Good Food Friday: Sugar free goodness and a giveaway you can’t miss!

Oh my little loins, will you look at what’s being served up today?!  If anybody wants to make this recipe for me and drop it in, feel free.  I have to say Hummingbird cake is my all time favourite.  With recipes this good – nobody is missing out!  Today’s recipe is thanks to the beautiful Nicole Beardsley from the Happy Parent Project.  I know Nicole well – she is a delight and an asset to the wellness industry.  Keep reading to find out all about this gorgeous girl and all she has to offer PLUS how to score yourself a copy of her book ‘Sugar Free Baking,’ because who doesn’t want a slice of THAT?

Hummingbird Cake

Ingredients

· 1 cup dates (soaked in boiling water for 10 mins if dried)

· 250grams gluten free self-raising flour

· 2 bananas mashed

· 1x 440g can of crushed pineapple, drained

· 1/2 tsp cinnamon

· 1/2 cup shredded coconut

· 1 cup rice bran oil (or your oil of choice)

· 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

· 1/2 cup rice malt syrup (or honey)

· 2 Tb chia seeds (soaked in 1 Tb water) – or use 2 eggs if you prefer

Method

· Pre-heat oven to 180 ̊C

· Drain the water from the dates, then add the chia seeds, rice malt syrup and oil and food process all together

· Add this mixture to all of the other ingredients and stir gently

· Pour into a round cake pan that has been oiled and lined with baking paper

· Bake for 30-45 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean

· Leave in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack

· Ice with cream cheese icing or if you prefer a dairy free option, serve with a spoonful of coconut yoghurt

Nicole headshot small

 

Nicole Beardsley is a Mother of 3 with a life’s purpose to heal others. With over 10 years of experience in the health industry she was challenged both emotionally and educationally 4 years ago when her young daughter was unable to be healed with Western medicine.  So began a journey into the world of nutrition as she uncovered that it was a modern diet wreaking havoc with her daughter’s fragile immune system. She studied nutrition, read every book available to her on food and it’s impact on the body, spoke to experts in alternative medicine and experimented on her own children with an alternative diet including wholefoods, superfoods and fermented foods. She wrote all of her recipes down for her own personal reference and interestingly as her daughter healed she had requests for her creations.

4 years on and she is now a certified and practicing Health Coach with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, a successful author and blogger and owner of The Happy Parent Project. Nicole says that there is a wealth of knowledge out there for parents on how to live a healthier lifestyle, but what’s missing is someone to support them to do it. “I decided to share these recipes with other Mum’s because I could see that they needed the support that was missing for me 4 years ago. I was exhausted with a newborn, my daughter was always sick and I didn’t know what to feed her. This book is what I needed myself. They’re simple recipes that are healthy alternatives to your kids favourite treats, packed full of immune boosting foods so they won’t get sick, quick and easy to prepare, and ‘normal’ looking so that your kids can take them to kinder without feeling like they’re missing out!”

Nicole is excited and proud to share all that she has learnt with other Mum’s through Sugar Free Baking. She will spend 2014 working on an exciting new online coaching programme to support Mum’s to make the transition to a healthier lifestyle.

pic for nicole

Sugar Free Baking for busy families is the healthy baking learner guide for busy Mum’s. Parents these days are so aware of the need for healthy and nutritious breakfasts and snacks for their family, but they struggle to know where to start in making them. Sugar Free Baking is the book that parents have been waiting for. With handy charts and tips you will be guided through the rules of baking without refined sugar and flour and the alternatives you can use. You’ll learn how to pump your recipes up with immune boosting and calming wholefoods, and the top tips on how to make the transition to healthy eating for your family without any fuss or pain! With 33 recipes covering breakfast, snacks and dessert that are refined sugar, dairy, wheat and soy free this beautifully designed collection will inspire and support  you in transitioning your family to healthier eating.

GIVEAWAY TIME!

Nicole is giving two lucky readers the chance to win a copy of her new book, Sugar Free Baking. Simply tell me below, in 25 words or less, why you would like to win (and specify your choice of the ebook version or paperback).

Winners will be announced next Friday, 21st March 2014.

Happy Parent Project

Connect with Nicole here.

or follow her on Facebook

28 Comments

  • March 14, 2014 By Sandra 8:21 am

    I would love to provide the grandparents with a paper back to show there are great alternative treats to show their love!

  • March 14, 2014 By Jo 8:44 am

    I would like to win a paperback version for my sister who has 2 little kids (3 and 7mths) as

    I’m trying to teach her to scrap processed and packaged food and move to wholefoods instead. This would totally help!! Thank you!

  • March 14, 2014 By Tallene Hacatoryan 8:45 am

    I am currently struggling with my fear of trusting myself to get off the pill because I have PCOS. I love learning how to eat clean.

  • March 14, 2014 By Vid 9:17 am

    I would like to win because my kids are sugarholics!!!! I would love the ebook

  • March 14, 2014 By Kristen 9:31 am

    I would love to win the e book as I have PCOS and am beginning the joining to heal my body so my husband and I can start a family.

  • March 14, 2014 By Carla 9:47 am

    I’ve quit sugar for a month now

    I already feel like a winner,

    But what I’m desperately needing

    Is some new ideas for dinner!

  • March 14, 2014 By kelly 10:13 am

    because food is fuel! what we put in our mouths has a direct and tangible affect on how we feel. knowing that and living that daily it great, but a girls gotta get her cake on. she’s just gotta!

  • March 14, 2014 By Maree 11:05 am

    I would love a paperback one to teach my kids and the girls guides I work with that we can have gorgeous food without refined added sugar!!

