Secret project revealed!

You may have remembered in this post I talked about working on a secret project that I would reveal to you on a later date. Well today is that later date!
First of all though, I needed a good hearty breakfast to help me power through! (the whole 9 hours it took me! I did not do it all in one day:) And you know the bestest, heartiest breakfast always feature a little...
CHOCOLATE!

Super-duper green smoothie (1 frozen banana + a handful of frozen mango +kale+ spinach+ rice and soy milk)
and.... a cup of extremely chocolate steel cut oats:)

1/3 cup steel cut oats+ 1 scoop choc protein powder + 1 tablespoon raw cacao + dash of cinnamon + 1 cup (maybe more) milk of choice.
Bubble away for 20 mins (add milk if neccessary) then sit for another 10.
Then.. stir in some coconut butter for good measure:

YUM!
Now onto the project!
Initially I wanted to do a chalk board wall, but then I found a poster I had made ages ago and decided to wall-ify it...

 It's my little motivational wall now :)

So colourful.. perfect!
After a job well done I celebrated with PIZZA!
What kind of pizza? Well, there was pumpkin involved:

Which formed into dough:

Yes it's my famous pumpkin pizza dough!
Recipe for the dough is linked above. Then I topped it with-you guessed it- pesto ;)

Walnut and spinach this time.
I also topped it with some black olives, mushrooms, dried tomatoes, sliced tomato, capsicum, beetroot and vegan cheese:

And after 45 mins of resting the dough:

I punched it down, rolled it out and topped it off!

Placed in an oven at 180 degrees for about 30 mins:

And gobbled up:)

I hope you like my art (both with my wall and my food) and have a great weekend! :D

Thinking out loud... Bring on the randomness!

Hello, hello and welcome once more to a Thinking Out Loud Thursday via Running with Spoons! Where I get to think.. out loud.. and then tell you guys about it :)
And because my thoughts are so jumbled and random, they will also be in point form!
Yes this is me right at the moment:

 1. While I was making lunch the other day, I was standing there day dreaming out of the window, fiddling with my camera and stirring something or other that probably didn't need a stir, when I sort of looked around and realised only a true foodies cooking of lunch can be so hectic:

I mean three burners.. wow Steph. Wow.
What was I making for lunch? Some sort of pasta, veggie, pesto dish thing:
See- pasta, torn up veggie sausage, spinach, steamed sweet potato, potato and carrot and some peas and corn:

All mixed together with some Jamie Oliver chili garlic pesto:

T'was good:)
2. I also realised I take way too many pictures of my food- these were the few I did choose!

I just thought the colours were so pretty :)
3.I guess this love of pretty colours was the reason I decided to take a picture of the late afternoon sky the other day:

Mmmm.. pink:)
4. I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but this week has been a blissfully quiet week in my household as it's just been mum and me! My sister, brother and Dad were all away doing stuff. So I have been sibling-abuse free now for a good 4 days!
Sibling-abuse you ask... looks a little something like this:

 And this:

 You see, I fall for these things. Every.Single.Time
5. Instead of sibling abuse, there has been some fantastic buys.. like this:

Yeah ok, not that exciting, but I've always wanted one of these, now I can make BIG cakes that last longer than a day before going stale :)
6. Lastly, this is really random and out of the blue, but I'm sure everyone agrees with me:

Am I right!?!
So there you have it.. some Thinking out loud!

But before you go how about a quote from one of the true geniuses of this world:

See ya later! :D

WIAW #14

The weeks fly by don't they? Here I am once more with another WIAW, linking up with Peas and Crayons!
As usual, this is a WIAT post for me as it's pretty hard to get to the link-up in time with the Australian/American time differences, so I document Tuesdays eats!
Here we go!
Breakfast!

