Prep-Ahead Breakfasts! - Cross Country Edition

Hello there awesome-sauce people of the blog-o-sphere!

Today I have a small compilation of random-impromptu-created-as-I-went prep-ahead breakfasts that I created specifically for my early cross-country training the night before. My mission? To make super delicious night-before breakfasts that I would utterly cry with happiness whilst chowing down on in the school change rooms after a super hard sweat sesh.

And let me just say, I was quite happy with the results!!

So, if you find yourself in a busy period of life, or you too find yourself having to gt up with the moon and the stars to go to a training session, or if you just really need your beauty sleep and thus have no time to whip up an awesome, nutrient-filled breakfast in the morning... then these recipes will be perfect for you and your food lovin body!

Now onto the foood!!

1. Freezer Oatmeal Vanilla Protein Bar! Recipe number one involves a deliciously creamy oat mixture creation- frozen and then left to defrost for an hour the next day and eaten as a frozen oat bar breakfast! Confused? Don't worry, just read on below:

To make this bad boy...
Ingredients:
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 heaped cup greek yoghurt
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
2 pitted dates
1 tablespoon nut butter (I used peanut butter)
Splash of water

Method:
1. Place everything in a blender/ food processor.
2. Blend/ food process... :)

3. Then simply pour into a container lined with baking paper, cover and place in the freezer overnight:

When I woke up the next day? I simply cut the frozen oatmeal bar in two and wrapped in foil to defrost slightly in my backpack whilst I ran around and worked up a biiiig appetite!

This was just so cold, creamy, fudgey, filled with all the good stuff and DELICIOUS! Perfect post-run fuel!

2. Baked Chickpea Blondies! Recipe number two! A version of my chickpea blondies, whipped up and baked the night before, popped in the fridge overnight ready for brekky the next day!!

To make yourself a batch of these simply:

Ingredients:
3/4- 1 cup cup rolled oats
2 pitted dates
3/4 cup chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
1 large scoop (pretty much 2 tablespoons) peanut butter
Splash of almond milk
Optional- protein powder/ other flavourings

Method:
1. Again; place everything in a blender and blend until smooth and combined
2. Form into balls/ sqaures/ bars and place on a tray lined with baking paper and bake in an oven at 180 degrees celsius for around 15 minutes until golden brown on top (not too long because you don't want them to dry out)
3. Leave to cool completely, then place in a container in the fridge until ready to eat!

Soft, fudgey, chewy... again; a perfect post workout brekky, filled with so much yum!

And I also apologise for all of the early morning shots- reality right here, folks!

Sigh, I want more of these in my life..

3. Choc Fudge Brownie Bites! Last, but most, most, most definitely not least (maybe even the best!) were these raw choc, protein, fudge breakfast truffles:

These were frozen once again and left to thaw for approximately an hour in my bag during training.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 massive spoon peanut butter
1 scoop protein powder
2 pitted dates
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup almond milk

Method:
1. Blender- blend- smooth-boom! (add more liquid if too crumbly)
2. Roll into balls and place in container lined with baking paper, cover with lid and freeze overnight.
3. Defrost for at least an hour and then enjoy these delicious, cold, fudge-y raw brownie bites!!

Hello early morning shots!!

And once again, ridiculously delicious!!

Checklist complete?
Healthy?
Nutrient-rich?
Re-fueling?
DELICIOUS?!?!

Check, check, check, CHECK!!

Definitely recommend any of these recipes if you're short on time because they offer so much goodness that will start your day the right way (and not just in a way a banana, or coffee, or processed breakfast drink would) And especially if you're doing easrly morning training- these recipes ensure your cells and muscles are running on the best fuel possible for optimum recovery!)

Nom.

Your turn:
Are you a night-before breakfast prep-aheader? Quite a title, huh?
Favourite overnight brekky recipe? I do love me some overnight oats?
Do you prefer raw (vegan of course) brownies, or cooked brownies? I love the cool, raw, fudginess of creamy chocolate that hasn't been baked- so good!


I hope you enjoyed these recipes as much as I enjoyed eating them (highly improbable!!) and I hope you have a delightfully delicious day! Bye for now friendly friends!! :D

How to survive a busy day!

Hello, hello friendly friends! I hope everyone is having a good day today, or a favourable, spanking, prime, superb, rad or any other positive word my thesaurus threw at me. :)

Whether your day is good, favourable, spanking.... yeh you got it, is it also a busy day? If so then this is the post for you! (If not then you will probably have a busy day in your life so this is also the post for you!)

Wednesday night I was just standing around, twiddling my thumbs, thinking about anything and everything, when I realised that Thursday (the day after Wednesday ;) was going to be a busy one.

To begin with, I wanted to fit in a run... and didn't want a rerun (pun not intended) of a few days ago. That meant no time to make breakfast/ lunch for school. I also had my first acrobatics class that night and wasn't sure how much homework I would receive at school (that Wednesday was crazy- every subject needed attention for some reason!) so I also wanted to make dinner too.

Yep, that Wednesday night I prepped Thursday Breakfast, lunch, dinner along with Wednesday's dinner- coz, you know, I needed dinner that night too :).

