Raw Rabble

Sick Week

We've had a sickly week here, hence me not doing any blogging.

I've had a urinary tract infection. No idea where it came from. I've never had anything like it before. It caused havoc with the family, as I spent large amounts of time feeling sorry for myself, in bed. Hubby Martin kindly worked from home one day, so he could watch the kids but when he was away I had to rely on Joe to help, as I was too incapacitated most of the time.

Martin likes being raw, but has little interest in learning how to prepare anything. I normally potter about making things for the dehydrator, start things soaking, water my sprouts and make meals. Last week I wasn't up to ANY of it - so none of it got done. The food in the house ran out. Martin bought more, but the kids got fed up with fruit, carrot sticks and cashew nuts and wanted something more interesting, but he didn't know what to do about it. So the kids had a rough week too. I hardly ate anything all week. (Saved a bit of money there!)

Looking back over the experience I think Martin will now take more of an interest, especially after the PIZZA incident. Yes, on one evening, with little to interest the kids in the house, a pizza was ordered in. BIG mistake. It was actually my suggestion, as I really couldn't face making anything and Martin was stuck.

Before going to bed Cameron was sick. (I'm impressed by the speed his body rejected the offending pizza.) The girls only had a little and were okay. Joe felt a bit bloated and not too good.

Martin was in for a shock the next day. He had never believed me before about "food hangovers". The next morning he took the tram to work. On the journey he practically passed out. He dragged himself to work, then had terrible diarrhoea. As soon as he thought he could make it he dragged himself home again, went to bed, and I had to do everything for the rest of the evening. It took him two days to recover. So much for the pizza idea saving me from having to look after everyone.

We're all feeling much better now. I managed, with some homoeopathy and a natural remedy, to avoid taking antibiotics. When I was in a lot of pain and had to manage the kids, I did take a couple of pain killers. I NEVER take them, so I really was desperate. (I didn't think we had any in the house. It turned out Martin had some in his travel bag!) At least it should be easier to detox a couple of painkillers than an entire course of antibiotics, plus deal with the digestive mayhem that comes with them.

Thinking back, I think the infection was my body insisting I have a rest and look after myself. I do tend to be a bit of a martyr! I can remember a couple of other times when I've suddenly had a dramatic, acute illness that has totally thrown life into chaos. I'd better start listening.

Funnily enough, when I got back on the computer today, the first thing I read was about the Global Juice Feast. It can't be a coincidence that I found it just after being ill. So I'm going to join in. There - I've put it "out there", so I'll have to do it now, won't I?

Bugs on Sticks

Well, I'm really chuffed, as they say in Yorkshire. Until I went raw I hated celery. All my life I've avoided the stuff. Now I think it's okay, but I'm still not that mad about it, so the idea that any of my kids might go for it? Well I never thought they would.

This last week I have seen Cameron and Joe eat piles of the stuff. Firstly I saw Jenna Norwood making "bugs on a stick" on her video podcast and made that. I've done it before for the kids with no luck. (Before they were raw.) This time Joe liked it, but no one else fancied it. Then, as we had some shop bought mushroom pate, I decided to try putting some of that in the celery's groove. Cameron then proceeded to eat four large pieces of this before we ran out of pate. A few days later we bought more pate and he had five pieces of celery. Now I know the mushroom pate is not raw, but thanks to it, my pickiest child has started eating celery! Today I had some raw chili left over in the fridge. He had some celery with that in, but it didn't go down so well. Hey ho. I'm probably going to try the "bugs on a stick" again next.

With my daughters, the mushroom pate is a favourite filling between halves of carrot. It really is popular, so now I'm trying to invent a raw version of mushroom pate. The trouble is, the shop bought stuff has a lot of yeast in it, which you can taste very strongly, so a really raw version that tastes similar would probably be difficult. I may have to experiment with nutritional yeast flakes. Again not raw, but an improvement. If I get it together, I'll let you know.

Cameron has also tried tomatoes for the first time this week. He ate quite a few, as they had a sprinkling of his favourite tamari on them. It's funny what he'll try when the tamari is involved. When we started, everyone liked tomato ketchup on everything and rice cakes, so we have come quite far since then.

 

Choc Nut Cookies

Here's a recipe that was inspired by some of Alissa Cohen's cookies.

My kids all love these and I barely ever get a look in once they come out of the dehydrator. Just as well really. They are hardly in the weight loss category!

Choc Nut Cookies

1 cup pecans
1 cup almonds (or almond pulp left over from almond milk)
1 cups raisins
1 cup dates
3 dsp raw chocolate powder
3  bananas
1 cup cashews, roughly chopped

1. Process the pecans (and almonds if whole) in a food processor until as fine as possible.(Use a coffee grinder if necessary)

2. Add the chocolate powder, raisins and dates and process until smooth, then process in the bananas until you get a thick, chocolatey gooey paste.

3. Mix in the cashews by hand.

4. Dehydrate until dry on the outside but still soft on the inside.

5. Enjoy!