Of Emily Boller and Other Things...

I have struggled with weight issues ever since I was 10 years old. I am a classic example of what is happening in America in the form of premature puberty in adolescent girls (among other things). I went from the cabbage soup diet, to different pills that promised weight loss, to the Atkins diet, etc with no lasting results. It was so discouraging to watch my weight just mushroom and the scales go up every year instead of down, as I had hoped.

Then I discovered plant-strong eating and its long-term help in losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight. For the first time in my life, it made sense. And the many thousands of people that Dr Joel Fuhrman and many other doctors like him have helped to reach and maintain a healthy weight has encouraged me greatly.

I have lost slowly the past six years, as my body healed from other issues. But in the past year, as I've employed more of Dr. Fuhrman's recommendations for weight loss, I have enjoyed increased success in losing the pounds I have carried unnecessarily for 17 years. And I am excited!

God used Emily Boller to be the final boost I needed a few years ago to do something positive for my weight problem. Read her story here. If you struggle with excess weight, be encouraged that a few changes now will yield positive results for a life time.

 

Interview With Emily Boller



Being overweight is not a good thing. It puts stress on your organs, your skeletal system and your immune system, which leads to diseases that are totally preventable and greatly reduces your quality of life.

Feeding the body good foods, exercising regularly and avoiding excessive amounts of oil, salt, sugar, and animal products = healthy weight and healthy body.

If you want to lose weight without starving yourself or counting calories, while feeding your body nutritiously, here is Dr. Fuhrman's recommended plan which has worked for many:



The Food Pyramid...

If you are from my generation and older, you very likely have been taught nutritional 'balance' from the food pyramid that looks like this:

 

 

 

But that is a bit 'off'. I understand that this pyramid was produced

to give business to the meat and dairy industry,

but it has not stood the test well as we look around us

at the diseases that have increased along with the teaching of this

eating style.

 

As I said yesterday, I am not a vegan.

I am not against eating meat and dairy in moderation,

moderation NOT meaning once a day, but more like

two or three times a week in moderate portions

like for flavoring a bean stew, or something similar.

 

When I began studying nutrition, I was given this food pyramid

which makes much more sense, given that our bodies actually

fuel themselves the best from whole, raw plant sources.

 

Check out this pyramid from my favorite doctor,

Dr. Joel Fuhrman:




I love my veggies!
And I love what they have done in healing me,
and thousands of people who were worse off than I was!

Random thought:

Check out the first food plan,
given in Genesis 1:29.


So the idea with Dr Fuhrman's pyramid is that
you eat a large salad (or its equivalent) at every meal
and then fill in with whole grains (sparingly),
potatoes (russet, red and sweet, preferably),
and cooked vegetables.
About a cup of beans in some form every day is a
 good source of protein.
For dessert, or a snack later, eat whole fruit.

Fruit juices as a whole are not good for you
to consume in large amounts.
I only consume fruit juice as an addition to vegetable juice
in the form of Juice Plus once or twice a day.

Whole plant foods are easy on the body,
and give it the fuel it needs to produce healthy cells.

Did you know that 50,000 of the cells in your body
will die and be replaced with new cells,
all while you have been reading this sentence?!
That's a lot of cells to maintain and fuel with clean fuel!

I encourage everyone to read up and learn how to protect
this wonderful gift of health that our Maker has given us!

 

Taco Soup...

Convenience food.

We all like it, don't we?!

One of the things I try to always have on my shelf for fast grab on days when I'm doing school with my children, or busy gardening, or sewing is taco soup. This recipe came from my mother to me and then I tweeked it so much that now I call it mine. :-)

 

I do a 15 quart batch at a time and can it up, but if you don't want to do that, I have some notes for you at the end of this post. We enjoy ours with corn chips or rice and a sprinkling of cheddar.

 

God bless my Grandma for blessing me with this 20 qt stockpot

on my wedding day. It has seen many batches of

taco soup, ketchup and tomato juice.

 

 

 

I love the rich colors and thickness of this recipe.

It is comfort food on rainy days like today,

and on the snowy days of winter.

