Our Raw Adventure: Days 2 & 3

We made it another 2 days (minus Wednesday supper)! Pictured above are the banana crackers I made in the dehydrator (from soaked flax seeds, bananas, and fresh squeezed orange juice). They're actually pretty good with raw almond butter on them. The kids and David are hanging in there. They really have been pretty good sports about the whole thing. But I could tell they all appreciated the "break" we took for supper on Wednesday night.

On Tuesday, though, we managed to discover some raw food we all really liked! Well, okay, just Harrison and I really loved the zucchini pasta marinara; David liked the sauce; and Veronica and Violet didn't like anything about it. You can see the zucchini "pasta" pictured below along with the sauce and our salad fixings. I think it's really fun to make the pasta too. I have a veggie "spiralizer" that can be used to turn raw veggies into either thin ribbons or thin angelhair pasta-like strands. The sauce has lots of the same ingredients as regular marinara sauce--it's just not cooked.

The one thing that everyone loved (sorry no picture) was the banana ice cream. It's just frozen bananas "creamed" in the blender. I used my Ninja. I had tried to do this in the past, but wasn't patient enough. It also helped to add a little water. But if you blend long enough, the bananas really do turn into the consistency of soft serve ice cream. It's so amazing! They are so creamy and yummy. Even Violet was licking her bowl.

Our Raw Adventure: Day 1

Wow! I can't believe it's been over a year since I've posted anything! Above is a picture of what Veronica had for breakfast and lunch yesterday, which was the first day of our one week raw food adventure. Although it was David's idea, he is only participating in the evening and Violet is exempt (but she still can't have chips for breakfast much to her dismay). So what exactly are we doing? From Monday, August 1st to Sunday morning, August 7th, we are only going to eat raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Raw means anything that has not been cooked above (I think) 119 degrees. We are taking a brief "break" on Wednesday for supper only because Veronica was already scheduled to go on a church trip to Surfside Water Park and they are providing supper and since we have to go to church to pick her up, we'll eat there too.

Here is what we had for supper last night:

Pictured basically from left to right are salad, berry mix (blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries), raw beanless falafel (made in a dehydrator from almonds), and salad toppings (rainbow carrots, orange peppers, cucumbers, and celery). Not pictured: our family who really did enjoy most of it except the falafel. I, on the other hand loved it!

General reactions to the day:

Veronica, "That's the best breakfast I ever had!" "The nuts feel like you are an outdoors person eaing nuts off a tree." "I love raw food!"

Harrison, who was really gung ho BEFORE we started, "I don't want to do this anymore!" He did, however, have a change of heart after he tried my raw "fudge" balls (walnuts, raisins, and raw cacao powder). I would have a picture of those, but Harrison ate them all!!

David, "Uhh, I can't come home for lunch today . . ." (actually it was because he was busy--mostly!)

Me, "This is so much easier when everyone is doing it!" I've done days/weeks raw ever now and then. Most recently July 11, International Raw Food Day and before that I was raw from January 4 to February 19. Actually, though, I was in the kitchen from 10 AM to 4 PM "uncooking" so in some ways it was harder too.

Violet, "I want chips!!"