WIAW #71 Athletics day eats!

Hidy-ho folks.
I hope you're all having a fabulous week so far- we're halfway through!!- and are ready for some FOOOD! Why? Because on Wednesday’s we drool over everyone else’s eats in the hope of gaining inspiration, ideas and possibly (and more accurately), a reason to scroll mindlessly through pictures of food.

Not that I really need a reason. It’s my favourite past-time.

Alrighty, now that I’ve creeped everyone out, let’s move on to this week’s WIAW. Thanks as always to Peas and Crayons for creating this awesome link-up!

This specific day of eats is from Monday, the day of my school’s sports carnival (and yes, I was running in a few events!)

Breakfast: 7:20am

To fuel me through the day I decided to have a hearty breakfast of a super big green smoothie with all the fix-ins:

Frozen banana, frozen zucchini, frozen avocado, soaked rolled oats (1/3 cup rolled oats + teaspoon chia seeds, soaked in ½ cup almond milk for 10-15mins), peanut butter, vanilla protein powder, spinach and water- all whizzed up until smooth, creamy and delicious!

This combo guys- you need to try this combo- it's like cake batter in a jar!

Snack: 11:30am

As the day was a little disjointed with ‘scheduled eating times’ (typical to a regular day at school) I had my snack at around 11:30am (after my long jump and 800m run) which was a nice pot of peas and corn:

Lunch: 1:40 ish?
Again with the disjointed times and not wanting to compete on a full stomach, I waited until after my 100m sprint (I CANNOT sprint to save my life and as a result came 2^nd…. Last J ) and 400m sprint? Yeh, let’s call it a sprint, I positively inhaled my lunch. Probably around 1:40 pm ish.

A huge container of spelt pasta, steamed veg (pumpkin, parsnip, swede, purple carrot) spinach, chickpeas, nutritional yeast and no-added-salt tomato paste.

Yes, it is as big as it looks. Yes I ate the whole thing par a couple pieces of steamed swede as I was reminded I’m not actually too fond of steamed swede (much prefer it roasted!)

My last event was about an hour later- a 4 X 100m relay (yep another sprint, which I didn’t do too well at (You may/may not be surprised to learn that I made the team… for the 1500m and 800m only J ) and then it was home time. More importantly- food time! I was in need of some food!

Snack: 4:00pm

Enter my afternoon ‘fruit and milk’ snack of a sliced fuji apple, black grapes (so good!) and a mug of soy milk.

Dinner: 6:45pm

I felt kinda funny and sort of sick for the remainder of the day (I was quite sunburnt and probably a little low on water) so when dinner rolled round I didn’t really feel like anything. Enter what I managed to throw together:

A baked sweet potato with coconut butter and cinnamon and a side of steamed Brussels. Coz why not?

I sort of got some appetite back and had a small handful of nuts. Then I was done. Physically, mentally, sunburnt-ly done! I collapsed on the couch, watch some telly and then BED!

So that’s what I ate!!

Tell me:

Are you a sprinter or a long distance runner? I used to be a sprinter… now I’m most definitely not!

Favourite lunch to fuel a busy/ tiring day?

Ever just feel like a baked sweet potato with coconut butter/ nut butter and that’s it? This happens a little too often with me!

I hope you all have a great day, do something you love to do and of course eat something delicious! Bye for now friends!! :D

Pumpkin Pesto!

What happens when you combine pumpkin with pesto?

Well... you get pumpkin pesto...

BUT! You also get something that's out-of-this-world delicious, full of all the yumminess of pesto and pumpkin and sneakily filling (did I mention it is ridiculously good?)

I don't know where I first got the idea for pumpkin pesto (I most likely saw it on Food Gawker/ Tasty Query/ Pinterest/ one of the many food sites I frequent often) But I am mighty happy that I did see it and as a result re-create it!

 I was going about making my lunch one night last week (night before prep is so good for rushed mornings!!) and I steamed up some pumpkin...

Whazzed up some pesto...

Added the steamed pumpkin to the pesto...

And voila! Pumpkin pesto!!

Well, that's great stuff, now you have a pot of pumpkin pesto for lunch.

