Over the holidays I was blessed to have my brother and his family (wife and two sons) visit us from Michigan. My brother and I are very close and I miss him terribly! It's been a couple of years since we've seen each other so these holidays were extra special for me. They were able to meet Kamea.
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My brother, his wife, and their two sons holding Kamea
and my mom's dog, Miso. |
Now, my brother and his family are true mid-western omnivores. I'll just leave it at that. So, when I was making food for my mom, Greg, and myself, I figured they wouldn't be interested and I didn't want to push it on them. It's not my place to do that, but if they have questions then I'm here for them. When it came time for a few of our meals... my brother went ahead and prepared food for them and I prepared food for us. I always made a little extra though, because I had a feeling he'd be intrigued to at least try a bite - haha - read on...
So, here's what happened. One night I made my
Cheezy Corkscrew Macaroni (Kid Approved!), and I made a double batch because I knew the vegans in the house would want leftovers.
This is a great Raw Vegan Transition recipe that incorporates both a delicious, healthy Raw sauce served over cooked noodles. (I have to say here though, that I made enough for my omnivore step-dad because he loves this recipe and requests it every time I visit.) My brother asked if he could try a bite to see what his sister was up to - lol. I said, "Sure, try a bite, but only take a taste. I don't want you to put a serving in a bowl and if you end up not liking it, it's wasted. If you end up wanting more then it's there for the taking." Well... he LOVED IT! He couldn't believe how much he loved it. Then, my sister-in-law and my nephews tried it and they all loved it. It was a vegan dinner all around that night. Score!
On another night, I made
Rudolph Cherry Cobbler for dessert. Again, I said, "You guys have your cookies and ice cream, we're going to have raw vegan cherry cobbler. If you want to try it, only take a small amount. If you end up liking it, you can help yourselves to more." My brother dipped a clean spoon into the baking dish full of cherry cobbler and tried it. He went bananas for it and tried taking the whole serving dish with him as he tried to leave the kitchen! He and his whole family ended up eating Rudolph Cherry Cobbler - Raw Vegan dessert all around. Yay! No animals harmed and everyone enjoying a healthy dessert. It was so cool.
It was like that all week with different vegan and raw recipes I made...
By not pressuring my family, along with acting like, "Hey, you can try it, but only a little..."
and the fact that the recipes are super delicious - it's a great way to get friends and family intrigued to try raw and vegan food - and HOOKED! And, you know what? If they didn't like it, I would have said, "Good, more for us!" :)
So... how were your holidays? How did you handle your food choices? Did you get any crap problems for eating raw or vegan? Or was your family supportive?
