Vegan Adventures In Cooking

I confess. I had some processed soy and wheat today. It wasn’t pretty. I came home from the barn and was craving cheesy nachos. Hmm… found some of my husbands tortillas (mission tortillas- read the ingredients. Have you noticed you have no idea what 99% of the ingredients are?) and some really old soy cheese (still hadn’t expired). I sliced up the tortillas, topped with soy cheese, salt, and garlic powder and threw it under the broiler till crispy. It was tasty, until I finished the last chip. I didn’t eat very much, but I had an instant reaction. My brain went fuzzy and felt suddenly nauseated. Post nacho incident, I wasn’t able to eat anything, other than the 2 GT kombucha drinks to settle my stomach (my own miracle in a bottle)! As soon as I felt stable enough to go to the store, I headed over to New Seasons. I wandered through aimlessly, making several laps trying to find everything on my list, but too out of it to really get everything in order from one side of the store to the other. While wandering around the produce section, I ran across a display for a recipe that sounded intersting: Orange Pan-Glazed Tempeh. It sounded easy, delicious, and wholesome. Exactly what my queasy stomach needed! I made the usual adaptations as needed and what I came up with is exactly what the doctor ordered. The final product was slightly sweet with ginger undertones, somewhat reminiscent of a healthier version of orange chicken!

Sidenote: While tempeh is a soy product, it is a minimally processed fermented (hence easier to digest) soy product. I usually only eat tempeh or tofu in moderations, or about 1-2 times per month.

After a long exhausting day, I was craving some Indian flavor! I found a recipe out of “The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook: Whole Foods Recipes for Personal and Planetary Health, Second Edition“. I modified it, as usual, and it turned out fabulous! While sauteing the carrots, onions, and garlic with Garam Masala (indian spice mix of cumin, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, corriander, and cardamom, found in most grocery stores in the spice section), it suddenly hit me! Butternut Squash would go perfect in here, and it just so happened that I had 3 bags of frozen diced organic butternut squash. Now, I can’t imagine making lentil soup any other way. Enjoy

1 large yellow or sweet onion, diced

This week, I was craving pasta. I mean CRAVING PASTA. Thick gooey creamy no-good-for-you pasta. After digging through a few cook books, and digging through the back of the cabinet, I finally found enough ingredients to make a modified version of mac n’ cheese that was the best version of creamy mac and cheese I have ever concocted. This recipe is a modified recipe from one of old stand in Fresh Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. Another great cookbook that should be in any vegetarian or health conscious person’s cookbook library. While the title reads vegetarian, all the recipes can be made vegan by using milk replacer, if it calls for milk. My favorite in-a-recipe milk replacer is Unsweetened Hemp Milk.

mmm.... creamy!

Ingredients:

• 8 0z Brown Rice or Whole Wheat Elbows. I use Tinkyada Brown Rice Elbows
• 3/4 cup raw unsalted cashew
• 1 can or 1.5 cups of white beans (I used Great Northern Beans), if canned, drain and rinsed.
• 1 cup of vegatable stock
• 1 cup of water- or enough to blend to liquid
• 1 teaspoon white pepper (white pepper has a somewhat spicier flavor to it and love to use it in certain recipes) , you can use black, but for best flavor use white
• 1/2 white onion
• 5 cloves of garlic
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (very important, NOT BREWERS YEAST. Nutritional yeast a vegan addititve that has a cheesy flavor to it without any dairy. Usually only found in whole foods, new seasons, and other whole foodsy stores. I  get the small flake.)
• 2-3 cups fresh or 1 cup frozen cooked and drained spinach

1. Cook pasta al dente (or barely tender).I used Tinkyada Brown Rice Elbows to make it gluten free.
2. Heat 1 tbsp of high heat oil (like Safflower, Refined Coconut, NOT olive oil) and lightly cook sliced onions and minced garlic until onions are transparent.

3. Place cashews in high powered blender (like Vitamix) or food processor, and pulse into fine powder.

4. Rinse and drain beans and add to blender, along with vegetable stock, lemon juice, and water. Blend to liquid

5. Add onions, garlic, nutmeg, dry mustard cayenne, nutritional yeast, and white pepper to blender, and blend until smooth.

6. Add pasta and sauce to slow cooker. Add in spinach and stir. Pasta should be very easy to stir at this point. If the sauce is too thick, add some water

7. Cook on low for 2-2.5 hours, until sauce is thickened, but not dry. Enjoy

I am currently OBSESSED with Eden Organics Rice and Beans. I normally shun canned food, because they usually contain a LOAD of salt, and taste awful, but I make an exception with Eden Organics line of canned rice and bean. Basically, its canned rice, beans and all natural flavoring (really natural, not processed extract of whatever, but REAL ingredients like organic onions, organic basil, and organic parsley) and it comes in different flavors to suit every taste preference. My current favorite are Green Lentils, Rice and Garbanzo Bean, and Mexican Rice and Beans. Additional flavors include Curried Rice and Beans, Cajun Rice and Beans, Moroccan Rice and Garbanzo Bean, and more.

Here are some of my more recent Rice and Bean concoctions.

1/2 Can (.75 cups) Green Lentils and Rice with 1 cup of California Blend Frozen Veggies (steamed or microwaved lightly) and a little bit of Rice Shreds in Mozarella Flavor (note, if you are a strict vegan, some Rice Shreds varieties contain casein, a milk derivative).
Calorie Count: 265
Total Fat: 4.5 grams
Carbs: 44.5g
Fiber: 6 grams
Protein: 10.0 grams

I must admit my diet weakness is usually hits around lunch. I come home from my morning bootcamp… exhausted… then sit in front of the computer and proceed to check emails, facebook, more email, until I realize that Im absolutely starving and go for the easiest thing to prepare or pick up, whether its just shoveling in a my homemade trail mix (recipe to come), or grabbing take out. While Im always able to find something quick and vegetarian, its usually loaded with salt and depending on where Im eating, containing dairy. So.. I admit it, I’m an almost vegan! So, I decided to devote an entire section to lunch or dinner meals that can easily be prepared at home or away in less than 5 minutes. While they are all far from gourmet, they seem to do the job.

