September 2015

I'm still just as crazy about Peanut Butter and Chocolate as I have ever been. So it was only natural to come up with this super delicious, mouth watering recipe for some Peanut Butter Chocolate Truffles! They're amaze-balls. (Excuse the pun!)

It's totally healthy, which is kind of mind blowing because they taste very UN-healthy! The mixture is lovely and rich, and soft to bite into. But the cherry on top (figuratively speaking) is that they're coated in Peanut Butter Chocolate! I mean seriously.. can your day get any better?! Peanut Butter Chocolate on Peanut Butter Chocolate! That is my kind of dessert.

If you've been making some lovely raw treats recently, you'll probably have the ingredients in your cupboard already, but if you don't, then it's time to slip down to the grocery store! They are THAT good. Trust me.

Let's get to it.

You'll need a high speed blender or food processor to make the chocolate mixture. I used my Optimum Blender.

INGREDIENTS

Chocolate Ball Mix:

1/3 cup of Cashews

1/3 cup of Almonds

375g of Pitted Dates (Roughly. Doesn't have to be exact)

1/2 cup Raw Cacao

6 Tablespoons of Natural Peanut Butter

1/4 cup of Water

Chocolate Sauce:

2 1/2 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil

2 Tablespoons of Raw Cacao

2 Tablespoons of Natural Peanut Butter

1 Tablespoon of Maple Syrup

1 Tablespoon of Honey

Serves: Roughly 25 balls. (But like I did for the last truffles, I was eating them again as I went! Whoops.)

Blend up your Cashews and Almonds first. Once ground up as shown, pop in your Dates.

Blend until you have a consistent mixture. Then add your Cacao, Peanut Butter and Water and continue to blend until it forms a delicious chocolatey paste. Scoop out your chocolate mixture into a bowl ready for rolling.

The mixture is quite sticky so it took me a little practice to figure out a good way to roll them. Yes.. I've made these more than once now! Let me save you the trouble and give you my tips! Firstly, I used some latex kitchen gloves. I made sure I bought the ones that were food safe! And secondly, the easiest way I've found is to actually roll them in Cacao! Do this by scooping up balls worth of mixture and drop it into a small bowl of Cacao. Move it around a little, and then roll it in your palm. It saved me a lot of time and frustration doing it this way!

Once all the mixture is rolled into balls, it's time to coat them in one final chocolatey layer of YUM. So pop the chocolate balls into the freezer while your get your Chocolate Sauce ready. Having them cold helps the chocolate sauce to set nice and fast.

In the cooler weather, coconut oil is hard, so make sure your coconut oil is a liquid before you add your other ingredients. I put it in a mini milk pan on low heat to melt it. Then simply add all your other ingredients and mix well until it's relatively smooth! The peanut butter can take a little longer to blend into the mixture, but it comes together just lovely. Give it a couple minutes.

Before coating the balls, the chocolate sauce will need to be the right temperature and thickness. If you mixed it together over the stove it will be too hot and runny to do it straight away. So pop it in the fridge. It won't take long for it too cool down and thicken up. Only a few minutes, so don't leave it too long. Stir it through often to check. It can take a couple attempts to know how thick it needs to be. If it's too thin, it will run straight off. But if it's too thick, you'll run out of mixture! There is a lovely medium though, and you'll be able to coat all the balls perfectly. To do this, pop a chocolate ball on a teaspoon and dip it into your chocolate sauce. Let the excess sauce run off a little, then pop it down on a tray lined with baking paper.

Once all the balls are covered, pop them into the freezer to set properly for about 30 minutes. Then serve! If they're not being eaten straight away, keep them in the freezer to keep the chocolate from melting.

And that's it! You won't regret it. Super deliciously healthy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Truffles! No guilt.

Enjoy your Saturday!!

- A M Y D A V I S

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Since making the decision to be healthier, and to get my body back, I've made a bunch of sacrifices in the food department! I figure, you only get out of something what you put in. If you put in semi-effort, you're going to get semi-results. So in order to get to where I want to be, I'm going to have to quite literally work my butt off! A big part of changing your lifestyle is watching what you let into your body.

