Visit our blog frequently for the inside scoop on Living Light and what makes us tick. It's an intimate blog that goes beyond business into right livelihood, sacred commerce, life, love, gardening, family, and making a difference... you'll love our bloggers: Hilloah, Mary Elizabeth, and Kristin. You can click the Raw Food Chef Blog box on our homepage, or sign up on our blog to receive it by email in your inbox! We welcome your comments and participation on the blog.

Expressing heartfelt gratitude may be the most powerful tool we have in creating a life of joy and abundance. We often overlook the simple blessings in our lives because we are so accustomed to having them, but if we take a moment every day to focus on what and whom we appreciate, we will attract more things to be grateful for. As we open our hearts to honor the things that really matter to us, we become connected to a flow of energy that is very powerful. And since it's the month of Thanksgiving, we thought it would be a good time to encourage all our friends and family to reflect on what they are truly grateful for - not just at Thanksgiving, but every day.

We have so much to appreciate here at Living Light, it's hard to know where to begin. Cherie's 91 year old father, Fred Soria, who has been her hero and inspriation, has been ill for some time, and her friend Terry Zacanti, has been staying here on-and-off for months to help take care of him. We are grateful for Terri's friendship and dedication to Cherie and her family. Dan and Cherie have been very supportive of each other as caregivers, and have expressed their gratitude to all of the Living Light family for keeping things going and doing a great job so that they can spend more time with Fred. Family and friends have to be right up there at the top of the list when we think of the things we are grateful for.

We are also very appreciative of all our students and Living Light graduates, who bring us so much joy and validation. They truly give our lives meaning as they go out into the world - healing themselves, their families, the people whose lives they touch, and our beautiful planet and its creatures. Every new session brings a group of people whose hearts, minds, and spirits are eager and expansive. After twelve years of touching the lives of thousands of Living Light students, we are humbled at what they are achieving. In fact, there are so many Living Light graduates sharing the benefits of a raw food diet in so many different ways, that we are now featuring a Living Light Graduate success story in every month's newsletter. This month is Beate von der Osten, a German native who teaches raw foods and raw food nutriton courses in Japan - in Japanese! And we have a sidebar about Living Light Graduate Chef Made Runatha, who is the first Balinese raw vegan chef working at the beautiful new spa resort, Fivelements in Bali.

We're grateful that we have a wonderful lineup of classes for 2011 - more than ever before, including new ones like Pastry Arts - Unbaked!™ Level II (still a few places left for the 2010 session, if you want to sign up now!) A major highlight next year will be our brand new Recipe Book Writing, Design and Production Workshop™ in February, and Jennifer Cornbleet will be teaching our new Advanced Raw Culinary Arts Instructor Training Certification™ program for the first time ever.

And for your Thanksgiving and Holiday gatherings, we are releasing a fabulous DVD package: The Best of New Holiday Traditions™ at Living Light! We've put the best videos and recipes from four years of teaching our popular holiday workshop on this DVD, and we know your family will treasure it for years to come. If you're in the Bay area, you still have time to sign up for Living Light graduate Heather Haxo Philips' spectacular Healthy Holiday Survival Course, and if you are close to us here in Fort Bragg, please join us at Living Light Center for a Vegetarian Thanksgiving Potluck and World Peace Meditation on Thanksgiving Day! We are grateful for the bounty of our extended Living Light family worldwide. It is growing every day and every year. We are blessed with an abundance of love and light!

Blessings of radiant health,

Kristin Suratt, PR Director and the entire Living Light Team

• Participate with other Living Light graduates and professional instructors, including Vinnette Thompson in a fun and challenging "think tank" of dessert creation!
• Become confident about preparing desserts of your own design!
• Learn "dessert styling" - how to show-off your beautiful dessert creations and even how to plate them for photography!
• Go home with a book of recipes and photos of all the recipes you and your teammates created in the course.

Click here to register now!

