Rhubarb crumble for breakfast!

Hi everyone! What a gloriously glorious Sunday! You know how much I love a good Sunday and more often than not, it's because of the awesome breakfast I create with the seemingly ridiculous amount of time only present on Sunday (and sometimes Saturday... depending on my run length/ how early we have to leave for grocery shopping)

So after my sleep in (you know my sleep in is 6:30am :) and a fun (read; challenging) Purely Twins workout...
I spent a little extra time lounging about in my bed, scrolling through blogs- because it's SUNDAY! :)

Then I got up and headed to the kitchen... I had some rhubarb calling my name!

In the past (if you've been reading that long) you may have remembered my take on a rhubarb crumble. It was pretty darn good if I do say so myself. Which was probably one of the driving forces of my second rhubarb crumble creation- with a few changes.

Into my mini saucepan went 1 1/2 sticks of chopped rhubarb and half a banana, plus 2 tablespoons of water.
Heated up and bubbled away for about 15 mins:

Poured into my mini loaf tin:

Of course everyone knows the best part of a crumble is the crumble itself. I have never been much of a fan of the filling of crumbles and when I was younger I would generally just eat the buttery crumble on top anyway. So, to this day, I always make a heck-of-a-lot!

1/2 heaped cup muesli with 2 tablespoons of slightly warmed peanut butter and 2 tablespoons of almond butter rubbed in.
I had the strangest thought while pouring my muesli into the bowl. I looked down at the bowl of muesli and remembered that a couple of years ago this would have been my breakfast (swapping muesli for sugary cereal) and today this was simply the beginning of the top of my crumble. As well as a green smoothie to wash everything down!

I remembered back to that time, the fatigue, weight loss, sleep problems, emotional problems and can now see how large and significant a role food plays in our health. In our lives. In everything! Bring on the big brekky's!

Topping my mixture off with the generous pile of crumble to be popped into the oven (180 degrees celsius) for 15-20 mins until golden on top:

If I could transfer the smell of this beauty through the computer screen I would. You would drool. I am drooling. We would all be happily drooling together. Nice.

After letting this bad boy cool for around 15 mins (longest 15 minutes of my life) it was time to eat!

As mentioned before- eaten with a side of green smoothie. 1/2 frozen banana (took half the frozen banana and cut up the other half of the unfrozen and wrapped it up with the remaining half frozen to re-equal a whole. Got that?) + a big handful frozen green grapes + 2 big handfuls kale+ 3 big scoops greek yoghurt+ 1/4 cup water- whazzed!

Happy, happy [Sun]days

If you don't have much of a sweet tooth (like me) this sweetness would be perfect, if you like the sweeter side of things I would recommend using the whole banana in the rhubarb mix and also a fruity muesli (mine was fruit-free)

Yeah, one of the main reasons I probably love this so much is the beautiful colour of rhubarb. :D

Super full right now- in the best possible way!

What about you?
Favourite type of crumble? Mine is probably a tie between rhubarb and berry!
Best part of a crumble?
What did you have for breakfast today?

Make sure you have a wonderful, relaxing and delicious Sunday- I know I will! See you guys later! :D

Saturday, here you are again!

Hello, hello! Happy, happy Saturday!! I feel like every Saturday I'm always rambling on about how much I love it, so I thought this week...

I would do it again!

Do you ever just wake up on a Saturday smiling? I do! I even did today when I woke up at 12:56am (for no apparent reason at all) it was Saturday after all!

As per usual, Saturdays= time. Time to run in the morning, time to make a delicious breakfast and time to catch up on absolutely everything I have fallen behind in from the past week (hello looming pile of study)

This particular Saturday I was up at the crack of... darkness. :) It was about 5:00am and the seasons are shifting (ahh, Autumn.. why do you replace Summer?)so the stars were still out and about. Ate two dates, whipped on my 'I pink I can, I pink I can' pink running shirt and pink running shorts, laced up my rainbow running shoes (guys- it's dark out... I want to be seen if a car comes! ;) did some dynamic stretches and headed out! 2 hours, 20 minutes later- I'M BACK! Hungry as ever!

It's funny though, because it never feels like over 2 hours has passed. I must day dream a lot during my runs. So, super sweaty, I gulped (well, tried to sip) a huge glass of coconut water, simultaneously stretching and getting a pot of choc protein cheesecake steel cut oats on the stove top. Multi-tasking to the max. Then I showered. Because showers win priority. And my oats still had 15 minutes to cook, so I had to distract the hunger with some soap and shampoo.

