(article first published on rawmom.com December 2008 )
Hey Raw Moms, if you’ve got a husband like mine, then you know the sheer jealousy that can take over as you watch him graciously gulp down an entire pizza without so much as a belch. Or a zit. Or an ounce of flab. Yeah, I know I know, my hubby gets those mood swings that undoubtedly, In MY mind, seem diet related– but to the outside world, he’s a toxin-free hunk! I mean, look at the guy! 
I’ve been wishin,’ and hopin,’ and prayin’ that some raw love would come into his life because I sure do love his relaxed demeanor when he drinks his morning green smoothie. BUT, I made the egotistical mistake of telling him that the reason he thought his last smoothie tasted like chalk was because his body was too toxic. I should’ve bit my tongue. I don’t know what I was thinking. Well, I was kinda thinking that if he gave the drink a chance, his taste buds would get used to it. But NOPE, Mr. Stubborn banned smoothies for over a month. And, not only that – he ate pizza quite frequently. UGHHHH.
That was until I met Carmella. Well, I must admit, I didn’t actually meet her. In fact, she probably doesn’t know that I exist. But her sunny raw kitchen gave my family hope of sharing a raw meal together without gags, sighs or complaints. Once I introduced Carmella’s recipes to my new Vitamix –things really got kickin in our own kitchen. I also had to let go of the feeling that maybe Doug (that’s my man’s name) wouldn’t like my creations. I set out with the intention of only pleasing his palette. Health would have come second. I had some convincing to do here.
So we started out with a version of Carmella’s cashew dill garlic cheese. Find her recipe here: l I followed directions for soaking the cashews, but fermented with a Body Ecology starter pack (essential duo) and some digestive enzymes, because that’s what I had on hand. We don’t do rejuvelac in our house. I then fermented the cheese over night in a closed container to avoid contamination with any wild species of dreaded stuff. In the morning, I added chives, dill, salt, lemon to the mix and rolled the beauty into a ball and topped with more herbs and some almond meal.
I served this with home-made sprouted crackers made simply from equal amounts of quinoa and rye, then added some dill, chia seeds and salt for flavor. Those dehydrated pretty much until my hubby got home and devoured them. That’s right, ladies. The guy thought the cheese was dairy. He looooved it! Carmella, I owe you!
I served mock egg salad as another cracker dipping option. I followed this recipe: , but replaced cashews with young coconut meat. My Dougs were in heaven. The little one loved his fakin’ eggplant bacon, which went along with it. But, Daddy Doug didn’t like it too much.
Both of these recipe ideas were also courtesy of Carmella’s Sunny Raw Kitchen. Sheesh, how does she do it?
Finally, we put the little guy to bed and enjoyed a raw strawberry shortcake that nearly knocked my husband’s socks off. I swear he was licking the plate and fighting me for seconds.
I followed this recipe, and used walnuts instead of cashews in the base. The whipped cream was to die for. I used only a handful of cashews and about 2 times the amount of coconut milk for my whipped cream topping. I made my coconut milk by blending the water and meat of a young green coconut. YUM YUM YUM!! This may be the best raw dessert I have ever had.
So, thanks to Carmella, Vitamix and a bunch of failed raw experiments and ego driven remarks against my husband, we have come to some raw peace here on the home front. He will eat raw if it tastes good. And so will I. There! We agree.
Try these recipes on your unsuspecting men – they are sure to enjoy.
Love and Peas,
Gina
