We are over halfway through our school holidays now. I had planned on spending a lot of my time engrossed in a cookfest in the kitchen, but I haven’t had much time – been having waaaay too much fun!

I spent the first few days visiting my friend in Melbourne for her birthday (pics below). Then Kirk and I have been photographing some stunning families (our photography website is here, and you can check out some of the family pics on our FB page here).

Here are some fun shots of Ronelle and I coffeeing our way around the Melbourne shops. We took quite a few pics of us posing over food and coffee

Ronelle and I shopping and having coffee

Heading off to the movies in our PJ’s. As you do.

The birthday girl at lunch <3

My yummy mexican salad. Incredible!

Another day, another coffee and lunch.

Little Jess and I at a funky cafe.

So after my amazing adventures with Nell I returned home to a pretty hungry husband who had eaten a lot of boiled eggs and yogurt while I was away. I was in such a rush to leave, that I didn’t really cook him anything. I basically let him fend for himself and tap into that wild-man-provider-thing that all men like to do (?). Seriously, he had to hunt for chook eggs in the backyard! That’s my man.

Even after feeling all primal, Kirk was hanging for some baking, so I grabbed out my Thermomix and started to blend things together.

First I made this Chia Chocolate Cake and then turned some of it into:

Round Little Chocolate Squishes

Ingredients:

• Chia Chocolate Cake
• 120g shredded coconut
• 30g goji berries
• 8 medjool dates (deseeded)

1. Make the Chia Chocolate Cake batter (I added 1 Tbs of vanilla extract and 1/2 cup of ground coffee beans. Once it has all blended, taste the mix and maybe add some more sweetness. We like to add another 1/2 cup of whatever sweetener we are using – coconut sugar, rapadura, etc).
2. Pour two-thirds of the batter into a cake tin and cook the cake to enjoy with a cuppa at a later time. The left over cake mix will be used to make the balls.
3. With the one-third of cake mix leftover, pour into cupcake wrappers and cook as cupcakes. Once cooked (or close to it), remove from wrappers and add them to a food processor/Thermomix.
4. Add coconut, goji berries and medjool dates to the food processor and mix together with the cake mix.
5. Roll the mixture into balls and eat straight away, put in fridge, or place in a container for the freezer to enjoy later (pfft!).