Stuff Raw Foodists Like #4: Raw Food Books on Sale!

Can you believe this? Living Cuisine for only P200?!!! Thanks so much to Jen the Nursing Mom for the tip! I got this at SM MOA Booksale. Yay yay yay!

Jen actually has her own copy of Living Cuisine and lent it to me last year. I was but a teeny tot in my raw food journey (I don't wanna say babe kasi baka may umangal! Haha!) and this book, along with Victoria Boutenko's 12 Steps to Raw Foods , was very helpful. While 12 Steps helps one overcome an addiction to cooked foods  and provides tips in sticking to the raw food frame of mind with lots of the author's own research in the chemistry of foods, cooked and non-cooked, Living Cuisine details the nutrition info of many common raw foods. Anyone wanting to know where raw foodists get their protein will get more of their question answered here. The book also suggests which items are essentials for the raw food kitchen. I planned my kitchen equipment acquisition program (naks) around her suggestions, as well as the suggestions from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen.  I haven't gotten everything I want yet, but I have what I need. I use my Vita-Mix to get most food processing done, but maybe one of these days, I'll get a food processor. And a ceramic knife. We'll see. Wink.

There are many recipes in Living Cuisine, although I haven't tried most of them yet. I did try a dehydrated cracker recipe and it was very easy to make. It used soaked sesame seeds and garlic. It can be very dry, so you might want to add oils and/or water. The original recipe called for lots of spices, which I don't like, so I did the recipe without, and it turned out fine.



Using a rubber spatula to spread the batter evenly...

...like so.

Here is my asymmetric cracker batter on the non-stick Paraflex sheet.

Okie dokie! See you in a little bit! (Or shall I say, 12-20 hours?)

Here is the semi-dry cracker, peeled off the non-stick sheet, turned over, and dehydrated on a naked tray for a few more hours.

Ta-dah!

Yummy crackers to share to my raw and non-raw foodist friends! These were very good on their own. Some might want to make garlic aoili nut cheese dip or salsa, or just plain olive oil.

I made two trays: One tray with thin crackers, and one tray with thicker crackers. The thicker crackers can pass for bread! No lie!

Stuff Raw Foodists Like #4: Raw Food Books on Sale!

Stuff Raw Foodists Like #3: Sprouted Quinoa

Where do you get your protein?

Protein is everywhere!

The raw foodist's advantage is that raw fruits, vegetables and nuts come packed with their own proteins in the form of enzymes. Enzymes are a protein that aid the digestion of the food it is part of.

That said, there are some raw foods that are more abundant in protein than others. One of them is quinoa. (KEEN-wa). According to Ian Merber and Vicki Edgson, authors of The Food Doctor, quinoa is the perfect vegetable protein. It also contains calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and vitamin B3. It is easy to digest, is gluten-free, contains more calcium than milk, stimulates milk flow in breastfeeding, and its lysine content is a potent antiviral agent.  

I first tried quinoa in the form of quinoa pasta when I discovered that I had an intolerance to gluten. I got my quinoa pasta from the health food store. The taste was excellent! Way better than rice pasta, in my humble opinion.

Now that I have gone high raw, I buy quinoa in its raw, unprocessed form. These are grains you can find in the grain section of your health food store.

To prepare them, you need to wash them well, then soak them in pure water (in my case, I just use mineral water) overnight in a covered container. The following day, I throw out the rinse water, then I check for tails. If I see those, I rinse them again and they are ready to eat! It is one of the easiest raw foods to sprout!

Look for the tails! Can you see them?

Sprouted quinoa (KEEN-wa) is a really yummy way to enjoy proteins! Some sprouts can be really stinky, but  sprouted quinoa has a mild, sweet smell. It can be mixed with almost veggie.

Here's Aileen de Guzman who taught me how to use the sprouted quinoa in a lovely salad.

What are your favorite quinoa recipes?

Stuff Raw Foodists Like #3: Sprouted Quinoa

Stuff Raw Foodies Like #2: Raw Chocolate

For the longest time, I couldn't eat regular chocolate because I would get laryngitis in winter (almost always February-ask my former coworkers in the Pacific Northwest!) or in August when it rains in Manila. Thank you to Dr. Emmanual Ibay of Makati Med for helping me figure that out that I had to change my lifestyle, including cutting out chocolate  (as well as a host of other harmful food) out of my diet. Half a decade laryngitis-free! Yay!

Since starting raw, I've been reintroducing small doses of raw cacao and toasted carob (tastes a little bit like chocolate) into my rotation (very difficult to find raw carob in the Philippines! Kontactr me if you know someone who supplies this locally!). So far so good! I listen to my body though. It knows when too much is too much.

It is interesting to note that there is a group of raw foodists that claim it is a super food, while some other raw foodists say they can do without it, or take only a little.

Here it is as a sauce with nuts and goji berries*.

What are your favorite raw chocolate desserts?

*Have you tried goji berries? These taste fine in a trail mix, but alone? Eeek. They need some getting used to.

They are considered a super food and the Chinese in Manila use it a lot in traditional Chinese medicine. I am glad my dessert is my medicine.How many fad diets can say that about their dessert?

Stuff Raw Foodies Like #2: Raw Chocolate

A Young Vermicomposter's Photo Album

I love composting! I used to save my biodegrable garbage in containers (but now I just use the garbage can - I don't need to segregate garbage in my kitchen anymore because practically all of my kitchen refuse is biodegradable). My preferred method of composting is direct soil incorporation, but now, instead of digging each time, I throw everything in a compost pit that is all soil. (There is a side story about that too, but I don't want to stray too far from this topic which is...)

Now that school's out, your kids age 9 and up might want to consider it as a summer activity! Who knows? It might grow into a lifelong passon :D Hehe! Wouldn't that be something?

With her family's permission, I am sharing the photos and captions (provided by her dad-with minimal editing!) of this young vermicomposter's project last year.  For the family's privacy,  she will be referred to as MYC - Ms. Young Composter.

Enjoy reading!

First you get TWO bins.
The more opaque the bins the better it is for the in-the-bin community.
(We got lesser opaque bins to see the side and witness how trash is 'transformed' to soil.)

Anyways, to rectify this,
we will wrap manila paper around the bins so they will have their privacy.

Using a drill, put holes around the bin (of the one bin only).

Drill holes on the side-top portion (6 per length, 4 per width)
Drill holes on the cover (14 holes)
Drill holes on the bottom (5 holes).

Holes are for air circulation as well as water to seep through.

Others usually do not do this anymore.
But we covered the holes with mosquito net & sealed it with tape.
Note that this is an indoor bin.
Mahirap ng may makalusot.
hehehe :-)

On the second bin,
put support before putting the other bin on top.
We do this to create space for air circulation.

Now to put the housing bin on top. :-)

 Voila!

  

Then the household trash.
First, create the bedding -- ideal bedding are cut up paper, carton, etc.
Spread it evenly.

Then moisten the paper based bedding.

Then add the kitchen, garden trash.

Mental note.
For next cycle, get gloves for Miss Young Composter
So that it is easier for her to handle trash!!

Plastic gloves!! Hahaha! MYC na MYC!

Spread the garden and kitchen trash evenly.

"Now that is 1 layer of paper trash + kitchen/garden trash.
Now, do the same procedure 3 times."

Add paper trash again, moisten the paper, then add the layer of kitchen/garden trash...
and so on.

Let it SIT for 1 to 2 weeks
before adding 1 kilo worm. :-)

Why sit for 1 or 2 weeks?
To let the decomposition happen.

Hmm.
But after 1 week, I think it is OK already to add the new house mates. :-)

Welcome home, ANCs! :-)

(ANCs stand for African Night Crawlers) 

After 1 Week,
looks like the new house is ready. :-)

Game?!

Now to create space on the side.

Then to start transferring the ANC to their new 'house'

it's MYC's  turn ...

... to carefully transfer them ANCs

Sige...

... ilipat mo na lahat.

Meet your new pets.
You want to name them?

Hmmm.
Parang mahirap ata pangalanan lahat.
I will call you, NightCrawler One!

Nakakapawis pero tapos na rin! 

Bye guys!

Kids ages 9-99! Want to make this your summer project?

A Young Vermicomposter's Photo Album

Raw Food Prep Class : On the Road to Raw

Hey hey hey! Good news! For those who missed On the Road to Raw last weekend, there is a repeat tomorrow, Saturday, April 9th! Yay!


I really enjoyed the langka-luya smoothie which can be made into an ice cream (what a hit!). There were so many other memorable dishes, such as the Thai-inspired papaya rice! Yumsters!

Hehe! The group didn't bother to wipe the insides of the bowl for presentation purposes, but you know what, it didn't matter! It was soooo good! And I have to commend them for non-soy version they made for me which is in the little wooden bowl. Instead of Bragg liquid aminos, they used honey. 

This is a workshop, so bring your own apron and knife :D Send your helper if you're not the type who likes to get her hands dirty. But really, you are missing out if you don't prepare your own food, and more prone to quit raw if you are dependent on someone else to do this (Unless your name is Demi Moore and you have your own raw food chef!)

If this is your first time to attend a raw food seminar, don't worry about getting hungry! You will feel full after attending. I promise!

They ran out of kelp last time too, so if you are curious about trying kelp noodles - buy them as soon as you walk in the door!

*Disclosure: Asha is one of my contacts in the raw world. I got a discount in the last workshop but only because I don't eat tomatoes and soy - and some of the dishes had these. I don't get discounts for buying any of her other stuff :D I pay full price for my kelp, which I eagerly await!

Raw Food Prep Class : On the Road to Raw