Tapping our Maple Trees

The maple sap collection operation is up—we’ll see if it’s running by the end of the day or not. I couldn’t find stiles ANYwhere, so we ended up making our own. After a little more reading, I decided that we would try the elderberry method. I made sure to remove the bark and cambium layer where the sap would run across, as this is where more of the toxins are. I figure if the pioneers did it this way and we’re all here, we can try it too. Maybe not the smartest thing to do in the world, but I’m doing it anyway. Que se ra se ra. Here I used water jugs and some ribbon to hold them on until I can find my wire. The other tree has washed out 2-liter bottles on it. ~giggle~ it looks funny. Yesterday was over 40* and back down to 30* at night, so it’s perfect sap flowing weather. Now I need to scramble to find a 5 gal minimum fire proof pan to boil the sap down in because every bit of info i've found about boiling sap says do it outside unless you want a sticky mess on your ceiling and walls!

Rowan ate:
banana almond milk
cereal: buckwheat, figs, raisins, banana slices, goji berries w/ almond milk
oranges
red grapes
cherry tomatoes with chia seeds
cuc and onion salad
green smoothie w/ pineapple, banana, coconut water, parsley

Sweeness to you,

~Sharilyn

Oodle-noodle

We (Tristen and I) made bread today, then we decided to try to make noodles. If you’ve rented Kung Fu Panda and watched the Special Features, you may have seen the guy that makes the noodles—quite fascinating. He takes what appears to be a handful of dough-flour, salt, water-and pulls it, twists it, and flips it and makes hundreds of noodles within minutes—no rolling or cutting. Well, we each had some dough and attempted the flipping and twisting to no avail. So we ended up having to roll the dough out. Tristen, artistic little thing, decided that he wanted one long noodle so he could suck it all up at once (See Photo above). It worked, though the noodle was thin in a couple places and split into three when I was boiling it.

Today the kids ate:
raw blueberry pancakes w/ maple syrup
banana
carob-sunflower milk
salad (carrot n celery) w/ EVOO, honey, ACV, balsamic vin. dressing
apple slices
green milk- sunflower milk with a banana and parsley
celery chips munched on most of the evening
(Tris ate his noodle with some tomato sauce on it)
zucchini noodles with tommy sauce

~Tristen, Sharilyn, and Rowan

The jury is still out on a Paypal account, etc., for being able to purchase Tristen’s book Raw Creations from a Seven-year-old online so until then, if you want a copy send me an e-mail at rawbabyrowan@yahoo.com and we’ll work something out. I’ll probably have to burn a copy onto a disk and snail-mail it to you. The cost is $10.00 and at the moment the book is in a document format, though I’m still attempting to get it into Adobe. Who knew that the hardest part would be making it accessible to everyone! Here’s a picture of the cover. It a pic of the computer screen, so it’s kinda blurry, but I thought I’d put it here anyway. There’s fifty-some pages and pictures of all the recipes that are in the book, 26 all up I think.

Today the kids ate:
muesli with banana sunflower milk (pecans, almonds, buckwheat, pumpkin seeds, goji, coconut, dried banana chips)
oranges
grapes
more banana sunflower milk
cuc, celery, carrot, raisin salad w/ ACV dressing
corn and peas

Actually, Tristen wasn’t feeling well by lunch, so only ate the muesli this morning. He got a playstation this week with his birthday money and played sitting in a not so good position, resulting in a headache and a just not feelin’ good vibe, so he went to bed. We don’t have television service here and this is the first game system we’ve ever had, so he doesn’t really have the experience of how to sit while staring at a TV screen. Well, he does now I guess. Poor guy.

Later gators,
Sharilyn, Rowan, and Tristen

Attitude !!!

Well, the book still isn’t up n running, not for lack of trying, just for lack of internet access time—sorry!! It’s coming, I promise.

Rowan has definitely begun the early stages of Two. What a rascal!! Besides getting into EVERYTHING not nailed down, shut, or up, she has inheirited this extremely obstinate streak. Ask her to “come here,” and she backs up. Ask her to go pick up her book that she left on the floor and she does . . . then throws it back down and crosses her arms. No sooner does she do something extremely irritating then she runs to blink her eyes at you and give you hugs and kisses!!

Rowan’s menu today:

Raw oatmeal
sprouted date carrot “bread”—lots of it!!
almond milk
green grapes
strawberries
green smoothie with parsley, banana, mulberry
broccoli, celery salad with ACV/honey/EVOO dressing

~~Ro-Ro and Sharilyn

Blue ~N~ Gold

The boyscout blue and gold banquet was today. Boy, that was a little tough. It’s hard to pass up on some of the wonderful smelling dishes. But there was a great salad and a veggie plate to load up on, so that was nice.

Tristen received all his awards that have been pileing up over the year, so there were quite a few. He’s so proud of himself! As well he should be. He’s earned his wolf rank badge already for the year, and will be working towards bear rank next year.

