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

 

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!

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.

Dr. Esselstyn Guidelines Clarifications

These come "straight from the horse's mouth," so to speak.

Mary Pope, owner of the Dr. Esselstyn Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease - Recipes and Discussion FaceBook community, spoke with Dr. Esselstyn's office last week and arrangements were made for members of her group to send questions in to Dr. Esselstyn's secretary, Jackie Frey, and she would submit them to Dr. Esselstyn herself, and send back the answers from the good doctor. The first 10 questions (from a very long list) were sent late last week. Mary posted this today:

Here are the answers to the first 10 questions I sent. I’ll figure out a way to compile them by subject so they can be a reference.
Is it ok to just eat beets everyday for the six servings of greens? - No, Important to mix it up - arugula and kale are powerful
How have you lowered homocysteine? Is methyl folate needed? - Not when you eat plant based
Which Engine 2 foods are ok for someone with heart disease? - Almost all of them. Read ingredients. Rip's big bowl has a very few walnuts which probably don't matter for most.
Since the recommendations for reversal are stricter than those for prevention, it seems intuitive that ideally (to do the best one possibly can), everyone should follow the reversal recommendations. Is it so, or is there some reason why there is little or no advantage for some people (no diagnosis or high risk) to follow the reversal recommendations? - It makes sense, though for healthy, athletic people, nuts and avocado are fine...just no oil, no meat, no dairy for everyone and lots of vegetables and leafy greens
Does the doctor feel that the recommendation for flax seeds is sufficient to meet one's DHA/ALA needs? If not, what else might one need to do? - Flax seed meal and chia seed are excellent for DHA/ALA and the leafy greens as well.
1) Raw verses cooked and if portion sizes should increase with raw. - Some raw is good but some cooked is excellent and for leafy greens you get way more cooked.
2) If spinach/beets/chard should be limited because of the high oxalates/kidney stress? - Use reasonably and not exclusively - variety is good.
3) Does fresh raw cold pressed vegetable or fruit juice damage the endothelial? - NO juicing - do not juice. The fructose, the sugar in fruit is separated from the fiber in juicing. It is then rapidly absorbed and injurious. You lose the benefits of fiber best obtained by eating the whole fruit. Chew your food, especially your greens.
Realizing that the main component in the process of preventing/reversing comes from dietary changes, not supplements, I would like to have your input on any benefits of NATTO-K. Thank you! - It is not something we suggest using.
Clarification on water fasting up to two non-consecutive days per week since I can’t find that ‘update’ on the website. Apparently, he mentioned it recently at a conference in regards to reaching a plateau and/or lowering cholesterol? - Effective for losing weight when at a plateau. Consider doing Monday and Thursday.
Why is caffeinated coffee not allowed but caffeinated tea is ok? - The caffeinating process in tea is different from that of coffee.
Is decaf coffee ok? - Yes

