I love food.

I must spend an average of 5hrs per day in my kitchen preparing, presenting and eating food. It’s one of the most important aspects of our every day so placing great emphasis on nutrition for both myself and my family makes sense.

Luckily for me I also love inventing recipes. Growing up as a teen with a busy solo Dad and a pantry consisting of fairly random ingredients (eg: pickled bamboo shoots that my grandfather brought back from his posting in Indonesia during WW2) have helped to stretch my imagination, and since those days I’ve learned to grow food throughout the seasons which offer more variety to my dishes.

As I close in on week four of a ketogenic diet, I notice my energy perkier, waist a little trimmer and most surprisingly, my joy for creating varying and non-boring dishes is only growing.

After a 6-week shot at eating keto back in January/February, my decision to have another crack at it was inspired by…well, to be honest, it was inspired by over zealous enjoyment of wine and carbs. Bringing your body to a state of ketosis now only encourages the efficient burning of your body’s energy, it also creates an alkaline environment. Inflammation in joints is reduces, clarity of mind is enhanced and your immune system is more supported.

I have a feeling that once I get cracking on this whole recipe spiel, the music focus of my blogs may risk falling to the wayside, so watch this space as I endeavour to find ways to interweave music and food.

In the meantime, here’s my latest and favourite snack recipe.

KETO POWER BARS

In a bowl:
*Ground seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, golden linseed, sesame)
*desiccated coconut
*coconut flakes
*cocao powder
*almond meal

In the blender:
*soaked dates (don’t tip out the juice from soaking)
*peanut butter (optional but awesome)

In a pot:
*coconut oil
*cocao butter
*72% dark whittakers chocolate

(be careful not to burn. Stay with this and stir till melted)

Mix well, the wet with the dry, and press into a lined tin.

TIPS: If you find your mix is too wet, add some more desiccated coconut. If it’s too dry, add more of the date soaking juice or a splash of water.

Freeze for an hour or two, then cut.
Keep in the fridge.
Bob’s your uncle.
Seriously! Bob is your Uncle. We’ve been trying to tell you for a while now.