A Day In The Life- Of An Adult??

Hello there awesome-sauce-folks!

How's your day/ week/ month been??

I hope you answered good because life should be good and it's the ability to see the good in things (even when they're not-so-good) that creates true happiness!! Happiness isn't having a perfect life, am I right?

Alrighty, inspirational speech of the day done, now onto the good stuff!!

Now that I've officially graduated school and finished my final exams... life took a bit of a major gear shift- like that was all I knew- school and/or studying. There was no 100% free-time ever. Like for literally the past 12-14 years of my life. Every Summer holiday was great, but there was always that knowledge that you would be returning the next year to further develop on the stuff you learned the year before.

Except this time, no. Nope. Nada. Not going back! The past is in the paaaaaassssttt! Name that Disney film! :P :P

So today I thought it be appropriate to do a new Day In The Life post, as my days in the life have changed, once again and let's be real; days in the life almost always have to feature food... soooo...

Let's go!

4:57am
Wake up for the first time for the morning- each day it's always, for whatever reason, somewhere around 4:45am-5:00am that I wake up and am therefore busting for the toilet- run to the toilet- back to bed for as long as my sleepy mind needs before it's WIDE awake and will not fall back to sleep. This is usually around 5:15-5:20am :P

5:20am
Jump out of bed- morning bird my friends!- and brush my hair, grab a glass of water, fling open the curtains, tie them back to let all the Summer sunshine in! Make my bed (yep I'm one of those folks), pop on my workout clothes, tie the hair back into two pigtails (too short now for a reliable pony :P) put on a Lorna Jane head band to keep the hair back, grab phone, water and head on downstairs for whatever workout is crack-a-lacking today!

5:30am-5:35am
Begin the sweat sesh!
Recently I've been LOVING on Fitness Blender at home workouts- they're free, super challenging and all-round fun. I love, love, love doing HIIT now-a-days and as such have reduced my running quite a bit because I love the burn and rapid heart beat HIIT delivers.

I generally workout for over an hour and if I'm really feeling it- close to two, but I always listen to my body and if I've only done an hour and I'm spent, I will stop because there's no point pushing on through that!

7:00am
I am now happily drenched in sweat and smiling through my endorphins and also entirely ready for BREAKFAST! I'm a fasted worker-outerer and thus my pre-workout meal is whatever I ate for dinner the night before; hence the importance of a good fueling dinner!! That said, by brekky time; I'm ravenous!!

So, into the kitchen to whip up something filled with all the good carbs, fats, proteins and love.

Today I was so kind to myself I whipped up these mint protein balls the night before and popped them in the freezer ready for an easy breezy throw-together breakfast:

Cherry 'green' smoothie to wash it all down:

Frozen cherries, 1 large banana, frozen zucchini, kale, spinach, greek yoghurt, water- nom!

Honestly though, these vanilla mint protein balls are so rich and fudgey and delicious you will not believe the goodness that is inside of them!! Oats, dates, mint, vanilla protein powder, almond milk, maca powder, almond butter- gah! So good!!

Inside shot:

Nom, nom

7:30am
After breakfast I head on upstairs to shower (much needed) and change into actual human clothes (just kidding, I'm almost always back in workout wear, or leggins and a baggy t-shirt :) :D

8:00am
Teeth brushed, hair done, dressed, guzzling water and flicking through Instagram as well as probably posting my breakfast/ workout because this is my favourite time to do such things!!

8:30am
Ok, now to finally start the day- a whole day of freedom. Sounds amazing, actually quite daunting when you're entire year has revolved around waking above, doing the above things and then studying.

Alas I survive. And generally if the sun is out and shining I'll go for a nice long beach walk (hat and sunscreen applied now) to wake up the brain and just calm me down and make me feel so good- it truly is a form of meditation for me going down to the beach and breathing in that fresh salty air and hearing the waves crash- LOVE IT!

9:30am
Back from the beach and ready to take on any chores for the day; some days that included cleaning up my entire study space- getting rid of all the books, pens, notes, random bits of paper and vacuuming.

Today it included going up to the shops to buy a pair of sunnies for my Leavers week away (leaving tomorrow!!!) and buying a few last minute snacks to take with me (bought some veggie chips and trail mix- yum!)

