Cooked Foods

One Dish Wonder!

Of Course, A High-Raw Life-Style (higher percentage of raw foods) Includes SOME Cooked Foods, Too.

The question comes up, what to choose for cooked foods? If I'm going to the trouble to cook something, I choose delicious, satisfying, healthy foods. There are some things I've tried to make raw or sprouted and have learned that I just prefer them cooked. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Sprouted garbanzo beans (also known as chick peas);
• Fresh pink, green and tan chicken or duck eggs (from birds and their farmers, who I know personally);
• Sprouted quinoa;
• Sprouted barley;
• A variety of lentils (Dried or fermented in goat yogurt);
• sprouted dried beans;
• Artichokes;
• Popcorn;
• Potatoes (I recommend to use small heirloom varieties);
• Occasionally, I enjoy steamed, sweated or wilted: greens, cabbage, onions, squash, broccoli, asparagus;
• Toasted mustard seeds and coconut;
• Or, I'll melt coconut oil inn a stainless steel pan and saute onions, celery, mushrooms, fresh herbs and/or root vegetables as toppings and condiments. These are all great raw too!

Currently, in the late winter months, I choose to eat 3 to 5 cooked foods a week as: condiments, side dishes, special treats and mid-day meals served with lot's of fresh veggies for optimal nutrient absorption. You may also choose to supplement with a digestive enzyme or eat some fermented kraut with your cooked foods to aide in metabolic processes. Whenever we eat cooked foods, our metabolic enzymes are used to digest them. This interrupts the "healing and vitality" role of our system. A healthy body can compensate with help from mircoorganisms found in fermented foods and enzymes from a reliable source. (Metabolic enzymes are your healing and vitality workers. They must stop what they are "doing" and aide your digestion and obsorption whenever you present your system with a challenge. Cooked foods are a challenge. None-the-less, cooked foods bring us pleasure. Enjoyable meals are key to health and healing! Feeling satisfied increased your endorphins and levels out your hormonal activities. So, if you percieve a raw foods life-style as "rabbit food," or attach other negative connotations to eating this way, your higher self may be telling you to incorporate cooked foods. Using one of the 80/20 "rules," eat cooked foods (20% of your meal) and raw foods (80%) whenever you feeling unsatisfied. To find a enjoyable balance, monitor how you feel after each meal. Eat cooked foods mid-day, exercise regularly and drink clean-source water in abundance.

Here are a few cooked recipes you may want to incorporate into your raw high-raw foods lifestyle!

I will post the recipes separately. Use the search window of the blog to find these and other recipes by name or ingredients. Enjoy!

• Channa Dal Dhoka (Steamed Lentil Cakes)
• Hummus (Garbanzo Bean Dip/Spread)
• Frittata (Cooked Eggs with Fresh Veggie Toppings)
• One Dish Wonder! (pictured above)

Here are foods you should never heat above 105 degrees:

• olive, nut or seed oils
• olives
• seeds and nuts
• fruits (fresh or dried)

The result is carcinogenic!