Friday foods- my favourites!

How's that title for alliteration? My literature teacher would be proud (maybe) ;)

It's Friday. I'm a human. Humans eat food. I've eaten some good food. Here it is!
(I am so good at intros aren't I?)

Currently if I had to choose my favourite breakfast it would involve a green smoothie:

 Green tropical kale smoothie with 2 toasted wholemeal crumpets with cashew butter and peanut butter

The reason isn't just for the awesome taste (seriously, that green smoothie is out-of-this-world delicious) but also the way I feel for the rest of the day after gulping it down!

1 chopped frozen banana+ 1 handful frozen green grapes + 2 big handfuls kale+ sprinkle of chia seeds+ LSA mix+ 3 big scoops of greek yoghurt+ half a squeezed orange and a dash of water- all whazzed up in a blender until smooth (I like to whaz for a while when I use kale because I find it to be more bitsy and harder to blend).

I have so much energy, my tummy feels happy and not weighed down (I sometimes feel a bit sluggish and uncomfortable after a big bowl of oats) and I generally feel clearer and fresh.

As usual- keeping the middle of the crumpets until last to get the perfect last bite with plenty of nut butter :).

Moving on from breakfast to the next meal of the day- lunch!

And another one of my favourites- the much-loved snack plate!

Snack plates are a favourite of mine whenever I have no idea what I want for lunch (generally every day) and I feel like a little bit of everything. Honestly, they're just a way for me to justify my weird eating habits. Habits very similar to that of a toddler :)

On this particular snack plate there was some guacamole (1/2 an avocado mashed with some chili and lemon juice) with some brown rice chips for dipping:

Some steamed brussels sprouts and brocoli with chili tofu:

And some of the best roasted pumpkin- sliced jap pumpkin roasted in coconut oil at 180 degrees celsius for about 25-30 mins:

So flaky and fudgey and delicious!

It was a bit lacking in the protein department so I was still a little hungry afterward, but I just chomped through a carrot and was all good!

I guess seeing as we've gone through my favourite breakfasts and lunches I should feature a favourite dinner:

 Roasted veggies. And some other things. But roasted veggies.

 I would totally just eat a bowl of roasted veg for every meal if I didn't have to take into account the other nutrients necessary for life (protein, carbs, raw veg, other foods etc.)

 So I decided to add to my perfect bowl of roasted potato, white sweet potato, carrot, pumpkin, swede and parsnip with some grilled tempeh and spinach:

Nom!

And... yeh! A little insight into some of my favourite types of meals from this past week (that I generally have over and over again in passed weeks and probably weeks to come!)

What about you?
Favourite breakfast/ lunch/ dinner?
Anyone else a little too obsessed with green smoothies?
Anyone else reckon they could live off roasted veg?

Have a great Friday everyone! And I will speak to ya later!! Bye!! :D

Fad diets- a few of my favourites!

Hey, hey, hey! Yep, you are so awesome you deserve three hey's! Feel welcomed yet? Good! (me just assuming you said yes ;)

Guess what's been popping up for the thousandth time at my local hang out place (that be school)? Fad diets!! All the fad diets!! Crazy delusional girls loving on the fad diets!! (I'm sure the girls are not actually crazy or delusional... they just act like it ;)

Now I've done my fair share of preaching to my fellow, generally feminine, teenage peers (see here, here, here) and quite frankly I'm not in the mood for preaching today.

So instead I thought I would share with you some hilarious (yet utterly terrifying) fad diets I have come across in my whole 16 years (well, probably 2 years, as that's how long I've been actively hearing and learning about different diets)

Warning- this is a light-hearted post and anything I share is not meant to offend etc. Thanks :P

Now, I guess we should start off with some less ridiculous (but still extremely ridiculous) diet trends that have genuinely seized many many followers...

1. The baby food diet:

Yep- the baby food diet. For adults. Something is not quite adding up.
A diet quite similar to a liquid diet, praised for weight loss. That's all I've got to say about it.
Except for- SERIOUSLY???

2. The lemon and lime diet:
As the name suggests that is what the diet consists of. Lemons and lime. Oh and water! substantial right?

3. Kicking things up a notch we've got the tapeworm diet.
Without going into too much detail this diet involves tape worms.
Ok you probably need a bit more detail than that. You ingest the tape worm pills let the little parasitic worms to grow and then let them eat all your food. Delightful.

4. The WW11 ration diet. Yep I think that's explanation enough.

  5.The lemonade diet:
For all those who don't like eating food.
This diet entails drinking. Drinking lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper all stirred together in 2 cups of water! Yum! You can also drink some salt water in the morning for a nice cleanse!

Some of the promises of this diet:
Diarrhea, dizziness and vomiting from the salt water are just a few.

6. The Sleeping Beauty Diet:
Healthy nights rest is pretty essential for weight loss/ maintenance so why not sedate yourself for days on end? Bound to make you drop those pesky kilos, right?

7. Quite possibly the worst diet I found would have to be the amputation diet. I'm sure your imagination is already coming up with a plethora of wonderful images and most of them would be quite accurate! You literally chop things off and watch the weight drop with it! Ok, so it says to start with fingernails, haircut, removal of body hair etc. Then things escalate quickly! The list goes from run a marathon on a hot day straight to amputating your arm/ leg and continues further to eating no food all day, no liquids all day and then of course if things get really dire, donating a kidney. You will lose 3 pounds getting rid of that extra organ. Super!

