VeggieSue's Veggie Adventures

It Ain't Over 'til the Fat Lady . . .

2011-11-01T07:07:00.000-04:00

. . . smothers potatoes in a cheezy sauce!

My husband brought the flu home from work, and walking to the library in Saturday's snow didn't help matters any. I had to listen to both him and our son coughing, sneezing and sniffling all day and all night since Sunday. I had my flu shot, which is probably why I'm not joining in the mucus chorus. As lousy as he felt, because he doesn't have too many days off left for the year and he'll need them to finish closing up his aunt's house and the sale of it, he went into work. He said it was the people in work that gave it to HIM so he may as well just go.

Tonight for dinner I already planned on making this, one of his favorite meals. Actually, anything covered in cheese sauce is his favorite, be it potatoes, pasta, rice or pizza!

Officially, it's called Cheezy Taters, and it's not even a real recipe, just stuff tossed together in a bowl and covered with the Cheezy Sauce from Veganomicon. To McDougallize the sauce I saute the garlic in water and use 2 cups of broth made with Bryanna's broth powder (minus the salt and soy milk powder).

The dish itself is a casserole made from a bag of hash brown potatoes (the diced kind), a bag of frozen spinach, and a box of sliced mushrooms (I prefer Baby Bellas but plain white ones will do just fine). I'll probably toss some onions and lots of garlic in it tonight, too. Add a bit of liquid, like a cup or so of water or broth. If you're opening a quart box of broth for the sauce you may as well use some of the rest of the box here.

Mix it up in a big bowl, then plop it all in a big casserole dish (9" x 13" or similar), cover with parchment paper then foil if you don't have a glass lid like I do for my Corningware in that size, and bake for an hour or so at 350ºF. If you like the taters a bit crispy you can uncover it for about 15 minutes more until it browns to your liking.

Timing isn't exact in this dish - I've had it in the oven as long as 2 1/2 hours and as short as 30 minutes, but it was still a bit cool. The quickest way is to pop it into the microwave for 20 - 30 minutes if yours is big and powerful enough for the job. If want to do it slower, you can even stick it in a CrockPot on Low before heading out to work and come home 6 to 10 hours later to a hot meal.

While the casserole is cooking, make your Cheezy Sauce, and when the taters are done, pour the sauce over them and mix well.

There you go - a nice, easy and filling meal of comfort food for the ailing people in the family.

To add a bit more comfort to this comfort food dinner I'll also heat up my last box of Trader Joe's Organic Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper soup. Between the soup and that cheezy casserole hubby will be asleep before Jeopardy!

Another Veganomicon Recipe

2011-10-31T08:14:00.001-04:00

Halloween. Ever since childhood this was one of my favorite holidays. I got to be someone else for the day and not my usual fat boring self. I could be a princess with curly golden hair and a sparkly dress with a waist, or I could be a lumberjack and wear my dad's flannel shirt and my corderoy after-school play pants (This was the 1950's, when girls had to wear dresses to school), or just be something mythical and out of this world. And the rewards at the end of the day were great - a giant bag full of the best junkfood around, mostly chocolates. Imagine how disappointed I was as an adult when my own son expressed a dislike of the holiday, a couple of years choosing to wear a t-shirt that said "This IS my Halloween costume!" instead of dressing up! And at the end of those days he gave me all his candy except for a few chosen pieces, because unlike his mom, he really doesn't like chocolate all that much and preferred the Smartees and candy corn. I frequently ask him to this day if he's sure he's my kid. As a reward for giving me all his candy, we had our own ritual of going candy shopping on November First, with him given a ten dollar bill and allowed to choose any candy he wanted, up to that amount. He chose wisely and that candy always lasted him until well into the new year. Tomorrow we'll continue that tradition even though he's in his late 20's.

Back in my S.A.D. days I would always make a beef stew for Halloween dinner, calling it Witch's Stew. When I started eating vegetarian I would make the same meal, just omitting the meat chunks. When I started McDougalling, things had to change, since the gravy I used wasn't exactly McDougall-friendly, and those that were didn't stand up to the length of time the stew would be simmering away in the slow-cooker. Imagine how happy I was when Vegenomicon came out, and included in it was this fantastic recipe for a great Halloween dish - Pumpkin Baked Ziti with Caramelized Onions and Sage Crumb Topping.

This is a nice, easy dish to put together, very flavorful, and can be easily McDougallized by using whole wheat pasta, cooking up the onions in a non-stick pan, using tofu ricotta instad of the cashew one, and omitting the topping and just shaking the spices from it mixed with some breadcrumbs on top of the pasta before baking. Not only is the margarine from the topping not McDougall-legal but my husband has this weird reaction to walnuts - every time he eats them he gets a gout-like pain in his big toe. Lab work says it's not gout, but the podiatrist said the pain sure sounds like it is.

I will probably also drop some of the canned pumpkin and a bit of spice into this morning's oatmeal. If I have the time and energy this afternoon I may even bake up a batch of pumpkin muffins from Mary McDougall's recipe, again omitting the walnuts.

I was hoping one of the stores around here would be selling Silk Pumpkin Spice nog, but once again it didn't arrive before Halloween. Last year none had the pumpkin OR the regular nog until after Christmas. Too late for the holiday season but just fine on a cold winter's afternoon.

I guess that concludes VeganMoFo 2011. I wish to thank all the people on the PPK Forums for making this another fruitful and enjoyable time. I haven't had the time to go visiting other blogs, but I do have the link to the blogroll right on this page so I can go back in the future to see what goodies I missed.

Let me leave you all with the best song I've ever heard:

Penultimate VeganMoFo Post

2011-10-30T16:37:00.001-04:00

I'm trying to think of a way to end this month with a bang, but am having a hard time finding a topic.

~ ~ ~

I just edited out a very long and scathing post about weight loss, the official McDougall forums, and people with the same attitude I find on every weight loss forum, message board and mailing list, hell, "successful" weight losers I've met in real life (While they're still in their honeymoon phase, before they started to regain). If you've tried and failed at weight loss in the past or just know people who did manage to lose, you know what I'm talking about. That simple little phrase - "If *I* can do it, so can YOU!" I feel like drop kicking their asses from here to eternity!

NO! Just because YOU did does NOT mean that I can. Do YOU have a 58 year history of weight cycling? Do YOU have hypothyroid disease and other auto-immune disorders? Do YOU have degenerative disc disease, arthritis and neuritis throughout your body? Do YOU have nutritional deficiencies and a heart condition caused by 5 decades of restrictive eating? Do YOU have the genes that I have? Well then don't tell me that if YOU did it I can too!

Let me just remind people about the McDougall groups on YahooGroups. There's the one geared towards weight loss, and another group for everyday people following the program for various reasons, usually for health or animal rights, but the group had voted to exclude all weight loss talk. When the Groups were active a few years ago, we had a very nice time there, sharing recipes, shopping or cooking tips, hints on how to sneak healthy food into a family's meal. In recent months, thanks to YahooGroups general idiocy and the rise of other social media sites, things have been slow. We can use some fresh blood, so why not come on over and visit? The Files sections of both groups have hundreds of recipes gathered from various cookbooks and web sites, as well as favorites posted by members.

~ ~ ~

So where am I going with this rambling post? I have no idea.

Where to PUT It All!!

2011-10-27T08:48:00.000-04:00

This is my pantry closet. We call it "Irving."


Irving - October 2011

I forget when or even why we started to name our closets - I guess I read it in a children's book somewhere and someone else was naming their closets to distinguish one from another and we started doing it in this family back when our son was young (He's now almost 30 so you see we've been weird a long, long time.)

This closet is located in the "third bedroom," as it was described by the owner, when in actuality you can't even fit a twin sized bed in it. An army cot, maybe, but that's it. So it became my craft/sewing storage and computer room, and the closet became our food pantry, because we have so few cabinets in the kitchen. We can fit our dishes and storage containers and that's about it. Our pots and some things like the casserole dishes and ovenware are stored in the not-connected dishwasher. The previous owners disconnected it from the water supply about 20 years ago when they discovered the drainage in this apartment sucked and every time the dishwasher was used it flooded the kitchen. Instead of taking it out and putting another cabinet in there he left it so when the house was sold to the current owner he could say the apartments had dishwashers. The same deceit occurred when it came to "heat included" with the rent - this tiny room isn't connected to the radiator system but has an electric baseboard radiator installed that is on OUR electric account, not the one for the house in general that the owner pays for. We had it on the first month we moved in and our bill was over $300 for a balmy April. Our bill dropped almost $200 the next month when the heater was turned off completely and it's been off since. I'll wear a sweatshirt when it gets cold out here!

Back to the pantry closet.

In the photo you get the full frontal view, so to speak. The closet extends another foot or so in each direction, too, making it hard to get things in and out of those spaces, so I keep rarely replenished things there, like extra storage containers, plastic shoeboxes of supplies, like tape and tiny notebooks and greeting cards.

But the main areas - ugh!

One thing we McDougallers have plenty of are canned goods. We use lots of beans, and most of us seem to prefer the easy way out and use canned. We use lots of tomato products, again usually canned, although since Jeff's Fast Food video I've been using a lot of boxed Pomi tomatoes. I keep canned fruit on hand because fresh produce around here is lousy and it's easy enough to find water-packed fruit in cans and no-sugar added applesauce. Other things in my pantry include bottles sauces and dressings, boxes of non-dairy milk, containers of old-fashioned oatmeal (Plus the boxes of instant that my husband prefers). And I have to share this closet with some boxes of craft supplies, too.

It's a pain, trying to make sure the new stuff goes to the back, older stuff used first. It takes a long time to put groceries away each week because I have to unload a pile of cans to put the new things on the bottom and rotate the stock.

I've had enough!

I'm now researching those rotating can systems that I've read about in articles by survivalists and Latter Day Saints groups. I envy people who have systems like this:

or this:

or even this:

But I think the best thing I can do right now is just get some can rotation systems. THIS SITE has a whole blog about it as well as a PDF file of plans you can use to make your own out of cardboard. Here it is in action:

This guy makes one using his own pattern, one that doesn't require glue and duct tape:

But I'm lazy, and not very adept with an Exacto blade and have the scars to prove it, so I'll probably wind up with a store-bought system. I like these, by CanOrganizer. But it's a one-size-fits-all kind of thing when it comes to the size of cans. Here's a guy with a whole closet-full of them:

It looks nicer than before, but I noticed some of the organizers on the lower shelf there were popping open on top.

I would love to have one of THESE but don't have the money or room for even the smaller ones.

What I will probably wind up with are a few of these Cansolidators. 2 of the Pantry Plus size will fit on that top shelf

and one of the regular Pantry size on the middle shelf, putting the larger and non-canned items around it. This guy shows how they're put together and how much food one of the small 40-can units holds:

The price of these units will be worth it if it straightens up that mess. It might even save me money, as I won't be finding 5 (or more!) years outdated cans hiding in the corners any more. When I did some rearranging this past summer I found cans in there I moved with me when we moved into this place. I know that because they were dated 1999 and from the grocery store we used to go to when we lived in Florida! We've been back in Jersey since April 2000!

I have my husband convinced we need to do SOMETHING with poor old Irving. He does like the look of the Cansolidators but isn't too keen on the money. Maybe I'll have my son make up one of those customized cardboard ones to show him how it'll look. As I unpack all the aunt's stuff we moved over to this house we'll have plenty of empty cardboard boxes with no further purpose in their lives.

SNAP Meal - Mexican Fiesta

2011-10-26T09:33:00.001-04:00

It's almost a year since Jeff Novick released his Fast Food DVD and I wrote a post about it. For a while I was making at least one of his SNAP meals each week. Then we started to get sick of them, because each one made SO much we would be eating it for days on end. We're the type of people who get bored with our food very fast, but unlike what Dr. McDougall hypothosizes (Get bored, eat less), we tend to swing in the opposite direction and seek out other, more flavorful, usually higher calorie, foods. The times I would go off the McDougall program were usually after a long stretch of being 100% compliant.

So I stopped making so many SNAP meals. Now, when I do make one, it's much more enjoyable and we don't mind the leftovers so much. Some of these leftovers even go great mixed in with pasta. Like this Mexican Fiesta one.

The official recipe, as posted on Jeff's Facebook Photos section:

Mexican Fiesta

2 28 oz Can Whole Tomatoes (no salt added)
2 lbs Frozen Mixed Peppers and Onions (Birds Eye)
.5 lb Frozen Corn
1 can Eden Foods Pinto Beans
1 Can Eden Foods Black Beans
Spices (I used garlic, cumin, chili powder and cayenne)

Put all in a pot, bring to boil, simmer 10 minutes.

Serve over Cooked Long Grain Brown Rice

Top with fresh Cilantro

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
This is one meal I pretty much stick to the recommended brands, at least when it comes to the peppers. Name brand veggies cost almost twice as much as store-brand in many cases, and it's certainly true for this pepper/onion mix, but I tried making it with a bag of sliced peppers and a bag of diced onions and it somehow didn't seem right, like there was too much of a pepper taste. I tried a few cups of fresh sliced peppers and onions, and got a different texture. Still, if finances are tight or the store doesn't have the Bird's Eye, store brand it is and I just add a bit more onions or spices.

For the beans I use either store brand or Goya, depending on what's in my pantry that I picked up on sale. I just rinse them well and dump them in.

I always have corn in the freezer, but I'm preparing for another winter like last, and plan on having a good supply of canned veggies on my newly acquired shelving unit, and if I make this in February, with 5 feet of snow outside my apartment, I'll use canned corn and like it.

For the spices, I had found a recipe for a fajita mix that tastes a lot like the Old El Paso one I like.

Here's the recipe as I copied it:

Fajita Seasoning Mix
Linda Larsen
Make your own fajita seasoning mix using this easy recipe. If you are simply going to rub the mixture on steak, chicken, pork, or seafood before grilling it, omit the cornstarch.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

    3 Tbsp. cornstarch
    2 Tbsp. chili powder
    1 Tbsp. salt
    1 Tbsp. paprika
    1 Tbsp. sugar
    2-1/2 tsp. crushed chicken bouillon cube
    1-1/2 tsp. onion powder
    1/2 tsp. garlic powder
    1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
    1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
    1/2 tsp. cumin

Preparation:
Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Pour into small glass or plastic container, seal tightly and store in a cool, dry place. Makes the equivalent of 3 packets of commercial or purchased Fajita Seasoning Mix

~ ~ ~ ~
I made up a whole jar-full of this stuff and leave out the salt and it still tastes fine. Just before I'm ready to serve I'll add a tablespoon and taste, and keep adding and tasting until it comes out just right.

To go along with this meal I might make the cornbread I mentioned yesterday, Jan Tz's sweet corn bread. Unless I break down and make the cornbread my husband wants me to make, a very UN-McDougall one - the cornbread recipe by Isa and posted on-line at the PPK web site.   This has got to be the MOST delicious cornbread in the world. It's not too sweet, not too heavy or gritty (Unless you use a larger grit cornmeal, that is) and it makes so much I usually divide it in half and serve half at one meal (and still have leftovers for snacks) and freeze the other on a piece of cardboard covered in plastic wrap. I tried McDougalling this recipe by using substitutes for the oil, like Wonderslim, Lighter Bake, or applesauce, but it changes the taste and texture too much. Perhaps if I let my husband have the rest of yesterday's sally cake I can afford to eat a small piece of this cornbread and not feel too guilty. Besides, it also goes with tomorrow's meal so I'll only have to bake once.

Jan Tz - McDougall Hero

2011-10-25T07:18:00.000-04:00

Dr. McDougall calls them Star McDougallers, but to me, Jan Tz is more of an everyday hero than a star. Stars burn bright and eventually fade, but Jan keeps on shining, even when her light dimmed a bit a few years ago and she regained some of her lost weight.

It was Jan's posts on the old McDougall forums on VegSource that showed me eating healthy doesn't have to involve complex recipes with 20 ingredients and take hours to cook. Her 3-ingredient recipes were lifesavers at a time things were super hectic in this household, caring for a m-i-l with Alzheimer's & leukemia, homeschooling a kid through high school years, moving 1200 miles from home, then back again less than a year later, and now, caring for a different relative with Alzheimer's (m-i-l's sister).

Her quickbreads are legendary for saving many a party in McDougallers' households.

Jan would disappear from the forums from time to time, but then she would come back with a vengeance. One year she gave up posting to Internet forums for Lent, but another year she took that sacred time to recommit herself to the McDougall program.

Like many of us, Jan has had her ups and downs when it comes to weight loss, but she also knows that the best, healthiest way to regain her health and lose those pounds again is with the McDougall program. It's her persistence (and her recipes) that keep people like ME doing the same.

Some of my favorite Jan Tz meals follow. I usually copy/paste the messages from the forums to my AZZ Cardfile program so I retain all the notes and directions the original author wrote. That's the case with all of these. The McDougall forum on VegSource no longer exists so the links in these recipes probably won't work.

Our all-time favorite quick dinner:

From: Jan Tz

Subject: Three Ingredient Recipe: Pioneer Baked Beans
Date: October 14, 2003 at 3:57 pm PST

PIONEER BAKED BEANS

Peeled and cored apple, cut into big chunks
Onion, sliced thinly and separated into rings
Vegetarian Baked Beans

Combine all ingredients in whatever quantities you need, put into a baking dish, and bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350F.

I remember reading about "Apples 'n' Onions" in one of the "Little House on the Prairie" books some years back. Baked beans were popular then, too. They seem to go well together.

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/mcdougall/messages/9916379.html

A Holiday staple:

From: Jan Tz

Subject: Three Ingredient Recipe: Cranberry-Sauced Chickpeas
Date: October 15, 2003 at 4:12 pm PST

CRANBERRY-SAUCED CHICKPEAS

2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can whole-berry cranberry sauce
dash of powdered cloves

Preheat oven to 300 F. Put the chickpeas in a casserole dish. Put the cranberry sauce on top. Sprinkle lightly with cloves. Bake uncovered for about 30 min.

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/mcdougall/messages/9916386.html

A favorite cold-weather meal:

From: Jan Tz

Subject: New 3-Ingredient Recipe for You
Date: December 28, 2002 at 3:28 pm PST

This is a variation of the Barley-Mushroom Bake that many of you requested. It has only 3 ingredients (not counting water and pan spray), and is very meaty and satisfying.

BARLEY-MUSHROOM BAKE

3/4 cup quick barley
1 (8 oz.) box fresh mushrooms, whole, cleaned
1 envelope Lipton Recipe Secrets, any fat-free flavor (check the boxes)

Put all the ingredients in a casserole dish. Stir in 2 cups boiling water. Stir to mix. Cover and bake at 325 F. for 45 min. Uncover and bake another 15 min. Stir lightly before serving.

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/mcdougall/messages/9915541.html

My go-to cornbread recipe, savory:

From: Jan Tz

Subject: Re: Cornbread.........
Date: February 16, 2005 at 11:34 am PST

In Reply to: Cornbread......... posted by Sunny on February 16, 2005 at 7:52 am:

I think they posted mine. Here it is...

Ingredients:
1 cup flour (many people here use whole wheat pastry flour)
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 and 1/4 cups water
1 Tbs. + 1 tsp. vinegar

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease/spray an 8"x8" cake pan. Mix the dry ingredients together. Mix the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl. When the oven reaches temp., stir the wet into the dry. Mix quickly and don't overmix. Pour into prepared pan. Bake about 30 minutes -- toothpick test for doneness. Let stand in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on a rack.

My go-to cornbread recipe, sweet:

From: Jan Tz

Subject: Sweet Cornbread
Date: August 16, 2003 at 5:28 am PST

In Reply to: JanTz.....Could you please give me ....... posted by Bambi on August 16, 2003 at 4:40 am:

I think what I posted was my version of Chi Chi's Sweet Corn Cake mix. Here is the recipe:

1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 Tbs. baking powder
1 small can chopped green chiles
1/4 cup water
1 can (15 oz) cream-style corn

Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Grease or spray a 9 x 5 loaf pan.
Mix the dry ingredients together first, then stir in the rest. Mix quickly and do not overmix. Pour into the loaf pan. Bake uncovered for 40-45 min. or until liquid has been absorbed.

One of my favorite quickbreads:

From: Jan Tz

Subject: Gingerbread
Date: March 17, 2001 at 8:36 pm PST

GINGERBREAD

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease or spray an 8" x 8" cake pan.

Combine the liquid ingredients:
1 and 1/4 cups hot soymilk, ricemilk, or water
1 Tbs. + 1 tsp. white vinegar
1/4 cup molasses

In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon

When the oven reaches temp, pour the liquid into the dry ingredients. Mix quickly and do not over-mix. Pour into prepared pan. Bake about 25 min.--toothpick test for doneness. Remove from oven and let stand in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and wrap in a clean dry kitchen towel until completely cooled. May dust with powdered sugar or eat with applesauce.

http://www.vegsource.com/mcdrecipes/messages/13143.html

And the quickbread I'm making tonight, using canned apples (NOT apple pie filling)

From: Jan Tz

Subject: Recipe: "SallyBread": A New Quick Bread
Date: April 14, 2001 at 6:16 am PST

Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bread? Is it a pie? No...it's...
SALLYBREAD!

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray or grease a 9" x 13" baking pan.

Combine the liquid ingredients together:
1 and 1/4 cups HOT soymilk, ricemilk, or water
1 Tbs. + 1 tsp. white vinegar.

Combine the dry ingredients together:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda

When the oven reaches temp, stir the liquid ingredients into the dry. Mix quickly, and do not over-mix. Pour into prepared pan and spread it around evenly to cover bottom of pan.

Now pour the contents of:
1 (21 ounce) can of fruit pie filling

on top of the batter in the pan. Spread it around to mostly cover. Bake about 20 to 25 minutes -- toothpick test for doneness. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan. Serve warm or cover and refrigerate.

I used blueberry pie filling for my test batch, but you can use any fruit filling you like. Happy Easter, everyone!

http://www.vegsource.com/mcdrecipes/messages/13275.html

And tonight's dinner:

ACK! I lost the original post! It was another of her simple 3-ingredient recipes but it's not in my Cardfile or anywhere on this computer! I've been making it so long I don't even look at the recipe any more so it's probably still on the old, non-working, computer.

It's another super simple recipe she called Spudz-Onion Casserole. Take a few potatoes and slice them thin. Take a big onion or 2 and also slice it thin. Take a casserole dish and alternate layers - onions, taters, onions, taters, etc. - until you run out of both. This is one meal I make that I'm so glad I spent the money to buy a fancy mandoline for slicing. You can sprinkle each layer of spuds with any spice combo you want, or just plain old salt and pepper.

If you want to healthy this up a bit you can add some greens, to keep Jeff Novick happy. I have a bag of spinach in the freezer and will use some of that.

Cover and bake, the usual 350ºF for 30 - 45 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. If you want the top layer crunchy, uncover for the last 15 minutes or so.

Jan, if you're reading this, I want to thank you for saving my butt so many times over these years. I hope you continue to post on the McDougall forums for many years to come.

Sloppy Joe Day

2011-10-24T07:14:00.000-04:00

We're waiting for a phone call from the lawyer. The inspection on the aunt's house was Friday and the real estate agent said things"went well," whatever that means when dealing with a hundred year old house that badly needs upgrading. Supposedly both lawyers got the inspection results within an hour of the inspection, as did the buyer, and "papers" are ready to be signed agreeing on a final price. I'll make a run to the laundromat early this morning, and the rest of the week's activities depends on when this impending phone call comes through.

After I get back from the laundromat I'll start making tonight's dinner and just reheat it when the time comes, whether it's for our regular 4:30pm dinner time or much later if we're at the lawyer's today.

One of our favorite pre-McDougall meals was Sloppy Joes. In the olden days I used ground beef, then turkey, and in later years switched to tvp. But now Dr. McDougall dislikes those processed isolated soy protein products so for the most time I use lentils, but once in a while I do use veggie crumbles (various brands). Today will be lentils, unless that phone call comes when I'm at the laundromat.

I also no longer use canned Manwich sauce, preferring to make a much healthier sloppy joe sauce from scratch. The first recipe I ever used was Isa's Snobby Joe's from the PPK web site, later included in her book Veganomicon. So great!

Another recipe I use a lot is from Robin Robertson's Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker called Sloppy Lentils. Again, a great recipe but it has to be planned for ahead of time because it takes 8 hours to cook.

Of course, for both those recipes, all sautéing is done with water, not oil, to make them McDougall-legal.

This one was originally posted to Bryanna Clark Grogan's Veg Beginners board over on VegSource years ago but the link I saved no longer works. The recipe here is typed up exactly as I copied it at the time. She does list "cooked lentils" as an ingredient but later writes "red lentils" in the directions. I always use plain old brown lentils from Goya brand when I make these. I double the ingredients and use "Simply Heinz" Ketchup    (made with sugar, not corn syrup) instead of the organic she used.

* Exported from MasterCook *

                              Sloppy Lenny's

Recipe By     :thegirlwonder
Serving Size : 4     Preparation Time :0:00
Categories    : Main Dishes                     MWLP
                   Sandwiches                Vegan

Amount Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1                cup cooked lentils
1                     onion -- diced
1              clove garlic
1           teaspoon yellow mustard
1                cup tomato sauce -- Trader Joe or other organic
     1/2           cup ketchup -- Muir Glen organic ketchup

1. Saute onion and garlic in water.

2. When translucent, add tomato sauce, ketchup and mustard. Heat thoroughly.

3. Add red lentils. Heat thoroughly.

4. Serve on whole grain hamburger buns, bread or brown rice. (You can throw some veggies like bell peppers and carrots in there if you want to pump up the vitamins.)

Source:
"http://www.vegsource.com/talk/beginner/messages/132353.html"
Copyright:
"February 6, 2003 at 4:07 pm PST"
                                    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving: 120 Calories; trace Fat (3.4% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 25g Carbohydrate; 6g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 744mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 0 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0

But the recipe I use most of all is this one from the McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook. So quick, tasty, and simple! I use frozen sliced peppers and just chop them up a bit smaller. Carrots are easy enough to grate up. The tomato sauce is a matter of opening 2 cans of the no-salt added variety, and I usually skip the soy sauce, too, to reduce the sodium content. And as I mentioned many times in the past, I skip the bay leaf. What I usually ADD to this recipe is a dollop of plain old Gulden's mustard to give it that Manwich-type zing.

Disorderly Lentils (aka Sloppy Lennies)

2 cups red lentils
4 cups water
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup grated carrot
2 cups tomato sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons parsley flakes
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh garlic
1/2 teaspoon basil

Combine all ingredients in a medium pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve over toast, fat-free crumpets, fat-free English muffins, or whole wheat rolls. Serves 6.

Today I plan on serving them over smashed Yukon Gold potatoes. Of course, if we do have to run tot he lawyer's this afternoon I may just nuke those taters and serve the sauce over that. If it's really late, Bob's Red Mill instant mashed potatoes will have to do.

The trip itself takes a few hours - first my husband will have to come home from work as soon as we get the call (90 minutes/2 trains), then we the drive to the lawyer (45 - 60 depending on traffic), time in the lawyer's office (minimum 30 minutes, probably more because he loves to talk), then the drive home in rush hour traffic (at least 60).

I'll be SO glad when that house is finally sold and no longer our responsibility! We are so happy being apartment dwellers!

Too Busy to Blog

2011-10-20T06:53:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry I'm such a bad VeganMoFo-er this year. In less than a week we had to make 4 trips to the elderly aunt's house, 2 emergency car repairs, 3 trips to the real estate agent's, 2 trips to the nursing home, countless shopping trips, and 3 doctor appointments. Before the week is out there will be another doctor appointment, another trip to a hardware store, another nursing home visit, another trip to the aunt's house, plus our weekly grocery shopping. If all goes well the house will be sold soon - we have a buyer and the closing is scheduled for December Second. After that we can breathe a little easier, have a bit more time for ourselves.

Have leisurely dinners again.

Yesterday was a pot of soup and a loaf of bread. Sorry, but by the time we sat down to eat we were starving and I forgot to take pictures once again. I SAID I was a bad VeganMoFo-er.

My Cheezy Broccoli Soup is a variation on a number of veggie/nooch soup recipes I've gathered over the years from places like the Fat Free Vegan blog, PPK and McDougall forums, as well as numerous cookbooks. It's super simple to put together.

Sauté in a bit of water 1 or 2 chopped onions and some garlic, either minced, sliced or even whole, for about 5 minutes.

Pour in 6 cups of liquid - broth, water with no salt added bouillon or broth powder, or a combination of the 2. Turn the heat up to boiling.

In a jar or bowl with whisk, mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot in cold water and shake or whisk until lump-free. Slowly add to the boiling water, stirring to prevent lumps.

Add a cup of nutritional yeast and a bag of cut or chopped broccoli. Return to a boil, then lower to a simmer, cover, and let cook until the veggies are soft. Most recipes say 20 minutes, but I like the veggies near-dissolved so this soup sits for over an hour when I make it.

Now you have a choice: Serve it as-is, if the veggie are chopped small enough, or take an immersion blender to it and blend all or part of the soup. Season with salt and pepper to taste at the table.

You can always dress this up by using other vegetables, like cauliflower, carrots, add frozen peas, use a combination of these or other veggies.

For the bread, I used my mini-Zoji bread machine and made their basic loaf using white whole wheat flour and Lighter Bake as the butter substitute. To dress this up a bit I added a half cup of Jalepeno-flavored Daiya cheese at the Add beep. The cheese isn't exactly McDougall-approved because of the fat, but the rest of the meal is fat-free and my husband doesn't need to lose any weight, so why not? He's the one who eats 99% of the bread, anyway.

Tonight is something even simpler - rice and veggies. I'll boil up 2 bags of Success Brand brown rice, nuke up 3 small bags (a pound each?) of frozen peas and carrots, and when done, mix together and serve. I sometimes fry up some marinated tofu, too, but not today. We each put our own condiments on at the table - my husband loves that Kobe brand hot Chinese mustard, our son uses plain soy sauce, and I use either a lower sodium ginger-garlic sauce, watered down soy sauce, or just some salad dressing. I'll see what I feel like when the time comes. With an eye doctor visit first thing tomorrow morning - the opthamologist, so it's a real in-you-face examination - there will be no onions or garlic, or even beans, tonight.

And because I won't be able to see clearly for hours after that exam, there probably will be no VeganMoFo post tomorrow, either. Dinner for the boys will be their favorite (non-vegan) frozen pizza and I'll toss on some hash browns for myself. Ho hum, but filling.

Saturday we'll be busy at the aunt's house getting last minute things ready for the buyer's home inspection and emptying out the rest of her and our stuff still there, like some tools and boxes of knickknacks. Dinner Saturday will be plain old pasta with jarred sauce and I'll nuke up the last of my Trader Joe's veggie meatballs.

With any luck, we'll be able to stay away from that house on Sunday and do our weekly grocery trip and do what WE want for the rest of the day. We may finally take that $12 toll trip to the land of Trader Joe's, or may even take advantage of the down time and just veg out in front of the tv. Either way, dinner will be our usual - non-veg burgers for the guys and more hash browns for me.

So far we have no plans for Monday. No house visits, no doctors, no shopping trips. Maybe I'll be able to make a nice, slightly more elaborate, meal then.

Letha and MWLP Foods

2011-10-17T12:28:00.000-04:00

For one glorious year, a McDougaller named Letha Louise kept a blog of all the McDougall Maximum Weight Loss Plan foods she cooked. The beauty of this blog was in the photographs - she took pictures of every stop of the cooking process, from assembling the ingredients, the chopping, the cooking, and onward to the plating of the food, and sometimes beyond, showing all the containers of leftovers she has from the recipe. She even had her own message boards for a while.

Letha hasn't appeared on the McDougall forums for over a year now, and her last blog entry dates back to November 2009, but I spent a few hours there again this morning, snagging recipes I didn't in the past, skipping them previously because they didn't appeal to me at the time but my tastes have changed so now they do. It's worth a visit by anyone, whether they're doing MWLP, regular McDougall, vegan, or just plain like good eating.

Letha, we wish you would return not only to blogging but to the forums. We really miss you!

A Soupy Disappointment

2011-10-14T06:50:00.000-04:00

Or:
Don't Look At Me - I'm Hideous!!

I had a rare kitchen disaster yesterday. With the price of things as high as they are, especially for the healthier version of some foods, I usually only make "tried and true" meals, making only minor variations. Those of you who have read this blog during previous VeganMoFo's may have noticed some of the same dishes carried over from year to year, sometimes week to week.

This soup is one of them.

I make this a lot, especially on days when I'm rushed. And why not? It's so fast to put together and many times it's ready in 5 minutes.

Here's the basic recipe, as I have it written in my AZZ Cardfile program:

Butter Bean and Corn Chowder

2 cans butter beans
2 cans creamed corn
2 cups water
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 clove garlic, pressed
½ teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients. Simmer 30 minutes until carrots and celery are done to your liking.

Notes: This is a slightly modified recipe posted by Pat on the McDougall board who got it from the www.fatfreevegan.com website who credits the Vegan Handbook for the recipe. It was very good poured over fork mashed fingerling potatoes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Now, as I've written many times before, I'm lazy and use shortcuts. Instead of fresh celery and and carrots I used dried celery flakes and dehydrated diced carrots. This is nothing new - I do this about every other time I make the soup. I used Pacific no salt added broth instead of water, garlic powder instead of fresh garlic. I omitted the added salt, as I always do. I've done it this way more times than I can remember. And it always turned out delicious.

What did I do different this time that made it so unappetizing, at least to ME? I used no salt added corn and no salt added beans. In the past I used one or the other, never both ingredients. It usually takes fine. Yesterday, not so much.

My husband had no problem with it, mainly because he dumps salt on everything he eats, anyway, usually before he even tastes it. We're married 34 years next month and he's used to me cooking the low-sodium way. He sometimes dresses this soup up by pouring ketchup into the bowl.

But for me, it was inedible. I wound up eating toast for dinner last night.

Today, my boys are eating their pizza and I'm making up a batch of boring hash browns with onions. Tomorrow is pasta day, and the big whoop for our meal will be fried up onions, garlic and mushrooms that I add to the "sauce" - a box of Pomi diced tomatoes sprinkled with Italian herb blend.

This will be our first Saturday "off" in almost 6 months, and we plan to enjoy every minute of it. A Trader Joe's opened up less than 10 miles from here, just a block away from the Barnes and Noble store I desperately want to go to, down the road from a mall where I need some items, which is a few miles down the road from the nearest fabric store from where I have a list of items I need to get. (Excuse the grammar - I'm still half asleep).

Anyway, because every one of our days off in recent history have revolved around the elderly aunt and this is the first weekend where she's safe and secure in the nursing home and we don't have to go to her house an hour away because the real estate agent is having an open house all weekend, we're finally free to do what WE need to do for ourselves. Besides not having the time to go to all those stores I mentioned above, we save a trip to that area until we have a full agenda because although it's less than 10 miles away, it's located in a borough of NYC that's now a $12 toll bridge away. We used to go frequently when the toll was under $5, not so much, maybe once every 6 months, when it was $8, but now that it's up to $12 (with plans to increase it to $14 or more in 2014), we make a day of it. I always packed a lunch to eat in the car between stores/malls, but with Trader Joe's now on the route, I just might leave it to chance that I can grab something to eat there. Then again, that will probably be our last stop (Gotta remember to toss the frozen food bag into the car later) so perhaps I better make up some taters to eat along the way.

What an exciting week, store-wise. First we get a Walmart within walking distance of our house opening Wednesday, years after the city kept rejecting the permit, and now Trader Joe's! If only that TJ's also opened up here instead of across the bridge, I'd be all set!

The Dagwood Mini?

2011-10-13T08:17:00.000-04:00

(If comic doesn't appear, go to Blondie and find October 13, 2011)

Gee, just substitute something like rice or potatoes and you've got the Mary's Mini version of the McDougall Diet!

Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Dry Bones

2011-10-13T07:41:00.000-04:00

A problem many of us older females have is osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, arthritis, degenerative disc disease, and other bone related disabilities. Maybe if we had been vegan since childhood, or never had any injuries that involved the bones or joints, we wouldn't have this problem, but at least our diets and exercise habits NOW can help ease the pain and discomfort and possibly stop any further damage.

Dr. Fuhrman has a web page and even a video out concerning osteoporosis called Osteoporosis Protection for Life:

and osteoporosis is one of Dr. McDougall's Hot Topics, too.

Some important things to remember:
Avoid dairy.
Avoid high protein foods.
Get proper amounts of high impact exercise.
Make sure your Vitamin D level is within the normal range and supplement with extra time in the sun or vitamins as necessary.

And here is Dr. McDougall's advice:

"Bone loss is reversible by fixing the cause. Everyone, and especially people with osteoporosis and a lesser condition, osteopenia, should eat a low-acid starch-based diet (with some restriction on grains and legumes, which are slightly acidic) and exercise. Focus on a diet plentiful in sweet potatoes, potatoes, winter squashes, with the addition of fruits and green and yellow vegetables."

What Irishman Doesn't Like Cabbage?

2011-10-12T15:34:00.000-04:00

Today I'm making my version of Cabbage and Carrot Medley, originally from a Woman's World Magazine article on Irish cooking from March 21, 2006. The original recipe:


* Exported from MasterCook *

                        Cabbage and Carrot Medley

Recipe By     :
Serving Size : 8     Preparation Time :0:00
Categories    : Casserole                       Holiday
                Low-Fat                         MWLP
                Vegan                           Vegetables

Amount Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2             pounds cabbage -- trimmed, cut into 2" slices
4              large carrots -- cut diagonally into 1/2" slices
2                     leeks -- *see Note
     1/4           cup packed brown sugar
2        tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2        tablespoons brown mustard -- spicy
     1/2      teaspoon caraway seeds
     1/2      teaspoon salt
     1/4      teaspoon black pepper

Combine cabbage and carrots in a large pot, fill halfway with water, cover. Bring to a boil then reduce and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. drain and set aside - keep warm.

In the same pot, add 2 tablespoons of water and leeks. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender.

Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil; return the cabbage/carrot mixture to the pot and stir.

Description:
"Brown sugar adds sweetness to our buttery vegetables"
Source:
"Woman's World Magazine, Luck o' the Irish Feast! article"
Copyright:
"March 21, 2006 issue"
                                    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving: 88 Calories; 1g Fat (7.0% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 20g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 225mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 2 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 0 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

NOTES : Leeks: White and light green portions only; halved lengthwise and sliced.

The original recipe called for the leek to be sautéed in butter.

Salt may be omitted for low-salt diets.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Now for my variations. I just pick a nice sized head of cabbage. Sometimes it's really big, others it's on the small side. I choose the amounts of carrots accordingly.

Again, because of my laziness, I use baby carrots. If it's a large cabbage, I buy the large size bag; smaller cabbage, small bag.

Leeks? We don' need no steeking leeks! Just grab a big old onion (Vidalias are nice) and cut it into wedges and drop it in.

And what's an Irish stew without potatoes? I always toss in some Yukon Golds. Lately our store has had mesh bags, about 1 1/2 pounds' worth, of tiny fingerling-sized spuds and I just wash those and toss them in, mostly whole but the larger ones get cut in half.

I always forget the apple cider viengar. Sometimes I go back and add it in near the end, otehr times I just leave it ut. Nobody has noticed the difference.

I use a small handful of caraway seeds, bought in bulk at the local HFS.

I usually add a bit more mustard, too. Nothing fancy, just good old Gulden's.

If I have a smaller cabbage, I usually make a loaf of bread to go with it. If I'm energetic I'll make an authentic Irish soda bread, but usually it's just a plain loaf of whole wheat or rye that I toss in the bread machine. Today I have a big head of cabbage and loads of carrots and potatoes, so no bread.

Again, I use the big heavy pot from my pressure cooker and let this simmer all afternoon. The house smells fantastic! Well, at least to me it does. I don't know what the other families in this building think, but if I have to smell their lamb and fish, they can put up with my monthly cabbage meal.

Veggie Stew A'la Sandie

2011-10-10T14:53:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow I have a lot of running around to do for the aunt and won't be home from 7am until??, so today I made a big batch of Veggie Stew A'la Sandie. The original recipe called for it to be cooked in a slow cooker (Crockpot) but mine is buried right now behind bags and bags of stuff from the elderly aunt's house that we're clearing out in preparation of its sale. So instead I just dumped everything in my big pressure cooker pot with the glass lid and let it simmer on the stove for a few hours. At least my son was able to reach that beyond the piles of paper recyclables that are going out tomorrow.

Did I mention we live in a 5-room apartment and the aunt's house is a sprawling 3-bedroom Colonial and has over 60 years' worth of accumulation to be sorted and gotten rid of? It's VERY crowded around here right now!

This will be enough for dinner for the three of us tonight and lunches for hubby and myself tomorrow. Luckily the house still has the microwave oven and refrigerator so bringing my own McDougall-legal meals to eat between appointments and closet cleaning is easy peasy, as long as I remember to pack the thermal bag in the morning, that is.

Of course, I did it the lazy way, as usual, and used a big bag of baby carrots instead of chopping whole ones. The tomatoes were plain and the no added-salt version. Instead of broth I used water no-sodium veg broth powder. I forgot to buy parsley so used a shake or 2 of dried. And I bought a box of whole mushrooms and quartered them instead of sliced. I like my mushrooms a bit chunkier in stews.

The photo is after the first hour of simmering and you can tell the potatoes are still fairly solid. By the time dinner rolls around they'll be all soft and mushy and pretty much dissolved, thickening the stew. I'll add salt and pepper at the table, as I try avoid the sodium while hubby pours it on (And has perfect blood pressure, the rat!).

Tomorrow there probably won't be a VeganMoFo post. Dinner is just going to be some Success brown rice mixed with a can of garbanzos and some kale and everyone will add their own toppings, like ff veg gravy or salsa. Sorry.

Poll: Who's your favorite blogger?

2011-10-09T17:27:00.001-04:00

Poll: Who's your favorite blogger?

I was just made aware that Susan V's Fat Free Vegan blog is up for an award from Shape Magazine.

Go vote!

Dr. McDougall's ASW

2011-10-09T17:19:00.000-04:00

A few times a year Dr. McDougall holds his Advanced Study Weekends, and lately he's been making videos of the lectures available to those who want them, but for a fee. I convinced my husband that this time he's having a few really great lecturers and it'll be worth the price, and he agreed to let me "buy" the series. It's actually a 6-month rental, because they're all streaming (When it works) and can't be downloaded to individual computers and only available for 6 months. A number of us have been having problems getting some to work, and with me running around like crazy with/for the elderly relative I STILL haven't seen most of them, even though they've been available since September 9th.

Anyway, today I finally got the video by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau to work and so far only got through the Brown Lentil Soup from the Color Me Vegan book. She talks about how important it is to avoid added oils, echoing Dr. McDougall's philosophy, and she does use broth/water to sauté veggies for the soup, but I know her cookbooks use oil in many recipes. When in Rome . . . The soup looks like a standard lentil soup, though - nothing special about it except he truffle salt she suggests adding at the end of cooking time or at the table.

Anyway, this ASW has the following lecturers:

Nathaniel Dominy,PhD - Associate Professor of Anthropology at Dartmouth College. Currently doing research on hunter-gatherer populations in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Uganda.
Robert Rosati, MD - Medical Director of the famous Rice Diet Program founded by Walter Kempner, MD.
Dennis Bourdette, MD - Chairman of the Department of Neurology and Director of the Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology Center at OHSU where the Diet and MS Study is being conducted.
Robert Vogel, MD - Professor of Medicine and Director of Clinical Vascular Biology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Neal Barnard, MD - Founder and Director of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau - Celebrity Chef for this weekend. Author and Founder of Compassionate Cooks.Printable Recipes from this event » (pdf)
Plus Jeff Novick RD, Doug Lisle Ph.D. and John McDougall, MD

and so far I got to see the welcoming speech, the Rice Diet lecture by Dr. Rosati, and now this one. Maybe by the end of the 6 months I'll finally have the time and the videos will actually work and I'll be able to see all of them. The ones I have seen have been interesting.

IT'S GARBANZO BEAN DAY!!

2011-10-07T05:42:00.000-04:00


Pearls Before Swine comic strip Oct 3, 2011

In celebration of the holiday I'm making a tofu omelette from Vegan Brunch for breakfast, some ceci beans tossed in a bowl of veggies and rice for lunch, Chickpea Broccoli Casserole from Vegan With A Vengeance for dinner, and Crispy Roasted Chickpeas with Moroccan Spices as a snack later tonight.

You do NOT want to be around this house tonight or tomorrow!

The old version of the PPK forums has a haiku thread that went on for years. There was one I loved so much I made a sampler out of it and have it hanging above the computer. I'm sorry I never saved the name of the PPKer who wrote it:

i have crazy gas
woe is he who smells my farts
the scent's demonic

Every time we have a repair-person in it gets a lot of laughs. Too bad it's the truth.

So, Happy Garbanzo Bean Day!!

Wow! That was Great!

2011-10-06T05:56:00.000-04:00

The picture doesn't really do it justice, as I had already cut it and ate a few pieces before remembering to take a photo. My husband had already finished more than half his by this time, so using his plate was out.

So why the "Wow!"? This cheese sauce is delicious! Tofu, spinach, English muffin - okay foods but nothing spectacular. But that sauce!!

I've know about nooch sauces for ages. I buy my nooch in bulk via mail order for decades now. The few times I've made cheese sauces in the past it always involved elaborate mixing and heating (and perfect timing) techniques and I would always wind up with lumpy sauce. But this one was so quick and easy to toss together, that my husband asked if it could be a weekly thing. It doesn't matter if it's over a grain, potatoes or pasta - just make it!

And so I shall. But it'll make for a boring VeganMoFo post, so I may wait until November to incorporate it into our weekly menus.

Too Much Food!!

2011-10-05T07:24:00.001-04:00

The aunt I wrote about previously is now back in the nursing home and in stable condition. In the few hours I was there she had at least 20 visitors between the staff, priest, volunteers, and fellow residents. Also, being a good Catholic, I requested she receive the Sacrament of the Sick ASAP, just in case anything else happened to her. The priest from Saint Paul's Church who came was so happy I called, explaining that very few families think of doing that. So all is well, at least for now.

So that meant I could relax a bit when I finally did get home. First thing I did was pop on a loaf of tomato bread in my Zoji-mini ABM

I use the recipe printed on the side of the machine, using a spoon of Lighter Bake for the butter and soy milk powder for the dried milk. At the "add" beep I tossed in a half cup of the dry type of sun-dried tomatoes that I chopped up into tiny pieces with scissors, then coated with a bit of flour and a lot of garlic powder and Penzey Spices' Italian herb mix. And like any good McDougaller, I used white whole wheat flour for half the flour called for. If I used all whole wheat my husband won't eat it.

As it mixes, most of the tomatoes stay at the size I cut them, but some of the smaller pieces break up, making for a nice orangy-swirled dough with red and green flecks.

Here's the original recipe:

Makes a 1-pound loaf of bread

2/3 cup water

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tablespoon dried milk powder

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon yeast

Now why did I say "Too much food?" Certainly not because of the bread! Remember that soup I mentioned in the other post? Well I finally got around to making it for Tuesday's dinner.

But the soup and bread weren't the only things I made. I figured we'd each have a small bowl of soup for dinner and I'd save the rest for lunches for me for the rest of the week. My husband wasn't too crazy about that idea and wished ALL I made was the soup and bread, because he loves this soup so much (Thanks, Isa & Terry, once again!).

To go along with the soup I made the Right Foods Casserole. It's based on the "McDougall Right Pie" that Star McDougaller Mike Teehan shared way back in this post. How I make my version is to take a bag of (oil free) frozen hash browns (diced, not shredded), a handful of garlic cloves, a bag of chopped broccoli,

and 2 or 3 cups of the McDougall Right Foods soup cups. Quick and easy and oh, so tasty!

So yeah, way too much food for one meal, but my leftovers stash had been depleted and I had been grabbing what I could between hospital visits. At least now, with the aunt back in her nursing home, my schedule is back to - - - well, not really back to normal. The kid has had an ear infection/water in the ear for a month now and his primary care doc wants him to see a specialist, so his ENT appointment is scheduled for this afternoon, and the aunt's house has a buyer and we still have some clothes closets to empty out (And we ran out of room for her stuff - heck, even OUR stuff - in our 5-room apartment ages ago). So I still run back and forth there between everything else. Luckily that's all that's left - aside from stuff that's being picked up by Salvation Army as soon as the realtor gives us the go-ahead.

Tonight, I plan on making another Veganomicon recipe, Tofu Florentine (Google Books link, scroll to page 72 or search "florentine"), and the leftovers from yesterday I had to promise to save for another dinner instead of lunches, so that's for tomorrow. With any luck I'll actually get that dish made tonight and have pics to share in tomorrow's blog post.

VeganMoFo 2011

2011-10-02T16:56:00.000-04:00

Sorry, but things are crazy at home. The elderly relative I cared for before moving into a nursing home a few weeks ago has been in the hospital twice and had 2 surgeries in 2 days, then the day after surgery they returned her to the nursing home, and the next night they transferred her BACK to the hospital with what they thought was a post-op complication. The ER docs didn't know she had surgery (Nobody told them she was discharged about 30 hours earlier or her medical history) and they admitted her with a possible heart attack because some enzymes that show inflammation were elevated. She just had her guts ripped open - that's why those enzymes are elevated, you idiots!!

Anyway, as far as MoFoing goes, I haven't really been cooking so I have nothing to report. Yesterday I tossed on a pot of pasta with a jar of marinara sauce, and tonight I've got hash browns frying up with some spinach, onion, corn and garlic tossed in. I'm hoping to get a pot of soup on for tomorrow, Veganomicon's Tomato Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and White Beans. I see I already used that recipe for last year's (Or was it the year before?) VeganMoFo so just click on the link to see the recipe and a photo.

Hopefully Tuesday I'll have good news and a new recipe and photo.

VeganMoFo is Coming!

2011-09-23T14:53:00.000-04:00

VeganMoFo - Vegan Month of Food - is once again slated for the month of October.

This year I'm already way too busy and way behind on my internetting (I have a month of email waiting to catch up on) so I probably won't be an active participant this year, but I will be checking in as much as possible.

Dr. McDougall On YouTube

2011-04-17T15:54:00.001-04:00

Looks like Dr. McDougall has a new YouTube page. So far there are 38 videos, including the Star McDougaller ones from his web site. Most are like this one, 4 minutes and under and filmed in front of a bare wall, but some are clips from speeches and presentations by him and others.

Been A While

2011-04-14T10:41:00.001-04:00

I know I haven’t posted in a while. Winter has been depressing and tough, with all that snow. Depression turns into mindless snacking, and snacking on the wrong kinds of food. Non-McDougall foods.

And that leads to weight gain.

Which leads to more depression.

But now I’m back on track. My dinner menus are made out through June and every one is for a McDougall-safe recipe, most of them MWLP-safe. My freezer is full of fruit and veggies (plus my son’s off-plan frozen pizza), the pantry filled with canned and aseptically boxed no-salt added tomatoes. I have a few different kinds of brown rice around, both long-cooking bagged, like basmati and jasmine, and quick cooking ones like Success. I have plenty of fresh and frozen potatoes. 3 different kinds of oatmeal, too (old fashioned, minute, and steel-cut).

As I watch my family eat non-plan foods I mourn my loss, like losing a good friend. At those times I reflect on something I recently read on a weight-loss message forum:

Of course it isn’t fair, but you just have to accept it and move on.

I’m moving on again.

Hey! Portland People! See THIS?

2011-01-13T14:38:00.000-05:00

If you live in Portland (You lucky dogs!) go visit Julie's food cart! I've been visiting her web site, Everyday Dish TV, for years and am so happy for her getting all this publicity - and having all this FUN - in Portland doing what she loves.

VeganMoFo Day 30 The Last Day and Rice Medley Recipe

2010-11-30T13:25:00.000-05:00

I've been a bad VeganMoFo-er, but that's what happens when something like this happens on a month full of fasting for lab work, birthdays and holidays, vacation and doctor days, and a full pantry and freezer. Having a family who refuses to experiment doesn't help much, either.

But don't worry - I promise to post a bit more in the future. Isa's new book is out and Amazon still says "not yet shipped" even though many PPKers already got theirs. When it does come, I plan on making at least one meal a week from it, and if I can get a pic snapped before my husband dives in you'll see the results of my labors. I will have to fiddle around with them a bit to eliminate oils and such to make them McDougall-legal, but since they're supposed to be low-fat already it shouldn't take much.

Thanks to the more conscientious VeganMoFo-ers out there, and thanks for all your posts and recipes. See you all on the PPK and your blogs.

Wait a minute! I was just at Amazon to grab the book's link and see that my order now says Shipping Soon with an expected delivery date of 12/2/2010. And to think I pre-ordered it way back in June (?) and paid for 2-days shipping. (sigh) WHY do I even bother with Amazon pre-orders after being burned by them so many times? This is now the fifth pre-order (and the third book by Isa) with premium shipping I paid for and the product was NOT delivered on-time or even early, as other PPKer's got.

Oh, well. As for today's dinner, a simple rice dish from Mary McDougall. As is my usual, I'll use no-salt added tomatoes and skip the cilantro. This complete recipe usually makes 2 servings, not the 6 to 8 the recipe says. Who eats only a half cup or so of rice & veggie mixture for a meal?


* Exported from MasterCook *

                               Rice Medley

Recipe By     : Mary McDougall
Serving Size : 6     Preparation Time :0:15
Categories    : Low-Fat                         McDougall Acceptable
                Rice & Grains

Amount Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
     1/2           cup vegetable broth
1                     onion -- chopped
1                     green bell pepper -- chopped
     1/2         pound sliced fresh mushrooms
1              bunch green onions -- chopped
     1/2      teaspoon minced fresh garlic
1                can stewed tomatoes -- (14.5 ounce)
1                can chopped green chilies -- (4 ounce)
1         tablespoon soy sauce
1           teaspoon chili powder
1               dash or two of Tabasco sauce
4               cups cooked brown rice
     1/4           cup chopped cilantro

Place the vegetable broth in a large pot. Add the onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, green onions, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients, except the rice and cilantro. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 more minutes. Add the rice and cilantro. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Serve at once.

The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook, page 105
1997

T(cooking):
"0:15"
                                    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving: 197 Calories; 2g Fat (7.8% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 41g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; trace Cholesterol; 327mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch); 1 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Fat.

NOTES : Recipe Hint: Use one of the seasoned stewed tomatoes, such as Mexican-style, Cajun-style, or Italian-style, for even more flavor in this dish.

Prep and cooking times assumes you have rice already cooked on hand.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

VeganMoFo Day 25 Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T13:07:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our menu today will include mashed white and sweet potatoes, stuffing, canned cranberries, roasted carrots and Brussels sprouts, onion gravy, and biscuits. My son requested and will get mac & cheese.

My guys requested no desserts, as my son still has some of his birthday cake leftover he wants to finish up and my husband prefers his usual fig bar cookies to any kind of pie or other holiday-themed dessert, and since my cardiologist yelled at me last year for having one small piece of vegan pumpkin pie, I don't dare eat anything that would make him mad this year.

We'll close out the day watching a movie on DVD called An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving. It'll be the perfect end to a perfect day.

VeganMoFo Day 24 - Vegan Thanksgiving Article

2010-11-24T06:04:00.000-05:00

Now this is good news: Our local newspaper has an article, complete with recipes, about having a vegan Thanksgiving. I wish the papers would have vegan recipes more often, though.

Vegan Thanksgiving recipes everyone will enjoy! Pumpkin pie, gingerbread cookies and more

By Lindsay Goldwert
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, November 23rd 2010, 1:06 PM

Courtesy of PETA

It's easy to make a few vegan dishes this Thanksgiving.

Have vegetarian or vegan guests coming to Thanksgiving? It's easy to modify your dishes to suit your non-meat eating guests.

"It's never been easier to eat vegetarian or vegan," said PETA campaign manager Lindsay Rajt. "Besides, a lot of vegan and vegetarian choices are usually great ideas for people watching their cholesterol and heart health."

But what about how it tastes?
CLICK FOR RECIPE:
Toasted Bread with Roasted Fall Veggies CLICK FOR RECIPE: Vegan Gingerbread cookiesCLICK FOR RECIPE: Pumpkin Pie

Sometimes, it's just a matter of choosing your ingredients wisely.

Leslie McEachern knows a thing or two about delicious vegan eating – she's been operating veggie-haven Angelica Kitchen in the East Village since 1982.

They make mashed potatoes without a drop of milk, cream or butter.

"We use fresh, waxy Yukon potatoes, whole cloves of garlic, good olive oil and salt and pepper," she said. "That's how we do it every day."

Mike Walter, owner of 'sNice in the West Village, makes comfort food for vegans and vegetarians. Even the marshmallows for the hot cocoa are vegan.

"Tofu cream cheese is a great thickener," he said. "I use it in leek and potato soup and lot of other stuff."
A vegan-friendly trick that no one will even notice?

Grate some fresh pepper into individual bowls, fill with extra-virgin olive oil. No one will miss the butter plate.

Here are some recipes that will please vegans and non-vegans alike because they pass the important test – they just taste good.

VeganMoFo Day 21 Excuses and A McDougall Lecture

2010-11-21T07:17:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the absence - my husband is now officially on vacation and we've been busy. Food-wise, Friday the boys ordered take-out pizza and I had some veggies and rice; yesterday we had pasta with jarred sauce, and although it's not McDougall-approved, I tossed in some TVP strips. The doctor now against ALL processed soy foods although back in the beginning they were listed as good options and Mary McDougall had a number of recipes using things like Gimmelean, tvp, and soy cheeses. Today they boys are having burgers and I'm having the rest of last night's pasta. Tomorrow is our son's birthday and he requested his birthday dinner come from the other McD's, so it's back to veggies and rice for me. Tuesday they're having sandwiches from Blimpie and since the only veg option I know of is a Morningstar Farms veggie burger as the "meat" of the sandwich I'll probably finish up the rice and veggies. Wednesday is still up in the air, so maybe then I'll have a recipe for you.

To hold you in the meantime is this 75 minute long lecture from Doctor McDougall. It's from this year's VegSource Healthy Lifestyle Expo and is a prelude to his upcoming book,The Starch Solution (still not completed and no publishing date yet, AFAIK). I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but so far it's nothing he hasn't already stated and stressed so many times in the past about the benefits of a starch based food plan.

Here's the same lecture from his Vimeo page instead of YouTube. You can find over a dozen videos by him and his Star McDougallers there.

The Starch Solution from John McDougall on Vimeo.

VeganMoFo Day 18 Potatoes

2010-11-18T12:37:00.000-05:00

Photo from Utopian Kitchen blog

Potatoes are such a huge part of the McDougall food plan. Do a search on the McDougall web site and it turns up thousands of references to the lowly spud. Many recipes in the newsletter archives and the McDougall books contain potatoes in one form or another. Telling how whole civilizations lived on nothing but potatoes is a frequent topic of Dr. McDougall's. The Mary's Mini (2 links) version of his food plan uses potatoes as an example of an easy day's meal - hash browns for breakfast, mashed for lunch and baked for dinner.

And why not? The potato is a very versatile veggie, and quite tasty even on its own, without any condiments or additions, even when made with no added fat.

And McDougallers aren't the only ones who think so. Chris Voight, the head of the Washington State Potato Commission, is doing a challenge where he's eating only potatoes for 60 days to prove they're not the deadly menace the low-carbers want us to believe. And he has the blood work results to prove it.

Today is a potato-heavy day for me, too. For breakfast I had a sweet potato that I made a few days ago; my baked potatoes for lunch are in the oven, and I'll be making an Irish Stew with a whole bag of hash browns for dinner.

Below is the basic recipe. I doubled everything except the beans. Why? Because my fridge is now devoid of any leftovers and looks empty. Besides, even though I grabbed the smallest cabbage the store had it made up to well over 4 cups of sliced cabbage.

For the broth I used the broth powder from Dr. Neal Pinckney. It's my go-to broth powder recipe and I always have a giant jar of it in the pantry. It's similar to the one by Bryanna I used to use but without the milk powder or salt.

Before cooking

* Exported from MasterCook *

                             Irish Bean Stew

Recipe By     :Mary McDougall & John McDougall, M.D.
Serving Size : 6     Preparation Time :0:15
Categories    : Low-Fat                  Vegan

Amount Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1             medium onion -- chopped
     1/3           cup water
     3/4      teaspoon caraway seeds
2               cups hash browns, frozen
2               cups frozen mixed vegetables
1 3/4           cups vegetable broth
4               cups cabbage -- coarsely chopped
30            ounces canned white beans -- (2-15 ounce cans)
                        freshly ground black pepper -- to taste

Place the onion and water in a large pot. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3
minutes. Add the caraway seeds and cook and stir for another minute. Add
the potatoes, mixed vegetables, and vegetable broth. Mix well, cover, and
cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the cabbage and cook for another 5 minutes.
Add the beans and cook for 10 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.
Season with the pepper. Serve in a bowl.

Source:
"McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook"
Copyright:
"1997"
T(cooking):
"0:24"
                                    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving: 332 Calories; 2g Fat (6.5% calories from fat); 17g Protein; 64g Carbohydrate; 13g Dietary Fiber; 1mg Cholesterol; 537mg Sodium. Exchanges: 3 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Vegetable; 1/2 Fat.

NOTES : You don't have to thaw the frozen vegetables before using them in this recipe. As the potatoes cook, they thicken the stew. This is a delicious dish for a cool winter evening. Whenever we make it there are never any leftovers. We like to eat this with slices of bread to dunk into the broth.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

VeganMoFo Day 16 (belated) Appetite for Reduction

2010-11-17T10:05:00.000-05:00

Two posts today to make up for missing yesterday.

Those of us who frequent the PPK know that Isa has a new book coming out in a few weeks, Appetite for Reduction. This is going to be the first book of hers that I don't have to make too many adjustments to the recipes to make them McDougall-legal.

Here are some photos from one of the recipe testers, NOT me. I can't stop drooling!

December 7th can't come quick enough!

VeganMoFo Day 17 - Uncle Buck's Tips Part 2

2010-11-17T08:10:00.000-05:00

Success Tips: Part 2

Hi, Everybody!

After I sent out the first round of "Success Tips" a couple of weeks ago, it occurred to me that I had several other "secrets" which have benefited me greatly over the past nine years. So, I decided to mail out Part 2 to anyone who requested it.

Ultimately, your success with this program will be determined by your level of desire. In very plain terms, you have to WANT to do well. If you do not have a keen desire, then no amount of success tips or helpful hints will help.

Before we begin Part 2, I want to ask you to take a few minutes to consider your reasons for utilizing this program. Are your reasons enough to fill you with an overpowering desire to succeed? What are your "wants" (reasons such as excellent health, more energy, better appearance, etc.)? If your "wants" don't motivate you enough, then what are your "don't wants"? What will be the consequences if you do not change your lifestyle (reasons such as poor health, low energy, low self-esteem, etc.)? The bottom line is that your "wants" must be great enough to help you avoid your "don't wants." If, after thinking this through, you are still undecided about your level of desire and determination, then you need to go back and review your list of "wants" and "don't wants" again before proceeding. I have found that when most folks think clearly about this, they are able to find all of the motivation that they need.

So once again, the list that I have put together is merely to help you once you have already done some soul searching and are ready to embrace this program as a lifestyle. Embracing the program as a lifestyle will improve the quality of your life immeasurably. I encourage you to take that small step of faith and help your life take a turn for the better.

Okay, without further delay, here is Part 2 of the success tips:

(1)    Consider dropping refined sugar from your lifestyle. Sugar seems to affect everyone differently. Some seem to be able to consume any amount with no problem while a small amount may send others into a tailspin. To some folks, sugar is very much like cocaine or some other addictive drug. Any amount leads to an unquenchable desire for MORE. Even the smallest amount can trigger a sugar binge for the unfortunate souls in this group. If you'd like to read a thorough discussion of sugar and its impact on body chemistry, I recommend a book entitled "The Sugar Blues." In the case of my own life, my struggles with sticking to this program became so much easier when I walked away from sugar.

(2)    The grocery store is a mine field! It is imperative to eat a good meal before you go shopping. If you're anything like me, going into the grocery store on an empty stomach may present temptations which are far beyond your ability to resist. Also, it's no secret these days that grocery stores utilize effective marketing and merchandising methods just like most other businesses. Many prepackaged foods (especially snack foods) are positioned at key locations in the store to encourage you to make an impulse purchase of that item. If you are hungry while you are shopping, those donuts or Snicker bars may JUMP into your shopping cart. Eat before you go shopping. One final note, it's also a good idea to make a list of exactly what you plan to purchase before going to the grocery store. Something that has worked out well for me is sticking with basic staple items and avoiding prepackaged foods whenever possible. Yes, meals do take a few minutes longer to prepare without all the prepackaged foods, but I've found the small investment in time to be well worth the effort.

(3)    Learn where to find the food items you want. One of the things that we have to realize when we embrace this program is that the rest of the world is still consuming the Standard American Diet (SAD). With that in mind, it's only reasonable to expect that grocery stores are going to cater to the SAD crowd. While basic staple items such as fruits and vegetables are readily available at most grocery stores, there are other healthful items which will make your new meal plan a lot more palatable. Unfortunately, most of these other items are not to be found in your neighborhood grocery store. I've found some grocery stores to be very gracious about special ordering anything, but sometimes that's more hassle than it's worth. The bottom line is that you will have to find out where to purchase the items you want, whether it be from a grocery store, a health food store, or directly from the manufacturer. As you may have heard me say before, if there is one key to which I attribute my success on this program, it is maintaining a lot of variety in my weekly meal plan. You must learn to prepare foods which taste good to you, and you must locate the sources of the ingredients that you need. Investing a little time in searching for these sources may very well be the deciding factor in keeping yourself on the program.

(4)    Consider teaming up with someone else who is on the program.   In reviewing the posts on the discussion board over the past couple of years, I've noticed that several folks have teamed up with someone else who has similar goals. This is sort of a buddy system, and there are many benefits to be found in it. This other person can be your sounding board and sometimes even a source of strength when you need it. Also, I would be willing to bet that there are many "old timers" who have been on the program for several years and would be happy to be your success coach. My feeling is that none of us should ever try to reinvent the wheel when there is someone out there who has already done what we are trying to do. Lots of people have already been through what you are going through, so by all means, draw on their experience.

(5)    Keep your mind off of what you don't want! One thing I've learned in my years on the planet is that in order to be successful at anything, you have to keep your mind focused on what you want. Yet, for some reason, human nature seems to compel us to focus on what we don't want. This topic is really interesting to me and I could probably write several pages here, but I won't. Instead, I'll just give you a couple of examples. For example, if you have a weakness for candy and you know that eating candy is not in your best interest, then by all means stay out of the candy aisle at the store. Marketing people will keep it in your face enough as it is (through TV commercials and magazine ads), so don't pour gasoline on the fire by strolling down the candy aisle at Wal-Mart. Okay, here's another example. I love Coca-cola. I always have and I probably always will. Nevertheless, I have learned that drinking cokes is not in my best interest. Even though I hardly ever drink them anymore, they are constantly calling me. I've also discovered that the mind controls the body (in my case the reverse of that used to be true). If the mind controls the body and we want to control our body, then we must gain control of our mind. If we allow our mind to dwell on something that we know is not in our best interest, the mind may give in to the body and we wind up having the coke or the candy bar. Okay, here's a secret to help you gain control of your mind when you find yourself struggling to overcome some undesirable urge. "When thoughts do not neutralize an undesirable emotion (urge), action will" (W. Clement Stone). When you find yourself about to give in to an urge and your mind is about to lose the battle, simply take yourself out of that situation by taking action. Take any action! Any action will work! When I find myself just about to give in to an urge for a coke, I immediately stop whatever I'm doing and I go hit some golf balls or take a ride on the bike (can you say "Harley"?). If I'm at work and can't do either one of those, I take out my notebook and I start writing. That's the secret; just do something (anything) to take your mind off of what you don't want.

(6)    There is absolutely nothing wrong with setting goals. Setting goals is great and they may help you in your quest for success on this program. However, if you put yourself under a timeline, you may very well be setting yourself up for frustration and failure. Setting an approximate weight goal or clothing size is great. Just don't put yourself under the unneeded pressure to do it in a certain amount of time. It will simply take as long as it takes. Seeing yourself as having already accomplished your goal will be very helpful. I discussed this in Part 1, and it really does work.

(7)    Choose a reward for success on the program. Granted, excellent health and or weight loss are substantial rewards. However, it's okay to treat yourself to something special, whether it's a new outfit or a special trip to somewhere you've wanted to visit. Having a reward waiting for you when you achieve your goal might be just the little extra push you need. It's also helpful to get pictures of what it is that you want and keep them where you can see them throughout the day. This in itself isn't going to keep you on the program, but it can certainly help. In my case, it was a new suit of clothes. When I was 85 pounds heavier, I always looked somewhat sloppy in my clothes despite my efforts to present a good appearance. So, my reward when I reached my goal was a new suit that was tailored to fit me. That was a long time ago, but that suit is still very special to me because it represents the accomplishment of an important goal in my life. I think clothes were the ideal choice as my reward because losing the weight opened up a whole new world in the area of my appearance. But, by all means, pick a reward that is right for you. Only you know what will motivate you.

(8)    Failure to plan means planning to fail. One of the main reasons that many well-meaning people fail on this program is their failure to plan their meals so that they will have approved foods and snacks available at all times. Every Saturday, I plan out my meals for the following week because that seems to work best for me. This also insures that I can go to the grocery store and pick up whatever I need for the entire week. Please don't allow yourself to be caught without anything healthy to eat in the house after a long, tiring day at work. That's the time when most any of us are prone to caving in and rushing out to McDonalds for a SAD meal.

(9)    The longer you stay on this program, the easier it gets. On the one hand, that sounds very simple, but on the other hand it probably sounds quite difficult. What I really mean is that the longer you stick to the program and avoid those old favorite SAD foods, the easier it gets to avoid them in the future. As you've probably heard me say many times, our food preferences are based entirely on habit. So, consequently, the longer we abstain from those old favorites, the easier it will be to abstain from them in the future. Our abstinence weakens the old habits and helps us replace them with new, healthy habits. This is something that you will have to prove to yourself, and the only way is simply to do it and watch what happens.

(10)    Your life does not begin after you realize your goals. It is now! Don't wait a single day to start living your life. Life is now! You can easily incorporate the McDougall lifestyle into the other areas of your life. Realize that you have charted a course for a very healthy and happy future, and start living. Don't wait another day! PLEASE LISTEN TO BUCK: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL YOU LOSE THAT 50 POUNDS TO BE HAPPY AND START LIVING. My friends, life is now. Go for it!

If I can help you in any way, I'm here. Feel free to call on me any time. Nothing would make me happier than to see each and every one of you succeed and achieve your goals.

My very best to you all!

Buck

I tried writing to Uncle Buck at the email address I had for him, but alas, it was returned as undeliverable. I wanted to again thank him again for taking the time to write all these out for us all those years ago.

VeganMoFo Day 15 Onion Soup

2010-11-15T08:10:00.000-05:00

My pantry, fridge and freezer are over-flowing, so it's clean-out time.

Breakfast for me is my usual oatmeal with one of the apples in the fruit bowl.

Lunch will be a sweet potato or 2 that are already cooked and sitting in a bowl in the refrigerator.

Dinner for my boys will be some (non-vegan) ravioli from the freezer, garlic bread that's also been in the freezer, and soup. I'll be having leftovers once again, this time of rice and veggies that I made yesterday for lunch.

One thing I haven't made all last week and really want is soup. It doesn't have to be a hearty one, just some nice warm liquid to accompany a few meals. This onion soup does the trick.

When I make it, I use a vegan, no-salt added veg broth and omit the soy sauce. I have to check the date on my Worcestershire sauce - if it's outdated (again - I don't use it enough) I'll skip it. It's so hard to find a vegan version that I skip it in recipes more than use it when called for.

Now this recipe says it makes 4 servings, but not here. Honestly, who eats only ONE cup of soup at a time? I'll be lucky if I have enough of this for the 2 of us to have one decent sized bowl each. In the past when I made this I usually doubled it, but I don't want any more leftovers so will make just the one batch today.

And once more I warn you to ignore the nutritional info added by Mastercook, because it assumes full fat, full salt broth.

* Exported from MasterCook *

                             Onion Soup - Q&E

Recipe By     :Mary McDougall
Serving Size : 4     Preparation Time :0:10
Categories    : McDougall                      Soup
                Vegan

Amount Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
5               cups vegetable broth
3              large onions -- cut in half lengthwise, then sliced
     1/4           cup sherry
2        tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1         tablespoon soy sauce, low sodium
1           teaspoon dried onions -- minced
     1/2      teaspoon minced garlic -- fresh
     1/2      teaspoon onion powder
     1/4      teaspoon ground thyme
                        freshly ground black pepper -- to taste

Sauté the sliced onions in a large soup pot in 1/2 cup of the broth for 10 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 more minutes.l

Source:
"The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook, page 63"
Copyright:
"1997"
T(cooking):
"0:30"
                                    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving: 266 Calories; 5g Fat (17.5% calories from fat); 9g Protein; 44g Carbohydrate; 6g Dietary Fiber; 3mg Cholesterol; 2260mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch); 1 1/2 Vegetable; 1 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

Serving Ideas : Serve with a hearty loaf of bread to dunk in the flavorful broth. Or make some whole wheat croutons to float in the soup. Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF. Cut a slice of whole wheat bread into cubes; place on baking sheet and toast for 5 to 10 minutes. Can easily be made in a toaster oven, too.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

VeganMoFo Day 14 Pumpkin Mousse

2010-11-14T15:24:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving in less than two weeks away. Since it's just the three of us and neither have now nor ever have been turkey eaters, we rarely do up a big holiday meal. One year we had mac & cheese, a few others (Maybe even again this year) we had lasagna.

But I do try have a special holiday themed dessert, not on the day of the holiday itself but to share with the elderly relative I wrote about yesterday when we visit her the day or 2 after a holiday (We don't drive on holidays so she's used to late celebrations with us). Last year it was pumpkin pie, and unfortunately I had blood work drawn just 2 days after we had it and boy, was my cardiologist mad when my triglycerides were up higher than 2 months before! According to him, I should never have any dessert ever again, not even a McDougall-approved one, not even plain fruit, and not even for a holiday with a 92 year old relative. Sounds like my childhood all over again, when I was constantly on a 1000 calorie diet.

Sorry, doc, but that ain't gonna happen! Maybe after the old lady dies, but not until then.

Oh, and my trigs were only 16 points out of the normal range. They were much higher than that just a year before while eating 100% McDougall MWLP.

This year, because she's been having problems with her partial denture, I'm going to make something nice and soft. It's a recipe I found on a weight loss forum last year and I'm going to whip up a batch of it either today or tomorrow as a trial before the big day. The gal who posted it said it came from a friend of a friend who found it on-line on "some newsletter" so I have no idea what the real origin of the recipe is or who to credit it to.

I've made tofu based puddings before so it won't be weird to me, but when I give it to my husband to test I'm not telling him what it's made from. If he can't tell it's soy based the old aunt won't either.

Direction change: I'll probably just dump everything but the cookies into the food processor to whip up - why switch from blender to bowl and whisk? All my other tofu based puddings go into the food processor alone.

Pumpkin Mousse with Gingersnap Crumbs

1 10 oz package Silken tofu (soft variety)
1/2 cup Maple syrup
1 tsp Grated lemon zest
2 Tbsp Fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ginger
1 Pinch Ground cloves
1 Pinch Salt
3 cups Solid pack pumpkin or fresh cooked pumpkin (29 oz. can)
8 Gingersnaps cookies, crushed with rolling pin

Place everything except pumpkin and gingersnaps in a blender, and puree until smooth. Add half the pumpkin and puree again.

Transfer to a medium-sized bowl and beat remaining pumpkin with a whisk until the mixture becomes uniformly creamy. Taste to see if it needs more lemon juice.

Cover tightly and chill for several hours or overnight, so the flavors combine and deepen.

To serve, spoon the mousse into bowls and sprinkle with gingersnap crumbs. Serve immediately so crumbs don't turn soggy.

VeganMoFo Day 13 - Right Foods Cups

2010-11-13T16:19:00.000-05:00

Every Saturday we visit an elderly relative and do all her shopping, and when done we join her for a little nosh. She and my husband (her nephew) usually have a few cups of coffee and eat those Texas-sized store bought muffins, while I sip on my bottle of water and eat food from home. Many times I just bring a cooked baked potato sprinkled with a no-salt added spice blend, and in the past I had brought along some dinner leftovers. I found those to be way too much food for the short time we're actually in the dining room eating.

In my pre-McDougall days I had brought along ramen noodle cups, but as I got older and then into McDougall eating I realized they may be delicious and convenient, but certainly weren't that healthy.

Then came McDougall Right Foods. In the beginning, Dr. McDougall and partner/s decided together what to make available, and to this day you'll find a large variety of instant meals, from oatmeal to curries, all McDougall Plan-acceptable. Recently they introduced ready-made soup in aseptic boxes. Many of the soups are way too high in sodium for me; many claim to be 2 servings when we all know nobody is going to share a cup of ramen. Eventually they developed a lighter-sodium version of some of the cups, but at over 300 mg per serving they were still a bit too high for frequent eating.

The cups still say "McDougall Right Foods" but Dr. McDougall recently mentioned in a forum post that he's no longer with the company. He also says these cups are to be "sometimes" foods, not for everyday use. Eating that cup of ramen when visiting that aunt is a "sometimes" thing for me.

There's a new line of these cups out, Asian Entrée, and I picked up a few of them last week. Today I brought the Roasted Peanut Noodle with me to try. It's still a bit high in sodium so I took the advice of some of the people on the official McDougall forums and used only half a flavor packet, and it still tasted pretty great. The spices won't go to waste - I'll use the rest during a veggies & rice lunch. I'm glad our local Stop and Shop has them on sale so I can go back and pick up a few more next week.

This is not something I would eat often - I still prefer to bring my own food when we're out at mealtime, but because I had no leftovers and no potatoes this morning to take with me on this elder-visit, this cup sure came in handy.

VeganMoFo More from Jeff - Favorite Packaged Foods

2010-11-12T12:15:00.000-05:00

OK, another day with no recipe - sorry, but it's our 33rd wedding anniversary and my husband insists on having outside food for dinner. This food is NOT going to be McDougall compliant, but will be vegan, so again I will say no more about it.

Instead, I'm going to share a bit more from Jeff Novick. The following has appeared in various forms on-line, between blogs, his DVD, Facebook and forum posts. Just keep well stocked with these items and you'll always have a healthy - and fast - meal available to eat.

PACKAGED FOODS

The healthiest foods are the foods that come straight out of the

garden and are consumed in their natural form or as simply

prepared as possible. These foods are fresh fruits, vegetables,

starchy vegetables, legumes, and intact whole grains and should be the focus of anyones diet if they want to be healthy.

Packaged and processed foods are usually loaded with too much

fat, unhealthy fats, salt, refined sugars/sweeteners and refined

carbohydrates/grains, They are also almost always calorie dense.

However, there are some packaged and processed foods that can be included as part of a healthy diet. And in fact, keeping some of them around and on hand, can actually make following a healthy diet, easier.

Here they are.

1) Frozen Vegetables

Vegetables are the most nutrient dense food there is and including more of them in your diet is a key to improving the nutritional quality of your diet. Unlike many canned vegetables, plain frozen

individual vegetables usually have no other added ingredients.

Frozen peas and beans may have some added salt, but they usually make my 1:1 sodium/calorie guideline. They can easily be thawed and including as part of a healthy recipe and/or meal.

Caution: Be careful of all the new fancy frozen vegetable mixes as many come with added sauces that can be high in salt, sugar and or fat. Look for the plain mixes.

2) Frozen Fruits

The same reasoning for frozen vegetables also applies to frozen

fruits. Look for the ones that are just frozen fruit and avoid the

ones with added sugars. Frozen berries are one of my favorites to

keep on hand. While fresh berries are very seasonal, and often

mold and rot very quickly and easily, frozen berries do not and are available year round. In addition, you can often find wild berries, including blueberries and strawberries, which are often sweeter and more nutrient dense

3) Success Quick Cooking Brown Rice

My favorite kind of rice, is basmati brown rice. I love the taste and the aroma, especially when it is cooking. It smells like popcorn popping. However, I do not always have the 40 minutes to prepare the basmati brown rice from scratch. Nor do I always have some cooked up ahead of time. The solution, Success brand Quick Cooking Brown Rice. This has to be the simplest and easiest

version of quick cooking brown rice ever invented. Many versions

require the measurement of water and rice (which can be

troublesome for many). However, with this version all you do is

place a pre-measured bag in a pot of boiling water and in 10

minutes, perfect brown rice.

4) Eden Foods No Salt Added Canned Beans

Next to green leafy veggies, beans may be one of the healthiest

foods there is. They are rich in nutrients and fiber, very filling and relatively low in calorie density. The problem for most of us is that most beans can take hours to cook and most canned beans are extremely high in sodium. For those in a hurry, the solution is

Eden Foods No Salt Added Canned Beans. There are about 12

varieties of beans available, including Kidney, Red, Black, Garbanzo, Pinto, Adzuki, etc and not only are they available online, and in health food stores, I find most local grocery stores are now carrying them also. Just open a can, rinse the beans and add them to your favorite dish, recipe or meal. Eden Foods canned beans are all packed in PBA free cans.

5) No Salt Added Tomato Products

Tomatoes make a great base for many dressings, sauces, soups and meals (i.e., stews, chili's, etc). However, good fresh tomatoes are not always available year round and some of the one that are available are literally tasteless. In addition, most canned tomato products are extremely high in sodium. However, if you look carefully, you will find several varieties of tomato products that are no salt added and often times, they are not even labeled as such or carried in the health food store. Even some of the more well known brands, like Huntz and Heinz offer "no salt added" varieties of tomato products. While these tomato product could never substitute for a fresh "in season" tomato on a salad, they can help make excellent soups, sauces, and meals when fresh tomatoes are out of season or when you are in a pinch.

While there are no BPA free canned tomatoes on the market, you

can purchase tomatoes in glass jars or you can purchases tomatoes in aseptic packaging. The most popular brand is POMI and is widely available in most grocery stores.

6) Whole Grain Pasta

The problem with many whole grain processed products (like bread, dry cereals, bagels and crackers) is that even if they are whole grain, they are still calorie dense. The only exception is whole grain pasta. The reason is, when you cook whole grain pasta, it absorbs some of the water it is cooked in, which is absorbed into the structure of the pasta, lowering its calorie density. Foods with high water content, are lower in calorie density and generally higher in satiety.

Unlike most processed whole grains, which have a calorie density of 1200-1500 calories per pound, the calorie density of most cooked whole grain pasta is the same as most intact whole grains and starchy vegetables, which is around 300-600 calories per pound. It is also very quick and easy to cook and can be ready in under 10 minutes. Mix in some fresh or frozen vegetables and you have a healthy, nutritious and filling meal.

7) Dried Fruit

Dried fruit is natures candy. Unlike fresh fruit, it is shelf stable and will not spoil easily. Adding dried fruit to dishes can add both

nutrition and sweetness. A few raisins or dates can really sweeten up a bowl of fruit or a fresh fruit smoothie. They also go great in a bowl of whole grain cereal like oatmeal or as part of a dessert like baked apples. In addition, they make great additions by adding a little sweetness to a large vegetables salad, or even some cooked dishes like stews and rice.

However, due their high calorie density, go easy on them. A serving of dried fruit is only 1/8 to 1/4 cup (compared to 1/2 cup for fresh fruit) so they are easy to overeat on.

8) Unsalted Raw Nuts/Seeds and Nut/Seed Butter

Raw nuts and seeds, and the "butters" made from them, are rich in nutrients especially minerals. A few of them, like walnuts, flax

seeds and chia seeds are also excellent sources of the omega 3

essential fat. They are also shelf stable and will not spoil easily.

They can also add creaminess and texture to some home made

dressings and dips/spreads and/or soups. I make a salad dressing

that is made from a little tahini (sesame seed butter)mixed with

lemon and water. I also add a small amount of tahini to blended

garbanzo beans to add some texture to my homemade hummus.

However, due to their extremely high calorie density, go very easy on them. I recommend consuming no more than 1-2 oz a day at most. Also, if you are struggling with your weight, I recommend either eliminating them or limiting them even more, to no more than 1 oz, no more than 1-5x a week. And, when you do use them, make sure you mix them with something low in calorie density, like a vegetable or fruit salad.

9) Intact Whole Grains (Buckwheat, Brown Rice, Oatmeal, etc)

Whole grains that are consumed in their "intact" form are low in

calorie density, high in satiety, nutrient rich and shelf stable. They are easy to cook (just add water) and can be the base of many healthy meals and dishes. They also make great additions to soups and salads. Oatmeal, buckwheat, and barley all make a great breakfast and a great way to start the day. Brown rice, cracked wheat, quinoa, and/or millet mixed with vegetables make a great meal, side dish and or salad.

10) Salt Free Spices/Seasonings/Herbs

As you decrease the amount of salt, sugar and oil in your diet, you will begin to appreciate the wonderful natural flavors of food. However, some people still like to add a little "spice" to their life. Fortunately, there are many salt-free spices, seasonings and blends available. Probably the most popular one is Mrs. Dash, which has many varieties available. In addition, for those of you who are not a chef and not familiar with the different flavor combinations of spices, you can now buy many salt free blends that can help. There are pre-mixed blends of salt-free Italian, Mexican, Indian, Southern and many other blends available.

There you go. My favorite 10 packaged staple foods that are not

only good for you and can be included as part of a healthy diet.

And in fact, keeping some of them around and on hand, can

actually make following a healthy diet, easier.

VeganMoFo No Recipe Today; Uncle Buck's Tips

2010-11-11T08:03:00.000-05:00

I have way too many leftovers from previous meals this week, so again for lunch and then for dinner today, maybe even tomorrow and the weekend, we'll be finishing them up.

So today, I'll just send up some words of wisdom from a long-time McDougaller known only as "Uncle Buck." Back on the old forums he was a very frequent poster, even becoming one of the Star McDougallers, but when the new forums appeared he posted once or twice then disappeared. The best thing Uncle Buck ever did was write his 2 posts of tips every McDougaller should read over and over again, and gave permission for them to be shared in any way possible. I had posted these on the blog in the past, so this is for the new visitors. Today I'll post the first of his tip files and the second before the month is out, perhaps even tomorrow when we're still chowing down on leftovers.

Wherever you are now, Uncle Buck, I still thank you for these.

Success Tips For Newcomers

Dear Friends:

I've been on the McDougall program for nine years, and I thought it might be a good idea to put together some information for you newcomers. Whether you are starting the program or maybe just considering it, I hope this information will be of help to you.

First and foremost, the thoughts that I will be sharing with you here are not intended to take the place of the basic information contained in Dr. McDougall's books on this program. I will assume that you have already read at least one of the books and that you are already familiar with the basics of the program. My intent is merely to share some success tips based on my own experience with the program in order to help insure your success.

Secondly, if you have any questions with regard to the basics of the program after reading the book(s), you can post them on the discussion board where any of us "old timers" will be happy to answer them, or you can contact Dr. McDougall directly via email. He has proven to be extremely conscientious about responding to questions and comments.

Okay, without further delay, let's get started…

(1) This program is a lifestyle!   As you may have already discovered after visiting the discussion board, there are many reasons why people choose to go on this program. Some want to rid themselves of chronic health problems, and some want to feel better. However, if the posts on the discussion board are representative of the McDougall group at large, the desire to lose weight is by far the most common reason.

The McDougall program is a very effective program for weight loss. However, let me say this very emphatically: IT IS NOT A DIET!   IT IS A LIFESTYLE that we can and should embrace for the rest of our lives. The folks I know who have lost weight and kept it off are those who have made this program their way of life (myself included).

(2) Rid yourself of the diet mentality! Have you ever been on a diet that gave you permanent results? I haven't, and believe me, I tried them all. A diet, by its very nature dooms us to failure. Diets involve counting calories, portion limits, frequent weigh-ins and overall feelings of deprivation. When we go on a diet, our mentality is that we can deprive ourselves for a while (long enough to get the weight off) and then go back to eating our familiar treats. Well to begin with, I've never known anyone who could even stay on a diet long enough to get the weight off. I never could. One day, it dawned on me that if I was ever going to be able to lose weight and keep it off permanently, I would have to resort to something other than dieting since diets absolutely do not work.

One of the best definitions of insanity that I've ever heard is "doing something the same way you've always done it and expecting a different result." Well, I was tired of living in such an insane manner. I finally decided to permanently get out of the diet loop. I think you know what the diet loop is; we've all been there. We start a diet with the best intentions only to crash and burn in a few weeks. Then we put back on all the weight that we took off plus a couple of extra pounds. A couple of weeks later, we are frustrated again because our clothes are tight, so we make a firm resolution to go back on a strict diet and absolutely stay on it until the weight comes off. Then, two weeks later we crash and burn again. By now you can probably see the endless cycle that keeps repeating itself in our lives. And it's a cycle that leads to certain failure. So, one of the first steps in realizing success on this program is merely to stop doing what we know has never worked in the past. We must stop dieting.

(3)    Eat when you're hungry! Now, this certainly flies in the face of the dieting mentality. Whoever thought that it would be possible to eat whenever we want and all that we want and still lose weight? Well, it's true; you can! As long as you are eating approved program foods, you can eat whenever you are hungry, and you can eat until you are full. There is no need to measure portions or count calories, because it simply is not necessary. The foods selected by Dr. McDougall are the foods which support health. If you find yourself still thinking that you must limit your food intake, then you haven't completely shaken the diet mentality. Please trust me. I lost 80+ pounds and kept it off without ever once measuring a portion or counting calories. If we wish to free ourselves from the diet mentality, then we must return to listening to our bodies and trusting them to tell us when to eat and when we are full.

(4) Stay off the scales! A scale is not an accurate measure of progress on this program, and if you weigh yourself frequently, you are only setting yourself up for a lot of unneeded stress and aggravation. Now, some of you will want to fight me on this, but here is my very best recommendation to you for success on this program: Weigh yourself one time. Write that number (your weight) on a slip of paper and file it away in a drawer somewhere. Then, GET RID OF YOUR SCALE! Believe me, you don't need it, and it isn't going to bring any peace into your life. Either give it away, or get someone to keep it for you. If you have it available nearby, you'll be tempted to go in and stand on it much too frequently. You'll know the program is working when your clothes start to become loose, and believe me, they will!

(5)    Don't put yourself on a timeline! There's something about trying to lose weight that makes people crazy. For some reason, we feel like the weight has to come off overnight. I don't know if that's just part of the diet mentality, or maybe it's because we have become accustomed to instant gratification. In any case, all a timeline will do is put you under a lot of unneeded stress. If you really want to be happy and at peace with this program and the rest of your life, consider divorcing yourself from the timeline aspect. If you are following the program, the weight will come off. I promise! And it will come off at a rate which is right for your body. How long will it take for the average individual? It will simply take as long as it takes. Please believe me, I'm not trying to be flippant. What I'm trying to get you to see is that it doesn't matter how long it takes. If you've made the decision to change your lifestyle, you can be certain that the results will come. So, don't put yourself under the added pressure of so many months or so many pounds per week. Let your body worry about that because it will take care of it for you. You need not give it another thought.

(6)    Fill your pantry with approved foods! Write out a shopping list and visit your local grocery store. Purchase approved brands listed in the book, or select other brands which may be acceptable. If you elect to purchase other brands, you must read the label to insure that the product does not contain any ingredients that you are trying to avoid. Stock your pantry with plenty of approved foods and snacks. If you still have your old favorites from the Standard American Diet lurking in your pantry, my best advice is to get rid of them. Either throw them away or give them away. The little bit of money that it costs you to do this is a good investment in your future. If you have family members at home who have not embraced your new lifestyle, simply put their favorites in a special cabinet so that you will not have to be tempted every time you open the pantry. Adhering to this program by yourself while the rest of your family continues to partake of SAD foods can be a challenge, but I am here to tell you that it can be done. It simply involves a decision on your part.

(7) Prepare all of your meals at home! If you have already started this program, you know how difficult it can be to find McDougall friendly foods in restaurants. So, when you're first starting this new lifestyle, I recommend preparing all of your meals at home. If you work outside the home, prepare your lunch at home and take it with you. Trust me; it's the best way to go. Nearly all of the recipes in the McDougall cookbooks can be put into a container and taken to work. When you get hungry at work, you'll have a good meal ready for you. All you'll need to do is reheat it.

This is one of the critical areas when you are first beginning this lifestyle. When you are trying to make a successful transition from SAD to the McDougall program, it's very easy to find an excuse to revert back to your old way of eating. One of the particularly dangerous pitfalls is failure to plan your meals and not having acceptable foods available at meal time. If you work outside the home and you decide to go out to lunch at a local restaurant with your co-workers, the chances of finding a good meal consisting of approved foods every time you go out are slim to none. In talking with lots of folks on this program over the past couple of years, I would have to say that this is the greatest reason many people "crash and burn" and revert to their old way of eating. Maybe you can go out with them occasionally if you find a restaurant which serves some McDougall friendly food, but for now, please don't chance it. During the first month or two, while you are changing your eating habits, don't expose yourself to a situation which might cause you to fail. A little bit of planning and preparing your meals at home might just be the very factor which insures your success.

(8) Changing your lifestyle involves more than just changing what you eat! If you have a weight problem like I did, chances are you are somewhat sedentary. You can dramatically improve your results on this program by getting some exercise each and every day. It doesn't have to be painful or strenuous. You just need to get out and MOVE. A 30-minute brisk walk is fine for most folks. I'll be honest with you; when I first started walking I didn't care much for it because the old habit of coming home and sitting on the couch was still calling me. However, after I'd done it for approximately 30 days, I actually started looking forward to it every day. It definitely improved my metabolism and it always assisted me in clearing my mind after a stressful day.

(9) Put your thoughts to work for you! Okay this next one may sound a little bit far fetched, but I promise you it is the absolute truth. We become what we think about. What you are today is merely a reflection of the images of yourself that you have maintained in the past. Part of our human nature seems to be focusing on what we don't want instead of focusing on what we do want. However, if you can train yourself to focus on what you want, you will be much more successful at reaching your goals (in every area of life).

Let me put this in practical terms for you. Do you think thoughts about yourself being as you are now (overweight)? If you do, here is a process which will help insure your success in losing the excess weight. Start thinking of yourself, not as you are, but as how you wish to be. Start thinking of yourself at your goal weight. See yourself in vivid detail. What kind of clothes would you be wearing if you were at your goal weight? You must see yourself in vivid detail as having already accomplished your goal. Now, as you can imagine, this can be a little difficult if you've never tried it. However, it definitely becomes easier with practice. Start forming that new mental image of yourself several times per day, especially before going to sleep each night. Some of you might think this is a lot of hocus pocus, but you need only put it to the test. Don't take my word for it. Just try it and watch the miracles start to happen. There is true power found in this practice if you will practice it.

(10) Don't be afraid to swim against the tide! When you make that wonderful decision to embrace this lifestyle, you must also brace yourself for the onslaught of friends and family members which is sure to occur. Be assured, they mean well. It's just that they can't understand why anyone would not want to eat plenty of meat, eggs, oil, and dairy products. Some folks just can't stand to see someone not eating the same foods that they eat. Perhaps they are concerned because of some misguided notions about which foods support health, or maybe it's just that misery loves company. In any case, you'll have to develop a thick skin to insulate you from these well-meaning comments. Now you and I have never met, so let me tell you something about myself. I'm a very tolerant person, and I always try to be kind to everyone I meet under all circumstances. And, I try very hard to be kind and gracious when I'm on the receiving end of comments from the meat eaters. But let me also tell you this. I am not going to let ANYBODY deter me from maintaining a healthy lifestyle FOR ANY REASON. I don't care who they are. If they have a problem with the way I eat, then they had better GET A LIFE! I've been to the mountain, and I've seen the light, and now there is nothing that could deter me from living and eating this way. This is the attitude that I suggest you adopt if you wish to be successful on this program in the long haul. Listen graciously to people's comments, and be kind to them. But let their comments go in one ear and out the other.

Okay, I hope these ten success tips will be of value to you. Also, I want you to know that I want each and every one of you to succeed. If I can help you in any way, please let me know. In any case, please drop me a line occasionally just to let me know how you're doing.

My very best regards to you all!

Uncle Buck

Thanks, Vets

2010-11-11T07:23:00.003-05:00

From the comic strip Fort Knox

VeganMoFo Day 10 Alfredo Sauce

2010-11-10T08:27:00.002-05:00

Wednesdays will be pasta days this month, thanks to Thanksgiving. Today I'll be trying this alfredo sauce by Mary McDougall instead of the one I usually use.

I have no access except by mail-order for those boxes of Mori-Nu so I bought a 1-pound Naysoya silken tofu to use. To lower the sodium I'll probably skip the soy sauce. And knowing this family's love of the nooch, I'll definitely be adding a bit more than a tablespoon!

