Since Thanksgiving and after making my Turkey Roll using seitan, I decided to try some other seitan recipes.  One of the recipes I came across was a recipe for BBQ ribs using seitan.  I tried the original recipe and it was pretty good but decided to make a second batch with some adjustments.  The second batch of ribs came out GREAT!! 

So for our meal tonight, we had a simple salad (pictured left), Seitan Ribs and then I modified a red potato recipe to come up with my own version of Rosemary Potatoes.  As always, the true test of my meals is how well the kids like it....and this one was a hit!  Nothing was left....ribs...gone....potatoes....gone....ok, they didn't have any salad but the rest of it was a hit!

Today we drove to Lancaster so Cari could participate in a dog fair thingy.  On our way home, the standard question came up, "What's for dinner?"  Neither Cari or I had a clue so I told her I would "wing it" and make some kind of black bean soup.  So I looked through the fridge and cupboards and came up with the recipe below.  Because of the diced tomato with fire roasted peppers it has somewhat of a southwest flair.  For the corn, I used Trader Joe's Roasted Corn (frozen) but you can use any corn.  One kid said they didn't like the red bell pepper in is, so you may want to leave it out if red bell pepper is not your thing.  It turned out very yummy and I plan on making it again soon!!  I call it Southwest Black Bean Soup.


Southwest Black Bean Soup

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients:
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup vegetable broth, divided
1 cup water
1 can fire roasted dice tomatoes
1 cup frozen corn (roasted corn is even better!)
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, saute the onion, red bell pepper and garlic in 1/4 cup of vegetable broth for about 5 minutes.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.  You may want to use a potato masher to mash some of the black beans (optional).
   

It was a dad and the kids weekend.  For my wife's birthday she gets to go off to a scrap booking retreat and spend the whole day scrap booking with all meals provided.  It's a cool treat and she totally deserves it!!

Of course, hanging out with kids means they become guinea pigs for my recipe experiments.  Tonight I decided potato soup sounded good.  I didn't have a specific recipe but decided to kind of throw my own recipe together and put a cheesy touch to it.  Here's what I came up with and, I have to say, it's pretty good!  The kids loved it and I will be making it again as we get closer to the cold weather!
Cheesy Potato Soup
Servings: 4-5
Prep and Cook Time: 30-35 minutes

Ingredients:
2 cups vegetable broth
4 large potatoes, peeled, cubed
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. salt
1 pinch black pepper
2 Tbsp. and 2 tsp. flour
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. corn starch

Directions:
1) Put vegetable broth, potatoes, onion, parsley, salt and pepper into large pan.  Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook 18-20 min or until potatoes are soft.
2) In a separate bowl, mix flour, milk, nutritional yeast flakes, lemon juice, garlic powder and corn starch.
3) Once potatoes are soft, add in mixture from bowl and simmer for another 5 minutes.
4) Serve!

I've been going through my blog to-do's and came across two things that are long overdue for sharing.  The first is a recipe from a plant based potluck we had earlier in the summer.  The dish is called Soy Bean Chili and was brought by a good friend of mine Raj.  He promised to get me the recipe, and he did, but I'm just getting around to posting it.  Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of his excellent chili but here's the recipe if you're interested!

The second to-do was to get a success story posted from a friend and fellow plant based advocate.  Last summer I worked as an Interim IT Director for our Ridgecrest (Cerro Coso Community College) college campus.  One of my good friends and employees was a man named Jeremy.  During the first few weeks of me working at the college he learned about my diet (mainly because he watched me bring in all my healthy food).  One night I got a call from Jeremy and he asked if I would come share my diet with his wife (Laura).  I was a little reluctant because I didn't know if she was truly interested or whether he was pushing this on her.  Well, when I showed up, she had a notepad and asked me to share my story.  I did and she took notes the whole time.  She started a plant based diet the very next day and here is her story.  If you need motivation to stick with the diet or if you need motivation to get on the diet, read this story.  Real results with a real person!!

If you have a success story from being on a plant based diet that you would like to share, please send it to me ande

When trying to get as many greens as possible, I'm also always trying to find or make new salad dressings.  Recently I've been quite interested in playing around with chipotle related sauces and dressings.  I love the chipotle flavor and when done just right, it gives a little kick but with surprisingly wonderful flavor.  A little note on chipotle peppers, do you know what a chipotle pepper is?  I didn't until recently when I looked it up and found out it is just a jalepeno pepper that has been smoke dried.

