Eat Better, Feel Better!

There is so much truth in this.

Choc-Coconut Fruit Bites

You will need:

•  Fruit of your choice, cut into bite-sized chunks (I used banana, strawberries, and kiwifruit)
• Chocolate-Coconut Butter (I used Loving Earth), softened (if the butter is not "runny", sit in a bowl of warm-hot water until it softens enough so that you can "dip" the fruit in)
• Dessicated Coconut

Freeze fruit for about 20-30 minutes.  Dip in Chocolate-Coconut Butter, then roll in Coconut. Place back in freezer until semi-frozen/frozen. ENJOY!

My First EVER WIAW!

So this is my first What I ate Wednesday hosted by the lovely Jen at Peas and Crayons! This is sort of a combo of meals from yesterday and today (Dinner/Dessert last night, Breakfast, Lunch, and Snacks today) :).

 Dinner last night post-yoga - Stir-Fry (carrot, broccoli, kale, capsicum, cashews, edamame in Teriyaki Sauce) with Brown Rice.

Dessert was a Blueberry & White Chocolate Mungalli Creek Yoghurt! Soooo delish!

Brekky today was 1/2 Cup Goodness Superfoods Protein 1st, 1/3 Cup Bonsoy, Organic Blueberries, coconut, and a spoonful of almond butter. I also had an unpictured kiwifruit and a Soy Chai Latte from Wray.

My packed lunch for college included yoghurt sultanas, dried strawberries, almonds, and a Naked Treaties "Chai Ball"; An avocado, cheese, carrot, and kale sandwich on grainy spelt sourdough, and an apple.

And my afternoon snack today was a packet of Loving Earth Yellow Kale Chips, and a cup of chai tea with Bonsoy and raw organic honey. Nom! 

Unsure of what dinner will be tonight - I have plenty of veggies so I am sure they will make an appearance! And of course I will be having a Mungalli Creek yoghurt for dessert!

While I am at it, I will introduce you to Molly :):

My little puppy (well she is now over 1 year old, but she is still my baby!)

I am taking her to the vet this afternoon to get her allergies tested - she is allergic to grass! Haha!

Choc-Banana Smoothie

I haven't really felt like breakfast lately, so I have been relying on Orgain, or making a smoothie to kickstart my day! This is a simple smoothie recipe that is healthy, and satisfying, and contains CHOCOLATE!!!

You Will Need:

• 1 Banana
• 1 Cup Soy Milk (I used Bonsoy)
• 1 Scoop Chocolate Sun Warrior Protein
• 1 heaped spoonful of Chocolate Coconut Butter + a little soy milk to thin out
• Ice

Place the banana, soy milk, and protein in a blender and blend until frothy. Make sure that the Chocolate Coconut Butter is at room temperature, or sit in a bowl of hot water to soften. Mix in a little soy milk - it should be "chocolate sauce" consistency.

Swirl the "chocolate sauce" around the glass. Place ice in glass. Pour over smoothie. Enjoy!

Ain't This Just The Cutest Little Fry Pan

My Mum bought it today for me! It's a Maxwell & Williams "Grabbers" mini frypan. So key-ute! A perfect size for my veggie burgers :).

Yoghurt

I am FUSSY when it comes to buying yoghurt. So many supermarket brands have unnecessary additives such as artificial sweeteners, GELATINE (I was shocked when I realised that they even put this into yoghurt!), thickeners, and so on. I usually buy Barambah Organic Yoghurt, but this time I thought I would try something new:

Mungalli Creek Blueberry & White Chocolate

Oh. My. YUM. It was DELICIOUS. Made from whole organic milk, this yoghurt was thick and creamy with jammy blueberries on the bottom that I mixed through. Divine. I also bought these in bush honey, passionfruit, and davidsons plum - cannot wait to try the other flavours!

The main things that I look out for when buying yoghurt are:

• That they contain NO gelatine
• If they contain sugar, it is listed near the end of the ingredients list
• Made with organic milk (whole or skim, I actually do prefer whole)
• Don't contain artificial sweeteners

I noticed recently that we now have Chobani yoghurt in Australia! I have seen this on a lot of food blogs, and have always wanted to try it. I know it's not made from organic milk, but otherwise the ingredients list is pretty good :). I'll shall be back to let you know the verdict when I have tried it!

A little about myself..

I don't remember the exact time when I decided to become a vegetarian, but I know it had been a long time coming. I have never enjoyed eating meat, and since I was about 17, I have gone through phases of being vegetarian, vegan, and pescetarian. I gave up eating fish and seafood as I could not deal with the fact that I was eating something that was once a living animal, and I ditched the vegan diet because it was FAR too restrictive and I found it too hard to enjoy food. I am now a lacto-ovo vegetarian, and am finding that this is sitting very well with my body and mind.

I was introduced to clean, organic living by a naturopath during a period of serious illness. I was exhausted, run down, and tired, and having serious digestive troubles, and my Mum took me to a naturopath. He put me on a myriad of supplements, including digestive enzymes, flaxseed oil, olive leaf, probiotics, protein powder, and spirulina, all of which I still take to this day. However, he stressed that the key to my healing was food. He told me to buy mainly organic, and educated me about the importance of protein in my diet. At first I was like "I can't do that, it is too expensive", "where do I buy that sort of food in little old Toowoomba?". But I went investigating, and found a couple of local shops that stocked organic foods. It was difficult to buy absolutely everything organic, but I stuck to the 80:20 rule that my naturopath had told me about, and managed quite well. We now have an organic supermarket, Wray Organic,  here in Toowoomba, which is amazing! I could easily set-up camp and live there ;).

I started to feel better, and get stronger, and developed a passion for clean, healthy, organic living. I moved to Brisbane for university and worked part-time in an organic supermarket. This is where my passion really developed and I was introduced to so many new, exciting foods. After university I moved back home, and am now training to be a personal trainer. I am doing my Body Balance training soon, and hope to do my pilates and yoga training in the near future.

I hope use this blog as a platform to share the many recipes I have developed and/or used (obviously with credit to the creator!), and to educate about clean, healthy, organic living. Oh, and I also hope to dispel the myth that vegetarian food is "rabbit food", because it can be, but certainly doesn't have to be!