Welcome 2012 Mega Raw Recipe Book Sale

To celebrate the upcoming holidays and the arrival of 2012, I'm offering all of my recipe books at very special prices! From now until January 9th, you can order The Best of The Sunny Raw Kitchen, The Best of Raw Freedom Community and my new Delightfully Raw and Deliciously Raw at a savings of 15 to 25%!

Festive Offer on the Printed Versions of Delightfully Raw and Deliciously Raw
Unlike my two previous recipe books, Delightfully Raw and Deliciously Raw are not only available in electronic format but also as hard copies. There truly is something different and special about holding an actual book in your hands. They are both so colorful, filled with gorgeous mouthwatering pictures and detailed recipes. (Find out more about Delightfully Raw here! Find out more about Deliciously Raw here!

Order a hard copy of my Deliciously Raw book and get 15% off!

Pay $12.70 instead of the regular $14.95. (save $2.25)

Click on the button below to take advantage of this limited time offer!

To redeem your 15% off use the code: HOLIDAYS10

Note: During the check out process, you'll be given the option to pay either with Paypal or with any major credit card.

Order a single hard copy of my Delightfully Raw book and get 15% off!

Pay $27.15 instead of the regular $31.95. (save $4.80)

Click on the button below to take advantage of this limited time offer!

To redeem your 15% off use the code: HOLIDAYS1

Remember that you can still take advantage of my Delightfully Raw Combo. If you would like to get uncooking right away while you wait for your copy of Delightfully Raw to arrive in the mail, you can immediately receive it in electronic format for an extra $5.00.

You will receive the download link for the Delightfully Raw ebook in your inbox as soon as your payment clears.

Pay $32.15 instead of the regular $36.95. (save $4.80)

To order the Delightfully Raw Combo just click on the link below!

To receive 15% off your hard copy use the coupon code: HOLIDAYS12

Order two hard copies of my Delightfully Raw book and receive 20% off! 

Pay $51.12 instead of the regular $63.90 and save $12.78!

Click on the button below to take advantage of this limited time offer!

To redeem your 20% off use the coupon code: HOLIDAYS2

IMPORTANT: For technical reasons, S&H for physical books can only be calculated accurately for North America. For international orders, please send me an email!

Rawesome Ebook Sale
From now until January 9th I'm also offering all of my recipe books in electronic format at 25% off! 

Deliciously Raw Ebook

Pay only $8.99 instead of the regular $11.99 and save $3.00!

 To order my Deliciously Raw ebook, click on the link below!

To redeem your 25% off, use the coupon code: HOLIDAYS9

 


Delightfully Raw Ebook

Pay only $14.98 instead of the regular $19.98 and save $5.00!

 To order my Delightfully Raw ebook, click on the link below!

To redeem your 25% off, use the coupon code: HOLIDAYS3

The Best of Raw Freedom Community

Pay only $9.75 instead of the regular S12.99 and save $3.25!

For The Best of Raw Freedom Community ebook, click on the link below!

To redeem your 25% off, use the coupon code: HOLIDAYS4

The Best of The Sunny Raw Kitchen

Pay only $8.24 instead of the regular S10.99 and save $2.75!

For The Best of The Sunny Raw Kitchen ebook, click on the link below!

To redeem your 25% off, use the coupon code: HOLIDAYS5

Ebook Package #1

My first two best sellers, The Best Of The Sunny Raw Kitchen and The Best of Raw Freedom Community, can be purchased together in one convenient package. 

Pay only $16.50 instead of the regular $22.00 and save 5.50!

To order this package, simply click on the link below! 

To redeem your 25% off, use the coupon code: HOLIDAYS6

Ebook Package #2

You can also purchase my first three books, The Best Of The Sunny Raw Kitchen, The Best of Raw Freedom Community and Delightfully Raw in a single package.

Pay only $26.99 instead of the regular $35.99 and save $9.00! 

To order this package, simply click on the link below! 

To redeem your 25% off, use the coupon code: HOLIDAYS7

Ebook Package #3

Purchase all four of my recipe books with just one click!

Pay only $31.50 instead of the regular $41.99 and save $10.50! 

To order this package, simply click on the link below! 

To redeem your 25% off, use the coupon code: HOLIDAYS8

Ready or Not - Freegold: The Real New World Order 

And last but not least, you can also purchase Don's new Ready or Not - Freegold at a discount until January 3rd. In this book he talks about how the global economy is destined to collapse into a hyper-inflationary depression and how best to prepare yourself for this.

Pay only $7.49 instead of the regular $9.99 and save $2.50!

