Crispy NO-OIL Potatoes

I was reading the McDougall board when I read some posts about crispy no-fat tater tots. They claimed the potatoes got very crispy in the over without any oil. I've been making roasted potatoes for a while, but it's usually necessary to use oil so I was intrigued. Plus the Husband LOVES crispy potatoes.

The actual recipe takes some time, because the potatoes are first peeled, then par-boiled, and then cooked at a high temperature for an hour. When dinner is supposed to be ready in 30 minutes, a quoted time of over an hour isn't going to cut it. I decided not to peel the potatoes and to cut the chunks of potatoes fairly small (about 2" cubes). I also used lots of seasoning in addition before they were baked.

Since the chunks of potatoes were smaller, the baking time for me was about 40 minutes instead of 60. They really WERE crispy and very tasty! I wouldn't say they resembled tater tots at all, but they were delicious crispy (healthy) potatoes.

Recipe can be found here.

E2's Mighty Muffins

Mighty Muffins

3 cups oat bran
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons sweetener
Juice of 1 lemon
1 large apple, grated
6 brown bananas, lightly mashed (leave some chunks)
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped or halved
1/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 375º. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Squeeze the juice of the lemon onto the combined apple and bananas. Add walnuts, raisins, and water. Combine the wet and dry ingredients into one bowl. Pour into sprayed muffin tins and bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Variations:
Bake the batter in a loaf pan, and enjoy hearty slices instead of muffins.
Add three thinly sliced pears or 1 cup of 70 percent pure cocoa chips to the batter.

I found this recipe on the Engine 2 website. It was easy to put together but the baking time quoted was too long for me so they came out dry. They taste like a "healthy muffin" and I don't think I'd be able to sneak this by any regular SAD-eater, but my plant-fearing husband has been eating them, probably because he doesn't have any other sweet options and they resemble "normal" food. I think I'll try making these again but baking them for less time.

BBQ Lentils!

Recipe is here.

This recipe is excellent! I was looking for something to make that would be "meaty" and have good, but not too unusual flavors. Also great was that I had most of the ingredients (I ended up skipping the allspice which I didn't have and leaving out the vanilla because it seemed weird).

I didn't have to bake this as long as stated (maybe 30 minutes total) because I put it in a glass 9x13" pan and it looked like it was going to burn if I left it in there longer. It had a great tangy flavor without tasting overly sweet. I would serve this to SAD-eaters and am actually thinking about bringing it to the next work potluck!

Late Summer Veggie-Medley

Someone posted this Late Summer Veggie-Medley recipe on the Yahoo ETL group. I just happened to have most of the ingredients on hand from my CSA box so it was easy enough to make it tonight. I didn't have leeks so I used an extra onion and of course, I omitted the oil and salt. I steamed some Swiss chard (also from the CSA) and served the medley over that, with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes. Very good. Solid B.

Broccoli and Not Cheese

I admit it.  I used to love macaroni and cheese.  But it's probably one of the top disease-promoting foods so I can't imagine eating it anymore.  I found this substitute from Rip Esselstyn's Engine 2 and finally got around to making it tonight.

Wow.

It's pretty good! I've tried a few "cheeze" sauces and this one is delicious. I didn't add any onion to it because I ran out of them so the sauce was a bit thin. I served it over blanched broccoli with the addition of peas instead of the pasta. Comfort food!

The recipe can be found here.

Mashed Cauliflower and Spinach with Mushroom Duxelle

I subscribe to Dr. Fuhrman's mailing list and get sent the daily recipes. I had all of the ingredients to make this one tonight. I love anything cauliflower and this one was pretty good. I'd give it a solid B. It was good (not Wow!) and I might make it again, but it was slightly more time-consuming than I expected since there are a few components to the dish.

I followed the recipe mostly, except I didn't have any wine so I skipped that part. I used a mix of shiitake and oyster mushrooms.

Mashed Cauliflower and Spinach with Mushroom Duxelle
Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 30 min

10 ounces mushrooms
1/4 cup shallots, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme or 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1/2 cup dry white wine or sherry
6 cups cauliflower florets
4 cloves garlic
10 ounces fresh spinach
1/4 cup raw cashew butter or 1/2 cup raw cashews
soy, hemp or almond milk, if needed to thin
2 tablespoons Dr. Fuhrman's VegiZest, or other no salt seasoning blend, to taste
black pepper, to taste

Finely chop mushrooms in a food processor

Heat 2-3 tablespoons water in a large skillet and water saute shallots for 1 minute.

Add mushrooms and thyme and continue cooking until all mushroom liquid has evaporated.

Add wine and cook for an additional 4 minutes or until evaporated. Set aside.

