We’re known round these parts as a vegetarian house, and most recently we’ve gone the whole hog (if you’ll pardon the expression) and are now vegan at home.  I feel much better and lighter.  Switching to soy milk in coffee has been a revelation! I defy anyone to bring me a better cup of Joe than the ones we make here…

I have to confess that eggs were tough to give up, and letting go of parmesan cheese on my pasta was the very last thing I did.  Kind of like the last finger holding me on the side of the cliff before I took the plunge.

This week, a study came out on the Journal of the American Medical Association that compared 3 diets: your classic low-fat diet; a high protein diet similar to Atkins, and a low glycemic diet.  The results were basically this:  simple carbs are really bad for us, that the Atkins diet is good for the short-term but not the long term, and that eating whole grains, lots of legumes and veggies is the best way to go.  It got me thinking about our plant-based ways, and how wonderful our diet makes us feel, and I wanted to share some recipes with you.

As the kids get older, more and more of their friends are becoming vegetarian. Several of the parents have asked us what we feed our family. They want to make sure they’re giving their growing kids enough nutrition, and not just replacing meat with junk, or becoming full-on cheesetarians.

So, here are a couple of ideas for tasty, easy meals that can be enjoyed by vegans, vegetarians and omnis equally:

Rice & Beans:

This is good, Friday night fare, simple and easy!

Baked brown rice:

–        3 cups brown basmati rice, rinsed.

–        6 cups water

–        2 tbsp. coconut oil

–        Salt to taste

–        1 tsp. Turmeric if I’m in the mood for yellow rice

Pre-heat the oven to 375º. Place all the ingredients in a baking dish and stir to combine. Cover tightly with tin foil.  Bake for 1 hour.  When it’s done baking, turn off the oven, uncover it, and let it sit in the oven for a while.  The top will get a little crispy.

Beans – my bean dish is pretty haphazard. I throw an onion and garlic in the pan and sauté it.  Add some chopped green & red bell peppers and jalapenos if I’ve got them, salt pepper to taste, let that sauté till softened.  Then I add about 6 cans of beans – usually a mix of black, pinto, kidney and garbanzos and maybe some hot sauce.  I let it simmer for a while, and then the big trick to make it seem like it’s been cooking for hours is to mash the beans with a potato masher.  You don’t have to be too precise about it, but it does add lovely flavor and texture to the dish. Adjust the seasonings and enjoy!

Serve with taco shells, salsa, avocado if it’s in season, more hot sauce…

BBQ Tofu:  Make sure to get the Super Firm Tofu – Trader Joe’s has good deals on it!

–        2 packages of super firm tofu

–        Juice of 1 lime

–        4 garlic cloves, crushed

–        ¼ cup olive oil

–        Tablespoon of prepared bbq sauce – I love Annie’s Organic – it’s vegan!!

–    Salt & pepper to taste

Mix the marinade ingredients together in a small bowl.

Cut the tofu up into 1/2” chunks and put in a big bowl.

Toss the marinade with the tofu and let sit for at least 30 minutes.

Pre-heat a grill pan and grill up the tofu on it – let it get nice grill marks on at least 2 sides.  Delicous!

Rich’s “Meat” sauce:

–        3 tbsp coconut oil

–        2 packages of veggie “meat” grounds – I don’t love to use this stuff too much, but it does add some good oomph to the dish and passes the Max test – very important!

–        1 Large onion, chopped

–        1 Red bell pepper, chopped

–        1 Yellow bell pepper, chopped

–        Garlic – 6-8 cloves – or 2 cloves of elephant garlic, whatever you’ve got!

–        2 28 oz. cans fire roasted tomatoes

Saute the veggie grounds in 1 tbsp of the coconut oil till browned. Take it out of the saucepan and set aside.

Add the remaining coconut oil to the pan and sauté the onion, peppers & garlic until softened.

Add the 2 cans of tomatoes and 1.5 cans of water. Bring it up to a simmer and let it go for about 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and blend the sauce with an immersion blender.  When it’s all blended together, add the veggie grounds back in, stir and heat through.

Serve over whole wheat pasta!!

Follow with a giant salad!

ARTICLE ON DIET:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/which-diet-works/?src=me&ref=general