Showered, dressed, still red in the face, oats cooked, sun shining:

 Breakfast!!

Topped with a generous amount of almond butter (because we all seem to feel the same way about those silly serving sizes)

And nomed. Relatively quickly. :)

I think the only reason I managed to complete such a distance without fainting was my awesome-sauce dinner last night:

It involved an oven roasted white sweet potato (no words... none) a drizzle of coconut butter and a side of sauteed cherry tomatoes, onion, rosemary and chickpeas on a bed of wilted spinach:

So good!

But that alone couldn't fuel the long run of today. Oh no. I needed something incredible. Something ground-breaking. The ultimate super food (if I believed in super foods)

POPCORN!
:)

Ahhh, sometimes I think I spoil my tummy too much. And then I laugh at how silly that statement is!

What about you?
What have you been up to this Saturday morning?
Was breakfast good?
Popcorn for dinner? Acceptable? (of course it is!)


Bye for now friendly friends- make sure you eat something awesome! (popcorn counts as awesome!) Have a great day!! :D

Addictions... Thinking Out Loud :)

Hidy-ho friendly friends!! It's another manic Thursday over here in the eastern side of the Southern hemisphere between the latitudes of 10-46 degrees south with a longitude ranging from 110-160 degrees east. Or Australia if you prefer.

Manic= Steph turning into a random blabbing fruitcake, which is perfect for the weekly link-up Spoons runs- Thinking Out Loud!

Without further ado I give you my week- random-style!

1. Roasted potatoes
Somebody tell me what is in roasted potatoes and why are they allowed to sell vegetables that contain addictive drugs?
It's the only conclusion I have come to explaining my current obsession that has been going strong for a good few months now.

 Lunch last week- roasted orange & white sweet potato with a grilled veggie burger, spinach and snow pea sprouts

I can't stop!!

 Something about the crunchy, chewy outside and the soft, creamy inside has captured my heart and won't give it back!

 In all honesty, I'm not complaining though. So many nutrients and good stuff that if I had to be addicted to anything, potatoes would be the way to go!

2. Then there's human bio...
As much as I adore eating my roasted potatoes, I will never be able to enjoy them to their absolute full potential again. All thanks to human bio and the fact that we are working through the digestive system.

If you're at all interested I can tell you- in detail- the journey our ingested food takes through the body and all the lovely things that happen to it, with reference to videos showing inside views... of real people... real digestion.

This is me every lesson

Bile is already a bad enough word as it is, but once you see it being secreted by the gall bladder... you ain't never gonna be able to happily relax with a full stomach again. Ever.

3. Nut butters
Now I was happily making myself breakfast the other day when a thought came to me. See, sometimes I get obsessions with looking at serving sizes on different things (because I find some of them absolutely laughable) and so checked up on my tiny little jar of almond butter (which lasts me what? A week?)

See? Look how teensy!

Apparently... and you are not going to believe this (if you're anything like me) there are 25 serves in that teensy little pot of almond butter. 25!! You're kidding me right!?! Madness I tell you. I seriously think one of those jars lasts me 10 serves. Max. Ahh well, lets just forget about that serving size. :)


4. I have this issue with sitting.
I don't know what it is but for some reason my legs try to physically attack me if I sit down to long (in the form of cramps and pain) and when I say too long I mean over an hour. Yep, good times. This does make some situations awkward/ uncomfortable for me. For example at the movies- I mean I could stand up and stretch a bit but.... I think I may annoy a few people. Also exams. Who would design a test that went for 3+ hours? Madness. And no, the teacher does not appreciate people standing up and going for a walk around the classroom.

Those sort of situations I deal with, but if I don't have to be sitting, I probably won't be. Like when I'm doing homework at home, however this isn't the best for my neck as I need to look down at the table my books are on for long periods of time. I knew what I needed.

I also knew how to get one!
Random fact about me: My Grandfather was a builder so we are always taking advantage of his carpentry skills when we require them- shelves, easels, broken taps- you name it! So...

