Welcome
to
Taste of Raw
I am living in the land of enchantment and loving it in Albuquerque, NM!
I am currently offering classes in Albuquerque to share the wonderful tastes of Raw food cuisine
and the health benefits of Living Foods!
Call me to reserve a space for "Fermenting Basics"
Sunday, April 14th,2013 $50.00+tax
1:30-4:30 pm
See the Raw vegan classes coming up...
scroll down & click link to sign up for my monthly newsletter!
Teaching raw and living foods to add spice to your life!
Chef Karen Hammer
HI! I'm Chef Karen Hammer and I love fresh healthy, healing foods and I also love to prepare them. I am a graduate of Living Light Culinary Arts Institute and received my certification as a Raw Culinary Arts Associate Chef in February 2010. A lifelong interest in food and heath and a believer of the quote from Hippocrates which states "our food should be our medicine and our medicine should be our food". This interest also led me to study at the Ann Wigmore Foundation as she was the pioneer in foods that heal. I am interested in sharing with you foods that taste delicious and create better health and healing for many people all over the world. At this time I find it is important to find ways to stay healthy through wonderful whole fresh and organic foods. Fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, sprouted grains, seeds and beans. Sea veggies provide so many minerals that we need and I believe can help to keep us well. Eating at least 50% raw vegan foods or more is what I recommend for people who want to improve their health. I am passionate about sharing this lifestyle where living or raw foods can be delicious, satisfying and beautiful using natural whole living foods. These are the foods that will sustain us into the future.
I offer group classes, personalized training, products, and private chef services.
By subscribing to my newsletter, you'll receive delicious recipes and newsletters as well as information for my classes.
Above is a picture of me wearing my chef coat and hat taken while I was at the Living Light Culinary Arts Institute in Fort Bragg, California in February 2010. Located on Hwy 1 the ocean there is amazing with cliffs and white waves below. It was spectacular, though the classes kept us very busy!
The founder Cherie Soria is an amazing chef and teacher who has run a vegan cooking school for about 30 years and raw vegan in the last decade. She has shared so much of her knowledge with us.
For most of my life I have always loved to cook and experiment with foods and flavors, but changing to a raw program had some distinct changes. Soaking nuts and seeds to remove the enzyme inhibitors. Preparing uncooked foods and using very low heat food (using a dehydrator) to keep all the phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals intact. Preparing foods that are satisfying with variety and not just a salad for every meal. Changing to raw and fresh living foods was a change to what I had known previously and I decided to learn all I could.
I was eating a living food diet for exactly a year before I went to Living Light. After hearing a talk by Brian Clement from Hippocrates who was on a speaking tour around the country. I saw him in Albuquerque, New Mexico where I live. Right then and there I decided to try going raw and I became passionate about raw vegan foods and enjoyed this adventure in eating. I loved the way it made me feel so alive and energetic. For that year I spent time searching on the internet to learn all I could about preparing this cuisine and experimenting with flavors. Then of course I started reading books. To change to Raw Vegan didn't seem like such a stretch for me as I was vegetarian for over 11 years. The desire for a healthy diet and learning about healthy food started in my senior year in high school. I had decided to become a vegetarian, but was convinced by family (my parents) that we need cheese or fish at the least to be getting the protein we need. It seems to be an obsession with many Americans to worry about whether they get enough protein when most people probably get too much. Have you ever heard of a protein deficiency in this country? I haven't.
Since I started as a raw vegan more than 4 years ago , I have now released about 44 lbs and I feel great. I just ate fresh and healthy raw foods in whatever quantities I felt I needed and the pounds melted off.
In November 2009 I attended a program (retreat) at the Ann Wigmore Foundation in San Fidel, New Mexico. I liked that it was not that far away but, I would gladly have gone if I still lived in Illinois. At that time I attended AWF I was raw vegan 9 months.
Ann Wigmore started healing people of many diseases including herself of cancer starting in the 1960's. She was the founder of Hippocrates that was in Boston. Her foundation then moved to New Mexico after she passed away from smoke inhalation from a fire. At the foundation, I think they do an amazing job of teaching people how to improve their health with living foods. Many people with serious illnesses regain their health after learning there. They follow the protocol that Ann Wigmore developed, the concept of using raw foods such as fruits and vegetable's, sprouts and wheatgrass that is juiced for healing. She is also considered the "Mother of Wheatgrass" I am so happy the foundation is continuing to educate people in this tradition that's needed so much right now! I give thanks to Susan Lavendar who runs it and puts her heart into it with dedication to help so many people. She has become a good friend. Keep scrolling down for the upcoming classes below the picture of the sky! Right now I am starting a new adventure, giving classes and helping people learn how much fun it can be to live and create health with this lifestyle. I'm pleased there are so many people now changing or leaning toward adding more raw and vegan foods to benefit their health. I'm also looking for the perfect space and a partner to open a raw vegan restaurant in Albuquerque, New Mexico when the time is right!
View to the west from my home with zoom.
Extinct volcanos and the beautiful New Mexico sunset! I took this as I had never seen a sunset like this one in the first few years living here, now I realize it was probably created by Chemtrails or geoengineering the sky, I am starting to have showings of the documentary film "What in the world are they spraying?" at my home. You can view the film on You tube if you search! This is an important issue! Our air, food, water is at stake! If you are interested please contact me and come to one of them. I feel this is extremely important for us.
