In the morning I have my ritual of eating my healthy muesli. And for lunch a salad or meat/chicken with vegetables.

Later on the day I drink a coffee, preferable with something sweet.

Sweet snacks, to stop my craving. Then I think about chocolate….mmm. This is for me a no go. So I eat a piece of fruit instead. But doing this everyday gets a bit boring. A woman needs her chocolate, especially at her time of the month. When it is that time and I don`t eat chocolate, well look out. I can get a bit aggressive. So to save others and myself, I made these brownies.

The sweet base, comes from dates. The fine structure is made with shredded coconut and finely chopped/grained almond.

The brownies were already a success, when my kids were licking the spoon with dough.

When the brownies were ready, I wanted to photograph them and  share this recipe with you. So I prepared my photoshoot. Went to the kitchen to get a knife. When I came back, there was a piece missing! Looked at my youngest son, his mouth was full with chocolate. I could only laugh. I guess the brownies tasted good and approved by my kids. I went ahead and tasted also a small piece, my eyes closed automatically as I tasted the sweet chocolate. YES. I found a snack that I could take to work on and eat with my afternoon coffee or tea!

Makes 10 brownies

• 200g dates
• ½ cup shredded coconut
• ½ cup ground almonds
• Handfull of your favorite unsalted nuts, chopped
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup raw cacao
• 2 table spoons coconut oil
• Pinch of salt

1. Start by preheating the oven to 180C.
2. Cut the dates in small pieces.
3. Put the small pieces of dates in your food processor together with the 3 eggs. Blend until smooth.
4. Add backing powder, coconut and almond and cacao.
5. Place into a lined baking dish.
6. Sprinkle your favorite nuts on the mixture, press very softly into mixture, but still visible.
7. Cook for about twenty minutes, until you can pierce the brownie cake with a fork bringing it out dry.
8. Remove the tray and allow it to cool for about ten minutes – this is really important as it needs this time to stick together!
9. Remove the brownies from the tray, leaving it another few minutes before cutting them into squares.

Enjoy!

For some of us breakfast is not always the most relaxing moment of the day. Especially when you have kids that need to go to school. Before we run out of the door, we eat mostly Bircher Muesli. Normally we eat our Bircher Muesli with fruit as raspberries, banana and blueberries.

This time we looked at all the great fruit that we had and changed our muesli routine by using totally other fruit.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• ½ cup coconut milk
• ½ cap coconut water
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 papaya
• 2 passion fruits
• 1 ripe banana

Method

The night before, put the oats, into a bowl or container, pour over the coconut water and coconut milk. Mix well, then cover and pop into the fridge overnight.

In the morning, chop the banana, into little chunks.

Slice the papaya open, take out the seeds and chop (don`t use the skin).

Mix well.

Cut the passion fruit in half and drizzle over you muesli.

A great meal to eat at home, or to take with you in a little container.

Tip: Make more, so you only need to take in the morning what you need.

You can make as well different muesli and safe in the refrigerator. This way your muesli tastes different every day.