Portabella with Marinara and Wilted Spinach with Kale

Lunch time!  In case you actually made my Marinara sauce recipe and have left overs, like me, this was lunch today:

I know, right?

You don't really need to do anything special, since, last time we spoke,  you already made such a HUGE pot of Marinara sauce.  Wilting the spinach and kale are easy enough and that's discribed in my previous blog.  All I did different was wash a Portabella mushroom, sprinkle it with Nutritional yeast, slice it and microwave it on high for 2 to 3 minutes.  I AM SO STUFFED!  Wish I could take a nap.
Enjoy!  

Marinara Sauce over Wilted Spinach and Kale

     I got my blood work back for my physical last week and its exciting!  With no cholesterol medicines my total cholesterol is now 174!!! YAY! Two years ago it was 240-ish and I was put on Statins, but they made my muscles hurt.  I stopped taking them about 6 months ago.  Its 90 days tomorrow since I started this plant based diet.   My ratios are approaching optimal and my Triglycerides are at 90 which is pretty darn good, considering I still don't exercise.  That's next on my list.  I checked my bicycle and I think I need a new real wheel.  Not bad since I bought the bike in 1973.  The weather is getting there, so walking the dog will be a good place to start.
     Hey!  I almost forgot.  I have another recipe for you!  This time I made it Vegan and Gluten Free so that my old friend who shall remain nameless, named Mimi, can join in the fun.  I made this 2 ways.  One with the sauce over wilted spinach and kale and one with Gluten Free noodles.  Cousin Rhonda, you can leave the salt out and this becomes an extremely low sodium dish.
 Mimi, I got gluten free noodles at Whole Foods.  It says to cook them for 7 minutes, but that wasn't enough so I cooked them for about 12 minutes and they are surprisingly good.

This is a modified version of my Mom's spaghetti sauce recipe:

Spaghetti Sauce Marinara

1 large sweet onion chopped                          4 TBS Italian Seasoning

4 cloves of garlic chopped                             2 TBS Oregano

3 15 oz cans of tomato sauce                        2 TBS Sweet Basil         

3  6 oz cans of tomato paste                         3 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes                      1/4 tsp Black Pepper

1/2 tsp Kosher Salt                                      1 cup of water

2 TBS Nutritional Yeast                              2 TBS Brown Sugar

     In a large sauce pan heat the Olive Oil and salt.  Its ready when a small piece of the chopped onion sizzles in the oil.  Add the chopped onion and allow to clarify.  Add the chopped garlic, Italian Seasoning, Oregano, Sweet Basil and black pepper and stir it so it doesn't burn.  Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, diced tomatoes and water.  Stir it until it begins to bubble then cover and reduce heat to a low simmering boil for at least 30 minutes.  Stir occasionally to prevent the bottom from burning.  When its about done, stir in the Brown Sugar, cover and remove from the heat.

     Serve over noodles of your choice and top it with the Nutritional Yeast as an alternate to Parmesan Cheese.

Alternate:  Marinara over Wilted Spinach and Kale

As an alternate to the noodles, I also made this with wilted Spinach and Kale.

Take 2 generous handfuls of Spinach and 2 handfuls of Kale in a colander. Pour boiling water over the greens and watch them wilt.  You may use the water that you used to boil the noodles since you have it right there anyway!  If you choose to leave the noodles out, boil a pot of water....duh.

Spread the greens out on a plate.  Ladle on the Marinara Sauce and top with Nutritional Yeast.  

Personally, I made a bed of the greens, piled on the noodles and sauce and topped with the Nutritional Yeast FOR THE WIN!!!

Pictures!!!!

You may choose to use this as a side dish or add a hunk of bread and make this your main meal.  Either way, its filling, delicious, full of protein and a real crowd pleaser, crowd not included.

Feedback is greatly appreciated.  Enjoy!

