Mama goes RAW.

Raw Food Gathering

2010-06-14T06:44:00.002-06:00

We are going to be doing our Raw as We Wanna Be gathering on June 24th @ 7:00 pm; in My Home. . . We are going to be demoing Family-friendly cooked Vegan dishes and encourage you to google or somehow find a Vegan recipe make it up and bring it for tasting. I will be making Lentil Tacos and Eggplant Fajitas.

Come for Laughs and fun! and getting to taste some yummy food!

Raw Food Restaurant

2010-06-09T06:40:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time on the computer searching for Raw Food or Vegan/Vegetarian restaurants in the Boston area. I found a Raw Food restaurant only about 10 minutes away from where we were staying! Yippee! I even called to make sure that they were open because a Raw Food restaurant that I found in Boston last year has closed. . . Sad. . . But the Prana Cafe is OPEN!! So hubby called and got directions. It was a little confusing getting there, but we made it. I was going to be sure and take pictures. . . guess what? I FORGOT!!! Ugh! I was so upset with myself as we were leaving.

We decided to share an appetizer, a salad, an entree and then we each had our own dessert. We had the Onion Bread with Olive Tapenade, this was hubby's favorite of the night. then the Best Salad (their version of a Caesar salad) it was BIG and yummy. The Lasagna was very pretty and yummy. A neighboring diner commented to the server that the Lasagna was a little bland, and we agreed. It could have used a bit more Italian seasoning. . .

But all in all the experience was awesome. . . I was just so excited to be actually dining in a place that was dedicated to health!! and hopefully the hubby will see that he can go there and get some healthy yumminess when he comes to Boston on business!

What are you planning?

2010-06-08T07:33:00.002-06:00

I never know whether I should say. . . Hi I'm back! Because I doubt anyone missed me, but I'm back!

Actually I'm on vacation with the hubby while he's working, I finally have time to Blog! I might actually update the family blog, that the kids have been bugging me to update.

While we were packing for the trip and getting our mindset for the vacation, hubby asked me "How are we going to eat? You know we're going to be on vacation, and it's going to be hard." It made me think about how much we think about food and how we connect vacationing with "treating" ourselves with food.

So my Question is. . . Do we plan to Succeed? or Do we plan to Fail?

I hope that I plan to succeed while I'm on vacation. It's a challenge to me to find ways to succeed. I'm excited to find restaurants that have raw/vegan options. It's a problem to figure out and I find it challenging to be on vacation and eat right. . . But there are some who plan to fail with the thinking I'm on vacation and there are no options to eating the way I know I should. . .

I hope that we can overcome the ingrained thinking that we're going to Fail. Let's all SUCCEED!!

Juice Feasting Diary - Addendum

2010-05-19T21:39:00.002-06:00

I need to add a couple of notes about juice feasting. It's not something that you just jump into without researching it. . . When you begin juicing, your colon shuts down because there is no fiber in your diet to activate your colon. However, your body will be dumping toxins into your colon, so you need to be doing enemas or colon hydrotherapy to get those toxins out of your body. Juice feasting gives your digestive system a rest and lets your body concentrate on cleaning out the toxins.

Another thing that you need to be careful about is coming off a juice feast. Since your colon is basically shut down during the juicing, you need to reactivate it slowly, two different ways of doing this is with prunes or drinking green smoothies. Depending on how long you've been juicing is how long you spend coming off the juicing. Since I only did 7 days, I spent 2 days on green smoothies, and took an herbal colon cleanse formula to get my colon back into action.

Happy Green Health!

Juice Feasting Diary - Ended

2010-05-19T20:15:00.002-06:00

I was feeling really good on the juicing, but I just couldn't put down the 1 - 1.5 gallon a day that is recommended by the experts. The most I ever got down was about 3 quarts. I could feel the belly fat decreasing and the cravings were also decreasing. For the ultimate juice feast one juices for 92 days. . . Now I don't know that I could ever do that, but I was thinking that I might juice to the end of May. . . then along came the first clear, warm day in weeks, and I decided I wanted to go for a jog. I made it around the 2 mile circle without passing out. However, the rest of the day I was wiped out!

Conclusion, maybe one should not go for the first jog in over a month when only drinking juice, especially when they're not taking in enough calories (ie: the 1 - 1.5 gallons). I had a decision to make. . . Do I want to continue juicing and not exercise or do I want to finally get out and jog? I opted for the jogging. I wish I wasn't such a fair weather jogger, but I am and now that it's finally getting warm. . . I want to RUN! So I finished my juicing in favor of jogging.

I will juice again. . . Maybe not this summer, but I definitely know that I will do it again especially when I need to reboot when my eating habits have gotten a bit out of control. I know that I can do it! and it was not that hard.

Juice Feasting Diary - Update

2010-05-16T22:04:00.002-06:00

I've been juicing for 6 days now. . . I have had an occasional avocado or a couple of pecans in the late afternoon once or twice, but other than that, just juice. One day I juiced 1/2 a watermelon and drank that for lunch. It was Sooooo yummy! Mmmmmm. I love watermelon. I put the watermelon flesh in the blender seeds and all, blended, strained through my nut milk bag and drank the juice for the whole afternoon! Hudson even drank some with me and loved it!

It's interesting that I've not really craved anything. In my research, they mention how juicing is about freedom. . . freedom from food. I thought, sure... But it's true, I walk through the kitchen and know I can't eat anything, so I don't. I don't have to worry that if I eat something that I will eat too much. . . or not be satisfied. I feel free from making decisions about food because my decision is to drink juice for now.

The "experts" say that you might feel aches and pains from old injuries or from organs that have been overworked by your bad food or drug choices from the past. The only ache that I've experienced is my left knee that I had arthroscopic surgery on 28 years ago. . . I was even surprised to feel the twinge because I haven't even thought about it in ages.

Happy Green Health!

Juice Feasting Diary

2010-05-14T15:47:00.005-06:00

I was doing a Green Smoothie Cleanse for 7 days and decided, "Why not? Let's go Juicing." So on Tuesday I began my Juice Feasting cleanse. I've been reading, hearing quite a big about Juice Feasting and I admit it's intrigued me. Supposedly we are walking around carrying with us all the toxic baggage from all the times we took antibiotics and used pharmaceuticals, not to mention all the toxic foods we eat. . . I know that I've done all of these, and I'm just grateful that I never drank alcohol, took drugs, or smoked cigarettes that would add to all the toxicity I am supposedly carrying around.

Why talk about toxicity and Juicing? Because the experts say that a Juice Feast is the perfect way to get rid of this toxicity. Where to we carry all this toxic baggage? In our fat! Get rid of my Toxins and fat at the same time?!?! Yippee! Well, not maybe that excited because the thought of drinking only juice 24/7 sounds pretty intimidating. So I thought I'd let you in on my experience that may or may not convince us both whether or not this is a good thing.

After having limited myself to Green Smoothies and blended soups for a week (ok I did have a salad or 2 and maybe a handful of pecans), I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try the juice thing. So on Tuesday I broke out the Hurom Juicer and a bunch of veggies that I bought on Monday and pushed through 2 cucumbers, romaine lettuce, celery, kale leaves, an apple enough to make 4 cups of juice. Then I strained it through a nut milk bag to make sure that all pulp was out of the juice.

From Raw Blog

I drank down this yummy green stuff. . . Ok I liked it, but to a novice like my kids, it's not so yummy. I can feel a rush of energy after gulping down this pure nutrition.

From Drop Box

When Juice Feasting you are supposed to drink 1 - 1.5 gallons of juice a day. Well I only made it through 2 quarts! Yep, I survived all day on 2 quarts of veggie juice.

Happy Green Juicing!

Happy Mom's Day!!

2010-05-09T22:01:00.002-06:00

I hope all the Mom's out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. . . It can be a thankless job sometimes, but it's nice to have a day set apart to say thanks to the Mom's that raised us, and have our kiddos say thanks. We don't do it as often as we should. . .

Also, this is a shout out to my daughter Amanda for making the blog looks so cute! Luv you Manda!

Green Smoothie Cleanse

2010-05-08T10:52:00.003-06:00

So a few from our Raw As We Wanna Be group have been doing a Green Smoothie Cleanse. . .. This has been drinking green smoothies for Breakfast and Lunch and eating a RAW savory soup for dinner. Some have substituted a salad for the dinner time, and we have been avoiding nuts and seeds and other fats like avocados as they can slow down the digestive process. We've had some feedback and forth on the yahoo group and most seem to have lost a few pounds and are feeling more energy.

As for Bob and I. . .

Well, he jumped ship last night. He had it in his mind he’d make it to Friday and he did! Whoop! He lost 4 pounds! He can’t comment on how he feels because he’s got a cold that’s bumming him out. . .

As for me, I’m gonna see how long I can go. I might even kick it into high gear next week and do a Juice Feast. I’ll let you know how that goes. One thing I have learned is that I reach for food almost every time I walk through the kitchen! I know it’s pretty pathetic, but I find myself in front of the fridge opening the door to see if there is something that calls to me. On this cleanse, I’ve started telling myself NO! Wow, what a concept. I’ve let myself grab a handful of nuts every time I walk through the kitchen cuz I think they’re healthy, but now I realize that I am eating way too many of them every day and that they are filling me up so that I don’t turn to the greens like I should be doing instead. I’ve also gotten into the mindset that one corn chip isn’t gonna kill me. . . then that turns into probably 10 as I walk back and forth past the bag lying on the counter (that my kids didn’t put away). So guess what? I put it away, and out of sight out of mind really helps. As of yesterday I’m down 4 pounds and would like to get down a few more. . .

Happy Green Health! Let us know how you did, or are still doing. . . Lauri

Smoothie Cleanse

2010-04-30T21:42:00.002-06:00

Our Raw As We Wanna Be group are planning to do a Green Smoothie Cleanse starting on Monday, May 3rd. This will consist of Smoothies for Breakfast and Lunch. Then a nice RAW savory soup for Dinner. . . If you want to join in join us on the Yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rawaswewannabe/

We will be posting some smoothie recipes and soup recipes that we can use for the Cleanse and hopefully we will share our feelings and help each other pump up the energy for feeling and looking better and bump up our energy to eat better.

Book Review by Peggy

2010-04-27T15:58:00.001-06:00

(From April’s Green Smoothies group meeting)

Title: Super Foods; Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life
Author: Steven G. Pratt, M.D., and Kathy Matthews
Purpose: To help people choose foods that will let them live a healthy and disease-free life. This book discusses the qualities that are in what is called “Super Foods”. These foods have some of the best disease fighting properties as compared to other food choices that we make.
Organization of Chapters:
The first part of the book talks about the how our diets are creating chronic health problems; the principals of great health; micronutrients; and how to incorporate super foods into your diet. The second part of the books talks about each of the super foods as separate chapters. It tells what each food does for your body and even give alternatives called “side-kicks” to give you variety. The third part gives menu planning ideas and additional nutrition information.
Fourteen Super Foods:
Beans Blueberries Broccoli Oats Pumpkin Wild Salmon
Soy Spinach Tomatoes Walnuts Yogurt Turkey Tea
My Opinion:
I really love this book! I have taken a lot of time to study this book and feel that it offers excellent information that I refer back to often. My only issue is that I don’t drink tea.

RAW Cheesecake - minus the cheese!

2010-04-18T13:44:00.000-06:00

This recipe comes from Raw for Dessert by Jennifer Cornbleet
I doubled this recipe to make a 9" cheesecake

Cheesecake

Crust
1 c raw walnuts (unsoaked)
1/4 c unsweetened shredded dried coconut
1/2 c whole cane sugar (sucanat)
pinch salt
1/4 c raisins
4 pitted medjool dates

Filling:
1 c raw cashews (soaked 8 - 12 hours)
1/2 c young coconut meat (from 1 coconut)
1/2 c freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 c light agave syrup
1/4 c Date Paste (see below)
1/8 t salt
1/2 c virgin coconut oil
1 Tbsp soy lechithin powder (healthfood store)

Crust - place walnuts, coconut, sugar, and salt in food processor w/S blade. Process until finely ground. Add the raisins and dates and process until coarse crumbs begin to stick together. Press into bottom of 6 or 7" springform pan

Filling - place cashews, coconut meat, emon juice, agave syrum, Date Paste, and salt in a blender and process until very smooth. Stop occasionally to scrape down the sides of the blender w/a rubber spatula. Add the coconut oil and optional soy lecithin powder and process until blended. Pour the filling into the crust and spread it evenly. . .

I like topping this with Jennifer's Raspberry Coulis. . . 2 - 10 oz pkgs of unsweetened frozen raspberries process these through a food mill or push through a strainer with the back of a spoon. This deseeds the raspberry mush, then wisk in the agave syrup and I put this into a squeeze bottle and can make the pretty swishes on the plate before plating the cheesecake. YUM!

Date Paste - ok this is kind of a bummer on this recipe. This makes a lot of date paste and is used in several of the recipes in the book. . . and unfortunately it doesn't work well when I cut it in 1/2 because there isn't enough volume for the dates to get whipped up nice and smooth. It can be kept in the freezer for a month or two. . . Use it for a natural sweetener

32 pitted medjool dates
3 c filtered water

Place the dates in a medium bowl, cover with water and let soak for 20 minutes. Drain the dates but reserve the water.

Place the dates and 1/2 c of the soaking water into a food processor fitted w/the S blade. Process until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the processor and process. . . Now ready for use in other recipes or use as a natural sweetener.

More RAW Desserts

2010-04-17T13:36:00.001-06:00

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Tarts compliments of GLiving.com Click here for yummy gorgeous pics of this dessert.
Makes about 4-5 5” tarts; mine made 6, or one large 9" torte

For the Crust:
1 c almonds
½ c Cacao Powder (can use cocoa powder)
¼ C virgin Coconut Oil
¼ C raw Sucanat sugar (organic evaporated cane sugar; healthfood store)
2 T Maple Syrup
2 T Cacao Nibs (healthfood store)
2 t Vanilla Extract
1/8 t Sea Salt

Step 1 Place the almonds in a food processor and process until coarsely ground. It’s ok if there are bits of almonds not broken down, this will add extra crunch and texture to the crust.

Step 2 Add the cocoa powder, sugar and salt and process to combine lightly, then add the rest of the ingredients and pulse several times until incorporated and slightly damp.

Step 3 Line your tart pans w saran wrap and then on top of it, gently press the crust mixture into the bottom and sides

Step 4 Place them in the freezer while you prepare the fillings

For the Chocolate Filling Layer:
1 c Young coconut meat (healthfood store or Asain Market)
¼ c Virgin Coconut Oil
2/3 c maple syrup
½ C Agave Nectar
8 oz. Dark Bittersweet Chocolate (Greens & Blacks)
¼ t Sea Salt
2 T Vanilla Extract

Step 1 Melt the chocolate by chopping it and melting it over a double broiler or make your own double boiler using a heat safe bowl over a pot of hot water. Set aside and allow to cool slightly.

Step 2 Scoop out and clean the meat from a young baby coconut (the ones with pointy tops and shaved white)

Step 3 Add the coconut meat along with the rest of the ingredients to a high speed blender and blend on high until everything is completely smooth and creamy with no lumps. Set aside to cool.

Note: One of the best coconut oils is Virgin De Coco Crème. If you can’t find it, get a virgin centrifugal coconut oil with a very light scent to almost no scent.

For the Peanut Butter Layer:
1 c natural smooth peanut butter
1 T Virgin Coconut Oil
¼ c Agave Nectar
¼ t sea Salt

Step 1 In a small mixing bowl, mix in the coconut oil, agave and sea salt with a large spoon.

Putting it all together:

Step 1 Take out the tart pans out of the freezer. On the bottom of crust spread a layer of Peanut Butter Mixture.

Step 2 Pour the chocolate mixture on top.

Step 3 Place these back in the freezer to set overnight. You can garnish them however you like. I like a lot of chocolate, so I garnished mine with chocolate shavings and chocolate sauce.

RAW Desserts

2010-04-16T13:25:00.001-06:00

So tonight is our RAW Dessert night and I've vowed to get the recipes up sooner than I did after last month. . . Was it just yesterday I finally posted my salad recipe???

I just finished up the Peanut Butter Fudge and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Tarts. MMmmmm.....

