Where's the hunger gone?!?

Guys, something big has happened in the legendary world of Steph land. Something never heard of before, something that would shock even the most knowledgeable of man kind!
.
..
...
I haven't been very hungry recently...
dun
dun
DUUUUUN!

Yeh, ok- not exactly ground breaking or shocking news but for someone with a pit of fire burning away in her stomach, incinerating everything that comes into contact with it immediately, this is pretty strange!

All those who know me (and even those who don't that have seen me take out my packed lunch/ cook myself a meal/ serve myself a meal) know that I can handle my food (never tried handling my liquor- on account of my 16-year-old-ness, but I think I'd be pretty sensitive to even a drop of alcohol!) and know that I eat my food and know that I am not afraid of the healthy portions of food my body needs. Also, they know that I can get hangry and when I'm hangry, I'm no longer Steph anymore!

Whilst hangry can be a debilitating and traumatic experience (especially when there is no food around!) I secretly liked the feeling of my stomach growling, yelling at me to feed it. It meant my body needed fuel and wasn't afraid to tell me!

However..

I haven't experienced hanger, or really even a strong hunger pull, in quite some time now and I will admit, I don't like it.

 Yesterday's lunch- a salad with some baked potato fries (this is definitely not a Steph-sized lunch!

I remember a while back I presented my mum with this hypothetical choice:

Would you rather;
Be constantly hungry, or
Have no desire to eat ever.

She's lucky I didn't give her this one!

As a child she barely ate much at all, she was stick thin, and doctors told her the only reason she wasn't having any major troubles was because she slept so much each night. She told me she just didn't really get hungry and meal times were really just scheduled times to make her eat. So of course her answer to my question was having no desire to eat because she doesn't really enjoy the feeling of hunger.

Now, friends, this is one of those situations when I question whether I am adopted or not. Ha-ha only joking! No, I totally understand what my mum's saying here, hunger can be annoying and distracting, making it difficult for you to carry out your daily tasks but even having said that, I would still choose the hunger.

Especially now, when it seems have gone AWOL. You don't enjoy or appreciated or cry with tears of joy if you're not actually hungry to begin with. I can't even imagine living a life where my stomach just didn't want to eat and having to force, yes force, myself to eat each day. Even though being hungry isn't always fun, food always tastes 10x better when you are :).

 Anywho, I know it will come back, probably with a vengeance too. In the mean time, I've simply been making slightly smaller meals (still trying to eat normally, however then I'm not hungry for another 6 hours or so!) so I can be hungry again for the next meal.

For example this lunch of some vegetables soup with the crust of my homemade spelt bread, warmed in the microwave with some hommus:

 And to be honest, this filled me up quite a bit and I wasn't hungry for ages!

Or this lunch of a small 'cheesey baked bean jaffle, with 2 poached eggs and some raw veg sticks:

I guess the raw veg sticks make this lunch look pretty big- but kilojoules wise, it's not very close to my usual lunches, I don't think (I don't count kilojoules/ calories though)

But lastly, let's step away from this whole not hungry business and talk about this chessey baked bean jaffle:

 It used to be my favourite snack as a kid. Mum would whip me up a baked bean toasty with metly tasty cheese and I would devour it!
Now, not willing to live without one of my favourite sandwiches ever, I simply make my own version!

 Spread some 100% rye bread with a generous amount of hommus, sprinkle on some nutritional yeast, top with some baked beans, more nutritional yeast and then place in a jaffle iron/ toasted sandwich machine!

Mmmm :)

 Cheesey goodness!

What about you?
Do you go through stages of extreme hunger/ no hunger?
Were you a hungry kid, or barely ate anything kid? I've always been a good eater!

Ever tried a baked bean and cheese toastie? If not, do!

Bye for now friends! Make sure you have a fabulous Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow with some WIAW fun! Byeee! :D

Food photography practice!

Hey guys!

There is always one major thing that draws me to blogs (and keeps me there). At first I thought it was the style/ lay out/ overall first impression (and to a point it is) but what really makes me keep coming back for more is the beautiful pictures.

Professional, pretty, adorned with decorations to make whatever they're photographing look that much better. If you have pretty pictures, you have my love!

After considering this in my head, I thought to myself- well, why don't I try to make my pictures prettier/ more photogenic/ even add in a few decorations here and there (nothing too over the top, maybe just a few of the ingredients in the recipe, or a place mat etc.) It's something I really want to work on- my food photography- and seeing as I have an expensive proper camera (thanks Dad!) why not put a little more effort into the plates I'm photographing!

