A lot has been going on since I last posted! I made raisins with my dehydrator, as well as some raw donut holes filled with jam! Tons of pictures to share, I just haven’t had time to upload them yet. They’re coming soon, I swear!
Yesterday I took a raw food cooking class with Nathalie Lussier at her home. Her and her boyfriend Robin were gracious, kind hosts! The class was really fun, and while some of it was just a helpful refresher on some raw information (for me anyway), I did learn a lot of new stuff. The main thing I walked away with was confidence that raw food is easy and delicious, which was important for me – I’ve always been a-okay with smoothies and juices, but it’s been the dinner, savory options that were overwhelming and confusing (I loathe salad). Nathalie’s class taught me that raw savory dinners are super easy to make, and far exceeded my expectations in yum and simplicity! I am the pickiest eater ever, and I liked everything. I brought some tupperware to take some of it home to enjoy later!
Here’s what we learned to make:
1. Green smoothie
2. Almond milk
3. Sprouts
4. Marinated mushrooms/green beans
5. Nut/veg salmon patee in collard green wrap
6. Zucchini pasta with pesto/tomato sauces
7. Brownies
Everything was yum! I had some of the pasta, mushrooms, and green beans for lunch, and brownies and some of her blueberry cake for dessert.
Nathalie’s explanation of food combining also was the simplest I have heard, and is as follows:
1. Fruit alone
2. Starch alone or with veg
3. Dried fruit/nuts/seeds alone or with veg
4. Banana/avocado can be combined with dried fruit/nuts/seeds
5. Apples/pears can be juiced with veg
6. Leafy greens can be combined with anything
7. Wait 2-3 hours between categories
I liked that Nathalie totally did away with the random and ever-confusing ‘protein’ category. I was always trying to figure out if chickpeas were starches or proteins, and that seriously stressed me out. I think her way of breaking it up is really easy to understand – there’s no confusion about what is what.
I bought a spiralier, zucchini, and mushrooms to make some of the dishes we learned, as soon as I run out of leftovers (which will be SOON!). Also bought a few books – Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen by Ani Phyo, Bringing it to the Table: On Farming and Food by Wendell Berry, and 12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Food by Victoria Boutenko. I’m pretty excited – I love reading and I haven’t had as much time to do that lately as I would have liked; the internet is great but limited.
Filed under: Lifestyle, Media, Pictures, almond milk, Ani Phyo, books, brownies, class, food combining, green beans, mushrooms, Nathalie Lussier, pasta, patee, pesto, raw, raw food, sauce, smoothie, sprouts, Victoria Boutenko, Wendell Berry, zucchini
VEGAN IN THE CITY 