Christmas Treats - Pudding Bliss Balls

            I love making food for others. I genuinely love testing out recipes I have created, from an idea I have seen here on the internet. I struggle to follow recipes, but I love that. I feel free and happiest when I throw ingredients together that form what I envision in my head, and it works out! (sometimes it doesn’t and that’s ok).

            So this year for a few of the Christmas parties with my friends, I decided to try my hand at making healthy gingerbread men, because I’ve never tried baking them before. I also decided to try a Christmas pudding inspired little bliss ball, because I think they would look really cute on a dessert platter and would be super easy to share around with everyone.

After spending a morning in the kitchen trying to create a healthy version of gingerbread, and ending up only making a slightly ginger tasting, man shaped rock. I decided to leave it for another day and just make the pudding bliss balls. Which actually turned out really well! So I thought I’d share the recipe with you all.

Confession: I used to hate dried fruit. I would avoid anything with dried fruit in it like the plague! So the thought of Christmas pudding would always turn me right off. I have only recently, in the last few years, formed a love for dried fruits. I also love using them as a sweetener when baking, when I’m not using coconut sugar or rice malt syrup.

            I personally like to avoid a lot of highly processed foods, and any product with a crazy long ingredients list, because I don’t feel as good when I eat them to often. I love using whole food ingredients when I am cooking or baking, that doesn’t have any sneaky additives or unnecessary ingredients, also choosing organic when I can.

Although these little puddings have 2 cups of dried fruit, they aren’t too sweet. Which I think is perfect in a season where a lot of the food is often very rich and very sweet. They are a perfect little afternoon or after dinner treat on Christmas day or at a Christmas party.

Pudding Bliss Balls

Plant-based - Dairy Free - Gluten Free

Makes: 35 small balls or 18 larger balls

Time:  Prep- 15-20 mins

Setting- 30 mins minimum

Ingredients:

- 1 cup dates

- 2 cup almonds

- 1 cup sultanas

- ¼ cup goji berries

- Zest of ½ a lemon

- 1 tsp ground cinnamon

- 1 tsp ground ginger

- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg

- ¼ tsp ground clove

- Pinch Himalayan pink salt

- 1 tsp maca powder (optional)

- 1 tsp mesquite powder (optional)

Topping: (optional)

            These little pudding bliss balls taste amazing as they are, but if you want to go that little bit extra and decorate them you could do either of these chocolate options, and then top with goji berries:

- 50g dark choc melted (will no longer be plant-based and dairy free, unless you choose to use a vegan chocolate)

Or

- Carob dairy free chocolate

            - 4 tbsp coconut oil, melted

            - 3 heaped tbsp carob powder (could also use raw cacao powder)

            - 1 tbsp liquid sweetener (I used rice malt syrup)

            - 1 tbsp unhulled tahini

            - Pinch of Himalayan pink salt (optional)

            - Pinch chili flakes (optional)

- 70 goji berries (2 for each pudding, you’ll only need around 36 if you are doing a larger shaped bliss balls)

Method:

- If your using dried dates, soak them in boiling water to soften and re-hydrate them a bit. If your using medjool dates, or a similar fresher variety, you won’t need to soak them.

- Pop the almonds into a food processor, and blitz them by themselves first to get them broken down a bit, aim for a coarse crumb.

- Drain the dried dates well, squeeze the water from them and add them into the food processor, along with all the other ingredients except for the goji berries. Blitz this up until the mixture has combined to a point where it is sticky and is able to form a ball shape. You can decide how finely chopped you want all of your ingredients, but I kind of like that you can see different chunks of ingredients.

- Once you’re happy with the consistency, add in the goji berries and stir them through the mixture. 

- Spoon out around a tablespoon of mixture at a time and roll it into solid ball shapes. Lay these out on a tray or a plate and pop them in the fridge to firm up. It also helps set the chocolate when the bliss balls are a cool temperature.

- If you do decide to decorate your bliss balls, you can melt the dark chocolate and spoon over half a teaspoon on top of each bliss ball, or combine the ingredients of the carob chocolate in a bowl and spoon over half a teaspoon on the top of each bliss ball. When combining the ingredients for the carob chocolate, mix them until just combined, as it tends to split if you over mix it.

- Lastly before setting the pudding bliss balls in the fridge, top each one with two goji berries for that little finishing touch.

- Store the pudding bliss balls in the fridge in an airtight container.

Let me know how you go if you do try these out yourselves, or post a picture on instagram with the hashtag #cinnamoncourtney so I can see all of your recreations!

Merry Christmas xo

‘My life is too short not to do what I love’ – Robert Holden

The Holiday Season - Ho Ho Happy

For me, this is the best time of the year. I love all the decorations, all the holiday cheer, all the opportunities to be around my family and friends, and just the general happiness of bringing round the end of another year.

            So as my favourite time of year only comes around every 12 months, I do often go a bit overboard in indulging myself in all things Christmas, and who wouldn’t? There are a few things I have found that have helped me over the years to stay healthy through a few of the events, when I know I will most likely try and put everything edible in my mouth.