Pad Thai over Quinoa

     Today I had my annual physical and shared my choice to be Vegan with my Doctor.  The "BIG" question was, what made me choose to do this?  My answer brought a satisfied smile to his face and the comment:  "That's the message you should share with everyone!"  So on the advice of my Doctor, here is my answer:
     "I'm almost 59 years old and I took a look at myself and the path I was on and I didn't like where I was heading.  My weight was a problem, as it had been for almost all of my life.  I was taking pills to lower my cholesterol and blood pressure and pills to fight depression.  My back was hurting, my right knee was hurting and my family was fearful that I was a "walking time bomb" with heart disease, kidney disease, Diabetes or even a stroke in my future.  I love my family and hated knowing that they worried about my health, even though I thought I felt fine.  I made the decision to be proactive about my health rather than wait for something to go wrong and be reactive."
     My Doctor then shared with me that he became a Vegan 5 years ago.  We talked about some food ideas and stories about weight loss, reversal of heart disease and various studies all supporting a plant based diet.  He talked about President Clinton's choice to become a Vegan and how much he had improved his heart health after living through his heart surgery.  Now, what ever your politics, I hope you will agree that President Clinton, a Rhodes Scholar, is a very intelligent man.  Yet, he made the choice to be reactive rather than proactive.  Better late than never!
     Generally, I'm about as bad a procrastinator as anyone of you.  Probably a lot worse than most of you.  I wait for things to go wrong and then react to them.  After reading a little bit about the obvious health benefits of a plant based diet I made a proactive choice, a New Year's Resolution and jumped on the Vegan band wagon. I have nothing but positive things to say about how quickly and easily I lost the initial 30 lbs, how my back and knee pain have disappeared and how my blood pressure has stabilized at a healthy 112/72 all within my first 90 days.  I have no intention of going back to my old ways and am looking forward to the impending improvement in the weather so I can get out with my wife (Miss Shelley) to walk the dog without struggling to keep up, to riding my bicycle again and maybe even playing golf again without pain.  Yes, exercise.  ME!
     So, realistically, we all have to look forward to a day when were going to have to face our own fate.  None of us are getting out of here alive. The big variable is how far in the future is that going to be and how will the choices we make right now, today, this hour, this minute affect what that fate will be.  Many things are beyond our control.  But what you choose to eat is not among those things.  Make good health choices now rather than wait for a future where you regret the choices you made and no choice is left.  It really is up to you!
     What's it going to be:  Proactive or Reactive?

Here's dinner!  I caved a little and bought some processed food.  I was at Costco and found they have Vegan Pad Thai and its free of MSG, GMO's, and several other capital letters.  It does have wheat and peanuts so its not for everyone, like Mimi, but for the rest of us - YUM!
There is quite a bit of sodium in this, so I added a pile of Quinoa and divided the recommended serving in half, leaving me with 235 mg of sodium from the Pad Thai plus 45 mg of sodium from the Quinoa the way I prepared it for a total of 280 mg.  Not great, but still only about 12% of  whats recommended in a 2000 calorie diet.
This is how it looked:

This is what I used to make it:
(serves 4)
   

PAD THAI OVER QUINOA

1 package of Tasty Bite Pad Thai

1 cup of Quinoa

4 shakes of Mrs Dash Garlic & Herb seasoning

1 tsp of Sriracha sauce

2 cups of water

Cook the Pad Thai in its own pouch according to package directions.

Add the Quinoa, Mrs Dash and Sriracha to a medium sauce pan and bring it to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer covered for 15 min or until the water is all absorbed.  

Divide the total Pad Thai and Quinoa into quarters.  Put the Quinoa on a plate and put the Pad Thai over it.  Eat it!

Enjoy!

...and wear sunscreen.

