Healthy Girl's Kitchen

Going from the Standard American Diet to Eat to Live: How I Got Started

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:54:00 +0000

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Hello Everybody!

I thought I would start off this week by sharing an e-mail that I received over the weekend. This reader needs our help, just like this reader did a few weeks ago. I know we will give her amazing advice, so here goes:

"Hi Wendy!
I recently found your blog and love it! I'm writing to you because I have been toying with the idea of trying out Dr. Fuhrman's Eat to Live lifestyle change but don't really seem to know how to get going. How did you start out? I am quite overweight and while losing weight is a goal, I am more interested in making a permanent lifestyle change. However, I'm concerned that Dr. Fuhrman's plan is so overwhelming and cold turkey that I may not stick with it for long. Did you jump right in or start by making smaller changes? Were your days just full of salad, salad, and more salad? I'm just curious about how you made it work for you in a way that stuck; thanks for any advice!!"

Great question. For me, it did not happen in an instant.

I also want to begin answering this by saying that I am not 100% a Nutritarian nor could I be considered "Plant-perfect." The realities of this lifestyle for me are that I fall somewhere between "Plant-strong" and "Nutritarian" most every day. Although I love the idea of being a perfect Nutritarian, it has not been the reality of my journey, and I don't want you to think that it has.

I'll explain by giving an example. Yesterday, I was invited to a brunch buffet by my in-laws. I knew that eating my way would be challenging, both materially (what food was going to be available) and psychologically (resisting the ridiculous amount of temptation at a brunch buffet). The way I handle these situations these days is as follows: I make myself a huge plate of salad greens, topped with any and all raw and cooked vegetables on the buffet, as well as the vinaigrette that was available (yes, it had oil in it). It was a delicious salad, and I pretty much filled up on that. Then I indulged in something totally not Nutritarian, which was blueberry bread pudding. And I'm not proud to say that I had quite a bit of it. I also avoided everything else on the brunch buffet--all the rest of the meaty, cheesy, oily dishes. But that's the truth, and I want you to know that.

What happened after the brunch? Did I give up on myself and eat junk for the rest of the day, figuring I had blown it at lunch? Heck no! I went right back to eating Plant-strong at dinner time and I will have no problem continuing to eat this way for days and days, maybe weeks, until I eat off plan again, which I am sure will happen. I have been at this long enough to understand that perfection is elusive and for me, unnecessary.

Now that does not mean that I am advising you to go at this in a willy nilly way. There is plenty of advice out there that says "Just Do It 100% Starting Right Now." But what I don't want to happen is that you think that you can't, and that you walk away.

The way I got started went like this: I was actually on Weight Watchers for my umpteenth time. I won't go into the details, but I was lucky enough to be introduced to Eat to Live and also to the book Volumetrics. So I began to incorporate the principles of nutrient density and high volume, low calorie eating into my Weight Watchers Points counting and weighing and measuring program. It worked like a charm and over the course of less than I year, I was thinner than I had been in a very, very long time.

I was still using some oil and eating some animal products. Dr. Fuhrman has an allowance of 10% of your calories to come from these things, I believe.

I was about a year into this journey when I heard Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, author of Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, speak for the first time, followed shortly by his son, Rip Esselstyn, author of The Engine 2 Diet. I had already started this blog, so you can see how my recipes changed after this experience. I became convinced that I could eliminate oil and all animal products from my diet. It wasn't difficult at all because I was armed with all of the knowledge that came from reading their books and also the book The China Study by T. Colin Campbell. I had effectively brainwashed myself for the positive!

The more books I read on the subject of a no-oil vegan diet, the easier it became to make better choices, meal by meal, day by day, week by week.

I actually gained weight because I stopped weighing and measuring my food according to the Weight Watcher's plan. That was sort of okay by me because I knew that following a counting plan was unsustainable for me in the long run, while eating almost 100% no-oil vegan was something I could do for the rest of my life.

Pretty early on in this story, I was also lucky enough to be introduced to a book called The Beck Diet Solution. Without a doubt, I would be no where today without the ideas and exercises of Dr. Judith Beck. This is not a book about food, it's a book about the different thought patterns of naturally thin people versus overweight people. I learned to think like a thin person. I cannot possibly give this book enough credit for my success. Without it, I would be at square one, hating myself and feeling awful about being overweight, because there would have been no chance for me to stick to any plan.

So it's been almost three years since this story began. I have been able to pretty easily maintain about 40 pounds of my weight loss and I am thrilled every day when I wake up in the morning! I can't believe this is my life, when not so long ago I was so lost and confused every minute of every day about why I could not maintain a healthy weight.

I'm not a perfect Nutritarian, although I aspire to be. And yes, I do eat loads of salad (I love it now), but I also eat tons of wonderful soups, casseroles, oatmeals, smoothies, wraps and the no-oil, low sugar, Vegan sweets that I cannot seem to live without.

I'm not a Vegan, although all of the recipes that I create and cook are no-oil vegan recipes. And yes, I'd love to be a 100% Vegan.

I'm not Plant-perfect, but it would be nice if I was!

I am truly Plant-strong, easily and happily. I am still learning and making small tweaks to my diet as I go. I would never go back to my old way of eating. This really is a lifestyle change and not a "diet."

What about you, HGK readers? Where do you fall right now? Plant-strong? Plant-perfect? Are you able to follow a plan perfectly? Do you feel that in order to be successful, you need to be perfect?

A Curry Pumpkin Stoup Dr. Fuhrman Would Love

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:37:00 +0000

Greens, onions, mushrooms and beans are a big part of Dr. Fuhrman's magical G.O.M.B.B.S. list and I try to be aware of eating these foods every single day. So when I saw that this soup recipe from Kitchen of Health had G.O.M.B.B.S. ingredients that are commonly found in my kitchen, I though it might be an easy, and hopefully fast, weeknight dinner.

It was.

And delicious too.

Not quite a soup but not totally a stew, this hearty and flavorful stoup (to borrow a phrase from Rachel Ray) just might become a regular weeknight thing for us.

Curry Pumpkin Superfood Stoup
serves 6

Print me!

1 large onion, chopped (approx. 2 cups chopped onion)
1 box (4 cups) low sodium vegetable broth
2 Tbsp curry powder (I prefer sweet curry powder, so if your curry powder is hot/spicy, you may want to use only 1 tbsp)
1 large can (29 ounces) pumpkin puree
2 cups unsweetened almond or soy milk
2 tsp coconut extract
2 Tbsp natural creamy peanut butter
1 15 ounce can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
4 cups swiss chard (or other green you have on hand), chiffonaided
2 cups very thinly sliced mushrooms
hot sauce to taste (I used Sriracha)
salt (or not)

Coat the bottom of a large dutch oven or soup pot with vegetable broth. Turn heat to medium. When broth is bubbling, add chopped onion. Stir frequently. After 5 minutes, add curry powder and stir. Turn heat a touch lower and stirring frequently, saute onions and curry powder until onions are very soft (about 15 minutes).

Add vegetable broth, pumpkin puree, nut milk, coconut extract and peanut butter. Stir to combine.

When mixture is simmering, add garbanzo beans, swiss chard and mushrooms. Stir.

Let simmer for 20 minutes. Taste. Season with hot sauce (to taste) and salt (or not).

It's Time to Make the Oil-free Sugar-Free Vegan Donuts

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:38:00 +0000

If you're an Internet junkie like me, you are probably well aware of all of the homemade donut baking that is going on these days. Donuts, not a good trend. Homemade donuts, better. Especially if they have no white flour, no added sugar, and no added oil. Oh, and then happen to taste delicious.

If you think that's a good trend, this recipe will work for you.

One word of caution. These donuts are pretty sweet. The sweetness comes from the bananas (a good thing) and also from a new product that I am testing that is made by the NuNaturals company called "MoreFiber Stevia Baking Blend." I have never been a big fan of Stevia. I just thought it was far too sweet for even my sweet tooth, and it left a long lasting odd aftertaste.

That's what I thought, until I made these donuts. I think I finally used the stuff correctly.

But the last thing I need is to fuel my own sweet cravings. Better for me to get used to the natural sweetness that is inherent in fruit and even many vegetables. Even so, sometimes a girl just wants to bake. And the upside of the NuNaturals Baking Blend product is that you can actually eliminate most if not all of the added sugar from a baked good and achieve excellent results. Plus, the fiber blend actually improves the texture of baked goods. The results were far better than I expected.

I have tested four different donut recipes with the NuNaturals Stevia products and this Peanut Butter Banana Donut with Date Nut Glaze recipe is by far the winner.

Peanut Butter Banana Donuts
serves 10-12

Print Me!

dry ingredients
1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup peanut flour
1/3 cup NuNaturals MoreFiber Sweetener Baking Blend
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

wet ingredients
1 1/2 cups very ripe bananas, mashed (approx. 4 medium bananas)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 flax eggs (2 Tbsp flax meal plus 4 Tbsp water, whisked together and refrigerated for 15 minutes to 1 hour)
1/4 cup almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Prepare flax eggs (see instructions under wet ingredients).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place all dry ingredients into a large bowl and whisk to combine.

Place all wet ingredients into a medium bowl and stir to combine.

Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Do not over mix.

Lightly spray a donut pan with cooking spray, even if the pan has a non-stick surface. Spoon the batter evenly into the holes, filling each about 3/4 full.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the donut comes out clean. Remove from oven, let cool for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with second batch if you only have one donut pan.

