Blueberry cake :)

Well hello there beautiful people!
Have I got a treat for you! And boy you better enjoy it because I made this treat, put it in the oven, took my memory card out of my camera to work on some posts, forgot to put it back and then didn't get any pics of the final product.. so I had to make it again! Yes, I suffered through two:
BLUEBERRY BREAKFAST CAKES! It was pretty good :)

 Blueberry muffins may just about be my all-time favourite treat. I've tried health-i-fying them before and they're just not the same.

This cake however, is pretty darn close!
Vegan, wheat free, dairy free, added sugar free, all natural ingredients- and it tastes great too!

Blueberry breakfast cake:
Ingredients:
20g wholemeal spelt flour
15g rolled oats
10g oatbran
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon chia seeds + 2 tablespoons milk of choice (I used oat milk) mixed together and sit for 5 mins
2 pitted medjool dates
1 teaspoon coconut oil (optional- I just wanted a bit of coconut flavour)
1/4 banana
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence (I actually scarped a few seeds off a vanilla pod because I had some lying around)
handful of blueberries
extra milk of choice

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and grease a small ramekin/ mini loaf pan/ mini cake pan (whatever mini pan you have on hand) with some oil (I used spray coconut oil)
Look how cute it is:

2. Place the dates, banana, vanilla, optional coconut oil and chia gel into a small food processor and process until smooth:

 3. Stir together the rest of the ingredients (all the dry ingredients) in a bowl and then whisk in the date mixture:

 4. Add in some milk until batter reaches a thick pancake consistency (I added about 1/2 cup oat milk)

 5. Toss in some blueberries! Fold in to mixture:

 6. Place in greased pan and bake in oven for around 30 mins or until inserted skewer comes out clean
Pre-cooked:

Pre-cooked #2 (today's batch)

 Batch #2 cooked (this is where I forgot to put my memory card back in)

 Nice and golden brown on top:

7. Remove from pan/ tin/ ramekin and place on wire rack to cool for 5-10 mins.
8. Top with anything you like/ keep it plain (yesterday I smothered almond butter over the top) and enjoy!

But wait. Where's all the blueberries?!?

 Found em'

Warm, spongey, marbled with bluberry juice... does it get better than this?

Definitely brought back memories of my favourite blueberry muffins of my childhood!
Yes, I went a bit nuts with the pics... but at least this time I remembered to have a memory card in the camera!

Mmmmm.
Seriously try stop yourself from face planting your computer screen, thank you ;)

Relax with a warm drink and picture yourself sitting in a little coffee shop. :)

Food really is the best subject for visualization and meditation.

How about you? 
Favourite childhood cake flavour?
Blueberry cake/ muffins- like/ hate?
Does food ever take you to a different place when eating it/ smelling it? It happens to me a lot!

Any who, that's it from me to you and always remember that... 'Today you are you, that is truer than truer. There is no one alive who is youer than you!' (Dr Seuss in the house!)

Seeya guys :D

What to eat?

Some days I just don't know what to eat.
Yesterday was one of those days.
Now, it's never usually too much of a problem. I'll probably just walk around for a bit and then think about some different foods, figure out what I'm feeling and go from there.
Yesterday I had to think up breakfast, lunch and dinner. At 6:30 in the morning.
Never fear!

It was quite a task but in the end I think I pulled it off.
I managed to figure out that I wanted a smoothie for breakfast. Along with some granola. You know what I was feeling.
I searched my freezer for a frozen banana... *gasp* none left?!? Ok, plan B. Discover an extremely ripe banana sitting in my fruit drawer in the fridge. *phew*.
Throw together a deliciously green, green smoothie:

A handful of frozen mango chunks, 1 chopped banana, a handful of kale, handful of spinach, 2 big scoops of greek yoghurt and some oat milk- whazzed!
Topped off with some yummy peanut butter and almond butter granola:

I knew I was playing hockey tonight from 6-7 and knew I would be hungry and knew I should make something now in order to have something later... but what? Here we go again!
pic
I checked out my veggie drawer, pulled a few things out (whatever had to be used up before the grocery shop tomorrow) and decided to roast it all up in some coconut oil:

Pre-cooked eggplant, broccoli, brussels sprouts, zucchini, sweet potato and potato

Ok so brekky sorted, dinner roasting... I should probably make something for lunch seeing as I will be at school and will need something to eat. (I'm a real thinker aren't I?)

Gah!What should I have for lunch?

Hey, why didn't I chuck any pumpkin, beetroot or parsnip onto my roasting tray? Oh well, lets steam it up for lunch! What pairs well wit steamed root veggies? Pasta of course:

Rice and quinoa pasta with steamed pumpkin, beetroot and parsnip along with mixed four beans and spinach

Sorted!

Veggies out of oven: (around 45 mins at 180 degrees celsius)

Phew! No can I have a lie down? What do you mean it's only 7:30am? Well at least I know I won't be going hungry!
Packed up and ready to go:

 I also added in some sauteed asparagus, onion, mushrooms, chili and garlic- just coz, you know, there weren't enough veggies in there. ;)

 How good is cold roasted veggies in coconut oil? Am I right? Takes brussels sprouts to a whole new level.

 Still doesn't mask the smell though as my car buddies so politely told me! :) (thanks mother and brother)
I was fed, I was happy and I was completely organised for my day!

