Life is like a coconut…Women’s work/kid balance

Hummm….. seems like the Theme amongst all the women/friends I speak with (that have children) is the balance of making enough money, staying in the workforce, having some financial independence and (versus) taking care of their kids.  My vast array of women friends have varied education, but all have children under 10 years, and are married.  The husbands are the main source of income- but for better or worse- there seems to be an inevitable struggle for women to figure out the perfect balance for them… I had to smirk when I read a post on a mothers group -a mom asked for Help to quit her current full-time job, so she could have more time with her kids but wanted something part-time that paid enough, while her kids were in school. LOL Seriously- if there are jobs out there like that..please please let ME know!

Coconut-what do they mean..life is like a coconut? Crack it open with a cleaver, pull out the meat and drink the water??? LMK!

So…speaking of coconuts… I have a Young Thai Coconut that needed to be used- so I decided to make Matthew Kenney’s Cherry Chip Ice-Cream.  I dragged my kids to Whole Foods again today and picked up some organic cherry’s… I love this time of year -the fruit is awesome!

I neglected to take a pic of the ice cream, because it made its way into my belly too fast… but here is the coconut my husband opened for me.

Young Thai Coconut

Yummy smoothie and eating out today in Newburyport

I made a yummy green smoothie this morning-and even my kids sucked it down. I just kept adding more ingredients and it was delicious, if I do say so myself:)

1 orange

frozen strawberries

1 mejool date

Coconut water

Vitamineral green

Kale

currants

ice

 

The kids, dog and I headed to Newburyport-it was a gorgeous day, but I needed to get some work related errands done.  Before I knew it, it was after lunch time, so we headed to Not Your Average Joes. What did I order?  Easy! A Not Your Average Salad (no cheese) and a guacamole appetizer (no chips)-but they gave me carrot sticks & celery for dipping! YUM!

Tonight I made Chocolate Truffles- I post that info tomorrow… nite!

 

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Love my Spirooli- Fresh “pasta” with red sauce

My kids and husband are slowly getting on the Raw train! I am always Un-cooking and cooking at the same time!
Tonight I made the family organic gluten-free pasta with red sauce and scallops.. I decided to make myself a similar meal, but RAW!
(we all had a basic salad too as a side-dish)

Savannah helped me with the Spirooli. So FUN and EASY to get Your Kids into VEGGIES! You place a zucchini in this amazing kitchen tool and “wah-lah”- out comes a spaghetti looking (and texture) meal!

I’ll post the Marinara Sauce recipe tomorrow….

"Pasta" with Marinara Sauce

Savannah making "pasta" with Spirooli

Raw Vegan Un-Cooking Classes in Newburyport

Group sessions:

LOCATION: Pleasant Street Church in Newburyport

First Religious Society Universalist Unitarian Church, Lower Meeting House

All Organic & Raw ingredients are used.

Please note: Nuts are used in some recipes.

Any Questions and to Register call Karen @ 978-476-9182 or email RawCravings123@yahoo.com or ONLINE

 COST is $40 per session or $70 for both sessions (save $10)

Classes

Blender Session $40.00 Dehydrator Session $40.00 Both Classes $70.00

Saturday July 23rd 10am-12pm

Blender Fantasies- Create Rawsome smoothies, ice cream, salad dressings and soups just using your blender! ( I started with a $20 blender!!)

This session includes:

• Smoothie ideas to sneak Greens into your and your kids diets

• Demonstrations of at least a half dozen recipes, as many as time allows!

• Handouts of dozen or more great recipes

• Ingredients to have handy to stock in your kitchen

Saturday July 30th 10am-12pm

Dehydrator Delicacies- Create and Crave wonderful snacks, kale chips, crackers & granola.

This session includes:

• Techniques of Soaking nuts & Seeds as applicable in recipes

• Demonstrations of at least a half dozen recipes, as many as time allows!

• Handouts of dozen or more great recipes

• Ingredients to have handy to stock in your kitchen

TO REGISTER: Call 978-476-9182 or email rawcravings123@yahoo.com or Check out www.rawcravings.net To Register ONLINE via PAYPAL

Classes

Blender Session $40.00 Dehydrator Session $40.00 Both Classes $70.00

Raw Ice Cream! Eat Crave Love

My way to stay happy, is by having dessert- seriously, for real!  To be a raw vegan and to KNOW that I can end my day with a healthy chocolate decadent dessert- keeps me completely satisfied! I lost weight when I started my raw-ness, and I ATE and ATE and was never hungry!

 

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:

1 banana

1 c raw cashews- soaked

1 heaping tbs raw cashew butter

@ 1c water

2 squirts raw agave

2 mejool dates

1 tsp organic vanilla extract

1 tbs coconut oil

@ 1/3 c Raw Cacao powder (optional)

Put all the ingredients in the blender:

ice cream ingredients in blender

Blend all ingredients. Pour into Ice cream maker. Ready in 20 minutes. (My Cuisinart maker is easy peasy)  Feel free to mix in berries, blend in some fresh mint, make some chocolate chips- the possibilities are endless!  So good- you can feed your kids this for breakfast!

Decadent Ice Cream

 

Blue Berries I picked up at Whole Foods-PANCAKES

organic blueberries

I am taking advantage of the last DAY before my kids get out of school and went to Whole Foods in Andover.  I picked up some yummy organic blueberries.  I already ate some, but I will take a picture for you

Hummm what to make with these?  My first thought to throw them in an easy smoothie… or perhaps I will make some blueberry pancakes for breakfast.  What do you think? Maybe both!

I have some brazil nuts and just need to soak them, if I want to make Brazilian blueberry pancakes.  I can do that, and we can make the pancakes tonight. Brazil nuts are high in selenium which are good for your heart, liver and preventing certain cancers.  They also are a great source for Vitamin E- an antioxident, great for your skin and naturally gluten-free!

Here is a picture of the Brazil nuts- I picked up a Trader Joes. They are Raw, by the way…

Brazil nuts soaking

Brazil Nut Pancake Recipe (small batch)

inspired by many Raw sites, and adapted by me:-)

1 cup Raw Brazil Nuts soaked

2  bananas

3/4 c Coconut Flour (not Raw) / oat groats (raw)

1c-2c water (as needed)

2 Mejool dates or 1/4c Raw Agave or Coconut Nectar

1 tsp Vanilla

dash salt

cinnamon-nutmeg

Fruit of your choice  or raw chocolate nibs(my choice today-blueberries)

Blend 1c water with Nuts. Place all remaining ingredients (except your chosen fruit) into (Vitamix) blender…adding more water and sweetener as needed. Drop or pour into pancake shapes into your Excalibur dehydrator on the paraflexx sheet. Dehydrate @ 105 Degrees F for 1 hour. Press fruit 1/2 way deep into each pancake as your creative design allows:) Continue to dehydrate @3-4 hours. Flip over-I can share that technique- and dehydrate another @4 hours until they are no longer moist.  Enjoy with some Maple Syrup (not raw) or agave.  If you do not have a dehydrator, put your oven as low as it will go- and leave the door open.

More pics to follow as I make it…

Gabe spreading pancakes

Hello world!

Welcome to my BLOG on RAW FOODS – Fun Recipes and Enjoying Food and kids and LIFE….

I have a NEW Website coming soon- and I will be offering RAW Food classes for all you foodies out there that want to learn some FUN HEALTHY EASY ways to get More Fruits and Veggies into your diet.

Thanks for visiting…

Karen

 

By the way, I am located in the Merrimack Valley… Haverhill & Newburyport area