Ever wanted to put your delicious recipes together in a beautifully illustrated cookbook, filled with colorful photographs of your beautiful creations? Now you can learn to create your own recipe book to pass on to family members and friends, show a publisher a sample of your work, or even self-publish a complete recipe book of your own! You can also use what you learn to fuel your raw food blog, create your own brochures, and even gain the experience you need to promote your book to the media, including television!

This six-class series begins with a daylong workshop with a seasoned photographer Heather Winters, who demonstrates how you can make the most of your digital camera (or cell phone) and use natural lighting to best show off your beautiful food. Then you will spend two days learning the ins and outs of food styling for photography in a hands-on class designed to show you how to arrange your food creations for the camera and to practice photographing salads, sandwiches, and pastas. Next, you will spend five days creating and photographing your own recipes for your book with the help of our experienced staff of raw food chefs and food stylists.

The series wouldn't be complete without a segment on writing recipes for your book or blog (two days), and a course in designing and producing a cookbook with a software program that allows you to self-publish your book or find a publisher to do so (four days). To top it all off, you will spend three days learning how to prepare a culinary demonstration video for the media and actually go home with your own, promotional DVD to promote your book or business!

In summary, this comprehensive workshop provides everything you need to create your own recipe book, from food styling and photography to writing your recipes, to finding a publisher, and even creating demos for the media. There is no other workshop like it in the industry!

Dates: February 25-March 15, 2011 (17 total classroom days)

Time: 9 AM-5 PM most days (one-hour no-host lunch break each day)

NEW! Advanced Instructor Training and Certification

When you're ready to become a raw food teacher at the highest level, this intensive, career-focused learning experience will help you rise to the top of your profession quickly. Each module is specifically designed to prepare you to share your expertise with people who are eager to improve their health and embrace a raw food approach to eating.

Building a business takes dedication and direction. If you provide the former, world renowned author and Living Light course instructor Jennifer Cornbleet will supply the latter. She'll share practical tips and tools for becoming a popular speaker/teacher whose services are in-demand to the growing audience of raw food enthusiasts.

Course Prerequisites: Successful completion of the Associate Chef and Instructor Training™ class.

Included in Your Course of Study:

• The Foundation of Success: Goal Setting and Time Management
• Mastering Internet Marketing: No Technical Skills Required
• Becoming a Raw Food Ambassador: Creating Demand
• Crowd-Pleasers: Secrets to Presenting Irresistible Raw Food Demonstrations
• Going One-on-One: Tips for Providing Personal Coaching

Have a birds eye view of this summer's Living Light Chef Showcase event! You'll learn incredible recipes for healthy, nurturing, comfort food that are both satisfying and flavorful. You will see a wide variety of cuisine demonstrated - everything from simply prepared family meals to gourmet cuisine, including delicious gluten-free and low-glycemic recipes. Even if you have not enjoyed uncooked vegan food in the past, you will be surprised and amazed at how easy and delicious these foods can be.

When you register to watch online, you'll get two full months of unlimited access to all of the presentations on-demand, so you'll have plenty of time to enjoy your favorite chefs and their favorite recipes again and again at your leisure. You'll also receive a PDF of the complete recipe book with every recipe listed for future reference so you can prepare that special dinner for your family or friends.

Click here for more information about the Living Light Chef Showcase Replay!

Living Light graduate and stellar chef Heather Haxo Philips has organized a wonderful event in the Bay area. Living Light Culinary Programs Manager Martine Lussier will be on hand as will Living Light chef Jennifer Cornbleet. What a wonderful way to celebrate the holidays, and learn new ways to please family and friends while you make healthy choices during an important time of the year!

Imagine that your holiday experiences could leave you refreshed and healthy, rather than heavy and exhausted. In this daylong crash course, you will create a game plan for a fun, delicious and sustainable holiday season. The Bay Area's top raw chefs will teach you easy raw vegan foods to nourish you through the winter's festivities. Plus, you'll get loads of holiday decorating tips, shop for green gifts, and enjoy an elegant raw dinner with like-minded enthusiasts.

This event is a fresh approach to holiday celebration, and is unlike any other event you have been to.

The Healthy Holiday Survival Crash Course will include:

• A panel discussion with raw food celebs about surviving the holidays and feeling rawsome in the winter. Featured guests (besides Heather Haxo Philips) include raw food luminaries from Living Light, Café Gratitude Head Pastry Chef Gregory Manitsas, Monday Night Live founder Shea Lynn Baird, author Diana Stobo, Celebrity Chef Jason Wrobel, Chef Melissa Mango and others.
• Raw food classes with featured chefs: Holiday mains with Chef Heather Haxo Phillips, Decadent holiday pies with best-selling author and chef Jennifer Cornbleet, crackers and appetizers with the Krazy Kracker Lady Abeba Wright.
• Meet the farmeres from Full Belly Farm, City Slicker Farms and the Date People. You can learn amore about Kaia, Artisana, Lydias Organics, Earth Circle Organics, and many more.
• Tips for Holiday plating and decorations.
• An elegant holiday meal featuring Full Belly Farm and City Slicker Farms.
• An opportunity to start your holiday shopping off right.

Where: First Congregational Church of Oakland, near downtown Oakland
When: Saturday November 20th, 10 AM - 7 PM
Fee: $95 (early bird through November 10 only) $120 regular price after November 10
Register now at www.rawbayarea.com

What do vegetarians eat for Thanksgiving? Everything but the turkey, and a whole lot more! Living Light will host an organic vegetarian Thanksgiving potluck on Thanksgiving Day, from 2:00 to 5:00 PM. Attendees are requested to bring an organic plant-based dish, either vegetarian, vegan, or raw vegan to serve 10 people. There will be an appreciation circle and world peace meditation beginning at 2:00 PM, followed by a shared meal at 3:00 PM. RSVP appreciated. Event will take place at Living Light Center (upstairs) in The Company Store, Fort Bragg.

Please bring your own dishes, utensils and service ware.

What: Organic Vegetarian Thanksgiving Potluck & World Peace Meditation
Where: Living Light Culinary Arts Institute (upstairs)
301-B North Main Street, Fort Bragg, CA 95437 (in the Company Store, corner of Main & Redwood Streets)
When: 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM Thursday, November 25. Appreciation Circle and Meditation begins at 2:00 PM, Shared Meal at 3:00 PM.
RSVP to 707-964-2420

Beate von der Osten, who is currently living and working in Tokyo, Japan, is both a Living Light Gourmet Raw Food Chef and a Science of Raw Food Nutrition Advanced Educator. A board member of the Japan Living Beauty Association, Beate frequently gives lectures on her favourite subject - raw food nutrition.

"Raw food simply changed my life", she says. "As a child, I loved fresh fruits and raw veggies, especially good old apples and carrots. Intuitively, I knew how good they were for me, yet I came from a traditional German family, and the dishes my mom lovingly prepared were mostly meat and potatoes. Those were the times when meat reigned supreme and was considered essential for raising strong and healthy kids. On more than one occasion my mother restricted my huge consumption of 'rabbit food' so as not to spoil my appetite for 'real' food. At the time, our mothers did not have the nutritional information now available. In the 1970s, my interest in raw food was further sparked by an older family friend who was a picture of radiant energy and fitness despite her already advanced age. The friend practiced a nearly 100% raw diet! What intrigued me the most as a child was that she even incorporated large amounts of weeds like stinging nettles, mugwort, and wild sorrel in her daily salads - something very unusual for a German lunch or dinner table. During holidays she took me on long walks in nature and taught me to identify the plants and how to use them, both as food and as herbal infusions. I'll always be grateful for her sharing of knowledge and the spark it ignited in me. 'Nature always knows best' was one of her favourite sayings, which has stuck with me to this day."

