WIAW #38- all the good stuff!

Hi Everyone! Happy New Year's Eve! Happy WIAW! Happy... happiness!

I'm in a happy mood today and I'm gonna say it could be the result of my food. Food can really instigate my mood!

So, seeing as it's Wednesday and the wonderful Jen from Peas and Crayons holds a fabulous link-up every week, here is a look at all the fabulous things I ate on this last day of 2014!!!
 
Breakfast:
Following a fun Purely Twins workout, I whipped myself up a batch of banana bread pancakes!

 The batter is the same recipe as these pumpkin pancakes, just sub in the same amount of mashed banana for the pumpkin puree.
Spoon onto a hot pan with oil (I used coconut oil) and let them cook for a few mins (they are more fragile than regular pancakes) so they are properly together when flipping:

 Flip onto a plate after nicely browned and then top with whatever you like... I chose choc hazelnut butter!!

 There are just two ingredients in this nut butter spread- hazelnuts and cacao:

 On the side I made some peach fro-yo, which was 1/2 frozen yellow-flesh peach, whazzed up with the remaining banana and 3 big scoops of greek yoghurt, then placed in the freezer whilst making pancakes, to harden.
A super delicious breakfast:

 The pancakes tasted a-mazing, cinnamon-y, banana-y chocolate-y and the spread was sooo good!It sort of reminded me of eating a forero rocher with a cinnamon doughnut. Oh yes.

 The peach fro-yo was extremely yummy too and cut through the richness of the chocolate banana pancakes:

 This reminded me of my childhood when I used to make pancakes and top them (very heavily) with nutella, except I think these might taste even better (and much healthier too;)

 Definitely a step up from my even earlier childhood of topping my pancake with tomato sauce. What was wrong with me?

 Live and learn right?

 Right!

lunch:
After a few hours at a recently extended shopping center (and some Christmas money spent) I was more than ready for lunch:

Lunch was a delicious grilled sandwich with a mug of soup!

 In the sammy was lots of hommus, spinach, tomato and avocado:

Y-U-M
The soup was a vegan, low sodium french lentil soup- very delicious as well.

 Snack:
In need of a snack after an hour long bike ride and another trip to the shops (I wanted to get a calendar and a diary for tomorrow... aka next year!!

 A chopped pink lady apple with some of the crispest, sweetest, juiciest green grapes:

 And a glass of soy milk:

 Dinner:
I felt like I needed some more veggies today so...

Voila! A bucket load of roasted veggies!!

 Pumpkin, parsnip, potato, white sweet potato, eggplant, brussels sprouts, tomato, carrot, swede and beetroot drizzled with olive oil and roasted at 180 degrees celsius for 45 mins:

On a bed of spinach (just for some more veg) with some garlic tofu.

And that's what I ate Wednesday!
What did you eat on this fine day?

Hungry for more? Check out Peas and Crayons for everyone else's eats! :)

Bye! :D

A typical day!

Hi friends!

Looking back at yesterday and my food consumption I realised it was a typical- delightfully- delicious -Steph- kind- of -food day! (say that three times fast!)

It involved smoothies, oats, fruit, lots of veggies, sweet potato, popcorn and Mexican flavours- all on my yum-tastic list and all featured in one day!

For once though, when I threw in my frozen fruit, greek yoghurt, chia seeds and oat milk into the blender I didn't chuck in any kale/ spinach... because I just wasn't feeling it (apparently sometimes you can overdo it on the veggies- oops ;)

Any-who I was fine with my awesome-ly pink (and extremely thick) smoothie which involved the super yummy flavours of banana, grape, blackberry and blueberry (all frozen)

To go with it? How about some oat balls? These were made by placing one mega-heaped tablespoon of cashew butter in a small bowl, adding 1/3 cup oat milk and placing in microwave for 30 seconds (watch it doesn't over-flow) stirring slightly and then rubbing into about 1/2-3/4 cup muesli.

Which was then rolled into balls, placed on a lined baking tray and baked in the oven at 180 degrees celsius for 15 mins.