Although this would probably go okay over just about anything, today I'll be using eggless ribbon noodles.

The recipe and photo for the noodles come from this post on the Penniless Parenting blog.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Alfredo Sauce

Recipe By :Mary McDougall & John McDougall, M.D.
Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:10
Categories : McDougall Acceptable Pasta
Sauces Vegetarian

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
10 1/2 ounces tofu, silken, Mori-Nu Lite
1/2 cup soy milk -- or water
2 tablespoons tahini
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
1 teaspoon garlic -- minced
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
black pepper -- freshly ground

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.

Pour into a saucepan and heat through, about 5 minutes. Do not boil.

Serve over pasta, sprinkled with soy parmesan cheese, if desired.

Source:
"The McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook"
Copyright:
"2001"
T(cooking):
"0:05"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving: 95 Calories; 5g Fat (47.4% calories from fat); 8g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 335mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 1 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

VeganMoFo Day 9 Sweet and Sour Dipping Sauce

2010-11-09T11:28:00.003-05:00

It's Tuesday so that means veggies and rice again. I'm going to make up this sauce (and NOT cook it as directed) and use it to marinade some diced tofu, sauté the whole mess up, then mix it all into the rice.

I don't usually have juice around the house - way too high in caloric density and nobody but me would even drink the stuff, my husband preferring water or coffee, the kid water or Coke, so I buy the 6-pack of 6-ounce cans of no-salt added V-8 juice and use one can per batch, and instead of pineapple juice I use the small can of crushed pineapple. I pour the juice into the marinade, then dump the fruit itself into the skillet with the tofu and sauce. Comes out delicious.

Again I warn that the nutritional information added by Mastercook is for full-salt soy sauce and tomato juice, not the lower salt versions, and is for the whole batch of sauce.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Sweet and Sour Dipping Sauce

Recipe By :Mary McDougall
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:05
Categories : Low-Fat McDougall Acceptable
Salad Dressings Sauces

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
3/4 cup tomato juice
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

Source:
"The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook, page 218"
Copyright:
"1997"
T():
"0:05"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving: 112 Calories; trace Fat (1.6% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 27g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 1691mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Vegetable; 1 Fruit.

+++++

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0

VeganMoFo Day 8 Southwest Four-Bean Chili

2010-11-08T11:17:00.004-05:00

This is another favorite from Mary McDougall, and super easy to make. I know these Q&E recipes are said to be made in 15 minutes, but for things like chili I like to pop all the ingredients in a Crockpot or a pot on the stove and leave it to simmer really low for hours to let all the flavors meld together. Of course by dinner time I usually have to add a bit more of the seasonings, but it's worth it to get that deep, rich flavor.

The recipe calls for canned beans, and as far as Mastercook is concerned, it's regular, full-salt beans, but I need to reduce my sodium intake so I use the no-salt added or even fresh beans when I have them handy. I also use no-salt added plain diced tomatoes plus a can of diced chilies instead of the Mexican style tomatoes. That will make the recipe's actual nutritional information different. I'm just too lazy to type in the nutritional info for no-salt added products into Mastercook personally.

My husband will probably have his bowl of this over some crushed up corn chips, while I'll have a few baked potatoes ready for mine and if he wants them. Any leftovers I usually have over rice or as-is.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Southwest Four-Bean Chili

Recipe By :Mary McDougall
Serving Size : 8 Preparation Time :0:10
Categories : Chili Low-Fat
Mc Dougall MWLP Acceptable
Vegan

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/4 cup water
1 medium onion -- chopped
3 stalks celery -- chopped
15 ounces canned kidney beans -- drained and rinsed
15 ounces canned black beans -- drained & rinsed
15 ounces canned white beans -- drained and rinsed
28 ounces stewed tomatoes, canned -- Mexican style; 2- 14.5 oz cans
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup frozen lima beans
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 cup chopped cilantro -- optional

Place the water in a large pot with the onion and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients, except the cilantro. Cover and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes.

Stir in the cilantro, if desired, and serve at once.

Source:
"The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook"
Copyright:
"1997"
T(cooking):
"0:25"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving: 239 Calories; 1g Fat (4.6% calories from fat); 13g Protein; 46g Carbohydrate; 12g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 606mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 0 Fat.

NOTES : Recipe Hint: This is delicious over baked potatoes, rolled up in a tortilla, stuffed into pita bread, or served in a bowl with a loaf of bread on the side to dunk in the sauce.

Makes 8, 1-cup servings

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

VeganMoFo Day 7 - Blech!

2010-11-07T14:53:00.003-05:00

I feel a need to detox today after yesterday's dinner. The mushrooms and onions were good - don't get me wrong - but when my husband saw I was going to add tomato sauce to the pan he said "Why not just make up a pot of pasta and toss it all in? You're already boiling water to make pasta for The Kid's dinner."

So my nice light meal of mushrooms and onions with homemade ww Italian bread turned into a super carb-fest of oodles of pasta. It was delicious, but I ate way too much, and whole wheat pasta is much heavier than regular pasta. It sat poorly on my poor old tummy, too, and besides tossing and turning all night long I gave up around 3am (Standard time - we changed all our clocks back last night) and got out of bed and I've been awake since. Dragging, but vertical.

Hence the need to detox.

Breakfast was my own version of Mrs. Doodlepunk's Cherry Pie Oats. I make only one serving at a time in the microwave and use old fashioned oats instead of oat groats/steelcut oats, but it's just as delicious. I tossed some whole flax seed to help things, ahem, move along, hence hastening detox.

Lunch was just 2 cups of nuked frozen mixed vegetables followed by a baked potato with some ketchup.

Dinner will be the Basmati Wild Rice mix from Trader Joe's with more mixed veggies and a handful of garbanzo beans. I might also make up the nooch sauce from ETeSelle's Rice Primavera recipe to top it off. I usually add Instant Clear-Jel instead of regular corn starch to thicken it - no lumps and no need to heat and stir, just dump everything into a jar, shake, and pour.

Now to restrain myself from eating too much of this delicious concoction or I'll need a better detox tomorrow!

I'm not even going to mention what my guys are eating tonight, as Isa has already threatened to remove anyone who mentions non-vegan foods.

VeganMoFo Day 6 - Mushrooms and Onions

2010-11-06T08:37:00.004-04:00

I've posted videos before from Great Depression Cooking and it's resident Depression Cooking expert, Clara Cannucciari. This morning I awoke to find a new one posted for one of our family's fave easy and cheap meals - Mushrooms and Onions.

I cringe every time I see her cutting something in her hands like that! She must have some callouses built up on those thumbs of hers.

Unlike Clara, I would never drown those 'shrooms in so much oil but would make mine in my handy-dandy non-stick skillet. And I would never think to add tomato sauce to the pan. I think one 8-ounce can of no-salt-added tomato sauce would do the job quite nicely for a whole package of portobellas (4 caps per package) and one or 2 nice-sized Vidalia onions.

As for the bread, I've been making my own Italian bread for years now using the same recipe I use for my pizza crust.

Mmmm, looks like I may be hitting the grocery store later and have a new dish to make for dinner tonight instead of pasta. Thanks, Clara!

VeganMoFo Day 5 - Vegetable Pizzas

2010-11-05T13:43:00.004-04:00

I promised to post recipes safe for McDougallers and so I will. With over 1000 of Mary McDougall's recipes posted right on their own web site I'm sure she doesn't mind if I spread the word and post a few more here. :)

This is a very simple pizza recipe that can be made up in minutes. You can substitute whole grain English muffins instead of pitas if you find one McDougall-legal.

My family isn't a fan of pita pizzas, or English muffins pizzas either. A pizza isn't a pizza without a platter sized crust, and I usually make my own oil-free whole wheat pizza dough every week, although occasionally the guys insist we order from Domino's. I know it's a McDougall no-no, especially since they reformulated things and the crust itself is loaded with oil and cheese flavoring.

Up until a few months ago, the last time I had pizza from Domino's I was still in high school in the 1960's when our family stayed in a campground in rural Connecticut for a week and it was raining every day and we kids needed a reward for not killing each other. I live in urban NJ in a city where there are as many family-owned pizzerias as there are bodegas, newspaper stores, taverns, barber shops - a typical 1950's town stuck in time. There was no need to buy processed pizzas, not when the real thing was being made by an Italian immigrant just down the block. The whole city smelled of oil (We were a refinery town) and oregano! Pies were so delicious back then! Even though many of the same pizzerias are still in business today, being run by either the same person who was there in the 1960's or their kids or grand-kids, the pies just aren't the same. The pies are smaller, made with different flour, cheaper sauces, spices, and other ingredients. Some even subscribe to a servie that brings ready-made dough and jars of sauce right to the restaurant and the bakers only have to open a plastic bag and grab a ball of dough, open the lid on a plastic container of sauce, and toss things together. No more home-made tomato sauce simmering lovingly on the stove all day.

Back in the old days, if you asked for a pie without cheese you got funny looks and a lecture (in broken English) on how without the cheese it's no longer a pizza pie (Think of Poppie in that episode of Seinfeld),

(Darn! Embedding of the clip is disabled, but you can see it HERE.)

but you got what you asked for. Now, many local places charge extra to hold the cheese because it's now a special order, and because they all add "secret ingredients" in their crusts you have no idea what you're ingesting. It's much safer - and healthier - to just make your own.

Or order the Kabuli whole wheat crust from Dallas Bakery that Mary McDougall recommends. There's an email link on the store's web site. I don't know if this is sold in stores or not - I've never seen it. I know Boboli also sells a whole wheat version of their crust, too, but besides palm oil they also have dairy products in the crust.

Whew! For a person who doesn't have much to say about this recipe I sure said a lot! On with the recipe. And don't be so shocked - as late as 1997 Dr. McDougall was allowing soy products such as vegan cheese. They were as greasy then as they are now.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Vegetable Pizzas

Recipe By :Mary McDougall
Serving Size : 8 Preparation Time :0:15
Categories : Low-Fat Mc Dougall
Pies Vegan

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
4 whole wheat pita breads
1/2 cup water
1 onion -- sliced and separated into rings
1 green bell pepper -- chopped
2 1/2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon garlic -- minced
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon marjoram
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup soy cheese -- grated; optional

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cut each pita bread along the sides and split into 2 circles. Place the inside up and bake on a nonstick baking sheet for 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, place 1/4 cup of the water in a saucepan with the onion and bell pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, garlic, and all the seasonings. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 6 minutes. Combine the cornstarch with the remaining 1/4 cup water. Stir into the vegetable mixture and cook and stir until the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat.

Spread the vegetable mixture over the pita halves. Sprinkle with cheese, if desired. Bake for another 3 to 4 minutes.

Source:
"The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook"
Copyright:
"1997"
T(cooking):
"0:12"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving: 117 Calories; 1g Fat (7.8% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 25g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 177mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1 Vegetable; 0 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

NOTES : You can make these pizzas with fat-free flour tortillas. The flour tortillas will bake in 3 to 4 minutes.

Sue's note: No nutritional info given for the soy cheese, so be sure to add it in for whichever brand you're using. Nutritional information shown is for one slice/half a pita bread

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

VeganMoFo Day 4 See The Link in this Post

2010-11-04T06:05:00.005-04:00

While I decide what I'm going to do next, go visit The Veggie Gal and her post devoted to those doctors promoting no added fat vegan food plans, like Dr. McDougall and Dr. Barnard.

As for today's food, I'm eating leftovers while my guys load up on pasta. I still have some of that Longevity Soup so that's my dinner, and for lunch I'll nuke up a bowl of veggies and add some leftover plain brown rice from Tuesday. Breakfast will be my usual old-fashioned oatmeal nuked up with some frozen berries.

Just from three days of eating regular (hearty) meals at dinner time I've already gained 4 pounds. That's what happens when I eat more than 1000 calories a day. It looks like I'll be heading back to very plain foods and Jeff's SNAP meals and ease off on the starches and calories that go with them.

Maybe I should look over the Rice Diet once more, at least until my own doctor gets my thyroid med dosage regulated and I can stop gaining weight again. My dose has been doubled twice in the last 6 months and I know it'll have to go up more when I get my next labwork done in December.

Possibly Dropping Out of VeganMoFo

2010-11-03T10:02:00.003-04:00

There's a lot of talk going on about how we should NOT be posting recipes from other people's cookbooks for our VeganMoFo posts but should be posting recipes we devised ourselves. Since the most exotic recipe I ever developed consisted of opening a can of this and dumping in a jar of that, this kind of leaves me in a lurch.

I guess today's recipe might the end of VeganMoFo for me.

VenabMoFo Day 3 - Hash Browns

2010-11-03T08:46:00.005-04:00

Hash Browns tonight. Traditionally, my guys have theirs with a jar of pasta sauce, a diced onion, and a few cut up hot dogs. To this my son sometimes adds Parmesan cheese. I've made this a number of times with vegan versions of these things and he knows and disapproves. Oh, well, I tried make it healthier.

For me, in a different non-stick pan, I put the taters and onions, sometimes a handful of garlic cloves, dry-fry 'em, and add about a half cup of nooch to my half a bag of Ore-Ida hash browns. Sometimes I add some ketchup when eating them, but these are usually perfect as-is.This much makes 2 breakfasts or lunches or one really filling dinner when served with a salad.

Tonight, the kid will have his traditional ones, but hubby and I will have ours the way I always make mine, plus this on top instead of ketchup for a change:

* Exported from MasterCook *

Red Bean Sauce

Recipe By :Mary McDougall
Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:12
Categories : Low-Fat McDougall
MWLP Vegan

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/2 cup water
1 onion -- chopped
1 red bell pepper -- chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic -- minced
15 ounces canned red beans -- in sauce; oil-free
2 tablespoons green chiles -- canned; chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce, low sodium
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce -- vegetarian
dash tabasco sauce -- to taste

Place the water in a medium pot. Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic.

Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients.

Cook, uncovered, for about 9 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Source:
"The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook"
Copyright:
"1997"
T(cooking):
"0:12"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving: 128 Calories; 1g Fat (3.8% calories from fat); 7g Protein; 24g Carbohydrate; 7g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 530mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

Serving Ideas : Serve over potatoes, grains, or toast.

NOTES : You can buy ginger and garlic ready for use in small bottles in the fresh foods section of the supermarket. Use in recipes calling for fresh garlic and ginger root.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

I always skip the soy sauce to keep this as low in sodium as possible. Knowing my husband, he'll also add a hefty portion of Daiya cheddar to his portion.

More Pics - Longevity Soup

2010-11-02T11:17:00.006-04:00

Just playing with the camera Sunday, trying out different settings.

Longevity Soup ingredients using Jeff's Fab Five SNAP Ingredients

Tomatoes - a box of Pomi chopped

Veggies - a 2 pound bag of store brand mixed frozen veggies plus some frozen diced onion PLUS a half cup frozen kale (Gotta have dark leafy greens!)

Starch - about 2 cups hash brown potatoes

Beans - a can of chili beans - mixed pinto, kidney and some other bean. No sauce, just beans.

Spices - Italian Herb Mix from Penzey's Spices. Not shown but liberally applied - roasted granulated garlic

The finished product. I should be finishing it off for today's lunch. If not today, then definitely tomorrow. It does make a lot of soup, even for big eaters like us.

VeganMoFo Day 2 - Tahini Vegetable Sauce

2010-11-02T06:23:00.004-04:00

This one comes from the DVD entitled Jeff Novick's Fast Food. Super simple, and someone who already tried it said it tastes just like Annie's Organic's Goddess Dressing.

This dressing (Annie's) is so creamy, so tasty, so addictive, that I put a special request in to Susan V (She of the Fat Free Vegan mailing list, web site and blog) to develop a healthier version of it, and she came up with Susan's Lite Goddess Dressing, which is good but not the same as Annie's. I'm hoping that this one of Jeff's will be closer to the original.

Remember when I said it's "super simple?" All you do is take equal amounts of tahini (Yes, Jeff allows tahini! Rice cakes - no; tahini - yes. Go figure.), lemon juice and water and put them in a blender and give it a whirl.

That's it!

I'm going to make our usual Tuesday dinner of brown rice and veggies - broccoli/cauliflower/carrot mix for my husband and myself, peas and carrots for my son. The kid will sprinkle some soy sauce on his; my husband usually drowns his with the stuff, but he said although he really doesn't like creamy sauces he'll try a bit of this stuff. Of course I'll only use this tahini sauce.

I hope it's a hit. I really miss my Annie's. I just have to check the date on my can of tahini - it's been so long since I last used it (a year or so?) that I might have to toss it and get a new supply. In the DVD Jeff uses plain old bottled lemon juice. Yay! I always have that around. So much easier and cost effective than having a drawer full of fresh (Ha!) lemons! Produce around here has been awful for years, and the last time I bought lemons they were all hard as a rock and turning brown before one week was out. Gimme bottled lemon juice any day.

VeganMoFo Day 1 Mexican Layered Casserole

2010-11-01T13:45:00.006-04:00

This recipe is form the McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook, and although it's a family favorite I haven't made it in at least a year because I was really trying to lose some weight and started to eat more simply.

Be sure to read the hints and recipe notes to explain how this was made friendlier and healthier than the recipe software's nutritional info says it is.

Because I'm a lazy cook, when I make this I usually just open a jar of McD-safe low sodium pasta sauce instead of going the home made enchilada route. Many times I also just use about a cup of frozen red/yellow/green pepper strips instead of a fresh green pepper.

I might also make cornbread to go with this, too. The recipe for that follows the casserole. I once wrote and asked what size canned creamed corn she uses and it was the 8 ounce one.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Mexican Layered Casserole

Recipe By :Mary McDougall
Serving Size : 8 Preparation Time :0:30
Categories : Beans Casseroles
Main Dish Vegan

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/2 cup water
1 medium onion -- chopped
1 medium green bell pepper -- chopped
1 clove garlic -- minced
15 ounces canned kidney beans -- drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
4 ounces canned chili peppers -- chopped
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
4 cups enchilada sauce
12 corn tortillas -- softened
4 green onions -- finely chopped

1. Sauté the onion, pepper and garlic in water in a large saucepan until softened, about 5 minutes.

2. Add beans, corn, rice, tomato sauce, chilies, chili powder, and cumin, stirring to mix well, and heat thoroughly.

3. Preheat oven to 350º

4. Pour 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce at the bottom of a 13" x 9" casserole dish and pour the rest of the enchilada sauce in a large bowl.

5. Dip 4 tortillas, one at a time, in the sauce and layer them in the casserole dish. Spread half the bean mixture over the tortillas, then repeat, finishing up with the last 4 tortillas. Pour the remaining sauce over the top and spread evenly. Garnish with the chopped green onion.

6. Bake, covered, for 40 minutes, and allow to rest uncovered at least 5 minutes before serving.

Source:
"McDougall Program for a Healthy Heart - page 351"
Copyright:
"1996"
T(cooking):
"0:40"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving: 369 Calories; 15g Fat (34.2% calories from fat); 10g Protein; 54g Carbohydrate; 10g Dietary Fiber; 37mg Cholesterol; 826mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 2 1/2 Vegetable; 2 1/2 Fat.

Serving Ideas : Serve with salsa.

NOTES : You can dramatically cut the calories by using a fat free enchilada sauce. All the fat and 140 of the calories in this recipe, according to MasterCook, comes from the store-bought sauce.

