this week's tip | eat veggies for breakfast

Ok, we're all super busy: working, travelling, taking care of our families (whatever shape they may take), trying to stay fit and meet personal goals as well!  There often just aren't enough hours in the day to fit everything and if you're like me, you're also plagued by that little voice in the back of your head telling you that you need to eat better while relaying your vegetable count for the day!

I used to feel the pressure every night having to fit the 7 vegetable/ 2 cup count into dinner because I ate oatmeal in the mornings and a variation of either a quick-snack, or nothing at all lunch!  Sometimes (especially in a rush) it was impossible to come up with a meal idea that incorporated veggies AND didn't take long to prepare, so I would cave and make a pasta dish without any veggies at all!  (spaghetti bolognese anyone?).  After a few close calls with my  head almost exploding, I decided to start my day with vegetables - making my usual quick-snack lunch easier to forgive and taking the pressure off dinner.

It's actually quite easy to eat veggies for breakfast. There are so many highly nutritional, quick and simple breakfast ideas around that keep you as full as oatmeal.  Here are a few:

1. an omelette: you can mix just about any vegetable into an omelette.  My faves are asparagus, zucchini, capsicum (red pepper), spinach and mushrooms!  
2. avocado toast: I like to lightly sprinkle mine with salt and pepper, yum yum yum! 
• It's easy to add more veggies to this - I like green capsicum (peppers), watercress and tomatoes (although technically not a veg).    
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3. hash browns: these don't have to be oily and horrible!  Shred some potatoes (or sweet potatoes) into a frying pan of coconut oil, fry until brown and enjoy a healthy, guilt-free, trans-fat free treat!  One that you probably haven't had in ages! 
4. mushroom melt: if you work from home, or give yourself plenty of time to get ready in the mornings, you'll lurve this one!  It takes about half an hour to prepare but it's worth it.  I like to make this as a weekend breakfast for Will and I: it keeps us FULL! 
• You just need to preheat the oven, prep the mushroom (wash it, remove the stalk), fill it with whatever veggies (ham or other meat) you like, crack a small egg into it, sprinkle with cheese (opional) and bake for 15-20 mins. 
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5. veggie smoothie: no better way to get all 7 veggies and two cups straight away than mixing a juice or smoothie.  The one pictured with this post is the Citrus Veggie Smoothie  from Santa Cruz Organic, where you can find many more delicious recipes! 
• Of course, smoothies don't keep you full very long so make sure to put a nut bar into your handbag on your way out of the door!

If you don't like the idea of being nontraditional, why not try a savoury oatmeal? Just grate in some carrots, cucumbers and add some nuts instead of the usual sweet cinnamon and fruit or whatever.  It's very tasty and you can find plenty of recipes online!

Blast from the past: the Carnarvon Gorge

When most people think of Australia they think desert, beaches (crocodiles) or Sydney.  Many people don't know about the ridiculously beautiful rain forests abundant in native wildlife, waterfalls and postcard views.  Will and I loved living in Queensland and visiting her rain forests, in fact we love nature and hiking so much that we chose to take our honeymoon this way; setting off a week after our wedding to Qld's Carnarvon Gorge - a ridiculously beautiful part of Australia 8 hours drive away from where we lived at the time; a place that few have experienced but that everyone should!

During our week out there, we saw ancient Aboriginal cave paintings as well as every native Australian animal you could think of: echidnas, platypi, wallabies, a koala, a giant red kangaroo and plenty of smaller grey ones, kookaburras, green tree frogs, owls and the list goes on!  The Carnarvon Gorge National Park and Takarakka Bush resort in which we stayed was nature like we've never experienced before: raw, untouched and just an incredible experience that I highly, highly recommend it to anyone.

Getting there: roads of rich, red dirt 

Surrounded by green fields and... so much wildlife -
grey kangaroos

Wallaby

Amazing scenery on the way there

This safari tent was our accomodation! Best way to camp because
it came with a mini fridge, queen bed, electricity and a table w chairs

Takarakka Bush Resort
kookaburra perched on top of sign

This kookaburra would wake us every morning with that
laughing/ signing sound they make

This was the campsite
Left: shower/ laundry block
Right: bbq and table area

Will and I in the bbq/table area with our french toast/ baked bean/ sauerkraut dinner
Not very appetizing but worth every minute
(plus we had wine!)

So that's how everyone was washing their feet...
Again, worth it for views like:

This

And this

Definitely worth going to see an echidna!

Or these native flowers

Tiny, lonely hand paintings - thousands of years old

These are a lot more vivid - very amazing experience

The whole thing was