Hausa Koko, a new ingredient for breakfast

 Ok, is a picture still worth a thousand words? We shall see. I found this Hausa Koko at my nearby African store, Lady Afrique International Market, at 1406 Castle Hill Avenue.

The ingredients are fascinating:

Millet flour,

Grains of Paradise,
Negro Peppers,

West Africa Black Pepper

I have made porridge from it directly and it works well, if you're into a breakfast that puts hair on your chest. It definitely has a hint of hot spices, but I love that, and while it may be counter intuitive to some, it combines well with sweet, including all my typical fruit and dried fruits:

• grated apple
• blueberries
• raisins
• goji berries
• dates
• cacao nibs and some cacao powder

And for a topping some strawberries and banana, hempseeds, and balsamic vinegar.

I think I may like it even better mixed with my steelcut oats, about 50/50. In that case I am leaving out my usual teaspoon of cinnamon, as I don't think that would combine very well. I have made it both ways, and I think I prefer the blend, for the steelcut oats add some more substance. I don't like the smooth porridge as much.

And here's the store front, in case you were looking for it:

Plant-Based on a budget - update

To me, this is as important as anything. The truth is there are too many recipes that are overly fancy, and before you know it, you end up thinking you really need all that to live plant-based, but you don't. You can start very simple.

I will discuss some sites here and leave you with some suggestions based on conditions in our own neighborhood.

Here is one great site:
https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/food/groceries/eating-vegan-on-a-budget/

but the best one is perhaps Plant-based on a budget, just like the title of this article.

But, there are plenty of ideas. It starts with buying in bulk wherever suitable.

I always like to point out that on our street in the Bangladeshi stores, there is an absolute feast of staples available...

• 10 lbs brown basmati rice $12-15
• 10 lbs onions $1.99 - $5.99, depending on the grade of onions and with seasonal variations
• 4 lbs red lentils $3 or 2x4 lbs for $5.

 And here is a wonderful suggestion from Costco:

"People say they can’t afford to eat healthy, and it makes my eyes roll. At Costco, a 25-pound bag of pinto beans costs $8.97. I can eat for year off that bag.” (Dan Buettner, National Geographic) #Parentingtips #HealthyEating pic.twitter.com/8CkXmnKkCB

— Elizabeth Wallace (@ElizaWallace27) October 26, 2019

Once you have those kinds of things in stock, and some condiments, the sky is the limit and for your other veggies you buy whats on sale/in season, and of course various fruits in between.

You start your days with steel cut oats, 30 Oz is still $3.29 at Shoprite, and I make it with a constantly varying set of fruits, usually starting with a Granny Smith Apple, and some Blueberries, some raisins and goji berry, and whatever else comes along - I usually add a banana as well.
I usually decorate it with balsamic vinegar (4% acidity) and hemp seeds.

You can also work wonders with frozen vegetables of various kinds. Or, when I find some great vegetable on sale, I might cook ahead.

Serious Oatmeal

As I have been discussing serious oatmeal with some people, I will share my process here...

First, this was today's version:

Serious Oatmeal

Two day prep

I usually prepare Oatmeal for two days at a time. I take one measuring cup of steelcut oats (I get them from ShopRïte, at $3.29 for 30 Oz of organic oats), and prepare it overnight in my trusted Zojirushi NP-GBC05 rice cooker. It is ready for me at 6:30 AM with the timer.

Then I add:

• a shredded Granny Smith apple, 
• 1/2 pint blueberries
• 1 tbsp goji berries
• 2 tbsp raisins
• 1 tbsp cocoa nibs
• 1 tsp cinnamon
   

and I let that sit on "keep warm" for min 5 mins.

The daily plate of Oatmeal

Then I save half for next day and I serve the other half, fixed up as follows (in this case):

• a ring of berries (stawberries, raspberries, etc.) and other fruit (today it was Raspberries and Starfruit)
• a sliced banana sometimes even more fruit (I love me some jackfruit).
• a tbsp of hemp seed (part of my Omega-3 for the day)
• A drizzle of Balsamic vinegar.

And here is another version:

Serious Oatmeal also, but with Strawberries

A note, you do not want to O/D on Omega-3. Too much is no good, what matters is the proportion between Omega-3 and Omega-6. Personally, I use 2-3 tbsp a day of hemp seeds, milled flax seed, or chia seeds. That seems to be about right for me. Individual mileage may vary, so consult with your plant-based doctor at the time of your physical ;-)

Starting #WFPB in April, Episode 2

Overnight, I cooked oats again.

Steelcut oats the proper way

The bottom line is there is an endless number of ways to make breakfast, with oats or otherwise, but oats have a lot going for them, and in terms of nutritional quality have it over rolled oats (less processing), though arguably whole oats groats would be even better and, if you cook them with a programmable rice cooker like I do, the fact they take longer to cook is unimportant. Be that as it may, Cutting the oats is minimal as far as processing goes, so whole oats groats and steel cut oats are pretty close in terms of nutrition. Steel cut holds a slight edge, so if it's for breakfast cereal, I would prefer them.

One of the biggest things with steel cut oats is that the glycemic index is lower, so it's better for diabetics. And whole oats groats would be even lower.

Anyway, I cook them overnight, using my trusted Zojirushi Induction Heat 3-cup rice cooker. Before I go to bed I put them on for 6:30 AM, on a brown rice cycle. That seems to give me a satisfactory result.

When they are ready, I keep them on keep warm for a while meanwhile I prepare the additions:

• a grated apple (preferably Granny Smith)
• a half a pint of blueberries
• 1 tbsp goji berries
• 2 tbsp raisins
• cinnamon

I leave that on "keep warm" for a minimum of 5 minutes.  Once it's finished, the toppings are added, typically:

• a sliced banana
• some strawberries or other kinds of berries, or fruit
• one tbsp of milled flaxseed
• one tbsp of chia seeds or hemp heart
• a generous drizzle of balsamic vinegar
• more cinnamon

 mangia, mangia!

Here's an alternative pic with Jack fruit:

Steelcut Oats with strawberries, blackberries and Jackfruit

Lunch kale, and Ramen

My standard steamed kale with sweet potato, mustard seeds and balsamic, plus I added some fresh garlic.
Budget Ramen with Collard Greens (Sorry, no daikon today)

Dinner a Salad and Thai Veggies over Rice

A Salad of redleaf lettuce, with finely cut red onion, red and green peppers, quinoa, flax seed, tomato, some capers and salad olives, and 1/2/3 dressing.

I already had a mixture of black rice and short grain brown rice ready.

Thai veggies:

• Caramelize two/three finely cut-up onions
• add in some garlic
• Mushrooms
• a can of Thai curry paste (watch the labels, avoid the ones with oil or too much sugar, but there are plenty of good ones).
• peppers in all the colors you can find, green, red, yellow - equivalent to a whole pepper.
• simmer the above for a while and then add:
• Napa cabbage sliced in 1/4"strips
• Sprouts
• bind it with some arrow root or corn starch at the end.

Various fruit for snacks in betwean and some more kale. I usually steam a batch that gives me 4-5 portions, and it stays great in the fridge.

Getting Started with #WFPB in April

Here's the beginning:

Cook soup ahead. I usually have 2-3 different soups in the freezer, so that I am never caught short.
Also some form of dal, or curry, or beans can be cooked ahead. Rice can be cooked ahead.

Since my freezer was empty, I made some Split Pea soup this weekend, to get my month started right. I will cook more soups during the month eventually building up to having 2-3 soups to choose from, until I build it down again and start the cycle anew. I do not believe in fossilized soup in the fridge.
For the rest, I have some frozen mixed vegetables, and some frozen spinach in the fridge, for an emergency, and some whole wheat flour and gram flour that just keeps better in the freezer.

I also always have icecube trays with frozen veggie stock for when I caramelize onions.

Split Pea Soup

Great basic recipe for vegan split pea soup, adapted for #WFPB, by leaving out the oil.

View on allrecipes.com

It might be of interest to compare to the basic recipe I started with online... I removed the oil, but used more onions and garlic, among other things.

Ingredients

2-4 onions, cut fine
4-6 chilis, cut fine
1 seeded, jalapeno, cut fine
3 bay leaves
3-6 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups (2 lbs) dried split peas
1/2 cup barley
1-1/2 tbsp liquid aminos
8-10 cups of vegetable or mushroom bouillon (2 pints)
(Alternatively, half vegetable bouillon and half water with a whole king mushroom, cut up)
3 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 potatoes, diced
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
optionally other vegetables, such as parsnips, or turnips etc.

Preparation

In a large pot over medium high heat, saute the onion, dry for for a total of 10 mins, 5 mins no stir, and 5 mins stirred while adding some 2-3 veggie stock ice cubes, then bay leaf and garlic, cook for 5 minutes on medium.
Add the peas, barley, liquid aminos and water.
Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.
Simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, cut up the veggies.
Add more water as needed for the right thickness.
Add the carrots, celery, potatoes, parsley, basil, thyme and ground black pepper.
Simmer for another hour, or until the peas and vegetables are tender.

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Breakfast: Steelcut Oats Plus

Breakfast today... as is typical for this time of year...

What is that?  I always make the oats for 2 days, and today was the 2nd day, so I'll have the oats with apple, blueberry, cinnamon, raisins and goji berries in the fridge, so I just have to heat it up.

• steelcut oats
• grated apple
• cinnamon
• 1 tsp of goji berries
• 1 tsp of raisins
• fresh banana
• fresh strawberry, or whatever other berries or other fruit I might have
• a drizzle of balsamic vinegar
• more cinnamon
• milled flax seed and hemp hearts

Snack: Steamed kale with Sweet Potato

• One bunch steamed kale
• One boiled potato (Japanese is my preference)
• Mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar.

The balsamic is probiotic and a preservative, this mixture stays good in the fridge, so I can snack from if for a day or more. One bunch makes 4-6 portions. The Mustard seeds are courtesy to Dr. Michael Greger, and his research that cooking kale actually destroys certain beneficial enzymes, but some mustard seeds added in after cooking restores that again.

Lunch

Some of that kale with sweet potato salad,
A Cucumber salad with a 1/2/3 with dill and garlic dressing, with chia seeds.
and some of that soon-to-be-famous Split Pea Soup

Step One for Dinner

Rice Cooker #101

For dinner tonight (and a few more days this week) I am having GABA Brown Rice, this time half and half:

• Lundberg Short Grain Brown Rice,
• Black Rice.

I put it on after breakfast, on the timer for 6:30 at night. The GABA brown rice process is the healthiest way to eat rice, but it takes 3.5 hours - but a good rice cooker handles all that automatically. The cycle is a 2.5 hour soak, allowing the rice to germinate, and then an approx 1 hour cooking cycle, in my trusted rice cooker.

For details on my preferences about kitchen gear, see my main site, in particular this article about My Tools for the Plant-Based Kitchen.

Dinner

Salad with Red Leaf Lettuce

Red leaf lettuce
chopped red onion
peppers in 2-3 colors chopped up
tomato cut up in small pieces
quinoa, milles flax seed, and some chia seeds
1/2/3 dressing with lemon, lime, garlic and parsley
some capers, and some salad olives.

Main course: Curry of Broad Valor Beans and Japanese Eggplant

That main dish was a leftover from the weekend, but I'll make this recipe again as I am trying to perfect it.

The Mysteries of Steelcut Oats

First of all, Steelcut Oats are by far the healthiest, because they are less processed than rolled oats. Primarily, they are much lower on the glycemic index. The cooking time is slightly longer, but that is no problem if you use a rice cooker or an Instant Pot.

So, if it is healthier, I want it and so do all the other Whole Foods, Plant-based eaters.

My standard breakfast is steelcut oats with shredded apple (green apples preferred) a bit of raisins, lots of cinnamon, and whatever berries I can find, usually always at least blueberries, but I love strawberries on top, like I did recently:

Steelcut Oats, with Green Apple, Blueberries, Strawberries, and Balsamic Vinegar

And now for the mystery: shopping for steelcut oats.

Here's what I found:

• Local, at Key Foods on Union Port. Quaker Oats, Steelcut Oats, 30 Oz, $6.19 or 20.63 cents/Oz.
• Downtown healthfood store, in bulk, $1.69/lb, or 10.56 cents/Oz.
• Quaker Oats, 30 Oz/$3.69 in Amazon Prime Pantry
• Bob's Red Mill 54 Oz Steelcut Oats, $15.74, or 29 cents/Oz.
• Bob's Red Mill 4x24 Oz. bags, ranging from $0.15-$0.25/Oz.
• Bobś Red Mill 25 lb bag at $1.99/lb. or 12.44 cents/Oz.

 So, take your pick and enjoy the oat meal. It remains the breakfast of champions.

Of Oatmeal, Balsamic Vinegar, and Birdsbeak Paring knives

Today it was a day for oatmeal. Now, in this household, every day is a day for oatmeal... but today was a special day, for strawberries were $1 per box in our neighborhood, and it was time to stock up, so here were the results for breakfast.

This was steelcut oats, made with almond milk, some raisins, an shredded apple, loads of cinnamon (mixture of ceylon  and cassia cinnamon), topped with strawberries and some balsamic glazé.

Somehow that makes it seem like spring has sprung, but actually today it was colder outside. Still, no reason not to celebrate an early spring inside...

Meanwhile, also a good opportunity to research more on the health benefits of balsamic vinegar, here from articles on Healthline and New Health Guide:

• Lowers cholesterol
• Supports weightloss
• Improves circulation
• Anti-glycemic, diabetes-friendly
• Reduces hypertension
• Improves skin 
• Anti-oxidant
• Helps fight cancer
• Lowers Heart-attack risk
• Pain reliever
• Helps digestion
• Good for bone-health

The bottom line is balsamic vinegar is healthy as all get-out and in the case of oatmeal it is a great way to add some rich flavor, and avoiding sugar. One of the core tenets of #WFPB is no ADDED Sugar, Oil, or Salt.

In short, besides the great taste of balsamic to top off your oatmeal, you can use it in salad dressings, I spice up my kale snacks, (sometimes I combine them with some sweet potato, which is fantastic with balsamic). Lastly, it is a great preservative, which is one reason I like to take a reverse doggie-bag of kale with sweet potato with balsamic when I have to eat at restaurants I don't trust.

Some good videos:

and more:

and even more:

And, for good measure, yet one more:

And again:

In short, oatmeal is the breakfast of champions.

Use Case for a Bird's Beak Paring Knife

Cutting the crowns out of strawberries and slicing them in this case in 1/8th wedges is perfect work for a bird's beak paring knife. Along the way, if there are any bruises, you can cut them out precisely with the fine tip of a bird's beak paring knife.

MAC Knife Chef Series 2-1/2" Bird's Beak Paring Knife (PK-25)

As usual, MAC knives are superbly sharp and retain their edges for a long time. Some stubbornly call the bird's beak paring knife a "turning knife," based on the tourné-cut in French cuisine. I never do any tourné cuts, but I have plenty of little jobs where a bird's beak paring knife is just what the doctor ordered, and prepping these strawberries was just one of the many.

On Oatmeal

Key Foods on Unionport recently has offered steel cut oats from Quaker Oats, on occasion they may also have Bob's Red Mill.

Of Aruba, Steelcut Oats and Solving the Healthcare Crisis

Even Happy Cow lists 23 Vegan and Vegetarian Restaurants in Aruba, as we found out during a short vacation... pretty impressive. Still, on an island excursion, we met a couple from Trinidad who were vegetarian and we took our meal together.

Balashi Beer Garden

We were on a tour that stopped for lunch at the Balashi Beer Garden, the restaurant at Balashi Brewery and vegan/vegetarian options were hard to find... their idea of salad was iceberg lettuce. But with a little prodding we got some cooked broccoli and carrots with rice (albeit white rice) instead. There is a lot of educational work needed to get things to change in the restaurant business...

For the most part, we ate in, except for on a few of these excursions.

My girl friend had brought a Zojirushi NP-HCC10 Rice Cooker with her on the trip and we stayed in a timeshare apartment with a kitchen. At first I thought a bit over the top, but I had to admit that it allowed us to eat in most of the time and never have to go to a restaurant.

For one thing, we made one run to the major supermarket Superfoods and that covered us for the week, I found some Dutch nostalgia there, and we loaded up on kale and fruits and other veggies for the week. They even had Lundberg rice (we had brought some with us from the States), and Braggs Liquid Aminos, in other words, next time we go, this market will be our first stop. The selection was awesome, even including Bob's Red Mill products. So the next time we will have less to bring in ourselves. Which brings me to Steelcut Oats... why?

Steelcut Oats are better for you

Finally, Dr. Michael Greger produced a report on youtube on why oats are the best breakfast, and why steelcut oats are even better for you. No wonder that #WFPB people prefer steelcut oats above any other. The work of Dr. Greger is so very helpful in understanding the nutritonal value of every aspect of the Whole Foods Plant-Based diet.

Signs of the Coming Revolution in Healthcare

In another useful video, Plant Based News from the UK put a collage together from various MDs speaking on nutrition at a recent medical conference and relating their experiences and opinions about the Whole Foods Plant-Based diet, and it is very helpful indeed, as always it is wonderful to have sources to refer your friends and family to to at least give them the option of taking control of their health, instead of falling into the trap of pharmageddon.

And in other news: Vegan 2017 was released