My family is hungry..hehehehe

[mellyc37]

Well I have been "raw" (almost) for a whole week and one day.
It has been pretty rough on the family, the cabinets are getting really bare.
But the fridge is busting with whole raw foods. And I feel so full.

After a tense time with my husband searching for something to put together for dinner last night, ( I had the pad thai and no one was interested in it), I have decided to cook for them 2 or 3 nights a week. However, it will be as healthy as I can force them to eat. :D I am going to sit down over the holiday and determine how I can cook for all of us. ( 2 kids ages 2 and 6, and 2 adults).

If anyone has suggestions on how to keep everyone else from starving without spending hours in the kitchen please let me know.

[Ariannah]

Do you have Alissa's book and/or DVD? Your family does not have to be officially "raw" (as a label) to enjoy many of the yummy things that can be made. My family (4 children at home, 2 adults) loves, for instance, date-nut torte, raw pies, cauliflower "rice", smoothies of various descriptions, spinach dip and Indian spinach dip, salads, fruits just plain, etc.. all of which take minutes to make and don't require a dehydrator.

I recently purchased a dehydrator too, so I can make some more recipes that require time, but very little preparation: carrot pecan burgers, crackers of various sorts, fruit leathers, cookies, bars, flat breads (have yet to try making).

My family is not 100%, however they recently had a 100% raw day, but I didn't make an issue of it. I just made the food and set it before them, and they either liked it or didn't like it. (Most of them liked it).

You can share what you're making for yourself, just buy plenty to go around.

~Ariannah~

[Rawkinlocs]

Hi mellyc37,

Could you please check your PM box for me? Thanks! :)

[mellyc37]

Thanks, I have the book. I am not being very successful with the recipes. Not usually worth eating. So I have tried to keep it pretty simple. Smoothies, fruits, salads.

I saw the picture of your crackers and they looked awesome. I have a dehydrator, it is the American Harvest, I tried potato chips over the weekend and they were like cardboard. I think I will try again. I have a decadent fudge recipe in there now that I am hoping will be done for an after dinner desert tonight.

My 6 year old only wants fast food or prepackaged junk. I am having a hard time getting him to eat any fruits and veggies other than applesauce.

It will be just me and the kids for a few days after the holiday so I am planning to let my 6 year old pick out stuff for us to try to make. I am hoping if he helps make it he will be more interested in eating it.


I hope to get the DVD to watch as well.

Thanks,
Mellyc

[mbf]

Hi Mellyc,

well it is not easy going for my family either. The husband was pretty easy plus he travels a lot so that helps. But it's my kids, 5,8 &15 that are so tough to transition. I started with going all organic, cereals, chips,cookies etc.. I completely stopped buying all of there usual packaged junk. I have been baking cookies and conventional treats for them to take to school, at least I know what goes into them! ( I use whole grain flour,organic ingredients and omega 3 eggs) so that has helped as well. They won't try anything raw yet.

Just yesterday my 2 younger ones announced that they were officially vegetarians, not a big deal since they barely eat any meat anyway but I think it was a major step forward in there own realization of what they have been eating.

Biggest tip I can offer is don't cave into the complaints, they are not going starve to death ! Offer them only healthy choices and when they are hungry enough they will eat it, or at least try it. It takes 2 weeks to create a new habit !

Best of luck !

MBF

[rawpriestess]

I find the easiest way to make raw food for cooked food eaters, is to do it naturally.

By this I mean, don't make a bunch of raw fancy dishes. (YES, I KNOW I'm the raw gourmet queen) but just hear me out for a second.

1. always have lots of variety of fresh fruits and finger veggies on hand, like apples, oranges, kiwis, grapes, etc, and carrot sticks, celery already cut, cauliflower and broccoli flowerettes available, with some good creamy raw dips.

2. make big fruit smoothies for breakfast, nice and sweet with lots of fresh fruits, this "seems" natural for breakfast

3. make large delicious garden salalds, and raw warmed soups for lunch this "seems" natural for lunch

4. for dinner, this is where it can get tricky, because dinner is usually a more heavy meat meal. so, this is where I get creative. If I am dealing with a totally cooked eating person, who expects meat at every meal, I will start out by making tacos, I use the real corn shells, lots of fresh tomatoes, onion, lettuce, and I may use either textured veggie protein (yes I know it isn't raw-but we are transitioning here) and lots of spices.

Or I might make a marinara sauce and serve on pasta, with maybe some TVP in the sauce to mimic the meat, just think in these terms to transition, you can use this in enchiladas, anything like that, rice dishes etc.

Now, if you look at meals like this, you are using hardly any cooked food.

But, your family doesn't even realize they are eating mostly raw. And it is a natural transition, you could even use some meat if you feel it is necessary.

Then the NEXT step is to start to add raw zucchini slivers into the pasta, pretty soon, it will be mostly the zucchini pasta, and hardly any egg noodles, also the same with the sauces, start with 1/2 raw and 1/2 cooked creamy or tomatoe sauces, or just start with all raw, only YOU know what your family will accept.

Your children will transition pretty easily, after all YOU are the provider, and adult, and it is YOUR decision what foods are brought into the home.

So, that is easy. Now for your husband, the MOST important thing to do for him, is to love him exactly as he is, and to never say anything about his eating meat or SAD foods etc. it is his decision to eat whatever he wants, but if YOU are cooking, then it is your decision to cook or prepare what you feel is best for your family.

But, if he wants to make something, it is important to have those ingredients in the home for him, after all, you certainly want to get along with him, and you want him to support your choices, so you must support his choices.

But, I have learned, that if I have wonderful raw foods around, my hubby has just naturally gone to more and more raw foods.

I just started buying raw and organic, instead of cooked and canned.

sub jar of peanuts, with fresh raw nuts, I buy macs, brazils, cashews, almonds, etc.

sub chocolate candies and candy bars, with raisins, raw fudge, truffles, fudge balls,

sub ice cream with raw banana ice cream, fudgy sauces, and frozen fruit sorbets.

sub pop with fresh fruit juices and smoothies

sub canned soups with fresh veggie soups

sub canned fruits with fresh

sub canned veggies with fresh

sub canned chili with raw

etc.

Everything that you loved cooked, you can find something better fresh, and most things you can find the same taste and texture, but there may be a few things that you can't sub like a steak so, I just allow my hubby to cook his steak and I make all the raw things to eat too, so he can enjoy his steak if he wants, (they get smaller and smaller) he used to eat a 16 oz steak, that is one pound of dead flesh, and that was every day, now he may have one piece a meat a week, and usually that is only a little piece, maybe 4 oz. total, if he is making a burger or a steak, he says it is just too much for him to eat any more.

But that may also be because we have a big garden salad first, with fresh fruit juice and lots of warmed marinated veggies instead of a baked potatoe, and we have banana ice cream instead of cake, and and and.

so, it was natural for him to simply transition.

You see, instead of making lots of cakes and pies and cookies and such cooked, I just started making everything raw, and it just naturally changed.

He had a cooked cookie the other day at a freind's house, and he had forgotten how terrible they are, he was so used to our raw cookies and things, he couldn't even eat it.

So, it can be done, but it just needs to be OKAY for him to eat what he wants.

good luck with all of your choices.

[yeahbethany]

You may want to check out "The Raw Food Detox Diet" by Natalia Rose, as she has a really extensive chapter on transitioning a family to a healthier diet.

The most important thing is to be gentle with them, as you would like them to be with you.

[mellyc37]

Thanks so much for the wonderful ideas. My son was just asking for tacos tonight.

BTW, the hehehe was at my husband not the kids, I find it ammusing to see a grown man standing in front of a fridge absolutely stuffed with food and saying he can find nothing to eat. He sounded exactly like the 6 yr old.

I checked out the book mentioned. I need to read more but it definately sounds promising.

My almost 2 yr old is now pointing for the almond milk instead of the other milk so I am very happy to report that we are definately making progress.

I also have let my 6 yr old pick out a bunch of recipes that we are going to try together over the holiday. Hopefully he will be more interested in eating something he has made.

Again, thanks!