I don't think there is too much harm in having the occasional 'unhealthy' chocolate treat! However if you have poor self control like me, one little chocolate treat turns into a whole packet very quick. And then you fall back into old habits, and there IS harm in that. So I figure, why risk it? I'm so sick of falling into that spiral. That's why I've made the decision to pretty much completely cut out store bought sweets and treats. We don't buy it, and therefore don't eat it! Genius. Having said this, the 'pretty much' that I mentioned before are for times like Birthdays, Weddings or Christmas Day, where I think it's totally okay to practice some self control and enjoy yourself. As long as you don't go overboard, and you do remember to stick to small portions! After you've been healthy for a while, you'll find that eating a handful of unhealthy treats will actually make you feel sick! So be prepared for that. It just goes to show you how bad they really are for you, and how much your body does NOT want them.

I'm still learning, that's for sure, but I'm really excited about where I'm heading. I'm loving the workouts I'm doing, and I'm loving finding and coming up with healthy/raw recipes! Especially the ones that keep those chocolate cravings as bay.

After looking up lots of different recipes for raw chocolate truffle balls, I decided to make up my own version. Luckily they turned out delicious!! Thank goodness I took photos, because they didn't last long at all!

Okay, okay, I'll stop blabbering on. Let's get to the recipe!!

You'll need a high speed blender or food processor to make the chocolate mixture. I used my Optimum Blender.

INGREDIENTS

Chocolate Mix:

375g of Pitted Dates (Roughly. Doesn't have to be exact)

1 Avocado

1/2 cup of Raw Cacao

1/3 cup of Raw Cashews

1/3 cup of Almonds

1/3 cup of Goji Berries

1/4 cup of Water

Toppings:

Goji Berries

Raw Cacao

Desiccated Coconut

Serves: Roughly 25 balls. (Hard to tell as I was eating it as I went! Awk.)

Pop the Dates into your blender (or processor), and blend to form a paste. You will probably need to stop a few times and scrape the mixture down from the sides.

Once relatively smooth, add the Avocado, Raw Cacao, Cashews, Almonds and Water. Blend together to form a lovely chocolatey mixture. Tip the mixture out into a bowl. Then mix your Goji Berries through with a spoon.

So quick and easy, and it already tastes delicious! Go ahead and taste test it to make sure it's how you want it. If you think it needs anything extra, feel free to add it!

Put your various toppings into bowls. Just put a little of each into the bowls, and add more when you need it. Otherwise you may waste it if it's not used up, as you'll end up with little chocolate bits all through it!

Now the fun part! Using the palms of your (washed) hands, roll the mixture up into balls and roll them in your toppings.

NOTE: I found the mixture quite sticky, so I used some clear latex kitchen gloves to help, but it's up to you.

And that's it! Super delicious AND healthy chocolate truffles! No guilt.

Enjoy!

- A M Y D A V I S

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Tuesday morning rolled around like any other morning. The sun was shining and birds were chirping. As I ate breakfast, I looked over at the bags next to the door. And it dawned on me that this Tuesday, was going to be very different from any other Tuesday I had ever woken up to. Different, in fact, from any other day in my whole life. We would be leaving the house soon, and not returning until we were holding our baby girl!

It was kind of a crazy thought.

I had been hoping that Isla would decide to arrive a little early, because due to having Gestational Diabetes, the doctor had booked me in to be induced the day before my due date. I wasn't too keen on the idea, and would have much preferred to let it all just happen naturally. But as it turned out, Isla was quite comfortable and had no intention whatsoever of arriving early to the party!

As the time passed throughout the morning, we gradually got ready. I didn't want to think too much about what was going to happen. As this was my first birth, I was a little apprehensive, and wasn't really sure what to expect, especially with being induced. We put last minute things in our bags, and I had a few 'good luck' calls from close friends and family. Then of course, Joe and I played a bit of soccer together outside (you know, as you do when you're about to have a baby!!) I couldn't run too well, but I could still take him. ;) Pfft. Who am I kidding?! Joe is frustratingly good with a soccer ball (at most things actually). Did you know that's how we met?? On a soccer court.. and on opposite teams. I'm a bit competitive.. he seemed to like it!

