Halloween Games for Kids' Parties

To contact us Click HERE
Maybe your child has a birthday on October 30 or 31, and you want to have a party. Or you are having a traditional celebration in party form and are looking for ways to keep the kids entertained safely. There are lots of Halloween games for kids, both active and quiet, that will keep them occupied and having fun. Here are some ideas.
Monster FreezePut on some Halloween music. It can be funny and upbeat, or slow and scary. Tell kids to move the way the music feels. When the music stops, they have to freeze. Kids love Monster Mash and Michael Jackson's Thriller songs.
Pin the Nose on the WitchThis is a variation on Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Use a large picture of a witch, and paste it up on a wall. Give each kid a nose made from construction paper, with a loop of masking or painter's tape on the back.Blindfold each child in turn, spin them around three times (kids love the spinning best of all), and then point them in the direction of the witch poster. They stick the nose on when they think they have it in the correct position.
Pass the Jack-O-LanternDivide the kids into two teams, and line each team up. Give the first person in each line a jack-o-lantern. You can use an orange with a face drawn on with black marking pen. Or use orange balloons with or without faces.The first child puts the fake pumpkin under their chin and keeps it there, without using their hands. They have to pass it along, from one child to the next in line, from chin to chin, without using any hands. The first team to finish wins.
Spooky TelephoneAgain, using teams in two lines, say the same spooky message to the first child in each line. They need to whisper the message to the next kid, and so on, down the line. At the end, the last kid has to tell you what the sentence was. Kids love to hear the funny things they end up saying.
Cookie DecoratingYou can make or buy sugar cookies and decorate them with icing, sprinkles, and small candies, such as M and Ms. If you spread round cookies with orange icing, then give kids black or brown, they can decorate them to look like jack-o-lanterns.If you use black or brown frosting, then give kids white icing, they can make spider webs. You can top those with gummy worms or bugs, to make them super gross.Remember, if you have very young children at the party, keep the toys and favors large, to prevent choking. And in general, the grosser, the better. Kids love yucky! Using these simple Halloween party games, you can keep the kids amused and safe this year.

Ani's Raw Food Essentials Book Giveaway!

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This Giveaway has ended. Please click here to see who won.

Thanks to all who entered.

Scroll down to see an awesome recipe from Ani's Raw Food Essentials:)

Hi everyone! I am back with the details of my first blog giveaway!

I am so happy to be able to give one of you* a chance to win the awesome new book Raw Food Essentials by the lovely raw food chef, Ani Phyo.

Check out my post from yesterday to see all the incredible recipes I have made so far from Ani's Raw Food Essentials, and my review of the book.

*This contest is open to residents of the United States only, as stipulated by the sponsor. Sincere thanks to the lovely Lindsey Triebel of Perseus Books Group for arranging this giveaway!

Now, here is how to enter:

Entry number one:
1.) Please check out my post from yesterday, then come back here and tell me which one of the recipes I made from Ani's Raw Food Essentials you are most interested in trying. Also, I would love to know if you have a favorite recipe from raw Chef Ani Phyo. If you haven't tried one yet, visit her incredible website and tell me which recipe you would most like to try. Leave your comment on this post for one entry.

Entry number two:
2.) For another chance to win, leave me a second comment on this post and tell me what you like to see most in an un-cookbook. Are you someone who loves raw sweets and desserts, looking for quick everyday recipes, or meals for the whole family, etc. Are you interested in all kinds of raw info, or just the recipes? Please mention if you do buy un-cookbooks, and if you prefer e-books, or printed books in your comment.

Entry number three:
3.) For a third chance to win, mention this giveaway on your own blog, Facebook, or Twitter with a link to this post. If you don't blog, Facebook, or tweet, be a subscriber or follower of the happy raw kitchen blog:) Just tell me which one you did for this additional entry. You only need to do one mention for this, but anything extra is appreciated:)

Bonus:
4.) For a fourth and final chance to win, stand on your head while facing west, put on some hot pink lipstick, and whistle the Happy Birthd....HAHAHA! Forgive me :) Just having some fun!

Please have your entries posted by 12 midnight EST Sunday, June 6, 2010. Winner will be announced on, or shortly after Monday, June 7.

Good Luck Everyone!!!

p.s. I am not able to post in the comments at this time, please feel free to email me with any questions regarding this giveaway, contact info on my profile here. Also, if you are having problems posting a comment, contact me.

Now, I do have something special for all of you! I was given permission to share a recipe from the book, and believe me, it is awesome!

MEDITERRANEAN WRAP WITH RED PEPPER
HUMMUS (BEAN-FREE)

Photo credit: Tyler Golden.

From the book Ani's Raw Food Essentials by Ani Phyo. Excerpted by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright (c) 2010.

MAKES 4 WRAPS

This recipe uses collard leaves for wrapping up vegetables, such as spinach, zucchini, black olives, and avocado, with a delicious Red Pepper Hummus.

2 large collard leaves
2 cups spinach, washed well
½ recipe Red Pepper Hummus (page 184)
1 ripe avocado, pitted and sliced
½ cup zucchini, cut into long, thin spears
¼ cup pitted, chopped black olives

Cut the leaves away from the thick center stem of each collard leaf to make a total
of four flat pieces.

Top each collard section with spinach leaves. Then, spoon Red Pepper Hummus across the bottom edge of the shorter width of each leaf. Top with avocado, zucchini, and black olives. Roll up into a wrap and serve.

Will keep for up to a day at room temperature, or store for a day or two in the
fridge.

RED PEPPER HUMMUS (BEAN-FREE)

MAKES 2 CUPS

This hummus is made using tahini, as in traditional recipes, but instead of chickpeas, I use red bell pepper and a pinch of cumin for a richer flavor. Sesame powder helps absorb some of the excess liquid from the juicy bell pepper.

½ cup sesame seeds, ground into a powder
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups seeded and diced red bell pepper
1/3 cup tahini
¼ cup lemon juice
½ teaspoon ground cumin

In a food processor, process the sesame seeds, garlic, and salt into small pieces.
Add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth.

Will keep for 2 days in the fridge.

I have already made this yummy recipe, and it is fantastic!

Huge thanks to lovely raw Chef Ani Phyo for allowing me to share this amazing recipe, and for creating this incredible book.

Keepin' My Cool :)

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Welcome back everyone! Hope you are all staying cool. The Adirondack mountains have chilled out a bit lately, but it is still warm enough for one of my favorite raw treats, Popsicles!

They are so easy to create, and help keep you hydrated in the hot weather in a fun way.

The "recipe" is simple, just use your favorite liquid like fruit puree, juice, or smoothie (yup, even a green one). If you like fudgesicles, you can use your favorite avocado pudding, yum!

Even banana soft-serve is delish as a Popsicle. For the pops pictured, the white was 1 young Thai coconut, pureed with a splash of coconut water, a dash of coconut nectar, and a squeeze of lime. The yellow was sweet, juicy pineapple, and the red was dark, sweet cherries with a spoon of coconut nectar. Some flavors taste a bit less sweet to me when frozen, but you can omit all sweeteners if you prefer:)

My favorite flavors in this pop were the pineapple and cherry:)

Check out this very cool stainless steel ONYX Popsicle Mold from the tickle Trunk. I absolutely adore it!

The mold is so well made, I think it could become a family heirloom!

One great feature is that the pops can be made one at a time, the perfect thing to make with that little extra smoothie that won't fit in the glass. Frozen pops can be removed as soon as they are solid, and new treats can be made since you need to use a new stick each time. The company is actually working on re-usable bamboo sticks! In the meantime they do come with extra sticks, and you can find replacements if needed.
The tops have a colorful silicone seal around the stick, and they give you an extra set, too. I found it easier to insert the stick from the underside of the top, so the seal doesn't pop out.


I will be reusing the 'spent' sticks myself in a crafty trivet or something :)

I stored a few Popsicles (removed from molds) in the freezer, wrapped in parchment paper:

I even made some like my bloggie friend, bitt, who used sweetened tea. Mine were double strength mint tea, sweetened with coconut nectar. Yum!!! The orange pops are persimmon...absolutely fantastic! The nice ripe persimmons got a little smushed on the way home from the market this weekend, so into the Popsicle they went! I still have an older plastic mold, so I used that for this batch.


They were all so cool and refreshing, but the mint was especially nice.

If it is hot where you live, I would love to hear about your ways of staying cool!

For those interested, I should be back soon with a kombucha update since momma SCOBY has given birth haha!!!

I would also like to thank the lovely Pure2Raw twins, Michelle and Lori, for featuring a few of my socca pictures on their blog earlier this week in a feature called "Socca Sunday"! Although it is not raw, I am totally in love with it! Thanks so much, Michelle and Lori:)

I'm Nuts About This Post!

