Help from Raw Families

[Lunar*Fey]

I want to try and get back into raw and get my family into it too...which is going to be impossible but I want to really try. What do you make and eat as a family daily? Recipes included please? I would totally go with the fruit in the morning, green smoothies, salad and fat at night. All simple, all delicious. But they would NEVER ever go for that. Not counting desserts, almost every time I've tried a recipe it comes out terrible. now I am not sure if I am going to do this for sure yet, but if I do I want to be fully equipt with EASY, simple, yet appealing and delicious recipes. Any help?
thanks!

[JennaBoBenna]

hey, L*F, nice to see you around! Sorry I don't have any suggestions, just wanted to say it was nice to see you !

[prana]

This may not be what you are looking for, but our family has moved away from "meals" and recipes to simple whole foods. We eat fruit late morning or a green smoothie, salad for lunch and sometimes another salad for dinner.

Sometimes we will mix up a spicy dressing and combine it with foods of the season (peppers, zuccini, carrots, celery, onions) all sliced. A good mix for the dressing or marinade is nama shoyu, fresh ginger (squeeze through garlic press), fresh garlic, cayene if you like, and a touch of sweetner like agave. Let the thinly sliced veggies sit in this for half of a day on the counter or dehydrate for 1/2 an hour. This turns into a type of stirfry. We serve this over greens or sprouts with a good dab of almond butter.

You could switch the dressing up to be more mexican and you could have tacos instead of stirfry.

In the end, it may be best to go simple instead of getting frustrated over not so successful recipes. Most of the raw foodies that have been around for a while migrate to a simple diet instead of all the look-alike meals.

[Dimond]

Me too! Hi Lunar. :D

[asil]

Well, I don't have children but I do have a husband who is eating more and more raw every day. I never try to tell him what to eat, or restrict his eating in any way. I do the grocery shopping and I buy his favorite cooked foods, no complaints. Over time, I'm happy to say, his food choices have gotten better and better. He used to love lunch meats, so I started buying him grass-fed, air cured meats for him to sample, and he now prefers those. No more packaged sweets, rarely does he order pizza, and he eats corn instead of flour tortillas. These are all big improvements, and all with no stress or nagging. I just buy the stuff along with the other stuff he used to like and see what he thinks.

As to raw, I just make lots of luscious salads, fruit trays, smoothies (with greens and without), veggie and dip trays, squash-noodle pasta, corn on the cob, guaca, young coco, and he eats it all up, along with some portions of his favorite cooked foods. He's liked very few recipes that I've tried, but truthfully, I feel the same way. The recipes we both like are crackers, some pies, but only with a very light crust.

Time will tell if he will ever go all raw. I just want us both to be as happy and healthy as we can be, and this seems live a low-stress, loving way to go for us.

Good luck to you and your family! :)

[paradise]

How about keeping lots of different kinds of fruit around and letting them graze all day? That seems to be how a lot of successful raw-fooders do it.

Simple recipes would be banana ice cream with other fruits added for variety.

Chopped avocado and tomatoes.

Brownies with figs added for calcium so they don't have to eat a lot of nuts (if they have problems with nuts).

Flax seed crackers to clean out the colon and help with detox.

Good luck! I know how hard it is to stand by and watch your relatives eat badly and suffer, it's like you suffer along with them. They are lucky to have someone like you watching out for them.

One other thing I've done, is mentally (rather than verbally) "tell" them to eat raw. I do this to all the overweight people I see, even if I don't speak to them!

How are you doing Lunar?

[SedonaSun]

Hi Lunar*Fey.... welcome back!!! We've missed you!!!

I don't have recipe suggestions necessarily either -- if they're not interested I can't think of a lot at the moment that they'd like. I know it's out there, but I'm super tired and can only think of a nap. :eek:

But I did want to toss out some other suggestions. If they won't go raw, which you expressed doubts about, how about at least getting them closer? Maybe strive for vegan with 50% raw? I think having lots of raw snacks and such for grazing and snacking is good. Seems it's desserts that wow non-rawies the most at first. At least if they're having a sweet tooth, they can reach for raw brownies or cinnamon rolls or you can make raw ice cream one night...

Then for dinners or lunches, a fruit tray was suggested. Maybe a fruit tray with flax crackers or even vegan store-bought crackers and vegan cheese (which is actually pretty tasty, IMHO.)

Or a veggie tray with raw dipping sauce with garden burgers or something else like that.

I understand you want them to love raw and I'm with ya girl, but it might be easier to wean them onto it. If you can't get them raw just yet, can you at least steer them away from dairy and meat??

Welcome back!

[rawstrawberry]

Hey,

Nice to see u. How ru doing?

I would start off with recreations of thier favs, burger,pizza, pasta, meatloaf, things that taste great but still filling. Check out this blog mawintheraw.blogspot.com some great ideas there.