Peanut Butter Fudge AKA Chi Snowballs compliments of Green Smoothie Girl Holiday Recipe Book

She rolls her's into balls and rolls into unsweetened shredded coconut (people in this house don't like coconut especially if they can see it) so we skipped that part and just cut it into 1" squares like fudge.

1 c peanut butter (pref. natural unsweetened)
1/2 c honey
1/4 c brown rice syrup (found health food store, I personally think it doesn't need it)
2 1/2 c puffed brown rice cereal (found as above but is needed!)
1/2 c rolled oats
1 - 2 Tbsp chia seeds (health food store)
optional: 1 c finely shredded unsweetened coconut

Mix all ingredients together except for the coconut. Roll the mixture into balls and then roll in the coconut. Or press into an 8 x 8" pan and let sit until soft about an hour. I put mine in the fridge. Comes out nice and firm like fudge. . .

Let's keep our fingers crossed that if I leave my camera out tonight, I might remember to take pictures.

GSG Kale Salad! Mmmm!

2010-04-10T14:31:00.004-06:00

Marilee emailed me and reminded me that I hadn't put up the Kale Salad recipe I did for Salad night. This recipe comes from the Green Smoothie Girl's Holiday Recipe Book. This is SO yummy!

Colorful Christmas Salad *
This salad presents well. It looks like Christmas, with vibrant greens and reds! Take this
to your next holiday party.
4 C kale and/or collards, cut into ribbons (LD's note: I just chop this up into little shreds w/my chef's knife)
1 C green cabbage, finely chopped
1 C red cabbage, finely chopped
2 lrg. tomatoes, chopped
1 C radishes, finely chopped or julienned
2 apples, shredded
1 large mango, finely chopped
seeds from ¾ of a pomegranate
2 avocados, diced
Note: To save time, I chop by hand only the kale, collards, mango, and avocado. The
cabbage, apples, and radishes I coarsely grate in my food processor. (LD's - this works great in the food processor)Mix all well. The Tangy Dill Dressing (below) is perfect for this salad.

Tangy Dill Dressing *
¼ C fresh lemon juice
¼ C fresh orange juice
½ C extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. Bragg Liquid Aminos
¼ C apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. honey
2 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp. dried (or ¼ C fresh) dill weed
Blend all ingredients in a high-power blender.

Reminder

2010-04-02T09:48:00.001-06:00

Next Thursday, April 8th is RAW Dessert Night, MY house @ 7:00 pm. If you are interested in helping to make a RAW dessert I could email you a recipe. I will demo how to make a pie crust using nuts and dates in a food processor. Sometimes the biggest hurdle in transitioning to RAW food is wrapping your head around how to make these food items in a new/non-traditional way. . . I will also demo how to open a Young Thai Coconut.

Here is are a Salad Recipe helpful and ideas from Jodi

My "salad" if that is what you can call it.
I break apart several broccoli spears into bite size pieces
Add fresh strawberries cut into quarters
slivered almonds
Use your favorite vinaigrette dressing to top and voila a side dish that is yummy, colorful and different.

Then I like to keep a mix of peppers (all three colors), green onions and carrot in a container in the fridge. I only keep enough to last a few days. When I am busy I can just throw these veggies on some greens, add a fresh tomato, and a few almonds and I have an instant salad. I have used it as a base to many other things also.

Also, Teresa learned why we use a Salad Spinner, because the oil in our vinaigrette won't stick to wet leaves . . .

More Salads

2010-04-01T09:32:00.001-06:00

These recipes are from Lara . . .

Grapefruit Salad

greens
grapefruit
pecans - saute in a pan with a couple tablespoons of honey and coconut oil
top with honey vinaigrette dressing

Dressing - Honey Vinaigrette

This is my standard dressing that I eat on my greens every day.

Blend:
1 cup olive oil (you can substitute half of this with water if you want a lighter dressing)
1/2 cup raw apple cider vinegar (or any other type of vinegar, lime or lemon juice)
1/2 - 3/4 cup honey

Lemon Tahini Dressing

Blend:
1/4 - 1/2 cup water or raw olive oil (I usually use 1/2 cup water)
1/4 cup raw tahini
juice from one lemon
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I usually use 1/2 tsp)
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan crystal salt (I usually use 1/2 ts

I think tahini is an acquired taste. You can also grind up your own sesame seeds instead of buying tahini.

Sunflower Seed Salad Dressing (Vegan Ranch)

We also use this like sour cream on veggie fajitas or dip our veggie pizza in it. If we're eating taco salad I mix in some salsa and it tastes just like the spicy ranch dressing from Costa Vida or Cafe Rio.

1 cup raw sunflower seeds (soaked in water for a couple hours and drained if you can but you don't need to soak them first)
1 cup water
4+ Tablespoons lemon juice
1 or 2 cloves of fresh garlic
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
3/4 teaspoon salt

Place ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.

Salads!! They're Here!

2010-03-31T16:42:00.003-06:00

The Salad night was WONDERFUL! We had a great time with Trenton (the chef in training) demo vinaigrette and we ate yummy salads. Woot!

And I have been promising everyone that I would get the salad recipes posted. . . Sorry on that everyone.

So here is the Salad that Darci Brown sent in. I will post the Kale Salad and dressing tomorrow.

