New Year, New... Oats??

Well, it's that time of year again where everyone is setting themselves up for 'The Greatest Year Of Their Lives!' The year when everything is going to change. Healthier, happier, fitter, stronger, less stressed, living life to the fullest- and whilst all these are good, good things... my New Years Resolution was a little different...

See, I'm a person of routine- it seems to suit me and it's comfortable, you know??

But never have I ever been a person of routine with my meals. No two days have ever been identical for me and that's the way both me and my taste buds like it!

Recently, however, I've been seeing more and more of my favourite and standard meals on repeat each and every single week and this is slightly terrifying as I glimpse back to the young, little, creative Steph who would wake up in the morning with no prospect at all as to what she was going to whip up for brekky lunch or dinner and come up with vegan cinnamon scrolls with banana nice cream for breakfast, home-made veggie stacks for lunch and zucchini noodles with roasted veg for dinner.

I miss young Steph.

Then again, we're back to that whole notion of a 'New Year, new me' right??

So my new years resolution this year?? Is to surprise myself each and every day, at least once. Because that sounds fun. And fun is good.

Now how does this relate to today's post? Well, it doesn't really... although the breakfast I did create this morning was rather surprising in that it involved green milk:

And oats:

Combined:

To create this:

Ooooh yeah!

That my friends is the deceptively delicious and highly nutritious breakfast I like to call my POPEYE OATS!

Yes, it does involve spinach, no you cannot taste it, yes you should try it, preferably in an almost empty jar of nut butter:

POPEYE OATS:

INGREDIENTS:
2 chunks frozen spinach
1 cup almond milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup rolled oats
1 thinly sliced banana
4 chopped dates (I just pull em apart- big chunks, little chunks- variety!)
1 teaspoon maca powder (optional)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (preferably not optional- so good!!)

METHOD:
1. place the spinach and almond milk in a high speed blender and blend on high until extremely smooth (no spinach chunks! Will ruin breakfast!!)
2. Place the oats, banana, dates, maca powder and cinnamon in a medium saucepan, pour over the 'milk' and add water
3. Stirr every now and then over medium heat until bubbling away and then stir vigorously to blend in the banana and dates slightly (helps to add more sweetness)
4. When fully thickened and absorbed leave to cool slightly and then pop into a bowl/ mug/ almost empty jar of nut butter and top with your favourite toppings (nut/ seed butter highly recommended!)
5. ENJOY your delicious green oats!!

 Honestly guys, these were so so good- little bursts of caramel-y sweetness from the dates, smooth creaminess from the banana, thick, gooey delicious oats...

 And a pack of spinach in their to start your date on an awesome foot!

 So why the idea for spinach?? Well recently I've noticed a slight slump in my energy levels and this has probably coincided with less nom-ing on my dark leafy greens, so, I thought- why not, like I already do with my smoothies, add a bunch of spinach to my oats??

 So I got my frozen chunks from the freezer, popped some in the blender, crossed my fingers et voila:

 Success!! And a delicious one at that!!

 With the amount of exercise I do, the fact that I am a girl, the fact that I am a growing teenage girl, the fact that I am a growing teenage, vegetarian, girl, runner... means that I am probably one of the most at risk people of an iron deficiency and trust me- that is not something one would long for!!

 Thus, upping my dark leafy greens, lentils, nuts, fortified grains, cereals and soy milks is definitely on the agenda as of recently and spinach is such a great source of iron, especially paired with some healthy fat for even better absorption of all those amazing vitamins and minerals- this brekky truly is a win, win, win!!!

So now that I know how easy it is and how little effect on taste spinach has to my oats- you better believe their going to make a regular appearance in my oat creations (obviously in all my different oat creations as I continue to surprise myself in 2017!! :P)

Happy New Year folks and remember to set a goal for this year that truly motivates you and inspires you to be the best person you can be!!

Your turn:
What's the strangest thing you've ever added to your oats?
How do you normally get your dark leafy greens in?
What is your New Years Resolution for this year??

