LINKS!! And Awful Looking Smoothies :P

Hi beautiful people!

Today I'm coming at you with quite possibly the most ugly smoothie I have ever created in my entire life! I know, exciting, hold it together guys:

I mean, generally when I whip up a smoothie I go green or go home, so when I chucked in a handful of frozen cherries to my usual frozen banana, frozen zucchini, kale, spinach etc. mix, I guess I wasn't expecting it to turn that... brown?

Anywho, it was entirely delicious and regardless of the end-resulting colour, you should definitely whip this bad boy up for a super delicious, filled with nutrients, high protein breakfast! Or lunch, or dinner, or snack- it's got a perfect balance of everything for any time of the day!

Into the Vitamin went 1 handful of chopped, frozen zucchini, 1 large handful kale, 1 large handful frozen cherries, 1 scoop vegan vanilla protein powder, 3 big scoops greek yoghurt, 1 large handful spinach, 1/2 cup almond milk with 1/2 teaspoon chia seeds soaked for 10 mins, 1 frozen sliced banana, splash of water, whazzed (that's the exact order I put things into the blender too) until smooth and...brown? :P

Deeee-lish!

Now, I also wanted to share with you today some of the lovely links I've come across recently, so you too can come across them and enjoy them! Let's go!

Food:

No Bake Chocolate Fudge Protein Truffles

21 Fruits And Veggies You Didn’t Know Grew Like That

Creamy Vegan Cheez Sauce! For Kale Mac 'n Cheese, Potatoes and More.

Blueberry Baked Oatmeal Mug Cake

Fitness:

4 Tips to Feel Great With Strength Training

13 struggles newbies Experience At The Gym

Total Ab Workout: Ab Exercises to Improve Endurance

Why Every Endurance Athlete Needs to Strength Train

Health:

WHY WORKING OUT LESS WILL MAKE US FITTER, AND HAPPIER!

Here’s What Nutritionists Actually Consider Healthy Food

Good Reads:

The Mind-Boggling Bullshit of Health and Fitness

I Ran A Half Marathon Without Any Training And This Is What I Learned About Myself

Aaaand that's it from me today folks- coming at ya tomorrow with another thought provoking post! :P Love holidays with all this extra time to do the things I love!

What about you?
What did you have for breakfast today?
Worst coloured smoothie you've ever made? What was in it?
Favourite smoothie add-in?

I hope you have a lovveeely Friday, all ready for the weekend!! Do something you love, and as always, EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!!! Bye for now friendly friends! :D

AL NATURAL!

Hi there beautiful people!

Today I have on my mind something that's been popping up on the daily and, yep, you guessed it, it's food again!! (gosh you would think this was a food blog or something?...) :P

Anywho, it's something that's come to my attention each day because it's something I do each and every single day and you may have already guessed what that something is: Fantasise about finishing school and moving somewhere new and exciting to study health/ nutrition/ whatever I want..

Well, yes, that is something that I seem to allow good amount of time for each day, but actually I'm talking about:

EATING!

Of course I am! Alrighty. So, in recent times I've sort of become hooked on certain YouTubers, Vloggers, Instagrammers, Foodies and Bloggers of the likes of Freelee The Banana Girl, Bonnyrebecca, Fully Raw Kristina etc. I've been drawn into their amazingly natural, fresh, abundant lifestyles of living and eating and have subconsciously I think altered my brain into craving the types of foods I watch them prepare in their videos/ on Instagram. (Yeah, some people love watching funny cat videos for hours on end on YouTube, I could quite happily watch hours of What I Eat In A Days!)

Fully Raw Kristina- Source

When meal times roll round I feel my body screaming for simple meals filled with all the good stuff. The smoothies (the gigantor ones!!) have increased in their appearances throughout the week. Big, glorious salads are a craving I often have come lunch time. Bowls of simply cooked rice, avocado, garbanzo beans and salsa sounds like the ultimate comfort food for me. Just thinking about fruit makes my body feel alive and energetic and happy. Fruit is a happy food for sure. If foods were given a characteristic/ personality, fruit would be happy.