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Happy Monday everyone! Hope you all had a good weekend.

We did the usual...shopping:)

The rain stopped us from a day trip to Vermont, but we were just there last weekend anyway:) Below is a picture of Lake Champlain with the Adirondack Mountains in the background. It was so lovely.

Our main reason for going to Vermont last week was an Antique and Classic car show in Stowe. Have you ever seen a car with a record player in the dashboard?

Raise your hand if you actually know what a 'record player' is! :)

Since we usually have to do our food shopping on weekends, I was so happy to find a great Natural Foods store right on the same road as the show:) We stopped on the way home for a much needed cold coconut water and a few pantry essentials. If you find yourself in Waterbury Center, Vermont make sure to stop by Sunflower Natural Foods.

The store was very well stocked,

and so neat and clean with a very friendly staff:) There was even a sweet play nook upstairs for the little ones:)

Don't you wish you were 4 or 5 again?

My recent post, Raw Pantry Essentials, showed a few pictures from one of my usual places to shop. But sometimes, a 'special ingredient' can only be found online.

I recently ordered Heathy's Moonie Pie ebook (they look amazing btw), and noticed that I didn't have one of the ingredients. Hmmm...as well stocked as my favorite store is, they do not carry this one special ingredient. A quick online search for it brought me to NutsOnline.

My order was placed on Monday, and the box arrived at my door Tuesday afternoon, less than 24 hours later! What a pleasant surprise:) Everything looked great!

NutsOnline has a huge selection of organic and raw products, as well as hundreds of other products.

While checking out their blog, I was thrilled to see they had linked up to my Sprouting Chia seeds post:) Thanks NutsOnline!

So, I am very excited to tell you NutsOnline has generously offered one of you* a chance to try 2 of their products!

One pound of Organic Chia Seeds, and one pound of Raw Organic Hemp Seeds! YAY!!!!!

Thanks so much to the lovely Katie Ide from NutsOnline for making this giveaway possible.

These products were hand picked by yours truly:), but you can change them if you have issues with either of these...for anything of a lesser or equal value:)

*This giveaway is limited to residents of the United States and Canada only.

Requirements to enter this giveaway are simple:

Mandatory for entry #1:
Visit NutsOnline and leave a comment below telling me which of their products you would love to try, and what you would make with them.

For one additional entry:
Subscribe to the NutsOnline Newsletter to receive special offers and coupons, leave a comment here telling me you did so, for entry #2.

That's it! This giveaway will close at midnight EST Sunday August 29, 2010. Winner will be announced on, or shortly after Monday, August 30.

You probably already have a favorite recipe using hemp or chia seeds, but if you don't, here are several pictures of a few of mine to whet your appetite.

All the links are to my posts which either have the recipe, or tell you where to find it:

Chia Puddings

Bitts Hemp Brownies

Kate Magic's Marching Biscuits

Magic Chocolate

Hemp Power Ball Truffles

Chia-Sesame Cracker

Oh my...I think we need something with a little green:)

Russell James' Wilted Kale Salad with Creamy Chipotle Dressing


My S&M Salad with Creamy Macadamia-Lime Hemp Dressing

There, that's better!

Good luck everyone!!!!

Delicious Butterscotch Brownies and Happy New Year's Eve!

To contact us Click HERE


I was browsing all the delicious foodie pics on Instagram and a batch of butterscotch brownies caught my eye. Brownies never look very pretty; they're dark, have an uneven texture and often times are badly sliced. But they water my mouth anyway! I made a butterscotch sauce filling by melting butter and adding brown sugar. The butterscotch sauce went into the brownie batter and created this delicious, very delectable brownie dough =) I couldn't stop licking it! I may have overcooked them slightly, as I wanted to go for a more fudgy type of brownie rather than what I ended up with, a cakey brownie. But delicious all the same! Rating: 4.5 out of 5.




Butterscotch Brownies: adapted from MarthaStewart.com

Ingredients for brownie batter:
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Ingredients for butterscotch filling:
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar (or dark)
- 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter.

Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and line with parchment, allowing a 2-inch overhang. Butter lining (not overhang).
- Make batter: Put butter and chocolates in a heatproof medium bowl set over a pan of simmering water; stir until melted. Let cool slightly. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
- Add eggs in chocolate mixture, and whisk until mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla. Add flour mixture; stir until well incorporated.
- Make butterscotch filling: melt butter in a saucepan and add brown sugar. Let it come to a boil, then turn down the heat and add the butterscotch filling to the brownie batter. Mix well.
- Bake until a cake tester inserted into brownies (avoid center and edges) comes out with a few crumbs but is not wet, about 30 minutes. Let cool slightly in pan, about 15 minutes. Lift out; let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares.