I hope you all have a truly epic day, do something you love and do something that surprises you- life's way more fun that way! Oh and eat something delicious!! :) Bye for now friendly friends! :D :D

What I Ate Christmas!!

Hidy ho friendly friends and happy Boxing Day!!

Yes, I am one of the millions of crazy people hitting up those boxing day sales today, but alas, I do not think I will be staying for very long- those crowds really do put me on edge!

Firstly, before I put myself through that... excitement, I thought I'd do a WIAW- this time; the Christmas edition!!

Unlike a lot of people, I pretty much eat the same kind of stuff because that's what I truly crave, but I did make sure all the meals I did eat yesterday were in fact what my body was truly craving!!

So here we go!!

5:30am
My morning started bright and early with the sun blasting through the slit in my curtains and my body naturally waking up with the sun and so I rolled around in bed for a bit knowing my day would start verrrry early if I got up and ready then and eventually jumped out of bed- CHRISTMASSSS!

6:00am
After toileting and drinking some water and all the other usual stuff that happens first thing in the morning I hopped downstairs and got my iPad to do a quick Blogilates workout (Extreme abs 3) for my active rest day and then jumped back down the stairs for brekkkyyy!!

 7:00am
After checking my emails and Facebook and the like (lno ones up yet so I have to entertain myself somehow!!) I was in the kitchen with the powerful Vitamix to whip up a delicious (and huge!!) chocolate green smoothie!

When I say huge, I mean literally another whole smoothie left in the blender after I filled this jar!!

 Perfect.

 To make this bad boy I placed 1 large handful frozen zucchini, 2 frozen bananas, 4 chunks frozen spinach, 3 spoons greek yoghurt, 2 teaspoons raw cacao powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2-3/4 cup water into the Vitamix and blended on high until smooth and creamy dreamy!

 Oh, and thick enough to be eaten with a spoon of course-just the way I like it!
 Straining to get the smoothie up through the straw really makes it last a long time and it just tastes so delicious! Sweet, rich, chocolatey, creamy- the perfect breakfast (not to mention crammed with untraceable veggies!!)

12:00pm
The grandparents arrived around 10am after my mum, dad and I headed out for our annual beach swim and then walk (super perfect day as well!!) and my sister 11am and then it was present time!
So much love and laughter and giving, it was really such an awesome time!!

Whilst mum set out all the fixings for our typical hot Aussie Christmas lunch (cold roasted meats, a big veggie salad- roast veg, raw veg, walnuts, feta etc., boiled eggs, buns, salad, cheese...) I got my oven roasted veg (pumpkin, parsnip, beetroot, swede, sweet potato, regular potato, roasted in extra virgin olive oil and thyme for about an hour) out of the oven and popped it in a bowl with some drained and rinsed lentils:

 Utterly delicious (anyone else obsessed with roasted thyme- sweet and crunchy and herby goodness??)

 Nom.

3:20pm
We were all in a food coma for a while follwoing lunch so we played some games around the table and then I started cutting up the desserts (my job for Chrissy- baking the sweets!) which included a big baked chocolate cheesecake with oreo crust and ganache topping and a pineapple upside-down cake both served with ice cream/ cream and also some choc coated caramels I made a few days a go, leftover from a Christmas party :)

By 3:20pm after games, sweet, a bike ride with mum and a little relaxing, I was starving once again and enjoyed a big handful of mixed nuts (cashews, almonds, brazil nuts) and a mug of soy milk- hit. the spot.

You know when you just need extra protein?? My body was just kind of screaming for it! Yes, sir!

6:40pm
After my snack the family played a few more games together, I showered, got into comfy PJ'S and then threw together one of my favourite, easy, no-thinking meals:

 Hi-fibre spaghetti with peas, wilted spinach and mixed four beans, stirred together with vegan cheese (hommus, nutritional yeast and some water mixed together until smooth and combined)

So easy and so delicious!

