Happy FRY-DAY! ;)

Hello, hello and happy Friday! Because Fridays are always happy, right? There's just something about a Friday that lifts the whole mood of anywhere you go. I don't know, it's like there's a buzz in the air- a buzz of anticipation, a buzz of excitement, of elation... ok it's fairly clear I'm a Friday fan.

But, as the name of this post suggests, I'm also a fry-day fan! In what way you ask?

 An eggy sorta way :)

Eggs are hands down one of my favourite sources of protein.

No debate.

They're awesome.

I feel like they're on they're own in this world, with rarely anything comparable to them in taste, texture, or even functional properties- and this makes them special in my eyes!

I mean, I don't know many foods that are an awesome source of protein that can be used in both savoury or sweet dishes that coagulates almost instantly upon touching a heat source and can be whipped to 10x it's original size, can bind desserts together, or act as a float to absorb all the impurities in a consomme. Act as a dressing for a salad or plate of food merely by cooking for a slightly shorter time, or even cooking it for a little longer and mashing it into a salad! Ok, I'm getting over-exicted over here now. In short, eggs are fabulous, yet people hold onto that ancient (read- about 5 years ago) weariness over the so-called saturated fat and cholesterol raising properties of eggs.

Whilst eggs are in fact high in cholesterol, they don't adversely affect our cholesterol. And that's a fact. I think it's important for people to realise that cholesterol in the diet doesn't 100% guarantee a rise in cholesterol in the blood.

In fact- eggs raise your levels of HDL cholesterol in the blood (the good kind of cholesterol) putting people at a lower risk of heart disease, stroke and lots of other diseases.

And that's not all!

These little treasure boxes of awesome also contain ridiculous amounts of other nutrients (Luetin, zeaxanthin, omega-3's, protein, B vitamins, vitamin D, vitamin A, choline, phosphorous, selenium, folate... the list goes on and on!)

 But I have to admit, I mainly like em' for their taste :)

As a kid, a firm, set yolk was the only way I could eat eggs. Fries/ boiled, never scrambled or poached with a firm yolk. I think it was a texture thing. I also didn't eat the whites (no matter how many times my parents told me that was the most nutritious- LIES!) S o I guess you could say, as a kid, I didn't really like eggs?

Now? Now I'm all about the runny yolks and the delicious white casing and all the different ways to eat eggs. You know my favourite's poached though...

I don't even know what it is about poached eggs- but they are just so gosh darn good!

Hello yolk of golden bliss!

And if I want that beautifully rich, golden mess enclosed and managed...

I just throw those poached delights into a wholemeal wrap with roasted veg (broccoli, brussels sprouts, cherry tomatoes, capsicum, eggplant and zucchini roasted with olive oil) hommus and spinach and toast it slightly in a sandwich press.

Still gooey and delicious!

And of course, a childhood favourite (the one time I almost accepted completely runny yolks (but not really))

 

Soft boiled eggs with.... 

  

Toast soldiers!!

 

 

 All the toast soldiers (it's the child in me ;)

So yeh, eggs are awesome, and I feel like they deserved a whole post for themselves :)

What about you?
Are you an egg lover?
Favourite way to eat/cook them?
Childhood egg memories? (I never thought of drawing funny faces/ messages on our eggs shells in the carton but I think I will when I have kids! ;)

I hope everyone has an absolutely fabulous Friday fry-day, cook up an egg or two and in the simplest terms- enjoy life. You deserve to. Bye for now friends!! :D

WIAW #64 Tasty, tasty meals :)

Hidy-ho folks and the happiest Wednesday to you all!

List of things making me happy right now:
1. Holidays (break from schooool)
2. Pencils (finally got time to draw again!)
3. Buzzfeed (because those videos are HILARIOUS)
4. Friends (because friends keep me sane)
5. And finally....

FOOD!

I mean you had to see that one coming.

So, on the topic of food, on the day named Wednesday, how about a look into a full day of eats WIAW style? Yes! Thanks as always to the wonderful Peas and Crayons for this awesome weekly link-up! Now- FOOOOOD!

Breakfast: 7:30am
After a sweaty sesh of Purely Twins workouts nice and early (I love getting my blood pumping first thing in the morning) my body required some fuel for the day:

Enter my favourite breakfast sandwich! A peanut butter and banana toasted sandwich on my home-made seedy spelt bread.

With a side of refreshing raspberry fro-yo (handful frozen raspberries + 3 scoops greek yoghurt, whazzed in mini food processor until smooth and creamy) that was placed in the freezer for around 20 mins to harden slightly.

This will never get old. Ever.

Lunch: 12:00pm
I was meeting a friend up at the shops to see the movie Inside Out at 12:30pm, so threw together a quick (yet delicious) lunch:

A tasty salad with spinach, tomato, carrot, avocado, lemon juice and topped with the best veggie sausages.

So much yum.

Snack: 4:00pm 
After the movie (which was AWESOME by the way!) and a little shopping (I may or may not have bought some sport leggins. Just to wear as casual clothes. Because jeans suck. Hey they were on sale!) I made it home around 4-ish and was ready for a little snack:

A fuji apple with a mug of soy milk. Yum!

Dinner: 6:45pm

I got an idea from Amanda (Running with Spoons) to add some coconut to my grains (I can't remember if she used coconut butter/oil/milk but anyway- I wanted coco nutty rice!)

So I boiled up some brown rice, steamed some pumpkin, parsnip, potato, sweet potato and brussels sprouts, threw in some peas, corn and mixed four beans and tossed it all in a heated pan with about a tablespoon of coconut oil to crisp up and brown everything!

Let sizzle for a few mins:

Et voila!

This was sooo tasty guys! The coconut oil added so much flavour and substance and took every single ingredient in that bowl to the next level!

