NC21 Raw Food Demo

Greetings NC21!

I am excited about our upcoming Workshop on August 15th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.!

Please come hungry! So, feel free to start your day nice and easy with lemon water (fresh-squeezed, of course), or some sweet hydrating fruit.

I will do my best to squeeze in as much enlightening and fun food knowledge and delicious demos as I can within the 2 hours.

Cuke N Date Sandwiches

So simple. So delicious. Do I even need to write this recipe?

This recipe comes from Your Natural Diet: Alive Raw Foods

Medjhool Hors d’oeuvres Ingredients

Soft medjhool dates
Slicing cucumbers

Instructions:
1. Pit the dates and slice in half.
2. Slice the cucumbers into thin discs. Optional: peel the skins first.
If the skins are waxed, peeling is mandatory.
3. Place the dates halves on the cuke slices.
4. Serve on a party platter, with or without tooth picks.

Valine's Fruit Tacos

This is a fun and easy to make recipe.

Filling:
2 mangos, diced
1 banana, diced
1 apple or pear, diced
1 cup red grapes, diced
1-2 cups spinach, minced

Mix all ingredients in a big bowl and then spoon the mixture onto lettuces leaves.

Shells:
1-2 heads of romaine lettuce

Chop the bottom off of the lettuces leaves and clean well. Be sure to check the leaves for those tiny bugs, especially if you purchased organice lettuce. Spoon the mixture on top of leaves and serve.

I like this recipe because it is so versatile. You can change all of the filling ingredients to your liking. You can even put the filling on top of a bed of mixed greens or spinach and enjoy it all as a salad. Any mild tasting green works great, such as red or green leafs lettuce. Fruit and greens are a great combination!

NOTE: Avoid adding any fats. I used to add hemp seeds or flaxseed meal to my fruit recipes, but I have since learned the fruits don't combine as well with fat. If interested, read more about proper food combining at http://www.rawfoodexplained.com/.

Discounts Available!

I'm excited to announce two new discount opportunities!

You may volunteer your home and your workshop is FREE! NOTE: Kitchen/Food Prep area must meet certain requirements

Or, invite a friend and get 50% off. Bring two friends, and your workshop is FREE!

This discount does not expire.

Workshop Dates for Spring!

Spring is here and Summer is just around the bend.

Now is a good time to replenish the body with living enzymes and vitamins from fresh and uncooked veggies and fruits.

Here are the available dates…

Living Foods for the Adult Beginner - $95/person

Saturday, June 13th, 2009, 3-6 p.m. (3-hour seminar), and
Sunday, June 20th, 2009, 2-5 p.m. (3-hour seminar)

New to living foods? In this workshop, you will learn the benefits of living foods. You will learn the basics of the raw food kitchen and have opportunities for hands-on food preparation. Please arrive hungry and ready to eat, because you will be sampling delicious meals throughout.

Live Mylk, Juice and Smoothie Workshop - $25/person

Sunday, June 14th, 2009, 2-3:30 p.m. (1 ½ hour workshop), and
Sunday, June 21st, 2009, 2-3:30 p.m. (1 ½ hour workshop)

Attendees of this workshop will learn how to prepare delicious and satisfying fresh juices, milks, and smoothies, and compare the pros and cons of juices and smoothies. You will learn also about the powerful green smoothie, a much revered beverage in the raw food world. Please bring an empty container with a tight lid that can hold a fluid liter of smoothie to take home.

For more information:

call - 949-0147
e-mail - valine@allthewaylivefoods.com

Avocado and Tomato and Dulse Salad

Breakfast will never be the same!

I am so used to having something sweet to start the day. Whether it was oatmeal with bananas/dried fruits, fruit cereals with berries and brazil nut or hempseed milk, assorted fruits, buckwheat cereal or even a green smoothie... breakfast was always a healthy and sweet way to start the day.

Well, that has changed from healthy and sweet to healthy and savory. Ever since I learned that my daughter has yeast in her blood, candida albicans to be specific, I've scrutinized all sweets. In fact, to avoid feeding and growing the yeast, she is supposed to avoid all fruits, especially bananas, dried fruits, and all sugars (and other things). It's been hard because fruits are so easy to serve to children, but here is one way I've combatted the urge to make it sweet (and I must admit I've benefitted from these changes as well).

I made this Avocado Tomato and Dulse Salad one morning, and I served it with some mixed greens, some sunflower sprouts that I cultivated in the kitchen myself, and miso cups. I must say it was a wonderful way to start our day.

The idea comes from Dr. Gabriel Cousens' book entitled Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine. His recipe is called Avocado Tomato Salad.

The ingredients are super simple:

2 avocados, diced
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1 pepper, seeded and diced
1/4 - 1/2 cup of dulse, cut into pieces
2-3 tablespoons of hempseeds (optional)
pinch of himalayan sea salt (optional)

I hope you like it.

Fruit Cereal by Valine and Hempseed Milk from Alive in 5

My husband and I started eating Fruit Cereal years ago. The original recipe came from The American Vegetarian Cookbook from the Fit for Life Kitchen by Marilyn Diamond. So this recipe is inspired by her Cocobana Cereal and Fall Fruit Breakfast Pudding which are found in that that book.

Fruit Cereal is a real treat because it is sweet and somewhat "heavy". Sweet and heavy is not something I do often, but when I'm in the mood for a filling breakfast, I choose this recipe. This also a fun cereal to make as a family or group.

I use bananas and apples as the base, but you can be versatile with the rest of the ingredients, and enjoy it with your favorite milk. Here are the ingredients I used for this recipe on a particular day. Shown in the picture is 1/2 cup of raisins, a handful of dates, and 1/4 cup of hempseeds. I didn't even use all of the raisins and dates.

Here is the recipe:
3 ripe bananas, peeled, halved and chopped
4 apples, peeled and grated
1/3 cup of raisins
a handful of pitted dates, chopped
1/4 cup of nuts and/or seeds of your choice (my note: Be sure to activate them by soaking them the night before. Hempseeds don't need soaking.)
1/4 cup of freshly ground flax seeds (my note: I was out of flax seeds that day.)
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
berries for the top (optional)

When I add the ingredients in the order listed, it always looks beautiful to me.

Enjoy the cereal with a milk of choice. Vanilla Brazil Nut Milk is now a favorite, but most mornings, when I want a quick milk, I make Hempseed Milk.

Hempseed Milk from Alive in 5:

5 cups filtered water

1 cup raw hempseeds

1/2 raw agave nectar

1 tablespoon vanilla flavor (my note: I used alcohol-free vanilla extract)

1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt

Combine all the ingredients in a blender, and process until smooth.