After dinner I snacked on 4 dates (they were huuuggeee) from my grandfathers cheese platter that he brought along (biggest and most impressive cheese platter I have ever seen!) and then I was done for the day- teeth brushed and settling in for our favourite Christmas movie; Love Actually :) :D

Aaaand that's what I ate Christmas!!

What about you?
What was on the Christmas menu for you this year?
Did you have a Christmas breakfast, lunch or dinner?
Favourite Christmas time food?

I hope you all have a lovely and restful break, sopend time with friends and family, share love, laughter and happiness, make memories and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Bye for now friendly friends! :D :D 

The Steph Life

If you've ever wanted to live exactly like me- do exactly what I do, eat exactly what I eat, be the identical replication of me- STEPH- then look no further! This is the post for you!!

Ok, ok just kidding, but I did want to share with you a post that does kind of detail the way in which I do live my life and thus the way of life that is known as; The Steph Life!

Hint: It involves lots of veggies, good delicious foods, exercise, sun and randomly bursting into cartwheels, handstands, bend backs and random dance moves at any time of the day/night.

So I decided to share with you a typical day (yesterday) whereby the Steph-life was in full swing and I was living life just the way I wanted to!

It started out with an early morning.

Yep, most of my mornings start out around 5-5:30am because in all honesty- that's when I feel most energised! I don't generally go to bed too late, so around this time is when I hit the 7-8 hours of sleep mark and my body is wiiiiiidddeeee awake and ready to go go go!

Zat be why I exercise first thing in the morning. Even before breakfast. *Gasp*

Just a nice little pic of my legs post-beach run... seriously guys, soft sand running is like a HIIT workout- gets your heart rate up soooo high! And those legs were a-burning!!

I know a lot of people can't understand this because they can't even fathom breaking a sweat with nothing in the tank, but I've either a) Gotten used to it from doing it for a few years now, or b) am one of those types of people who function better on an empty stomach (food in ma belly makes me feel heavy and weighed down- not the best feeling when working out!!)

 Post-run head shot- sweaty, messy hair, tired legs and super pumped with all those good endorphins- plus that Summer sun! Love, love, love working out with the sun on me!!!!

Recently I've started working out less with higher intensity and seeing better results! Again, just listening to the body and doing what I love- happy days!

 This is the workbook I use to write down all my workouts (because I'm a creative soul and like to make up my own :P) and so this guy contains an array of arm, leg, ab etc. workouts to keep things changing, different, interesting, challenging  and always fun!!

 I also love coming up with the random-est names- if you can see in the picture, one of them is called Ab Craze, another; I Can't Feel My Legs and finally, one of my favourites; Arnold Arms :P :D

Now, when I say I prefer and actually feel better working out on a fasted stomach, I do generally feel the hanger quite soon after finishing up my workout and thus breakfast within the next 30 mins is a must!!

 And this breakfast did not disappoint- in fact, I think I said on my Instagram (@steph2chef) this was one of my favourites in a while!!

 Featuring, rich, warm, crunchy, straight-from-the-oven cacao granola on top of plain greek yoghurt with some creamy, sweet frozen banana and a splash of soy milk- honestly; best. combo. ever.

 Eaten first and then one of the first (and best) mangoes of the season afterwards (because I wanted to enjoy that mango all on it's own!)

 Nice and filling, refueling from the run and ready to tackle the day!!

 So good :D

 Throughout the morning of yesterday I did a bunch of errands with mum, visited my grandparents (and brought them fresh scones from my work and some cream we whipped up), finished up the Chrissy shopping, there was probably some dancing and singing thrown in there for LOLS and before I knew it, it was lunch!

 This is the water bottle I drink from (and crazily carry with me) throughout the day to ensure I'm drinking enough water. No, I do not finish it everyday. Heck, I don't even think I've ever finished the whole thing, but it's one of those ones with the times down the side and it's just a great reminder for me to drink more often. Also, carrying it around is a great arm workout. Trust me. :P

 Lunch yesterday was a cracker (just like brekky... it was a good day for food!!)

