Ann & Jane Esselstyn - A Quick Talk

Today is National Bean Day

Read all about it here, or here, or here, then maybe visit Rancho Gordo and pick up a bag or 2 of your favorites or just put your name on the wait list for future openings of the Bean Club.

How am I celebrating? I have 2 pounds of garbanzos in the Instant Pot right now - some to use as cheezy chickpeas for lunch, some to make air fried crunchy chickpeas with for my son (400ºF and shake every 5-10 minutes, stop when to your likeness), some go into a jar in the fridge for tomorrow, and if there are any left, the rest go into zip bags in the freezer.

Manhattan Bean Soup

Still making new-to-me soups now and then, and this is one of them, "Manhattan Bean Soup". I'm assuming the name is a take-off of Manhattan Clam Chowder, the version of that fishy soup that has tomatoes, as opposed to New England Clam Chowder that doesn't. Well, I never ate either, as far as I remember, so I have nothing to compare the taste of this to. I never could stand the smell of clams and refused to ever eat anything made with them.

I remember once as a kid my father took me to the famous Clam Broth House in Hoboken, NJ. He had a yen for them, my mom refused to buy and cook them, so he asked the three of us kids if we wanted to go with him on an adventure and I volunteered. Neither of my brothers wanted to go. In fact, my dad and I went many places without the boys - they would rather stay home than go on mystery trips with our dad. I'm the one who wound up at the top of the Empire State Building, on a fishing boat off of Sandy Hook, driving through the Jersey Pine Barrens (Looking for the Jersey Devil, of course), and in a rowboat in Central Park. A 45 minute bus ride and 15 minute subway ride later and there we were. I still remember the stench of fish and beer, and as soon as I stepped inside I realized why my dad said to wear hard soled shoes and not sneakers - the floor was covered in sawdust and everyone at the "bar" would just toss the empty clam shells on the floor after eating their clams. Yecch! I don't remember what I ate (probably a bowl of tomato soup or maybe just toast), but am very certain I didn't touch any of the clams except to gather a few shells to take home and paint to use as decorations around my bedroom. So long ago! 

MANHATTAN BEAN SOUP

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 3 hours
Servings: 8

7 cups water
1 cup Great Northern beans
½ cup dried baby lima beans
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 large potato, chopped
1  16 ounce can chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons soy sauce
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon dry mustard
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
Dash of white pepper
1½ cups soy or rice milk

Place beans and water in a soup pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook about 2 hours. Add vegetables and seasonings. Cook an additional hour. Remove 1 cup of soup and process in blender until smooth. Add milk and mix well. Add this mixture back to soup pan. Stir until heated through.

The McDougall Newsletter
September 2011  Volume 10 Issue 9
http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2011nl/sep/recipes.htm

I do love these soups by Mary McDougall. Usually there are a bit less ingredients as compared to others' recipes, and always simple to make.

I was debating first of all whether or not to make this in the Instant Pot, but decided for my first shot at it I would stick with the directions as-written. Because winter is here, I have a wide variety of beans around the house, so grabbing some out of the Great Northern bag and some from the baby limas was not a problem. I started the beans right after lunch so they would be finished cooking by the time the webinar between Gustavo and Dr. McDougall would be finished. It didn't start until 2 pm here on the East Coast.



I used half a one pound bag of frozen diced onions, 1/4 cup of dehydrated celery (Because I also keep a wide variety of dehydrated and/or freeze-dried veggies around, too), 2 cups of potatoes from a bag of frozen hash browns, a can of no-salt added petite diced tomatoes, and Pacific brand almond milk. I have a half dozen boxes of this in the pantry closet so I'm good for a little while - we only use it for recipes, like a bit in soups or dressings or when my son makes his mac & cheese (from this powder recipe). The only store selling it now is Whole Foods and I have no plans to go there in the near future. I'm thinking of buying a canister of this JOI brand Almond Milk Powder to keep on hand for those times we may run out of almond milk and I can't make the hour drive (2+ hours round trip, depending on traffic by the Holland and Lincoln tunnels and how crowded the store is). I know I could buy almond butter and make almond milk with that, but I know if I have a jar of almond butter around the house the stuff is going to wind up in my oatmeal, spoon by spoon. I've seen Justin brand packets of almond butter, a tablespoon per packet, to avoid that temptation, but unfortunately they contain oil.

This is where the picture should be, but unfortunately, when the time came to serve and eat the soup I completely forgot about taking it. Sorry about that.

As for the taste, the soup was just meh. To be honest, it had no real flavor. The beans were very mushy, the spices were undetectable, and that one can of tomatoes got lost in all that water. My husband said there was no need to make this soup again and I agreed, but if I did, or if any of you do, I suggest you double the veggies, and at least double, maybe triple, the spices. Be sure to taste and adjust them as the soup cooks. You won't be sorry.

Quick and Simple Explanations by Dr. Esselstyn

Dr. Esselstyn's Got Moves!

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SOUND UP! Swinging in the holidays with Essy. - - #dancewithdad #dancing #xmaseve #cutarug

A post shared by Jane Esselstyn ➖ Author (@jane_esselstyn_rn) on Dec 24, 2019 at 7:47pm PST

Merry Christmas!

Dr. John McDougall and Gustavo Tolosa, Together Again!

On Monday December 30, 2019, Dr. Gustavo Tolosa will once again host a webinar with Dr. John McDougall!! Register here.

Happy Hanukkah

Winter Is Really Here

I know because enough leaves have fallen off the trees and I can see the Freedom Tower/World Trade Center from my bedroom window again. At least we don't get 24 hours of darkness like the good citizens of the fictional Cicely, Alaska.



Northern Exposure End Scene: More Light from Markus Avrelius on Vimeo.

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.