Customer Reviews

I Am Grateful: Recipes and Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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........

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!

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.

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.

I have tried about 5 or 6 recipes so far and they have each been SO good. I had a bunch of almonds, so I made mostly recipes with those.

The "I Am Fun" (Almond "Toast") is a great way to use the pulp from carrot (and other veggies) juice AND the fiber from Almond milk. It has a texture really like dry toast! The "I AM Bountiful" (Bruschetta) made with it is good, too.

The "I Am Great" (granola) is well named! We love this stuff!

"I Am Happy" (Almond Hummus) is also yummy and solves the quandry of trying to make Hummus with raw ingredients. It was popular when I took it to a raw food potluck supper recently.

Some recipes are pretty involved and take a lot of steps, but some are REALLY simple. Not all of them are almond based, I just tried those because I had the almonds. There is a recipe for a Thai soup, Thom Ka ("I Am Adventurous") that sounds incredible.

Most recipes have photos. I like that, too.

I already had an Excaliber dehydrator, a high speed blender and a food processor --- which is good because many of the recipes pretty much require one or more of these appliances. But, not all of them do.

All of the recipes have really nice Affirming names and that is kind of neat! At the beginning of the book their business model is explained, and I was so impressed with that, too. The next time I am in San Francisco, I really want to get to one of their restaurants to have a raw food meal!

I picked up this book and instantly fell in love with it. It's full of fun recipes and drool-worthy photos. I appreciate the inspirational thoughts throughout, often phrased as questions, such as "In what area of your life could you bring more light?" It's more than simply an un-cookbook, and when I use it I feel challenged (which I like) to think a little broader.

That said, I would never recommend this as a first raw book for anyone. Techniques are not always well laid out, although the instructions for opening a coconut were great and worked perfectly for me as a first-timer. Some of the ingredients used regularly are not easily found outside of a major metropolitan area (Irish moss being one of them). A couple of the recipes are confusing about where/how to use some of the listed ingredients (for example, the I Am Rapture Strawberry Shortcake lists strawberries as an ingredient in the cake layers, in the luscious photo it looks like the strawberries were whipped into the cream layers, and the instructions just say to layer the strawberries in between - but no matter because it was SOOO GOOOOOOD! If you make nothing else from this book at least make the Whipped Cream on page 117.)

I made the Chocolate Mousse with powdered Irish moss, and not having any details telling me what to do with it, just tossed it in. Oops. The mousse had a lovely texture, good chocolate flavor up front, and a very strong seaweed finish. (Thanks to Thomas Fowler's tips I will attempt it again!)

The book is very nicely laid out and it's easy to find what you're looking for. It has a fabulous index (I have a couple of very good books that have tragic indexes and/or tables of contents, and so I have to just flip aimlessly through looking for something to do with, say, almond pulp - this book not so.)

I would recommend this without reservations to anyone who eats raw or adventurously as long as they are experienced with this type of food prep and cook playfully. I'm giving it 5 stars not because it's perfect but because I like it so much.

For a first raw book I would recommend Ann Wigmore's "Recipes for Longer Life" - a classic filled with easy recipes and more ready-to-hand ingredients. Recipes for Longer Life

I just revisited the irish moss issue (*8-21-08). Cafe Gratitude must read these review, cuz they have put the correct irish moss on their website and included instructions on how to use it. I actually called the CG main kitchen and found the baker that creates the desserts. She was very helpful and I went and ordered a bag of this stuff to try again. This time with full intention to get results. I can't wait to make some ice cream! (my own adventure..... irish moss is the raw form of carrageenan and found in most ice creams and more, gives that smooth creamy mouth feel) So though I give a rough and frustrated review below, life has changed and I still love this book a year later and I have used many of the recipes to teach me and gallop off into new creations! Happy raw preperation of food. And there is a new dessert recipe book on its way in October.... hmmm...... may still have to explore this too.

I love most of this book! Over the past 2 months I have made many of the recipes; entrees, nut milks, cheezes, and all were deliscious! I have used the recipes as a base and started to explore and develope my own versions. Sometimes coming back to their recipe to begin anew.
But.....finally I got around to the desserts yesterday. I had ordered the Irish Moss online. Not being familiar with what it was and how to use it. Seaweed. No biggy. I thought.
OK, not true. The lemon Mereringue Pie was a disaster and waste of money! the ratio of agave to lemon juice was not in any truth real. The Irish moss amount was measured in oz. I think maybe they meant grams? I was not about to go buy any more lemons to find out! I tried to powder my chunky Irish moss and it was not powdering up in the Vita mix or my coffee grinder. Both were just giving me the bad burn motor smell. It was a bit less chunky and smelled punky! Not a good dessert smell.
I tried the banana creme pie and it was soupy and would not set up! Tasted ok, brown and soupy like.
So I went through several other raw uncook books I have bought since the "I am grateful" book and looked for better tested recipes and made a citrus merengue pie (since I was down to 1.5 lemons and had an orange and lime just waiting to be juiced) Without the Irish moss and the addition of the meat of 2 Thai coocnuts and some of the milk creamed with the citrus juice and sweetened to taste with agave and some vanilla and then adding 3/4 coconut butter. MUch better! I did the same with the merengue and skipped their recipe altogether.
Also, when ever they tell you to chill a couple of hours in the fridge..... make that overnight so it can set up!
Try this book for the onion bread, the spinache tortillas and everything else. STAY AWAY from their instructions that include the Irish moss!!!!!!!! Nasty!
I am thankful for my experiences and grateful for the opportunity to learn more about the chemistry of raw desserts.
Thank you

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.

Unlike some recipe books, these guys made sure each recipe was tested. I know this because I was one of the testers. So, yes, you can count on those recipes. I tested the Thai cocount soup. I love their soup and am glad they do it, because it took me 30 minutes to figure out how to open that coconut, LOL. I wish I'd asked for a cake recipe instead.

Their strong point is the desserts. Just go to the back of the book for those. Hazelnuts....mmmmmmm.....

The recipes I've tried so far have tasted great! The dessert section is a gem of recipes and the philosophy is beautiful and inspiring. Some of the food combinations however have not been that great on my troubled tummy. I was honestly looking for a raw food recipe book with simpler, quicker recipes and less emphasis on nuts. This book did not match up to those expectations.