Raw Rag™

Kinda the opposite of raw food cuisine: Are you going to eat this or forge raw-food pathways in your brain?

Sometimes I run into a dish that is the extreme antithesis of the way I am now eating. This burger may take the cake (pun intended). From "Fat and calorie bombs: Every state has worst-for-you foods" (USA Today):

In Georgia, you can get what's called a Luther Burger, supposedly named after singer Luther Vandross. It's a ground beef patty topped with bacon and cheese, sandwiched between two Krispy Kreme doughnuts instead of a bun.

Let me read that again. With each reading, it gets worse.

A confession: In the last 23 days since I have been on this lifestyle, there have been times when I could have eaten a Luther Burger, even yearned for one. But those cravings are becoming few and far between.

Why? As I modify my eating habits, I am also changing my brain. I will explain the neuroscience of change in the next day or two.  Watch here at Raw Rag™ for the details of how you can remold your brain on purpose (think of your brain as Play-Doh), and thus create new habits. In the meanwhile, here is a short interview of me about brain changing: Golden Moments of Choice: Staying in old ruts or forging new pathways.

Image credit: USA Today.

Note (added June 30, 2010): Click to see photos of "The 50 Fattiest Foods in the States" (Health.com).

New: Denver restaurant offers 5-course Raw Food Night on Tuesdays

You may note that I have added an event to my list of recommended links over to the right. Denver restaurant Root Down is now offering five courses of raw food on Tuesdays nights. News of this addition to our Mile High cuisine is exciting. If ones wants to eat out, Denver has a dearth of raw food options, so I applaud this idea of chef Daniel Asher.

From Westword blogs:

"I've been doing raw food for six years and was shocked when I moved from meat-and-potatoes Chicago to healthy Boulder and saw that there was such a big gap in raw food restaurants," says Daniel Asher, chef of Root Down ... .

A former vegan, and later, vegetarian, Asher, who's also a certified raw food chef, joined the kitchen of Root Down last spring, and since then, he says, customers have expressed an interest in raw food ... .

... "I wasn't sure what to expect, but so far, people are really jazzed up about it," he says. "Its almost as if people have been waiting for something like this to take root -- for a mainstream menu to offer raw food."

I wholeheartedly agree with him; people have been waiting.

And from Examiner:

[C]hef Daniel Asher will create a new menu each week ... . For those of you who have not experienced raw vegan cooking – you will be surprised at the brightness of flavors and the increased texture of each dish.  Raw menu items

How I spent my Saturday afternoon - Fun and yum: Raw Foods 101 (And I took videos)

Yesterday the Denver temperature was high, the air sweltering, but I was cool. I was in the kitchen at Colorado Free University, attending a class on preparing raw foods. The instructors Yvonne Greenbaum and Terry Roth were engaging, and well-prepared to demonstrate several recipes. The class culminated in our sitting down to relish what Yvonne and Terry dished up.

In addition to the flavorful and delectable food, the conversation was enjoyable. Because those of us who are following the raw foods lifestyle are in the minority (for now), comparing notes with, and learning from, kindred spirits is an all-too-rare treat.

Attend class with me by watching my video clips of the two capable instructors preparing:

• Cheezecake (Terry and Yvonne modified this recipe as you will see in the video clip)
• Sticky Hazelnut Clusters (recipe halfway down the page)
• Italian Pizza Cheese (go to almost the end of the page), which they put on this Pizza Crust (Crust was prepared and dehydrated prior to class)
• Raw Chili

Click to watch the videos.

If those in the Denver area take the class, they will learn the same recipes as above (plus one for Green Smoothies) in the July class. In August through November, Terry and Yvonne change up the recipes; new ones will include:

• Kung Pao Almonds with Mung Beans
• Not Tuna Pate
• Raspberry Ganache Fudge Cake
• Donut Holes

You leave the class with leftovers (maybe to impress some skeptical family members at home), and a booklet with raw-related information, recipes, and resources. Thanks, Terry and Yvonne.

Note: To learn about my Colorado Free University class Brains on Purpose™, go here for the session on September 25, and here for the one on November 13.

 

Hooray twice! AllTop now has a Raw Foods listing—and Raw Rag is listed

At AllTop, you can go to one Web site to follow the top sites and blogs on many, many topics. That long list of topics now includes Raw Foods. You can see the last few entries of lots of Raw blogs by going to the AllTop Raw Foods page. Convenient, yes?

Over to the right, below "Recent Posts," I have added the AllTop Raw Foods feed so you can see titles of several posts from other Raw blogs and sites, and then can click through to read them if you are interested. The feed is updated by AllTop regularly.

AllTop makes staying on top of all your favorite topics simple.

Using a green palette to design a sauce for my squash-ta

If you have a zucchini, why not make sauce, turn the squash into "pasta" with the saladacco, and pour some sauce on that squash-ta? That's what I made for dinner tonight.

For the sauce, I threw this and that (with an eye to green) into the Vitamix, blended it all, and came out with a pretty good sauce. As near as I can recreate, these are the ingredients:

• 2 cups packed spinach leaves and stems
• 1/2 avocado
• 1/4 cup water
• i Roma tomato
• 1/8 sweet onion
• i clove garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 3/4 teaspoon white miso
• sprinkle of dried kelp
• 1/4 teaspoon unrefined sesame oil

This recipe makes enough sauce for 4 servings. 1/2 zucchini makes one serving of saladacco-ized (spiral-sliced) squash-ta.

This sauce was okay, but it needs something. Maybe nama shoyu? I have enough green sauce for a couple of more servings so will add the shoyu next time. For me, experimenting as an artist is part of the allure of this lifestyle.

On-site classes to learn about the raw food lifestyle

If you want a hands-on, face-to-face experience, you have many options for learning to prepare this cuisine. Below are several.

Some of these programs offer certification training with the idea that you will then become a trainer of that particular program's methods and systems. I am not sure what the benefits of such programs might be; if you have pursued any of the programs, please send along your thoughts and feedback in the comments section here.

I will continue to add to this list. Please let me know if you have any suggestions for additions.

• The Living Foods Institute (I have e-mailed with founder Brenda Cobb; she is extraordinarily helpful and kind)
• Living Light International (Cherie Soria)
• Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center (Gabriel Cousens)
• Ann Wigmore Institute
• Raw Teacher (Alissa Cohen)
• Hippocrates Health Institute
• Learn Raw Food (Jennifer Cornbleet)
• Creative Health Institute

I'm not likely to attend another sprout roundup soon: A day I learned to more fully appreciate book-learning

Yesterday I went to a class on sprout growing, and left early. The event was held at the Metaphysical Research Society, a venue that took me back to a New Agey past in Santa Fe and the San Francisco Bay Area. Before the class began, we convened in a room with dim lighting, Gaia-like music, an alter with crystals, and esoteric symbols on the wall. We waited there for the class to begin.

And we waited. And we waited. And we waited.

More than 30 minutes after the stated start time, the instructor finally began to talk. He apologized for some technology glitch and commenced. By then, I was not content and, during the time-wasting hold-up, had been observing myself getting increasingly critical.

• Why were people arriving throughout the stall? Was tardiness a part of the culture of sprout people?
• Didn't the woman eating raw nuts in the next chair realize it is polite to shut your mouth when chewing? Did she not hear the smacking?
• Why was the instructor wearing too-big pants that ended in baggy folds on his shoes?

I listened to the lecture until the sprouters broke for lunch. The person delivering the presentation seemed to be knowledgeable about sprouts and microgreens, but I decided my $20 would have been better spent purchasing a book or two on sprouting, or rereading one I already owned.

As advertised, the first part of yesterday's program was spent on sprout techniques. Instead of attending, I wish I had relaxed on my patio with my kind of music playing, rereading the sprout chapter in The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Raw.

Another couple of hours of lecture was not appealing, so at lunch break I left the dim room, returned to the sunshine outdoors, and appreciated the quiet noises of the street outside the old building. Next Saturday, I am attending a class on raw foods and, at least, know the room will be light!

The second part of the program was to be on growing microgreens. I don't envision myself having dirt containers in my house any time soon, so will forgo that method of farming. Because it is so nutritionally rich, I do want to find a way to grow wheat grass, and will research to see if there is another way of propagation besides in-house dirt.

Do I plan to sprout? Yes, and rest assured you will read about my sprout farm here.

Next addition to my repertoire? Soup!

Because I'm getting a bit tired of smoothies and salads, I have decided to add some variety to my diet. Soup sounded good after I watched this video in which raw food guru Jennifer Cornbleet demonstrates Garden Vegetable Soup. She explains that the soup contains 6 kinds of ingredients:

1. Watery vegetable or greens
2. Water
3. Citrus juice
4. Salty seasoning
5. Pungent seasoning
6. Fat source

Watch the video for more details about each type of ingredient, as well as how to blend them all together. This way of eating is so easy, isn't it?

Today I am on day 12 with no regrets about beginning this journey. Real-deal raw continues to be fun.

Image credit: NutritionData.

My tongue is burning: An ingredient I won't again add to my smoothie

In keeping with my current practice of adding at least two leaves of greens to my morning smoothie, today I threw in two big mustard green leaves. Not a good idea! The drink was peppery, almost stinging, and my tongue was not pleased. So as not to waste all the other ingredients (nuts, seeds, protein powder, fruit), I diluted the smoothie with water to suit my taste and tongue. I was able to drink it all.

Yesterday I added one mustard green leaf and one big collard leaf; that was fine, tasty even. But two mustards? Not for me. Do you have any experience with mustard overload?

The biggest advantage of raw food for me? Maybe the dancing?

Yes, today is the 10th day of real-deal raw. A bit of a change from that first day! Do I like this lifestyle? "Like" is too mild. Bring on the next 10 days.

Although I've lost weight (not really much of a goal) and do not seem to have cravings for meat and other cooked or processed foods, the biggest shift seems to be an enormous increase in exuberance and playfulness.

This morning, as I work, I hear this music in the background:

• Louis Armstrong's All Time Greatest Hits (Is it any surprise that my favorite song on that album is "What a Wonderful World"?)
• Crash Test Dummies' The Ghosts That Haunt Me (one of my most-liked is "Superman's Song")
• Legend: The Best of Bob Marley (Click to listen to "Three Little Birds," my album front-runner)
• Anthony Arizaga's Impossible Dream

Every so often I feel the urge to get up and dance—and then I do!

If you read my blog idealawg, you may recall I am an avid supporter and researcher of play; for me, this raw food cuisine takes play to new heights. And what about exuberance? I am going to research that topic between working and dancing. I'll let you know what I learn.