this raw week

Happy (gray) Tuesday!

We had a really fun time on the 26th. We made a LOT of food and really enjoyed our time together. (I'm referring to the Winter Recipes Dehydrated Class this past Sunday.) We'll be doing more classes like this beginning in January. Please go to my calendar page for more info.

Some reminders:
Nov 30th from 4:30 - 5:30 at Buffalo Mtn Coop in Hardwick.  We're doing the pumpkin pie workshop. Please call Alicia or Kate to sign up: 472-6020.

Dec 3rd from 10:00-ish am on at 18 Worcester Village Rd. Painting party! We're going to be painting periodically throughout the day. Please come if you can.

Dec 8th from 3 - 8 pm at 18 Worcester Village Rd. Alissa Cohen's Level 1 class. Introductory raw food class where we make and eat 7 recipes. Call to register: 229-4496 or email me at 
linda@vt-fiddle.com

Dec 9th-10th (10-6 on Sat and 10-2 on Sun) at 18 Worcester Village Rd. Alissa Cohen's Level 2 class. The continuation of the Level 1 class where we make and eat 5 gourmet, dehydrated recipes. We go more into the raw food lifestyle including sprouting and adapting to fit your specific needs. Call to register: 229-4496 or email me at 
linda@vt-fiddle.com

More updates to follow. I wanted to share with you what I wrote this past thanksgiving:

Thanksgiving morning 11-23-06

The morning started around 7am but I got out of bed around 7:30 - nice to just lie around and not HAVE to get up. (gratefulness #1)

Somewhere around 8:30 or so I started the food prep - not just for today. I had some things in the dehydrator which needed tending (had to flip them and wash the teflex sheets). I had buckwheat soaking and lentils soaking so they needed to get transferred to bowls to begin the sprouting process. I took the sprouted wheat berries and put one cup in some water to begin making rejuvelac. Then the remaining wheat berries were used to make a cannoli-kind of wrapper. Here's the recipe:

1 cup sprouted wheat berries
1 Tablespoon honey
2 bananas
1/8-1/4 cup water
Put the wheat berries, honey and bit of water in the food processor and blend until smooth. Then put in the 2 bananas and blend some more. This should be the consistency of somewhere between a pudding and a smoothie.

Spread onto a teflex sheet or parchment paper - this won't cover the whole sheet - but about 3/4 of it. Double the recipe if you want to extend it over the whole sheet. Dehydrate at 105º for several hours. Flip after about 3-4 hours or so. Cut into 3 x 4" rectangles - or whatever size you want to make your crepe or cannoli shells. 

Then I began making the food for thanksgiving. I made the pesto and stuffed 5 portobello mushrooms with it and put it in the dehydrator. You can use crimini or baby bella mushrooms as well. I doubled the pesto recipe so the other half went into the freezer for some future use.

I already had made batches of mashed potatoes several weeks ago when I had a lot of cauliflower on hand so I just took out some from the freezer and put it in a bowl on top of the dehydrator to thaw. You can also fill the bowl with warm water periodically to hurry the thawing process.

Then I made the gravy for the mashed potatoes. This is a new recipe and it looks to be pretty good. I've tried so many gravy recipes that call for miso and things and they just end up being too salty for me to enjoy. This one, in Alissa's book, seems to be a winner. We'll see how the rest of the family likes it!

After that, I washed and cut up broccoli and put it into a long, somewhat shallow bowl. I made the cheeze sauce and poured it on the top and put that into the dehydrator to soften the broccoli...

That's it! (gratefullness #s 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6) :-) We're going to have a salad tonight and we'll make that fresh. Hopefully I have some endive leftover to put into the salad. I love that stuff. I already made the dressing last night (gratefulness #7) and it's VERY good.  Alissa's raw french dressing. I'd cut back on the salt the next time I make it though. 

Tonight I'll also whip up the pumpkin pudding and nut creme sauce - that takes just a few minutes to make. The longest part is actually cutting the pumpkin and de-seeding it. The Vita-Mix makes it so creamy and unbelievable. (gratefulness #8)

I cleaned up all the breakfast dishes and the food processor that I used to make all these dishes. I was done by 9:30. Not bad for a thanksgiving meal! (gratefulness #9)

Now I'm off to get dressed and go to the park with my family. I can't tell you how great this feels. (gratefulness #10) Normally Matt would be doing the turkey (I have always refused to cook meat on the bone.) and I'd be fretting over all the other things that needed to be cooked and made so that they were all done at the same time, etc. I'm telling you, I am feeling so free of the concern of food with this raw thing. Not to mention the freedom from the guilt and shame that I've associated with food and dieting for so much of my life. (gratefulness #11)

Anyway, tonight I'm hoping the rejuvelac will be ready for making the almond cheese! I'm psyched for this. (gratefulness #12) It's my first time making rejuvelac and the fermented cheeses. Wish me luck! 

OK, well, Matt and the kids are waiting for me. I just wanted to get this all down before I forgot. I'm hoping that you can see how really fast and easy this is. The best way to see is really to see for your own eyes, by taking a class or a workshop. Or even better, to try this yourself. The first time you make a raw recipe, you'll be swearing you missed a step. And you will have! The cooking! You'll make a pie or pudding and there is this automatic feeling at first that goes, "I need to do more here." But the great thing is that you don't. It's done and ready to eat. 

Hoping you had a super duper fun thanksgiving! 
Linda

raw cannoli wrapper

1 cup sprouted wheat berries
1 Tablespoon honey
2 bananas
1/8-1/4 cup water

Put the wheat berries, honey and bit of water in the food processor and blend until smooth. Then put in the 2 bananas and blend some more. This should be the consistency of somewhere between a pudding and a smoothie.

Spread onto a teflex sheet or parchment paper - this won't cover the whole sheet - but about 3/4 of it. Double the recipe if you want to extend it over the whole sheet. Dehydrate at 105º for several hours. Flip after about 3-4 hours or so. Cut into 3 x 4" rectangles - or whatever size you want to make your crepe or cannoli shells.