Fairy tale holiday ends

Well today is officially the last day of the school holidays. We have had such a fun time together as a family of 6! From surfing to bike riding, bush walking, scooter riding you name it!

Noah starts Grade 2 tomorrow, Oscar starts Prep on Thursday and Mietta has a 2hr session at a 3yo Early Learning Centre on Friday, so baby Zali and I get to enjoy some 1-on-1 time.

How are you?

Excited about our no added sugar challenge or what???? I'm super pumped and so excited by all your responses. I'm overloaded by so many questions over in Facebook and Instagram land so I hope to answer all your questions here or my fellow readers can assist me as well. Particularly those that did the challenge with me last year.

In fact there is a sensational book out by Sarah Wilson I QUIT SUGAR. I am desperately trying to give up sugar but sometimes the white devil gets the better of me. I turn to this book for inspiration so if you need some then I highly recommend you click here and grab yourself a copy if you too need some guidance on what to substitute over the 14 days and preferably FOREVS!!!!!! 

So which team will you join? 

In the meantime while you have a think, here's a great supportive chocolate cake from the one and only Teresa Cutter. This will fall in the category of the sugar babes if you are craving something sweet *remember only a slice not the entire cake :-) as fruits of life are omitting the extra natural sweeteners eg: honey, maple syrup etc...

Clean eating chocolate cake

Ingredients 

-2 whole oranges

-Your preferred natural sweetener measurement (eg 3/4 cup honey, agave or maple syrup) 

-6 organic free range eggs

-pinch of sea salt

-4 cups ground walnuts (400 g ) or almonds

-3/4  cup good quality dark cocoa powder

-1 teaspoon cinnamon

-1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract

Method;

1⃣ Steam the oranges until soft

2⃣ Once cool chop entire oranges including the skin. Place oranges with honey, salt, vanilla into a food processor

3⃣ Add eggs, keep blending

4⃣ Pour mixture into a bowl and simply fold other ingredients walnuts (or almonds) cocoa and cinnamon. 

5⃣ Spoon into a baking tin (line it with greaseproof paper) 

6⃣ Bake in a 170C degree oven until cooked through (approx. ­60 minutes) 

This is such a lovely and moist cake (The healthy chef AKA Teresa Cutter does it again). To ensure its cooked properly, test with a skewer. Completely cool the cake before serving into small pieces. Serves 10-12

We had ours with a dollop of organic thickened cream (I had mine with ricotta cheese) and fresh blueberries. For a super indulgent treat, drizzle some dark chocolate ganache after the 14 day challenge of course!!! 

Planks challenge

Our planks pictures have been sensational once again. So many pictures that I keep posting daily of the many inspirational people on Instagram. 180 Nutrition have been kind enough to sponsor my #planksjan2013 challenge as we all are planking for 31 days over January 3x1 minutes. I will be announcing the 4 random winners (2 male and 2 female plankers!) Monday 4th February. So stay tuned and keep tagging your pictures. 

Here are just a few of the plank stars I've posted for those that don't have Facebook, Instagram or Twitter;

Planks challenge

Here are our planks for the past 2 weeks!!! I am proud to announce that I officially can hold a plank 3 x 1 minutes!!! Woo Hoo!!! 

Planks challenge

Some fun down in Lorne and at home....

#planksjan2013 challenge

More pool fun and even a plank at my hairdressers!!!! 

31 day planks challenge

Okay heading to bed to sort out these little people bright and early in the morning. Thanks for stopping by and any questions about our challenge starting on Friday, ask away!!!!

Xx Dani