Featured the biggest, yummiest green smoothie ever!
It was really my favourite tropical dough boy smoothie (inspired by Kath Eats) I just added a few extra things:

1 chopped frozen banana, 1 handful frozen mango chunks, 1 cup rice milk, 1 handful kale, 1 handful spinach, 1 serving of overnight oats, (1/2 cup muesli+3/4 cup milk) a spoonful of peanut butter and a small dash of cinnamon.... whaz!

I couldn't fit it all in my jar ;)

Lunch:

I simple couldn't go past my home baked spelt/rye bread sitting on the counter staring at me, so I made a sandwich:

Spread with hommus, topped with a grilled lentil burger, salsa, spinach, grated carrot, tomato slices, capsicum and avocado, topped off with another hommus-y piece of bread :)

People often ask me if I have a big appetite. My reply is always no.

I have a huge appetite :)

Snack:
A nectarine with some soy milk

My camera appeared to be more interested in my soy milk and straw than the fruit!
Dinner:

I made a delicious roast veggie, mixed bean and nut salad :)
It had roasted heirloom carrots, sweet potato, potato, pumpkin, swede, beetroot and in the last 15 mins some vine ripened tomatoes. Simply drizzled in olive oil and baked at 180 degrees celsius for 45 mins.
Then mixed with some massaged kale (I simply rubbed the kale so it was softer) some drained and rinsed chickpeas and red kidney beans (they were sitting in my fridge doing nothing) and some chopped mixed raw nuts:

 Yum!
There you go, another full day of colourful, delicious eats. Interested in what others are noming on? Head on over to the link-up later on and see!
Have a great Wednesday everyone! :D

Coconut butter, oats and pesto!

Coconut butter, oats and pesto! Not all at once though... I wonder... no that's a bit far fetched even for me :)
First of all as promised I'm gonna show you a quick picture-ish tutorial about how to make coconut butter (using cheap-as-chips bulk bags of dessicated coconut!)
It's so simple I feel a bit silly, but why buy $10+ jars of coconut butter when you can make a full jar by using a $2-$3 bag of coconut!
Now step one:
Place a 500g bag of dessicated coconut into a large food processor:

Process for what seems like forever (is really about 10-15 mins) stopping every few mins to scrape down the sides, until the oils start coming together and forming a paste. Then blend for a few more mins to get a nice and smooth texture (mine was slightly gritty)

 Place in a jar (I just used a recycled peanut butter jar) and store away for future yums!

Simple pimple- put it in, process, your done!
It seems I was in a processor groove these past few days, as last night I decided to get my mini one out to make some kale pesto:

 You can find my traditional spinach one here, this recipe however was about 5 big leaves of basil, and then a big handful of torn up kale, placed in a food processor with a small squeeze of lemon, 1 heaped tablespoon nutritional yeast, 1 heaped tablespoon pine nuts and about 2 teaspoons of olive oil (add more if it doesn't come together) whaz until combined, then whaz some more to get it a nice light green colour and smoothy-smooth!
Did I make pizza? Pasta? No, no.. I made... steamed veggies!

Pumpkin, swede, beetroot, white sweet potato, orange sweet potato, brocoli, brussels sprouts, peas and some sauteed mushrooms, all covered in pesto! Mmmmm

 Finally my last food processor experience of late was some rich chocolate oatmeal, spiked with some raspberry sauce!

The oatmeal was steel cut oats + 1 chopped banana+ a sprinkle of chia seeds + 1 tablespoon raw cacao + 1 tablespoon cacao nibs + a dash of cinnamon + a lot of milk (according to packet instructions.. I used oat milk) placed in a saucepan over high heat. Once boiling, turn down heat and simmer for around 15-20 mins:

I always then leave mine to cool in my mug for 10 or so mins so its not too hot and is slightly thickened :)
The sauce? Frozen berries heated in microwave for 1:30 mins and then whazzed up!

And there you go!

 The berries really do lighten up the super rich oatmeal :) Yum yum!

I hope everyone has a great day and get those processors out and make something awesome! Ice cream? Veggie burgers? fro yo? :D