Date Nut Glaze (optional)

3 medjool dates

1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp almond milk (or other alternative milk)

2 Tbsp sunflower seed or peanut butter

4 drops NuNaturals Pure Liquid Vanilla Stevia

1/8 tsp cinnamon

Soak dates in 1/4 cup almond milk for 30 minutes.

Place all ingredients, including soaking milk, into a small food processor or blender and puree until smooth.

Using a knife, spread "glaze" on top side of donuts. Place donuts in a single layer on a plate (do not stack) until "glaze" sets.

Refrigerate donuts.

What's been your experience baking with stevia? Have you ever done it? Did you have success? Failure? Do you want to try it?

Hearty Mexican Stew with Seitan Sausage

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:55:00 +0000

This past weekend brought my second attempt at homemade seitan. This time I chose a recipe by the famous Vegan cookbook author Isa Chandra Moskowitz. The recipe is called Simple Italian Sausages and my results were, well, just okay. Nothing to write home about, or really blog about for that matter. The texture was fine, but I think I was expecting to be "wowed" by incredible sausagey flavors. It didn't happen for me.

But on Sunday afternoon I felt like making a stew. And I knew that almost any seitan, even this one, would be great in a stew. Cut into chunks, it gives a vegetable/bean stew that meaty texture that is so rare in Vegan cooking.

I had just gotten some huge sweet potatoes in my vegetable share that I was itching to use, and along with black beans and some Mexican seasonings, I prepared a quick Mexican Stew that was totally delicious. This recipe makes quite a lot, so it's great for a crowd or sharing with your friends.

Coincidentally, Debby over at happyhealthylonglife.com was just talking about a fabulous new faux sausage product that she discovered when travelling. It's made by Upton's Naturals and it's called Chorizo Seitan.

photo courtesy uptonsnaturals.com

If you have access to this product, I highly recommend making this stew and using Upton's Chorizo. You can find out if it is sold near you by visiting their website. Unfortunately, it's not sold in Cleveland yet. Yet. I'll have to work on that!

Hearty Mexican Stew with Seitan Sausage
serves 10

Print me!

3 cups diced yellow onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 1/2 cups vegetable broth, divided
8 cups peeled and diced sweet potato (3 large sweet potatoes)
1 Tbsp ground cumin
up to 1 Tbsp ground chipotle chili power
3 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can fat free refried black beans
1 recipe Seitan Sausage, cubed OR 2 packages Uptons Naturals Chorizo-style Seitan
1 large bunch kale, sliced into ribbons about 1/2" thick
juice of 1 large lime
1 Tbsp salt (or not)
optional: cilantro to garnish

Prepare seitan sausages according to recipe if you do not have packages of Upton's Seitan Chorizo.

Coat to base of a large soup pot with 1/4 cup of vegetable broth. Turn heat to medium high. When vegetable broth begins to bubble, add onion. Cook onion, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.

Turn heat to medium low and add garlic. Stir and cook for 3 minutes.

Add sweet potato and 1/4 cup of vegetable broth. Stir. Add cumin and chipotle chili powder. Add less chili powder if you like your food less spicy (the full 1 Tbsp of chipotle chili powder will make this quite spicy). Stir to coat onions and potatoes. Cover, turn heat to medium high, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occassionally.

Add 8 cups of vegetable broth, all of the black beans, and the refried black beans. Bring to a boil, stirring gently until the refried beans have dissolved.

Add kale and stir. Lower heat to low and cook for about 2 minutes, until kale softens.

Add lime juice and season to taste with salt. Serve immediately or keep over very low heat until ready to serve. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Have you tried any of the Upton's Naturals Seitan products?

Have you ever made a homemade Chorizo Seitan? If you know of a kick a$# recipe for that, please let me know!

If You Like Pina Colada and Gettin' Caught in the Rain

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:14:00 +0000

I have to admit, I have a total weakness for pina coladas. Yes, I know they are sickeningly sweet. But the combination of coconut and pineapple along with the cool, creamy sweetness of the concoction just gets me every time. But it probably goes without saying here on HGK that drinking a pina colada is like a once-in-a-decade event for me. It helps that I live in Cleveland and not Saint Something or others.

I spent much of my weekend experimenting with NuNaturals Stevia products. I had some real highs and some real lows. If replacing the sugar with stevia in a recipe was easy, everyone would be doing it by now, right? Well, it's not that simple. I'm learning as I go.

I'll share my successes with you. My failures? I'm sharing them with the garbage pail.

I've been making batches of oatmeal, four servings at a time, and refrigerating single servings so that I have a healthy and convenient breakfast every day. Oatmeal is like a blank slate, and we can get really creative with the ingredients we add to it.

I began yesterday's batch with a pioneering spirit. Inspiration struck. I wondered what would happen if I included the flavors in a pina colada?

It was a risk. It could have been a bomb.

But it wasn't. It's phenomenal, one of the best original creations I have ever made.

Pina Colada Oatmeal
serves 4

Print me!

1 cup steel cut oats
2 cups water
2 cups alternative milk, I used unsweetened almond milk
2 small very ripe bananas (fresh or frozen), cut into 1/2" slices
1/4 cup partially defatted, unsweetened coconut (I get this at Whole Foods and my local Indian Market)
2 cups frozen pineapple chunks
1 Tbsp coconut extract
optional: sweetener-8 drops NuNaturals Liquid Vanilla Stevia drops (or to taste) or 1 Tbsp maple syrup

Place all ingredients into a large pot (I use a stock pot to avoid the boiling over that always occurs with a sauce pan). Bring to a boil.

Lower to simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes.

Taste. You may not need any additional sweetener. Sweetened with liquid stevia (I used 8 drops) or maple syrup if desired.

Do you like pina coladas? Or do they totally turn you off?

A Check in WIth You and Blondie Bites: A Sweet Treat for Your Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:22:00 +0000

Good morning! I'm so excited for the weekend ahead because I have almost NO plans. That means lots of time in the kitchen and behind the camera, which is total fun for me.

Last weekend we had four families over to our house for a pot luck. I wanted to make sure that there was one "alternative" dessert that was "relatively" healthy. And who doesn't love a blondie? So I decided to go out on a limb and adapt a dessert recipe that had beans in it. My track record with beans in baked goods has been pretty hit or miss. Sometimes I like the results, other times, not so much. But the recipe was so intriguing, I had to at least give it a try.

I also decided to keep the portions bite sized (well, maybe 2 or three bites), because even though I eliminated the oil and used the least processed form of sugar on the market (sucanat), I find it's easier to manage my own sweet tooth when portions are small and predetermined.

Blondie Bites
makes 48 "bites"
adapted from a recipe at Chocolate Covered Katie

Print Me!

1 cup quick oats
2 cans canellini or garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups organic sucanat (it sounds like a lot, but it's only 1/2 Tbsp per "bite")
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup vegan chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 2 (or 4 if you have that many) 12 cup mini muffin pans by lightly spraying with nonstick cooking spray. If you don't have mini muffin pans, use a 9"x13" baking pan.

Place all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the "s" blade and process until "smooth." (It may not get totally smooth, but the ingredients should be well blended.) Right into the food processor bowl, stir in the chocolate chips.

Spoon 1 Tbsp of batter into each cup. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Remove bites from pan (they will be gooey on the inside), spray pan with non-stick spray and refill muffin cups with second half of batter. Bake for 20 minutes.

If you don't have mini muffin pans, spread batter into a greased 9"x13" baking pan and bake for at least 25 minutes (I haven't done this method myself, so I don't know an exact baking time, but it will be significantly longer).

The results were a success! Everyone liked these blondie bites (kids and adults), but not in a way where you would just want to keep eating one after another (if you know what I mean). I'd say they are a safe way to go if you want to bake a sweet treat.

One thing that I have found over the past many months experimenting with healthier baking has been that I can eliminate all of the oil or butter or Earth Balance in any baked good with no ill effect. I simply substitute all of the oil in a 1:1 ratio with unsweetened apple sauce, even if there is already apple sauce in the recipe. This has never failed me. I keep individual unsweetened apple sauce containers in stock in my kitchen (my kids love them) and each one is 1/2 cup. I never have a half-eaten jar hanging around my refrigerator growing mold.

My next experiments are going to revolve around eliminating the sugar in baked goods. The nice people over at NuNaturals sent me the most generous box of their products to test and try and I just can't wait. There's a virgin donut pan in my baking drawer just calling my name!

But what is going on with you? Where are you on this journey?What is coming easy to you? What are you struggling with?

No matter what is going on with you and your food, I hope you are not beating yourself up over it.

The Proof is in the Nutritarian Pudding

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 02:28:00 +0000

Nope, there's no yummy recipe here for pudding. Rather, a letter I received from an HGK reader that provides me with a whole lot of good feelings. I wanted to share it with all of you.

"Hi Wendy,
Just wanted to thank you for an awesome, awesome blog. At this point, I don't even remember how I came to find your blog -- the most important part is that I did!

I read 'Eat To Live' back in October, a few months ago. I have high cholesterol (even though I'm 29) and have for most of my life. I hover around a 25 BMI, so I'm not overweight, and at 5'9" I carry it all pretty well. After reading E2L, I starting planning for January when I was going to begin the 6-week aggressive program. So, it was around this time, I started looking for resources, recipes, etc. I found your blog and started reading the backlog of posts, and joined the Yahoo! group for E2L. I used these few months to get prepared, finding recipes or ideas that would work for me.

Finally, on January 3rd, I started the 6-week program. I had gone for blood work the week before. On Saturday, February 11th, I went back for my 40-day blood work and got the results today. I am ecstatic!

