New year, New recipe!

My calendar page for December reads "Courage" with this quote: Courage is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. -Winston Churchill

Sorry Mr. Churchill, I prefer this definition:

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.

~C.S. Lewis

Even if at the testing point of a situation we come out on the bottom, with some bruises or by the skin of our teeth, I don't think that makes for a failure. How did we perform at that testing point?

I refuse to move from failure to failure in life! I may move from one challenging situation to the next, but even if I am not the victor, I can gain from each of them by learning about myself and doing the right thing. We can be transformed by the trials we face. Courage is what happens when we face them and what we do at the face off.

Goodbye December!

Goodbye 2009!

I am ringing in the new year with some friends and am excited to try a new recipe! I snagged it from Matt & Christine over at No Meat Athlete. They are gluten free, vegan, carrot macaroons!

1 packed cup grated raw carrots (1-2 medium sized carrots)
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup canola oil
2 cups coconut flakes
3/4 cup rice flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp alcohol-free vanilla extract
2 tbs agave nectar

optional garnish: 1 handful semisweet chocolate chips, melted.

(Christine used Tropical Source brand which are vegan and gluten-free.)

I LOVE this sweetener!! It is all natural and great in this recipe and in oatmeal!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all the ingredients together except for the chocolate in a large bowl.
Lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Wash your hands and pat the mixture into 24 balls, slightly smaller than golfballs.

Place balls on pan 2 inches apart and bake for 30 minutes, rotating once. Use a spatula to remove the macaroons from the pan.

If desired, drizzle melted chocolate over the macaroons with a fork.

NOTE: If you think you KNOW how to melt chocolate chips, but aren't certain, look that up first. I thought "how hard can it be?" I started in a pan on the stove and it looked great, but they hardened right up so I promptly burnt them to a crisp in the microwave. Sigh.

As I stood there in the kitchen, nibbling on the hard, chewy, burnt chips (thinking they tasted like when you set a marshmallow on fire) I knew that I couldn't post the final product and gloss over this fiasco.

So 1) Yes, I ate some of this gunk and B) I am sticking to brutally honest blogging! After all, this wasn't a failure, it was a learning experience!

Chocolate for drizzling, take TWO!

This time, with a bit of research, I found that a no mess way to melt and drizzle chocolate chips is to place them in a ziploc bag, dipping that in hot water, and sniping a hole in the corner.

You get your own piping bag! Simply squeeze away!

I cut a larger hole than I needed, so the chocolate is really thick, but this is a WONDERFUL trick, next time I will snip smaller!

Happy New Years Eve! Here's to a great new year!