VeganMoFo Day 6 - Good Idea, Bad Idea

Remember the old bits on the Animaniacs cartoons, Good Idea, Bad Idea?

Well, making all those SNAP meals is kinda like that. Good Idea: Making these gigantic meals that require your largest pot and one batch makes enough for a hearty dinner (with seconds) for 2 hungry adults, plus enough for lunches the next day.

Bad Idea: Making these gigantic meals that require your largest pot and one batch makes enough for a hearty dinner (with seconds) for 2 hungry adults, plus enough for lunches the next day, and STILL having at least one 3-cup container full left over so there's enough for even more days of lunch.

Here's what's left over in just this one week of SNAP meals:

And this is after 2 more containers-full were eaten for lunches and one more dinner!

Some people love lots of leftovers. Those are the people who don't mind eating the same thing multiple times in one week. My husband isn't one of them. He gets annoyed when he has to eat leftovers and grumbles through the whole meal. Those people who like leftovers also may have a large refrigerator with plenty of storage space in the cooler and freezer sections. I don't. I'm lucky to fit a week's worth of frozen veggies in my freezer at one time. There's no room for a big modern refrigerator in a pre-WWI urban apartment.

My husband currently is battling a flu, and although that's usually a bad thing, it's good at this point in time. When he's sick he really doesn't care what he eats. When we were both sick this past Spring and our son was in charge of cooking for the 2 of us because we were so weak we could barely lift our heads off the pillows, we ate a lot of rice and pasta meals and more than a few hummus on toast  sandwiches. We didn't care what it was because we couldn't really taste anything. While not as bad as in April, right now my husband can't taste all that much, and said it's alright to have one or 2 leftover meals to use these up. I'll be sure to add some extra spices in his and maybe he'll be able to taste something. I'm gonna be so sick of these things by the time they're all gone!

Forks Over Knives: The Extended Interviews

Coming out on November 20th, 2012, Forks Over Knives: The Extended Interviews.

From the YouTube site:

Following up on Forks Over Knives, comes Forks Over Knives - The Extended Interviews. This video includes never-before-seen footage from the film's expert interviews, covering many of the film's themes in greater depth and addressing important issues that weren't covered by the movie.

Featuring leading experts T. Colin Campbell, PhD, Caldwell Esselstyn Jr., MD, Neal Barnard, MD, John McDougall, MD, Pam Popper, ND, Doug Lisle, PhD, and Terry Mason, MD, Forks Over Knives - The Extended Interviews is must-see viewing for anyone who is interested in the powerful relationship between food and health!


Amazon has it at the pre-order price of $13.99, but I see nothing on the official Forks Over Knives web site about this DVD at all.

VeganMoFo Day 5 - Eating Simply

Here's an excerpt from a book I'm currently reading that goes along quite nicely with Dr. McDougall's and Jeff Novick's philosophy of eating simply:

Chapter 64

Put things in order
before a disorder makes its appearance.
Don't wait until your body cries.
Pay attention to the way you eat
and what happens next.

The wise desire what others do not desire:
tranquility, centeredness.
The wise learn what others do not learn,
eat nourishing foods others have passed by,
keep the natural development of all things.

A transformed diet begins with this bite.
Don't fuss over food;
keep it simple or you will spoil it.
People who explore numerous diet possibilities
are too busy trying to remember past knowledge
to pay attention to the here and now,
where life is.

Avoid calculated outcomes.
Just pay attention
and your outcome will be right for you.
The wise take action
by letting things take their course
and watching.


Commentary
Some of us get so carried away with hype about a new food or diet that we bombard our bodies with a wild array of foods that end up fighting each other in our systems. We never look beyond our tastebuds until a crisis presents itself and we puzzle over the why of a condition, such as colitis, hypertension, or other conditions.

When we keep our intake simple and listen to our whole body response we experience calmness — freedom from gas, gurgles, cramps, and fuzzy teeth; our joints move more easily and we have a steady stream of energy.

There is nothing complicated here; the body runs at peak efficiency with no calculation necessary. Give your body the undivided attention you pay your valued, most inspiring mentors.
~~~~~

Forget That Diet and Eat What You Need
The Tao of Eating

Elizabeth Terp
Paperback: 126 pages
Publisher: Trafford Publishing (July 6, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1412024552
ISBN-13: 978-1412024556

Amazon page, with Look Inside feature


And that's just ONE chapter. The entire book, based on ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu's work, Tao Te Ching, compares his basic teachings on living simply and how to rule a country to eating simply and ruling your own body. Learn by observing. From the back cover:


The TAO OF EATING
is written out of what I know
and what I don't know,
all of which changes instantly:
what I know becomes suspect
and what I don't know becomes clear
in the present moment.

Under all this confusion
flows the Way,
continually softening knowledge posts,
floating well-secured docks out to sea,
exposing fresh sand where there was none.

My work is to be sensitive to all the
great and subtle changes,
awake to life.
 - Elizabeth Terp
~~~
Eating the McDougall way follows the Way.

