RAW MENU ONE

I wish I'd taken some extra pictures over the past ten days to show you what I just went through. Pictures of the process, I mean, not just the outcome, because the process was far more than I'd anticipated.

I'm referring to the two week test I just ran for a READY GO RAW meal preparation project for some women friends. As I mentioned - they wanted support to maintain a mostly raw diet and I was looking for some part time work. Maybe we had a match. Maybe not.

When I began this project, my husband slowly shook his head, calling it my latest "folly" - in a long line of follies I'd pursued lately. I didn't see it that way. I mean, life is about trying things and experimenting - so long as you do no harm - and I like being my own boss better than working for anyone - and I love to cook - so why not give it a go? Plus - and this is the most important - its better to try and DO something rather than just try it out in your head. Reality is action, not just discussion. So, after circling around the RAW information for nearly two months, I fired off an email to my "clients" suggesting a two week test.

A test to determine what would it take to create and deliver a weekly RAW menu - in time, money, resources, planning, preparation, attention, packaging and delivery. I suggested they each contribute 100 dollars (50 per week) and I would contribute my time (and electricity, dishwasher, water, equipment, etc). My plan was to buy what I needed for each menu - not to invest in great quantities of supplies for bulk cost savings - and see what the real costs were for each item on the menu.

With the ladies agreement, Mair and I selected a menu on Friday - which I then translated into an itemized recipe and a shopping list. This took about 5 1/2 hours over two days. Each selection was broken down into it's components - amounts and actions - so I would have the necessary prepared items when ready to assemble. For Example: Wheat Berry Salad:

I had to purchase a cup and a half of Wheat berries, soak them for a day and then rinse them 2-3 times a day to have them sprouted before I could make the salad. The recipe also called for 1/2 C walnuts, 1/2C Raisins (soaked 2 hours), 1/2C dates, diced cucumbers, scallions, parsley,dill, lemon juice (fresh squeezed), olive oil and honey. That's one recipe. I had 8 items on the menu - so to make the shopping list, I culled the recipe planner for amounts of each item needed before I set off shopping.

Because I was trying to get this project off the ground, I decided to shop and begin on Saturday with the hope for a Wednesday delivery. I'm happy to report I pulled it off - but not without an exhausting run to the finish line. For RAW Food, the amount of detail required is astonishing - but it was also my first time. Albeit all the hurdles, I do have to say some amazing food came from the first trial - which I'll show and tell next time.

RAW Cheese Cake

Now Really! RAW CHEESECAKE? How good could that be? I perused Russell Jame's recipe with a jaded eye. Now the crust looked interesting.

CRUST

1 Cup Cashews

1 Cup Pecans

1 Cup Agave (Raw sugar substitute)

1 Tbsp Coconut Oil

1 tsp Vanilla

Pinch Salt

2 tsp Lemon Juice.

Process the cashews to flour, then add pecans to make more flour then add and process the remaining ingredients until it comes together and press into bottom of a fluted cake pan - one with a bottom that pushed up and out (And line it with plastic wrap). It takes a littel pressing and smoothing to get it all in place - but overall an easy process. Then pop it in the freezer. I must confess, the raw crust was tasty and it only took a few minutes to make - far easier than graham cracker crust.

Now the filling:

3 Cups Cashews soaked (a couple hours -they swell up)

1 cup coconut oil (this is a pricy item)

1/4 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups fresh pinapple (or mango or peach or a selected mix)

1/ tsp salt

1/2 cup Agave Nectar

Blend together until smooth.
I added coconut to the mix and on top.

Pour it into the base and pop back into the freezer until firm.

When ready to eat this Pina Collada Cheesecake, I thawed it for 30 minutes and returned it to the fridge. So how was it? HOW WAS IT?

Pretty darn good!

I served it to my godchild and husband and they both liked it. I served some to my neighbor and she liked it - as did her son, who is the most picky eater on the planet. I shared some with my raw food contingent of ladies and the vote came back THUMBS UP. It was tasty with good texture and easy to make - and then there is that RAW thing - unique to the RAW eating experience. A small sliver is incredibly filling.

