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Saturday, March 7, 2020

Homemade Mayo Substitute. My favorite spread! No processed oil. #WFPBNO #vegan

Homemade Garlic Mayo
There are a few different store bought mayo substitutes out there, all of which contain processed oil. It's pretty easy to make your own. I use cashews and it comes out creamy and delicious.  This is the stuff I use to make chickpea or "tuna-ish" salad. It's good as a spread or add dill and onion flakes to make a dip. Use your imagination!  It's delicious and extremely versatile.  This works as a spread, a dip, a salad dressing or as an ingredient in chickpea salad.  Get creative!!




WFPB MAYO SUBSTITUTE
2 cups cashews, boiled in water for 20 minutes. Drain.
4 garlic cloves
4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar 
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons water
1 cup aquafaba

Blend thoroughly until creamy.


No Exercise Weight Loss #WFPBNO #Vegan #nodietdiet

I had a nice experience being interviewed about losing weight without exercising. 
The activity and exercising is a result of proper nutrition, not the other way around.
Here's a link to part 1 of the interview...

https://fathersafter50.com/allan-kalmus/

Monday, March 2, 2020

Dairy Free, Nut Free, Oil Free, Guilt Free Cream of Broccoli Soup #Vegan #WFPBNO



It's still cold out and I still like soup. During my weekly refrigerator dump, I came across 4 broccoli crowns that had been forgotten and needed some fast moving attention. Well it worked for cauliflower so why not make cream of broccoli soup the same way!  Its the simplest recipe ever and comes out thick but light and delicious. Other than water, there are only 2 ingredients. Here's the recipe. Hope you try it!



Prep time: 5 min
Cooking time: 20 min
Total time:  25 minutes

Ingredients:
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of aquafaba
4 broccoli crowns

Put a steamer tray in a pot. Break up the broccoli crowns into florets and put them into the pot with 1 cup of water.  Steam them for 20 minutes or until very, very tender. Put the hot water and the cooked broccoli into your blender. Add the 1/2 cup of aquafaba and blend it on high for 5 minutes. 
Serve hot!

I added some dried basil after it was in the bowl. You can add whichever spice you like or nothing at all. It's delicious and loaded with fiber and protein.  Per calorie, broccoli is an excellent source of protein with no saturated fat and no hormones. Eat all you want! 

Monday, February 24, 2020

Dairy Free Cream of Cauliflower Soup #Vegan #WFPBNO #FoodISmedicine

Cream of Cauliflower Soup
           HOT SOUP!


As February winds down and March gets closer there is still plenty of time for some seasonal comfort foods like hot soup. My wife had planned on making dinner for our kids and grand kids over the weekend, but plans changed when the grand kids caught colds. She had already broken a head of cauliflower into florets and placed them in a pot to be steamed when the plans got canceled. She told me I might as well do something with the cauliflower so instead of simply steaming it, I found an easy way to turn it into cream of cauliflower soup! This couldn't be any easier and there are only 3 ingredients. It came out fantastic!  All you need is a pot and a blender. 

CREAM OF CAULIFLOWER SOUP

Prep Time:  5 min
Cooking Time:  20 minutes
Servings:  2

Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of aquafaba from a can of chickpeas

Place a vegetable steamer separator into a pot. Add 1 cup of water and the head of cauliflower florets. Bring it to a boil and put the lid on the pot. Cook until the cauliflower is very, very tender. Put the cauliflower with the water (which is now veggie stock) into your blender with the aquafaba. Blend it for about 5 minutes or until it is completely smooth. Aquafaba is already salty so you don't have to add salt, but season to taste. 

That's all I did and I was tempted to eat the whole thing myself until I realized its an entire head of cauliflower with bean water. The consequences may be musical and unpleasant, not so much for me, but for my staff tomorrow!  Stay tuned.....  ๐Ÿ˜

Sunday, February 9, 2020

Creamy Garlic Dressing. No Processed Oil #vegan #plant based #WFPBNO



CREAMY GARLIC DRESSING

We went grocery shopping today getting, among other things, plenty of fruits and vegetables.
When we got home and I was putting them away, I came across some celery and cherry tomatoes that were beginning to wilt.
Rather than throw them out or add them to a veggie stew, I simply soaked them in cold water for an hour and chopped them into a celery and tomato salad. It was looking a bit sad so I jazzed it up with some homemade dressing. It came out great so I'm sharing it with you!

Ingredients:
2 cups cashews, soaked in water overnight
then drained
4 garlic cloves
4 teaspoons white vinegar
½  teaspoon salt
½  teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon dried dill
½  cup aquafaba
2 Tablespoons water

In a high speed blender puree until creamy. Refrigerate and serve cold.
Let me know if you like it. I can always make more๐Ÿ˜Ž

Saturday, February 8, 2020

Spaghetti Squash, Wild Rice, Quinoa, Tomatoes, Chili Peppers #WFPBNO


Here's a straightforward way of preparing spaghetti squash.
Cut the squash lengthwise. Scoop or the seeds. Brush the insides with aquafaba. Place it face down on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone liner.
Bake it at 400F for 50 minutes.
Put 2 cups of quinoa with 2 cups wild rice and 4 cups of water in a pressure cooker with Mrs. Dash saltfree seasoning. Cook it on the brown rice setting and let it vent naturally. 
Use a non stick pan, water with lemon juice to saute and carmelize a diced onion with 3 cloves of garlic and a red chili. Add 3 diced Roma tomatoes and deglaze the pan with more water and lemon juice.
Scoop out one of the halves of the squash. Toss everything together, put it in your nonstick pan. On medium heat cook off most of the water. Pack the mixture back into the empty half of the squash.
Plate and serve.

Thursday, January 23, 2020

WFPBNO Personal Pepperoni Pizzas. DIY!! #vegan #healthyfood

How about a do it yourself pizza night wth the family? It's really easy to do. Prego Lower Calorie marinara sauce is compliant and on the shelf at Kroger. Store brand whole wheat pita is just flour, water and salt or make your own pita crust. I cut off the top and used the bottom as crust. You can make cheezy sauce like I did and add your own toppings. In my case, I made beets into a pepperoni substitute.  There are no limits on creativity! 

BEET JERKY PEPPERONI
Roast some beets with the skin on wrapped in foil. Set your mandolin to #2 and slice them. Put them on parchment paper. Season them with 1t fennel seeds, 1t onion salt, 1T dried onion flakes 1T garlic powder and 1/2 t crushed red peppers ground together in a mortar and pestle.
Bake at 375F for 40 min or until they start to get a little crispy. You have to watch them. Those on the top rack were perfect and the whole pan on the bottom rack got burned black.
Here's my cheezy sauce recipe:

CHEEZY SAUCE
Prep time:  15 minutes
Cooking time:  20 minutes
Total time:  35 minutes

Recipe
3 large redskin potatoes
6 TBSP Nutritional yeast
4 TBSP Tapioca flour
1 TBS lemon juice
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 tsp Tabasco 
1 TBSP salt
1 3/4 cups of starchy water from the boiled potatoes.
(If you like, add roasted red peppers to the blender to give it the orange cheddar color)

Peel, cut up and boil the potatoes in at least 2 cups of water with the TBSP of salt. Save the starchy water.

Put 1 3/4 cups of the starchy water from the potatoes and everything else into your blender or food processor and puree it until smooth.
Pour the mixture into a saucepan and cook it on medium low heat stirring constantly until it thickens (about 20 min).
Add a little more water if it's too thick. Let it cool allowing it to thicken a little more and serve warm.
As pizza topping, pour it hot over your pizza sauce like mozzarella. Add your toppings.
Season with salt, pepper etc. to taste.

Enjoy!