Besides the banquet fare for Tristen, here’s what the kids ate today:
bananas
almond milk with carob
banana-date balls
green smoothie with parsley, oj, banana, mango
oatmeal with goji berries
grapes and strawberries
raw mango icecream


~Sharilyn

A Special Valentine From Your's Truely

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's a special Valentine Recipe just for you. Created by Tristen and strait from his book Raw Creations from a Seven-year-old, this Raw Coconut-Strawberry Ice Cream is a treat even non-raw step-dad Rich loves. We hope you'll try it, and know you'll scream for more if you do!

Raw Coconut-Strawberry Ice Cream

Ingredients:
Meat from 2 baby coconuts
1 cup frozen strawberries
½ cup fresh strawberries
1 T. coconut oil, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 T. raw honey
enough coconut water to blend

Directions:
Chop up the 1 cup of the frozen strawberries in the blender until they’re small chunks. Pour in a bowl and set in the freezer. Put the coconut meat, fresh strawberries, oil and vanilla in the blender and blend, adding a verrry small amount of coconut water as you need it. You want it as thick and as smooth as possible. Pour this over the chopped frozen strawberries and stir together. Pour into a sealable container and put it in the freezer. Stir it every couple of hours as it’s freezing to help keep it soft. Serve and enjoy.

O.K., I just can't help myself. Today I threw together a Strawberry Shortcake for breakfast--and again, my non-raw husband chowed down. Here's what I did:

Raw Strawberry Shortcake

1. Grind 2 coffee grinders full of cashews--ground up of course

2. Grind a large handful of dates, ground in the coffee grinder with a little of the cashew "flour" so it wouldn't stick and clump.

3. Pour into a bowl and add a spoonful of honey and a dribble of vanilla and mix. That's the shortcake. You can shape portions into cups/cakes in small bowls.

4. Pulse-blend a couple large handfuls of strawberries and a spoonful of honey. Leave lots-o-chunks!

5. Pour over shortcakes, garnish with a strawberry half, and chow down!

We hope you receive lots of love from yours, and hugs to all who take the time to read our blog!!!

~~Sharilyn, Tristen, and Rowan

The Last Minute Rush

Hey all, just wanted to drop a quick note to say that the book is DONE!!! Yeah!!! I’m working on formatting it to adobe, so look for it. The kids have been in heaven the last two days as there are so many sweet recipes that I made for picture taking to eat up. Here’s just a few:

Raw Cacao Truffles
Raw Pineapple Bread
Raw Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Strawberry, Mango, and Carrot Ice Cream
Raw Chocolate Cookies
Raw Caramel Nuts—these are SUPER DELICIOUS!!
All kinds of salad dressings
Raw Apple Crisp


Rawness to you and yours,
Sharilyn, Tristen, and Rowan

Finishing the Book

Today is a day of taking last minute pictures and tweaking. The cat’s out—Tristen has been working on a raw recipe book for about a year and a half, and it’s almost done!! The deadline of February 1st came and went—mainly because of my camera issues—but we’ve gotten most of the recipes photographed and just need to do a little editing. If it’s not here by the time I post this on Thursday, look for it shortly after. I’ll be trying my darnest to hop all the hurdles of having only an hour at a time on the library’s computer to upload it.

It is a wonderfully original book titled Raw Creations from a Seven-year-old. There’s some crazy-cool recipes like Carrot Ice Cream (pictured above) and Cinnamon Dressing. Lots of photos of everything too. Tristen is so excited to be finished and hopes to sell a million copies. LOL. I hope you will enjoy it too, as it’s been a very long labor of love (for me too!).

Today’s menu for the kids included:
fresh pineapple-orange juice
sprouted oats with honey and cloves
green smoothies with parsley, bananas, apples, and mulberries
raw choco-pineapple bread (a Tristen original)
chocolate coconut milk
fruit salad – bananas, grapes, and pineapple
carrot celery juice

Cheers!

~Tristen, Rowan, and Sharilyn

Tristen’s Birthday!!!

Well, my baby boy turned 8 yesterday. Hard to believe it’s been that long since I was huffing and puffing him out for 4 ½ hours. 28 ½ hours of labor total, plus the 4 days of serious recovery time! Certainly worth it if you ask me, though if we do decide to have another baby, I hope a raw diet will lead to a much shorter labor and delivery!

Tristen had his slumber party, though only one other boy could spend the night. Chatter chatter until 11 P.M. The boys made pizza for dinner, as requested by Tris. It was fun watching them mold their own dough. Turtle cheesecake for a b-day cake. Not raw, but that’s O.K. Unfortunately come Monday morning, Tristen wasn’t feeling so great and stayed home in bed. He got lots of fresh veggie and fruit juices, and started doing much better. I’m repeatedly amazed at how healing juices are. Time and again they’ve done the trick when an illness was coming on. Having Tristen get sick after eating dairy, meat, and bread, and then get better eating raw certainly helped reinforce the notion that dairy, meat, and bread aren’t good for you!! For him as well as for me. Now that’s a great gift!

I’m hoping to be able to upload some photos of the party this week as last week’s wouldn’t configure. We shall see. I think I either have a bug in my software or this new memory stick is not such a great item.

So here’s a little bit of wonderful that I want to share about Tristen:

He’s kind to others.
He’s so empathetic—such an amazing trait in such a young person.
He is extremely helpful, and always lends a hand if I ask without so much as an “in a minute.”
He’s honest, and tells me things that he did that maybe he shouldn’t have, even though he knows he’ll probably get in trouble.
He’s so creative!!!!!
He’s loving, often being the first to say, “I love you.”
He’s the most intelligent boy of 8 I know—it will take him far in life.
He loves to climb, and misses the little red maple he used to shimmy up and sit in for hours at our old apartment.
He’s the most caring of big brothers. Ro-Ro talks about him every day and can’t wait for him to play with her.
He’s the reason that I know what unconditional love is. (That’s the big one for me.)
He’s the beautiful blond in my life (lord knows where the hair color came from) that I would do anything for.
He believes in himself, and encourages others to reach their goals too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRISTEN, AND MANY MANY MANY MORE HAPPYS TO COME!!!

~Sharilyn

Almost Maple Syrup Time

Sorry I haven’t been blogging in a while. I had some business to take care of in Michigan and it’s been crazy busy around here. Good news: My camera’s working again! I took it to photo center at the local Walmart and they suggested trying lithium batteries. $5 fix. Can’t beat that!

Tristen is having a slumber party for his 8th birthday this coming weekend and he’s invited five other boys from his class to come. It’s his golden birthday, as he’s turning 8 on the 8th. Lots of preparations to attend to: cleaning, food, decorations, etc. Tris decided to have a turtle cheesecake (that’s chocolate, caramel, and nuts, not the shelled reptile) for his b-day cake and pizza for dinner. And “not raw, Mommy,” as the kids at school absolutely ridicule him when he brings in anything—even fruit. Little bullies. Tris's got a tough skin though, and laughs back when he has something super yummy, like pie, for lunch.
So Mommy will be helping the boys make their own pizzas. It should be a blast to see them with the pizza dough. Messy too. Yeah!!

Rowan has been a bit whiney lately, though understandably so with all the hoop-la and trip to Michigan. But we’re getting back into our routine so things will smooth out soon. I found a DVD of the TellyTubbies and Ro-Ro’s just fascinated with them. She tries to imitate whatever they’re doing. She’s soo cute when La-La does her “Secret Dance” because Ro runs and get’s her dress-up clothes on and dances too!

We’ve finally warmed up a bit after those freezing cold 20 below days. Yesterday and the day before it warmed up to 40 and 50 degrees. I sure wish I had my maple syrup tapping equipment, but as money’s been super tight I haven’t been able to get anything. Or had time to make anything either, as the stress of the Michigan trip has been all-encompassing. I read that pioneers used to use elderberry twigs as taps, but as elderberry contains cyanogenic glucosides, substances that release cyanide, and an unidentified cathartic (though primarily found in the leaves and roots), I don’t know that it would be such a good idea to use. Children used to get sick after using flutes and whistles that they made from the twigs. Certainly, cooked berries made into jam is harmless, so then would cooked sap that only passed along the twigs be O.K.? I don’t know, so I won’t try it, and unless you are educated in the use of herbs, elderberry is not an herb to use. I also don't recommend eating the berries raw . . . .

Se la vie. Something will appear for me to use, as always, so no worries. And frankly, if it doesn’t I don’t think I’ll miss tending to an outdoor fire for hours just to obtain a small amount of syrup. It takes 40 or so gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup if you’re using sugar maple sap (100 or more for hickory or walnut!). Why not boil it inside you ask? ~~giggling~~~ try it and you’ll find out. Sticky hard to clean ceiling among other things.

Gotta roll. I’ll be blogging more now that things have slowed down a bit, but again will only post about once a week—usually Thursdays. Tschüs!

Today Tristen ate:

juice oatmeal
½ avocado
banana
grapes
carob almonds
raw lemon pie—see entry for raw Key Lime Pie at http://rawbabyrowan.blogspot.com/2008/12/key-lime-pie.html
carob sesame milk

Ro-Ro ate:
banana
orange-coconut water/juice
grapes & blueberries
green smoothie w/ spinach, blueberries, cranberries, banana
more grapes & blueberries
raw lemon pie
tomatoes sprinkled with chia seeds
sesame milk

~~~Rowan, Sharilyn, and Tristen


P.S. Does anyone know how to enter a link w/o having the long address? I.E. clicking on something that says "click here" and having it take you to the ip addy. If you know, please e-mail or leave a comment. Spanks!