Looks Like Chicken, Tastes Like Chicken, But

Vegan Popcorn Chicken

My first exposure to this wonderfood (or frankenfood, if you wish) was at an Engine 2 Diet pot luck dinner at my local Whole Foods Market this past summer. You see, ever since participating in the first ever 28 Day Challenge, the nice folks at Whole Foods have been organizing cool events for us. So one night, this guy shows up who clearly either doesn't know how to cook or doesn't have time to cook, but his heart is in the right place. He wants to eat healthier. He attends the events. He brings food to share.This time, a giant bowl of vegan Delight Popcorn Nuggets from the deli counter at Whole Foods. He broke the bank too. Seventy five dollars worth of the stuff.

We came. We tried. We wondered. What was in that stuff? It tasted like chicken, was chewy and a little bit fatty tasting, just like real chicken meat is, and not those boiled chicken breasts without the skin on 'em. I mean the tasty parts of the chicken.

So we asked. Did you know that you can ask? Those same nice folks at Whole Foods, the ones helping us eat better, they have all of the nutritional information for all of the foods in their prepared food cases. And so do the employees at most grocery stores' prepared food sections. All you have to do is ask!

50%.

That's the percent of calories that come from fat in these Delight Chicken Nuggets. Not very Engine 2 friendly now, are they? You see, Rip and Dr. Esselstyn like to keep the fat in the foods they eat to 20% of calories or less. So I won't be buying many Delight Popcorn Nuggets from the Whole Foods Deli counter. I'll save this yumminess for a rare treat.

I would however highly recommend the 365 Brand (that's Whole Foods private label) whole wheat pastas. They are the best tasting 100% whole wheat pastas I have ever tried!

A Siesmic Revolution of Health

I know, I know, I mentioned this a few days ago. But here is a much better clip from CNN about Bill Clinton's recent healthy lifestyle changes, and this time with comments from both Dr. Esselstyn and Dr. Dean Ornish.



For those of you whom this information is not new, how has this information affected the way that you eat? What changes have you made to your diet? Do you feel like those changes are sustainable? Have you experienced any health benefits because of it?

One of the things that has really changed for me over the past year and a half is the way I view breakfast. Instead of a meal that I am trying to skip to conserve calories, I now view breakfast as two things: (1) a must, because if I skip it I find that I overeat later in the day and (2) a way to pack in a whole lotta nutrients and fiber. And the easiest way to do that is with a delicious green smoothie! Here was today's:

Rejuvination Green Smoothie

1 small apple, removed from core

1 medium frozen banana, broken into chunks

1 cup frozen spinach

1/4 avocado

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

8 ice cubes

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Bill Clinton almost a Vegan? and Vegan Polenta Lasagna, Two Ways

Have you heard the big news? Former President Bill Clinton has adopted a plant based diet. See it here. I almost started to cry. It's incredible publicity for the work of both Dr. T. Colin Campbell, and his son, Dr. Thomas Campbell, authors of The China Study, as well as Drs. Caldwell Esselstyn and Dean Ornish.

On a lighter note, here's a great vegan recipe for entertaining a large crowd or just for feeding your family during a busy week. It's a variation on a recipe from Cooking Light magazine that I had to put my own twist on after my friend Lisa C made it and brought it to my vegan pot luck party this summer. I happen to really like polenta and I think that this polenta lasagna concept is super yummy. I hope you feel the same!

Wendy's Vegan Polenta Lasagna
makes 8 servings

vegetable broth for sauteing
1/2 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
16 ounces fresh spinach OR 2 medium zucchini, shredded
salt
pepper
25 ounce jar of your favorite pasta/marinara sauce
1 1/2 tubes prepared polenta, sliced into 24 rounds
4 or 8 ounces vegan shredded mozzarella cheese (I like Daiya brand)

Preheat oven to 350°. Can also be prepared and placed, uncooked, in the refrigerator for a day until ready to cook.

Spoon 1/2 cup marinara sauce into an 9x13-inch baking dish to cover bottom, and set aside.

Heat a few tablespoons of vegetable broth in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté, stirring frequently, 5 minutes or until onions are tender and translucent. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add more broth, a little at a time as needed so the pan does not get too dry.  Add mushrooms and sauté 4 minutes or until mushrooms are tender, stirring frequently. Add spinach (1/3 at a time) OR all of the shredded zucchini and stir. When spinach is wilted OR zucchini is cooked, add 3/4 cup of marinara sauce; reduce heat, and simmer 1 minute. Season to taste with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Arrange 12 polenta slices over marinara in baking dish, and top evenly with half of vegetable mixture. Sprinkle 2 ounces of cheese (or 4 ounces if you want this more cheesy and thus higher in calories and fat) over vegetable mixture; arrange remaining polenta over cheese. Top polenta with the remaining vegetable mixture.  Place a spoonful of pasta sauce over each "mound" of polenta and vegetables. Gently press each mound and spread sauces with the back of your spoon.  Sprinkle with remaining 2 or 4 ounces of cheese.

Cover and place in refrigerator until ready to cook or cover and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Gotta add more broth, onions are starting to get too dry!

Mushrooms are cooking down.

Spinach has all wilted down nicely.

Tomato sauce is now in; this is yummy enough to eat all by itself!

Here is the filling with the shredded zucchini.

Cutting the rounds is so much fun! Just use a big chef's knife. Slice the polenta in half and then half again, as the chunk gets smaller holding it from above with your thumb and forefinger on both sides. Keep slicing the chunks in half until you have 24 slices.

Layering this baby up!

Ready to be spread out with a spoon.

Ta da! Ready for the oven or refrigerator.

Wendy's Vegan Chili Mac Recipe

Hi friends! It has been WAY too long since I posted a new recipe.  Lately I have been preparing a lot of things that I have already written about and, the new things that I have tried making have been, well, less than blogworthy. So I'm really excited to tell you about something delicious called Chili Mac, for those of you that have never heard of it.

I first was introduced to the concept by a co-worker who was participating in the 28-day Engine 2 Challenge at Whole Foods with me. She found a recipe on FatFreeVegan and recommended it, suggesting it might be good for my 10-year-old daughter who was also participating in the challenge with us. She was so right, my daughter loved it. Me, I thought it was okay, but not worth making a second time. Check out that recipe here at  FatFreeVegan Chili Mac

So when my friend Jill was asking for dinner ideas for her family I brought it up. And I thought, it's such a great concept for a healthy meal, I need to give it another go. So I printed out a few vegan chili mac recipes from the Internet and came up with my own, using the ingredients that I know I like. I suggest you do the same. Just like my vegan enchilada recipe, chili mac is super easy to customize!

I decided to go with a meat replacement product called "Gimme Lean." I've used it before and I couldn't recall whether or not I liked it. Eating these types of vegan meat substitutes is something I try to really limit. Too many ingredients, a little too high in salt. But I wanted to see if I could make a Vegan Chili Mac recipe that the whole family would love, and this really helped. Next time I make this, and there will be a next time, I am going to use a meat substitute like Morningstar Farms  Veggie Crumbles. I just like the consistency of that product better.

Wendy's Vegan Chili Mac

serves 8

8 ounces whole wheat elbow macaroni (I used Barilla Plus)

1 large onion, chopped

3 Tbsp vegetable broth or water

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 package frozen Morningstar Farms Veggie Crumbles or 1 chub Gimme Lean Ground Sausage

10 ounces frozen corn

1 25.5 ounce (or more) jar of your favorite tomato sauce

1 bunch kale, rinsed, hard stems removed and sliced thin

1 cup (or more) water

1 can kidney beans, washed and drained (I used a 20 ounce can, but a 15 ounce can is fine too)

1 Tbsp chili powder (mild, med or hot--your preference)

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

optional: Cayenne pepper or red chili flakes, to taste-be careful, you can always add more

Cook macaroni according to package directions and set aside.

Place a large dutch oven over medium high heat. Add vegetable broth. When bubbling, add chopped onion. Stirring frequently and watching the heat (we are looking for browning, not burning), cook until onions are translucent and soft, about 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and stir. Add a few Tbsp water or broth if pan is too dry as you are sauteing the onions and garlic.

Add veggie crumbles or veggie sausage. The veggie sausage will take more work to break it up and brown. The veggie crumbles just require stirring to cook and brown. Once browned, add corn and stir.

Turn heat to low. Add tomato sauce and at least 1 cup of water. Add kale and stir. Add beans and stir. Add cooked elbow macaroni and stir. Season with 1 Tbsp. chili powder, 1 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp salt and if desired, a pinch of Cayenne pepper or red chili flakes. 

