Life is RAWsome

Wow. I don't really know where to begin! I've finished my first week of my three week Associate Chef culinary training at the Living Light Culinary Institute and it's been nothing short of amazing. The students in my class are all so unique and beautiful - inside and out. The experience of being in a place with so many like-minded people learning about how to nourish our body and minds with raw food is the experience of a lifetime for me.


So our first day (Monday) after orientation and a delicious green smoothie for breakfast, we were off to the kitchen for our first hands-on projects, where we learned to make raw granola, a garden blend soup and almond cheese. Then after our mid-morning green drink, we made flax crackers, cabbage kraut and black forest cherry brownies. Yes, brownies, people, and they were gooooood! Later we made veggie sushi and started our seed sprouting project. That was just our first day :) Below is a picture of the lunch we had - all raw of course. Doesn't it look fantastic?!

Tuesday was a packed day too but my favorite part of the day was making the raw apple pecan pie with Rebecca and Simone.  We were short two people (the other teams had 5) but we did great!

Here are some of the other pies - beautiful!

Wednesday was our "light" day where we ate all fruits and veggies - no nuts or fats.  It was a nice change from all the eating we were doing.  Can I just say again how great the green smoothies are that we have for breakfast?  I will definitely be making these for my friends, clients and customers when I get back to Indianapolis. They are so nutritious, full of energy to start the day and so easy to make.

Thursday was Mexican day.  My favorite flavors we've made so far.  Check it out.  Ya, that's a raw taco...

Friday was my birthday!  And my roomate Lauren's birthday too - how crazy and cool is that?!  Living Light must have known because we made cheesecake :)  A raw version of traditional cherry cheesecake - beautiful.

More than anything, it is so exciting to taste these wonderful dishes and learn how easy and satisfying it is to eat a living/raw food diet.  When you begin adding whole foods into your diet and eating less processed foods and fast food, you are filling your body with living energy - how bad can that be?  :)  

Stay tuned for more to come!