Nut butter- One of life's... BIG pleasures :)

It's Sunday, Sunday, I love Sunday's so much!

A day dedicated to... NOTHING. And sometimes that just what a girl needs!
I'm not going to lie. Days upon days of nothing planned, doing nothing, being bored- that drives me insane. But the once in a while day to relax- oh yeh!

That's not the only thing making me smile from ear to ear today though. Oh no! What do you get when you pulverize the living daylights out of a food that is technically considered a fruit, composed of a hard shell and a seed, that we more commonly know as nuts, to a smooth, creamy, spreadable consistency? You get excellence. Impeccable, exquisite, faultless excellence. Or in other words, nut butter :)

A little while back I wrote a post about budgeting and making the most bang for your buck health wise. In that post I mentioned holding out until big bags of nuts were on sale and then whazzing up your own nut butters to save your hard earned moneys from the somewhat ridiculously priced (and also pretty small) jars of store bought nut butters.

It only came to my attention recently that I have never, not once, posted about making my own nut butter. Scandalous!

Luckily, today for your very own eyes to take in, I have finally put my words in action and created one of my absolute favourite nut butters.

Any guesses??

I'll give you a hint, it starts with 'C' and ends in 'ashew butter'

You guessed it! CASHEW BUTTER! There was a big bag of raw unsalted cashews this week at the grocery store, so I pounced and proceeded to make a masterpiece:

Step1. of making nut butters/ jams/ pickles etc. is to sterilise your jar:

To do this, I washed an empty jar of mixed nut butter with hot water and soap and then rinsed it again with just hot water. I then placed it on a tray with baking paper along with the lid and popped it in the oven at around 150 degrees celsius with the door open until all the liquid had evaporated. Jar= sterilised!

As for the nut butter? That was just a 500g bag of raw unsalted cashews popped in a food processor and processed!

 I'm not going to lie. It's not that simple-pimple easy-peasy and it doe take a bit of time. So I placed the nuts in the processor and processed on low for around 3 mins until fine crumbs were formed. From then on in I kept starting and stopping the machine scraping down the sides continually (maybe processor for 1-2mins in between) Eventually, after around 15-20 mins, the nut butter was smooth and had sprad out from the ball it had created for a few minutes there, the heat of the processor and the oils in the nuts finally starting to form a spread.

 A little taste test revealed a beautifully smooth, rich and creamy cashew spread :)

 From there I started scooping the nut butter into my sterilised jar, pushing down on all the air bubbles, until it was full, full, full to the brim! (I even had some leftover!!)

 Not a problem though, because I already had a sweet potato baking in the oven with it's name on the leftovers:

 And that's the first time I enjoyed my home-made cashew butter- for dinner that night, encased in a warm, sweet potato:

 Along with two poached eggs and spinach with a bowl of popcorn. Because, why not?

 Brilliant pre-waittressing fuel!

 I couldn't seem to get enough of my awesome nut butter and had the remaining leftovers that couldn't fit in the jar atop two wholemeal crumpets. It was awesome!

 Alongside a cantaloupe green smoothie:

 1 frozen banana + a few big chunks frozen cantaloupe + a huge handful of spinach + 3 big scoops greek yoghurt + 1/3 cup water- whazzed until smooth. It was pretty tasty (though kept giving me major brain freezes!)

That cashew butter though...

 Oh yes.

What about you?
Have you ever made your own nut butter?
Favourite type of nut to butter-ise?
Sweet potatoes + --------? I think my favourite will always be sweet potatoes and almond butter, however cashew butter comes pretty close!

 That's it from me today friends! I hope you all have an absolutely lovely Sunday, relax if you need to relax and of course, eat something delicious!! Bye for now! :D

An early start to the weekend!

Hey friends!! HAPPY SATURDAY!
Confession: I was standing in the kitchen this morning and had to ask my mu what day it was. I had no clue. Exams seem to steal everyday thinking from you. Also, I worked last night at the restaurant (there was a 50th party... of 40 people... yep) and I usually work Saturdays, so I was definitely not sure what day I was up to when I woke up this morning.

