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

 

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.

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. . .

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

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.

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.

Mom, Make Meals That Are Less Complicated

Or, "We're gonna need a bigger boat."

In my case, a bigger food processor, but I'll get to that later in this post.

A few weeks ago Ann and Jane Esselstyn demonstrated this recipe for Oberlin Corn and Shallot Chowder from the Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook (page 89), except they called it Summer Corn Chowder in the video.



The other day I decided to give it a shot, and even bought the twice-as-expensive Pacific lower sodium vegetable broth as suggested. I also mistakenly bought leeks instead of shallots, not realizing my mistake until I was half-way checked out at the register, when the clerk asked me what those things were and I replied: "It was supposed to be shallots but grabbed leeks by mistake. Aw, crap!" I knew I had a container of freeze-dried shallots at home and decided to just use those instead of finishing my order, putting all the bags in the car and going back into the grocery store to grab 2 shallots. I'll find some other use for those leeks, even if it's just cleaning and chopping them and sticking them in a bag in the freezer.

Time came to start the soup, and I took the rehydrated shallots, celery, and broth on to cook as directed. While that was bubbling along I dragged out my food processor and got ready.

Here's where things started to go off the rails.

Instead of putting the veggies and broth into the food processor container first I put the defrosted corn and then started to pour the broth in. I get it only half poured when I notice puddles forming under my food processor! 

ACK!!

I quickly grab some paper towels and start sopping the area of the puddle that wants to pour over the edge of the cabinet. Then I quickly get the top of the food processor off and start pouring what's left in it into the pot and toss that in the sink, then continue grabbing paper towels to clean the still growing mess up.

Yes, those are pencils in my sink. They were on the counter near the pad where I write my shopping lists. The pad went right into the garbage. Those were just a handful of towels I used before getting the food processor opened and food dumped into the pot. There was a heck of a lot more paper towels on the counter, sopping, while I ran to grab the iPad so I could snap this shot. Right after this I poured everything into the pot and put it back on the stove while I washed out the food processor container, the food processor itself, the counter, and everything the broth touched on the counter, like the electric tea kettle, a bunch of spice bottles, and those poor pencils. Hey, they had erasers that worked - I wasn't going to toss them our just because they got a bit of broth on them!

After all the clean-up was done, I tried again, this time only putting a few scoops of soup into the food processor, whirring that up, pouring it into a different pot, then repeating until it was all done. Now I finished up the recipe by heating it all up again before dishing it out.

By now, the lacinato kale that I also bought was finished in the Instant Pot. It was the first time in a few years our store had this and not the curly kale. It tasted so delicious even plain! I did what the Engine 2 Seven Day Rescue book says to do and made half my bowl full of greens, then ladled the soup into it.

A bunch of black pepper got added on top of this.

Now for the taste test.

Well, the kale is delicious. The soup? As Ann says at the end of the video, needs more pepper. It needed something - otherwise it tasted not all that different than a can of no-salt added creamed corn.

Will I ever make this again? No. Not that it's bad - it's just blah. My husband took a taste and grabbed his ever-present bottle of sriracha and added so much his soup was almost pink. Not a good sign. He also told me I can have all the leftovers for myself. Gee, thanks. I had a bit yesterday, and will probably finish it up at lunch today. If I go a bit heavy-handed with the salt shaker it's not too bland.

When my son heard this story (He was at work when it all happened. Hubby wasn't home at the time I did the above, either), he turned to look at me, put his hands on my shoulders, and said the title of this blog post: "Mom, make meals that are less complicated." Will do. 

Either that, or buy a bigger food processor. Mine is the 11 cup model, and in all the years I've had this, I never made a mess as big as this one was. I looked up the one I think Jane has and discovered it's most likely the 16 cup capacity. So word of warning - if you try this soup yourself, either use a larger food processor, a fairly large capacity blender, or an immersion blender. Consider yourself warned!

As for those "less complicated" meals, since 3 days a week I make rice and frozen veggies, 2 days a week some kind of pasta with a very simple sauce, and either a McDougall soup, a SNAP meal, or potatoes and frozen veggies the other 2 days, what I usually make isn't complicated at all. I just wanted something different! That'll teach me!

