This is me. I am not a singer, I can’t paint and I am below average at building hide-outs.

I am a pharmacist with over 13 years of experience in Nutrition. I know what the effect of preservatives, colours and additives can have on little bodies and how it can alter behaviour, cause allergies and gut issues. I wanted to avoid that for my children and needed to learn how to make food from scratch, aka wholefoods cooking.

How hard can it be? I add amino acids, glucose and fats together every day for patients who can’t eat. The difference is that the patients don’t have the luxury of choice, but most children do. They can decide they don’t like the look of something and then there is no way you will get that nutritious cupcake in their tummies.

I researched ingredients, tried many recipes, cooked up a storm, got the Caterpillars’ thumbs down and then ate it all myself. Repeat. I just kept on trying and learned what works well and also when I needed to give up the ‘broccoli’.

Then my baking took off… First just for us, the kids’ parties and then their friends’ parties.

Now I bake for busy parents who share the same concerns as me and just don’t have the time to do the research, learn the skills required for wholefoods cooking and put it all together for their child’s party. I also get many requests from concerned parents with children who suffer from food intolerances like amines, salicylates, glutamates, dairy and gluten.

We don’t have to bury our heads in the sand at every party. Food can be nutritious and fun for kids and parents don’t have to deal with sugar crashes and cravings on their way home from a party.

So I guess I am good at baking now… :)

My Inspiration

My family inspires me. To see them thrive motivates me. When they ask for another muffin, nutty slice or ice cream I gladly give it to them. I don’t feel guilty anymore, I know what I put into their the food. I control the macro nutrients and balance the sugar with fibre, protein and healthy fats.

What is that?! Sprinkles surrounded with healthy foods?! Indeed so. I don’t like sprinkles but sadly my kids do. If I have to use sprinkles to make them reach for that nutritious cupcake then so be it. I use only Hoppers or Summer Hills Pantry which don’t contain any nasties and weren’t produced using harsh chemicals either.

I use freeze dried powders such as FRESH AS from New Zealand to add colour. I avoid using food colouring, not even the ones that claim they are ‘natural’ make it into my pantry. The freeze dried powders adds a punch of flavour with the colour and it are basically concentrated dried fruit and herbs.

I dehydrate my own fruit to avoid sulphur dioxide. This is not an ingredient you want to include in your food and it is added to all dried fruit unless it was made organically. Did you know even most brands in the supermarkets add sulphur dioxide to desiccated coconut?

I use organic ingredients from The Wholefoods Collective in my baking. Knowing where the products were produced and exactly what it contains is important to me.

This is me again, aka hurricane Anita. I must say that my kitchen usually starts out looking this calm, but it changes quite a bit towards the end of a baking session! I then make a strong cup of tea, reach for a cupcake, offer some to the hungry Caterpillars and rebuild my kitchen.