Steam cauliflower and garlic for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender.

Drain and press out as much water as possible.

Place spinach in steamer, steam until just wilted, drain and set aside.

Process cauliflower, garlic, and cashew butter in a food processor until creamy and smooth. If necessary, add soy milk to adjust consistency.

Add Vegizest, stir in wilted spinach and add black pepper to taste.
Serve topped with Mushroom Duxelle.

Broccoli Fra Diablo

I was supposed to have another dinner salad tonight but after meals and meals of salads, I didn't think I could stomach another. I was craving tomatoes (specifically, PIZZA), and remembered people on the Dr. Fuhrman forums recommending this dish. Though not consisting of pizza-like flavors, I thought this might do the trick for that tomato craving.

It was incredibly easy to make, coming together in about 20 minutes or less. I used fresh broccoli. The dish itself came out rather soupy, even though I added more broccoli than required. Perhaps my taste buds haven't been retrained yet, but I found it just a tad on the bland side. It tastes nothing like pizza (not that it ever claimed it did, but I wanted to make that disclaimer!) but was nice comfort food.

Recommended for easy, quick, and healthy. Recipe can be found
here.

Mexican Raw Stew/Soup

Today I made a Mexican raw stew I saw on Barb's blog in this post. I thought it looked interesting and didn't have high expectations but I was pleasantly surprised! I liked this, even if it's not much to look at - hah.  It looks a lot like salsa, but the flavor is more complex with the additional vegetables.

I used the same "base" of tomatoes, cucumber, celery, cucumber and lettuce, and then added the spices and rest of the suggestions to finish off the "Mexican" version. I can see how this could be adapted to lots of variations.

Christmas Dinner

As mentioned previously, food is always the center of most of my family gatherings. The host was providing an almost entirely non-ETL menu (everyone seems to think my "weird eating" is just a fad) so of course I brought my own food.

A slice of Thanksgiving non-meat loaf, bean-creamed spinach, and some steamed broccoli:

Thanksgiving Non-Meat Loaf
(Dr. Fuhrman)
6 servings

1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
4 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons Bragg Liquid Aminos
1 box soft tofu, drained and patted dry with paper towel
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/4 cups chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped organic celery
2 cups chopped portobello mushrooms
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon Dr. Fuhrman's VegiZest
2 teaspoons Spike (no salt)
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons basil
1/2 teaspoon sage
3/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
Instructions:

Cook rice according to package directions.

Meanwhile, mix arrowroot powder, water, aminos, and tofu together in a high-powered blender.

Add walnuts & blend until smooth.

Saute onions, celery, and mushrooms in water with seasonings and herbs until vegetables are soft, stirring occasionally.

Mix tofu mixture, vegetables, bread crumbs and rice together in a bowl. With a paper towel, spread a small amount of olive oil in a loaf pan.

Bake at 350 degress for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let cool 30 minutes. Turn loaf out and slice.

Note: May be served with low sodium ketchup.

I pretty much followed the recipe, substituting oats for the whole wheat bread crumbs. I didn't have VegiZest so I used an organic no-salt seasoning blend I bought from Costco. I also couldn't find arrowroot so I used tapioca flour instead.

I enjoyed this! It was much better than the Quinoa Loaf I had made for Thanksgiving. It actually did form a firm loaf which was great! I ate it plain (without ketchup) but it probably would be good with mushroom gravy too.

Bean-Creamed Spinach
(Lorna Sass, Short-Cut Vegan)
4 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil [omitted]
1 cup coarsely chopped onions
1 3/4 cups cooked navy or cannellini beans or 1 (15-ounce) can navy or cannellini beans, drained (rinsed if nonorganic)
1 (10-ounce) package frozen spinach
1 cup water
1 tablespoon instant vegetable stock powder
2 teaspoons dried dill or 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan. Sauté the onions for 1 minute, stirring frequently. Add the beans, spinach, water, stock powder, dill, and salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Break up the block of spinach with a fork and stir well. Cook until the spinach is tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Puree the mixture with an immersion blender (or transfer in small batches to a food processor or blender and puree until smooth).

If the creamed spinach seems too thick, thin slightly with lemon juice, which will sharpen the flavors, or with water. Season with pepper to taste. Depending upon the consistency, serve either in small bowls or on plates.

This was a winner too. It doesn't tasted exactly like real creamed spinach (yuck) but that's okay because I detest creamed spinach anyway. I wanted a dish I could take to the family gathering that didn't look too strange - especially since I already brought my loaf! Heh. I told everyone it was "creamed spinach" (leaving off the "bean") part and no one said anything to me. I'm sure they weren't fooled but they probably didn't guess that it was beans that provided the creaminess.

Thanksgiving recipes

Food is always a huge affair at my family's household. This year, I made sure I bought dishes so I wouldn't feel deprived during the holiday. I made and brought the following to dinner:

Quinoa Loaf with Mushrooms and Peas (Whole Foods Market)

This was a disappointment. It wasn't bad, just a little bland. My "loaf" also did not stick together at all, so we had to scoop into the pan and dig up the mixture. It wasn't the end of the world, but it was a little embarrassing!

I followed the recipe exactly, except sticking with the ETL guidelines, so I didn't use the olive oil to saute the mushrooms (I water-sauteed) and did not use salt. It tasted like a quinoa grain salad, and although it had plenty of "goodies" in it, I didn't seem to taste much of it. Some people tried it and told me they liked it, but I'm not sure they weren't just saying that to be polite! In the end, I was happy to have a main dish that I could eat without guilt, but I am not sure I would make this again.

Kale with Caramelized Onions and Walnuts (I made this one up)

2 large onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 small bunches of kale (about 2 lbs), de-stemmed and chopped roughly
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

In a large pan, water saute the sliced onions until soft (about 10 minutes). Continue to cook the onions on low heat, stirring every so often. Eventually the onions will caramelize - it took about 25 minutes for me.

In a large pot, steam the garlic for a few minutes in a little water. Add about 1/4-1/2 cup water and add the kale, gently steaming for about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Combine the steamed kale and caramelized onions, tossing to combine. Mix in 2 T apple cider vinegar and top with walnuts.

This turned out surprisingly good and was easy to make. Even the non-vegetable eaters had some of this. Will make this one again.

Green Beans Almondine (Dr. Fuhrman)

The recipe can be found here (second one down).

This was a simple recipe green bean recipe that I felt much better making over the usual canned mushroom soup fried onion concoction (I have never made that recipe!). I thought it would taste a bit more "almond-y" but it didn't. I even invested in the $8+ almond oil (found it at Whole Foods) and it didn't taste like almonds. I love green beans so I enjoyed it and I think most people at the table found it acceptable.

Raw Apple Crumble (McDougall newsletter)

This one was getting praise on the forums at Dr. Fuhrman which convinced me to try it. I made it as specified, but doubled the recipe. It made a TON! I covered an entire 9x13" glass pan. I used organic Granny Smith apples and liked that because of their tartness and ablity to hold up. I made this recipe the day before, saving the topping in another container. It held up fine in the fridge.

I think most people were weirded out by the "raw" aspect of the dessert but tried a little. The sugar-holic BF told me it was "too tart" and went for the pumpkin pie. Another relative said it was good and was surprised to hear there was NO sugar in it. It is only sweetened with dates.

I thought it was good, and tasted close to a real apple crumble, but not exactly. :) Still tasted "healthy" to me. But I much rather preferred eating this to the other sweets on the table.

Overall, even though I spent a few hours making all these dishes and they weren't as good as I hoped, I was pleased to have plenty to eat among the deep fried turkey, ribs, potatoes, bread, pumpkin pie, and other traditional dishes that were offered.

Dream of Tomato Soup

I've been watching tasty videos from Chef A.J. and Julieanna Hever recently. Their excellent show, The Chef and the Dietitian, features recipes that are fully ETL-compliant and contain no oil, sugar, or salt.



I made their Dream of Tomato Soup tonight for dinner. It was really, really easy and tasted great. I'm still trying to get over my salt addiction and this really did satisfy my salty cravings.

Here is the recipe from the video:

Dream of Tomato Soup

1 lb tomatoes, cut in half
2 red bell peppers, roughly chopped
2-3 cloves garlic
fresh basil
1 lemon, juiced
3-4 sun-dried tomatoes, not in oil
1/2 tsp chipotle powder [I omitted because I didn't have any]
up to 1 cup hemp seeds, or other seeds/nuts (optional)

Blend all ingredients except the seeds in a high powered blender (e.g. Vitamix) until smooth.

Blend the seeds, if using, into the soup to make it creamy.

Makes approximately 6 cups.

I found that without the seeds/nuts, the soup seemed creamy enough and tasted fine. But a little fat increases the absorption of nutrients better, so I added about 1/2 cup of cashews since I didn't have any hemp seeds. This lightened the color and made the soup a little richer.

I used a Vitamix but it didn't heat the soup up enough to steam like in the video. I gently heated my serving after it was done, but it would probably still taste good at room temperature.

Not Your SAD Potato Chips

As an alternative to potato chips, I tried making different vegetable chips in the dehydrator.

