It is what's for dinner

Eating vegan does not mean you have to have a cookbook dinner every night.  It is often as simple as your regular meat meals just without the meat.  Beans are a great source of protein and complement many menus.
Tonight a simple but nutritious meal.  A tossed salad with red onions, cucumbers, peppers,  and tomatoes dressed with oil and vinegar.  Main course was a sweet potato and creamed peas and gnocchi.  The cream was almond milk, a little earthbalance butter, and thickened with cornstarch and water.

Mushroom soup

This was placed on the frequent flier list Ingredients: mushrooms;I used shiitake and baby portabella, carrots, onions, garlic,spinach, adzuki beans, pasta, miso paste, soy sauce, vegetable broth In sauce pan sauté onions, garlic and carrots for 2-3 minutes. Add cup water and simmer for a few minutes. Add the mushrooms, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon miso paste, a box of vegetable broth and simmer. Add 1/2 can drained beans, 2 cups of spinach and finally the pasta broken into 1 inch segments. Add pepper to taste and serve. Cook time 30 minutes. I served it with white pizza made with garlic,basil, fresh tomatoes, olives and vegan montzerella cheese.

Lime Sherbert

All you need is a simple electric ice cream maker,  4 limes, sugar and almond milk

I blend in a bowl 4 freshly juiced limes, 3 cups of almond milk, a teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1/2 cup of sugar.
Pour in the ice cream maker and flip the switch.  20 min you get a great lime sherbert. 

Leftover soup

There are three people currently at my nightly dinner table and I am the biggest eater by far.  So frequently there are leftovers.  Soup is a great way to make a quick nutrious meal out of leftovers.  We had cabbage, corn, and carrots leftover from dinner the night before.  Chop the cabbage and place everything in the soup pot.  Add vegetable broth, a tablespoon of tomato paste, and 2 boiled potatoes and some frozen peas to the mix.  Simmer for 15minutes then add some orzo pasta.  Cook for another 20 minutes and serve.

We had a mixed green salad and sliced pears with that for a great quick dinner.  I had the leftover soup the next day for lunch.

Wild rice with peach chutney and vegetables

Ingredients: wild rice, can of peaches, red pepper, apple cider vinegar, one onion, 2 yellow squash, snow peas, Brussels sprouts, salt, paper, brown sugar, olive oil

Cook one cup rice/2 cups water over low heat until tender-about 30 minutes
In a medium skillet saute 1/2 chopped medium onion, a chopped medium red or green pepper and about a tablespoon of olive oil til slightly tender.

Add a can of peaches in their own juice, 1/4 cup of vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon of fresh ginger, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar and simmer.  You can add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water to make more liquid.  Simmer 15minutes on med to low heat

Saute the yellow squash and snow peas in a tablespoon of olive oil til tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Toss a bag of brussels  sprouts in a little olive oil to coat and add pepper and a little salt and bake on 350 for 20 minutes

Shepherds Pie with a twist

Ingredients: Boca tofu crumbles-one package, carrots , peas, mushrooms, onion, vegetable broth, garlic, salt, pepper, tomato paste, and potatoes.

Boil potatoes and mash- this can be done traditionally with almond milk and a little earth balance or simply mash the cooked potatoes

In a skillet place the tofu crumbles, two diced carrots, a half bag frozen peas and a 1/2 cup of vegetable broth.  Simmer.  Add salt, pepper and garlic to taste.  Add 1/2 can tomato paste.  Simmer until mixed

In a separate skillet add a tablespoon of olive oil, package of diced mushrooms, and 1/2 diced onion.  Simmer until the mushrooms give off liquid then add a cup of vegetable broth and simmer until the mushrooms are well cooked.  A a tablespoon of cornstarch to 1/4 cup of warm water and dilute.  Add this mixture to the mushrooms to thicken into a gravy and reduce the heat to low.

In a baking dish pour the tofu mixture in a spread evenly.  Top with the potatoes.  Then cover with the mushroom gravy.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 min and serve.

Alfreda's special

Alfreda is my mom. She is a fantastic cook. Raised in the traditional Italian cooking and influenced later by my Irish Grandmother. They cook from scratch. No cookbooks. No measuring cups. Taste and smell. She started eating and cooking Vegan after going through chemotherapy for lymphoma. She said originally she would eat vegan but not cook that way because she didn't know what to cook. We had "go to " meals. After a few discussions we decided to invent or devise our go to meals. Then she became creative.
 Below is a special she whipped up last week that was delicious
 Ingredients: Cabbage, white beans, rice, tofu crumbles, crushed tomatoes,garlic, salt, pepper.
 Directions:
Boil a head of cabbage in enough water to cover it. Chop the cabbage into small pieces. Puree a can of diced tomatoes and add to the cabbage Add a can of rinsed white beans Add garlic, salt and pepper to taste Add tofu crumbles if you like Cook rice and add to above mixture. cook together for 30minutes.

 It is even better the next day. We served it with Roasted garlic bread and a cucumber salad.

Easter dinner

Easter dinner of my youth was an eating fest. My Grandmother would cook a turkey and a ham. Sweet potatoes candied and mashed potatoes with butter and whole milk. Green beans and Lima beans. Dressing and homemade rolls. Cream cheese jello salad. Banana and coconut cream pies. Nearly every adult was overweight. None of us were skinny. After my Grandmother passed the family dinners became more of single family affairs. My mom took over the cooking. Prime rib became the meat and the pies were changed to cake but pretty much everything else stayed the same.
This was the first vegan Easter. All bunnies and cows ran free. We stared with vegetable sushi and hummus for appetizers then we had stuffing with mushroom gravy, Lima beans, green beans and cranberry salad. We had sweet potatoes and cherry pie for desert. All were satisfied and full.

Mushroom gravy: saute onions and mushrooms with little olive oil and then add vegetable broths. Thickened with a little cornstarch

Welcome

Welcome. I am beginning a new blog to promote a plant based diet. Yes being Vegan. I have been making this transition over several years but have never fully committed until last June. I have know for quite sometime that this was the right path but did not want to upset the family dinner table cart so to speak. I was born in West Virginia. My Dad was raised on a farm and I participated in butchering hogs and chickens as a kid. Nothing was wasted. My job was to render the fat into lard. It made for great breads and pie crusts as well as diabetes and heart disease. My family always had a garden so we ate what we grew and raised. About the only store bought goods were flour and sugar. Oh and Captain Crunch. There were few fast food stores and you had to drive 30 minutes to get to one. We only had a rare Big Mac and rare KFc. takeout.
I became a Cardiologist to help people like my family who had heart disease. There was not much talk of prevention in medical school and residency. A healthy low fat diet was suggested and exercise but no specifics. Statin drugs seemed to be the best way to prevent coronary events in those with a strong family history.
I read Diet for a New America by Robbins. It was an eye opener. I was was hooked in the early nineties. My family thought I was crazy and thought I was going to starve. I lost weight and felt great. I started swimming then running. I signed up for a marathon and became an "exercise nut" so said my mother. I was living by example. My family said I was ruining dinner and did not want to be involved. I gave into eating a little fish at first. Then a meat at dinner. I tried to convince myself that if I ate organic it would be ok. Then my mother got lymphoma and my dad developed dementia. I was the cook and the family was falling apart. I cooked vegan. I preach the benefits of a plant based diet. My Dad ate without complaint and my mother ate with reservation. She got well and started experimenting with plant based cooking. We did our Christmas party 100% vegan. No one left hungry and they all showed up. My friends eat my vegan pizza and I go out with them and order off any menu. They are tolerating my change and even try some vegan recipes themselves.
So I have decided to share my experiences and menus with those who wish to look.