Raw Strawberry

[dreamrawalwz]

I would start them off VERY slowly!!!! Knowing their current diet I would start off by setting fruits out on the counter in a dish or something. If it's there instead of chips or whatever laying around usually people will grab the fruits. Let them have their cooked dinner, but maybe make a nice tossed salad every night and try dressings that are raw or even a simple (cooked) olive oil and vinegar. Smoothies are great and can come in a huge variety of flavors. I wouldn'st start with green ones because the color may turn them off (usually my turn a brownish color because of the combinations i use). I know this is cooked, but I also know their current diet...steaming fresh veggies or doing a healthy stirfry over brown rice or whole wheat pastas, stuff like that. Start trying to replace white grains and sugar with whole grain things and fruit. It make take them a while or they'll feel the difference and continue on their own!

WE NEED TO TALK HUN!!!! I've missed you! I'm so glad you're back.

[Sharon in Colorado]

Hey Lunar,

What's happenin' girl? How was your time off? Can you talk about it?

Most of all, how are YOU?

Inquiring minds would love to know!

And I'd say - start with breakfast...fruit, smoothies, juices, etc. That's the best way to start back on or get others on raw!

[Morn]

I would definately make the corn chowder. It is filling and awesome.

Take 6 ears of corn and take corn off cobb
1 avacodo
3 cups of Almond milk
sea salt to taste

put all in blender except a handful of kernals to mix in later.

[JEN]

Welcome back LF!! Here is a blog of a raw family with lots of recipes that might be helpful to you. http://mawintheraw.blogspot.com/ If you look to the right side you can click on each month for different recipes. They use a few non raw foods like sprouted breads and tortillas but that might be helpful in transitioning your family. Here are a couple of recipes my family likes..
http://rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3825&highlight=philly+cheese+steak

http://rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18501

[Nenyath]

Hi Lunar Fey, it is so good to see you here! I really hope you suceed in making their lives richer, and you will! How are you? I will look through my gathered recipes to see if I can find you anything.. Take it little by little, as someone else said, wean them into it.. Do you still have that dehydrator? Maybe you could try and win them over with sweets and chips :p the raw kind!

Fly forever free..

[rawpriestess]

Oh, hi Lunar Fey, so good to see you here, welcome back,


when I was doing the RAW thing with formerly SAD eaters, I found it easiest to do it with fresh fruit and veggie trays, large salads, these were my favorites

Italian
large chopped beefsteak tomatoes
pine nuts
kalamat olives pitted and sliced
fresh basil torn
fresh oregano torn
chopped cucumber
minced garlic and hot peppers
splash of olive oil and lemon juice
dash of sea salt

Mexican
large chopped beefsteak tomatoes
fresh minced cilantro
torn lettuce leaves
chopped white onion
chopped almonds
cumin
chili powder
cayenne
sea salt
cashew sour cream (in Alissa's book)
salsa (in Alissa's book)

Asian
chopped bok choy or chinese cabbage
grated carrot
sliced pea pods
mung bean sprouts
fresh grated ginger
minced garlic
nama shoyu
orange segments
chopped cashews
chopped green onions
Chinese 5 spice powder if you like

I would also make Alissa's enchiladas and cashew sour cream and salsa, it is an excellent dish, and doesn't seem raw at all
I'd make lots of finger warmed soups
smoothies,
ice creams
my brownies, with lots of chopped nuts and such
the cheesecakes are excellent, and don't seem raw at all
Alissa's fudge balls
the date nut torte
and especially her pizza

[Lay-Lay]

Keep it really simple.

My family LOVES green smoothies for breakfast.

Then salads for lunch

Dinner is raw coleslaw, guacomole salad, and/or green smoothies.

[Lunar*Fey]

thanks so much everyone. See, I would LOVE to keep it simple. Thats how I enjoy eating and what feels best in my body. But my mom thinks its bad and evil or something. I haven't been able to be completely raw since my return from ultra dairy doses (at Renfrew). ugh. I have had to have some cooked beans, veggies, and organic tofu like once or so a day. blah. But I think I can stop if there is enough REAL (raw) food in the house (hah, dream on). gr. I totally notice the difference of being raw vs not raw (while I was at the frew).

thanks again!!!

[raw-siobhan]

I have been slowly working more fruits and veggies into my kids' diet over the past 3 months or so. They are so darn picky, so it has been like pulling teeth, but I have caught on to which particular fruits they each like and keep them stocked 24/7. The veggies I still have to sneak into smoothies and even then I dont get a thumbs up from my youngest child. I went to the farmers market this morning after dropping them all off at school and bought a bunch of wonderful stuff...and THREW OUT a bunch of stuff that we had stocked at home that were crappy for them. Tonight for dinner they were forced to eat what was served or starve, not because I threatened them but because there was nothing else to eat but healthy stuff in the house. It actually worked. I made flower shapes out of cucumber slices and put a cherry tomato in the middle. They all hated the tomatoes but ate the cucumbers. I ate the tomatoes. I did "ants on a log" with the celery, almond butter, and organic raisins...they hated those too...so I ate them. I cut up an apple for each of them into slices and had them dip it into some banana, date, agave mixture I made. Only one kid liked that, but they all ate the apples. Lastly, I served them raw pistachios and cashews...always a big hit. I told them that in a few hours I would each cut them up a massive serving of watermelon for "dessert". Bottom line is, I have NO IDEA how to go about getting my family to get "on board" with me, so I will sneak in as much non-crap items as possible. I dont know...but I wish you the absolute best on your journey. :)

