Eating Raw

When we went to Florida we were staying with our friends as guests in their home. They had offered to put our entire family of 5 (which includes a almost 7, almost 5, and almost 17 mo. old) and feed us. There's just one catch - they follow a raw food and paleo diet.

I know. I didn't quite know what it was either. But due to many circumstances, this lifestyle change has done wonders for my best friend's family including help with many allergy issues their youngest child had been struggling with. You can read about her discoveries here.

So what? Well, while we were there they were not about to change their diet and I was in now way wanting them to. I had prepared my girls (who would be the main complainers of the group) that we would eat whatever we were given with little to no complaints and to pray that God would help them to remember that during eating time. I also told them they could pretend they were missionaries, who when on a mission trip and offered food one just eats what is given thankful to have food at all.

We arrived very late on Thursday night, but very early Friday morning, Sherri was up and making us all some green smoothies. Yes, I said green. That is because they include a grand helping of spinach (great way to trick your children who think they do not like veggies.) If you want to learn more about green smoothies check out her link to Green Smoothie 101. And you know what I heard ... the sound of slurping when you come to the bottom of a cup with a straw. That was wonderful!!

Many of our meals were "normal" and not too out of the ordinary. Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. We did try coconut milk (which the girls loved!) and that is due to their allergies to dairy. We also made some other interesting, yet tasty meals and deserts.

For lunch on Friday, we prepared Ani Phyo's Black Sesame Sunflower Bread that would be dehydrated and later become the 'bread' for our sandwiches (which were made with homemade mayo, lettuce, tomato, onion, avocado, and chicken.) Sounds yummy?? It was! My husband was not able to enjoy in these because he has an allergy to sunflower seeds, which I neglected to tell Sherri. We are now looking for an alternative so we can make this at home more often. It was also very low-carb -- something like 2g net carbs per serving. Works for me!

So when we went home we had no intentions of revamping our diet per se, but the children were begging to have smoothies. So on Tuesday my husband and I went and purchased a brand new blender which happened to have a food processor attachment - two of the items you need in order to make a bunch of the recipes I learned while visiting. I also purchased some almond milk (which only has 7 net carbs for 1 cup), bananas, spinach, and mangoes (they were on sale.)
Bright and early Wednesday morning we had our first raw fruit green smoothie! It wasn't as good as Sherri's, but the one we made today was. Yesterday Stephen thinks he put in too much spinach (it also had blueberries and banana). Todays smoothie consisted of mango, banana and spinach and it was YUMMY!!

So why not give it a try. Head on over to Fostering My Family and check out her new 30 Day Raw Challenge. She has 3 options available for you to join in on this new adventure. Be sure and link up on her site! I'm sure if I can do it you can to. I'd love to hear from you about what you have tried, recipes you may find (especially if they incorporate low-carb), or anything at all. Oh and one more thing. That chocolate mousse pie was scrumptious! Can't wait to do that one again.