Any who, I've been enjoying my early start to the weekend on account of not having an exam Friday and have taken the extra time to make sure I have eaten some truly tasty treats (why do I have such an obsession with alliteration?)

Friday morning saw clear(ish) skies and not horrifically cold and windy weather so I took full advantage of this and headed out in my inspiration sunshine yellow tank top (that says 'Follow your dreams') and fluorescent pink running shorts (nothing like a bit of colour to get me motivated!!) for a lovely 30+ minute run. As it was a nice early and relatively short run I didn't pre-fuel before hand so when I got home I was H.U.N.G.R.Y. and I knew some warm rolled oats were in order.

I also had an almost empty jar of this nut butter in the fridge. Win! Now what flavour? I didn't want sweet. I wanted tang! So I chopped up some rhubarb, added in a banana and also a squeeze of lemon juice, some soy milk and of course rolled oats and cooked until porridge-y!

 I didn't feel like there was enough nut butter left in this jar so halfway through pouring in my warm oats, I added in some coconut butter. Perfect mid-breakfast surprise! (That wasn't a surprise ;)

 Fueled and ready to tackle the day!

The extra day filled with hours upon hours of extra time lead me to think of all the possibilities and tasks I could get done to make sure my actual weekend was smooth sailing and not rushed having to cram last minute study with other chores/ things I needed to do.

Editing blog posts, learning some chemistry equations and planning my grocery list for today took up most of the morning and then my belly wanted lunch!

There were veggies involved; steamed broccoli and brussels sprouts, chopped mushrooms, eggplant, capsicum, zucchini and whole cherry tomatoes- thrown into a hot pan with olive oil and garlic and sauteed until nice and tender:

 Then with some pumpkin and corn falafel torn up and thrown in for extra flavour and protein:

But wait, it didn't end there! These delicious veggies were then plonked onto a wholemeal wrap spread with hommus and topped with spinach to be toasted in a sandwich press for an utterly delicious lunch!

 Yeh, I may have overestimated how big my wrap was. Though I did try I simply couldn't wrap it up, so I also had a nice little side salad:

 ;)

This was mighty tasty!

I gave myself the afternoon off to just relax from the hectic past week and watched Shrek 2. Whenever I feel overwhelmed and just need to remove myself from the world for a little bit, I also seem to reach for a movie. I can get swept up in the characters lives and their world and problems and worrries and completely forget about my own. Also Shrek 2 is an awesome movie. :)

As my shift for work was starting at 6:15pm I went about preparing dinner earlier than usual (as usual when I'm working :) and sometimes a girl only has the mental energy/ capacity/ craving for roasted veggies and a pot of peas. And so I made roasted veggies and a pot of peas!

 Then off to work, which was super hectic, back home, off to bed (hard to fall asleep after a hectic night like that!) and ready for the weekend! Woop woop!


Today's plans include grocery shopping, studying and maybe another shift. Let's go Saturday!

What about you?
Do you sometimes add more nut butter to your OIAJ? (Oats in a jar)
What's your favourite thing to put in a wrap? Do you prefer your wraps toasted or normal?
Ever just make super simple dinners?

That's it from me today folks! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend, hopefully you have something fun planned, if not- plan something fun! Even if it's just for an hour :) Also, eat something yummy! Bye friends!! :D

TOL- Problematic pizza, wonderous colds & literal spinach love!

Hi everyone! Happy Thursday!!
Right at this moment I am very happy indeed, on account of 3 half-yearly exams over and only 3 to go (yep, halfway through... come on Steph! Keep up the momentum!) Also happy because I now have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off before I have to return for 2 exams on the Monday (ahh Chemistry and economics... WHY!)
Any- who, I'm not here to talk about my exams- this is now an official no-exam-talk zone!- nope, on this fine Thursday, I'm Thinking Out Loud... Spoons style!

Le go!

1. The other day I wanted to make pizza. But was running low on time. So I may have side-stepped a few things (ie. the recommended kneading time). I didn't realise my dough wouldn't rise.... or the fact that I wouldn't be able to role my dough out without breaking.

Talk about elastic ;)

Amazingly it looks pretty alright and didn't taste too bad... but I definitely feel like I wasted a perfectly good pizza experience!