One Door Closes, Another One Opens

But in this case, "door" means Facebook Community.

The owner of the Esselstyn Nutrition Program Roundtable is closing the community because it takes too much of her time. She doesn't want to just hand it over to someone else to run because the community is so old it still contains some of the original Esselstyn guidelines, things he no longer allows, and she doesn't want erroneous information to confuse new members.

But JoAnn Downey to the rescue! She started up a new Esselstyn "reversal" plan community called 100% Esselstyn Nutrition Forum. It has the same rules as the other community - the discussions and recipes will ONLY be those that adhere to the strictest "reversal" guidelines of Dr. Esselstyn's Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease program. That is, the ones mentioned here:



and here:



Here are the general guidelines for those following the strict reversal program, as compiled by JoAnn Downey:

1) NO OIL. Oils cause vasoconstriction and raise blood pressure as well as being damaging to the arterial endothelium (lining). Hidden fats may also be called hydrogenated___, mono and diglycerides, lethicin.
2) Eat starches, non-starchy veggies and a max of 3 fruit servings. Starches are important for satiation so you do not get hungry. Being hungry is not sustainable. Starches are root veggies (potatoes, sweet potatoes), beans/peas/lentils, winter squash and 100% whole grains.
3) Eat (chew) a fist-size (after cooking) serving of high nitrate veggies, with a few drops of balsamic vinegar or other vinegar, six times spaced throughout the day from breakfast to bedtime. This promotes the formation of nitric oxide (NO), the most powerful vasodilator we have, so arteries will dilate to their fullest. Esselstyn's favorite 6 ‘greens’ for NO production are KALE, SPINACH, SWISS CHARD, ARUGULA, BEET GREENS, BEETS (yes, beets!) Dr. E also has a ‘greens’ jingle which mentions bok choy, collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, napa cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, cilantro, parsley and asparagus.
4) Avoid all smoothies and juices. Chew your food.
5) Avoid all high fat foods like nuts, nut butters, coconut, avocado, tofu, coconut, seeds (see flaxseed reference below) An olive or two as a condiment is fine.
6) Avoid processed sugars like agave and maple syrup.
7) Avoid caffeinated coffee.
8) Avoid all animal foods/meat/dairy/eggs
9) Avoid salt in cooking and at the table, and be careful with condiments. The rule of thumb is no more milligrams of sodium in a serving as there are calories. Adding a SMALL amount of a higher sodium condiment to a whole low sodium meal is OK.

RECOMMENDED SUPPLEMENTS Pg. 73-74 Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease
1. Vitamin B12…..I favor 1000mcg daily
(Note….Meghan Brady spoke to Dr. Esselstyn and he said 500mcg for those under 70yo)
2. Vitamin D3…..Check your blood level. If your blood level is normal, it is not needed. If your blood level is below normal, I suggest 1000-2000 IU daily until the low normal blood level is reached. Adjust dosage then to maintain the low normal range.
3. 1-2T ground flaxseed and /or chia seeds daily, maximum of 2T.

Also….notes I have from Jan ’17 (Patricia Slimbarski ) "My take on alcohol stems from being around the entire Esselstyn family. I have had the pleasure of being with them on many events. I have spoken at DR Esselstyn's seminars for almost 2 years now and also spoken at Jane Esselstyn's Woman's Heart Conference and also at RIP Esselstyn 2 Forks Events. They are all on the same plate here and also the same mindset regarding drinking. I have heard them all say that Alcohol is empty calories, no nutritional value and inhibits your burning fat as much as 30 pct and is a KNOWN TOXIN to every organ in your body. Drinking can also induce cancer and heart disease and other organ damage. we are so concerned about maple syrup or molasses and caffeine then why are we not so concerned about drinking something like alcohol?"

So, if you still want to join the community, go over to 100% Esselstyn Nutrition Forum and click to join. You'll be asked to answer 2 questions. As soon as JoAnn or one of the other admins reads your answers you'll be approved. You can also just do a search for the community, but yesterday there was a little glitch and it didn't appear in a regular search - you had to click the link near the top of the page that said "Groups" before it appeared.

