Tag Archives: plant based diet

Summertime and the Livin’ is Easy

My favorite part of gardening is watching the seeds sprout and poke up through the ground.  My second favorite part is harvesting the food. Third, is eating it.

It is immensely gratifying to actually see the results of all your hard work. Watering, weeding, keeping after pests and fungi is hard work. Never mind the transplanting and soil prep.  It’s definitely work!  But there are so few things in life where you can actually see, taste and experience such tangible and direct results.

Harvesting means menu planning.  Now, in the winter menus are usually about the finished product – casseroles, soups, stews and meatless meatloaves.  In the summer it is about making sure I have cooked rice and beans in the fridge, nuts in the pantry and a few things in the freezer.

by Genene Cote Posted on June 7, 2012
Posted in Cote Home Grown Fare, entrée, fresh veggies, garden, Italian, menu, Pasta, salad, Whole Food Plant-Based recipes | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Blueberry Pancakes (no gluten, sugar or eggs involved)

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.

buckwheat groatsThen 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…)

by Genene Cote Posted on June 6, 2012
Posted in Breakfast, diary-free food, gluten-free food, sugar-free food, vegan, vegetarian | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

What’s in a Name”?

Vegetarian Diet?  Vegan Diet?  Plant-Based Diet?

Over the last year as we changed how we ate, my dilemma has been what to call the “diet” we eat.
z-test background - topshelf
Being a vegetarian (as in eating a vegetarian diet) is fine with me.  It is, in fact, an accurate description of my life-long dietary habits. Mostly I have been a lacto-ovo vegetarian which means I ate eggs and dairy as part of my regular diet. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on June 5, 2012
Posted in diary-free food, plant based diet, vegan, vegetarian | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Pills or Veggies?

diabetes drugsDid you know that almost 105 million people in the United States are either diabetic or prediabetic?

That is a staggering number.  If you figure the US population is roughly 335 million that means that roughly 1/3 of the total population is at risk!  Here is the breakdown as provided by the American Diabetes Associationregarding type 2 diabetics in the US in 2010:

  • Diagnosed: 18.8 million people
  • Undiagnosed: 7.0 million people

Prediabetes: 79 million people (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on June 1, 2012
Posted in diabetes, plant based diet, sugar-free food, weigh loss | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

When A Plan Starts to Come Together!

Small plants coming up in garden in a pool

Planting a garden is a small act in creating a long term plan.  You plant seeds, water, watch and wait.  And then one day you see a little shoot of green poking up the dirt. This is my very favorite part or gardening!

The miracle of life and growth always makes me happy!  I walk around with a big grin on my face all day. There is nothing like a little miracle to remind me how wonderful life is and how grateful I am just to be alive. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on May 31, 2012
Posted in fresh veggies, garden, menu, plant based diet, vegan, vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Choppers! I love them!

Not the noisy big ones, the other kind. . . So you can imagine my excitement today when I  made a great find today: a small food processor (chopper) for $5.00 at the Habitat for Humanity Restore.  This may be the most exciting purchase I have made all month! I told you, I love choppers!

choppersHere’s the deal: choppers make life easier.  And as far as I can tell, there is no such thing as having too many choppers in my kitchen! The picture here shows my three favorites (just try and ignore the 60’s vintage orange counter top).

What you see on the right is my full size Cuisinart food processor – top of the line and a gift from my parents my years ago.  I have had to replace a couple of small parts but it is truly a workhorse and has served me well. I use if for soups, making nut butter and just about anytime I make a large casserole. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on May 30, 2012
Posted in kitchen basics, Whole Food Plant-Based Food Kitchen | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Lasagna

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.

first zuchThe 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…)

by Genene Cote Posted on May 29, 2012
Posted in additive-free food, Cote Home Grown Fare, diary-free food, entrée, fresh veggies, garden, gluten-free food, Italian, Pasta, vegan, vegetarian, Whole Food Plant-Based recipes | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Reading This Week: The Starch Solution by John McDougall

starchDavid ordered this book last week.  Very nice of him! I promptly stole it right out from under his nose and have been reading it all week!  All I can says is PLEASE read this book!

Finally a diet book based on good sense AND as an added bonus, the science is solid. Over the years I have had hundreds of arguments about the evils of carbs. I knew intuitively that carbs were not the enemy but couldn’t articulate what was wrong with the starch turns to sugar which turns to fat argument.  Thanks to this book, now I can. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on May 25, 2012
Posted in book review, diary-free food, vegan, vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Cookbooks as Suggestions (or a few words about my recipes)

cookbook
First of all, lets be clear that I consider cooking more art than science. The important disclaimer as that we are talking cooking not baking. Baking is kinda fiddly and requires much more science. But that said, I think of recipes as crude hand drawn maps. They give you a rough idea about the general direction you are planning to go. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on May 24, 2012
Posted in kitchen basics, menu, Whole Food Plant-Based Food Kitchen, Whole Food Plant-Based recipes | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Pasta And Veggies

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.

by Genene Cote Posted on May 23, 2012
Posted in additive-free food, diary-free food, entrée, fresh veggies, gluten-free food, Italian, Pasta, sugar-free food, vegan, vegetarian, Whole Food Plant-Based recipes | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment