Sunday Brunch...

Our Chef Daddy sometimes makes us a hearty brunch. Organic corn tortillas fried in a pan and filled with seasoned pinto beans, caramelized onions and garlic, roasted red bell pepper, fresh cilantro leaves, and a splash of hot sauce. On the side we have roasted Crimini mushrooms, roasted aparagus, and roasted grape tomatoes. Potato wedges round out the deal. The nice thing about this meal is that we always keep these staple on hand, and it's easy to throw in other things we might have in the fridge or pantry. It makes for a nice, satisfying meal.

When Life Gives You Kale...Make Kale Chips!

With the cold weather winding down and spring just peeking around the corner, we found ourselves with an abundance of fresh, organic kale from our fabulous friends over at Big Lick Farm in Myrtle Creek. Just wanted to share with you a small briefing of how I set about keeping all this lovely kale from going bad and not having to eat kale day in and day out. I turned it into Cheezy Kale Chips, and if you try this recipe out, you'll find it is a delicious way to enjoy them.

In a blender, combine and blend until creamy:
1 cup raw cashews; soaked for at least two hours then drained and rinsed
1 organic red bell pepper; stem, seeds and inner membrane removed, then cut in chunks
2 Tbsp. fresh organic lemon juice
1/2 tsp. agave, opt.
1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp. Celtic sea salt

Place about 1/2 of the sauce mixture into a large bowl. Add to the bowl clean, rinsed and torn curly kale leaves with the stem removed. Gently massage the cream onto the leaves, coating each piece. You will want a light layer on the leaves, too much cream will overpower the flavor and it will take much longer to dehydrate. Repeat with remaining kale and sauce.

Lay the kale onto the flexible sheets of the dehydrator trays. Spread it out as much as possible. Don't worry if it's piled on a little, you'll be able to separate them when they've dried out some.

Dehydrate at 105 degrees for about 4 1/2 hours or so. Check to see that they have dried out sufficiently to separate easily and replace them to the screen. Dehydrate another 4 1/2 hours more. Check for crunchiness and no bit of moisture. Dehydrate as long as is needed to achieve this texture.

If you are familiar with dehydrating foods, you know that once done, they have a tendency to become limp or stale when exposed to the air. It helps to preserve the quality by packing them in thick plastic pouches such as the ones for vacuum-sealing. Also place an oxygen absorber packet if you really want these to last. However, they are so good, they may not last very long anyway! Enjoy!

Nutritional Yeast: Friend or Foe?

Nutritional Yeast
Yeast is considered by many to be one of the most valuable nutrients available. It is a complete protein and contains more protein than meat. Yeast is an excellent source of B-vitamins including B-12 and it contains the glucose tolerance factor that has been reported to help in the regulation of blood sugar. It is a single-celled fungi present in the air around us and on fruits and grains - it converts various types of sugar to alcohol. The earliest recorded use was in 1550 BC in Egypt. But it is only during the last few decades that the outstanding health benefits of nutritional yeast have been researched.

Nutritional yeast is grown on mineral enriched molasses and used as a food ingredient. At the end of the growth period, the culture is pasteurized to kill the yeast. Live yeast is very different because it continues to grow in the intestine and actually uses up the vitamin B in the body instead of replenishing the supply.

Nutritional yeast contains 18 amino acids (forming the complete proten) and 15 minerals. Being rich in the B-complex vitamins, it is vital in many ways and particularly good for stress reduction. The B-complex vitamins help make nutritional yeast such a valuable supplement, especially to the vegetarian. It is one of the rare vegetarian sources of B12. One element of yeast is the trace mineral chromium, also known as the Glucose Tolerance Factor (GTF). This is necessary to regulate blood sugar and is important for diabetics and people with a tendency toward low blood sugar.

Information taken from Wholefood Farmacy. For information on ordering any of their great products, visit my webpage at: www.crystals.wholefoodfarmacy.org.

Earth Alert!

Tensions rise as we West Coast North Americans are waking up to the fact that what is happening half-way across the world can affect us. I'm talking about the radiation fall-out that is a result of the March 11 earthquake/tsunami that happenened in Japan, badly damaging nuclear reactors at the power plant. As of today's date, readings across North America from Portland, Oregon to Massachusetts are finding low levels of radiation.
-
Now more than ever we need to be responsible for our own health and the health of our families. We at The Maui Vegetarian have always encouraged a healthy lifestyle through obedience to God's eight laws of health to be the most fit in mind, body and spirit. The signs of the times are ever-indicating that the approach of our Savior's footsteps are very near and it is more important than ever to practice and be prepared for the increasing difficulties ahead.
-
Check out this article on how you can protect yourself NATURALLY from radiation fall-out. http://www.activistpost.com/2011/03/3-ways-to-protect-yourself-from.html

