WIAW #55- Hectic day eats!

Hello there, lovely lovelies!
Yep, as usual, IT'S WEDNESDAY ALREADY!?! Is the thought coursing through my brain currently and as usual after re-checking my computer calender I am assured once again that it is in fact Wednesday! Time flies when you're having fun studying like a looney!

Any who, this post isn't about studying (we can't have too much fun here, guys!) this post is about food! Glorious food! In the style of a day of eating... in other words WIAW!! As usual, thanks a whole bunch of grapes to Jenn at Peas and Crayons for creating and hosting this link-up party. Now, FOOD!

Today's WIAW is a snapshot into what I ate Tuesday- a very, very, VERY busy day!!

Breakfast:
As exciting as becoming champion girl for cross country was... the cold, sometimes wet early morning trainings aren't always that flash. So why do I still enjoy them so much? :) I had to be up and out of bed at around 6 where I had my pre-training snack:

 Banana +

 Nut butter =

 Best sandwich ever!

Definitely got me roaring through training (from 7:00am- 8:00am)
After training I had to rush to an early class (Tuesday's are the only day of the week where I have to start at 8:00am- we have this thing called period 0, so we can have 2 hours of cooking in Food Science class) So I scoffed my brekky on the way to my class room- which was some choc protein overnight oats- no pic, sorry! :)

Snack: 11:00am
After running around like a mad thing I was finally able to have recess:

Frozen peas in a pot!

Lunch: 1:40pm
Then, can you believe it, I also had PE on that day! More running!! So by 1:40pm I was ready for lunch- I've never loved the sound of our school bell so much.

 A quinoa salad with coconut oil roasted sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts and eggplant along with some spinach:

 NOM! This was eating pretty fast!

Snack: 4:00pm
I was not surprised at all when I returned home from my hectic day STARVING! So I chopped up an apple and some rockmelon (best rockmelon I've ever had!) and poured myself a mug of soy milk:

And then I drove (yep, still driving- haven't ruined any cars yet!) with my mum to my flute lesson and promptly returned home to my beautiful pile of homework :)

Dinner: 6:45pm
And of course I was starving again by the time dinner rolled around, so this dinner was a mix and match of everything I felt like!!

 A piece of rye bread, toasted and spread with hommus, topped with 2 poached eggs:

Some no-added salt baked beans stirred into some sauteed onions, capsicum, garlic, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and tomato paste:

 And some mashed avocado topped with organic blue maize tortilla chips:

 Kinda weird, but totally hit the spot!
I was still hungry of course and had a scoop of greek yoghurt and some walnuts as well straight afterwards :D

That's what I ate!
Yeh, it was hectic but I still ate some awesome stuff and I think it's days like this that make me truly appreciate extra time for myself!

Your turn:
What do you eat when life gets hectic?
Best sandwich ever? Sometimes I can't get enough of PB and apple sandwiches either!
Ever jazz up a simple tin of baked beans? Usually I just throw in some frozen peas and corn... this day I was really craving sauteed onions for some reason.. the sweetness maybe?


Have an absolutely fabulous day and eat something incredibly delicious!! Bye friends :D

Supplements.. my thoughts

Hey there guys! How's life treating you today? Is the sun shining? Is the rain.. raining? Either way have you got a smile on your face?

I sure hope so!

Now, onto the topic I want to discuss today- Supplements. The things we need a little extra of and that most of us are taking in one form or another.

Whether it be meal supplements, dietary supplements; vitamin D, calcium, iron, folate, magnesium, zinc... I could go on for a while... I'm pretty sure a lot of us would fall under the supplement-taking category.

However I also know that there are others out there who don't agree with taking supplements, who think it's completely unnecessary and a lazy-persons way of getting the nutrients they can gain from eating a healthy balanced diet.

And I was one of those people.

In fact I still kinda think I am... though I do take 4 different supplements?

See, when I first became vegetarian, I wasn't prepared. I didn't research into all the nutrients I would need to seek out and find other sources of, I didn't really change my way of eating all that much. I just took out the meat part. And just ate what was left.

Typical dinner:

Typical breakfast:

Typical lunch:

You see? Not the most nutrient dense foods. Of course, I was not feeling great and it took me getting quite sick before I managed to turn my diet around.. but we've already gone into that before!