Breakfast Papaya Bowl, post

Peanut butter would be sexy.
Salsa would be fierce.
Broccoli would be chummy, in the friendly, kind way.
Bread would be as comforting as a mother giving a child a hug.

Ok, moving right along (that was fun though!).

So, yes, I have somehow found myself craving the bounteous, natural, fresh, abundant diet/ lifestyle of these famous vegans and I thought I would share my experience of I guess a much more whole food, higher carb (mainly based on those fruits and veggies) based diet with you.

First of all, my digestion has been trucking along greatly. Not to go into too much detail but when I first went vego, only ate white pasta, cheese and baked beans (perhaps a lentil patty thrown in for good measure) and was losing weight rapidly, had extreme fatigue and insomnia and was the most anxious, stressful kid imaginable... well I guess it's not a surprise I had terrible digestion and very infrequent bowel movements. Now-a-days? Happy, healthy, positive bowel movements- yep I know that's what you wanted to hear!

Creamy Avocado Pasta, post

I guess on a more recent note, I've definitely noticed a lot less bloating/ uncomfortable feelings after eating that I used to get a lot all through childhood (I blame dairy and too much sugar) and even the past few years. If I make myself a gigantic green smoothie filled with bananas, mangoes, zucchini, kale, spinach, greek yoghurt, water- heaps of fresh stuff- I feel so much lighter, energetic and comfortable and I think my digestion just finds smoothie-ing up all those good, natural foods is so much easier for it to digest. Hence the increase in energy and vitality.

My energy levels are stable too and I have healthy hunger signals every few hours or so that make eating so much more enjoyable (you know how good eating food when you're actually hungry feels!)

Weight loss has never been something I've ever thought about in all of my diet/ lifestyle changes. I changed how I lived to fix more emotional, physiological, physical in the sense of losing too much weight too fast for no reason types of battles. But I wanted to include that with my increase and joy of upping some of my training (more strengthening and toning days, less cardio but longer long runs and  more intense sprint sessions) and this slightly more directed focus on predominantly fruit and veg power, my body is finally toning up and revealing muscles that I've never seen before, even as a state acrobat training at least 3 times a week.

I think the part I probably most like about this whole way of living is that abundance is key. Eating big, glorious, natural, fresh, whole food meals is what it's all about. A feeling of sadness washes over me when I think back to my usual weekend lunch as a pre-teen of one white bread, cheese and tomato toasted sandwich. But because it was so processed, greasy, salty etc. that was all my body could handle. And now?

Post

ALL the food!

Look, who knows if I'm ever going to go full-throttle vegan like these inspirational people mentioned above, because I do still feel like greek yoghurt and eggs (though again, subconsciously, I think I've only been having eggs once a week, twice max) are still benefitting my growing body for the moment and so I'll simply be adding in more vegan, fresh, natural meals to my regular routine because right now, it's what feels good and makes my body happy, and that's what really counts, right?

Tell me what you think:
Are you vegan/ raw/ HCLF? How did you feel after making the change?
Do you ever find yourself going through stages of only wanting to eat fresh fruit and veg?
Fav smoothie combo right now?

Anywho, it was just something I've been thinking about and whilst it's still a positive, it will remain in my day-to-day life (just like certain exercise regimes, or hobbies, or whatever should remain until it becomes less of a positive). I hope you all have a wonderful day, give someone a hug (hugs are great!) and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Bye for now friendly friends!! :D

Sometimes You Have To Make Yourself Eat

Hi friends!

Today's post is a little on the serious side as it is something I know a lot of girls around the world, whoever, wherever and whatever is going on in their lives suffers with. The amazing World Wide Web enables us all to interconnect on a much grander scale than ever before and one of the things I have taken from this is and introduction to just how many people suffer as the result of poor/ inadequate nutrition.

However that's probably too big of a topic for one blog post and so today instead I want to scrap it all down to just one little section of this issue; under-eating. And it most cases; not even realising your doing it!

I've spoken on this before with my own experience, where unhealthy thoughts have entered my mind when I'm making myself a meal, saying ridiculous things like; 'If you don't add lentils to this dish that's a whole pack of food your not consuming... and do you really need to add them anyway? Will they make the dish any better?'

Lentils.

I guess on a more realistic and relatable and regular occurrence level, it would be the unhealthy voices in my mind saying;'No, you don't need to eat, it's only 2pm! You still have 2 hours until your next snack!' When I'm standing in the kitchen ravenously hungry.

But again, this issue I want to talk about is even more specific than that. It is pure and simply, not eating enough. And why sometimes you need to make yourself eat more!

It would probably shock the life out of most teenage girls to tell them to eat more and they will feel 10000x better when all they've been told from a very young age by society is how to lose weight, be skinny and therefore be happy. And thus begins the downsizing of meals, the infrequency of meals, the small, small amount of fuel being given to the body.

Do you know how hard it is to come to school, comfortably full and energised from a big bowl of warm, gooey banana porridge with nut butter and all the other good stuff, to be subjected to watching a friend eat her breakfast of- a slice of plain toast. Or perhaps, an apple. Or an orange. Or a juice. Or a coffee. Or maybe even just a bottle of water. (Whilst morning hydration is essential; so is following it up with a big, hearty, nutritious breakfast!)

Can you understand how painful it is to start digging into a home-prepared, well-sized portion of roasted veggies, spinach, beans, lentils, peas, corn etc. and look over to see a fellow girl-power nibbling on a rice cracker. Slowly crunching through some raw veggie sticks. Or better yet, a salad... made of lettuce.

Is it even legal to then go home and prepare a delicious feast of veggie pizza on a wholegrain pumpkin crust piled high with veggies and homes and nutritional yeast, only to message a friend and find out they've got another salad, or perhaps a boiled egg, or some more toast or maybe even that they're not eating dinner because they're not really hungry at all after a stressful/ bad day at school.

This is the kind of thing I'm faced with on the daily and whilst I'm not sharing this to gain sympathy (which would be rather odd because it would be like asking you to feel bad for me because I'm eating loads of food??) I'm asking you to consider the kinds of messages that are being sent out into the world and the 'normalcy' surrounding meals and eating that has been taken on by many, many girls, young women and women in general... in fact I wouldn't even limit it to women any more, the internet has also provided me with multiple examples of boys, young men and men who restrict their intakes to for an unrealistic image.

If I brought this issue up with a fellow friend who just doesn't seem to eat. At all. The response could well in fact be; 'Well, I'm just not much of an eater. I'm never hungry.' And whilst this seems legitimate, there's also a reason for this lack of hunger and I hate to tell them this, but it's not natural to not feel hunger. Ever. The reason why these girls can wake up and fill their stomachs with a whopping meal of water and then some crackers and lunch, followed by two pieces of buttered toast at dinner (and that's it) is because their body has adapted to the limited supply of energy, nutrients and just plain FOOD in general, that metabolism has slowed to the bare minimum and in all honesty the body is not burning anything anymore- storing what little food it is given is the only way to survive.

Hence the absence of hunger signals.

I was never one to restrict any of my meals or anything as a girl but even looking back at my 6-7-8-9 year old self who would wake up and have a bowl of cereal, then a cookie at recess, a vegemite sandwich on white bread at lunch and some rice and meat (pre-vego) for dinner, if I ate that now-a-days? I would be a screaming, hanger monster. That wouldn't even make up half the kilojoules I consume now! And what's even better? My body burns that energy I feed it now and I've never been stronger, fitter, more toned (similar lean-ness, I've never really been 'big' before) than ever. With probably 3x the amount of fuel!

