Choc Protein Granola Bowl!!

Hi there friendly friends! Are you happy today? Are you feeling super pumped and excited and ready to tackle whatever the day throws at you??

Yes? Brilliant!

And if you answered no, worry not! For I have the solution to put you in the best possible mood to tackle your day and feel strong, powerful and extremely happy throughout the entire day! And yes, of course it involves food!

So this brekky idea came to me as per usual; whilst I was just drifting off to sleep and my mind was thinking about all the randomness of the world and then BOOM. This amazing breakfast idea. Looks at time... great, only like 10 hours until I get to create and then EAT this amazing breakfast! (anyone else have these feels when they're really excited about breakfast but it's all the way on the other side of sleep!?!) I quickly willed myself to drift off so the time machine to breakfast could do it's thang and do its thang it did!

This particular day was a full rest day after a completely exhausting, (both mentally and physically) week of 5 exams a row, with a workout on every single one of those days and just no time to breathe. So to say I was in the happiest of states when I woke up this Monday morning (no exam!!), simply sauntered down to the kitchen, got me a glass of water, grabbed my iPad, plodded back up the stairs to my cosy bed, read some blog posts whilst sipping water and waking up for the day and then fully awake; jumping down the stairs to make my dreamed-up creation!!

And create I did!
That my friends is a ginormous high protein bowl of greek yoghurt, home-made, warm choc granola made with natural muesli, nut butter and protein powder, cooked in the oven until crisp on the outside and golden, with sliced banana scattered throughout for creamy, sweetness to break up the rich flavours of the granola and the tart-ness of the greek yoghurt... it really was the perfect mix of flavours and textures and kept me full FOR HOURRRRSS! So if you're one to struggle with mid-morning snacking because you are utterly ravenous- this is your answer; I wasn't even all that hungry for lunch 5 hours later!!

Ok, enough chit chat- onto the recipe!!

Choc Protein Granola Bowl:

Ingredients:
Granola:
2 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter (or any nut butter you desire!)
1/2 cup natural, untoasted muesli
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 scoop choc protein powder (I use the Sunwarrior brand- which is vegan)
1 handful wholegrain sugar-free cheerios (so obsessed with cheerios!!)
3/4 cup almond milk
Other ingredients:
1/2-3/4 cup greek yoghurt (as much as you want with your granola)
1 banana, sliced
1/4 cup extra ice cold almond milk- drizzle over at end :)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius, line a baking tray with baking paper
2. Place oats, muesli, cheerios, protein powder and cinnamon in a bowl and stir to combine
3. Place nut butter and almond milk in a small bowl and heat in the microwave until warmed through (alternatively heat on stove in small saucepan- no need to stir; just heat through)
4. Add to dry mix and stir until combined (add water if too dry/ crumbly)
5. Scatter over baking tray, pop in oven and bake for 15-20 mins until crisp on outside, smelling amazing and lightly golden, leave to cool out of tray
6. Place greek yoghurt in a bowl, top with some banana slices, add a sprinkling of granola, more banana slices, granola, banana, granola, etc. until all used up!
7. Pour over some extra almond milk and then dig in!!

I just love the richness of the chocolate granola and paired with the creaminess of the greek yoghurt and sweetness of banana; gah- I want this NOW!!

I also love how the dried fruit in the muesli becomes slightly caramelised and gets this incredible flavour and extra chewiness- just adding to the perfection:

And honestly, it may not look like much; granola and yoghurt with some fruit, but this high protein, filled with good-fats, screaming deliciousness bowl literally kept me full for so long- and that's saying something for me; I'm a pretty ravenous creature majority of the time. Come lunch time I was like; 'Well, I could eat but I'd be perfectly fine not to..'

My stomach was probably too busy happily daydreaming about the breakfast to be thinking about next meal :P

So, yes, make this, eat this, savour this and I promise your body will thank you for it!

I see this in my future. Many, many times.

Stir around a little to coat some of that crunchy granola, mix up those flavours and you get a very tasty granola yoghurt bowl. Why would you ever go out and buy one of these again when you can make one this good at home with simple ingredients??