Although Beate had always been attracted to fresh fruits, greens, and vegetables, it was not until she reached her early forties that it "really hit her".

"Being very active in sports, I had just completed my first Ironman distance triathlon, and I was looking for a way to further optimize my day-to-day diet by giving my body all the nutrients needed for endurance training and recovery. At that time my menu plan still included quite a lot of lean meats, eggs, and pasta, which (according to mainstream sports nutrition experts) were necessary to provide an athlete with an adequate amount of protein and carbohydrates. One day while surfing the internet, I came across the website of a 100% vegan, high-raw professional triathlete and was immediately fascinated by the fact that, contrary to popular belief, it was obviously possible for a world class vegan athlete set new best times!

I knew I was on to something, but with my investigative German nature, I needed to find out more. Although raw food instantly made perfect sense to me, my scientific mind needed convincing before I could let go of my traditional athlete's diet. The more I researched raw food, the more I was glued to my computer screen. Before long, truckloads of books on raw food were arriving on my doorstep. Giving up fish and meat was very easy for me, since I'd never been attached to those foods anyway, but giving up dairy, bread, and grains proved much more difficult, in part because of my deeply engrained emotional attachments to traditional German baked treats. I knew that if I were to stay on the path, I needed not only to find a practical way of integrating raw food preparation into my life, but also to become proficient at creating flavourful raw dishes that would help me feel more energetic and healthier than ever. Online, I found Living Light Culinary Institute. I immediately enrolled for the Associate Chef and Instructor Training™ and had a wonderful time, both in and outside of the classroom. Only a few months later I came back to upgrade my education to Gourmet Chef, and the following year I returned to take every single course Living Light had to offer. Coming back to Fort Bragg, the wonderful Living Light family, and the Living Light Inn always feels like a true homecoming to me, and I'm already looking forward to my next visit, and the things I will learn."

Although her daily menu now consists mostly of rather simple raw food dishes, Beate is extremely grateful for having had the chance to undergo the raw gourmet chef training at Living Light, as it enables her to freely choose her style according to mood and occasion.

"Creating raw versions of traditional cooked dishes is not something I want to do every day, but it is good to know that I can do it with confidence anytime," she says. Pastry Arts - Unbaked!™ where I worked under the superb guidance of raw dessert genius Vinnette Thompson, suddenly made me realize that I still can have my cake and eat it too! As I find ways to recreate my late mother's delicious dessert recipes, I am honoring her memory and renewing the love and gratitude I will always feel for her. What a revelation that is! I wanted to adapt her famous crustless German cheesecake I'd adored since childhood, and create a raw vegan version of it. It was such a joyous moment when after a week of recipe development I first tasted the now unbaked cheesecake. There it was again, that taste of childhood, and instantly happy memories of birthday parties and family gatherings flashed through my mind. I find it outright amazing how strongly the human mind remembers tastes and smells linked to our personal history."

The recipe for Beate's Unbaked Crustless German-Style Cheesecake will be included in a forthcoming recipe collection of recipes called The Best of Living Light Chefs.

"My scientific appetite for factual information was satisfied when I attended Drs. Rick and Karen Dina's classes on the Science of Raw Food Nutrition. The facts just blew me away. I was given extremely well researched and undisputable proof of the reasons a well-balanced raw food diet with an emphasis on greens is so beneficial for us.

Living Light's Marketplace Assistant, Kristina Pena, is our Employee of the Month of October! Kristina has been selected for this special acknowledgment for her willingness to serve wherever she is needed and to do it with a smile! She is friendly, outgoing, happy, and treats people with loving kindness, even when she is rushed! Her team says she is sensitive to the needs of others and always caring and humble. She obviously enjoys her job and the people who work here, as well as the great food!

Kristina loves sports, especially football and soccer and enjoys playing with her children. She also enjoys volunteering at the library and the church nursery. Her favorite charity is the Food Bank.

Everyone agrees that Kristina is well deserving of this award. She is greatly appreciated by both staff and management, and is a great asset to Living Light International.

Thank you Kristina - we love and appreciate you!

Chef's Corner

Arugula, Fennel, Orange, and Walnut Salad with Sweet and Tangy Red Wine Dressing

Recipe created by Living Light students Lisa, Donna, Ace

Yield: 4 servings

Dressing

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 tablespoon orange juice

1 ½ teaspoons red wine reduction*

(*optional; see note, below)

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

¼ teaspoon Himalayan crystal salt

black pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon thyme

1 shallot, diced

1 teaspoon orange zest

1 pound baby arugula

1 cup shaved fennel bulb

1 orange, divided into segments

8 walnut halves, rough chopped

1. Combine oil, lemon juice, maple syrup, orange juice, red wine reduction, xanthan gum, salt and pepper in a jar and use a hand-held immersion blender to blend until the xanthan gum is fully integrated into the liquid. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and whisk in the thyme, shallots and zest.

2. Just before serving, toss the arugula and fennel in the dressing and divide the salad equally on the plates. Garnish with orange segments and chopped walnuts and serve immediately.

*Note: To make red wine reduction and remove the alcohol, heat the wine in a hot pot and allow it to cook, stirring constantly, until it is reduced by at least 50%.

Vegetable Cashew Curry

Recipe created by Living Light students Kari, Rob, Curt, and Denise

Yield: 6 servings

Vegetables

2 cups crimini mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon unpasteurized wheat-free tamari

1 tablespoon lemon juice

3 cups cauliflower, small florets

2 1/2 cups broccoli, small florets

2 cups snow peas, whole

Curry Sauce

1 cup water

1 1/2 cups young Thai coconut

1 tablespoon yellow curry powder

1 1/2 teaspoons Dark "Fishy" Soy Sauce (see recipe below)

1/2 tablespoon tamarind paste

1 ½ tablespoon lime juice

1 tablespoon unpasteurized wheat-free tamari

1 tablespoon agave or sweetener of choice

2 cups Curry-Seasoned Cashews (see recipe below)

1. Toss the mushrooms in the tamari and lemon juice and place then in the dehydrator at 125 degrees for 30 minutes to marinate.

2. Put the cauliflower, broccoli, and snow peas in a large bowl and cover with boiling water for 2 minutes to blanch. Drain and plunge them in ice water. Do not leave them in the hot water or they will cook. The idea is to make them more palatable without actually cooking them.

3. To prepare the curry sauce put the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth and creamy. Adjust seasonings to taste.

4. Pour the curry sauce over the vegetables and lightly massage so everything is fully coated.

5. Stir in seasoned cashews right before serving, reserving a few cashews for garnish.

Serve warm, in a bowl, or over "bloomed" wild rice.

NOTE: To "bloom" wild rice. Soak the rice in a large glass jar, in four times the amount of water to rice, for 24-48 hours. Keep the water warm by placing the rice in the sealed jar in a dehydrator set at 105 degrees, changing the water twice daily until the rice is soft and chewy. Drain, rinse and drain again. Serve warm. If the rice is cold, rinse it in warm water and drain well before serving.

Dark "Fishy" Soy Sauce

Yield: 2 tablespoons

1 tablespoon dulse or nori, soaked in 1/2 cup water for 10 minutes

1 tablespoon unpasteurized wheat-free tamari

pinch Himalayan crystal salt

Blend ingredients until smooth.

Curry-Seasoned Cashews

Yield: 1/2 pound

1/2 pound cashews

2 tablespoons unpasteurized wheat-free tamari

1 teaspoons onion powder

1/4 teaspoon curry powder

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

Combine ingredients and dehydrate on a non-stick sheet at 105 degrees for 6 hours, or until crisp.