Raspberry Quinoa Porridge and a new regular!

Firstly, I apologize for by brief disappearance from cyberspace. Since my last post I've had heaps of fun at my senior ball, held a bake sale at two local markets to raise money for Sir Edmund Hillary's Himalayan Trust, and on top of all that sat mid-year exams! So it's been pretty busy lately. Yet amongst it I managed to make myself a hot breakfast or two and come up with a new regular post! Was it procrastination maybe…?

I therefore introduce Flavor of the Month, where I share my favorite things of the moment, every month! It'll be a good way to keep me blogging regularly, yet won't be too demanding. Fingers crossed I can stick with it!

Apples

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With the colder month upon us, the refreshing crunch of an apple is now just what I need to bring a bit of vitality and freshness back. Also, it is oh so sweet and comforting in a pudding, cake or a classic pie. Delish.

Long-sleeved Dresses

I do try to embrace winter, really I do, but there's always a part of me that is stuck in a summery mindset of light dresses and cool treats. To try and curb my craving for the warmer months, I have been on the hunt for an elegant yet playful long-sleeved dress. Any suggestions?

Dress

Movie Night

I recently went to a close friend's birthday party. It was nothing fancy. No theme, no party favors, no gimmicks. Just a tight bunch of her closest friends, enjoying good food, a surprisingly decent movie (Step Up 4) and each other's company. It was unbelievably good fun.

Ice-cream

It's funny. As soon as the days grow shorter and blustery, I find myself tiptoeing my way to the freezer in the laundry, ready to eat ice cream straight from the tub. My favorite is usually chocolate ice-cream drizzled with berry jam (don't knock it 'till you've tried it), but lately I've found that I can settle for vanilla when the craving possesses me. If I had a less hectic schedule, I would dedicate one saturday to making my own, but for now I'll fantasize over gourmet flavors like blackberry and lavender and all these.

Recipe for left image here.

Have I mentioned my latest infatuation with breakfast? It's hard to justify, but it started somewhere around my boredom with usual old "cereal or toast" option on weekday mornings. I mean, there must be something more, right? So, when the weekends rolled around, I got inspired. Smoothies - green or otherwise -  packed with fruit and nice and thick. Pancakes stacked with honey and banana sandwiched between the layers. Omelets. Bagels, topped with fresh veggies, pesto and cheese and grilled. And a super-healthy quinoa porridge. 

If you have been tuned in to the food universe lately, you'd know that this ancient super grain is So Hot Right Now. Packed with protein, vitamins and a unique nutty flavor, it's not hard to figure out why.

Healthy Breakfast Slice

Lately, I've been on a bit of a health kick.

Having gorged myself over summer and christmas (don't we all?), after a while I realised that I couldn't go a day with out having just one sweet thing, albeit a slice of cake, a cookie, a bowl of ice-cream, whatever - and my bikini body wasn't thanking me.

So, to refocus, I read The Londoner's Anti Diet blog post and went back to basics - focusing on getting my 5+ servings of fruit and veggies a day. It was a question of The Swap. Whenever I had a craving for something sweet and deliciously evil, I would reach for the fruit bowl instead of the cake tin. I swapped carb-laden microwave meals with a vibrant and delicious salad. I found it was easiest to be healthy by packing my school lunches chock full of raw fresh vegetables, such as cucumber, carrots, tomatoes, capsicum,or anything else lying around my fridge, either left whole of chopped into sticks. As for the fruit, summer peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots always get me excited (I'm a bit of a fruit freak), as well as apples, oranges and pears.