Off I went, destination
Manly, it was to be my first Raw food & Yoga Workshop.
Once I arrived, I was
immediately met by the lovely, Amanda, the founder of The Raw Food Kitchen
& also Sarah Burrows, the Hatha yoga teacher. I was promptly handed a
little shot glass of the loveliest cleansing green juice, now most people may
screw up their noses at the thought of a green juice, but I can vouch for this
one, it was super delicious.
I chatted with Amanda about Ubud, Indonesia; she
had just returned from there. I am Ubud bound in less than 3 weeks, so I picked
her brain about the best cafe’s & how to avoid bali belly. She happily
shared some tips. Slightly off topic but Ubud is a raw foodie’s mecca (plethora
of raw cafes ), not to mention the abundant array of yoga ashrams &
retreats.
Ok, back to the workshop, so more people started
filing in, all ages, which included young girls to older ladies. I love seeing
the diversity of people that have somehow been inspired by this raw food
lifestyle. I chatted with a few ladies & before I knew it, it was time for
Sarah’s yoga class. This was the perfect start, held outdoors, on the deck. It
put me into a lovely relaxed state & assisted in building an appetite for
an afternoon of raw food delights.
Yoga complete & slightly bleary eyed (in a good
way), I found myself a seat in the kitchen where Amanda started her first
recipe, a rejuvenating smoothie. Amanda managed to easily explain the recipe,
whilst whipping up what looked like a super nutritious smoothie, full of
fabulous fresh ingredients, containing a couple of my favourite superfoods,
acai & hemp protein. When the individual taster cups came around, I nearly
fell off my chair, it was so good. Darn it, why don’t my smoothies taste that
good. Ok, ok, that’s why I was there; I needed to inject some variety into my
raw food lifestyle (which up till now has been pretty limited). I only really
started delving into the raw world at the start of this year.
Next up was a kaleslaw salad. Ah the crunch of
fresh kale/cabbage/carrot/beetroot, along with a wickedly good dressing, made from
cashews & a whole slew of other nourishing yummies. Now that summer is
creeping back, I’m looking forward to embracing more salads again.
Amanda moved
onto a dehydrated raw herb & garlic bread (it’s not actually bread as there
was no wheat & gluten). Now, I’ve never made bread in my dehydrator, so I
was all ears. When the taster came round, topped with a basil pesto, let’s just
say that I possibly will never eat ‘normal’ bread again. Amanda guided everyone
through, happily answering all questions, from where to source ingredients, to
how to substitute ingredients within a recipe. Amanda is such a wonderful
wealth of knowledge.
Next up was
Kombucha. Now, I’d never heard of this wonderful home brewed effervescent
drink. It holds many health benefits, one of which includes 10 trillion good
bacteria, just in a glass of
100ml, pretty outstanding if you ask me. So, digestive problems be gone!
Amanda talked us through exactly how to start our own Kombucha brew. Currently,
my scoby (Kombucha) is brewing snuggly in the cupboard & hopefully turning
into the wonderful healing and immune boosting elixir.
Next we were
onto the sweet things, my favourite! If anyone out there has never had the
opportunity to enjoy a raw dessert, do yourself a favour & try one, as they
are delicious. A great starter into raw food, as you get your sweety fix, full
of raw ingredients/superfoods. So, yes, you can feel good about eating dessert.
WIN!
Lime &
coconut mousse was the dessert, which was so simple, the main ingredients being
coconut & avocado, along with lime & a few other ingredients. Drop
everything into a vitamix/food processor & let it do its thing. Refrigerate
& voila, a sublime light summery mousse.
Amanda has a small stall/shop on site & in the
break you can purchase ingredients to take home with you. I purchased a scoby
so I could work on brewing my own kombucha.
Amanda then announced that it was The Raw Food
Kitchen’s first Birthday & because of that, we were getting a bonus
dessert. A berry swirl cheesecake. Gah, it was heavenly. For those of you that
don’t know, raw food diets do not contain any dairy, grains or meat. So a raw
cheesecake is made up mainly of cashew nuts, that have been soaked (activated),
and then blended in a vitamix/food processor until it turns into the creamy
body of the cheesecake. I like to think I’m a cheesecake connoisseur & I
can tell you, you’d be hard pressed telling the difference when it comes to
taste between a full on fatty dairy cheesecake & a raw super food
cheesecake. I know which one my body prefers!
So lovelies, I highly recommend Amanda’s Raw food
classes, great for a raw food introduction or to broaden your raw repertoire.
This workshop ran for 4 hours & I think it was WELL worth it.
I’m thinking I will also attend her next class, Introduction to sprouting & fermenting. I’m
especially interested in the benefits of eating fermented products & being
able to make them myself.
Details are, date: Saturday 19 October, 2013. 2pm
to 5.30pm. See you there!
See Amanda’s website The Raw Food Kitchen for e-books full of recipes.