Well.... wow.
That's all I've got to say.
I figured there would be crazy diets out there... but these? Really?
Wow.

It's all fun and jokes when you think about these fad diets, but the hard truth is even the seemingly not so crazy (but still just as detrimental to your health) diets are being taken up everyday with good intentions and full confidence and consent.

It would be asking too much for the world to rid themselves of fad diets and just stick to listening to their bodies, eating what makes them feel good and respecting themselves but I just hope that people can see that the above fads are not okay. Or safe. Or vaguely natural. Yep.

Your thoughts?
Have you ever tried a fad diet? How long did it last?
Craziest diet you've heard of?
Would you cut off an arm to lose weight? ;)

This is me just Thinking Out Loud. Head on over to Spoons to see what some other thinkers are thinking about!

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

WIAW #43

Hi everyone! I am bogged down with homework, so we're gonna keep this post short and sweet- just like me!

It's Wednesday! I ate food!  Bring on the WIAW party!!
Breakfast: 7:15 am 
I didn't run on this particular morning, so had plenty of time to make me some steel cut blueberry oats!

 Steel cut oats + 1 chopped banana+ handful blueberries +sprinkle of chia seeds + almond milk+ water+ blueberries- bubbled away on the stove for 15 mins, left to cool slightly and then stirred in with some greek yoghurt:

 Dolloped artistically with crunchy peanut butter!

 P.S. do you like my new bowl? It's the perfect size for food photography- my food doesn't get lost in it!

 Makes it taste better too. Probably.

 Oh hello there Mr Blueberry!

Snack: 11:00am
A lovely pot of peas. No picture, imagination required.
Lunch: 1:40pm- yes, really!

 Prepped along with breakfast- roasted white sweet potatoes and regular potatoes (in coconut oil for 45 mins at 180 degrees celsius) with a torn up veggie burger, spinach, capsicum and corn:

 Yummm! Love me some white sweet potato! (aka-nature's candy)

Snack: 4:00pm

 A chopped granny smith apple with a side of kiwi-fruit (that skin stayed on baby!) with a glass of soy milk.

 I've never eaten kiwi-fruit with the skin on before but then I heard people saying they did and that they didn't notice it (didn't notice the fuzz?!?) so I gave it a try and they were right- it was pretty good and I didn't have to put in all the extra effort of peeling!

Dinner: 6:45pm
Was tired. Was full of homework exhaustion. Was hungry. Was food time:

 2 soft boiled eggs with spelt soldiers (vegemite and mashed avocado on one and hommus and mashed avocado on the other) and some roasted veggies:

 Roasted mixed tomato medley, brussels sprouts, broccoli, mushrooms, eggplant and zucchini- rubbed with cayenne pepper, paprika, black pepper and garlic and roasted for about 30 mins at 180 degrees celius= happy days!

 What about you:
Do you like having small bowls so your food looks pretty?
Nature's candy- what food is it for you?
Favourite way to eat eggs? Also what did you put on your soldiers? Just butter?

That's that! Now back to work! Bye! :D

Check out Peas and Crayons for more eats!!

Quickle-stickles!

Hi everyone! How are we all today? How about this for an awesome picture:

Feeling motivated yet? How about some food then! :D

I boiled up a big bunch of beans (alliteration win!!) on the weekend to use for lunches this week was really chuffed with myself at being so prepared and organised... until I realised I would get bored of plain beans. Quickly. My solution? Bean burgers!!

In the mornings of school days I have very little time (next to none when I run) so prepping lunches the night before is pretty vital in the sense that I eat. :) So Sunday night I whazzed up some of those boiled white beans, ground cumin, coriander, nutritional yeast and garlic, then stirred in some cooked millet, chopped red onion and capsicum. Formed into balls and placed in the freezer for 30 mins before frying them up!

Super simple, super delicious and taste even better the next day cold!! Booya!!

 The millet added awesome texture and delicious chewyness and gave the patties extra volume= happy Steph!

 Simply cooled down, placed on a plate, covered in glad wrap and then popped in the fridge until needed the next morning as I'm running around like a mad thing trying to shower/ dress/ inhale water/ pack bag/.... you get the picture.

 Plonked on top of a simple salad (also prepped the night before) of spinach, carrot, cherry tomatoes, celery, capsicum, cucumber and kale.

Aaaand some salsa- because salsa takes everything to the next level! ;)


Also, remember when I posted about time-consuming dinners and quick throw-together meals? Well today I have a quick-go-to-portable dinner that saved my hungry belly from eating itself:

 A delicious blend of multi-grain quinoa pasta, sauteed eggplant, red onion, mushrooms, capsicum and asparagus with some steamed beetroot, parsnip and swede with some spinach, lentils, cannelini beans and nutritional yeast stirred in at the end (it was also a use up the leftover veggies dinner- talk about an over achiever!).

Stuffed into a container (yep, I managed to fit it all in) and popped in the fridge until required a couple of hours later.

Little close up:

So now you have some quick prepped ahead meal ideas up your sleeve! I mean, sure, you could make a sandwich and save all the prepping and time spent cooking and creating.... but sandwiches are boring. Bean burgers are exciting. Yeh, exciting.   :P


Your turn:
Do you ever have to prep food before a busy day?
Favourite lunch to pack?
Sandwiches or something else for lunches? I do enjoy the occasional sandwich every now and then- but everyday?? No thanks, this gal's gonna get bored!

Bye for now folks! Have a fabulous day!! :D