My thanks to JoAnn for starting this community, but I really wish someone from the Esselstyn program itself would open a message board or FB community, one that deals, like this one and the one Meghan had, with the "reversal" version of the program. So much out there that Ann and Jane Esselstyn do, whether in talks, articles, or their YouTube page, deals with the general Esselstyn program and NOT the "reversal" guidelines. When over half the cookbook, the majority of the recipes done on the YouTube channel, even many recipes from the original Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease book, are unsuited for this version, it would be nice to have that clarification "straight from the horse's mouth," so to speak. 

If you still belong to the original community, be aware that on May 1st Meghan is deleting everything, not just "closing" it to new people. If there are any recipes, photos, or any other information you would like to keep from there, get it now, while you still can, because like half the population of the universe in those Avengers movies, once she snaps her fingers it all goes away.

For the McDougallers who aren't aware of the details of the 2 Dr. Esselstyn programs, it's like the difference between the regular McDougall program and the Maximum Weight Loss version - basically the same but MWLP is stricter and doesn't allow or severely restricts some foods that are fine for the regular program. It's like that here, in the differences between the regular Prevent plan and the Reversal programs. All are healthy, but if you're suffering from severe cardio-vascular disease, you need to be super strict and go that extra mile to restore your health.

12 Essential Guidelines For Eating A Plant-Perfect Diet
By Ann Crile Esselstyn
Posted on Mind Body Green


So many years ago when my husband, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, published research that showed the power of plant-based, no-oil nutrition to arrest and reverse heart disease, I became the cook and our children the recipients of a plant-based diet. Since then, eating plant based has become part of who we all are, and none of us would ever look back with longing at the world of meat, grease and oil.

I wrote the recipes in my husband’s book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, and our daughter, Jane, wrote the recipes in our son Rip’s second book, My Beef with Meat. With heart disease patients in mind, Jane and I have teamed up and written The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook.

We want to share with you some of the things we have learned along the way and most specifically what we recommend for those with heart disease or type 2 diabetes or for anyone who wants to lose weight.

Here's our 12-step plan for plant-perfect eating.

1. Eat no meat, pork, fish, fowl.

No flesh. None. Every cell in an animal is made of cholesterol. All meat also has saturated fat and animal protein. And research suggests that digesting meat releases a byproduct, trimethylamine oxide (TMAO), that's an even stronger predictor of heart disease than cholesterol. Avoid highly processed fake vegan and soy “meats” because they have a lot of oil in them.

2. Consume no dairy products.

Like meat, all dairy products contain cholesterol, saturated fat, animal protein, and casein. The protein in dairy is one of the most rel¬evant carcinogens identified. Avoid all highly processed vegan and soy cheeses, which are made with a lot of oil and often have added casein!

3. Eliminate oil!

Get rid of all the oil in your cupboards, even if it’s virgin olive oil, so that you can’t use it. Instead of using oil when you stir-fry and sauté vegetables, you can use vegetable broth (no sodium added), water, wine, beer, or vinegar. They all work well. Instead of relying on oil when you bake, use applesauce, apple butter without sugar, puréed prunes, or mashed ripe bananas. Balsamic vinegars are delicious on salad and the flavor-infused ones are stunningly good.

4. Eat whole-grain oats.

Old-fashioned rolled oats or steel-cut oats are good choices. Avoid the more processed “quick-cooking” or “instant” oats. Enjoy whole-grain oats for breakfast any way you can — either as oatmeal or a cold cereal with nondairy milk and fruit, or in the batter for waffles or pancakes.

5. Eat whole grains.

Be sure the word "whole" is in front of wheat or rye in the ingredient list. And be sure the word brown is in front of rice. If you don’t see “whole” in front of the grain on a bread label, it’s likely made with white flour fancied up to sound impressive. Many wonderful whole-grain products are available in the cooler section and the frozen food aisle.

6. Eat greens, especially leafy greens, as well as all the symphony of rainbow-colored vegetables.

Cooked or raw, vegetables are king! Make leafy greens — like kale, collards, and Swiss chard — the nest on which you put your food, mix greens directly into your food, or pile greens on the side of your plate. Mix greens into soup.

If you’re making pasta, add small pieces of kale or other leafy greens to the pot four minutes before the pasta is done then drain the whole pot, and you have a meal ready to go. Use collard leaves instead of burritos in a wrap. Roll a collard green up like a sushi roll. Mix a bunch of greens into pasta sauce and spread it on your whole wheat, no-oil pizza crust, then top with veggies — but, of course, no cheese.

7. Eat beans and lentils!

All beans and lentils are delicious and filling, and are healthy protein sources. Try red lentils in soup. They cook quickly and give the soup a nice color. Put beans in salads. Our hummus, which is made without tahini or oil, has become our “mayonnaise” for spreading on sandwiches, and is our favorite dip for vegetables and crackers. It’s even an ingredient in our favorite salad dressing.

Our main party dish is brown rice and black beans piled high with chopped tomatoes, thawed frozen corn, chopped scallions, water chestnuts, cilantro, chopped arugula, chopped peppers, and topped with salsa.

8. Avoid sugar as much as possible.

Always avoid drinking fruit juice. Eat the whole fruit instead. Read labels and avoid added sugars. Don’t get caught up thinking one sugar is better than another. Avoid them all as much as possible. Save sweets for birthdays or special holiday treats. Instead, put grapes in your freezer for an amazing sweet treat, or freeze bananas or mangoes and blend them in a high-speed blender or a “Yonanas” machine for delicious dairy-free “ice cream.”

Also, a little fruit or dried fruit added to a dish can really help sweeten it up. We use pure maple syrup in some recipes because it has the smallest amount of fructose of all sweeteners.

9. Avoid salt as much as possible.

Look at the government label for the amount of salt (sodium) in a product. No added salt is ideal, or aim for the salt content being equal to the calorie content or less. Instead of salt, add vinegar, lemon juice, lime juice, or low-sodium hot sauces for flavor. You will lose your taste for salt before you know it. Gourmet salts like Celtic salt and sea salt are no better. Don’t get caught up thinking one is better than another. Avoid them all as much as possible.

10. Steer clear of nuts, avocado, and coconut.

Instead, use 1 to 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds or chia seeds daily on cereal or in salads — both are excellent for omega-3 fatty acids. An occasional sprinkling of sesame seeds is fine.

11. Drink water!

You can’t go wrong with water. You'll save thousands of dollars and thousands of calories by just drinking water. Absolutely never drink sodas, artificially sweetened or not. Avoid smoothies. Don’t drink your calories; chew them. You can flavor water, soda water, or seltzer water with a splash of orange or apple juice occasionally, but never drink juice by the glass on a regular basis!

12. Read food labels, especially the ingredients.

You'll be surprised how often products that claim to have “zero fat” will list oil among their ingredients. The government allows anything under .5 grams of fat to be labeled fat free. Even products labeled trans fat free can have trans fat in them if you see partially hydrogenated oil as an ingredient! Shocking. Be vigilant!

Ann & Jane - Roasted Cauliflower and Lentil Salad

A warm-ish salad for these cold winter days. 

Ann & Jane - Kickin' Corn Muffins

Kickin' Corn Muffins
makes 12 muffins

1 cup water
3 tablespoons flaxseed meal
1 1/4 cups oat flour
1 1/4 cups corn flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup 100% pure maple syrup

Book Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Combine the water and flaxseed meal in a small bowl and let sit for at least 5 minutes, until it starts to gel. (This is not the usual flaxseed-to-water ration used in baking: We are saving steps by using all the water for the muffins with the flaxseed meal).

In a mixing bowl, combine the oat flour, corn flour, and baking soda. Add the flaxseed mixture and maple syrup and mix until well combined.

Scoop the batter into the cups of a 12-cup non-stick muffin pan. Bake for 18 minutes, until lightly browned. These are best when served warm with salsa or hot sauce.


The Engine 2 Cookbook
page 111

Video instructions:

Do NOT mix the water and flaxseed together. Add the dry flax meal to the flours in the bowl.
Use any grind cornmeal.
If 1/2 cup maple syrup is too much, use less syrup and increase the water.

