{Meatless Monday} Raw Vegan e-books & daiya cheese

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Happy Meatless Monday, peeps!

Hope you had a great weekend. Ours was jam packed – go, go, go! We even managed to get a few things done out in the garden. I can’t believe it’s been almost a week since I’ve posted anything here.

Baby C is gettin’ in his molars and is having a little trouble getting to sleep so it’s been tough for me to stay up and blog. I’m thinking it may even be safe to say that posts may be sporadic through the summer season as activities tend to pick up.

With the warmer weather here the inspiration for light and fresh meals has already begun. Lot’s of fresh fruit, salads, water, green smoothies and frozen treats have been on the mind and going into the belly. I have to say I’m getting better and better at eating raw meals. The heat makes me crave more raw, fresh foods. I’m so much more aware of what is going into my body since I started this journey which was actually last summer. It’s not perfect…but I’m learning so much about eating healthier and am doing my best to make healthier choices.

I’m trying to keep it relatively simple when it comes to raw vegan meals. I have a nice collection of raw uncookbooks as well as a few e-books. I’m in love with all of Ani Phyo’s recipe books and have made quite a few of her dishes. I recently made her banana bread biscuits and trail mix cookies! SOOOOoooo good!

The banana bread was just like the flour version but seriously, so much better and fresher tasting. I’m planning to make more soon. I hope to also meet her when she returns to Los Angeles for her book signing tour.

The eco tot really loves these donut holes, so, I’ve been making those up too (and I totally thought I took a picture of em’ but I guess not). Last week, was a toughie. I’m really hoping to stay on top of things more this week. Fingers crossed. I hate making promises I can’t keep.

Anywho! before this post turns into some sort of rant… (warning you…)

I’d like to highlight two e-books I’ve been uncooking from.

- The Magically Mysterious Raw E-book

- Raw on $10 a Day (or Less)!

LOVE, LOVE, them. Both are very different and unique in their own regard but have one thing in common SIMPLE & delicious recipes.

A dehydrator is required for some of the recipes featured but for those of you who don’t own one you can always use your oven on the lowest setting. Our oven does not set below 170 and in the raw foods world above 115 degrees destroys beneficial enzymes. I do what I can for now but I do WISH for TSM dehydrator.

Dehydrator or not… eating raw fresh foods does not require heating your food. A dehydrator helps people like me transition into the world of rawkin’ foods (makes ya feel like you’re still cooking somewhat).  I’ve made a few recipes from each e-book. Each one has been yummy.  Again, no pictures- I know, bad bloggy! *smacks hand*

To tell you the truth I’m horrible about remembering to take foodie pics until it’s too late and it’s already gone.  lol!

On top of eating raw, we mainly eat vegetarian and vegan dishes. Recently, I  had snatched up some daiya cheese from the health food store…

It’s not half bad and surprisingly cheesy!

If you haven’t heard of Daiya cheese it’s a dairy free cheese made from tapioca rather than soy! It was a splurge and I was surprised my local health food store carried it….I meant to grab the mozzeralla but instead grabbed cheddar. It melts and pulls apart just like cheese and tastes a lot like an american cheese. We added it to eggs, baked potatoes, steamed broccoli and also made quesadilla’s one night (heavy on the gauc ). If you’re a vegan or veggie don’t miss out on this one!

Wish it didn’t come packaged in plastic though because I truly cringe when I buy items packaged in plastic. I don’t like to support all the plastic litter especially since I can’t recycle the package. Wish companies would get smarter and start packaging their products sustainably or at the very least package them in plastics made from recycled materials. daiya in bulk? Sheesh! <end rant>

I tell ya,  never thought being a mama to boys would be such a TOUGH task. Holy tots, wonder woman! Pre-kids, my lists were all checked and you couldn’t find a crumb or dust in this place. My OCD has gone out the window along with my skills it seems… still some room for patience but it’s difficult some days. I have a mild case of scatterbrainnervia aka anxiety (self diagnosing, myself here!).

Which is why I need to get this healthy eating on track so I can start gaining more clarity and function properly. SHEESH! I definitely feel a difference on days I eat more raw then on days when I eat foods that I know I shouldn’t be eating. bleah! Wish I had a lot more determination, like my bloggy friend Alysha! Blogging has been a bit overwhelming for me to get done lately too (in case you haven’t noticed ). With two active tots, teething, yada yada yada… + on my free time I’ve been doing a lot of research on homeschooling and reading a lot of great new blogs! good times.

Okay, okay, I’ll quit complaining and do my best to bring you green action on the daily but stick with me if it only happens weekly, please! 

So, tell me, what have you been cooking or uncooking up in the kitchie?

{Meatless Monday} Feeding “Baby, C”

Happy Meatless Monday!

Okay, so the last time I did a post on {Meatless Monday} I mentioned Baby C’s diet.  Clark was exclusively breastfed up until 6 1/2 months when we introduced solids. My plan was to wait it out an entire year; but he began to show signs early on. I firmly believe it has a lot to do with having a bigger brother (2yr.old) around.

In any case, since learning about the raw foods diet the hub and I knew we wanted to introduce Clark to raw from the get go. A couple months ago we purchased the Sun-Sational Raw Baby Food ebook by Melissa Gilbert and made a few simple recipes for ourselves then tested a couple on Clark. He absolutely loves GREEN smoothies.

First Foods

Veggies! One veggie per week to test for allergic reactions. His first food was lightly steamed butternut squash, carrots, zucchini, peas, sweet potato, green beans, spinach, red chard etc.

After going through the gamut of veggies we let him try fruit. Once we rotated the weekly cycle of fruits we introduced green smoothies.

I plan to keep him mostly breast for now. He eats about twice a day…sometimes only once depending on how busy our day is. When he turns one, I will introduce nuts & grains and he will get more to eat. He’s had a little bit of grains  but not much (he naturally gets really fussy if he can’t have what were eating).  So, I’ve allowed a little table food but no dairy and no meat (and of course, no sugar!). We skipped the rice cereal all together this time too. I’ve read that it makes for a starchy eater. Rice cereal was Tristan’s first food and I was reluctant but being a first time mom I went ahead and honestly; he’s as starchy as they come.

Long Term

I discussed veganism with the peditircian last week for Clark’s 9 month appt. and his only concern was B-12. He mentioned he sees a lot of B-12 deficiencies in vegetarian/vegan kids. I was surprised he didn’t say more. I’m actually happy he did not. Makes me believe he’s not against it. We asked all the questions we needed to and feel comfortable with the decision of raising a veggie baby.

As far as a family we plan to remain meatless also. We are slowly weaning ourselves from meat and have not purchased any for a month! Most of January was meatless with a few exceptions (we still had meat in fridge…but that is no longer the case). We actually have eaten a mostly vegan/raw diet but have included some dairy. Overtime we will eventually kick meat and dairy to the curb for good.

Clark’s Favorite

Summertime Delight

from the book Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko

6 peaches (seeds taken out)

2 handfuls of spinach

2 cups of filtered water (we have reverse osmosis)

Blend and enjoy!

I freeze any of the leftovers in the So Easy Baby Food Trays.

::

He also loves  “Chocolate Milk” …

adapted from my local health food store

(juicer required)

- Handful of Red Leaf Lettuce

- 3 carrots cut in half

You can also add in a sliver of ginger if you like… we often do!

Yum!

I recently made him flax banana crackers (from ebook) but my husband is concerned about allowing him to eat whole flax seeds because he heard they can get caught up in the colon.

Can any of my raw food friends chime in on this?

And- if any of you mom’s know of any great online resources for raising vegan/raw children- do tell!

Would love to hear your thoughts!!

To market, To market- jiggity jig!

No fat pigs bought here!!! Instead some farmer’s market seasonal produce!

Yum! I’m going to miss the farmer’s market when they’re gone! October is the last month. Boo-hoo!

Although, the organic farm in Lake Elizabeth (the nearby mtn. town) is is open year-round. Which is nice to know. I love going every Saturday and buying up fresh produce from farmers who are local. They’ve even had Zinnia’s, Calendula, & Sunflower’s to buy! Love it. I think I’m going to take my camera next time I go and snap a few photo’s of the farmer’s market freshness.  I always take my Inconvenience  Bag with me- I love that’s it’s canvas (perfect for fruits & veggies) and love their message (they have some pretty awesome designs too!). While at the farmer’s market they tried to give me plastic today but I wasn’t having it. REFUSAL successful.

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Green Smoothie Rocket Pops!

I’m totally loving these popsicle molds by Tovelo. My son absolutely adores them too and has not stopped asking about them since they arrived at our door last week. We have some cheapie ones from Target as well but I’m afraid those aren’t BPA FREE. Which is why I bought these they’re not lined with BPA. Instead they’re made without the yuckies and they’re groovy.

These rocket pops remind me of the “bomb pops” I grew up on from the ice cream man.  Except that the mixtures that going into these rocket pops are100% natural! I made a green smoothie version and poured it right into the molds. Hooray for healthy treats! My mom let me borrow her VitaMix blender so I could pulverize some flax seeds and I decided I would take advantage of it’s mighty power and blend up the fresh strawberries we’d bought and make popsicles for Tristan.

Here’s what you need:

3-4 pineapples spears

1 1/2 cups of strawberries

1 banana

1 big handful of your favorite green- we used spinach and it was probably a little less than a handful. -

About a 1tsp of agave (optional)

ENJOY!

This is definitely something the kids will love to snack on for a treat. What makes it so great is that your kids will eat it right up and not care a bit about the greens AND it’s a perfect way to cool off in the summer.  My son LOVES this recipe.  Create your own and have fun with it!

What’s your favorite summer smoothie mixture?