Category Archives: vegan

Whole Food Plant-Based Vegan Recipes

The Year of Being Vegan: 2012 Lessons Learned Part 4

I have always been a plant-based eater; a vegetarian. Over the last year David and I decided to become vegans. It has been an incredible learning experience! Between now and the end of the years I will share some of the things I learned.

Advanced Label Reading

I was shocked at the things that end up in “healthy” vegan foods. I guess this is really an expansion on unhealthy vegan diet choices.

I started reading labels many years ago when I quit sugar. Over the years I had gotten a little sloppy about really reading labels. I would check for sugar content and if there wasn’t any that seemed good enough. When David discovered that he was wildly reactive to MSG in all it’s forms, I started examining labels again and was shocked at all the forms of MSG that end up in our foods. Follow through on the two MSG links in this paragraph to get more info. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on December 30, 2012
Posted in additive-free food, diary-free food, Food Additives, GMO foods, processed food, vegan, vegetarian, Vitamins, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Year of Being Vegan: 2012 Lessons Learned Part 3

I have always been a plant-based eater; a vegetarian. Over the last year David and I decided to become vegans. It has been an incredible learning experience! Between now and the end of the years I will share some of the things I learned.

fat cookMany “Healthy” Vegan Recipes are NOT!

The decision to be vegan meant David gave up meat. And we gave up cheese and eggs. Meal planning became a challenge. I spent a couple of hundred dollars (all of it on used bookstores) and many hundreds of hours pouring over menu plans and recipes.

My biggest take is that many vegan recipes do not fit my definition of healthy food. Many of them contain ingredients that I wouldn’t eat on a bet: (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on December 29, 2012
Posted in additive-free food, diary-free food, environment, Food Additives, gluten-free food, GMO foods, plant based diet, processed food, Protein, Soy, sugar-free food, vegan, vegetarian, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Year of Being Vegan: 2012 Lessons Learned Part 2

I have always been a plant-based eater; a vegetarian. Over the last year David and I decided to become vegans. It has been an incredible learning experience! Between now and the end of the years I will share some of the things I learned.

About Eggs

egg

I spent a lot of time experimenting with egg replacers this year. It was a truly informative experience. What I discovered is that

there are certain recipes where there is NO substitute for the actual egg. These include pumpkin pie, meringues and waffles. Even Ener-G, the most popular egg replacer on the market, does not work well. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on December 28, 2012
Posted in B12, Eggs, vegan, vegetarian | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Plant-based or Plant-Strong with Rip

There is a marvelous video that my friend Elizabeth brought to my attention. She posted the link yesterday on Facebook. I took a look and decided it is too good to pass up.

Rip Esselstyn is a former All-American swimmer, pro-triathlete and retired Firefighter.  Inspired by his father (Caldwell Esselstyn), he persuaded his Austin Fire Department’s Engine 2 Company to adopt a plant-based diet. The story is written in his best selling book:  Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter’s 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on December 13, 2012
Posted in Caldwell Esselstyn, diabetes, Rip Esselstyn, vegan, vegetarian, weigh loss, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Plant-based Sugar-free, Gluten-free, Dairy-free All American Apple Pie

apple pieMost of the time the way I eat makes me very happy. I like feeling healthy and light. I never feel deprived or like I am sacrificing until the Holidays come. It gets dark early, it’s cold and temptations abound! It is only human to want a little comfort! It doesn’t take long for me to start telling myself that I have been so good for so long that just “a little sugar/gluten/dairy/etc won’t hurt”. That is kinda true (or so I hear). My problem is once I start eating a little sugar, I want more. And a little sugar has a way of creeping up to a whole lot! (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on December 12, 2012
Posted in additive-free food, dessert, diary-free food, gluten-free food, plant based diet, sugar-free food, vegan, vegetarian | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Flavoring Whole Food Plant-based Diet

Taste is a funny thing; part biology  part learned and always infused with expectations. We expect certain flavors to meld. An expectation many cooks fail to meet! A great example is in an interview excerpt shown in Forks Over Knives, The Extended Interviews.  In it Doug Lisle tells a story about trying to get his father to switch to a whole food plant-based diet. After one meal, his Father stated that if he had to eat like that for the rest of his life he would rather die of a heart attack.  I just started laughing! Not exactly funny, but very often a too common story. Some of worst tasting food ever created is passed off as vegetarian, vegan or  “healthy!” Lots of people, for good reason, think healthy food and think bland, tasteless and/or ill-conceived.

stuffed peppers

(more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on December 11, 2012
Posted in additive-free food, fresh veggies, kitchen basics, Mexican, vegan, vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

All Plant-based Split Pea Soup

When I was a 4 or 5  my Dad’s family lived in Santa Barbara. A couple of times a year we would drive up from Los Angeles to visit. Along the way there were always signs for Andersen’s – the split pea soup Andersen’s. The signs featured Hap-pea the big cook and Pea-wee his helper. Some even showed an elaborate split-pea soup factory. The signs were provocative and intriguing. It wasn’t long before the idea of Hap-pea, Pea-wee and a soup factory became as real as the car I was trapped in. I could see just how it looked. And if I scrunched up my face and thought really hard I could even hear and smell it. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on December 8, 2012
Posted in additive-free food, diary-free food, gluten-free food, plant based diet, soup, sugar-free food, Uncategorized, vegan, vegetarian, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Journey From the Standard American Diet to a Whole Food Plant-based Diet . . .

Remember that old Alka Seltzer ad with the guy groaning that he couldn’t believe he ate the whole thing? To me it is a most graphic reminder that what we eat directly effects how we feel.

All of us are good at remembering the connection of food and feeling in the short run. The problem is come when remembering to connect the information to our overall dietary habits and quality of life. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on December 6, 2012
Posted in diabetes, diary-free food, gluten-free food, John McDougall, plant based diet, T. Colin Campbell, vegan, vegetarian, Whole Food Plant-Based Diet and Chronic Disease, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Holiday Red and Green Salad

While I know how important fresh veggies are, I am not ready to go to a raw food diet. . . I know cooked veggies are good, but the heat does kill some of the phytonutrients. Simply put, fresh is always better. My question is: how many salads can you eat without dying of boredom. Which means, of course, that I am always trying new ideas and combinations to keep myself entertained. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on December 2, 2012
Posted in plant based diet, processed food, salad, sugar-free food, vegan, vegetarian, Whole Food Plant-Based Diet Food Categories | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Mashed Cauliflower Not Mashed Potatoes

A low-calorie, tasty alternative to mashed potatoes is mashed cauliflower. I actually think they taste better although you may not be able to tell the difference by just looking at them.

Since going to a primarily whole food plant-based diet there are only a few things I really miss. One of them is the butter on and sour cream in mashed potatoes. After watching everyone at Thanksgiving scarf them down I decided I had to pacify myself with a big batch of mashed cauliflower. They tasted great and had the added benefit of making me feel a tiny bit superior for having resisted the potatoes. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on November 28, 2012
Posted in diary-free food, gluten-free food, plant based diet, vegan, vegetarian, weigh loss | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment