Plant-Based Gingerbread Biscotti

Note what Jane said when asked if this was allowed for Dr. Esselstyn's heart patients because of the molasses and raisins:

Actually this is ok for heart patients- the guidelines are” not an excess of sweeteners like maple syrup etc”…and it is easy to not use the raisins if you don’t want to. The 2 T in this recipe are acceptable. Jingle jingle, Jane

 

Sandburg Stretches

 This weekend the Esselstyn crew did another series of videos, the topic of these being Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue. Because it was a typical busy weekend around here, I missed almost all of them when they aired live.

But I did catch a few minutes here and there, and a few times I saw mention of something Rip had talked about called Sandburg Stretches. Hmm, wonder what that was all about?

Well, a quick search turned up this blog post that not only explained that they came from Rip's great grandfather, poet Carl Sandburg, who did them into his 90's, but multiple videos of Rip back in 2015 demonstrating them all!

 

The Esselstyn Plant Strong Community

Plant Stock 2020 was last weekend. A wonderful time was had by all who attended the virtual seminars. The link to the replay videos was mailed out the other day, and there was mass confusion! Instead of a link to the videos, the link went to a whole new on-line community called The Plant Strong Community. It was then a matter of click, click, click, return and click something else, nope - that wasn't it, click something else . . . Such a frustrating time! Eventually the replays were found, then it took a few dozen more clicks to find how to sort them so they appeared in order. 

It seems the videos were "sent" as posts to the new private social community and not in a separate section of just the videos. Clicking to sort the "messages" in order of when they were first posted only holds for as long as you remain on that page - click away to watch a video and return and you have to change the settings all over again to find the next video. 

So much wasted time! Most of the messages posted so far have been "Where are the videos? I can't find them!"

It doesn't help that the Plant Stock 2020 private community is a part of a main Plant Strong community that is/will be open to the public to join and all posts are appearing on both the private and main pages, and unless you change your settings, you're also getting all posts sent to your email AND in the Notifications section, and a little bell dings each time one appears.

I'm sure things will get better as time goes on. It's a brand new software (Mighty Networks), a brand new community, and, as I said, dumped on us without any warning.

For now, the Plant Strong Community is only open for those who attended Plant Stock, but some time this week it will open up to everyone. When that happens, if you use this link it totes up to my Ambassador page if you join. Ambassadors get points for every person who joins using their specific link. What do we get out of it? As far as I can tell, we get a little badge, the color depends on how many join from using our link. Why? Makes life interesting? Leads to competitiveness? Gives the Esselstyns more eyeballs on their page? Who knows? If the link doesn't work today, try again during the week. We members have no idea when things are happening (or why). All I wanted was to watch the replays of the Plant Stock 2020 talks.

Flying Zucchini Slabs

Back in 2018, Ann & Jane Esselstyn did a video called Frying Zucchini Slabs that I commented on here.

Well, I finally got around to making some yesterday on the last day of our vacation. All week the daytime temps were in the 90's and night time not much cooler so I really didn't want to spend much time in the kitchen, but the heat broke yesterday so I had a chance to play.

Unlike Ann & Jane, I peeled my zucchini before slicing it, and like Ann, regret not slicing it even thinner than I did. I used the video's recipe that called for balsamic vinegar instead of the book's recipe's Bragg's Aminos. I also used the air fryer instead of a skillet. I placed my parchment paper circle down, laid out the slabs of zukes, coated them with balsamic, then air fried for 8 minutes @ 370º.

Well, it was barely warmed. I flipped them over, put on a coat of vinegar to the other side, then cranked the heat up to 400º and set it for 10 minutes.

 

Ah, looks a lot better now!

First I tried to just pick one up to eat, but it was a bit tough to bite into. I tried breaking it with a fork, but again no go. Out came one of the 42 year old steak knives. Some were cutting easily, but the tough parts were still tough. But to be honest, as tough as it was to cut, it really wasn't "chewy" tough. Maybe I'm just a weakling. 

And they tasted delicious.  

I have 5 more zucchini in the refrigerator, and will make up another one or 2 for today's lunch, but this time will do it as written, with Bragg's Aminos instead of balsamic vinegar. It'll be a bit neater because I'll use the spray bottle instead of pouring and using my finger to coat them. I'll also use the onion and garlic powder and maybe the black pepper that the original recipe also calls for. Once again they'll go into the air fryer, but I'll start off at 400º for 10 minutes. I'm sure it'll be just as tasty, if not more so, as this one.

Dr. Esselstyn Q&A with Chef AJ

Texas Armadillo Tater Tots and "Special Sauce" Ranch Dressing

My husband has been in a potato mood lately, and frankly, I'm getting a bit sick of plain old IPot steamed spuds with Golden Gravy and veggies on the side and wanted to make something different but still easy enough to make.

