You don’t have to be 100% Raw Vegan 100% of the time to be healthy.

The healthiest thing in the world, in my opinion, is to eat 100% Raw Vegan. Leaving out tofu, and any of the soy based fake meats or fake products. I’m not a fan of fake at all. If it’s not real, don’t eat it. I do not, however, think it’s neccessary to be 100% raw, 100% of the time.

The world is full of flavors, tastes, cultures, and foods that should be enjoyed (seriously, it’s a crime to skip on a well mixed Manhattan just because the cherries are canned marachinos.). So what I recommend is moderation and awareness. For example, what I do is to write on my calendar when I eat a meal that’s not 100% healthy. Then I wait a few days to eat unhealthy again. That way, I keep my unhealthy meals down to 1-2 times a week. Even those meals, though, I try to keep them as healthy as possible. Which means, I may eat a barbeque chicken sandwich, but I will use organic, hormone free, humanely raised meat, and I try to make the sauce myself. On the occasions when I am out with friends at a restaurant, or at a party where someone else cooks, I take it in stride. I make a point to limit the amount of times I eat out, but when I do, I enjoy myself and I eat what I want off the menu without guilt. I’ll die of something one day, that’s certain, and I am not missing out on beignets at Cafe Du Monde or a real frenchman’s creme brulee just because they may not be organic and contain some chemicals.

So I guess I’m a “mostly-vegan”? Vegan is healthiest, but food to me, is fabulous when you do it right. Excellent ingredients, cooked just right, and it’s amazing. I don’t see the point in missing out unless you have moral prohibitions against the eating of meat, in which case, by all means, be vegan all the time–you’ll be the healthiest one in the room! I have no such problems with eating meat. I have problems with the meat industry, and I limit my meat consumption for that reason, but we’ll discuss that later.

When raising children, at least with mine, I make sure 95% of what goes into his system is either vegan, organic, or unprocessed, and as often as possible, all three. To me, “unprocessed” does not mean “raw”. It’s ok to cook it. This way, when he goes to his grandmother’s house early one morning when I’m headed to a meeting, I can pack him breakfast and trust that the lunch he’ll eat at my moms (not always healthy), is going to be fine because his body is flooded with so much good stuff at other times in his life, that his own system will have no problems kicking out the bad stuff.

I reserve the right to change my mind as we go along this health journey, but to me realities exist like: If you go to France, you should at least try traditional French foods. I’m southern, so when you visit friends, we were raised to eat what we’re served in someone else’s home. (I do fudge this one, because there are some “never” foods I have, like soft drinks and fake cheese (Kraft, anyone?))

Basically, life’s too short to eat bad/fake food. It’s also too short to skip amazing meals just because they contain meat. I would love to hear your (nice and respectful) thoughts on this issue.
Jamie Oliver’s approach to things really resonates with me. You can check out his work here.

p.s. vacations are free days. Do what you like, then come back and do a 3-day juice fast. That approach is likely rough on your system but you know, you have to live.

I have a comment rule on my site, so keep that in mind as you reply. If you’re new and want to read up on it, you can check that out here.

Raspberry Mango Breakfast Sparkle

here’s an after picture of our version. We had drank most of it by the time I was able to take a picture! (It’s really yummy!)

In paying more attention to my food, I have noticed that drinks can zap my calories and either use up all of my daily allotment, or it adds drastically to what I eat. So even on days when my food was within a good calorie goal, my drinks can wreck it for me. By dinner, I would have to eat an apple just to keep the calorie count where I wanted.

I am not one to drink boring drinks, though. So while I love water, I was not really open to drinking it at every meal. So instead, I improvised. Here’s what I came up with to drink at breakfast. (or anytime, really!) It’s also a great party drink since it’s sparkling, guests will like it, too!

Raspberry Mango Breakfast Sparkle Drink

by Cassidy Cash

put 1 c. mango nectar in a pitcher. (you can use orange juice, or really any citrus)

add raspberries. (about a half a cup, more if you want each person to get a few in their glass when they pour it and still leave some in the pitcher). 

add ice. (Enough to fill the pitcher just over halfway)

Fill the rest of the pitcher with San Pelligrino.

Drink 🙂 

 

I haven’t calculated the actual calories of this drink, but seeing as how it’s one cup of calories (the magno nectar) spread out over an entire pitcher, it should be pretty low and it’s certainly lower than coffee or orange juice.

Of course ,if you are not a breakfast-eater then coffee or orange juice are fine as breakfast in themselves. Many vegan bloggers actually suggest about 2L of Orange Juice as breakfast. (wow!)

What are your favorite breakfast drinks?

