mmmm, CHOCOLATE.

Well, HELLLLOOOOOOOOO there, my good people. Greetings to you this marvellous Monday.

um, where did the weekend go? How can it possibly be Monday already?! Trying to think what I *did* all weekend. Life gets a bit smeared around the edges when dh's in town - hard for either of us to remember what day it is. (blissful sighhhhhhhhhh) Must be love! ROTFL

OOOOH!!! I remember ONE thing I did this weekend. I took a 2 hour raw chocolate workshop and it was fanTAStic!!! These two fabulous raw divas gave a demonstration on making chocolates, talked about the ingredients and then we all got to make our own batch to take home! Mine were (oooh darn I wish the digital camera had some way of getting the photos online right now. darn darn DARN) little frogs that looked like they are praying or meditating - they are SOOOO adorable... and stars. Then today, because EVERYONE (yes, even the omnivores) in our house absolutely LOVES these raw chocolates, I whipped up another batch of hearts and seashells, including (ahem) one chocolate starfish. (I can see just by typing that that any naivety I may have pretended to portray on here has just disintegrated. Honestly, I'm not like that. dh was the one ROTFL about the starfish. He's the one you should be glaring at theatrically, not me!!!) (that link's hilarious)

*dusts herself off* (ahem) Yes, well... Anyways... the raw chocolates were divine and we'll definitely be making more.

Oh, the recipe you say?

Well, if I may...

1c of raw cacao butter, grated, or in shavings, or 1/2c cacao butter and 1/2c of coconut oil
2/3c raw cacao powder
pinch of salt
1tsp of vanilla extract (just started making my own; recipe to follow)
a good squeeze of raw agave nectar (to taste; I use about 2Tbsp in the recipe)
1Tbsp of either mesquite, maca, or lucuma powders

Start by melting the cacao butter/coconut oil in a double boiler over low heat, stirring well. Remove from heat, stir in the cacao powder 'til smooth, then add in the rest of the ingredients. Keep stirring, or the chocolate will set up!!

You can add in optional ingredients like shredded coconut, goji berries, raisins, dried cranberries, cacao nibs, crushed cashews, hazelnuts, or even things like crushed rosemary, or fresh minced ginger, raspberries, or what about (organic) orange peel and some orange essence? Play around with different things. I can't claim any creativity on these additions on my part; I've had each in (vegan) chocolate bars from various companies. Still, they are all yummy flavours. I'm still working on the espresso-chocolate. mmmmmmm YUMMY

Pour into chocolate molds or even just pour it into a pie plate and freeze it 'til it's set. Turn it over once set and they usually just *POP* right out of the molds, very easily.

Raw Vanilla Extract
Take 3 vanilla beans and 1c water. Blend well in high powered blender and soak for 24 hours. Then strain through a nut milk bag. Voila! Non-alcoholic, home-made vanilla extract.

GEEZ I wish I could share pictures with you! :( Alas...

Enjoy your raw chocolates!!!