Cinnamon-Poached Quinoa and Apple Porridge with Banana, Berries and Passionfruit

Lately, I've been all about elaborate and delicious, but still nutritious breakfasts, and while, the past two days, I've had some sort of divine egg dish, I wanted something sweeter this morning. So I have created this scrumptious dish with Quinoa and yummy fruits. Give it a go! It's delicious!


Cinnamon-Poached Quinoa and Apple Porridge with Banana, Berries and Passionfruit
Serves 1
Ingredients
1 cooking apple
1/4 cup white Quinoa, soaked overnight (preferably)
1 cup water
1/2 Cinnamon stick
1/4 cup berries (any)
1 banana
2 passionfruits


Cut apple into 8 wedges, leaving the skin on, then halve the wedges horizontally and core the apple. In a small saucepan (with a lid), add the water, quinoa, apple and cinammon and bring to the boil. Simmer, covered for 15 minutes (or until all of the water has been absorbed).


If your berries are frozen, add them to the quinoa for the last two minutes of cooking, or defrost them separately - better yet, use fresh berries. Slice the banana and add to serving bowl, with the passionfruit pulp. When quinoa is cooked (it looks strange and awesome when it's cooked), discard cinnamon stick and add quinoa and berries to serving bowl and combine. 


Serve it alone or with natural yoghurt. If you are a small eater, this might actually be two serves, I certainly struggled, but a boy could finish it off easily.


Why don't you try it, and let me know how you go. Sweet, but not sickly so.


Have a lovely day.
x

A Borrowed Shirt and A Pie

Lately, I have been very inspired by one blog, calivintage, and find myself browsing through her long list of outfits most of the time that I am on the internet. I love that she looks different everyday, and tries different looks, but still looks the same, as in, she looks like herself in every different outfit.

The other day, desperate for warm clothes, (gosh, I am REALLY struggling) I decided to trawl through some of her posts until I found the one in the above link, and thought it was perfect!

I never usually wear Matt's shirts because they just look boxy and awful on my body type, but stick a cardigan on top and it looks great - so great that I think I might invest in my own flannelette one (for extra warmth). So, thanks Calivintage! Here's my interpretation:

So, complete outfit was Matt's shirt, Cotton On cardigan, Mum's suit jacket from the '80's, Jay Jay's high-waisted jeans, Reject Shop socks and Sportsgirl shoes.

I think I have about two layers on underneath the shirt as well as tights on underneath my jeans for extra warmth. I'd really love tips of Australian shops I can get warmer clothing from. I'm off to Metallicus today with my housemate, who works for them, and Tracy (boyfriend's sister) to try to get some warmer basics, but I really need warmer jumpers, cardigans and clothes in general! 

Thanks, Matt. Lol

In other news, I baked a wonderful beef and vegetable pie the other night, mostly from scratch - c'mon, who doesn't use the sheets of frozen puff pastry! We didn't have enough potatoes to make a shepherd's pie, so I put pastry on top instead. Delicious! Here's a photo (which refuses to centre itself properly - argh!);

See the pretty leaves on top?

And last night I cooked my step-dad, Fred's German Green Bean Soup, which uses a special German herb called 'Bohnenkraut' or 'Summer Bean Herb' (Wiki calls it Summer Savory at one point, and Summer Bean Herb at another, but I think Summer Bean Herb is a better translation). The soup is a lovely broth, and great to make when we're poor.

Day One of the no sugar (diet? detox? I'm not sure) thing but it is only 11am, so all I've had is two Vita Brits (they don't have sugar added) and some milk. So far, so good.

x

Another Year Older...

Monday was my 23rd birthday.

I had to work that morning (7am start) but ended up bumping into my friends Nikki and Eoghan right after I finished, which was a great surprise! Eoghan shouted me breakfast at Auction Rooms - some delicious avocado, tomato, poached egg and fresh cashew-basil pesto loveliness, and I spent a good hour crapping on about, well, crap, with both of them and Matt who also joined us.

Matt bought me this cute necklace by Shonah at the Rose St Market the day before, which I was really stoked about because it's so different and pretty and very fitting, because Matt is very tall so I sometimes call him a giraffe (nearly 2 metres!)

He also bought me this fabric clutch that our friend Conner makes through her label El Tiger. They're the perfect size for putting my sunnies in and the fabric is just so cheerful and pretty, that when it's dreary enough to have to put my sunnies away, at least there is something bright and lovely to look at.

Then, when I got home, my wonderful house-mate, Lisa gave me this Limedrop ring of a babushka doll - she so fat and cute! I'm so glad that she's mine now.

That night, we went out for drinks at Public Bar, which - luckily for us - have $4.50 jugs on Monday nights - Awesome!

Then on Tuesday, with my Coles/Myer voucher from my sister, I went to the Benefit Brow Bar in Myer in the city, and treated myself to a much needed eyebrow wax. It was more expensive than I would have usually paid, and they thought they were better than anyone else at waxing eyebrows - no, really - but I did get a complimentary make-up sesh afterwards and let's face it, it was a great way to spend part of my voucher. 

So all in all, it was a great birthday. Chuffed! =)

x