Essentials of Raw Food Photos

(I will organize the photos later. so sleeps)

Oh my gosh, you guys! I've been too busy to update the blog. I've now completed my fifth and final day of Essentials (of raw foods). It was really intense. Class started between 8 am and 9 am every day and ended between 5 pm and 6 pm. We were split into teams of four to five people. We picked our own teams and worked with them throughout the week. Each time we learned a recipe, we worked with our team. We learned how to use common raw food equipment: vitamix, food processor, dehydrators, sprouting trays, different knives, different cuts, recipe making, how to combine flavors, menu planning, nutrition of raw food, garnishing, movie viewing ("Future of Food"- if you haven't seen it, yet, please do. It will change the way you view the world, maybe).So far, the mexican lunch buffet has been my favorite. 

Here are some photos:

Clover sprouts Day 2

Sprouts Day 3

Sprouts Day 4

Sprouts Day 5

Always a glorious salad bar for lunch

Our apple pie with cashew cream frosting

And here are the other team's creative apple pie toppings

Zucchini Pasta w/ pesto and marinara

Planting red winter wheat (wheat grass)

Red pepper wraps ready to be dehydrated

Where the magic happens...

Ryoya (i.e. Joe) making "Banana I scream"

w/ vegan fudge sauce and raspberry.

The team I was on created this dressing: Pineapple-cilantro thai dressing

Living Light - Essentials Day 1

8:00 AM - Morning smoothies

Today we started our hands-on training. We made almond cheese, pizza chips to put in the dehydrator, sauerkraut, brownies, green garden energy soup, buckwheat granola to put in the dehydrator, and nori rolls. I didn't take very many photos today :/ Too busy.

~Photos~

Yin/Yang almond herb cheese

Salad with various sprouts, krauts, and veggies. Garden green soup and pizza chips

I made nori rolls

And at the end of the day...

Oh yea! And we had a knife lesson.

Living Light Culinary School - Fundamentals Day 2

well, I'm kind of drunk. Have you ever mixed kombucha and wine? I highly recommend it. It gives the wine an extra kick and a little fizz so I like it. I love it, actually. 

Day two of Fundamentals was another wonderful day full of food and demos and samples. We learned about the different knives, different cuts, carrot cake. I don't remember what else we learned and my pen was M.I.A for most of the day so I was unable to take notes.

~Here are some photos~

Morning green smoothie + E3 Live shot

Raw vegan oatmeal with Almond Milk

Raw Vegan Salad with Sauerkraut, zucchini angel hair + cashew alfredo, raw stir fry veggies, seasoned pumpkin seeds, mixed greens, sun dried tomato dressing, dulse, nutritional yeast, ground black pepper

Raw Vegan Carrot Cake display

Raw Vegan Carrot Cake

Living Light Culinary School

Fundamentals

~Day 1~

Class began at 8:00 A.M. Our class of roughly 30 people met up in the lecture hall near the kitchen studio. There were chairs set up in a circle and pitchers of green smoothie on the back table with complimentary E3 Live shots. Kari (Bernardi-Ibsen) and Patricia (Hoskins) greeted us and kicked off the day with an introduction to raw foods. The Fundamentals class (Day 1) was comprised of raw vegan demos and raw vegan food consumption. Everything at Living Light is raw and vegan.

The morning smoothie was followed by a sprouting demo. We learned various methods of sprouting, how to harvest, effects of light and temperature, approximate growth cycles, which ones to green, proper storage, etc.  A wheat grass demo was next. 

We learned how to plant wheat grass and young greens and the benefits of various stages of growth. We also had a rejuvelac demo. For those of you  who don't know, rejuvelac is a probiotic. It aids in digestion and contains several enzymes, as well as eight of the B vitamins, E, and K. It tastes a little bit like cheese? It was added to the almond cheese during the almond cheese demo.

Other demos of the day included: Almond Milk, Herb Cheese, Crunchy Buckwheat Granola, Black Forest Cherry Brownies, Juicing, Pecan Paté, Wrap'n Roll, Garden Blend soup and smoothies

Buckwheat Granola with Almond Milk

We got a long lunch break from 1:00 to 2:30 pm. Lunch included a lavish salad bar of mixed greens, shredded carrots, cherry tomatoes, herb (almond) cheese, cucumber dill (no)yogurt salad, pizza crisps, seasoned pumpkin seeds, and Earth powder compliments of HealthForce Nutritionals.

Lunch

The day ended with a sample of the Nut Pate, Garden Green soup, and Wrap 'n rolls. heh. 

~Photos~

Sprouted greens and wheat grass

Salad Bar

Earth by HealthForce Nutritionals

Pizza Chips

My roommates and I in our chef coats and hats.

Teetering on a fence

I'm

* finally moved out of LA.

* excited about the future.

* scared to death.

* looking forward to many, many, planned and spontaneous adventures. 

* afraid of disconnecting.

* wishing I had one of those screen privacy filters for my laptop.

* in a coffee shop on Haight in San Francisco. 

* happy here for now.

* leaving Friday.

* anxious to sit down at a piano and stay there for two weeks.

* so thankful for Tennille and all my friends and family.

* all aflutter about many things.

* disappointed it didn't work out.

* certain of nothing.

* horny.

* on the brink of tears.

* feeling better than I have in months.

* hopeful.

* reluctant.

* apprehensive. 

* second-guessing every thought.

* not quite forgotten.

* definitely not forgetting.

* up.

* down.

* embracing.

* rejecting.

* ungrounded.

* holding tight.

* slipping.

* more confused than ever.

* ready to be done.

* willing to start over.

* teetering on a fence.

::toast:: to the future

I feel like I'm leaving more than just a city.

IDK

I don't know...all the other raw foodies have blogs. I'm not in a band, so this is my excuse - raw food.

Raw (vegan) food seems to be my next step in life. Next weekend I am moving from my home of 1.5 years, Los Angeles, to my temporary home of Fort Braggs, CA. I have registered for the Living Light Culinary Institute where I intend to spend three weeks studying the art of raw vegan cuisine.

It will most certainly raw(haw-haw)k. rawk. blargggh. The goal is to come up with as many raw puns as possible.

Following my three-week stint at Living Light (LL), I will continue north to the Oregon-Washington border where I will be reunited with my old stomping grounds, Hood River. For two weeks I will spend my time job hunting, apartment searching, and Master Cleansing. From there, I will begin to carve out a nice little nook for myself in Portland (with a few others, I hope - Kyle, Sarah, Sarah's BF, various household pets and plant life, strewn instruments, etc).

I'd like to open a business. A food company. A vegan food company. Maybe operate a food stand at local farmer's markets - fresh juices, smoothies, nut mylks, and fresh and packaged food fare. The ultimate goal is owning and operating a music lounge that serves vegan food, wine, and beer.

DID YOU KNOW?

Not all wine and beer is vegan. This is something that was brought to my attention a mere three weeks ago. wat?! Here is a website that tries to clear things up...almost: click me!

Food Log:

Breakfast-

*Green smoothie - kale, mango, papaya, agave nectar

-Snack-

*sugar snap peas

-Lunch-

*Salad - romaine, red pepper, red tomatoes, red onions (redredredreddddddddd),

*Dressing - olive oil, 1/2 an orange - juiced

-Dinner-

*Whole Foods Salad Bar Salad (my fave. my downfall) - plethora of ingredients cooked and uncooked and beyond delicious.

Heroes is on next. I'm still not sure why I watch it.

By-the-way, I'm trying to sell my bed. $200. Available Feb 15th. (or 14th?) 1 year old. Includes: Queen size mattress, box spring, bed frame. K, tell all your friends. Thanks.