"Vegan" is more a sociological term, designating people who don't eat (or use) animal products, and that could be for environmental, ethical, animal welfare or health reasons. But, "no meat"is not nutrition. Potato chips and coke might be vegan, it is not nutritious. The Whole Foods Plant-Based diet, without added Sugar, Oil or Salt (SOS), is the nutritionally sound basis for a healthy vegan lifestyle. The focus is on #WFPB without SOS, based on the work of T. Colin Campbell in The China Study.
The usual, some fruit, some steel cut oats with more fruit and some kale and sweet potato. Lately I've been making it a bit spicier with some garlic.
Lunch:
Cucumber salad, Pea soup, some multi grain toast, kale with sweet potato.
Dinner:
Neighbor came over.
Large salad of red leaf lettuce, with red onion, peppers, tomato, some salad olives, 1/2/3 dressing with the juice of one lemon and one lime and some scoops of quinoa. Some chia seeds and flaxseed.
Dinner was the last of the roast cauliflower from earlier in the week served over a bed of black and short grain brown rice pilaf, reheated in the oven on steam reheat. My neighbor loved it.
Presently, I am switching gears. I will have an irregular schedule for the next two weeks, so I'll be doing a bit more improv. This Saturday is my cooking class at St. Helena's - see my separate report - the good news for me is that I have a freezer full of nice soups to fall back on, and when in a hurry, a soup and salad will do just fine.
Some fruit to wake up to, the usual steel cut oats, and a portion of kale with sweet potato.
Lunch:
A salad and a bowl of my Umpteen Bean Soup from the weekend
Dinner:
I was at a reception, where I found a few things to nibble on, and when I came back I had a good size salad with some broccoli and quinoa, red leaf lettuce, beets, and the works.
Salad with quinoa and beets.
Heat up a frozen pea soup.
Dinner:
OK, today I was time constrained, as I was back late from an appointment, and that's when you're happy for cooking ahead... a leftover day is a great help... and it proves why it pays to establish cooking cycles.
I had a beet for an appetizer, and my dinner was a plate of roast cauliflower.
Snacks in between of fruits and kale salad with sweet potato - always the go-to snack.
In a medium-sized pot, whisk together all of the gravy ingredients EXCEPT for the cornstarch & water.
Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer on medium-low heat for 5
minutes. (This will allow all the flavors to marry.) Remove from the
heat.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and water to make a cornstarch slurry.
Once the pot is no longer simmering, slowly whisk the cornstarch slurry
into the gravy a little at a time. Going slow will ensure that no clumps
form.
The gravy will begin to thicken as soon as the cornstarch is whisked in.
Put the pot back on the stove and return to a simmer for an additional 3
minutes.
The Roast
Pre-heat oven to 450F degrees.
Arrange the potatoes and carrots in a roasting dish with the cauliflower in the center. Be careful not to overcrowd the dish.
Place the cauliflower upside-down and pour 1/3 cup of the gravy into it. Give it a good shake to distribute the gravy.
Place cauliflower right-side up and brush more gravy on the top to cover it (about 1/3 to 1/2 cup)
Add 1/2 cup of vegetable stock to the bottom of the dish (this will help steam the veggies.)
Pour about a 1/3 cup of gravy over top of the potatoes and carrots.
Cover the dish tightly with a lid or aluminum foil and bake for 40
minutes, brushing the cauliflower with more gravy halfway through.
Uncover the cauliflower roast and brush more gravy on. Bake for another
30 minutes (uncovered), brushing with more gravy halfway again (that's the final 1/3rd of the gravy.
Remove from the oven and serve while hot.
I served it over a bed of my pilar of black and short grain brown rice.
*Many brands of Worcestershire sauce contain anchovies. Vegan
Worcestershire sauce does exist (Annie's brand and Kroger brand are
vegan for sure), but if you can't find it, you can omit it and
substitute apple cider vinegar for a little zing.
If you dig onions, you can slice up an onion and add it right in with
the carrots and potatoes. Mushrooms would be great, too! Making sure
your pan is not too crowded will help everything cook through properly.
If you find the potatoes are drying out, add a little more veggie stock
to the pan.
Apart from taking a longish time, this dish is actually not a lot of work.
Cucumber salad and a huge bowl of my Umpteen Bean Soup, with some parsley garnish.
Dinner
I was out today, and ended up just taking some kale salad, followed by a big salad with red leaf lettuce, beets, tomato, red onion, peppers, quinoa, flax seed and 1/2/3 dressing with lemon, lime, some minced garlic, and parsley.
Ok, we started on Monday with an empty freezer (apart from staples) at the beginning of the month, and sofar I've still got some frozen pea soup and a few left overs (in the fridge). During the week I also shared some meals with a neighbor, for with a single person household, I tend to always cook too much, and I don't want to eat leftovers all the time. For the rest, from what it looks like, I'll make roast cauliflower over rice for tonight and cook ahead some soup for the week.
Part of creating a cooking system for me is to use certain containers always for the same purpose. In this case, I use one container for oatmeal, so washing it and putting it aside, is my reminder that evening to cook oatmeal overnight. My oatmeal is always for 2 days. The same goes for another staple, my kale salad, when that container is half way, I know to bring another bunch of kale, and steam it (I prefer steaming, but that's personal, you could cook it in water). I have a method that involves my induction cooktop, 12 minutes to bring the water to a boil, and then I steam the kale for 15 minutes and I let it drain for a while over the sink, so I do not put it away too soggy. Then I cut it up in about 1-1/2" squares on the cutting board, and mix it with the other ingredients.
Breakfast
At breakfast, I ended up milling some flax seed for the week (again, do not buy it milled, mill it yourself), which I keep in a jar in the fridge, and I use it about twice a day, in my steel cut oats at breakfast and in salads. The other additions I use a lot is chia seeds and hemp hearts.
The oatmeal was ready in the rice cooker at 6:30 and all I needed to do was add a grated apple, a half pint of blueberries, cocoa nibs, 2 tbsp of raisins, 1 tbsp of goji berries, and cinnamon, and let it go for another 5-10 mins on "keep warm." After that just add in a sliced banana, and some blackberries. I never cook my oatmeal with anything other than water, but if people prefer some plant milk, you can add that at serving time - just mix it in and the oatmeal will simply be a bit more liquid, but some folks like that taste better, and using plant-based milk, you are fine.
Preparation
It was time to steam a bunch of kale, and prepare my usual kale and sweet potato salad, and this time I decided to mince some fresh garlic, which is incredibly healthy. I minced it really fine. Other than that, I cut up a sweet potato in cubes, with skin (high ORAC value), added some mustard seeds, and a drizzle of balsamic and mixed it up really good.
Lunch:
This is saturday, right? Cucumber salad, some left overs, and a piece of toast with home made hummus.
Hummus with endless variations
1 can of chickpeas, drained, preserving some 1/4 cup of aqua fava
whatever spices you prefer. Today, I am making it with chopped parsley and a table spoon of paprika powder, plus I'll add in some minced sundried tomatoes after it's made.
Put the chickpeas with 1/4 cup aqua fava, and the spices in your Magic Bullet, or whatever herb grinder you use, and go to it.
A note about knifery
You will note that I 'cut up' things, or I 'mince' them, I do not 'chop.' It all depends what your knife habits are. Chopping is a crude method, and it will make your knives dull fast. I keep my knives nice and sharp and I cut, or mince things, as needed. I also do not scrape the cutting board with my knife, which people do who have dull knives in their kitchen. That is anathema to me, though you can scoop up stuff off the board without endangering the edge of the knife.
Dinner:
The last of the leftovers from the week, while cooking a kitchen sink soup for the week. See here the recipe:
Umpteen Bean Soup
My own variation on the various bags with 13-16 beans, or so-called soup mix beans. The Link is just one example, there are a kazillion recipes available.
1 lb Soup Bean Mix (or whatever the name is, like 13 or 15 or 16 bean mix), soaked with a little kombu (kelp) 8 cups vegetable stock (or 4 cup water, 4 cup stock or all water!) 2-4 onions, chopped yellow or vidalia onions are great here 1 tsp savory 3-6 cloves garlic, minced 3 chilis minced 1 jalapeno minced 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2-3 stalks celery with tops, chopped 2-4 carrots, peeled and cut-up 1/4 tsp himalayan salt and fresh black pepper to taste 1/2 tsp of ground red pepper 1 dried bay leaf 2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme 1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes, undrained 1/2 cup of barley juice of 1 lemon Braggs Liquid Aminos to taste and some nutritional yeast to round out the flavor.
OPTIONALLY:
other veggies as available, root vegetables such as parsnips, or taro
(aka edo, or coco), turnips, ginger, fennel, celeriac, turmeric, potato,
rutabaga
Preparation
You
can cook them directly (dry) in the Instant Pot, for 45 mins or so. I
usually soak them and then cook them in the Instant Pot for just 5 mins
or so, while I am prepping the other stuff. You can add in the savory during this phase.
Then, to cook the soup, I start with the onions, chilis and jalapenos, 5 mins at medium/high, no stirring. By the end of five minutes the lower layer of onions should be starting to turn brown.
Add in the garlic and gradually add 2-3 ice cubes of veggie broth, while doing another 5 mins on medium/high, with constant stirring.
add in the turmeric and spices while simmering on medium low
add in the beans from the Instant Pot, and add in the savory, if you had not done so before.
Now you can simply cut up the veggies and add them in and keep adding some veggie broth, or water. I used tow packs of veggie broth this time.
End result: I have a HUGE bowl of soup for lunch today, and I have a container of soup in the fridge for during the week, plus I froze about 6 quart size freezer bags of soup for another time. In short, since the start of the month, I have now built up 10 portions of frozen soup, and whenever I am in a hurry, I can just heat up a frozen soup and combine with a generous salad with quinoa, and I have a nice lunch. It's all part of making your cooking into a system. After all, there are always times when you have no time to cook. I don't have a microwave, so my reheating of frozen soup means melting it in a bowl of hot water and then pouring it into a double boiler. In that time I can be making my salad, so I have about 30 min prep time for a great lunch.
Note 1: Today I added some edo, a parsnip, some broccoli, turmeric, ginger.
Note 2: The kombu and savory add flavor and nutrients but specifically also are thought to help making beans easier to digest. In fairness, over time, you get used to digesting beans, it is really not a problem, except to people who for a long time already have not been getting enough fiber.
Here is the low down on the health value of Kombu which is a form of kelp - note you can overdo it: https://healthybutsmart.com/kombu-seaweed/ This is an interesting site to consult. Notice that some of the iodide cooks off.
Here is another piece: there is just one disease, which is bad diet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjSeK3wR-vs
A recent report from The Lancet confirms the same thing - Diet is the #1 leading cause of premature death world-wide.
Breakfast
Two oranges,
The usual oatmeal, with blackberries still.
Kale and sweet potato for a snack.
Lunch:
Cucumber salad,
Some toast with home made hummus.
And the soon-to-be famous Brown Rice and Millet Ramen - using up the last of my bunch of collard greens.
Dinner, Easy Peasy:
Salad with red leaf lettuce, watercress, red onion, tomato, quinoa, some salad olives, and 1/2/3 dressing with lemon and lime. Flax seed and chia seeds on top.
Fresh made black & short grain brown rice with left over Thai vegetables from the other day.
End the day by putting on steel cut oats in the rice cooker for 6:30 AM tomorrow.
