Today the 7th Annual Authors in Bloom Blog Hop begins! Oh, how I LOVE spring. Not only do April showers bring out the best in my flowers, my vegetable garden is brimming with beautiful bounty!! Woohoo! But I digress. You’re here for wonderful gardening tips and fabulous recipes and you’ve come to the right place. I’m about to share you THE most decadent healthy dessert you’ve ever unleashed on your taste buds. I’m not kidding. Have you heard of the “raw” eating health craze? It’s basically where you consume all your food in its purest, raw form. Nothing cooked that could kill the nutritional value. Nothing artificial or unhealthy. This recipe is the bomb.

An adaptation of a recipe created by Debbie Waddell, Vegan Brownie Bites, I’ve added a twist. A non-vegan twist, (unless you use non-dairy whipped cream), this dish will fool even the most discriminating chocolate lovers. 

HEALTHY BROWNIE PARFAIT

1/2 Cup Walnuts (or Pecans)

2 TBSP Unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 Cup Medjool Dates pitted

2 TBSP Raw Cacao Powder

1/4 tsp Pure Vanilla extract

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

2 tsp Honey

1 TBSP Crushed raspberries

Dollop of whip cream

PREPARATION

Place the nuts in a food processor and blend until almost a flour consistency.  Add the remaining ingredients and process until the mixture forms a dough like consistency. Using your hands, take a small amount and roll into a ball. Wedge into the bottom of a small glass. Spoon raspberries over brownie and top with whipped dream. Delicious!

The recipe will make approximately 8-1 inch balls of dough. I actually used 2 balls of dough for this dessert glass (size of a shot glass).

Can be stored in the refrigerator for several days–though it won’t last!!

Prefer to remain vegan and eliminate the cream? No worries! It’s just as decadent without it.

Now for my giveaway. For my stop on the Authors in Bloom Blog Hop, you have a chance to win a Bloem Box rose and lavender scented organic sachet, petit butterfly note pad, and a box of floral-themed note cards and envelopes.

Enter for your chance to win via the Rafflecopter below. Thanks for taking part in our blog hop!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You are also eligible to win the grand prize eReader (value $200). To win the grand prize, you MUST visit each and every author/blogger on the hop. Each site will post the links of participating authors but please feel free to reference my site to find the author link list at any point in time. Some authors might offer more than one entry to win, ie. a “follow” on Twitter or a “tweet,” maybe even a visit to their Facebook or Pinterest page, however only one entry is required to enter.

Don’t want to enter a particular giveaway on the hop? No worries. Simply enter grand prize giveaway here, then leave a comment in the author’s comment section of their Authors in Bloom post and you’ll remain eligible to win.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

“Giveaway ends April 27th at 11:59 PM EST. Open to Legal Residents (18 years of age or older) of the US only. Prizes cannot be shipped to PO Boxes. Winner will be selected by Rafflecotper.com and be notified by email. Winner will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected. Please note that Dianne Venetta, host of the Authors in Bloom Blog Hop, is not responsible for sponsors that do not fulfill their prizes. I have represented each sponsor with the expectation they will fulfill their prize and in a timely manner. I will contact the sponsor regarding your prize(s). The sponsors, in most cases, are shipping their items to you directly. I will make every effort to assist you in obtaining your prize. If there is an issue with a sponsor, please notify the blog you won a prize from within 30 days for assistance, after that we may be unable to assist you. The product provided for the review was free of charge from the company. The product offered for the giveaway is free of charge, no purchase necessary. My opinions are my own and were not influenced by any form of compensation. Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are in no way associated with this giveaway. By providing your information in this form, you are providing your information to me and me alone. I do not share or sell information and will use any information only for the purpose of contacting the winner.” VOID where prohibited by law.

Now get hopping, you have a bunch more chances to win!

Virginia!  Congratulations on winning my garden-inspired giveaway ~~ the sure-fire way to get you fired-up for the garden season. :)  And thanks to all who entered.  I appreciate you stopping by!  And the grand prize winner…

YJ!!  Woohoo ~~  the eReader and $25 gift card are yours!  And just in time for the summer vacation.  You’ll be kicked back and relaxed as you read from your slim and trim, sleek new tablet.  Ahhh…  Don’t let the waves hit it!

And congratulations to ALL who won across the 70 author sites.  Not only did you gain a bounty of gardening tips, fab new recipes and wonderful new authors, many of you won prizes along the way!  For a full list of winners, head on over to A Cozy Reader’s Corner where Tiffany will post the entire list of prizes and winners.

Thanks again to one and all for making this First Annual Authors in Bloom Spring Blog Hop a HUGE success (yes, you read that right  — there will be more to follow!).  Without energetic readers like you, we authors would be nowhere.  Okay, crazy ones like me would still be writing, forcing their daughter to read, baby, read!  But honestly, without loyal readers? Authors go nowhere fast.  Hopefully you all enjoyed your “hop” and will join us again next year. :)

Can’t wait.  Until then, happy spring and wishing you the discovery of many wonderful new books and new authors.  It’s an addiction, I know.  One I can’t seem to kick!

Welcome to the First Annual Authors in Bloom Spring Blog Hop!  It’s that time of year again when the sun comes back to shine, the birds begin to sing and the flowers burst with the color of life!  It’s a time where we forget about getting more Facebook likes in order to focus on what’s really important. To celebrate this momentous occasion—okay, momentous may be a STRONG word, but not for us gardeners, it isn’t!—some of my author friends and I are sharing our favorite gardening tips and spring fresh recipes.  How great is that?  It’s like a having a gardening encyclopedia and cookbook in one!  LOVE it.  But more than gardening know-how and gourmet delights, you’ll receive over 70 chances to win stuff from this shop!  Woohoo!  I don’t know about you, but I love anything FREE.  So hard to come by these days, isn’t it?  My garden-inspired giveaway for this hop includes a wax melter for your fragrance tarts (a Cilantro Clementine tart included), Vera Bradley napkins and matching pencils, sugar scrub by Deep Steep (grapefruit & bergamot scented ~ mmmm….), custom-seed saving packets, a garden “help” booklet, adorable little “cauliflower” poodle figurine from Enesco and more! ($55 value, plant & plate shown in photo not included) Now to my gardening tip:  If you’re like most gardeners, tomatoes are on your list of must-grow or must-try.  And who can blame you?  Rich, ripe, ruby-red tomatoes are not only delicious fresh, but the key ingredient to the infamous “red sauce” ~ a recipe handed down through Italian generations like Blue Bloods hand down silver spoons and Southern folk’s dish out middle names.  Italian by injection is what I am and red sauce is something I’m working to master. :) So how do you grow these bad boys without spots, blemishes and cracks?  Epsom salts and eggshells.  Yep!  Go ahead and start them from seeds indoors and then, when you transplant them into the ground, add a crushed eggshell and a tablespoon of Epsom salt mixed into the soil around your sproutling.  No more spots!  (a.k.a blossom-end rot.) Got cracks?  (We’ve all got problems, I know.)  Watch that water schedule, because cracks are due to uneven watering–something awfully hard to prevent in Florida.  Just when you have the automatic timer attached to the hose attached to the sprinkler head which is positioned just so all figured out—WHAM! Mother Nature blasts you with a good soaking.  She calls it a sense of humor.  I call it bad timing. But like I said, we’ve all got problems.  And I like to look at my relationship with Mother Nature as a challenge rather than a curse.  Helps me keep the stress levels down, if you know what I mean.  So what do you say?  Aren’t these tomatoes gorgeous?  Willing to give it a try?  For more gardening tips & fresh recipes, visit my garden blog at BloominThyme! (You’ll find the template for my custom seed-saving packets there, too!) Now, for the really important stuff:  to enter my giveaway, you have more than one opportunity.  You can leave a comment here, follow me on Twitter (make sure I know it’s you by giving me a mention along with the Authors in Bloom blog hop, ie. *Authors in Bloom rock!* @DianneVenetta), “like” my author page on facebook and fan me on Goodreads ~ be sure to leave a message regarding the same!  For all you gardeners out there, here are a couple of more ways to enter:  you can subscribe to my garden blog:   BloominThyme and like it’s facebook page.  How’s that for increasing the odds?  Six chances to win PLUS a whole heck of a lot of garden fun! Phew, that’s a lot of entries per person.  Did I mention I like free stuff?  I like giving it away, too. :)   And if you’re a bloomin’ warrior, or if you’ve already done any of the above, please let me know in the comment section of this post and you’ll get credited for the extra entries.  (No penalties allowed here.) So what are you waiting for?  Grab the phrase below and hop on to the next author—you’ll find the entire crew listed in the linky list below.  (You may have to check the blog section of their website.)  Remember:  to be eligible for the grand prize, you must visit each and every site—but you have 10 days to do so! Line 1: Springtime is the season of blossoms. Line 2: Buds burst open, leaves unfurl, Line 3: and young flowers mature into gorgeous blooms. And as a reminder, if you have any questions how this hop works, especially how to win the grand prize, get full details here:  Authors in Bloom Spring Blog Hop.  While you’re here check out my novels!  JENNIFER’S GARDEN recently received 4 1/2 stars from RT Book Reviews…  Available for $2.99 on both your kindle & nook. :)