Bek's Chocolate Wrap Up. Healthy & Moorish Chocolate Easter Ideas From The Vault

Happy Easter everyone!

I hope it is safe, joyous and delicious for all.

For me I love Easter and the wonderful thing is you can enjoy and celebrate all things chocolate without gain 3 kilo's, truly you can! Easter, to me is about family and friends, good food, a celebartion and of course, chocolate.

But if your going to enjoy some delicious chocolate why not make it beautiful home-made your body will love and you wont have to run off for several weeks!

On the Sunshine Coast we also have the delight of the Easter weekend Kenilworth Cheese Festival complete with a kids "cheese hunt" as apposed to an egg hunt, cheese rolling ( a lot of fun!), cheese factory taste testing, wine taste testing and numerous gourmet and interesting stalls to delight. a pleasant way to spend Easter Sunday and a savoury break!

Looking for some delicious, healthy chocolate inspiration?

Bek's chocolate wrap

 Fruit and Nut Healthy Chocolates

 (gluten free, dairy free, vegan, refined sugar free)

Moorish Fruit & Nut Chocolate Slice(gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, vegan)

Spelt, Beetroot and Walnut Chocolate Brownies
(refined sugar free)

Sour Cherry, Spelt Chocolate Biscuits(Refined Sugar Free)

Chocolate Macadamia Ice Cream

Choccyliscious Muffins ( No Added Sugar)

Moist Fudgey Chocolate Cake Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free, Dairy Free

Zucchini & Chia Chocolate Cake

Beautiful Beetroot & Yoghurt Chocolate Muffins

Raw Energy Date, Pecan, Macadamia Chocolate SliceGluten Free, Dairy Free, Vegan, Raw, Refined Sugar Fee

Chocolate Raspberry, Goji SliceGluten Free, Dairy Free, Almost Raw, Vegan, Refined Sugar Free

Blissed Out Banana Split with Chocolate Sauce & Coconut Ice Cream(Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Grain Free, Vegan, Almost Raw, Refined Sugar Free)

And this I had to add in even though it is not my recipe, this unbelievably scrumptious creation is based on a recipe by Nutra Organics found on Natural New Age Mum, and has fast become a staple at our house for a delicious, easy to whip up in just moments treat!
Get the NNAM sensational original recipe post HERE
(plus you REALLY need to follow that blog it is beyond awesome!)
Nutra Organics Superfood Choccy Fudge My tweaked version is:

1 cup coconut oil, runny room temperature

1 cup organic rice malt syrup  (I often use less as we don't like it too sweet)

6 tablespoons cacao powder

2 heaped tablespoons Nutra Organics Super Greens Plus Reds (oh yeah all that goodness!)

2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
*1/2 teaspoon pink himalayn salt 

*1/2 cup sunflower seed butter

*1/2 cup sunflower seeds
*1/2 organic raisins
*1/2 cup walnuts
*1/2 cup whatever I feel like adding, could be dried figs, prunes, macadamia's, peppita seeds etc
Sooo yum!
I mix the coconut oil and rice malt, then add cacao and greens powder and salt, then paste, then mix all well.
pop in a lined tray and put in the fridge until set, remove, slice, return and store to fridge, putting on a high shelf otherwise your kids will slowly but surely shorten your supply when you are not looking!
If you are REALLY desperate for a choccy fix, like need right now and I "may" have done this, you can set it super fast in the freezer hehehe! 

Happy Cooking!
Eat beautiful, be active, live well, be happy
Bek XXX

What's in a natural new age mum's fridge - blog hop!

The beautiful Natural New Age Mum is doing a really FUN blog hop and asked me to share a peek inside my fridge.

Mine is chaos at the moment as we get ready for friends and family for my youngest 3rd birthday, and it's only tiny soo looks crazy! So I couldn't really take a shot of what it would normally look like but here is a peek and some of the contents XX

I  do apologise in advance that I did not have the time to make it pretty or time it to just after shopping! Maybe I will do another one down the track!

(pulled some of it out as it is chockers in there at the moment!!)

Pulled some out so you get an idea of how much veg we always have in our fridge, 3/4 of our fridge is always vegetables!!

So what are some of thin gs in my fridge?

