Wishing You Holiday Hugs & Kisses!

I've got mine!!!!

And in the spirit of Christmas, I leave you with this beautiful carol...

"SIIIIIIIIII - HIIIIIIIII - LEEEEENT NIIIIIIGHT......"

There are SO many things to love!

I love "Followers" and comments too!

(Thank you!)

Signing off for now,

gabriele

Raw-Food Marzipan For The Holidays

One of my absolute favorite memories, as a little kid growing up in Europe,

was the Marzipan I would get at Christmas!

It came in the shapes of little red apples, yellow bananas, green pears, etc..

It made my heart smile.

Imagine my excitement, when I discovered the recipe,

in my newest raw-food dessert book!! (I did the happy-dance!)

Here are the ingredients the recipe calls for.

What is in the blurry bottle, you ask? I'll never tell. :)

(It was something I needed for a sauce I was going to make and accidentally

stuck it up there with everything else. Duh!)

I put the shredded coconut into my very cool BlendTec blender -

and blended it until it was a powder. (All of two seconds.)

I placed the remaining ingredients (minus the mystery-bottle stuff)

into the blender and let it blend until they were smooth.

Then I transferred it to the food-processor.

I let it do its thing, until the mixture began to stick together.

It was a bit moist, so I placed it on a paper towel and let it soak-up some of the moisture.

(I took a little nibble... ok... a big nibble. Mmmmmmm!!)

I rolled it into two logs.

And sliced them into little pieces.

I made a tiny apple, banana and pear - for the kid in me. :)

I rolled the remainder into little balls.

Then coated some in shredded coconut.

Yummm!!

I wondered how it would taste, rolled in raw cacao.

(Can't go wrong with chocolate, right?!)

I put the Marzipan balls in the little plastic bag -

And gave them a little shake, rattle & roll.

And here they are.

I liked the ones dipped in the coconut.

I really liked the ones rolled in cacao.

But my favorites were the original ones, without any coating at all.

I suppose it's because those are the ones that hold the kid-memories for me.

This is my newest, favorite raw-dessert book! (With the Marzipan recipe.)

It's by the fabulous raw-food chef, Matthew Kenney.

He has several raw-food books, which are sooo good!!

This will take you to his website with a ton of recipes!

(By the way, Matthew puts a raspberry center in his Marzipan!!)

I hope that whatever desserts you decide to make,

they'll turn out better than anything you've ever made before!

(And if not, there's always someone whose taste-buds are shot.)

I wish you and your loved-ones a wonderful, happy and healthy Holiday Season!

May all your dreams come true!!!!

"One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day.

Don't clean it up too quickly."

- Andy Rooney

There are SO many things to love!

I love "Followers" and comments too!

(Thank you!)

Signing off for now,

gabriele

Working-Out: More Fun For Some Than Others

These are our grandchildren, ages four and five, at the time.

They live out of state and I was visiting.

They like when I visit. I bring stuff.

If I don't bring stuff, I buy stuff.

They like that about me.

Here he is, wrapping his hands.

"Cause somebody's gonna get it!

They fought over whose room that punching-bag would go in.

She wanted it as much as he did!

Dad was smart - and put it in the office. Argument averted.

Whew! That really wears a guy out!

His new invention.

I can hear the Home Shopping Network calling.

Not to be outdone in the muscle department.

And a year later, they still like working-out.

She looks so sweet...

But you should see her punch the snot out of that punching-bag!

Showing off his muscles too.

Multi-tasking.

(Girlfriend needs a pedicure.)

I didn't see or hear much of the news.

Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!

They love coming to our house too. I have toys.

I have this. They like this... a lot.

And these.

Also this.

And this.

Why'd I buy this?!!

Because it's what I need the most. (But like doing the least!)

I love this!!

"P90X" and "P90X+".

These are great too. But I suck at push-ups!

These are the "P90X Power Stands".

This, I like a lot.

So do the kids, as long as somebody's holding them up!

That's me, two months into the "P90X" program.

I've cropped my lower half, because I'm... shy.

(Or maybe somebody's holding me up too.)

OK, maybe I'm not so shy.

That's the muscleman himself, Mr. Lou Ferrigno,

"The Incredible Hulk".

Here is one of my favorite pieces of equipment -

My "Bowflex".

I also have a gym-membership, which is about to expire...

But I may not need it anymore.

Here's what our little guys look like now, at age six and seven.

He plays football and she's a cheerleader.

I'm happy that they love working-out, because it sure comes in handy now.

But my all-time favorite exercise routine, is this!

There are SO many things to love!

I love "Followers" and comments too!

(Thank you!)

Signing off for now,

gabriele