Usually when making a creamy dressing, I've used Mori-Nu silken tofu.  The silken tofu works in place of sour cream and I've used this method to make Ranch dressing in the past with reasonably good results.  The one problem with using tofu is it just seems to have a "taste" that I don't care for in a dressing.  The other day, I got the idea of trying soy yogurt instead.  It's a little easier to work with and maybe it wouldn't have the "taste" that bothered me even though it is still soy based.

My first recipe with plain soy yogurt is my stab at a Chipotle Dressing.  Yes, all the amounts are completely my own, completely from scratch and I was truly winging it.  I still think it could use a little work and each person may want to tweak the seasonings to their own liking.  TIP:  Save bottles from bought salad dressings to be used for your own creations. 


Todd's Chiptole Salad Dressing

Ingredients:
1 cup plain soy yogurt (I use WholeSoy & Company brand)
1/3 cup of soy milk (rice milk, almond milk or similar could be used)
1/2 tsp. chiptole powder (if you have dried chipotle peppers, try one of those first and then increase to your liking)
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. agave (or other sweetener)
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp.onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. Braggs Aminos
1 1/2 tsp. rice vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix all ingredients in a blender and enjoy!

Notes: I added the agave early and decided I didn't like the addition of a sweetener.  To ovset the sweetener, I had to add the rice vinegar.  You may be able to eliminate both those ingredients in this recipe to get a better result (the rice was kind of an "undo" of the agave).

I love pizza!!  In fact, one of my favorite meals on this diet is Pita Bread Pizza because it's quick and easy BUT the crust is just pita bread.  Not a big deal when I'm in a hurry and need to get my pizza fix or when I need a quick meal for the kids.  But, when I'm truly wanting a pizza, the Pita Bread pizza doesn't cut it.  Normally what I do is order a pizza from one of the local pizza joints and ask for a vegetarian pizza with no cheese.  The problem is, I know their crust probably contains oil and enriched flours.  So I decided to find a recipe I could modify to make a good pizza crust but it had to meet the criterion of my plant-based diet.  The recipe that follows is quick, easy and there isn't much time waiting for dough to rise.  Feel free to experiment with the flour of your choice in this recipe.



Pizza Crust

Ingredients:
1 pkg. active dry yeast
1 tsp. white sugar
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 cups of flour (whole wheat, spelt, oat, etc.)
2 Tbsp. applesauce (this is as an oil replacement)
1 tsp. salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Stir in flour, apple sauce and salt. Beat until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan or baker's peel dusted with cornmeal. Spread with desired toppings and bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let baked pizza cool for 5 minutes before serving.

On a completely separate note, I just got this latest information in my email from the PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine).  The article is title, "Avoiding Cow’s Milk May Cut Risk of Type 1 Diabetes".  New research suggests that children NOT exposed to cows milk in their infancy have less risk of developing type 1 diabetes.  Interesting stuff, for the rest of the article go here.  This is not the only research discouraging cows milk for infants or children (or adults for that matter).  Read, "The China Study" and the book does a wonderful job of linking many of our diseases today to animal protein and more specifically, cows milk.  I guess milk DOESN'T do a body good!!

I've had several friends recently start a plant-based, oil-free diet and one of the comments I keep getting is that all the salad dressings they try have OIL in them.  Yep, very true, that's why most of them you have to make yourself.  Here are some ideas to get you started on salad dressings....

1. Italian dressing - Buy the Good Seasons mix at the grocery store.  Instead of mixing with oil and water, just substitute the oil for water.  It works great and tastes yummy, without that heavy, greasy that comes with the oil in the dressing.  You can use this on salad, on pasta (add some artichoke heart, chopped bell pepper, olives and tomatoes and you have a GREAT salad).  Or you can try this one in my recipe section.
   
2. Ranch dressing - The healthiest option is to purchase a Ranch dressing mix (that you make yourself) from a health food store that is organic and dairy-free.  Then when you mix it up, it often calls for sour cream and milk, substitute silken tofu for the sour cream and soy milk for the regular milk and mix it up in the food processor or blender.  You can also get the Hidden Valley Ranch packets from the regular grocery store BUT, full disclosure, there is a small amount of buttermilk in the seasoning packet.  Yes....I occasionally use this.
3. The 3-2-1 dressing from the Esselstyn book is also great and easy to remember.  Three Tbsp. of balsamic vinegar, two Tbsp. of mustard and one Tbsp. of maple syrup. I love this stuff!!
4. Finally, the easiest of all....go to Trader Joes.  Trader Joe's has two different items that work great as a dressing.  The first item is their Sesame Soy Ginger Vinegaraitte Salad Dressing...yep, 100% legit and is YUMMY!  The other is their General Tsao's Stir Fry sauce. You don't need as much of this but works great on veggies or as a salad dressing.  My favorite salad right now is a mixture of baby spinach, romaine a handful of whole wheat corkscrew pasta (already cooked) and then a bit of the General Tsao's on top. 
   