Our appointment was at 3:30pm, but we left the house around lunch time so we could make a couple stops first. So with hospital bags in the car, we went and had our last pre-baby lunch date together at Nandos. Delicious! I do remember thinking how I'll be happy not to have to give it all my effort to get out of a car, and squish my belly passed parked cars anymore. Sometimes it's incredibly awkward! After Nandos, we continued down the road and arrived at the coast. We had a cool drink at our special date spot, and reminisced together. Life was about to totally change! This was it. Joe took a final bump picture of me, and we were getting pretty excited (and nervous) to meet the little lady behind the bump!

With a final breath of fresh and salty beach air, we headed back to the car, and off to hospital.

After we arrived at the hospital, we were directed to a ward. The doctor came in shortly after and went over the general process of being induced. Then we were just told to wait about half an hour or so and then they would start the process. Waiting there felt so strange! We could hear babies crying in nearby rooms, and it made it feel that much more real. That would be us so very soon! I held my belly and wished that I could somehow warn our little girl about what was about to happen, but honestly, I didn't know what was going happen! However, I knew this was going to be such a big day for her, everything she had ever known was about to change! She was about to be pulled from her warm, dark, cosy home and I was dreading that for her. But I was really happy to know that afterwards, I would be able to comfort her, and let her find her new home - in my arms.

Births are very unpredictable, so I didn't have a strict 'birth plan' because I didn't want to be really stressed or upset about things not going exactly to the plan. Instead, I had a general idea of what I'd like to do, and had a general plan for pain management. But Joe and I had also decided that what ever the doctors were to recommend, we should really listen to. After all, they know what they're doing, and let's be honest.. we didn't! So I was prepared for pretty much anything to happen. Or so I had thought.

The doctor came in to put a tube and plug into my hand, so that when I needed to start the Oxytocin drip it would all be ready to go. I laid on the bed and he slowly popped the needle into my hand. My leg shot into the air, as it does sometimes when I'm trying to distract myself from pain. Oh my gosh I thought.. this is just a needle. How on earth am I going to push out a baby?! After a minute or so of the doctor holding my hand tightly, he told me that he had actually missed the vein, so he would have to do it on the other hand. Needless to say, I wasn't too impressed! He repeated on the other hand, and luckily got it that time. Then we just had to wait again until they were ready to start the induction.

We we're taken to the birthing suite and the nurses introduced themselves. They helped me up onto the bed and they strapped a CTG up to me so they could monitor Isla closely. I didn't really want to spread my legs to complete strangers, but believe it or not, spreading your legs is just something that you have to do when having a baby. Honestly, after you've had a baby, you really have no shame anymore! I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing. So with legs spread, they started the induction. In went the clamps, and opened me up. There is no other way to describe it other than saying it felt like they were jacking me up like a car with a flat tire. Not my favourite experience, that's for sure. There were some student nurses there, and they were all having a good look. They seemed to be having some issues getting the Foley Catheter to stay inside though. They used various tools and unfortunately cut me a little. Joe was not impressed seeing the clamps coming out covered in blood. After some confusion, the nurses went and got a doctor. He asked straight away had they checked if I was already dilated. Which they hadn't! So he checked, and found I was already 3cm dilated, which is the whole point of the Foley Catheter, making it completely useless. So instead, they inserted some Induction Gel to help bring on contractions. I was told this could take a while, and I might need another lot of Gel later on. So it was back to the ward for us to play the waiting game.

Night came, and unfortunately, Joe was made to leave. I was told to get as much rest and sleep as I could, but call for a nurse if any pain started. So I tried to do just that. Have you ever tried to sleep in a hospital? All I could hear were babies crying, phones ringing, nurses talking, and my own thoughts about how I was about to become a Mother.

I woke at 1:30am with some cramping. I called the nurse in, and she strapped a CTG back up to me so she could monitor Isla. She confirmed that I was having contractions, but they were quite irregular, so we just needed to wait some more. She would come back to check on me in a little while.

It didn't take long for them to get somewhat stronger, and more often. At about 4am she said we could go back down to the birthing suite, where I would be able to start having some Gas and Air to help with the pain if I would like. Yes please! So she helped me waddle back to the birthing suite, and they got me set up on the bed. You're not allowed visitors overnight in the ward, but they can be in the birthing suite with you at any hour, so I was told I could call Joe when I was ready and he could come back. They said that there was no more moving around, I was now in the birthing suite until the baby arrives! Honestly, my heart skipped a beat! It was all happening, and I couldn't believe I was going to meet my little girl so soon!

I took the Gas and Air when I needed, but only started using it a lot after another hours time. I was still a long way off being 10cm dilated, so I didn't text Joe until 6am, and I let him know what was happening. I asked him to head back to hospital soon, and that he may as well grab a McDonalds breakfast for himself on the way! He seemed pretty happy about that.

Joe arrived to find me sucking away on the Gas and Air in quite a bit of pain! Interestingly, I found that while your having a contraction, it doesn't actually take away any of the pain. It does however make you feel pretty drunk straight after the contraction, which helps in forgetting about the pain quickly.. until the next contraction arrives! Plus it gave me something to focus on and do.

By the time I had gotten to 6cm dilated, I felt like I was pretty much at my limit. Being induced forces your body to do something it's not ready to do. It forces you to contract, and it brings it all on pretty fast! I've read that contractions are more painful following an induction, as opposed to letting your body naturally get there. I've got no previous experience, so I can't say that it's true, but in any case, I couldn't take much more of it so I decided to ask about having an Epidural.

Ahh. Bliss. That was the best decision. It was great! After another 2 contractions, I could no longer feel any pain. The CTG was showing that I was having big contraction, and I was just smiling away. The midwife suggested that we get some rest, and I was pretty exhausted so that sounded good to me! Joe popped on some peaceful music, and we both fell asleep. I woke for them to check how far dilated I was. They were guessing I would be around 8cm, so I got a bit of a shock when they said I was 10cm dilated and ready to go! I needed to let the Epidural wear off a little before I could push, so they told me I had one hour and then it would be show time!

That particular hour felt like 5 minutes. It was time. This was the moment that the last 9 months had been leading up to. It was exciting and terrifying at the same time. In a matter of minutes though, all fear had been pushed aside. I had a job to do, and a pretty important one! I was ready to focus and do exactly what I was told to do. I was ready to bring my baby girl into this world.

I pushed when they said to, and I rested when they said to. I pushed as hard as I possibly could. My eyes felt like they were going to pop out, and all the veins in my neck felt like they were going to burst. It really is hard work, but I did everything I was told to do.

After 40 minutes of pushing, there wasn't much progress so the midwife went to talk to a doctor. A few minutes later, the room filled with people. I knew then that something was wrong, and my heart sank. A couple of doctors came over and told us that Isla's heart rate had escalated, and she was in distress. Something wasn't working. They said she was a decent size baby, and they said that I could probably get her head out eventually, but as her torso was bigger than her head, they couldn't guarantee they could get her out without breaking her collarbone. They also said that once her head was out, she would have 7 minutes of oxygen, and then she could end up with brain damage. The doctors said that they 100% recommended an emergency c-section and it needed to happen right now, as they didn't even know if she was getting oxygen. However, it was up to us to decide how to proceed.

They let Joe and I have a moment to decide. But it wasn't even a question. There was no way we were letting her have her collarbone broken, and obviously no way we were risking her life.

As soon as we said yes to the emergency c-section, the atmosphere completely changed. Everyone rushed around quickly, and questions were being thrown at me. They wanted to know when I had last eaten, what drugs and pain relief I had had, and what time I had had them. I was so overwhelmed. They turned the Epidural back on, and injected me with some other drug. Honestly, I don't know exactly what was going on, everything was happening so fast. Joe was given scrubs to throw on so he could come down to the theatre with me, and I was quickly carried over to another bed. I had a nurse trying to take my nail polish off, because they have to be able to see the colour of your nails when you have a c-section. But then another nurse was telling her to forget about it, there was no time!

