Vegan chili, a quick run and being super full!

Hello, hello friendly friends!
It's raining, it's cold, it's miserably grey.

And it's only 9:00am.

Yes, you probably know by now that I am not a Winter/ rainy/ cold weather kind of gal but I will admit that I do kinda love days where I'm snuggled up in trackies and a jumper meandering meaninglessly around the house, relaxing and eating arm comforting foods.

Such as chili! So, yesterday evening I went about chopping and tossing and sauteing and spicing up a big ol' pot of my take on a warming vegan chili!!

Sorry about the lighting- refer to line no. 2- cold and rainy and grey days :)

This guy was super simple to make- so tasty and quite filling (something I definitely need!)

All I did was toss in:

1/2 chopped zucchini

1x 1 cm thick round chopped eggplant

1/4 large chopped red capsicum

2 tablespoons chopped brown onion

4 sliced button mushrooms

1 heaped teaspoon crushed garlic

1 teaspoon olive oil

into a pot and cooked everything on medium heat for 5 mins until tender:

 Then I added in:

1/4 cup lentils (drained from can)

1/2 heaped cut butter beans (also rained from can)

1 sachet no-added-salt tomato paste (around 2 tablespoons)

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

A few dashes cayenne pepper

1/2-1 teaspoon cinnamon (depending on preferences- I LOVE cinnamon)

Few dashes cracked black pepper

1 heaped tablespoon nutritional yeast

Around 1 1/2- 2 cups water

And brought to a boil with the lid on, turning down to simmer (lid on) for 30 mins:

 I think my camera lens fogged up :)
After 30 mins, I checked if it needed more water (it didn't) so I let it simmer for another 12 or so mins without the lid to fully absorb evaporate water:

I also added in some chopped kale at this point- it sucked up a lot of the liquid I wanted gone.

Left it to sit for 15 mins to cool added in some more nutritional yeast:

And topped it all off with some avocado to balance the heat:

 Y.U.M

This morning I woke up to yet another grey and rainy day, though I wanted to do a speed run after a couple of long runs (my legs needed something different!) so I toughened up and headed out!

Yes, I got wet, yes I was pretty soaked, yes I had heaps of fun running in the rain!

Though I wasn't feeling chili to warm my soul upon my return, I did want something warm and comforting...

Enter oats! Buckwheat style!

 A super delicious and rich chocolate and coconut butter buckwheat 'porridge' with a small banana & peach smoothie.

This guy may look quite small- but looks are sooo deceiving! He filled me right up (to the point of over full) but I just couldn't stop because he tasted so gosh darn good! Now my tummy kind of hurts... in that awesome chocolate over-load kind of way ;)

It was also my first try of my new choc protein powder, which didn't leave a good first impression when I opened it to find it half empty..

Not impressed!

And also lacking a scoop! :( Alas I soldiered on and simply spooned in a heap of powder to my raw buckwheat groats, cinnamon, almond milk and water ( a cup of each liquid) heated it up, bubbled it away for 15-20 mins, let it cool for 10 mins and then poured it into a cup with coconut butter scattered throughout, and ate!

Well, I also made a smoothie, because I also wanted something cool and creamy!
Into the blender went 1 chopped frozen banana + 1/2 chopped frozen peach + 1/2 cup greek yoghurt + 3/4 cut water- whazzed until smooth:

So simple and sooo good!

First few bites with new protein powder...

It tasted- exactly the same! Which I'm pretty happy about (because I really liked my old protein powder) and not only is this one suitable for vegans, it also contains 'super greens!' Super duper!

So, yes, it was definitely a very filling brekky and I definitely ate past my fullness... but sometimes you just gotta enjoy that little bit more when it tastes so good!

I just hope I'm still hungry for lunch... or even dinner!

What about you:
What's your favourite comforting food when it's cold and grey outside? I think I'm going to have some soup today :)
Do you switch up long runs with short, quick runs, to keep your body on it's toes? ;)
Ever eat past your fullness because it tastes that good?

That's it from me today folks. I hope you all have a lovely day, eat something yummy! Bye! :D