THEY may not use sugar, but sisters Carla and Emma Papas are serving up a much sweeter alternative to greasy and processed meals.

The bubbly duo from Fadden, both public servants, believe they have tapped into a “health-food craze” since launching their food blog, The Merrymaker Sisters: Fit and Healthy Made, in November.

The blog offers healthy recipes, fitness tips, ideas and lifestyle observations, with an emphasis on swapping processed foods with natural ingredients.

“It’s been really popular, so far we get about 30,000 hits each month and it’s still growing,” says Carla, 22.

“Most of our regular readers are from overseas as well, which is insane.”

Posting photos of meals they had cooked on social networking website Instagram was the inspiration behind the website, says Emma, 25.

“We had so many people ask us for the recipes, so we thought why not write them all in the one spot,” she says.

“We’ve always loved cooking, from when we did home economics classes at school. We got the name ‘Merrymaker’ because we’re always being asked why we’re so happy!”

Recipes on the blog have a focus on clean eating and a “paleo” diet, says Carla, which means no processed foods, grains or excess sugar.

“We love finding alternative ways to enjoy the food once thought to be the enemy, like pizza, crackers, muffins and pancakes,” she says.

One of the girls’ most popular recipes is their chocolate/raspberry cake, which substitutes sugar with raw honey and stevia, a natural plant based product.

“People are surprised at how sweet it tastes without sugar,” says Carla.

“We also have pizzas with a meat base rather than the dough, and sweet-potato chips as a snack option.
“We just experiment with different ingredients and go from there.”

The girls believe popular reality television shows such as “Masterchef” and “The Biggest Loser” have led to a “health-food craze” sweeping the country.

“I think people are really starting to question what they eat, everyone is becoming much more health and fitness conscious, which is a great thing,” says Carla.

“I remember the days where we’d just have chips and soft drinks on the canteen menu at school – those days aren’t entirely gone yet, but there’s much more awareness now.”

But Carla and Emma say they avoid “pushing” their way of living on people.

“We’re not trying to be gurus – we just hope our website can be a place where people can come and share their stories and relate,” says Emma.

“There’s so many celebrities out there plugging a crash diet product or a fitness craze and it’s impossible to relate to them.

“We like to talk about the everyday problems everyone has. Many people have these body image issues, including men, and it just plays on their minds. We get really nice messages and comments from people saying ‘wow this has actually helped me’.”

The girls hope to eventually write an e-book with healthy recipes and ideas.

“If we could do this for a living… it wouldn’t even be working,” says Carla.

Visit themerrymakersisters.com/ for more information.

Homemade crackers and dip. 

Crackers:

Ingredients (serves four).

two cups of LSA

(ground linseeds, sunflower seeds and almonds) two egg whites

one tbs coconut oil

quarter cup of sesame seeds

two tbs rosemary

sea salt to season

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Mix all ingredients together (it should form a sticky dough).

Between two sheets of baking paper roll out the dough to 3mm thick (more like thin).

Carefully peel off the top sheet of baking paper. Slice the dough into desired cracker size.

Place on a baking tray and into the oven for 10 -12 minutes or until golden brown.

Chickpea free hummus:

Ingredients

half a cauliflower

quarter cup of tahini

three cloves crushed garlic

one tbs paprika

juice of a lemon

salt n pepper to season

Instructions

Boil the cauliflower florets until soft.

Let the cauliflower cool.

With a stick blender puree the cauliflower.

Mix in the tahini, garlic, paprika and

lemon until smooth.

Season with salt n pepper and

refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Choc-raspberry no-bake cake 

Ingredients

for the base.

one cup of roasted cashews.

one quarter cup of raw cacao.

one quarter cup of unsweetened dessicated coconut.

one tbs. natvia.

pinch of salt.

three tbs. coconut oil melted.

one tbs. raw honey.

for the filling.

two cups of roasted cashews.

one third cup of coconut oil melted.

one and 1/4 cups of coconut milk (not the light kind).

one and 1/2 tbs. natvia.

one cup frozen raspberries.

three tbs. raw cacao powder.

now what.

Line a 19cm cake tin with baking paper.

Start with the base.

Whiz the cashews in a food processor until a fine meal forms.

Transfer the cashew meal into a bowl.

Add raw cacao, dessicated coconut, natvia, salt and mix until combined.

Pour in the melted coconut oil and raw honey, mix well.

Press the mixture firmly into the base of the cake tin, make sure it is even and compressed.

Leave this for now.

Now onto the extra delicious section.

Whiz the cashews in a food processor until a fine meal forms.

Transfer the cashew meal into a bowl. (Sound familiar, the base and filling follow the same first two steps!)

Add the melted coconut oil, coconut milk, natvia and mix until well combined.

Transfer half of the mixture back into the food processor (leave the other half in the bowl).

Add the raspberries to the food processor and whiz until the mixture is a pretty pinky purple (mauve?)

Spread the raspberry mixture onto the base, making sure it is flat and evenly spread.

Place in the freezer for at least 15 minutes.

Back to the filling that was left in the bowl.

Add the raw cacao powder to the remaining filling mixture and mix until combined.

Take out the cake tin from the freezer and spread the chocolate filling mix on top of the raspberry mix. Again, making sure it is even and smooth on the top.

Return the cake to the freezer for a further hour.