So what would be my advice to these girls? Firstly, start slowly. Add in extra foods and kilojoules slowly and regularly to each meal. Not a big breakfast eater? Start with a home-made granola bar, or a small smoothie, or some fruit with nut butter. Then after a bit, add in a small bowl of oats, a piece of wholegrain toast with a delicious topping, add more fibre and protein to the smoothie. Slowly and slowly the hunger will creep in. You'll start to wake up with an appetite. Until eventually you're like me and a hungry monster after a night of fasting! The same goes for lunches and dinner. Slowly but surely (and regularly) add in another nutritious food, whether it be some avocado, pumpkin seeds, quinoa, sweet potato, chia seeds, homes, greek yoghurt, tahini- you name it!

You know when I mentioned my smoothies are always suuuuper huge and there's a good amount left in the blender after filling my smoothie jar?
Well, here's the remainder: Eaten with a spoon straight from the blender! :) NOM!

To kick-start a healthy metabolism and regular hunger signals, you need to gain your body's trust again, and whilst it may be uncomfortable or scaring or just plain unwanted (t's not that fun not being remotely hungry and forcing yourself to eat something) in the long-run your body will be an efficient, fuel burning, powerhouse that runs so well and doesn't store 100% of the food you eat because it knows there will be more (and a good amount) soon!

I won't lie, I've struggled with non-hunger before (see here, here and here) but in my case, this has never stopped me eating a meal, or dramatically downsizing portions etc. Instead it's made me aware that I still need to fuel my body even when it's not particularly hungry (especially if it's been over 4 hours!) because not only am I a growing teenage girl, with increased iron needs and calcium and protein etc. I'm also a runner, lover of HIIT, fitness addict, who loves to work up a sweat. So if I've worked up a sweat that day, I know I need to work up a good amount of food!

Pre-hill-sprint sesh leg shot:

Post hill-sprint sesh leg-shot:

Followed by the refuelling nature of post-fasted-workout breakfast:
This is a great example of a not-so-hungry Steph meal, that tasted delicious I might add, which was my breakfast of choc protein oats with nut butter and banana:

I'd just done a sprint session and needed to refuel, so I whipped up my regular (huge) amount of oats

and dug in:

When i got to about here, I could have comfortably stopped 9though I'm sure I would've been ravenous an hour later)

So this was one of those times when I had to tell myself my body requires more fuel than a few bites of oatmeal in the morning and continued to enjoy my creamy, rich, chocolate oats:

And enjoy them I did!

One last note on this; I really struggle with proper feeling on rest days and my short answer to myself and anyone else suffering with this mentality? This is when the changes happen, when your muscles rest and relax- so why deprive them of the fuel they need?? (I will do a more in depth post on this topic because I feel it is quite important!)

Your turn:
Do you struggle with feeling your body properly?
Ever have to make yourself eat because you know your body needs the fuel?
Favourite oatmeal combo at the moment? Kind of hooked on chocolate at the minute to be quite honest!!

I hope you take what I've said today and really consider the foods you are eating and if it is enough to sustain your day-to-day life. Enjoy your day, do something you love and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS! Bye for now friends!! :D

A Fantastic Friday :D (RECIPE!!)

Hide ho there friendly friends and happy, happy FRIDAY!!

Always love a good Friday and everyone just seems to be that little bit more chipper and optimistic (stark contrast to Mondays!!) So, yes, I do love my Fridays and do you know what makes this particular Friday even better?? It's the first day of my mid-year holidays!

It feels like an eternity since I've been on holidays and the past term at school feels like it was two separate terms with the exam break in the middle. I will be honest here, I definitely burnt myself out over this last term and these holidays couldn't have come fast enough to help rejuvenate my mind, body and emotions!!

So, yes, this Friday I woke up to the sound of not-an-alarm-at-5:45am, instead waking up at a luxurious 6:11am, before making my way downstairs to grab my iPad, back to my cosy bed, blog scrolling and then up and at-em' for a quick tempo run followed by some quick Blogilates workouts (obliques and arms and back and butt). Following this... I did have to go back into school because I forgot to grab half of my school books for revision over the holidays... but after that? Well, I was in for a treat! And now you are too:

 That, my friends, was this morning's first-day-of-holidays breakfast celebration! And let me tell you, it was better than as good-as-it-looks!