OK, I need to stop looking at all these pictures of this breakfast; getting hungry and longing for this bowl. Must stop. Don't want to. Need help :P

Ha ha, just kidding. But seriously. This breakfast is addicting!

Your turn:
What has been the best breakfast you've eaten of recent?
Favourite granola bowl flavours?
Breakfast you could eat everyday and never get sick of? That one's a hard one for me because I go through phases; you know, oatmeal, granola, toast etc. Right now I'm on an epic smoothie ride!!

Alrighty that's it from me today folks; I hope you have a fabulous day, do one thing you absolutely love, give someone you love a hug and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Bye for now friends! :D

:)

Currently

Hello there funky friends!

I feel like during this absolutely hectic, stressful, exhausting, mind-consuming and mind throbbing few weeks of exams and school and crazy we just have lost contact. I feel like we're strangers! And thus a currently post is most definitely in order so we can catch up on current favourites and life of the moment!!

So yes, as mentioned above I have just gone through the fun-ness of two weeks of mid-yearly exams and yes, they did nearly kill me (don't know how I'm going to go through all that agin for mocks and then WACE- Western Australian Certificate of Education in case you were wondering). Which also means I have just entered into what could be considered a bit of a down period in terms of school work (no doubt back at school next week teachers will be assigning all of our last tests for the term!) and thus a bit of down time and relaxation for the brain. Always a nice thing.

But let's get into the specifics of this currently post in my life:
Fitness:

Fitness has been roaring, thankfully, during this stressful time, and like I mentioned in one of my previous posts it is fitness that keeps me sane and reduces my stress levels in life.

Majority of my workouts have left me feeling strong, powerful and I've ripped through them with energy, motivation and determination; something that could have ultimately be sapped from me from all the studying I was doing; so I am incredibly thankful my body knew it needed to move and got on with it!

I've definitely done a lot less running because cross country had my legs working so hard and the carnival was last Thursday, so I rested my legs in preparation for that and now I'm giving my body a slight rest in terms of running for a bit so I don't burn out and start hating the sport that's given me so much. Again.

Instead as that little baby bicep up there shows, I've been working a lot more on my strength training (both with weights and Blogilates toning videos) this has just made me feel so strong and amazing. Also VERY hungry!

As you can tell by this picture, I am sweating. And the fact that it was one of the coldest mornings we have had all year and my face was still dripping shows it was a killer workout- Blogilates Train Insane HIIT is actually crazy. I love it. I do it whenever I want to give my body a good sweat sesh and challenge and it never fails to deliver! Burpees, reptile jumps, plank jacks, split leg lunges, push up planks... the list goes on and on... and you do it four times!!

I survived!!

Food:
In terms of food, I have gone into another one of my phases of obsessions. This has been going on for a while now. Home-made cookies for breakfast, when I used to have roasted potatoes every second day, that time when smoothie bowls were a regular occurrence atleast 3 times a week, oatmeal every day and now?

Mate, the smoothies can't come fast enough!

And I make SUUPPER massive ones. like the jars you see in these pictures? Yeah, there's probably half the smoothie still in the Vitamin whilst I'm taking my pictures. And yes of course it was eating straight from the blender with a spoon whilst my jar sat nicely in the freezer waiting for me :)

This guy was a big papaya green smoothie- frozen papaya, kale, spinach, greek yoghurt, soaked oats, frozen banana, frozen zucchini, water- whaz until smooooooth!

And of course my absolute favourite smoothie ever:

My huge super thick, vanilla protein, nut butter, avocado thick shake:

1 frozen banana, frozen zucchini, frozen avocado, greek yoghurt, soaked oats, peanut butter, kale, spinach, vanilla protein powder, water- whaz- make this and you will not be disappointed! (or hungry for a few hours afterwards either!)

This morning's smoothie of frozen banana, frozen berries, frozen zucchini, soaked oats and chia seeds, greek yoghurt, kale, spinach water- whaz- so good!

My body just craves that freshness, creaminess, coldness, goodness. I feel so good whilst I'm drinking it and for the hours to follow- I can just tell my body is super happy!