I made these brownies a few days ago. By the time it's new year's eve
they will be all completely devoured of course.

As a Dutch tradition, I'm baking oliebollen tonight filled with apples
and rum-soaked raisins. I posted the recipe last year, click here.




Happy new year's everyone! Hope you go out with a big bang!

Halloween Games for Kids' Parties

To contact us Click HERE
Maybe your child has a birthday on October 30 or 31, and you want to have a party. Or you are having a traditional celebration in party form and are looking for ways to keep the kids entertained safely. There are lots of Halloween games for kids, both active and quiet, that will keep them occupied and having fun. Here are some ideas.
Monster FreezePut on some Halloween music. It can be funny and upbeat, or slow and scary. Tell kids to move the way the music feels. When the music stops, they have to freeze. Kids love Monster Mash and Michael Jackson's Thriller songs.
Pin the Nose on the WitchThis is a variation on Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Use a large picture of a witch, and paste it up on a wall. Give each kid a nose made from construction paper, with a loop of masking or painter's tape on the back.Blindfold each child in turn, spin them around three times (kids love the spinning best of all), and then point them in the direction of the witch poster. They stick the nose on when they think they have it in the correct position.
Pass the Jack-O-LanternDivide the kids into two teams, and line each team up. Give the first person in each line a jack-o-lantern. You can use an orange with a face drawn on with black marking pen. Or use orange balloons with or without faces.The first child puts the fake pumpkin under their chin and keeps it there, without using their hands. They have to pass it along, from one child to the next in line, from chin to chin, without using any hands. The first team to finish wins.
Spooky TelephoneAgain, using teams in two lines, say the same spooky message to the first child in each line. They need to whisper the message to the next kid, and so on, down the line. At the end, the last kid has to tell you what the sentence was. Kids love to hear the funny things they end up saying.
Cookie DecoratingYou can make or buy sugar cookies and decorate them with icing, sprinkles, and small candies, such as M and Ms. If you spread round cookies with orange icing, then give kids black or brown, they can decorate them to look like jack-o-lanterns.If you use black or brown frosting, then give kids white icing, they can make spider webs. You can top those with gummy worms or bugs, to make them super gross.Remember, if you have very young children at the party, keep the toys and favors large, to prevent choking. And in general, the grosser, the better. Kids love yucky! Using these simple Halloween party games, you can keep the kids amused and safe this year.

Delicious Butterscotch Brownies and Happy New Year's Eve!

To contact us Click HERE


I was browsing all the delicious foodie pics on Instagram and a batch of butterscotch brownies caught my eye. Brownies never look very pretty; they're dark, have an uneven texture and often times are badly sliced. But they water my mouth anyway! I made a butterscotch sauce filling by melting butter and adding brown sugar. The butterscotch sauce went into the brownie batter and created this delicious, very delectable brownie dough =) I couldn't stop licking it! I may have overcooked them slightly, as I wanted to go for a more fudgy type of brownie rather than what I ended up with, a cakey brownie. But delicious all the same! Rating: 4.5 out of 5.




Butterscotch Brownies: adapted from MarthaStewart.com

Ingredients for brownie batter:
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Ingredients for butterscotch filling:
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar (or dark)
- 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter.

Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and line with parchment, allowing a 2-inch overhang. Butter lining (not overhang).
- Make batter: Put butter and chocolates in a heatproof medium bowl set over a pan of simmering water; stir until melted. Let cool slightly. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
- Add eggs in chocolate mixture, and whisk until mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla. Add flour mixture; stir until well incorporated.
- Make butterscotch filling: melt butter in a saucepan and add brown sugar. Let it come to a boil, then turn down the heat and add the butterscotch filling to the brownie batter. Mix well.
- Bake until a cake tester inserted into brownies (avoid center and edges) comes out with a few crumbs but is not wet, about 30 minutes. Let cool slightly in pan, about 15 minutes. Lift out; let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares.



I made these brownies a few days ago. By the time it's new year's eve
they will be all completely devoured of course.

As a Dutch tradition, I'm baking oliebollen tonight filled with apples
and rum-soaked raisins. I posted the recipe last year, click here.




Happy new year's everyone! Hope you go out with a big bang!