Where to Find Raw Food Recipes For Every Occasion
This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni’s Renegade Roundtable, which can be found at http://www.RenegadeRoundtable.com. In this excerpt, Nomi Shannon shares on The Raw Gourmet, Raw Food Celebrations and great raw food recipes.
Renegade Water Secrets with Nomi Shannon, raw food chef and author of The Raw Gourmet and a new book, Raw Food Celebrations.
Kevin: We could talk for hours. I wanted you to talk a little bit more about “The Raw Gourmet” and your new book and what someone can find in there, because it’s a great book. It’s great for people who want to do parties, who want to do themes and all that sort of stuff. And I think it’s really missing in the palate of raw food cookbooks that are out there. This one is kind of needed. It kind of fits a pretty nice niche. So why don’t you talk about that a little bit.
Nomi: All right, thanks. Well, you know, I think that the “Raw Food Celebrations” is the first book out that is specifically for celebrating. And what we did, Sheryl and I broke it down, so that if you wanted to have a theme, it doesn’t have to you can pick a recipe from here or from there, it’s broken down into I forget how many themes, seven or eight — Italian, Thai…she did the Thai because she and her husband have been to Thailand many times and the food is incredible. She did stuff I never heard of, like [indecipherable] and stuff like that. And delicious coconut soup and stuff. Brunch, buffet, cocktail, if you just want to have a bunch of people over, and just sort of have hors dousers and drinks. You know, we have a few nice drinks in there. They don’t have alcohol in them, but you could put alcohol in them, if you wanted to.
And what we did is we did a timeline, so it’s like three weeks before the party dehydrate, cut up the red peppers and dehydrate them, because they’ll keep forever, and then you toss them in or throw them on top of the soup. Five days before, four days before, three days before, the day of. And we tried and succeeded in most of the categories to have the amount of work you do on the actual day of your event, if you choose to make, there’s probably seven to nine recipes in each grouping, and if you choose to do the whole thing like that, and have the event as we structured it, then we really made it so that you can plan a week ahead and on a Saturday or a Sunday have a nice event. Or you can just
pull out one recipe at a time.
And we worked very hard to make it. Like my lasagna recipe I showed a few of the sauces last, whatever day I did the food prep in Fort Bragg, I think it was Saturday, and I made three or four sauces in less than 45 minutes. And turned out they were all the sauces that go into the lasagna. But we start making them four days before. And then really what takes the time is assembling the lasagna, and you do that the day before. So it’s a fun book for that, and it’s a book for someone who is starting but they don’t want to have like an energy soup concept, or for someone who’s been making food for a while and would like to make a nice family meal or entertain their friends. It’s absolutely structured so that you don’t have to be raw to enjoy the food.
Kevin: That’s great.
Nomi: And then “The Raw Gourmet” is your basic, this is the best first book to get, or one of the first books, and if you really, literally read it from cover to cover, you will know everything you need to know to have a raw food kitchen. I don’t get into things like, you know, it’s a food book, I do not get into deep things like healing and cleansing and all that because it’s a food book. But it’s everything you need to know about a raw food kitchen. We’re actually going to reprint it, and someone asked a question about I used Braggs in the book. Well, I do use Braggs in that book because I didn’t know it was a bad product at the time I wrote the book. I would substitute Braggs now for Nama Shoyu, which is a supposedly raw soy sauce, or maybe a little sea salt, or something salty like that.
And I’m thinking well maybe those people at my publisher can change every Braggs in the book to Nama Shoyu, but that’s a big undertaking, so maybe that won’t happen.
Kevin: Yeah. And where can someone go to get that book?
Nomi: The best place to get the book, I mean, yeah, you can get them at places like Barnes and Noble, or health food stores and stuff like that, but the best place is to get them from my site, rawgourmet.com, and the reason for that is I give a free booklet with each book. With the purchase of “The Raw Gourmet” you get a soup booklet, which is thirteen to fifteen raw soup recipes, and with “Raw Food Celebrations” you get a book called Raw But Not Naked, and it’s a book of salad dressings.
Kevin: Wow, cool.
Nomi: And actually there’s no other way to get those booklets. And they are, each booklet is worth seven dollars. I did that purposely because you have to pay for shipping and so it’s a free gift, and it mitigates the cost of shipping plus. So, and then of course you’re supporting the author, so that’s always nice, too.
Kevin: That’s great. And that’s at www.rawgourmet.com.
Nomi: Right.
Kevin: Where is that on the site, right on the front page?
Nomi: The first thing you’ll see is on the left, when you look at the products, there will be a picture of “The Raw Gourmet” and “Raw Food Celebrations.” There’s also lots of recipe at my site, Kevin, and there’s articles. I’ve been writing a newsletter for about ten years and I’m gradually posting them it the archives. So there’s probably eight or ten up there now. There’s a lot of information at my website. There’s also, when you sign up there’s a free newsletter. It’s one of the first things you’ll see. If you haven’t been to my site, sign up for my free newsletter. That comes out sometimes once a week, sometimes less. The one I sent out today was “how to deal with your doctor,” your medical doctor. How to get the responses you need from him, or her.
