Coconut and Berries

Healthy, Vegan Recipes by Emma Potts

Review: Raw Foods Festivities Workshop, London

Sorry I haven’t posted for a little while. End of term busy-ness crept up on me and I had a lot of work to get done. Thankfully I’ve handed in all my assignments now, and with just a few classes to go I’m ready for the Christmas break and lots of kitchen time!

I should really have been working on Saturday but naughty me snuck off to London last minute to take part in a Raw Foods Workshop run by Tanya Alekseeva of Better Raw. I’ve talked about Tanya before and reviewed one of here other e-books, “Nourished: Raw Foods for winter”, but this class was focused especially on Christmas recipes!

Tanya demonstrated a whole raw foods Christmas menu, right from drinks through to desserts, and showed that you definitely don’t have to miss out if you want to eat raw or even partially raw this Christmas. We’ll be at my brother’s for Christmas Day this year where the menu won’t be raw or even vegan but my sister-in-law is very kindly insisting on cooking a special vegan dish for me and everyone else to share. All the same,  I’m hoping to make some of the raw recipes we tried at the workshop for my family to enjoy over the Christmas period too.

All the recipes came from another of Tanya’s e-books “Festive: The Best Raw Food Christmas Recipes” which has 30 recipes in total.

Tanya Alekseeva, Better Raw

Tanya in action with the nut loaf before its time in the dehydrator

I thought I knew a lot about raw food already but found I learnt so much in the two and a half hour class. It was so lovely to be in the company of like-minded people too- passionate foodies who care about their food being both healthy and tasty. I’ve been in touch with Tanya for some time too but hadn’t met in person before Saturday.  She really has such a wonderful energy and enthusiasm for what she does and her passion for raw foods is certainly infectious. I came out of the workshop simply buzzing and excited to eat more raw meals!

Raw Christmas Feast

Each dish was prepared in front of us in the lovely kitchen while we sat on comfortable sofas and sipped spiced Christmas tea Smile

So what did we eat?

Sorry for the poor quality pictures. The lighting wasn’t the best in the workshop space and I was keen to get my plate of food!

For the main meal there was:

Nut Loaf
Mushroom Jus
Caramelized Onions
Cranberry Chutney              and
All the Trimmings Salad

Wow! I loved how all the components had been carefully considered to reflect the flavours of a traditional Christmas dinner but in a raw and much healthier form. Unlike the heavy, sleep-inducing food you might be more used to eating on Christmas Day, this meal will leave you with energy for a long afternoon walk (or even a run!).

Raw Mince Pies

A celebration always calls for dessert! There are several options in the e-book: traditional Christmas Pudding, Cinnamon Cookies, White Chocolate Orange Cream Berry Cake, Ginger Crunch Cookies, Very Berry Raw Food Trifle….but we got to try the Christmas Mince Pies. These were unbelievably delicious and far superior to the baked kind in my opinion. We were fighting over the last ones! Tanya’s kindly shared this recipe on her website, along with some other raw Christmas recipes gathered from other chefs. None of these require a dehydrator.

Raw Nut Nog

Since I’ve been back home I couldn’t resist making the final recipe we tasted on the day- the Nut Nog. This rich, sweet and perfectly spiced drink is a real treat and the perfect way to celebrate finishing my work Smile. It’s made using homemade hazelnut milk so it’s extra creamy. Can you spot my little robin in the background? I think he wants to dive in!

As a special Christmas treat, Tanya’s offering a 25% discount on all her e-books (before December 31st) and has also collaborated with a whole load of companies to bring us discounts on their products. Some of my favourite companies are featured, including Detox Your World, The Raw Chocolate Company and Teapigs tea.

There are also massive savings to be had on kitchen equipment- Vitamix blenders, dehydrators, the Tribest personal blender (this is the one I have and love!), and much more.

There are no upcoming workshops listed at the moment, but keep your eye on the teaching page as I’m sure more will pop up soon. Tanya is, however, holding a very special event in the new year- a seven-course raw supper club! It sounds like a must if you’re interested in raw food and can get to London for the 29th of January.

 Have you attended a cooking (or “un-cooking” class before? I’d love to hear about your experiences.

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Comments

  1. I recently attended a similar course here in Dublin -a two day course about making a raw Christmas dinner feast and other festive treats and desserts! It was sooooo delicious! I felt the same as you, really lovely to be in the company of like minded people who have the same passions! We also had a delicious nut nog, I have been meaning to make it to put up on the blog! Glad you had a nice day! :-)
    Rowena

  2. Me again! Just a question about the tribest personal blender if you don’t mind! What do you use this for? I’d love a vitamix but as I’m not fully raw and don’t intend to be, although I know I’d use it quite a bit, maybe not quite enough to validate the price! Can you make nut milks and nut butters with the tribest?
    Rowena

    • Hi Rowena, The tribest is too small to make a decent amount of nut milk and even with a vitamix you need a tamper for making nut butters. I use my tribest almost daily though for grinding nuts, flax and chia seeds, making small smoothies, sauces, dressings etc.

      I have a blendtec not a vitamix but they’re both pretty much as good as each other. I’m finding I use it all the time too now I keep it out on my counter. Great for big green smoothies, nut milks of course, fillings for raw desserts, raw soups.

      Hope that’s helpful!

      • Thanks for the info! I think it’s inevitable that I end up getting a vitamix as the main thing I’d love to make are nut butters, so I should stop putting it off. The cost will be returned in health benefits I’m sure! :-)

          • Ha not at all, thanks for the help! I do have a food processor, I have never tried making nut butter in it as I presumed it would need to be more powerful, I don’t know what power it is off the top of my head but it is a fairly good strength. Maybe with some patience and a lot of scraping they would get there! Hmm! Thats one to try tomorrow!! I’ll report back! 😉 Thank you!! x

  4. I’d love to go to a raw cooking class! I’m looking for one while I’m closer to civilization over the holidays. Looks like a great (and delicious) experience!

  5. Sounds like a wonderful class! I have been to a few raw cooking classes and they were always fun… and tasty! I love when they are accompanied by recipes to recreate at home…. and I am even more happy you got the 2 raw cookbooks now! :)

  7. Lovely, Emma! I wish I was there too! I dream about an workshop too, I am sure there is always something to learn… and what especially what I like about these workshops: you meet people with the same interest (read: obsession) like us :).
    I wish you could share with us these delicious recipes!
    Natalia

  9. this looks amazing - I once tried a raw nut roast and it was a disaster but I would love to try one again when I finally get over it :-) I think a raw christmas dinner would work really well on a hot day in Australia

    • Haha. Bad food experiences can be traumatic! I didn’t think of Australia being hot for Christmas but of course this menu would be perfect for your climate.
      We did actually eat the nut roast, mushroom jus and caramelized onions warm from the dehydrator though which was rather lovely.

  11. droooool! all I can say. that nutloaf, that mince pie… now I’m the one that’s trying not to be jealous 😉 I wish I could go to the London dinner party. I myself have been to quite a few raw foods cooking classes and I always enjoy them very much.

  12. No need to apologize, I haven’t been blogging lately either. The holidays is always hectic! I’ve never attended a cooking (or raw) class before, but I would love to one day. I would love to try her Christmas Mince pies, miam! The Nut Nog looks wonderfully yummy with the homemade hazelnut milk!

  13. This workshop sounds amazing! Just reading your review has got me excited about trying more raw foods. Tanya’s recipes look so tasty and, having just read a few of her festive recipes, they sound pretty straight forward to make too (love that they don’t require a dehydrator!) I’ve been dreaming about raw mince pies for over a week now… need to get it out my system and make some asap!

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