Oh dear neglected food blog, I think I found a new favorite snack:

(Side note: I really must find my camera battery charger. Iphone photos = not so good.)

Diced royal gala apple, pecans, sprinkled with water then microwaved for 45 seconds. Cover with cinnamon then stir. Yummmmmmmmmm.

New favorite snack indeed. I love apples with cinnamon and this combo worked well for me. Keeping it in the back of my mind for future sweet snacks!

Zucchini is just starting to come into season here which is exciting because I LOVE ZUCCHINI.

It’s seriously one of my favorite vegetables and it’s green so that is a bonus.

So I bought all this zucchini and didn’t know what to do with it. I decided for lunch a couple days ago that I should eat both the zucchini and sweet potato that was still in the fridge. I searched for a few recipes and happened upon a zucchini and sweet potato hash that sounded interesting.

I tried to take the basic idea and work with it (aka not use as many ingredients or calories) for my lunch. I’ve made it twice now and it’s getting better.

Warning… it’s not the prettiest food you will ever see. Actually it looks gross. ;)

Despite the gross look it’s actually really delicious. The first time I made it (photo above) I didn’t wring out the water from the veggies and it would not get crispy. So it was just a bunch of mushy mess. Tasty mushy mess, but still a mess.

The second time I was smarter and followed the directions of getting rid of as much excess water as possible. I had no idea sweet potatoes has so much water inside!

The second attempt was much better and got crispier.

I also added some spring onion and other spices that made it quite nice. I don’t have a perfect recipe or anything to share but it’s basically just grated zucchini (cup) and grated sweet potato (cup or less) with 1/4-1/3 cup of wheat flour and then spices (I used garlic powder, salt, pepper, onion powder/spring onion) mixed together. Spray a pan over medium heat and cook until flour parts get crispy.

I really love this and probably will try to keep making it until I perfect it.  Hurray for trying it again!

We recently visited Hulucat Tea House in Auckland.

It was my first time having milk tea before. I’ve never tried anything like it so the experience was new and exciting.

I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect. I’d heard about milk tea and bubble tea before but it was always one of those things I passed on and figured I would try eventually.. or not.

Everyone assured me it was going to be good. The menu scared me a bit. I didn’t know what to think of items like rockmelon milk tea and grass jelly. It seemed like certain combinations would be awful together. I trusted them and ended up ordering the drink everyone recommended: chocolate milk tea with chocolate pudding.

That was such a strange texture experience! You are drinking and then all the sudden you are eating… STRANGE! I loooooved the milk tea itself – it tasted just like chocolate milk which I used to love drinking and never drink anymore. I never quite got over the texture of having the pudding in the milk tea even after it wasn’t as shocking to me.

I think I would have preferred just a glass of the milk tea on its own without the pudding. Sorry! My issues with texture are the main source of my picky eating and unfortunately this combo fell on the side of “won’t try again”. I will however get milk tea on it’s own again. :)

Hulucat itself is a great little place. It’s in an easy location in the CBD in Auckland. There are cat photos all over the walls which I found to be hilarious as it looked like a collection of the best cat photos of the internet. It seemed to be rather busy at the time and even busier as we were leaving so it’s definitely worth checking out.

Have you ever had milk tea before? Can someone explain to me what “grass jelly” was on the menu?!?!?

A year or so ago I came across a website for peanut butter while I was trying to find almond butter in New Zealand. My almond butter search was fruitless and I ended up making my own almond butter, but I did find my new favorite peanut butter.

Pic’s Really Good Peanut Butter was the site I stumbled across and despite wanting to try the peanut butter I couldn’t find it at my local stores. It was in my head but I couldn’t try it so I soon forgot.

Fast forward a year to my last move back to New Zealand and a wonderful thing happened: Pic’s started selling in my local supermarket! I finally saw the peanut butter there and though it cost twice as much as the other brands I decided to buy it to test.

AMAZING.

Things I Like About Pic’s Really Good Peanut Butter

• It’s a natural peanut butter (oil separation and everything!).
• There is no sugar or oil added.
• It has two ingredients: peanuts and salt.
• They sell it almost everywhere now. It’s much easier to find and buy especially being at my local supermarket.
• It tastes really good.

Things I Don’t Like About Pic’s Really Good Peanut Butter

• It costs a lot. It’s $7.29 for a jar compared to the cheap brands (half the price).
• We go through one jar a week.
• The prices are inconsistent between the online store, supermarket and farmers markets. (Farmers market sellers try to get $2-3 more a jar!)

Pic’s Really Good Peanut Butter Rating

★★★★★

(Yeah I’ve decided to start rating products I review. It basically means nothing but it’s fun.)

I personally think it’s worth the money to buy Pic’s. (Five stars!) We both love peanut butter and like to know that we are at least eating the healthiest peanut butter we can without any additives or things that aren’t good for us. Sure it would be more cost efficient to just make peanut butter ourselves, but Pic’s really is really good!

Yesterday, I made protein crepes.

They were awesome. I saw a recipe here from One Shot of Life (who is also doing LiveFit!).

I never thought it would be so easy. She has a rather smart recipe using just egg whites, protein powder, milk, and greek yogurt. Might sounds not-so-exciting but it really does end up making decent crepes. Even Kepa liked them!

We ended up splitting her recipe for a snack yesterday and ended up both getting 15g of protein with our jam filled crepes. YUMM!

Definitely making this again (and now I’ve posted so I have the link for future reference if I forget).

Loved my lunch today.

We cooked up the rest of some lean ground beef which I combined with black beans and topped with salsa. On the side I had some steamed vegetables.

This worked out really well! It was pretty filling and tasted great.

The vegetables were a pack of Wattie’s SteamFresh Frozen Vegetables. They have a bunch of different kinds apparently but I picked up the Baby Carrots, Broccoli, and Cauliflower version last week during our normal grocery shop. I used these kinds of things when I was in the US and it made getting extra veggie servings so easy that I wanted to see if anything here in New Zealand would work in the same way.

Thoughts on Wattie’s SteamFresh Frozen Vegetables Baby Carrots, Broccoli, and Cauliflower

Price: The bag I got was $2.99 and there are others that are $3.99. I split the bag with Kepa for lunch so my serving cost about $1.50. That’s pretty good.

Taste: I really liked the taste because it tasted like plain steamed veggies! I tried a lot of brands in the past that included some sort of random sauce or spices with the vegetables but I don’t find that necessary. I prefer the vegetables to be by themselves and steam without any extras.

Ease of use: Obviously frozen steam packs of vegetables are easy to use. 4:15 in the microwave and it’s done. Success!

Thoughts: Overall this is a positive review! I enjoyed the vegetables and didn’t find anything wrong with them for what they are. We will definitely be buying them again and working them into our meals on days when we don’t have anything prepared but still want healthy vegetables. Awesome!

This morning I actually cooked breakfast! Instead of my cinnamon raisin protein oatmeal I made eggs for Kepa and myself. I sauteed onions, red pepper, and kale then added in eggs and spices (turmeric, garlic powder, pepper, salt). It turned out really yummy and along with a slice of toast it filled me up all morning.

For lunch I realized I had zero protein options readily available (grocery shopping is tomorrow) so I grabbed some frozen fish filets from the freezer and baked them.

Along with premade sweet potato mash and an orange it was a good meal. I wanted some greens but I used all the kale at breakfast!

After lunch I went to the gym for the first day of week 5 of livefit trainer: back & cardio! Since it was a lovely day we pulled out our bikes and biked the mile to the gym and back. At the end of all that I had racked up

• 40 minutes of weights
• 30 minutes of cardio at the gym
• 20 minutes of biking.

Good workout for the day! :)

I came home to finish up my work hours for the day while Kepa made a fish pie. He’s been wanting one for a while and finally decided just to make one, complete with an M carved into the top. ;)

I’ve never had it before so it was a new experience for me – a rather deliciousnew experience!

Lots of fish today! I’m trying to eat more fish just because I like it and it’s a good source of protein. I hate cooking it myself though so unless I get Kepa to do it or just get the frozen kind to bake i don’t eat it often enough!

Really looking forward to grocery shopping tomorrow – I need more fruits and veggies in the house! And protein sources! And just food in general!

My eating has been pretty boring lately. I’ve been eating turkey meatloaf muffins for lunch most days and oatmeal for breakfast most mornings!

A couple weeks ago I made up multiple packs of this oatmeal so my morning breakfast takes me all of 2 minutes now. It was a great idea.

In the oatmeal mix:

• 1/3 cup quick oats
• 50 raisins
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 scoop whey protein

I usually have 5 g of pumpkin seeds too but right now I’m out of them. I made half my oatmeal without so now I’m working through the bags without seeds.

It’s so easy. Pour bag into bowl. Boil water. Add boiling water.  Wait a couple minutes. Eat.

It’s such a good combo, cinnamon and raisin. It makes my morning oatmeal quite delicious. I’ve always been a fan of cinnamon raisin… toast, cookies, oatmeal!

So there ya have it. My breakfast of choice lately. :)

I’m starting to get the hang of weekly food prep.

This week I did less but I managed to prep healthy lunches for the week as well as some snacks & smoothies.

The main thing I made and will eat is my turkey meatloaf muffins. These are my favorite and I’ll probably never get tired of them.

I don’t think I’ve ever shared my recipe for them and a few people asked so here it is!

Turkey Meatloaf Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 medium onion
• 1 bell pepper
• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup greens (kale or spinach) shredded
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• Salt & pepper

Directions:

• Brown turkey in a skillet.  Drain excess fat then put in a large bowl.
• Add oats and shredded greens.
• Dice garlic, onion, and pepper. Cook in a skillet sprayed with Pam for 4-5 minutes. Allow to cool.
• Beat egg together with Worcestershire sauce and Dijon mustard. Add in salt and pepper to taste.
• Combine pepper/onion mix with meat/oats/greens then pour egg in and mix it all up.
• Spray or line a muffin tin.
• Divide mixture into the cups. I usually end up with 20 smallish muffins.
• Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes.

Those might have been the worst instructions ever, but that’s how you make it! I love these and usually eat 3 for lunch since they are smaller. It works out that I can eat them every day for lunch or use some for snacks. They are easy, quick to reheat, yummy, and healthy. All great things!

Hope you enjoy them! :)

The other day I was browsing Pinterest as I occasionally do and I came across this:

There are few images or recipes that make me want to make them immediately. This one, however, made me drool almost instantly. I knew I wanted to make it the next morning.

So I did. With a few changes.

First, I didn’t make nearly as much of it. I used a small pan and just made enough for two servings, perfect for Kepa and myself.

Second, I changed the recipe by making it with bacon instead of sausage. I prefer bacon and it was just easier to make quickly than going out and buying sausage.

That’s all I changed to make it work for us and oh boy did it work. This was soooo delicious!

I am totally glad I made this even if it took forever compared to my normal breakfasts. It was a nice weekend treat and was thoroughly enjoyed. I might try making it again one morning when I have a bit of extra time and am craving a savory breakfast.

Rather delicious! Check out the original recipe on The Kitchn if you want to make it!

ps – This is my first post using Mars Edit blogging software on my mac. I’m trying to streamline the blogging process so I can save time. Fingers crossed for it working!