Adventures in fermenting
Hey everyone! Hope your day is going well 😀
I’m lunch blogging at school, and we’ve already done so much today!
We continued our adventures in fermenting and made some raw yogurt, which is fermenting in the dehydrator
Guess I won’t be missing my greek yogurt anymore- this stuff tastes REMARKABLY like it, and can be flavored any way you wish
Ferment away, my friend:
Next we made some raw cheese. Instead of doing the usual quick cheese (by using nutritional yeast to flavor ir), this type contains a probiotic (Acidophilus) so that you can get the same healthy bacteria lovin’ that you would get from consuming traditional dairy.
This one is sitting in a colander with a plate on top to drain out the rest of the liquid. When it’s done fermenting, it will go into the fridge and will be a delectable raw cream cheese to enjoy the rest of the week 😀
After our faux dairy projects, we starting making some summer rolls to have for lonchi.
Mango, shredded napa cabbage, carrots, cucumber, purple bell pepper (!), sesame seeds, cilantro, mint, cado, and bean sprouts
We used some of the most beautiful Swiss chard I’ve ever laid eyes on
Along with some salty coconut:
Mango chutney (we made yesterday)
And spicy almond dressing (also made yesterday)
We put said fillings into the Swiss chard wrappers, rolled it all up, and here’s what I got:
Not too shabby, eh? 😉
It was deeeeeeelicious and I finished off the plate. Shocker, I know 😀 Since we had a lot of leftover ingredients, we made extras and put them in the kitchen for the cooks and dish-people to munch on 😀
I’ve received quite a few emails/comments from ya’ll asking if I intend to become 100% raw. My answer: NO WAY! Since I got here, I’ve eaten about 98% raw and have loved every second of it. Even though I think that eating raw has an abundance of benefits, I’m not one of those jokers who believe that the nutritional value of food is totally lost when it’s cooked. Of course it does lose some nutrients in the cooking process, but quite a few (very healthy) people subsist on a totally cooked food diet, and they’re doing just fine. I do love how this style of eating makes me feel– I have a crazy amount of energy, which is a good thing since my days have been crazy long 😀
When I get back to Valdizzy, I do plan to continue to my Gina style of eating (who know what that really means, haha) but I definitely want to give examples on how to include raw meals and snacks into your life. As my pics from school show, raw definitely does not mean bland or boring- there’s an infinite amount of possibilities and there’s a raw option for almost any type of food.
Well I’ve gotta go back into class- I’ll spare you of tonight’s wine-induced blog and see ya in the morning 😀
Take care,
G
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raw food just always looks so pretty! I would never be able to give up my thoroughly cooked food either. steamed broccoli is just too good!
i think it is a great idea to still have cooked food and raw food together!
jenna
Did you saw PURPLE bell pepper?!?!? Where was it? I want to see!
-A
You think you will be able to share some of these recipes when you get back home? I’m killing to try some of those desserts you have made!!
fallon,
i can’t share any school recipes because they aren’t available online and they’re not my own. i can, however, post my own adaptations of recipes which i definitely plan on doing!
It looks very pretty and delicious! Even if cooking food takes away some of it’s nutritional benefits – I don’t always eat for nutrition, sometimes I eat because I like something 🙂 To each his/her own!
I never imagined you could make so many raw things!! I think there is a place for both cooked and raw foods in our diet but your posts have definitely inspired me to try a little more raw food!
Good for you Gina!
I like your Gina style eating.
the yogurt + cheese sound interesting! I can’t wait to see them. and those rolls look so, so good. the rainbow chard is beautiful!
Oh everything is so pretty! I don’t think i could go all raw either…though I’m learning to like more raw things!
That all looks so delicious…you were right when you said for everything we normally eat, there is a raw version! So cool!
All the food you make definitely looks amazing, hands down!! I would be interested in how to make sure the food is safe. If you just leave something to ferment, wouldn’t there be some harmful bacteria?
While I think raw diets can have benefits to our diets, I think there’s a place for everything – I mean, just look at how much more lycopene you find in cooked tomatoes over raw tomatoes, and how much more iron you find in steamed/ boiled spinach over raw spinach. There’s definitely nutritional benefits to both raw and cooked foods.
Wait, wait, purple bell peppers? How divine.
Woohoo for purple veggies! Your lunch looks delicious!! WAY better than my school lunches 😉
PS. There’s an article about 105degrees in this months Vegetarian Times!
I think your style of eating is great, very healthy but no restrictions!
if you had to sum me up in the form of a food dish, it would be those summer rolls! spot on, girly!
I’m so excited for when you go back to Valdizzy, because I am dying for some raw meal/snacky ideas! Being in college is like go go go, all the time, so it’s soooo easy for me to resort to the snickers bar 😛 but if you give some fab ideas, I will have no excuse but to eat healthily at all times!!
i’ve been out of the loop for a couple of weeks. can you direct me to the post about where you’re taking all these classes. i see you’re in school but i’m not sure how all this developed. i’m sure there’s an interesting back story to all this. it’s so your niche! thanks!
Oh my everything just looks divine. I couldn’t eat just raw either – but there are many many things I do enjoy raw!
Yummy wrap! You are making the most delicious food I have ever seen!
i agree – the raw foods that you have prepared both at home and there are just so beautiful! i would definitely like to incorporate at least 2 raw meals into my daily diet. You can take the credit for that! LOL
woops! i found the post about you starting school! congrats, this is so cool!!
I absolutely LOVE reading about your adventures in raw cooking school. I cannot believe how great your dishes already look, you must have a natural nack for raw cooking! You’re pictures have definitely made me consider enrolling in a summer session….
It’s too ironic you just posted this recipe…5 mins before I read your post I was thumbing thru Raw Food Real World and was looking at the collard wraps. I also just got a mandolin. So I am destined for some raw wraps using either collards or chard or cucumbers in the near future. I think I saw the recipe for the filling, or something possibly close, in RFRW. This is too cool that you just posted these…
I want to fermennnnnnt.
Yum! Those rolls look tasty!
xo
K
Purple bell peppers!?! Where!?! Your plating is so beautiful….I need to learn how to present food better. You eat with your eyes first. 🙂
I’m a fairly new FITNESSSITA reader, i was wondering why you decided to go to Raw school? Are you planning on doing something with all this new knowledge or are you doing this just for yourself?
hey vegantickles,
i’m a huge lover and advocate of raw foods, but decided to get more formal training because i’m in the process of opening my own business 😀
I am loving your posts about school! So delicious and interesting!
I love purple peppers! Discovered them at our local farmer’s market and thought they were just the cutest – check it out! 🙂 http://cookinfanatic.wordpress.com/2009/08/22/adventures-in-veggie-land-bulk-shoppin/
I love the photo of all of the veggies on the cutting board – looks very professional 🙂 The dark kale is perfect for a wrap – thinking about trying it this weekend. Thanks for the tips and your “gourmet” photos!
Hey there sweety!!
I looooove reading about you adventures there!!! I can’t wait to see more of the gorgeous food!!
Thanks for sharing your experience with us!!
As I’m a new time (although a few weeks now) reader, it’s really interesting to read what happened a few weeks/month back! 😉
Hope you had a good evening and night! xo
Yum.
I’ve always been curious about fermenting! Thanks for sharing, m’dear.