WIAW #89 Quite The Tasties!

Hi friendly friends!!

Aaaand a happiest of Wednesdays to you all.

I feel Like I haven't done a WIAW in a while and also feel like this needs to be fixed (as they are one of my favourite posts to write/ read)  so behold- A WIAW!!!

This day features a typical school day filled with schoolie stuff, and the teeniest tiniest bit of Steph stuff :)

As always; a big thank you to Peas and Crayons for creating this awesome link-up and the wonderful hosts, who share their blogs to host the link-up!!

Breakfast : 7:15am
This morning's breakfast occurred after a Blogilates leg workout (done twice) and also a Blogilates arm challenge- add that in with a hot Summer's day... let's just say the ponytail was slightly damp...

And the stomach was slightly hungry!! (and when I say slightly, you know I mean ravenously! :P)

Enter one of my favourite breakfasts- a warm breakfast poured into an almost empty jar of nutbutter so everything goes all melty and gooey and delicious!

In this almost empty crunchy peanut butter jar, I poured in some choc protein banana bread oats and was in chocolate peanut butter heaven.

To make this scrummy brekky, i poured somewhere around a cup of rolled oats (maybe 3/4 cup) a sprinkle of chia seeds, dash of cinnamon, big scoop vegan choc protein powder, teaspoon raw cacao powder, thinly sliced banana and 1 cup almond milk as well as a bit of water- all bubbled away and stirred occasionally until absorbed- thick, luscious and delicious!!

Eaten with a sunshine yellow spoon for a sunshine yellow happy day!

NOM.

And this is behind the scenes of my super chocolatey breakfast photo shoot:

Snack: 11:00am
A few periods of school left me ready for a little snack and I'm sure you all know what's coming:

A little pot of frozen peas and corn- good little pick me up to carry me through to lunch :)

Lunch: 1:15pm
Ok, a little more hungry than desired (although I do love being ridiculously hungry and having a yummy lunch to chow down on! Nothing quite compares!)

Enter this delicious stir-fry creation- heated some sesame oil in a pan, sauteed some veg (garlic, onion, carrots, capsicum, eggplant, mushrooms and kale) all mixed together with some cooked sweet potato noodles added to the pan at the last minute! Happy days!

Snack: 4:00pm
School finished- snack time commences before rushing off to the chiropractor to be fixed up (my back was outttt)

Some delicious fresh fruit; cut up plum, some sugar plums and some green grapes- so delicious!
What be sugar plums? You ask:

They're like these mini sweet plums that taste so gosh darn good!!

Dinner: 6:45pm
Dinner commenced with this awesome fused beetroot:

TWINS!!

Followed by this glorious picture of dinner. I apologise for this. It just doesn't look great. Tasted pretty good though!

Steamed veg (pumpkin, beetroot, parsnip and swede) with some reduced-salt baked beans, with some wholemeal crumpets spread with Vegemite and topped with poached eggs. Easy to cook up and even easier to eat!

After dinner I had half a cup of ice cold soy milk and then was done for the day!

What about you?
Fitness sesh in the morning or afternoon/ night? I love working out in the morning- sets my day up for great feelingggss!
Salads/ sandwiches for lunch? I used to be sandwiches, but now (seeing as my definition of salad is quite broad!) I'm definitely for salads for lunch! (Salads don't exclude carbs/ grains!)
Best worst-looking meal you love to make? I find stews taste so good but just don't photograph well at all!! :P

That's it from me today folks- I hope you all have an absolutely AWESOME day, do something you love- enjoy all the little great things that happen and just smiilleee! Bye for now friendly friends! :D

An Oat Bar Recipe... Without Oats!!

Hi friends, happy whatever day of the week it is because I'm too frazzled to even remember!

But thankfully, I have enough brain power to type up a recipe (probably not to create one, what with hot elements and cooking etc.- so lucky for me I cooked this up on the weekend!!) and so get ready because...

This 'granola bar' recipe is oat free, sugar free, wheat free, dairy free, ancient grain filled, extremely delicious, filling, protein filled and quite simple to prep together for a make-ahead brekkie/ snack!

The majority of my make-ahead, convenient recipes are as a result of me requiring a make-ahead breakfast to grab running out the door for a few hours later.. and this recipe is no different!

