DO. THIS. NOW.

Okay folks, stop whatever it is you are doing, drop whatever item you have in your hand (unless of course it's a phone food, in which case eat it quickly and follow these instructions.... and if you do you will find yourself in pure bliss :)

 Find yourself a bag of raw mixed nuts (I will allow you to post-pone this post for the next time you're at the grocery store if it is currently a random hour of the day that would not elicit a trip to the store)

These ones if you want to be twins :

 Chuck said bag of nuts into a food processor and blend and blend and blend and blend and blend... and blend once more, until smooth (this does take quite a while so patience is key! Also, ear plugs :)

 Scraping down the sides is also necessary for consistent smoothness.

 While everything is whazzing up, grab a few jars (sterilised)

 And stuff em' full of that delicious nut butter (have a taste test too because it will be slightly warm and entirely scrumptious!

 Then realise that you have an annoying amount left over and retrieve another jar:

 Fill it a quarter full with remaining nut butter (I full on considered just eating the remainder from the processor but eventually reasoned with my crazy self that there was a few too many spoonfuls left!!

 Pop jars in the fridge.

 Wake up the next morning and crave cookies

 Begin what can only be described as the process of making one of the most delicious breeky's ever by pouring 3/4 cup rolled oats, 2 tablespoons oat bran, 1/2 teaspoon chia seeds, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 tablespoon raw carob (sub in for cacao if you prefer) powder into a bowl and mix to combine.

Microwave 2 tablespoons of your amazing home-made nut butter and two tablespoons of almond milk in a small bowl for 30 seconds and then combine with dry oat mix.

Form into balls (any size, but I chose to make two BIG cookies :), flatten slightly on a tray and bake at 180 degrees celsius for around 15 mins (you'll smell them when they're ready!!)

Remove from oven and devour.

 I chose to make one cookie with my home-made nut butter and the other with bought peanut butter and guys.... whilst the peanut cookie was good, you have no idea how amazing this home-made nut butter is in cookie form!!

 There ain't nothing like cracking open a warm fudgy cookie!

 I also made some cherry 'ice cream' prior to cookie making that sat in the fridge hardening up for around 40 mins:

 It was simply 1 frozen banana + a handful of frozen cherries whazzed up until smooth:

So, yeah, do this now and you will be left with this:

 One of the best cookies ever!

 :)

So that was my Saturday morning adventures, how about you?

What did you have for brekky?
How do you like your cookies? I'm a soft, chewy and fudgy cookie fan!
Ever made your own nut butter? Do you find that it is 10000x better!!

 I hope you all have an awesome weekend, relax, have fun and, if you follow the commands of this post, eat something delicious!! Bye for now friends! :D

Thinking Out Loud- Blender Catastrophe

Hidy ho friendly friends and welcome to another Thursday, in which I think out loud, in the TOL style thanks to the wonderful Amanda from Spoons.

Yep, that's my intro, yep that is evidence to the amount of functioning brain cells I have remaining from this week.

:)


1. The world stopped spinning (kinda literally... but not literally at all ;) on Saturday the 8th of August as..........
my blender broke!!!

 Not gonna lie, the kitchen looked a little like this, just a bit more purple (I was using blueberries ;)

If you know me at all, you know I LOVE my smoothies, so this was a devastating day (I also ruined my pajama top, which is also devastating and is now stained blue for life!)

Alas, my trusty old friend the food processor came in handy and whipped up my smoothie and all was good. It's just not the same, you know?

2. For some odd reason (post-bender-depression?) I found myself scrolling through Pinterest mindlessly (not all too strange for me) looking at:

beautiful pictures of smoothies!
Ok, Steph that's enough of your first world problems.

3. Ok, one more point about blenders :)
I think this could be a sign for me to finally man up and purchase....

 the blender king, the Vitamix!
It's $1000, so again, maybe not.
I'm sure the blender prince the Ninja works just as well. (Keep on telling yourself that Steph)

4.Ok, I truly am moving on now.
Well, moving on back to an old topic.
My hunger, it's still raging and I'm still filling the body up with ALL the food!


 5.I also think it's time to fill you in on a little trip I'm taking in a few weeks...

Yep- TANZANIA!!
I still can hardly believe I'm going on this trip myself- it still seems so unreal!
It's a school trip where about 16 of us students and 4 teachers are heading to Tanzania to help out at a local school there, repairing buildings, teaching English etc.

I knew as soon as I heard about this trip that I needed to go on it. It would be a trip of a lifetime and I couldn't pass something like that up.

In all honesty, I am freaking out, but there is so much excitement and bewilderment inside me that I know all will be well!

In saying that I'll be away for over 2 weeks, so blogging will cease for those 2 weeks (I'm still not going for over a month though) but I'm juts giving you pre-warning well in advance!!


And that's what's been running through my head this week!

Wanna see what everyone else is thinking out loud about? Head on over to Spoons and check out all the other amazing bloggers linking up!

I hope you all have a fabulous day (I'm off to see Hamlet tonight with my Lit class!) tell someone you love them and as always- eat something delicious!! Bye for now friends! :D

WIAW #69- filling up on fats!!

Hello friendly friends and happy middle-of-the-week, otherwise known as Wednesday. :)

As always Wednesday is a day to dedicate to food! In the form of a full day of meals! Do the exclamation marks make it 10x more exciting! Of course you're excited, we're all snoops here ;)

This WIAW is a full day of eats from Monday, a day where I was considerably hungry and couldn't seem to get enough food into me. It was a pretty good day.

