Steaming? Hemp Milk?

[veggiemom4]

Ok this is my first every post here so I guess I should do a little intro first. We are a long term vegan family of 4. I've been vegan for about 17 years (since middle school and I saw a PETA film), my husband went vegan when we got married, and both our little girls have been vegan since conception. We are however very new to the idea of a 80%(goal right now) raw food diet. I love to cook and had been up to a this week making a mix of both raw foods and cooked foods. I sort of went "cold turkey" with cooking, read up on going raw and woke up one day and said lets do this. :D It has been very easy for me and even my husband but our two girls are having a harder time. They are 2.5 yrs old and 4.5 yrs old. The main issues we are having right now are:

1. My youngest is still having a hard time eating some raw veggies. Things like carrots and broccoli, she picks them up and chews a little bit but then takes them out of here mouth. She normally would gobble them right up when I made them steamed for her. So my question is, could I steam them for her few minutes to make them a little softer? Does this greatly reduce the nutritional value?

2. I am switching us over to homemade nutmilks. We had all been on organic soy milk up to now for drinking and cooking. I made the mistake of telling my mom this and she freaked out. Saying that homemade hemp milk could still have THC because I am making it from raw shelled seeds. (I just got a recipe from online and started making it using my blender) Is that in anyway true? I would not want to expose my girls to THC. I just though making it at home would be fun and cheap as apposed to buying it in the store for $4:eek: a quart.

[coco]

there is no thc in hemp, they aren't the same plant at all. if there was thc in hemp it wouldn't be legal to sell it at all. and the thc in marajuana isn't in the seeds either, it's in the resin which develops on the leaves.
no offense to your moms but it's this ignorance about the wonder crop that is hemp that keeps it so restricted when there is no reason. it's too bad.

you can marinate hard veg in oil and lemon with spices if you wish to soften them. sometimes if i grate carrot or beets they are easier to eat.
you could make blended soup, you can use it as a sauce or salad dressing too.
my son really likes spinach banana smoothie but he won't touch spinach normally.
if that doesn't do it just focus on the foods that your little one will eat and try re-introducing other foods later on.

[veggiemom4]

Coco thanks for the quick reply. I was pretty sure that I was right about the hemp issue. I had told mom mother that it is not the same plant but she is sort of from the dark ages. Also thanks for the tip about grating the the veggies smaller. Somehow something so simple did not come to me when I was serving up lunch today. :)

[coco]

do you ever make nut or seed pate? if i wrap it up in a romaine lettuce leaf or a sheet of nori i can slip in shredded veg of all kinds that he normally turns his nose up at and he loves them. you could try a sprouted quinoa salad too with finely grated or chopped veg mixed in, my guy likes that in a lettuce leaf "boat" too.
zucchini is the wonder veg, if you peel it (so the green skin doesn't give it away) you can grate or chop it and put it in everything, even sweet foods like fruit salad. it takes on the taste of whatever it's paired with and it's kid-invisible.
sometimes cutting things into different shapes is all it takes to make a food go from yuck to yum. those metal cookie cutters work alright for chopping peppers and thinly sliced veg into nifty shapes. who can resist a dino shaped carrot slice, right?

[Raw Angel Mom]

Welcome on the board!

May i suggest to try to preparre raw soup. There is raw carrot soup etc... You need a very good blender for that.

Steam veggi aren't raw but if this is the only way that she would eat her veggie, at least do this in short amount of time as possible, but try the soup first. You can also make vegetable juice.

My daughter is still scare with food. Meaning last year she tasted my food by accident and it was very spicy, she has been refusing food. But the good news, she loves the smoothies that i make. Sometime, i put greens in them.

For the milk, this is a great idea to make it with hemp seeds. No need to soak. I typically use 1 part of seeds and 5 part of water to make the milk, you can add sweetner (raw agave etc...). You can also make a nut milk, very easy, this time you will need a nut bag to drain the pulp for it won't disolve after blending. Sametime, one part of nut and five part of water.

Hemp seeds is essential oil :
Two table spoon of hemp seeds (omega 3 = 2g , omega 6 =6.2g, omega =0.8g, calcium 2%, iron 20% and protein 11g)

My daughter favorite smoothies

1C1/4 water
1/4 cup of hemp seeds
1C strawberries
5 banana

Blend well until smooth. I bring this to work sometime and i find this is satisfying me for lunch