Soup's On!

I am still experimenting with new vegan recipes and, some recipes work, some don't.  Earlier this week, we tried a soup mix that is cooked in the crock pot and let's just say it was . . . and I'm trying to be kind here -- horrible.

I'm glad I didn't try this soup mix in the first couple weeks of our vegan experiment, because it would have turned me off of vegan-ism altogether. The broth was blah, the dried veggies never did plump up and overall, the taste was just not good.  (I'm not going to give the brand name of the soup, because it is made locally and I don't want to damage a small businessperson's reputation.  I may have done something wrong in preparing the soup, who knows?)

Luckily, I have a much better soup recipe which is vegan and delicious!  I got the recipe from the Forks Over Knives book, which contains about 100 recipes.  The soup contains lots of fresh veggies, beans, fresh herbs, vegetable broth and it all turns into a filling, delicious pot of soup that will feed us for two or three days, if we are so inclined.

I'll post the recipe at the bottom of this blog post and, even if you're not eating vegan, try this soup -- it's really good.  Even my definitely-not-vegan Mom liked it.  You will also develop nice bicep muscles cutting all the veggies you need for vegan recipes, so that's a good thing, right?

This recipe calls for cannellini beans, which I had never eaten before.  They are so good!  Creamy and soft, they are one of the best beans I've ever eaten.  Beans are a  great source of protein, they fill your stomach and there are so many varieties, you can easily find at least one that you love. Beans also digest more slowly, which helps prevent spikes in your blood sugar. (Check out http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/beans-protein-rich-superfoods for good information on beans and all the good things they do for your body.)

Here's that soup recipe, and again, it comes from the "Forks Over Knives" book, which is available on Amazon.com or by visiting the forksoverknives.com website, which has additional recipes.

Hearty Minestrone Soup

1 onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
6 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup chopped green beans
1 1/2 cups chopped potatoes (peeled)
1 1/2 cups shredded cabbage
One 14.5 ounce can chopped tomatoes
One 8 ounce can tomato sauce
One 15 ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
One 15 ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cups parsley, chopped
1 1/2 TBSP basil
1/2 cup uncooked whole wheat pasta (or brown rice pasta)
Black pepper to taste

Put onion, celery, carrots and garlic in a large pot with 1/4 cup of the broth.  Cook over medium high heat, stirring occasionally for 2 to 3 minutes, until vegetables soften slightly.
Add remaining broth and green beans, potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, tomato sauce, chickpeas, canellini beans, parsley, basil and pepper to pot.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and cook for 45 minutes.
Add the pasta, stir well, and continue to cook for another 15 minutes or until pasta is tender.

I served this with some whole-wheat bread and we were quite full and satisfied.  Didn't miss the meat AT ALL!

Bumbling with Balsamic

It is definitely not cool when I look at my life and feel like I’m in a bad sitcom.  One where a middle-aged, overweight woman and her long-suffering husband, after years of devotion to the Fast Food Gods, decide suddenly to become vegans.  Oh, my, the kooky shenanigans that would bring about! It’s the classic fish-out-of-water (or fish-out-of-the-deep-fryer) story.  We don’t know a lot about vegan eating, we were both raised on white bread and fried food. And now we have to eat grains, tons of veggies and fruit and NO dairy or meat and very little oil.  

Like many other  times in our lives, when faced with a decision, hubby and I chose the goofy route and hoped for the best.  We don’t prepare well, we just plunge in and hope no one is harmed in the process. 

So, we’re in the middle of this sitcom moment in my life.   The script calls for me to eat a healthy lunch.  There is next to no food in the house, because we have cleaned out all the processed, unhealthy food to make room for healthy foods like greens, veggies and fruit.  Except that we haven’t done so well on the grocery shopping and I’m facing a fridge containing only a small clump of kale and some Romaine lettuce.  And no salad dressing. I’m willing to eat a lot of veggies, but not dry Romaine.

After a dream sequence where I get in the car and drive to McDonald’s, stuffing my face full of salty fries and juicy hamburger, I snap back to reality and decide to eat a salad, come hell or high water.  I tossed some fresh strawberries (they had been hiding behind the kale) on top of the romaine, then hit the pantry looking for a salad dressing solution.

Unfortunately, I found my bottle of balsamic vinegar.  Now, I’ve had balsamic vinegar before.  At restaurants.  Even at my mom’s house.  For some reason, my brain did a disconnect and I decided to sprinkle the vinegar on my salad in lieu of dressing.  And I got a little heavy-handed with the sprinkling.  

I put the first forkful of salad in my mouth and immediately starting choking. Hm, something must have went down the wrong way. I grabbed my water glass and tried to drown whatever was choking me.  Then, slightly recovered, I took another bite.  Wow, that balsamic is STRONG, I thought.  Then I started choking again.  There was no drowning this damned thing.  I coughed until suddenly I felt my belly turning cartwheels.  Oh, no!  So I made a mad dash to the bathroom and that’s all you need to know about that.  Except that by time I was done in there, I needed a shower and I still hadn’t had any lunch.