He built me my very own standing desk! Success!
This is me using my standing desk:

Look at that smile! Now I just need to figure out how to attach that hamster wheel in the pic above...
But seriously- it is awesome, I am so chuffed and I feel like I'm actually getting more homework done because I'm comfortable- it's the perfect height for me! Now I just need to figure out how to move this massive computer onto it... until then it's head down, feet stretched apart when writing blog posts! :D

Well, that was only 4 points.. but I feel like I rambled on for long enough, right?

Your turn!
What's a food you think is laced with illegal substances as it is so addicting?
Do you have a problem with sitting?
Would you use a hamster wheel desk? I know I would! Come on  school- get onto it!

That's just me Thinking Out Loud! Head on over to Spoons if you want to see the crazy, random-ness other people are thinking about! Bye!! :D

WIAW #48 Yet another busy day!

Happy Wednesday everyone! Everyone happy? Well-fed? Good!
If you answered 'no' to either of those questions, grab yourself something chocolate-y (ticks both boxes, right?) and sit down for some WIAW action!

Today's journey of food into my stomach (all churned up with the yummy gastric juices and so forth...you're welcome) comes from Tuesday- a day in which spare time was basically non-existent, so awesome forward-planning was very existent!

Thanks as usual to Peas and Crayons for hosting this awesome party- best host ever award!

Lettuce jump to it! (I donut understand food puns... boom! I'm on fire!)

Breakfast: 6:45 am
Post purely twin workouts (yep, workout..s) I was all sweaty, hungry and ready for FOOD!
I also kinda wanted my favourite breakfast ever.
Ta-da:

The famous almond butter and banana toastie with a side of grape/ blackberry fro-yo! Eeer-ma-guuhhd!

Grape and blackberry fro-yo? You ask. Why, yes- splendid combination. Simply splendid.

Small handful of frozen grapes + small handful frozen blackberries + 3 big scoops greek yoghurt- whazz!

Almost as splendid as this guy:

But, seriously, how can anything compare to gooey, sweet banana mushed together with warm, melty almond butter encased in  lightly toasted, fresh, home-made wholemeal spelt bread, off-setting the sweet/richness.

I have dreams about this sandwich guys. No shame.

Perfectly combined with the fresh, tang and creaminess of the fro-yo... perfect.

Breakfast was a hectic time as I somehow managed to bang out lunch and dinner in the same morning!
Snack: 11:00am

My little pot of peas. Love it.

Lunch: 1:40pm
I shall call this one the; Simple-pimple, super easy, had no time in the morning lunch:

Salad containing cherry tomatoes, spinach, snow pea sprouts, capsicum, cucumber and a grilled quinoa veggie burger.. did the job- filled me up.

Snack: 4:00pm
So this was quickly inhaled prior to leaving for a flute lesson, after getting tomorrow's lunch organised (was planning on a long run... it was raining when I woke up, so that didn't happen= lots of spare time this morning)

A delicious plate of fruit with a glass of soy milk.

Chopped white-flesh nectarine with a few kiwi berries!!

Dinner: 6:15pm
Upon returning from my flute lesson I managed to fit in a miniscule amount of homework, showering after the day's PE lesson at the beach (so sandy!) dressing up in some nice clothes (a rarity for me- after school= comfy shorts and big tops) and heading out to the theatre with my literature class to see a play called Dinner (hilarious by the way!)

So this was the dinner I prepped in the morning, starting off with frying up some rinsed and dried (with paper towel) tofu in a dash of sesame oil and garlic until golden brown.

Then I cooked up some brown rice noodles (boiling water on dried noodles+ 5 mins) and added some veg to the pan with the tofu:

Chopped broccoli, mushrooms, green beans, grated carrot, grated brussels sprouts and grated zucchini.

7 minutes later....
And adding in the noodles for 30 seconds:

Easy-peasy stir-fry that tasted uh-maze-ing! (Especially cold, in the car on the way to the theatre- I usually think food tastes better cold though... :)

Aaaand... that's what I ate! Phew I need a moment to collect my thoughts and ready myself for whatever other meal I have to prepare next. Thankfully this afternoon I have nothing on so I can relax and spend some valuable time getting to re-know my kitchen and make something delicious (that probably will be hot because I'll be able to eat it when I actually make it!)

What about you?
Do you ever have those days where every meal needs to be prepared in advance?
Favourite meal to make in advance? PB + J sandwiches do not count!
Do you prefer your meals hot or cold?

Hungry for more? Head on over to Peas and Crayons to see what everyone else has been nom-ing on!