December 28, 2011:
Total Cholesterol - 233
LDL - 149
Triglycerides - 184

February 11, 2012 (after 40 days of Eating to Live):
Total Cholesterol - 159
LDL - 105
Triglycerides - 43

I am also down about 15lbs. in 40 days, too! (with my BMI now below 23) What an added bonus to this healthful way of living!

I just wanted to say thank you for the ideas, the motivation, and the support -- even though you didn't even know I was reading. You are inspirational! I look forward to your blog every day!

Take care,
nicole"

There you have it. The power of real, good food. It's stories like this that keep me inspired to keep eating this way and to keep blogging about it. Thank YOU for sharing Nicole!

Versatile Mexican Slaw

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:59:00 +0000

You guys totally rock! Your advice to HGK reader-in-need in my last post just totally blew my mind.

Thank you.

Today I want to talk about something less serious, or not: cabbage.

Cabbage is ridiculously good for you. Dr. Fuhrman writes in Super Immunity, "Cruciferous vegetables are not only the most powerful anticancer foods in existence; they are also the most micronutrient-dense of all vegetables."

You can find out all about the health benefits of cabbage here and here. Cabbage is probably something, in one variety or another, that should be in your shopping cart every single week.

We get the maximum benefit from eating cruciferous vegetables raw. But that's not always palatable to some people. Raw broccoli, raw Brussels Sprouts, raw kohlrabi? But cabbage, most of us are used to eating that raw in a slaw. Phew!

Mexican Slaw

serves 4-6

Print me!

6 cups shredded cabbage-all one variety or multiple types, such as green, red, and/or savoy

1/2 cup rough chopped cilantro

Dressing:

¼ plus 1/8 cup raw cashews, soaked in water for 1 hour and then drained

2 Tbsp lime juice
1/2 cup water

½ Tbsp chipotle chili in adobo sauce

1 Tbsp minced fresh jalapeno pepper

1 clove garlic

1 tsp maple syrup

½ tsp salt

dash of pepper

Place all dressing ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Pour over shredded cabbage and cilantro and stir to combine.

Optional add-ins: Pepitas (pumpkin seeds), shredded carrots, scallions

This slaw is delicious as a side dish for any Mexican meal. But there are lots of ways to incorporate a slaw into a dish. One thing that I really find tasty is a wrap sandwich with slaw as one of the major ingredients.

In these wraps, I used the following components:

steamed tempeh (2 8-ounce packages cut into large strips and steamed for 5 minutes) that I mashed and then mixed with green enchilada sauce (1 15-ounce can)
a homemade roasted vegetable spread with Mexican seasoning (optional)
Mexican Slaw (above)
whole wheat lavash (the wraps)

Do you make cabbage a regular part of your diet? What is your favorite way to eat cabbage?

"Too Busy to Prepare Homemade Healthy Food" Needs Advice. Let's Help.

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:14:00 +0000

Good morning! I hope you all had a restful and fun weekend. I spend a lot of my weekend thinking (while I was cooking, of course!) about this e-mail that I received a few days ago from an HGK reader:

"Just checking back in for a little advice. I wrote you a few weeks ago. I was so enthused and have been eating all plant based food. Unfortunately, a lot of frozen Amy meals, and Whole food stuff that is prepared. So, I am gaining weight. Yikes!! I am bummed.

I was hoping I could just get 'quick' stuff that I could grab on the run that was plant-based. Well, I see this isn't going to be a quick fix. I really was hoping for quick foods that won't stress me out with constant chopping, and time in the kitchen.

Does the weight loss only come if you are following a plan and counting portion sizes of grains and starchy vegetables? Probably no pre-packaged tofu dishes from Whole Foods, right?

I didn't want to have to put even more time into it with cooking AND planning out portion sizes, etc. I am sure it is the increased carbs that are doing it. Easy to grab a Cliff bar or Luna bar for a snack in the afternoon or breakfast on the run. But, lots of carbs. Eating big chunks of raw veggies on the run is not remotely appealing. Ugh. Are there any easy, low maintenance ways to get all I need on the run without all the fat and carbs?

I could use some motivation. I was so excited. But now it's even more work with my husband wanting me to make sure he has something for almost every meal. And he isn't satisfied with just veggies and rice. I almost don't want him to eat all plant-based with me and go back to normal easy to prepare food for the kids. But, he wants to eat healthy, too.

I need a chef. ;0) Is it worth it to find a nutritionist? Are the plant-based ones hard to find? If you have a moment, I would love to hear your comments. It sounds like you have been at this awhile with your family."

Here's some more pertinent information about this reader:
She has three children, all of which she home schools. They are age 8, 11 and 14. The reader is never home alone to do quiet meal preparation. About 6-10 hours per week are spent carpooling her kids.

Weekends are very busy with picking up [the house], running errands for school projects, sports events, church, and visiting family every Sunday. Sometimes she goes to the gym with her husband on Saturday morning, or a bike ride with her family. She occasionally gets together with friends, goes to a movie, or shopping. She also runs to the grocery store a few times a week.

What's my advice? Priorities and Healthy Fear

First, the issue of counting or measuring food. I do not count or measure anything on this plan, but I do avoid a long list of foods. Foods like Cliff Bars are on my "do not eat list." I have this expression, "Just because it's vegan doesn't mean it's healthy." I learned how to properly read a nutrition label on packaged foods in the book The Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyn. That was a game changer for me. I saw that almost nothing in a package can be considered healthy. You can read more on that here.

Shopping at Whole Foods is a wonderful thing, but you do need to have a healthy level of skepticism when you go there. Most of what is being sold at Whole Foods is not on this plan. Stick to vegetables, fruit, whole grains, beans and legumes most of the time. Tofu, tempeh and seitan are fine, but not every day. For me, about once a week with those products is enough. I stick with huge salads, large bowls of soup, oatmeal for breakfast, green smoothies when I am in the mood, and other vegan dishes that are carefully prepared according to plan.

I make all of our salad dressings from scratch. I only do this once a week. It's fast, easy and much healthier and cheaper than bottled salad dressings. I prepare large volumes of salad at one time so that I don't have to do that every day. I cook a huge pot of soup on the weekend and we eat it throughout the week and freeze some too. Same goes for other cooked vegan food. I have developed a ton of strategies, to lessen my time in the kitchen. I too am never at home without one child or another needing my attention. So it actually takes me twice as long to prepare anything as someone without small children. But I never let that stop me from getting healthy food prepared.

I get the feeling that your children's education is one of the highest priorities in your life. That is a beautiful and commendable thing. But what about their health and the health of you and your husband? How important is it to you that your family lives long and healthy lives? In my mind, that is at least equally as important as your children's education (I happen to take this stuff very seriously). In fact, I would like to propose that teaching your children about truly healthy food and the preparation of it on a day to day basis is more important than almost any traditional school subject.

Would it be possible to weave this into their education? Do you get to chose the books that they read? Could you and your oldest children read Eat to Live by Dr. Fuhrman? Or Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn? Your 8 year old might be able to read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

How about engaging your children in the actual food preparation once they have a basic understanding of the importance of avoiding all processed food? Again, is there a way to make it part of their curriculum? Could the kids be responsible for more household chores while you cook? Could your older two do their own laundry and pick-up the house? You are going to have to get creative!

You don't need a nutritionist. But what I think you need is a healthy fear of the future. Read everything you can about plant based nutrition. Make it one of the highest priorities in your life. You will never regret it.

You don't have to do it all at once. Let go of perfection, it is the enemy of the good. Just start by doing one good thing for the health of your family every day. You'll be surprised where that takes you.

I could go on and on, but I have to start making my kid's lunches! HGK reader, I know you can do this! Give it time to become a normal part of your life and NEVER EVER give up.

What's your advice?

Tofu Express Review and Roasted Tofu Explanation

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:29:00 +0000

FULL DISCLOSURE: I contacted TofuXpress and asked for a free gizmo to test and review. I have wanted one of these for a while. Not that I use tofu all of the time, but when I do, it really bugs me to waste all of those paper towels trying to press the water out.

Am I happy that I did that. This small piece of kitchen equipment solves not only the wasted paper towel problem, the amount of water that you can press out of the tofu is dramatically increased, greatly influencing the flavor of the final product. The more water out, the more marinade in!

These things are not cheap. But at $39.95 each, considering that they are a small, independent company designing and marketing them (as opposed to a company like Kitchen Aid or Cuisinart), I believe it's a fair price. You won't regret this purchase if you like properly prepared tofu.

Lately I've been into this Organic Sprouted Tofu from Trader Joe's. I have no idea if it's healthier than regular tofu, do you?

I press my firm or extra firm tofu, cut it into cubes, marinate it for a few hours or overnight and then bake it at 400 degrees for between 20 and 40 minutes.

Before baking.

After baking-the texture is perfect. Nothing like you would expect when you hear the word "tofu!" A little crunchy, a little chewy and full of flavor.

Want your own TofuXpress? click here.

What's your favorite way to prepare tofu? Have you gone from a tofu hater to a tofu connoisseur?

Roasted Pears with Banana Soft Serve-A Truly Healthy Dessert

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:08:00 +0000

Very interesting discussion going on in my last post about giving unsolicited nutritional advice to our friends and family that are suffering from food born illnesses. The consensus is: don't do it. Better to have them come to us than risk that our concern be taken the wrong way or push people away. Lead by example, but it's easier said than done!