Kevin: Cool.
Nomi: Last week I put out a bunch of recipes called “Summertime Recipes.” Sometimes I put specials out, I always have really good specials. But when you sign up for my newsletter you also receive a free seven-part course which is called The Raw Truth. And that gets emailed to you every other day or so until seven have arrived and it stops. It’s just little snippets of information about fat and other things like that, and each one will have a recipe with it.
Kevin: Oh, each one has a recipe! Oh that’s great. So where you can find that is when you go to Nomi’s site www.rawgourmet.com , you can go there right now and on the left-hand side, as of this recording it’s an orange box and it says “newsletter.” You can get seven recipes seven days in a row that you can prepare for your family or for your friends or for yourself.
Nomi: And if you want to see the most recent picture of me and my little grandson Seth go to, I think it’s just “The Raw Gourmet.” Because I never, I’m just the most un- photogenic person, and the picture of me is like ten years old, so my daughter sent me a picture and it wasn’t too horrible so I posted it last month and it’s a picture of me and the baby, who is almost a year old now.
Kevin: That’s great. Well, I want to thank you for time, I really appreciate it. For those of you who are listening you can go to www.rawgourmet.com and I would recommend getting the seven recipes and Nomi’s newsletter and definitely checking out the book. Ann Marie loves it and she’s going to be preparing some of those recipes. So you’re going to be hearing a lot about it on the Renegade Health Show. So Nomi I want to thank you for your time.
Nomi: My pleasure.
To read the rest of this transcript as well as access The Renegade Roundtable experts just like Nomi Shannon please click here! Kevin Gianni is an internationally recognized health advocate, author & film consultant. He has helped thousands of people take control of their own health naturally. For more information visit raw food diets and holistic nutrition.
The CopyCat Cookbooks: Fast Food Recipes
Over 500 recipes from all of America’s most popular restaurants and fast food chains. Great sales page – Great value – Wide open niche!
The CopyCat Cookbooks: Fast Food Recipes
Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes
This is the ultimate gourmet, living foods “uncookbook” for busy people. You don’t have to sacrifice taste or style to reap the benefits of raw foods. These delectable, easy recipes emphasize fresh, animal-free ingredients and how to include more organics into your daily diet. Chef Ani offers delicious raw, animal-free versions of: breakfast scrambles, pancakes, chowders, bisques, and other soups, cheezes, mylks, lasagna, burgers, cobblers, pies, and cakes, and more. Included are recipes for dis
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(out of 154 reviews)
List Price: $ 19.95
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Review by dnk for Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes
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I’ve been a vegetarian since I was sixteen. In the late eighties, that was rough- even more difficult than being a vegan now. In the last year, I made the transition to vegan, but thanks to the work of innovative cooks like Isa Chandra Moskowitz, that just isn’t hard anymore. The next challenge? Going raw- very difficult because apparently you need a Vita-Mix, a dehydrator (I don’t think I’ve ever even seen one of those), a food processor, a grinder, and a bunch of other esoteric equipment I’ve never even heard of- right?
Ani Phyo earned four stars right off the bat by making almost every one of her recipes doable with a blender or, in many cases, a knife. There are maybe three recipes that absolutely require a dehydrator- and even that can be gotten around. For this reason alone, if you’ve been thinking about raw but you’ve been intimidated by all of the required equipment, check this out.
The recipes that I’ve tried- and I’ve gone a little crazy in the last few days- have been not only simple but really, really good. So far I have made her Miso Soup, Almond Yogurt, Black Pepper Cheeze, Nori Rolls, Coco Kream Pie (oh wow- so good), a bunch of her shakes and my version of her Sunflower Bread (hmm- how did I do that without a dehydrator?). Almost all of this has been accomplished with a blender, and I don’t even own the legendary Vita-Mix. In other words, the majority of households can do this.
Every chapter opens with her thoughts and recommendations on environmentalism. I liked most of her suggestions, but I was a little put off by her statements that hers was not a “bargain body” and that she is thus willing to pay more for her premium produce. I applaud her- I even envy her and others like her- but I am disappointed that she doesn’t touch on the readers who can’t afford organic produce for the most part and live in areas with lousy public transportation systems and recycling. I shudder any time I read something that makes it seem as if health is only for the wealthy.
However, she didn’t lose a star for that because her tone, as strident as it may have been at times, inspired me to find a work around for my dehydrator- and I did. Ever make yogurt using a heating pad? If you have a small enough pan- think one that fits into a toaster oven- and some tin foil- congratulation, you have the guts of a make your own dehydrator. I’m still tweaking mine, but I was very inspired by the results with my Sunflower Bread.
This is a soup to nuts guide to going raw, and it won’t require you to reoutfit your kitchen. It may, however, inspire you to rethink your approach to food.
Review by Val Pavlik for Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes
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This truly is a beautiful raw foods book – in more ways than one. It’s beautiful to look at, it’s colorful, has lots of beautiful pictures of Ani and her friends, and most importantly – contains some amazing raw foods recipes. Every page is filled with Ani’s little tidbits, useful information, and her thoughts and beliefs on doing all we can to make this world a better place to live in. I tried 4 of Ani’s recipes, and all I can say is that if the rest of the recipes are anything like the ones I tried, then it’s money well spent.
