Stroke of GENIUS!

I like to say I'm pretty creative in the kitchen, but nothing could have prepared me for this...

A couple of days ago I made myself my favourite smoothie, except I had a massive frozen banana and used two medium sized mangoes... so I could not finish it (I know- me, really?) So instead I found these moulds:

And placed my remaining smoothie into one. I had no idea what I would do with it, only that I did not want to waste the amzingosity of my smoothie, so into the freezer it went.

Then I remembered my favourite ice cream ever:

A Golden Gaytime.
Which brings me to my breakfast this morning:

My banana mango ice cream, coated in coconut butter and muesli, with some oat-balls in the background, mixed with oat milk, blueberries, grapes and the remaining coconut butter. Best. Brekky. Ever.
To make: 
1. Make yourself a wonderful smoothie (use your favourite smoothie recipe- or mine)
2. Enjoy almost all your smoothie save enough to put in a mould.
3. Freeze:

4. Make oat-balls- you can use this recipe

5. Find some muesli- I used this:

6. Spoon out some coconut butter (maybe 1-2 tablespoons)

7. Working EXTREMELY fast, spread on coconut butter the press on a plate with muesli. If the coconut butter already set (like mine did) dip muesli in coconut and stick it on. Leave to set/ soften ice cream slightly.

8. Place oat-balls in a bowl, add any fruit you want ( I had blueberries and black grapes) add any remaining coconut butter and milk of choice.

9. Enjoy your 'out of this world!' Breakfast!

Mmmm, ice-cream for breakfast! :)

Waffle Day

Waffle Day (14th Feb) original called Valentines day for some reason, but now it is Waffle Day!

I did however give my waffles a valentines feel...

Chocolate/ Raspberry Valentines Waffles:

Ingredients:
70g spelt flour
10g coconut flour
15g oatbran
milk (about 1/2 a cup, keep adding to get a thick pancake consistency if required) I used oatmilk
1 Tablespoon raw cocoa
1 tablespoon frozen raspberries (or blueberries or strawberries or mixed berries)
Chia gel:
1/2 tablespoon chia seeds
2 tablespoons milk ( again I used oat milk)

Method:
1. Stir together the chia seeds and milk and sit for 5 mins.
2. Mix the flours together in a medium bowl with a whisk.
3. Place the chia gel in a small food processor and processor for about 30 seconds. Add to dry mix.
4. Whisk in milk and divide mixture into two bowls:

5. Add berries to one and cocoa to the other:

6. Heat waffle iron (you can also make this a pancake)
7. Oil iron well and place the raspberry mix on half  and chocolate mix on the other. If making pancakes do the same in an oiled fry pan (half raspberry half chocolate, slightly overlapping each other.)
8. Cook until lightly golden and transfer to plate.

I drizzled mine in coconut butter, normal people will probably want it sweeter so I would recommend caramelized bananas, or banana ice cream, or maple syrup... etc.
The apple in the background is cored and sliced, then spread with peanut butter and stacked... yummy!

Waffles truly= love :)
I ate my true love :D

What to choose!?

I seem to have this trouble quite often. (see here, and here)
I know what I want to have and everything, I just cant decide what flavour I want. So I go with everything. Just like the other day when I wanted toast...

Hehe.
That is my take on jam, chocolate spread, peanut butter and Vegemite. With some grapes on the side.
Yum.

For the jam, I simply heated up some frozen berries and processed in a food processor. For the chocolate spread I melted some coconut butter and stirred in some raw cocoa. For the peanut butter and Vegemite, I unscrewed the lid and spread it on. :D
Don't be afraid to satisfy every flavour (whether sweet or salty) just go with everything!
If that plan fails- think pink!

As in, pink oatbran! And peanut butter- always peanut butter!
Or think, big, delicious spoonfuls of joy!

I love breakfast and I hope you all do too!
Have a fabulous day!
P.S. I seem to really like exclamation marks too... !
:)

Planning- Important!

What do you do when you have to go to school at 8:00am only to return at around 8:00pm and you need to take your own meals. There are only so many Vegemite sandwiches you can have in a day people!

So instead... you plan!

Last night I made myself some overnight oats for this morning:

With some added apple and grapes thrown in, in the morning.
I also cooked up some quinoa last night for today's dinner and had some leftover veggies as well. With that I made a salad in the morning:

 Easy peasy- quinoa, roasted sweet potato, carrot, spinach, tomato, peas, beans and lentils.

With the extra time I had in the morning with not having to cook breakfast, I decided to make myself a gourmet lunch.
A grilled veggie toastie:

Grilled eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, spinach capsicum and a veggie patty on wheat free bread spread with hommus and toasted in a sandwich press. Then wrapped up in foil for school... yummo!

So there you have it, with a little planning you can make delicious meals for the entire day!

Busy, want take-away? The solution... plan ahead!
:)
Have a great day! :D

Nutritious, delicious lunch ideas!

Not only do I believe in a nutritious, delicious, awesome breakfast (see yesterday's post) I also think lunch should be extremely delicious and filled with loads of good stuff too. So I thought I might share with you some of my favorite lunches from the past month...