Here's an example of a plant strong dessert that probably will leave them asking for more healthy options. It's really an idea, not so much a recipe, because it's that simple. Thank you to Lindsay Bruner, the Whole Foods Healthy Eating Specialist from Kentucky, who suggested serving the roasted pears with banana soft serve.

(1) Roast pears at 400 degrees. I recommend spraying the bottom of your cookie sheet with canola oil spray and also lightly dusting the tops of the pears with spray too. You can season the pears with cinnamon, but you don't have to.

(2) Keep an eye on the pears and when they look carmelized and soft, they're done. About 40 minutes.

(3) Serve as is, or with frozen banana soft serve. Place chunks of frozen bananas along with a splash of alternative milk of your choice in a high powered blender or food processor and blend, scraping down sides and tamping mixture down as necessary, until mixture resembles soft serve ice cream. Serve immediately.

before roasting

after roasting

Wow even your biggest skeptics.

Dessert doesn't get any simpler than this.

Enjoy!

Best of Super Bowl 2012: Saag Dip

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 21:27:00 +0000

I love it when I make a new recipe and I just know that it is going to become a favorite. That's what happened this morning as I was testing and preparing things for a Super Bowl party this evening at my next-door-neighbor's house. I picked out four recipes last week that I figured I could whip up in a few hours (I totally underestimated and I ended up being in the kitchen for most of the day). Three that I had never tried before, and one that was a complete winner from last year's Plant-strong Super Bowl Party.

I have mentioned many times here on HGK that I absolutely adore Indian food. So it really is no surprise that I think this dip rocks. "Saag" is one of two Indian words that I know of that means "spinach" ("palak" is the other). This spinach and avocado dip is bursting with Indian flavors, plus it has the advantage of being a very quick and simple recipe that involves no cooking. I can't wait to bring it to the party and see what everyone else thinks!

But it's not all good news. One of the dishes that I prepared, "fudgey" truffles made with black beans, dates, oatmeal, flax, chia seed, cacao, dried apricots and chocolate chips is almost too weird for me to be able to comfortably serve it to a non-Nutritarian crowd. It's staying home for the night. I'll be letting my kids eat these for breakfast.

Saag Dip

makes about 1 1/2 cups

from Vegetarian Times Magazine

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4 cups fresh spinach (7 ounces)

1 large ripe avocado

1/2 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 small clove garlic

1/4 tsp curry powder

1/8 tsp minced fresh ginger (I used a microplane and eyeballed it)

dash of chili powder

dash of Cayenne pepper

dash of cumin

salt to taste

Place all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the "s" blade. Process until smooth, scraping down sides as necessary.

Serving suggestions: crudite, pita chips, naan or Fat Free Vegan's Colcannon Puffs.

How is/was your Super Bowl? Is it going to be/was it Plant-strong?

Have you ever made anything new and then decided not to serve it to other people?

I overheard an interesting conversation at the party last night. One of my neighbors was telling another neighbor (who happens to be a Urologist) that she is suffering terribly from kidney stones. She said it was the worst pain she had ever experienced in her entire life, far worse than giving birth. She said that the doctor who treated her said that she was eating too much sugar and too much salt (impressive) and prescribed her a medication.

The urologist did not comment at all about the dietary recommendation and said something to the tune of "Just take your medication." I kept waiting for a discussion about the benefits of a healthy diet to ensue, but got nothing. In fact, the woman who has the kidney stones brought what might have been the single most unhealthy dish I have ever laid eyes on to the pot luck (something about a slab of cream cheese, chicken from a can, and blue cheese?). Of course I wanted to say something, but it would have come out all wrong. It pains me to see people suffering from food borne illness who do not know the power of nutritional excellence.

What would you have done?

Grasshopper Vegan Overnight Oats and the Premiere of Fat Chef on The Food Network

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:33:00 +0000

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I rediscovered the Chia Seed and along with it, the Internet recipe sensation Vegan Overnight Oats. With the help and guidance of my new friend Lani Muelrath, I quickly saw that Vegan Overnight Oats cannot become an everyday breakfast option for me (too high in calories) but as a treat on the weekend, maybe even lunch on Saturday, well, they're perfect!

This version combines my some of my all time favorite flavors--mint and chocolate--with the creamy, chewy taste sensation that is VOO. Plus, with the addition of 1 cup of frozen spinach, we can get more greens in our bodies. It's a win-win situation!

Grasshopper Vegan Overnight Oats
serves 1

Print me!

layer A:

1/3 cup regular oats (not steel cut)

1 Tbsp chia seeds

<1 cup alternative milk, like almond or soy

1/2 scoop Amazing Grass Green Superfood Chocolate Drink Powder or 1/2 Tbsp raw cacao

1 tsp maple syrup

1/8 tsp peppermint extract

layer B:

1 large frozen banana or 1 1/2 small frozen bananas

1 cup frozen spinach

splash of alternative milk

1/8 tsp peppermint extract

In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients for layer A and refrigerate overnight or for 1 hour.

In the morning, prepare layer B by placing all of the ingredients into the canister of a high speed blender or the bowl of a food processor fitted with the S blade. If using the blender, blend the ingredients and tamp them down until the mixture is even and creamy. (This takes a few minutes as the spinach is more difficult to blend than banana alone.) If using a food processor, process and stop to scrape down the sides often until the mixture is even and creamy.

Layer the overnight oats mixture with the banana soft serve and eat immediately.

Did anyone catch the premiere of Fat Chef on The Food Network?

Ironically, the first episode took place in Cleveland, OH (where I live). In my opinion, it was pretty painful to watch. First, my heart was bleeding for the two "contestants" who were totally out of control with their diets. Fried food, fast food, candy and cookies, day in and day out. The male chef, Rocco Whalen, owner of Farenheit Restaurant, was consuming 8000 calories per day. The female, Kimberly McCune Gibson, 5000. Of pure garbage.

But the worst was the diet recommendations that the trainer on the show gave them. IMHO, they were totally unsustainable in the long run and only set people up for ultimate failure at keeping weight off. And it's not just about the two chefs on the show, it's about all of the thousands of people watching the show and hoping to discover the key to being healthy.

What were the weight loss recommendations on Fat Chef? Eat small meals of lean (ie animal) protein and vegetables every four hours. Oh, that, and exercise ridiculous amounts every week, which is totally unsustainable in real life (like when the cameras stop following you 12 weeks later).

Sure, a person being followed by cameras can stick to this plan for 12 weeks, and they would pretty much guarantee a major weight loss, but WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THEIR LIVES? Do the producers of the show even care?

No mention of high volumes of low calorie plant foods like salads, smoothies (not talking about the fruit laden ones here, just the truly green ones), soups, sauteed greens, beans or whole grains. Just some pork and steamed cauliflower with a side of celery sticks.

In Rocco's own words, "Thanksgiving sucked," he says bluntly, "but it put me to the test at the hardest time of year. And the carefree side of things, carefree in eating whatever I like. I miss that, too. Being able to eat a poached pear with softly melting blue cheese over it, topped with a port wine drizzle, and being able to enjoy some whenever I wanted to . . . "

That is no way to live!

Thanksgiving shouldn't "suck!" Come to my house for a plant based, no-oil Thanksgiving!

You don't need to be hungry all of the time in order to lose weight. You don't need to punish your body with exercise.

It's unsustainable (Rocco says he's now working out two hours a day. Holy sh!#.). Why is the real knowledge about these issues being kept from people?

And what about the customers that these two unhealthy chefs serve their disease promoting food to day in and day out? Are they changing their menus as a result of this intervention? Do they see food in a different way? If they did, they would certainly want to share that knowledge with their customers. Outrageously delicious, healthy, low calorie food does not have to come in small packages, but I don't think that either of the chefs learned that from their experience on the show.

I'd like to follow up with these two chefs and see how they are doing maintaining their weight loss after the taping was over. Oh, I live in Cleveland, I guess I can hunt them down!

Are Salads a Big Part of Your Life? and a Roasted Kabocha Squash, Dried Fig and Walnut Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:30:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I wrote a guest blog post for The Daily Beet, which is The Engine 2 Diet's blog. I wanted to repost that content right here on HGK, because the thoughts I expressed in it are so important to this lifestyle, to maintaining a healthy weight and to having a strong immune system. So it's ironic that as I type this, I am suffering from a cold.. But sickness for me is so rare these days, and even the viruses that I contract don't take me down like they used to. Perhaps it's the salads?

I make an effort to eat at least one huge salad just about every day. Besides finding them delicious (and you will too if you know how to make a kick arse salad!), they provide an endless variety of low calorie, high volume food for me to enjoy. Since I have never eaten like a bird, it is very important for me to eat “volumetrically.” Like Doug Lisle says, eat your raw veggies first (the salad!), your cooked veggies next, and then your whole grains third. It’s almost impossible to over consume calories that way!

A salad can be a feast. A meal. Dinner. Not just a side dish or an appetizer or, heaven forbid, a garnish. Unfortunately, for many, the word salad conjures up visions of limp lettuce on a plate with nothing but a slice of tomato, a slice of cucumber and a white goopy dressing. And given what is typically served as a salad in a restaurant, I can hardly blame them!

Salads can be extremely quick to prepare and relatively economical. They can become one of your favorite meals, if you learn the basics of building a nutrient dense salad.

There are 4 major components to building a meal sized salad. You cannot mess this up. Use whatever you like or whatever you want to experiment with. It’s all good! The four components are: the greens, the other vegetables and fresh fruit, the beans, and the dressing.