5 Ways to Misery

I believe that health in the body is linked to health in the mind. So I spend as much time thinking about how to become a healthier person in my head as I do thinking about and preparing healthy food. When this video was shared with me I laughed so hard and enjoyed it so much, that I wanted to pass it on to you.  You may want to watch it a few times!



Ha ha, right! It's so easy to see other people in this. Much harder to see yourself. But we are all struggling with the same stuff day in and day out, to varying degrees. It's fun to laugh at ourselves, and healthy too! What do you think?

FYI-Classes at Whole Foods with Jane Esselstyn

If you don't already know Jane Esselstyn, RN, daughter of the famous Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, well, you might just wanna get to. She's AWESOME! And funny. And smart. And I have her to thank for my learning how to make vegan brown rice sushi rolls. I can't hardly thank her enough.

Check out what she is doing these days around Cleveland:

Health Care is Self Care Workshops with Jane Esselstyn RN

This series of educational classes serves up preventative information, a cooking demo and tasty samples.

Whole Foods Market in University Heights, Ohio hosts these disease prevention classes on:
· 9/15/10, from 7- 8:30pm, Reversing Type 2 Diabetes
· 10/20/10, from 7-8:30pm, Reversing Heart Disease, High Cholesterol, Hypertension and Erectile Dysfunction
· 11/17/10, from 7-8:30pm, Getting things Moving and Grooving Below the Belt -Reversing Constipation
· 12/15/10 from 7-8:30pm, Navigating the Holidays with Jane and Ellen -Tips for Eating Healthy When Cookies & Eggnog are Around Every Corner

Jane Esselstyn RN is a mother, teacher and cooking instructor who understands the juggling act of family, food, and fending of disease. She is the daughter of Dr. C.B. Esselstyn Jr. M.D., renowned Cleveland surgeon and author of Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. Also she is the sister of Rip Esselstyn author of the Engine 2 Diet. Her recipes are featured in both of their books.

Armed with 20 years of teaching and plant-powered cooking experience, Jane’s approach is to snag one's interest with information and convince with taste.

Registration fee: $15 per class
To Register Contact:
Whole Foods Market- Cedar Center
13998 Cedar Road
University Hts, OH
216-932-3918

Vegan Indian Spiced Lentils with Spinach and Brussels Sprouts

I am a huge fan of brussels sprouts. There, I said it. I don't care how gassy they make me, I love to eat them in mass. So when I was checking out some other blogs for recipe inspiration and I saw a recipe that combined Indian spices with brussels sprouts on http://www.pure2raw.com/, my head about popped off!

So here is my version of this vegan yumminess. I served it with brown rice and a nice dollop of leftover  Curried Cashew Spread that went beautifully with this dish.

Vegan Indian Spiced Lentils with Spinach and Brussels Sprouts

inspired by a recipe from the twins at pure2raw

1 1/2 large white or yellow onions, cut in half and then sliced

1 heaping Tbsp coconut oil

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/8 tsp cardamom

3/4 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cumin

3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

salt

3 cups water

1 cup lentils

8 cups brussels sprouts, stems cut off and quartered

1 large bag or box fresh spinach

In a large skillet, place 1 Tbsp coconut oil over medium heat. When coconut oil is melted, place cut onions in skillet and saute for a few minutes. Add in chopped garlic, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/8 tsp cardamom, 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cumin and 1/2 tsp salt. Stir and saute for a few more minutes.

Add quartered brussels sprouts and stir. Continue to saute over low to medium heat until sprouts are soft, but not mushy (this will take some time). Onions and sprouts will begin to caramelize. (FYI-this alone would make an amazing side dish even without the lentils and spinach!)

While onions and sprouts are cooking, boil 3 cups of water in a sauce pot. Add 1 cup lentils and cook for 5 minutes.  Turn off heat and let rest for 2 minutes. Drain excess liquid and put lentils back in warm pot.  Add spinach, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger, and  1/4 tsp salt and stir until spinach has wilted.

Once brussels sprouts have cooked to desired consistency, pour lentil and spinach mixture into onion and sprouts mixture. Stir and serve, with brown rice and Curried Cashew Spread if you would like.