Linking up the links!

Happy Sunday friendly friends!!
I hope you're all having an amazing day so far (no matter what time it is) and plan to do something nice for yourself because it is Sunday after all!

Like go for a walk, or play with your dog, or make absolutely delicious pancakes for breakfast...

Check!

After a really short (but sweet ;) run in the early morning sun, I decided to whip up some pancakes with strawberry/ banana fro-yo for brekky (after I whipped up another recipe- stay tuned- and some cashew butter.. it was a busy morning in the kitchen!)

The fro-yo was a berry/banana bash of a big handful of frozen berries + 1/2 small frozen banana + 3 big scoops of greek yogurt- whazzed until smooth and placed in the freezer for 20+ mins.

As for the pancakes, they were just my cinnamon banana cakes, topped with the freshly made cashew butter mentioned above and some crunchy peanut butter.

Aaannd- if that wasn't good enough- the sun was playing nice today!

 FULL SUN!

 N.O.M

Alrighty, that's enough food pictures for today (just kidding- there's never enough) but I have an abundance of great links you need to check out, so we'll just have to move onto some links you'll love!

Let's go!

Food:

What A Day Of Clean Eating Looks Like (Recipes)

20-Minute Creamy Vegan Carrot Soup

Yeast-free Sweet Potato Vegan Gluten free flatbread

Carrot and Broccoli Chips

Vegan Caramel Pumpkin Spice Shake

Vegan Cauliflower Alfredo

Vegan Almond Butter and Chocolate Milkshake

Fitness:

The Racer’s Brain

The Biggest Mistakes You're Making When Trying to Fall in Love With Running

Are Some People Immune to Exercise?

Health:

32 Ways To Actually Wake Yourself Up In The Morning

 Are fitness and health challenges good or bad?

Happiness:

15 Depressing Meals That Will Make You Cry Into Your Ketchup-Topped Spaghetti

Daily Struggles That Will Make You Want to Renew Your Gym Membership

19 Things Only True Carb Lovers Will Understand


I hope you found some worthwhile reads in that list! That's it for today but I'll see your smiling faces soon with another post from the host! (Which is me by the way... because it rhymes with post ;) Have yourself a great day!! BYE! :D

High protein Choc Peanut Cheesecake!!

Hey friends! And happy weekend!!

Do you know what makes weekends even happier?

Starting them off with a super tasty, utterly delicious and 100% divine breakfast- that's what!

Now, you may or may not have gathered, judging from previous recipes of mine, that I'm a bit of a cheesecake fan.  (here, here, here) No, I lie, actually. I'm a bit of a cheese fan. We won't go into the details of how much of a fan I was (picture bowls of grated cheese... and a happy Steph).

But you barely ever eat cheese now?- You say. And yes, you would be right, I don't eat much cheese as it doesn't always make my body sing with delight. Although, I definitely do not let myself go without the awesome-ness that is cheese-y flavour.

Exhibit A- My vegan cheese recipe.

So yes, cheesecake. I'm a fan. So I made the ultimate breakfast...

High Protein Choc Peanut Cheesecake! In a jar :)

Filled with all natural ingredients, choc full of protein (and chocolate for that matter!) and healthy enough for breakfast! Get ready for a treat!!

Ingredients:
1 large chopped, frozen banana
1/2 large chopped, frozen avocado
1/2 cup greek yoghurt (optional but definitely recommend for cheesecake flavour- alternatively sub in 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast and 1- 2 tablespoons of almond milk)
1 heaped tablespoon choc protein powder
1 heaped teaspoon raw cacao powder
3/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 heaped tablespoon peanut butter/ nut butter of choice
2 tablespoons almond milk

Method:
1. Place the frozen banana, avocado, greek yoghurt, protein powder and raw cacao powder in a food processor/ blender and blend until smooth (may need to scrape down sides occasionally)

2. Transfer mix to a shallow bowl and place in the freezer
3. Meanwhile place the peanut butter/ nut butter in a small bowl with the almond milk and microwave for 20 seconds to warm slightly
4. Place the oats and cinnamon in a bowl and stir to combine
5. Stir in the peanut butter until a cookie-dough like mixture forms (if it's too dry add slightly more almond milk)
6. Start layering up your cheesecake!

7. Place around a quater of the oat mix in the bottom:

8. Top with 'choc cheesecake'

9. And repeat until you reach the top! (Bonus if you have some leftover and can 'taste-test' now!!

10. Place jar in freezer for 20-30 minutes and then enjoy!

The smooth, creaminess of the 'cheesecake' mix paired with the fudgy peanutt-y 'base'- ugh, guys, there are no words!

Did I mention I ate this for breakfast? ;)

Seriously, if you're one of those people who think healthy food can't taste good- give this recipe a try- I bet it'll change your mind!

The longer you leave the jar in the freezer the more solid it will get- as you can see I was a little impatient, but no matter how long you leave it in for- it'll still taste amazing :D

Hooray for cheesecake (what a weird creation it is!)

And hooray for starting the day the right way- with dessert :)

Your turn:
Are you a cheese/cheesecake fan?
Favourite type of cheesecake?
If you could only choose between eating the base, or eating the actual cheesecake, what would you choose? I really like the base guys, so I migh actually pick that!! Always loved the crust of desserts :)

I hope you all have a fabulous rest of your weekend, hopefully you do something super fun- and at the very least eat something super delicious! Bye for now friendly friends!! :D

Bouncing Back to CREATIVITY!

I have this vision

It's a vision that has consumed my mind for quite some time now.

And it's a vision that will consume my mind for many years to come (if not my entire life).

In case you're wondering what this crazy vision thing is- I'll just go ahead and tell you (I apologise to all my mind-reading friends, you might find this a bit tedious ;).

You see, I'm not what you would call a traditional cook. I mean I own both of Julia Child's great cooking books and I watch all the cooking shows (hello Master Chef) and I read all about traditional cooking methods and dishes and typical combinations and I do in fact find it all interesting.

And then I enter the kitchen and my body starts to tingle, my heart quickens a little at the prospect of creating anything I want and then all my previous knowledge of accepted dishes and cooking methods and food combinations fly out the window and I'm left with the crazy creativity that has inhabited my body since the day I was born.

^Dream kitchen right here^

I don't cook according to the books. I don't think I've followed a recipe in well over 2 years. I can not and will not cut all of my vegetables to the same size- and you know what? I like the different textures they take on as a result.

I'm not a fan of the regular and accepted food combos (unless they are peanut butter and banana- even then I wouldn't label that as traditional) and instead put whatever flavours, textures and ingredients together in the hope that it will be awesome! Sometimes it is!

Quite often it's just strange.

That's life!

That also happens to be my vision. I see a world where people just start creating. Sure, recipes and cookbooks are awesome, but I find it baffling when people come up to me and say 'This recipe says 2 medium carrots, do you think these carrots are medium enough?' Go with what you want- if you like carrots chuck another one in there for fun- you'll probably end up liking the end product even more so because of that!

I challenge you to simply walk into the kitchen and grab the first few items you see and then create something. I don't care if you choose biscuits, yoghurt, a banana, celery and pumpkin. That's the awesome thing about creating- you make something completely new! In fact, close your eyes and grab your ingredients (things could really get interesting then).

If you follow through with this challenge I'd love to hear from you, so shoot me an email or post a comment on my blog- if I get enough I will make a post about it- wouldn't that be hilariously awesome!

Want some more entertaining wacko food creations? Click here!

It's time to get creative in the kitchen and just cook RANDOM- so who's with me?!

Today I'm Thinking Out Loud thanks to the awesome Amanda at Running With Spoons. Head on over to see the random-ness that other bloggers like myself are getting up to!

Bye for now friendly friends!! :D

WIAW #76 Back to Old Favourites!

Hello there lovely people!

The week is halfway over already, can you believe it!? Where has this year gone?? Any who, I hope you've all had a great week so far, ready to finish it off with a bang- and if not a bang, then atleast with some delicious meals!!

Speaking of, it's Wedensday and on Wednesdays we share a full day of eats! WIAW style!! Thanks as always to Peas and Crayons for the creation of this weekly link-up and all the bloggers who participate and allow me to drool over their fantastic eats!

Now onto the FOOOD!

Breakfast: 7:10am
Back into the school routine of up early, brekky early, pre-packed lunches the night before and being super organised!

Holding no negative influence over my breakfasts though- they're still as big and delicious and filling as ever!!

A big bowl of blueberry/banana cheesecake steel cut oats with almond butter and peanut butter spread throughout!

There's nothing like a big bowl of oats to warm your heart!

This was also eaten after a short (but intense!!) blogilates workout- new favourite fitness craze of mine in case you were wondering! Cassey Ho is just so enthusiastic and motivating- half the time I don't even feel like I've been working out for that long because she would have been talking about the weather or something else!! ;)

So these oats were even more enjoyable as a result! (everything tastes better after a hard workout!).

Lunch: 1:40pm
Sorry about the blurry photo, but it was actually the clearest one I got (my camera has been acting up a bit lately) but in that tupperware container was some roasted-night-before cold potatoes and sweet potato (so good!), spinach, lentils and mixed four beans.

This lunch will never get old!

Snack: 4:00pm
When I returned home from school today I was rather ravenous, so I chopped up a granny smith apple and some honey dew and crunched on that with a mug of soy milk to wash it down.

 Homework followed...

Dinner: 6:45pm
Cooking motivation= 0, therefore favourite low-maintenance meal to the rescue!!

 Two boiled eggs with spelt bread toast soldiers (hommus and avocado) and some oven roasted eggplant, capsicum, zucchini and mushrooms rubbed with minced garlic and roasted for around 45 mins at 180 degrees celcius.

 After dinner featured a piece of Lindt Excellence 90% chocolate because I am hooked!! So delicious! :)


Your turn:
Are you a blogilates fan/ have another favourite fitness youtuber?
Do you like to stir greek yoghurt into your cooked oats?
Favourite low-maintenance meal when you just cannot fathom cooking?

I hope you all have a great day, do something you love, do something cool for someone else and if all else fails just smile- you'll feel better for it! Bye for now friendly friends!! :D