Breakfast: 7:25 am
As Sunday saw me running and working and standing etc. I decided to only do a quick 12-minute HIIT workout from Purely Twins, which was a smart idea as I woke up ravenous and immediately fled to the kitchen straight afterwards for food!

It was not until I had pulled out all the ingredients for a delicious smoothie and had soaked my oats that I remembered I broke my previous blender.

The food processor did a good enough job, however it was a bit bitsy and the clumps that remained were accidentally assumed frozen banana pieces when they were actually frozen zucchini... yeh that wasn't the best mouthful of the day.

Any-who it was still a pretty good smoothie with 1/2 frozen banana + handful blueberries + handful frozen zucchini cubes + 1/2 cup quick oats soaked in almond milk + 1 tablespoon crunchy peanut butter + 1 large handful spinach + 3 scoops greek yoghurt + water.

I was still kinda hungry but I decided to give my stomach a chance to digest the smoothie and got ready for school!

Snack: 11:00 am
At the mandatory snack time of 11:00 am my stomach was rumbling and I sort of wished I had more than my usual pot of peas.

Still extremely delicious though!
Lunch: 1:15 pm
Pre-made the night before included this delicious lunch of boiled brown rice, veg (carrot, capsicum, tomato, spinach) and split pea + roasted veg falafel.

By lunch was stomach was howling and even after all that deliciousness I was still a little peckish!

Snack: 4:00 pm
Home from school, straight to the fridge....

A huuuge pear and a glass of soy milk later and I'm happy :)
Dinner: 6:45 pm

Come dinner time and I'm starving again (what is going on? I blame my too small breakfast!)

Whilst cooking dinner I snacked on a small bowl of mixed nuts and then dove into my coconut oil roasted veg (pumpkin, parsnip and potato... it was a 'P' kind of dinner) with chickpeas and spinach:

Finishing off the night with 3 perfectly ripe strawberries.

So as you can see Monday was a day when I was RAVENOUS! And I obligatorily fed the beast all the good stuff. As you can see I upped some of the more filling stuff (nuts, nut butter, coconut oil, legumes etc.) to try and tame the tummy for at least a couple hours!

Your turn:
Have/ do you ever use a food processor to make smoothies?
Should I get the vitamix to replace my blender??
Ever find you haven't packed enough food for wherever you're going!? I always seem to land in this position- bring ALL the food Steph, you're a hungry beast!!

Hungry for more? Head on over to Peas and Crayons to see what everyone else is eating this Wednesday!

Soup-er amazing!

I have a soup-rise for you!

It's soup-er delicious and soup-posedly 'eaten'.

Nothing soup-erficial or soup-erthin about this recipe.

I soup-pose you want to know what it is?

CURRY!!

Ha! Just kidding! Got you so good!

It's soup.

You'll be happy to know that my soup is in fact significantly wet.

 A few days ago I had a sour dough roll just sitting around getting harrassed by bacteria and fighting off mould that I wanted to use when it was as fresh as possible. Now, if you know anything about sourdough, you would know that it is an extremely dense and heavy bread with a wonderful sour-like flavour and addicting spongy texture. It's also really filling! From this, I knew it would be absolutely perfect on the side of a beautiful flavourful soup to dunk in. (I couldn't see a salad sandwich working out with this one.)

Trust me to plan an entire meal over a small roll!

Any who, that's what I did! And that's how this awesome pink parsnip, cauliflower and beetroot ginger soup came to fruition!

 Tasting off ginger, coconut and parsnip, with the consistency of creamy, thick pumpkin soup, you'll want to whip this bad boy up for dinner tonight!

Ingredients:
1/4 medium brown onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon coconut oil
1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2-1 teaspoon minced ginger (depending on your preferences)
1 medium parsnip, peeled and chopped into 3cm pieces
6-7 cauliflower florets
Nutritional yeast (to taste)
A few slices of fresh beetroot (purely for colour :)
2 cups + water (add more if you need)

Method:
1. Place the coconut oil and onion in a heavy based saucepan and satee on medium heat until the onion softens and turns slightly brown, add in the ginger and garlic and cook for a further 1-2 mins until fragrant.

2. Add in the parsnip and cauliflower and stir to combine with the onion, oil, garlic and ginger:

3. After dry-cooking for a few minutes add in the water until just covering the veg. Bring to the boil:

4. Add in the beetroot and cook, covered for around 30 minutes, adding water if necessary and stirring occasionally:

5. After 30 minutes (or when veg are nice and soft) remove from heat and blend up with a stick blender or place in a food processor until you reach a nice, smooth, thick soup consistency:

I added a splash of hot water to mine and blended again as it was a touch too thick

The verdict?

Super tasty, super filling... SOUP-ERB!

And even more utterly delicious with a slightly warmed up sour dough roll dunked in.

A very tasty dinner indeed!

Your turn:
What's your favourite type of soup?
Are you a sour dough fan? Favourite way to eat it?
Blended or chunky soup? I like both, but my mum can't even stomach the idea of eating a chunky soup!


I hope everyone has a fabulous day, make sure you take some time out to just see the world, appreciate it and then go spread some love. If you're short on time, simply give someone a hug :) Bye for now friendly friends!!