I Am Grateful: Recipes and Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude [Paperback]

Terces Engelhart (Author), Orchid (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2007

With locations in San Francisco, Berkeley, Marin, and Los Angeles, Café Gratitude has become well known for its inspiring environment and distinctive, flavorful organic foods. In I Am Grateful, cofounder Terces Engelhart presents her and her husband Matthew’s view of life and business philosophy. She also presents her story of personal healing, sharing highlights of her recovery from food addiction while explaining the benefits of a raw lifestyle. The book’s gorgeous, full-color photographs accompany easy-to-follow recipes for the café’s most popular items, making it easy for readers to prepare live foods at home. Recipes include café favorites such as the “I Am Luscious” raw chocolate smoothie, “I Am Bountiful” bruschetta, “I Am Elated” spicy rolled enchiladas, and “I Am Amazing” lemon meringue pie with macadamia nut crust.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“I spend a lot of time on the road and eat in a lot of restaurants, but every time I return to San Francisco I go to Café Gratitude to recharge. Not just on the amazing food but also on the energy of the staff and the practice of abundance that Matthew and Terces bring to everything they do. They have affected my life in a profound way!”
—Michael Franti, musician and filmmaker

“Café Gratitude offers an experience that expands what is possible for all people–a great recipe for business. I've watched Café Gratitude grow and have experienced both the flavors of their food and their commitment to providing a sacred experience for their customers.”
—Chip Conley, founder and CEO, Joie de Vivre Hospitality

“In I Am Grateful, Terces Engelhart, one of the most extraordinary restaurateurs of our time, delivers more edible joy than we could have previously imagined. Now you can bring the magic of Café Gratitude directly into your home and feed yourself, your friends, and your family these delicious dishes and meals.”
—David Wolfe, author of The Sunfood Diet Success System, Eating For Beauty, and Naked Chocolate and founder of the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation

“Whenever we are in San Francisco, Café Gratitude is always our first stop. We eat all our meals there and always leave feeling fulfilled and appreciative that such a place exists. Matthew and Terces are the purest spirits and have raised the bar for what a restaurant can be—a culinary experience with a spiritual lift.”
—Woody Harrelson and Laura Louie

“Café Gratitude is a leader of our time, opening us to the path of Divine power, possibility, inspiration, and health through the cultivation of Connection Consciousness.
—Julia Butterfly Hill, founder, Circle of Life

“Even if raw food isn’t your thing, [Terces Engelhart’s] inspirational story is reason enough to grab a copy of this book.”
—Mother Nature Network

“There are color photos throughout the book and positive affirmations are the titles of each recipe, such as I Am Energetic, I Am Grateful, etc…I love the inclusion of juice pulp on many of the recipes--what a great way to minimize waste while maximizing nutrition.”
—Eco Mama’s Guide to Living Green

“I Am Grateful not only includes a broad range of raw entrees, salads, sauces and drinks, but also includes…the inspiring story of restaurant founder Terces Engelhart and a bit on the philosophy behind her creation.”
—Spiritualitea.com

“I Am Grateful is an amazing book.”
—Vegan Raw Ranch

About the Author

Terces Engelhart has been preparing and serving flavorful food and delicious meals since her childhood. She is interested in the healing power of food to help people who suffer from diet-based diseases, as she did.

Engelhart and her husband, Matthew, opened the first location of their popular Café Gratitude 2004 in San Francisco, California. They have opened a second restaurant in San Francisco as well ones in Berkeley, Marin, and Los Angeles. The cafés, which support local farmers, sustainable agriculture, and environmentally friendly products, serve living, organic food made with the freshest ingredients possible.

The Engelharts published The Abounding River Logbook as well as The Abounding River board game, both of which focus on their practice of being in abundance. In addition, they lead monthly workshops on this topic and are often asked to be guests on radio and TV shows. The Engelharts live with two of their five children in San Francisco.

Orchid (Richard Slayen) has studied food and cooking in such exotic places as Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, Central America, and Mexico. He specializes in creating fabulous meals designed to delight the senses and nourish the body. Orchid currently resides in San Francisco, California and Liberty, Tennessee, seducing the palates of private clients as well as the community at Café Gratitude.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books (May 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556436475
• ISBN-13: 978-1556436475
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.5 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,960 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Is the Gourmet Answer to Raw Foods, October 29, 2008

By 

Colorgirl "Spreading color around my world" (NE US) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: I Am Grateful: Recipes and Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude (Paperback)

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........

48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How to Use Irish Moss - You'll need this!, October 14, 2007

By 

Thomas R. Fowler "Thom Fowler" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Am Grateful: Recipes and Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude (Paperback)

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!

52 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars on the junk food end of raw food, May 4, 2007

By 

Kulotta Mav (oakland, ca) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: I Am Grateful: Recipes and Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude (Paperback)

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.