Vegan chili, a quick run and being super full!

Hello, hello friendly friends!
It's raining, it's cold, it's miserably grey.

And it's only 9:00am.

Yes, you probably know by now that I am not a Winter/ rainy/ cold weather kind of gal but I will admit that I do kinda love days where I'm snuggled up in trackies and a jumper meandering meaninglessly around the house, relaxing and eating arm comforting foods.

Such as chili! So, yesterday evening I went about chopping and tossing and sauteing and spicing up a big ol' pot of my take on a warming vegan chili!!

Sorry about the lighting- refer to line no. 2- cold and rainy and grey days :)

This guy was super simple to make- so tasty and quite filling (something I definitely need!)

All I did was toss in:

1/2 chopped zucchini

1x 1 cm thick round chopped eggplant

1/4 large chopped red capsicum

2 tablespoons chopped brown onion

4 sliced button mushrooms

1 heaped teaspoon crushed garlic

1 teaspoon olive oil

into a pot and cooked everything on medium heat for 5 mins until tender:

 Then I added in:

1/4 cup lentils (drained from can)

1/2 heaped cut butter beans (also rained from can)

1 sachet no-added-salt tomato paste (around 2 tablespoons)

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

A few dashes cayenne pepper

1/2-1 teaspoon cinnamon (depending on preferences- I LOVE cinnamon)

Few dashes cracked black pepper

1 heaped tablespoon nutritional yeast

Around 1 1/2- 2 cups water

And brought to a boil with the lid on, turning down to simmer (lid on) for 30 mins:

 I think my camera lens fogged up :)
After 30 mins, I checked if it needed more water (it didn't) so I let it simmer for another 12 or so mins without the lid to fully absorb evaporate water:

I also added in some chopped kale at this point- it sucked up a lot of the liquid I wanted gone.

Left it to sit for 15 mins to cool added in some more nutritional yeast:

And topped it all off with some avocado to balance the heat:

 Y.U.M

This morning I woke up to yet another grey and rainy day, though I wanted to do a speed run after a couple of long runs (my legs needed something different!) so I toughened up and headed out!

Yes, I got wet, yes I was pretty soaked, yes I had heaps of fun running in the rain!

Though I wasn't feeling chili to warm my soul upon my return, I did want something warm and comforting...

Enter oats! Buckwheat style!

 A super delicious and rich chocolate and coconut butter buckwheat 'porridge' with a small banana & peach smoothie.

This guy may look quite small- but looks are sooo deceiving! He filled me right up (to the point of over full) but I just couldn't stop because he tasted so gosh darn good! Now my tummy kind of hurts... in that awesome chocolate over-load kind of way ;)

It was also my first try of my new choc protein powder, which didn't leave a good first impression when I opened it to find it half empty..

Not impressed!

And also lacking a scoop! :( Alas I soldiered on and simply spooned in a heap of powder to my raw buckwheat groats, cinnamon, almond milk and water ( a cup of each liquid) heated it up, bubbled it away for 15-20 mins, let it cool for 10 mins and then poured it into a cup with coconut butter scattered throughout, and ate!

Well, I also made a smoothie, because I also wanted something cool and creamy!
Into the blender went 1 chopped frozen banana + 1/2 chopped frozen peach + 1/2 cup greek yoghurt + 3/4 cut water- whazzed until smooth:

So simple and sooo good!

First few bites with new protein powder...

It tasted- exactly the same! Which I'm pretty happy about (because I really liked my old protein powder) and not only is this one suitable for vegans, it also contains 'super greens!' Super duper!

So, yes, it was definitely a very filling brekky and I definitely ate past my fullness... but sometimes you just gotta enjoy that little bit more when it tastes so good!

I just hope I'm still hungry for lunch... or even dinner!

What about you:
What's your favourite comforting food when it's cold and grey outside? I think I'm going to have some soup today :)
Do you switch up long runs with short, quick runs, to keep your body on it's toes? ;)
Ever eat past your fullness because it tastes that good?

That's it from me today folks. I hope you all have a lovely day, eat something yummy! Bye! :D

 

WIAW #51- Craving ALL the veggies!

Hidy-ho folks!
What a glorious day? Not weather wise (ahh, rain and wind and coldness... I haven't missed you! ;) but life wise- in that I can now terrorise the general public behind the wheel of the car now!

Yes, I got my Learner's permit :)

Now, seeing as I've terrified a fair few of you- how about some food, eh?

