WIAW #63 Dutch cinnamon, persimmons and bread

Happy Wednesday Lovelies!!
This week has been a mish-mash of good/not-so-good/ confusing/ funny/ all the emotions in one and so it's safe to say that I'm a little exhausted! It is the last week of school for this term which is lovely (even though they decided to stretch out this term to be an 11 week-er)

Decision making is one thing I suck at. I hate it and it makes me feel squirmy inside. The decisions/ confusion I'm experiencing at the moment is definitely not big by any means or one that you would find particularly fascinating but let me just say that I can't wait for the next couple of weeks to be OVER so I can get back to a simpler version of life (if that is even possible as a 16-year-old senior school student)

In saying all that, decision making consumes lots of energy, resulting in my hunger levels picking up and because it is Wednesday let's take a look at a full day of eats- WIAW style!! Thanks as always to Peas and Crayons for this awesome link-up!!

Breakfast: 7:25 am
This day featured Tuesday's eats where I woke up bundling with energy, did two Purely Twin's workouts and then scuttled into the kitchen for breakfast! (I feel like you might be envisioning me as a squirrel... I am not a squirrel ;)

Grocery shopping last week found me parked in the spice section of the story glancing between two jars of cinnamon. One held a fairly minuscule amount and the other was the great big tub you see before you (any guesses which one I bought? ;) Any who, the price of the small one as ridiculous compared to the rice of that mega tub (why had I bought it for so long??) so now I have come to my senses and have a huge pot of Dutch ground cinnamon (tastes exactly the same as regular ground cinnamon) for a fraction of the price.

Cool story huh?

The reference this has to breakfast is that I scooped about a teaspoon of the cinnamon into my favourite bowl of vanilla steel cut oats for a warm, gooey, vanilla-y bowl of happiness.

Topped (and folded throughout) with home-made cashew butter for extra happy.

Snack: 11:00 am

Snack as per usual featured a little pot of peas- delish!

Lunch: 1:40 pm
Created this morning to bring to school was a big ol' salad with spinach, carrot, cucumber, capsicum, cherry tomatoes, pumpkin and corn falafel and lemon juice.

Exactly what I felt like

So much veggie love <3
Snack: 4:00 pm
After school I always look forward to a sweet snack of fresh fruit with soy milk. Always. Very rarely do I change this up because it's just so gosh darn good!

Tuesday was no different!
A beautifully ripe persimmon with a mug of soy milk- perfect afternoon energy booster! I still can't believe that I ever though persimmons were gross. madness.

Dinner: 6:45 pm
As dinner time started to tick round, I could feel the stomach starting to discuss some things with me, so I mentally worked out what to feed it and though some coconut oil roasted pumpkin and steamed greens sounded particularly appetising in that moment. I kind of also wanted some boiled eggs.

What was strange was that I hadn't had many grains that day and yet I had no desire for them at all! (I generally crave all the whole grains and carbs if I haven't had many previously in the day) I decided to toast up the last end bit of my seedy rye bread anyone to make into toast soldiers as I was having boiled eggs anyway... but I seriously didn't feel the need at all.

Topped with hommus because rye toast topped with hommus is right.

In the end, the bread was a good choice and added to the tastiness of the meal.

And coconut oil roasted pumpkin is simply too good for words.

I was fairly full after that tasty dinner so simply rinsed my plate, brushed my teeth, got into comfy, warm clothes (Winter in Aus :) and snuggled up in front of Masterchef for the night. Happy days.

Aaaand that's what I ate!

What about you?
Do you have a secret brand of cinnamon (or other spices for that mater) that is 10 x cheaper than the popular brands?
Fan of persimmons? Any creative ways to use them (other than eating them, which is all I can come up with!)?
Do you go through periods of simply not wanting to eat grains?

That's it from me this fine Wednesday, if you're still hungry for more though, be sure t head over to Peas and Crayons to see what everyone else is nom-ing on! Bye for now friends!

Pasta! ... Almost ;)

So my post on Monday seemed to spark something in me.

I actually got a bit creative at dinner time (yep, dinner time!!) and decided to whip up something kinda different for once!

As the title suggests, it was a pasta dish... almost ;)

Almost, you ask?

Weeeelll, I figure calling something a 'pasta' dish would actually entail the addition of pasta, which this dish does not. Instead it's basically one big bowl of veg! I ain't complaining though- veggies never tasted so good!

Don't worry buddy, you won't even miss it!

You know what I'm talking about. It's a thing.

Yep, zucchini pasta/ noodles/ zoodles :)

Unfortunately I do not have that whaz-bang machine that spiralizes the zucchini into curly ribbons of noodles, but in all honesty, it's not even that necessary! Grab a peeler and a knife and you're good to go!

So that's what I did! (after I chopped up some pumpkin to roast in the oven for 45 mins at 180 degrees celsius :)
I peeled half a medium zucchini and half a carrot, cut them into slim strips and popped them in a bowl for a quick blanching later on!

I also made a tasty 'sauce'

Char-grilled eggplant, capsicum and cherry tomatoes, brown onion + handful spinach, whazzed until combined:

Into a saucepan of boiling water went the zucchini and carrot 'pasta' for around 3-4 mins (you don't want it too soft or the zucchini will just disappear!) and then drained and popped back in the pot:

Quickest cooking pasta I've ever seen (looking at you high protein pasta)

I then threw in the sauce and the roast pumpkin, some garlic tofu and stirred until combined.
Next came glorious-ness in a bowl:

This was incredibly tasty, filling and down right happiness inducing.

