RAAAAaaaaaawww!  We have finally entered the raw healing cuisine.  I remember when the track before us was in the raw. . . not literally in the raw. . .but going through their raw module 🙂 and a few times they shared some of their yummy food with us.  We were just delighted because we were cooking so much and  moving into our  baking module and a fresh salad sure was a TREAT!

Don’t be mistaken though, n RAW we are doing a lot more than just making a fresh salad.  This week we had 3 solid class blocks of theory.  We talked about the history of raw food and vegetarian diets as well as some of the different types of raw foodies.  Example: fruitarians, natural hygienists, 50% raw, 80% raw, 100% raw, etc.  We talked about food combining, basic cooking methods, living foods, dehydrating, and many other techniques that can be used in creating gourmet and day-to day raw food.

There were a few challenges as we got back into the flow of cooking. . .or in the case of raw preparing yummy food.  Ayurveda felt so long ago and for RAW we are exclusively in the demo kitchen which is opposite of all our cooking in the lab kitchen so we had to figure out the new system.  We are getting into the routine though.

Chef Jenny is a very patient and upbeat instructor and Chef Alicia has a lot of experience to share.  They have both done a lot to make this week fun.  Here are some of the highlights:

Yoga breaks during the long Theory lectures.  It was so nice to dim the lights, stretch and breath for a few moments!

Starting our own little sprouts-some to be grown in a jar and some to be planted in shallow trays of dirt.

Flavor Balancing.  We had a really fun exercise where we put a lot of the ingredients we will be using in RAW in categories, tasted them all, then experimented with combining some.  It was so fun.  It is definitely an exercise that could be included in recipe development.  I came up with a sweet summer salad combo that I think would be fantastic.  Keep  checking the blog out and some original recipes will pop up for sure.

Chef Jenny brought us some samples of some of the raw snacks that are on the market and they had really clean and simple ingredients lists.  She also juiced some wheatgrass shots for us.  And Chef Alicia shared a fresh durian with us.   It got mixed reviews.  It’s a pretty weird fruit.  I liked it but wouldn’t have been able to have more than a few bites.  It had a really nice sweet taste to me though.

We juiced one day and had some different combos to try.  We made some amazing smoothies too.  I made a “Avocolada” smoothie with pineapple, fresh young coconut water, lime, a bit of white honey, and an avocado and it was so delicious!!!

We got to make a big variety of items to start in the dehydrators including: corn tortillas, Kale chips, Flax Crackers, Zucchini Bread, Almond croutons, Tamari Almonds, Gingered Candied Walntus, and more.  We will get to try them with different menus we put together later in the module.  I am so excited.  The room was smelling so good!

 

We had a lovely demo on some example of easy daily raw recipes which included:

Chia Cereal

Maple Cinnamon Oatmeal

Raspberry Goji Lemonade

Zucchini Noodle Pasta

Daikon Noodles with Creamy Ginger Sauce

Pumpking Seed Pate Collard Rolls

 

To polish the week off. . .a Raw Desserts demo.  Chocolate cheesecake?  Yes Please!  And yummy cinnamon rolls.

 

It was all so yummy.  I never really thought of myself as a raw food enthusiast, but I actually really love it.  I love the creativity that is involved in making things feel really satisfying when prepared raw.  I love dehydrating and sprouting and fermenting.  I don’t think I will ever be a 100% raw eater (except during the hot summer months) but I can definitely see myself incorporating more of the principles regularly.  I really did have so much energy this week. I hope I wasn’t driving my classmates crazy :).

Looking back in my life I think when I ate the most raw food was during the first couple years of college when I was striving to eat healthy, but I didn’t have a lot of time to cook.  That meant a lot of salad wraps and fresh fruit parfaits.  Of course, I was ten years younger, but I do remember having quite a bit of energy and feeling vibrant during that time.

So yes more raw for me.  But who am I kidding, every section I have LOVED (baking, VRM, Ayurveda, and now raw) and can see myself wanting to learn more.

Hope you are all doing so well!

Loves,

Ashley