This was a very delicious and filling brekky, full of all the good stuff. And these guys:

Were so fudgey and good because of the cashew butter... I was in breakfast heaven!!

I also cannot get over how good this smoothie was too (I love the flavour of grapes and banana combined- especially in ice cream!) and super simple too!

With all my strength from that delicious breakfast I was able to huff and puff and blow my beautiful ginger bread house down:

Ok, I lie. But I was able to take a meat masher to it and give it a good few hits (no tears too!)

Lunch was another typical Steph meal, in that it was pretty much all veg.

Sweet potato fries, steamed broccoli, brussels sprouts and zucchini on top of spianch/ beetroot leaves topped with some chili tofu with a side bowl of air popped popcorn!

No, I don't force myself to eat all those veggies. I choose to! I enjoy chomping my way through a plate like that- especially the sweet potato fries. I also can't express the extent of my love for popcorn!!

Dinner= Mexican fiesta!

Mexican food/ flavours/ culture is probably one of my all time favourites. I love the spices, the fresh flavours and the punchy-ness of typical mexican dishes.
The picture above shows my dinner of a wholemeal pita-pocket filled with a bean, lentil and mushroom 'taco mince' (fried in fry pan with taco seasoning and water) and a fresh zingy salsa of chopped capsicum, cherry tomatoes, avocado, red chili, coriander and lime juice with a bit of hommus on top.

Nom, nom, nom and one more nom because it was that tasty!

Don't you just love those days where everything you eat is just... perfect for what you're feeling in that moment? I do.

Your turn!
What does a typical day look like for you?
Favourite smoothie combo?
Favourite cuisine?

Bye for now friends, have a great day! Smile lots (just 'coz!) :D

Coconut butter tutorial

Hello everyone! How's your day going/starting/ ending? Good? Good.

So a couple of days ago I pre-heated the oven, pierced a sweet potato and was 20 minutes into baking it when I realised I had no coconut butter left to top it with...

That was pretty much my face

What would I top my sweet tater with now??? (yes I know there are  a million and one other things I could have topped that veggie with... but I wanted COCONUT BUTTER!(Wow, I seriously am a whining baby!)

*Head stuck in pantry crying* Suddenly a purple bag catches my eye in the corner of the pantry.

SHREDDED COCONUT!!

I've done a post on this in the past, but I think I took better pics this time, so coming at ya- Home made coconut butter tutorial!
(Little tip- make sure you have quite a bit of spare time, a good food processor, patience and maybe some ear plugs ;)

To begin I placed a bag of organic shredded coconut in a food processor (it doesn't really matter how much, just make sure you have enough- most bags will work) and whazzed! (I just hit my low button and let it go)

After about 3-5 mins it should start to combine and look a bit like bread crumbs:

Scrape down sides and continue to whaz.
After another 5 or so minutes more of the oils will come out of the coconut and start to clump together:

Again scrape down the sides and then keep on going (I had to scrape down the sides a lot so don't worry if you do too!) The coconut will continue to clump together and then all of a sudden get quite liquid-y. even when it looks done, blitz for a few more minutes just so it's not too gritty.

To pass the time you could take some beautiful pictures of your surroundings...

Once whazzed beyond recognition, pour into a sterilised jar and keep it fridge/ pantry (it'll set in fridge, but will last longer- just scrape some out and melt on hot things/ in microwave)

There we go! Coconut butter for my sweet potato... which was cooked when I finally finished making it! :)

Kind of looks like milk. That would be a nice glass of milk!

Dinner was saved!

Sweet potato was happy! Steph was extremely happy!

The stuff on the side was pretty good too. ;) Roasted capsicum and tomato, steamed broccoli, peas and corn and chili tofu:

Cheaper and just as yummy as store bought coconut butter- why not make your own?

Talk to me:
Do you like coconut butter?
Have you ever tried coconut butter?
Have you ever made coconut butter? Tips?

Bye for now folks! Have a great Sunday! :D