However I wasn't taking any supplements either.

So why now, that my diet is filled with tons of veggies, fruits, whole grains, healthy fats and so many wonderful nutrients my body craves, do I take supplements?

It's easy- because I know that in my current lifestyle where I'm a vegetarian, growing teenage girl, as well as an endurance runner and a stress-head going into exams... my body is going to need extra help, extra love and extra nutrients.

I take Vitamin-D tablets because some days I'm stuck at school all day and don't see the sun, vit-D also helps with the absorption of other nutrients- so it's a win-win! I take magnesium to help with my bones and joints and recovery from running. I take iron to make sure I keep those levels up as sometimes it's hard to always get in those dark leafy greens and pulses. And I take protein because sometimes I need that extra boost, extra dose of pre-thought out delicious-ness that I can fall back on when life gets hectic.

In a nutshell? Life is hectic at the moment and sometimes when I'm rushing about like a headless chicken throwing random edible food stuffs into a Tupperware container, I might miss out some some vital nutrients and, right now, a plunge back into the fatigue and lack of nutrients of a couple years back is not something I need at the moment!

Also in a nutshell (this is a pretty big nutshell alright!) I believe 100% that our diets can supply us with all the nutrients we need to prosper in our daily lives, that supplements aren't always the answer, but if you find some days/ weeks/ months just leave you with no time/ energy/ motivation to ensure balanced meals everyday- then get that little extra help. Just don't fill yourself with junk and expect a magic little pill to fix all your problems. It won't. Try as best you can to fill up on nutrient dense foods and if you discover you're lacking in something, maybe take some action- whether that be reviewing your diet and making some changes or adding in a supplement because you just need that extra helper.

At the end of the day it comes down to what you feel is the right course of action for you, this post is purely to inform you as to why I take supplements and what I believe. Now it's your turn!

Do you take any supplements?
Do you try and change up your diet a bit if you feel yourself lacking in something?
Any amazing supplement stories? I know I have a few friends who were anemic without knowing and when they started taking an iron pill- oh my word! They were different people!

That's it for today folks! I hope I've left you with something to think about and feel free to add your own thoughts about the topic in the comment section below. Until next time! Bye!! :D

Coconutty beans!

Hi there friendly friends!
Now, I have a confession to make.
Just like, I'm sure a lot of others were/ are the same, the saturated fat content in coconut scared the heck out of me... to the point where I didn't eat it.

And then I tried coconut butter for the first time....
Let's just say there was no going back after that!

But then I started reading more and more into the properties of coconut and the way the fat acts in our bodies- and the fact that it's a natural food grown straight from mother nature!!- why the heck could I possibly think it to be so bad?

Or maybe I just read Michele's blog too much! ;)
Any who, where I'm getting at with this is the fact that I'm so upset that I went so long without embracing the awesome flavour, texture, aroma, satisfying-ness and general out-of-this-world amazing-ness that is coconut... everything! (Did you follow all that?)

This though became absolutely apparent when I went about making my day a few days back and decided to use coconut oil to mix things up a bit! Best. Decision. Ever.

Firstly I roasted up a Japanese white sweet potato:

(My favourite type of potato. Maybe even my favourite vegetable full stop. Yeh.)

Of course if you roast up a sweet potato it needs to either be topped/ stuffed with something. Always. So I decided to get a little creative, drawing upon my oven-roasted bean idea and instead making some crispy fry pan beans... Crispy, coconut fry pan beans!

Into a heated fry pan went a tablespoon of extra virgin coconut oil, melted up, then some drained and rinsed 4-beans and corn. Heated on high for around 5-10 mins until they sort of burst out of their skins and became slightly crispy.

There was still some leftover oil in the pan after I scooped my coconutty beans into the sweet potato, so I fried up 2 eggs in the remainder.... no words people, no words.

And we can't forget about the oven roasted brussels sprouts:

They were pretty good too! (my method involves steaming them until soft and then roasting them for around 20 mins until slightly charred :)

But those beans though! Paired with a roasted sweet potato= perfection!
I bet they would taste amazing in any salad, wrap, as a side or just as a full-on meal themselves. I'm not gonna lie- there was a goofy grin on my face as I devoured this plate of food :)

So the next time you go to cook something with plain old olive oil- maybe take a second and think; 'Would this taste good with coconut oil?' and more often than not the answer will be yes ;)

Your turn:
Do you use coconut oil?
Favourite food to cook in it?
Favourite thing to top a sweet potato with?