Citrus summer Salad

Baby Spinach
Romaine Lettuce
Purple Leaf Lettuce
Red Onion Sliced Thin
GrapeFruit Sectioned and Skinned
Orange Sectioned and Skinned
Sliced almonds or Walnuts
Strawberries Sliced
Fresh blueberries

Dressing

Juice of one Orange
Juice of one Lemon
Juices of one Lime
1/2 cup of canola oil
1 Tablespoon of Raw honey
1 tsp. salt
pepper to taste
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 Tablespoon of Cilantro

Pour over Salad and toss. Not too much dressing.

**The amounts of ingredients in this salad just depend on your likes of the ingredients.
Depending on the flavor of the fruit in the dressing I adjust the amounts of ingredients in the dressing
also. These amounts are approximate

YaHooo!

2010-03-25T22:20:00.002-06:00

We've developed a Raw Foodie group on Yahoo, so if you want to subscribe to the group. Send an email to this address rawaswewannabe-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and I can confirm you on the group. Then I will start sending out group emails this way and everyone can reply or send emails to rawaswewannabe@yahoogroups.com.

I hope that all makes sense. Also, check your junk email folders because the invitation to join the group might have gone there and you'll need to approve emails from this address.

Check back Salad recipes are coming!!

Raw Foodie Support Group

2010-01-22T10:08:00.002-07:00

I guess I should mention here that I'm starting up a support group for myself! Yep, I decided I need buddies on my journey and so I'm inviting anyone remotely interested in a Healthy Lifestyle to come along!

The First meeting will be at my House. . .
February 11th @ 7:00pm
We will be making and tasting Green Smoothies!

Life is . . . .

2010-01-21T09:25:00.004-07:00

In this house life is kind of crazy right now. The 4 year old and I are sick and the painters are downstairs painting the kitchen. Paint fumes don't really help a sore throat and a hacking cough! I'm just gonna say, if the 14 year old comes home with germs from the JR High again and tries to share, I'm sending him out to live somewhere else!

Being sick does give time to surf the web and I ran across this article about Why RAW foods are good for you. . . Maybe it's more like why cooked foods aren't good for you!

Health News Digest

New Ideas

2010-01-05T10:14:00.004-07:00

I have planned to share how I did over the Holidays, but til then, here are some Raw Food blogs that I've been loving!

Raw Food Photos
Choosing Raw
Raw Dawg Rory

Going Raw when you're 4. . .

2009-12-11T10:45:00.001-07:00

A BIG challenge has been how to get my kids to eat more RAW. Well, the teenagers I've given up on! NOT! But they are much more resistant to change. It will just take longer to brain-wash them.... I have asked them to keep their bad sugar habits outside of our home. Occasionally they'll have friends over and make a batch of cookies, but for the most part I've asked them to set a good example for their 4 year old brother who can be influenced in a better direction as long as he doesn't have a bad example right in front of him. The Teens have even learned to fake an Mmmm when I have them try a new RAW food treat. It's not perfect but it helps.

It's interesting that several of my Teens friends have asked about my diet and new healthy eating and have even tried some of the RAW snacks I've made and liked them. Which in turn helps to influence my Teens and help them, possibly, think that maybe mom isn't such a nutso....

One of my Twenties is actually stealing Almond Milk from my pantry to take back to his apartment to use. . . Now that's a BIG step for the kid who loves Moo milk on his cereal!!! Slowly but surely. . . I usually have a big bag of apples and oranges in the pantry and I gladly let them take as many home with them as they want.

The 4 year old came home from Halloween with his bucket of candy and I let him eat as much of it as he wanted, but the next morning it was gone (not thrown away...just out of sight) and he never asked for it! He did have a sugar hangover the next day and took a 4 hour nap. I figured that was better than a weeks worth of crankiness and fighting over how much candy he could have. Why ration it out? Just get it overwith in one day!! If it makes them sick, they'll just learn not to like candy! Which by the way he found his bucket of leftovers in the laundry room about 3 weeks later. He ate a little bag of M&M's, and then told me I could throw the rest of his candy away.

He was pretty resistant to the morning smush in the beginning. But I was determined not to give up easily. I tried to figure out how to make it fun. So, I got him involved in making the smush. He would put the cut up apples and bananas into the blender and dump the teaspoon of cinnamon in and then push the button on the blender to smush it all up. I quiz him on what goes into our smush and he knows the 4 ingredients. It's not hard, but he likes knowing. Then I let him choose what color bowl he eats it in, and what color spoon he eats it with, and if he wants any chopped apples or bananas on top of it. In the beginning I even let him sit in my lap, and I'd feed it to him. He likes that. And NOW. . . he eats it all by himself! Woot!

Bananas

2009-11-04T21:39:00.004-07:00

I've made a goal for myself to try new recipes every week. But I've also been trying to get back to my life. It seems like Raw Life has consumed my life over the summer. Quilting and other areas of my life have kinda taken a backseat and since I quilt for customers, I need to get back to work!!

But here is somethings I've been doing with the simple little banana. I'm sure you know how wonderful the banana is and has some awesome nutrition. It's amazing how my attitude about browning bananas has changed since I started going raw. I bought bananas occasionally before, but now I buy them every time I hit the grocery store. I don't just buy one bunch, I at least buy 4 - 6 bunches in varying states of ripeness. I was a wimp before. If the skin of the banana was a little bit brown, no way would I eat it. I'd probably save it and make banana bread out of it, but I wouldn't eat it. Now, I eat them. Bruises on the banana, well I still don't eat them but the whole banana isn't ruined just cuz of a little bruise.

What do I do with all those bananas? I dehydrate them, and freeze them, and never have a smoothie without them! YUM! So to dehydrate I try to use bananas that are a tad bit green, cuz I'm trying to prevent as much brown-ness in the finished product. I then slice them about 1/4" - 1/3" thick and spread them out on the mesh sheet on the dehydrator tray. I tried soaking them in Fruit Fresh to prevent browning, but it didn't make any difference and it was just more time. So no more soaking. Then I put them in the dehydrator at about 113 degrees. Then someone gave me a tip and said give them a little sprinkle of cinnamon. YUM!!! Don't dry them till they are hard as poker chips! They should actually be a little pliable and chewy, so much better than the ones you buy in the store.

I also freeze bananas. When the bananas start getting a bit brown and I have too many to use before they go really brown, I pull out a cooling rack and peel the bananas and break them in half and place on the rack, and put them in the freezer. Once frozen I put them in a ziploc bag. So if I run out of fresh bananas for smoothies, then I can throw in a couple frozen 1/2 bananas. I've used them in our morning smush. Also if you love milkshakes, then use the frozen bananas for milkshakes. YUM!!! or put in a food processor and process until smooth and you have banana ice cream. MMMmmmmmm If you checked out the website in the the last post you'll find a recipe for pumpkin ice cream using frozen bananas.

I'll have to post the Chocolate Milkshake Recipe when I get home. . . So check back!

Wow!

2009-11-01T13:46:00.002-07:00

Talk about raw Halloween Ideas! OK, so like usual I'm a Day late and a Dollar short!! But you have to check out this blog. I just found it today and I'm in LOVE!!

The Happy Raw Kitchen

Catching up! AGAIN!

2009-10-08T13:51:00.004-06:00

Sorry, life is crazy and I don't get to sit still and write about my Raw Adventures as often as I'd like to. So, I will probably be having a few posts close together here to get caught up a bit. Sorry, if it overwhelms you! JK

So I went with Hubby, Oldest daughter, grand-daughter and our 4 yo son to Colorado Springs and while we were driving there I started reading a book to hubby. It's my sneaky way to get him to hear the info I've been learning about without his complaining because he has no choice but to stay buckled in and hang on for the ride!

The book I read to him was The China Study. Now I had read many quotes from this book in many of the Raw Food/Whole Food lifestyle books that I've been reading for the last several months. Since I believe what I've been reading, studying, learning I didn't feel like I need to get The China Study and read it. . . just one more book to have to read. But then I ran into a friend at pre-school registration and she asked about my weight loss etc. . . I started telling her and she said, "So you've read The China Study then." I told her nope and she said she had the book so I asked to borrow it. And thus the reading on the trip.

In my study of Raw Food I've read on blogs/books, heard via youtube videos etc. . . people talking about healing themselves from cancer, MS, depression, anxiety, etc. . . and I thought wow that's great, but I was so convinced that if I was diagnosed with cancer or something that I would truly believe that I could heal myself from it with Raw food. But after reading The China Study. I'm a BELIEVER!!! You really need to check it out for yourself. There are excerpts from the book here on Google Books.

Daily Eats

2009-09-27T20:47:00.004-06:00

So I just thought I'd share this from Kristen's Blog. I follow her blog and she quite often lists what she's eaten or plans to eat for the day. I'm not as sophisticated as she is yet, but I'm working on being more creative. So check out her blog for daily eating plans.

Also, we made banana ice cream with chocolate sauce tonight. Bob, Hudson, and I enjoyed it. The rest of the family wasn't brave enough to try it.

We smooshed up about 4 frozen bananas broken into chunks in the food processor. I had to add just a swish of water to get it to smoosh up properly. But it ended up being a nice creamy soft serve consistency.

Then I made a raw chocolate sauce by whirling in the blender.

1/2 c soaked pitted dates
1 - 1 1/2 c water
1 - 3 TBS raw Cacao powder
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
and a pinch of salt.

I got this recipe from RawDawg Rory. Check out his raw recipe videos!

Really Quick

2009-09-23T13:44:00.005-06:00

First, I'm so sorry to all the people that have stopped me and asked me about my weight-loss and what I've been doing. Why? Because it usually turns into at least a 45 minute discussion and my mouth going a mile a minute and trying to expunge all the information I've crammed into my brain in the last 3 months. So I apologize if it's more than you want to know. I'm trying to learn to send people to the blog so that they can accept or reject and not worry about having to get a word in edgewise to tell me that they're not interested.

Before I get interrupted again. . . don't ask what I got interrupted for. . . I'm going to try and answer a couple of questions I've gotten lately.

#1 - Why Green Smoothies? Can't you just eat it in a salad.

Answer - Generally you will consume way more greens in a smoothie than in a salad. I figure that I'm putting in enough greens for 4 good sized salads. Then what do you put on top of that salad so that you can eat it? DRESSING - full of fat and oils.

Also, we don't chew our food as well as we should to aid in our digestive process. How many times have you tried to chew your food 32 times?? We won't go into my hubby's description of his attempt to do this. We really should spend more time at the table and not in dinner conversation, but chewing our food. I'll leave this discussion by saying, when it goes down our throat it should be the consistency of applesauce. So, after all of that, when you drink a green smoothie the Blender has done the hard part of digestion for you!! So it's easier for your stomach to break it down into the easiest digestible particles and the nutrition can get out into your bloodstream faster than if you were to eat 4 salads.

#2 - What do you eat through out the day?

Answer - Well, I'm still new to all this Raw food thing and YES it is a MAJOR Paradigm shift!! Let's just say that for anyone who was raised making bread, cookies, pies, cakes, casseroles, etc. . . . It is a BIG deal trying to wrap your mind about NOT cooking anything!

First I just drank lots of green smoothie, sometimes 2 quarts a day. Then BIG salads. With homemade dressings, or just olive oil and balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of herbs. Celery, carrots, homemade guacamole on cucumber chips, or hummus.

Now I have a breakfast of Smush with my 4 year old in the morning. . . He's learning to like it and Hubby thinks it tastes great. I just have to tell you . . Yesterday we were eating our Smush and 4YO said he didn't want to call it smush anymore. So he named it Malea! and tomorrow he said we'll call it Peter.

We soak 1 TBS golden flax seeds in water (overnight or at least 1 hour)then rinse it. This is kinda difficult cuz it gets really slippery/slimy. But try
We dump this in the blender with:
1 apple cut into chunks
1 banana broken in chunks
1 tsp cinnamon.

Whirl it all together and pour into a bowl. Top with small apple chunks, chopped bananas or raisins.

This makes enough for a small bowl for Hudson and a portion for me, but Hubby could eat the whole thing himself.

Lunch is either a salad or just a piece of fruit or handful of nuts. Green smoothie if I haven't drank my full quart for the day.

Dinner more salad or a raw entree. We've tried raw spaghetti and marinara and a few other things, but mostly I make some sort of whole food recipe for the kids from Green Smoothie Girl, or the The Original Fast Food Book. But my poor kids are going dairy-free and meat-free for the most part. Oh, Hubby now loves Lentil Tacos. He wasn't too happy for them when he was still eating meat, but now he's LOVING them!

OK, so that didn't end up being too quick, but hope that helps.

Lauri!

For Beginners

2009-09-10T22:00:00.001-06:00

Well, DH just happened to mention in a talk at church that I'm doing something new with my diet. Thanks Dear! No pressure now to keep up with this new lifestyle.

Seriously, I have NO desire to go back to the Standard American Diet (SAD) because I feel so terrific now, I NEVER want to go back!!!

So for all those who are asking questions I'm going to start posting some beginner's help.

#1 - Cut out Sodas, caffeine. . .
#2 - Drink 1/2 - 1 Quart of Green Smoothie a day

What is a green Smoothie - it's probably the healthiest drink you'll ever have and it's so easy to make, this is how I do mine.

In my blender (Blend Tec) I put 2 cups of water and I smash in as much baby spinach into that 2 cups as I can just by hand. I blend that up. Then I add 2 TBS honey, 2 handfuls of frozen peaches, 1 handful of frozen strawberries, 1 banana. Set my BlendTec to XL Smoothie and let it whirl! I then pour this into 2 Quart size glass jars evenly and add enough water to bring both up to full. Now there's a quart for DH and a quart for me. And seriously our bodies appreciate the nourishment! When we're out of town we don't get these at all. We got home and made and drank our first GSmoothies and our bodies went AAHHHHH! That's is so good!

I know you're probably thinking I'm crazy. But it's true. Think about trying to eat all that spinach in just one meal. It would take forever for you to chew through all the spinach and eat like 2 peaches and a handful of strawberries! But the blender just did the biggest part of digestion for you! It's all liquified and all you have to do is drink the nutrition down!

So this is just a basic beginning. There is no hard fast rule for GSmoothies. Except that it needs some green stuff and fruit in it. So as a beginner start off with not so much green stuff. Spinach is good because it's a really mild flavored green, but you can substitute any leafy green, kale, chard, romaine, arugula, etc. . . Granted some are stronger tasting than others. So start with spinach and add others as you want to experiment. As for the fruit, Go for it! Apples, bananas, cherries, apricots, blueberries. One of my favorites is Apricots with blackberries! And your GSmoothie doesn't turn out green!! You don't need the honey in there either, but it helps sweeten it up a bit. Just DON'T put in White Sugar or an artificial sweetener. Go with RAW honey, or Grade B Maple Syrup. Just the sweetness from the fruit is best, but adding just a touch of a more natural sweetner is OK.

Hope that helps!! Feel free to post comments, suggestions, or questions.

Raw Chocolate Pudding

2009-09-09T22:16:00.003-06:00

Hubby and I just had the yummiest pudding!!! Way better than Sugar Free Jello Pudding. Which is what I used to let us have as a snack. ICK!!!!

Don't freak out when I tell you that it was made with an Avocado!!! Seriously! The texture was so smooth!

I found the recipe by searching online for Avocado Chocolate Pudding. But this is how I did mine, because I didn't have all the "right" or enough ingredients.

Raw Chocolate Pudding

1 Avocado
1/3 c Agave Nectar recipe called for 1/2 c. That would have been too sweet for me.
1/4 c raw cacao powder
1 TBS Vanilla Extract
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 - 2 TBS Almond Milk

Put all the ingredients in the blender and blend, add the Almond milk slowly to add to the creaminess. It only makes maybe 1 1/2 cups. But I couldn't even eat all mine it was so chocolatey. I might even cut back just a smidge on the cacao powder.

Now you need to keep in mind that I haven't eaten any processed dessert in several months. OK, I did have a couple bites of a cheesecake when we were in Boston and Colorado Springs. But seriously that is it. So this might have something to do with my tastebuds being overwhelmed with the creamy goodness. However, Hubby thought it was downright yummy too! He said I could make it again for him, and he's a pretty picky critic.

Sorry I didn't take a picture. I wasn't planning on blogging about it until it was all gone!!

Insights. . .

2009-08-09T17:14:00.007-06:00

With all the learning about eating RAW food, I've become so much more aware of my health and my body and more aware of. . . It's really hard to put into words how I feel about what's been happening to me because of this way of eating.

A little History. . .
I have never been a big dieter, never trying this or that to lose weight. I have been 15 - 20 or so pounds overweight most of my pregnant/post pregnant life. In trying to have children I learned that I have PCOS, and that my body doesn't agree/use Carbohydrates correctly. A Dr told me that when we were trying to have our first child, but it wasn't until after our 5th child that I realized I should be doing something about how I ate. From that time on, I've been on a "Trying to eat Healthy" crusade. Don't even talk to my children about it! They SO have a "Oh no here she goes AGAIN!" attitude. In fact, I'm pretty sure they are thinking this about my new RAW food phase. However, I feel totally different now, than I ever did in all the other tries.

I have done Atkins several times and been successful in losing weight, but never sustaining it. Plus, I never could feel good about it because it never leveled up with the Word of Wisdom and so I just couldn't ever come to terms with it. I totally feel that the RAW food way of life does line up with the Word of Wisdom, if it's studied, and we're honest with what it actually says about eating meat and grains. That's another thing I struggled with. . . Food Storage. Because of my issues with carbs, it was hard for me to think of how Un-good all that grain in my basement is for me. But now, I know that I can sprout that grain and make it wonderfully healthy GREEN stuff for me and my family!

So. . . GARDENING! Yep, I've actually become excited about growing my own GREEN food! We have pretty much always had a garden all of our married life, and it's been mainly my responsibility to keep it going. In fact, I have to point out to DH, that's a plant and that's a weed. . . I think I've kept my growing up years attitude about a garden. ICK! Weeds! WORK!! Now I've learned the difference between a Farmer - who puts seeds in the ground and watches them grow, and a Gardener - who tends, nurturers, prunes, watches, anticipates.

I'm even trying a winter garden. Did you know that you can grow your own greens over the winter in a covered (not a greenhouse) box? Two books that have changed my Gardening experience are The All New Square Foot Garden and The Four Season Harvest. If I had my camera (which has spent a semester down at BYU being used by the future photographer), I would love to post pictures of the tiny arugula leaves that are coming up in my back porch SQF Garden! And the amazing 6 foot tall pruned tomato plants in the back garden! Or of the yummy "Cheesy Kale Chips" that I dehydrated from the kale we picked out of our garden.

OK so I think that's enough for tonight, but I have more insights and thoughts to share. Aren't you Lucky?!?!?!?

What's really RAW?

2009-07-31T09:59:00.003-06:00

Lara keeps asking me if I really mean I'm totally RAW. When you say you're RAW doesn't mean you have to be 100%. In my reading and research if you're eating 60% - 75% RAW and adding wholesome whole foods to that, then you're Raw. Yes, I've had a few days that I've eaten totally 100% Raw. Which I don't think is that hard. Drink a Green Smoothie for Breakfast and eat Salads for lunch and dinner. If my family weren't insisting on something else besides fruits and veggies, it would be easier for me to eat 100%. But I'll pop something in my mouth occasionally that isn't raw. My family generally wants something that's cooked for dinner and we always have a big salad. So I'll eat a bit of the whole foods cooked meal, but I try mainly to just eat a nice big salad for dinner. But the cool thing is that I'm not addicted to food anymore, so I don't obsess and eat TONS of something that isn't good for me. . . .

What's up with me???

2009-07-30T09:16:00.004-06:00

I got totally overwhelmed with Blogging and haven't done it in a LONG time. But I thought I'd just quickly list some changes happening since I started Raw Food.

♥ More Energy
♥ No more Brain Fog
♥ no more itchies just out of the shower (sensitive skin)
♥ need to shave legs less often
♥ no more food cravings!! Yea!
♥ Lost 15 pounds
♥ feeling GREAT. . .

There are probably more, but I have to get going with my day. I'll update as I remember more.

Ahhhh!

2009-06-03T06:00:00.001-06:00

What am I thinking????

I follow an Awesome blog by the Lazy Organizer. Let's just say she makes me think. . . Maybe too much and definitely way more than my family would like me to be thinking. I've always been into self improvement books and working on myself and family. Much to their chagrin. But I'm nuthin compared to Lara. So when she went RAW (that's an eating terminology for eating only RAW foods)about 6 - 9 months ago. I was thinking. . . "What is she thinking? She's nuts!" Now here I am, maybe I'm just nuts for following her lead. However, research on the internet (seriously the internet is AWESOME) has lead me to make my own conclusion that my health and that of my family will be exponentially benefited by adopting this lifestyle. So family start your engines . . . and GO!

I have 3 teenagers in this house and an almost 4 year old. He's actually the whole cause of this. . . He's our surprise baby. Since DH and I were in our 40s when he was born, we decided that we need to take better care of ourselves so we have the energy to keep up with him, and hopefully that we'll still be alive and kicking when he makes it to manhood!! Let's say the teens think I'm nuts, and aren't too thrilled to have to deal with my new course. I might mention that I also have 3 kids that are out of the house; Daughter 24 married and has a 1 year old, 2 boys in college 22 & 20. They are WAY glad that they are out of the house before their mom went whacko!!

Journaling is apart of starting this new lifestyle and I'm actually blogging because one of the online sources actually suggested it. That source would be Kristen Suzanne. She encouraged to make the journal a blog because one can get feedback from a blog, and there is much more commitment when you let people know what you're doing. I was a bit apprehensive to blog, mainly cuz I have 3 other blogs that I should be paying attention to, but this has consumed my life for the moment, and I feel the need to go with it.