I also happen to have a slight obsession with food photography and when done right, just makes a food look 10,0000x more appealing.

From a scroll through the internet:

 You see?!?

Now I've dabbled a bit with a light box and have had some success, even though mine was a very rudimentary version:

 Yep, that's just a cut up cardboard box with white sheets :) though I will admit that I got some pretty good shots from it:

 I'm sure as we head on further into the cold and dark depths of winter that I will recover my box (wherever it has disappeared to) and set it back up  so my food can be seen! (You know, so you can see the actual colours of the dish and what foods are in it etc. ;)

Today I lucked out and the day was sunny (probably should have scheduled my run for today!) so I thought I might play around with a favourite breakfast creation of mine... along with some photography!

 No- this is not the food photography practice I was talking about- this was a point camera and click to show you what I created! A chocolate protein oatmeal bake!

 Along with a very simple smoothie of frozen berries, half a banana, greek yoghurt and water:

 The result- an awesome breakfast!

 To make the bake (because, let's be serious, who doesn't want to make this bake?) I simply threw in a bowl:
1/2 cup rolled oats
3 big spoons muesli (no fruit)
some flax flakes (optional)
a few big dashes of cinnamon
1 scoop choc protein powder
small handful cacao nibs (optional- replace with choc chips, or just leave out)
 1/2 mashed banana
1/2 cup almond milk, slightly heated
  And let it thicken slightly before pouring into a mini loaf pan and popping in the oven at 180 degrees celsius for 20-25 mins until set and slightly hard on top! Remove from pan and leave to cool slightly for around 10 mins. Top with anything you like (I can vouch for nut butter!)

Easy peasy simple pimple!
And after letting this bad boy cook, cool and warm up some peanut butter and mixed nut butter- I experimented with some photography!

 Got the fork out:

 Fork shot:

 Inside view:

 Cliché food on fork shot:

 Then I got hungry and ate it! :) Soooo yummy!

Your turn:
Do you get drawn to blogs based on the pictures? 
Do you try and jazz up your shots with decorations and props? I really need to start trying this!
Any sneaky tips/ tricks you use to take awesome pics? Any light box fans/ users out there?

That's it for today folks- have a fabulous Monday, smile often, give someone a big hug and have a great day! Bye for now!! :D

Burnt to a crisp...

 Hidy-ho folks! What a gloriously, glorious... wet day :(  Haha, I know the farmers are probably happy about it finally falling and I should be too but deep down I miss my sun. It's been about a week now without it. ;)

That's not all I've been struggling with recently, however. And now that I type it out, maybe the two are actually related? Who knows!

I've sort of mentioned in previous posts that I'm starting to feel a little burned out from running, maybe I've been over doing it or it's just not the right time for my body to be doing the long endurance runs that my mind craves. Again, who knows!

Any-who, this burned out feeling sort of built up this week. I didn't have the motivation or anticipation of my runs and even bordered on dreading them? Yet I kept pushing through and I know this was not good for me physically or mentally. I can sort of tell I need to take a step back, or switch things up, just stop what I'm doing for the moment.

What am I doing at the moment? For the past few months or so I've been rising at the crack of dawn every second day to pump out a loooong run, week after week after week. And it was great to begin with. But then I started to feel sore and tired all the time and un-motivated, bloated some days and just a bit cranky. So I slipped in a speed run to replace one of my endurance runs and to be quite honest I loved these- I looked forward to these every week and that was my first clue I needed a change up.

Today was pretty much the breaking point. The point where I burned so far I got burnt. I rolled out of bed with the stars still shining, went about my running routine I've become so accustomed to (drink some water, eat 2 dates, get changed, warm- up, head out) and headed out, purely, I guess, to get in a run for the day, not because I truly wanted to.

It started off pretty good and I got into my zone but I noticed that I would slip in and out of this zone continuously, making the run seem like it was stretching on for hours (more hours than it did ;). Usually I return home and think; 'Wow, was that really 2 hours?' this time I felt all 120 minutes that I was out there.

I guess the heavy rain and wind didn't help either, soaking me through and filling my runners with water. Sometimes running in the rain is fun.. generally when it isn't heavy and windy!

Half-way through I was just struck with how dumb I was being. I wasn't enjoying the one thing that brings me so much joy in life. I wasn't doing this run for pleasure, I was doing through habit? Through simply needing to run for my minds sake? It was then that I made the decision to try out something new and different. Instead of long, slow endurance runs, why not try out shorter and faster runs?

Not only will this be good training for the upcoming school cross country (which is only 3km) but could also be just what my body truly wants at the moment. When that idea came to me, I was excited. Excited to finish this not-so-great run and start a new chapter in my running life. Maybe it's a seasonal thing and come Spring/Summer I'll be back to the long ones! Whatever the case my body is trying to tell me something and I'm going to listen!

Interested to see me after my run today, soaked to the bone?
Enjoy:

 Wrapped in a big towel because I was dripping everywhere!

 Look at that smile. So much happiness... ;)

 A few out my front door when I finally arrived home:

 And that was when the rain was calm.

Not the cheeriest post I've ever written, but on Steph 2 Chef we keeps it realz! Life throws out good and bad things and we just have to focus more of our attention on the good things so we don't miss them and let them fall away.

What about you?
Where are you at with running/ exercise at t moment? Loving it/ hating it/ neither?
What's your method of re-building a lost love?
Enjoy running in the rain? The one thing I love  bout it is arriving home, showering and snuggling up with some warm oats- INSIDE!

Bye for now luvly-chuvlies! Make sure you listen to your body too- respect it and honour it with all the good things! Also- eat something yummy! Byeee :D

Peanut butter roll bites!

Hey, hey it's Saturday!
So I woke up this morning still contemplating whether or not to go for a long run (my food has been feeling a bit iffy lately) and I just really didn't feel like it. I know I'm burnt out and need to break... it's just so hard! Alas, I did have a bit more of a lie in and instead swapped my run for a few Purely Twins workouts instead.
With not taking advantage of the gorgeous weather by going for a run, I decided that today I should create a recipe so I can have nice sunny pictures. So I did! :)

I'm sure you can tell by now that my favourite recipes to create are dessert-like breakfasts and today was no different! At first I was like- let's make some cinnamon scrolls! Then I was like- Wait, I've already done that... twice. ;) But I still wanted something scroll-y. And a bit biscuit-y. And a bit awesome.
Enter the Peanut butter roll bite:

 Warm, gooey, rich, fudgey, slightly sweet, crisp on the outside, slight biscuit texture... YUM!
Did I mention it's dairy, wheat, sugar, vegan and super healthy full of whole grains? Bonus! Because it also tastes amazing!

Peanut butter roll bites:

Ingredients:
40g wholemeal spelt flour
14g oat bran
15g rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon (adjust for preferences or leave out altogether- but don't really! ;)
1 teaspoon chia seeds
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup almond milk
Peanut butter (for filling- feel free to sub whatever you like in for the filling; nut butter, coconut butter, jam, etc.)
Coconut oil (glaze for baking- sub in some extra almond milk if you prefer)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Place the flour, oat bran, oats, cinnamon and chia seeds in a bowl. Stir to combine:

 3. Stir together the baking powder and almond milk in a small bowl. Add to the dry mixture.
4. Using a metal spoon, stir until mixture comes together and forms a ball (you can use your hands here if you want) let sit for 5 mins to rest:

 5. Set up your work station:

 6. Lightly flour the bench and dough. Roll out to form a long flat disc: (Keep lifting up off bench and flouring to prevent sticking)

 7. Get your peanut butter (may need to heat in microwave slightly) or other filling:

 8. Spread onto dough:

 9. Roll into a log (fairly tight):

 10. Using a sharp knife/ serrated knife, slice into 1cm bites:

  11. Place on tray (yep, I ran out of baking paper :) Melt coconut butter slightly and brush onto bites:

 12. Bake in oven for 10-15 mins until hard on top

 13. Transfer to wire rack to cool slightly and then enjoy!

 These are best straight form the oven but can be kept for a few days in an air tight container (I would recommend reheating slightly prior to eating)

 I don't know why I'm so obsessed with scrolls. I think it's something about the filling being evenly spread throughout so each bite is a little magical. If I ever eat something that isn't evenly spread, I have to eat the plain bits first so the awesome bits are left to last... and the plain bits aren't great. So scrolls are perfect!

 Mmmm, warm, gooey peanut butter :)

 I had these guys for brekky along with a creamy dreamy green smoothie- for added deliciousness!

 And now some pictures to get you salivating:

 Yes, let's take a moment to appreciate that scroll.
Good.

 Happy, happy days!

Your turn:
Do you sometimes have to take a break to rekindle your love of running? Do you find it hard?
Do you prefer evenly spread flavour or build-ups of awesome?
What would be the perfect filling for your breakfast scroll?

That's that for today folks! Make sure you have an awesome day, eat something delicious and treat your body nicely :) Bye! :D