VeganMoFo - For Nutritarians

I just found two bloggers who follow Dr. Fuhrman's nutritarian way of eat are also participating in VeganMoFo this month:

Nutridude

Carrie on Vegan

If I find any other no-added fat plant-strong whole food bloggers, whether McDougall, Fuhrman, or even Engine 2 or Reboot, I'll let you know.

VeganMoFo Day 4 - SNAP Black Bean Chili

Today's SNAP meal isn't one of Jeff's but one of Letha's MWLP recipes.

For over a year, Letha posted frequently on the McDougall forums and even though her weight loss was slow ("Turtle Power" was her motto and a turtle was her avatar) she stuck with it, not only developing her own versions of McDougall recipes to post on her MWLP blog but starting up her own forum, McDougall Talk, before handing it off to another to run.

Then she vanished without a trace. No word of warning, no complaints about the McDougall program that may have hinted she was thinking of leaving, just there one day and gone the next.

Luckily she left up her blog with all the fantastic photos of the recipes she made. I'm making one of those recipes today, my own variations on her variation of Jeff's SNAP recipes.

SNAP Black Bean Chili 9000

Letha based this on Jeff's basic SNAP 5-ingredient formula of tomatoes, beans, vegetable, starch and spices. For this chili she used:


1 can of Black Beans, drained
1 Can diced Tomatoes
1 lb bag of frozen Bird's Eye brand peppers and onions
1 lb bag of frozen Bird's Eye brand corn, broccoli, & peppers
2 cups water
2 Tablespoons Penzy’s Chili 9000 seasoning
2 cups of Minute Brown Rice

Letha liked her chili hot/spicy but I don't, so instead of using the 9000 chili powder I'm using a milder, salt-free one from Penzy's. I'm also using a 28 ounce box of Pomi chopped tomatoes instead of a 15 ounce can of diced. I'll also toss in a bit of greens, one of Jeff's additions that doesn't count in his basic 5-ingredients.

When I make it, it looks very much like what Letha shows on her blog page, so I won't bother with any photos.



Because my husband is a big eater, I'll also make a cornbread to go with this meal, the same one I used in this VeganMoFo blog post from 2 years ago.

VeganMoFo Day 3 - Simple Everyday Meal

Simple Everyday Meal is one of those meals that needs no recipe. The only ingredients are a bucketload of cooked rice, a giant bag of frozen veggies cooked up, and a can of beans (drained and rinsed, naturally), all tossed together in a big pot or bowl with some seasoning spices and served. If you want a photo, click the link to Jeff's page for it.

I've been doing something similar for years, but in this house we call it Chinese Rice, which I first wrote about in VeganMoFo 2007. I make up a big batch of rice in my rice cooker, and while that's bubbling away I nuke 3 of those small bags of frozen peas and carrots in the microwave. Instead of beans I use either pressed, marinated, then fried (in marinating fluid) tofu or Soy Curls. The kid prefers his dish with just the rice and veggies with a bit of soy sauce, so after he's served I doctor the rest of the pot up with the cooked tofu and sometimes a can of sliced water chestnuts and a can or box of fresh sprouts. My husband douses his with either teriyaki sauce or low-sodium soy sauce, I use a lower sodium garlic ginger teriyaki sauce. My weight is usually up 2 or more pounds the next day from the sodium, because even low-sodium products are still pretty high in salt.

I know Dr. McDougall may not approve of the Soy Curls because even though it's not isolated soy protein it's still high in protein itself, being a processed soy product. It's still better than the decades I used TVP in meals. I used to buy that stuff all the time from The Mail Order Catalog, since the early 1970's at least. I still have some of the smaller unflavored "mince" type of TVP in a container in a closet here, and I really need to toss it out when I finally can dig it up (It's currently buried under some crafting supplies). I used to buy not only unflavored  but also all the flavored ones - beef, chicken, sausage, even ham and pepperoni - in the tiny mince, and the larger chunks of beef flavor to add to stews, chicken flavor chunks and strips to add to stir fries, and even the larger chicken "patty" sized for chicken parmesan and even sandwiches. The beefy mince made great Sloppy Joes. Now I just use cooked lentils for that.

ATTN: McDougallers

Don't forget to check out the other McDougallers who are doing VeganMoFo. I updated the list in THIS POST from the other day.

VeganMoFo Day 2: Longevity Stew

I'll be starting off the month with the recipe I've made the most out of all his recipes, the Longevity Stew. This originally appeared on his Fast Food Volume 1: A Common Sense Approach to Health video.

Here's the preview video for the DVD:


The recipe in the PDF file on the DVD is for Longevity Soup, but he demonstrated how to make a different dish, the Longevity Stew. These are the ingredients for the stew:

28 ounce can whole tomatoes
1 pound bag frozen soup veggies
1 lb mixed veggies
15 ounce can of beans
1/4 of a small bag of greens
1 potato - chunked
1 1/2 tomato cans water
1" ginger - chopped
1/2 bag Success rice (or 1 small bag) - add to the pot with other ingredients
Mrs. Dash or other spice mix

For those who don't know how Jeff cooks these meals, everything gets tossed into a big pot and heated through until the veggies are nice and hot, usually about 10 minutes for him, but if you like your veggies softer, cook it longer. Usually some other starch, like rice or pasta, is cooked in its own pot, unlike this recipe where it's one of the ingredients. Many people like to make a big batch of brown rice on weekends and just dish it out as needed during the week. He once said that each potful of his meals is around 1500 - 1800 calories, depending on which starch was used, which bean, the type of tomato product, etc.

These are the ingredients I used:

Instead of Success brand rice I'm using a cup of Minute Rice brown rice.

I don't like Mrs. Dash in any of its incarnations, but I do have this no-salt seasoning that I absolutely adore. It's from Aromatica and it's the Organic Roasted Garlic Herb blend:

I also usually toss in a spoonful or 2 of one of the soup/seasoning mixes from Dr. Fuhrman's web site, matozest or vegizest:

Here it is, bubbling away:

Whoops! I just realized I forgot the greens. Oh, well.

I never did get a photo of the finished product, but it looks very much like what you see as it cooked, plus the little bits of rice floating around.

BUT

I was soon reminded of why we stopped eating these SNAP meals as often as we used to. After finishing off the entire pot, along with a few slices of bread each, about 2 hours later we were both ravenous! While I settled for a banana, my husband proceeded to devour a few hundred calories' worth of fig bar cookies and potato chips. 

I may not be sticking with Jeff's meals for the entire month. I do have the ingredients purchased for the rest of the week's menus, but next week my go with all-potato meals or meals from one of the older McDougall books, or maybe even recipes from McDougallers who no longer post to the forums but shared oodles of recipes when they did, like Jan Tz, Sandie and Letha as a "Gone but Not Forgotten" theme.

VeganMoFo Day 1: Jeff Novick

What can I say about Jeff Novick that McDougallers don't already know?

Want to see his resume that I found on-line?

Or watch him, Rip Esselstyn, and Dr. Pam Popper play a round of Plant Strong Jeopardy during one of the Forks over Knives Immersions?


No, I think all of you want to see his Fast Food recipes done up. All of these recipes can be found either on his Facebook page in the My Simple Recipes album, his Fast Food videos, or in the forums of the McDougall Program site. In the days when I don't have a recipe to post, I'll talk about one of his lecture DVD's or post one of the many videos he's shared on-line with us.

Each day I'll post another dish made from one of his recipes. There are plenty of SNAP (Simple Nutrititious and Affordable Plan) and Fast Food DVD meals with variations to last through 4 days a week and plenty of variations of his burger and fries recipes to fill every Sunday this month.

But first, let's watch Jeff show us how to shop for the healthiest foods.


and then explain what he means is the REAL fast food. Look close - it's one of the rare times he's clean shaven!

VeganMoFo Begins

I'll be back later today with the official post. Just here to drop a hint as to what the theme for the month will be.

I had a number of lists drawn up; even had four different lists of 25 days' worth of recipes. When I passed them by my husband, some were rejected outright because he didn't want to eat those foods, others because of the cost or availability of ingredients. The one we settled on was agreed to by both parties because we love all these meals, all the ingredients are easily obtainable at one local grocery store, they all make a good deal of food so we have enough for not only dinner but lunch the next day, and the cost per meal is pretty cheap. And all the recipes come from one person: