"A slice of heaven"

I snagged that line from a t-shirt in the movie "Mystic Pizza." I haven't seen it in years, but now that it's come to mind, I'll have to view it again soon.

Maybe I'll make a theme night out of it, as an excuse to make my raw pizza-by-the-slice. And, so I don't forget the recipe for the crust, I've posted it right here for you, too.

Shannonmarie's
Mystical Pizza Crawst
1 cup raw almonds, finely ground
1/2 cup raw oats, ground into flour
1/4 cup golden flaxseed, also finely ground
2 soft pitted dates
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1-2 Tbsp. water
a few dashes of sea salt
seasonings: garlic, basil, oregano, to taste

In a food processor, combine the ground almonds, oats and flax. Add dates, olive oil, 1 Tbsp. of the water, sea salt and seasonings. Process to form a dough. Add more water if needed.

Divide the dough into three equal pieces, and shape each piece into a rectangular-shaped slice. I also added a line of pizza "cheese" at the end of each slice and folded it over to create a stuffed crust (this step is optional).

"Bake" the crust in your dehydrator until firm enough to handle the toppings, yet soft enough to still resemble the real deal. Top with your favorite sauce, "cheese," veggies, etc.

I also chose to make this sausage (make that "rawsage") and my attempt at "pepperawni."

Pizza "Pepperawni"
1/2 cup raw almonds, finely ground
2 Tbsp. flaxseed, finely ground
2 Tbsp. sesame seed, (you guessed it) finely ground
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. agave nectar
1-2 Tbsp. Bragg's Liquid Aminos
8 sun-dried tomato halves, soaked
1/2 cup soaking liquid from the tomatoes
lots of freshly ground pepper (hence the name)
couple drops of liquid smoke
dash of sea salt
seasonings: garlic, poultry seasoning, oregano, basil
some extra sesame seeds

Blend all the ingredients, except for the extra sesame seeds, in a blender until completely combined. Toss in a few more sesame seeds, and pulse slightly to spread them throughout the mixture.

On a teflex sheet or parchment lined dehydrator tray, drop marble-sized dollops of the mixture and flatten them into silver dollar-sized rounds. Dehydrate until dry enough to flip and remove from the teflex/parchment. Dehydrate a little longer to "cook" the other side. Top your pizza, salad, sandwich or whatever you like with them. Enjoy!

Tagged, I'm it

My fellow blogger and friend, Charissa, just tagged me, which means it is now my turn to give up a little more info about myself (as if you haven't heard enough; what haven't I said on this blog?).

So, let me think. What don't you already know about yours truly? Here are the first five things that come to mind, although there are probably no surprises for my close friends and family. I'm like an open book.

Numero Uno: I used to volunteer for D.C. United, a MLS (Major League Soccer) team, for those of you who don't know.

On my first day as a volunteer, they needed someone to sit behind one of the goals and clock the speed of the balls being kicked toward it with a radar gun. To get me down on the field, I was granted an all-access pass, which allowed me to go anywhere in the stadium (including the locker room; you wouldn't believe what I got to see).

From then on, I got to try out many different tasks that took advantage on my total access. I worked the press box, helped slingshot t-shirts into the crowd and escorted Talon (the mascot) throughout the stadium.

One day, the guy who was supposed to be Talon didn't show, so I got to play the part. I guess I did a good job, because I got paid to do some other appearances, like in the Cherry Blossom parade and at another local mascot's birthday bash (a whole bunch of mascots showed up to celebrate with a game of t-ball).

Later on, I also began volunteering with the Ice Breakers (a local minor league ice hockey team) and during the Women's World Cup, where I got to meet Bill Clinton.

No. 2: Still talking about Washington, D.C., I worked on Capitol Hill one summer. I guess I could've been a page, but I opted to do something only a small handful of teenagers get to do; I got to drive the Senators.

My mom nearly fell over when she found out. You see, I'm not the best driver (there's another fact about me). But, lucky for the Senators, I was just going to be filling a seat and pulling a lever on an almost totally automated subway system.

One day, when the Senate wasn't in session, a man in Hawaiian shirt with a camera around his neck (he looked like most tourists on the Hill) struck up a conversation with me about general stuff, like the weather outside, etc. I thought nothing of it until a woman came running over to the man in the loud shirt, saying, "Sen. Glenn, it's so nice to meet you."

Yeah, I knew that. Not. I couldn't believe I didn't recognize him. I mean, he wasn't wearing his space suit.

No. 3: You've probably already figured out that I have an artistic background, but did you know about my range?

I've been drawing and painting since I was small (ditched the stick figures in pre-K and started oil painting in elementary school). I also sing (church choir, school chorus, musical theater and I even sang in a band), took dance (tap, jazz, ballet and some pointe) and was on the pom squad in school.

I was a member of the Thespian Society, a place I earned for my hours of theater work. I was in various school plays, including taking on the part of Kim in "Bye Bye Birdie" (the part Ann Margret portrayed in the movie version. I just love her).

Now, here's an embarrassing little tidbit about me; I even auditioned for a part on the New Mickey Mouse Club in the early 90s. It was the season that Keri Russell (you may know her as "Felicity") made it into the cast. Obviously, I did not.

No. 4: While we're on the topic of embarrassing (and the Mickey Mouse Club), I've also been a big Britney Spears fan (although not so much lately). I have almost all of her CDs (including some imports and the lunchbox filled with single CDs, a shirt, lollipop, keychain and other odd stuff), some dolls, clothing she auctioned off as part of a charity event and a copy of one of her yearbooks.

Now, before you get too weirded out, let me explain. It all started as a joke. I bought a copy of her first CD, because after hanging out with my silly singing friends, a couldn't get "Hit Me Baby One More Time" out of my head.

Next came the dolls, which I purchased to be funny, since a male coworker of mine had made such a fuss over them. Then, everything just kind of snowballed.

Although, I do have to admit that the music did grow on me. It was rather catchy, so I actually went to a concert while preggos with my son. What can I say? My husband and I had fun.

No. 5: Lastly, I've been thinking about going into cake decorating for a while. It probably wouldn't be raw (due to the lack of demand in my area), but then I would be less tempted to eat it.

My sister's and I used to eat cake top (what's leftover after leveling out the top of a baked cake) all the time when my mom worked with a well-known cake decorator in our area. She actually assisted with a soap star's wedding cake and helped transport it to the event.

Speaking of decorative icing, my mom also is one of people in charge of the semi-annual bon bon production to benefit our church. She is currently working on them as I type this, and had enlisted my help Thursday and yesterday.

This batch is for Easter, so we also do 5 oz. eggs (pictured are some of the ones I put crosses and extra flowers on to conceal any imperfections. The rest of them are personalized with names).

Whoa, this post has gotten a bit lengthy, so you'll have to wait until the next one to get my pizza recipe. But, before I leave you, here's who I'm gonna tag: Kristen, Heathy, Carmi, Alissa (take your time; I know about your computer situation) and Jenny :-)

"That's Amore"

My hubby was never one to sing for his supper (much less carry a tune), but from time to time, I catch him belting out this Dean Martin classic. Although he seldom gets the lyrics right, he does manage to get through the first few lines correctly.

"When the moon hits your eye,
like a big-a pizza pie,
that's amore"

Pizza pie. Yum. Now, that is amore, especially when served to your loved ones as part of this week's Thursday Night Raw.

Matthew has been suggesting pizza since we started this tradition (if I can call it that; it's only been a couple months in the making.) I would've made it sooner, but I needed some time to come up with something to suit his particular tastes.

However, instead of taking all this time to formulate a recipe to knock his socks off (actually he takes them off as soon as he walks in the door, so I guess that wasn't really necessary), I just kept making excuses to put it on the back burner until he hopefully stopped asking for it.

I'll admit it; I was afraid of failure. Raw pizza may resemble pizza in many ways, but it was never going to fool anyone into thinking it was its cooked counterpart. I mean, even some of the cooked versions are highly criticized.

But, in the end, I decided to be brave, take the plunge into the deep end (no, I didn't make a deep dish variety; but I may try it in the future) and hopefully come up for that breath of fresh air.

I can breath freely again, knowing that I've tackled this task somewhat successfully. Matthew said it was "edible," which in his words, translates to agreeing with him. He rarely gets excited over any meal, raw or cooked, so when he cleans his plate, it's a big deal.

At the last minute (make that the night before), I decided to make my own crust, using ingredients and techniques that already had been Matthew approved. I shaped the pizza dough into individual triangular slices (after the "baking" process, they can easily be picked up to eat), and added a surprise inside (check out the stuffed crust).

I also made some raw vegan pepperoni slices (now that doesn't sound right), Italian sausage crumbles (also raw and vegan), "cooked" (make that dehydrated) veggie toppings (onions, green peppers and mushrooms), a tomato sauce and a macadamia/cashew-based "cheese" (which could be drizzled on top with a squeeze bottle for that melted effect).

The stage was set for our pizza making premiere, where my hubby and I could construct our own masterpieces. Jacob opted for a cooked meal instead (but had raw fruit for dessert), which leaves one more blank canvas (in this case, crust) for you. Have fun :-)

Monkey see, monkey do

Jacob eats bananas; how about you?

My son has had quite an exciting week. Since the weather was nice, we took our photo shoot down to the beach, where he set up this George talking on his banana phone pic.

I posed for one with him, too, but opted to keep that one for myself.

Also, this week, Jacob and I went on a field trip with his preschool to look for signs of spring. Ranger Jackie took us on a tour of a local park, where we road on a hayride, looked for bird nests, noted the new buds on the trees and even saw a groundhog in his burrow.

But the most exciting part for him was being able to ride on the school bus with his friends. I guess he's ready for kindergarten after all. He's growing up so fast.

Unfortunately, the kids in his preschool will be divided up next year, since they are in different school districts. The other moms and I are trying to give them more time to hang out before that happens, like last week, when we had our first official group play date.

We had our second one yesterday at the park. The kids had a great time playing on the playground together. Hopefully, we can do this more often.

As for my smoothie this morning, I found myself craving more pie, so I added macadamia nuts, coconut flakes, pineapple and cacao nibs to my basic banilla green smoothie. Oh yeah, and since I'm on a roll with it, I put in a little Java Teeccino, too :-)

Mirror image

Here's another tease picture (I did the same thing a couple weeks ago with this dessert) for my next We Like It Raw post, which will probably be up on the site today or tomorrow.

As you can see I "rawified" (a word I made up for taking a traditionally cooked recipe and transforming it into a raw version) this pie that caught my eye in a copy of Family Circle magazine. I ripped it out at work and have been carrying it around with me in my purse, until I finally got my hands on some more raw macadamia nuts to make it (this explains all the wrinkles and creases on the page; it's been through a lot).

After snapping this pic of what may have been the last slice, I got a kick out of the mirror image effect. I guess it does somewhat resemble the original.

Speaking of mirror image, I think that was the name the twin competitors went by in the Dance T.V. dance off at the end of the "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" movie. Now, I couldn't find a link with the two of them, but I did find the part where Sarah Jessica Parker's character and her partner perform to their portion of the song (one that I used to dance to around my house, as if I was in the competition, too). And, just for the fun of it, here's another cashew "cheesy" scene.

Too bad I didn't make a cheesecake or at least something with "cheese" on it this week. Maybe some other time.

Cherry on top

This may look like one on my creations, but it's even better. You see, my friend Rawbin made it for me.

Have you ever noticed how raw food is much more exciting when someone else makes it for you? Now, I'm not talking about the salad bar at a chain restaurant or some already washed and prepped veggies from the supermarket. I mean the luxury of being served a good uncooked meal at a raw cafe or having someone surprise you with a raw gift like this one.

It's Rawbin's personal spin on the good old "million dollar" brownie recipe I gave her a while back. She molded the brownies individually in some fruit cups, with a surprise cherry filling. Then, she turned them over, popped them out of the molds and served them with a drizzle of icing and a cherry on top. Yum.

I told her I was going to share it with my hubby, since he does like raw brownies. Oh how romantic that would've been. Unfortunately, I only gave him one bite, before I devoured the rest. You're lucky I paused for a picture.

This was the cherry to top off my weekend of raw foods made by someone else. And, who was that someone else? It was none other then Chef Bliss, which I quickly discovered was Jeff (who looks a lot like the main character in this movie, which, by the way, has a great soundtrack) from NaturalZing (I guess your secret identity has been revealed now. Scooby Doo made me do it; my son and I are watching it right now).

At Saturday's lecture, he and his crew served up three types of wraps (Italian, Waldorf salad-style and a nori wrap) with dipping sauces, as well as a spread that included mixed greens grown on site, a cabbage salad, marinated kale, sauerkraut (he makes it using his own kombucha; you've gotta try it) a variety of crackers, olives, cookies, little granola bars similar to Rice Krispie treats (in plain and chocolate) and pie.

As crazy as it sounds, he actually got us all hooked on a very unexpected combination. If you wrap a date around one of these raw unsalted olives, it sort of tastes like very dark chocolate. You have to experience it to believe it.

I'm a bad girl

Why would I say that? Well, I went to Paul Nison's lecture (he looks much cuter in person; I think it's because we got to see him in a spiffy suit and with a clean shave. Paul, you should keep this look) at NaturalZing yesterday, and somehow managed to make it there without my camera.

What kind of blogger am I? What happened to always being prepared (the girl scouts would be so disappointed in me)?

And, to top it all off, I was reminded yet again of how I am basically a naughty raw foodist, breaking all the rules. Someone put a "P" on my sweater, 'cause Shannonmarie is "permanently punished" (like Penny Pingleton in "Hairspray").

My bad habits are actually addictions. According to Paul, a habit is something you do until you find out it's bad for you. Then, you try to break that habit. But, when you start making excuses as to why you need to continue with this habit, then it becomes an addiction.

Now I'm an addict, addicted to raw junkfood, chocolate, overeating, consuming food late in the evening ... what else can I add to the list? Oh yeah, bad food combining. I was even guilty of all of those things right after he finished speaking.

I went straight to Helen and Jeff's kitchen (they are the owners of NaturalZing), where I preceded to eat more food, some of it being raw desserts, after 7 p.m., and even sneaking a piece of pure raw chocolate (big mistake; I was bouncing all over the place. Everyone must have thought I was nuts - yeah, I probably consume too many of those, too).

Oh well, Paul didn't hold it against me, so I might be sticking to these addictions for a little while. I just hope my bad influence isn't rubbing off on any of you.

But, in case you have followed me down the rabbit hole, here are the recipes for a yummy breakfast (surprisingly not chocolate, although it goes great with a chocolate sauce) to eat along the way:

Pancakes
for Your Permanent Punishment
1 cup raw almonds, ground into flour
1/4 cup flaxseed, also finely ground
2 Tbsp. maple sugar (or grade B maple syrup)
drizzle of agave nectar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
dash of sea salt
1 cup sparkling water (reduce slightly if using maple syrup)
*grated apple and cinnamon for an apple spice version

If a bowl, whisk together the almond flour, flaxmeal and maple sugar (if using syrup, wait to add it with the rest of the liquid) to remove any lumps (you can add spices at this time if you like). Add the agave, vanilla, sea salt and water, and gently whisk to combine. Allow to thicken slightly.

Using about a 1/4 cup size scooper, pour mounds of the batter onto a teflex sheet or parchment lined dehydrator tray. Flatten into pancake rounds, as if you were making the real deal. This is the time when you can add grated apple, blueberries or even raw chocolate chips.

Dehydrate your flapjacks for a few hours until you're able to flip them and remove them from the teflex or parchment. Dehydrate another few hours (be careful not to let them get too crisp; they should still be somewhat soft) and serve warm (these aren't hotcakes). Top with grade B maple syrup, fruit and/or chocolate sauce.


Banana Rawffles
3/4 cup raw almonds, ground into flour
1/4 cup sprouted/dried buckwheat groats, ground into flour (can also use oats)
1/4 cup flaxseed, finely ground
2 Tbsp. maple sugar (or syrup, but don't forget to adjust the other liquid)
drizzle of agave nectar
1/2 small banana
1/2 tsp. vanilla
dash of sea salt
dash of pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup sparkling water

If a bowl, whisk together the almond and buckwheat flour, flaxmeal and maple sugar (if using syrup, wait to add it with the rest of the liquid) to remove any lumps. Blend together the rest of the ingredients until smooth, and add it to the dry ingredients. Gently whisk to combine. Allow to thicken.

After having some difficulty molding the dough into the familiar waffle shape using my old waffle iron, I opted to sculpt them myself using a knife with a squared-off tip. But, feel free to try molding them however you chose.

Place your "rawffles" on a teflex sheet or parchment lined dehydrator tray. Dehydrate for a few hours until you're able to flip them and remove them from the teflex or parchment. Dehydrate another few hours and serve warm. Top with grade B maple syrup, fruit and/or chocolate sauce.


Breakfast Rawsage Links
1/2 cup walnuts, soaked
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, soaked
4 chopped mushrooms
1/2 small Granny Smith apple, grated
1 Tbsp. grade B maple syrup
1 Tbsp. Bragg's Liquid Aminos
1 Tbsp. olive oil
Seasonings: garlic, onion powder, freshly ground pepper, cayenne, poultry seasoning, fennel seed (adjust seasonings to suit your own tastes)

Process all the ingredients in a food processor until thoroughly combined, but not completely smooth. Shape into links on a teflex sheet or parchment lined dehydrator tray. Dehydrate for a couple hours, and then remove the teflex/parchment. Dehydrate a few more hours and serve warm. Tastes even better dipped in more maple syrup.