The weird things I crave

I am a weirdo.


Especially when it comes to food.

 You see, my favourite meal of the day is breakfast and in the healthy living blogger community, mine are pretty normal- oatmeal, smoothies, pancakes, oats in a jar (yeh my friends think I'm weird, but this is considered awesome in this blog-o-sphere realm!)

Even my lunches are pretty acceptable... most of the time. Usually sandwiches, salads, wraps etc.

I will admit they are usually huge... but pretty normal all the same!

So it can't come as a shock to the world that come dinner, any scrap of normalness that was buried deep inside of me, managed to scramble out and left a whole lot of random/ weird cravings and as a result a whole lot of random/ weird dinners. Don't believe me? Brace yourself for multiple plates of food I almost guarantee you haven't seen before.

Just kidding, that was just a Google search- so, yes... someone in the world actually does like chocolate and onion...

Ok- now onto my very own strange foods.
Exhibit A: The 'can't decide on what I'm feeling' dinner:

A plate of steamed brussels sprouts, roasted butternut squash dusted with cinnamon, some brown rice crackers that I dipped in:
Some very quick home made baked beans- some tinned, drained butter beans, tinned tomatoes, nutritional yeast and sweet corn all bubbled in a pot for a few mins.

Exhibit B: The 'so plain and bland it can't taste good but it's Steph's favourite!' dinner:

Spelt spaghetti with spinach and roasted veggies and some grilled tempeh:

Yummy! Said no one ever.
Except me :)
Who needs pasta sauce?

Exhibit C: The 'I can't be bothered cooking something elaborate, am craving a grilled veggie sandwich and seem to have a lot of brussles sprouts in the fridge' dinner:

A seedy roll with hommus, spinach, curried veggie burger and sliced tomato, toasted in a sandwich press with a side of roasted brussels sprouts and broccoli topped off with fresh sweet corn.

Definitely hit the spot. The spot being a hungry little monster borderline-ing on hangry.

Exhibit D: 'Craving the veggies... and the taco mince...' dinner!

This one's not too weird. The weird part is the combination of practically two separate meals. I didn't really feel like proper tacos- as in a wrap/ taco shell/ lettuce wrap, or just a plate of roasted veggies, so I made some taco seasoned vegan mince, lentils, spinach and tomatoes (fried in a frypan with some water until absorbed) topped it with hommus and ate alongside a bucket load of roasted veg (pumpkin, white sweet potato- so good roasted!- orange sweet potato, potato (ok lots of different potatoes), beetroot and swede.

So I guess I don't like full/ complete meals that come with a name (ie. carbonara, lasagne, curry etc.) I just kind of put random bits of everything on a plate and seem to enjoy it!

That's all that really matters, right?
Exhibit E: 'Everything I felt like on the one plate' dinner:

 Steamed potatoes with pesto, roasted garlic-y tomatoes and mushrooms and two poached eggs with the remaining pesto on top, with a side of dried apricots :)

 I love pesto, I love veggies, I love eggs, I love dried apricots. What's not to like?

Please tell me I'm not alone:
Does anyone else give up by the time dinner rolls around?
Are your dinners random or structured?
What is the weirdest plate of food you have ever put together because you just felt like it? For me that's got to be a bowl of steamed veg along with some buckwheat cereal flakes and some almond butter. It was good! :)

See you later! :D

My perfect bowl of oats

Hello wonderful people!
Let's take a flashback about a year and a half.
I was just getting into the whole new diet thingo (when wheat/dairy/sugar were off the table) and I was just getting immersed obsessed with the healthy living blogger community. I was also just getting into oats.

Yes, I know woopdy-woopers- however little did I know this would be the start of an unbreakable love obsession!
I'd had oats as a kid but it was always those single serving highly processed, flavoured quick oats that you microwave...

So my very first bowls of oats were plain quick oats with soy milk, microwaved and then topped with a sliced banana.
They were plain/ boring/ not too filling. I can't believe I never thought to add my banana to the oats prior to cooking!

Then I caught on. Sort of.
I started chopping up the banana, placing it in a bowl and microwaving it after I microwaved the oats and then stirring it in. Boy, was that a step up!

I'm pretty sure these words were actually written for me and my oats.

