Our Day

The weather has been a frequent topic of conversation lately. Mainly- it's cold. We had a nice break today though with temperatures in the 70's and gorgeous blue skies to go with it. I took the younger two to a park to meet with our homeschooling support group and we were there for hours. DH brought The Eldest over later on and she walked to a nearby bookstore with a couple of the older girls, soaking up the sunshine and warmth on the way.

After we picked up The Eldest we went out to a raw foods cafe for lunch. This is a little hole in the wall place that a friend told me about. They don't advertise (that I know of) and bring in business by word of mouth. There was a good crowd there today for the size of the place and it is absolutely amazing what they can make without ovens. We had split pea soup, manicotti florentine, smoothies, and strawberry ice cream for dessert. The soup was piping hot- it still counts as raw though since they don't heat it over a certain temperature. The theory is that higher heat ruins the enzymes in the food, or something like that, but it can get hot up to 112 degrees, or 118, or somewhere in that vicinity. (I've seen different numbers from different sources.) The manicotti was actually zucchini cut into thin strips and rolled around a mixture of almond "cheese" and spinach with a raw marinara topping. It was really delicious; DH had one complaint though- not enough!

Every time we eat raw I am amazed at what a blender and a bunch of produce and nuts can turn into. Raw foodists also use dehydrators quite a bit; we ate hummus sandwiches the last time we ate at the cafe on "bread" (more like a cracker, really) made in a dehydrator. Did you know you can make all sorts of things like crackers, cookies, and pizza dough with dehydrators? It's true, you really can! I don't have any plans to purchase a dehydrator any time soon, but I'll sure enjoy the food when we eat at the raw food restaurant!*

With tummies full of good food, the kids and I ran some errands and headed home where I still had just enough time to squeeze in a walk before dark. I was a little worried I would be out when the cold front came in but DH checked the weather for me and said it's not due until the wee hours. Some days my walk is a chore and it's really hard to get out there but today was not one of those days; it was pure pleasure after so many days of shivering. Short lived, though; that cold front is supposed to bring near freezing temperatures. I just hope my strawberries are OK!

*Check out Homemade for some tasty raw recipes!!