I don't know what drugs they pumped into me, but things quickly got very foggy. Next thing I knew, I was laying on a bed being wheeled down a hall. I didn't even remember being wheeled out of the room. The lights on the roof above me were so bright, and I was looking up at so many faces I didn't know. I couldn't keep my eyes open for more than a couple seconds. My body felt like it was trying to shut down, and I kept trying to fight it. I opened my eyes and saw Joe, then my eyes shut. I opened them again and saw a nurse on my left side, she was saying something to me, but I couldn't understand her and my eyes shut again. I tried to tell her that I couldn't keep my eyes open, but I gave up pretty quickly. I don't think I was making much sense. I opened my eyes again and we were entering a brightly lit room with lots of people wearing blue scrubs. I was unable to move anything from my waist down, and so again they lifted me from that bed, onto the operating table. I felt so drugged. I had no control over anything at this point, I was totally in other peoples hands. I was so out of it that I didn't even care. After a few minutes, I slowly started being able to keep my eyes open for longer periods of time, and I tried to figure out what was happening. A nurse started to prick me with a pin in the center of my chest and slowly moved it up towards my neck to make sure I was numb, I couldn't feel a thing until she reached just below my collarbone. Once everyone was satisfied with the numbness, they put up a screen up in front of me. Joe sat next to me and held my hand. I thought, okay, they'll let me know any minute now that they're going to start. But that wasn't exactly the case! Within seconds of the screen going up, I saw blood splatter across it, and I realised that it was happening right now. Then there was a lot of tugging and pulling. I couldn't feel any pain, but it was extremely rough. A lot more rough than I had thought it would be. I felt like my body was playing a game of 'Tug of War'. It took less than 3 minutes, and then Joe and I heard a cry. We looked at each other. Then the doctors held up a baby above the screen so we could see. I was so confused. I didn't actually think that it was our baby. I 100% thought it must be someone else's baby, because that was so quick. It took a good few minutes for it to hit me, and by that stage, Joe was cutting her cord, and they were checking her over and giving her a quick wipe down. I still felt very drugged, so that part is a little blurry for me. But then Joe brought her over to me, all wrapped up, and lay her across my chest so I could meet her.

And there she was. Our little Isla Mae Davis.

Born at 1:50pm, weighing 3.69kg (8.14 pounds) and measuring 50cm long.

She was so perfect, and so tiny. 9 whole months of waiting, and she was finally here, and the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

I tried to keep the bright light out of her eyes. Our poor little girl had been ripped from her comfortable dark space to this extremely bright theatre room, so she gave a few little cries as expected. I just couldn't get over how little she was. Such a tiny nose, and beautiful lips.. instantly Joe and I loved her more than anything in the world.

Unfortunately, after about a minute or two of being with her I started to feel really strange. I told Joe to hold her again, and I tried to tell a nurse that something didn't feel right. All of a sudden I couldn't swallow properly, or talk properly. And I felt like I couldn't breathe. After a bit of investigation, the nurse said that I had been given a little too much anaesthetic, resulting in what they call a 'High Block'. I had no feeling up to my jawline. It all came on pretty fast, and I felt really panicky. Every time that I had to swallow, I would grasp at something, because I felt like I was going to choke.

I would say it was the scariest moment of my life. I had no idea what was happening, and I actually thought I was going to die. 100%. I still felt a little drugged up, and I had no control whatsoever over anything at this point. I couldn't move my body, and I felt completely out of breath. I thought, 'well, this is it. Isla is safely here, my job is done'. I was wheeled away from Joe and Isla, and in my mind, that was the last time I was going to see them.

Luckily, it wasn't! I was taken to recovery, and a nurse stayed by my side for the following 30 minutes, helping me. During this time, Joe had skin to skin with Isla. Then they both came down to me, because I needed me to feed Isla as soon as possible. I fed her for the first time, and she was just the cutest little thing!! I also got to hold her properly in my arms for the first time, and I couldn't take my eyes off her.

