I seriously love chocolate, and second to that is cake. I’m the biggest sweet tooth there is and when you decide to take on a healthier lifestyle, you start to ask yourself ‘where are the indulgences?’
So I went on a mission to find them… and what i’ve found, is a whole lot more than just the sweet stuff!
Rewind a little, and you need to understand that part of my recovery from PND is cemented by a focus on what goes in to my body, in order to support my mind! This is in conjunction with a focus on feeding my family all the goodness too! So, how to find family friendly, mind nourishing, body fueling goodness?
Enter my friends Renee (and beautiful twin Jane). For her own health reasons she decided to take on a Paleo lifestyle. Not as a diet, or a fad or a weight loss scheme, as a lifestyle. Include our friend Erin, who decided to cut out sugar in her own life, and you have three little amigos who are on a learning curve towards eating for wellness. That’s our lil motto. We eat for wellness. And boy have we learnt a shitload!
Our inspiration comes from ‘sugar free’ baking courses through ‘The Happy Parenting Project’ – this my friends, is an amazing site, run by an even more amazing Mama who has a worked out a few worthy secrets in her time! And of course, our favorite shop (of which we dream of having our own version one day!) ‘SurfCoast Whole Foods’ is the place where we get inspiration, meet up for deliciousness and buy our bulk goods. Get down there for lunch one day and enjoy every bit! Those guys really have their minds in the right place. It goes without saying that the beautiful Dee from ‘Dee-lightful Doings’ throws out daily inspiration towards a healthier lifestyle. And then there’s everything on Pintrest that just makes our mouths drool… so i’ve just had to have a crack at a few things of late in order to support our ‘eating to wellness’ plan… here’s what I love:
Quinoa – this grain is the best. We don’t eat pastas, or rices, so this baby makes us happy! A little superfood that we’re enjoying in sushi and salads.
Breakfast smoothies – we’re starting our days with these freezie-super-boosts, jam packed full of raspberries, chia seeds, maca powder, vital greens and protein powder. Cannot start my day without these!
Kale – we eat this leafy green baby in pretty much EVERYTHING we can think of. My mum (single most inspirational chef i know!) just turned it into a gnocchi style mouthful, must try this!
No sugar or processed foods, eating as much as we can in it’s whole form, call it Paleo, or Clean Eating, or Raw cooking… i don’t mind, we just know we’re making choices about our wellness that we never knew existed, and we’re pumped!
So, you get the picture. We are foodie fanatics and making sure each mouthful is actually doing something for us is important. The benefits are incredible but i’m going to leave that up to you to decide. I’m not about preaching my diet, because i’m not perfect. I attempt to eat like this for 80% of my time so I can allow for the rest for naughty indulgences. I still love my coffee with sugar, I will happily scoff one of my mum’s incredible brownies and social occasions with friends are based on eating out and sharing good food. I love food, I love making new things and being actively conscious of what goes into my body, and i’m certainly happy to share in my trials, because if by words in a recipe or my funny little pictures make you decide to try something new, then i’ll be pleased.
So, after being bombarded i’m posting 2 recipes:
My Raw Hazelnut Tarts and my Raw Lime and Passionfruit Cake – these sexy beasts will surely satisfy your sweet tooth if you are missing a little indulgence in your life!
Raw Hazelnut Tarts – Sexiest thing you’ll eat on a Sunday!
1 cup Almond meal
Handful of Almonds
Handful of soaked, dates
Dash of maple syrup
Place all of the above ingredient into a food processor and whizz until combined. Remove and place in a spring form cheesecake tin. Or you could make mini ones in tart pans. Set in the fridge.
For the Filling you’ll need –
2 1/3 cup soaked macadamias (soaking them for 10 mins before hand softens them up for blending)
1/3 cup cashews (soak them the same)
½ cup coconut oil
½ cup maple syrup or agave nectar
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
zest from 8-9 limes
¼ water
Place all nuts, lime juice, lime zest, maple syrup and water into food processor. Blend and then add coconut oil. Continue to blend until everything is combined and forming a smooth batter. Adjust limes by adding more to taste if needed.
Spoon filling into tin and top with remaining lime zest. Place in the freezer to set for a few hours.
Take out of the freezer about 20 mins before serving, pour over fresh passion fruit pulp, or tinned passion fruit pulp. Place fresh fruit in the center if you wish and serve!
So, hope you can enjoy some raw desserts that are totally guilt free! We do!
These Days are My Days and I love cake! x
These Days 
Lindsay – love the experimentation and exploration of good food. Even better that you’re finding it an exciting task… seems to be one of the keys with these things doesn’t it! The other is probably “lifestyle-afying” it. Getting interested in all the small detail and deconstructing it to really skill your mind up to choosing the right stuff.
I am trying to improve my own diet at the moment and am finding that by cutting out caffeine and sugar based drinks… i’ve now substituted it with green tea (3-4 cups a day), 5gm of spirulina (per day), and either a protein based drink or a cooked chicken breast for breakfast.. is really making a big difference to my energy and just general wellness.
Keep up your eating for wellness!
Thanks Michael, it is all very exciting. Sounds like you’re making some interesting changes too, I like sharing and hearing from like minded people! Hope you’ve got to enjoy some sunshine over the weekend! Cheers Lindsay