How about you?
Do you sometimes have to cook all your food in the morning/ pack all of it for the day? Sometimes I need to do this several times a week!
What is a usual craving for you? For me it's either oatmeal, pasta or sushi ;)
Cold roasted veggies. Love/ hate? Love, love love!

Well, I'm off to do some grocery shopping (love grocery shopping :) catch you guys later! :D

Carbs are a girl's best friend!!

Hello friends and welcome to my blog! Full of pretty pictures, crazy writing and a whole lot of... CARBS!
Haha, best intro ever, right?
Seriously though, I love these macromolecules consisting of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen (thanks Wikipedia!) And I think you should to!

There's a reason why carbohydrates make up the majority of the current healthy living pyramid and Eating guide and guidelines etc.

 It's time to get the cold hard facts about carbs- lets get a bit scientific:

First of all, here's a list of the common food sources of carbs, it's not just bread and pasta people!

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Nuts
• Grains
• Seeds
• Legumes

 These can be further broken down into the types of carbs- again it's not just bread or pasta...:

• Sugar- simple carbs- does occur naturally in whole foods like fruits and milk and also as table sugar and processed foods
• starch- complex carbs (many sugar units bonded together)- occurs naturally in fruits, veggies, grains, cooked dry beans and peas
• fiber- also complex carb- also occurs naturally in fruits, veggies, whole grains, cooked dry beans and peas

So now that the science part's done lets move onto the real stuff!

Why Carbs are my best friend:

1. Our body needs them to function. Literally function. The body uses carbs above all else for energy and it is recommended that 45-60% of our energy intake should come from carbs.

2. It provides nutrients for the good bacteria in our intestines that helps us digest our food... you know what I'm saying. Eat your carbs people! :D

3. One of the most important reasons for me is to protect my muscles, becasue if the body doesn't have carbs to use as an energy source, the protein from our muscles starts to look mighty tasty!

4. They do heaps of other cool things as well like regulate the sugars travelling around your blood to make sure your cells get the energy they need and assist your body's absorption of calcium (essential for me- that friend who doesn't drink milk;)

5. Most importantly (sorry number 3) they taste so good :)

As you can see by the pics above I'm a bit of a...

Today's lunch was no different:

 A wholemeal pita pocket stuffed with a Moroccon veggie patty, sauteed capsicum, mushroom, eggplant and tomato with hommus and spinach:

 And just because pumpkin is one of the best things ever... a side of roasted butternut pumpkin:

Yum!

Sorry diamonds... carbs have stolen this girl's heart

I'm just Thinking Out Loud here.... head on over to Spoons if you want to see what everyone else is thinking about! :)

Your turn:
Do you like carbs?
Do you eat carbs?
Would you marry a carb? *cough* Yes *cough*

See you later! :D

WIAW #31

Well... it's Wednesday! You know what that means, right?

Yes, yes we are all wearing pink (right? right???) but it is also that time of the week where we share our eats from the day! Let's hop to it!

Thanks Peas and Crayons for the link-up!

Breakfast:
I totally planned on having 2 wholemeal crumpets with PB today, but when I woke up I was craving oats! (Surprised? Nope, neither was I) and in honouring my body's requests- it does do a lot for me after all- I made some blueberry vanilla protein steel cut oats... t'was good:

Using this sneaky method to make sure there was always a bit of nut butter on my spoon ;)

Then of course drowning the top with nut butter for safe measure. The oats were simply 1/3 cup steel cut oats with 1 chopped banana, a handful of blueberries, a scoop of vegan vanilla protein powder, a lot of almond milk, (I don't measure it) some chia seeds and... that's it! Bubbling away on the stove for 15-20 mins and then left to cool for another 10 mins.

Who doesn't love melted nut butter?

In reality, I think I just love the colour more than anything. No, that's a lie, it tastes amazing :)

Lunch:
I was off from school yesterday so got to enjoy lunch at home for a nice change ;) Made myself a little snack plate:

Peas, popcorn, the last of my organic blue maize tortilla chips and some roasted sweet potato and potato rounds covered with some roasted butter nut squash... YUM!

Best part of the meal definitely!

Am I the only one who loves peas enough to simply heat up a bowl of them (frozen) and eat straight with a spoon? Peas are so yummy :)

Snack:
Nothing picks me up at 4:00pm like a little fruit and soy milk. Very green snack today:

A deliciously crisp granny smith apple with some green grapes:

And a glass of So Good Essential Soy Milk.

Dinner:
Dinner was a winner with a delicious taco!
There was a wholegrain wrap:

Some Mexican spiced red kidney beans and lentils:

A delicious salsa salad thing with tomato, capsicum, red chilli, coriander, kale, avocado and lemon juice:

A few spoons of dairy free hommus:

Along with a few spoons of greek yoghurt (representing the sour cream:)

With the leftovers that didn't fit in the wrap placed in a bowl:

Hello tasty wrap of delicious Mexican-ness:

Fresh, crunchy, warming, spicy and full of flavour! I was pretty full after this!

So that's everything I ate and all-in-all I'm pretty happy. Ticked all my boxes! Healthy, filling, full of veggies and out of this world delicious!

What about you? What did you eat Wednesday?
Remember to head on over to Peas and Crayons to check out what everyone else has been nom-ing. (and maybe meet a new friend too!)

Ciao for now! :D