More From Dr. Esselstyn

I just found this in my Drafts folder. No idea why I never posted it back when I wrote it up in September.

~~~

Dr. and Ann Esselstyn were recently in Australia for a plant-based conference, and a family who post as Plant Based Health Australia were there taking notes. Here's their summary post on FaceBook. Loads of comments, many with clarifying information, so be sure to click to read them.

If you don't "do" FaceBook, here's the post. I'm not going to post all the comments to it, though - sorry.

Plant Based Health AustraliaSeptember 22 at 1:54 AM · 
We attended a 5-hour workshop with Ann and Dr Caldwell Esselstyn today. We had not previously seen Ann in action. She's an extraordinary bundle of energy and highly skilled in presenting the practical food based information that heart patients need to know. She was able to convey a great deal of information while showing us how simple it can be. We've seen Dr Esselstyn present many times before but not at the level of detail he presented today.
Here are some key points we noted from Dr Esselstyn's presentation:
- Patients need to understand endothelium and nitric oxide and avoid eating anything that damages endothelium.
- If you are only 90% doing it then you are further damaging your endothelium 10% of the time.
- The best foods for protecting and enhancing the endothelium are green leafy vegetables. For heart patients he still recommends that you eat these, not drink these, 6 times per day.
- The other core principles of Esselsyn's nutrition are: no animal products; absolutely, definitely no oil; no caffeinated coffee; no sugar; low salt and no avocado or nuts apart from a small quantity of flaxseed meal or chia seeds. The foods to include are grains, legumes, lentils, vegetables and fruit. He only recommends restricting fruit when triglycerides are elevated.
- In Dr Esselstyn's experience if patients adhere perfectly to his diet their heart disease goes into long term remission even if their LDL cholesterol does not reach the 'heart attack proof' target of less than 2.0.
- Coronary artery calcium score (CACS) only measures calcified plaque, i.e. old plaque which has healed into scar tissue. It is the current, inflamed, active plaque that leads to heart attacks. Sometimes the CACS can worsen as active plaque stabilises, heals and calcifies.
- An antioxidant rich WFPB diet reduces the stickiness of the blood and stabilises plaque so that patients may not need to continue taking aspirin after a year or so on the program.
- For weight plateaus he recommends giving up flour products and using water-only fasting from 7am to 7am on up to 2 separate days of the week.
- He recommends against taking vitamin supplements other than B12.

As for those fasting periods, they said Dr. Essy explained the example of doing the water fast on Monday and Thursday. You start your fast immediately after dinner on Sunday and Wednesday and don't eat again until Tuesday and Friday breakfasts. This isn't the first time I read about Dr. Essy recommending fasting - a few women over on the non-official Esselstyn FB groups had mentioned it before. Previously he recommended not water fasting, but eating only non-starchy vegetables 2 days a week. I guess the fasting gurus got to him and got him to change his recommendation.

Also in the comments, the restriction on fruit was mentioned, and there was a little bit of disagreement about that, too. In this talk, or at least in this summary of it, it sounded like like fruit is only restricted if triglycerides are high, but in all his other talks and writings he restricts fruit for everyone to only 2-3 pieces a day. I'm going to assume if you have high triglycerides you need to restrict them even further than those 2-3 a day, like maybe one or none a day, like Dr. McDougall recommends for high triglycerides.

Speaking of Rip, Plantstock 2019 Videos Now Available

Register at the Engine 2 Plant Strong Academy page, just like last year. And it's also the same price as then, $149. 

There are many returning speakers, like the Esselstyn family (Duh!), Adam Sud, the Drs. Sherzai, and John Mackey, but others include the McDougall Program's own Dr. Anthony Lim, the diabetes experts Dr. Cyrus Khambata and Robby Barabro, Melissa Pampanin (She plays an integral role running MUSE School, the first school in the country that is 100% solar powered, zero waste, and serves a 100% organic, plant-based lunch program.), and a few others I never heard of before, but their topics sound interesting.

I can't wait to dive into them! I still keep a few that I downloaded last year on my iPad to watch when away from home and away from an Internet connection. I can never get too much of Dr. Esselstyn or his wife Ann!

Dr. Klaper - Beyond Cholesterol - Freeing Yourself from the Tyranny of Your Cholesterol Numbers

I've seen some of these slides and graphics in talks by Dr. Esselstyn, also, especially the part about "foam" cells developing. It may have been in Dr. Essy's presentation at last year's Plantstock. 

Plant Strong Podcast - Rip Esselstyn

A few months ago, Rip Esselstyn started his own podcast series called The Plant Strong Podcast. I listened to a few episodes, then forgot about it, because, well, I don't usually do podcasts and rarely open the podcast app on my iPad Mini, and unless someone gives me a poke and says "Listen to this!" I just don't do it. It's also available on-line, so no app necessary, only a browser that can play audio files, but I have the same problem. With my hearing disorder, listening to things is sometimes hard, so I always miss out on so much.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Rip (or someone in his organization) has put these podcasts up on YouTube! And they enabled the closed caption feature, too! OK, YouTube captions are voice capture, not a human looking at a transcript and typing the captions in like the best TV shows and movies do, but it's better than nothing.

So far I only got through the first 2 episodes - one with his dad and one with his mom as special guests - but I've enjoyed them. With this heat wave we're having, we're spending a lot of time indoors. While my husband watches things like The Cape Canaveral Monster and The Unknown Terror on the TV, I can pop my earbuds in and listen to a few more of these gems.

Here's the page with the Plant Strong Podcast Playlist, and here's the first episode, where Rip introduces Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn as well as Firefighter Joe Inga, whose story Rip will be following in these episodes.

Dr. Esselstyn at the 2019 Holistic Holiday at Sea

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!

Gustavo Interviews Dr. and Ann Esselstyn - Questions Answered

They touch on greens 6 times a day and the need for using a few DROPS of balsamic vinegar, why no juices or smoothies, and more!

Ann & Jane - Roasted Cauliflower and Lentil Salad

A warm-ish salad for these cold winter days. 

Ann & Jane - Mommy's Mushroom Gravy

Super Gentle Qigong

I've mentioned Dr. Robert Bates and his Fun With Qigong videos in the past. Now he has 2 of his videos from his latest DVD, Super Gentle Qigong, up on YouTube. This page from his blog explains what it is and what the movements on the DVD are.

When I bought this DVD he was selling it directly from his professional website, but I don't see it for sale there or on Amazon where I got another of his DVDs. Maybe that's why he posted these videos on-line?

This first one explains what qigong is, what the basic movements in this video set entail, what they're supposed to do for you, and how you're supposed to feel while doing them.


The second video assumes you now know how to do the movements and is a 14 minute run-through of the practice.



These are all VERY simple movements that can be done by anyone, at any level of fitness. They're perfect for people with limited movement because of age, illness or even body size. If you or anyone you know can benefit from even the smallest increase in movement, give this video a try. 

As you progress and get more flexible and stronger, look into either more of Dr. Bate's videos, or those from Lee Holden, the ones I do the most now. The videos from this selection are those I use most frequently, and on this site you can find some of his on-line/streaming videos, including the 30 day 7 Minutes a Day program.

Ann & Jane - Crowd Pleasing Black Bean Salsa

Thank-You, Wayback Machine Web Site

I was looking at some old posts trying to find exactly how I made some of the old Engine 2 recipes based on Jeff Novick's SNAP/Fast Food meals. There were 5 of them I used to make a lot from an article entitled 1 Dish Baking Meals, printed back in 2012. Well, many of the recipes are basically the same, with just a different starch used. I just wanted to refresh my memory of what, if any, changes I made.

I noticed not only were some of my linked photos to products used gone, but the link to the article itself was broken. (sigh)

Off to the Engine 2 web site to do a search to get the new link. I know they revamped the site and gave The Daily Beet a new url, but I was so saddened to find they removed many of the old recipes. The site used to have hundreds of them, and now the Daily Beet lists only 33, all fairly recent. I suspect the old ones are now only available in the Engine 2 Meal Planner and the occasional post to the blog.

So, like Mr. Peabody said to his boy, Sherman, so many times in the past, "Let's go to the Wayback Machine"!

I found it! Here is the link to the article, 1 Dish Baking Meals, from The Daily Beet blog, originally posted on June 14, 2012.

And here's the entire article, in case even that page vanishes in the future:

1 Dish Baking Meals

June 14, 2012

We like to batch cook food in the beginning of the week, so that the rest of the week is easy. We have a few dishes that are similar to casseroles, they are easy to make and last the entire week in the refrigerator.

You can make these in any size baking dish. If you have a large family, simply use a larger baking dish, if you are cooking for 1 or 2 you will want to use a small baking dish, it’s really that simple. You will want to cover these so they don’t overflow in the oven.

Oatmeal crisp: (Great for breakfast or dessert)

Pre-heat oven to 350

In a baking dish layer the following:

1 layer of frozen fruit (any kind you like, you can use 2 different fruits if you like as well, we like peaches and blueberries)

1 layer of quick cooking oats (about an inch thick)

Next add: No oil/unsweetened Non dairy milk. You can do half water/half non dairy milk if you like.Pour non dairy milk over the oats so they are well covered.

Bake in the oven at 350 for about 35 minutes or until the non dairy milk has absorbed into the oats (there shouldn’t be any liquid).

This works in any size baking dish, you can have it for breakfast or dessert and it will last in the fridge for a week.

Kids LOVE this one!

Mexican Casserole:

Pre-heat oven to 350

In a baking dish:

1 thin layer diced tomatoes

1 layer frozen brown rice

1 layer chopped tomatoes (thin layer)

1 layer frozen spinach

1 layer black beans

1 layer mixed veggies or corn

1 layer of chopped tomatoes (thin layer)

Sprinkle with chili seasoning.

Bake for about 35 minutes or until it’s hot 

You can serve it on corn tortillas or whole grain tortillas or just plain 

Polenta bake:

Pre-heat oven to 350

1 thin layer of chopped tomatoes

1 layer of sliced polenta rounds

1 layer of sliced mushrooms

1 layer frozen spinach

1 layer chopped tomatoes (thin layer)

Sprinkle with Italian seasoning

Bake for 35 minutes or until the mushrooms look done.

Potato Nachos Bake Pre-heat oven to 350

1 thin layer diced tomatoes

1 layer sliced cooked  potatoes (we slice them in rounds)

1 layer black beans

1 layer frozen spinach

optional: 1 more layer of sliced cooked potatoes

1 layer diced tomatoes

sprinkle with chili powder

bake for 35 minutes

Baked Ziti – Pre-heat oven to 350

1 layer chopped tomatoes with Italian seasoning

1 layer cooked whole grain noodles (gluten free works just fine)

1 layer of sliced mushrooms

1 layer of frozen spinach

1 layer chopped tomatoes with Italian seasoning.

Sprinkle with nutritional yeast or you can grind cashews for the top. (it is not needed, and if you have heart disease, diabetes or are trying to lose weight, you are best to keep this off)

Bake for 35 minutes

Breakfast Quinoa Bake: Pre-heat oven to 350

1 very thin layer of non dairy milk

1 layer cooked quinoa

1 layer of any frozen fruit and cinnamon

Bake for 25 minutes

Enjoy!

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?