First up: Zucchini Chips

I sliced up zucchini using a mandoline and put them in plain into the dehydrator. Incredibly easy! It took all of 10 minutes from start to finish for 4 zucchinis and 6 trays worth (about 6 small snack bags). They don't need any flavoring because when dried, they have a naturally salty taste.

I put these in before going to sleep and let the dehydrator run overnight. By morning, they were dried, crispy, and yummy! It's no potato chip but it's a nice alternative. At least I can eat them guilt-free. :)

Next up: Kale Chips

I've made kale chips before using the oven, but this one from BeStrixed using a curry-flavored sauce intrigued me. It was a little more involved since the dressing had to be made (10 minutes), plus the kale had to be prepped (washed, de-stemed, chopped) (10 minutes), and then dressed (5 minutes). 10 + 10 + 5 = 25 minutes of prep time.

My dressing came out fairly thick and I didn't have a large enough container to mix the entire 12 ounces of kale with it, so I ended up mixing the dressing with my hands in batches of kale, which is probably why it took longer.

These were messier in the dehydrator and I did these overnight again (they were ready by morning). They were delicious! Better than a greasy, overly-salted potato chip! And a great way to get in some extra greens...

Notes: I couldn't find dino kale at the market that day and ended up using regular curly kale... which seemed to make the dressing a bit harder to cover - all those curls! I also found the resulting "chip" quite delicate and since dino kale leaves are typically thicker, they probably would hold up better.

I also ended up with a bit more dressing than kale when I was finished, so I bought some collards to try instead of the kale since the leaves tend to be thicker. Still delicious!

Lemon Treats

I made a bunch of these today and they are excellent. Slightly sweet and crunchy, with a nice lemon flavor. I'm thinking these will be great as hiking or maybe even cycling snacks.

Lemon Treats
(from Whole Foods Market)

1 cup chopped pitted dates
1 cup raw walnuts [I used raw almonds]
1 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
1/2 cup unsweetened dried coconut flakes

Place dates, walnuts, sesame seeds, lemon juice and zest in a food processor. Pulse and blend until completely mixed. The mixture will be slightly sticky. With dampened hands, roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls. Roll in coconut and chill until ready to serve.

The recipe says it makes about 18, but I must have rolled mine smaller because I got about 25 20g balls with one extra 15g ball that I sampled.  I used an organic meyer lemon that I had which really had an intense lemon flavor.

Curried Eggplant and Peas

Eggplant was on sale for 50 cents each! I dug through pile of "to-try" recipes and found this one from Everyday Food magazine.

Curried Eggplant and Peas
3 medium eggplants, about 1 lb each, cut into 1" cubes
1 10 oz package frozen peas
3 T fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
1 t curry powder
1 t ground pepper

Roast eggplant: Preheat oven to 475. Spread on a baking sheet and roast in oven, stirring a few times in between until golden and tender, about 30 minutes. (The original recipe said to use oil and salt but I simply sprayed with a little cooking spray and they were fine).

Cook 1 package frozen peas (10 oz) according to package. Rinse under cold water and set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (2 limes) with 1 tsp curry powder and ground pepper .

Add Roasted Eggplant from above.

Add 1/2 cup chopped cashews, and 1/2 cup fresh cilantro. Toss and serve.

Toor Dal with Tahini and Parsley

I found some toor dal the other day at the market at a discounted price. $1.19 for a 2 lb bag. Since dry beans are generally around $1/lb this seemed like a deal! I picked up a bag but had no idea what to do with it. The internet is my friend though and I found this lovely recipe from a blog that looks like it has some fun recipes.

Toor Dal with Tahini and Parsley

I followed the recipe mostly, except I didn't add any salt, pepper, oil (just water-sauteed the onion). I'm not sure what I did wrong, but my dal never thickened to the point of looking like the picture. Oh well, it was still tasty.

Garbanzo Bean Salad with Lemon Dressing

This recipe was printed in the paper recently and when I read it, I realized I had all the ingredients. How often does that happen? I made the salad this past weekend.  I ate it during the week, on top of a big pile of lettuce. Here it is with my changes:

Garbanzo Bean Salad With Lemon Dressing
Modified from a Sunkist recipe
4 servings

SALAD
3 (14-ounce) cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
5 to 6 garlic cloves, minced
1 bunch green onions, chopped
Zest of 1 lemon
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 red bell pepper, chopped,
1 (28-ounce) can green beans, drained and rinsed
Chopped fenne

DRESSING
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon cumin
1/4 cup red wine or cider vinegar
Pepper to taste

In a large bowl, combine the salad ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients. Toss dressing with salad.

It was good, but I felt like it was missing something (probably salt!) - maybe more lemon or vinegar next time?

Also, it says it makes 4 servings but with that many beans and since I added extras, it was more like 8!