Raw Vanilla Ice cream

We ate lunch out on Sunday, so we didn't need a big evening meal too.  Therefore, we ate fruit/veggies for dinner and the boys teamed up to make the family a yummy evening dessert!

The recipe is called "Raw" Vanilla ice cream (from The Raw Foods Detox Diet), although technically the maple syrup and vanilla extract are not raw... still, it's pretty close to being an all raw treat!  The recipe actually called for vanilla beans, but we only had extract and it turned out great.

Matt/Dad (Jeff) made the vanilla ice cream and Tay made the chocolate sauce.

Ingredients:

Ice Cream:

• 3 young thai coconuts-- all flesh and some of the water
• maple syrup (1/2 cup)
• vanilla (1 TBS)
• ice (3-4cups)

Blend them all up together until creamy.  After years and years of getting by with a normal blender, we finally broke down a few years ago and purchased a Vita-Mix blender.  SO.WORTH.IT!  We use it multiple times a day to make smoothies, dressings and now desserts!

Chocolate Sauce: (from The Raw Foods Detox Diet also)

6 TBS Organic Cocoa powder

1 cup maple syrup

Blend in a blender.

Use a cleaver to open the coconuts... carefully! 

Tay smiling because it is SO good!

Matt has dished out the ice cream and now Tay pours on the chocolate sauce





Noah had to get in the picture :)

Matt Meal #1- Whole Wheat Lasagna and Chocolate Shake

So, we've taken a slight deviation of late, in that we have added raw goat's cheese into our food choices.  We won't eat it every day, just occasionally, and I'm finding that it doesn't leave behind symptoms, as cow's cheese does and even soy cheese.  We didn't experience a congestion hang-over, even when this raw cheese is used in a cooked meal.

The ingredients for the lasagna:

• whole wheat noodles (we would have used sprouted grain or spelt if we could have found them)
• spinach
• zuchinni
• raw goat cheese
• organice spaghetti sauce
• garlic

Matt served a salad, lasagna and then finshed off the meal with a chocolate shake, which was made of pure cocoa powder, young thai coconut, stevia, almond milk, vanilla  and ice.  Great way to finish a fantastic meal.

Some ingredients and kitchen tools used in preparation

Matt used a mandelin to thinly slice the zuchinni

Doesn't that look good?

We ate our salads at the table...

Then dug into the lasagna...

Then moved into the living room for a "picnic" while we ate and watched a movie.

Summer of kids Chef Meals begins...

Well, the Seiter family is back at it... except more from a "Julie & Julia" perspective.

Out of all the raw foods and vegan books I've read, this is the one that resonates as the best recipe guide for our perspective on nutrition.

As stated before, we don't really have a label.... we aren't vegan, we aren't vegetarian...we make choices to eat food as close to the way they occur in nature, we eat abundant amount of raw fruits and veggies and try to avoid foods that are de-natured and turn into toxic waste.  We try to eat food combinations that allow for the best digestion and absorption... quick exit foods, as Natalia calls it in this book.

Therefore, we are going to use many of the recipes in this book, as well as some others, and the boys are going into "Chef" mode again this summer.

Some of the recipes they've picked out are "Whole Wheat Lasagna", Raw vanilla ice cream, Chocolate milkshake, Orange sherbert, Gazpacho, Quick Pizza, Coconut Thai soup, Pad Thai and many many more.

We went shopping for some of the initial recipes this weekend and bought ingredients like:  pure maple syrup, raw honey, stevia, nama shoyu, young thai coconuts, cilantro, lemons, limes, salmon, zuchinni, eggplant.

The first recipe of the summer is Matt making the Whole Wheat Lasagna and a chocolate shake for desert.  Yum!  AND, these are recipes that a Mom can feel good about feeding her kids.  AND, Mom doesn't even have to make it!  A Win/Win scenario all the way around!