Leftover Magic (Recipe: Stuffed Peppers)

Tonight I created a real winner: a nutritious, tasty meal that was also quick and simple to make, not to mention easy on the wallet.

I got fresh bell peppers on sale a few days ago, and they've been sitting in my crisper while I contemplated how to use them.

Last night we got treated to Chinese food, and we had a full quart of leftover brown rice. Peppers + Whole Grains = Stuffed peppers!

I also had 2 Tofurkey Sausages in the "meat" drawer of the fridge, 1/2 onion, 1/2 jar of leftover tomato salsa, and my usual collection of seasonings. You see where this is going!

Here's one of my recipes for stuffed peppers. Use what you have on hand to make them your own. I'll give suggestions for substitutions for each ingredient:

Fabulous and Frugal Stuffed Peppers

• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 1 tsp olive oil or vegan margarine
• 4 whole peppers (for fun, use yellow, green, red, and orange)
• 4 cups cooked brown rice (or any whole grain, such as quinoa, millet, or wheat berries)
• 2 large vegan sausages, such as Tofurkey, chopped (if you're going soy-free, try 2 crumbled Sunshine Burgers)
• 1/2 jar tomato salsa (or more or less to taste) (you can also use ketchup, BBQ sauce or teriyaki, depending on the flavor you're after)
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
• 2 tsp chili powder, or to taste
• 2 tsp cumin powder

(Feel free to use other spices in place of the ones I used, especially if you're going for a different dominant flavor.)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Slice each pepper in half lengthwise , cut out the stem, and scoop out the seeds.
3. In a small frying pan, saute the onions in the oil or margarine until translucent.
4. In a big bowl, stir together brown rice, sausage, onions, and remaining ingredients until well-blended.
5. Stuff each pepper half with the mixture, pressing down firmly. Place each pepper on a baking sheet, filling side up.
6. Bake for 10 minutes, then cover with foil and bake another 30 minutes.
7. Serve with vegan sour cream and a big salad.

Bon apepperitit!

Comfort food goes vegan

My 3-year-old recently started asking me to make "mac 'n cheese." I'm not exactly sure how he knows what mac 'n cheese is (he's never seen a single TV commercial to my knowledge... well maybe at Grandma's house). My best guess is that he was exposed to it at his daycare, where he used to attend part-time. (They made lunches for the kids there -- not vegan friendly, as you can imagine). I'll never know whether he actually tasted the stuff, but he evidently saw other kids eating it.

Anyway, I took the opportunity to introduce him to Road's End Organics Mac 'n Chreese. I was pretty psyched about it too, because they have brown rice penne, a nice break from wheat pasta. I paired it with the two healthiest foods on the planet: greens and beans. As usual, I took a shortcut; I used a bag of frozen turnip greens and canned organic white beans. I simmered both in roasted vegetable broth and drizzled on a bit of liquid aminos and olive oil.

The result? A quick and delicious, nutritionally complete meal that everyone enjoyed.

Chicken tonight?

Go ahead, do a double take. It looks like chicken. It tastes like chicken. But my version has no hormones, antibiotics, animal protein, animal fat, cholesterol, or cruelty.

I get a lot of my recipes from non-veggie sources. Mind you, I don't actually purchase cookbooks that feature flesh, but I do find great recipe ideas from my mom's chicken cookbook collection, the library, and the web (I'm just careful not to click on any ads!). After all, the flavor of meat dishes comes from the sauce and/or seasonings. So find your favorite (from another life) beef, chicken, lamb, and fish recipes, and simply substitute ingredients for a health-supporting, compassionate, yummy meal.

Tonight I made May Wah cutlets Piccata. (May Wah gets my vote for the tastiest faux chicken ever). The recipe was so easy, I really didn't deserve the accolades I got from my hubby and son. But I'm glad they enjoyed it. I made it even easier than the recipe specified (I used organic lemon juice in place of freshly squeezed lemons and jarred garlic rather than fresh, and I skipped the capers and fresh parsley). Since the recipe is so changed, it's now mine, and I can post it here without having to provide a reference! (But if you want to find the original, simply google "easy chicken piccata.")

Veggie Chix Piccata

• 1 package May Wah faux chicken steaks (you can use another brand or type, of course)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tsp minced garlic
  
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons non-hydrogenated vegan margarine

Season the "cutlets" on both sides with salt and pepper. Dredge them in the flour.

In a big skillet, heat the 4 tablespoons oil over high heat until hot. Add the "cutlets" and sauté about 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Transfer the "cutlets" to a plate.

Add the garlic to the pan and cook, stirring, 30 seconds, being careful not to let it brown. Add the sherry and lemon juice, reduce heat to medium-high, and stir while it simmers. Reduce the sauce by half, stirring occasionally.

Add back the "cutlets" and mix with the sauce until everything is hot.

Serve with brown rice and veggies.

By the way, here's proof that this meal passed the kid test (he is 3):

Yes, he ate the green beans FIRST (so you're probably wondering how I prepared them). I steamed fresh green beans for a few minutes while whisking together a jarred mandarin marinade with some agave nectar and canola oil. Tasted like something you get at a takeout Chinese restaurant (a good one of course!). The brown rice was compliments of Seeds of Change Organic Nuke and Serve Basmati Brown Rice (I know, a terrible waste of packaging and ridiculously expensive, but I keep it on hand for days like today, when DS was starving and I had to get din din on the table pronto).

Anyway, this one gets added to my permanent collection for its simplicity, yumminess, and broad appeal. It's also the answer to the ever-persisting comment by many: "I could never give up chicken." Of course you can!!

Web Site of the Week: The Vegetarian Channel

Got some time to browse? You'll love The Vegetarian Channel. This site covers everything vegetarian: food (of course), with over 1000 recipes; shopping; lifestyle; environment; news; and organizations. Use their handy search function to find other specific veg-related sites. If you enjoy a sense of community, you can connect with other vegetarians who share your interests and passions.

The site is easy to navigate, allows you to rate everything and read others' ratings, and covers pretty much everything you can think of, from veg travel to religion to listings of vegetarian-related events.

Would you like a protein with that?

From Wikipedia.com, this is a 3D representation of "a protein."

Struggling to get caught up on work after a week's vacation, I haven't posted regularly lately. Sorry. But today I had to fire up the blogger to vent about something that really irks me, which is the misuse of the term "protein." It seems that most people's minds are perfectly programmed to regard food in such a way that they need to have a chunk of "protein" at every meal (particularly dinner). For example: "Ok, I have a vegetable and a starch, and now I need a protein." Or, worse (Mother to school-age child): "No, you can't have a banana, I want you to have a PROTEIN now." I see this time and time again as a dietitian and mom: parents flip out if their kid has a meal without a concentrated protein source. I've seen more than one mom force feed their child a McDonald's burger (sans bun) or slab of cheese. Not because the child is enjoying it but because the mothers actually believe that they are doing their children a favor.

For optimal nutrition, humans need approximately 10%-15% of their calories from protein. For an average 2000 calorie diet, this means about 200 calories from protein, or about 50 grams. It would be a challenge to eat even a marginally healthy diet and NOT reach this level. Most Americans eat double, triple, even quadruple this amount -- and we see a concomitant increase in heart disease, kidney disease, and bone disease.

People ask me all the time, "Where do you get your protein?" It is a reasonable question, because Americans have been brainwashed to believe that meat = protein and plants = not protein. But this myth needs some serious shattering.

Keeping in mind that our food should average about 10-15 percent of its calories from protein (a good goal is around 12%; those with higher protein needs, such as athletes should aim higher), consider the following foods and their respective percent protein contents:

broccoli: 43% protein
whole wheat bread: 16% protein
tomatoes: 12% protein
mushrooms: 21% protein
chick peas: 22% protein
lentils: 31% protein
tofu: 43% protein
string beans: 22% protein
bagel (white!): 15%

Source: Nutribase Software, and The Dietitian's Guide to Vegetarian Diets: Issues and Applications, by Virginia Messina, Reed Mangels, and Mark Messina, 2004.

Again, these numbers represent the amount of protein as a percentage of calories, not as a percentage of weight or volume. Since most vegetables have relatively few calories, small servings obviously have little total protein. So you'll need to eat a lot of vegetables to get a lot of protein, but of course no one is recommending that you eat only vegetables. The point is that if you eat enough calories from a variety of plant foods, your protein needs will most likely be met. Remember, you only need 10-15% protein, so eating an appropriate amount of calories from a variety of vegetables and other whole plant foods will supply plenty of protein, and a healthy balance of nutrition.

See, even a vegan can have too much protein! But round these foods out with healthful lower protein foods such as fruits, and you've got a balanced, health-supporting diet.

Getting by in a vegan-un-friendly place

Greetings from Cape Cod!

I'm staying with the inlaws in a rather remote area of Cape Cod, land of seafood shacks and ice cream stands. I found a few veg-friendly places but none very close by; we're staying with a houseful of people (most of them under 10) so regular dining out isn't really an option. So, we took a trip to the local supermarket.

The problem with renting a house for a week (when it comes to eating well as a vegan, anyway) is that shopping for ingredients can mean a lot of waste (or, at best, lugging extras home). And it's challenging to cook in an unfamiliar kitchen. So we had to get smart and figure out what to buy that would get us through the week with minimal leftovers.

It's not hard at all, it turns out. We bought bagged salads, dressing, hummus, tabouli, veggie "hot dogs" (a fave of my toddler, of course), oatmeal, soy milk, frozen whole grain vegan waffles, whole grain bread, non-hydrogenated, organic margarine, soy yogurt, soups (I bought a natural soup mix and an onion; homemade bean-barley soup is on the menu tonight), whole grain pasta, jarred organic marinara, beans, organic tortilla chips and salsa, and of course, plenty of fruits and vegetables, sliced up and served fresh.

Web Site of the Week: Vegan Chamber of Commerce

What a great idea. If you want to focus your business efforts on working with like-minded folks, check out the Vegan Chamber of Commerce. According to their site, "Supporting vegans reduces our impact on the environment, prevents global warming, and reduces the suffering of animals..." and, "Our Business Directory lists vegan businesses, professionals, service providers, and vegan supporting organizations anywhere in the world."

The directory needs to be beefed up (so to speak) -- so if you're vegan and you provide services, please sign up today! It's free to post your business, and $100/year to become a sponsor. I'd love to see this site grow to the level it deserves to be.