28 October 2013

Meet-up fun in Mapleton

What better way to spend a Sunday morning on the Sunshine Coast than with a trip to the beautiful hinterland?

Our Sunshine Coast Paleo/Primal/Real Food Meet-up Group meet-up this month was a 30 minute or so drive from Maroochydore to the pretty little hinterland town of Mapleton.
We'd had very little interest for people to attend this time around and a few cancels on the day, but we didn't mind, we knew we'd enjoy the morning anyway!

Clint and I drove to Mapleton Falls National Park and met up with Jenny, the owner of Mapleton Falls Luxury Accommodation guest house, and her partner Lucky, visiting from Sydney, for an easy 30 minute bushwalk. We then headed just a couple hundred metres down the road to the guest house where our mate and meet-up group member Ross joined us for a picnic on the back deck.


The view from a lookout along the track in the national park



Big deck, nice views, peaceful, perfect!

It was nice to catch-up with Jenny, who's a new friend of ours, and meet her partner Lucky. Ross had recently returned from a few weeks holiday overseas with his wife so it was great to hear about his adventures and also how he ate over in Asia. He said he enjoyed the non-Paleo cuisine but was glad to be back eating how he usually does - back to bacon, eggs, grass-fed meat and all that good stuff!


Lucky and Clint chatting - about fishing probably!

Jenny giving Ross the grand tour of the guest house

So besides the bushwalk and chatting, what else does a meet-up involve? 

Food of course!


Paleo chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing... <drool>

Ross, the legend, brought along 6 amazing-looking delicious-tasting Paleo chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing. OMG, they were so yum! Credit must go partly to his wife Danielle who helped make them - thanks guys, these were just so very yummy in our tummies!

Do you wanna make these yourself? You totally can! Here are the recipes...

The cupcake recipe: http://www.elanaspantry.com/paleo-chocolate-cupcakes


Link to icing recipe: http://www.elanaspantry.com/paleo-chocolate-frosting


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I always try to make a picnic food treat that's a little bit different. Not the usual paleo brownies or bacon-wrapped something-or-other. So the day before, I scrolled through my recipes which I save in my Gmail account for easy access pretty much anywhere I feel the urge to find something interesting to create, and found one for apricot cashew butter stuffed dates. The ingredients and method looked simple so I grabbed what I needed and off I went to prepare for the next day's picnic.

I kinda changed the recipe around a bit, and made a slightly different date-stuffing mixture. Not only that but I accidentally made WAY more apricot mixture than I had dates to stuff them in. So, this is what I came up with...


Apricot coconut cashew cups - some with raw chocolate on top 

Apricot coconut cashew stuffed dates
How yum do they look?! I knew the end result would be a winner. Cos I kinda, er, kept eating the mixture as I was going!! I couldn't help it, it was so good!

Recipe? Here tis! Keep in mind I'm known for not taking note of measurements as I'm busy creating magic in the kitchen, so this is a rough idea of numbers and you can feel free to play around with quantities. 

Apricot Coconut Cashew Deliciousness

You'll need:
1 cup organic dried apricots 
1 cups shredded or dessicated organic coconut (sulphite-free)
1/4 cup organic coconut oil 
1 tsp organic cinnamon powder
1 cup soaked organic raw cashews

To do:
1. Roughly chop apricots then place in a food processor
2. Add remaining ingredients to the food processor
3. Pulse a few times to start to gently combine
4. Leave on lowest setting until all ingredients are well combined and apricot is no longer chunky. If you need to add more coconut oil to get the mixture breaking down better you can
5. Once the mixture is well combined - sticky, thick, gooey - you can do a couple of different things with it...

Stuffed Dates:
Grab a pitted date, open the slit a bit and use a teaspoon to place the apricot mixture inside.
Gently close the slit so the date it as closed as possible.
Place in the fridge so the coconut oil sets and the stuffed dates firm up.

Cups:
Grab some silicone cupcake moulds (or something similar) and spoon the mixture in so it's firmly packed into each mould.
These will set in the fridge and can easily be removed from the moulds.

Optional
Make some raw choc using cacao, coconut oil, stevia or raw honey and drizzle around the dates (place them in freezer for 30min first, so choc sets quickly when drizzled on) or drizzle onto cups for added flavour and deliciousness.
Keep refrigerated until serving time or you'll have a runny coconut oil and choc mess on your hands!

These little goodies are great as healthy snacks for the kids, taking to picnics and gatherings, or even as a healthy and yum snack for taking to work. 

By the way, I realise the inclusion of cashews means this mixture isn't technically 'paleo', so before you get annoyed at me, please remember that the name of the meet-up group also includes the words 'primal' and 'real food' so it covers all bases, not just strictly paleo-friendly foods. Just had to clear that up :)

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So that was the food we enjoyed on the day but the best part of the meet-up was by far spending time and talking with Jenny, Lucky and Ross and just relaxing on the deck at the guest house.

Mapleton Falls Luxury Accommodation truly is a magnificent property so why not consider it when you're next after a relaxing Sunshine Coast getaway! We highly recommend it!


spring, sunshine coast paleo primal real food weight loss affirdable health fitness fun outdoor mobile personal trainer training
Spring time in Mapleton is beautiful

  Stay tuned for info on our November meet-ups!


Thanks for reading,
Aimee


My 5 grateful's today:
1. Super fun shopping sprees with mum the last 2 weekends and all my op shop bargains
2. Enjoying a lovely lemongrass tea at Hot Pipis restaurant in Mooloolaba this morning - one of our awesome Business Alliance members 
3. Working from home and having flexible hours and a great work/life balance
4. Our meet-ups and the wonderful people we meet
5. Yummy primal food!

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