Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Don't play with your food


Or, at least that was what my mom would say, as I made mountains out of mashed potatoes, like in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

She also would get a little upset when my friends and I made pizzas from scratch. We'd have tomato sauce all over the walls, reminiscent of "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" (Can you believe this link actually takes you to an official website? And, did you know George Clooney was also in one of those ridiculous movies?).

But sometimes, my mom would make an exception, such as when we would make Jello jigglers, 'cause "everyone needs a little wiggle room." You can even make a gelatin-free version like these jellies posted on A Raw Yogi Journal II. Someone named Jake even commented that the same thing could be done raw using Irish moss, instead of agar agar (hey, I've got some of both).

Other fond memories of my childhood in the kitchen, include making no-bake cookies, like this nearly raw version (love the stuff), homemade popsicles (so easy to do when you're raw; check out this fudgesicle) and stain glass cookies (a recipe we got out of a Sesame Street book).

The stain glass cookies were made out of a sugar cookie frame and broken lollipop tops that melted in the oven to form colored "glass." I'll probably make a raw version soon, but what I made yesterday is quite similar.

Thanks again to Raw B (who's juice feasting at the moment, so I've agreed to make her raw wishes come true during this time she can only dream about them), I put together some color-blocked cookies (inspired by this link she sent me), like something out of the early '90s. I made different color doughs out of various nuts/seeds and dried fruit. Talk about some expensive play dough.

My son and I had a blast making cookies and other fun shapes. The best part is that you can eat these creations, and they don't taste salty like the homemade play dough of my past (sorry mom). These are fruity delicious.

Here are some of the pics from our project yesterday. Tomorrow, I'll fill you in on how I made the doughs. Can you guess what's in each color?









By the way, I did get to see "Juno" last night. Loved it, but my hubby thought they were trying too hard with the dialogue (he's always a critic). I also really enjoyed the soundtrack; I've gotta get my hands (or in this case, ears) on that one.

And, the snow I mentioned turned out to be only a dusting. It's gone already, but there is more in the forecast for tomorrow.

9 comments:

B said...

And this is only the beginning! I love it. This idea has so much potential.

Here are my guesses:
red - cherry of course
white - plain (or bannana?)
orange - apricot
green - kiwi? (my brain is thinking broccoli, but that probably is because of the juice)
dark brown - cacao
med brown -- apple ?

okay. What's my score?

Bravo!

x B

B said...

You know, the non-pixel ones kind of remind me of marzipan sculptures. You could make little apples and bananas too, I bet.
xx

Jenny said...

the colors of these fantastic looking creations actually reminds me of fruit loops. . . how fun. . .sometimes i think it'd be nice to have a small one around so i'd feel a bit more justified playing with my food!! hehe!
xx jenny
oh and have you tried an irish moss creation in the dehyrator?? i've only chilled things, and am curious about the texture when warming it

RawBin said...

I ATE PLAYDOUGH YESTERDAY! Now how many people can say that??
Good flavor guesses, wheresb! I like what wheresb said about making fruit shapes with the fruity colors. My favorite flavors were the white one and the light brown one. My favorite colors were the bright purple and the bright bright green.
That's one I wanna do in my kitchen. I'll get my girls to help for the fun of it... who knows, maybe they'll even eat some of it.

Unknown said...

i dunno. i'm gonna go with beet for the red ones.

the dialogue was pretty mature and worldy for age. we were talking about that too. juno was very worldy and urbane for a 16 year old. but it was kind of balanced by her sweet dorky boyfriend, i thought. :)

Heather Pace said...

Those cookies are graet!!! I just might have to make those in a food class for the people who have kids!

Hmm...my guess is cacao/carob for the brown ones
spirulina or spinach for the green
beets - red
lucuma/maca/mesquite for the tan coloured ones
and maybe just dates/nuts for the lighter brown ones?

shannonmarie said...

Good guesses, Raw B. I thought about using bananas for yellow, but I didn't have any dehydrated at the time. I used golden raisins instead. The rest of the answers are in my newest post.

I also like your fruit shape idea. You have a creative mind.

Jenny, I used to love Fruit Loops, but I liked Apple Jacks even more. I'll try making those sometime, especially after my Trix success (also on my newest post). How did you know I was planning that?

No, I haven't tried to dehydrate an Irish moss creation, although I was thinking about it yesterday, while looking at a recipe for meringues.

Glad you enjoyed the play dough Rawbin. It's nice to have a willing taste-tester. Jacob actually liked some of the flavors (and you know how picky he is).

Alissa, beets was an excellent guess. They are the same color.

I thought the dialogue was a little Dawson's Creek-like. I hate to admit it, but I used to watch that show.

Thanks, Raw Goddess. That would be great for a class. Go for it!

Kristen's Raw said...

Brilliant...how fun!

shannonmarie said...

That's a good word to describe the colors of these play doughs. They turned out much brighter than my usual raw treats.