 To order Don's Ready or Not - Freegold ebook, click on the link below!

To redeem your 25% off, use the coupon code: HOLIDAYS11


 

Please Note:

The ebooks come in PDF format; if you don't already have 'Acrobat Reader' installed on your computer, you can download a free copy at www.adobe.com.

The downloading instructions for the ebook(s) will be sent to your inbox shortly after you've completed your payment. (If you don't receive it, you might want to make sure it hasn't been sent to your SPAM or junk folder!)


IMPORTANT: If you are having any difficulty ordering or using the above coupon codes, simply make your payment via the 'Donate' button on the right sidebar of my blog. Just make sure to mention what it's for in the appropriate box. ;-)

Please don't hesitate to contact me at:

sunnyrawkitchen(at)gmail(dot)com


Wishing you all a wonderfully healthy and vibrant Holiday Season and a positive start to the new year 2012!

Stay Healthy This Holiday Season

Don't know what to bring to holiday parties? Worried about ditching your healthy eating habits?

Healthy Holidays: A Survival Guide is here to help you make it through.

You’re not alone in overeating and giving in to temptation during the holidays. Parties offer trays of rich, cheesy hor’doeurves, family members remind you, “It’s your favorite!,” and grocery stores cram their shelves with processed sweets. Sometimes, your diet can be far from the front of your mind.

Healthy Holidays: A Survival Guide can help you navigate the rough holiday voyage so that you stay healthy and happy. Details here!

This book has so many solutions to your holiday needs. A few features are:

• Over 50 healthy, raw recipes
• Travel tips for what to pack and carry what you travel
• Advice on discussing what you eat with friends and family
• Thoughts on how to stay healthy and eat raw during the winter

This book includes recipes from:

• Cherie Soria
• Nomi Shannon
• Elaina Love
• Angela Stokes-Monarch
• Russell James
• And yours truly! *wink wink*

Don’t let your body take a beating this season.  Instead, arm yourself with our guide for healthy success!

Check out all the details about Healthy Holidays: A Survival Guide here!

Roadtrip to LA: Better Life Cuisine and Cafe Gratitude

Diane recently acquired a cute little hybrid car - a Honda Insight. It runs on both gas and electric and is incredibly fuel efficient (the previous owner managed to get a lifetime average of 86 miles/gallon!!!) Unfortunately she learned quickly that town driving is not the best way to keep the battery recharged. Therefore every so often Diane likes to take her new sweetie on the highway for a ride. You know, make her happy! ;-) And so a couple of weeks ago we took a little road trip to L.A.

As soon as we got the chance we left the Interstate in order to hop on the Pacific Coast Highway. It was a clear sunny day and the ocean was stunningly beautiful.

Our route took us right by the residences of many a Hollywood celebrity as we passed Malibu. Not surprisingly all you could see from the road were fancy gates and tall trees as they value their privacy. (I certainly can't blame them!) It was strange, though, to think that most of the famous movie stars have, at one point or another, driven down this very same road.

Feasting at Better Life Cuisine
Our first stop was Better Life Cuisine in Santa Monica - an awesome raw cafe that Don and I visited last spring. The food is phenomenal, the portions generous and the prices super reasonable. In other words, a raw enthusiast's heaven!

I ordered the same thing as before: the Curry Wrap. I know, I know, what a bore but it was so darn yummy! It consists of copious amounts of mixed greens, alfalfa sprouts, sunflower, green tomato, 'grilled' onions, cucumbers, curry sauce, 3 croquettes and house dressing expertly tucked into a soft veggie tortilla.

The Wrap was still huge as ever! I thought that the flavor of the wrapper itself was a tad too strong, overriding the subtlety of the filling. No doubt something about that particular batch of tortillas. It was accompanied by a side of Kale Salad that was super tasty.

As it happens Diane went with the Lasagna (marinara sauce, zucchini, mushroom, 'grilled' onion, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, tomatoes, basil, mozzarella cheese), which is what Don had ordered back then. So much for novelty I guess! She absolutely loved it, especially the marinara sauce which was flavorful and light. It came with a small serving of Tomato Basil Soup that was really very good, albeit cold. (We're so used to enjoying warm raw soups!)

Isn't the presentation sensational?

I was so full I only managed to eat half of my Wrap, but that's not to say we couldn't try their desserts! We left with a piece of Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Pie - both to live for! - and a Cinnamon Roll. Yum yum yum! (Sorry no pic as they had lost their firmness by the time we got home. boo hoo. Still tasted divine!)

A Walk on the Pier
Satiated, we headed to the famous Santa Monica Pier for a walk. I was vaguely aware that I might encounter a familiar face, something common here on star turf and all. Wouldn't you know it, as we were driving down Broadway on the sidewalk I caught sight of Carrie-Anne Moss who played Trinity in The Matrix. Wow! What are the odds that, of all people, I should see the lead actress from my favorite movie!?!

The pier was buzzing with activity; street performers, tourists, kids happily boasting ginormous balls of cotton-candy (yikes!), and locals enjoying a stroll with friends.

It was windy and cold - even for a Kanuck like me - so we stayed on the pier and didn't venture onto the beach.

The views from both sides of the pier.

 

 

The famous Ferris wheel at the amusement park.

Feasting at Cafe Gratitude

Just before we left that morning I was struck with a rather bold idea: since we were going to drive that far, why not continue a little further to Cafe Gratitude's new LA location for dessert? After all, according to Google Map it was only an extra 12 miles... Didn't sound too bad!

In reality it meant getting deeper into the mouth of the beast - the most populated city in the US. In spite of our intention to avoid the highway we ended up on it for a short stretch. It was of course packed and traffic was at a crawl. Sooooo stressful! Both Diane and I got headaches from the tension.

Thankfully, in spite of that, the GPS took us uneventfully to our destination through the beautiful residential streets of Beverly Hills. This latest addition to Cafe Gratitude's chain was opened earlier this year. Neither of us were overly impressed by the place. For one thing the restaurant is very spacious and in my opinion completely devoid of atmosphere. It felt slick and commercially oriented, lacking the warmth and heart that their San Francisco locations are renowned for. Perhaps because of all the hard edges, the combination of the customers' voices and the music was also so loud that we couldn't comfortably carry on a conversation.

The menu is designed to appeal to a wider clientele and range of taste buds by offering both cooked and raw vegan items. Not a bad idea as I know that the appeal of raw foods can reduce dramatically during the cold months. Although we came with the intention of just having dessert - their specialty in my opinion - we ended up ordering a couple of savory things.

While browsing through their take out menu a couple of years ago I noticed that they offered a raw rendition of bagels. I was anxious to finally try it. I AM PEACE, a live onion bagel with cashew crème cheese, nori “lox,” tomato, onion, capers and sprouts, is technically only served for breakfast but the server didn't make a fuss about it. I thought it was super yummy; a really nice combination of flavors.

 

The people next to us received their food while we were browsing through the menu and I couldn't help but gawk at their fare: tamale. Diane could hardly believe it when I told her that I'd never had a tamale before, so we decided to order that as well.

The server asked if we'd like Guacamole and Nacho Cheese like the lady at the next table and I said "Sure!" What she failed to mention, of course, was that these came at an additional cost. The dish was very good although we agreed that red tomatoes were lacking for both color and flavor. I honestly think that the dish would have been grossly incomplete with only the Zucchini-Mushroom Tamale, black beans and salsa verde it comes with. Why they put the guac and cheese as 'optional' borders on a cunning ploy if you ask me.

We were told that they were out of the daily Layered Cake and the choice of Cheesecake was Banana Chocolate. Since Diane is no big banana fan in the end we decided to go with a piece of Tiramisu. I've made it at least a couple of times at home but was curious to taste the original version. I thought it was excellent and that the texture was perfect, although as Diane pointed out, the coffee flavor wasn't very pronounced. But that was actually fine by me as I was concerned to get a caffeine buzz, sensitive as I am to that stuff.

We decided to head back via surface streets. It did take longer but then again I was glad to get a chance to get a feel for LA since I was there. Melrose Avenue with its funky and hip stores reminded me a little of Montreal.

We were exhausted by the time we got home, 2 1/2 hours later. The extra drive to Cafe Gratitude was indeed a bit much. On the other hand in light of last week's shocking news this was perhaps my last opportunity to ever partake of their food. As most of you may already know by now, the Engelharts announced (on facebook actually - What a way to learn that you've lost your job!) the closure of all of their Northern California restaurants due to several law suits from former employees. (You can read about this unexpected turn of event here and here.)

I still don't totally get their decision to shut down seven locations (eight including Gracias Madre) and put over 200 employees out of work rather than fight back since, as it has been suggested, "the lawsuit number is under $200,000." The whole thing just doesn't make any sense and leaves a bad taste in my mouth - no pun intended - especially since they intend to keep their LA outpost and open a new venue in Venice.

Anyhoo I'll let you decide for yourself...

P.S. I couldn't help but smile at the clever title of this article: "I Am Closing:" Cafe Gratitude Owners Will Shut Down Rather Than Fight Lawsuits.