So why did I give it only 4 stars ?? Well, for starters, Ani repeats a lot of stuff in her book. Here are some examples : Reasons to shop at farmers markets, to eat organically, not to put something into your body just because the item is cheap or free, etc etc. Ani says these same things in several different chapters. She probably just wanted to get the message across loud & clear.
Don’t get me wrong, I still think this book is a GREAT BUY, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in raw foods, or in eating healthfully. I would also recommend it to anyone interested in “treading lightly” on our planet. If you can only read one book, and want to get information on “living green”, eating organically, healthfully, learning about raw foods and enjoying your meals, then buy this book!
One more comment: I thought that it was strange that Ani’s book was not printed on recycled paper (I looked 3 times to find some information on that in the book, but couldn’t find it anywhere). Consdering all the information she’s provided on living as responsibly as possible, I was disappointed to think that she didn’t insist that the book be printed on recycled paper, or at least to state somewhere that it’s printed on recycled paper – if it is.
Review by J. Throop for Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes
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i really wanted to like this book. it’s got a cute concept, the author seems great, and there seemed to be a good number of recipes within. however, after trying several of them, i have to give the book a big thumbs down. i made one of the breakfast “scrambles”, and it was a rather unpleasant texture as it was simply pulverized seeds, with seasonings. i also made a recipe she raved as being so yummy, one of her favorites, a faux mashed potato. what was it ? pureed broccoli with a few seasonings. maybe you have to be in a certain mindframe to get something out of the food offered in this book. the final recipe i tried was the baja nacho cheese. this is by far the worst raw food item i have made thus far. it was pulverized brazil nuts, water and a few spices. how in the world is that even comparable to cheese ? i understand it’s raw, but i have tried other raw cheeses, and they were much, much better. this one was gritty and flavorless.
i own four other raw cookbooks, and this one is my least favorite, and i will probably never use it. i really believe that vegetarian/vegan/raw food can still be delicious, gourmet, enticing, etc to the palate. i’ve made many raw recipes, and they rival the most high end fare you can find. when i have people over for dinner, i want them to be amazed and delighted that they are eating healthy food that’s also delicious. i’m afraid with ani’s selections, they would either laugh or be spitting it out in their napkins.
Review by Seyhan Civanlar for Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes
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I bought this book hoping that it would provide some new and interesting recipes. I have been preparing healthy raw meals for over 2 years. I have a few problems with Any’s book: (1) All her recipes use lots of oil and nuts, and many of them a lot of sugar, and therefore they are ultra-high in calories, (2) Most of her recipes are from other cookbooks (not much of originality), (3) I find it very unappealing to see Any’s photos on every other page instead of pictures of deliciously cooked food. Honestly, the book from Jennifer Cornbleet is much better for simple, delicious and light raw meals.
Review by Dawn Woodward for Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes
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I have been studying food and nutrition for several years and have been trying to transform to a raw diet for the past year. Not an easy thing to do. I have approximately 3 dozen books on this subject, many of them very good. I truly believe had I purchased this book first, the transformation would not have been nearly as hard. I have had this book for about a week and from the very first recipe I tried, I was hooked! I have always enjoyed preparing food but preparing meals for a family of five day in and day out has truly become tedious. The recipes in this book taste absolutely amazing, are simple to prepare, suprisingly economical and absolutely gorgeous to look at. I truly look forward to coming home and preparing meals again! Produce no longer goes to waste in my fridge as it has in the past and the three teens in my home and my meat-eating husband absolutely love the food. I can tell because they go back for seconds and thirds and look for left-overs for lunch and snacks!! But most important is how we all feel. We are a family of surfers and anybody who surfs knows how much energy it takes to put in an eight hour session. We have always eaten healthy as a general rule, but lots of times just choked down a “healthy” meal because it was good for us, but didn’t necessarily like what we are eating. This book has truly changed all of that. We all have so much energy and just feel truly happy. No more brain-fog, no more feeling like we need a nap in the middle of the day and those eight hour surf sessions are much easier to do, especially since we are in the middle of winter and it is COLD!! I don’t believe this would have been possible without the help of this book.
The book itself is beautiful to look at and truly inspiring. I have been able, finally, to combine the knowledge I have learned from other teachings, take the inspiration from Ani’s book and apply it to everyday meal preperations in a simple, clean and delicious manner. What is so different about this book compared to others is the recipes are truly delicious, the ingredients are easy to find (for the most part), preparation is simple and quick and the ingredients list is short. One other book I recommend using in conjuction with this book is The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What You Should Eat and Why by Jonny Bowden. Combining the knowledge in this book along with Ani’s recipes will help you to create absolutely fabulous meals that taste great and are the healthiest combinations I believe to be available. Thank you, Ani, for a truly beautiful and inspiring book and for helping to finally change my life. You can bet your last dollar I will be the first in line to buy your next book!