 A toasted cape seed roll (also from work- wholemeal with9 grains and seeds!) spread with lots of hommus, topped with spinach, grilled eggplant, portobello mushroom, capsicum, zucchini and some fresh tomato slices- toasted off in a sandiwch press for a few mins until golden brown on top- NOM!

 So. Much. Yum.

I was rather hungry for this guys following the big morning of errands and so this efiniteyl hit the spot. I'm always one for listening to the body and my body was telling me to fuel up!

After lunch was a few more errands, finishing wrapping Christmas presents, drinking water (Haha) and then doing one of my other all-time favourite things; reading.

Reading is definitely a calmer for me and I love to just go out into the sun and walk around with a big hat on reading a good book. I don't really like sitting at all, so only do so when I have to (ie. it is very hard to stand in a moving vehicle etc.) and really enjoy just wandering around reading my book for an hour or so.

By then it was about 3:00pm when I decided to come back in and work on my handstands (getting pretty good at them folks- almost getting to the stage where I can hold them indefinitely- before the blood rush gets too much!!) and then mum and I worked on the Christmas menu (I'm on desserts!! Yay!)

Following that- at around 3:30pm- I was in need of a snack (lunch and dinner are just too far apart!!) and so cut myself up a pink lady apple and poured me a glass of soy milk and then I watched some Youtube videos for a while before heading upstairs for a shower and then into my jammies.

If I have a day off and don't need to go anywhere, I love getting into my pajamas nice and early (like 4:30pm) and then just mooching around the house relaxing (like I said, most energised in the morning, slowly dwindling come evening!)

Typically start making dinner at 5:30-5:45pm whilst reading blog posts on my iPad (portability :) and last night, once again, was truly delicious:

 Simply, creamy, delicious- steamed veg (pumpkin, parsnip, swede, white sweet potato, beetroot) with drained and rinsed blackbeans, mixed together with 1/2 a mashed avocado mixed with 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast- honestly so delicious (probably sounds kind of weird!)

And I hardly ever go a night without a little something for dessert after dinner :D

Yesterday it was two squares of 90% Lindt dark choc which truly just melts in your mouth and has such a rich, dark, decadent flavour- LOVE!

Brush teeth, close curtains in room, turn down bed and then head out to watch some telly (on the floor- because I guess I'm just not really a fan of furniture in general- I think when I move out all my furniture is going to be those Bohemian/ Indian style floor cushions!) until I inevitably doze off and then wake up and slowly plop down into bed, ready for a nice, rejuvenating sleep :).

And that's The Steph Life!

Your turn:
What would be the characteristics of The (enter your name here) Life?
Favourite breakfast of recently?
Are you a fan of sitting?

I hope you enjoyed this post, I always love reading about other people's lives so I thought I'd share a bit more about mine.

I hope you all have a lovely day, be with loved ones, give lots of hugs and happiness, spread joy, dance like a lunatic and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Bye for now friendly friends! :D

An Ode to Oatmeal!

Hidy-ho there friendly friends and welcome to a post I have decided to dedicate entirely to a long-time love of mine.

You've heard about my love affairs before... so this is nothing new, but of recently the oatmeal has just been stuck in my mind, day-in-day-out. I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't think. Well, just kidding- I can definitely eat and yeah, I'm sleeping too and in all honesty, my big mugs of oatmeal a probably helping the ol' noggin to get a-thinkin anyway!!

But alas, I am obsessed and one might think; 'But don't you get bored of eating the same thing numerous times a week??'

My answer to that- are you caraaazzzyyy?? The amount of different add-ins, flavours and textures you can manipulate your bowl of warm/ hot/ creamy/ sweet/ savoury/ rich/ decadent/ tangy/ anything else you can think of- leaves little room for boredom!

And so, I have taken it upon myself to share with you some of the recent favourites I've been enjoying and hpefully inspire your next bowl/ mug/ cup/ saucepan (we've all done it :P) full of oats!!

Let's go!

Pictured above is one of my all-time down-right, no-questions-asked favourite oat combos. My cherry cheesecake oats!
I enjoyed these after a long run because cherries are known to help with recovery for runners... and mainly because they taste utterly amazing!!

Into the saucepan goes 3/4 cup rolled oats, 1 sliced banana, small handful frozen/ fresh cherries (fresh is mighty expensive here in Aus) 3/4 cup almond milk, 1/4 cup water- bubble away on medium, stirring occasionally until thickened to your liking- stir through a big spoon or two of greek yoghurt (or any yoghurt) and nom!

Of course, here is the evidence for you of my layering skills of nut butter- ensuring the perfect bite every single time! Myavers Food mixed nut and seed butter on the bottom and top and crunchy PB (shown above) in the middle- melty, warm, gooey- DELICIOUS!

Cherry Cheesecake Oats:

One of my other long-time favourites is my beloved vanilla protein banana oats:

The newest/ latest addition to these bad boys being zucchini! Zoats are actually so, so good and give my regular oatmeal mugs a different texture, whilst not even being tasted at all- instead absorbing all the yummy flavours I've added to the oats- it also adds more volume for a lot less- meaning I can eat more oats- WIN WIN!!

This bad boy was made by grating up 1/2 cup zucchini, into a saucepan with 1/2 heaped cup rolled oats, 3/4 sliced banana (rest for topping), 1 scoop vegan vanilla protein powder, 3/4 cup almond milk and 1/4 cup water- stirring every now and then until thickened and liquid absorbed- again topped and spread throughout with nut butter for that ultimate enjoyment!

Adding fresh bananas to the top of oats again just adds another different element and texture, keeps things interesting and come on, who doesn't love a big spoonful of fresh, sweet, creamy banana with some sweet, warm oats and some decadent nut butter- a winning combination!!

Diggin' in:

Happy, happy days!

Honestly- that zucchini though- you probably think I'm zucchini mad, what with putting handfuls of frozen zucchini in my smoothies and 'froyo' too, but it honestly goes by untraceable and if it means I can eat more and get in extra nutrients, vitamins, minerals and a serve of veggies at breakfast whilst thinking I'm eating a decadent dessert- so be it!

The obligatory spoon shots (how I reckon oatmeal looks it's most appealing)

Finally, yet another delicious favourite of mine:

The apple pie cheesecake oats!!

Again, so simple, so delicious, filled with so much goodness and tastes like your eating a truly scrumptious dessert for breakfast- so much happiness in one mug!

To make simply place 3/4-1 cup rolled oats in a saucepan with 3/4 chopped small apple (I just eat the rest whilst I'm cooking the oats), 1 small sliced banana, 3/4 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup water, 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional- ginger, nutmeg, or any other warming spices you would usually add to an apple pie)- bubble away on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until apple has softened slightly and liquid is absorbed- stir through some greek yoghurt (to taste really- I probably put in 2 spoons), et voila!!

A big mug filled with warm, gooey, sweet, apple-y goodness!!

Generous amounts of nut butter a must.

And there you have it folks!

Just a few of the many ways I like to enjoy oats on the regular! Of course, that's only three of them- I haven't even mentioned my deep, resounding love of thick, chocolate-y protein oats that taste like a warm, gooey, rich, fudge brownie, or my super-purple blueberry oats, not to mention overnight oats, or a simple mug of plain oats with some chopped dates that I have for an afternoon snack sometimes!!

Oats are endless and you should definitely not write them off because you think they are boring or flavourless- EXPERIMENT! Try out new combos and try to recreate your favourite desserts with them- I've seen carrot cake oats, red velvet oats, tiramisu oats, pina colada oats, caramel oats, cookies and cream oats- there are unlimited possibilities!

So, take a leaf from my book and go to town on your oats this week- you just might create the ultimate flavour combination that the world has to know about!!

Your turn:
Do you like oatmeal?
Favourite way to eat it? Cold, hot, in a mug, bowl, saucepan etc.
Favourite flavour combo for your oats??

I hope you all have a super Friday, do something you love, smile lots, laugh and love even more and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Bye for now friendly friends!! :D