And people think I'm missing out!

It always amuses me when I have to end up telling people that I don't eat dairy or added sugar and try to steer clear of gluten and am a vegetarian by choice (the others aren't a choice- they make my tummy angry!) and their response is always: 'what do you eat then?'
It's so tempting to have a rage at them and say there are heaps of things I can eat, it's not like I'm listing major food groups- just certain foods!
I guess that's one of the reasons why I started this blog, so when people ask me that, I can say ' check this out- I'm sure you'll see that I can eat quite a few things!'
It's even better when maybe a conversation about breakfast comes up with a group of people I'm talking with and they all say they have something like toast, or cereal and I'm like, well today, I had a lemon blueberry doughnuts with banana soft serve or a glazed breakfast pretzel. Always stops them right in their tracks!
It was today's brekky that reminded me of just how decadent and desert like my breakfasts are- but still manage to be super healthy, all natural sugars, vegan and delicious!
So... what did I have?
Cookies with a chocolate milkshake of course! ;)

These cookies are sooo good! I had a hard time not eating the entire uncooked batter straight from the bowl! Seriously! I dare you to take a bite and then not take anymore!
Ingredients:(cookies)
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup mixed fruit and nut muesli
optional- 3 brazil nuts, roughly chopped + one dried frig roughly chopped
1/2 tablespoon chia seeds
1/2 cup milk of choice ( I used oat milk)
1/2 tablespoon nut butter +1/2 tablespoon coconut butter (purely for the taste- you can use 1 tablespoon of nut or 1 tablespoon of coconut butter)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and line a tray with baking paper.
2. Place the oats, muesli, chia seeds, optional brazil nuts and figs in a bowl and stir to combine.
3. Stir in the milk, then place in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir again and place in again for another 20 until most of the milk is absorbed.
4. Place the nut butter and coconut butter in a small bowl and microwave for 15 seconds, or until melted, stir together, then add to oat mixture and rub in with your hands. Now have a taste, then with strain yourself!
5. Grab and handful and squish into balls, then flatten slightly onto baking tray (you should get about 5)
5. Place in the oven for 10-15 mins until crunchy on top and slightly golden, then transfer onto cooling rack.

While the cookies are cooking, you can make the chocolate milkshake!
Ingredients:
1 frozen banana
2 frozen milk cubes
sprinkle of chia seeds
1 tablespoon raw cacao
1 tablespoon chocolate protein powder
sprinkle of cinnamon
1/2-1 cup milk of choice ( I used oat- amount depends on the thickness you want)

Method:
1. Place in blender and whaz until smooth- then whaz some more so it's extra fluffy and smooth! pour into cup and place in freezer until ready to drink!

When the cookies are ready and have cooled slightly, transfer to a plate, lightly brush with milk (I used oat) and get your milkshake from freezer and enjoy!

The cookies were quite sweet actually! I think it was the addition of the figs, they were really good, and packed full of wholesome ingredients!

They're like little angels:

They even sparkle:

So, if you ever feel like you can't eat anything, because you've been placed on a restrictive diet- THINK AGAIN! Get creative- the world tells you; ' You can't!', tell the world; ' Watch me!'

Berry breakfast dessert pizza with Almond banana ice cream!
Oh yeh!- gluten free, soy free, dairy free, added sugar free, fruit filled, wholesome natural ingredients used and it still tastes out of this world delicious!

Things I'm Loving and HAPPY EASTER!

Happy Easter Friends! I hope you all have a fabulous day!

Now, I've decided to do a little Easter recipe round up for you. As I was going through my recipes I noticed I didn't have many carrot recipes- so I have to get onto that, but I thought, orange recipes work and so do chocolate recipes! So sit back relax and maybe become inspired?!?

How about some carrot cake oatmeal for breakfast?

Carrot cake oatmeal

Or maybe a baked carrot cake pancake?

Baked carrot cake pancake

Not a big fan of carrots, but want to stay true to their orange-ness?

How about some pumpkin doughnuts?

Another orange breakfast you might enjoy (might?)

Pumpkin cinnamon scrolls:

Pumpkin cinnamon scrolls

That's enough orange stuff I think- but keeping with the breakfast theme, lets go for some chocolate!

Seeing as it's pancake Sunday, why not try:

Chocolate pancakes

Or maybe, some chocolate banana bread doughnuts?

Chocolate banana bread doughnuts

Feeling like waffles?

Choc/raspberry waffles

I'm always in the mood for a smoothie- how about you?

Thick chocolate green monster smoothie

Well, I think that's enough breakfast ideas for you- maybe some orange goodness meals?

Pumpkin stuffed crust pizza

Or maybe some colourful pizza parcels?

Colourful pizza parcels

Finishing our delicious recipes off with the ultimate veggie burger (well, it looks a bit orange and there is grated carrot on it- so it's justified!)

Ultimate veggie burger

So- celebrate Easter with friends, family and delicious recipes!

xo Steph :D

Middle Eastern Marvels!

For some reason yesterday, the majority of meals I ate were Middle Eastern.. Whaaa? Maybe it was just coincidence or maybe I really wanted that type of food- either way, my taste buds and tummy were happy!
Starting with lunch (because lunch comes before dinner) I made myself a big, flavourful Middle Eastern inspired bowl of yumminess:

Oooooh yeh!
So, I have another step by step instruction guide (in picture form for you!)
Ingredients:
about 1 cup chopped root veggies ( I used potato, parsnip and sweet potato)
handful of spinach
1 tablespoon hommus + a splash of milk (soy milk)
1/4 cup cous cous
1 teaspoon middle eastern spice blend ( I used the Turban chopsticks one)
1 small tin of mixed four beans
small handful of cherry tomatoes
Half a beetroot peel to produce strips

Method: 
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius
2. Cover beetroot in a bit of oil:

2. Place on baking tray and bake for 15-20 mins until slightly brown and a bit crispy

3. Steam chopped veggies until nice and soft (20 mins)
4. Meanwhile place cous cous, spices and 1/4 cup of boiling water in a bowl, stir to combine and cover with a plate.

