Would you like less guilt with that chocolate?

Don't we all?

I never used to care for chocolate. Or anything sweet, really. Then I became pregnant, and all of a sudden I was nosing through the cupboard at night wanting a little something sweet after dinner. And when mid-morning hit, when I'd normally have a bagel or some toast, I was all about the Pop-Tarts and Tim Tams. Who had I become?

Someone who got excited at easter, for the first time since about 1992, that's who.

And even though I've been using my entire body's resources to feed a small and seemingly-constantly-hungry child, and have every right to eat extra calories without fear or favour, I still felt guilty when a block of chocolate was nothing but scraps of tin foil and torn packaging only two days after I bought it. Chocolate's not healthy, I thought. I should be eating a handful of nuts and an apple, and instead I'm eyeing off the M&Ms.

Then I was told about Table of Plenty's Mini Rice Cakes and the European chocolate that could be entering my mouth and leaving the guilt at the door. Wholegrain rice cakes and European chocolate sound like awkward dinner companions, but I'm happy to say it works. They sent me some to try, and 15 calories a cake meant I could eat a bag (and I totally did) and feel like I got a dose of healthy with that chocolate. A dose of gluten-free healthy. And a dose of gluten and lactose AND fructose free healthy with the dark chocolate variety. Win!

If chocolate's not for you, they also come in Triple Berry - a pure cocoa butter berry yoghurt coating. I wasn't quite as sold on those, but I think that's entirely because I don't like berry-flavoured things. I have a weird dream I once had featuring strawberry-flavoured YoGos to thank for that.

I really love the idea behind Table of Plenty - bringing "products with life, education, innovation and style that stand out from the ordinary" to supermarkets. These products use healthy ingredients, and are quick and easy. They even give back by supporting organisations for children and people with disabilities, and via the creator, Kate Weiss, work to bring education and tools for self-development to women and girls worldwide.
You can read more about Kate's story and how she founded Table of Plenty after her own child was diagnosed with a disability here.


Food with a heart! I love it.

They're $3.99 a pack at Coles, but I have three lots of all three flavours to give away... just leave a comment telling me what your favourite pregnancy snack was (and if you're a dude, then just go ahead and tell me what your favourite snack is!) and I'll get random.org to find three lucky recipients.

And if your favourite snack was a strawberry flavoured YoGo, then we can't be friends.... ;)


Giveaway closes Monday September 19 at 10am xx


Congratulations to Amanda Elizabeth, Becci Swan and Queensland Girl. Look out for your email!

Banana pineapple cake

Scene: Back porch.10am.  You're busy organising your lesson for tomorrow on privacy law and confidentiality as it pertains to writers. You're having a delicious piece of home-baked cake and a cup of coffee with just a hint of vaniila.

Enter: creepy bird.

This is not the first time creepy bird has crept up on you. Once he and a friend advanced on you so eerily that you had flashes of Hitchcock's The Birds and you retreated to the safety of indoors.

Not today. Today you will stay. Today you will fight.

Creepy bird has already been shooed out of your indoor sanctuary that morning. He's getting bold.

Creepy bird leaps onto the table and creeps ever closer to your delicious cake....

But you are vigilant. You watch closely, munching the cake. He creeps over to your left hand side. You bang the table and ask him politely to leave.

He merely jumps on the chair next to you. You move your cake to the right hand side and continue your surveillance. He cocks his head and looks at your cake. Eventually you relax. He's not pecking your eye out, nor is he getting tangled in your hair. If he moves a muscle you will spring into action.

Or so you think.

Suddenly, when you least expect it and you're deep in the subchapter of telecommunications and tapping phones, a flash of black and white explodes from your periphery, almost hitting your nose. It swoops down over your plate, clutching his prize in his beak and dropping it mere inches from you. Eating it. Triumphant. Ignoring you.

When you've recovered from your heart attack and your cardiovascular system calms down, you mourn your loss, cut another slice of cake, reheat what's left of your coffee and marvel at how delicious your cooking is even the wildlife risk their necks in order to eat it.

It is only fair that you share the recipe. It comes with a bird warning.

Ingredients: 

1 cup raw sugar
2 tablespoons honey (or another 1/4 cup sugar)
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
3-4 medium ripe bananas
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp salt
450g can crushed pineapple, drained
A sprinkle of nutmeg and cinnamon (optional)

Method:  

Preheat oven to 180C

1. Mix sugar, honey, butter, eggs, bananas and milk.

2. Add flour and salt and stir.

3. Add drained pineapple, nutmeg and cinnamon, if using.

4. Pour into cake tin and bake 45 minutes. Test after this as it may need a little longer.


You can substitute the pineapple with apple, pear, peach... any fruit almost. Or leave it completely out. It makes a good, moist cake that's not overly sweet. You can frost it, or just smear it with butter, like I do, and keep out of reach of birds.

Adapted from Betty Crocker Bananaberry Bread