 You know I still ate it all up though :)

2. I feel like the world is out to get me.
Everyone- and I mean everyone- had a cold the two weeks leading up to exams and I made it my absolute mission to not get sick. I avoided the ill like the plague and even shunned my own family in order to keep my health (they understood ;) And come the day before exams I thought to myself; 'I did it! I'm not sick!'

Wake up the next morning with a blocked nose, headache and sore throat. Great. I'm sure all my class mates love my snotty presence in the silent exam room. I can't even begin to tell you how exciting it is when I sneeze! (learned the hard way to always carry tissues with me!)

3. Remember my quirky carrots?

 I bought a bag of quirky potatoes:)

 And I love them.
Here is this guy all roasted up with a bunch of other veg:

 Roasted butternut pumpkin, celeriac, potato, beetroot, parsnip, carrot, brussles sprouts, peas and spinach. Yum!

4. Lastly, on the note of natures awesome-ness....I want to share the love! Not just with my words either, but also with....

This spinach!!

I mean, how crazy is that! Totally joined together, no photo-shopping over here (that would entitle me to know how to use photoshop😀) just plain old nature being awesome.

Aaaaand that's what I've been thinking about!

What about you?
Ever made a terrible pizza dough by cutting corners?
Do you get sick at the worst possible times?
Awesome natural food experience?

Bye for now friendly friends- I'm off to relax, my weekend starts now as I don't have another exam until Monday! Yes!

WIAW #59- Exam day eats!

Hidy-ho friendly friends!
My brain is hurting, I am mentally exhausted and if I hear the word exam I think I might curl up in a ball and cry silent tears.

Ha- just kidding! But seriously.

Today's WIAW is an interesting one as it features extra jam-packed full of nutrients eats that are fueling me through each day of exams (uh oh, curling up, people, curling up!) so without further a do; here's what I ate on Tuesday! (my first day of exams- bring it on Literature!!



Breakfast: 7:00am
Woke up bright and early for my 8:50am exam and fixed myself a biiiig bowl of pink love!

 Cherry cheesecake steel cut oats!

 Into the pot went steel cut oats, frozen cherries, 1 chopped banana, almond milk and water- bubbled away until thick and porridge-y:

 With a few spoons of greek yoghurt stirred in at the end= cheesecake!

 Topped off with some mixed nut butter with coconut spread.
Gah, so good!



Lunch: 12:30
The exam went from 8:50am through to 12:00pm, so no snacks today!
Instead... lunch! (Prepped the night before as I knew I would need some sustenance. Quickly.)

 Rice paper rolls filled with carrot, beetroot, shredded lettuce, cucumber, coriander, capsicum and some satay tofu. Was quite tasty indeed!

 That big eye looking at you is my minion plate. I love it :)

Snack: 4:00pm
Spent the afternoon studying for today's exam (maths, wooh.) and decided some fruit with soy milk was in order to power me through!

Recycled pic, but exactly the same- persimmon with soy milk :)

Dinner: 6:45pm
By dinner, I was gone.
Did I mention I had managed to stop myself getting sick for the past two weeks leading up to exams when everyone else was, but come Tuesday morning- runny nose, sore throat, clogged head, the whole shebang! Fabulous :/

 Dinner featured some roast veg (pumpkin, parsnip, potato and celeriac- let the team down celeriac, by not starting with P!), roasted in olive oil and lemon thyme, mixed with some peas, corn, spinach and torn up falafel. Y.U.M.

 After I had taken a few bites I also remembered I had cooked up some quinoa and so flung that in my bowl too!


After dinner snack was a cold and flu Lemsip. Tasty.
That's what I ate!

What about you:
Do you add greek yoghurt to your oats to create a cheesecake flavour?
Best breakfast to keep your brain sharp for several hours?
Any cold/ flu remedies that work quick smart? I'm desperate!!

Hungry for more? Head on over to Peas and Crayons to see what everyone else has been nom-ing on!
I hope you all have a great day, eat lots of yummy food and tell someone you love, that you love them! It's always a nice thing to do ;) Bye!! :D