This is what resulted:

Roasted veggies for lunch (potato, sweet potato and parsnip), 2 small quiches for dinner and a big bowl of overnight protein oats for breakfast:

I love, love, love cold roasted veg (especially potatoes) and take them to school way too often!

Also, these quiches were amazing!!

Eggs, quinoa, veggies, garlic, ginger, yum, yum, yum :)

Into a bowl went chopped capsicum, tomato, zucchini, eggplant, celery, red onion, mixed quinoa, garlic, ginger and nutritional yeast:

Then 2 whisked eggs stirred in and added to two greased ramekins:

Baked in the oven (180 degrees celsius) for 20-30 mins, until the egg is set. Turned out of the ramekin, left to cool and then placed in a container in the fridge.

Too easy!
This is what lunch turned out to be:

The prepped cold roasted veg with some kumara bean ball thingoes (frozen at the grocery store- good ingredient list!), kale and spinach... then I thought it needed some hommus to top it off:

This is what breakfast turned out to be:

The protein overnight oats- muesli, yoghurt, chia seeds, cinnamon, vanilla protein powder and almond milk- topped with a sliced banana and almond butter:

So good- perfect after a run!

Spoon shot:

And dinner was just so quick handy and easy!!

I always feel at ease when all my meals are sorted and I don't have to think... though I love cooking all of my meals. Therefore I love this solution for busy days!

What about you?
Do you prep meals at the beginning of the week/ day before a busy week?
What is your go to make-in-advance meals?
Favourite overnight oats recipe?

That's it for today folks! Hope you have a lovely weekend (I definitely need a rest from this busy week!) See ya later! :D

Why have I never thought of that?

Hello Everybody!
I have some fabulicious ideas for you that I can't believe I've never thought of doing before!
Just like oats in a jar, pancake tacos and numerous other things that aren't coming to mind at the moment, this recipe is one that made me think- Why have I never done this:

Um.. excuse me Steph- you have done that before- remember!
Yes, Steph, I do remember! This is different! Wanna know why......
It's frozen.... drum roll please.... overnight oats!!!

I made a batch of overnight oats ( I use maybe 3/4-1 cup of muesli with some chia seeds and then the same amount of milk plus 1/4 cup more, let sit for at least 8 hours and then poured into my ice cream molds :) This made about 3, I could only eat two :( But soooo yummy!) Then I drizzled almond butter mixed with coconut butter over the top, so it would set.

Take a look inside!

YUM! It tasted like a cookie dough ice cream :)
Some more overnight oat recipes can be found here and here.
Then today, this wasn't really a new recipe, but when I first tried it (maybe a year ago) I almost hit myself for never trying this- it changed my life, ofcourse you know what I'm talking about:

My nut butter and banana toastie! (thank you chocolate covered katie!) Simply topped with mashed banana and oat milk ( makes the bread nice and soggy- In a good way! :)

With some green grapes and soy milk.
Sooo good:

I promise you, if you choose to make either of these- you will not be disappointed!
Your welcome!

TWOOOO RECIPES! :D

Hidy ho friendly friends and happy Friday!
It is currently the end of the school week, about mid-afternoon, sun beginning to set (you know it's coming into winter when it gets dark this quickly in Aus!) and my mind is simply done, hence why I'm blogging when there is homework that could potentially be done right now-ish... but you know what, sometimes we all just need a break. Sometimes we gotta be kind to our bodies and our minds (I'm always going on about treating your body as a temple in terms of food and exercise but this also refers just as much to our mental state!)

So yes. I have chosen you guys over my much-loved, anticipated and eager-to-complete homework. Yep. You can thank me later.

Anyways onto the post!

On to the food!

Yes, this is in fact a food blog and thus I would like to gift you with some pictures of food that will leave you hungry, drooling and basically just needing a little snack to make it through. And if not... then you must have just eaten and I respect you just a little bit more :)

Today (because I was feeling bad for not posting in a while... ahh gotta love year 12 life) I have for you not one... not two... no it is two. I have TWO delightful breakfast recipes for you guys and not only that, they offer so much more than just a recipe... one of them is a Lazy-Sunday-I-Got-plenty-Of-Time-To-Make-Breakfast breakfast and the other one is a Quickest-Ever-Throw-Together-Meal-Evvveerrr breakfast so you have two great options for two completely different mornings!

Ok, enough talking (boy I can blabber on!) onto the fooooood

 What is that a picture of, you ask?

 Why it is a big plate of cold, fudgey, creamy avocado choc fudge bites with a side of cherry fro-yo. Oh yes.

Ohhh yes.

 To make these bad boys I literally popped:
Ingredients:
1/2 an avocado
3/4 cup rolled oats (I probably put in a bit more because I made quite a lot!!)
1 scoop choc protein powder (sub in with a teaspoon or two of raw cacao powder)
2 dates
1 laarrggee spoon of nut butter (I used peanut butter)
A little splash of water to get it all moving

Method:
.... all the ingredients into the Vitamix and whazzed until smooth and combined.
Then I formed them into bites, placed on a parchment lined plate and popped in the freezer for atleast 30 minutes... Then I died of deliciousness:

 I don't think I'll ever be able to get across how fudge-y and creamy these bites were... so you're just going to have to go right ahead and make them yourself- I promise you will not be disappointed!