Warm, home-made, crunchy, golden, cinnamon nut butter granola over the top of some creamy, plain greek yoghurt, sweet, perfectly ripe banana slices scattered throughout and a pour of ice-cold almond milk to finish it all off.... food heaven:

 This is one of those moments where the foodie in me comes out and appreciates all the different textures (smooth, creamy, crunchy, chewy) flavours (rich, refreshing, sweet, nutty) and gives myself a little pat on the back for gifting my tastebuds and stomach with such yumminess.

 Now, if you're still following, or maybe even perhaps drooling? (I only ask because I know I am... and I only ate this around an hour ago :P) I'm sure you're are itching for the recipe because you should most definitely make yourself a bowl of this yum! (if you follow me on Instagram; @steph2chef, you would have been the lucky receiver of the recipe practically as I was eating it!)

 Now, onto the recipe!

Nutty Cinnamon Granola Yoghurt and Fruit Bowl

Ingredients:
1/2 cup natural muesli
2 heaped tablespoons rolled oats
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I probably added way more :P)
1 handful wholegrain cheerios
1 HEAPED tablespoon- 2 regular tablespoons of nut butter (I used an LSA peanut butter mix- so good!)
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
greek yoghurt (as much as you want in your yoghurt bowl- I probably used around a cup)
1 banana, sliced
Extra almond milk to drizzle over when serving!

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and line a small tray with baking paper
2. Place the muesli, oats, cinnamon and cheerios in a bowl and stir to combine
3. Place the nut butter and almond milk in a small bowl and microwave/ heat on stove until warmed through (I don't mix together generally because they will get mixed into muesli)
4. Add heated nut butter and almond milk to dry muesli mix and stir to combine (should be quite sticky)
5. Spread out evenly on baking tray and bake in the oven for around 15-20 mins until golden and crunchy on top (I like the extra crispy bits so I leave it in for the longer time!)
6. Leave to cool for 5 mins, then start layering your bowl; greek yoghurt, banana slices, granola, banana slices, granola, banana slices, granola, banana slices- drizzle over almond milk- EAT!!

Nom.

This breakfast is so delicious, comforting and extremely filling (thank you healthy fats from the nut butter and protein from the nuts and greek yoghurt) so you definitely won't hit a sugar slump from the regular bowl of sugary cereal! No way this bowl of 'cereal' is packed full of nutrients and will do your body so many favours!

Now go make it!

Your turn:
What did you have for breakfast today?
Favourite granola flavour/ add-ins? (I love adding in wholegrain cheerios- I did it once and have never looked back! Cinnamon also seems to be a must for me!)
Best breakfast you've eaten recently?

With that I hope you all have a truly fabulous Friday, relax for the weekend, unwind, relax and do something you love. And, as always, EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS! (But that's for any day of the week really :). Bye for now friends! :D

Lunch Time!!

One of my least favourite meals the day might very well in fact be lunch time.

Look, before I get a whole bunch of hate and strong debates thrown my way, I am not saying I don't like lunch time (come on guys, it's food time) it is that of all the meals I consume in my day this is not one of my favourites.

Because it is smack bang in the middle of the school day and I get ready/ start school bright and early in the morning (when I like to fit my workout into my day), there is no time to prepare lunch that morning. Thus lunch is prepared the night before, generally after a long, hard day of learning at school, followed by at least an hour of homework.

The brain's fried people. You can wave goodbye to creativity. So what's a girl to do when she's standing in the kitchen staring blankly into nothing trying to come up wth a delicious tupperware container of food that can taste good cold, last overnight and utterly delicious?

Well, sometimes a girl just chops up a super easy salad of raw veg and some kind of protein (generally a tin of mixed four beans, some peas, lentils, tofu, falafel- that kind of stuff.

But other times, a girl has her tried and true standby's that are super easy to whip up, take no brain power (especially when you've made them a few times over!) and are guaranteed to get one looking forward to the mid-day break for food!

So, without further ado, here are my go-to lunches that are prepped the night before and enjoyed immensely at school:

1. Pesto rice and veg:

This is such an easy recipe and yet tastes so gosh darn good, delivers so many nutritional benefits and will defeat any mid-afternoon slump that tries to barge it's way into your day!

To make, simply cook up a serving of brown rice according to packet instructions (I generally just boil mine for around 40 mins) and leave to cool in a medium bowl. Whip up a serving of pesto (my loose recipe involves roughly two large handfuls of spinach, 5-6 leaves of fresh basil, 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast, 1 teaspoon pine nuts, 1 teaspoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 2 tablespoons water- whazzed up until smooth- you may need to add more water if it's not coming together), steam some peas and corn, drain and rinse a small tin of mixed four beans and stir everything together until combined... and fluorescent green!

Again, leave to cool completely, top with lid and place in fridge overnight for a delightful lunch the next day!
It's even better the next day as the flavours have a chance to develop and mingle and it just becomes oh-so-good. Plus I seem to prefer to eat cold meals; I feel you can taste and appreciate them better :)

2. 'Cheesey' Spaghetti and Veg:

This is another of my all-time favourite, cold, take-away lunches and, once again it is so, so simple to whip up and enjoy!

Simply cook a serving of spaghetti (I used this new ugh-fibre brand that tastes awesome and offers a bunch of important fibre!!), at the same time steam up some pumpkin and parsnip (as much as you like). When the pasta needs about 1-2 mins left, pour in some frozen peas, then at the very end add a handful of spinach until wilted down. Drain pasta and veg. Transfer to medium bowl, add the steamed veg and around 2-3 tablespoons of hommus (optional add in a tablespoon nutritional yeast for extra cheese flavour)

Leave to cool, transfer to container, lid, fridge, done!!

3.And finally, possibly the easiest of them all (especially since I made up a big batch of pesto so it was all ready to go when I needed it) is this deliciously simple (and awesome cold) lunch of steamed veg and pesto:

 I will be the first to admit that it doesn't look too great all mixed together and a large part of that is the awful lighting, but what am I going to do when it's cloudy and stormy outside and the house is internally darkened and gloomy? I'm going to take a picture anyway and let you use your imagination as to how tasty this lunch actually was!

 In the mix was simply some cut up butternut pumpkin, swede, parsnip, beetroot, carrot and baby potatoes, all mixed together with a few spoons of the pesto mentioned above (make another serving- recipe above makes 1 serving)

Cooled, containered, lidded, fridged, nom-ed!

Aaaand that's a little insight into the types of foods I take to school to fight of the mid-day munchies (they become real after a hard session of maths and chem, let me tell you!

Your turn:
What's your favourite prep-away/ take-away lunch made at home?
Favourite lunch of all time?
Favourite way to use pesto? Pizza always wins for me but when I'm feeling the pesto pasta, it sure does hit the spot!

That's it from me today folks, I hope you all have a great day, take time to think of all the things you are blessed with in this very moment, love yourself, love others and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Bye for now! :D

Persimmons Coming Out My Ears!!

Hello there my fellow, food loving followers! (I have a thing for alliteration... but you already know that! See here, here, here) :P

Anywho, that's not what the topic of this post is about (unfortunately. My inner Dr Seuss would be quite elated with a whole post written in alliteration! Maybe one day!).
No, this post is about something else that I seem to have an abundance of right at the minute- PERSIMMONS!

Now, I've mentioned before how my first experience with a persimmon was not so great and I somehow managed to pick the only sour and gross and extremely crunchy persimmon I've ever had but luckily (probably around 6 months- a year later) I retried the 'dreaded' fruit (as people were still raving on about how fantastic they are) and to my utter delight experienced the sweet, rich, delightful taste of a perfectly ripe persimmon. So now of course I love them!

One of my favourite snacks- cut up perfectly ripe persimmon with a mug of ice-cold soy milk!

However... my love was given a true test when my mum said one of her friends came across super cheap full trays of persimmons at her local fresh food shop and was wondering if we wanted a tray. Of course my first response was a rapid yes! And then I may have slightly dropped my jaw at the sheer number of perfectly ripe persimmons that turned up on our kitchen bench.

Either I was going to have to get into some serious persimmon nom-ing (i.e. giving up all other food groups and simply eating persimmons for every meal) or I needed to resort to my tried and true method of preserving literally everything; Freezing!

I knew the persimmons were perfectly ripe because the first one I had for a fresh cut up snack was the most delicious, perfectly sweet, rich (sort of like a rich coconut-y flavour? I just don't know how to describe it!) and this told me that within a day or two these bad boys would be mushy, soft, sadness.

Some chopping later...

I had a full bag of chopped up fresh persimmons ready to be frozen solid in the freezer for later use.

In the mean time, I decided it was time to dust off the old creative pants and come up with some fun ways to use up the remaining persimmons (that tasted so so good!) and that is how Monday's breakfast came to fruition:

A mug of oats Steph? Seriously?
Yes- it is a mug of oats, but more specifically that is a mug of creamy dreamy, banana persimmon cheesecake oats! Topped lavishly with a big spoon of almond butter (so delicious!)

To make this I simply put around 1/2 cup steel cut oats in a saucepan with 1 sliced banana, 3/4 thinly sliced persimmon (I ate the other quarter.. hey I'd just been on a long run!), 1 cup almond milk, 1 cup water, starry-stir over medium heat until absorbed and creamy (around 15-20mins). Leave to cool slightly and then stir through some greek yoghurt (I probably added two heaped spoonfuls).

It surprised me how much the persimmon seemed to dissolve away a little bit in the porridge but the slight sweetness and creamy factor it added was so gosh darn divine! Definitely recommend adding sliced up persimmon to your next bowl of oats (probably would work best with steel cut, may be a little crunchy still in regular oats) for a next level nom-factor!

Want to see my bag full of chopped up persimmons ready for the freezer?

 I told you there were many!!
And this past weekend when I woke up on a lovely (*cold) Sunday morning, I decided it was time to test out these frozen bites of happiness and whaz them up into one of gigantor green smoothies that don't ever fit into my smoothie jar (and this day was no different!)

 Into the Vitamin went 1 large handful frozen zucchini, 1 handful kale, around 3/4 cup rolled oats and 1 teaspoon chia seeds soaked in 1 cup almond milk for 10-15 mins, 1 chopped, frozen banana, around 2 handfuls of the chopped persimmons, spinach and water- whizzed up until smoothy-smooth and delicious!

 Yes, there was quite a bit left in the blender, but simply popping a lid on your smoothie jar- into the freezer and diving into the remains with a spoon is a perfect pre-brekky snack!

 Now; this smoothie. Guys. You guys. This was incredible! So creamy, so delicious, slight taste of persimmon... gah I want it again now! (and it's been what.. an hour?)

 I used to never think a smoothie could be enough for breakfast and that I always needed something else to munch on as I drank said smoothie but when you fill your blender to the brim with all the good stuff- I'm happy for hours and hours!

And can someone also tell my body that it's weird for craving huge smoothies in winter. I'm either drinking my smoothie shivering, tucked up in a blanket, or in front of the heater every morning I decide to make one.

My smoothie and my cold legs :)

Come summer and all I'll be wanting to eat is warm, stick-to-your-ribs oats! Oh the irony!!

So yes, I have persimmons coming out my ears. I've never eaten so many persimmons in such a short space of time (they're quite expensive here in Aus so are generally a once-in-a-while treat, like fresh mangoes :) and I've got to say, I'm not complaining. In fact I'm dreaming about the next time I'm going to whip up one of these big, green, persimmon smoothies!!

What about you?

Are you a fan of persimmons?

Favourite way to use persimmons other than simply eating fresh?

Smoothies in summer or winter? What does your body prefer? Maybe my body craves the extra immune-boosting properties of all the fresh fruit and veg my green smoothies have to offer... who knows?