The Greens

Romaine lettuce, green and red leaf lettuces, butter lettuce, spinach, arugula, spring mix or bibb lettuce. Choose one or a mix of two. This is the largest component of the salad, so fill the bowl at least ¾ full of raw leafy greens.

The Other Veggies/Fruit/Herbs

Raw or cooked, throw handfuls of them on top of the greens. Raw vegetables include, but are not limited to shredded green or red cabbage, mushrooms, scallions, red onion, carrots, tomato, radishes, chopped cauliflower, broccoli, finely chopped kale, celery, cucumber, hearts of palm and bean sprouts. Whatever you like!

Cooked and roasted vegetables of all varieties are also wonderful in salads. You can prepare them especially for use in your salad or just use up whatever happens to be in your refrigerator that day! Great examples are roasted cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, beets, carrots and onions. Roasted sweet potato or butternut squash or frozen corn that has been defrosted can be tossed in. Artichoke hearts packed in water are also scrumptious.

Even fresh fruit like diced apple, diced pear, orange segments, blueberries, and strawberries and/or chopped fresh herbs can take a salad from “so-so” to “oh wow!

The Beans

Black beans, edamame, garbanzo beans (chick peas), cannellini beans, pinto beans and kidney beans are all great in salads. Beans can be purchased canned, you just need to drain and rinse them before tossing them in. If you are ambitious, you can buy dried beans and cook them yourself in larger batches. This saves mucho dinero but involves planning and time that I rarely have.

The Dressing

So many amazing no-oil salad dressing recipes are now at your fingertips. Many do include nuts or tahini, so watch out for those ingredients if you need to. My blog readers and I compiled “The Big List of No-oil Salad Dressings” a few months ago. I recommend printing that list out and inserting the pages into plastic page protectors (available at office supply stores). Maybe put them into a small binder. Keep these pages handy in your kitchen so you are never at a loss for a new and exciting dressing recipe.

Link to The Big List of No-oil Salad Dressings

A word about salad “indulgences” like dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, currants, etc), seeds and/or nuts: use these very sparingly or not at all if you would like to lose weight or have chronic disease.

Time Saving Tips

Storage
I like to wash and store a lot of lettuce at a time. I don’t buy pre-washed or cut lettuce, I think it’s treated with chemicals and it’s way to expensive. I use a Progressive Lettuce Keeper to store washed and torn lettuce and green bags to store all of my other vegetables. These newfangled storage products have worked amazingly well for me to extend the life of my vegetables.

Pre-washed baby spinach and spring mix can be purchased in large boxes–no chopping involved or storage issues, just grab and go.

Purchase pre-cut items
Every grocery store is different, but I’ll give you an example of what I picked up at a recent Trader Joe’s trip: shredded carrots, shredded green cabbage, cooked beets, cauliflower florets, and broccoli florets.

Own at least one very large salad bowl
My everyday bowl is very large ceramic bowl that I threw myself when I was a potter (another lifetime ago!). I own another humongous one for serving a crowd. These bowls can be plastic or ceramic.

My very large salad bowl holds enough salad for my husband and I for one dinner if all we are eating is salad. If a soup, stew, sauteed greens dish or casserole is also on the menu, that same salad would last us for two nights.

Salad is a great make ahead meal
Don’t dress all of your salad unless you are sure you are going to eat it. My undressed salads last for days in it’s big bowl in the refrigerator, which means you can prepare a lot of salad and not have to worry about it for days. Oftentimes I will make salad in the morning before leaving for work so that my evenings are more relaxed. Plus I’m usually extremely hungry when I walk in the door and having healthy food at the ready means that I am far more likely to make good choices.

Prepare Dressing in Advance (and a lot of it)
Consider making a double batch of no-oil salad dressing. You could store it in the refrigerator in a big canning jar and feel so hip. Use it up until it’s gone and then make another. Not only will this save you oodles of time, it will save you oodles of money on bottled dressings that don’t taste one iota as good as the dressings on The Big List of No-oil Salad Dressing.

Chop it if you Wanna
Have you ever had one of those wonderful chopped salads in a restaurant? If you don’t like the idea of doing all that chewing every day, simply take all of your salad bowl ingredients (before the dressing) and lay them onto a large cutting board. Dice and chop your heart out, scoop the salad back into the bowl and dress it. Viola! A wonderful meal sized chopped salad.

Some great salads:
Roasted Beet and Cranberry Salad
Outside In Salad
Mexican Jicama and Orange Salad
Chinese No Chicken Salad

Roasted Kabocha Squash, Dried Fig and Walnut Salad
serves 3 for dinner, 6 as a starter

Print me!

1 large head romaine lettuce or two small heads green leaf or red leaf lettuce, washed and chopped
1 large kabocha squash, roasted, cut into bite sized pieces
6 large stalks celery, cut into 1" thick slices on a diagonal
1/2 cup dried figs, sliced thin
1/4-1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
Chef Aj's house dressing (get that recipe below) or dressing of your choice

To roast your kabocha squash:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Wash the exterior of the squash and cut in half. Remove seeds. Do not remove the skin of kabocha squash, it's perfectly edible!

Cut squash into even slices (they will look like half-moons) about 1" thick. Spray two cookie sheets with cooking spray and arrange squash slices in one layer onto cookie sheets. Spray squash lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle with a touch of salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes.

Let squash cool a bit and then cut into bite sized pieces. Place lettuce, roasted squash, figs and walnuts into a large salad bowl. Dress with Chef Aj's House dressing or dressing of your choice. Enjoy!

Chef Aj's House Dressing

1 Tbsp maple syrup or 2 small dates

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

1/4 cup tahini

1/2 cup water

6 Tbsp lemon or lime juice

1/4 cup stone ground mustard

1/4 cup low sodium Tamari or low sodium soy sauce

Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

So, how often are you eating a big salad?

Do you have a favorite group of ingredients in your salad? If so, what is the combination of things that sends you to the moon?

Should we as a group create The Big List of Salad Ideas just like we created The Big List of No-oil Salad Dressings and the Big List of Green Smoothies?

Lemon Coconut Chia Seed Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:50:00 +0000

Lately I've been really into making muffins. For one thing, I feel like they are a no-so-bad-in-the-scheme-of-things treat for my kids. They work really well in a lunch box, and I am filling up three of those every morning. And they provide a way of satisfying my sweet tooth without going overboard.

I'm a big fan of the Lemon Poppyseed muffin from way back. You know, those big over sized muffins that we thought were healthy when we were really eating the equivalent of a big hunk of birthday cake?

So when a recipe for Lemon Chia Seed muffins came to my attention while I was on vacation at the end of last year, I immediately put it on my list of must-makes. Plus I'm on a chia seed mission these days. Inspiration came in the form of this recipe from the blog Peas and Thank You (thanks Sarah for recommending them!). I have become a master at eliminating the added fat in my baked goods, so I knew I could give this one a shot.

The last remaining no-no in my baked goods is the sugar. These muffins have a scant tsp and a third of maple syrup per muffin. Not bad! I didn't have any lemon extract in the house, but no biggie! I used my trusty coconut extract instead for a more tropical effect. This one's a keeper!

Lemon Coconut Chia Seed Muffins
makes 12 muffins
adapted from this recipe from Peas and Thank You

Print me!

dry ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup barley flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup chia seeds

wet ingredients:
1/2 cup unsweetened almond or soy milk
1 1/2 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
2/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp coconut extract
1 Tbsp lemon zest (or zest of 1 small lemon)

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

In a large bowl, place all dry ingredients and stir to combine well.

In a medium bowl, place all wet ingredients and whisk to combine well.

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Fill each well of a muffin tin that has been lined with cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until slightly golden in color and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Want more muffin recipes? Check out these HGK muffin recipes:

Pumpkin Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Zucchini Muffins

Pumpkin Spiced Cornbread Muffins

I love muffins! What varieties am I missing? Let me know and I will make 'em!

And the Winner of The Vegan Slow Cooker is . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:28:00 +0000

Thank you to everyone who left a comment and entered my blogger giveaway for a copy of Kathy Hester's The Vegan Slow Cooker. I've got Kathy's Carrot Cake and Zucchini Bread Oatmeal in my slow cooker right now and I can't wait for tomorrow morning.

The winner is entry number 79, Sara, who made the following comment:

"1) I use mine to cook a batch of dried beans every week. After cooking, I put it in pyrex, and then use the beans all week. Sometimes in the winter, I use it to cook a single serving of steel-cut oats (using this method:http://annkroeker.com/2008/03/25/overnight-crockp... overnight for me to eat before work. I also use mine as an "air freshener" in the kitchen, often after cooking the beans! Basically, fill your crockpot with water, baking soda, and a bit of an extract (I usually use peppermint extract), turn on low (WITHOUT the cover on), and allow it to rid your kitchen of cooking smells.

2) I'm pretty confident in modification, but not so much in developing my own recipes. Creating my own recipes is something I'd like to work more on. I always stir-fry with vegetable ~~oil~~ broth, and always add tons more veggies (e.g. an entire pound of greens to a big pot of soup) than recipes call for. I'm much more confident tweaking some types of recipes (such as soups and stir-fry) than others, such as casseroles, and other baked dishes. A lot of vegan baked dishes use nutritional yeast - which contains MSG, which I'm allergic to - so I always have to modify those recipes. What I normally do is follow the recipe as closely as I can given the ingredients I have on hand or am willing to purchase (I don't usually buy things that I can never see myself ever using up), because I'm always curious to know the taste that the author intended. After that trial, I modify it to fit my preferences. Regardless of the author's intent, I always up the veggie content"

So Sara, please e-mail me at healthygirlskitchen@gmail.com to claim your prize!

