Celebrating Hot Water And Cool Cups - - Part Two

Hot water is my drink of choice. I love it.

I can drink it morning, noon and night - every day of the year.

I'm allergic to coffee, sensitive to tea and hot chocolate is addictive.

Coffee gives me a rash and makes my face all flushed and itchy.

Tea makes me feel wobbly,

as if I'm walking around wearing someone else's prescription glasses.

Hot chocolate gives me the shakes and puts me on a week-long sugar binge!

Water just makes me pee.

(Raw food desserts: Macaroons and Chocolate-thingies.

Sorry, forgot their proper names.)

To make drinking water even more exciting and fun, (if that's even possible!)

I collect cups -

Pretty cups, unusual cups, funny cups, weird cups.

While standing in line at the store waiting to pay for this cup,

a young lady standing behind me asked excitedly, "Is that really true?!"

Yes, "Heeere's your sign."

(OK, I know you're gonna want to check that out, but please come back!:)

Every once-in-awhile, I like a little bit of 'bling'.

Yes, I know it's a kids cup -

Maybe even for rinsing after teeth-brushing, but I don't care.

If it makes me happy, it's mine! (And I'm a big fan of monkeys.)

Ever have one of those days?

It's not easy being cheesy.

I need sunglasses with this bad-boy.

Haven't been to Vegas in awhile.

I miss Las Vegas.

I miss the old slot machines.

I miss my money.

This is my old stand-by.

It has a mouth-print like my favorite chair has a butt-print.

For the days I'm so 'happy, happy, happy'!

Not so much.

Back out of the room...

Now.

You may also like:

"Celebrating Hot Water And Cool Cups - Part One"

There are SO many things to love!

I love 'Followers" and comments too!

(Thank you!)

Signing off for now,

gabriele

Raw Food - Sooo Good!

I love raw food.

I love the taste, the look and especially how it makes me feel!

On those few occasions that I revert back to my evil ways of eating,

I pay the price! Here is the proof - in a previous post:

Raw Food vs The Standard American Diet-S.A.D.

In this post, I'm featuring the recipes from the amazing, raw-chef and author,

Jennifer Cornbleet's fabulous book -

"Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People".

Here are the ingredients I used. Except for the red cabbage.

I haven't a clue as to why I put that bad-boy on the platter.

I'll also be showing two of my own recipes -

"Goji Berry Lemonade" and "Banana, Kiwi, Chocolate Pudding".

I didn't have lemons and, truth be told, was too lazy to get dressed

and drive to the store to buy them.

So I used the organic lemon juice instead.

It won't kill ya.

I had to use the curly kale, because I couldn't find the other kind.

There also wasn't any zuchini, for the Spaghetti, so I had to buy the yellow squash.

That's the beauty of raw food - nothing's written in stone.

(Don't forget to ignore that dang red cabbage.)

I buy the large bottle of Raw Agave Nectar and refill the little one, as needed.

I try to use it in moderation, like anything 'sweet'. (That's really hard for me!)

Here's what I used for the "Goji Berry Lemonade":

Two tablespoons Goji Berries

Two tablespoons Raw Agave Nectar

(Or sweeten to taste.)

Four tablespoons lemon juice

(I usually use one entire peeled lemon.)

Two cups water

Grind the ingredients in a blender until smooth -

And serve.

Yum!!

This is Jennifer's "Spinach Apple Soup".

And yes, that is the color! Pure health in a bowl. And sooo good!!

This is her "Mediterranean Kale Salad".

No, that's not cheese! I didn't have the pine nuts the recipe called for,

so I chopped-up, (rather badly) a few Macadamia Nuts.

But, yeah, in my other life, I'd be all over the cheese!!

How good does THAT look?! And it tasted even better!

Here are the yellow squash 'noodles', topped with Jennifer's "Marinara Sauce"

and "No Meat Balls", made from her "Walnut Pate".

I'm allergic to walnuts, so I used pecans.

I couldn't believe how delicious this was!!

If you have a high-speed blender like a BlendTec,

you can make some of these sauces a little bit on the 'warm' side.

Actually, that blender has a "Soup" cycle that makes things very warm.

I love that blender!

And finally, my favorite part of ANY meal - Dessert!!

This is my "Banana, Kiwi, Chocolate Pudding":

Cut two bananas into small pieces and freeze.

Cut two kiwis into small pieces and freeze.

Place the frozen pieces in a food processor along with -

Four tablespoons Raw Cacao

Four tablespoons Raw Agave Nectar

Grind until smooth.

Serve -

And dive right in!! Ohhh yeahhhhh!

Here is the link to Jennifer Cornbleet's wonderful book,

"Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People".

As well as her awesome DVD and newest book,

"Raw For Dessert".

I made some of her delicious chocolate truffles in this previous post:

"If I Can't Have Paris - At Least Give Me Truffles."

I do hope you'll give raw food a try. And I hope I did Jennifer's recipes justice.

I highly recommend her books and her DVD.

Well, the dishes are washed -

and it's almost time to think about the next raw meal.

What will it be??

There are SO many things to love!

Signing off for now,

gabriele

Happy Grandparent's Day!

How many of you know that there IS a "Grandparent's Day"?!

I think we're getting the short-end-of-the-stick!

I've never seen a mushy Hallmark commercial for a card for us grandparents.

Have you?

This year it falls on Sunday, September 12th.

So I'd like to say, to all the grandmothers and grandfathers,

and to everyone that also has that role in someones life -

"Thank you and God bless you for all that you do.

May you have a wonderful Grandparent's Day

surrounded by all those that you love and that love you!!

Enjoy your special day!!"

The above two photographs are of my grandparents.

This is my children's maternal grandfather - my father.

This is my children's maternal grandmother - my mother.

And here is one of our grandchildren's grandfathers - my husband.

And here is one of their grandmothers - lucky me!! :)

Grandchildren don't make a man feel old; it's the knowledge that he's married to a grandmother. ~G. Norman Collie

A grandmother is a mother who has a second chance. ~Author Unknown

One of the most powerful handclasps is that of a new grandbaby around the finger of a grandfather. ~Joy Hargrove

To a small child, the perfect granddad is unafraid of big dogs and fierce storms but absolutely terrified of the word "boo." ~Robert Brault,

My grandkids believe I'm the oldest thing in the world. And after two or three hours with them, I believe it, too. ~Gene Perret

Do you know why grandchildren are always so full of energy? They suck it out of their grandparents. ~Gene Perret

Grandparents are there to help the child get into mischief they haven't thought of yet. ~Gene Perret

"You're more trouble than the children are" is the greatest compliment a grandparent can receive. ~Gene Perret

A grandparent loves you from when you're a bald baby to a bald father and all the hair in between. - Erma Bombeck

Signing off for now,

gabriele