5. Drain and rinse four beans, after 5 mins check cous cous, fluff with fork and add beans:

6. When your beetroot is ready, remove from oven and place on paper towel:

7. Place the tomatoes on the baking tray and crank up the heat to 220 degrees celsius, place in oven for 10-12 mins until wrinkly and slightly charred.
8. Once veggies are soft, place in bowl:

and mash!

Add in hommus, milk and stir to combine- should be nice and creamy ( I also added some nutritional yeast for extra cheesy flavour)

9. Remove tomatoes from oven when ready, now it's time to layer on up!
Bowl:

Spinach:

Mash:

Cous cous:

Tomatoes:

Beetroot:

Voila! Enjoy!

Then dinner rolled round and guess what- more Middle Eastern inspired food!

This was super simple- and no I did not do a step by step picture instruction guide!
You simple roast some pumpkin in the oven (180 degrees celsius for about 30 mins), steam some greens ( I used brussel sprouts, broccoli and peas) and create this yummy salsa!
Salsa:
1/4 cup cubed eggplant
1/4 cup diced capsicum
3 cherry tomatoes chopped
3 button mushrooms chopped
handful of spinach
1/4 cup chilli tofu, chopped
tomato salsa stirred in

Method:
1. In a frypan place some oil garlic and the chopped veggies over high heat and keep tossing and stirring until all the veggies are tender, stir in spinach and salsa- serve!

Y-U-M!

Yesterday was pretty tasty- who knows maybe today with be Indian? Or Mexican! I love Mexican! Oh no! I'm going Italian (PIZZA AND PASTA BABY!)
Any way- I hope you guys have a fabulous weekend and maybe try out a different cuisine ( although Australian is pretty good- I mean we have twisties and tim tams guys!)
:D

Recently in Steph land...

Hi everyone! Sorry about the recent posts with pictures of my recipes, all of yesterday and the day before I was creating my visual index for all of my recipes using inlinkz with the help of this lovely blogger.
So don't get too confused about the sudden bombardment of recipes- but do check out the pages, they are labelled up the top- Breakfast, Main meals and Toppings (like dips, sauces and spreads)
Any-who.. this is a food blog and seeing as I forgot to do a WIAW (What I ate Wednesday) and a Thinking out Loud Thursday, I thought I might combine the two!
So lets start with some yummy meals I've been enjoying of late...

I have this thing about nuts you see... I'm nuts about them- and if they don't feature in my breakfast (which they almost always do) then they have to feature at lunch or dinner. Hmmm, where is my beloved peanut butter hiding on this plate?

AHAH! So these were my nutty, oven baked bean balls! So simple- but here's the jist, about 3/4 cup red kidney beans, with a tablespoon of lentils, heated in microwave, smashed and mixed with some onion and garlic that I fried in a fry pan and of course a tablespoon of peanut butter. Then placed in oven for about 15 mins!
I had some yummy potato and carrot wedges too and salad. Does anyone else love frozen peas, or is that just me?
Now for a brekky that looked pretty similar (HUH?)

These were chocolate muesli balls with a side of rock melon and banana soft serve.
Super simple again- but super yummy!

Make some chocolate oats ( I used maybe a cup of muesli, with a sprinkle of oat bran) about 1 cup and a half of milk (oat) and a tablespoon of raw cacao and a sprinkle of cinnamon, then you let it bubble and thicken and then over thicken a bit so its sticky!
Get a spoon and plonk on a baking tray:

Bake at 180 degrees celsius for around 15 mins, then drizzle with coconut butter and peanut butter!

Banana soft serve- whack a banana in a food processor and whaz until smooth (may need to scrape sides)
YUM!
Oat balls:

Soft serve:

Together forever (I mean come on- banana and chocolate- best combo ever!)

You know it was a good brekky when all your left with is...

:D
Back to savoury now and you may remember just recently I created a post on how to make the best grilled veggie sandwich, well, I had that sandwich stuck on my brain, so I created another one.. but slightly different.

It was big and messy and DE-LI-CIOUS!
I used two rye flat breads as my sandwich bread and topped it with the lot...

There's hommus and spinach and salsa mixed with beans and grilled carrot, tomatoes, mushrooms, capsicum and eggplant, all pressed in a sandwich toaster:

Oh yeh!
Lunches were a hit this week, as you can see, and the other day I made an all time favourite!
Nachos!

Now, I won't go into details on how to make this, because I already have a recipe for nachos on this blog- check it out!
Lastly, I'll finish with today's breakfast, where I was craving carrot cake, but mainly the carrot part- not the cake :)
So I made a delicious mug of carrot cake oatmeal :)

With some peanut butter apple sandwiches on the side!
You simply steam some carrot until nice and mooshy (yes it is a word, even though it has a red squiggly line under it at the moment) add it to some oats- about this much:

Maybe 1/2 a cup plus some chia seeds and oat bran and add about 1 cup of milk, then let it thicken on medium head, stirring occasionally. I also added some coconut butter for extra flavour and a sprinkle of cinnamon over the top.
Pour into mug and admire my steamy shot!

 I have this person to thank for the steam tips.
Yummy, warm carrot cake in a mug.. I do like my mug!

With a delicious crisp, peanut-buttery apple sandwich:

And, as always, ending with a beloved spoon shot:

Boy, that was a long post- I hope you enjoyed and maybe picked up some inspiration along the way!
Have a great weekend everyone!
:D