Recipe for Easy, Kid Friendly, Kale Salad

I didn’t take a picture of my recipe (I ate it all). But here’s basically what it looks like:

This picture is from Beyond Rice and Tofu, and her recipe is linked to the image. She uses apples in her version, which are probably great too! I’m more of a savory salad when it comes to kale, so I opted out of fruit. Truth be known, I doctored up a bag like this one: 

Cassidy’s Kale Salad Recipe:

one cup chopped kale

one cup chopped cabbage

one zucchinni, cut into long thin strips (spiralizer works or just slice it with a knife)

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup dried cranberries

optional: 1/4 cup nuts (pistachios or slivered almonds)

poppyseed dressing. store bought organic, or make your own.

(poppyseed dressing idea:

combine some smooth base, like vegenaise, mayonaise, yogurt, silk tofu, or something neutral tasting with a yogurt like texture) with poppyseed, olive oil, salt, pepper, mustard (dijon is good), vinegar (apple cider is good), and a sweetner like raw cane sugar, or honey, or agave (even maple syrup). mix and pour.

Poppyseed dressing recipes:

Healthy Happy Life shares a poppyseed dressing that’s vegan. 

Combine everything, then eat! It’s better as it sits in the fridge a few days, so this is a good recipe for any make-ahead parties or dinner prepping.

 

Recipe for Mozzarella Balls Side Dish

I actually do not have a picture of this recipe by itself, but here is the dish being served alongside our lunch from earlier this week. It is so yummy, and I haven’t found any dinner that doesn’t pair well with this side dish.

My Momma’s Mozzarella Balls Side Dish (don’t you love the original name? This recipe is actually from my mother’s kitchen. Enjoy!)

Ingredients (with all of these, organic, non-GMO is best).

one cup mozzarella balls

olive oil (you can sub coconut oil, but it will change the flavor, as well as texture of this dish. Olive keeps things very italian in nature).

Pink Himyalan sea salt (get the kind you have to grind up yourself if you can. If not, regular table salt is fine, but use less table salt than you would sea salt.)

pepper (black pepper, freshly ground, and just a pinch)

red pepper flakes (about a teaspoon, or more if you like more heat.)

Small mix of freshly chopped thyme, oregano, basil, and rosemary. (you can also use italian seasoning if you do not want to mix your own).

Combine everything together to taste. It’s about 1/4 c olive oil and a half-teaspoon each of salt/pepper. Then the seasoning you just add in until you like the taste. Can you tell I don’t measure?

Another great recipe with mozzarella balls I found over at boulderlocavore.com, and it’s a bite-size mozzarella caprese salad. Being a caprese fan, but so OVER having to cut up large pieces of tomato to eat it, this recipe is so cool. (and easy!) Click the image below to see their recipe. 

Tomato, Parmesan, circles for lunch

Slice up some roma tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil, top with parmesan cheese, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. place them on a pan on low broil for 6 minutes. Then enjoy!

 

We added mozzarella balls, kale salad, carrot sticks, and Elliot requested Apple slices with honey to go with his lunch. Believe it or not, this was leftover day at our house! 🙂

The flowers are from a wedding we attended over the weekend, but aren’t they gorgeous? Makes for great blog photos, haha!

A Moral Vegan Question: Fake Meats?

I am not vegan, but I love animals, and I am not a fan of red meat, so when it comes to menu planning for my family, we often go with vegan meals. They are generally yummy, and typically high in fruits and veggies. (Always a mom-win.)

Lately, though, as I look for good vegan meals, finding ones that are unprocessed, chemical-free, and still substantial enough to satisfy the appetite of my husband’s man-sized appetite, are really difficult. It seems every third “vegan” meal plan is a replacement for a meat-based meal. They use all kinds of soy-based products, that make me uncomfortable because of GMOs, and because too much soy is bad for your thyroid, so while it’s great once in a while as a healthy alternative to dairy (and decent source of protein), soy is not something I want to establish as a staple in my diet by any means (and just personally, I avoid soy for the most part.)

This reality of “fake mac and cheese” Or “fake cheeseburgers” led me to ask the question of why vegans chose soy based “Fake meats” as their animal saving alternative.

Essential Oils for Colicky Babies

Essential Oils for Colicky Babies
by Healthy Baby Weight contributing writer, Chris Peterson.

Before I became a new mom I was terrified by the cry of any baby, yet, ironically, I ended up with the worst crying baby out there!!!

She was so colicky,….. no formula was right for her. We switched a lot to find the right one, but none seemed to work.

Because I had a C-section,  I had been offered the option not to breastfeed (wrong choice but did not know this then) .

The decision NOT to breastfeed, and my inexperience with baby issues, cost me my sanity. My daughter cried a lot and I ended up with a nervous breakdown.

My scenario back then:  Mom (me) would feed the  baby, let’s say at 9. The baby would begin to fuss at about 11,  so mom (me) would  think I should feed again, because  “she must be hungry.” But the reality is that the 9 o’clock feeding was just about to be digested. The baby would have needed to wait another hour till her tummy was empty.  But mom (me) would feed the baby at 11 to stop her from crying. This new fresh milk would be mixed now with the fermented, almost -digested ,milk. The almost-digested milk, by now, would hang around in the tummy until  the 11 o’clock,  and so of course, the fermented milk would start to cause gas that  would make the baby cry because she was very uncomfortable. But I would think: “ baby must be hungry” and I would feed her again.   This cycle went on and on. Not knowing what to do, I would resort to changing formulas. It was not a happy situation and this is why I am here to tell you all of this stuff, so that you do not have to go through the same ordeal I went through.

Glass Straws for drinks, smoothies, and great for kids, too!

I finally ordered glass straws!! I ordered them from GlassDharma.com, because they looked like they knew what they were doing. Plus, on her website, she explains how her kids drink out of them too. Glass straws are, primarily, something cool to do because my “blogger friends” were writing about it and making them look so dang awesome.

Secondly, though, I had my mommy justifications of avoiding BPA, easier to clean, and they screamed the same kind of healthy vibe I get from mason jars. So. the real reason? I thought they were cool.

Some parents have asked me since I posted this picture on facebook, where I am quite giddy about my new purchase, about whether or not glass straws are safe for kids.

Well, I will keep you updated on my personal experiences as we go along, but I can tell you that from Day 1 (today) I am not worried at all about E using the glass straws (E is 4 years old). The glass is really thick, and the straws themselves are not flimsy. It’s not unlike dropping one of those glass beakers in science class, they are much more bouncy than you think. I dropped a few (on purpose) to see if they would break, and they did not. They clanged, and it was louder (obviously) than dropping plastic straws, but that was about it.

You  can read all about them (and their kid-friendliness) here on GlassDharma’s website. Here is the amazon order page where we actually purchased a set. It was 4 straws and a cleaning brush. The straws themselves are $8.00 each on GlassDharma.com, and it was only $28.80 + Shipping for 4 straws and a cleaning brush when I bought it off amazon. So it was a little cheaper that way.

I wouldn’t leave my son alone with a glass straw anymore than I would leave him alone with an actual drinking glass, but just as I have no specific trepidation about his drinking out of a glass drinking glass (thank you, English language, for not giving me a better term here), but no–any fears or precautions you might take about your child drinking from a regular glass (there we go! excellent adjective, “regular”) are the same as what you would want to give to using glass straws. Supervision is key, but fear is not necessary. (and they are SO COOL!)

Also, there’s several sizes. The one in the picture is 9.5mm and 8 inches. That’s a standard drinking glass we’re using, so the longer straws, like a 12 in, would be if you’re drinking out of a quart mason jar or something really tall. The 8in are the “standard” and supposed to fit most glasses. Our smoothie did fine with the 9.5mm diameter straw, but we do go on the thin side with ours. You might get out a ruler and hold it up next to your drinking glass before you order to be sure you get the right length, but the 9.5mm is a great width for a wide variety of drinks. If you’ve ever eaten at McAllister’s Deli, their straws are quite similar (though plastic).

Do you use glass straws at home? What is your favorite size? Please share smoothie recipes, too. We are going to be drinking more of them now!

Education at Home and Why I am homeschooling even though it’s overwhelming sometimes.

Occasionally, I consider sending my son to private school because the one near our house is straight up amazing. The kids that come out of that establishment are smart, well respected, and they perform well as adults (yes, I am old enough to have seen some of them grow into adulthood. Gracious, when did that happen?)

One thing I know about schools (or governments) is that ridiculous things get hung up in group, socially governed, organizations. You have to consider the welfare of the group first in that environment, which inevitably means the best interest for the individual is lost. That’s why homeschooling appeals to me.

I do not have to consider the best interest of any group. I only have to consider the best interest of my child(ren). His strengths I can enhance, and his weaknesses I can support, without the constant comparison to Jimmy one desk over who reads like a librarian and leaps tall buildings in a single bound. We all have these Jimmy characters in our classrooms (and lives, if we’re honest about it). Developmentally speaking, I don’t want to shield my son from the reality that others will perform better, as well as worse, than he does. I want to teach him how to perform his personal best in all circumstances, but primarily, I want him to learn to perform at his best in an environment that allows him to discover his personal best outside of arbitrary group measuring systems that, by default, create an arbitrary standard which may not always reflect the true value of a student’s performance.