Ann & Jane - Chocolate Filled and Lime Kissed Strawberries

Ann says that mini food processor is a Cuisinart, but it looks more like the Chop 'n Prep Chef portion from the Power Chef system from Tupperware that Chef AJ has been pushing for a few years. You can also see it in action in this Tupperware party done by drag queen Aunt Cassie Rolle (a.k.a. Kurt Kohler). No matter where in the country you live, you can order anything from Tupperware through his Tupperware page. People who have ordered through him have nothing but praise for the personal attention - and speedy shipment - to their orders. He even leaves his phone number in case you have any questions about any of the products.

Ann & Jane - Crowd Pleasing Black Bean Salsa

2 Pictures of Esselstyn Recipes

Well, I said the other day that I bought a cauliflower to make those Cauliflower Steaks. Here's the proof:

I finally made them up yesterday, using the Pizza Hummus. They took 40 minutes in the oven to get them to where I liked the texture. Is it so bad that I ate the entire thing by myself for lunch? I guess not, because I was still hungry after eating it all (it made this full tray and half of another) so I had a sweet potato afterwards.

And since it's been such gloomy, rainy, and sometimes chili weather here in NJ the past week, I decided instead of my usual old-fashioned oats with a banana and spinach for breakfast I would make Ann Esselstyn's version of steel cut oats, as she made them in this video. I've made steel cut oats before, but usually with fruit. I've made savory old fashioned oats before, too. But somehow this particular combo - the steel cut savory, made with kale and nutritional yeast (I forgot the mushrooms. Oops!) - is so tasty and hearty, it just warmed me up and gave me hope that we'll eventually see the sun again.

Another good thing about this meal - I followed the directions on the package of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Steel Cut Oats and used 3 cups of water to 1 cup of oats, so besides this bowl, I also have Mason jars of breakfast for the next 2 days in the refrigerator now.

More recipe photos as I make them. As mentioned a few times already, I haven't really been cooking anything new, but with the weather changing, I hope to switch some of my current weekly meals to hearty soups. I have a few hundred soup recipes I haven't tried yet and hope to do at least one new one per week. Keep your fingers crossed I don't back out and just stick with the super simple tried-and-true meals I've been doing all summer. 

Ann & Jane - Plant-Based Sandwich Contest

Um, not a contest, by any means. Jane makes a cucumber sandwich from the cookbook, Ann makes a cucumber sandwich with ingredients her son Ted had on a sandwich recently. Both ladies use hummus, cucumber, and greens but Jane's also uses mustard, scallions, and lemon pepper seasoning, and Ann's has radishes and an apple slice.

To be honest, I wouldn't - couldn't - eat either of them. I can't find an oil-free, whole grain gluten free bread, even if I wanted to eat any flour products. And I have no idea how people can eat Mestemacher bread even without double toasting it. Jane laughs because her daughter calls it a shingle, it's so hard. How is that enjoyable to eat?? And I, personally, do not like cucumbers or radishes. I'm sure there are many of you out there who, like Ann and Jane, do, so go ahead and enjoy these sandwiches with no fear I'm going to be jealous or try to steal it from you. LOL

Plant-Stock Available for Everyone Now!

Hello, all you lovers of all things Esselstyn!

Couldn't get to Plant-Stock last weekend? Wish you had been able to see 2 1/2 days' worth of whole food plant based speakers? Missed Ann and Jane's antics?

Fret no more!

For the first time ever, all the Plant-Stock lectures were professionally recorded and are available for streaming! Yes, you have to pay for it (unlike last year when someone used their cell phone then put them all up on FaceBook), but it costs a bit less than one of the McDougall Advanced Study Weekend series and contains many more hours than those!

From their intro page, where a promo video is available:

Preserve your Plant-Stock Memories (or see what you missed!)This series includes professional video and sound recordings of each speaker that took the stage at the 2018 Camp Plant-Stock event in Black Mountain, North Carolina. We've published this video series like an online course, with lectures and supporting documents. Watch the series at your leisure and refer to it as often as needed, strengthening your arsenal of plant-strong information.

So, why not invest in your health and sign up today?