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RAW Vegan "Buns" & Cincinnatus' Birth Story

As much as I could be talking about a dinner roll recipe - I just HAD to share this little slice of mama bliss that I captured the other day.  My little Cincinnatus' RAW vegan cellulite is just too adorably cute (click the image for a close-up!!). 

Only since I have been a mother have I actually thought cellulite was cute.

I was completely vegan during my pregnancy with Cincinnatus.  He was born April 5th and weighed about 8 pounds.  He had doubled his weight in 6 weeks on mama's milk only.  When he was almost 3 months, we went RAW vegan and needless to say he (and I) have been thriving ever since (he is still only consuming mama milk). 

Percival initiated my contractions about 9AM after Bret suggested letting him nurse the day Cincinnatus was born.  Cincinnatus was 2 weeks later than we thought his due date was, but in actuality I just had my conception dates a little off.  While WE were impatient, HE was right on time!  Bret and Tyler filled up the birthing tub with warm water down stairs.  Things got intense and I got in the tub about 1:30PM.  We called Peggy & Louisa (our midwife and her assistant) at that time and they got there about 2PM.  Little Cincinnatus was born at 3PM.  Completely intact perineum and a perfect baby too.

When he popped out all I saw were his enormous hands and shoulders! This kid is burly! I thought.  He was a hairy little muscle man!!!  He has since filled out to be a bit more proportionate, yet he is still a hunka hunka CHUNKA burning LOVE!

After Percival was born, Bret felt that even though he did not cut the chord until after it had stopped pulsing, he still felt it was too soon - he had an intuition to leave the placenta attached to the umbilical chord and the baby for at least 24 hours after birth.  He thought it may help the baby avoid weight loss and jaundice and possibly some emotional trauma too.  We found out later that this ritual is called a "Lotus Birth" and does indeed limit the weight loss and jaundice that Lotus babies experience.  So with Cincinnatus we got to give it a try. 

Bret wrapped up the great big meaty piece of vegan-grown placenta in a couple of plastic sacks and an ice pack and then in a couple towels (by now the bundle was bigger than the baby) and we had two "babies" for the first 24 hours.  When he unwrapped the placenta, Bret noticed that it was still very vibrant and had not begun to rot at all.  Had we a chance to do it again, we would probably leave it attached for another day.  I love my two baby contribution to the world - Bret would love a few more.  We shall see...

The Lotus experiment worked, Cincinnatus lost zero weight, in fact in 5 days he gained as much as most babies gain in 2 weeks!  We were thrilled.  He was slightly jaundice, only slightly.

When the tide was all the way in, Bret took Percival's frozen placenta and Cincinnatus' quite fresh placenta to the end of the dock in our little beach community of Indianola.   He put them both in a pillow case with some weights and threw them off the end of the dock - as an offering.  A bald eagle flew by in thanks.

RECIPE: RAW Vegan Angel Hair Pasta & Alfredo Sauce

Allllright, here is an improvement on the last RAW Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo recipe that I posted
(serves 8-10):

RAW Vegan Alfredo Sauce:

• the meat from 3 fresh young coconuts
• 1 cup olive oil
• the juice from 2 limes (a little more than 1/4 cup)
• 6 cloves of garlic (or more or less to taste)
• chopped olives & chopped almonds for garnish

Blend the meat from the coconuts, olive oil, lime juice & garlic until smooth.  This makes about 4 cups of sauce, which we found was enough for 8-10, 1/3 - 1/2 cup servings.  This is a RICH sauce, a little goes a long way. 

RAW Vegan Angelhair Pasta:

• 4-8 short fat carrots
• 3 (or so) small young zuchini

Depending on the size of your vegetables...

We found that about 1 short fat carrot and 1/3 of a young zucchini was enough to make angel hair "pasta" with the zaladaco or spiralizer "shred" setting (as opposed to slice) per serving, topped with 1/3 to 1/2 cup of RAW Vegan Alfredo sauce.  Garnish with finely chopped olives and almonds.

Here is a photo of the "pasta" before topping it with the sauce (click on the image for a close-up).  I spiralized it hours before dinner was served and everything kept beautifully in the fridge.  Dinner was a snap!

RECIPE: Lara's RAW Vegan Gomasio

The following recipe is a staple we use for crunchies in salads, garnish on cucumbers or to add color, bulk and texture to really any dish you wish.  This combo is jam packed with helpful fats, protein and iron and the seaweed satifies the salty craving without using any sodium - I repeat NO SODIUM!  The fabulous salt satisfying flavor comes from potassium - who knew??  I always have a mixture in the fridge ready to go:

1/4 cup flax seeds
1/4 cup hemp hearts
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup finely chopped almonds
1/8 cup dulse flakes
1/8 cup kelp flakes
fresh ground black pepper to taste (usually until my arm gets tired of turning the handle on the pepper grinder)

Experiment with adding black and white sesame seeds and poppy seeds too!

When I add a heaping spoonful of my Gomasio to peeled and cubed cucumbers - dressed with lemon juice and flax seed oil, the juice plumps up the seeds and nuts beautifully - making digestion and assimilation easier.

For Sulaima... RAW Vegan Ice Cream

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
2 fresh young coconuts
1 mango
6 dates
2-4 cups of frozen strawberries

Pit the dates and soak them in pure cool water for at least 30 minutes.  Blend the coconut flakes in a dry food processor until they achieve a soft paste consistency.  Add the meat from the fresh coconuts.  Blend until smooth.  Add the fresh mango and soaked dates.  Blend until smooth, scraping the sides of the food processor as you go to ensure thorough blending.  Fill the food processor with as many frozen strawberries as you can fit in there - blend on high until smooth.  Serve immediately.  Garnish with lime and/or mint.

Bret thought that a little lime juice would add a nice touch to this recipe.  Also try experimenting with frozen banana and other berries and chopped nuts for different flavors.  And most importantly - ENJOY!

RECIPE: RAW Fettuccine Alfredo: Lara's Original Recipe

This is what we've had for dinner the last two nights.  It's so simple I can hardly take the credit for how good it is!

RAW Fettuccine:

Use a vegetable peeler to peel thin strips of a zuchini.  I did not use the skin, personal preference. 

Bret would have preferred a more angel hair size pasta - which can be done with a zaladaco or spiralizer - a very handy RAW food-prep tool.  Or, as I've said before - a sharp knife goes a long way.  The smaller and thinner the slices, the less "intense" the green zuchini flavor is.

Try running a carrot through the zaladaco for another color, texture and flavor in the pasta.  Julienned strips of red bell pepper would go very well with the RAW alfredo too.

RAW Alfredo:

Blend the meat from 3 fresh young coconuts with 1 cup of the Fat Burning Dressing. Or 1/5 cup lemon juice, 4/5 cup olive oil and several cloves of garlic to taste.

Top with tiny bits of fresh garlic, chives, scallions or leeks, fresh ground black pepper and a mixture of kelp and dulse flakes or sea salt.  Experiment with adding sundried tomatoes, calamata olives, chopped almonds or almond flour.

The Treadwell's time line from the Standard American Diet (SAD) to RAW Vegan

For the sake of the joy found in crystal clarity I would like to share the Treadwell's time line from the Standard American Diet (SAD) to RAW Vegan:

December 2005 - Summer Solstice 2007: We only purchased and brought home vegan food - excluding flour, refined sugar, caffeine and alcohol. 

The Exception:  Outside of the home (eating out) we allowed ourselves anything on the menu...  The catch: Bret was traveling more than he was home while I worked more than I was home - I worked at two of the best restaurants in Kitsap County.  Thank goodness their menu emphasis was on high end local, fresh, and organic meats, fish and greens.  However their in-house made fish and chips and artisan desserts were to die for... !!

April 2006: I joined a RAW pregnancy program put together by Kimberly Mac formerly known as "The Naked Vegan" now known as "La Vita Vital" After being deeply inspired by the program, my goal was to simply make more RAW choices - as opposed to excluding anything from my diet.  My horrific morning sickness disappeared...  Through this program is also where I met (online) the Talifero family, my greatest inspiration to this day: www.TheGardenDiet.com

Summer Solstice 2007: made a 1 year commitment to go vegan.  These choices excluded flour, refined sugar, caffeine, alcohol and anything fried. 

Vegan Exceptions: fish - also we allowed ourselves to eat flour tortillas.

Other exceptions: 4 times a year on the summer solstice, fall equinox, winter solstice and spring equinox we would have 3 days in a row of "anything goes."  When a full moon occurred during our 3 day "anything goes" period, we had the option to extend the 3 days to 5 days.

Summer Solstice 2008: we go RAW vegan

RAW Vegan Exceptions: toasted nori, toasted sesame oil, very small percentage of vegan dressings, sauces and dips, black olives, manna bread dehydrated in my oven, sprouted grain tortillas, manna bread from the store, amino acids/soy sauce, RAW fish - there may be others, but these come to mind...

Other exceptions:  Every full moon we have 3 days of allowing ourselves to eat vegan and drink red wine.  8 times a year on the seasonal quarter and cross quarter days we have a 3 day only period of anything goes.  The days are as follows:

Imbolc: February 2-4 2009
Vernal Equinox: March 19-21 2009
Beltaine: May 4-6 2009
Summer Solstice: June 19-21 2009
Lughnasad: August 5-7 2008
Autumnal Equinox: September 21-23 2008
Samhain: November 5-7 2008
Winter Solstice: 20-22 2008

So you're probably saying wow - that's a lot to keep track of.  That's true, it is - but it is also what has worked for us.  This is our first year going RAW vegan, next year I am excited to bump it up and look back and ask myself how I ever choked down TOASTED nori (oh my gosh!).  However, these specific rules and strict guidelines are what have given us the freedom to get in a good groove and to most importantly LOVE the process.

A note on what the SAD looked like for me:

Okay I admit it, I ate a LOT of bacon when I was first pregnant with Percival.  The ONLY thing that sounded good to me when I had my horrific ALL DAY sickness was celery sticks and oranges and... sausage and olive pizza with extra mozzarella, tonic water with lime and burnt pizza crust, cheerios and rice crispies with soy milk, scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, toast with an embarrassing amount of butter, pancakes, butter and syrup, fish and chips with more tartar sauce than should be legal, anything chocolate, plain white pasta, and I did eat at least one enormous salad with a ton of spinach each day often with blue cheese dressing or feta.

Once I joined the RAW pregnancy program I cooled my jets on the cheese and did away with meat (except fish) replacing these choices with delicious fruit and spinach smoothies - and suddenly (almost overnight) I felt 100% better.  If I had more cooked choices than RAW choices in a day, my ALL DAY sickness returned - something told me there was a connection.  Also - I kept getting these RAW baby vibes from Percival.  I felt like he was telling me that he wanted to be a RAW baby...  It was interesting...

So there it is - laid bare - in the RAW for all to see.  If I can do it - you can too!  To not crave tartar sauce anymore is a monumental achievement for me - to feel satisfied and full after eating a bowl of lettuce still amazes me - to look forward to getting home so I can eat RAW burritos with my family instead of salivating over the fresh warm pizza coming out of the ovens at the market is absolutely AMAZING to me! 

I tell you - I would not have recognized myself a year or two ago AND perhaps more importantly I would not have BELIEVED myself if I said I had gone without WANTING cheese or tartar sauce or pizza for over a year - that's phenomenal. 

It's one thing to not eat it, yet it is another thing entirely to actually not want it.

In a nutshell - this time line has worked for us because it's structure and the discipline it has required from us, is what has given us the freedom to succeed at enjoying the process and sticking with it.

Love... & The RAW Police

As I meet more and more folks interested in the RAW live-style, I hear a variation of the same story over and over again:  "I would love to go RAW, but it's so hard to keep the commitment." 

Believe me, I am still blown away to find little ol' me calling myself a RAW vegan happily married mother of two - it's amazing what commitments stick given the chance (please read the following post for more details on why it's so incredible that I am RAW vegan - in a nutshell, I could have won an award for the amount of fish and chips and tartar sauce I have consumed in my life...) 

So here's what I have to say about that:

Above all be unconditionally kind to yourself. 
Gently do what you can, as you're able. 

LOVE yourself
LOVE the process
LOVE what you eat
LOVE the results
& LOVE what you learn the whole way through.

And please remember what our dear friend and Percival's Godmother Sheila says:
"The RAW Police will not come get you!"

It is waaaaaay easier than I first thought it could be!  If you find yourself out of sync with any of the above listed "LOVE" criteria - simply change your approach, go at it from a different angle and BE GRATEFUL that you learned something about what doesn't work and you're that much closer to enjoying what DOES work for you!

For example:  Dehydrated food is big in the RAW movement.  I have enjoyed mind blowingly delicious RAW creations made possible by the use of a dehydrator.  Everything from potato chips to pizza to quiche to ravioli to croutons to cheese burgers and much more.  However - I do not LOVE the results I get from eating dehydrated food.  So I choose to do it very seldom.   Here are the gory details: I've consistently experienced bloating, diarreah, nasal and sinus congestion, night sweats and an unquenchable THIRST after eating a meal of dehydrated yet technically RAW food.  Some people say I put too much significance on food - but the consistency of the experience is too obvious for me to ignore.  I know plenty of other folks who began their RAW adventure with an abundance of dehydrated food and have been thriving ever since - they LOVE the results they're getting so they've stuck with it.

You know best what works for you.  Be gentle, be unconditionally kind to yourself and LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Almost RAW Popcorn & Rootbeer Floats? Satisfying recipes below:

Simple, inspired and almost raw delights!

Before going totally RAW, I discovered two delicious new treats that have satisfied two hard-to-please cravings that have been nagging me since exploring the realm of making more raw food choices.  Pop corn & root beer floats - how to match the texture & flavor of these two treats?

Well, call me crazy but the following unlikely combinations have done the trick for me, let me know how they work for you:

To satisfy the salty, nutty, oily, crunchy flavor and texture of popcorn or roasted nuts try this:

Peel a baby cucumber and chop the ends off.  Cut a sheet of nori seaweed into 4 equal pieces.  Tightly wrap the cucumber in the nori, let the roll sit on the nori "seam" to seal it with the moisture from the peeled cucumber.  In a few minutes when the nori has become the cucumber's new skin, slice the roll into bite sized pieces - about the size of sushi rolls.  Pop one in your mouth and BE AMAZED!  Somehow this hydrating, alkalizing, nutritious vegetable combo translates into a nutty, yummy, oily, salty, crunchy craving satisfying treat (for me anyway).  Percival likes it too.

PS For folks who live in North Kitsap, Central Market has had Nori & Baby Cukes on sale for a while now.  Two 2lb bags of baby cukes for $5 and 10 sheets of nori for $1.89.  I used 4-8 cukes per sheet of nori and two bags of cukes last us about a week (and we really go through them)...

Almost RAW Rootbeer Float:

Scoop water melon in the shape of ice cream scoops into a bowl and top with organic canned coconut milk.  I was amazed at how the texture of the watermelon in my mouth felt like the carbonation from root beer.  The sweetness and creaminess is unmatched and amazing and the juice in the bottom of the bowl after all the watermelon "scoops" were gone was just like the bottom of a rootbeer float when the ice cream has melded perfectly with the rootbeer to create a creamy slurpable delight.

Enjoy dear friends - let me know how these turn out for you and any other inspired combos you come up with!

How To Get FAT Eating RAW Food - book cover idea

Click on the image to see it full size - tell me what you think!!

RAW Mama: RAW Car Food (that keeps the car clean and the kids happy and hydrated)

Here are some ideas for a chapter in the the RAW Mama book or RAW On The Road - RAW food for the car!  And actually, all of these food items are on the inexpensive end of things, so this could be a chapter in RAW On A Budget as well!

Percival's Favorite:

Peel 5 cucumbers and dice them into bite size pieces.  Keep the cubes in a container up front in the car and then give smaller portions to your kids in small re-useable containers for a yummy and hydrating crumb-free snack in the car.

A note on peeling your cucumbers: at this point we're not crazy about the taste of cucumber skin.  I am sure the skin has a pluthera of valuable nutrients (in organic varieties anyway), but for us they go down easier skin free.  I remember from a Tony Robbins tape I was listening to ages ago that he said that cucumbers are some of the most alkalizing and electrically charged and charging food.  That subject merits more research - if you have any more info, I would love an education!  Anyhoo, I figure that enjoying the amount of cukes we eat is worth more than choking down less cukes with more skin.  That's just where we're at for now.

Carrot Sticks

A tip we learned from Percival's nanny and our dear friend Raven is keeping your freshly cut carrots in water (while they're in the fridge).  They sweeten up marvelously that way!  I find that taking the time to cut them quite thin helps them go down easier for my hungry and teething toddler.

Goodness, I have much more to share but Percival's patience has been exhausted, he is ready for his mama and a nap.  Thank you to everyone for your kind and helpful feedback and links to more great info!  As I am new to this - it looks like to post a comment on this blog - click on the heading that you want to comment on and there are "comment posting fields" to fill in at the bottom of the new page that pops up.  Any tips from folks who are more savvy are always welcome too!