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

Raw Food, Desserts And Green Smoothies - For Kids.

As some of you know,

we have our five year old grandson and seven year old granddaughter

with us for two weeks.

My plan is to try to feed them only raw/living food during that time.

We start our mornings off with a green-smoothie.

These are the ingredients we used that day.

(A handful of each of the greens and three cups of water.)

When I make them for myself, I don't use as much fruit and add more greens,

but kids like a sweeter taste, or getting them to drink it is like pulling teeth!

I use a BlendTec high-speed blender and I love it!

The thing is a real work-horse!

For more information and to purchase this blender,

please go to Cathy Silvers' wonderful, informative website.

A green-smoothie is not the most attractive drink in the world,

but boy, does it give you energy! It's good health, waiting to happen!!

For detailed information about the health benefits of green-smoothies,

there's none better than the website of "The Raw Family".

(But finish reading my blog first!:)

This one likes them...

and that one likes them.

Even this one!

This is our eleven month old granddaughter, tasting a green-smoothie for the first time.

She kept reaching for more!

(The picture was taken in Georgia, three weeks ago.)

Later, our granddaughter wanted to play "Restaurant" and be the 'server'.

Her brother was the 'customer'.

She introduced herself and pulled out her pad and pencil, to take his order.

She asked the 'customer' many, maaany food-related questions,

and was pretending to write down his answers on her pad.

Her customer just wanted to eat.

Seriously.

Yay! Finally!! The order has arrived!

The 'server' decided to take her break early and have a bite as well.

This is a great-tasting, healthy breakfast or snack!!

Recipe:

A handful of nuts of your choice. (Not almonds, unless they've soaked for a couple of hours.)

A handful of pumpkin seeds, or hulled sunflower seeds. (Or both.)

Grind in a food processor. (Not too fine.)

Pour in a bowl.

Add a handful of raisins.

One cut-up, seeded date.

Add a few shakes of Cinnamon.

Stir.

Serves two.

Slice a half of a banana on top. (Or an apple, peach, whatever.)

If they're not looking I add a little water instead of 'milk'.

(I know, I know - it sounds gross, but it's still delicious!)

If they're looking, I add a 'small' amount of store-bought oat milk, or a nut milk.

You can make your own nut milks, but I've been too busy lately.

Later that day, he and I made a cabbage-salad for lunch.

We added pine nuts for protein.

(I just love this picture. Could those little legs be any cuter?!:)

We made our own yummy salad dressing... for kid's taste-buds.

Recipe:

Two T. Tahini

3/4 C. Apple Cider Vinegar

1/4 C. Olive Oil

1/4 C. Agave Syrup

One T. Lemon Juice

Blend it in a food-processor, until it's smooth.

(Mom and Dad, if you're reading this -

it's unplugged and he's not allowed to put his hands in it!:)

He asked me if he was "a good cooker". He loves helping. So does she.

They both had a huge bowl of this and asked for seconds!

Making raw desserts is always fun!

But when you're tired and have a kid yackin' in each ear,

concentration seems to go right out the window - and you screw up.

We were attempting to make "Chocolate Covered Bananas",

from Ani Phyo's awesome book, "Ani's Raw Food Desserts"

(This is the "Liquid Chocolate".)

Even though I read the simple directions - twice,

I thought the "Liquid Chocolate" needed to go into the refrigerator to cool, before using it.

Wrong.

That made it too hard to roll the bananas in,

so he had to use his fingers to put 'globs' of hardened chocolate on the bananas.

By the looks of him, I think the scenario went like this:

one glob on the banana - one in his mouth,

one glob on the banana - one in his mouth.

Then the banana was rolled in the remaining ingredients and a healthy dessert was born!!

Later, after dinner and a bath, she enjoyed a nice piece of watermelon.

He, on the other hand, decided to chuck the whole raw-food thing...

and opted for a dead chicken instead.

Don't be a chicken -

Try raw foods and green-smoothies!!

Signing off for now,

gabriele