It seems kind of early to be doing an Easter post. But, hey, Woolworths got in months ago. Aaaannndddd, a stack of you have been asking for ideas and recipes and… So. Here you go.

image via bhg.com

First, some chocolate thinkings… and some good news

Since I’ve been asked this a lot, I’ll share where I’m at with chocolate. I love the stuff. Like, really love the stuff. It makes me teary with appreciation and gratitude and astonishment that something can just (not just taste but) feel so viscerally good.

But I do chocolate differently now.

* I eat raw cacao a lot more…see below for some ideas. Or my I Quit Sugar book for recipe suggestions. Raw cacao is the unheated, less processed version of cocoa (the stuff that most chocolate is made from). When people talk about chocolate being a high source of antioxidants and magnesium…they’re talking about the raw stuff; heating diminishes a lot of the properties. Makes sense. I use Loving Earth’s raw organic cacao…you can buy it here.

* I eat a few squares of the commercial 85 per cent cocoa stuff. Or, sometimes, the 70 per cent stuff.  In a small serve (three big squares or so), that’s about 1.5 (or three)  teaspoons of sugar. I weigh it up. I would rather eat great fats and proteins and veggies all day, plus some chocolate, than negotiate over a fruit salad or some tomato sauce on a burger. I choose, at times, to get my sugar through a small amount of sugar.

But I observe myself. I can tend to blow out and want to scoff the whole block. I have to be mindful. But this in itself is a good thing. As I bang on and on and on about.

After being off sugar some time, this is possible. Some no-sugar peeps don’t advise this.

* In the IQS ebook, I lament that there really ain’t any commercial chocolate bars out there using a safe sugar alternative, like glucose, rice malt syrup, xylitol or stevia. Instead the sugar free chocolates use sugar alcohols – like maltitol – and agave, both of which should be avoided. However, since then I’ve struck some luck…read on…

15 tips for easter

1. Easy egg treats: mix 5 tablespoons of coconut oil (melted) with 3 tablespoons of raw cacao powder (more or less depending on taste) and 3 tablespoons of hazlenut meal and pour into Easter egg moulds (the kind that come as a tray of indented shapes), or mini cupcake patties (the ones used for making chocolates). Place in fridge for an hour.

2. How about this…how to make an egg love heart. Oh my. Serve on Easter morning for “they’ll never know all the other kids are having chocolate confection” fun.

3. What about some lemon poppy seed bunny cookies?

I’ve been asked a few times about coconut flour. Is it a grain? Is it starchy? Good for kids quitting sugar? I could’ve mouthed off based on a vague knowledge. But I dug around a bit…

Erstwhile, my conclusions:

There are six reasons to give coconut flour a crack.

1. It’s sweet tasting, but contains no fructose (as with all coconut products).

2. It’s great for baking – it gives things a dense texture.

3. But it’s grainless, thus containing no sugary starch nor toxins (phytic acid etc). Which is why it’s the paleo’s “flour” of choice.

4. It’s efficient. It’s the natural byproduct from making coconut milk – the dried coconut meat that’s left over. I like this. It’s using up stuff that would otherwise be chucked.

5. It curbs cravings. It’s rich in protein, fiber and good fat. As well as manganese, which is craving-curber.

A few months back I connected with Lee Holmes who told me she was writing a cookbook. She asked if I’d “endorse it”. For some niggly, gut-based reason I had a very sound feeling about what she was doing…Lee has an autoimmune disease and has healed herself through diet. She sent me some recipes from her book…and I thought, This Is The Book We All Need.

Cut to today. Supercharged Food – 90 recipes that don’t contain gluten, wheat, sugar, yeast or dairy – is out now. It’s rare that I’d want to cook every recipe in a book (I’ve already played with several, including lavender tea with almond milk!!), so choosing a few to share with you here was an indecisive’s conundrum. But I thought it might be nice to share two that are perfectly geared for toting on the annual schlepp to the stodge-fest that is family Christmas…so you don’t have to be tempted by bloody mince pies.

butternut cookies

• 150g coconut flour
• 1/4 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons stevia powder, plus extra to dust
• a pinch of sea salt
• 200g cashew butter
• 4 organic eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 1/2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons coconut milk (try Lee’s homemade version, recipe in her book)

Preheat the oven to 175 C and grease a baking tray.

In a bowl, mix together the coconut flour, baking powder, stevia and salt.