5. Finally, is you like a more Asian inspired dressing, give the Spicy Salad dressing a try from my recipe list!

I hope this helps some of you struggling to find a good salad dressing.  These dressings are all good and work as great substitutes for the oil-laden dressings you normally find in your grocery store!!

Anyone else have a recipe for your favorite salad dressing you would like to share?  Share it in the comments below.

We are always looking for recipes that are kid-friendly.  The chances of finding something that all three children like is RARE!  Had you told me my kids would eat a cabbage tostada and love it, I would have thought you to be crazy!  My wife modified another recipe and then changed some things up to come up with this yummy treat.  Try this out, I promise you won't miss the meat on your tostada.  We just enjoyed this meal with side di

Servings: 10




Ingredients:
1 small sweet white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bag shredded cabbage
3 cups salsa
1 cup water
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1 cup frozen corn
1 can black beans
1 can hominy

tostada shells (take regular corn tortillas and bake in oven on 400 for about 20 min)

Directions:
1. Line pan with water and saute onion and garlic over high heat until onion is translucent.
2. Add spices and mix.
3. Add black beans, hominy, salsa and water and cook about 10 minutes.
4. Add corn and heat thoroughly.
5. Add cabbage and cook to desired consistency (about 5 min).
6. Salt and pepper if desired.
7. Spoon over baked tostadas and ENJOY!!

Last night I was looking for something new to do for Sunday morning breakfast.  As I perused the Happy Herbivore book (one of my favorites) I came across the Cinnamon Buns (p. 36).  I initially passed the recipe up but the beautiful picture Lindsay has of a cinnamon roll got stuck in my brain.  Efforts in finding something else to eat became futile....I could only think of that yummy cinnamon roll.  I fought the urge but finally, the urge won.

In other recipes in the past, there was always a process of letting the dough rise (usually for an hour) but this ultra simple recipe was quick and done in less than an hour, including bake time.  We pulled these six beautiful buns out of the oven and a strange thing happened....all of a sudden three kids were standing next to me asking, "Dad, can I have one?"  So we sat down as a family and each had a yummy cinnamon roll.  Oh, and yes....they are as good as they look!!!  Now I still have to find something new for Sunday morning breakfast.

Servings: 6

Ingredients:
3/4 cup soy milk
2 1/4 tsp. active yeast
3 cups spelt flour (or whole-wheat pastry flour)
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 cup raw sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon (divided into two 1 tsp. portions)
1/4 tsp. fine salt
5 Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce
4 Tbsp. brown sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup soy milk

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly spray an 8" round cake pan with Pam or rub a thin layer of unsweetened apple sauce.
2. Warm soy milk to approximately 110 degrees (F).  Sprinkle in yeast and let dissolve, about 5 minutes.
3. In mixing bowl, whisk 2 cups of spelt flour with baking powder, sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon and salt.
4. Stir in applesauce, milk/yeast mixture and another 1/2 cup of spelt flour with spatula.
5. Stir in remaining flour and knead in the mixing bowl 15 to 20 times until elastic and not excessively sticky.
6. Flour a rolling pin and roll dough out into a large thin rectangle (see first picture above).
7. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon and then spoon over rolled out dough, leaving a 1 inch margin around the edges.
8. Gently but tightly roll the dough up.  Cut the rolled up "log" into 6 equal pieces.
9. Place buns in the prepared pan; a tight fit is okey.
10. Bake for 25 minutes, until slightly golden and thoroughly cooked.
11. While baking, prepare icing by mixing the powdered sugar with milk to make a glaze.  You may need to add additional milk.
12.  Drizzle glaze over buns while they are still warm.

I'm not completely sure how I ended up with this idea but I think it went something like this.  First, I was hunting around for some cool Spring Roll recipes.  Then I wondered if there were such a thing as dessert spring rolls (there are).  I then wondered how to sweeten the fruit up and searched for a tofu whipped cream (which I found and modified).  I then took all of that and mixed it together and came up with this yummy fruit spring roll in whip cream recipe.  I will say.....this is the PERFECT summer treat and they don't take long to whip up!!

Rather than re-create the recipe here, with all my complicated drawings....just check it out on my Recipes page.

I was quite pleased with how these came out....of course, this needs to be kept in context.  Many of the things I "try" do NOT pan out very well, don't taste well or just plain don't work.  But, I am proud of this little recipe but once you've done it....you'll see it's not that hard!!