How to dress a date

I've heard the expression, "Use it or lose it," so I decided I better use what I learned on Friday night.

Here are the steps to dress your date:

First remove the pit from the date, and fill it with nut butter.

Make the Ganache. One of the best tips I learned at class was to sift the cacao.

Now dip half of the date in the Ganache.

Roll in coconut.

And there you have it . . .

. . . beautifully dressed dates!

Raw Dinner and a Movie

What a delightful night.

This was the first, of what I hope of many, Raw Dinner and a Movie nights by Raw Intentions. Denise's passion to share her knowledge, culinary skills, and her desire to help us educate ourselves in the area of nutrition and health is just remarkable.

She shed her chef jacket and greeted us at the door in such a lovely fashion.

The table was plated with our salad and I happily was seated with my beautiful friends, Katherine Rose and Megan Demarais, along with some new table mates. The salad was literally from the farmer to the market to our plates today! Local, fresh and organic. What more could you ask for?

And then came the main course. The best raw lasagna I have ever eaten. Sorry Matthew, Denise's is better than yours. And that onion bread, wow!

Can you tell I liked it!

The movie: The Gerson Miracle.

"In this documentary from filmmaker Steve Kroschel, noted MD Max Gerson reveals a nutritional healing treatment that he claims can restore the body's ability to fight off cancer and numerous other degenerative diseases. The testimonies of a few "incurable" cancer patients highlight why this long-term cure could be much more effective than many of Dr. Gerson's critics may care to admit. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi"

Have you ever heard the word cancer? Do you know someone who has cancer? Do you know that the prediction is one in two people will have cancer. 

If you answer yes to just one of these questions, WATCH THIS FILM! PLEASE.

After the film was over there was some brief discussion. Knowledge is so powerful.

The night ended with dessert. With oh-my-gosh-I-can't-believe-I-am-eating-cheesecake-that-is-this-good dessert!  To use one of Denise's lines, "it is to live for!"

The next picture says it all!

A Date Anyone?

I love dates.
I really love dates.
Lots of dates, lots of ways, and often.

Oh, you are thinking, "and she is a married woman." Well, yes, and I love dates with my husband. But I am talking about the kind of dates that I eat.

As a child, I remember holidays with dates stuffed with walnuts then rolled in powdered sugar, and my Aunt Leona's date bars. Now living a pretty raw food life, dates are a routine in my diet.  From grabbing one for a snack, to using them as a sweetener in recipes, and to making wonderful desserts with them. They are the fix for a sweet tooth.

Tonight I went to a raw food class at Whole Foods taught by Denise of Raw Intentions. And there they were, naked plump dates.  And then she dressed them!

If only you could taste these little beauties. Oh my gosh!

First she took the seeds out and then filled each date with nut butter.

Then each filled date was dipped in chocolate Ganache and rolled in coconut.

Devine!!!

I will be making these little delights, often!

We also had a strawberry sorbet, and cacao ganache bites.

My mouth was so happy. 

Glorious Granola

I made my first granola and it came out great! Next time I will definitely make a bigger batch. It really took a long time in the scheme of things.

First the buckwheat groats had to be soaked, then rinsed, again and again.  Then at last they sprouted. Look at those cute little tails!

Now for all the additives . . .

I added diced apple, raisins, maple syrup, coconut nectar, and a pinch of salt . . .

mixed it all together, and then added cinnamon and combined it well.

Then into the dehydrator it went.

And it stayed for about a day.

The tray wasn't as full when it came out as it was when it went in. I did a number of taste tests while it was dehydrating.  The smell was amazing and I just couldn't resist regular tastings!

This is a do-over recipe.  It tastes sooooo good!

It is a great snack, and I can't wait to have it with almond milk and fresh fruit.

Glorious granola. Can granola be glorious? Why not!

Sinful!

I spent lots of hours in the kitchen this weekend.  I LOVED it! It is a very therapeutic thing for me to do. I continue to be amazed at how good I feel from eating so much raw food, as well as how good it tastes. I never turn down the opportunity to try a new recipe when I have time.

One of the new recipes I recently made is currently my husband's favorite: Mint Chocolate Ice Cream.  We do love to please our men, so of course I make it for him, and just to be a good sport, I "have" to eat it too.

This truly is an amazing dessert.  The ice cream is sitting on top of a brownie, and the raspberries add a nice contrast of flavor and make it even prettier with the splash of color. The brownies are so easy to make and they are stored in the freezer with the ice cream. And yes, the brownies and ice cream are both raw. No sugar, no dairy, nothing processed. All whole plant based foods!

We had this for dessert last night, and then again tonight. 

Yikes, we could have this every night!

It is just so good, it must be sinful!!!!

A Sweet Start

My husband and I have different tastes when it comes to smoothies, juices and the raw food world!  So today's smoothie was made especially for him. A sweet start to the day with my sweetie! For me it was like starting the day with dessert!

So for those of you out there with a sweet tooth, give this one a try!

Sweet Saturday Start

2 cups nut milk
2 bananas (frozen chunks if possible)
1 Tbl. cacao
1 Tbl. carob
1-2 Tbl almond butter
1 Tbl. maca
1 Tbl. spirulina
2 tsp. vanilla
3-4 cups spinach
crushed ice

I put it all in my Blendtec, selected beverage, then the XL Smoothie setting, and the blender does it all!

This is a powerhouse of nutrition along with a sweet taste that will energize us all morning. Which is a really good thing because now it is time to get to work in the yard!

I hope your Saturday is as sweet as mine!

Love that chia!

In my last post you may have noticed Chocolate Chia Pudding, A.K.A. Chocolate Chia Tapioca, which is so yummy I could easily eat a whole bowl - a big bowl - all by myself. I have had my eye on another one of Matthew Kenney's recipes in his new book, Everyday Raw Express, for Banana Chia Pudding. With almost over ripe bananas in my fruit bowl, I just had to make this recipe!

I think I will eat this more like a cereal, rather than a pudding.  Maybe top it with some fruit and nuts, and a little almond milk. It would make a great mid morning snack, or it could be lunch, mid-afternoon snack . . . hmmmm, the possibilities.

Not that I have a multitude of followers on this blog, but I wonder if any of you remember my previous posts on chia?? It occurred to me that I have had an affection for chia seeds for a while now! I can credit them as part of the demeanor of Cheerios in our house. My Goodbye Cheerios recipe helped my husband eliminate Cheerios from his morning routine, and was merely a stepping stone to Green Smoothies, which he has every morning now.  Here's a link to that post. And then there was the post: The Chia is in the Pudding.

Even if you aren't on the same page as I am when it comes to the way I eat, you should really try chia seeds.  The benefits are a mile long.

OK, so what are you waiting for? 

Go buy some chia seeds . . . today!

Your body is waiting!