Thanks as always to Jen at Peas and Crayons for hosting this link-up!
This was Tuesday (WIAT?):

Breakfast: 7:45am
After a sweaty session of Purely Twin's workouts, I eagerly scampered (can't you just pictured me as a cute little bunny?) to the kitchen to cook up a delightful breakfast!

 And then I LOL'd because of this banana.

 Good attempt at a curve...

 So I made a big pot of cinnamon banana steel cut oats and poured them into my mug (with a hidden surprise at the bottom) where half way threw I sneakily added in some cashew butter for a melty/ nut buttery middle.

 Then, of course, a little more on the top! :)

 Served with a side of peach fro-yo (1/2 frozen peach + 3 big scoops greek yoghurt- whazzed)

 Reason for the terrible lighting:

Nom. Warms the soul!

Lunch: 12:45pm
As I am now on a two week break from school (hallelujah!) I get to whip up glorious lunches that I can actually enjoy hot!

This plate of awesome was the result of massive veggie cravings and hunger.

Firstly I roasted up some sweet potato and white potato in olive oil for 45 mins at 180 degrees celsius.
Then I made some lentil flat bread:

 Which was about 1/3 heaped cut lentil flour + 1 tablespoon greek yoghurt + 2 teaspoons water + nutritional yeast + 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic- all mixed together until formed into a ball.
Flattened out and grilled in a fry pan on high heat for around 1-2 mins each side.

 For some reason I had a massive craving for a big bowl of frozen veggies (almost wrote berries??) probably from happier times in my childhood (just kidding... my childhood was awful- HAHA I'm on fire! (I'm kidding again in case you're wondering)) so I whipped up a big bowl of cooked frozen mixed veg.
Everything together...

 Except for a key element:

 Delicious poached eggs :)

 Happy days!


Snack:4:00pm
The stomach was growling again around 4:00pm so I cut up a delightfully hard and crispy pear (the harder the pear the better for me) with a mug of soy milk:

 So good! :)

Dinner: 6:45pm
Then I was hungry again. So dinner was required!

 Sorry about the sideways picture, you are going to have to rotate your head 90 degrees to the right in order to make out this particular dinner ;)

 Steamed veg (parsnip, pumpkin, swede and beetroot)

 Roasted veg (brussels sprouts and broccoli)

 And some hot dogs! (2 slices of 100% rye bread with hommus, best veggie sausages and chopped tomato)
Of course my stomach still wasn't content after all this- so I had some brazil nuts. :) I love, love, love brazil nuts!


Aaaaand that's what I ate!

Your turn:
Anything you eat simply because it reminds you of your childhood?

Bye for now friends- be sure to head over to Peas and Crayons to see what everyone else is eating this fine Wednesday! See ya and have a great day! :D

Don't assume...

Hi there, my name is Steph and I'm an anomaly.

This is me:

A typical teenage girl. But don't assume.

Don't assume for a second that I'm 'typical'. Don't look at my appearance and make a judgement on who I am.

I don't wear make up.
I don't fan girl over boy bands.
I don't obsess over materialistic things like clothes, shoes and handbags.
On that note- I can't even walk in high heels (I can barely walk in trainers!)
I can't seem to stay up past 9:00pm.
I also can't sleep in past 6:30am.
I enjoy exercising bright and early in the morning.
I cook my breakfast lunch and dinner and grocery shop for myself each week.

So the only teenage-girl stereotype I fit into is my age. Oh- and gender!

Hence why you should never assume anything of a person before you've met them. I know I do this all the time and so thinking back on myself and the assumptions people would make of me from just looking...makes me want to rid myself of this habit once and for all.

But I think it goes further than this. Especially for teenage girls. I think too often we make assumptions about people's diet without seeing the full picture. This is another thing I struggle with.

Y'all know I like my food- and I eat a lot of it! And it's fine for me to say that because I know I need it- I know what I eat is nourishing for my body, and is enough to sustain me and my everyday activities. So, why then, can someone who has not been with me for the past 24 hours where I have gone for a run + walked around + played with the dog + studied for 756 upcoming exams + organised blog posts + cooked 3 plus different meals + whatever else I did that day, make an assumption that I eat so much.. or even too much?

Friends, family, peers... strangers!- you name it, they've said it.

'Wow, you're really going to eat all that?'

 I think it's comments like this that really drive the insecurities we as teenage girls feel over food. It's the comments that are meant as nothing more than a quick judgement or joke that unintentionally accumulates and spreads throughout our brains. And replays over and over again.

 'Am I eating way too much?'
'No body else eats as much as me.'
These are just a few of the negative thoughts I know I've experienced in the past.

No matter how good natured the comment was, it's all in the recipient as to how they react and in turn how they are affected by it.

