Broadening our Horizons

So, we've been Raw so long now, I can't even count the days.  We have fallen into a simple routine, and have a few recipes that we really love, and use regularly.  We are still feeling incredibly good, so we are carrying on.  However, like with everything in life, some days it feels hard to be so committed.  It's not necessarily the "Raw" food, but just food in general.  For the past two months I have prepared, from scratch, the vast majority of everything we have eaten.  But for a few splurges at the health food store, everything has to be made by hand, and often has to be planned a few days in advance. The lingering few boxes of macaroni in the cupboard have, some evenings, been very tempting (although, with no ketchup in the house I'm not sure if even that would be worth it).

But then, with a little effort we sit down to something like this, and it is just fine!

There is so much good about what you see there: tacos with sprouted quinoa tabbouleh and pineapple-broccoli salad. Delish!  And for a drink we had some fresh (and when I say fresh, I mean I opened the coconut myself) coconut water.  I would love to pontificate on the wonders of coconut water, but you should just look it up yourself.  It's incredible!

Those of you with scrutinizing eyes may notice the white creamy stuff on the tacos, and wonder what's becoming of the Wiebes.  Well, it is almost exactly what it looks like - it is freshly home-made yogurt! Oh, my domesticity just went up a few notches, didn't it?

I won't bore you with the details of the failed attempts at yogurt making, or tell you exactly what temperature I had to heat my farm-fresh raw milk to to make the yogurt.  No, I will just let you be impressed by my homemaking skills. Really, I'm well on my way to be dropped in the middle of this ad:

 They forgot to put "Make homemade yogurt and lettuce tacos with fake meat" in there. Strange.

Anyway, the yogurt is delicious, and almost worth "cheating" a little.  We are trying to discover exactly where we want to be on the whole Raw Food spectrum.  I have yet to miss real meat, but I do crave breads every now and then.  I feel really good about the raw milk, even though true raw foodists are vegan, but I have yet to have cheese, even though that's raw too.  And the yogurt is an easy way to whip up a snack for the boys.  We're just figuring it out as we go, deciding what works for our family, in order for us to be as healthy as we can be.  It's an adventure, that's for sure. 

And for those of you who have asked for more on our raw food, stay tuned for the "day in the life..." post.  It's coming!

Thoughts on RAW!

So, tonight marks my 5th day of eating Raw.  It's true.  I've made it this far.  You're impressed, right?  Well, you should be.

Raw Blueberry GRAWnola

First of all, let me tell you ten reasons why I am absolutely loving this:
1. After too many months of eating pasta and grilled cheese sandwiches, my family is consistently eating healthful, delicious, homemade food EVERY meal!
2. Every single recipe I have tried so far has been delectable.
3. I can eat as many treats as I want, because, after all, they are mostly just sprouted buckwheat, or coconut, or raw cacao powder!
4. I am losing weight - kay, maybe this isn't a plus: new pants are definitely not in the budget this month.  I guess back to junior high and baggy pants I go. There's a plus!
5. I have significantly more energy - this week I was motivated by Lindsay's comment on my last post about exercise, and I actually went to the YMCA to use my pass for more than just watching Eli's swim lessons. It felt great.
6. It is nice to have a motivation to actually cook (or un-cook) for my family.  It's been hard, living with my parents, to do much.
7. I'm teaching my boys to enjoy eating good, healthy food.  Silas mostly just plays with the food, but Eli has been a trooper and tastes everything and likes most of it.
8. I am equipping myself with some great recipes and habits to use once we aren't eating 100% raw.
9. Jared is doing it wholeheartedly with me, which is not only fun, but hopefully really good for his health too.
10. Spending time in the kitchen with my mom and my boys is infinitely more fun than hanging out in the basement watching the same movie over and over again.  It takes a lot of time, but all of that time has been totally delightful.

Eli helping to spread the Blueberry Crispies I invented.

Making Cheese.  We've really formed a close relationship with that food processor. I don't think I'll ever be able to live without one again.

There you have it. I'm sure I could come up with more, but those are the first that come to mind. 

What do I eat, do you ask?  Well, let me break it down for you.

I start each morning with a delicious green smoothie: spinach or kale with bananas, dates, mangos, flax, spirulina, maca and whatever other good stuff I feel we need.  And I'm not talking about just a glass of green smoothie, I'm talking about at least a litre, if not more.  Delish!  Jared drinks the same as me, and Eli and Silas have their own portions.  The smoothie is enough for me, but I usually give the boys some raw granola or buckwheat crackers as well.  I still have them drinking milk (raw, mind you) so they have some of that on it as well.

Eli and Silas eating breakfast. Eli refused to smile.

For lunch we have had leftovers from the night before.  Plus, so that I make sure I am getting enough calories and good healthy fat (no surprisingly, Raw Food is a low calorie diet) I share a whole avocado with Eli.  I never knew I liked avocado so much, but I really do.

For dinner each night we have tried a new recipe.  While the many salads don't take much to throw together, many other recipes don't just take time the day of, but require you to soak nuts and grains for days before hand, and often to dehydrate the meal for at least 24 hours as well.  We live in a society of instant gratification, so this is difficult to get used to.  But, I find that if I just prepare one meal a day, even if I will be eating it two or three days later, I haven't been too overwhelmed.  We have had cheese sticks (made with sunflower seeds), pineapple pizza (dehydrated onion crust, collard, sunflower seed cheese, raw marinara sauce, veggies and pineapples), cream of mushroom soup (the cream is just cashews and almonds), zucchini pasta, mock salmon wraps...  Really, the possibilities are endless!

Soaking almonds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds and chia.

Breakfast in the dehydrator

 In between meals I find, when I get a little peckish, I just eat an apple with raw almond butter, or some celery with almond butter and raisins.  Kale chips are so good. A handful of nuts and dried fruit satisfies a lot.  I've been a little concerned that the low fat, low calories might effect my milk production, so even though the meals are very satisfying, I try to eat more than I otherwise would.  I'm not a big snacker, but raw snacks are good, so I'm surviving.

So, what's hard about it?  Well, it takes a lot of time and preparation.  I've got the time, but I'm not used to thinking days ahead for meals.  Spaghetti is definitely easier.  I don't miss meat, and dairy is easier than I would have guessed to live without, but I do love baked goods.  I don't mind eating all the raw food, but when I am offered something like banana bread I want to have less resolve. Also, because this is really new to me, it does not just take a lot of time to do, but I'm spending the rest of my time reading recipe books and learning about why to eat raw.  This is good, because I love to learn new things, but I've got a funny feeling that I am going to have to put aside crafty things during this adventure.

So, there you have it.  Five days in, and I'm going strong.  Despite the few things that are hard, I know I can do just about anything for 30 days.  When I'm done we certainly won't eat 100% raw, but I will definitely incorporate a lot more of it into our lives.  I feel healthier already!

Raw Food, Christmas Crafts and a Shoe Repair

As I'm sure you all gathered, I completely threw in the hat this year with Christmas decorating, Christmas tradition making and all such nonsense. Sure, I was a little bit Scrooge McDuck, but with Jared gone the entire month of December (okay, not the whole month, but the vast majority of it) and with us living in "the room" survival was the goal, and avoidance of the worst mother of the year award.  The kids were generally kept happy and fed, and we all survived until Jared got back.  Instead of thinking about all the Christmas celebrating that we didn't do, I decided to focus my efforts on eating.  Sounds reasonable, right?

Early in December I went to two days of an introduction to Raw Food.  It was interesting and inspiring.  I am of the firm belief that God put us on this earth to learn to make good decisions.  The greatest gift he has given us is our bodies.  Therefore, one of the most important decisions we need to make is how to take care of our bodies.  He has helped us along the way with the Word of Wisdom and instruction from the prophets about things like tattoos, piercings and such. But, I think he also expects us to search out knowledge and find ways to keep our bodies healthy and strong.  I know we all die eventually, but I'd like to spend my life healthy, vibrant and aware, not waste away riddled with disease and discomfort!  So, while I am young and healthy I am trying to set habits for me and my family that will ensure that we are best prepared to combat all the polluted, toxic things in the world.

Janice Skoreyko taught the class I went to over the weekend.  She was incredible! She was quite honestly one of the happiest, most genuine women I have met.  I couldn't get enough of her. She made us the most delicious foods, and completely inspired me to be more healthy.  Now I just need a few hundred dollars to equip my kitchen with a good food processor, a dehydrator and a better juicer, and I will be ready to go! I guess I could sell my oven???  I am not interested in eating raw 100%, but with Jared's family history of diabetes, I am always looking for ways to eliminate the possibility of my children developing it, and I think incorporating raw into our diet would definitely do that, while helping us be more healthy in general. Now that Christmas is over (I'm not THAT raw) we are going to do a 30-Day Raw Food Challenge. Hopefully it will go better than my 30-Days of Giving challenge (which, BTW, I did far better at than I reported, in case you were wondering.)  For 30 days we are going to try to eat as much raw as we possibly can, which means we nothing cooked, nothing pasteurized, nothing heated over 115 degrees.  It also means we will eat tons of delicious smoothies, soups, pastas (made from zucchini) and lots of deserts. Actually, I think the deserts are going to be my favourite - nothing like a chocolate ball of goodness that you don't have to feel one bit guilty about!  Anyway, I think it's going to be harder than I imagine, but I am excited to do it! We started tonight with a big raw family dinner to celebrate Jared's birthday, which was last Wednesday. Don't worry, I'll let you know how it goes.


In other news, despite my avoidance of Christmas festivities, Eli was totally thrilled with the whole Christmas season.  Since I decided not to do any major crafting, he submitted himself to finishing every last random craft my mom has in her cupboard.  Years of gathered Christmas crafts, bought in January for dirt cheap,  came out to deck the halls of "the room."  Maybe he is deprived, but I'm pretty sure he'll survive. He was quite upset when we took them all down earlier this week, but a quick trip to the Michael's sale section ensures that he will find the same joys of the season next year.

Lastly, with a brilliant suggestion from Jared, we have saved a purchase this month by spending $1!  Eli has been wearing the same shoes for over a year.

They are the greatest runners in existence, only because they are velcro and he can put them on and take them off all by himself.  Prior to this wonderful pair of shoes I didn't mind tying his laces, because frankly he was too young to put on any shoes by himself, be them velcro or flip flops or knee-high Doc Martins (a lasting desire of mine from junior high). But, now that he has been able to dress his feet all by himself for an entire year, going back to tying shoe laces is just one thing this momma is not prepared to do! Yet, in my ignorance of the freedom I so much enjoy today, I purchased, at bargain prices, several pairs of shoes in increasing sizes before we moved back to Canada.  So, as the velcro shoes get tighter and tighter, I've got laceable shoes that actually fit Eli that neither him nor I enjoy putting on - never mind that they have the longest laces of any child's shoes EVER! 

Thus necessitates Jared's brilliant plan: throw out the laces!  Who needs them anyway?  Instead of the pesky threads I went out and bought some matching elastic, Jared threaded it through the shoes, and voila, Eli can again do it all himself.  Sure, he will be the only kid in kindergarten who hasn't been taught to tie his laces, but I'm okay with that (I'll probably homeschool him anyway, so who cares!).

This project was so easy I am considering replacing everyone in the family's laces with elastic.  In fact, I don't think I'll ever tie another shoelace again. Down with shoelaces!