6 Responses to “I Am Grateful: Recipes and Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude”

1. Thomas R. Fowler
   May 10th, 2010 @ 11:47 am

   This book is great. The only problem is that they don’t tell you how to use Irish Moss in any of their desert recipes. I learned the hard way that you don’t just add the irish moss and hope for the best. There is a tried and true traditional technique for working with Irish Moss in cooking and here it is …

   Before you read on, you must ask yourself “at what temperature does food cease to be raw.” If you add hot liquid to raw ingredients are you cooking it? I think Raw Food enthusiasts have some definitions about what temperature food actually cooks at. You can follow this method and let the liquid cool slightly before adding it so it’s not fresh off a boil, nor scalding hot and preserve some of the living enzymes of raw food. The very traditional way is to boil the Irish Moss. This version calls for simmering over low heat. Thus, the Irish Moss is no longer “raw” by any sense of the word, but if you don’t do this, you won’t get results. You can tell yourself you are eating “mostly raw”. That still sounds healthy and wonderful to me. Whatever the case, it’s still vegan.

   1) Rinse two or three times in cold or tepid water.

   2) Put the irish moss in a bowl or cup and cover completely with water. Soak the Irish moss for 10 to 15 minutes – or until it is swollen and becomes translucent.

   3)Transfer the Irish Moss and the water to a saucepan and put over a low heat until the Irish Moss almost totally dissolves.

   4)Strain the liquid, toss the undissolved matter into the compost bin and add it to the ingredients you want to thicken.

   Follow the rest of the directions in the book and you’ll get results!

   Rating: 4 / 5

2. Colorgirl
   May 10th, 2010 @ 2:37 pm

   One of the hardest things for me to adjust to when paring down my intake of food is the adjustment of making any kind of elaborate gourmet style meal if I need to, to making something out of almost no ingredients and not even be able to COOK IT!

   When I switched to primarily raw foods, my family was on the verge of Mutiny. I tried RAW IN TEN MINUTES which at first was okay, but I have a good imagination. All of the recipes started to taste the same and my family went from eating everything on their plates to making excuses to avoid dinner and eat in their rooms (stashed organic corn chips etc).

   When I saw I AM GRATEFUL, I figured it might be another blonger of a book, but I decided to try it anyway. It was someone’s birthday the week I got it, so I decided to make a raw dessert (strawberry shortcake) and then a baked cake for everyone else.

   I never made it to the cake. Everyone went berserk over the raw strawberry shortcake.

   I have made about 1/2 of the recipes in this book so far and I can say OMG it is truly FANTASTIC. Our favorites are: Marinated Veggies, Falafels, Fiery Carrot Avocado Soup, Coconut Curry Soup (Thai), Thai green papaya salad , Coconut Lime Dressing, Jalapeno mint chutney, Smokey Mole (OMG that is the BEST RECIPE EVER), Marinara with Brazil nut Parmesan cheese, Pad Thai,pecan porridge, Cinnamon Rolls, Strawberry Shortcake (with raspberries is DIVINE), German Chocolate Cake, Strawberry Apple Cobbler, and Lemon Meringue Pie.

   We don’t eat desserts that often, or we would have ripped through the entire dessert section.

   Preparation is about that of any meal- it is not too involved on some recipes- but others, take overnight food dryer time and have to be planned accordingly.

   However, I find that it works out fine in some cases to do an overnight. I am really in love with the recipes in this book. They taste AMAZING and Gourmet in quality, yet they have simple ingredients in some cases. I substitute ingredients I don’t have until I can get what I need quite often.

   I can not recommend this book highly enough. It is like Moosewood used to be to vegetarians years ago……..
   Rating: 5 / 5

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4. A. Mavromatis
   May 10th, 2010 @ 5:29 pm

   I have eaten at the cafe and cooked from the book. the food is good. super duper delish.

   but it is so super duper delish because so many of the recipes call for large portions of agave syrup (lots of suger here) and coconut oil (mmmm fatty fatty fatty)

   also, there is little sprouting going on here. grains are often only soaked and softened before being turned into breads and cakes etc. so, less enzymes and nutrition but this certainly makes the recipes less daunting to those who are not used to sprouting and also faster (you can have your pizza in a day instead of three!)

   also, the cookbook suggests starting out your “baking” with the dehydrator set at 145…higher than most raw books advise. you turn down the temp after an hour so perhaps there is no damage done.

   that said, the recipes here are very very accessible and tasty. everything I have made has been devoured by my housemates with not even so much as a crumb for evidence.

   terces also gives you her life’s story and shares her new philosophy. have only skimmed this bit. I came and stayed for the food.

   for working with sprouting and sprouts in your raw treats, I have cooked from and enjoyed juliano’s raw.
   Rating: 4 / 5

5. Kenna M. Benitez
   May 10th, 2010 @ 5:46 pm

   I bought this book based on conversations I had had with vegan friends. I love the idea of eating raw, and I love the food at Cafe Gratitude. However, being completely new to the raw food scene, this book was a poor choice. I am glad for the author that she felt empowered to share her life story, but find that her disclosures about abuse to be inappropriate in this context. Ms. Engelhart assumes her readers are completely in the know with regard to raw food. Nowhere does she mention what made her decide that raw food was THE way for her, how she’d discovered it nor what the advantages could be. Further, she neglects to include a list of necessary equipment (several times she mentions equipment that is not normally found in the average kitchen, but does not go on to describe it) nor instruction on how to prepare ingredients (as noted by Thomas Fowler, fellow reviewer) for use in some recipes. After reading through the book, I immediately gave it to another friend who is already “cooking” raw. If you are looking for a raw recipe book, do your research on the hows before you spend your money on this book.
   Rating: 2 / 5

6. P. Paoloni
   May 10th, 2010 @ 6:14 pm

   How often does a restaurant print their best receipes in a cook book. As one friend said to me,” never.” But having visited Cafe Gratitude in San Fran, I fell in love with their Chocolate Mousse and the receipe is in the book. It’s a great cookbook and they are truly on a mission to convince everyone how eating raw can be as pleasurable as eating cooked food. I thank the authors of this cookbook and Cafe Gratitude for their generousity, in sharing their restaurant receipes with all of us.
   Rating: 5 / 5

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