Ignore how this smoothie looks. I promise, it tastes better than it looks, and a super way to start your day!

Ingredients:

1 scoop Natural Flavor Vega Whole Food Optimizer

1 cup frozen mixed berries

1 large leaf of green organic kale (to read up on the health benefits of kale, click here)

water to blend

Add ingredients to high powered blender. I am a HUGE vitamix fan, but it is quite the investment.

Nutritional Facts

Calories: 228

Total Fat: 3.5 grams

Saturated Fats: 3.5 grams

Trans Fat: 0

Cholesterol: 0

Sodium: 164mg

Carbohydrate: 38.7 grams

Dietary Fiber: 15.3 grams

Sugars: 14.5 grams

Protein: 15.2 grams

Vitamin A: 216%

Vitamin C: 244%

Calcium: 66%

Iron: 49%

Eating a vegan diet, one concern that often comes up is sources of complete protein and vitamins. While I firmly believe that eating a vegan diet is much healthier than a meat eating one, the question keeps coming up.  Research shows that following a whole foods vegan diet leads to increased digestibility of protein, vitamins, and minerals, since a whole food vegan diet is easy to digest. Still, I like to start of my morning right, and most vegan gluten free breakfasts leave me hungry 5 minutes later. Hence, my morning protein smoothie ritual. Words cannot express how good I feel when I start of my morning with a healthy, and preferably green breakfast smoothie. In my 2 years as a vegan, I have tried many smoothie protein powders with mixed success. Some tasted AWFUL, while others tasted better but loaded with isolated soy protein (official word is still out, but I believe in sticking to vegetables and whole foods, instead of relying on isolated soy protein for my only protein source).  I found the best combination of healthy and tasty smoothies in Sequel Natural’s Vega Whole Food Optimizer Smoothie Mix.

Vanilla Chai Green Morning Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 scoop Vanilla Chai Flavor Vega Whole Food Optimizer

1 scoop Vega Smoothie Optimizer (loaded with green stuff)

1 tablespoon Raw Crunchy Unsalted Almond Butter

1 small banana

water to blend to smooth (or natural Zico Coconut water for a boost of potassium)

No matter how hard I try, this usually make enough for 2 smoothies. I usually have 1/2 of the recipe before my morning bootcamp, and the remainder when I get back. Keeps me from getting that post-work out energy crash. Nutrition Facts based on recipe made with water. Add appropriate calories for coconut water.

Nutrition Facts:

Calories: 398

Total Fat: 14.3

Saturated Fat: 14.3g

Trans Fat: 0

Cholesterol: 0

Sodium: 85mg

Carbohydrates: 47grams

Dietary Fiber: 15.5 grams

Sugars: 16.1 grams

Protein: 24.5 grams

Vitamin A: 56%

Vitamin C: 68%

Calcium: 61%

Iron: 69%

Ok, so Soup Sunday has rolled around again, and my cupboard is overrunning with several varieties of lentils. Luckily, I had just the right amount of French Green Lentils, and have never tried French Lentils before. For lentil newbies, there are several varieties of lentils, the most popular and easiest available being brown lentils, french green lentils, and red lentils. Lentil are a variable wonder food. They are packed with fiber, protein, and not to mention easy to prepare and inexpensive! How much better can it get!  You can read more about the wonderful health properties of lentil by following this link .

Ingredients:

1/4 cup vegetable stock for sauteing foods without oil

5 cloves of garlic

1 medium sweet white onion, chopped (for onion chopping I always use a Vegetable chopper, so much easier than hand chopping!)

2 stalks of celery, diced

2 carrots- peeled and cut into half moons

5 small red potatos, scrubbed and diced (again, chopper comes in handy again)

1 teaspoon thyme

2 teaspoons paprika

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

2 cups french lentils (available in the bulk food isles in most whole foods and new seasons)

8 cups of low sodium vegetable stock (I like Imagine Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Stock)

1 cube of Not-Chicken bullion (you can use chicken bouillon if you don’t care about going vegetarian)

1 small can of “no salt added” diced tomatoes (I like Muir Glen organic tomatoes)

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons Herbamare or sea salt (optional)

1/2 cup of fresh basil

1/2 cup of fresh Italian parsley

1. Heat large soup pot or 7 qt. of cast iron casserole pot (my favorite is Martha Stewart cast iron casserole dish)

2. Add 1/4 cup of vegetable stock, heat over medium heat, and add diced onion. Sautee onion for 5 minutes. Add garlic and continue to saute for another 2 minutes.

3. Add diced potatoes, celery, carrots, seasoning (paprika, thyme, italian seasoning) and saute for another 5 minutes, stir constantly.

4. Add vegetable stock, and boulion cube. Stir briskly until dissolved. Heat until simmering.

5. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes.

6. Add can of tomatos, red wine vinegar, salt, and fresh herbs. Stir well and simmer another 5 minutes.

As with many soups, this one tastes better the next day, once all the favors have “soaked in”.

Nutrition Facts Based On 8 Servings Per Recipe. Each bowl provides 34% of your iron and 16 grams of protein with only a little more than 1 gram of fat!

Amount Per Serving Calories 296

Total Fat 1.4g       Saturated Fat 0.2g       Trans Fat 0g Cholesterol 0mg Sodium 177mg Carbohydrate 54.2g       Dietary Fiber 10g       Sugars 9.8g Protein 15.9g