Chef Rod Rotondi

Many have touted the health and energy benefits of raw foods, but few have presented recipes and instructions for making raw food appealing — and satisfying — to everyone. Chef Rod Rotondi demonstrates that going raw isn’t hard — in fact, it’s fun, easy, and more delicious than you’ve ever imagined. You will learn all the fundamentals of preparing your own raw foods at home, including setting up your raw kitchen, transitioning to raw foods, sprouting, dehydration, and raising your kids on raw foods. Best of all, he offers a wealth of recipes for smoothies, breakfast, appetizers, soups, salads, dressings, entrées, and decadent desserts. Rod demonstrates that the best — and utterly delectable — way to go green and get healthy is to eat fresh food in its natural state.

Author of Raw Food for Real People

To purchase this cookbook an/or learn more about Chef Rotondi, please visit:

http://leaforganics.com or http://www.rawfood4realpeople.com/

Includes contributions by the foremost authorities on raw-food nutrition: Brian Clement, MD, Gabriel Cousens, MD, Compton Rom Bada, and Robert O. Young, PhD.

Recipe Discussed on the Podcast:

Porridges: Oatmeal and Buckwheat - yes,raw!  And DELICIOUS!

(from page 83 of the cookbook - Raw Food for Real People)

If you’re feeling like having a more solid breakfast to sustain you for a longer period of time, it’s hard to beat a porridge. Oatmeal is incredibly delicious and filling — it’s a real substantial meal. Many people eat oatmeal because of its reputation for being heart friendly and healthy in general. What people often don’t realize is that the oatmeal most people eat is a grossly inferior version of what it can be. Most oatmeal is made from oats that have been steamed and pressed before they are cooked. Often they come in little paper sachets and last on a shelf for years, and you just add hot water and stir. I am going to teach you to make the real deal — oatmeal from sprouted oats — plus a couple of porridges with buckwheat, another healthy and satisfying breakfast grain.

Emerald City Oatmeal

Follow the directions for regular oatmeal, then stir in 1 teaspoon spirulina powder and 1 tablespoon flaxseed oil.

 Count Choco Maca Oatmeal

Follow the directions for regular oatmeal, then stir in 1 tablespoon cacao powder and 1 teaspoon maca powder.

 

Living Buckwheat Porridge

Follow the directions for regular oatmeal, but substitute 2 cups soaked and sprouted buckwheat (see chart, page 57) for the oat groats. To give this a different great taste, try substituting 1/2 cup yacon syrup for the agave nectar.

 

Fruity Oatmeal or Buckwheat Porridge

To make a fruity version of oatmeal or buckwheat porridge, slice up some fresh fruit and add it over the top, or mix it in. Peaches, mangoes, blueberries, strawberries, and many other fruits work very well.

 

Esmaa, one of our recipe testers, loved this REAL DEAL Oatmeal!

 

Esmaa Self's first culinary attempt ended abruptly when her hair caught on
fire. She was 3.  But, she didn't give up forever!  At age nine she prepared her first one-pot meal, 'muckaroni'. Undaunted by early failures (aka learning experiences!), Esmaa taught herself to cook from scratch and enjoys incorporating fruit, eggs, herbs and vegetables grown on her Colorado property. Environmentally aware and enjoying feeling a connection with nature, Esmaa blogs about all things interrelated.  Thank you, Esmaa!

Blogs:

Es*sense: Esmaa's Sense of Things http://esmaa.wordpress.com/
Homeostasis: http://esmaaself.blogspot.com/

Karin, another of our recipe testers, found this recipe to be fascinating!

Karin Rindal's interested in exploring new and different foods was inspired by her father who always sought out the unusual and her fraternal grandmother who let her help in her kitchen. Her solo culinary efforts began early when at 14 she become responsible for cooking all meals for 6 months while her mother cared for her ailing mother in Germany. Her sister was her first taste taster and reminds her of the experience to this day. Undaunted she threw herself into cooking and reading on the subject.

During college Karin worked as the live-in cook for a family of eight and compiled her first recipe collection. Over the years since then she has taken countless classes in all kinds of culinary subjects ranging from cake decorating to Asian cuisine. She has travelled extensively overseas and lived in Italy for a year, where her landlady would teach her cooking when it was her turn to deliver the rent.

She has a Baking Certificate from King's Cooking School in Short Hills, NJ where she has also taught class. She has recipe tested for cook books including "Dining Al Fresco:  the Wolf Trap Picnic Cookbook" and continues to be a voracious cookbook and recipe collector.

Karin currently contributes a weekly gardening column to the Millburn/Short Hills Patch online community website which includes her recipes when the article subject warrants. http://www.millburnpatch.com/ She just won the award for "most delicious lefse" at the first annual St. Olaf College Alumni Lefse Making event in New York City.

She teaches cooking classes to adults and children, as well as contributes her creations to several volunteer programs including those at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum, Greenwood Gardens and the Short Hills Home Garden Club.  She aspires to publish her own cookbook one day.

Check out her website at : www.krplantinfo.com

A BIG thank you to you for listening and to Chef Rotondi, Esmaa and Karin for being guests on the show!