Christmas Treats (& Chocolates!!)

I'm not the greatest fan of Christmas, I'll be honest, I tend to hermitise at this time of year, spending time reading and keeping extra warm and cosy under lovely blankets and pillows, but the one thing I do love about this time of year, is the excuse to make home made gifts for my friends and family. I had a few ideas for gifts already, but found myself inspired to make some chocolatey treats after finding this recipe on this wonderful blog..http://www.thesweetlifeonline.com/2012/11/26/hot-chocolate-mix-three-ways/ ...
..and so I got set to work on my own..

I followed the recipe from the blog mentioned above, I just added a little ground ginger to one of the batches and I used soft brown sugar instead of powdered sugar. I also contemplated using dark brown muscavado sugar, but wasn't sure how it would turn out..so am saving that experiment for a rainy day..

I sampled it out before hand..and oh my..what a treat it is..warming and cosy and chocolatey!..very Christmassy :)

After a mega serving of this magical stuff, I then got started on decorating the jars and made as Christmas gifts for mi dear ma and also nan and granadad...

I also made a few cards for close friends and family too, I hadn't set on sending out any cards this year, but once I got started with the homemade hot chocolate gift..I felt the urge for more crafty Christmas making coming on..

...then I felt the urge for more chocolate making!..

I made this batch with macadamia nuts, the full recipe can be found here.. http://www.wutherswebofcakes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/raw-chocolates.html

I then wrapped and decorated them in separate tubs to give to friends for Christmas gifts...

with a little loving help from my butterfly friends..

and I was so good I never ate one..not one...or two..or three...

..promise!

;)

Happy Solstice and Merry Chocolatey Christmas!

xx

Cauliflower

Isn't it a beautiful word! Cauliflower, I love it!

I also love to eat it too, and I discovered a new way to eat it.

This is a lovely raw recipe that'll leave your stomach as light and fluffy as the texture of this wonderful cauli creation, here it is...

Ingredients

1 lovely cauliflower
1 cup cashews - soaked for 4 hours or overnight
1 cup sultanas
1 clove garlic
2 spring onions
zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
handful of green beans - chopped
1/2 tsp nutmeg
sprinkle of black pepper

Chop the cauliflower into chunky florets, transfer to blender and wizz for 1 minute until it resembles a rice consistency, like this..

Pop in a large bowl andd set aside.
Then blend the cashews, lemon juice and zest, olive oil, spring onions and garlic until smooth and creamy, like this..

Then combine the the two..the sauce and the cauli, then sprinkle in the sultanas and green beans and season with nutmeg and black pepper..

Finito!

This is a really lovely light raw food meal, full of nutrients and light and fluffy flavours, the creaminess of the cashew sauce goes really well with the cauliflower and nutmeg, although, I think when I make it again, I'll leave out the spring onions..just because they repeat on me so much when they're raw! They do give the dish lots of flavour though..so you may wish to leave them in..unless you have an onion problem..like me!

I made this as a takeaway lunch with some tasty green gem lettuce..

..and then topped with some chestnut mushrooms..yum!

You can also gently heat this up in a small pan if you fancy a warmer meal in your tum :)

x