Jumping back to how I am definitely not a typical teenage girl- this has probably been my saving grace to all those comments from people that have no idea what/ how much I should be eating.

From the research and knowledge and understanding I have gained from my love of nutrition and healthy living, I know that as a growing teenager; I need to be eating enough food to sustain this period of rapid growth. that as vegetarian I need to fill up on the less kilojoule dense veggies and as an endurance runner I simply need to eat more to sustain my level of activity.

As a result, when I'm presented with such a comment as 'You eat a lot!' I can just smile and nod and move on with life because I know that I don't eat a lot, I eat enough- for me. The funniest thing from that whole scenario is that I might be sitting there with a massive bowl of veggies and the person making the comment might have a small pie or sausage roll and be consuming just as man kilojoules (maybe more) as me. But I feel like I should just be quiet on that one. ;)

Unfortunately not ever teenage girl is an anomaly (unfortunately? ;) and many can take ignorant comments about the food they're eating (and should be eating!) and twist them into a criticism on themselves, making them feel worthless and wrong and could ultimately lead to many different eating disorders and problems surrounding food that could have been avoided if we all just stuck to our own business.

In a nutshell? Don't make assumptions.

Don't be a quidnunc!

And eat lots of good nourishing foods. Your body needs it!

 Ahh, Julia Child- you speak with so much wisdom ;)

Your turn:
Do you struggle with making assumptions before knowing someone?
Do you get annoyed when people make assumptions about you?
Do you also eat a lot? :)

That's it from me today folks- I guess I just needed to get that off my chest! Make sure you have a fabulous day, as always- eat something great! And... smile :) Bye! :D

Food is amazing!!

Food, you are amazing.

Not only do you nourish our bodies with the nutrients- vitamins, minerals, fats, carbs, protein, fiber and everything else our cells need to survive, but you also give us a means to be creative, to explore your different physical and functional properties (hello egg coagulation!) and also create a party for our taste buds.

You are pretty much that perfect student who gets straight A's. That people actually like to be around... ;)

So today I thought I would show you how in the last 24 hours food has given me a creative outlet, nourishment for my craving/needy cells and a whole lotta party for my taste buds!

For Easter we were having a family lunch with my grandparents.. which meant food... which meant I was cooking dessert (I have been permanently assigned dessert duty- mainly because I have permanently baggsed it ;)

An image of an Easter cake flashed through my head and I searched through my large collection of Taste magazines in order to find what I was looking for- this guy!

Chocolate bought, pans lined, oven pre-heating, I got to work!!

The finished product:

A rich, moist (sorry!) chocolate mud cake (similar to a brownie recipe), covered in chocolate ganache with a pine nut (didn't have almonds) praline, spun toffee nest and truffle 'eggs'. (As I didn't have my own Easter egg moulds and the supermarket we went to had sold out of Easter eggs. On Easter. Can you believe it? Well, yes, I can actually ;)

 So I simply entered in plan B and made some easy Easter truffles (crushed biscuits, coconut, condensed milk- stirred together, rolled in cocoa powder)
Job done!

 I love, love, love baking and creating desserts and seriously don't mind not eating my creations! It's the question my friends always ask me:
'How can you make something like that and not want to eat it?'
My answer:
'I make things because I love to make them, I love simply creating awesome things!'

 I was still feeling a little tired and sore from my long run on Saturday, yesterday, so I knew I needed to fill my body up with lots of nutrient dense foods.
Enter dinner:

 An oven baked sweet potato with cashew butter (Mmmmmm) taco spiced beans, peas and mushrooms, roasted in the oven for 15 mins at 180 degrees celsius, and some air popped pop corn. So much yum!

 Low-GI carbohydrates from Mr. Sweet Potato, awesome healthy fats from cashew butter, protein + fiber from bean/pea/mushroom mix and wholegrain goodness (plus so much deliciousness) from the popcorn- who could ask for anything more?

And finally, the food that gave my taste buds a party!
This morning's breakfast:

Creamy green smoothie

 Plus brazil/cashew/almond nut butter granola

 Equals an amzingly delicious (and healthy!) breakfast!

 For some reason both the smoothie and granola were on point more than usual and just tasted so, so good.

 Food is amazing.

What about you?
Did you cook up an Easter treat for dessert yesterday? 
What foods nourish your body?
Favourite foods that give your taste buds a party?


That's all from me today folks! I hope everyone's enjoying their long weekend and having lots of fun/ happy times with friends and family! Challenge for today- give someone a BIG hug! :) Bye! :D