            ~ Firstly, a cheeky trick is to have a healthy snack before your event, this way your wont be starving when you arrive and eat more than you normally would. When your hungry you tend to reach for a more energy dense foods to bring your energy levels back up and keep you going, and in this case at a party or dinner it may sway your choice of food and increase the amount. Also make sure you drink enough water, as sometimes being thirsty can mask itself as feeling hungry.

            ~ If it’s an event where you have the opportunity to make something, offer to bring a healthy dish. This not only gives you a healthy option but it also gives you the chance to show other people that healthy doesn’t always equal bland. Give them an opportunity to try something they may not attempt by themselves. You could whip up a pad thai salad, a raw pesto zoodle dish, or even venture into the yummy dessert area and test out a chai cashew cheesecake or plant based caramel slice.

            ~ Something that I know that I need to work on is eating mindfully. This technique is where you pay attention to what your eating, how you feel while eating, the taste and feel of the food, and how it is nourishing your body. It gives a stronger presence to what your eating and allows you to enjoy it a lot more when you are focusing on all the elements of the food. It is also brings about a focus on how your body is reacting to what your eating. It allows you to notice your hunger cues and when you feel satisfied, so you don’t have to reach that overstuffed feeling that I usually feel after Christmas lunch. It should also allow you to become more in tune with your eating cues that may not be related to hunger, such as emotional triggers, anxiousness, stress or boredom. All of which is something I need to work on more in my life, so I’ll let you know how it works out.

            ~ Most of all you need to relax, I love getting together with all my friends and family, and I can’t enjoy myself if I’m stressing about what I can and can’t eat, or whether I’ve eaten to much. If I have over eaten on something naughty, great, it was amazing, I will move on and continue to enjoy this time of the year. I wont see it as something standing in the way of my progress, because life is a balance of all facets of health. Give yourself room to enjoy the season, and live in the moment to its fullest.

            Staying healthy over the holiday season is so much more than just your physical health, sometimes you just need to find time to yourself and give yourself a break from the craziness that often comes with Christmas. Make sure you get enough sleep and just give yourself some space to return back to your center, whether that be through practicing yoga or meditation, going to the gym, reading a book or just taking a bubble bath. Whatever works for you!

            I for one am so excited for the jam-packed week ahead. I hope you are all have an amazing day!

‘Life always gets better when I treat myself better’ – Robert Holden

Finding Your Truth

            I want to start this adventure by first saying that I will be wrong. There are no guarantees in this life, and I will not fulfill all of the roles you need me to play.

            We are all human and it is in our nature to make mistakes, and that is alright, even though it often doesn’t feel like it at the time. It is how we learn and grow. How we figure out our place in this world, so there will never come a day when you will have reached perfection (I am a perfectionist, so I often struggle with this).

            Each and every one of us is different. We all have our own values, beliefs and experiences, and this shapes what we do and how we act. It forms our opinions and creates our priorities. What works for one person may not work for you, no matter how passionate that person is about it being so right. Take what is being said as an opportunity to see a point of view you may not have thought of. Not as an attack against your values and beliefs.

            I want to say that even though I do have a degree in the health and nutrition field, this space is where I want to interact with all of you, express my opinions, and share my truths and experiences. That doesn’t make what I am saying the absolute or only truth.

I often struggle with the thought of people finding one thing said on the internet, and having them cling to it without further research. That is what makes this generation so lucky; we all have the access to an extensive amount of resources and the ability to build our knowledge and understanding of any topic, through researching any number of places.

            So please do not take what I say as the only answer, if you want, simply use it as a piece of the puzzle or a different view point of the topic your interested in.

This post is my version of a disclaimer for my little patch on the internet.

 

‘Being myself involves no risks. It is my ultimate truth, and I live it fearlessly’ – Brian L. Weiss

A Little Bit About Me

 Hello to everyone out there in the blogging world!

            I have loved the health, wellness and food blogs out on the internet for quite a while, and have drooled my way through so many amazing health instagram pages for even longer, and although I am not entirely sure which direction this blog will take, I am excited to start this little adventure.

            So here is a little introduction into me: I am from country Victoria in Australia and have very recently made the move to Melbourne. My friends and family mean the world to me and I love to cook and bake for them.

I am a Public Health and Health Promotion graduate with a major in Nutrition, and one of my biggest passions is to recreate healthy alternatives from unhealthy recipes.

I find that what deters people from eating healthy is the misconception that it is all boring, repetitive and bland tasting, and that they have to ban all their sweet treats and indulgences, in an ‘all or nothing’ approach to their healthy living lifestyle.

Although, a healthy life style is not only about nutrition and physical wellbeing but your mental, environmental and social wellbeing as well, finding a balance across all of these areas that works for you is what a healthy lifestyle is all about. Taking small positive steps in each of the areas will make a difference overall in the long run, there is no need to rush the process, as it is a lifestyle that will ebb and flow through life, and constantly be changing with your experiences and education.

There are also many, many more social, emotional, environmental, physical and spiritual factors that affect a person’s ability and desire to move towards a healthier self, which I am hoping to explore along with you here in this space.

So through my love of all things food, nutrition, health and wellbeing, I am broadening my knowledge base, and hope that this can be a space where we can share our experiences and insights with each other and build a healthier happier future.

To create great social change there needs to be individuals willing to make a difference.

Myself and one of my best friends.

‘I came here to be me’ ~ Robert Holden