Here's one from the McDougall's themselves, posted by Puddy to the original McDougall forum on VegSource:

This is from The McDougall Quick & Easy
Cookbook, page 221. Reworded by me. (Puddy)

Enchilada Sauce

Makes 2.5 c
Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 5 mins

1 - 8 oz can tomato sauce
1.5 c water
2T cornstarch
1/8 t garlic powder (I use more of all spices)
1/4 t onion powder
1.5 T chili powder

Dissolve cornstarch in water. Add to pot with
all other ingredients. Mix well, heat and stir
until desired thickness. Recipe doubles well.
Just remember to double all the spices too
(I know this from experience!)

I like to dip baked corn tortilla chips in this
sauce when I haven't made any salsa. The sauce
refrigerates and heats up well.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Frying the veggies .................... Ready for the oven

LoriM's Cornbread

1 cup self-rising cornmeal mix
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or other flour)
1 can creamed corn
1/4-1/2 cup soy milk (or rice milk) to batter consistency

I wipe the inside of a seasoned 9" cast iron skillet with a paper towel moistened with vegetable oil (in lieu of a fat free spray). Mix the four ingredients, and bake at 400° F for about 25 minutes until brown. Serves 4. Doubles well, but bake in a larger pan.

The finished product (Sorry about the brightness. I'm still getting the hang of the camera). After the pic was taken my husband grabbed the Daiya and smothered the top with yellow cheezy goodness.

Why Do I Even TRY?

2010-10-31T15:52:00.001-04:00

I showed my husband the proposed menu and grocery list for this coming week, and he walked me over to the fridge opened the door, and pointed out containers of leftovers of 3 of Jeff's SNAP meals. He then opened the freezer to show me a few more. In other words, he's sick of SNAP meals.

sigh

Yet he asked me to make a pot of "that delicious tomato soup" today, what he calls Jeff's Longevity Soup.

sigh again

I have no idea what I'm cooking this week. All I know is tonight for dinner I'm eating leftovers of Jeff's Pasta Primavera from Thursday and some soup that's been simmering on the stove all day. As for tomorrow, well, your guess is as good as mine. It could be anything from Mexican Lasagna to Two Bean Mexican Delight to some more leftovers. Stay tuned.

Ouch!

2010-10-31T08:42:00.003-04:00

While making up my grocery list for this coming week I was struck by how much more I would be spending to follow those recipes by Mary McDougall compared to the SNAP recipes by Jeff Novick that I've been making these past few months.

Mary uses a lot of little things that I don't usually have on hand, like rice wine vinegar and canned sprouts.

She calls for produce that's deemed exotic in these parts, like bok choy and Napa cabbage. I hit 4 different grocery stores and 2 produce markets yesterday and not one even heard of those last 2 items.

Other times she calls for using items that I've avoided for decades because of their sodium content, like canned red beans and rice (480 mg per 1/2 cup serving) and soy sauce (last time I used the lower sodium stuff my blood pressure shot up to over 200/100 - NOT good!).

Now I remember why I really haven't done many recipes in this book.

So, although I may toss in a recipe or 2 from this book as the month goes on, the main focus of this blog for VeganMoFo will now be Jeff Novick's SNAP recipes. I made out a new grocery list using a handful of those, and it's all available in my main grocery store AND much friendlier to the wallet. It'll still be a fun month, and introduce some of you to a very knowledgeable and funny guy.

Theme for VeganMoFo 2010

2010-10-28T08:41:00.003-04:00

Get the drum roll ready, for I'm about to announce the theme this blog will follow for the PPK's VeganMoFo 2010!

Are you EXCITED?

Are you READY?

Here it is . . .

The theme for 2010 will be . . .
.
.
.

The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook: Over 300 Delicious Low-Fat Recipes You Can Prepare in Fifteen Minutes or Less

Here is the official page for the book on the McDougall web site.

Here is the Amazon page, where you can "look inside" the book.

And here is the Half.com page where you can sometimes find the book as low as a buck plus shipping.

I've owned this book since it was first published, buying it the day it was released. I like it, but really haven't used it as much as I would like, thanks to a family that loves repetition and prefers to eat the same meals week after week without deviation.

Well, next month I'm going to shake them up a little! I'm still going to follow our basic menu plan:
Sunday - burgers
Monday - anything goes (Chili, stew, baked tofu, etc. My choice)
Tuesday - rice and veggies
Wednesday - potatoes
Thursday - pasta
Friday - pizza
Saturday - pasta

but mix it up a little. On Sundays, instead of a veggie burger or leftovers for me and turkey burgers for them, I'll be making various other sandwiches.

Tuesday's veggies and rice will no longer be accompanied with just soy sauce and the occasional fried tofu or TVP.

Wednesday's hash brown meal for the guys was a spin on Clara Cannuciari's Poorman's Meal.

It's either plain hash browns with nooch or a leftover McDougall meals day for me of. Now I'll do other, healthier, things to the hash browns.

Thursday and Saturday have been pasta days for decades. My picky son always insisted on plain old Ragu sauce on his, so after the pasta cooked I would put his in another pot and add the sauce and to ours I would add McDougall friendly additives. These meals are sometimes accompanied by crusty Italian bread, sometimes made with white or semolina flour from the bakery, sometimes home made with white whole wheat flour and oodles of garlic. Now this tradition will continue!

And every Friday will continue to be pizza day. If you look back to last year's VeganMoFo posts you'll see I always had pizza on Fridays, and it was always the same old whole wheat crust, tomato sauce, and some kind of cheezy topping (real mozzarella on my son's). Luckily Mary McDougall has 4 pizza recipes in this cookbook and my husband says he'll eat anything I put in front of him when it comes to pizza. Let's see if he still feels this way when the pizza contains pineapple! LOL

So, I already have my list of recipes I'll be using and still have to type them all up in MasterCook, because except for one or 2 I haven't tried any of these recipes yet. That's the purpose of this challenge, to try new recipes, right? Besides posting them here in this blog I'll also try get them on my Recipes Used in VeggieSue's Veggie Adventures Blog page, plus on the two McDougall groups on , McDougall 12 Day and McDougall Weight Loss Plans, where we discuss how well (or not) our quest for thinness is going. Why not join us in either of those 2 lists for more McDougall talk when VeganMoFo is over? Or now. We're always looking for fresh blood. :)

Post Punk Kitchen Forums

2010-10-25T08:20:00.002-04:00

The PPK has finally moved to their new home! It's been more than a year since the move was first announced, and finally last week they made the official move. It's a so much nicer format than the old forums, so stop by, re-register, if you belonged to the old forums, and jump right in.

Jeff Novick's DVDs

2010-10-18T12:18:00.003-04:00

I can't believe it's been 10 months since I last posted here! Sorry about that, but I'll be posting more frequently in the near future - promise!

Today I want to remind all the McDougallers out there about Jeff Novick and his DVD collections. He has lectures ranging from nutritional density of foods to his latest, Fast Food, which is all recipes using his SNAP format - Simple, Nutritious, and Affordable Plan. All these meals come together in just a few minutes and are ready to serve in 10 to 15.

I've been making the large batches of these meals for a number of months now and my husband and I love them. It helps that we both love tomato-based dishes, though, because canned (Or boxed, as in Pomi brand) are the base of every recipe. I kind of stopped making them so often but since the new DVD arrived Friday I've made 3 of the meals already and plan on the Mexican Fiesta for tonight's dinner.

As Jeff promises, these meals are quite tasty, make a lot of food, and are very economical!

Now stay tuned for posts regarding VeganMoFo 2010.

Holiday Seitan Loaf

2010-02-23T15:14:00.003-05:00

This is what I made for Christmas this past December. I've seen this recipe's video at Everyday Dish TV for a while now and always wanted to make it but thought it was too much trouble. Know what? It's really not!

It's from chef Brian McCarthy from his book The Vegan Family Cookbook, and although it does take a few more steps than just simmering some seitan, it's totally worth it. I'll be making it again for Easter in a few weeks, too.

Hmm, I'm having a problem getting the video to call up so I can grab the code to embed it, so just go to the recipe's page and you can see the video and nab the recipe at the same time.

Curried Indian Potato Stew

2010-02-23T15:08:00.001-05:00

Another SNAP recipe from Jeff Novick

Curried Indian Potato Stew

1) 2 cans whole tomatoes
2) 1-2 cans Garbanzo Beans
3) Frozen Cauliflower (1- 1 1/2 lb) , peas (1/2 lb), onions (1/4-1/2 pound)
4) 2 large potatoes
5) Salt Free Curry spice mix

Microwave the potatoes. While they are zapping, put all other ingredients in the pot and heat. When potatoes are done, cut into 1 inch pieces and add to pot. Simmer 5 minutes. Top with fresh cilantro Enjoy.

(can be served with brown rice which you can cook in 10 minutes while potatoes are cooking by using Success Brand Quick Cooking Brown Rice)

McDougall Tamale Pie

2010-02-23T14:55:00.002-05:00

I think I doubled the recipe, which is why it's in my big Corningware casserole dish instead of the 8 x8 square pan in the recipe. The single batch really would have been enough for us but we like lots of leftovers for lunches. Don't believe that "eight servings" out of an 8x8 pan - for 8 picky toddlers, maybe! LOL

From The McDougall Plan book:

Tamale Pie

Eight servings. Prep time: 45 min. Cooking time: 45 min.

3 cups cooked pinto beans, mashed. (or 2 cans fat-free refried beans)

1 onion, chopped.

1-1/2 teaspoons chili powder.

1/4 cup tomato sauce.

1 cup corn kernels.

1 green bell pepper, chopped.

1-2 chopped green chilies (or 4-oz can)

1-1/2 cups cornmeal.

2-1/2 cups water.

1/2 teaspoon chili powder.

Place onion in a large pot with 1/4 cup water. Sauté about 10 minutes, add green pepper, corn, green chilies, tomato sauce, and 1-1/2 tsp. chili powder. Cook 5 minutes. Add mashed beans and cook about 10 minutes over low heat. Remove from heat.

Combine cornmeal, water, and 1/2 tsp. chili powder in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens, stirring constantly with a wire whisk or the cornmeal will lump.

Using a non-stick 8" x 8" pan, spread half of the cornmeal mixture over the bottom. Pour the bean mixture over this and spread it out. Then spread the remaining cornmeal mixture over the top.

Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes, or until it bubbles.

Longevity Soup

2010-02-23T14:48:00.002-05:00

A SNAP recipe (Simple Nutritious Affordable and (Darn, I can't remember what the "P" stood for!) from Jeff Novick, Dr. McDougall's nutritionist.

Dish 4 - Longevity Soup

1) 1 can whole tomatoes, 1 can pureed

2) Your favorite beans (I use kidney or garbanzo)

3) 1.5- 2 lbs of Your favorite frozen veggies plus 1 lb of frozen collards

4) Your favorite starch (potato, sweet potato rice, barley) cooked separate then added

5) your favorite seasoning (I use fresh ginger, garlic)