Happy days.

Your turn:
Are you a zoodles fan?
Could you ever give up pasta? I don't think I could. It's too beautiful!
Do you find your creativity in the kitchen dwindle or prosper come dinner time? Definitely dwindling for me!

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day, as always- eat something delicious! Bye!! :D

Savoury meals.. for once!

Happy Monday friendly friends!
As per usual Steph style I feel like the blog has had a bit of a focus on the sweet/ breakfast-y/ dessert (because my breakfasts are taste pretty much like desserts... always) so it's about time that I shared some more savoury inspo for you guys. You know, in case you were wondering what on Earth I eat other than oats ;)

This can be me on occasion... but I promise you I do enjoy a good savoury meal every now and then!

So here's a little look-see at some of the less oat-y/ breakfast-y concoctions I've been nom-ing on lately:

As per usual Mexican has featured!

This gorgeous Goddess of a wrap was some taco spiced beans, lentils and mushrooms cooked in a fry pan with some water + a quick salsa of tomato, corn, avocado and lemon juice all wrapped up in a multi-grain wrap spread with hommus and topped with spinach. Grilled in a sandwich press until crisp and toasty on the outside!

So very tasty and satisfying when one is suffering from The Hangry.

A lunch at home and now a lunch at school:

Prepping my lunch for school the night before when I make dinner saves a TON of time! I seem to split the week in half with my lunches, making half the night before and half the morning of. The night before lunches are always 10x better :)

This was some parsnip, potato and sweet potato drizzled with olive oil and scattered with lemon thyme before roasting for around 45 mins at 180 degrees celsius:

In the morning topped with a torn up veggies and quinoa patty, spinach and chopped tomato:

Twas good!

And what did I make for that dinner whilst I was roasting the veg for my lunch?

MORE ROAST VEGGIES (because seriously, you can never have too many roasted veggies... unless of course you do.) This time the mix was roasted swede, pumpkin, potato and beetroot and cubed tofu (simply placed on the roasting tray along with the veg and roasted in olive oil.

I have this obsession with plain brown rice. Some call me strange, but there is something about the flavour of simple, boiled brown rice that doesn't compare to any other grain.

I seemed to be on a little tofu kick last week (I did buy a block of hard tofu grocery shopping last week and wanted to use it up) and chucked some more cubes in the veggies I roasted up for another lunch last week:

Zucchini + eggplant + capsicum + mushrooms + cherry tomatoes + tofu, roasted in olive oil for around 40 minutes until the veggies screamed delicious-ness (eggplant roasted in olive oil- best thing ever, or what?)

All I had to do in the morning was chuck in some spinach, et voila! So delicious and so simple!

I guess from these pics you can tell that my savoury meals tend to be simple and focus on keeping the veggies in their simple whole state because they just taste so. good. I always tell myself to try out a recipe I've bookmarked on my computer from several awesome bloggers, or one of the ones I've colour-sticky noted in my recipe books... and yet whenever I go to make something I just feel like simple.

Breakfast is a whole other story though- all the strange cooking creations happen in the AM!

What about you?
What is your favourite meal of the day? Breakfast, breakfast, BREAKFAST!
Favourite prep-ahead lunches?
Plain brown rice? Are you a fan?

That's it from me today folks! As always, make today a good one (it is in your power!!) eat something delicious and give someone a hug :) Bye for now!! :D

Sundays are for PANCAKES...and links ;)

Hello, hello everyone!
Everyone glad it's Sunday? Yes? Good! Me too :)

Basically I've committed a big sin over the past few weeks in not having pancakes for brekky on Sundays (the un-official universal pancake day). Instead going for smoothies, or oats, or truffles. Gah, the offensive-ness of it all is almost too much to bare.

I say almost too much as I actually remedied the situation this Sunday morning...

 BOOM BABY!
I made some delicious thick and fluffy wholemeal spelt banana/cinnamon pancakes topped very generously with crunchy peanut butter. With a side of blueberry fro-yo (bluebs, 1/2 banana, greek yoghurt- whaz!)

Making pancakes requires some very technical steps, so I decided to take pics of each one just so you can make it through (note the sarcasm, folks ;)

1. Pancakes in pan with oil and heat:

2. Pancakes flipped in pan after 2 minutes with oil and heat

3. Pancakes left a teensy bit too long on other side

4. Topped with PB to hide that fact. In chunks waiting for fridge cold PB to melt:

5. PB melted, spread and devoured:

Pancakes done!

Now, as it is Sunday, I have some links I've loved from the week to share with you! Let's go!

Food:

No Bake Black Bean Fudge Brownies

Rainbow Veggie Hummus Pizza & Everything Bagel Crust

33 Overnight Oats Recipes for the Perfect Lazy Girl Breakfast

{no bake} peanut butter chocolate mousse fudge cake

Vegan crumpets

Fitness:

16 minutes and done! Full body HIIT workout

The Basic Rules to Start Running

Exercise Hacks for Better Workouts

The 1000 Ab Challenge

18 Fitness Myths That Need To Be Stopped Immediately

Good reads:

What Happens When You Give Up Solid Food For One Week?

Here's How to Make Your Lunch Totally Memorable and UtterlyCraveable

Can you guess the actual name Starbucks got horribly wrong?

I hope you found these links as interesting as I did (still eyeing those vegan crumpets!) and found some inspiration here and there!

Make sure you have a wonderful day, do something you love and of course, eat something delicious! Bye for now friends!! :D