Oh look; I do have an example of the remainders after filling my jars ^^ Still extremely delicious and hey, this girl needs her fuel!! No shame! :P

And yes, it is in fact winter here in Aus, so a big fluffy is a must when consuming such large quantities of ice cold smoothie :).

I think my other obsession, on the slight down-low as my smoothie obsession seems a little more persistent, is this guy:

A big warm mug of zucchini oats, typically known as zoats!

For the days when my body just needs a break from trying to break down all the fresh raw, fruit and veg in my smoothies and just have something warm, comforting and easily digestible.

Simply cook up a saucepan of steel cut oats, thinly sliced banana, vanilla protein powder, grated zucchini, almond milk and water until thick and absorbed all the water, leave to cool slightly and then top (bottom of mug, middle of oats and top of last of course!) with nut butter- this was almond butter on the top and bottom and crunchy PB hiding in the middle!

Absolutely delicious and you cannot taste that zucchini; all it does is added extra volume so my bowl of oats is never-ending!!

And you get in a serve of veg- win win!!
Nom!

Finally I have my lazy lunches and dinners to show you can still get in all those good nutrients with minimal time in the kitchen!

This is literally a bowl of steamed broccoli, brussels, peas and spinach with some butter beans, stirred with some tomato paste, herbs and nutritional yeast. Too easy.

Study break/ lunch time?
Roast potatoes (sweet and regular), steamed peas and fresh celery and cherry tomatoes sounds pretty good!

Hello deliciousness:

Last day of exams?
Celebrate with a microwave rice bowl with a rice and quinoa cup heated up with tomato, capsicum, celery, peas, corn, four beans, spinach and hummus until nice and hot and delicious!

So good.

Ok, I feel like this post is getting relatively lengthy (that's how long it's been since we've had a good catch up! So I hope you enjoyed this currently post, I do like writing them, gives myself a snapshot of what's going on in my life making some positives/ negatives more evident!

Your turn:
Favourite workout of recent?
Current breakfast obsession?
Quickest and tastiest throw-together meal?

I hope you all have a fabulous day, smile lots, do what you love and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Me? I'm off to go not study! Ahh the possibilities are endless.. but what did I do with my time before I studied?? :P Bye for now friendly friends!! :D

Fun:

To Listen To Your Body (And Actually Listen!)

It's something we all would consider a known phenomenon and yet, it's also something that the majority of us struggle with..

That being listening to our body and doing what it tells us it wants.

To be fair, we have lived in a society that has pretty much single-handedly wrecked our capacity to achieve this desired intention and so it is no wonder that many of us are struggling with body issues, health troubles, fatigue, insomnia, ammenhorea, unwanted weight gain, unwanted weight loss, irritability, confusion... the list goes on and on.

And I am not excluding myself from this group- I am a known offender of pushing my body past it's limits (well past them if you remember back to the time when I would get up at 4am and run 20km every other day... on the weekends and on the weekdays before school) and I've suffered the consequences as a result.

In a society that tells us to eat less, exercise more, be harder on ourselves, treat ourselves with a 'naughty' dessert after a tough workout, to look fit- not necessarily be fit and to simply go above and beyond for praise and recognition... it's no wonder our bodies quiet pleading yelps are shut out by the blaring, blasting noise of day-to-day life.

If you look at a situation in the simplest of terms, for example; Steph is hungry. Than it is all to easy to come up with the perfect solution; Steph should eat something. And it was something our child-like minds were amazing at.

I remember as a child eating a banana and feeling my body glowing with happiness, I then went on to eat 3 more and felt great and looking back I was probably lacking in something only bananas could give me at the time. I also used to walk around the house munching on carrots, eating pancakes when I was low on energy, not having much dinner when I wasn't hungry at all but pouring an extra big bowl of breakfast the next day because I woke up ravenous.

 Post them exam lunch; when you're too lazy to cut your carrot up.. yep that's just a big ol' carrot hanging out next to my steamed greens and tofu and raw capsicum sticks :)

These days? If I ate a banana and wanted more the first thought through my head would be; no Steph, that's enough for today, eat something else. If it wasn't lunch time, my carrot stick would still be sitting in the fridge waiting for the 'correct' time. If I didn't have much energy pancakes may have crossed my mind but would they offer me enough nutrition, would they just be a waste of energy? If it was a rest day and I woke up ravenous I would question whether I needed a big breakfast after all.

And yet, my body was giving me all the obvious signs as to what it wanted! And just like I do every time I sit an exam and get stuck on a tricky multiple choice question, I overcomplicate things through over-thinking and end up choosing the wrong option (always go with your gut in multiple choice!!).

Problem: Hungry
Solution: Eat
Reality: it's not time to eat, you only just ate an hour a go, save it for after you work out, you haven't worked out much this week maybe don't eat, dinner will be in an hour.....

And on and on it goes. Our internal thoughts overanalysing everything and the simple solution sitting plain in front of us.

But it's not that easy. And you and I know it.

Society offers praise and encouragement when dessert is foregone in favour of a workout. Congratulations are given out for rapid weightless. Likes are offered for Instagram snaps of low-cal, veggie-filled meals. Thinner= better, happier, loved. Healthy is eating veggies, working out and looking good. So how does eating a plate of pancakes when your body's deprived of much needed carbs fit into these societal expectations?

It doesn't. So we don't.

Fortunately this unhealthy, mentally-taxing way of living is becoming a lot more prominent in the healthy living realm and more and more people are recognising the greater harm of this way of thinking/ living. More people are in favour of the 'if you need the doughnut, eat the doughnut' which goes hand in hand with; 'If you need the carrot stick, eat the carrot stick!'

I'm not one to preach, but if I had to say one thing it's that our bodies are pretty smart (trust me, I take human bio at school :P). They know what's up. they know what's best and if we can just give them a chance to share their quiet apprehensive voice, soon enough they'll be yelling and screaming to the world how amazingly awesome you are and you will be yelling and screaming to the world how amazingly awesome you feel!

It's time to eat that 3rd banana, grab that carrot stick and sit down with a plate of pancakes instead of going for a 20km run (yes, that was me throwing every anecdotal piece of evidence from this post into one sentence) because that is what our body calls for in that moment, not because that is what @superfitandhealthygirl23857362514 says to do.

I'm ready to honour my body because it sure as heck deserves honouring after some of the torture I've put it through and all of you should do the same!

Your turn:
How have you honoured your body this past week?
Are you/ have you ever been in a rut where you can just feel this is not what your body desires?
Ever over-trained/ over-runned(new word :P)? Nothing compares to that kind of fatigue!!


I hope you enjoyed this post, it's something I feel quite passionately about and could write about for hours and hours on end but alas I do not have that kind of time #studylife and you probably don't have that inclination to read it all!! And I don't blame you! So, instead, have yourself a wonderful day/ night/ morning/ evening/ afternoon and I will see you next time!

P.S. EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!

Maybe some chic protein granola bowl? Recipe coming soon!! :D

Bye for now friendly friends! :D

The Aftermath (Exam Week)

I know you're all probably well sick and tired of me carrying on about these exams and let's be real; no one's sicker or tireder of these exams than me!

But looking back at my hectic week and a bit (5 exams in a row; now who thought that was a good idea??) of exam mania it was interesting to see what happened to my generally unchanging lifestyle. Chuck in a day when I had to be up at the crack of dawn (I kid, the sun was nowhere near up yet!) to sit my exam roughly an hour and a half earlier than everyone else, so I could then race off to the inter school cross country and run my race in time before rushing back home to fit in a long and gruelling much needed them study sesh for the exam the following day!!

5:30am wake up, quick human bio revision whilst slurping down much needed fuel to power me through the exam and the race!

Frozen banana, frozen zucchini, spinach, kale, greek yoghurt, vanilla protein powder, peanut butter, frozen avocado, soaked oats and some water- voila!

Boy that was a mouthful. But yes, what I'm trying to say is I found it interesting to look back and see how my day-to-day living changed in any way and upon reflection, I stuck to a healthy-ish routine for those 5 long gruelling days!

What I think a lot of people struggle with when faced with a huge oncoming avalanche of stress and anxiety/ mental power needed is that exercise gets thrown to the back and forgotten about. And as easy as that is it would have wreaked havoc if I chose to do that this past week.

