Faux Potato and Leek Soup

Sunday morning we started our day at Whole Foods instead of the farmers’ market. I think this will be our new Sunday routine. We NEEDED kale for smoothies, tofu, and a few miscellaneous other things that are best from Whole Foods. I had to stroll around while we were there to see if there were any other goodies that I might need to bring home.

Since I knew I would be making soup today I decided to read the labels on the vegan bouillon packages. They either had too much sodium (seriously it was absurd) or palm oil. Really? I am sure the answer would be that it was organic but who cares. Needless to say I didn’t buy any vegan bouillon. This is what I mean about it is easy to be vegan but not as easy to be a healthy vegan. It is hard to now imagine that I used to find it hard to be vegan. *shakes head* Now I want to know something. Do you buy foods that contain too much sodium, palm oil or soy protein isolates or are there other things you avoid?  Since many products contain these, even at Whole Foods, I am starting to feel like I am in the minority trying to avoid this stuff.

We didn’t start our morning at the gym because they are never open early on Sunday or Saturday. I can safely say both Dan and I are now both morning exercisers. I never thought that would happen since we aren’t morning people in general. We are thinking of hitting the gym this evening after the 3pm meal with my parents and before dinner but that was being overly optimistic. We just don’t seem to go to the gym unless it is in the morning. Fear not, we have plenty of exercise equipment at our house to get in a proper workout anytime. ;-)

Breakfast this morning was another green smoothie which contained: kale, frozen banana, cinnamon, ginger, ground flaxseed, walnuts and a touch of stevia for Dan. Like always Dan's smoothie contained double the banana and triple or more the amount of walnuts. He needs the calories and I am only 5’3” (when I stand up really tall) …. I really don’t need the extra calories.

My afternoon snack was another orange and two Brazil nuts for my daily selenium intake. Have you noticed the recent rut I am in? ;-)

Late in the morning Dan and I talked about what to make for the meal with my folks. I decided to rework a soup I made with cauliflower and white bean that tasted like potato only had a lower GI, more fiber and more nutrition not to mention fewer calories. Sounded like a good one to repeat to me. This time I decided to make it more like potato leek soup. Here is what I did:

Faux Potato Leek Soup
Serves 6

Ingredients:

½ pound dried white beans, picked through sorted and rinsed
2 or 3 bay leaves
water to cover by at least an inch
1 large head of cauliflower
10 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed (don’t forget to let them sit 10 minutes before adding to the pot)
1 leek, light green and white (I also let this sit 10 minutes before cooking. It is from the onion family so it should have a similar chemical reaction taking place)
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (enough to mimic the umami of butter but not so much as it make it cheesy)
¼ teaspoon mustard powder (to add a hint of heat in the background)
freshly ground black pepper to taste
½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
optional – you can add raw cashews which you puree to make the soup “creamier”

Directions:

Cook the beans until they are tender, and then remove the bay leaves. I cooked an entire pound of beans and moved ½ the batch to the refrigerator to use later this week.

Cut the cauliflower into rough chunks. The smaller the chunks the faster they will cook. Add the garlic now too and simmer until the cauliflower is tender when pierced with the tip of a paring knife. Now you have two choices. Either puree the soup in batches in your blender or use your immersion blender. Since I never use my immersion blended I decided to use it thinking it would be fine since the cauliflower and beans were both pretty soft. Once again the texture was not spot on. I considering putting the soup in the Vitamix but didn’t want two appliances to wash. I might be too picky, or my Cuisinart immersion blender may not be strong enough. I am not sure which one it is. ;-)

Now add the remaining ingredients except the parsley and cook until the leeks are tender.

When you are reading to serve taste the soup, correct the seasonings and stir in the parsley leaving a little for garnish.

If you want to add the raw cashew process those in a “cream” with either a little of the soup or water and stir then into the soup at the end of cooking before you add the parsley.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 218.11
Calories From Fat (3%) - 6.38

Total Fat - 0.7g
Saturated Fat - 0.14g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 92.38mg
Potassium - 1502.32mg
Total Carbohydrates - 40.03g
Fiber - 12.48g
Sugar - 6.57g
Protein - 14.42g

Comments:

This tastes very much like potato leek soup to me. I am not sure I can actually tell the difference it is that close. The combination of the white beans and cauliflower mimics the texture extremely well though I do recommend that you use a regular blender to puree the soup.

Overall this soup was enjoyed by both the omnivores and the vegans. This is definitely a good soup base to play around with when you potato but something with more nutrition. I love the protein and fiber on this soup.

To accompany this soup we had a small salad of mesclun, cucumbers, marinated mushroms, roasted peppers and salsa.  I added pumpkin seeds, but not to Dan's. ;-)

Challenging Yourself to Make a Change for the Better:

This is a subject I have wanted to talk about for some time and decided today was as good a day as any. Have you ever wanted to make a change but weren’t sure where to start? I think that happens to everyone at some point in their life. I know it has happened to me many times. The particular change I am going to address is changing your diet.

Dan and I were your typical foodies until not all that long ago. We would eat anything, and I do mean anything, that the chef suggested. We had some seriously delicious meals by doing that, expanded our culinary horizons, added weight, elevated our blood pressure and cholesterol all at the same time. ;-) However it all tasted good going down and we enjoyed it immensely in the moment.

Anyone can get away with dietary indiscretions when you are in your 20’s as the body seems to repair the damage and keep up. But as we get older and bombard our bodies with less than healthy food year after year, decade after decade things start to go wrong. Our bodies can’t repair the damage as quickly as we can cause it. The signs might be subtle like a slightly elevated blood pressure, cholesterol or weight. However the signs can also be much more dramatic like a TIA or worse cancer. Some people, like us, need a serious wake up call to make a big change in their life. In retrospect I wish we had known more about nutrition years ago. If we had I feel certain things would have been very different.

One of the reasons I started this blog was to share not only recipes but how to eat a healthy diet and prevent the diseases of affluence that come from eating the standard American Diet (SAD). You may wonder why I am mentioning the SAD since that doesn’t apply to vegans. Actually it can and does apply to vegans if they eat a lot processed food and not much fresh produce.

Our first five years or so cooking vegan food I was always trying to recreate omni meals. I perfected seitan and we ate it often. We also ate a lot of pizza (which we now only eat when we go out) and the pasta was free flowing. Was it vegan? Absolutely it was vegan. Was it healthy? Now there is the rub it wasn’t exactly healthy. Sure it had vegetables but I wouldn’t call it healthy food. Better than most is not the same as good or optimal. Before I forget the early recipes on my blog I no longer consider healthy enough. Just a quick heads up on that one.

Now our diet is definitely much healthier and is almost exclusively based on whole plant-based foods. Initially I thought eating a diet based on whole foods would be limiting, repetitive and not very satisfying. About a month after I decided to stop cooking with processed foods (sugar, oil, flour, etc.) my cooking started to change dramatically. I ended up needing to get more creative with the products I was using. I also started to challenge myself to make our food taste even better since I wanted this to become a lifestyle and not another passing fad. In the end I think we now eat not only a healthier diet but a better tasting one. This was not what I expected but it is what happened.

I am telling you this because if you are looking to make a change in your diet but you don’t know where to start because you need to eliminate too many things just start with one thing. I would suggest you challenge yourself to change the most detrimental thing first, whatever that is for you. Get used to that change and make the next one. Just keeping moving forward and making changes. It really is possible to turn things around health wise. I feel better at 48 than I did at 38 and maybe better than 28, though I am not entirely certain how I felt like 20 years ago to be honest. ;-) When you fuel your body with healthy food it makes a difference on many levels.

It helped me to educate myself as to the health benefits of changing our lifestyle. I find that once I have learned something I can’t unlearn it. That is why you don’t see me making cookies for the holidays. I can’t convince myself that I am showing people I care about them by giving those things that are bad for their health. Is this going against the flow? It is absolutely going against the flow and in a big way too. Some people with support your healthy changes but sadly most will not. Worse yet those that don’t will be vocal about it.

The worst part of making a dietary change for the better is that people that were your friends will get mad at you and may even call you names or worse.  I know because this has happened to me. I realize this is because our diet/lifestyle is highlighting the problems with their habits which they aren’t ready to acknowledge and/or change. While this is sad it is also life. Not everyone is ready to make serious changes and that is just the way it is. However, they shouldn’t criticize others who are trying to make changes for the better. For whatever reason a large part of society seems to find it easier to put down someone else rather than acknowledge things they could/should change. I suppose this is the worst part of changing your habits. It isn’t the dietary change itself but the reaction from “so called” friends. In the end I came to the conclusion that these people weren’t actually friends in the first place so it was no big loss. :-/ 

I feel strongly that it is important to do your homework and educate yourself about what constitutes a healthy diet. I know when I did that it changed the way I look at food. That change in vision, or food philosophy, was the only reason I was able to move us to the diet that you see today. As I have said many times I am not certain I would have been smart enough or motivated enough to make these dramatic changes before cancer. But now that I have learned much more about nutrition I can’t image ever going back to the way we used to live. I feel too good and the lab results show such dramatic improvement there really is no way we are going to throw that away.

If any of you want to make changes and don’t know where to start feel free to email me. It may take me a few days to get back to you since I am backed up at the moment. But if you need to bounce ideas off someone feel free to send me an email. Also I would be happy to recommend books for you to read so that you can educate yourself as to what is right for you. I really do believe learning about nutrition is the best overall approach because then you know what changes you need to make and why they should be permanent.

We eat such a late lunch with my parents on the weekend that we frequently aren’t hungry for dinner and that is what happened again Sunday night. We spent the evening relaxing and Dan watched some sci fi (The Lost Room) he DVR’s while I read and chatted on-line. It was a very laid back evening which I think we all need as often as possible. Stress is another one of those things that isn’t good for anyone’s health. We try to relax as often as possible. ;-)

Happy Thoughts:

Sunday was a very introspective day for me. I have many things to be happy about:

• I am very thankful to be married to such an open minded man. He goes along with my desire to make our diet healthy without complaint. He even listens when I tell him what I learned about nutrition/health each day. Much to my surprise when I send him an article to read about nutrition he actually reads them. I am very lucky to be married to the man who is perfect for me. I wouldn’t do well with someone that was close minded and rigid. I love you sweetie and thank you for being you.

• Sunday we had another good pureed soup. I had almost forgotten how well cauliflower and white bean work to mimic potato soup. Maybe next time I make “faux mashed potatoes” I might add some white bean to them. I love playing with my food. LOL

• I am also thankful for a sweet little angel, Massimo, who goes to bed on his own each night and waits for us to join him. Have you noticed now much I adore the felines?

• A good friend sent me an article to read today. I love this stuff, LOL. This one is on different varieties of rice and the iron, zinc and phytic acid content and I can’t wait to read it. Am I a nutrition geek or what? ;-) Thanks again C! You are the best! I really appreciate it. 

• This morning there was the most gorgeous sunrise as we were leaving the gym. I put a picture on twitter if you want to see it now. Otherwise it will be in the post tomorrow. The colors were absolutely spectacular.

• I really enjoyed being back at the gym this morning. My knee was a little painful but not bad, definitely better than it had been. Also I was able to get my calorie burn back up to 500 so that made me very happy! I had put on 4 pounds in the last month that I want back off. So far 2.5 down and 1.5 to go. In my perfect world those will be gone before 1/1/2011.

• According to the weather today we may get a white Christmas. I don’t remember ever having one of those in the last 30 years I lived in Maryland. It will be nice to have snow falling on Christmas. I really hope the weather people are right about this. ;-)

• I am happy that my friend Deirdre who was in a car accident last night is fine. We are worried about you please keep us posted.

Signing out:

It is almost Christmas and I am getting really excited about it. I love Christmas and look forward to it every year. I am such a little kid and Christmas time, LOL.

Do you have any holiday traditions at Christmas? We have a few that I love. We always get a few new ornaments for the tree and more holiday decorations in general. Since Lasagna is a traditional Italian feast food it always makes an appearance either as a side dish or main dish either on Christmas or New Years. We used to do the feast of the 7 fishes on Christmas Eve but that I have no idea how to veganize, LOL. The other two things we always did were open on present Christmas Eve before we went to sleep, and then have mimosas on Christmas Day.

It is time for me to be productive at home. I still need to do my strength training and get started on my day.

I will talk to you again tomorrow. I hope everyone is having a happy and healthy day.

Ratatouille with Mushroom and Improved Walnut Parmesan

For the mid-day meal with the omnis I decided a cooked dish would be better received. Since we bought groceries yesterday and went to the farmers’ market today our refrigerator is jammed with produce. Every week after the farmers’ market I think we will never eat all the produce, and yet we always do. Go figure how that happens. In order to make some space in the refrigerator I decided to make ratatouille but with a few dried mushrooms for their antiproliferative effects.

One of the tricks to making ratatouille is to stir it as little as possible. When you do stir be careful not to break up the vegetables. You also want to cook the veggies low and slow. I use a heavy enamel cast iron pan and simmer the dish for about an hour and a half. Here is what I did:

Ratatouille with Mushroom
Serves 6 as a meal

Ratatouille Ingredients:

1 cup dried mushrooms soaked in 2 cups hot water until softened then cut into bite-sized pieces, strain the soaking liquid to add to the pot (about 30 minutes)
4 large tomatoes, peeled and diced or 2 – 14 ounce cans of diced tomatoes, no salt added
1 large red onion, finely diced
10 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 eggplant, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 bell peppers, flesh only, cut into bite-sized pieces
3 zucchini, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 teaspoon dulse granules (found in your health food store, tastes salty and provided iodine)
1 teaspoon oregano, dried
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup parsley, minced,  for garnish
24 fresh basil leaves, julienned, for garnish
walnut parmesan, for garnish

Rice Ingredients:

2 cups brown basmati rice
4 cups water
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (adds a buttery flavor to the rice)

Directions:

Combine everything, except the parsley, basil and walnut parmesan in a large pot with a lid. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook for about an hour and half, gently stirring occasionally just to make certain nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan.

After the ratatouille has cooked for 45 minutes start the rice cooking.

Serve the ratatouille warm or room temperature for the best flavor. Tonight we had the ratatouille over brown rice but you could also use quinoa, millet, polenta or garlic toast. I added a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt to my parents servings. However, Dan and I had ours as written and though it had plenty of flavor.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 350.8
Calories From Fat (7%) - 23.81

Total Fat - 2.74g
Saturated Fat - 0.51g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 38.65mg
Potassium - 1164.84mg
Total Carbohydrates - 72.52g
Fiber - 10.28g
Sugar - 9.86g
Protein - 9.87g

Comments:

The verdict: shockingly, even the omnis enjoyed this. They didn’t even ask what the walnut parmesan was. Will miracles never cease?

If Dan and I were eating this without my parents I would have added red pepper flakes, but we like heat. More garlic would not have been a bad thing but it doesn’t “need it”. The garlic suggestion is just my Italian DNA talking. Overall I thought it was good and that I should have made more since it will be gone by lunch tomorrow. Bummer. ;-)

Next recipe:

We ran out of walnut parmesan because I have been putting it on just about anything savory. It is really good on salad. Today I needed to make another batch so I wanted to tweak the recipe a bit and see if I could make the flavor a little bit more complex. Here is what I did:

Walnut Parmesan – improved
Makes 24 servings of about a fat ½ tablespoon each

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup walnuts
6 tablespoons nutritional yeast
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon dulse granules (for saltiness and iodine)

Directions:

Combine the ingredients in your food processor and pulse until you have a fine meal. Taste for seasonings and adjust to your taste.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 56.86
Calories From Fat (83%) - 47.17

Total Fat - 4.77g
Saturated Fat - 0.45g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 0.87mg
Potassium - 35.81mg
Total Carbohydrates - 1.08g
Fiber - 0.5g
Sugar - 0.2g
Protein - 1.12g

Comments:

This version has more depth of flavor. The first version is good but I think I prefer this one. The only other item I thought I might add was a pinch of dry mustard. However since that can be overwhelming (and Dan isn’t a huge fan) I left that out this time. It may make it into the next batch though. ;-)

Unrelated notes:

For dessert I whipped up a batch of strawberry banana soft serve (similar to what I made here) and they both enjoyed it and suggested that I make it again soon. What, who are this people and what have they done with my unhealthy parents? I was absolutely speechless and that does not happen often I can assure you. ;-)

As you guys know I don’t really measure the soft serve since I make it almost every night for Dan. If you have a Vitamix it is really easy. Add about an inch of walnuts to the base of the blender container, then two frozen bananas, about 4 cups of frozen strawberries, enough water to come up the sides of the container about 1 ½ inches (with the other items in the blender), about ¼ teaspoon of powdered ginger and cinnamon and stevia to taste. Blend until thick and creamy. That is all there is to it. Everyone that has tried it so far has loved it and it couldn’t be easier. If you want to make this a full meal (my hubby will have this for breakfast) add ½ cup of dry oats you processed into flour before you add the nuts. The oatmeal adds protein and calories, if you are light on either. ;-)

A lovely little storm just rolled through here. Please note the heavy sarcasm in my prior statement. ;-) I heard we had tornado warnings but thankfully I don’t see any damage out our windows and the power is still on. Apparently we dodged a bullet. ;-) I thought I left tornadoes in my rear view mirror when I left Indiana, but NO. *shakes head*

I need to clean up my kitchen and decide what I am going to make Dan and me for dinner. Since we eat lunch/supper with my parents at 3pm on the weekend dinner for us will be late. I will try to post it tonight but no promises. You may not see that until tomorrow. I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Two Salads Tonight

(pictured:  Tomato and Onion salad in the center with the Green Bean, Potato and Celery on both sides)

We picked up some beautiful new potatoes and string beans at the farmers’ market on Sunday. When I bought them I was thinking of the pasta dish they make in Genoa, Italy with potatoes, green beans and basil pesto. Of course by the time I got around to cooking I had changed by mind 10 times. This is why I don’t bother to make a weekly menu. Maybe I should try just listing the main ingredients I want to use and then go from there, LOL.  I think that stands a better chance of working for me. ;-)  Here is what I made today:

Green Bean, Potato and Celery Salad
Serves 2 on a green salad

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 cups fresh green beans, cut into bite-sized pieces
8 ounces new potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
3 stalks celery, cut thinly on the bias (added this for crunch)
1 tablespoons capers, drained (rinsed to remove the surface sodium, the nutrition info assumes they are just drained)
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Whisk together the Dijon mustard, lemon zest and juice.

Steam the green beans until tender crisp, approximately 4 minutes. Place the green beans in the dressing and toss to coat. The hot green beans will absorb more dressing.

Steam the new potatoes until just tender when pierced with the tip of paring knife, approximately 10 minutes. The exact time will depend on the size you cut them. Place the cooked potatoes in the dressing with the green beans and toss to coat. Again, the hot potatoes will absorb more dressing.

Allow the veggies to cool to approximately room temperature and refrigerate until cold. Now add the celery, capers, and parsley. Taste for seasoning and add black pepper as desired.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 164.83
Calories From Fat (5%) - 9

Total Fat - 1.1g
Saturated Fat - 0.13g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 651.75mg
Potassium - 861.08mg
Total Carbohydrates - 36.98g
Fiber - 8.19g
Sugar - 4.62g
Protein - 5.48g

Comments:

This is good on top a green salad. I like that the potatoes and beans have a lot of flavor. I also like the salty pop from the capers and the freshness from the parsley and greens. Cold cooked potatoes have a low GI than hot potatoes, resulted in less of a blood glucose surge. Not only that but these cold potatoes have a nice flavor. ;-)

Each serving of this salad topping contains approximately 1,400IU of vitamin A, 50mg of vitamin C, 100mg of calcium, 90mcg of folate, 100mcg of vitamin K, 110mg of phosphorus, and 60mg of magnesium.

Next Recipe:

Being female I tend to be a little fickle. What that means today is I felt like I wanted two different salads tonight with dinner. Of course you don’t need to do this which is why I am giving the serving sizes as though you only make one salad not two.

To go with the green bean and potato salad I wanted to make a tomato and onion salad. I dressed it up with some fresh herbs and served it over greens. Here is what I did:

Tomato and Onion Salad
Serves 2

Ingredients:

¼ cup onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
2 cups tomatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
4 olives, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, minced (or 2/3 teaspoon of dried)
¼ cup fresh basil, julienned
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Toss the onions in the wine vinegar and allow them to marinate for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and olives and toss to combine. Refrigerate until needed. Then add the fresh herbs and toss. Serve on top of greens or alone.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 59.12
Calories From Fat (18%) - 10.81

Total Fat - 1.25g
Saturated Fat - 0.16g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 75.52mg
Potassium - 509mg
Total Carbohydrates - 10.59g
Fiber - 4.09g
Sugar - 5.6g
Protein - 2.22g

Comments:

This is a standard tomato and onion salad only without olive oil. If you like heat this would be good with a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes or hot crushed peppers. We had this salad tonight on greens.

Each serving of this salad contains approximately 1,900IU of vitamin A, 30mg of vitamin C, 65mg of calcium, 35mg of folate, 35mcg of vitamin K, 50mg of phosphorus, and 25mg of magnesium.

Unrelated note:

Today was a bust in terms of attacking my to-do list. I only got about half way through. How does the day get away from me like that? It was nice to spend some time in the kitchen for a change. I do find cooking relaxing. But clearly I should have been multitasking, LOL.

Tomorrow is going to be another busy one. I will try to get at least one post up. I should know whether the teriyaki walnuts worked by tomorrow morning.

Time for me to sign out so that Dan and I can meditate before turning in for the evening. I hope everyone is having a great Monday. Talk to you tomorrow.

Shitake and Crimini Pate and Lemony White Bean and Veg Salad

When I made the quatre epices yesterday I had some ideas of what I wanted to do with it, but they were only ideas. I thought it might be nice to use cooked mushrooms as a stand in for meat in pate. Our chef friend Ian has put pate back on the regular menu and each time we stop in the words pate and cognac leap off the menu and get my attention. This used to be one of my favorite appetizers. I really wanted to make something that was reminiscent of pate but was also healthy.

Since I didn’t want to serve this on the traditional toast (flour) I baked a batch of my panelle and polenta triangles. Those really do come in handy when you need a food delivery vehicle. I modified it a little from the first recipe which I will tell you about below.

All I can say is what took me so long to try mushrooms in pate? This is both really good and healthy! I will be making variations of this very regularly. It reminds me of meat pate much more than it does mushroom. The flavor of this pate is complex and bright. This may just the best new thing I have made this month. Here is what I did:

Shitake and Crimini Mushroom Pate
serves 4

Ingredients:

½ large yellow onion, peeled and finely minced
1 clove garlic, smashed and minced
¼ cup water to sauté onion and garlic
¼ pound fresh shitakes, stems removed (save in the freezer for mushroom stock) caps roughly chopped
½ pound crimini mushrooms, roughly chopped
½ teaspoon quatre epices, or to taste
salt, to taste

Directions:

Sweat the onion and garlic in the water until translucent (about 3 minutes). Add the mushrooms and quatre epics and cook until the water from the mushrooms has evaporated. Getting the water out of the mixture is important so you don’t have a watery topping. Allow the mixture to cool for a few minutes, until you can safely move it to your food processor bowl. Pulse the mixture until you achieve the texture you like. I wanted my pate to have a little coarse texture like a country pate so I pulsed the food processor about 8 times. Taste for seasoning and add salt and additional quatre epices, if desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 44.69
Calories From Fat (3%) - 1.47

Total Fat - 0.17g
Saturated Fat - 0.04g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 5.89mg
Potassium - 373.84mg
Total Carbohydrates - 8.66g
Fiber - 1.96g
Sugar - 3.27g
Protein - 2.52g

Comments:

This is definitely a winner all the way around, healthy and flavorful. Not to mention it is so low in calories you can eat a mountain of it and not feel guilty. I am going to try this with dried mushrooms. Next time I may add a few chopped pistaschios for texture. I think this has a lot of options that will work. Also you may want to serve this with a little Dijon mustard.

If you still eat oil you may want to drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over this on your toast. We didn’t do that but it would be tasty that way.

We had this on another variation of my panelle and polenta triangles. I was short on polenta so I increased the proportion of chickpeas to polenta. It worked fine and made a “toast substitute” that is just as flavorful but has more fiber. Also I bake these at 350 degrees until they were firm (about 45 minutes) then flipped it over and baked the second side for 15 minutes. That variation was worked fine. The most difficult part was peeling the parchment paper off the bottom of the toast after I flipped it. To make it easier to flip use a baking sheet the same size as the one you baked the “toast” in. Place the cool sheet on top the hot one and flip it over with the two pans together. Slide the polenta back to the hot pan and bake. The parchment will release more easily once the top (previously the bottom) has dried out a little. We use the panelle and polenta crisps very often at our house.

Next recipe:

When I was thinking of the pate I knew I wanted something more substantial to go with the pate. Beans are a wonderful source of fiber and protein so I try to eat them at least twice a day. Years ago I used to make this salad with tuna and plenty of extra virgin olive oil. But other that those two omissions this is a salad that I have made for decades. Here is what I did:

Lemony White Bean Salad
serves 6

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup dry cannellini beans
5 cups water to cook beans
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
3 bay leaves (to improve the digestibility of the beans)
1 -2 lemons, zested and juiced (if not organic don’t use the zest) if you really like lemon use 2
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut into ¼’s or ½’s depending on their size (about the size of the beans)
1 English cucumber or zucchini/summer squash, cut into cubes approximately ¼ inch or you can spiralized it and use it as a bed to nest the bean salad into (which is what I did)
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and flesh finely diced
2 tablespoons brined capers, drained
2 tablespoons kalamata or oil cured olives, sliced or slivered (no pits)
¼ cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, leaves only, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, leaves only
spinach or mixed greens for serving - optional

Directions:

Cook the beans in the water with the bay leaves and garlic until tender. Drain the beans and remove the bay leaves and discard. Add the lemon juice and zest to the hot beans so they will absorb more of the lemon flavor. Refrigerate until cold. Then add the remaining ingredients, except the fresh herbs, toss and return to the refrigerator. Add the fresh herbs just before serving and toss to combine, or sprinkle the herbs and olives on top (which is what I did).

Serve on a bed of lettuce or baby spinach. If you also are serving a separate green salad you can also serve this without the greens on the bottom.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 326.07
Calories From Fat (8%) - 26.89

Total Fat - 3.04g
Saturated Fat - 0.26g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 270.94mg
Potassium - 1816.52mg
Total Carbohydrates - 58.75g
Fiber - 14.73g
Sugar - 4.52g
Protein - 19.89g

Comments:

This salad is very fresh and flavorful. It is one of my favorite bean salads. You can also make it with chickpeas if you prefer. You can make this salad with any combination of vegetables that you like. The trick to getting a lot of flavor is to add the lemon to the hot beans so they beans will have a bright flavor throughout. Also the addition of fresh herbs makes a huge difference in the flavor.

Unrelated Notes:

Dan has been busy today with the new TV installation and set up. He didn’t want the deliver people to install it he prefers to do things like this himself. I think he enjoys using power tools and being handy. Must be a guy thing I would have been happy to allow the delivery people to take care of the installation beginning to end. ;-)

Meal time with the folks was uneventful. I have to say I am always surprised when they like my food because I know how darn healthy it is and needless to say that is not a description of their usual food habits. The fact that my parents seem to enjoy my food never ceases to amaze me. They seemed to like the mushroom pate the most. I have to say that was my favorite as well.

I have not planned dinner tonight so that will be a surprise for everyone, including me. If I come up with something post worthy I will be back with an update tonight.

Talk to you all tomorrow if not sooner. ;-)

Quatre Epices

Those of you that have been reading for a while know that I like my spice blends. I think spices add so much flavor to food. They are invaluable when you are trying to reduce your salt and fat intake. If you missed them you may want to check out the blends I posted for curry powder, ras el hanout and dukkah.

For those of you that don’t speak french quatre epices translates to “four spice” and the name makes sense since that is what the blend contains. Classically it contains white pepper, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. It is used in processed meat and pate. It is also wonderful with game meats and wine based stews. In my prior life I used it to make pate, sausages, terrines and beef stew. I realized yesterday that I had not used this in ages and decided it was time to find out what uses it has in a vegan diet. Needless to say you can expect a seitan sausage and vegan pate very soon. ;-) Here is how you make the spice blend.

Quatre Epices
Makes about 2 tablespoons

Ingredients:

1 fat tablespoon white peppercorns
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I use approximately ½ of a whole nutmeg)
½ teaspoon ginger, ground (dry not fresh)

Directions:

Toast the white peppercorns and cloves until you smell the aroma. Now cool the spices before grinding. I place them in a coffee grinder I have reserved for spices but you can use a mortar and pestle if you like to do things old school, it does work but taste longer to get it finely ground. Add the nutmeg and ginger and stir to combine. Store in an air tight container, I use an old spice bottle that I have cleaned well.

Comments:

If you like french food the flavors of this spice will be very familiar to you. I think it works well with mushroom and think I am going to try it as a seasoning for marinated tofu. If you make a vegan beef stew try adding a teaspoon or two of this to the dish. It will make the flavor much more complex. This spice plays well with both white and red wine.

Unrelated note:

Today is Friday so that means I need to take care of my usual errands. Assuming all goes well I will be back to make something using this spice blend. I also have a raw salad with sumac that I want to work on today or tomorrow. 

I hope you are all having a great day. I do love my Fridays even when they are hot and humid like today. Nothing, not even sticky weather, can ruin my mood on Friday. Be back later.