Adventures in Raw Food

I am just that kind of insane that thinks things like.... food planning is just so HARD.... it seems like so much work.... HEY! I think I will try moving the family toward eating a raw food diet....cause that is just so freakin' hard and planning intensive that it will make just plain eating healthy look easy by comparison.... right? Ha. I take all the responsibility. Cause I am crazy. And because I want my finicky boyo to eat more variety. It all started weeks ago when I ordered Evie's Kitchen: Raising an Ecstatic Child. It looked awesome. And intimidating. But I was hopeful. Even cautiously ecstatic.

So today, after much trepidation, we tried out some raw food recipes. I can't say it was a rousing success. It is just SO different. Normally when I cook, it is a fluid experience. I take what the book says into account, but gods forbid I actually FOLLOW it. That would be boring. Recipes never have enough spices, for example. But with raw food, I was too scared to deviate at all. eep.

First I made Pablo "zebras," which is just slices of avocado covered in strips of nori to make stripes. Zebras. Get it? That was a raging success.

Then I started lunch, which was a cauliflower concoction meant to replace the rice for sushi. The recipe called for vast amounts of cauliflower, pine nuts, oils, and 1 TABLESPOON of salt. I thought... seriously?! But I did it. Cause I was scared to screw around with the recipe. Guess what. It was too salty. Are you surprised? Yeah, me neither. So I made ANOTHER batch with NO salt to mix with the first batch. It was yummy. BUT. Since Pablo had tried the salty batch and shrank up like a little slug, he acted like I was I was trying to kill him when I asked him to try the new, adjusted batch. sigh.

And did I mention that I had to make a deal with the kids that I would only use loud kitchen appliances in the BATHROOM with the door closed? My kiddos do not like loud noises. And did I mention this recipe called for a food processor? Yeah. So I prepped all the food, loaded up the food processor, hauled it to the bathroom, ran it at the bathroom counter, and brought it back to the kitchen chock full of mashed yumminess. When I think raw food, I will always think... bathroom.

And then there was dinner. I had planned to make a leek and sweet potato soup. In the bathroom. Blender this time. Yum, right? Well Pablo had his heart set on this parsnip cake something or other. Hey. He was excited about food. Who cares that dinner would be an hour or so late?! So I cooked. Or should I say PREPARED. And we waited. And waited. It became clear that parsnips were not to be. At least not for dinner.

So we dug into the soup. Have you ever taken a huge bite of raw leek? I wouldn't advise it. I tried adding another sweet potato. Suffice it to say that all the sweet potatoes in the world would not be able to conquer the bitterness of a RAW LEEK. (Go ahead and insert any lewd "leek" pun you like here. There were too many to choose from.)

We ate leftovers.

But, we are saving the soup for stock. And I am revamping that recipe, rawness be damned.

Tomorrow we will try the parsnip cake. And I believe we are making something called MONSTER SLIME. I am not kidding. Pray for us.