Recipes from the raw foods "un-cooking" class tonight

[Tori Groat]

Hi, Ladies!
It was such a pleasure to see everyone tonight! As promised, here is the recipes from the class tonight:

Chocolate Coconut Pudding:
2 Thai coconuts Drained of juice and meat separated into 2 bowls
1/3-1/2 cup raw cacao powder (I prefer Raw choice brand sold at EarthFare)
1/3 cup pure agave or maple syrup
pinch of liquid stevia
couple drops of vanilla extract
pinch of himalayan salt
Optional: fresh sprig of mint

Serves 4

Directions:
Place coconut meat,agave, stevia and vanilla extract into high tech blender and start on low while adding some of the reserved coconut juice. Begin increasing the speed on blender until your chocolate base resembles a pudding like consistency. place pudding in separate ramkins a chill for at least 1 hour in fridge.
Optional addition: serve w/ a dollop of whipped cream (coconut or raw milk) w/ a pinch of stevia


Thai Lettuce wraps w/ "peanut" dipping sauce :
The wraps and filling ingredients:
A bunch of Romaine Lettuce leaves (or other small lettuce leaf that will work well for the wraps)
2 carrots cut into strips
1 avacado diced
Handful of basil leaves rolled up and cut chiffonade style
handful cilantro chopped
some other great filling ideas to suit your tastes:
Jicama, sprouts, seeded cucumber, squash or zucchini, sprouted sunflower seeds. The possibilities are endless!

Mock Peanut Sauce for the wraps (From Raw food made Easy Book):
1/2 c. raw almond butter
1/4 cup. Water
1 Tbs. Lemon juice
2 tsp pure maple syrup or agave
2 tsps maple syrup
2 tsp tamari
1 clove garlic
1/4 tsp ginger ( I like more!!)
dash of cayenne
salt

Place all ingred. in a blender and process until smooth. Store in sealed container in fridge. will keep for 5 days.

[Anna]

Thanks Tori! I really enjoyed your demonstration. Thank you so much for taking the time. I've already made the pudding and the "peanut" dipping sauce will be made tomorrow after I get some ginger.

~Anna

[Tori Groat]

Hi, Anna-
Thanks for coming as always, I enjoy seeing you! I also wanted to follow up from what we were talking about yesterday RE: You mentioned that you can get b-vitamins from green leafy vegetables/ nutritional yeast. I thought I was loosing my mind because I have never heard that to be true in the case of b-12 so I had to look it up. From everything I've read those sources contain a good amount of B-vitamins w/the exception of b-12 an essential vitamin for humans. B-12 is only found in animal products (i.e. organ meats, fish eggs meat and cheese). Even Gabriel Cousens (who is one of the top respected MD's, nutritional researchers on raw foods (and has been raw for 30 years) has recently come out and said that everyone needs to get b-12 through supplementation if you are a vegan). http://www.rawfoods.com/articles/b12article.html This has caused a lot of uproar in the raw community recently that some well known raw authorities have ignored this information for some time.

If you have some other research on this I would love to read up on it but from what I'm reading anyone who is vegan will need to supplement B-12.

Thanks!

[Anna]

I was talking about the amino acids and proteins present in greens. You do not need meat to get those amino acids. I do understand that B12 is a potential issue for vegans. I am not vegan. We have our own chickens :) So I eat eggs, not daily by any means but I do eat them. B12 is also in Kefir. I feel comfortable that getting it from those sources is enough, for me. I don't feel the need to consume beef or organ meats but can understand that some people do. We agree that it's finding what works best for your body that's the key!

~Anna

[Francie]

I'm sorry I missed this! I was planning to come, but had to take a guy up on his offer to break ground for our own raw food production plot! :-) I hope to see this another time!

[Tori Groat]

The question was specifically about B-vitamins and not protein so that's why I was so confused by your statement. I agree that you can get protein from plant sources and not just from meat: I never stated that, my statement was response to a question about B vitamins. I used to be a vegetarian for 4 years, then a raw vegan for 1 year so I understand all sides of the spectrum. I'm sorry if you felt like I was saying that you had to eat meat or liver to be healthy. I don't believe that to be true at all. I object any dogma surrounding any diet and that's why I elaborated that everyone needs to listen to their bodies and be weary of the "one size fits all."

Anna said:

I was talking about the amino acids and proteins present in greens. You do not need meat to get those amino acids. I do understand that B12 is a potential issue for vegans. I am not vegan. We have our own chickens :) So I eat eggs, not daily by any means but I do eat them. B12 is also in Kefir. I feel comfortable that getting it from those sources is enough, for me. I don't feel the need to consume beef or organ meats but can understand that some people do. We agree that it's finding what works best for your body that's the key!

~Anna

[Tori Groat]

Hey, Francie!
I'm doing some charity classes at Earth Fare to support Slow Foods next month. I will let you know the dates and hopefully you can make it! Ok, now I'm intrigued: what is your raw food production plot that your up to? :)

Francie said:

I'm sorry I missed this! I was planning to come, but had to take a guy up on his offer to break ground for our own raw food production plot! :-) I hope to see this another time!

[Francie]

Hey Tori! It's not quite as exciting as you might think... we are building a farm and just started preparing the soil for a 2500 ft2 garden! ;-)

Can you guess about how much or how often a person should eat eggs/milk/cheese to get enough B12?

Good to hear about the future classes -

Cheers, Francie

Tori Groat said:

Hey, Francie!
I'm doing some charity classes at Earth Fare to support Slow Foods next month. I will let you know the dates and hopefully you can make it! Ok, now I'm intrigued: what is your raw food production plot that your up to? :)

[Tori Groat]

Hey, Francie-

Sorry for my late reply: I've got some deadlines due for some events I'm doing this weekend so I'm trying to get my duckies in a row so to speak. :)

About your question: Re: how much eggs, milk and cheese you will need to eat to get enough B-12? WOW! that's a HUGE question that opens a Big Ol' can of worms and I'm not sure I have a clear cut answer for you. Sorry! From my research there are many points to take on B-12 status and I think that many people are low in this vitamin (vegan, vegetarian and yes, even meat eaters!) . I will post some more info on this when I have more time that you can read through. There are many points to consider on this question.

[Missy]

Tori, I keep meaning to write to you and finally I'm doing it! I enjoyed your recipes so much that I came home that night and cooked up exactly what you showed us. My kids LOVED the pudding and my oldest even gobbled up the wraps. Thanks for the great ideas and for sharing your expertise with us. It's so much fun to make things with that much color and wonderful nutrition. Plus, I'm not afraid of coconuts anymore!