Ha ha, no, I then went about cooking up some quinoa and char-grilling some capsicum, eggplant, zucchini and mushroom:

 And mixing it all together!

 It may not look like the most appetizing thing in the world, but boy did it taste goooood!

So next time you're whipping up a batch of pesto to lovingly coat your al dente pasta, or swirl over your beautiful flavoursome pizza, try adding in a bit of pumpkin for added sweetness, awesome taste and some extra nutrients too!! WIN-WIN-WIN!

Your turn:
Do you like pesto? I remember when I first tried it at a pizza parlour and absolutely hated it. Something must have changed since then!
Do you add anything different to your pesto? I think next time I'd like to make a char-grilled capsicum pesto. Mmmm
Pesto + -------- is the best combo? For me it's always been pizza, but pasta is a close second!

 Well, that's it from me today folks (it's been a very pesto-y kind of week already! Can you tell I've embarked on a new obsession (well, old obsession), I hope you all have a great day, do something that makes you happy and eat something delicious (which probably makes you happy too!). Bye friends!! :D

A different kind of grilled cheese...

Hello friendly friends!

The other day I was mindlessly scrolling through food websites (as a dedicated food lover does) and suddenly my focus zoomed in on this miraculous piece of food creation that immediately made my eyes light up and my mouth water.

I could just taste the delightful flavours, the awesome mouth feel, the crunch, the soft, the warm, the gooey.

Any guesses?

How about a picture of said ----

Yep, that my friends is a grilled cheese and pesto sandwich!

Of course I knew I was going to re-create this. And soon.

I also knew there would be a few little tweaks to make it more Steph-tummy friendly and yet just as delicious...

And here it is:

I started off making up a batch of my delicious basil pesto (with all the good stuff; pine nuts, nutritional yeast, basil, extra virgin olive oil, a splash of water, some spinach and lemon juice)
and dolloping some onto a piece of dark, wholemeal, grainy bread.

I also whipped up some equally delicious vegan cheese:

Made with 1 heaped tablespoon of hommus + 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast + 2 tablespoons water, mixed together and then microwaved for 30 seconds to thicken up (stirred again until smooth).
Topping off the pesto with some 'cheeeeese':

Followed by another slice of bread and then into the toasted sandwich press!!

Oh yes!

The combination of the delicious basil-y pesto with the cheesy hommus on the toasted, warm, crunchy bread... it was definitely a winner.

Just check out that 'cheese' action:

This sandwich was pretty much devoured the minute after I had finished taking photos. Like, DEVOURED!

To ensure the bread remained crisp and crunchy, not soggy, of course! That was my only reason... ;)

The leftover pesto went to good use too:

Might as well make everything taste epic if you're using pesto!

And boy, how awesome it did taste indeed!

So next time you're stuck for ideas about what to put between your slices of bread, give this awesome combo a try, I promise it will not disappoint! (In fact it will leave you with ridiculous cravings for another one as you type up a post about this beautiful sandwich... from personal experience).

Your turn:
What's your favourite combo with cheese in a grilled cheese sandwich? Because I don't generally eat cheese all that often any more I generally like my grilled sandwiches with a veggie patty and tomato. As a kid my favourite grilled cheese was made with baked beans- so good!
Have you ever had a pesto and grilled cheese sandwich? I think it's one of my new favourites!
Favourite use for pesto? Pizza, no debate. Oooh, except for pasta- pesto is sooo good with pasta. Okay I'll stop ;).

I hope you all have a fabulous day, take some time to appreciate all the awesome things in your life, and as always, eat something delicious!! Bye friends! :D

All these lovely links

Happy Sunday Friendly friends!!

I hope you're all have a lovely and relaxing day (I will be... after work... ahh the joys of being a teenager with a part-time job. Weekends= work time!) and while you're relaxing, grab a cup of tea/ coffee and have a flick through some of the links I loved from last week (accidental alliteration at its finest ;)

Onto the links!!

Food:

. flourless double chocolate cherry brownies .

Healthy No Bake Blueberry White Chocolate Snack Bars

Vegan Banana Split Smoothie Bowl

5 Unusual Foods You can make in your Waffle Maker!

Baked Sticky Sesame Cauliflower {Vegan}

Grilled Veggie Taco Bowl

Good Reads:

WIAW: why you’re not getting your period

I Gave Up Sugar For 8 Weeks. Here's What Surprised Me

Why you must choose happiness

Fitness:

Are You an OCD Runner?

 Leg and core body weight workout

Should You Run More or Run Faster?

Funny:

Let’s Settle This Once And For All: How Do You Pronounce “Plantain”?

I hope you found some interesting reads in that assortment of links and hopefully feel inspired/ happy/ informed/ hungry (I know, those recipes got me drooling too!).

Have yourself a wonderful day and just take a moment to smile. :) Bye for now friends!! :D

Ignoring Hunger- The Consequences

I think I've mentioned it once or twice before in a few previous posts.

Ok, I've mentioned it in practically all of my past posts from like the last week.

If you have somehow miraculously evaded my constant ramblings over the state of my hunger and how it has turned me into an eating machine, then you are now up to date on the state of my hunger and how it has turned me into an eating machine.

Just an everyday Steph kinda lunch :)

This current trending topic in my life has sparked some major thought-provoking thoughts surrounding all things hunger; hunger signals, eating times, foods etc., as I found myself questioning why I was hungry, how I could still need a snack after that massive dinner, why I couldn't concentrate on anything merely an hour after lunch (it's a good thing I only have year 11 school to think about...)

 Trying to fix this problem with the biggest mug of chocolate oats and nut butter. EVER!

 I actually felt kinda sick after this! But I was full for hours!! :)

Primarily, it sparked the topical 'healthy eating/living' debate over whether to eat when/ what you want to satisfy your body.

I know in the past I have been one to struggle with listening to my hunger cues. If it wasn't 12-12:30 I was NOT going to eat lunch. Afternoon snack could NOT be eaten before 4:00pm and dinner was set in the 15 minute window between 6:30-6:45pm. Rigid, huh.

If I was starving at 2:00pm- tough luck, that's another 2 hours before your next feed Steph! Eaten all of my lunch and still famished? Well, that's too bad because that's all the food you should eat.

Luckily, that depriving stage of my life has passed and I moved on to satisfying my bodies wants and needs. There was an article I read somewhere that kind of initiated this way of living that said;

'If your body told you it was thirsty would you just ignore the signal? No, you would likely get yourself a drink of water.'

ALL the food

And I was like, yeh, I would. *slowly nodding with wide eyes as I had a sudden flash of insight on life. Or something like that. ;)

The paragraph ended with:

'Then why would you ignore your hunger cues?'

ALL gone :)

From my own experience, reading other bloggers experiences and info I've come across, there are so many reasons why ignoring your hunger cues is just plain detrimental to life, and not just the weight aspect!

Firstly hunger leads to binging and other disordered eating habits.

I know that if I have a measly little lunch or have no lunch whatsoever, my dinner will make up for it and then some! Whatever meal/ food I encounter next will be a BIG one! So why, if my body is yelling at me for food and is still yelling at me for food after I have fed it, do I try and ignore it? It's only going to lead to me eating everything in sight later on and then dealing with an uncomfortable food baby to look after.

Hunger also negatively affects your metabolism.

So if you're thinking you're doing the smart thing to lose weight by ignoring your helpful hunger cues, think again! If you're body's in a constant state of hunger, it's going to want to conserve as much energy as possible (by storing it as fat, and not using it as fuel) to keep you functioning and... A.L.I.V.E. So when you do end up feeding your body after ignoring those loud grumblings all morning, that food is not going anywhere!

Hunger is NOT a sustainable feeling to tolerate.

Just re-read that last point, because it is SO TRUE! I don't know about you but I find it nearly unbearable to be hungry for long. If you are constantly paying attention to your stomach (and how empty it feels) than you are probably exhausting yourself both physically and emotionally. And that's a losing battle.

Most importantly- Hunger means you need something.

Your body's a smart apparatus. It does amazing things to ensure you thrive and yet we work so hard to ensure we don't? Hunger is completely natural and we fear it.As much as pain, thirst, happiness and anger all serve purposes- so too does hunger!! Hunger is there to tell us we are lacking in something, be it calories or nutrients... it needs something, so answer that cry for sustenance- ANSWER IT!!

Veggie packed rice and quinoa spaghetti, steamed pumpkin, parsnip, beetroot, swede, brussels, broc and a cheesy tahini and nutritional yeast sauce- ohhh yes!

Your body is amazing and will send you signals when it is both hungry and when it is satiated, so let's pay attention to these signals and enter into the natural state that our body wants us to be at. Our body knows best (it's pretty much like a parent... but smarter ;).

Your turn:
Have you ever/ do you sometimes ignore your hunger cues?

This is just me Thinking out loud, be sure to head over to Spoons to see what everyone else is thinking about today!

WIAW #70 Fats for fuel!

Hidily Hodily beautiful human beings.

How's that for a hello?

Kinda creepy? Yeah, I get it.

Any who, enough with the creepiness because we need to move onto the FOOD! As it is Wednesday. And Wednesday is food day WIAW! I've still been on the hunger train and fueling my body with all the good stuff (and when I say good stuff you know I mean all the delicious healthy fats, right?)!

Right, now that that's settled... lettuce begin!

Breakfast: 7:15am
I started Monday morning off with a quick Purely Twins Workout (like literally 12 mins... maybe even less?) as I knew today I had the 1500m run at school and I wanted to ensure my muscles weren't tired and heavy.

Let's just say that those 12 mins seemed mighty long when my mind was kind of fixated on breakfast! :)
And it was mighty fine when it did arrive!

Blueberry steel cut oats made with steel cut oats, banana, chia seeds, almond milk and water and then some mixed nut butter on the bottom, peanut butter in the middle and more mixed nut butter on the top for perfectly even nut butter distribution goodness!

So purple. So pretty.

Snack: 11:00am
After the first two periods, I was excited for a snack.

I know. You know. We all know. Peas.

Peas are good. Really good. ;)
Lunch: 1:15pm
More school, much learning, English deteriorating, food needed! Getting closer to the race too, so I knew I needed to bring something substantial filled with lot's of good stuff!

Prepared the night before, a brilliant (and filling!) lunch of brown rice with mushrooms, eggplant, broccoli and brussels all roasted in some extra virgin olive oil, along with some drained chicpeas, lentils and some baby spinach.

Good pre-race fuel!

 After lunch I had one more period (Food Science and Technology, ie. best subject ever!) where we watched some of the new documentary called That Sugar Film (very influential and confronting- I would definitely recommend giving it a watch!) and then it was the 1500m run.

I feel like it wasn't my best run, but I was still psyched with my time (6:20). Unfortunately/ fortunately I came in a close second (only a few seconds behind first) in my year, which means I'm definitely in the 1500m team for the interschool athletics carnival.

This has just reiterated that I prefer much longer distances... I'm not that fast, but I can sustain a run!

Snack: 4:00pm
Even though it was quite a short run, it got my tummy grumbling, so when I got home I hit up the awesome-ness of fruit!

An over-ripe (reeeaaalllyyy sweet) persimmon with super good red grapes and a mug of soy milk.

Nom.

Dinner: 6:45pm
My creativity had all but completely disappeared come dinner time and the only thing I knew for sure I wanted a baked sweet potato with coconut butter... the rest just kind of appeared as I realised I needed more than a baked sweet potato:

In addition= capsicum sticks, grape tomatoes, spinach and some roast veggie and split pea falafel.

This guy stole the show though of course! Nothing beats a baked sweet potato with nut/ coconut butter. Nothing.

And that's what I ate!! Overall, pretty tasty!

Tell me:
Do you like adding certain things to oats just to change the colour? What's your favourite colour changer?
Shorter distances or longer?
Best filling for a sweet potato? I think my all-time favourite would be almond butter, there's just something about that flavour combo!

Don't forget to head over to Peas and Crayons to see what everyone else has been eating lately!

Have a fabulous day, eat something delicious and take time to appreciate all the awesome things you're blessed with! Bye friends!! :D