The time I resorted to eating cooking chocolate

Posted on 30 August, 2017

(AND INVENTED MY OWN HOMEMADE CHOC PEANUT BUTTER CUPS)

“So you’re a nutritionist? Does that mean that you eat really well?”

It’s a common question for someone in my profession. A question to which I answer: “Yes. Most of the time my family and I eat heaps of fruit, vegetables and whole foods.”

And this is true. I love eating food – good quality food. I genuinely love eating vegetables. I love cooking with locally grown, whole, fresh ingredients and I love the way my body feels when I’m in a good food routine.

I also eat cake, on occasions. And I love fries dipped in aioli, burritos full of cheese and sour cream, prawns in cream based pasta dishes and seriously, how good is double brie with quince paste on a water cracker? Yum! I make a killer butterscotch pudding served with ice-cream and I have a reputation in my family for baking the BEST cinnamon scrolls. Eating exquisite, high end food in a fancy restaurant is one of my favourite things to do.

I believe that healthy eating is giving your body the food that it needs to be at its best, but it’s also engaging in the culture and and society in which we live. If your ‘healthy’ diet is socially isolating, then what’s the point of that?

The important thing that you need to understand about food is that you must find balance. I don’t eat the above mentioned foods often, I know that eating them too regularly is not good for my health. When I do eat them, I throughly enjoy them and I don’t feel guilty. Food is food, it holds no moral value. It doesn’t make me a bad or a good person.

My overall personal mantra for food is this:

“You only live once, so eat in a way that enables your body to be the best that it can be. You only live once, so enjoy the things you love.”

An important habit that helps me live by this mantra is not keeping ‘unhelpful foods’ in the house. You wont find soft-drink, chips, crackers, biscuits, lollies, cakes, pastries, chocolate or any other food that’s a poor source of basic nutrition in our house. My husband will occasionally comment about the lack of ‘snack food’ to which I curtly reply, “I care about your cardiovascular and metabolic health.”

It’s a great thing, because even nutritionists boredom eat and wander into the kitchen hoping to find something to munch on. I do it quite often, but I never find anything except for fruit, yoghurt or nuts. Good foods!

One particular evening, however, I was on the couch with the husband above watching something (I can’t remember) on TV. I was tired, had lactic acid build up in my muscles from crossfit, grumpy, stressed from running my own business and the luteal monster had come to stay (this means I’m pre-menstrual).

I wanted chocolate soooo bad.

Normally in this situation, I’d eat nothing (‘cause there’s never chocolate in my house) or I’d nibble on a small amount of dark mint chocolate that hubby had bought to placate the luteal monster (he’s a smart man).

This night was different. There was no appeasing gift from the hubby and the emotions were volcanic. I wandered into the kitchen and opened my perfectly Tupperwared pantry…

Then it hit me! I remembered there was chocolate in there. Cooking chocolate. I’d bought it a few weeks ago when I made a cake for a special occasion. Yes. I couldn’t believe my luck. I grabbed the container, pulled out a sizeable chunk and went to town.

It was so gross. I’d bought Homebrand Compound Chocolate. Both its taste and mouthfeel let down the team and I spat out my oversized mouthful.

What was I going to do? The cravings were so strong. My resolve was waning. My willpower just got into bed with temptation.

Then it came to me. I needed something to improve both the taste and the mouthfeel.

“What goes really well with chocolate that is in my house? Peanut butter”.

And so, the homemade chocolate peanut butter cups recipe was born. It salvaged the chocolate. They tasted epic. They took me 10 minutes to make and they placated the luteal monster for only about 200 calories.

Here is the recipe, just in case this happens to you.

KATE’S HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CUPS

You will need

100g chocolate (dark, milk, compound, horrible, cheap easter eggs – anything will do).

40g smooth peanut butter

What to do

Place the chocolate and peanut butter in a microwave safe container and zap for 1-2 minutes or until just melted. Stir every 30 seconds to prevent burning.

Beat with a spoon until smooth and well combined. With a teaspoon, spoon your chocolate mixture into little blobs onto baking paper. This recipe makes about 12-14 teaspoon sized blobs. You could be more creative than me and use moulds or make patterns, but you don’t have to as long as it tastes good, right?

Place the baking paper with the chocolate blobs into the fridge and allow them to set for five minutes or so. Then eat two or three. Share them over many bottoms or save for future pre-menstrual emergencies.

Enjoy sensibly and in moderation…