Tag Archives: Vegan

Pressure Cooker Beans with Flavor!

I love my pressure cooker. Instead of hours to cook beans it take just a few minutes. But as much as I love the convenience I have a big complaint about the taste. Toooooo bland!

According to the “experts” you are NOT supposed to add salt of herbs to the pot when you pressure cook beans. This means that you end up cooking them in plan old water with a little oil to keep the foam down. When they come out they taste like very plain, very boring beans; no real flavor. I have added garlic, garlic powder, onions and onion powder to the water. That helped a little – but really only a little. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on March 11, 2013
Posted in Beans, plant based diet, vegan, vegetarian, Whole Food Plant-Based nutrition | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Luxury Problems

weightlossI have a big-time luxury problem! You see instead of “spring cleaning”, we do “fall cleaning”. Most of the spring is devoted to getting the garden in shape. If the house suffers, it’s not like we spend much time inside between March and October. We are, however indoor, a lot, between November and February. So it is either clean up or sit and look at clutter all winter. I, personally, hate clutter!

One of my life “rules” is about changing closets with the season. Each spring and fall I sort and discard clothes:  if I haven’t worn it, it goes! This year I added the caveat that if it didn’t fit it had to go as well. Recently, David and I spend a lot of time looking like we are wearing someone else’s clothes. They are way big and don’t come close to fitting. A lot of them were marginal last year but this year they are just flat out ridiculous! So out with all the XL and a lot of the L size clothes. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on October 25, 2012
Posted in additive-free food, Cote Home Grown Fare, diary-free food, Food Additives, gluten-free food, plant based diet, processed food, vegan, vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Beef of Vegetables???

kaleOver the weekend I spent a couple of hours surfing the net. I was on a mission:  finding some good kale recipes. Almost immediately I saw an amazing article title: Kale, the Beef of Vegetables. Of all the odd titles I have stumbled across recently, this has to top the list!

My first thought. of course, was, “no wonder I don’t particularly like it!” Then I cracked up (I do tend to amuse myself, easily). Look, I’m really, really, really trying to eat it and like it. Damn it!  It is so good for my body that I should at least eat it and hopefully, learn to like it!

When I finally quit laughing at myself, I settled down and read the article.  It was yet one more in a long series of articles extolling the virtues and benefits of kale.  Did you know that it is full of : (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on June 26, 2012
Posted in Cote Home Grown Fare, fresh veggies, garden, Whole Food Plant-Based recipes | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Plant-Based Diet Myth: It’s Expensive

moneyOne of the most baffling  things people say to me is “I would love to eat a plant based diet, but that is just too expensive!” I am always a little blown away but this assertion. I go to the grocery store and I watch food prices closely. . .

It was nice to find a discussion about this in The Starch Solution. Here, John McDougall states that a plant-based diet averages $4,000 savings per person per year. Or savings of  $333 per month.  You can read his discussion on pages 203-206 or search for “Food Costs” on your digital device.

For our household (just the two of us) that means saving about $650 per month. That, by the way is about what we currently spend each month.  In other words if we started eating animal based products we would double our monthly food costs.  Just in case I need another reason to stay on a plant-based diet that would work! (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on June 20, 2012
Posted in additive-free food, Beans, diary-free food, excitotoxins, Food Additives, fresh veggies, menu, plant based diet | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment