Quickie Blackberry Nut Milk Ice Cream & other confessions

Happy Saturday night everyone! Hey, so my kids wanted Thrifty (now Rite-Aid) ice cream. So like a good mom I went and got them some and had to hold two pints of cookie dough and pralines and cream ice cream in each hand for the drive home..How agonizing was that? I do not care how healthy the raw diet is, I miss ice cream. So I decided to make a quickie raw version using some brazil nut milk I had in the frig and some fresh blackberries. It was like magic – well almost…it turned out pretty good and calmed my ice cream cravings down.

I have made some killer raw ice cream before using a recipe from Jennifer Cornbleet's Raw Dessert Book (and I mean it was to die for!). This was a quickie version and it did the trick. I kept the agave to a minimum as I seem to feel it if I eat too much of that stuff (kind of the way I feel when I used to eat too much sugar).

 

Now onto the confession part – Forgive me for I have sinned. I am a very bad raw girl! It has been five months on the High Raw Diet – and yesterday I decided to treat myself to some crappy fast food at my fav place Del Taco. I ordered a small bean burrito no cheese. Its VEGAN. So why did I feel so guilty?

I am sure the guilt stems from that the fact that there is probably crappy ingredients in the tortilla and beans. I can make my own beans and buy my own tortillas and at least know every single ingredient that is in there. I do know that Del Taco has vegan beans and tortillas so at least that is good to know. But I have to confess that I LOVED EVERY BITE OF THAT BURRITO. I do feel deprived on the raw diet lately and I cannot help it. I am going thru a "If I eat another salad I am going to kill myself" phase!

~ Although this salad with Creamy Tahini dressing (recipe from

www.kristensraw.com) was really good ~

It is such a pain in the butt to make salads and eat healthy sometimes!

Ya know Dr. Fuhrman (the Eat to Live Doc) says if you can eat healthy 90% of the time you have mastered the art of healthy eating. So maybe I should treat myself every now and then to vegan cooked stuff. I am still high raw (like on average 80-90%) but I do enjoy the cooked vegan food ALOT when I have it!

Here is a list of cooked vegan food I have had throughout my duration of being High Raw (I have been 100% Vegan since I started and NEVER deviated from that – my kids were daring me to try a bite of real ice cream tonight!)

• Homemade Veggie burgers
• Quinoa Spaghetti and Organic Spaghetti sauce
• Stir Fry Veggies
• Roasted and baked potatoes
• Pinto beans
• A few French fries here and there
• Baked sweet potatoes
• Gluten Free and Vegan Scones (Homemade and killer)
• and ONE small Del Taco Bean Burrito NO cheese!

Now I have stayed high raw even though I have incorporated some of these items into my diet now and then. I could really see myself going more cooked vegan and REALLY enjoying it! So I am going to start making that transition. Especially since I cannot stay raw and backpack in the high Sierra's for two weeks, I better get my bod used to digesting cooked food.

I have to be careful though as I could easily be an overweight vegan. I like to eat ALOT of food and I can do that on raw and not gain weight. I know I would gain weight eating alot of vegan spaghetti and scones!

So I hope everyone has a great weekend! Summer is almost here! I went for a four mile walk today with the hubby and daughter. Trying to get into shape for upcoming backpacking trips!

Say Hey! RA go away! My Raw Food Journey

Welcome everyone - well where to begin...lets start at the beginning...At first the earth cooled and the dinosaurs came...oh wait, that is a different story. I started on a High Raw diet about two weeks ago. For the past 13 years I have battled that yukky disease called Rheumatoid Arthritis in which I will use the abbreviation of RASUCKS - just kidding - how 'bout plain old RA okay? Due to things beyond my control (like nerve pain and skin burning) I have to stop Enbrel - a great medication for helping RA but with super nasty side effects. So here I am - deciding to take control of what I can take control of - my diet. Thus, I started a journey to discover the Raw Food world. There are alot of awesome sites out there that will help you discover Raw food. I absolutely love Kristen's Raw - an awesome site filled with expert information on Raw Food and her books are the bomb! Okay I am rambling - off to make a banana-coconut-hemp smoothie (and you have no idea how much I hate bananas - strange I know).

Sidenote: After 13 days on a High Raw diet (for me at least 90% Raw) I still feel yukky! My RA is flaring bad! Knees are very stiff and I know I would feel much better if I could chop off my wrists and hands! (well I have thought about it from time to time as these joints cause horrid pain).