{Meatless Monday} Feeding “Baby, C”

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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!!

{Meatless Monday} Fantastic Falafel Recipe & more…

Hello dear readers!

Hope you had a great weekend. Mine was somewhat uneventful but I did manage to get some things done around the home. It seems like I’ve been decluttering a lot lately. Getting out what doesn’t fit in to my lifestyle or even my well being! I live in a small home so I declutter often.

In a sense I’ve also decluttered my eating habits. For 2010, as mentioned previously I plan to eat more raw foods and lean towards a vegan diet. I’m not going to set myself up for failure and plan to be quite flexible. I was a veggie for many years but had no idea what I know now. I definitely wasn’t getting the proper nutrition my body deserved nor was I getting the right amount of protein. Yikes!

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A very UN birthday & misc eats!

Hola everyone! I’m considering this my {Meatless Monday} post.  Hey, better late than never! LOL!

My hubby’s 31st birthday was just last week before Christmas! I wanted to celebrate in rawkstar style so I decided I would make him a RAW cheesecake.

No, it doesn’t mean I put all the standard cheesecake ingredients into a bowl and asked him to eat it. LOL!  It went a little something like that but not quite. I could not believe it only took me approximately 15-20 mins TOPS to make this! The hardest part was waiting for the no cheese cake to freeze up and harden.

I looked around for an easy recipe and found this ONE!

It had a macadamia nut crust and cashew cream as the filling.  The only thing I did differently was use maple syrup rather than agave! I haven’t been using agave since I heard it scales close with High Fructose Corn Syrup! Crazy! As you can see in the picture above I topped it with fresh organic blackberry’s from the farmer’s market.

The uncheesecake was fabulous and delish! A friend of mine who had leftovers commented that at least she could eat the entire piece over the real thing! I agree… I could of eaten the whole cake. Everyone at dinner that evening seemed to enjoy it … even my husband for his very un birthday!  Score!

We can’t wait to mix and match and play with the ingredients some. Mmm! I’m thinking strawberries whirled in next time would be oh so superb.

I also made these raw thumbprint cookies by Earth Mother… they were nutty, sweet and flavorful.

AND I want to mention, I had the opportunity to make Gena’s Carrot Falafel with Tangy Tahini Sauce a few weeks back and it was super!

The only problem… no pics were taken we gobbled em’ up so fast (actually I had quite a few Falafels leftover which was awesome)… I do believe my Nikon battery took a dive on me that night! In any case, were planning to do a remake of this yummy dish and I pinky promise to take pics.

So if you’re planning any meals that are raw/vegan- dairy free… and the like … these three recipes are kick ass!

P.S.

I was gifted a VitaMixtavegamin for X-Mas! Yahoo!!!

What have you been making in the kitchen?

Meatless Monday: a meal for breakfast & dinner

Hi there! Happy Meatless Monday!
Today, I’m cooking up soup in the crockpot! We visited our local farm yesterday and bought some fresh red chard and other veggies and fruit. Last night,  I decided I was going to make a soup I put together at the beginning of summer when the red chard was at the peak of it’s season.  We also bought some canned pesto and chuncky peach jam from the organic farm. Mmm! I am uploading the footage I took of the farm as I type but may not get to post it as I’m rushing to get this published before the eco tot wakes up!!

Over the weekend, I dehydrated some sprouted quinoa to make a raw version of coco pops cereal. You might be asking what in the world quinoa is… ?

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Go Banana’s- Raw Fro-Yo!

I’m always amazed how the raw food diet can mimic much of what an unraw diet consists of.

Like ice-cream or soft serve for instance! You know; that soft, creamy, and sweet texture that seems to get anyone to smile.

You must believe me when I tell you bananas as ice cream is DA-BANANA-BOMB! It’ll have you buying up all the ripe banana’s at your grocery store. I swear. It’s the truth.

Don’t believe?! Try it!

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Meatless Monday: Faken Bacon

Welcome to another wonderful Meatless Monday!

This week we’re dealing with eggplants! Eggplants rule! Most people that I’ve come across hate eggplant. I just don’t think most know what to do with it. I’m always looking for new ways to prepare it. My favorite way to use eggplant is in Ratatouille. I do need to post that recipe sometime because it’s a GOOD one!

My mother in law planted two different varieties this year- Black beauty & Japanese and she’s been harvesting them out the wah-zoo. Due to the extreme heat this summer a lot of our veggie plants didn’t start to yield until early September. In trying to keep up with the abundance, I found that the dehydrator is a fantastic way to preserve eggplant and use it! Once I realized I could dehydrate it – I began to look for recipes.

I found an excellent raw vegan recipe using eggplant to create  bacon (except, this version is way less greasy)!

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Raw or Not: Here I come!

Feeling the change today as the weather becomes cooler and cooler and it’s crispness rubs against my skin. It’s getting drier by the the minute. The way we know how dry it’s getting  is by looking at our horses tails. They all become static cling(y) and look brittle & coarse. Strange, I know…but true!

I have a moment to write and am starting to feel the curl and cuddle of the writing as the weather cools and isn’t so intense.  For me, with my wintertime personality it’s a chance to catch up and breathe. Listen to music and just be.

My baby is sleeping soundly and my 2.5 year old is off with Daddy at the rental. I just finished reading my favorite blogs like magazines and try to comment at as many of them as I can. Sometimes I’m just scrolling through. Today, I spent a lot of time at a few different blogs. Reading a good juicy blog is like going to the movies and having that moment of awareness. You leave the theater with a new meaning. I was skipping around a lot but mostly in the raw corner of the bloggy world …

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Meatless Monday, err Tuesday Recipe: Raw Burger

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend. Mine flew by! After enjoying a weekend of fresh organic foods some harvested from our garden + MIL and farmer’s market… I’d been thinking a lot about how important it is for our food to be fresh and pure.

It’s unbelievable how many packaged foods on the market there are that are considered nutritious because they’re fortified with vitamins. Then there’s  the new Smart Choice labels that seem to be stamped on it seems like every box in the supermarket telling you how healthy it is to eat. Like Fruit Loops, cereal-  I’m sorry but anything packaged is going to contain preservatives and not to mention most are either high sugar or high in salt! It’s getting ridiculous. The more and more we get away from wholesome natural foods the more we go into the direction of fake, plastic, unreal- genetically modified foods!!! It’s pretty scary.

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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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Summary of Summer

Hey guys! Happy 09-09-09!  Still around. Database crashed and I wasn’t able to get to it until last night. Sorry about that!!

We had a jam packed weekend full of fun!

We took Tristan bowling and I even wore Clark for part of it. Don’t worry, I played it safe… & Tristan had a ball… LOL!

And as a last consolation for the summer and because our  membership is going to expire at the end of the month; we went to the zoo!

We BBQ’d yesterday at my in laws. I made a nice spinach salad and the neighbors actually made a raw dish! I was so impressed. It was a zucchini salad with lemon zest and sun dried tomatoes. Yum, yum!

This summer I’ve tried a few raw dishes and some new cooked ones. Our garden didn’t do as well as we’d hoped. This is the first year in five years that we’ve planted a garden and have not had much of a harvest. The insane high temps killed most of our plants or slowed their growth. We normally have tons and tons of tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and peppers.  We hardly had any harvest of what we planted.  It was a bit discouraging but also part of gardening and the challenges you face. We’re determined to research some of the challenges through winter in hopes of a more successful garden next year. Hopefully, we  master composting by then and are able to provide the much needed nutrients we were possibly lacking and time of all things.  Thankfully, my mother in laws garden was flourishing because we’ve been eating some of her bounty.

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