Please check out these of websites www.abouthesky.com or www.californiaskywatch.com. www.carnicom.com
I am so energized to be sharing Living foods by giving raw food classes for
health. The foods taste wonderful with fresh natural flavors
Upcoming Raw Vegan "Taste Of Raw Classes"
with Karen Hammer
Classes for April 2013 to May 2013
Register now for classes below to reserve a space. All classes have a 7% sales tax
3 hr classes $50.00, 1 1/2 hour classes are $35.00 plus tax
Remember all of my classes are Raw Vegan
So no dairy, no refined sugar or refined flour
If it sounds like cheese it is made with a nut either raw almonds or cashews or other nuts or seeds
If it sounds like milk or cream it is also made from nuts or seeds or even the milk of coconuts
Taste's of All American Foods
Sunday, June 16th,2012
1:30-4:30 pm
$50.00+ 3.50 sales tax
All the taste's of summertime you remember!
Learn how to make: Yum Burgers, Onion Rings, Cole Slaw,
fresh mustard and ketchup, Brownies, Vanilla Ice Cream.
Taste's of Italy
Sunday, July 14th, 2012
1:30-4:30 pm
$50.00+3.50 tax
Enjoy the Fresh Italian flavors at their best
Nut Cheese and Pesto torte
Living Lasagne
Marinated Veggie Antipasto
Crepes with Cashew Creme and Strawberries
All foods are raw and vegan and optimally organic
using the freshest ingredients available
YOUR PAYMENT IS YOUR RESERVATION, Call Chef Karen with any questions you have and send a check or payment to reserve your spot. Looking forward to hearing from you soon! 505-363-4288
505-363-4288 register by contacting Karen by phone or by email.
Pay by mail to Karen Hammer, 699 Bluebird Ln NE Abq. NM 87122
__________________________________________ See picture of dish from my Asian Cuisine class below garden gossip.
Garden Gossip
Now Spring is in full swing and hopefully you've started your seeds or put them in soil or purchased organic starter plante, remember how important it is to be organic or natural no GMO seeds and heirloom preferably from and adapted by nature to region. Since January I've been working for Food and Water Watch and now this April 2013 started being a coordinator in the NM office to work on Labeling Genetically Engineered Foods and Genetically modified foods (GMO's). Foods are just too important to fool with nature in the way the big agribusiness has been doing. We deserve the right to know what's in our foods. Let us decide! Gmo's means that through genetically engineering some foods they go into the DNA and add pestices using the DNA of animals, insects or even other plants. Its not done naturally and this is just not healthy. In fact animals get sick when they eat GMO's and then they give them antibiotics which people then ingest. But if animals get sick, so can we. As a raw vegan I make an effort to buy organic unsprayed foods but, the seeds used are so important too and until we get labeling, we just don't know what we are getting, except by buying organic or from local farmers you trust.
The best thing we can do right now is grow some of our own food if we have a space and the experience is amazing and fulfilling. Natural seeds are amazing and self propagating through creating their own seeds that grow new plants. Speaking of this I am truly grateful for the work farmers do, especially organic and sustainable farmers as we depend on them. The high desert terrain and our success depends on keeping some moisture in the soil and keeping pests out in addition to providing some shade as the sun is so intense. I also think we need to feed our soil with compost saved scraps of fruits and veggies. This is the natural way is very important to the success of our garden. One tip I can give that I saw someone do is planting sunflowers between rows and they provide shade from intense sun for certain plants.
Besides sprouting indoors and growing wheatgrass. I find watching the sprouts and living plants grow is such a gift that shows us the miracle of nature as it is intended! If anyone has tips on gardening in New Mexico, please share as this can help others and I will post your tip's here.
Look to your Farmers Markets for more foods Look up- Farmers Markets NM on the web to see where they are closest to you.
Garden stores sell seeds and starter plants many with heirloom or organic seeds. Check out Plants of the Southwest! CSA's such as Los Poblanos and Skarsgard farms are going strong (community supported Agriculture or coop's for organic produce. In the spring summer and fall I buy as much local produce and fruit as I can find for our use. Buying this way saves energy use for transportation. It's one of the freshest ways to sustainably buy your food. We also make a difference when we buy organic and send a clear message to our farmer producers about what we need for our health! They will get it promptly and we control what we choose to put into our bodies to keep them healthy and I choose not to ingest pesticides in or on my food. There are other ways than chemical pesticides!
I am so thankful for the hard work farmers of the world put into working with nature to bring us wonderful foods that give us the nutrition we need to live.
Below picture of Vegetable Terriyaki with Pinapple skewer from my asian class - mmm good!
Below that a picture of my potted flowering basil flowers which are edible. and info on lemons alkalizing properties.
It is good to include some Citrus fruits such as lemons and limes which are some of the most alkalizing fruits. They taste sour but once they go into your mouth and mix with your saliva and go through the digestion process they turn alkaline inside your body. We try to achieve a balance, but a body that is on the alkaline side keeps us healthier. You can include it in your preparation of foods or add lemon to juices or water, in addition to dressings, sauces, and most dishes in raw food preparation. Its easy to substitute lime and a tip is you need much less salt.