Enter the Esselstyn family instead of the McDougall one.

Here are the potatoes I'm making:

Texas Armadillo Tater Tots
makes 18 tots

18 red baby potatoes (or any color)
1 cup (8 ounces) hummus
1/2 to 3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning

Preheat oven to 425ºF and line a baking pan with parchment paper.

Slice most of the way through each potato at 1/4 inch intervals (Hasselback).

In a food processor, combine the hummus, water, and 1 tablespoon of the seasoning and blend well. Place this into a bowl.

Put all the potatoes into the bowl and stir to coat each potato and get the seasoning mix to sneak down into the wedges of the potatoes.

Place the potatoes on the lined pan and pour the remaining mix over them.

Bake until the potatoes are thoroughly cooked, about 45 minutes or longer, depending on the size of the potato. They should be tender in the middle and crispy outside.

Serve with ketchup or Rip's Ranch Dressing.


Engine 2 Cookbook
page 108

Of course, I used the Esselstyn's Our Hummus.

Our Hummus
From the book by Ann Crile Esselstyn and Jane Esselstyn. "The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook."

1  (15 oz) can no salt added chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 large cloves garlic
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 T spicy brown mustard
freshly ground black pepper to taste.
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

  In food processor, combine the chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, mustard, and pepper to taste. Add salt if desired and 2 T water and process until smooth. Serve immediately.

Variations.: Top with Caramelized onions, blend in cooked sweet potato, or add green onion.

But when it came to the ranch dressing, I didn't want Rip's because it contains cashews. Instead, I went for a ranch dressing from the McDougall forums:

Special sauce
post by Alvah » Tue Oct 06, 2015 5:14 pm

I'd like to share my version of a ranch dressing I use all the time, in salads, on baked potatoes, over vegetables, in panini. I modified the recipe by omitting the dill and jalapeño and adding a few other things.

Process in food processor:

2 green onions
1 package low fat silken tofu
1 t seasoned rice vinegar
1 t onion powder
1 t garlic powder
1 t salt
1 t sugar
2 t mild curry powder
1/3 c nutritional yeast
1/2 c low calorie plant milk

Yummy!

Yes, I had tofu! Last week I noticed our grocery store changed the endcap in the "healthy" section from chips and cookies to assorted other foods, from organic pickle relish to organic Kosher jelly, assorted fizzy waters (organic, of course), and there, behind some organic chocolate bars, I noticed the familiar lilac of the MoriNu Lite silken tofu box peeking out! There were 2 of these beauties hiding back there! Just when I had given up hope that this tofu would ever reappear in the United States again (It's been sold out everywhere since March), I was blessed with these! Just in time (OK, maybe a little late) for summer salad season! I had no idea exactly what I was going to do with them, but I grabbed them. The expiration date is next month, but I'm sure I can use the other one next week in one of Mary McDougall's recipes, like a potato salad. 

As for Alvah's recipe, since I haven't had ranch dressing in a long, long time, I can't really say how close this came to it, but I do know I'll be making this sauce again. Next time, though, I'll either reduce or skip the salt entirely and use half the curry powder. It is a great tasting sauce, though.

The execution . . .

Well, some mistakes were made.

I made the hummus a bit too thick. By the time I was ready to use it, it was as thick as clay and just as difficult to use. Because of that, I wound up using too much water in the armadillo sauce. Since I had a bag of 40 of those tiny potatoes, I planned on making double the sauce. Two cups of the hummus went into the food processor. I reached for the Cajun seasoning and saw I needed to open a new jar. There were 2 jars in my spice box, 2 different brands, neither the one I just finished. I opened the first and tasted it. It had a weird chemical taste. Opened the other, and it was different, but not at all like the older one.  Oh, well, it’s going to have to do. In that goes into the food processor. My husband walks into the room and offers to help. I hand him the 2 cup measuring cup, tell him to double the amount of water on the paper and pour it into the machine. He does that and the water starts pouring out around the spindle! Instead of at most 1 1/2 cups of water he used 2 cups. He misunderstood what I told him to do.  You would think an 11 cup food processor could hold more than 4 cups, but you’d be wrong. I learned that last year when I tried to make that corn soup.

So, after I blended up the “batter” he cleaned the mess. It looked like hummus soup.

While he cleaned, I started in on cutting all those tiny slits in those 40 tiny potatoes.  My hands were so sore afterwards. The batter got poured into the bowl with the potatoes and I let them soak in it while the oven preheated and I got the parchment paper on the pans.

Using a slotted spoon, 20 potatoes went on each tray, and a bit of the liquified hummus got poured over each. The pans went into the oven, a timer was set for 20 minutes so I could rotate them, hubby helped clean everything up, and away we went into the air conditioned bedroom to watch TV for a few minutes. When the timer dinged I moved the trays around, reset the timer for 25 more minutes.

45 minutes came and went and the potatoes were still hard. How? These were those tiny things! Checked again in 5, then 10, and just took them out after an hour in the oven. Here’s how they looked:

Good enough. If they’re still too hard to eat I’ll nuke them, but as it turned out, most were okay enough. The few we have leftover will be eaten during tomorrow’s lunch and they'll soften up as they get nuked. The 2 pounds of cauliflower were devoured, though, as well as over half the ranch dip/dressing. The saltiness seemed to have died down a bit since I made it in the morning.

The verdict:

My husband loved every morsel of it, including some of the baked on batter that he peeled off the parchment paper. It tasted a bit like cheese crackers our son ate when younger. He liked the tiny slices that made these baby potatoes disguise themselves as Hasselback potatoes. The ranch dip, now as firm as I wish my hummus was, he declared “good” but not “great”. Even so, he already asked when I plan on making this meal again.

As for *my* opinion, if I had my druthers I wouldn’t bother with the slits and I wouldn’t bother with making these in an oven. I wouldn’t even be opposed to skipping the “batter” part, either, but the next time I will make the batter, but all by myself, so I can keep track of how much liquid it needs. Hopefully it comes out right, and the batter adds a lot of flavor, and roasting it in the oven transforms them into something magical. To me, that ranch dressing/dip made the whole meal.

Excerpt from Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook

Mary Pope, admin/owner of the Dr. Esselstyn Preventing And Reversing Heart Disease- Recipes and Discussion Facebook group, has recently pointed out that the Amazon page for the book The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook: Over 125 Delicious, Life-Changing, Plant-Based Recipes by Ann and Jane Esselstyn has a long excerpt from the introduction. Scroll down the page, beyond the Editorial Reviews, after About the Author, and hit the Read More link.


Great information about the food plan Dr. Esselstyn recommends - this info alone is worth the price of the book!

Plant Strong, Right On!

Just skip the "avocado on toast" and kale with breakfast and it's McDougall MWLP.

This guy's videos were included as part of the activities this past weekend on Engine 2's Plant Strong Primer Weekend. Sorry I didn't post about the weekend sooner, but I found out about it late and missed just about all the talks, anyway, and have to wait for the replays. From what little I did see, it was the usual Esselstyn shenanigans - Dr. Esselstyn did his Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease talks, Ann talked about what to eat on the Plant Perfect Esselstyn diet, Rip did his usual talks and meal demos for his 7 Day Diet Rescue version of the Engine 2 diet (Tossing together a bunch of fruit and cereal and call it Rip's Big Bowl, toss together a sweet potato, a bunch of veggies and fruit, and call it Rip's Big Dinner Bowl), Ann and Jane did a few of their fast and sloppy and unintentionally comical food demos (Oatmeal and sandwiches and ??), Adam Sud did his story of pulling himself out of addiction. There was also a talk by Jane's husband Brian Hart (IDK on what) and a talk by Dr. William Bulsiewicz on gut health. There were going to be dance breaks, music breaks, and even yoga. I guess I'll see them all when the replays are available.

The page advertising the weekend is still up on the Plant Strong website. Maybe they're going to sell the replays? I have no idea, but if interested, keep checking that website.

I Can't Resist It - The Plant-Strong Primer Weekend

From the Plant-Strong Primer announcement website:

WHAT IS A PLANT-STRONG PRIMER?

A live expert-guided,
interactive event.

It’s important now more than ever to do all we can to eliminate our risks for chronic disease. As the country emerges from quarantine, let’s strengthen ourselves from the inside out by harnessing the power of whole, plant-based nutrition.

Shelter in Place with the Esselstyns—The First Family of the Plant-Strong Movement.

Along with the Esselstyn family, Adam Sud will be giving his From Pills to Plants talk, Jack Quigley will be playing guitar for the "Dance Breaks" between lectures or cooking demonstrations, and just today I saw someone named Dr. Will Bulsiewicz will be a special guest.

Yes, I know that I, and probably most of you people, have already heard the standard Esselstyn talks; you heard the Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease speech by Dr. Esselstyn a number of times, saw Ann & Jane do numerous cooing demonstrations, heard Rip's talk about the Engine 2 Seven Day Diet program a time or 2, but each time these talks are given some new tidbit of info is usually mentioned. Besides, we've all heard Dr. McDougall say the same things multiple times and we still tune in to hear each time, right? :)

If you can't watch "live" be sure to choose one of the 2 packages that give you the recorded streams. The cheapest price is ONLY the live videos - you don't watch as it airs you're out of luck.

Now if only I could buy veggies again. . .

Plant Strong Podcast - Corona Virus

Last week Rip spoke with his brother in law (Jane's husband) Brian Hart in a podcast titled Reflections on Food and Pandemics:

This week he talks with his father, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. He wrote:

Hello Friends, 
Thank you to everyone who submitted questions for my dad, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr.  I had originally planned to fly to Cleveland to capture this conversation in person, but right now he and my mom are in protective isolation in their home. Thankfully, my sister, Jane, lives next door and checks on them each day. To us, our parents are national treasures and we are taking no chances in exposing them to any of us.
So please forgive the audio—we did the best we could given the technology. But I hope you enjoy this candid Q & A podcast with my dad in which we talk about nitric oxide, iron, cholesterol, and more. We will schedule more of these so keep the questions coming.
I hope you are all staying healthy, staying home, and staying positive.
Peace, Engine 2, Plant-Strong,
Rip Esselstyn
Founder, Plant-Strong by Engine 2

Klunker's Easy Mustard Dressing

Lately, potatoes have really been bothering me, so I've switched from the assortment of soups and plates of potatoes to rice dishes, specifically brown rice (made in my rice cooker), veggies (made in my microwave) and beans (made in my Instant Pot, although sometimes I get lazy and just open a can or 2).

Rice - I have an assortment of brown rices to choose from - par-boiled, instant, basmati, jasmine, short grain, Texmati, and plain old Carolina or other brand of long grain. Every time I go shopping to a new grocery store I check out the rice section and many times come home with another bag of something.

Frozen veggies - it all depends on what the store has that week. It's usually cauliflower, green beans, broccoli, peas, corn, carrots, either 3 pounds of each or mix and match. Peas and carrots is good, as well as peas and corn, even peas and baby onions. Brussels sprouts are reserved for the days it's just my husband and myself eating because our son hates them. I also toss a bit of greens into each batch, maybe a quarter pound, unless, of course, it's already a veg that passes as an Esselstyn "green".

Beans - I'm embarrassed to say I still have bags of beans from when I belonged to the Rancho Gordo Bean Club, and I dropped out of it (for the third time) over a year ago. Do you think that stopped me from buying an 8 pound bag of pintos when I saw them for the first time Walmart a few weeks ago? Or from ordering one 10 pound bag each of organic black, cannelini and dark red kidney beans from Food for Life from Amazon last week, as well as another 5 pound bag of Palouse garbanzos? (Well, I do go through those garbanzos pretty fast and buy a new bag about every 3 months.)  I made a vow to start eating more beans, especially after hearing Ann Esselstyn say you can't eat too many beans, that beans are great (As opposed to Dr. McDougall's guideline to eat no more than an average of 1 cup per day). I rearranged my kitchen appliances so now the toaster oven is back in storage and the big Crock Pot is now in its former home. Remember those attempts at making Mary's Bean Stew a few years back, when I vowed then to make a batch of that every week? I make and break a lot of vows when it comes to food, don't I? 

Anyway, a funny thing happened - the more beans we ate, the more weight we lost. While I'm ecstatic to lose a pound or even just a half pound a week, but my husband isn't. At 6' he was maintaining his weight at around 170 since he lost that big amount post-op CABG surgery in 2013, but since we started eating first potatoes and veg, then soups, and now rice, beans & veg, his weight had dipped down as low as 151 and he looked at least 10 years older and frail. He put a few pounds back on by eating 2 loaded hummus sandwiches on weekdays for lunch and 3 sandwiches plus a snack on weekends. Oh, how I wish I could lose weight as easy as he does!

Toppings - There's the usual lower sodium soy sauce and teriyaki sauce, Bone Sucking Sauce, sriracha sauce, but there's also the Jane Esselstyn 3-2-1 Dressing and Sweet Fire Dressing, and lately the peanut butter based Dragon Sauce that my son loves, as well as Chef AJ's assorted dressings and sauces and Jeff Novick's tahini sauce. My husband has said not to make things like Ann Esselstyn's beet based sauce In the Pink or Chef AJ's Barefoot Dressing because although he originally loved them, he says they're now too sweet for his tastes. He wants more savory, as well as more filling, toppers for our meals.

So, now I'm on a quest for savory, filling sauces and dressings. Later next week I plan on one meal using Michael Klunker's Crock Pot Mushrooms and Ann Esselstyn's Sweet Corn Sauce, and this morning I made a batch of Creamy Easy Mustard Dressing from Michael Klunker that I'll serve with tonight's rice with peas & carrots and garbanzo beans. I could post a photo of my batch in an old salad dressing bottle, but it doesn't look any different than the dressing in Michael's photo in the link. His recipe:

Klunker's easy mustard dressing

Ingredients notes - don't overreact to any of the ingredients, this is dressing, a condiment, so you are going to get a lot of of this. 
You can adjust the ingredients to make as much or as little as you want.  This is for a big batch.  It lasts a long time in the fridge.  You will use it all before it would ever go bad.  It can be used for dip too.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dijon mustard
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup rice vinegar (you can use other vinegar's to change the flavor a bit, like white wine, red wine, apple cider, or white balsamic)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (you can add more if you want, I sometimes do, start with 1/4 cup (quarter of a cup) and go from there.
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash of pepper

Blend together well.  Put in a jar of your choice, and store in the fridge.  This travels very well.  Use on anything.  I dip potatoes into it, fries, on salads....the list goes on.  I hope you enjoy.

Creamy version:
Add the above ingredients, add 1c of cooked (canned), drained chickpeas.  Put in a good blender and blend until very smooth.
It will be thick, you can eat as is, or thin out with more vinegar.  I like it thick. :)
Enjoy!!

I did add the cup of canned no-salt added garbanzos and it is pretty thick and creamy. It's also very salty, and I didn't even add the 1/2 teaspoon salt that's in the recipe and used a no-salt/no-sugar rice vinegar! But is also is very tasty! I'll have a wee bit of it over my broccoli and the leftover half cup of canned garbanzos for lunch and tonight we'll have it with our rice. I think I found my new favorite dressing. 

Let's see what else I can put over rice. We're not a fan of all those flavored balsamic vinegars, and since I'm trying to keep my triglycerides down I use the minimum on my greens when I do use some. I'll be looking over the old Potato Toppings List to see what else might catch my eye to use in the coming weeks.

Ann & Jane Esselstyn - A Quick Talk

Quick and Simple Explanations by Dr. Esselstyn

More Dressing Up with Ann & Jane Esselstyn

Ann's Plant Perfect dressing:

"In the Pink" Dressing

1 medium to large Chiogga beet (or any beet, but the Chiogga makes it pink)
2-3 cloves garlic
zest of 1 orange
1 orange - peeled and cut - or slightly under 1 cup orange juice
zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons lemon balsamic vinegar (or any white vinegar)
Blend together in food processor.

Remember that Heinz Ketchup commercial where the tagline was "It's slow good!"? Well, that's how this stuff is. It's so thick it came through that funnel in plops, not as a liquid. If I ever make this again I'll probably go with orange juice. I usually keep a few of those 1 1/2 cup bottles around for making the sweet potato chili in Chef AJ's book, so what's one or 2 more to make this dressing, right?

You'll notice mine is yellowish-orange, not pink like Ann's. It would have been maroon except the Acme store near my son's job happened to have Golden Beets the other day and I grabbed a bunch. 3 tiny golf-ball sized beets, organic, for $5, plus the orange (another buck) and a 59 cent lemon, all for about a cup of dressing.

But how does it taste? Well, mine wasn't as sour as Ann's, that's for sure! I only had a teeny bit over my lunchtime red beets yesterday, and my husband won't be having it until tonight's rice and veggie meal. He's the one who asked me to make this after watching the video, so it's not going to be a surprise for him. I'm sure he's going to love it.

Now for the other recipe . . .

TRIGGER WARNING!!
This sauce contains stuff that tastes delicious and is addicting to certain people!
It contains an ingredient NOT allowed on McDougall's MWLP, Engine 2 Seven Day Recipe Rescue,  the Esselstyn Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease food plan, nor on any of Chef AJ's plans! It's just fine for the regular McDougall Starch Solution and Engine 2 programs.

You have been warned!

Jane's Plant Strong sauce:

Dragon Sauce
Makes about 1 cup

In a food processor or blender:
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons low sodium tamari
1-2 tablespoons 100% maple syrup
1 tablespoon hot sauce (Sriracha, etc.)
2 cloves peeled garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons minced ginger
1/3 cup of water (or more, depending on consistency preferred)

The Engine 2 Cookbook
page 94

I made this one in the jar that came with my Ninja blender instead of the food processor. It just seemed like overkill to use an 11-cup appliance for a 1 cup amount of ingredients. I only used 1 tablespoon maple syrup because I'm running low, and used just a few drops of sriracha because I'm not a fan of spicy things, and even one drop of this stuff on some rice or veggies makes my tongue sweat.

OMG!!! This stuff is amazing! A nice fatty mouth feel, the sweetness of the syrup, the spiciness of the ginger and garlic, the little Hey! of the sriracha! That's a 1 1/2 cup squirt bottle, so you can see it made maybe a pinch over 1 cup of sauce. I'm in trouble - it's taking all of my willpower and strength NOT to just drink this stuff up! As much as I love it based on a bit on my finger wiped off the blender container, I just can NOT make this ever again! You know how Dr. McDougall says he could live on just potatoes? I would attempt to live on just this sauce! Lucky for me, though, my son loves peanut butter, even takes 2 sandwiches into work each day (He's finally off cheese! Yay!), so I'm sure he'll take this off my hands.

I Blame Target!

I've mentioned here before that our son is working at the local Target store. He was even there early on Thanksgiving for 7 hours - in and out before the store's 5pm opening time. Because the light rail train he takes was on holiday schedule and didn't start until 2 hours after he was scheduled to be in, we woke up at 4am to drive him in. Because the trains only run one an hour on holidays we also drove in later on to pick him up and bring him home. Anyone who saw the Macy's parade that morning knows how cold and windy the weather was - we were so close to NYC you can see the Holland Tunnel exit from the Target parking lot. While we waited for him to get out we watched some buses pull into the lot and discharge a few bands and all their instruments - it seems Target gave them permission to park their cars in the lot while they were appearing in the parade and the buses took them back and forth to the city. At least the sight of all those happy faces kept us warm while the car shook in the cold wind!

So when Friday came and we volunteered to pick him up at work again, we made the decision to NOT wait in the cold car but to go inside and see how crazy the place was for Black Friday. Our son warned us months ago that if we ever go into the store and see him we're to totally ignore him, because he was going to ignore us. He was just as bad in kindergarten all those years ago! I think all kids are like that, no matter what their age. Anyway, we're roaming around the Home section, and turned to walk the other way when we saw our son approaching the area, as we'd been instructed to do. Imagine my surprise when he walked right up to us to tell us the Power XL Air Fryer, 7.5 quart, is on sale for half price as a 1 hour Doorbuster special, to go over and grab one before they're all gone (He put out over 100 and the pile was already down to under 20). He said not to worry about getting the employee discount - they were already told they can't use it on Doorbusters. He said he heard great things about this, to get it, NOW, he'll explain why later. 

Alright already! So we did. Good thing he insisted we grab it immediately - by the time we got to the display there were only 5 left. We paid for the fryer and headed out to the car, because now he had only 5 minutes until punch out.

When he came out we asked what that was all about, and he said he wants to start eating less pasta and more potatoes, and the gals at work were saying how great air fryers are for doing that. He knew I wasn't crazy about getting one, but at that price he couldn't pass it up.

Later that afternoon I moved my Instant Pot and my husband helped me unpack the air fryer. As soon as we opened the box it hit us - that weird chemical plastic smell! Oh, it's vile! It got worse after we unpacked it and took the plastic bags off! The instruction booklet seemed to know all about the odor and said the first thing to be done was washing all the pieces inside and out in hot soapy water, then do a few minutes of pre-heat to burn off the oils used as protection on the cooking surfaces.

So now we had a hot vile smell permeating the kitchen.

When the pieces cooled I washed the pan again in hot soapy water and did the pre-heat again. No change. (sigh) I turned on the kitchen ceiling fan, hoping it would at least dissipate the smell. Now the whole apartment smelled vile. When it turned off I pulled the plug, hoping the smell would go away by the time we woke up on Saturday.

Saturday morning we did our usual shopping trip, came home and put groceries away, and the kid went into his room and hubby went out for a walk. Now it's Potato Time! During one of the pre-heats on Friday I emptied out the junk, er, kitchen utensil, drawer and found what I was searching for - the French fry crinkle cutter! This is one of the few things I rescued from my parents kitchen after my mom died and my dad was packing up to move down the Jersey Shore area. He and my younger brother were never going to use it, and my dad was tossing out more than he packed, especially kitchen things. It's over 50 years old and as sharp as the day my mom bought it.

I already had a few white potatoes already cooked up in the refrigerator, leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner, so off I went, slicing them all into crinkle cut fry shape.

I wanted to keep the inside of the air fryer as clean as I could so grabbed a hunk of parchment paper and cut it to size. I know the ones on Amazon made for this purpose all have holes, so I cut a few of them in the paper. OK, this will do until I order some. Since nobody sells them in oval shapes to fit this pan I'm stuck with 10 inch circles. That'll have to do. Before dumping the potatoes into the fryer pan I first seasoned them up with onion powder and garlic powder and shake, shake, shake. All set! Into the air fryer with the pan! I know Chef AJ starts all her air fryer recipes with 400º and 20 minutes, but to be safe I set my air fryer time for only 15 minutes and set a kitchen timer for 7 so I can shake them up mid-cooking. The final result:

My son and husband declared them "Perfect!" but I thought they were too crunchy. I'm the one who prefers my fries thin cut and limp. We all had some dunked in ketchup and my son said he'll probably make some later in the weekend for lunch or even dinner. He said he may wait until that smell was gone. It was as bad Saturday as it was Friday.

Since I needed to use the Instant Pot for dinner, the fryer got moved until the next morning, when I switched it with the Instant Pot so I could make up a batch of air fried Brussels sprouts. Again I grabed the parchment paper but don't bother with the holes. Instead of dumping the bag of sprouts and getting all those tiny leftover leaves, I grabbed the whole sprouts by the handful and put them, still frozen, into the pan. When I oven roast them, I do them at 400º. Sometimes I stop at 60, but prefer them cooked for 90 minutes. To air fry, once again I set it at 400º but for 10 minutes, then did a shake, then set it for another 10 minutes.

Beautiful! But a little too dry, drier than after 90 minutes in the oven. Next time I'll do 15 minutes.

Sunday I cooked up a load of russet potatoes in the Instant pot and have a bunch in the refrigerator to make more fries later for lunch. I'll probably cut them into slices, like fat Ruffles, this time. That is, if there are any left after my son makes his pile of spuds for his lunch. Good thing I bought an extra bag of potatoes at the store Saturday.

Now let's see how long it takes for my joints to start aching from all these potatoes. I know I can do 2 potatoes twice a week and be okay. If I do make some up for lunch for myself it'll be the first time in a year or so I had potatoes 2 days in a row. Keep your fingers crossed!

Noon, same day.

I thought I uploaded this earlier. Oops. At least now I can add this. My son said he was ready to learn how to use the fryer. I sat at the table and just said - "Plug it in." He looked at it and realized there was nothing to learn - just the time and temp for whatever he was going to cook. I told him how I did yesterday's spuds and he was satisfied. He then dismissed me, grabbed the baggie of pre-cooked russets from the fridge, sliced up 4 of them, sprinkled a bit of onion and garlic powders and a decent amount of salt, saw I already had a fresh parchment paper in the basket and dumped the spuds in, and within 20 minutes was already in his room eating his lunch. He already asked me to make sure I always have cooked potatoes in the refrigerator, that he may even make these (minus the onions and garlic) in the mornings before work as breakfast and toss any leftovers in a container to bring to work for lunch.

Yep, he's been bitten by the potato bug. Wait until I make the first batch of BBQ chickpeas or onion rings! 

And as long as the cutting board was still out and the fryer hot, I cut up a batch for my own lunch. As long as I don't over-cook them like yesterday, I think I'm going to enjoy this appliance. I'm glad I held out so long and didn't grab a small one 2 years ago when everyone else jumped on the air fryer band wagon. This made better fries than I could have in the oven or my old convection toaster oven. This one is a good size. Even if I did buy a Breville I would have had to buy the second tray to make enough potatoes for a meal for 2 or more.

Oops, again. I thought I uploaded this the other day. I guess between all the appointments we had earlier this week I just forgot.

Since I wrote the above, I've made air fried potatoes every day for lunch except yesterday, both Russets and Yukon Golds. I had some leftover soup from the night before to eat, and also thought I might be eating too many potatoes and felt I should take the day off. The expected increase in joint pain never happened, to my surprise. My son has also been making himself fries every evening. And this morning I woke up and noticed some potatoes missing from the refrigerator - I guess he made another batch of fries for his breakfast while we were sleeping. The guy wakes up close to 2am and leaves the house before 5 every day so he had plenty of time. Beats grabbing a snack from the vending machines at work when he gets there.

Right now I have some peeled Russets in the Instant Pot and plan to make the potato patties shown in this video. I took 4 cooked Russets and mashed them with a generous sprinkling of Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb spice mix and made a total of 9 potato patties. They're in the air fryer right now @ 400º and my timer is set for 15 minutes.



I don't like things as crunchy as she does, so after I flip I'll only cook them another 3 minutes or so. The final result:

2 front, one flip side (after 3 minutes)

Oh, and I hopped on the scale this morning, just for shits and giggles, as Austin Powers says. I'm down 2 pounds since Monday! This is the first time I've lost weight eating as much as I want without being in the throes of bronchitis or the flu. Holy f-ing s***! Now I really hope I'm over my sensitivity to spuds and can continue eating as many as I want!

Even if I do start getting all those joint pains again from eating so many potatoes, I still say this was a great purchase based solely on the fact that my son is now eating less junk food and more healthy ones. He'll probably fry up some of those potato patties when he gets in as a snack before dinner today. Maybe I can interest him in bringing potato patty sandwiches for lunch instead of the peanut butter ones he's bringing in now. A mom can dream, right?

It's Holiday Season!

By now, I'm sure everyone got their annual email from the McDougall Program with the holiday recipes.

Holiday Meal Planning & Recipes (Updated) | Dr. McDougall's Health & Medical Center

How about the PDF from Forks Over Knives?

Remember this article from 2015 about recipes for Thanksgiving suggested by the folks at the Engine 2 (Now known as Plant Strong) website?

By the way, they're having a sale on the Engine 2/Plant Strong Meal Planner. 

Save $30 on the Plant-Strong Meal Planner annual plan with code: GIVETHANKS30

If you prefer videos of Esselstyn Thanksgiving suggestions, these are the recipes Ann said they're serving to 42 people this Thanksgiving:









As for us, our son is working Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday at Target, and he's very picky about what he eats the night before work, so we have nothing special planned to eat as a family on Thanksgiving.  My husband and I will have Chef AJ's Sweet Potato Chili for ourselves - it'll be cooking in the Instant Pot while we drive out to pick him up (Trains will be on holiday schedule both days and only run one an hour and be super crowded, so as long as my husband is off work we'll go pick the poor guy up), and Friday evening when we get home we'll all sit down for our Thanksgiving dinner, a big old pot of garlicky mashed potatoes as shown in the above video, a few pounds of carrots, and the McDougall Golden Gravy. 




Gee, that sounds exactly like a meal we had just a week ago. Maybe I'll splurge and make the PCRM Sweet Potato Pudding. A perfect McDougall Thanksgiving dinner!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Another Batch From Dr. Esselstyn

Once again, via Mary Pope, owner of the Dr. Esselstyn Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease- Recipes & Discussion Facebook Community:

A few more responses from Dr. Esselstyn:

I have low blood pressure (as low as 76/50) naturally and have been encouraged by my doctor to up the sodium level, much more than the 1,500mg/day. One side effect of low BP is passing out, which it does seem to help with. If I don’t have any heart disease, is this level okay for my heart? ***The blood pressure level is too low and requires a cardiologist’s evaluation to correct.

I have heart disease, but must take proton pump inhibitors as I had a Hellers Myotomy without fundiplication. It is my understanding that nitric oxide is made in the stomach and mouth, but ppis interfere with nitric oxcide production in the stomach. So my question is, is it necessary to eat more greens than a fist size, six times a day to get sufficient nitric oxide? ***No

Explain in detail why some few individuals have been recommended to eliminate grains temporarily. What is the cause and effect? ****It seems to identify whether the liver production of cholesterol may be stimulated by consuming an excess of grain.

My husband has lost muscle mass since doing the reversal diet. Is there a way to rebuild this? He’s 56 yrs old and has a shoulder that bothers him, so lifting weights isn’t really possible right now. ****Resistance exercise will help to maintain muscle mass.

What could be the cause of a normal Systolic blood pressure but high Diastolic ? ****High systolic blood pressure accompanied by normal diastolic pressure is called isolated systolic hypertension, which is possibly caused by artery stiffness, heart valve problems or hyperthyroidism.

I see he reversed what the last question asked about - normal systolic and high diastolic. I hope that one gets re-submitted.

More from the Esselstyns

This time it was a member of the community who had approached the Esselstyns to ask questions. Here's what he posted about the encounters:

Martin Kilroy
100% Esselstyn Nutrition Forum
11/19/2019

In an earlier thread, I suggested that it was not "required"  to include ground flaxseed or chia seeds in the Esselstyn reversal diet.  I would think that our diet has sufficient omega 3 fats.


I posed this question to Ann and Dr. Ess via email:  
Could you please clarify whether the flax or chia is "required" on the heart disease reversal plan?


Ann:
Put ground flax in your oat cereal…one tablespoon and when it is mixed in you will not know it’s there.  Be  sure to use ground.  The whole flax goes right through you.


Dr. Ess:
Flax or chia and green leafy vegetables are valuable for obtaining omega-3.


When I saw Dr. Esselstyn last night, I again asked:
Do you require flax or chia seeds to get your omega 3 fats or do you get enough from all the greens that we're eating?


Dr. Ess: I like it if you can put either a tablespoon of flaxseed meal or a tablespoon of chia seeds on your cereal in addition to eating plenty of green leafy vegetables. (emphasis on like and plenty)


I'm now adding the tablespoon of flaxseed meal to my morning steel cut oats and I'm not going to quibble about whether it's "required."

A New Book Coming?

Not from Dr. McDougall but from one of the Esselstyns. Jane posted this recently to Instagram:

View this post on Instagram

RECIPE TESTING WITH EGGPLANTS: We have been playing around with eggplant and are loving the results! How do you do your eggplant? - - - #EggPlant #BakedEggplant #NightShade #ResearchAndDevelopment #RecipeDevelopment #NewRecipe #Plantbased #HeartHealthy #PlantStrong #JaneEsselstyn #fibersource - - 🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆 🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋

A post shared by Jane Esselstyn ➖ Author (@jane_esselstyn_rn) on Nov 19, 2019 at 9:12am PST

I like eggplant, and can usually find decent looking ones in any grocery store around here, and this food looks pretty darn good. The speculation for the topping in the comments run from hummus, an Esselstyn favorite, to a cheezy sauce. I may try this soon using plain hummus. Maybe cauliflower steaks on one tray and this on another. Hmmmm.