Easter time rocks

Ava is really loving Easter as you can see. Me not so much.... Here I am trying to get my body back and teach Ava about a healthy balanced diet. She needs to understand that lollies are a sometimes food or a rare treat. And then Nana Burns makes her the most amazing Gingerbread House - lets call it GBH like the drug. The detail was amazing and the lollies, OMG I was back in primary school heaven with all my faves on that house!!

So of course I limit Ava's consumption, for her own good and for my sanity. You can only imaging how hyped up her and Maxwell were after they got stuck into it. Problem is, with this tantalizingly evil GBH hanging around the house, I am the one who picks away at it. Did I mention I was trying to get my pre-baby body back!!!

I would be steaming healthy veggies for dinner, only to find GBH staring at me, beckoning me to have just a taste. One or two lollies are fine. It's about balance right??  Well if there is one thing I have learned over the years, I do not do balance well. It's all or nothing with me. That is why I do not keep sweets in the house, I have zero self control.

Needless to say, I saved my innocent Ava Mae from the evils of GBH by demolishing half of it myself. Then I took the rest to Mum's and shared the love around.

WTF??

 

Happy Easter from Paynesville! This snappy little performance comes to you live from a tin shed on the lake performed by a strange looking rabbit and banjo playing local. It was very Donnie Darko meets Deliverance. 

Food, life and scale OCD!

Is it just who has a love hate relationship with the scales?

I am doing this 1 Million Kilo Challenge healthy eating plan to trim down for Jade's wedding and get back to pre-baby size.

I actually hate dieting, apart from a stint on weight watchers before my wedding and the occasional 'trendy' detox I have never really been a dieter.

I tend to go through phases of eating really well and doing regular exercise then fall into the trap of eating really bad coupled with plenty of time spent on the couch munching chocolate and hoping Chewy will take himself off for a walk. So I entered this challenge with the intention of learning a few new healthy recipes and making exercise a non negotiable part of my daily routine.

So far it's going pretty well. The wedding is next week and I've finally dropped the last 3kgs of baby weight that was hanging around! Now my goal is to get back to my pre-marriage weight, so another 2kgs to go! Simple. Right?

There are the usual challenges along the way like my birthday which always equals cake & wine, kids parties which means cup cakes and sweets, there is work which means I'm too busy to make up the fancy salads I'm meant to eat on the plan and of course there is my family - Ava, Chewy & Brett who consume (in a totally awesome way) the rest of my time, heart and head space! Oh that's right, it's called life!!!!

Life is what makes me dread and obsess over my scales or should I say the number that appears on my scales! I have an annoying and compulsive tendency to jump on the scales whenever I'm in the bathroom, (which is quite often with my teeny bladder) or when I am thinking about the progress I have made or the naughty treats I have slipped in. It's all a bit tiring really, because if I put as much time and effort into just making better choices about the exercise I do or the food I eat I probably wouldn't even own a set of scales!!

As a mum I try to teach Ava balance and moderation, and yes I am aware of the irony in that statement!  I really don't want to pass my food and weight obsessions onto my daughter, she is so perfect and untouched by society's view of what is beautiful and normal. So perhaps I will have to throw out those scales after all, but only after I reach my goal weight!!

Being fat takes the fun out of being a kid.

Controversial ads to come out of Georgia, which has the 2nd highest rate of child obesity in the USA. A whopping 75% of parents do not recognise that their child is overweight. Do you think these ads will make a difference?

Being fat takes the fun out of being a kid.

I love blueberries

Poos and tanties. A day of firsts for the darling Ava Mae!

I'm a proud Mum, with another day marking a couple of major firsts in Ava's toddler years!

Today Ava did her first poo in the potty! Very exciting, until she tried to pick it up... Yes charming I know, you should have seen Burnsie's face! But these are the things that can make your day (almost) as much as a new pair of Jimmy Choos when you are a new mamma!!

And the other first? Ava had her first full blown tanty at the shops. She has plenty at home, believe me! But this was her first major tanty in the middle of The Metro. It was your full scale, back arching, ear piercing, blood curdling, floor kicking tanty.

I should have seen the signs early on. She chanted Elmo, Elmo, Elmo through K-mart; I said "No sweetheart, you can watch Elmo on tv". Then she wanted the green bananas we got in Aldi; again I said "No sweetheart, they are not ripe. Here, have a sayo." Then she wanted a balloon from the kitchen salesman; finally I said "Yes have a balloon my darling, please!!" Amazing that she hadn't lost it before this point really!

Finally it was the Wiggles big red car ride that pushed us over the edge. She wanted to get in and I let her. Then, when it was time to go all hell broke loose. Ava let out a blood curdling scream, like I had just ripped her heart out.

It was amazing to watch the number of young males who had previously been lounging about, suddenly leg it towards the exit. I got pity stares from fellow parents and judging sideways glares from young hipsters who had never dealt with a strong willed toddler before.

I freaked out a little and tried to comfort her whilst shoving her dummy in her mouth, knowing full well that was not going to work. So like the doting mother I am at home, I put her down on the floor and ignored her until she settled down so we could walk back to the car. I then let her push all the buttons in the lift and let her think she was the one pushing the trolly.

In reality, Ava allowed me to believe that I was the one in control. HAHA!

Just baked these Donna Hay Brownie Cookies with Peanut Butter Frosting, sooooo indulgent!!

Ok, these Donna Hay cookies have to be the richest, most decadent cookies I have ever made or even tasted.

Not quite a cookie, not quite a brownie they are a calorific mind bender, and are loaded with enough chocolate to power Willy Wonker's factory for a year.

I saw them on Life Styled a couple of weeks ago and have been obsessed by them ever since.

I'm taking a batch of these to work for our team morning tea on Monday, this was the practice run. They were a bit on the runny side, so were way too big and flat but I'm still pretty happy with them!

Brownie cookies with peanut butter frosting

• 350g dark chocolate, chopped
• 40g butter
• 2 eggs
• ⅔ cup (150g) caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup (35g) gluten free plain flour, sifted
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder, sifted 

Peanut butter frosting 

• 1 cup (160g) icing sugar mixture 
• 1 cup (280g) smooth peanut butter 
• 80g butter 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• ⅓ cup (80ml) single cream (I used milk)

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Place 200g of the chocolate and the butter in a small saucepan over low heat and stir until melted and smooth. Set aside. Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk for 15 minutes or until pale and creamy. Stir through the flour, baking powder, chocolate mixture and remaining chocolate and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Spoon tablespoonfuls of the mixture, at a time, onto baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper. Bake for 8–10 minutes or until puffed and cracked. Allow to cool completely on trays.

To make the peanut butter frosting, place the sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla in an electric mixer and beat for 6 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add the cream and beat for a further 2 minutes. Spread half the cookies with the peanut butter frosting and sandwich with the remaining cookies. Makes 12.