She was mine. I had dreamed about her countless nights, but she was so much more than I had dreamed of.

After another 30 minutes, I started to feel a lot better. I was wheeled back up to the ward, and Joe and I just got to be with our little girl. There's no other way to describe it but magical. We didn't know we could love someone so much. She totally completed us.

It took a good few months for me to be okay about the way everything happened. I couldn't talk about it for a long time without getting teary. I had thought I was prepared for anything when it came to the birth, but it hadn't even occurred to me that having an emergency c-section could be a possibility. I wasn't prepared for that, and I was pretty shattered about it. It felt like I had failed doing what my body was meant to do. The time had come, and it didn't perform. When what should be such a beautiful, emotional and intimate moment is torn away from you and you're thrown into a situation that you have no control over, it's really devastating. I'm still not happy about it, but I have accepted it now. I realise that without the emergency c-section, it could have ended pretty badly for both of us. So for that, I am so grateful.

Life was amazing before, but it's just a million times better now. It's now been almost 6 months since she arrived, and I can't even remember life before her. She is our everything, and I just hope that one day she will be proud to have us as parents. I want to show her the world, make her laugh at least 100 times a day, shower her with happiness and show her all the love in the world. She is such an amazing little girl!! She is so happy, and so clever. I love watching her grow, and watching her learn new things.

I feel so blessed to have been given the opportunity to be a Mum. It's such a gift. Even though she was a little surprise, she is the best thing we've ever done. I really hope she knows how much we love her. We'll spend our lives showing her.

Just. So. Happy.

- A M Y D A V I S

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Peanut Butter Chocolate lovers, this is for you!! It's probably one of the best chocolate recipes that I've ever come across, and it's totally raw and healthy! In my opinion, it's WAY better than store bought chocolate, so throw out that nasty chocolate sitting in your cupboard, and give this a try! Guilt free AND delicious.. is that even possible?! Yes.. yes, it is!

If you have a mini muffin silicon tray (I got mine from Woolworths), this recipe fits into the 12 cups just perfectly. If not though, it's really delicious just spread out flat onto a tray lined with baking paper like we did with the Raw Nutty Chocolate. Then you can just break it up into pieces once frozen and serve.

INGREDIENTS

- 6 Tablespoons of Organic Peanut Butter

- 3 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil

- 2 Tablespoons of Raw Cacao

- 1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

- 3 Tablespoons of Honey (start with 2 Tablespoons, as it's quite sweet. Taste test once all ingredients combined and add the 3rd Tablespoon if you want it sweeter)

NOTES:

- You can use 100% Cocoa instead of Raw Cacao, totally healthy as long as there's no added sugar or other nasties, but it just won't be 'raw'. ALWAYS read the ingredients on the back of the container.

- Vanilla Essence or Flavouring is not healthy. Stay away from those nasty things! Make sure you use healthy Vanilla Bean Extract. You'll actually be able to see the little bits of vanilla bean in it!

- You can use 100% Maple Syrup instead of Honey, again it's totally healthy, but it won't be considered 'raw'.

Make sure your coconut oil is a liquid before you add your other ingredients. I put it in a mini pan on low heat to melt it. Then simply add all your other ingredients and mix well until it's relatively smooth! The peanut butter can take a little longer to blend into the mixture, but it will work so be patient! Once combined, pour the chocolate out and freeze! If you're pouring it into a mini muffin tray, freeze it for at least 40 minutes. If you're pouring it out onto a flat tray to break into pieces, freeze it for at least 15 minutes.

There is a lot of flexibility with this recipe. I've made it lots of different ways, and it always turns out great! Sometimes I only do 4 or 5 tablespoons of peanut butter, and sometimes only 2 tablespoons of coconut oil. Sometimes I don't even worry about the vanilla extract at all. So if you're a little short on ingredients, you don't need to stress! Doh.. it's chocolate!

Enjoy!

- A M Y D A V I S

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