  • March 14, 2014 By Sarah Carter 1:59 pm

    I would love to win a paperback version to help convince my diabetic father that low sugar and whole foods can taste amazing.

  • March 14, 2014 By Cathy 2:36 pm

    I’m a mother and Osteopath. I struggle to recommend cookbooks where nutritionally dense food will not only nourish but heal. Your book sounds like just the thing!!!!

  • March 14, 2014 By Teagan 3:12 pm

    I am hoping to soon be able to start a family and this would be the perfect reading material!

  • March 14, 2014 By Samantha 3:58 pm

    ‘Sugar Free Baking’ I’d love to win,

    To nourish and nurture our future children!

    Parents-to-be, much to learn, you see

    Paperback version would do wonderfully!

  • March 14, 2014 By Amie 4:02 pm

    I am a sucker for sweet food, but don’t know how to bake sugar free, I’d love the help from this cute book!

  • March 14, 2014 By Boi 5:15 pm

    I do not know to bake and would love to learn healthy baking.

    I would like a paperback version

  • March 14, 2014 By Elisha 5:23 pm

    I’d love to win a paperback because my daughter has allergies, I had conception issues and borderline pco before she was conceived and… I love treats!

  • March 14, 2014 By Sarah M 6:52 pm

    I would love to win the Paperback version of Sugar Free Baking! I am slowly building my collection of beautiful wholefood cookbooks and this one looks like exactly what I need! I have a diet free of refined sugar and gluten (to heal and nourish my body after a journey through endometriosis) and being time poor, I often get stuck in a rut with only a few recipes on rotation. Would love to explore the recipes in this book! And can’t wait to try the Hummingbird Cake recipe! Thank you! 🙂

  • March 14, 2014 By Brooke 10:16 pm

    I would love a copy of this book because I believe in health and I believe food is a major part of this. (Paperback)

  • March 15, 2014 By Raelene whitson 6:57 am

    I would love a copy of the paperback book to help my family convert to healthier foodchoices. If it’s like this hummingbird cake it’ll be great!

  • March 15, 2014 By Karen Tomic 12:14 pm

    I like to bake

    I like to eat

    But without the guilt

    Would be so sweet 😉

    • March 15, 2014 By Karen Tomic 12:15 pm

      Oh & if I win – I would prefer a paperback version of your book please x

  • March 16, 2014 By Erin 8:12 am

    I’ve recently decided to remove sugar from my children’s diets (as much as physically possible) and would love some extra inspiration for baking, as that’s one of the activities we love doing together.

  • March 17, 2014 By Meagan 11:32 am

    The above recipe is fantastic – I would love to see more in a paperback book!

  • March 17, 2014 By Elsa Perry 8:53 pm

    I would love to win the paperback because it would help my daughter who has a sweet-tooth but cannot tolerate sugar well.

  • March 18, 2014 By Chloe Barber 4:05 pm

    I have 2 girls and I want to teach them from a young age how to live a healthy lifestyle without all of the nasties

    • March 18, 2014 By Chloe Barber 4:06 pm

      I’d love the paperback version too !

  • March 21, 2014 By Kathryn 4:46 pm

    My husband and I are due to have our first child in July this year and I am so scared about being a good mother and something like the impact of food on my child’s upbring is a daunting task. I have began to eliminate sugar from my diet but I am missing the baking, I find it difficult to be creative at the end of a long week of work and having a recipe book would be great!!!!!!!

    • March 21, 2014 By Kathryn 4:47 pm

      paper back or ebook doesnt bother me 🙂

  • March 22, 2014 By Shannon Busby 5:37 pm

    Hello! I saw this too late…just this morning…but thought I would at least connect with you and introduce myself…my husband and I have been on an incredible fertility journey…for 10 years we have been trying to have a family of our own and the road has been wild! I underwent a holistic lifestyle change, adjusted my diet, adopted colon hydrotherapy and underwent training, and have basically been doing all I can to heal my body of candida, emotional and mental blockages and relaxing in all areas of my life…one of those areas has been my relationship with food. During all of the cleansing period I developed a fear of food and stopped baking and cooking much and stuck with very simple foods that I knew would not trigger the candida or yeast. But that also meant that my husband was left with bland meals because I wouldn’t taste the food I was making him because I was afraid of it making me sick all over again. There were no more cupcakes, or cookies or nice things like that that he enjoyed and it actually created a rift between us. When I did make cookies or something like that it was only with other kinds of flours and organic incredients and kept turning out like hockey pucks…I was rushing too fast and just making up my own recipes, using stevia, or honey, or maple syrup…so now that things have changed and I have calmed down, healed my relationship with food and am going to get a certification as a health coach myself, I want to do all I can to create beautiful, fun, healthy, nutritious, healing meals that show love and will set a strong foundation of a healthy relationship with food for future children. My behavior before caused so much anger inside my husband because he feared that our future children would have so many restrictions and not be able to just enjoy food with friends and family but have a huge fear of it…it caused some major issues in our marriage. Now that we have both worked on our relationship, our respect, acceptance, love and just plain friendship for each other…I have so much of a desire to get back in the kitchen and create things that show love and that are delicious. But we are still wanting a family and both understand the effects of sugar on the human body and reproduction…so I am trying to always find recipes that use sweet vegetables, stevia, natural sweeteners, to make food decadent but not yeast feeding…my husband had a bout with yeast issues for a while so he tries to stay away from sugar also. Healing our relationship and knowing that we won’t have to protect our future children from each others food habits is so empowering and a huge stress relief…cooking together in the kitchen is one of the fun and romantic and sexy things we do together and when we have things that we can enjoy that are delicious…it makes such a difference!

    Kindly,

    Shannon

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