{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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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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Simple & All Natural: Banana Honey Facial

Hi everyone. Happy October 1! Can you believe it’s already the 10th month! I don’t even want to think about it, right?! It’s all about the now…. so guess what that means- I’m telling you to go meatless again for the day because it’s World Vegetarian Day! 

Don’t worry it won’t kill ya- it’ll make you stronger!

Celebrate the day with this banana honey facial that I made as a recommendation from @GreenGeisha on twitter!

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Pure & Heavenly: Earth Mama Angel Baby

Back when I was pregnant with Tristan I had heard of a company named Earth Mama Angel Baby but had never seen it (I live in a small town) until I started looking online for greener baby products. Before conceiving, I’d heard startling information about baby washes containing harmful ingredients. It made me realize, I needed to start doing my research and find natural baby products that did not contain toxic chemicals like phthalates, 1,4-Dioxane, formaldehyde,” etc.

Recently, I was actually able to sample Earth Mama Angel Baby products through swag and for this review. I received a sample of their Bath Blossoms, Bottom Balm and Baby Lotion. I so was excited when I saw EMAB inside my swag bag from The Smart Mama’s book release. I’d always wanted to try their products but just never had the opportunity. Quite honestly, I was going with my easiest most available option…. Burt’s Bees, California Baby and Little Twig. Depending on where we did shopping is what we’d end up with. I’d known about the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Database and have looked up a few things in the past. It never really dawned on me to look up the baby products. I thought I was in the clear. Boy, was I wrong!!!

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Meatless Monday: Spanish Breakfast Scramble

It’s MEATLESS MONDAY!

That’s right kick the meat to the curb today and indulge in fresh veggies and fruits instead.

Recently, I mentioned my interest in the raw foods diet. Much of what I’ve been doing lately is fueling my brain with tons of information on becoming a raw foodie. I’m really drawn to this lifestyle of raw foods- it’s pretty fascinating to me. Not eating cook foods and getting the most nutrition out of a vegetable or fruit seems almost like a no-brainer, right? I know this diet may not be for everyone but so far from what I’ve been reading it seems like it goes right along with my who I am. I’m so hyped on the recipes- from nut cheeses to nut milks, rawasgna, to grawnola, and ice cream (dairy free) – anything is possible in the raw foods world. Pizza, mexican food- yes, that’s right tamales- and the kicker it’s HEALTHY for you!!!

It has totally made me rethink my eating habits and even having our chickens for eggs! Anyway, I’m super thrilled to share our first raw foods recipe with you. I decided to go simple and easy on our first take- I don’t want to overwhelm myself. I’ve yet to take to leap either and invest in a Vita-Mix. I really, really, really want one! Our blender just recently broke and the food processor does not do the job like the blender did. I’m not even sure when I’ll make that step but hopefully, soon. For now, I’ll borrow my mom’s blender and juice it up with our Jack Lalanne juicer. We have the one featured in the video.

I figure it can’t hurt to incorporate a few raw meals into our daily lives… so without further a do…

Spanish Breakfast Scramble an Ani Phyo recipe…

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We enjoyed this dish for dinner. This recipe is easy peasy! Most raw recipes don’t require a lot of time in the kitchen. Major plus. My husband absolutely loved it- NO JOKE. He asked for seconds and kept raving about how much he liked the textures of the spinach and nuts. He said he could just eat the “Love the Chicks” pate plain. He also kept saying it was the perfect food for the outdoors. I agree. Tonight, we’re having a Mushroom Walnut loaf- stayed tuned!

Oh, and btw- I wanted to share a book with you that inspired me to become a vegetarian years ago- I’ve recently taken it off the shelves again…

I highly recommend it.

The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and The World- by John Robbins.

Happy Meatless Monday!