Last month I ran a competition encouraging people to experiment with different methods of cooking with vegetables to discover new ways of including vegetables in their daily diet. It’s estimated that only half the population of Australia eat the recommended daily amount of vegetables (1) and less still in America (2). A diet high in vegetables has many health benefits, including lowered risk of cardiovascular disease, improved digestive health, increased immunity and assisting in maintaining weight. For me personally, I feel more energetic and vibrant, have a lot more energy, and my skin and hair health improves greatly when I’m eating more veggies.
[Side note: For some great ideas and recipes to help you easily include more veggies into your daily diet to have you feeling better and full of energy – plus the great skin and hair! – check out my posts on delicious veggie ideas for breakfast, main meals; and sweets and snacks]
With over 120 entries to the competition, it took a lot of deliberation and had to bring in some extra help to assist with picking a winner from the shortlist, but in the end we chose a delicious looking baked chocolate oat dish with a hidden serve of zucchini – aka “zoats”. I tried the dish for myself shortly afterward and fell in love with the delicious flavours and was very impressed to find that it filled me up until lunch time, which is a must to stop my morning snacking habits!
I asked the competition winner Kate if she’d be willing to have a quick chat and share the recipe and some of her photos of the dish here with you all and she happily obliged.
Kate is a holistic health coach in the making – we discovered in our chats we are actually studying at the same nutrition school! – and describes herself as a breakfast and tea enthusiast, which explains the amazing breakfast creations you’ll see if you check out her Instagram! She is hugely passionate about creating and eating real, wholesome food and inspiring others to do the same, which she does through her Instagram account, as well as her blog – Well of Nourishment, which acts as a space for her to share her passion for good health and nutrition.
When Kate isn’t busy coming up with amazing healthy creations, she is also an avid wanderluster, runner, hat wearer, and nature lover, who you’ll find more often than not with a great big smile on her dial.
On her winning dish, Kate explains that this dish is a super easy way to sneak more veggies in at breakfast time, particularly if you’re not a savoury breakfast lover. And if you arent a huge zucchini fan, Kate suggests swapping out the zucchini for other veggies such as cauliflower or carrot! She assures us that this breakfast will nourish you and help you power through your day, which I can fully attest to!
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:9]
To connect with Kate, you can find her at –
Webpage | Instagram | Facebook | Pintrest
Wow, this is an amazing idea. I love baked oatmeal so I’m sure I’ll love this too! Thanks Dearna and Kate!
Yumm… How good does this look?! She totally deserved to win ;)
I’m so sad I didn’t get to participate in the competition. But it has surely given me a ton of great ideas on sneaking veggies into recipes ;) I’ll definitely make this soon !
Yes, its a shame I couldn’t extend the competition world-wide! Hopefully next time :) And definitely give this one a go Josefine, I think you’ll like it, it’s so delicious! x
This is absolutely brilliant! I love the idea of including vegetables in all sorts of meals, and never thought to add them to oatmeal. Love the chocolate plus all those berries! Gorgeous and flavorful!