Restaurant Review: Green Leaves Vegan

We love real food. For us, this can be a challenge when we are out on the road. Being on the road means eating simply by grabbing some fresh fruits at a local market, packing easy foods that can be heated up easily on our portable burner, and a whole lot of chips and hummus. Or chips and salsa. Or chips and...you get the picture. We were happy while in the Los Angeles area recently to find that there are a TON of places to eat there for vegan vegetarians. Quite a change from recent trips where it was really hard to find a decent place to eat. Well, we still have to narrow it down to a select few because of our food allergens. But I just want to tell you about one place that we went back to a second time because we could eat there and actually enjoy the food. Check this place out if you're in the area. We visited the Los Feliz restaurant where it was a relaxed atmosphere and the servers are most hospitable. The menu is a mix of American traditional and Thai. You can find gluten-free pancakes served anytime of the day with Earth Balance butter and real maple syrup, hash brown potatoes, tofu served a bunch of ways, rice and noodle dishes. We had the fried rice--most delicious! They use a black rice in all the rice dishes. They're specialty is the Rock 'n Roll Noodles. Rice noodles with stir-fry veggies and a signature sauce. They have lots on their menu, so you may just want to go and visit next time you're in the area. Sorry we didn't get pictures of our meals. By the time we thought about the camera, most of the food was gone! I do have to mention that it's not the absolute healthiest kind of food, more like vegan homestyle food--comfort food. We don't eat like this all the time, but we sure do enjoy it once in a while!!

Curry Spice Flatbread- Gluten Free and Vegan

The hardest part about being gluten free to the majority of those folks recently afflicted is learning to do without the bread products. When you've been used to the texture of wheat bread in all its forms, it makes this diet change a challenge. And not a pleasant one at that. Commercial gluten free vegan breads such as EnerG's Brown Rice Bread or Tapioca Bread, has a texture that takes a lot of getting used to, very dry and crumbly, lacking much of a flavor. Food for Life's breads such as Brown Rice Pecan Bread or Millet Bread is just the opposite, very dense and moist, not the way you'd want a bread to be and the taste is, well, different. For a long time I gave up eating any kind of gluten free vegan bread. Especially since some of the ingredients in these products were questionable. So, I felt like it wasn't worth eating. It was time to challenge the change.
-

Our goal has been to simplify our plant-based diet, even eliminating the great majority of processed foods. Foods full of fat and salt, demineralized, devitalized, loaded with artificial food colorings, preservatives, free glutamates (brain cell killers), artificial flavorings, GMO's, etc, etc. Just because we are vegan and we are health conscious doesn't mean that we didn't enjoy the convenience foods. But upon learning that even so-called "health foods" on the market are processed as well and contain some hidden and not so hidden bad ingredients, though maybe not to the extent of conventional processed foods, we made a conscious decision to "clean up" our plates and our diets. Now, our version of convenience meals is heating up foods that we have prepared ourselves and frozen ahead of time, or just grabbing some fresh fruits, or throwing together a smoothie. It's nice to have some bread to eat for a fast meal along with other nutritious foods, and really, you couldn't get any simpler than this for a fresh bread recipe that tastes good and is very quick to prepare without any nasty stuff 'cause you're in control of what you put in. Good-tasting gluten free and vegan bread with some almond butter and fruit jam, or some hummus, or some...
-

Our good friend Zewdie is from Eritrea where they really know how to do things simple. She showed us how to make flatbread. Really, I don't have measurements because you don't measure. You just throw things in a bowl and voila! Actually, I'll explain, and then you get to work in the kitchen and get creative. In time and practice, you'll figure out what the consistency of the dough should be, how much salt to add, how thin to spread it on the pan, etc. Just get to work!
-

Buckwheat-use flour or just grind some in a clean coffee grinder or blender

sunflower seed, ground

1/4 cup cooked short grain brown rice

sea salt

water

That's all the ingredients you need for your first lesson in flatbread. Mix up the buckwheat flour, sunflower seeds and add a bit of salt, start with 1/4 tsp. Add in some water until all the flour is just moistened then go ahead and add the cooked rice. (Taste to see if enough salt). It will be very sticky, but now you will want to add in a bit more water. Not too much, you don't want it too runny, we're not making pancake batter here, it needs to be thicker than that.

By the way, before you do all this, because it's so quick to do that part, make sure you have heated up a cast iron pan. Coat the pan with oil and heat it over medium-high. Once you have made your dough, the pan should be ready and you can spread the dough across the surface of the pan with the back of a flat spoon, if necessary.

We love using our cast iron pans, they are the best. Of course we also like our stainless steel cookware too, but since we have decided that we go through too many non-stick pans and the fact that using them isn't good for our health, we decided to forego the non-stick and opted for cast iron instead. Culinary-wise, the flavor you get off of these pans is excellent, and we have found that in it's simple care, they beat the best non-stick cookware out there.

OK, so if you're using cast iron, you'll know it's ready to turn over 'cause you'll be able to slide the bread around, and it won't stick. Depending on the heat, maybe give it about 5-7 minutes. You can turn it over now. It won't take as long to cook on the second side. Hey, make sure you adjust your heat as necessary to avoid burnt bread. That's it!