10:30am
Continued to pack and find stuff I needed to stuff in my suitcase

12:00pm
LUNCH TIME!

Ravenous as always and this is what resulted; delicious rice and veggie bowl that is literally whipped up in 5 minutes (thank you microwave!)

12:30pm
Now is the time I like to have a bit of a chill and wind down so I generally pop on a movie on Netflix and stand around watching that (I hate sitting, by the way, and will often stand to watch movies- I also do some handstands and stuff while watching if I get a bit bored- good fun!)

2:00pm

After my movie I'll go outside again (get my energy from the sun people) and have a wonder around, might play with the dog a bit.

Then I pick up a book/ magazine and have a good read for a bit- love to read and this was also something I did not get to do very much this year (along with watch any movies, ha!)

3:15pm
Now's my favourite time to watch a bit of YouTube, What I Eat In A Days and other foodie/ funny videos

3:30pm
After a bit of watching my stomach starts a growling again and I whip up my favourite snack of always; fruit and soy milk, or just a big plate of frruit- and back to YouTube watching

4:15pm
Now is when I like to go take a shower/ bath and get into my pyjamas- yep. My mamma raised me right. If I have nothing on that night, there's nothing like getting into comfy PJ'S for the arvo and just chilling out.

5:30pm
I probably start thinking about dinner and what I'm going to make, so start whipping something up around this time. I'll also have a good scroll through the Insta now and see what everyone's been eating (and then get really hungry as a result!!)

6:45pm
Dinnaaaahhhhh

Tonight was my favourite dinner of all time that I at least have once a week. At least.

7:00pm
And I almost never just stop after dinner- there is always a finishing glory- this time it was 2 pieces of 86% dark chocolate- so delicious!!

After dinner I head on upstairs again, brush my teeth, hair and settle in for the night with whatever's good on TV.

8:30pm
Generally find myself nodding off around now (yep... yep) and so get myself up, toilet stop, drink stop aaaand bed stop.

Happy, happy days!

And that's a day in my new life as a not-student (adult perhaps??)!

Your turn:
What's your favourite way to start the day?
Morning or afternoon exerciser?
Favourite dinner of all time??

I hope you enjoyed this post, I love to write them and also read other people's too! We're all nosy like that!! Have yourself a great day, do something you love, be happy and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Bye for now friendly friends!!! :D

Grilled Cheese! Aussie Style...

Guys.

You guys.

Ok, we need to take this back to the beginning.

Now, I'm an Aussie, yeah? Yes.

So, in a sense that makes me automatically predisposed to love Vegemite. Now, I'm not saying every Aussie does, but let's be real, every Aussie secretly does :P.

Now, I'm also a human being right? Right.

So, in a way that would make me indisputably in love with warm, gooey, melty grilled cheeses? Yes.

Anyway, enough about the scientific facts I've just mentioned above. Let me let you in on what I'm going on about.

The other day when I was in the mood for lunch HANGRY MONSTER STEPH I had no idea what I wanted to whip up and generally my best creations come to fruition in this time of food desperation. So I went with it. I let go. I let my mind have a rest and went with my intuition. Followed my gut.. if you will. :P

And I found bread.

Yes bread! Exactly what my undercarbed body needs- high-five Steph, you legend!!

What next...

Vegemite- because I was craving the salt, the savoury the deliciousness that is Vegemite (if you have alternate opinions, kindly keep it to yourself- many thanks.)

BOOM.

Now what?

I WANT A GRILLED CHEESE!

Oooooook, calm down Steph- this can happen! And enter the monstrosity of a creation that resulted from this furious rambling about the kitchen piecing together bits and pieces to make a delicious meal:

Enter the home-made wholemeal spelt, Vegemite, gooey, vegan cheese, open-faced sanga that ultimately made my week:

I mean, come on!

The cheese is warm and gooey, golden brown at the edges, the Vegemite added that hit of salt and savoury love, the bread, added the bread. Need I say more?

So please; whatever you are making for lunch, whip this up too (trust me, my slice of bread was THICK (end piece, hehe) and this is integral to the sandwich.) and you will not be dissapointed- I'm sure it could even turn Vegemite haters into lovers!

Gah, just the sight of it is making my mouth water!