It turns out that one does not simply eat balsamic vinegar.  One must add it to oil and other things to make a dressing.  Which I would have reasoned for myself if I hadn’t just taken a 5-year-sabbatical from cooking.  So, big laughs at the fat lady nearly choking to death on salad.  End scene.

Since the balsamic overdose didn’t kill me, I soldiered on, sent my hubby to the store for more groceries, and called my friend Chance for support.  He was quite bewildered by my using balsamic as a salad dressing.  Well, how could he understand?  He’s not a fish out of water.  But he encouraged me to keep working on the healthy eating and maybe lighten up a little about what I can and can not eat.  His wife even sent me a recipe for a nice quinoa salad I can have for lunches.  And it includes a great salad dressing.  

We’ve gotten much better at identifying what is edible and what is not, but it really was a process.  Some things called “vegan” haven’t thrilled our  tastebuds, others have just rocked.  Next time, I’m going to share with you the Minestrone Soup that has become our favorite vegan meal. Full of great vegetables and lots of flavor. Now I’m off to make myself a nice salad.  (Add laugh track here.)

A New Leaf

Here’s an idea: Take every thing you know about cooking, about food and set it aside. Then empty your fridge of all non-healthy foods. Then clean out your pantry. Replace those foods with nice, healthy foods. Okay, start cooking.

Could you do it? It sounds pretty simple, actually it sounds exciting! I thought it would be a snap myself, but guess what, I don’t know beans about eating healthy or cooking healthy. I am learning a new language (and Rosetta Stone doesn’t have tapes for this one!), I’m learning new cooking methods, I’m reading labels all the time and, sometimes, I’m making such a mess, I’d kick me out of the kitchen if it didn’t mean we’d go hungry. Because the hubby has no idea what I’m doing either. Nothing new there, I’m rather quirky. But hey, quirky ain’t cute when you’re hungry.

Where did this all begin? It began with my health issues. I’ve been overweight for a long time. It frustrated me at first but after a while, I just thought “Who cares? I have better things to do than diet. I’ll worry about the weight later.”

The thing is, I didn’t really see that extra weight as a health issue. Being fat didn’t feel unhealthy. I didn’t have any health issues. I knew I was having a terrible time finding cute clothes, but I wasn’t worried. My health was still okay. And I was younger - age plays a role here too.

Then, I went through a tough time in my life and had to quit working and stay home. I wasn’t happy about it, but it was necessary. Unhappiness and self-doubt led me to just completely lose interest in cooking.

Well, if I wasn’t cooking, and my hubby has little experience cooking, something was bound to go wrong, right? It did. We became junk food junkies. We ate hamburgers, french fries, tacos, pizza, any junk food, sometimes eating fast food for every meal of the day. And almost no vegetables or fruit.

Of course I gained weight. I packed on 50 more pounds in a pretty short time. And I got older. I started having some health problems. High cholesterol, high blood pressure, high blood sugar. Then I developed a bulging disk in my back, not a weight problem, but it left me with a very sore back and limited my already limited exercise. And the pounds just packed on.

And the doctors prescribed a lot of medication. At last count, I take about 16 pills a day. So, with all those health issues, plus some emotional issues, that’s a lot of medication going into my 50-year-old, not too great body. What would I be like in 10 years? 20 years? The thought scared me, honestly.

Then my friend Chance told me to watch a documentary called “Forks Over Knives”. The documentary promotes the idea that the best way to be healthy is to eat a whole foods, plant-based diet. Even before watching the documentary, Chance had me half-convinced that this was a great idea, because after seeing the movie, his family’s dietary changes resulted in lowering his cholesterol level by 100 points. 100 points! And that happened in about six weeks.

Forks Over Knives showed people who were even more medicated than I am who were able to discontinue all medications just by eating a healthy, whole foods, plant-based diet. Hmm, 16 pills a day or give up meat? A bellyful of pharmaceuticals or a belly full of delicious vegetables?

So we watched the video and listened to Chance and even read a couple books. Then we took the plunge and here we are, eating a (mostly) whole-food, plant-based diet. We have turned over a new leaf (a lettuce leaf, it turns out, but whatever works!)

It’s not all been smooth-sailing and I can guarantee I’ll have more adventures. But two weeks later, I’ve had some success, lost 5 pounds, feel better in general and just knowing I’m eating better makes me happier. But there are some questions: How long can I do this? Will my life-long love of beef derail my plans? Will my husband get sick of legumes, leafy greens and smoothies? Or will we stick with it, and end up healthy, happy and ready to live a nice long life together?

Stick around and find out. Maybe I can help you get through your own switch to a healthier eating style, or maybe I can just make you laugh -- laughter is the best medicine, right? Either way, check out this blog from time to time for updates on my new lifestyle.