I hope you all have a lovely rest of your day, enjoy every second, remember all the blessings in your life (even the little ones that are so often taken for granted each day) and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Bye for now friendly friends! :D

My Love-Affair With Sourdough :D

Hi there beautiful people!

I have a confession to make.

It's a confession that I've been holding onto for quite some time now and I think now is probably the right time to share it with all of you lovely readers.

Because at Steph 2 Chef we share things. Like food obsessions, training dilemmas, injuries, food aversions, deeper/ more personal stuff... the whole shebang.

And so today I need to confess something to you all before we continue our relationship together as blogger and reader.

'BREATH'

Ok, my name is Steph and... I am having an affair with sourdough.

*inaudible gasp!*

Yes, I know, I know, it's utterly scandalous and completely crazy but sourdough and I have been seeing each other for quite some time now and I just had to tell someone!

Ok, all jokes aside... but seriously the love is real and I have just got to share some of my favourite meals involving my beloved sourdough with you all so you can truly understand the integrity of my love :P

But before we get into that, why don't I make it all the more acceptable by sharing all the benefits sourdough offers to ones body! (Sure makes me feel a bit better :)

Sourdough bread is made by the fermentation of dough using naturally-occurring lactobacilli and yeast. This means that when we eat sourdough bread it's like taking a probiotic, enhancing our gut bacteria as it contains multiple strains of beneficial microflora.

This in turn helps with prober digestion and absorption of nutrients (without microflora this would not be possible as the food would not be broken down sufficiently and thus not absorbed) and helps maintain a healthy intestinal tract.

Not only this but sourdough bread also provides vitamins B1 through B6 from lactobacillus and B12 vitamins from wild yeast.

As it's easily digested and absorbed it's also a great choice for people with a slight wheat/ gluten intolerance as it's a lot nicer on the digestive tract (not suitable for coeliacs!) which is a win for me who often gets a little bloat-y after a big wheat/ gluten meal!

So, in a very succinct nutshell; Sourdough is great and thus I will continue to eat it!

*On a little side note here, I used to work in a bakery and I was closing with a girl one day and we were saying our favourite bread,  I of course said sourdough and she looked at me as though I was crazy and said; 'Do you know how many kilojoules are in sourdough!' And apparently there is a fair few. But you know what, that's such a sad way to live your life determining which foods are your favourite depending on the caloric content!!

Now onto my beloved sourdough:

As you can see by this shot, sourdough doesn't have to be fancy. One of my all-time favourite ways of eating the delicious sour bread is simply lightly toasting and spreading with nut butter:

This also happens to be my favourite type of sourdough bread; mixed seed and grain sourdough- slightly nutty, chewy and delicious!! Topped generously with crunchy PB and cashew butter.

Possibly one of my favourite ways to enjoy this mixed seed sourdough however is with a spread of homes, some mashed avocado and a poached egg on top. Seriously, nothing beats that flavour combo and I literally have this attest once a week if not more!

pic

Lastly I wanted to show you this amazing lunch which featured pumpkin, lin and sunflower seed sourdough buns! Freshly baked from woolies and utterly amazing warmed up, spread with hummus, topped with spinach, a veggie patty and some grilled capsicum and fresh tomato slices: Hello ultimate veggie burger:

I also cannot wait to test one of these bad boys out with some rich, thick pumpkin soup for dipping. To. Die. For!

And just for your viewing pleasure... lookie!!!

Nom.

I am a big fan of chewy, dense bread, so if you're more of a lighter, fluffier, mild tasting bread, sourdough is probably not for you. but if like me you just want to chew on a deliciously flavourful bread with so much to offer whatever topping you decide to put on the throne, then definitely give sourdough a go- you will not be disappointed!!

* Another side note; pane di casa bread is also ridiculously marvellous and has a slightly less sour taste if you still want max flavour and chew- recommend!!

Now it's over to you:
What is your favourite bread of all-time?
Favourite topping for toast?
Best sourdough experience?

I hope you all have an extremely fabulous day, do something you absolutely love to do and eat something you absolutely love to eat. Your body and mind will thank you for it! bye for now friends!! :D