Colds, oats and the simplest of meals

First of all, I have a question for all the Australian readers out there:
Have you ever been to the Cheesecake Shop and have you ever bought the Jamaican chocolate cheesecake?

The Jamaican Chocolate Cheesecake used to be my sisters birthday cake of choice (with perhaps a little nagging from me) and each year I would savour that thin slither I was given (way to rich for a big chunk) and lock the memory of the rich taste in my mind.

Now I'm guessing not many of you have tried this particular cheesecake, but if you have just take a minute to recall the taste of that extremely rich, decadent and intensely chocolatey, smooth, baked cheesecake.

Got the flavour in your head mouth? Good, because for breakfast this morning I created something that tasted almost exactly the same! (except for the smooth, baked cheesecake texture)

Yes, for breakfast.

Yes, it was super rich.

Yes, it was actually healthy.

This may look like a simple bowl of oats but once that spoon hits your tongue (filled with the oats, preferably) then you will understand my fascination.

 Topped off with some melted coconut butter.... ahhhhhh my tummy is literally singing.

So, if you're feeling something extremely decadent, delicious, healthy and filling for brekky- give this one a whirl!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup (heaped) steal cut oats
1 scoop choc protein powder
2 teaspoons raw cacao powder
A couple of dashes of ground cinnamon
A sprinkle of chia seeds
1 cup milk of choice (I used almond milk)
1 cup water
1/3 cup greek yoghurt
Optional- small handful of cacao nibs
Optional- coconut butter

Method:
1. Place the oats, protein powder, cacao powder, cinnamon and chia seeds in a medium saucepan
2. Pour in the milk and water and stir to combine
3. Place over medium heat and stir occasionally for around 15 minutes (it should bubble away consistently) I added some coconut butter at this stage just to give it some coconutty flavour.
4. If it looks a bit dry and sticky that's fine because now you add in the yoghurt and give it a nice stir together. Again I added a touch more (teaspoon) coconut butter here.
5. Pour into bowl and top with coconut butter.
6. Et voila!

Pretty simple right? And no nasties hiding in there!

 I must say, this was quite rich and I was definitely satisfied after this bowl (I could not eat any more at all!) so my chocolate cravings have been sufficiently silenced.

And that blissful memory of my first spoonful will be with me forever (see how emotional and deep I get with food ;)

For some other news:
My party yesterday went great- lot's of laughter, fun, swimming, games and FOOD!

Also- I have developed a cold. Yay. Which is why I was a bit surprised when I made my delicious cheesecake breakfast because I've been sticking to simple, no fuss meals lately that I always crave when sick. Like last nights dinner:

A baked bean, avocado and hommus jaffle on rye bread, side of peas and corn and two fried eggs on top of some spinach, sliced tomato, avocado and baked beans.
Seriously, this dinner was perfect. It was exactly what I wanted and is without a doubt one of my favourite meals.

 Best part of the meal is always the jaffle!

 Second best= fried eggs. Yum!

Aaaand some soy milk, as I felt like I needed some more protein yesterday after a 90 minute run, a party and a ginormous appetite (yep, even when I'm sick)!
See, when I get sick I only really get sick in my head, my body is still full of beans and felt great running! (trust me I wouldn't have been running for that long if I was dying of the flu!)

So, I think you're all caught up on the life of me and my tummy! :D

Your turn:
Favourite type of cheesecake (flavour etc.)? I must say this was my favourite dessert before my healthy shift.
Favourite type of oats (flavour)?
Favourite meal when sick?

And I'm really just Thinking Out Loud, so head on over to Spoons to see what everyone else is thinking about! :)

See ya later friends! Have a great day! :D

WIAW #41

Hidy-ho friendly friends! What a wonderful Wednesday it is! Maybe take away a few degrees, seeing as it's shaping up to be a 38 degrees clesius (11.4 degrees farenheit) day!!

Why am I complaining though? I love the heat!

It also happens to be my party today! Woop Woop! Pool party to the rescue on a hot Summers day in Australia! There's a pinata, pass the parcel, stick the carrot on the Olaf and a Mad Hatters Tea party set up (if you didn't guess already the entire theme is Disney!) and of course everyone will be in costume (Mad Hatter right here :))

Before I get too excited about the day's happenings I thought I'd share with you an entire day of eats from yesterday in WIAW style! Thanks as always to Peas and Crayons for hosting this awesome link-up each week!

Breakfast:
After not one, not two, but three Purely Twins workouts, I splashed my sweating face with water and jumped into the kitchen to make some FOOD!

 2 wholemeal crumpets topped generously with some raw cacao and hazelnut butter and crunchy peanut butter (see I made up for my lack of peanut butter)

 With a green smoothie to wash it all down:

 1 chopped frozen banana + handful of frozen grapes + 3 big scoops of greek yoghurt + dash of LSA mix + sprinkle of chia seeds + juice of half an orange + 2 big handfuls of spinach, all whazzed up together until smooth!

 Smiling crumpet!

 Does anyone else do this:

 Eat around the middle of the crumpet (where all the nut butter is) and leave the best last bites (fuf nut butter) to the end?

Lunch:
After spending the morning shopping for party stuff (cups, plates, pinatas, decorations, food) I made myself a little feast:

 Yes I do have a tendency to eat like a baby with separate bowls for different tastes and textures :)
This bowl had a grilled lentil and veggies burger with roasted potatoes (roasted white, white sweet potato and orange sweet potato) with some spinach:

 Another bowl had some air popped popcorn, plain and delicious!

 And lastly a bowl of raw chopped veg, because raw chopped veg is amazing :)

 Close-up of my favourite bowl from that lunch (trust me, popcorn was a close second!)

 Snack:
As usual my snack of choice was some fruit and soy milk:

 Apple with red grapes:

 Perfect energy boost and some calcium and protein to keep me satisfied:

Dinner:
For dinner I made boiled up some spelt spaghetti, steamed some pumpkin, parsnip, swede and beetroot, pan-fried some tempeh, wilted some spinach and stirred it all together at the end with some tomato and garlic stir-through pasta sauce:

 Yum!

To finish off the day I had 4 brazil nuts and spent the rest of the evening watching some shows with the fam. :)

How about you?
Firstly- do you like crumpets? I love crumpets and don't know what I would do without them?
Secondly- Do you ever just have a series of bowls with different things in them for a meal?
Lastly- Favourite afternoon pick-me-up snack?

Hungry for more? Check out Peas and Crayons for some other link-ups and meal ideas! Make sure you have a fabulous day, no doubt my head will be full of Disney songs by the end of today! Bye for now! :D

Peanut Butter Day

So apparently it was National Peanut Butter Day on Saturday the 24th of Jan (the day I got back from camp) and so I missed it.

 Pretty accurate representation of my face!

If you know me at all you would know that I am a self-confessed peanut butter enthusiast and have been for quite some time now.

I'm also pretty sure I missed it last year too.

What is wrong with me?!?

Do you want to know what's worse?

I don't think I've had peanut butter in over a month now!!

What have I become??

So no, I didn't manage to celebrate National Peanut Butter day, I haven't had peanut butter in a long long time and yes, I am currently craving the soft, creamy, nutty paste right now as I write this post. Gah.

Before you start freaking out too much about my lack of peanut butter consumption over the past few weeks, I have rectified the situation by buying a nice big tub of natural crunchy peanut butter that is sitting patiently in my pantry waiting for me to get through my two already open jars of almond butter and choc hazelnut butter in the fridge... did I mention I have an obsession?

Since I have no pics of my peanut butter obsessions of recent, I do have a few of my other current favs...

Snack plates for lunch!!

 Nothing beats a big plate sectioned off into heaps of different flavours and textures for lunch. I love it!

 Pictured above is some sweet potato and carrot fries, raw veg (tomatoes, capsicum and celery sticks), hommus for dipping, organic blue maize tortilla chips and mashed avocado (also for dipping)

A scroll through my lunch:

 I don't think you can ever get bored of snack plates because you can mix and match and change them up so they're different every single time you make one!

 I also have a dipping fetish. :)

 Another thing I've been loving lately? Ginger.
On camp the lady cooking for me loved to incorporate lots of Asian flavours into the meals and they all tasted sooo good! (especially the curry and fried rice) and while I was eating one of the rice dishes she had made for me I noticed some bits of freshly grated ginger that had been cooked up with the rest of the veggies. It brought fried rice to a whole new level!

 So for dinner last night I wanted to have a go at recreating something like it!

 I cooked up some brown rice, sauteed some broccoli, beans, mushrooms, celery, peas, lentils and eggplant with lots of garlic, grated ginger, nutritional yeast and a touch of olive oil then adding the rice to the pan along with a torn up omelette (whisked egg, poured on plate lined with baking paper, cooked in microwave for 1 min) and then served!

 Alongside was some grilled pumpkin (sliced jap pumpkin placed on a grill fry pan and covered with a lid for 15 mins before turning for another 10-15mins until cooked through and soft)

 I love charred veggies!

 Perfect dinner if you ask me!!

 Yes, I did not have any peanut butter, but I did have lots of other good stuff that left me and my tummy smiling. I have also added National Peanut Butter Day to my diary now so I won't forget next year. (Knowing me, I will ;)

How about you?
Did you celebrate National Peanut Butter day?
Do you have snack plates? What do you put on them?
Grated ginger in fried rice? Yes/ no?

Bye for now friendly friends! Have a great day! :D

Banana bread chcoclate filled muffins!!

What. A. Title! Right?
Today for breakfast I was definitely gravitating towards pancakes. Then I thought- I always have pancakes, let's change things up a bit. It had to involve bananas. Cinnamon. Flour. And chocolate.

Challenge accepted!

Banana bread chocolate filled muffins:

 Extremely banana-y, extremely cinnamon-y and filled with warm gooey chocolate hazelnut butter- ticked all the boxes!

These muffins are super healthy, wheat free, dairy free, vegan, added sugar free and filled with all sorts of goodness that they make the ultimate breakfast.

But feel free to have them for lunch/ snack/ dinner too!

This is a great little single serving recipe that makes 3 fluffy cakes, perfectly filling!

Ok, enough talk- onto the recipe!

Banana bread chocolate filled muffins:
Ingredients:
30g wholemeal spelt flour
10g oat bran
10g quinoa flakes
1 teaspoon chia seeds
lots of cinnamon (seriously I love cinnamon, there was probably close to a few teaspoons in my mix)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 vanilla pod scraped (or a few drops of vanilla essence)
1 tablespoon LSA mix/ any fiber mix (optional)
1 banana
1/2 cup milk of choice (I used oat milk)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celisus, collect a baking tray and 3 separate muffin tins (I use these bendy rubber ones) or grease 3 holes in a regular muffin tray.
2. Place the flour, oat bran, quinoa flakes, cinnamon, chia seeds, baking powder, vanilla and LSA mix in a bowl and stir to combine:

 3. Mash 1/2 the banana and chop up some of the remaining banana up into small pieces (you should have 1/4 banana left that you can eat or whaz into the yoghurt thing I made to go with the muffins) and add to the dry mix with 1/3 cup milk:

 4. Whisk to combine:

 5. Leave to sit and thicken for 10-15 mins and then stir in the remaining milk:

 6. Spoon into muffin moulds and sprinkle with a little extra cinnamon. Place on a baking tray:

 7. Bake in the oven for 15-25 mins (check after 15 mins and then check regularly after that with a toothpick (should come out clean)) Place on wire rack to cool:

 8. Turn out of cases and leave to cool for a few more minutes

 9. Slice in half and fill with whatever you like (I chose to use hazelnut and raw cacao butter- you can stir some cacao with some coocnut butter or peanut butter, or simple spread on some butter/ nut butter of choice)

 10. Enjoy!

 Ooeey, gooey, sweet and delicious. This was a good start tot he day!!

 Alongside my muffins was some frozen peach fro-yo made by whazzing together 1/2 chopped frozen peach, the remaining banana and 3 big scoops of greek yoghurt in a small food processor until smooth and then placing in the freezer until everything was ready.

 These muffins taste so good and rich that you won't believe your taste buds that they're healthy- and you don't even miss the sugar!

 Want more proof- how about a scientific cross-section:

 Oh yes.

Your turn:
Do you ever have muffins for brekky?
Do you like banana bread and chocolate together? Always have, always will.
Muffins- eaten warm or cold? For me- warm cannot be beaten!

I hope you are happily drooling away now and are off to go make these :) Regardless of what you do today, make it a good one! Catch ya later! :D