 

 

the recipe:

 

Into a large stockpot, place

3 large onions, diced (or 3 rounded T dried onions)

1 qt diced peppers

(my girls freeze them from my garden in summer)

3 qt whole kernel corn

3-4 lb ground beef or beef stew meat cubes, browned

6 qt beans

(I canned them last evening*; I use a combination; this time

it was 2 qu small red beans, 2 qu black beans and 2 qu pink beans)

6 qu crushed tomatoes or tomato juice

(sometimes I use a combination of these two)

5 rounded T taco seasoning

1 rounded T salt

1/2 T black pepper

1/2 c sugar

 

Heat through and then fill jars for canning.

Place lids and rings on jars.

 

 

 

Can pints at 15 lb pressure for 30 minutes.

Can quarts at 15 lb pressure for 40 minutes.

 

*I can my own beans because

1. it's much much more economical than buying them

2. it's easy and I can do other things while I wait for the canner to get finished

3. I know where my beans come from and what is in the jar.

More than I can say for most commercially processed beans.

Did you know most of them have sugar in them, among other things?!

4. I can reduce the amount of waste I send to the landfills!

 

To can, fill jars with

 1 1/3 c dried beans, 1 t salt (optional) 

fill with water to neck of jar.

 

Process at 15 lb pressure:

quarts = 50 minutes

pints=35 minutes

 

To make this soup recipe without canning, I figure the following as a rule of thumb

(the closest to a recipe you'll get from me!

My girls keep getting me to try and write my recipes down,

which is hard since I rarely use a recipe!)

 

For every qt of beans, use 1 qt tomato juice, 1/2 lb beef (optional),

2 c corn, 1 rounded T taco seasoning, 1 t salt, 1 onion, 1/2 c peppers,

1/2 t black pepper and a scant T sugar.

 

Simmer a good half hour and serve.

 

 





Kickstart Your Health 4



Breakfast

Green Smoothie

Ezekiel Sprouted Grain Muffin with Peanut or Almond Butter and Honey

 

Lunch

"Panera" Black Bean Soup

with Brown Rice

Veggies and Dip

of your choice

(ranch, hummus, etc; just keep it free of excess oil and dairy free)

Apple with almond butter

Dinner

Roasted Broccoli with Asian Sauce of Choice

Asian Cole Slaw

Strawberry "Shortcake"

 

 

This is what I use for shortcake. It has no added sugar except from the chocolate:

 

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

 

In a Vitamix or powerful blender place:

 

1 c pitted dates, roughly chopped

1 c plant-milk

1 c water

3 T Chia seed meal

(I grind ahead of time in my Vmix or Magic Bullet and freeze)

1 c mashed banana

1/2 c chocolate chips

 

Mix the following together in a mixing bowl:

 

2 c whole grain flour

(for GF use 1 c buckwheat flour, 1/2 c millet flour, 1/2 c tapioca starch)

1 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1/2 t ground nutmeg

1/2 ground cinnamon

 

 

Pour wet mixture over dry ingredients and mix.

 

Bake in muffin tins for 25-30 min at 350*.

I  usually make a double recipe and bake in a 9x13 pan

for 40 minutes or until done.



Tip:
Make enough soup to freeze for convenience food.
You can also serve the soup with a dollop of Almond Cream and garnish with cilantro.

Kickstart Your Health...

Dr. Neal Barnard has a wonderful way of teaching for simple folks like me who want to know about plant-based eating. So does Dr. Fuhrman. And Dr. John McDougall. And others. I appreciate all the things they have taught me over the years, and what is great is that most of their things line up with each others', Dr. Fuhrman's topping them all (in my humble opinion) for his push to get the micronutrients into our bodies. Micronutrients are best found in greens and other veggies high in nutrients (not potatoes; they make good 'stick to the ribs' foods).

But back to Dr. Barnard. You might find his kickstart program to be a nice idea to cleanse your body of junk and to help get you started on a road of better eating habits. His idea is the 'little picture' in the hopes that you get a good start and just continue after 3 weeks of eating plant-based. I think he's on to something.

Here is what he proposes:
3 weeks of plant-based foods
as many whole foods as possible, meaning not much sugar or oil and no animal products

So what is there to eat if you take out meat, sugar and dairy? Oh, my! the possibilities are endless! Shall I give you some examples? I'd love to. I think I'll try to post a sample menu each day for the coming week. See if you won't get excited about trying a 3 week plant-based meal plan. You might decide it is doable!

So for today, here is the first menu. Recipes are below the menu.

Breakfast
1 large green smoothie
or fruit and 'yogurt' parfait (layer fresh fruit, good-for-you granola and soy or coconut yogurt)

Snack
a handful of almonds
apple

Lunch
whole grain wrap spread with hummus or avocado
layered with lettuce, onion, sprouts, shredded carrots, peppers, tomatoes and olives
drizzled with ranch dressing and 'wrapped'
eat the second wrap if you are still hungry
a piece of fruit, if desired

Dinner
Large Garden Salad with Ranch Dressing
Spaghetti and "Sausage"
My Favorite Way to Eat Green Beans

photo credit: Sunny Raw Kitchen
recipe for homemade ranch spices also can be found there

 

 

 

Ranch Dressing

 

1 cup low fat mayo

(or 1/2 c cashews blended with 1/2 c water)

1 c plant-based milk mixed with

1 T lemon juice or vinegar

2 T Penzey's buttermilk ranch seasoning mix

 

Mix together and refrigerate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spaghetti and Sausage

 

for the sausage:

(I usually have this made ahead and in the freezer)

 

1 quart lentils, drained

1/2 c whole grain flour

Toss the lentils and flour together and mash slightly.

Add

1 T Italian Sausage seasoning

1 t salt

 

Spread onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 300*

for several hours or until dry.

Cool and freeze.

 

 

Spaghetti

 

Cook 1 box whole grain spaghetti according to directions on box.

(I like Eden brand ancient grains)

Drain and toss with pasta sauce and sauteed onions, mushrooms, pepper and garlic.

 

Warm the sausage and serve alongside the spaghetti.

 

Enjoy your meal.

If you want dessert, eat some cold pineapples mixed with strawberries.

Or grapes and kiwi and melon.

Or any fruit of your choice.

Black Bean Burgers...

This is our supper for tonight...and it is awesomely delish!

 

Black Bean Burgers

 

1 quart black beans (mash with fork but not completely)

2 c quick oats (I pulse my rolled oats in the food processor a few times)

1 onion, chopped fine (I use the food processor after the oats come out)

about 5 or 8 sprigs cilantro (chop with onion in food processor)

3 cloves garlic (chopped with onion)

3 T ground flax seeds mixed with 1/2 c water (set aside while you chop the veggies)

1/2 c whole kernel corn

1 t chipotle pepper, ground

1 t salt

1/2 t oregano flakes

1/4 t ground black pepper

 

 

Mix all together and shape into 1/3 c balls. Roll in whole grain flour or bread crumbs and place on greased baking sheet. Flatten balls with your palm to make burger shaped patties.

 

 

 

Bake at 400* for 20 minutes. Flip and bake another 10 minutes.

 

Enjoy with burger fixings.

 

Or cut a burger into

strips and top a

Mexican style

salad:

 

shredded red and white cabbage

onion

shredded carrots

diced tomatoes

Pico de Gallo

Almond Cream

Taco Dressing

What a treat!

Honey Roasted Chickpeas



I have been wanting to try this treat for awhile already and finally this afternoon, I gave it a whirl. Out of the many versions of roasted chickpeas there are to try, I went straight for the sweet one first. :-) It turned out to be a big success and I can't wait to use the leftovers on my salad.

Honey Roasted Chickpeas

 

Into a bowl place 1/2 c honey and the juice of 1 lime.

Add 2 T olive oil, a few shakes of chipotle pepper and salt.

 

Toss together and add 1 quart chickpeas

(rinsed and patted dry)

 

Toss the chickpeas to coat and spread evenly (in single layer)

onto a greased 9x13 baking sheet.

 

Bake in a 425* oven, shaking pan every 20 minutes or so

until chickpeas are brown and crispy on the outside

(about 45 minutes).

 

Cool and store leftovers in the fridge.

I am told that the 'crunchy' leaves in 48 hours.

 



Spanish Rice...



 

Here is a recipe I tried this evening, and it was D.E.L.I.S.H.

Spanish Rice

Into a large skillet place a few T vegetable broth or olive oil. Dump into heated liquid:

 

1 large yellow or red onion

1 c chopped mushrooms

1 c chopped celery

Saute til onions are starting to get tender. Add 2 or 3 cloves pressed garlic. Stir and add

2 c brown rice

 

Stir occasionally 4 minutes.

 

In a crockpot place 4 c chicken stock (or vegetable stock)

1 rounded T tomato paste

1 t sea salt

1/4 t black pepper

1 rounded T taco seasoning or chili powder

1 t oregano

 

Stir, then add the rice to the liquid in crockpot. Toss to coat. Cook on high 4 hours or until rice is soft.

 

Here is what I had my rice with:

 

 

Fresh Pico De Gallo

 

2 c diced tomatoes

1/2 small red onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, pressed

juice of 1 or 2 limes

1/2 sea salt

a few pinches black pepper

1/4 c fresh cilantro, chopped

 

Place in a pretty clear glass bowl, toss to coat and enjoy over the Spanish Rice and Refried Beans.

Aunt Cia's Refried Beans

 

In a few T veg broth or water place 1 red or yellow onion, diced

Saute until onion is tender, then add 2 cloves garlic, pressed

Stir and heat for another minute or so. Then add 2 c canned black beans (kidney beans work, too). Mash and turn beans as you heat them, then sprinkle with 1 t salt, 1 rounded T taco seasoning and 1/4 t black pepper.

I loved my Spanish rice, fresh salsa and refried beans. It was tops! Some of my family had greens in place of the salsa, not caring for cilantro like I do.

My Favorite Way to Eat Green Beans



I recently added Dr. Fuhrman's new DVD, "Eating Like a Nutritarian" to my library. It is a good one to have as a basic outline of why these foods are good for us and how to use them in cooking. Simple, basic foods like whole grains, many different vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. As he was talking, standing in front of produce displays, I had to think again (as I often have since I started eating more plant foods) how COLORFUL these foods are! They seem to beg to be eaten!


Here is a dish I plan to make for my family today:

My Favorite Way to Eat Green Beans

 

Heat 1 c vegetable broth or water in a large skillet.

Add 1 large yellow or red onion

1 or 2 c chopped bella mushrooms

1 c chopped sweet peppers

(red or yellow or orange make this dish colorful)

Stir fry til veggies are crisp/tender.

Add 3 or 4 cloves pressed garlic and stir.

Add 2 qu green beans, 1 T soy sauce (reduced sodium),

and a sprinkle of Adobo (optional).

Toss and cover. Cook on medium, stirring periodically til

beans are desired tenderness.

 

Menu idea:

 

My Favorite Way to Eat Green Beans

A Large Garden Salad

Baked Sweet Potatoes topped with Almond Cream

(recipe following)

 

 Smoked Paprika Almond Cream

1 cup raw almonds

(I would soak them a few hr first)
1 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1 clove garlic crushed
3 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup filtered water
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp celtic sea salt
optional; pinch of cayenne pepper

Method
Combine above ingredients in blender and combine til creamy and smooth,

adding 1-2 tbsp additional water for consistency only if needed.

 



Mediterranean Burgers

I learned from several sources a valuable tip that I pass along to you, my friends:

Don't just remove (addiction producing foods such as excessive amounts of meats, dairy, sugar, oil and salt) but replace it with something better. This way, you still feel like you are getting some of the foods you once enjoyed, only with more nutrition while not feeding addictions. (more about this coming later)

One thing I have learned to make (in several versions, more of which I will post in future) is bean burgers. These lovely wonders are a good way to serve plant-based protein to our families.

 



 

Mediterranean Burgers

 

In a few T. vegetable broth or water, saute 

1 large onion

When onion is half tender, add

1 c. finely diced mushrooms

1 c finely diced peppers

Saute until veggies are tender, then add

3 cloves pressed garlic

Stir and saute another minute.

Add 1 quart chickpeas
(I can my own; if using store bought ones, drain and rinse first)

Smash beans lightly with back of turner or a fork.

Add:

1 T dried dill weed

1 T salt (optional or as desired)

1 t black pepper

1 T ground fennel seeds

1 t ground chipotle pepper (optional)

Stir and heat through.

Scrape bean mixture into a mixing bowl.

Add 2 cups rolled oats and 1 c. Kalamata olives.

Let sit 1/2 hr or more til oats have absorbed liquid and mixture has cooled.

Form into 8 or 9 large balls. Dredge with whole grain flour, pressing lightly as you dredge.

Spray a heated frying pan with olive oil, place burgers onto pan, flattening them with the

palm of your hand. Turn after a few minutes and fry til crispy.

 

Enjoy as you would a meat burger. These are great with organic dill relish,

sliced tomatoes, hummus (in place of mayo), green leaves of lettuce,

whole grain sandwich thins, sliced onion, and ketchup and mustard.