I had a pre-brekky of plain greek yoghurt mixed with frozen banana slices (so yum!) an then grabbed my frozen granola bar wrapped in foil to enjoy approximately 3-4 hours later for second breakfast!

 Pic

Now, I'm not usually a fan of eating plain quinoa or plain buckwheat on their own, like my usual obsession with plain brown rice. Instead I seem to cook them into delicious, sweet breakfast (enter rich chocolate buckwheat 'porridge'.)

So when I needed a bake and then freeze-ahead recipe (ok, it didn't have to be bake, but the chocolate fudge brownie was getting a little old- though still so, so tasty!!) but wasn't really feeling the oats (I think I'd had oats about every day for the past week!) so instead I rummaged through my pantry shelf and pulled out some quinoa and buckwheat groats. Let's cook!

Quinoa and Buckwheat, nutty, cinnamon-y, coconut-y 'granola' bars!
Ingredients:
2 heaped tablespoons quinoa
2 heaped tablespoons buckwheat groats (add more if you're a hungry beast like me!)
1 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
sprinkle of chia seeds
small handful chopped mixed raw nuts
2 dates, chopped
1- 2 teaspoons coconut oil

Method:
1. Preaheat oven to 180 degrees celsius, line a mini loaf tin with baking paper (or alternately line a ramekin)

2. Rinse quinoa and place in saucepan with buckwheat, cinnamon and  almond milk in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until absorbed (add some extra water if liquid absorbs and quinoa and buckwheat are still crunchy!)

3. Stir in chia seeds, nuts and dates
4. Pour into mini loaf tin or ramekin, flatten with a spoon/ hands and place in oven for 20-30 mins until golden brown

5. Leave to cool and then cover in foil/ gladwrap and pop in the freezer overnight or until whenever required.

And this is me enjoying my oat-free granola bar during my break at work:

 NOM :)

It may not look like the most vibrantly coloured meal- but boy did it taste good and leave me energised and full for hours!!

All in all, this is such a great, healthy, filling, nutrient dense recipe that I reckon all of you should make when you're in a time-jam and need some awesome food to positively fly through your day!

Your turn:
Are you a fan of granola bars?
Do you make your own homemade versions? What do you put in yours?
Favourite way to use quinoa/ buckwheat?? I'm keen for some more ideas!!

Alrighty! I hope you all have a fabulous rest of your day/ week, nourish your body, love your body! Smile lots, love more and as always; Eat something delicious!! Bye for now friends! :D

Choc Magic Shell- HEALTHIFIED!

What is magic exactly?

Is it the illusions people can create whereby a quick slight of hand fools the entire room?

Or is it the indescribably, unanswerable miracles that happen in the world?

Is it that feeling you get when you simply cannot come up with an answer for what your eyes are witnessing?

For me, magic is all those things and more! I've always been astounded by magicians and magic tricks and whenever someone shows me one I usually end up standing on my feet screaming at them to tell me how they did it!!

But there have been other times that I've experienced magic as a child and one of the memories that bring back happy vibes and good nostalgio include scooping out a bowl of vanilla ice cream and topping it with something that can be describe as nothing else but magic:

Simply pouring some of this on ice cold scoops of ice cream, resulting in the wizardry ways of the Mr Whippy Van's choc covered ice cream:

So needless to say, I have in fact experienced true, undeniable magic :).

But what's a girl to do when she doesn't necessarily want to ingest ice cream that will leave her stomach in stabbing pains or a 'magic' chocolate shell with more words she can't pronounce in the ingredients list than is respectable?

Well, she goes straight ahead and makes her very own version!

Presenting Choc Coated Ice-cream; Steph-style!!

As you may have guessed I whizzed up a good ol' frozen banana (with some plain greek yoghurt- absolutely optional- I just wanted more ice cream!!) to make my version of vanilla ice cream...

But how did I make that rock hard, perfectly chocolate-y choc top topping?

Magic!!

I'm just kidding, I have the recipe for you- have no fear!

Choc Magic Shell (Awesome-ly healthy version!)

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon coconut butter/ coconut oil (coconut oil gives a harder stting choc top- coconut butter is more fudgey
1 teaspoon raw cacao powder
1/2- 1 teaspoon agave syrup or any other syrup you desire (for added sweetness, I didn't add any because I love dark bitter tastes)
2 tablespoons almond milk

Method:
1. Whiz together 1 large frozen banana in a food processor until smooth and creamy (scraping down sides occasionally) and place in a bowl in the freezer until required

2.Place the coconut butter/ oil, agave syrup and almond milk in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until melted together.
3. Stir in the cacao powder until smooth, silky and combined

4. Leave to cool slightly, then remove banana ice cream from freezer and drizzle magic shell over top (feel free to scatter over some chopped nuts or granola etc.for added crunch!)- immediately return to freezer for 10-15 minutes to harden

5. Remove form freezer and ENJOY!!

Yes, your childhood magic has returned back to your lives and this time you can have it for breakfast!

Happy Days!!

Eaten here with a delicious plate of coconut butter truffles- some topped with the leftover magic shell!! (leftovers are never a negative! :D)

And now, a quick photo-story of the beautiful breakfast that was:

:D

Your turn:
What do you consider to be magic?
Favourite childhood memory that feels magical?
Were you as amazed by magic shell as I was??

I hope you try this recipe out and enjoy some awesome magic back into your life! Have a fabulous rest of your day, enjoy the company of those around you and SMIIILLLEEE! Also, eat something delicious- but you already knew that! ;) Bye for now friendly friends! :D

Lacking motivation? It's a mind game

Hidy ho friends!

Do y'all remember when I use to run ridiculous amount of kilometers and still function as a human being?

I do and at my current existence, here and now, I wonder how this was ever physically possible.

You see, now-a-days running is still a part of my life, but to a significantly smaller degree. Instead of averaging over 30- 40 kilometers a week, I now would be averaging maybe 10-20? And I'm not upset by this, or complaining but I just wonder how I motivated myself to do this!

Oh I remember! ;)

This blog is all about honesty. Being honest to each other about our struggles. Whether it be with food, fitness or life in general- heck I've complained and struggled with it all! So honesty time is here- I have definitely been lacking motivation when it comes to my fitness.

If I try and work out what is causing this struggle I can come up with a few different excuses, like; I'm not training for anything... so why bother training? I am super busy and don't have time for a lengthy workout. Working out is challenging. I'm too tired.

But when it comes down to it, it's all in the mind. It's my mind that's making me feel like I can't do an extra few minutes of sprints, or do a HIIT routine 4 times through like I'm supposed to. I know I don't want to push myself too hard and end up where I was; abusing myself with fitness resulting in utter exhaustion and if I'm honest, no social life because I was too tired to do anything else after running for 2 hours, however I do want to get back to the place where fitness wasn't a chore for me, I loved to move my body and at least thirty minutes came easy to me.

And again, it's all a mind game. It's my head that tells me I can't go on when my body is strong and capable enough to exceed all expectations. It's my head that gives me false negative vibes about an intense workout and makes me want to give up. And it's my head that I'm going to have to re-train to reach my fitness goals and get back to my love of movement.

I know I'm most definitely not the only one who struggles with workout motivation and many people find this to be a massive obstacle in their health and wellness journeys. This becomes extremely apparent if you google workout motivation or such like terms. Lists of 'scientifically proven ways to boost motivation' and 'top tips to beat being unmotivated' sprawl across the screen and offer the answer to fall in love with fitness.

But here's my take on motivation.

Instead of giving yourself a reward for completing a workout like your a puppy completing a trick, or trying to zone out by blasting music between your ears, do something you actually enjoy, that gives you a rush when you finish- that's the real reward that will make a much bigger difference in your motivation! So I guess that's what I will be doing- and I'm thinking some crazy blogilates workouts and other intense and at the same time quite fun workouts that push me and yet make me want to win!

In the case of running, I'm going with what feels good at the moment. I don't want to force myself to run because I respect the sport too much to ruin it for me and thereby place it in the chore category. If 3-5km feels good now, then 3-5km it will be! We all have times in our lives when activites change, vary, shift and sail and we just have to go with the flow and as I always say; listen to our bodies. they know what's best for us!

Your turn:
Where are you with your fitness motivation right now? Motivated/ unmotivated/ neither here nor there?
Your tips to keep up the happy workout vibe?
Do you find you have peaks and troughs in your running routine?

I hope you all have a wonderful day, smile, love and... EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Bye for now friends! :D