• Local Product Gourmet garden tubes
• Local Product Pomodora's Dressing
• Local Product - a beautiful local coffee
• Local Product Noosa Chili Jam
• Organic Butter
• Assorted Cheeses (many are local) always parmesan, feta
• Coconut Water our favourite is Jt's coconut essence
• Local Product Maleny Dairies cream and yoghurts (couldn't even get to them behind all the fruit and jellies  sorry), extra at the momet as making mini icecream's for my daughters birthday party. The best dairy products, so natural and rich.
• Wine I have been sent to review and cook with.
• Pro biotics
• Olive leaf extract
• Tomato paste
• Free range eggs, always in there!
• Sweet leaf stevia drops at the moment I have vanilla and chocolate
• Cottage cheese, sour cream (you can;t see this shelf
• Containers of pre made things, quinoa, cooked lentils in stock, eays things to throw meals together with, tabouli, hummus. LOTS of pumpkin at the moment from all the carving from halloween!!
  I actually always cook too much too, think rice, lentils etc so always have containers of that too!
• Containers of leftovers
• Party Food prep
• A pre made juice (from juicer - I always make in batches so morning juice and one for later)
• Lots of fruit and vegetables
• I always normally have bowls and containers of easy grab snacks for the kids, cherry tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, green beans, celery sticks, blueberries, snow peas so they can just open and grab a snack and a few containers of grated carrot, cheese, beetroot for easy school wraps but no room at the moment. 
• Curry paste, some Asian sauces and condiments, sundried tomatoes, a sauce that has been in there since ...when I am not sure haha! Local chutneys and jams.
• LSA

Yes, I am moving from tupperware to glass and do have glass jars and things, but not wanting to contribute to landfill either and doing it on a budget is a gradual process.


If I had time to take all the party food prep out and tidy it up and time ot with shopping day I would have given you some gorgeous pics, but I'm a busy single mum of two kiddos and have had an insane couple of weeks and a big weekend so you just have to get the idea! Haha

Bek XXX

A Horticulturalist That Cooks

There are chef's that garden - I am a horticulturalist that cooks

From as early on as I can remember I was in the garden with my mum, my dad, even my grandfather.

My mum tells me I used to say I was a 'plant doctor' and carry a basket on my arm filled with scissors, sticky tape and homemade healing spray (water with lemon juice apparently) and trot around the garden like a doctor on their rounds (whether the plant was sick or not!)
At 16 I enrolled in my first year of study in Horticulture and fell in love with this field of study immediately.
Well actually maybe not the whole field as I never warmed to Horticultural machinery subjects, spark plugs and lawnmowers are not my friends but to be able to study and learn about plants was pure joy to me.
I knew then what it meant when people would say, "Find what you love to do and work becomes pleasure."

I also grew up with my mum working as a professional cook and came from family of chefs and cooks and all these incredible women making amazing food all the time, so right from an early age I had a love and wonder around food and cooking.

I love that in my life now these two elements are a big part of me and of what I do and what I share with my own two girls. 

I believe that growing food is one of the most exciting things we can bring into our lives.

I often think that if you are going to be watering a garden you should have at least one thing edible or medicinal within it. People usually only grow veggies and herbs in backyard plot but these plants can be so striking and beautiful, they really can be grown on full display and landscaped with to make dazzling displays and patterns in even the showiest of gardens.

To me it is the whole journey that excites me so much about real food and back to basic's, the journey that starts with food growing and ends with a delicious meal.

Want some of my edible gardening tips?

Check out my gardening tips in the post by Natural New Age Mum on her fantastic blog,
Gardening with Kids

You can also read about my latest adventure - cooking at the Real Food Festival, in the feature on me in the Hinterland Times here:
HERE "Back to basic's - that's all it takes"

Happy cooking AND gardening

Bek XX

*In the Spotlight*

I am really excited to share that myself, this blog, my recipes and my book have been in the spotlight a bit lately!


My book was in featured in Women's Running Australia Magazine

And on the blog Naughty Naturopath Mum

I was on the front page of the Range News and on page 3 about my blog and featured in the Sunshine Coast Daily too! See the online version HERE

I was featured on the beautiful Caro Ness Blog and also as a Mums in Health and as a proud supporter of the great work by The Diabetic Health Clinic

I also had one of my recipes from my upcoming Cook Book previously not seen elsewhere! Featured on the Natural New Age Mum Blog about Healthy Kids Party Food

And was a guest contributor on Mums Lounge with my Spinach, Kale and Broccoli Cheesey Scrambled Eggs Recipe - also from my upcoming Cook Book!