I hope you all have a fabulous day, enjoy every second and of course eat something yummy! Bye for now!! :D

Sunday relaxing... and being a champion?!?

Hey everyone! Happy Sunday!!
I have some exciting news to share! It involves the extremely sore legs I've had for the past two days, the goofy grin that's been plastered to my face for said two days and a title I never thought I would achieve. Ever.

But we'll get back to that. Firstly- my relaxing brekky that followed a very slow and easy-paced 8km run this morning (exactly what I needed- no racing, fast paced runs today!!)

Sunday morning chocolate pancakes with a kiwi-fruit green smoothie!

These two (very brown and spotty) boys had be lurking in the fruit bowl for aaaages and I was certain someone was going to throw them out soon thinking they were inedible... when really they are super sweet and awesome at this stage! So I jumped on them (not literally, these two definitely would have smooshed if I had), froze one and mashed up another to be used to make some pancakes!!

I didn't measure anything out today, but there are a ton of pancake recipes on my recipe page- so if you want some pancakes, head on over there!

Into a bowl went some wholemeal spelt flour, oat bran, rolled oats, flaxseed with cocoa and berries, baking powder and chia seeds.
Then I added in 1/2 mashed banana (froze other half and used half a frozen banana in the smoothie) and some almond milk (maybe around 1 cup?)

Mixed together until combined and spooned onto a heated non-stick fry-pan with some coconut oil:

And flip:

And place on paper towel:

And top with all the peanut butter!!

The green smoothie was simply 1 frozen kiwi-fruit + 1/2 frozen banana + 2 big handfuls of kale + 3 big scoops greek yoghurt + 1/2 cup water- whazzed in a blender until smooth:

Nom.

Now back to my exciting news and the reason I've been walking like a cow-boy for the past two days.
So I mentioned in Thursday's thinking out loud post that I had a 3km race coming up on Friday. This was the cross country trials for school and I really wanted to get in.

If you remember last year I was in the team and really enjoyed it, so definitely wanted to make the team again this year. The thing that was worrying me was how I'd increased my distance so much and had only started doing smaller runs about 2-3 weeks ago- my pace was shocking! To be able to run for multiple hours, you have to go slowly. Like really slowly. So I wasn't sure how I would fair in this super fast 3km.

The week leading up to the race I only did 3km fast paced runs and could sort of feel myself improving, but I still wasn't convinced.. I'd only done about 3 3km runs. It was nearing the start of the race, all the competitive runners were pushing to the front, I was trying to stay closer to the front but as usual my inability to be pushy left me closer to the back. And then the gun sounded and we were off! For about 15 seconds before we all stopped trying to get through the school's tiny gate (seriously not the ideal start)

I said in Thursday's post that my strategy would be to go slow and steady at the beginning and let everyone else get tired after sprinting the first half... however I found that the pace I had been training in was fast enough to pass most people. I was flying for the first half and eventually I was coming second for the year 11 girls and could see the girl coming first around 5 meters ahead of me.

I'm not going to lie and say that the race was easy- it wasn't. I was tired, I was hurting, I didn't really know how much longer I could keep this pace up for and then we turned the corner to head back to the school and back up the hill (the entire course is a hill- half of it is down hill, turn round, and the rest is uphill!). This was what nearly got me. Then I caught the girl in front of me. We were running side by side, my heart was leaping at the prospect of getting runner up. We kept pushing each other harder and ahrder until she told me to just go. To win.

So somehow I manged to up my pace. To run hard through the school gates and through that finish line in 13:29! To finish the race as Champion Girl.

WHAT!?!

I still can't fully believe it and I'm sure I shocked every single person in my year when my name was called at the trophy presentation (Steph Innes? How did she win?) and that just made my smile even bigger.

So I suppose all that running must have paid off :)

And what do you do after you've run your heart out and won a cross country race? Why you walk home and then continue on to work an extremely busy shift at a restaurant from 6-10pm. Tired doesn't even begin to describe it.