Where was the nut butter!?! Ok, ok- stop yelling people! I also didn't think of that just yet, instead I had a small bowl of raw mixed nuts alongside my oats with a separately melted banana. :)

I know you're not worried though- especially if you've been reading my blog for a while, because you know how this crazy love story ends. We both sacrifice ourselves for true love.I finally figure out how to make awesome oats. (Ok, I'll stop crossing out my sentences now ;)

Take a look at my recipe page and you'll find numerous recipes for choc oats, pumpkin oats, berry oats, banana oats, baked oatmeal- the list goes on and on!

I've come to an important decision, however. I think I have found my favourite bowl of oatmeal. Dun, dun DUN!

How did I come to this conclusion? Purely on the fact that I ate it for breakfast 3 or 4 times this past week. That's big for me as I hate having the same thing over and over.

So, without further ado... my favourite bowl of oats:

Vanilla protein powder rolled oats!

To make:
Place about 1/3-1/2 cup rolled oats in a saucepan along with a scoop of vanilla protein powder, A LOT of cinnamon, 1 small thinly chopped banana (or half a huge one like I did this morning) and about 1 cup milk (I use almond milk) left to sit and bubble for about 5 mins on medium heat, stirring occasionally to 'melt' the banana into the oats. Then leave to thicken in saucepan for 5 mins, then transfer to bowl/ cup, (lined with a bit of nut butter ;) top with nut butter and leave to sit for another 10 mins to cool.

Perfection.

It is such a great brekky after a long run (like this morning) however I usually want something cool and creamy as well. Enter mango fro-yo:

1/2 a mango chopped and frozen whazzed up with 3 big scoops of greek yoghurt and placed in the freezer for 15 mins to harden a bit.

As you can see, I've come a long way in the oat department and am so happy about that. Whenever the topic of breakfast comes up at school and I say I love to eat oatmeal, most people wrinkle their noses in disgust. That's just because their used to bland, lumpy, grey moosh. They haven't experienced the amazing oatmeal recipes out there that I feel so blessed to have tried/ am going to try. 

 

 Post

 There's nothing like a warming spoon of deliciousness to bring a smile to your face:

Thank you oats.

How about you?
Do you like oats?
What's your favourite type to make?
Did you start off with very plain oatmeal?

That's it from me, bye for now friends! :D

Saturday Morning, Waffles Calling

 Saturday morning, waffles calling (sung to the tune of Sunday Morning:)

Hi friends! It's Saturday once again and I have a smile on my face... once again.
With extra time on my hands in the morning, along with not having to prep lunch as well, I always try to make something I simply can't achieve on busy weekday mornings.

Pancakes are for Sunday.

Waffles are for Saturday!

I had some blueberries that needed to be used up, which made it pretty easy to decide on the flavour.

A big ol' blueberry waffle!

A big ol' sugar/ dairy/ wheat/ soy/ vegan blueberry waffle!

Guys- it's a waffle. Nuff said!

Single Serving Blueberry Waffle
Ingredients:
35g wholemeal spelt flour
10g oat bran
15g rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon chia seeds
1/2 tablespoon ground psyllium husks (thickens mixture and binds it together- you can sub in an egg here or other egg replacer)
3/4 cup milk of choice (I used almond milk)
Vanilla (1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence or some seeds scraped- I scraped about 1/4 of a pod)- optional
Small handful of fresh/ frozen blueberries
Oil for greasing

Method:
1. Place everything but the milk, vanilla and blueberries in a bowl and mix to combine:

2. Whisk the milk and vanilla together in a small bowl:

3. Add to the dry mixture and whisk to combine (It may appear quite watery, but will thicken after sitting for a bit) Leave to sit for 15 mins.
4. Stir once more, then fold through the bluberries.
5. Switch on waffle machine and grease with some olive oil/ coconut oil etc. Once heated spoon on mixture and press down, leave for a good few mins (different depending on machine) as these waffles are a bit more fragile without the egg, they need to be almost fully cooked before checking.
6. After about 5 or so mins( less/more), check your waffle. Once browned and cooked through transfer to plate and top with your favourite toppings! (I used cashew butter and mixed nut butter)

Et voila:

Served alongside some frozen peach fro-yo (1 chopped frozen peach, whazzed up with 3 big scoops of greek yoghurt in a small food processor until smooth-ish)

 Tasted like peach cheesecake :)

I love blueberry anything- muffins, pancakes, cakes, doughnuts... if it's blueberry, chances are I'll like it, so it's no surprise the grin that took over my face when I sliced into my blueberry waffle:

Yep, still drooling :)

Waffles are pretty much the equivalent to breakfast pizza.