You see, way back when I was going through the darker days of my adolescence suffering from depression/ anxiety/ insomnia/ extreme fatigue and just not-fun-ness, that was when exercise and healthy living was not a priority in my life. That was when I lived off processed 'vegetarian' meals. I don't think daily plain pasta and cheese should count as a healthy vegetarian lifestyle! That was when I hadn't found my love for running and exercise happened irregularly.

Having learned from that time and grown immensely as a human, I know exercise is one of my major stress relievers in life and thus it needed to remain a high priority in this extra stressful week of exams. And you know what, I made some significant gains!

Monday morning I woke up craving a weight lifting sesh to literally obliterate my arms (probably not the best plan prior to a literature exam, but hey, don't fight the feeling!) And as a result, I crushed that workout, feeling strong and powerful for the rest of the day, as though I could tackle whatever life through at me- it was quite the positive start to the week!

 Me super chuffed I smashed that arm workout ^

Me freaking out that my puppy got in the shot!^

What followed was plenty more daily sweat sessions whereby I completed not one of Blogilates' Extreme Abs workouts, but two! One after the other! (To say my abs were sore the next day would be a generous understatement!!) I also had quite the run on my inter school cross country day and in general felt strong and happy (and sweaty) in all of my weeks workouts. They kept my mind fresh and my body energised to power through every three hour intense thinking slot.

This be me on the day of my them exam admiring my little baby bicep after some Blogilates workouts... what procrastination??

And diet? Look, I'm not going to lie. On more occasions than one did I come home from a morning exam and prepare a lunch of a whole carrot on a plate with some heated up peas and some other protein because that's literally all my brain could manage to come up with (and the stomach didn't mind too much either- you know how much I love the simple foods!). And after an afternoon exam that was followed by another few hours of study? Yeah, ain't nobody got time (or energy) to cook up a wicked feast. Dinners, too were of the simpler variety.

Oven-baked sweet potato topped with coconut butter, some steamed peas and a side of steamed brussels sprouts and broccoli. 

The only difference here between my version of simple and someone else's (perhaps one of my fellow exam takers) is my meals don't end up being bowls of cereal for dinner, or a two minute noodle cup heated ups with some hot water (not bagging them, just making a point- cereal for dinner is sometimes a necessity!). The fact is I still ate a whole bunch of fresh fruit and veg... it's just a lot simpler, requiring not much effort to prepare.

 Roast veg pasta delish!

With some peas and wilted spinach thrown in there for good measure :)

Whether it was a plate of raw veg with hummus as my main meal, or a bunch of roasted veg and pasta, it still nourished my mind and body and I knew that my mind would need all of those extra nutrients and love to keep on powering through this mental marathon.

 Get in me lunch!

So if I were to sum up the week? I think I did pretty well. Exercise is and always will be a priority in my life i think and even if 3-hours of ridiculously hard chemistry equations and questions I could have sworn my teacher had never taught us, I will still get in 5 serves of veggies or more because that's what my body craves and thats what makes me feel happy mentally, physically and emotionally- three things we should be constantly monitoring!

Toast in the morning will never let you down. Especially if you smother it with almond butter and crunchy peanut butter and enjoy with a side of creamy mango green smoothie!

So now I want to hear from you?

What are your go-to snacks/ meals when you have a mentally tough week ahead of you?
Is exercise a priority in your life, even when life gets super hectic?
What is your best way to relax and recover from a stressful week? Mine apparently is blogging as I stand here (hello standing desk!) and write up this post :D. A good bubble bath can never go amiss though!!

I hope you enjoyed that little reflection and maybe it sparked a little reflection on your own life and habits right now. Mid-year already and I feel like the year is flying by! Time to grab life by the wheel and take over this rollercoaster of a ride we call life and ENJOY IT! So our tasks for this week (you and me, okay?) to be present and grateful of everything around us, all of our blessings in life, to work hard and keep going until all the jobs are done (looking at you maths exam) and to as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS! Can't wait for a few free days of extra time in the kitchen!! Have a great day and bye for now friendly friends! :D