My new obsession with beans

I have this new obsession.
It's been growing for a while now.
Ever since this:

A bowl of roasted potatoes (white potato and Japanese white sweet potato) with roasted brocoli and brussels sprouts, spinach and....

Spicy cumin, paprika and cinnamon roasted chickpeas.

See, I'd seen people make beans like this before- rub them with spices and then oven bake them until they puffed and turned golden but for some unknown reason (along with never trying avocado or almond butter until 2 years ago) I had never tried this myself.

Boy was I missing out!!

What's a girl to do if she feels a fair bit of FOMO (fear of missing out for all those not in the know ;) She makes up for the time without the amazing-ness of oven roasted spiced beans! :)

These bad boys were similar to the ones above with cumin, cinnamon and parika- an equal sprinkle of each, rubbed onto some drained four beans and lentils and baked in the oven at 180 degrees celsius for 15 mins)

Which were then scattered throughout this delicious cous cous and roasted veg bowl. (roasted pumpkin, beetroot, sweet potato, parsnip and swede with cooked cous cous and spinach). To say a smile slowly crept its way onto my face would be an understatement- I practically sighed with the love of these beans.

All hail the beans that have apparently disappeared under the mound of cous cous in this shot:

 Then there was lunch...

 A typical Steph lunch snack-plate!

 Mashed avocado,

 Oven roasted potatoes, (white sweet potato and regular white potato- obsession with potatoes too!)

 Chips! Organic blue maize tortilla chips and brown rice and linseed chips,
And...

Oven roasted chickpeas and lentils! These were my favourite yet, as I sort of went the sweet route, rubbing the drained chickpeas and lentils with ground cinnamon and ground ginger and baking again for 15 mins. Oh my gollygoodness! These were soo good! Sort of like eating a hot cross bun/ gingerbread/ something along those lines and the sort of floury texture of the chickpeas and lentils only added to that sensation!

Then there was many lunches and dinners that followed with beans like this and unfortunately I didn't take pics of them all because I thought you would grow tired of seeing them... no matter how much I was un-tired of eating them!!

 Ooh- popped into my lunch time salad once again!

:)
Now I'm not saying regular old drained/ cooked beans aren't entirely awesome either and that they don't also make awesome veggie patties or chilies etc. And sometimes I just crave a simple meal like the one below:

Roasted pumpkin, parsnip, potato and white sweet potato (yeh, you know I'm obsessed) with spinach and simple-pimple drained chickpeas and lentils:

Because sometimes oven baked spicy beans aren't what I'm feeling.

Except for most of the time- because most of the time I am!! ;)

What about you?
Current food obsession?
Ever tried oven roasted beans?
What spice/s would you put on yours? I simply can't go back from the ginger and cinnamon vibe now!

That's it for today folks! I hope you have a fabulous day and eat something yummy! Bye for now!! :D

An Ode To Food Blogging

Hi friends, Happy Monday! (If I am actually allowed to say that?)

 I thought to mix things up a little bit and maybe, possibly, perhaps, brighten your Monday just a little bit...
I would write a poem!
About food blogging!
My experience with food blogging!
Ok- come on, it'll be fun!! :D
Let's go!

It all started off as a hobby,

To create, enliven and invent,

A journal of recipes, ideas and imaginings,

That seemed to keep me content.

Then the imaginings became the doings,

The inventions- existent and there,

The kitchen a chaotic flurry,

An excitement and passion in the air.

2 parents acknowledged this passion,

And with this came the gift of great influence,

The means to create an exceptional image,

To capture food in  all of it’s brilliance

Yet little did they know the spark this entailed,

As the girl’s mind set about her next plan,

Snapping every breakfast, lunch, dinner and more,

And so the inevitable blog began.

Looking back on the sparks of this fire,

I thank the world for creating this road,

As I navigate my way through my current teenage world,

It’s this blog preventing me to explode.

post
Whilst others stare and wonder at my life;

Enjoying grocery shopping, cooking and nutrition,

Snapping endless pictures of the food I eat,

Thinking I’ve got some kind of medical condition.

post
I smile and I wave, accepting who I am,

Continuing to make oatmeal look good,

And I write and I create and invent and explore,

I’d do nothing else if I could.
 

Ta-da!

Your turn:
Are you a food blogger? What sparked you to become one?
What would you write an ode to? (Go on and write one!)
Do people think your food blogging is kinda strange?

So I hope you all have a great rest of your Monday because then it will be Tuesday... and then Friday (almost!) ;) See ya later! :D

My favourite soup!!

Soup.
The liquid meal invented for all those who simply cannot be bothered chewing and/or have no teeth.
I kid, I kid.
If you are interested the real definition is:
 

A liquid food made by boiling or simmering meat, fish, or vegetables with various added ingredients.

I'm sure you were interested. ;)

Now- soup.

As a kid I loved tomato soup. In fact I think I had a fetish towards tomatoes in general. I mean, I didn't now too many other kids who spread tomato sauce on their pancakes...
Any who- tomato soup was my jam and I loved it- thereby sticking only to tomato soup because it was the best. End of story.

Thankfully I grew up (slightly) and grew out of all things smothered in tomato sauce and even tomato soup! *gasp* Now I find it way too acidic? Astringent? Sour? Something like that... and instead I found a new love. A love that could be boiled and pureed and created to the same consistency of my previously beloved tomato soup. A love that is so sweet, yet not overpowering and so unbelievably creamy (something tomato soup just couldn't seem to manage). Any guesses?

PUMPKIN SOUP!!