With a scoop of 'ice cream'.

Nom.

What about you?
Do you like blueberries? I've got to say, I'm not the biggest fan of them on their own, but seem to love them in other things :) They go all nice and melty.
Do you like waffles?
That was a silly question... What is your favourite type of waffle? I think mine would be chocolate :)

Now, back to my Saturday stuff- after already doing the weekly grocery shop and handing in a bunch of resumes (I need a job!) I still seem to have a bajillion things to do!

BYE! :D

You can slip a veggie in anywhere!

Hi hi hi! (very close to ho-ho-ho, because it is very close to CHRISTMAS!)
Ok, get off the Christmas topic, Steph, you're going to get way too excited! Plenty of time for that! No, today I'm here to talk about veggies! YAY! Just Thinking Out Loud on this fine Thursday! :)
Soooo many people tell me they don't like veggies when we approach the topic of my diet:

Other person; 'So what do you eat then?'
Moi; 'Mainly veggies, I love them so much!'
Other person (face screwed up in disgust); 'I don't really like veggies.
Moi; Slaps them round the face

Just kidding!

But seriously.

Now, I will admit I was the strange anomaly of a child that would walk around the house munching on a carrot/ brought capsicum and celery and any other veggie with me to school to dip in my tzatziki/ snacked on frozen peas because they are so gosh darn yummy! However I did dislike some veggies, like zucchini and mushrooms and cauliflower and green beans and spinach (I know! Can you believe it!)

However after 3 years of vegetarianism and mainly wholefoods eating, I've realised how to make veggies taste spectacular (and how not to) and how even though I thought I didn't like something, maybe I just wasn't preparing it the right way or with the right things. This is what I tell that other person (after I've finished slapping them)

I think we have to start with my favourite sandwich of them all- the grilled veggie sammy!
I do mix it up, but basically it involves at least 5 different types of veggies and I even slip grille zucchini in there because I want to- because it goes kind of creamy and tastes a little like cheese (don't know how!)
Veggies hater? Try this sandwich. Now.

Pasta is another meal where I like to chuck in a copious amount of veggies (and even hide a few in a pesto/ pasta sauce!
Now if you're like me this meal would look just fabulous:

Plain spelt pasta, plain steamed veggies and grilled eggplant, zucchini and mushrooms along with some chili tofu. If you're not like me, it may not look that mouth wateringly good. That's cool... what about this:

Spaghetti (wholemeal) with pesto, spinach and red kidney beans
 Of course the veggie fiend in me topped this delicious pasta off with some steamed pumpkin, peas and roasted tomato, but that's just a suggestion- there's plenty of veggies in the above dish by itself!

Another dish I absolutely love to hide veggies in/ on is... PIZZA!
Starting with the bases:

 Pumpkin base

Beetroot base

Then topping them off with pesto (filled with lots of spinach and basil) and lots of steamed veggies, along with mushrooms, semi-dried tomatoes, capsicum, no-added-salt tomato paste and vegan cheese.

 
If physically looking at the sheer number of veggies is too daunting for you... there are ways around this:h

 There you have it, some of my favourite ways to hide extra veggies in your diet (I didn't even mention green smoothies- are you proud of me? I feel like you've seen a lot of them recently) Definitely try out any of the above suggestions (I have plenty more if you want as well!) or just sit down to a big ol'bowl of roasted veggies. I know I will!

Perfect.

Your turn!
Do you like veggies?
What's your favourite veggie? (chips don't count!) That one is such a hard question for me, but I'm technically classifying pumpkin as a fruit so it would be sweet potato! :)
What's your least favoruite veggie? I've got to say I'm not the biggest fan of okra (it just tastes strange to me) or fennel- I don't like licorice and it tastes like licorice.

Don't forget to head on over to Spoons to check out what everyone else is thinking about!

Bye for now friends! :D