big brekky's and last 10-day-you-challenge!

I like big... brekky's and I cannot lie!
Hello friendly friends and happy Monday!

Now back to my happy breakfast song :)
Breakfast is without a doubt the biggest most filling meal of my day. Always at least one serve of fruit, always involving some sort of carb, generally protein filled and more often than not full of good fats (almost entirely in the form of nut butter)

I could never simply wake up and have a small tub of yoghurt, or a piece of toast, or a bowl of sugary cereal. This hungry gal needs her food, especially after 10+ hours of fasting!
I cringe when I think back to my primary school days of filling my bowl with sugary cereal (be it fruit loops, cocoa pops, crunchy nut) and that would be my breakfast. Or some toast with Nutella slathered on top. Can you blame me when this is what the ads were telling us:

I like the inclusion of the apple... coz that makes everything better! :/

Nowadays you would never catch me doing something silly like that. Instead you might see something as ridiculously tasty as this passing my lips:

A beautiful (and quite large!) green smoothie with a jar of cashew butter.
Haha just kidding, there were overnight oats in the jar:

Chocolate overnight oats :)
But Steph! That's no better than a chocolatey bowl of sugary cereal!?!
Well, not exactly. You see I used all natural raw muesli and added in some almond milk stirred with raw cacao to let sit overnight- full of fiber, low GI carbs, antioxidant and good fats ;)

Into my smoothie went 1 chopped frozen banana, a handful of frozen mango, a big handful of spinach, a big handful of kale, 3 spoons of greek yoghurt and a splash of almond milk:

Again filled with fiber from the fruit and veg, a good serving (or two!) of dark leafy greens and calcium for strong bones along with filling protein from the yoghurt and almond milk.

I used a new muesli brand that had fiber stick things and puffed rice and it turned sort of cakey- mmm cold creamy cake in the morning!

And to finish off my 10-day-you-challenge! (10 weeks later)

And so without any further a-do here is my one picture(of yourself):

 This was a couple of years ago, but I absolutely adore this picture, the calmness and angle is awesome- especially with little Ash's head facing the camera directly- too cute!

So that's it for the 10-day-you-challenge! Did you enjoy it? did you try some yourself? If not I give you the challenge to do one, it's pretty fun really- makes you actually think about yourself and what you like/ who you are :)

Do you like big brekky's?
Got a weakness for Nutella?
What is your favourite photo of yourself- go on! Be vain!

Satisfy those cravings!

There is no denying it... like millions of other food bloggers out there... I.LOVE.OATMEAL!
Just a quick scan through my camera's memory card sums it up perfectly:

You can find most of my recipes on the breakfast page, if you too are addicted to oats!
Why am I suddenly obsessed with oatmeal.. well, in the last few days I've had some pretty tasty bowls... well-mugs and jars (naturally!)
Like overnight oats in a jar:

I filled the almost empty almond butter jar 3/4 of the way with muesli and some chia seeds, then added oat milk to the top and stirred. Leave in fridge overnight!
I also had a banana smoothie on the side- nothing special; banana+milk+yoghurt

Give it a stir up in the morning.. and voila!
Yum!
Going...

Going...

Spoon-shot!

 :)
My second oat romance was this morning- I wanted CHOCOLATE! Never get between a girl and her chocolate!

Chocolate oats, with coconut butter and banana and also some cocao nibs stirred in :)

There was quite a bit of chocolate in there!
Recipe is loosely- 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1 cup milk of choice, 1 tablespoon raw cacao, 1 scoop choc protein powder, a dash of cinnamon, 1 thinly sliced banana,  some coconut butter and some cacao nibs :) Heated on stove and whisked furiously until desired thickness is reached!

Chocolatey spoon shot!

Who's craving some oatmeal around about now?

Teehee!

Have a great day! :D

3 FILMS

Hi friends! Happy Monday!

Obviously Mondays are my favourite day of the week ;)

As a foodie I believe food has the all-powerful power of bringing someone out of Monday-itis! So my best cure for this fearful condition is an out-of-this-world delicious brekky!

Yes, yes I agree. No body has enough time on Monday's to whip up a plate full of fluffy pancakes or a fry-up for kings, though I do have some super-yummy breakfasts just from last week that brightened every day and was made in minutes.
In fact here was last Mondays:

Toast 2 wholemeal crumpets, spread with nut butter (or whatever you like) and a green smoothie on the side... done!

Oats and fro-yo!

 For the oats simply place 1/2 cup rolled oats in a saucepan with 1 thinly sliced banana, a dash of cinnamon and some chia seeds along with 1 cup milk (I use oat milk) and heat until bubbling- where you begin to stir vigorously to 'whip' the banana in- keep stirring until thickened to your liking. (in the pic above topped with almond butter)

Mango fro-yo? A handful of mango + a cup of greek yoghurt- whazzed up in a small food processor. Done!

Choc protein overnight oats with grape ice cream

This breakfast is even quicker as half of it is made the night before!

For the choc protein oats- Place 1/3 cup muesli in a bowl/ cup with a sprinkle of chia seeds. In a separate bowl, place 1 scoop choc protein powder +1/2 tablespoon raw cacao powder and  3/4 cup of milk (again I use oat milk) and microwave for 30 seconds, stir and microwave for about 15 more- stir again.  Then stir into the muesli and place in fridge over night!

For the grape ice cream, freeze a handful of grapes over night and place in a food processor along with a chopped frozen banana. Whaz until ice-creamy (you may have to scrape down sides a few times)

So if you haven't had breakfast yet- or lunch or dinner... try one of these! Then thank me later. I really love it when you take that first bite of something you've made and you get that goofy grin on your face. Priceless moment.

Another good way to brighten my day and hopefully yours would be to continue on with the 10-day-you challenge (which has turned into the 10-week-you challenge;) Today we're up to 3 films!

This was another hard one guys! I love movies and I have soooo many favourites! I have come to a decision though.

To make my choice easier I chose my top three films of the past year or so:

3. Hunger Games

You see I loved the Hunger Games books and I was really weary to go and see this movie, figuring the movie might ruin the book because we all know that you should never judge a book by it's movie ;)
But this movie did not disappoint! It was so good and pretty much stuck to the book entirely. The actors were perfect and it took me about 2 weeks after seeing it just to get over how awesome it was!

2.  Divergent

I didn't end up reading this book before I saw the movie because I didn't really get into it (apparently it gets really good after where I got up to in the book! Of course.)
The movie makes me want to read the book and the others too! It was so intense and awesome and sad and happy and every emotion you could feel crammed into 2 hours! When a film can take you on that emotional roller coaster you know it's good!


1.  The Fault In Our Stars and Frozen

Yes. I did it again. I hate choosing my number one top something- it's too hard and I loved both of these movies equally. My excuse for this week is that they both start with F so it's allowed :D\
The Fault In Our Stars rocked me to my core and Frozen had me laughing louder than I ever have before. I also remember watching 'Let it go' for the first time and being mesmerized! Unbelievably good!

Ok well, this post turned out longer than expected! That's ok though.. we all like to procrastinate just a little on Monday ;)