I found one!

You probably thought I would have used "Happy New Year" as the title of this post, but I decided to set myself apart from the pack and type these three words instead.

What did I find? A cherry, of course, in one of my macaroons. I had a little treasure hunt last night with them (some had cherries, while others did not), and I found one on the first bite, as you can see in the pic :-)

Please excuse my crazy pinkie finger, which happens to bend in unnatural ways. When I was little, I used to say it looked like a poor little French fry. With that attached to my hand, can you believe that I once did a little hand modeling? (check me out Raw Model, ha ha)

When I worked in Ritz Camera/Boater's World's advertising department, there were pictures of my hands on the lens pen packaging and holding a cheesy boat phone in the catalog. I don't know if you can still find the pics, but my hands were the ones photographed at the time.

But back to the macaroons. Matthew (my husband) did not try them as promised since he claims to hate coconut. However, it looks like I pulled a fast one on him, when I fed him the raw chocolates and brownies.

The cream inside both contains coconut (but don't tell him). He was hesitant to try the chocolates (he is not a fan of cream-filled bon bon like candies), but was surprised to find that he actually liked them.

To top it all off, after trying a piece of my raw mint chocolate brownie, he ate a whole one himself. He even said he would have more if I made them again. I ate two, as well.

Of course, we both ate the cherries (I had more than what was pictured on the plate) and took turns feeding them to one another. Although simple in their natural state, they are raw treats, too (they were my biggest craving when I was pregnant with my son; I bought $40 worth of them one day and ate them all in one sitting).

Now, I already warned you that he would not sample the chili (maybe someday he'll have a change of heart, or in this case, taste-buds), but he did eat one of the warm corn cakes. He had mixed reviews, due to the fact that he was not having them with the chili (he was eating pizza). He thought he would have enjoyed them more if he was eating Mexican instead of Italian.

My husband also did not take a sip of the Teeccino (which is not raw anyway), but that was to be expected; he never was a coffee drinker. Now if I can only get him to stop drinking sodas ...

Overall, the raw menu was a hit. My husband has warmed up to the idea of a raw meal once in a while, if he gets to help pick the dishes. It seems like we'll be having dessert for dinner to start (which isn't so unhealthy when your raw). We're taking baby steps.

After all that heavy food, I'm back to my usual routine. I woke up early (What else is new? Does anyone else notice that they sleep less after becoming raw?), drank a ton of water, took some MSM and worked out (I didn't have to make that a resolution, since I have consistently 6 days a week for years; I even did Tae Bo the night before I gave birth). I'll probably have a green smoothie or two (already increasing my consumption) and my leftover chili. Yum!

But for those of you who still want something more substantial, they made mini quiches today on Good Morning America. The ones on the show were not appealing to me, but these recipes are: Christmas Quiche (its not too late) from Raw Goddess Healthy, inspired by Russell James's Spinach and Wild Mushroom Quiche, Almond Mushroom Quiche (by the goddess's fellow uncook and friend, Carmella) and Spinach and Mushroom Quiche in a Kale Crust (yet another version of Russell's popular dish).

Happy New Year, everyone!