Have an excellent week everybody. Back tomorrow with another muffin recipe to go with all of these soups and stews we're all making.

The Vegan Slow Cooker: Review and Blogger Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:23:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I contacted cookbook author Kathy Hester and asked her for a review copy of her new book The Vegan Slow Cooker. I was very intrigued at the concept of this book and even purchased it as a birthday present for a Vegan friend a few months ago. I mean, who doesn't want delicious meals that magically appear at the end of a long day?

Kathy also has a very active blog, Healthy Slow Cooking, with loads of slow cooker recipes. She graciously agreed to do a blogger giveaway of The Vegan Slow Cooker, so make sure you enter by leaving a comment on this post. Thank you Kathy!

Little did I know that Kathy uses the slow cooker for far more than soups and stews. Oatmeal, seitan, bread, sandwich fillings, sauces, and on and on. Kathy is one very creative slow cooking chef!

Once receiving the book, I quickly set out to test a few recipes. Her Soy Chorizo Black Bean Stew was absolutely delicious, with my addition of a head of Swiss chard at the end to get some greens in. And her Chick'n Mushroom Casserole was the thing that finally got me to make homemade seitan. Although I opted for a quicker method than the one she outlines in the book, I used my seitan in Kathy's casserole recipe and the results were outstanding. Total comfort food.

Kathy even got me back to eating oatmeal in the morning. Just hearing that you could make oatmeal in a crock pot was intriguing to me, and I followed Debby's, The Healthy Librarian's, recipe for "Heart-saving" Chocolate Oatmeal. Next on my list? A modified version of Kathy's Carrot Cake and Zucchini Bread Oatmeal.

But a word of caution about this cookbook. I'm not sure anyone would be able to lose weight eating these recipes (look, the book doesn't say anything about being low calorie, it just promises deliciousness and it does deliver). They are, as Chef Aj likes to say, rather "plant indulgent." Do you need to make a meal that is going to wow the Vegan skeptics in your life? This is the book to turn to. Fun, creative, delicious slow cooked Vegan fare is Kathy's specialty. But as a daily source of low calorie, high volume food? Not so much. To be totally fair, the book never promises to be low calorie/high volume. That's just our schtick!

But that's no different than the vast majority of Vegan cookbooks on bookstore shelves right now. So I hope you are becoming good at modifying recipes to make them far more Nutritarian. I think I have become a master at this, so The Vegan Slow Cooker will have a prominent spot on my bookshelf for years to come. It serves as wonderful inspiration for some really Plant-strong food I hope to slow cook up this winter.

Thanks again Kathy!

Would you like to win a copy of The Vegan Slow Cooker? Just leave a comment here answering the following questions:

(1) What's your slow cooker story? Do you own one, does it sit on your shelf or do you use it frequently? Do you want to use it more?

(2) How comfortable are you at modifying recipes to make a non-Nutritarian Vegan recipe into a keeper? Do you automatically eliminate the oil and up the vegetable content? Or are you less confident in your abilities as a Plant-strong cook and stick to already perfected Nutritarian recipes?

Have fun! Contest closes at midnight on Friday night, January 27, 2012. Winner will be selected at random and announced on Monday, January 30th.

Favorite Soups: Split Pea and Barley Soup and Some More

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:29:00 +0000

As you probably know, I've been focusing on getting organized since the start of the new year. I'd say it's going swimmingly well. I'm pretty much following this 365 day organizing calendar that I found on Pinterest. I'm certainly not perfect, but even following along with the calendar in my own imperfect way, I'm decluttering, getting rid of stuff we don't use in droves and generally getting stuff organized.

Hence the new meal planning for the kids, grocery shopping and salad prep systems. And this all got me thinking, a few years ago, when I turned my life around and got really healthy for the first time in my life, I used to make a gigantic pot of soup every weekend. At least half of the soup would go into two serving (4 cup) deli containers in a big case freezer in my basement that my dear hubby bought me for the storage of all of this soup. And that went on for months, so by the time winter hit, I had squirreled away a lot of soup that kept us eating uber healthy through the winter.

The next summer, I did the same thing, but not as frequently.

This past summer, not at all. Whatever soup I made got eaten and I just wasn't making huge pots of soup like I used to.

But in thinking about this whole menu planning and making life easier in general, I'm wondering whether I should go back to the weekly huge pot of soup. I know I'm going to do it this coming up weekend and I've already planned what I'm making. It's a recipe that Chris-Anna told me about. Seems it's a relatively healthy favorite of hers from the restaurant chain California Pizza Kitchen. But of course, we had to make it even healthier!

Split Pea and Barley Soup
serves 6-8
adapted from California Pizza Kitchen's Pea and Barley Soup

print me!

1/2 cup pearl barley
1 3/4 cups water
1 pound dried green split peas
2 quarts water
2 bay leaves
2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce or Tamari
1/2 Tbsp dried thyme
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/4 tsp cumin
2 cups diced carrots (3 medium carrots)
3 cups diced onion (1 large onion)
1 1/4 cups diced celery (3 large stalks)

Place barley and 1 3/4 water into a sauce pot and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to low and simmer for 45 minutes, until barley is cooked and water is absorbed.

Meanwhile, in a large soup pot or dutch oven, combine peas, 2 quarts water, bay leaves, soy sauce or tamari, thyme, garlic, sage and cumin. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to a low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in carrots, onions and celery. Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, another 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, check to see if peas are completely soft, if not continue to simmer until they are soft.

Turn heat off. Remove bay leaves and discard. Using a hand-held immersion blender, puree soup, leaving it as chunky you prefer or puree completely. Stir in barley and serve.

Here's some other soups that rock that I plan on making double batches of in the upcoming weeks:

Red Lentil Soup with Cauliflower and Indian Spice
HGK's Energy Soup
Chaya's Carrot Soup
Coconut Curry Kale, Chick Pea and Sweet Potato Stoup

What's your favorite soup?

How the Family Started to Eat Better-A New System

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 02:11:00 +0000

Hello!

Wow, was last week was a whirlwind week in Healthy Girl's Kitchen. First was the Paula Deen scandal. Then I won the book Wildly Affordable Organic by Linda Watson in a blogger giveaway on the Healthy Slow Cooking blog. This was all topped off with a guest blog post on salad making on The Engine 2 Blog (thanks to everyone who left some love over there!). And that doesn't even include my first ever culinary attempts at Vegan Mac-n-cheeze and Chik'n Seitan. Phew! I wonder what's in store this week?

Really cool stuff, I'm guessing.

And it starts with this: something to make your life way easier. I don't know if you remember, but my one resolution this New Year is to get organized. Why? Because life is just easier that way.

As everyone knows, feeding kids day in and day out is challenging. Add in two full time working parents, a desire for the food to be healthy AND the need to make meals that are kid friendly. All complicated by the fact that I want to make Vegan meals that are oil-free and very adult centric (curried soups and huge bowls of salad are not exactly high on my 4 and 7 year old's list of favorite foods to eat). You have got yourself an almost impossible situation.

Even I was getting severely fatigued. I resorted to embarrassingly horrid child feeding habits by the end of 2011 (they did not involved fast food or Kraft macaroni and cheese, but it wasn't that far off). Something needed to change.

And then ideas appeared like an angels from heaven. It all started with this blog post entitled Healthy Eating Tactics in the New Year by the lovely Sarah Matheny over at Peas and Thank You. I highly recommend checking that post out before reading the story of how Sarah's idea impacted me.

Sarah's suggestion is to create lists of healthy food options and post them in the kitchen. Sarah suggested a kid's snack list (it helps if the kids can read, but it's not a must) and a grocery shopping list. Here are mine:

Healthy Snack List

When the kids come home from school. they walk over to the list and choose a snack. Far less dramatic than an adult having to rack their brain for ideas and then having the kids reject them!

The Master/Staples Grocery List

This simply makes it so much easier for the responsible adult to always have the healthy food choices in the house that are necessary for building meals on a day-to-day basis. Again, no more racking your brain trying to figure out what it is you need to get at the grocery store. Just keep an eye out about once a week that the kitchen is stocked with whatever is on your or your family's list. And it works just as well even if you don't have kids or a family.

I created those lists and posted them. I loved these ideas, but I had no idea if it would work magic on my kids' eating habits. So I didn't stop there. I took it two steps further, and here is where the magic happened.

I created a weekly dinner schedule. I did this for me, so that I would not have to go through the daily stress of deciding what to make the littles for dinner all while attempting to prepare some Vegan feast for my husband, myself and my 12 year old daughter, Sophia, who thankfully eats like an almost Plant-strong adult.

Kid's Weekly Dinner Schedule

The pressure is off. The kids helped create the list so all of the dinners are kid approved. No more last minute bad decision making. The kitchen is stocked with the healthiest versions of the ingredients that I need to prepare these meals and nothing is difficult to make.

But the kicker is this: serving the kid's dinner on cafeteria lunch trays. Maybe at this point you are saying, "Duh Wendy." But sometimes I am slow on the uptake! I purchased three of them many years ago at Target but never really put them to use. Somehow, they magically reappeared and the kids are loving them. They are the ones who fill up the compartments every night with fresh fruit and vegetables of their choosing. I think they feel empowered and it's much easier to get them to eat a variety of healthy food that way.

Lunch trays-they key to happiness. Everyone's happiness.

Here's some for sale on Etsy.