 And the cherry fro-yo? Well you all know by now- handful of frozen cherries + 3 scoops greek yoghurt- whazzed until smooth and popped in the freezer to harden slightly! Perfect partner to the rich, dense brownie bites :) :D

Gah! I want this again!!

Alrighty- moving right along to the easy-peasy-throw-together-in-5-minutes breakfast! Because sometimes we just don't got the time in the morning for luxurious pancakes, or steel cut oats or delicious, creamy, fudge-y, dense, delicious fudge bites (yep, I need these in my life again very soon!)

Breakfast Papaya Boat:

 Again, I have no words. So instead I have a recipe:

Ingredients:
1/2 papaya
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
small handful dried fruit
small handful raw, chopped nuts
3 big scoops greek yoghurt
1/2 cup almond milk
1 large tablespoon of coconut butter
2 tablespoon almond milk

Method:
Place oats, dried fruit, cinnamon and nuts in a bowl, stir in the greek yoghurt and almond milk and leave in the fridge overnight (or at least 30 minutes to an hour).
The next morning, place the coconut butter and almond milk in a small bowl/ saucepan and heat up (bowl in microwave for around 15 seconds) until melted and combined. Stir into soaked overnight oats.
Retrieve your half a papaya breakfast boats and scoop in the oats and.. nope that's it you're done!

 Cold, creamy, sweet, juicy- all the flavours, textures and deliciousness in one breakfast!

 Happy, happy days.
And whipped together in the morning with a little night-before prep in approximately 5 minutes- even happier happy happy days :)

Nom.

And there you go.

You're welcome.

And now I'm hungry again. *sigh* thanks Steph!

Your turn:
What's your favourite lengthy-throw-together breakfast?
What's your favourite quick-throw-together breakfast? Cereal doesn't count! (I'm not against cereal- love the crunchy delight- but it's just a bit toooo quick)
Sweet or savoury breakfast? I'm all about them sweet, dessert breakfasts!

I hope you all have a fabulous Friday- do something fun, fun, fun because it's FRIDAY FUNDAY! Yep it's a universally recognised thing! Eat something delicious and I will see you next time for whatever crazy, throw-together post I come up with for next time! Yay! Bye for now friends!! :D

Mug Shots

Hello People!
2 more days of school left until Easter holidays and I am ready! Free time, complicated lunches, out-of-this-world breakfasts... the list goes on! For now, I thought I'd share with you a typical morning and also a recipe at the end. If you're good.
So I think this was Monday morning and it was cold! So of course the night before I prepared cold overnight oats. Oh, well, I went with it- I usually do!
So not much breakfast prep, (instead I focused on making my lunch- a grilled veggie panini) but when my stomach started speaking (and trust it was not saying nice things) I gave in and gave it some food!
Well, actually I ran and got my fluffy bed socks, shoes and then took it outside to photograph it!

Hmmm, something's missing... Oh that's right, the breakfast I was supposed to be photographing!

There it is!
So under all that banana, grapes and multi-grain cheerios, was my over night oats- I promise!

So then, I make the treacherous journey up to my pool yard, side step the dog, while trying not to drop my water bottle, camera and most importantly breakfast and go to my favourite spot to eat brekky- even in winter (the bed socks are gooood!)

Finally get some free hands:

And take a nice pic of brekky before it is devoured!

Generally I take a nice spoon shot for you- but overnight oats just look gloopy!
Then I make my way back down to the kitchen and get ready for school!
So there you have it.. oh wait I promised you a recipe, didn't I? Well you won't be disappointed!
How about a...
Banana bread muffin in a mug!

 With some grapes and soy milk on the side!
Ingredients:
20g wholemeal spelt flour
5g coconut flour (for the taste)
10g oatbran
15g rolled oats
1/2 tablespoon chia seeds
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon LSA mix (optional)
1/2 banana mashed- 1/4 banana chopped, 1/4 sliced (for the top)
1/3 cup milk of choice (I used oat milk)
Toppings (optional)- I used coconut butter mixed with multi-grain cheerios and then drizzled on top of bananas

Method:
1.Combine dry ingredients in a bowl
2. Stir in mashed banana, chopped banana and milk ( I also added some nut butter at this stage)
3. Grease a mug and spoon mixture in
It should look like this:

4. Place in the microwave for 1 min, check with a skewer(it took me about 2:00- 2:30) if not ready after 1 min, keep cooking in 30 second bursts until not goopy!
5.Then, top with desired toppings (I would really recommend coconut butter- other toppings could be yogurt, jam, butter, chocolate, muesli etc.) and the leftover sliced banana.
6. Enjoy this deliciously warm, bananary, cinnamony comfort in a mug.
Don't forget to take pictures:

Spoon Shot!

So there you have it- My typical breakfast routine and a brekky recipe for you!
:D