And so today I bring to you my old favourite randomly created recipe of pumpkin and parsnip soup (I had a ton of parsnips I had to use up as well) topped off with oven baked spiced beans and a lentil flour flat bread. Oh yes!

Ingredients:
1/4 red/brown onion chopped
1 heaped teaspoon garlic
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon olive oil
460g pumpkin + parsnip (whatever ratio you want to go- I pretty much did half and half)
Ground cinnamon (to prefernce- I probably use a lot more than most people- 1/2 teaspoon probably more)
Ground cumin- 1/2 teaspoon
2 cups water
Black pepper
Nutrional yeast (optional)

Spiced beans:
1 x 125g tin mixed four beans (or just 1/3 cup drained chickpeas)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Lentil flour flat bread:
Heaped 1/3 cup lentil flour (can sub in chickpea flour/ any other flour)
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
2-3 tablespoons water (keep adding if necessary)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celisus. Line a tray with baking paper.
2. Place the chopped onion, minced garlic, grated ginger and olive oil in a heavy based saucepan and heat on medium heat. Continue stirring every so often until the onion turns translucent and the mixture is fragrant (around 10 mins)

3. Meanwhile chop the pumpkin and parsnip (weigh after chopping)

and add to the pot:

4. Stir together the sauteed onion, garlic, ginger and vegetables and add in the spices (cinnamon+ cumin)

5. Cook dry for 1 minute and then add 2 cups of water:

6. Cover with a lid and bring to the boil. Remove lid once boiling:

7. Boil for around 45 mins. Meanwhile drain your beans, place on the tray lined with baking paper, sprinkle over spices and rub to combine. Bake for 15 mins

8. Also while the soup is cooking- time to make flat bread! Place the flour and some nutritional yeast (optional) in a bowl and with a metal spoon stir as you slowly add the oil and water. Kepp slowly adding water until mixture comes together and forms a ball:

9. Flatten out onto a non-stick pan on medium heat and cook for around a minute on each side- until golden:

10. Once 45 mins has passed the water should have reduced by about half. Bring off the heat and with a stick blender (or even pour into a food processor) process until smooth:

I added in some cracked black pepper at this point

11. Transfer to bowl (or mug :) and topped with crispy oven baked beans:

12. Et voila!
Beautiful creamy pumpkin and parsnip soup topped off with some deliciously spiced beans with a side of lentil flat bread for dipping and dunking. It doesn't get much better than this guys!

What about you?
What was your favourite soup as a kid?
Has it changed now you're older?
Pumpkin soup? Yay/ nay?

That's it from me today folks! I hope you have a lovely and relaxing Sunday and maybe even slurp on some delicious pumpkin soup! Bye friends!! :D

Saturday- craving all the fat!

Hip, hip hooray for the weekend! So excited right now and I don't even know why! Maybe it's the fact that I can finally eat breakfast slightly later and therefore don't have to deal with the troublesome sun giving me a whole... teeny tiny square to photograph my breakfasts:

Tuesday last week:

I guess I shouldn't be complaining though because at least there is still sun out! Not looking forward to that aspect of winter!

But it is still Summer and no one can take that away from me!! (I am really not a winter person, hey?)
So weekends= awesome sunshine= happy Steph! (It's the little things in life people!)

Weekends also mean long and leisurely runs where I don't have the constant nightmare of being really late for school because I haven't kept track of the time whilst out running (which has happened every weekday before school so far). So long runs (approx 105 mins= approx 18km) lots of sunshine and good food... such as:

Choc protein creamy green ice cream and raw peanut butter granola

Usually when I return for a run (in desperate need of sustenance) I gravitate towards carbs. All the carbs. Oats, wholegrain crumpet, wholemeal spelt bread. Today something was different though. I thought of a big bowl of oats and didn't start drooling (very strange for me) instead I thought of avocados and nut butter and all things FAT! (The healthy kind of course ;)

So I whazzed up 1/2 a frozen, chopped avocado, 1 chopped, frozen banana and 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder until smooth and creamy dreamy!
Then I set about making my typical granola, took a bite and decided that I wouldn't bake it because it tasted so gosh darn good raw. I have these moments sometimes.

So I had all the fat and was super happy.

There's something about avocado that just makes everything so... creamy!

Ice cream paired with warm, gooey peanut-y granola= pure bliss. Especially after running a marathon for quite a while.

So craving the fat was a little strange (but listen to your body people- there must have been a reason! :) however as lunch time rolled around the usual carb-o-saurus in me came back with a vengeance:

 Big bowl of food!

 In this particular bowl was brown rice, garlic tofu, capsicum, tomatoes, spinach, snow pea sprouts, cucumber and roasted sweet potato (overdone and super srispy on the outside- just how I like it!)

To make such awesome sweet potatoes you just need to turn your oven up to hotter than usual (about 200 degrees celsius) and bake for 35 mins and the result is crispy outside, super soft inside and awesome flavour!

I think it's so awesome that (for me at least) my body pretty much tells me what I feel like- be it carb rich foods, full-of-fat goodness, or a decent serve of protein (hello eggs and beans and lentils and everything else on one plate!) and I think it's awesome how good I feel afterward by listening to my body. Top job, body!!

What about you?
What sorts of foods do you crave after a workout?
Favourite source of fat? I love, love, love nut butter, but avocados are definitely up there!)
Favourite method of cooking sweet potato?

That's it from me today folks! Back to my typical Saturday happenings (you know that really means home work!). Hopefully you have something fun/ relaxing/ happiness-inducing happening on your weekend and if not just take an hour or so to do something you truly love! With that- goodbye!
:D