Starting with yesterdays:

Super simple, super healthy and above all, super delicious!
This was a rye flat bread that I lightly heated, then topped with my guacamole (avocado, corn, capsicum, tomato, lemon juice + food processor), with grated carrot, tomatoes, cucumber and eggs, with some hommus on top and some salsa hidden amongst the veggies.

A couple of weeks ago, I wanted a little bit of everything, so instead of one full meal I made a few smaller ones- still very yummy!

On that plate was two boiled eggs, a chickpea flat bread (chickpea flour+water toasted in pan) some roasted cherry tomatoes and some pumpkin gnocchi (pumpkin mixed with brown rice flour and some oil- placed in boiling water until they rose to the top)

I found some huge silver beet at the grocery store the other day and immediately had an idea!

I decided to make a wrap!  Inside was brown rice, sauteed veggie (mushroom, tomatoes, capsicum) mixed four beans, corn, peas, lentils and probably a bunch of other stuff all mixed together with hommus. ( I made another one which had pesto instead- just as good)

Schools a tricky one to make lunches for, but I had managed. On Friday I made a quesadilla!

 And just wrapped it up in foil. Easy! So I made the filling by putting some mixed beans, corn, mushrooms, lentils, capsicum and tomatoes in a small fry pan, adding some taco seasoning and water, and cooking until it all got nice and thick:

I heated a wholegrain wrap, then place some spinach on half:

And my Mexican filling on top:

Fold it over and place in a sandwich press, or just in a large fry pan and cook for a couple of minutes. (turn if using fry pan) Then cut into triangles... Yum!

If you couldn't tell from these pictures, I also love bright, rainbow meals, they're pretty and you know your getting lots of good nutrients too!

I hope you all have a great lunch today- give yourself a challenge and try and make it as rainbow as possible!
:D

Breakfast, I love you!

I always make it my mission to not only eat breakfast every morning, but to make it spectacularly delicious, filling... and awesome!

Do you remember this guy? Well, as I was eating him (yes I give my foods human qualities) I mentioned he tasted like a giant chewy cookie!

Today for breakfast, I wanted cookies! So I did a variation of this recipe- it may have tasted even better!

Vegan, Sugar Free, soy free, dairy free...
Stuffed Chewy Oaty Cookies!

Ingredients:
65g wholemeal plain flour
10g coconut flour ( I strongly suggest using this, the coconut taste is a-maz-ing!)
25g oatbran
oats (as much as you like, I probably used 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon baking powder
Optional- chia seeds
1 tablespoon oil
About 1 tablespoon milk (I used oat milk) Keep adding if dough isn't coming together
Extra milk to glaze
Filling: This is really up to you- go crazy; berries, chocolate, jam- I will still write down what I did though)
1/2 banana, heated in microwave and mashed
Peanut butter (do you really need measurements? :)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a baking tray with baking paper
2. Stir all the dry ingredients together in a bowl with a wooden spoon. Add in the oil and milk, keep stirring until crumbly- then use hands to form into dough (here you would add more milk if you needed to)
Mine looked like this:

3. Split dough into 4 equal portions, place two on the baking tray, flatten, brush on some extra milk and create a crater in the centre:

4.Spread on some peanut butter, then banana, then peanut butter ( or whatever your filling might be)

5. Flatten the remaining bits of dough, glaze all over and kind of stick and mold it into the filled cookies.
6. I then drizzled on some coconut butter to keep the coconut cookie taste roaring!
Precooked:

7. Place in the oven and bake for around 10-12 minutes until slightly golden:

 8. Leave to cool slightly (not too much, nothing beats warm cookies straight from the oven!)
9. ENJOY!

I ate the rest of my banana alongside some grapes, the grapes were great as their freshness cut through the fudginess of the cookies :)

Now, just for your viewing pleasure- an inside view:

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!
Remember to keep smiling:)

:D

Lightened up pasta!

So while being back at school, meals have been a lot less technical and time consuming as they were on the holidays. I mean I don't have enough time to whip up this for a school lunch!

Dinner is a different story, but sometimes I still don't have the energy to think too hard! When I came home yesterday I simply threw some tomatoes and capsicum into the oven to slow roast and I would think of something to do with them later....

Steph's Lightened Up Pasta!

Ingredients:
1 medium tomato
5 cherry tomatoes
4 cm strip capsicum
66g (1 cup) dried pasta of choice
greens (1 cup- asparagus, broccoli, beans, peas, broad beans... cut them up small- you won't even notice them!)
Spinach
garlic+ herbs (to taste. I used basil)
Optional- protein of choice ( I used tofu)

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, place tomatoes and capsicum on a tray and roast until slightly blackened ( 30 mins)
2. Cool slightly, then process for a few pulses with garlic and herbs, until chunky sauce consistency:

3. Cook pasta as to directions (mine was 8 mins in boiling water) I used this pasta:

4. Blanch greens in boiling water for a couple of minutes (until bright green) drain.
5. Once the pasta is done, drain, then return to pot. Stir in greens, tofu, spinach and pasta sauce and heat slightly on a low heat for a couple of minutes.
6. Enjoy your veggie-filled pasta!

Have a veggielicious day!