Category: Recipes I Have Tried

HINTS FOR SIX SERVINGS OF GREENS PER DAY

(Note: one serving = one raw handful)

  • Boil chopped greens in your oatmeal
  • Beet greens taste great (even when they look tired) and oddly savory-salty
  • Boil beets (red or golden) w/ skin attached, then easy to peel for afternoon snack w/ mustard or vinegar
  • Boil extra greens & store in wide-mouth thermos for later snack time
  • Handful of raw greens (one serving) cooks down to tiny amount
  • Important to VARY your greens to get symphony of nutrients
  • Arugula is a very powerfully nutritious green (called rocket in the UK!)
  • To cook kale & chard STRIP off the leaves then boil them (don’t forget to chop, boil, eat the stems & stalks, as well)
  • Best to rip/chop your fresh whole brocolli crowns b/c nutrients released approx 30 minutes after trauma
  • Brocolli stalk should be peeled, chopped & boiled, as well
  • If recipe calls for one tablespoon parsley, cilantro, basil, etc – use entire handful (& use the stems!)
  • Whole (raw) romaine lettuce leaves can be used as edible scoopers to shovel-up your food (as mí família uses tortillas!)
  • Bok choy (baby or regular) can be eaten cooked, or raw, both green & white parts… & it lasts long in fridge
  • Same for napa cabbage!
  • Use variety of greens in salads (chopped raw), sandwiches (w/ hummus & thin sliced lemon), pizzas (w/ greens added to simmering sauce)
  • White cauliflower IS a green! (Eat steamed, sauteed, fresh w/ flavored vinegar or lemon-pepper or nutritional yeast, etc)

COOKING WITHOUT OIL

Information from THE CENTER FOR NUTRITIONAL STUDIES

Learning to Cook Without Oil

At first it might seem a little crazy or scary to think of cooking without oil. Thankfully, learning to cook delicious oil-free recipes is not difficult. It might take a little practice to get things just right, but soon you’ll wonder how you ever tolerated the greasy taste and texture of oil-drenched foods!

Choosing the Right Cookware

Consider investing in some non-stick cookware. Though there is an initial cost, if taken care of properly, it will last forever. Some good-quality options are heavy-bottomed stainless steel pans, enamel-coated cast iron, or ceramic titanium pans. Be sure to hand-wash so the coating doesn’t wear off prematurely.

Silicone ovenware is great for easy release when roasting vegetables or baking and preparing oil-free desserts. Parchment paper is also a great option to line baking sheets and casserole dishes.

How to Replace Oil Depending on the Cooking Method:

  • Sautéing and stir-frying—Believe it or not, when sautéing vegetables, water and broth do just as well as oil. The trick is to use small amounts, adding just 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time. Do this as often as needed to cook and brown the food. Remember to keep the veggies moving so they don’t burn. This is a short video clip showing how easy it can be: Cooking Without Oil.
  • Baking— Making moist and delicious cookies, cakes, and other oil-free baked goods is actually quite easy. Some of my favorite substitutes include applesauce, mashed bananas, and puréed dates or pumpkin. In my Glazed Carrot Cake, I use both applesauce and banana to keep it moist, and the results are deliciously amazing!
  • Roasting—Vegetables will brown on their own in the oven if you cook them low and slow. I like to lightly mist vegetables with water or veggie broth using a bottle sprayer, then sprinkle with spices and herbs for seasoning before roasting. For something super crispy like French fries or zucchini chips, finish the last few minutes by popping them under the broiler. Make sure to use parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet to prevent sticking.
  • Deep Frying Alternatives—There is a secret weapon for achieving that extra crispy texture without using oil. It’s called an air fryer. Though this is not a required piece of equipment for a plant-based kitchen, I will say that I absolutely love mine. Some of the recipes I have been able to make are Asparagus, Mushroom, and Tofu Tempura, French fries, and more. I am happy to have all those crispy fried foods back in my life, only this time, they have zero oil and won’t be clogging my arteries or causing inflammation.

Once you try out some of these cooking techniques, it will become apparent how easy oil-free cooking can be. The food tastes delicious, and your arteries will thank you!

Hybrid Veggie Burger

Ingredients

  • 2 C uncooked rolled oats
  • 1 15 oz can white beans (include liquid)
  • 1/2 C ground flaxseed (or almond flour)
  • 1/4 C nutritional yeast
  • season w/ A-1 or BBQ sauce, lemon pepper, onion flakes, garlic flakes, ground black cumin seed
  • 2 defrosted commercial veggie burgers

Instructions

  • mix all ingredients (except commercial patties) together by hand (as though preparing meatloaf)
  • season & taste until you are happy w/ flavor
  • now add & mix in commercial patties
  • coat hands w/ corn meal (or flour)
  • shape into patties
  • bake at 420 degrees for 10 minutes
  • Flip burgers & bake additional 10+ minutes
  • (may choose to grill, instead of bake)
  • may refreeze uncooked or cooked patties
  • (if I freeze my cooked hybrid burgers they seem very dry. I heat them up later by steaming them in my rice cooker. I prefer to freeze them uncooked to prevent dryness. SEE NOTE AT BOTTOM OF THIS POST)

ORIGINAL BURGERS

NEW NUTRITIONAL FACTS (started w/ 2 commercial patties, ended w/ 13 mixed patties)

  • Total Fat 36/13= approx 3 g + 3 g (almond flour) = 6 g fat per hybrid patty
  • saturated fat 10/13 = 0.77 g
  • trans fat 0/13 = 0 g
  • Cholesterol 0/13 = 0 mg
  • Sodium 700/13 = 54 mg

NOTE: According to USDA frozen food defrosted in the fridge under sanitary conditions may be safely refrozen. BEYOND & IMPOSSIBLE BURGERS that are sold “RAW” in supermarkets have been previously frozen. They are shipped frozen, then defrosted in the refrigerator at the market before being put on the shelf. At Costco they are sold in there original frozen condition. Impossible says their product may be refrozen without cooking them. Beyond says their product should not be refrozen (loses quality), but consumed within 10 days from the beginning of the thaw. Supermarkets provide dates on their thawed Beyond burgers. If bought unfrozen at markets I recommend purchasing the recently thawed product & preparing hybrids asap. Following USDA guidelines I choose to prepare hybrid burgers from two recently fridge-defrosted Beyond burgers. After prepping I refreeze the uncooked hybrid burgers immediately & cook them later. This prevents dryness experienced when I cook first, refreeze & re-thaw the hybrid.

WHITE  BEAN  & VEGETABLE  SOUP

WHITE BEAN & VEGETABLE SOUP
Serves 4 – 6
(Thank you Sue!)

  • 4 cups Vegetable Broth
  • 2 cups Water
  • 1 Med. Onion, chopped
  • 1+ cup 2-4 Small carrots
  • 2 cans 15oz. Great Northern or White Cannellini Beans, rinsed & drained
  • 1 can 15oz. Roasted Red Tomatoes (Hunts)
  • 1 can 15oz. Roasted w/Garlic Red Tomatoes
  • 2+ cups Kale, de-stemmed & chopped
  • 1+ cup Whole wheat small elbow macaroni, uncooked
  • Juice of One Lemon
  • Salt & Pepper to taste

Add 1/4 cup broth & 1/2 cup water to your large pan w/lid & saute onion & carrots on medium-high heat until soft, about 5+ minutes.

Add remaining broth & water to your large pan.

Add beans & tomatoes.

Put the lid on and simmer for about 20 minutes.

With a bean masher or a hand held blender, push through the soup to create a thicker consistency, about 10 mashes or blends.

Add pasta, cook for 2 minutes.

Add Kale, cook for 5 minutes or more.

Remove from heat, add lemon juice.

Salt & Pepper to taste.