For example: I have a tutoring student that attends a local private school. I tutor him in math. To remind him of the formula for the area of a circle, we created a funny saying. The area formula is pi(r squared). So we laugh and say “Pie are not square. Pie are round.” This helped him remember the formula moving forward and he was able to successfully completely and make good grades on, the lesson concerning areas of a circle. He is now four grades along from that (he was in 7th grade at the time, now he’s in 11th), and it was yesterday when an 11th grade homework assignment had us reviewing that formula (and subsequently, re-laughing about pie being round) that he finally told me, “You know, back in 7th grade when we covered this lesson, I shared in class that saying and my teacher told me not to say it, she said I needed to stop being funny.”

The first conclusion I come to is that the teacher was trying to keep order in a group of 7th graders, and thus discouraging anything that might be taken as sarcasm or distraction from the lesson. Her first concern was the group, not this student. She wanted to be sure no one in the room was confused, and since that was her priority she had to snuff out the creative, and fun, memory aid this student had been using successfully for years.

I am not angry with the teacher in that situation. She was behaving as she needed to in order to fulfill her primary obligations and responsibilities. My point with choosing homeschooling for my son, however, is that in situations like this one where my son might need to use something untraditional or out of the box to remember formulas, or even to grasp concepts in the unique way his brain might process ideas, as a homeschooling educator, my first priority is him. If the memory aid works for him, that’s what we can use. I do not have to consider the group first. For me, this individualized instruction where the learning tools are fully customizable to the strengths, needs, and learning style of the student can only produce a more effective learning environment where the ultimate success of that student is all but guaranteed. Certainly, we can avoid that moment of disappointment and embarrassment my tutoring student felt when he was admonished for opening up and sharing the methods that worked well for him. Remember, it is four years later, he’s one year from graduating high school right now, and he still remembers with embarrassment that moment in 7th grade when he was admonished by his teacher for approaching education unconventionally. I will further share with you that consistently with tutoring, all I have done when working with this student is take the classroom material and re-present it unconventionally and the student is making straight As.

I think any certified education/school teacher would agree that tailoring a lesson to the needs of a student is good. I think research supports that individualized instruction and one-on-one learning environments are better for students overall. 

When I think about sending my child to private school (I’ve completely abandoned the idea of public school for reasons I can share later), what brings me back to being sure homechool is the way to go for us is the ability to customize. I want my son to learn the way he learns best, and I want him to have options other students don’t have (like being able to travel during the middle of the week, or stay home when the temperatures are too frigid to be out, etc, etc.)

I will share more later, as my son is now standing next to my computer wanting to read a book (we’re at the library getting materials to learn our days of the week and months of year. Yay for first grade! –yes, we are still 4, but isn’t homeschooling fun? I didn’t have to hold him back to kindergarten when he was ok moving forward into first.)

Like I said, much to say but as Elliot says, “that’s enough.”

🙂 Have a great day, you guys! and if you’re considering homeschooling, or a long time veteran, please share in the comments why you made your choice to homechool. What cover school did you choose, and why? Advice for new homeschooling moms (like me)?

Cute Accesories to Make Eating Vegetables Fun For Kids

When my son first started eating solid foods, we had him on homemade baby foods, then organic fruits and vegetables. To this day, one of his favorite foods is strawberries. He has had a healthy appetite for healthy foods, until recently. We let him have that dreaded “little bit” of cake, breads, and {cue the horror music} French fries. Now, it seems, his pension for eating vegetables has lessened and it’s harder to get him to “try” things like squash and zucchini. I think this picky eating phase is part of childhood where he mostly wants to feel in control of himself and his choices. In a world where he doesn’t get to decide very much where he goes or what he gets to participate in, I think his food choices are where he expresses his individuality. He likes to say “I don’t want that.” and then not have to eat it. It’s a control thing. I understand completely. I am a control person myself, so I try to let him choose what he wants and doesn’t want insomuch as his choices are not harmful to himself or others.

When it comes to vegetables, though, this self-confidence and exertion of will has started to worry me that he isn’t getting enough vegetables. So I’ve devised a plan. I think I will make the food cute. Yes, cute.

I found these cut-out shapes that work like cookie cutters, but you use them for vegetables. I also found a mold to make rice look like a panda bear, where the eyes and mouth are made from punching out nori sheets the way a scrapbooker punches out paper shapes for decoration. Nori sheets being seaweed, you really can’t get any leafier, or greener, than that. So that’s very neat.

 

I’ll keep you updated on whether or not these gadgets work well for my son, but I wanted to share them in case your little ones are picky eaters too. Perhaps cute shapes and fun presentation goes as far with you as it does with mine.

 

All the best! and Happy Eating everyone!!