-

Some basic tips to remember in gluten free baking/breads:
Vary the types of flours you use to change the texture and flavor of your finished product. Just remember: these are flours you should use in small quantities because they have a "sticky, chewy" texture- tapioca flour, arrowroot powder, potato flour or starch, cornstarch. They give "hold" to your product, but if you use too much you end up with a sticky, gooey mess. And it won't taste good.
Always use xanthan gum, this helps in the texture of your product and adds some elasticity that gluten free breads/baked goods lack.
-
All right. Are you ready for your next lesson in gluten free breads? Well first let me ask you if you've tried any of the gluten free pizza crust mixes out there. What did you think? What did I think? Yuck! Let's make our own. It's cheaper and tastes WAY better. This recipe makes a great pizza crust, or bread sticks, or flatbread, as in the above photograph. Or just plain bread to eat as in the old days.
-
1 cup all-purpose gluten free flour--or-- use a combination of 1/2 cup brown rice flour, 1/4 sorghum flour, and 1/4 cup potato starch (again, you should play around with the types of flours to find your preference).
1/2 cup fine corn flour--substitute another flour or increase amt. of sunflower seeds, if on an allergen-free diet.
1/2 cup sunflower seeds, ground fine
1 tsp. natural cane sugar or agave or other sweetener
1 tsp. EnerG brand baking powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. xanthan gum
1/4 tsp. Italian seasoning, opt.
1 cup water
-
Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add water and stir until completely moistened. If needed, add more water. You want a thick, yet spreadable consistency. At this point, you can cook it in a cast iron pan as in the method mentioned in the previous recipe, or spread it on an oiled pan and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Do this before proceeding on to the following:
-
For pizza: add sauce and toppings. Bake for another 10-15 minutes.
For Breadsticks: cut into long sticks or wedges, drizzle with or brush on olive oil and sprinkle garlic powder, sea salt and paprika. Bake until browned.
For Curry Spice Flatbread: Spread very thin before cooking. Then drizzle or brush on olive oil and sprinkle with your favorite curry spice seasoning, garlic powder and sea salt. Bake for about 5 minutes, then sprinkle chopped cilantro on top and bake 5 more minutes.
-
Have fun!

Ummmmmmami...........

Asian Dumplings--Allergen-Free!

(NO soy, corn, dairy, or gluten; vegan and delicious!)

Bitter, Sweet, Sour, and Salty- the four taste senses. And then there's Umami...some say it's a taste sense all by itself. But we say it's what happens when when there's a flavor explosion in your mouth, setting off all the taste senses at once. Umami gets you first when the savory scent hits your nostrils immediately setting off the digestion process-salivation.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We always get a hankering for our daddy chef's Oriental Shumai. It's one of our favorite comfort foods. Little Girl and I can no longer have anything with gluten anymore, and not only that, but our favorite umami has to be dispensed with as well because we have found that we're not reacting well to soy sauce. Even soy sauce that is wheat-free. So our favorite comfort food is no longer. Bummer. But wait....

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In order to make the girls happy, the Chef gets to work. Using the basic dough recipe for Asian Dumplings in Crystal DuBoyce's Easy Gourmet for Gluten Free Vegans cookbook, he starts off first with the wrappers. Taking care of that part, he sets to work next making a simple vegetable filling of Nappa cabbage, carrots, green onions, onions, cilantro, and garlic, all chopped very fine. He sautes this in a little sesame oil and adds a dash of salt until it's soft and wilted. Drain off the excess liquid before stuffing the wrappers. That's what happens next.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once the dumplings are made, a little bit of pure sesame oil is added to a clean pan and heated over medium-high. The dumplings are browned off on each side. About a quarter cup of water is added to the dumplings and then quickly covered to steam them. After a moment, the dumplings are placed in a serving dish.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is where things are different for us. Usually Brian hits the pan with the dumplings in them with lemon juice, soy sauce, and some kind of spice like hot sauce, chili oil, or whatever spice we have on hand. That's pretty much it. Well, as I mentioned earlier, no more soy sauce for us. Let's pick it up from the last step, and then let me explain how he made this super-delicious soy-less umami sauce for the dumplings: Mince garlic and ginger and place in a clean saute pan with a touch of sesame oil. Soften them up a bit over medium heat, and then add a little water. Pour in some tamarind sauce. Or if your tamarind sauce is thick, then just go ahead and mix the water with the tamarind. (You can find Tamarind sauce or paste in Asian markets, and some large grocers also will carry this type of item.) Throw in a splash of lemon juice, and some agave nectar to sweeten it up and balance the taste--think umami! Finish it off by adding in some chopped cilantro and green onion. Pour over your dumplings and serve. Don't forget the chopsticks. Enjoy!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fresh sauteed mung bean sprouts go so well with dumplings. Just brown off a ton of garlic in sesame oil. Add finely shredded vegetable (if you so desire) such as carrots or Nappa cabbage or green onions or whatever and saute. Add in the mung bean sprouts and continue to saute until all veggies are soft. Add sea salt and serve.

______________________________________________________________

Don't be afraid to get creative in the kitchen! Plant foods are the basis for good, healthy vegan meals providing a vast assortment for the palate. We never need be bored with our food! Have fun and experiment.