I first cut 1/12 of a slice but it was too much - too filling. That's the wierd science behind RAW food. Because it's made with dense, nutritious food (nuts, coconut oil, fruit) it's incredibly fast filling. I began having a small slice for breakfast (1/24 size) and I'd be good til lunch. I don't know of any other foods that have that effect! Most curious - and great for portion control!

So there you have it - delicious cake with a bonus of goodness.

Next up: my first week of a RAW cooking experiment which resulted in 4 days of -- oh my god, I'm sorry, just thinking about it makes me have to go to bed now - It was exhausting - but good. Be back soon.

RAW Russell James

My friend Mair, who loaded me up with books to begin my research, introduced me to THE RAW CHEF Russell James by way of his three ring binder "Academy" cookbook. It was complete with pages of recipes, instruction and 10 DVD discs. (!) Honestly, I put it to the side. I wasn't that committed, yet. And it sat on my counter for a couple weeks until Mair returned from her travels and wanted the binder. So I sat down and viewed all ten discs - one after another - throughout the course of a day - and found myself taking notes and being more intrigued than I would ever have dreamed.

Russell James comes across as a trained, experienced chef who happened to migrate into RAW food but in actuality, he was a supermarket manager, driving instructor and fast food worker who discovered RAW food in Thailand at 28 in 2004. It so excited him - he dove right in and has been building his brand in the category through his blog, teaching all over the world and at 105degrees, the Raw Cooking School in Oklahoma City. (It always amazes and delights me how we find our path and how seemingly circuitous routes all comes together at some point.) On his DVD instruction discs, he comes across with an ease, grace and polish and makes RAW cooking look enticing, delicious and not hard. When I first perused the binder, I rolled my eyes at the IRISH MOSS. I mean really, what use would I have for that at this early stage? But by the time he finished showing how to make IRISH MOSS and all it's uses, I was looking forward to trying it.

As a true devotee, his website - www.therawchef.com - is filled with gorgeous shots of RAW FOOD including LASAGNA, CAKES, TARTS, TORTES and yummy looking WRAPS. Delving into the DVD discs, I became inspired to make a lot of those things. I think it's his easy-going manner and English charm. Mair's mother commented how clean and fresh he looked - as if he'd just come from the showers. He probably had but never-the-less the result was so pleasing and soothing it opened up my willingness to have an open mind to the experience.

After viewing them all, I decided to give one recipe a shot and chose the one I thought the most far out - Cheese Cake made from Cashews - and the result was - well, I'll tell you all about in the next post!

RAW Crackers

My first experience in creating RAW food began with crackers. Most of ALISSA COHEN's cracker recipes require soaked seeds so the FLAX SEEDS had to be soaked for four hours before I could "cook". Soaked flax seeds become very gelatinous, making the binding for the cracker, to which is added garlic, lemon juice, Bragg Liquid Aminos and fresh ginger - blended in a food processor. Then it is spread onto a Teflex sheet that lays on top of a mesh screen on the dehydrator tray. The mixing and spreading was very simple but then it had to dehydrate at 105 degrees for 10-16 hours before being peeled off the Teflex and flipped onto the mesh screen to dehydrate for another 7-8 hours - or desired crispness. This isn't hard work but it does require planning and availability.While the FLAX SEED CRACKERS were OK with a good texture and crunch, it didn't wow me, so I tried a few others that week. The CORN CHIPS (second from left) were simple - requiring fresh corn, shredded carrots, onion and salt. They were my goddaughter Larsen's favorite. The MEXICAN CRACKERS (third from left) were thick and chewy - filled with tomatoes, onion, celery, garlic, spices, corn, sunflower and pumpkin seeds (soaked for 8 hours prior). I substituted beets for the carrots as I was out of them, which made it a lovely red color. The most dynamic cracker was the LIME PEPPER CRACKERS (far right), which my sister Kate loved, as did my gourmand friends Mark and Clare. It had a most interesting, pebbly texture from a combination of flax seeds, spinach, whole limes, tomatoes and red, green and yellow peppers. Kate couldn't get enough of them, spread with goat cheese. She wants me to make some more to bring to her restaurant friends. Hmmm, another side business, I wonder? My favorite turned out to be the WHOLE WHEAT CRACKERS (far left) which begins with sprouted wheat berries (4 days to create) along with soaked flax seeds, OJ, garlic, onion, basil, parsley, salt and a dash of cayenne. The slurry was very soupy, making a thin cracker with a nice texture as half of the wheatberries are added after the benderizing. Its flavor and texture was very satisfying. But the most interesting thing about these crackers is how filling they are. While I can be a chow hound with crackers and spreads, these RAW CRACKERS are incredibly filling after just a few. For lunch, I spread a few with some cottage cheese (I know that's not RAW but I'm not a total convert) and Wow - I was full. A new meaning for portion control! My friends tell me the FLAX BANANA crackers for fabulous. So I have many more cracker tests in my future. By the way - when dehydrating, the air in the house becomes filled with a very different aroma than traditional baking. Not a bad aroma, just different - earthy and alive, I'd have to say.

RAW Reactions

After I posted yesterday, I received some interesting responses that were valid and worthy of sharing. One was from my Aunt Betty - a continually beautiful, vivacious Peruvian woman who swept my Uncle Jack off his feet. She is very supportive but noted she was "not into this type of food." As I thought about it, she and I were already into some portion of RAW food all along. Smoothies are Raw food, Salads are Raw food, Fruits, Veggies, Nuts and Seeds are Raw food. Sashimi is Raw food. Then I heard back from my friend David - a deliciously handsome and delightful man who was born in Mexico. He shared he went RAW for two weeks at a place in Puerto Rico (www.annwigmore.org) and loved it - losing 16 pounds as well. But he found he couldn't sustain the labor and time required to maintain it once he returned home. (Hence my girlfriend conscripting me to cook for them). However - he opened my eyes more by sharing his Mexican Raw Food Delight: CEVICHE.

• PUT chopped raw fish (shrimp, scallops, octopus, calamari, any combo) into a container and
  
• COVER with Lemon or Lime Juice to marinate two days.
  
• MIX diced tomatoes, onions, garlic, jalapeno, peppers and cilantro with the marinated fish, S&P to taste and ENJOY.

David's suggestion made me realize how much RAW food we already employ. It does not mean the elimination of meat and poultry and fish from our diet. I'm re-reading the book VALLEY OF THE HORSES - from Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear series which is coming out with the sixth and final book this fall - and it includes the ancient art of drying meat and berries in the hot summer sun for consumption during the winter. That's the same as putting meat in a dehydrator to make jerky, it seems to me. So while some people interpret RAW to mean only a fruit and veggie path, I'm going to explore a wider spectrum. Let me know what you think about that, please.

RAW Beginning

My exploration into the world of RAW began with Mair - my gal friend who had a fabulous RAW food experience for a couple weeks when her husband was out of town and dropped 16 pounds. That sounded good but honestly, RAW didn't have instant appeal. In my mind, I imagined drab, boring food with unending chewing. Plus - I didn't have a dehydrator. But Mair poo-pooed my reluctance and loaned me her dehydrator and a couple of RAW Cookbooks. Like a petulant child, I eyed them for about a week until I finally cracked one open and read a bit. The first one was LIVING ON LIVE FOOD by Alissa Cohen. She tells her story with the predictable bounciness of a convert - which further put me off - but when I studied the chart on sprouting nuts and grains, I was reminded to my college days when I used to sprout mung beans in my dorm room - along with culturing my own yogurt. RAW was not much of a leap from that. And, by the way, I had recently sprouted some mung beans - and liked it. So I set aside my skepticism and began to experiment with sprouting. First mung beans, then wheat berries, then flax seeds and soon my counter top was cluttered with glass jars of soaking nuts and grains. Why soak nuts and grains -- because the water releases the outer coating so our bodies can access the enzymes and nutrients inside. Otherwise, they provide fiber but the nutrients pass through our bodies. Very interesting information, I thought, and read some more.