Place tomatoes in large pot. Add in 2 28 oz cans of water. Then add in all other ingredients. Bring to a boil and then simmer 15 minutes. Enjoy!

~~~~~~

VeganMoFo Day 31 - Clara's Couscous

2009-10-31T20:11:00.003-04:00

Clara Cannuciari is 94 years old now and s till doing Great Depression Cooking videos. Her newest one, Couscous Stew, was just uploaded this week and looks like it's already McDougall-friendly, as long as you use vegetable broth and omit the butter after steaming the couscous. I think when I try making this dish, though, I would cook the couscous the more traditional way, with boiling water. With my luck I would burn the cheesecloth just placing it on the colander!

And now she also has a book out:

I don't own it yet, but it is in my Amazon shopping cart.

So, this wraps up another year of VeganMoFo. Sorry I wasn't as "into" it as last year, but next year will be better, I promise.

VeganMoFo Day 27 - More Apologies

2009-10-27T15:46:00.003-04:00

Sorry for being such a bad MoFo'er, but this has been one of our craziest weeks ever (again). The elderly relative with Alzheimer's we care for from afar got lost coming home from church on Sunday, so now we're hustling to make sure she's safe. She's still refusing live-in help, refusing to allow a homemaker for more than a few 3 times a week, and in fact wants us to stop her visits entirely, still crying she wants us to move in with her, something we told her years ago will never happen because there's no way my husband can commute via public transportation to work (Only 1 bus, runs hourly, takes twice as long as his commute now, and doesn't run well in inclement weather and is canceled altogether when it snows because the trip goes down dangerous steep hills). We're making appointments for interviews at various assisted living facilities and nursing homes with Alzheimer's units in the area because we weren't too thrilled with the place she was in earlier this year, and so far either the people we have to talk to aren't in this week or won't even bother talking to us because there are no openings and long waiting lists.

I've also been arguing with one of the nurses from rehab. Because I'm not losing scads of weight even though I'm doing 60 minutes of cardio in front of official witnesses three times a week and another 45 to 60 minutes 3 more times at home in front of only my son, this nurse feels I just must be eating too much or eating the wrong foods. When I described the McDougall program to her she did nothing but bad-mouth it for a half hour, telling me it's not healthy to eliminate entire food groups, that I'm eating too few calories, need those "healthy" fats in my diet. Remember folks, this is a cardiac care nurse with not just her BSN and state nursing license but has multiple certifications in advanced nursing care, including critical cardiac care! I told her that my doctor, the cardiologist that runs the entire cardio-vascular unit, the guy the hospital BUILT the unit FOR a few years back, not only had heard of the McDougall program (As well as Dr. Esselstyn, Ornish and Barnard and C. Collin Campbell) but was very happy and said he wished he could get ALL his cardiac patients to follow the program. She didn't care - she still claimed it wasn't healthy. She said I should be going to a place like her 400+ pound sister is going to, one that makes an individualized food plan for each patient (her sister eats 3000 calories a day, minimum, about 1/3 each in fat, protein and carbs). No thanks. I'll stick with McDougall. It was because of McDougall my coronary arteries were clear as can be, with no cholesterol plaques or deposits, no blockages, when the cardiac cath was done. I doubt they would still be clear if I ate 1000 calories of fat every day. Maybe she just wanted to make sure I would *stay* a customer of the cardiac unit?

Food - Yesterday was . . . I really have to think what the heck we ate! Oh, my husband and I had a chili I tossed together (just canned beans, canned no-salt-added petite diced tomatoes, frozen corn kernels, and 2 packets of lower salt fajita mix), a dump and heat meal. Today is brown rice and veggies; tomorrow is potatoes and veggies (That Poorman's Meal I mentioned in the past). Thursday will be spaghetti and whatever (sausages, not-meat balls, or just some veggies tossed into the sauce - who knows?). Friday will be our traditional whole wheat, cheeseless pizza.

Saturday, Halloween, we have no idea what we're doing. We may be bringing that relative into a nursing home, rehab or even a hospital, or just at her house clearing out & painting a room in preparation for a live-in companion. I usually make a stew on Halloween and call it Witches' Brew, but I have a feeling that this year we'll eat something even more horrendous - leftovers!

ACK! My husband just got home and I guess he'll want his dinner. Hopefully I'll be checking in again tomorrow with a slightly better MoFo post.

VeganMoFo Day 22 - Stew pic and McDougall Info

2009-10-22T16:10:00.003-04:00

I finally got the photo of my own stew posted to this other blog post. Enjoy.

And there's lots of drama going on around this house again, thanks to hubby's 91 year old aunt with Alzheimer's Disease and now his cousin from out of state who thinks she can tell my husband what to do and how to do it when it comes to the aunt's care but really doesn't want the responsibility, herself. She is insisting on live-in help although the aunt is adamantly opposed to it and is going to hire the person herself, BUT is leaving it up to us to tell the aunt and get the room ready for her, and all that jazz. All I can say is: Oy vey!

So, leftovers again today because I've been running around all day. Instead of a recipe I'll leave you this video from Dr. McDougall about the McDougall Program.

McDougall 10-Day Program from John McDougall on Vimeo.

VeganMoFo Day 20 - White Bean and Garlic Stew

2009-10-20T12:52:00.005-04:00

Over the weekend it got COLD, and instead of salad for lunch I decided to make a quickie White Bean and Garlic stew that I found on Susan V's Fat Free Vegan blog. Here it is with the changes I made in red:

White Bean and Garlic Stew

2 15-ounce cans cannellini or great northern beans (about 3 cups),(I had small white beans in the pantry) rinsed and drained
1 head garlic (the whole bulb--15-20 cloves)(We love garlic so I used 2 heads)
2 tablespoons water
3-4 carrots, peeled and chopped(I used a small bag of organic baby carrots, left whole)
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes (I always use unsalted tomato products)
2 bay leaves (Skipped this - I don't like the taste)
1 cup water (Not enough - I used 4 cups)
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)(Skipped this, obviously, on my low salt diet)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice (Skipped this, too)

Break the garlic bulb into cloves and peel off the skin. If you'd like, chop one of the cloves, but leave the others whole. If some of the cloves are very large, you may cut them in half lengthwise.

Spray a large, non-stick pan lightly with olive oil (Used water). Add the onion and sauté until it turns a rich, medium-brown, about 5 minutes (Took more like 15 before it gave any hint of color or translucence). Add the garlic and carrots and sauté for 1 more minute.

Add the beans, tomatoes, bay leaves, and water. Cover the pot and simmer for about an hour, adding water if it gets too thick.

Stir in the salt and pepper. If you're serving the stew right away, add all the parsley and the lemon juice. If you're serving it later or at room temperature, add the parsley and lemon juice right before serving.

Serve over brown rice. (Served as-is)

Makes 6 servings. Each contains: 246 Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (3%
calories from fat); 15g Protein; 47g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol;
385mg Sodium; 15g Fiber (Of course, these are different for my version)

I took a photo but my camera's messing up. It does look just like Susan's on her blog, and her pics are always much nicer than mine:

Susan Voisin's Photo

As soon as I figure out why the computer isn't recognizing my camera and fix it (I hope) I'll also pop my photo up there for comparison.

ETA 10/22/2009
It took a few days and me tearing out quite few handfulls of hair, but I finally got the pic of my version of the stew uploaded.

As tasty as it was good-looking!

VeganMoFo Day 16 - Mindful Eating

2009-10-16T13:08:00.002-04:00

After everything that went wrong yesterday, at least I did one thing right - I was mindful of everything I ate. I ate with peace, without killing, without violence. Thich Nhat Hanh wrote a nice essay on Mindful Eating. Enjoy.

VeganMoFo Day 15 - It's My Birthday and I'll Cry If I Want To

2009-10-15T16:21:00.003-04:00

So I lied yesterday. There will be no recipe today as all I'm making for my birthday dinner is a pot of spaghetti with a jar or no salt added spaghetti sauce. At least I'm making some Italian bread to go with it to jazz it up a bit. No cake, not even a cupcake or bran muffin.

Bad day yesterday. By the end of the day I was sitting here with high blood pressure and chest pains again and debating whether or not to go to the ER (thanks to that crooked contractor, my idiot husband, and a $1500 check) but as the evening wore on the pains subsided. Today started off with the blood pressure high but some meditation and a Richard Simmons DVD workout helped bring it down to normal levels again. Thank goodness no chest pains, and to keep it that way that's why no dietary cheats today. No biggie - I never had a cake for my childhood birthdays, either, because my doc always had me on a low calorie diet. I didn't have my first birthday cake until I was out of nursing school working full time and my co-workers threw a party for me during our lunch break. It may have been my 21st birthday. Maybe next year, but I doubt it.

ETA:
Great! I grabbed a jar of sauce and it opened with a loud POP instead of a soft "pip" noise and the sauce is almost solid. Luckily I had another jar of that scarce no-salt added, vegan elixir and . . .

. . . the same thing happened. A loud POP and possibly a hiss this time. That jar went into the garbage, too. So I opened a can of tomato puree, dumped that into the frying veggies (onions, red & green peppers, mushrooms, garlic - lots and lots of garlic) then added a can of tomato paste for more intense flavor, then dumped it all in with the cooked pasta. Right now I don't give a crap what it tastes like - I just want to get this meal over with. Because of the rain my husband phoned to say he's been delayed, that the trains are about a half hour behind. What next??

VeganMoFo Day 14 - Rice Diet Video

2009-10-14T16:02:00.002-04:00

Kitty Rosati, the co-owner and co-director of the Rice House in Durham, NC, has released a video to YouTube. Because the embedding has been disabled for that video (Who knows why) you'll have to click on THIS LINK to see it. Just remember that when she talks about people "on the program" she's referring to those who are attending the Rice Diet program in person, eating at the most restricted level of foods, what's known as "detox" in the at-home version. The daily calorie level on that phase is usually under 1000 cal a day.

I do still follow the McDougall food plan, but even Dr. McDougall himself recommended the Rice Diet for those of us who have a tough time losing weight on his food plan, mainly because the Rice Diet is so restricted in variety of foods and especially calories. I like reading the web site and message boards to look for salt-free vegan recipes. I could never eat that little ever day - many days only 1000 calories! Look around the forums - you'll see so many tales of people who came and left the food plan and very few who are sticking it out. There are more tales of not losing weight on that food plan than there are on the McDougall forums. Can you say "Starvation Mode" everybody?

I promise tomorrow I'll post at least one recipe and probably a picture, too. Sorry I haven't been a good VeganMoFo blogger.

VeganMoFo Day 13 - Sorry Again

2009-10-13T15:55:00.003-04:00

Sorry, but no recipe again today as I've been too busy pulling my hair out dealing with a demented old lady (age 91 and has Alzheimer's) and the contractor she hired. She chased him off her property, even though *she* is the one who hired him 10 days ago when she saw him in the church parking lot with his truck - without telling us and for a job that was already done in May. This guy phones me, as it turned out a half hour before he even got to her house, to tell me she needs a whole new foundation (Huh? He's supposed to be laying tar in her driveway in the space between her driveway and the house because he said she complained that the water seeps into the house when it rains), then after he gets there she threatens to call the police on him because he won't leave her property and he tells me she won't let him do the job. I told him since *she* is the one who hired him and *she* is the homeowner (We had a fight with him over the weekend and even stopped payment on checks she gave him last Thursday), if she doesn't want him to do the work to just leave and not do it. He insisted my husband call him ASAP. When I called her back 10 minutes later she tells me he did put the tar down even before he called me. She stopped him when he tried do something to the foundation itself. She still has no memory of meeting him in church, hiring him, or even him being at her house last week putting down the driveway sealant (for the third time in 18 months. He's the third guy she hired on her own to do this job because she doesn't like having puddles in the driveway.) and her giving him 2 checks.

Isn't Alzheimer's Disease wonderful - NOT!

When my husband finally got out of his meeting at work and phoned the guy himself, he first denied calling me at all, then admitted he called once, then finally twice, but denied telling me she needed a new foundation, says he completed the job with no problem and only waved to the old lady, didn't even talk to her (Gee, then why did he call me from her kitchen phone and I heard her screaming at him to get out of her house in the background and he then handed the phone to her so I can talk to her to try calm her down?).

Now my husband has to meet this guy in a (well lit) drug store parking lot after work to pay him, instead of the guy mailing us the bill and us paying him back by mail, like they decided on when they spoke Saturday night. Our son (age 25 and a towering 6'1") is going with him, just to make sure things go quickly and legitimately and they get out of there as fast as possible.

And my cardiologist told me to avoid stressful situations. I don't even want to know what my blood pressure is about now.

When my guys get back from their rendezvous later we'll have rice and veggies for dinner with some cut up seitan.

As for last night's breast of tofu, the texture didn't feel much different from when I pressed it with my cast iron pans, so next time I'll let it press a bit longer. That rice flour coating does taste delicious, so texture didn't matter much.

VeganMoFo Day 12 - New Toy

2009-10-12T12:16:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago I was making a tofu dish and was doing my usual pressing of the 'fu with paper towels, shallow plates, and a cast iron skillet. As usual, I had to keep returning to the kitchen because the "CLANG" as the pan slipped off the tofu and landed on the floor could be heard clear across the apartment. On that particular day my husband was home and was getting annoyed at the interruptions to his television watching (We both love grade Z horror and sci-movies and I don't begrudge him his brain candy on days off work - he deserves them) and asked if there's a better way to do the task.

"Well, yeah!" I replied, "but it's gonna cost ya about $40 with shipping," and I showed him the TofuXpress web site.

I've drooled over this handy dandy gadget the first time it was mentioned on the PPK during the summer but could never justify the cost. Come on! The shipping cost almost as much as the item itself!

He told me to go ahead and order it, that it'll be worth the price to not have to hear that cast iron pan fall onto the floor any more. So I did, and it arrived last week. Unfortunately, I had no tofu meals scheduled for last week. But luckily I did have one for today, Bryanna Clark Grogan's Breast of Tofu. Bryanna had done a blog post on this gadget a few weeks ago so I figured she probably used it for this recipe, so what better thing to try it out on, right?

Just like all those graphics above, after about an hour and a half there was as much liquid pressed out, volume-wise, as there was tofu. Cool! I sliced up the 'fu then whipped up the marinade and started to pour it into the same container the tofu was pressed in and realized it's not going to work - the marinade will fit but not the tofu slices. So, off the concoction went into the same Corningware I usually use when marinating tofu.

Tonight for dinner I'll do the breading as written in the recipe but bake instead of grill my 'fu. I already have a pot of veggie soup on (just a few spoons of Bryanna's non-chicken broth powder, a sautéed onion and garlic, and a bag of frozen mixed vegetables simmered for a few hours), and I'll toss some potatoes in to bake, make up a batch of stuffing and open a can of cranberry sauce. If I'm really energetic I might even toss a loaf of bread into the bread machine.

Another Oops

2009-10-09T16:27:00.004-04:00

I tried to edit the last message but Blogger won't let me.

The "Oops" is because I remembered that I did make something sweet in the recent past - about a week or so ago I made banana bread when I had loads of brown bananas. Mmmm, banana bread. I again have loads of rapidly browning bananas so guess what I'm gonna make tomorrow. Maybe I'll even sneak to the store and buy some chocolate chips to pop in it, too.

VeganMoFo Day 9 part 2 - Need Sweets, STAT!

2009-10-09T16:04:00.005-04:00

I haven't had one sweet thing, with the exception of fresh fruit, for a month tomorrow, and with all the frustrating events of the past week or so I NEED to eat something gooey. All I have in the house is more fresh fruit, not even one teensy chocolate chip, so I whipped out my copy of Vegan With A Vengeance and put together an apple/pear cobbler.

I didn't have enough fruit to fill the called for 9x13" pan so used one of my smaller Corningware casserole dishes. Instead of oil I used Wonderslim fat replacer (it's been discontinued but my remaining jar is still unexpired) instead of oil in the cobbler "crumb" part. I know I should have reduced the amount of topping because I used a dish half the size, but who's going to complain? Certainly not my husband or myself! :)

If you click on the name of the book above it'll take you to the Amazon page where you can click the "Look inside the book" feature, do a search for "cobbler" and get the recipe, if you don't already own VwaV. And if you don't own it, why not? That book revolutionized my vegan cooking! As long as you're on Amazon looking in the book, click to buy it. Even if you're a McDougaller you can easily change most of the recipes around to make them McD-legal.

It's a good thing my husband doesn't want me to "strain" myself doing the dinner dishes (even though I wash dishes and do other housework all day long) - this Corningware is gonna be a bitch to clean because I forgot to spray it with a non-stick spray first. Oops.

VeganMoFo Day 9 - More Tears

2009-10-09T09:26:00.003-04:00

We found out yesterday that after the health insurance pays their share, we'll still owe the hospital over $4,000 for our share of the cost of cardiac rehab. For what - 40 minutes of exercise while the nurses sit on the phone or take turns running to the cafeteria for cupcakes and coffee?!? I have a treadmill and exercise bike at home, and I've already been taking my own blood pressure multiple times a day for years now, so why are we paying them $388 for a 45 minute exercise session? There's no other therapy, no counseling with a pharmacist, dietician, cardiologist or therapist - only exercise, something I can do in my own home and DID do before the heart thing. My husband and I will talk it over together this weekend and if we can't figure out how to beg, borrow or steal $4,000 by Monday I'm just not going back. Of course, I've been in a depressed, pissy mood since we got that notice in the mail yesterday. It's been one bitch of a week - no thyroid med increase, jury duty summons, asthma problems from a moldy library book that forced me to take my rescue meds three nights already, a reprimand from one of the rehab nurses to mind my own business when I called her over to help one guy who was turning blue, and now this. I'm ready to ditch it all - the healthy eating, the exercise, the doctors - and just live life to the fullest and hope I do die early, cuz at least I'll die happy with at least a few pennies in my pocket.

Because we were already running on financial fumes even before my expensive hospitalization (Over $75,000 for the 2 day stay, many charges denied by our insurance) we try make every cent count. In the past, any leftovers from dinner would become my lunches during the week. Now, because my guys don't have to eat low sodium but I do, many of the leftovers I can't touch, so our refrigerator is filling up rapidly with their leavings. Instead of our traditional Friday pizza today I'm insisting we eat leftovers - ALL of us. I still have some rice and veggies and that lentil stew that are salt-free so that's mine, and the boys have leftover spaghetti and Poorman's Meal.

When I made this in the past I used Julie's seitan sausages

or veggie dogs and and a jar of regular spaghetti sauce. I tried it recently with the no salt added/low salt tomato sauce and the guys hated the way it tasted, so this week I made it the way they liked it and I ate that lentil stew on Wednesday.

Hopefully we'll get rid of all the leftovers by Monday and I can post a different recipe for VeganMoFo. I feel like such a poser this year, adding nothing new to the thread. :(

VenanMoFo Day 8 - Hypothyroid

2009-10-08T08:23:00.003-04:00

Most likely I've been hypo since childhood. I was born fat, was a round baby, toddler, youth and adult. I found out a few years ago that my thyroid was officially low over 20 years ago but the medical practice that I go to doesn't believe in treating anyone if their TSH is still below 10, and mine was 8 (normal range then was 0.3 to 5.5; the upper limit is a wee bit lower now on the lab slips, but the endocrinology associations want it reduced further still to 3.3). Neither of the docs in that practice believed that a sluggish thyroid contributed to my low pulse rate, high blood pressure, high cholesterol (well, high for a vegan, that is) or excess weight of over 150 pounds above the "healthy" range. Three years ago it hit 7 again and it took a student doctor showing my doc his endocrinology text book before my doc would write a script for the lowest dose of Synthroid possible. In the past 3 years my dosage has been up and down, my TSH has been up and down, and for a three month period last year I was even off all thyroid meds because of what I feel was a lab error (Somehow they had me going from 6 to 0.01 in 6 weeks with no change in dosage). This past summer I was finally switched to natural dessicated thyroid replacement and my dose was increased twice in three months and I was finally feeling human again.

Then my heart thing happened.

And my primary care doc got scared that the thyroid med may have contributed to it and immediately cut my dose in half. I asked the cardiologist about this and he said that's ridiculous, that having a sluggish thyroid may have contributed to it, not a well-controlled one, but my doc won't budge. My TSH is now back up to 5.8 but he refuses to increase the dosage back to where it was before, even though my blood pressure is again creeping up, my pulse is again dropping down into the 30's at rest, I can barely stay awake, everything aches, and my rosacea is making my face look like a hormonal teenager's. He said if my TSH is still down in 2 months when I have the lab repeated he'll increase it.

Of course, I'm still recuperating from the heart thing, going to cardiac rehab three times a week and leaving the place looking as if I just walked out a sauna. The nurses are getting upset because my blood pressure is higher than it was when I first started coming three weeks ago and it should be lower. They also noticed that I'm getting tired out much sooner and not putting as much effort into the workout as I was a few weeks ago. I explained to them about the thyroid. I have a feeling that one of them is going to make a phone call to my doc and give him hell, or tell the cardiologist what's happening and have him phone my primary care doc and have the dosage increased.

What has all this to do with VeganMoFo? I'm just too pooped to cook elaborate meals, or even most everyday fare, lately. My fatigue is causing me to nap at least 3 mornings a week after rehab and every day in the afternoon. I'm falling asleep while watching Jeopardy at 7pm, too, then waking up multiple times during the night, sometimes waking at 3am and can't get back to sleep before the 4:45am alarm.

Yesterday's stew was great - dump everything into a pot and let it simmer all afternoon. Today my guys are getting spaghetti and I'll eat some leftover stew, as I'm in no mood to make pasta sauce from scratch (none of the lower salt brands in the stores here come without oil or cheese in it). I'm not even making the bread for it - my husband will grab a loaf on the way home from work.

I know I just saw the doc Monday, but maybe I'll phone him later when he has hours and beg him again to increase the dosage. I can't keep this up for another 2 months!

VenanMoFo Day 7 - It's Soup Weather! Part 2

2009-10-07T16:16:00.002-04:00

I've got this simmering away on the stove right now and it smells delicious! I'm trying so hard not to take a taste - one of my weaknesses. A taste usually turns into a whole serving size bowl before the cooking is done. :(

I'm not bothering to blenderize this. As I mentioned before, those red lentils cook up some creamy and smooth, and besides, my family like a soup with a little bite to it.

One other modification was to add some spinach, about half a bag of frozen chopped (about 2 cups). I was going to use a different red lentil soup recipe for today's dinner, one that was almost identical to this one except it had spinach added and used crushed tomatoes instead of fresh, so I figured it would go with this soup, too.

VenanMoFo Day 7 - It's Soup Weather!

2009-10-07T12:36:00.002-04:00

And with the cool weather comes a new recipe from the official Rice Diet web site:

Turkish Lentil Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

* 2 large onions, medium diced
* 2 large carrots, medium diced
* 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
* 2 teaspoons ground cumin
* 2 teaspoons ground coriander
* 2 teaspoons ground fenugreek
* 2 large tomatoes, cored and chopped
* 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
* 1 cup red lentils (soaked overnight)
* 5 cups salt free, vegetable stock
* 1/4 cup fresh dill
* 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

Preparation:

Heat oil in a medium sauté pan. Add onions and carrots and sauté until
tender. Add garlic and the remaining seasonings except the dill. Add
tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes. Add lentils and vegetable stock.
Cover and cook on low heat until lentils are soft, approximately 30
minutes. Remove from heat and place mixture into a blender or food
processor. Blend until smooth. Stir in half of the dill. Serve hot.
Garnish with remaining dill.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 6 servings; serving size 1 cup.

Each serving contains approximately: Calories: 197 (5% from fat);
Protein: 11 g; Fat: 3.1 g; Carbohydrate: 23.3 g; Cholesterol: 0; Sodium:
37.1 mg.

http://www.ricedietprogram.com/o_nut_kitchen_tomatolentil_soup.php
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've never soaked red lentils - or *any* lentils - overnight like other
beans or legumes. They're so small and soft they'll just turn to mush
before you can even rinse them off the next morning.

Also, when blending, I always use one of those immersion blenders and do
it right in the pot. Much neater and safer than ladling hot soup back
and forth. And unless you have a gigantic food processor, I wouldn't use
one of those to blend. Remember that the center column, the one that
goes over the post on the processor itself, is only about half the
height of the container, so if you put this entire recipe in a 11 cup
food processor whose fill line is about the 4-cup level, a lot of it
will spill out the center hole onto the machinery. Stick with a blender.

I'll be making this soup today. I have no idea what fenugreek is other
than an herb that I don't have in my spice cabinet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenugreek
so I'll be leaving it out. I'll also use a can of no salt added tomatoes
instead of fresh, as we've had lousy fresh produce in this area for ages
and I'm not about to spend $3/lb on 2 tasteless tomatoes when I can buy
a can of diced for under a dollar. Of course, I'll omit the oil and sauté in a bit of water.

VenanMoFo Day 6 = Cookies

2009-10-06T08:00:00.004-04:00

That Isa is such a tease! Her (and Terry's) cookie book won't be out for another month, and here she is blogging all about cookies! ARGH!

Not that I would get that much use out of it when I do buy it. I doubt too many (if any) recipes will be McDougall-legal, but I'll probably make a few batches of those delicious baked globules of sugary goo for my family. My husband is the original Cookie Monster. LOL

That doesn't mean there are no cookies suitable on the McDougall food plan out there. Here are some that are officially allowed from early McDougall cookbooks:

* Exported from MasterCook *

Banana Raisin Cookies

Recipe By :Janice Morikawa
Serving Size : 16 Preparation Time :0:25
Categories : Cookies McDougall Acceptable

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 banana -- ripe, mashed
1 1/4 cups rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins, seedless
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup apple juice -- or water

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the remaining
ingredients and mix well. Batter will be stiff.

3. Drop by teaspoons onto a non-stick cookie sheet (or a sheet lined with
parchment paper) and flatten slightly.

4. Bake at 375 F for 15 minutes.

5. Store in an air-tight container

Source:
"McDougall Health Supporting Cookbook, Vol. 2"
Copyright:
"1986"
T(cooking):
"0:15"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving: 82 Calories; 1g Fat (6.7% calories
from fat); 2g Protein; 18g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 0mg
Cholesterol; 56mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Fruit; 0 Fat;
0 Other Carbohydrates.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

* Exported from MasterCook *

Peanut Butter Cookies

Recipe By :Elaine French
Serving Size : 48 Preparation Time :0:20
Categories : Cookies McDougall Acceptable

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup soy flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup applesauce, unsweetened
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup honey
3/4 cup peanut butter -- natural style

1. In a medium size bowl, mix flours, baking powder, and soda.

2. In a large bowl, mix applesauce, water, honey, and peanut butter until
smooth.

3. Add flour mixture to peanut butter mixture and mix well.

4. Drop by tablespoons onto cookie sheet. Flatten with a fork dipped in
flour.

5. Bake at 300 degrees F for 15 minutes.

Source:
"McDougall Health Supporting Cookbook, Vol. 2"
Copyright:
"1986"
T(cooking):
"0:15"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving: 70 Calories; 2g Fat (28.3% calories
from fat); 2g Protein; 11g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 0mg
Cholesterol; 43mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0
Fruit; 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

and one that hasn't appeared in any McDougall cookbook but are just as safe:

* Exported from MasterCook *

Fat-Free Oatmeal Cookies

Recipe By :Susan Voisin
Serving Size : 12 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Cookies Snacks
Vegan

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 cup oatmeal -- quick oats
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup Whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 cup Brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup Raisins
1/2 cup applesauce, unsweetened
2 teaspoons EnerG Egg Replacer
2 tablespoons Water

Preheat the oven to 375.

Mix the dry ingredients and the raisins. Mix the egg replacer with the
water. Add it and the apple sauce to the dry ingredients. Drop onto a
non-stick cookie sheet (lightly sprayed with oil, if necessary). Bake
for 12-15 minutes.

Source:
"http://veganconnection.com/recipes/desserts.html#Oatm"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving: 118 Calories; 1g Fat (4.4% calories
from fat); 2g Protein; 27g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 0mg
Cholesterol; 146mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 0 Fruit; 0 Fat;
1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

NOTES : Yield: 12 cookies
Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Hmmm, today is kind of filled up already, but tomorrow after rehab I have no plans, and it's gonna be a damp, rainy day, so a batch of cookies just may do the trick. Thanks for the suggestion, Isa. I'm no longer mad at you. :)

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