And after writing the guest blog post on nutrient dense salad making for The Engine 2 Diet blog, I decided another chart was in order. This one to help ensure that we have a variety of salad ingredients stocked in the fridge and pantry at any given time, but also to remind me on a daily basis of all of the variety of things that can and should go into our salads. Less thought, better salads! It's awesome.

Salad Making/Salad Item Stocking List

Here's what the outside of our beautiful refrigerator looks like right now, but I don't care. My life just got better.

What are your tricks to make grocery shopping and daily meal preparation easier? Please share your strategies!

Chocolate Cherry Overnight Oats

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:11:00 +0000

Lately I've been wondering how to get more chia seeds into my diet.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with these strange little seeds, yes, they are the seeds that grow the grassy "hair" on a Chia Pet from the 70s. But they are also an incredible source of omega-3 fatty acids, even more so than flax seeds. And it has another advantage over flax: chia is so rich in antioxidants that the seeds don't deteriorate and can be stored for long periods without becoming rancid. And, unlike flax, they do not have to be ground to make their nutrients available to the body. Chia seeds also provide fiber (25 grams give you 6.9 grams of fiber) as well as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, copper, iron, molybdenum, niacin, and zinc.

Another advantage: when added to water and allowed to sit for 30 minutes, chia forms a gel. Researchers suggest that this reaction also takes place in the stomach, slowing the process by which digestive enzymes break down carbohydrates and convert them into sugar.

Chia has a nutlike flavor. You can mix seeds in water and add lime or lemon juice and sugar to make a drink known in Mexico and Central America as "chia fresca." As with ground flax seeds, you can sprinkle ground or whole chia seeds on cereal, in yogurt or salads, eat them as a snack, or grind them and mix them with flour when making muffins or other baked goods.

I find them tasty and an interesting addition to my diet. I happen to really like the consistency of them in smoothies and puddings. For some people, it will take a little getting used to. For others, it might be love at first bite. And for some, you just might never become a chia lover. But if you have never tried these little buggers and you are up for some nutritional adventure, I highly recommend getting a bag of 'em.

Chia seeds are all the rage amongst a group of healthy bloggers. Somehow, a recipe for something called Banana Soft Serve Vegan Overnight Oats emerged. I made my first parfait about a year and a half ago. It was love at first bite, but somehow I forgot all about it until I saw it again this weekend on Pinterest, just as I was pondering how to get more chia seed into my diet! Ka-Bam! There are tons of awesome recipes out there on the web for this done up with different flavors. It's so much fun to experiment with!

I made a chocolate cherry version but I'm already dreaming up my next one . . . peppermint patty.

VOO: looks strange, tastes good.

Chocolate Cherry Vegan Overnight Oats
serves 1

Printable Recipe

layer A:
1/3 cup regular oats (not steel cut)
1 Tbsp chia seeds
1 cup alternative milk, like almond or soy
1/4 scoop Amazing Grass Green Superfood Chocolate Drink Powder or a chocolate protein powder
1/2 tsp maple syrup
layer B:
1 large frozen banana or 1 1/2 small frozen bananas
1/2 cup frozen cherries
up to 1 Tbsp raw cacao powder or high quality cocoa powder (not dutch processed)
splash of alternative milk

In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients for layer A and refrigerate overnight or for 1 hour.

In the morning, prepare layer B by placing all of the ingredients into the canister of a high speed blender or the bowl of a food processor fitted with the S blade. If using the blender, blend the ingredients and tamp them down until the mixture is even and creamy. If using a food processor, process and stop to scrape down the sides often until the mixture is even and creamy.

Layer the overnight oats mixture with the banana soft serve and eat immediately.

Do you have chia seeds in your pantry? Have you ever made Vegan Overnight Oats?

My First Vegan Mac-n-Cheeze

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:02:00 +0000

I have resisted making a Vegan Mac-n-cheese for the over two years that I have been cooking the no-oil vegan way.

It's hard to believe, although I came pretty close to making it about a year ago. I got scared off when I read the review's of a very famous blogger's recipe. Let's just say they were very mixed. Some were complaining that it didn't taste at all like classic mac-n-cheese. And I wasn't taking any chances.

Fast forward about a year when I happened upon this recipe from Oh She Glows. I used to read this blog pretty regularly, but the frequency with which Angela posted recipes and photos about food that I have no business eating drove me away (my own personal problem--trigger foods). It's really too bad, because I have a suspicion that she's got some kick butt savory recipes on there.

But somehow a recipe for Butternut Squash Mac 'n Cheeze from Oh She Glows crossed my path last week. And this time, I just could't resist. With some adaptions (elimination of the Earth Balance and turning it into a baked casserole), the results were outstanding. Absolutely one of the best casseroles I have ever made, vegan or not.

Does this taste like real mac-n-cheese? No. But who the heck cares with food that tastes this great. I will be honest, this does involve the use of many pots and a casserole dish. And you don't want to make it when you need to get dinner on the table in 30 minutes. But I promise, it's worth all of the dish washing and time!

Cheezy Macaroni Bake with Butternut Squash and Greens
serves 6-8
1 hour 45 minutes

Printable Recipe

1 large butternut squash,* peeled and chopped into 1" pieces
1 1/2 cups almond or soy milk (or any unsweetened alternative milk that you prefer)
2 Tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 heaping Tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt (or not)
pepper to taste
16 ounces brown rice pasta-fusilli or other shape
1 head Swiss chard or other greens, washed, stem removed and rough chopped
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs**

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. Spread chopped butternut squash onto tray in one layer and lightly spray with cooking oil. Sprinkle with a dash of salt and pepper. Roast butternut squash for 45 minutes.

While squash is roasting, set a medium-large pot of water on your stove to boil.

In a sauce pan placed over low heat put cornstarch or arrowroot and almond milk. Whisk until all lumps disappear. Add nutritional yeast, mustard, garlic powder, salt and pepper and whisk until everything is well combined. Continue to cook over low heat, whisking occassionally, until sauce thickens. Turn heat off.

When you water is boiling, cook pasta according to your package instructions, being careful not to overcook it. After draining your brown rice pasta, run cold water over it to stop the cooking process and to prevent it from becoming one big lump of pasta.

Place a large soup pot over a medium-high flame and cover the base of the pot with low sodium vegetable broth. When broth is bubbling, add swiss chard or greens of choice and saute until greens are cooked but not overdone (they should retain their bright green color). Pour off any excess cooking liquid before going to the next step.

Pour cooked pasta into soup pot with cooked greens and stir.

In a blender or food processor, combine all of the cheeze sauce (the sauce made with the almond milk, nutritional yeast, etc.) and 2 cups of the roasted butternut squash and blend until creamy.

Turn the heat of your oven down to 350 degrees.

Place the remaining roasted butternut squash into the pot with the noodles and greens. Pour the cheeze sauce over the noodles and stir well. Transfer into a 9"x13" casserole dish that has been sprayed lightly with cooking spray. Top with whole wheat breadcrumbs and bake for 30 minutes.

*I have found that the best way to cut and peel a whole butternut squash is as follows: Poke a bunch of holes in the skin of the squash. Microwave the squash on high for four minutes. Remove your squash from the microwave and proceed, peeling and chopping it.

**I save the ends of loaves of whole wheat bread in a baggie in the freezer. When I have a bagful of ends, I use my food processor to make whole wheat breadcrumbs. To do this, you toast the bread first, then place the toast into the food processor fitted with an s-blade and processor. I store the whole wheat bread crumbs in the freezer until I need them for a recipe.

Easy Vegan Chili and Pumpkin Spiced Cornbread Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:31:00 +0000

I'm SO excited, I have a guest blog post over at The Engine 2 Diet Blog right now! Please hop on over there and check out How Healthy Girl Makes a Salad and Makes Salad Making Easier.

And that's not the only thing I'm excited about! Did you see this article over at VegNews about the leaders of the Raw Food movement making a statement that oil and nuts are not good for you? Holy. Moly. That is a major shift in thinking for the entire raw food world. Here's the comment I left on the article:

"Oh. My. G... I am in shock. And actually, really relieved. I thankfully figured this same thing out after trying to go raw for a couple of months and gaining a ton of weight from the oils and the nuts and the raw desserts. I am so happy that this information is coming out now and that more people do not have to be lead down a ridiculous path of consuming coconut oil, olive oil, etc. and thinking that these things are health foods. Yes, eat raw vegetables! But don't shun incredibly healthy cooked food."

So on and on it goes. Trying to figure out what is best for humankind. It's never easy, but I think it's worth it.

I have a feeling that a lot of people are craving chili right now. With the cold weather and the dreary days, I know that chili is one of the easiest ways to warm myself up.

But you don't always have the time for a complicated or lengthy chili recipe. That's why this recipe is so outstanding. It's fast, easy and very, very tasty.

And what goes better with chili than cornbread? I have tried a number of Vegan cornbread recipes and this is by far the best one to date! The pureed canned pumpkin and Pumpkin Pie spice add an unusual twist to this classic.

Easy Vegan Chili
serves 8-10
Prep time: 20 min. Cook time: 70 min.

Printable Recipe

2 cups chopped onion

8 garlic cloves, pressed

2 28oz. cans diced tomatoes

1 4 oz. can green chilies

4 Tbsp chili powder

2 Tbsp dried oregano

2 Tbsp ground cumin

3 15 oz. cans black beans, drained

1 10 oz. bag of frozen corn

Saute onions in a large pot over medium high heat for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add water if necessary to prevent sticking. Add garlic and saute 3 more minutes.