For the vegan cheese I simply stirred together in a small bowl 2 tablespoons hommus, 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast and 1-2 teaspoons of water until pour-able consistency

Then, after spreading my piece of bread with Vegemite, I spread on the 'cheese' and popped it on a tray in an oven at 200 degrees celsius on grill to crisp up the bread into toast and cheese-ify that glorious vegan cheese!

And after all these pictures I appear to have taken on this one slice of bread you would think that was my whole lunch! But come on guys, Steph was hungry remember??

There was a big ol' salad of veg too, have no fear!!

Happy, happy days


Now over to you:
What is your favourite alternate additions to grilled cheeses/ open faced sandwiches?
Vegemite lover or hater and favourite way to use the yeasty spread??
Favourite lunch of the moment?

Seriously though, please make this because it is too good not to have others experience it! Also, have yourself an EPIC day, do something you love, smile uncontrollably, and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Bye for now friendly friends!! :D :D

I'M BACCCKKK!!!

Hey guys!! Remember me??

No?

Well, I don't blame you!!

It's been a hot minute since I've been on the blog and let me tell you- I have missed you guys!!

I love, love, love writing this blog and rambling on about food and health and fitness and ya-da-ya-da-ya-da because that's what I am so so passionate about in life.

However, the blog does take a little extra energy and time from me (which is definitely not a bad thing because all worthwhile things do!!) but whilst I was in the midst of my mock exams and then preparing for my actual final FINAL year 12 school WACE exams, I knew I had to scale back. And by scale back you all know I just stopped! :P

But guess what?

Exams are over.

Done.

I am a free woman!!

And I cannot express enough the joy I feel to never have to pick up my extended maths textbook again and try and recall how to differentiate a logarithm. To find out the area of a pineapple. For fun.

Anywho, I thought today I would do a little post outlining my experience through the most stressful time I have ever felt in my entire life and what I did to survive combat this.

First of all- BREAKFAST. Everyday. Especially exam days. SOOOO IMPORTANT.

My breakfasts were always big, hearty, balanced, filled with plenty of carbs, healthy fats and protein and preparing my brain to think and use up all the glorious nourishing energy I was feeding it.

 These are my no-bake black bean brownies made with black beans, rolled oats, choc protein powder, raw cacao powder, cinnamon, dates, almond milk and that's about it! Into the vitamin and blended up until smooth! Rolled into balls and then flattened into squares to be popped in the freezer for around 15-30mins (depending on how ravenous you get!! I'm always more on the 15 minute side of things :P)

 Plus cranberry fro-yo made by blending up frozen cranberries and greek yoghurt an popping the freezer for a few mins to set a bit more.

 If you want a full recipe you can find a similar one here :)

On the topic of breakfasts, to up my vitamins and minerals and all the other good stuff to keep me happy and healthy (i.e. me drastically trying to not catch the awful cold that was going around- that both my parents caught during my exams!!) I drank ALOT of green smoothies!

 Super big, thick green choc protein smoothie made with 2 bananas, 4 blocks of frozen spinach, 1 scoop vegan chocolate protein powder, 1 tablespoon peanut butter, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 3 big spoons greek yoghurt and water- whizzed up in the Vitamin until smooth and super creamy!!

Not just for those added nutrients though- also because they taste absolutely amazing!!

 But, if I was going to drink a smoothie, you can bet it was going to be fluorescent green!! Also; frozen spinach- adds so much more volume and thickness- win!

Green mango smoothie with almond butter and mixed nut butter granola- current favourite breakfast

And lunches and dinners followed the same kind of trend in that I tried to shove as many fresh and cooked veggies in as possible to ensure I was feeling my body with the best foods available!

 Raw veg sticks with a cooked up veggie and lentil patty 

 A bowl of sautéed veg, cooked up with a bit of olive oil in the frypan for a few minutes with some garlic tofu added in at the end

Super simple and delicious dinner of mashed mixed veg (steamed beetroot, pumpkin, parsnip, potato, sweet potato) with a small tin of reduced-salt baked beans stirred in along with some nutritional yeast and spinach- yum!

And of course, I never gave up my workouts because they helped keep me calm and motivated and helped keep my brain firing and concentrating through the long 3-hour exams:

Sure the burn-out I was feeling with study and sitting exams did effect my attitude towards working out but I knew when I chucked on the gear, went downstairs and got things started, I would start to feel that rush of endorphins and kick butt! So that's how I did it folks; just made myself get started!

Now, all that helped me get through this truly hard time and I did, but when I actually stopped and just listened to my body after that final exam, I almost broke down in tears. I have never pushed my body so far in my life and these exams broke me. And I'm a strong person.

I think I will just need a few days of resting up and recovering because right now I am in such a burnt out state I can't even.

Enter today's rest day:

 Turmeric spiced oats made by placing 3/4 cup rolled oats, 1 thinly sliced banana, 4 chopped dates, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2-1 teaspoon turmeric (I just put a few dashes in; don't measure) 3/4 cup almond milk, 1/4 cup water- into a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until absorbed- greek yoghurt stirred in at the end (optional)

 Followed by a shower, lots of water and a beach walk; and that was my morning.

Happy days

Haven't got much else planned for the day and that is A-ok with me! Might even watch a movie or something after lunch! Who knows!! Gish it's been a while since I've watched a day time movie! :P

What about you?

How do you handle stressful periods in your life?

Best foods you make to ensure you keep firing through your day?

What did you have for breakfast today??

Have yourself a wonderful, wonderful day, do the things you love, be with those you love and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS (that's my one goal for the day!!) Bye for now friendly friends! :D

Upping My Calorie Intake

Hey there cool potatoes!

Because potatoes are cool in fact.

And so are you.

Thus, the calling you of cool potatoes.

Right?

Right!

Ok, now onto the topic of today's post. If you're an avid reader of Steph 2 Chef or simply know a lot about me (for whatever reason... :P), you would be aware that over the passed few months I have been slowly- and safely, for that matter; that should be understood above all else; I have done this so my body can handle it and not die/ get injured :)- increasing my workouts in both length, intensity and all-round crushing it abilities!

My long runs have gotten longer, my HIIT workouts more intense for longer with minimal breaks, the weights increasing every time I feel a new sense of strength in my arms/ legs/ back/ whatever it is that is lifting said weight. You name it; I've been upping it!

And the reason for all that is because it simply feels right by my body. My body is at a season in life where it wants to be pushed, it thrives on the challenge of doing one more rep, or lifting a much heavier weight, or pushing itself to limits I didn't even think existed inside me!

So, yes, I've been upping it on the workout stakes and with that comes an appetite that pales in comparison to what I thought was a monstrous one prior to my increased workouts.

Again, if you know me, you know I eat. I need to eat. My body is an eating machine and more than once have I shocked a friend or peer by the sizeable amount of food entering ma belly!

So, what happens to a girl with an extraordinary appetite who decides that weight lifting is super fun?? She experiences a ravenous rumble that she never thought possible. I'm telling you friends, this new level of hunger brought about by an increase in my muscle mass; it's extraordinary and at first, i just didn't get it.

I would continue to eat normally, constantly tormented by thoughts of food, merely an hour after eating a meal, waking up extremely empty and ravenous and yet still powering through another workout and almost feeling guilty if I added an extra snack/ portion to my meal because I never needed that much before.

Come on Steph; wise up!! The level and intensity of workouts I'm doing now requires a heck of a lot more energy to power through, prevent injury and most of all make my workouts enjoyable and not ridiculously hard and exhausting. That and the amount of training I was doing, coupled with the level of hunger I was ignoring, probably meant that all those possible gains I had been wanting in my muscle mass was going straight to waste as the body was consuming my muscle just to live!

Let me paint you a picture:

When you come out of a workout looking like this:

 You need to ensure you refuel with enough food to sustain your muscle mass, promote energy throughout the day and recover like a boss so that you can come back swinging' for your next sesh! (always the hardest after leg day!!)

And so, I have been making it my mission over the last week or so to truly hone in on my hunger signals, to listen to the bod and feed it increased calories (be that extra food, or just more calorically dense meals) with higher protein as well as all those other essential food groups.

Especially breakfast; because they are not only my first-meal-of-the-day post fasting through the night, but also function as my post-workout recovery meal to help my body heal up and be energised for the day ahead:

 Here we have a BIG bowl of blueberry cheesecake oats with Mayvers Mixed Nut Butter on the bottom, crunchy PB in the middle and more mixed nut butter on top (I need even coverage of nut butter throughout my oats for optimal oat-eating enjoyment!

 With the goodness of rolled oats, banana, blueberries, almond milk, greek yoghurt and nut butter, this substantial meal ticks so many boxes being high in protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats- win, win, win!!!

 You can find the recipe for this bad boy here :)

 if it's not oats to fuel the hungry muscles than it will most likely feature some type of smoothie in there somewhere:

 This was a super delicious brekky featuring gingerbread oat balls (recipe to come) with a mango banana creamy green smoothie- so much goodness in one meal!!

 Into the Vitamin went 1 large frozen banana, 1 handful frozen mango, 1 large handfuls spinach, 3 scoops greek yoghurt, splash of water- whaz!

 Lunches have been no different as the mornings now usually feature a good long study sesh and thus a workout for the mind which requires a post-workout meal just the same!!

 ALL the steamed veggies with a torn up chickpea veggie patty.

 And when I say all the steamed veggies, I mean it- there were so many veggies in here!! Definitely filled me up this one! Pumpkin, parsnip, swede, sweet potato, white potato, carrot.

Funny story with this lunch:

 On this particular day, I had hit legs. HARD. And decided to refuel with an epic protein smoothie (coming up!) however, I didn't include any nut butter or oats in said epic smoothie and thus the hunger come lunch time (where I conveniently moved lunch time to 11am) was out-of-this-world.

 Thus this magical creation of who-even-knows-what's-in-there came about. I literally threw some microwave brown and red rice into a bowl with a tin of baked beans, some frozen peas, chopped tomatoes, spinach, hommus, a bucket of nutritional yeast and a sprinkle of water into a bowl and microwaved it all up for around 3-4 mins until warmed through and cheesey- tomato-y goodness had resulted!

It filled me right up and conquered that hunger bug... for a couple of hours at least! :P

And dinners:

So far from my workout at 5:30am I shouldn't even be hungry am I right??

WRONG!

Your body is constantly healing and repairing loooong after you've wiped the sweat of your face from your workout and my hunger levels are direct evidence of that!

 A substantial serving of steamed greens (including the stem of the broccoli- so good!!) with a baked sweet tater with a BIG dollop of nut butter- because a small dollop is downright...racist. Yep.

 Dinner also happens to be my pre-workout too. No I do not head on out to the gym at ridiculous hours of the night in my jimmies for workout #2 of the day, I'm not that crazy... yet. :P
Nope, this is the meal that will take me through to the morning when I do my fasted workout (my preference; food in the tummy makes me feel ill- everyones different!) and smash my goals even more!!

Finally, whenever you see a picture like this:

Which just so happens to be the glorious big protein smoothie I mentioned above; know that the amount you see in the jar is usually only half of the smoothie, the other half that didn't fit eaten straight from the Vitamix with a spoon as I try and shush the hunger monster.

To make this bad boy I simply popped 2 large frozen bananas, 1 handful frozen zucchini, 1/2 frozen avocado, 2 handfuls spinach, 3 big scoops greek yoghurt, 1 scoop Sunwarrior choc protein powder, 1 teaspoon raw cacao powder, dash of cinnamon and some water into the Vitamin and whizzed until smooth- so thick, so creamy and so so so delicious.... plus all those delicious extra scoops straight form the blender (pictured smoothie in freezer thickening up whilst I finish it off.

Now, onto my last point; post dinner, I always eat a little something. It may be out of habit, it may be to finally quieten the hunger bug, it may just be because I enjoy food and food should be enjoyed, but after dinner I will always have either some dark chocolate, a cup of ice cold soy milk, some raw mixed nuts or dates/ figs. Whatever it be, it makes me happy and again; fuelled for the day ahead!!

Aaaand that's that on the Steph having to eat more than she used to which was ridiculous in the first place!!:P

Your turn:
Do you go through seasons of your life where you are just so much more ridiculously hungry? How do you cope?
Best way to quell your hunger when it's just out-of-control??
Favourite breakfast of the moment?

I hope you enjoyed this read, it's something that's been on my mind recently as I eat and eat and can't seem to control the hunger levels! Also, I hope you have a glorious rest of your day, do something fun, smile lots and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Bye for now friendly friends! :D