I definitely recommend giving this one a go if your looking for a great taste sensation!

After dinner I just wanted a little something to round out the day, so I heated up a mug of almond milk with cinnamon and sipped on that creamy delight before I was done for the day!

And that's what I ate Wednesday Tuesday!

What about you?
What are some things currently making you happy?
Do you also have an awesome breakfast sandwich creation?
Favourite use for coconut oil?

Hungry for more? Head on over to Peas and Crayons to see what everyone else has been nom-ing on (a great place for food inspiration!!) Have a fabulous day everyone! Bye!! :D

When I want oats... but not hot.

Yesterday morning I woke up (clap on the back Steph) jumped out of bed, checked the time.... and realised that it was only 5:30am.

Of course, any sane person would rug back up in the warmth of their bed and shut their eyes for another blissful hour or so and sometimes I would do just that.

But I was WIDE awake! Like buzzing with energy and there was no way my body was lying back down into the stillness of sleep.

So, naturally, I didn't. Instead I decided to burn off some energy on the treadmill (it was a lovely cold and rainy day yesterday... so I wasn't keen on running outside).

30 minutes later with legs like jelly after a little speed run, I could feel the stomach rumbling! I knew what I wanted; oats. I knew what I didn't want; something hot. I knew what I didn't do last night; prepare cold overnight oats. I knew that wasn't going to stop me.

Ingredients at the ready!

Into a bowl I mashed 3/4 of a banana (ate the other 1/4 because I was hungry)

I then added in a teaspoon of cinnamon and a heaped tablespoon of raw cacao powder:

Next into the bowl of goodies went three big spoons of greek yoghurt and a sprinkling of chia seeds:

Mix-y mix:

This here, my friends, is the ultimate 2-minute whip together chocolate mousse. Take a minute here and taste-test. Actually, maybe don't... one taste test may not be enough!

Seriously though, this mousse is the perfect texture, sweetness and it's chocolate so...
Ok, back to the oats!
Add em' in! (around 2 big handfuls)

Along with 1/4 cup almond milk (or any milk) and stir to combine:

Either leave to thicken in the bowl or tranfer to an almost empty jar of nut butter :)

This was my home-made cashew butter. It was a bit crumbling and because the oats are cold they wouldn't melt the nut butter, so instead I simply added it straight into the mix for even distribution:

Pop into jar:

And leave to sit in the fridge/ freezer (I chose freezer because I wanted mine extra chilly).

 Around 30 minutes later and your oats should be fairly thick and delicious (overnight is definitely preferable ;)

 Chocolate mousse-y goodness

 So I guess you could say these are over-30-min oats instead of over-night. Ahh well, they were tasty perfect fuel for the day!

Nom.

Your turn:
Do you ever wake up full of life way too early in the morning so just decide to get up?
Do you ever make overnight oats in the morning?
Favourite add-ins for overnight oats?

That's all from me this terrific Tuesday. Have yourself a wonderful day, acknowledge all the amazing things that happen (no matter how small) and as always, eat something delicious! Bye for now friends!!

Green food colouring..naturally!

Yesterday was Sunday. Designated pancake day in the Steph household.

However, there are so many Sunday's filled with the same old banana/spelt pancakes before it gets.. uninteresting. Lifeless. Dull. Something pancakes should never be!

*It's funny to add that I never get sick or tired of my favourite bowl of cinnamon banana oats and it's practically the same flavour just different textures!

So I thought I would spice things up a little (not literally because the only spice I want to use in pancakes is cinnamon... maybe nutmeg if I'm feeling creative/crazy) and add-wait for it-

COLOUR!

It was hard tossing up between what colour I wanted to make my pancakes; blue using pureed blueberries? Red/pink using beet juice? Bright orange with the help of pumpkin? Been there, done that. Something I haven't tried before? Greeeeen pancakes (unless you include that time my friend and I added green food colouring to some crepes we were making that turned out... not very appetising ;)

Here's what happened:

I got together all the necessities when making delicious vegan pancakes (wholemeal spelt flour, chia seeds, rolled oats, 1/2 banana, vanilla protein powder, cinnamon, almond milk) and placed it all in a mini food processor.

Then I topped it all off with a nice big handful of the green stuff! (baby spinach leaves if you hadn't guessed)

Lid on, pulverising initiating...

Pulverising complete!

And a very bright (slightly fluorescent- the picture doesn't do the colour justice) pancake batter!

Poured into a mug and let thicken for around 10 mins (this batter was quite thick. I wanted nice fluffy 'cakes)

After the batter had thickened slightly I spooned out some of the mixture onto a heated fry pan with some olive oil:

Around 2-3 mins and FLIP!

Another minute or so on the other side and flip onto some paper towel!!

Perfect and nice and fluffy :)

While the pancakes are still hot, top with your favourite topping (I went with cashew butter and peanut butter and let them get all melty and gooey)

And enjoy!
With the other half of my banana, I whazzed it up with some greek yoghurt while the batter was thickening and popped it in the freezer for some banana fro-yo.

The best part about the breakfast (other than the taste, because the taste is always the best part of eating!)? The awesome green colour of the pancakes- I love it!!

Trust on this when I say you cannot taste the spinach at all- it just creates the awesome colour (and sneaks in added nutrients- bonus!)

All this to say my pancake Sunday just got 200x more exciting and I think I'll carry on with this theme of making a different (natural) coloured pancake each week. Any suggestions for next Sunday?

Your turn:
Do you have a designated day for pancakes?
Favourite batter additions?
Favourite pancake toppings? I was never the biggest fan of maple syrup- I had it occasionally but found it a bit too sickly (maybe because my previous love was tomato sauce on top of my pancakes :)

That's all from me today. I hope you all have a lovely Monday, eat something delicious! Bye for now friends!! :D