Food photography fail!

Sigh! Today has just been "one of those days". Oh well, at least the granola I made tasted delicious - once I managed to get the milk in the bowl that is!

I'll be posting the recipe tomorrow, but as far as today goes I've given up hope of getting anything productive done! I am instead going to go and make something incredibly easy for dinner, and then snuggle up with Izzy for the rest of the night! How has your Monday been so far?

Stuffed Red Peppers

I snagged a couple of organic peppers at the supermarket a little while ago, and they needed using up quickly. I also had some leftover rice in my fridge, and so the following creation was born!



Ingredients:

Red pepper, cut in half

One cup of cooked rice per red pepper half

Tomato, diced

Half an onion, diced

Half a chilli, finely chopped

Garlic clove, grated

Mozarella ball, diced

Seasoning of choice (I used black pepper to taste, about a tsp dried coriander/cilantro, pinch of paprika and dried chilli flakes)

Mix all the ingredients together apart from the red pepper halves. Spoon into the red pepper halves, and pop into a preheated oven for about 20-30 minutes.

These were delicious, and so quick and simple to throw together! I loved the addition of mozarella but you could omit it for a vegan version.

What are you favourite quick and simple but still healthy recipes to put together when you're short of time or don't feel like spending much time cooking?

Have a good weekend!

A quick thank you

So the winning bid on my Vegan Marshmallows was $40! I can't believe they sold for so much - I was worried no one would even bid on them! Can't wait to make and send them out to whoever won them! I'm also looking forward to seeing how much Katie managed to raise for charity - did you see how much her Fudge Babies sold for?! Amazing!

A lot of people have complimented me recently on my photos, and to everyone who has done I just want to say a big massive thank you! It means so much to me. Photography is a massive passion of mine, and something that I would love to turn into a career (I'm working on it!). I entered this photo of my sister into a photography competition at Uni recently. It didn't win, but I had a really fun time taking the pictures and playing around with my little sis!



Just a short and sweet post today - I'm still snowed under with school work at the minute, but I'll be back tomorrow with a tasty vegetarian recipe!

When the cat's away...

Now before I say it, I just want to make one thing clear: I love my boyfriend to bits. He's lovely, and I love spending time with him, and I hate it when we're apart.

The only one thing I quite like about not having him around at dinnertime is the fact that I've only myself to please, and I can make something that he would think "weird" that I might not make myself normally, when I'd tend to make a meal that we could both enjoy.

Take today for example; I'd had a long day at Uni - the school year is coming to an end and this is my last week of classes but I have three assignments plus a presentation due by Friday! So I've been camped out at the library all day. When I came home, I wanted something quick yet nutritious, and there was a recipe I'd had my eye on for a while - Anne's black bean and spinach burgers.



I followed Anne's recipe almost to the letter but I substituted kale for spinach, oat flour for wholemeal and about half a fresh chilli in place of chilli powder.

These were so good - so good in fact that I didn't snap a photo of the finished burgers! The only thing with them was, I started by cooking them in a pan but found they were a bit wet still so I put them on a baking tray and into the oven for ten minutes and then the texture was perfect!

Another amazing recipe that I made recently but didn't manage a photo of - Oh She Glows Salt & Vinegar Chickpeas!



Oh and don't forget - Chocolate Covered Katie's Vegan Bake Sale is tomorrow!

Are you donating or bidding on anything?

Healthy crisps & tzatziki

So the plan was to try and keep the vegan marshmallows for as long as possible to see how they would last and if it would be possible to ever ship them overseas, but that didn't last very long. Adam came back from work yesterday and before I even had chance to say "save one for me" they were all gone! I don't really mind though; I love to see people enjoy the food that I've made!

I got in yesterday after a particularly gruelling day; I'm swamped with Uni assignments at the minute, and was really hungry after a session at the gym! I didn't want to spoil my dinner though, and was really fancying some crisps. Instead of grabbing a packet out of the cupboard, I decided to make this healthier verison.



Healthier crisps

Preheat oven to 180C. Thinly slice one potato (you can use regular white potatoes, or sweet potatoes!). You can either slice them with a normal knife or if you want them to be really thin and crispy you can make the slices with a vegetable peeler. Season with salt, black pepper and/or dried rosemary.

Spray a baking tray with cooking spray and arrange the slices in a single layer. Put them in the oven, then keep an eye on them as they cook fairly quickly depending how thinly you sliced them. If the slices are a little on the thicker side, you might want to flip them during cooking.

Tzatziki

Half cup fat free or very low fat natural yoghurt

Half clove of garlic

One inch piece of cucumber

Black pepper to taste

Pour the half cup of yoghurt into a bowl. Grate in a small amount of garlic, I used half a clove but you don't want it to be too overpowering so maybe grate some in, stir it and taste. When you're happy with the garlic level, grate the cucumber into the yoghurt mixture and stir well to combine. Add a little ground black pepper to taste.



These were delicious, and really curbed my craving!

Do you have any healthy alternatives for your favourite junk food?