Here's my rushed dinner from that night as I hurried to scoff it down and make it to work on time:
2 boiled eggs, toast with Vegemite and mashed avocado:

And mashed potato and sweet potato:

No judgement guys- I just needed food!!

And that's what's been happening around these parts lately. And, yes, I'm still in shock :D

Your turn:
Do love it when you have brown speckled bananas to use for baking/ freezing etc.? It seems to be a rarity in this household. We are banana eating freaks!
Did/ do you run cross country in school?
A meal you simply throw together when you just need food. NOW?

I hope you all have a lovely relaxing Sunday, eat some delicious foods and do something you love! Bye for now friends!! :D

The never-ending oat combos!

Hi friends!
Here's a question for you:
Firstly, I'm going to make a generalisation (*gasp*) about the majority of my readers being either blog writers themselves, healthy living blog writers, avid blog readers and probably avid healthy living blog readers. If not- you have surprised me- well done ;)

I'm also going to make the generalisation that the majority of you have or even regularly cook oats and share my love for them (if not, that's cool, I'm sure there's another healthy living blogger stereotype you fit :)

Anywho, my question!
Before you guys found your love of creating delicious bowls of oats with all kinds of add-ins and flavours, did you ever think oatmeal was just plain boring old sachets of mush that you had to either cover in sugar or honey? I know I did.

I had no idea about rolled oats and steel cut oats and oat bran and cooking them on a stove tops and adding berries/ bananas/ apples/ pumpkin/ chocolate/ vanilla etc. I would simply pour in a measly serving size sachet (yes! Alliteration :)) add some milk, cook it in the microwave (more often than not causing a messy microwave explosion) and top with honey.

Then I began reading blogs.
The world changed forever!
At first it was adding a sliced banana to the oats after cooking.
Then it was mashing a banana in a bowl and microwaving it after I microwaved the oats and then mixing them together.
Then microwaving together.
Then- magic! Stove top oats and all the never-ending possibilities!

Some early oat bowls:

Yep.

I was scrolling through my pictures from the previous week and was astounded at the vast array of flavours in my oats I enjoy over a week- how the times have changed!

First of all I made some overnight pumpkin oats in an almost-empty-jar of mixed nut butter- which was awesome! (with a side of berry fro-yo - forzen berries + greek yoghurt, whazzed)

Into the jar went 1/2 cup rolled oats + 1/2 cup steamed, mashed and cooled pumpkin + 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon + dash of nut meg + sprinkle of chia seeds + 1 cup almond milk, all stirred up together and left in the fridge overnight:

Up next I was feeling something warmer, comforting and CHOCOLATE!

Enter chocolate protein steel cut oats!

Into a saucepan went 1/2-3/4 cup steel cut oats + 1 scoop choc protein powder (I use this one) + a few big dashes of cinnamon + 1 sliced banana + 1 cup almond milk + 1 cup water- heated on medium heat for 20 mins and let to sit for another 10 mins to cool.

With some cashew butter hidden on the bottom, half the oats poured in, a little more PB in the middle, rest of the oats and topped with a tad more peanut butter- so good!

Then I was feeling something a little fresher, a little fruity, a little tangy!

Some mixed berry cheesecake oats!

This was 1 cup rolled oats + 1 sliced banana + 1 handful mixed frozen berries + 1 cup almond milk + 1/2 cup water, heated on medium heat for around 10 mins until all the liquid was absorbed and then let sit to cool for another 10 mins before stirring in a couple of scoops of greek yoghurt.

Into a bowl (you know there was some extra nut butter hidden throughout it) and topped with some mixed nut butter

That was just from one week of breakfasts!

I love experimenting with my oats and the possibilities really are never-ending (I haven't quite become brave enough to try savoury oats, or to add egg whites to my oats- apparently it makes the texture better) and I can't wait to experiment further and enjoy some awesome bowls (or mugs, or cups) of oats!

Your turn:
Did you ever have quick oat sachets?
What did your first bowls of oats look like? Mine were not photo-worthy that's for sure!

Current favourite flavour combo in your oats?

That's it from me today folks! Anyone else got a sudden hankering for oats? Just me? Ahh well there's a cure for that one! ;) Have a fabulous day and I'll be back tomorrow! Bye friends! :D