Quinoa and Mango Guacamole Pita

I'm back with another recipe!  I couldn't believe how well this combination of flavors came out so I made it a second time and it came out even better!  I had a few of the staff at the office try it and it seems to be a hit.  Hard to tell.  You try it and if you like it let me know.  None of this stuff sounds like go-togethers to me and yet the many layers of flavors, both sweet and savory, seem to compliment each other in a delightful way.  To me it tastes like falafel, but its not fried.  This is actually 2 separate recipes that I combined in a 3 to 1 ratio.

Quinoa and Mango Guacamole Pita

First the Quinoa:

1 Cup Quinoa                                                       2 Cloves Chopped Garlic   

2 Cups Water                                                       1 Inch of Grated Fresh Ginger

1/2 Chopped Sweet Onion                                   1/4 tsp Kosher Salt

1 TBS Italian Seasoning                                        2 TBS Olive Oil

                                           

                                              

In a sauce pan, heat the olive oil and saute the onions, garlic, ginger, salt and Italian seasoning until the onions become clear.  Add 2 cups of water and the quinoa.  Bring it to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer covered for 15 minutes.  Keep it covered and set aside.  

Mango Guacamole

2 Ripe Avocados                                 1/2 Ripe Mango chopped

Juice of 1/2 Lemon                               1 tsp dried onion flakes

6 Crushed Triscuit crackers                  2 tsp Red Wine Vinegar

1 tsp French Dressing                          3 shakes of Tabasco Sauce

Mash it up.  You have Mango Guacamole.  TA DAH!

Mix the quinoa and mango guacamole together in a 3 to 1 ration.  

Cut a pita in half.  Stuff it with your mixture.  

Wrap it up in a moist paper towel and microwave it for a minute.

Garnish with fruit or veggies of your choice!

Enjoy!!

Vegan Sloppy Joe

Hungry yet?  I thought you might be so I came up with another recipe!  You're welcome.
Since I used Manwich sauce for my now famous chili recipe, I thought I would work on a Vegan Sloppy Joe.
So where do you start?  Joe's Produce!  How poetic is that?  I got lentils, red peppers, pita pockets, onions and a bunch of other stuff that has nothing to do with this and Joe is NOT sloppy.  I hope that's clear.  The store is immaculate.
I also baked a sweet potato and had a fattoush salad to round out my plate and make my tummy happy and it looked like this:

                               

Vegan Sloppy Joe

STEP ONE

1 Cup lentils

1 TBSP Soy Sauce

1 TBSP McCormick chopped onions

1/2 TBSP ground ginger

3 Cups water

Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes.  Keep it covered to absorb all the water.

STEP TWO

1 Onion chopped                                           1 Portabello Mushroom Cap chopped

2 Celery stalks chopped                                 1 Handful of Baby Spinach chopped

1 Stalk Kale chopped                                    1 Red Bell Pepper chopped

1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds                                  1 tsp Red Wine Vinegar

1 Can Manwich                                           1 Can Tomato Sauce

( I actually used our food processor and the coarse grate.  Chop if you want but WHY? )

Combine everything and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and allow to simmer for an hour partially covered to reduce excess water.  Stir it occasionally so it doesn't stick to the bottom.

Serve it like Sloppy Joe on a bun or do like me and stuff it into a Pita.  I had two helpings of everything.  On the WW Points Plus scale, 1/2 cup of cooked lentils is 2 points.  This stuff is 1/2 the calories of lean ground beef with only trace amounts of fat and tons of fiber which helps lower your cholesterol.  Its considered one of the most nutritious foods in the world.  Something you can enjoy without guilt!  My Jewish Mother would be so confused!

So enjoy!  Finish your plate.  Children are starving somewhere!

Breakfast! Pearled Farro With Banana and Strawberries

Announcement!  Alert The Media!  Release the Pigeons!
I weighed myself and I'm now down 30 lbs since January 1st!
This Vegan diet suits me!  I'm learning new stuff every day.

For example, I've been eating Pearled Farro every day for breakfast and it keeps me satisfied until lunch.  I bought a big 3 lbs bag of Nature's Earthly Choice Italian Pearled Farro at Costco for less than $7.  I cook it up, 2 dry cups at a time and keep it in the fridge in a Tupperware bowl.  It keeps well and is usually enough to last me half the week.  Farro is one of the ancient grains and is GMO free.  The great thing is that it's high in protein with 14 grams per 1/2 cup.  You can use it instead of rice or potatoes.  Cook it any way you like; either sweet for breakfast or spiced up as a side dish with dinner.
A Warning To My Gluten Free Friends:   This is wheat!  If you want to be gluten free, look away.

This was my breakfast today:

PEARLED FARRO WITH BANANA AND STRAWBERRIES

                             

Recipe:

1 Cup Italian Pearled Farro

3 Cups water

3 TBSP Maple Syrup

1 Banana

1/2 Cup of Strawberries (blueberries, raisins, dates or your choice of fruit all work)

1/2 Cup Silk Vanilla Almond Milk

In a large sauce pan bring the Pearled Farro, Maple syrup and water to a boil.  Turn the heat down and let it simmer covered for 30 minutes.  Let it cool for an hour to absorb the liquids.  Mash up the banana and half the strawberries and mix it in.  Put it in the fridge covered over night.

Put one cup of cooked Farro in a microwave safe bowl with 1/2 cup of Vanilla Almond Milk.  Cover it with a piece of paper towel and microwave it for 2 minutes. Stir in your whole strawberries and let it sit for a minute.  

1 Cup of cooked Farro has 28 grams of protein.  That's about 1/2 day's worth.

Stop asking where I get my protein and enjoy something healthy!

Salad Sandwich

I'm stuck on lunch.  Its unavoidable.  Lunch has become my main meal during the week because I've been working such ridiculous hours.  Fortunately, Brownberry Flat Breads come in multi-packs!  Yay!

Now, as I go gathering though the fridge (I'm a gatherer not a hunter) I happen upon all the fixings of a fabulous salad! 

DUH --> VEGAN!

Once again I have no name for this.  Lets call it Salad Sandwich and it looks like this:

Yes!  I notice that confused look on your face.  It DOES look like my previous sandwich with a sliced orange and a purple background.  But its not!  I'm a trickster!

Other than the Brownberry Flat Bread that came out of the same bag as my last sandwich, this is mostly different and cold, not hot.  I'm not just talking about the background, the plate, the missing paper towel, the orange wedges or the fact that I used my new Nikon DSLR (product placement) camera to take the photo instead of my cell phone either.  

SALAD SANDWICH

Make a salad.  Mine had baby spinach, lettuce, celery, bok choy, kale, broccoli and cucumber.

For more color, chop up something colorful like a sweet red pepper or a carrot.  Use your imagination.  I threw in a handful of mixed nuts.

               

Make this dressing (try it.  you'll like it.)

1 TBS Maple Syrup                                                                  10 Pitted Dates

1 Ripe Avocado                                                                         1 Ripe Mango         

1 tsp Kraft Catalina sweet honey dressing                                    2 TBS Red Wine Vinegar

pinch of salt, pinch of pepper, ground ginger, garlic powder and onion powder to taste.

Chop up the dates, mango and avocado and mix in the other ingredients.  Keep chopping it up until it looks like salad dressing.

1/2 Cup cooked Farro with blueberries and  banana mixed in. (Avoiding gluten?  Use Quinoa)

1 Brownberry Flat Bread Pocket Thin (Italian Herb)  (or gluten free pita pocket)

Mix the salad, the dressing and the Farro together and put it in a covered bowl over night to marinate.

Stuff as much as you like into the bread pocket.  Garnish with orange wedges or any other fruit of your choice.  I used oranges because Sharon at the office just got back from Florida and brought them for everyone.  Thank you Sharon!  They are sooo sweet!

Take a picture of your creation and let me see what you did!

Enjoy your lunch.