Add tomatoes with juice, chilies and dried seasoning. Mix and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add beans and corn. Reduce heat to med. low and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Pumpkin Spiced Cornbread Muffins

24 small muffins or 18 medium sized

Printable Recipe

dry ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 cups cornmeal (for a smoother finish, use corn flour)
wet ingredients:
1 15 ounce can pure pumpkin puree
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 Tbsp flaxmeal
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup unsweetened almond or soy milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, stir together all dry ingredients.

In a medium bowl or a very big measuring cup stir together wet ingredients until well blended.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture and mix until well blended.

Distribute batter evenly into greased muffin pans (either 18 or 24 holes). Bake for 20 minutes.

What foods are warming you up these days?

When You and Your Partner are at Food Odds

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:05:00 +0000

Good morning! Today I present to you a guest blog post by the blogger over at Kitchen of Health. Do you know that when I started blogging a little over two years ago there were very few "Nutritarian Bloggers" or "Plant-strong Bloggers?" That's simply not the case today, and it's really hard for me to keep up with the scores of new bloggers in this genre. It's wildly exciting because to me, it's a symbol that the movement is rapidly growing.

The subject is what to do when you and your partner are at food odds, but the advice could apply equally well to children, parents, friends and other relatives.

Here's what Hailey has to say:

Pete Spreet ate only meat

His wife ate only greens

And so between the two of them

They licked the platter clean.

The rhyme would be hilarious if there weren’t a bit of pathetic truth to it for many households. Living with an omnivorous spouse if you are plant-strong can be challenging, if not downright frustrating. I have vacillated between anger and amusement when fixing his and hers menus. If I weren’t frightened for the long-range consequences on his health, I wouldn’t care what he eats. The question that plagues me is, “How do I nourish him when he doesn’t want it?”

Recently, mealtime friction came to a head when my 16-year-old son decided to join me on the quest for greater athletic prowess. At once, my spouse felt betrayed. It was no longer the meat-eating men against the salad-eating women. The strong swimmer was taking sides…and choosing beans!

A shaky truce kept things together until the squash debacle: I served a “family-friendly” meal of stuffed squash with Boca Crumbles (http://www.bocaburger.com/). Revolt was in the air. Hubby took a polite “no-thank-you bite” and headed straight to the store to buy steak and crab…and Polish sausages.

So what have I learned from this? The biggest lesson is that power is not the same as control. I empower people when I increase their ability to make decisions that lead to freedom, growth and strength. I control them when I restrict their autonomy and force them down a path of my own choosing. Said another way, when I educate them about nutrition and demonstrate consequences – both positive and negative – I am giving them the power to live a better life. When I manipulate them into eating my way, I am trying to change them against their will. That latter approach works for no one.

What I really mean is leaders pull; tyrants push. Have you ever tried to push a cooked spaghetti noodle across the counter top? It just bunches up without going forward. But take the same noodle and get in front and lead out and it will trail with the gentlest tug. The point is to be an example that others can look to for strength. That brings me to the next lesson:

Exude confidence; spurn fear. Emily Boller recently wrote for Disease Proof that pushy relatives may actually be feeling envy or resentment, turning them into “food bullies.” If we feel threatened by them, we actually exacerbate the problem. Her solution was to be clear in our own determination to eat healthy and not waver when confronted about our choices.

She said, “Bullies have a strong need to control and dominate….If a food bully’s intended target exhibits a “defeated attitude” in response to the pushiness, then the bullying is likely to continue. However, as in most all cases with bona fide bullies, if the intended target responds with a clear attitude of self-confidence and a strong boundary line, the bully’s attempt to dominate will quickly diminish.”

Dairy	Meat
Fruits Veggies	Grains

After all, whose problem is it that we choose healthy alternatives and they don’t? Of course, we’re making an assumption that our choices actually are healthy ones.

Next lesson: challenge your assumptions.Science is continually finding new answers. What was “correct” in the 1980s may no longer be valid. For example, I learned at a young age that good health comes from eating three square meals a day. Compare that paradigm with today’s shape of health:

Knowing what’s actually true requires that we keep learning! That’s where community comes in. We should never assume we’re fighting all by ourselves. You are never alone. Whatever roadblock stands in the way, someone else has faced it and is prepared to spot you in your leap across it.

May all your relatives be Nutritarian some day!

Hailey

What has your experience been with your loved ones? Do you and your partner see eye-to-eye about diet? If not, how is it negotiated in your household?

What do you think of Hailey's advice? Do you have any advice of your own?

Have you seen an evolution in your situation over time or is it at a standstill? Are you witnessing more and more of your loved ones eating more Plant-strong as your time committed to this continues?

Jill's Hit It Out of the Ballpark Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:54:00 +0000

I don't know about you, but I had an energetic weekend full of cooking, organizing, and socializing. Until my head hit the pillow each night, I don't think I sat down on Saturday or Sunday for a minute! Except for when I was blogging and responding to comments on this post, I guess I sat down then.

An when I was on Facebook. I sat down then too. In fact, someone on FB this weekend asked me if I knew of any real entrees that didn't include tofu. I immediately thought of this recipe that I knew I would be posting soon. It comes from HGK contributor Jill, and here's what she has to say about it:

"I was looking to make a hearty dish for a cold winter night. Since Shepard's Pie is typically lamb (hence the name Shepard) I thought it was more appropriate to call it Farmer's Pie. Chock full of lentils and veggies and topped with sweet potatoes, it blends savory and sweet in a perfectly delicious way. I made it for a group of people (all foodies) who devoured it. My husband loved it too. He said that it was absolutely his favorite dinner ever! It's now officially in my regular rotation. Very easy to make!"

I was one of the so-called-foodies that tasted the Farmer's Pie and I can vouch for Jill's enthusiasm about it. It's a winner! Of course, I would double all of the ingredients (except for the maple syrup) and bake it into a 9"x13" casserole.

Jill's ~~Shepherd's~~ Farmer's Pie
serves 6

Printable Recipe

Top layer:

2 12.75 ounce cans sweet potatoes (vacuum packed such as Taylor’s brand)

1/4 cup almond milk

3 T maple syrup

Bottom layer:

Frozen apple juice concentrate for sautéing

1 cup diced onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

8 ounces mushrooms, sliced

10 ounces peas, fresh or thawed

1 package Trader Joes pre-cooked vacuum sealed lentils (or about 2 ½ cups cooked lentils)

* If using canned lentils, drain and rinse before cooking

½ cup red wine

2 T low sodium tamari

½ tsp thyme

1 tsp oregano

8-10 ounces baby spinach

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Using a hand mixer, blend sweet potatoes, almond milk and maple syrup until smooth. Set aside.

Sauté onion on medium heat in a little frozen apple juice concentrate until soft, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and mushrooms and sauté another 5 minutes.

Add peas, lentils, wine, tamari, thyme and oregano. Mix well. Simmer about 8 minutes.

Add spinach in batches until it is wilted.

Spray the bottom of an 11 x 7 or 8 x 8 Pyrex dish. Pour lentil mixture into pan. Spread sweet potatoes on top of lentils. Bake 35 minutes.

Easy Chik'n Seitan Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:26:00 +0000

For a couple of months now I have wanted to try my hand at preparing homemade Seitan. It seems to be all of the rage amongst the Vegan bloggers, but it looked almost daunting. Well, I'm here to scream from the rooftops that "Seitan is easy!"

I was about to follow Kathy Hester's Slow Cooker recipe from The Vegan Slow Cooker because I am working on a review and giveaway from that book (yeah! giveaway coming up soon!). But as I was surfing the net last night, I read some stuff about how seitan making can be very unpredictable, even to the point of failure.

But then I happened upon this recipe which promised perfect seitan every time. And I knew it was the one! With a few minor adjustments (I totally eliminated the 2 Tbsp of olive oil and everything was fine and made things easier on myself by using garlic powder rather than fresh garlic) I am thrilled with the results!

I cannot believe that homemade seitan is going to become a staple in my kitchen.

Healthy Girl's Kitchen Easy Chik'n Seitan
makes 4 small loaves

Printable Recipe

1.5 c. vital wheat gluten
T Tbsp garlic powder

1/4 c. chickpea flour (you can also sub in all-purpose, but the chickpea's definitely more flavorful)

1/4 c. nutritional yeast

1 t. dried thyme

1/2 t. paprika

1/2 t. poultry seasoning

1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
1.5 c. vegetable broth
a dash of soy sauce

In a large bowl combine wheat gluten, chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, thyme, paprika, poultry seasoning, and salt.

Form a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in vegetable broth a little at a time and stir well with a rubber spatula. Add the splash of soy sauce. As you mix and scrape from the sides of the bowl, a dough ball will form.

Turn ball onto a clean cutting board and knead for knead for 3 minutes. Leave the dough to rest for 10 minutes and then knead again for 30 seconds.

Cut into 4 equal pieces and shape into logs/loaves.

Place a large pot with a few inches of water and a steamer insert onto heat and let water boil. Turn down to low when steam is filling the pot.

Tear off four 8 inch by 12 inch pieces of foil and place one loaf into the center of one piece of foil. Fold the short sides of the foil on the left and right over the loaf. Fold over the bottom and top ends the foil, leaving room for loaf to expand but securing the foil.

Place four wrapped loaves into the steamer basket and steam for 30 minutes.

Allow the dough to cool to the touch before chilling in fridge or overnight.

Store seitan in the fridge tightly sealed in a plastic bag for up to 2 weeks. Seitan can be frozen, just defrost before use.

Unwrapping the finished Chik'n Seitan.

sliced seitan

What am I going to do with this seitan? Got any ideas?