No long weekend this year; the fourth is right in the middle of the week. I hate when that happens.
Traditionally the 4th is a time for “All American” picnic foods. Things like hotdogs, hamburgers, baked beans, corn on the cob, potato salad, pasta salad. strawberry shortcake and cherry pie. I have the Hamburgers, Baked Beans and corn on the cob covered. That just leaves the salad and dessert.
My friend Beth gave me an assignment – create a vegan (non-dairy), gluten-free, fat-free (or close too it), additive-free Eggplant Parmesan to use in Sandwiches.
You know how I am, can’t resist a challenge. So I started experimenting. Many of the recipe components can be found on the Basic Recipes Pages: Tapioca Eggs, Cashew Cheese and Quick Italian Red Sauce. Please refer to that page for the specific recipe otherwise this post is going to be way to long.
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There is a tremendous body of research about the benefits of eating a plant-based diet. The numerous benefits sound almost unbelievable! A list of the diseases that eating well can prevented and/or treated include :
And that is just for starters. (more…)
Just so you know, Not everything I try is a success. I know that there are friends that think I am making it up. After all I am a proficient cook with lots of experience and knowledge.
Now, it is true that I am a proficient cook with lots of experience and knowledge. And yet, trust me, I have very bad cooking experiences! Last week was a great example. . . I was on a roll! (more…)
Four years ago David developed a gluten allergy. That began a series of radical changes in our diet. But there were more to come!
Two years ago he started having a series of “weird” problems. He was not diabetic or even pre-diabetic but he clearly had a blood sugar problem! On any given day his blood sugar spiked and dropped for no apparent reason. He was alternatively shaky and moody. And eating seemed to make the problem worse.
We were at our wits end! So in an effort to figure out what was going on we started tracking the symptoms and what he ate. The place to start was in the grocery store; reading labels. (more…)
David is the breakfastmeister in our house. For years he was the eggs and potato king. Or pancakes and eggs emperor. The rice and eggs sultan. You get the idea.
As we started to eliminate eggs from our diet we (obviously) had to rethink breakfast. Consequently, we have been eating hot grain cereals, granola and occasion gluten-free pancakes or waffles topped with nut butter and fresh fruit. The problem with gluten-free pancakes/waffles is that they require an egg, use processed flour and are expensive.
Then one day David had an idea: he know how to create a decent pancake with no gluten no eggs and no processed sugar. Long story, short, we invested in a big bag of buckwheat groats. (more…)
David found a package of rice lasagna noodles the other day and said, “you know, I am really hungry for lasagna. Think you can make a vegan version that tastes good?”
Nothing like a challenge! Especially since lasagna is one of those quick meals that is perfect for a crowd. The trick, of course is to bake it on low heat with lots of liquid so you never have to precook the noodles! I really have not made this dish since we gave up dairy last year so I figured I just wing it and see what happened.
The place to start was with my more or less standard combination of vegetables (carrots, zucchini, green pepper, onions, garlic and spinach). That was all easy! The part that took a little thinking was what to use in place of ricotta cheese. (more…)
There must be some Italian buried in my genes! It would at least explain why I love pasta so much! When David found out he was gluten intolerant I was pretty sure my life was over. No more pasta??
Fortunately there are a lot of great gluten-free pastas on the market. After trying brown and wild rice, corn and quinoa, we decided we like brown rice best. But if you haven’t experiment with the kinds, you owe it to yourself to try.
This is my own version of veggie pasta based very loosely on a similar dish I once ate at California Pizza Kitchen.
Brown rice is probably our most flexible staple. We use it as breakfast cereal, for specialty rice dishes (like Spanish Rice), salads or a quick add to bean based meals for an extra protein boost.
At the end of every week we gather up any veggies we can find laying around, nuts and even beans. We throw them in a pan and add rice for a quick, thrifty meal. The trick is adding a good mix of herbs and mirepoix to give it great flavor without resorting to too much salt or soy sauce. (more…)
I grew up eating veggie patties. Mom would serve them smothered in gravy and accompanied by potatoes and a veggies. Leftovers would be recycled as “hamburgers” for lunches or snacks. We usually have some sort of veggie burger or veggie loaf in the fridge for exactly the same reason.
I probably have 25 versions of this recipe, but this happens to be the one I used today. (more…)
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