Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Marzipan is the perfect sweet for the Holiday Season, and this is RAW, VEGAN and GLUTEN FREE, so it seems to cover most of the current food trends :-). Click  here  to see the recipe and step by step images (including how to use apricot kernels). Note that for colouring this time I didn't use berry juice but  Fresh As  raspberry powder, and also quite a bit of spiraling powder for a darker green hue. The nuts on top are optional, of course. I am entering this recipe for Sweet NZ #40, to enter your November Recipe  click here . Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

The juice of the day is just carrots and orange. Usually I have this in winter, but I had a couple of oranges to use and it is refreshing (it has been hot!) Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Another day, another smoothie. I used some free stone plums from Oratia Orchard (they have many variety of plums, freshly picked), drinking yogurt, one banana and ice cubes. Perfect for breakfast and I love the colour! In fact I love all hues of purple and plum, here are some of my favourite. Well, my blueberries should be blue by now, bus a bug ate half of my plant form the inside, and the birds tend to get to the berries before me as soon as they turn blue! No blueberry jam this year, but they look pretty in the garden.  And these I adore, tiny little pansies from the garden. Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini

 First I started with a simple paste made with a small piece of ginger (peeled), one shallot (also peeled), fresh coriander (with stalks), green chili (not too much for me, maybe one or two), and fresh lemon grass (one stick). If you have kaffir lime leaves or rind, the are good too, apparently, but I didn't have any so I added a little lemon juice. Mush with a mortar and pestle or with a blender (I used the blender, too hot for the mortar and pestle!) adding salt towards the end.  Now, the only thing in the paste that came from the garden was coriander, and frozen (from last year) as this year my plant died! I also have lots of frozen chills to use, and a little plant that don't even have flowers yet!  The veggies: 1 carrot, 2 yellow zucchini, a few tomatoes, a few broccolini, borage tips, green capsicum, Thai mint, basil, onion weed flowers  and borage flowers to decorate. then: organic tofu and coconut cream. I cut the tofu and placed it in a ...