[juliebove]

My family is not totally raw nor would they ever be. At least I don't think so. My daughter seems very open to trying new things and realizes the impact diet has on her. The rest of the family is rather a lost cause, following their taste buds and cravings and then complaining that they don't know why they don't feel well.

They do however love raw veggies. I grew up in a house where we always had raw veggie platters for big holiday dinners and green salads with every dinner. We never had dip with the veggies. Everybody liked it. Everybody ate it.

We always had raw trail mix in the house that we often mixed up ourselves. For Thanksgiving, I plan to make my "Faux Sahale Snacks", with pecans, orange peel and cranberries. I don't expect my brother to try it since he hates pecans and walnuts. Daughter doesn't like it either. For them, I'll probably make something less exotic like cashews and raisins.

I asked my mom the other day why so many people objected to the raw diet. Now I haven't met any personally mind you. Just the opposite. But perhaps this is because I live in WA and I think people are more into health food here than in other areas. Her response to me was that perhaps they didn't realize what a raw diet was. Perhaps they are thinking of sushi or raw meat or...who knows what? And in fact when I first heard of a raw diet, I was confused about it. The article mentioned raw ravioli made of vegetables with nut cheese. I was living in NYC at the time and surrounded by Italian food. I couldn't understand why anyone would bother to come up with some faux food when they could easily just have the real thing!

But then some years went by. I moved back to WA where it was no problem at all to get good organic produce. I learned of my food allergies (and my mom's and daughter's) and began changing our diet. Part of my decision to go raw and vegan was that I could no longer eat eggs and dairy, two protein sources for me. I didn't want to eat meat or fish. And for the most part I prefer raw veggies. I already ate a lot of salad.

What I do now when making a meal for the whole family is to put out a variety of foods. I will do up a salad bar type thing. I usually have two bowls of greens. One that is the more exotic kind and one of plain lettuce. My brother will only eat plain lettuce. My SIL loves tomatoes but will only eat a big one, sliced, unless it is one grown in my garden and then she will eat anything I grow. So I always try to include at least one or two foods I know each person likes. Luckily there are some foods that several of us like. I sometimes use divided containers but I also get creative. My daughter loves to use cut up fruit and vegetables to make platters. So we often do that. I might accompany this by plates of cheese, nut cheese, bread, raw onion bread, assorted crackers, etc. And many of my family members like meat so there might be some of that.

Really my family is being more and more agreeable to trying new things given that as time goes by, more and more medical problems are being discovered.

What I would NOT do if I were you, is announce that the meal is raw, even if most of it is. Your family seems to object to that. If you fill the table with an assortment of foods and each family member sees something there they like, they're going to focus on that and enjoy the meal.

[luckitri]

Glad to see you back Lunar Fey! How about just incorporating one raw dish into each family meal? Let them indulge you with trying a bit of your uncooking? Your contribution to the table? Give them alot of time to accustom.

[Conscious Midwife]

No one in our family is 100% this week including myself but here is a list of the RAW stuff we share on a daily to weekly basis.

Smoothies of almost any sort, so lon as the green ones are masked with pinapple os bananas

Salads

Trail mixes

RP's Brownies and any variations of deserts I've tried from Alissa's book

Collard green wraps

Today I''l make a sweetpotatoe pie with a nut crust, they'll love it

The also like chocolate milk shakes, using nibs and powder plus unstrained almond milk and banana

We go thru more than 15lbs of bananas / week now and at least a dozen avacados.

I make most the meals and I don''t prep any meat or fish what so ever. So they eat what I eat or they add to it. Pasta and Peanut Buter and Jelly Sandwhiches have become staples.

[evezhu]

I've just spent the last 2 weeks whilst my son is visiting his dad in China, going through Alissa's book and Juliano's for recipes he might like. I've also gone onto raw food websites for ideas that might be teenage friendly.

Here's what I've decided to make him. I've tried to make it as similar to the 'junk' food types of food as possible:

Banana Bread
Pizza
Crackers - many varieties
Burgers
Ravioli Slice
Nori/Sushis (also some nice recipes in Juliano)
Felafel in wraps and salad

RP brownies
Fudge
Cinamon Rjolls

Ice Cream
Cookies
Ice Popsicles

Smoothies

Breakfast ideas with nut milk

All of these are from Alissa's book, indexed at the back. I also like some of Juliano's ideas (the ones with not too many obscure ingredients in them!)

Hope this has helped.

Good luck.

Eve