Author: vegtutor

I am a Christian wife and mother of four adult children. Over 20 years ago I prayed for guidance after noticing typical middle age changes in my health, and felt led to pursue a vegetarian lifestyle. It is so exciting to see the positive effects of following a healthy natural diet, not the least of which is a permanent 40 lb. weight loss. God really does know best! I now teach vegetarian cooking classes and try to share what I have learned to help others improve their health and vitality. I believe that once you know "why" the "how" is easy. I try to keep all the recipes I share simple with common ingredients and easy preparation. Eating healthy doesn't have to be difficult.

Tomato Chips

Because it’s the end of the growing season, and gardeners probably have an overabundance of tomatoes, I thought I would share this again. I use these tomato chips in place of sundried tomatoes all year long. Delicious!

This is the easiest way I have found to preserve your abundant tomato harvest. Only two ingredients besides the tomatoes, and so simple!

The first thing you will do is thinly slice the tomatoes — not more than 1/4 inch thick. Spread the slices in a single layer on the dehydrator mesh tray making sure the slices are not touching each other. There is no need to line the tray with a teflex sheet or parchment paper.

Lightly sprinkle each slice with a little Herbamare (or any sea salt and herb seasoning you desire). Then top with some nutritional yeast. Dehydrate for 6 – 8 hours or overnight. Store in a tightly covered glass jar in the pantry, and they’ll stay crisp all winter.

Bet you can’t eat just one!

Vegan Wendy’s Frosty

This is a summer treat you can make at home… often! No need to feel guilty because it’s dairy-free and low in fat!

There are several versions of a Vegan Wendy’s Frosty out there. I’ve tried a few, and played around with the recipe until I came up with one that suited me. Of course this isn’t full of fat like the original, but it is cold, sweet and creamy. If you like chocolate, but not the fat and calories that go with it, then I think this version will satisfy very nicely. Hope you like it!

This recipe makes enough for two large servings — one for you and one for a friend.

Ingredients:

3 frozen bananas, broken into pieces

2 Tbsp. carob powder or cacao powder

12 -15 ice cubes (depends on the size)

3/4 cup plant milk

12 – 20 drops vanilla stevia

Method:

Place all ingredients in a high speed blender (one that can crush ice). Turn on high speed and blend until smooth and creamy, stirring occasionally if necessary. Add a little more plant milk, if necessary. Adjust the amount of vanilla stevia to suit your taste.

Yum!

Veggie Lasagna

A word to the wise: If you’re trying to change your family’s eating habits to a healthier vegetarian diet, please don’t serve them a green smoothie or a blended salad to start out. Unfamiliar and unrecognizable food like that will only shock them into resistance. Give your family something they are used to, something they can identify and already enjoy eating — but make it healthier, lower in fat and calories, with no animal ingredients. This is a delicious recipe even a carnivore can enjoy. It may become one of your family’s favorites!

Ingredients:

1 chopped onion

1 clove minced garlic

1 lb. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

8 oz, sliced mushrooms, rinse well and drain

12 – 15 lasagna noodles

1 container (12.3 oz) Mori-Nu silken tofu, drained and mashed with a fork

¼ c. vegan parmesan topping, plus another 1/2 c. reserved for top

1 Tbs. parsley flakes

1 tsp. oregano

1 ½ tsp sea salt

12 oz. shredded vegan mozzarella (Soya Kaas or Daiya are good brands)

1 ½ qt. any good meatless spaghetti sauce (reserve 1 c.)

Method:

— Cook noodles according to package directions.

–Saute onions, garlic and mushrooms in 1 Tbs. olive oil. Add thawed, drained spinach and toss together.

–In a large bowl combine: tofu, ¼ cup veggie parmesan and spices. Add sautéed vegetables and mix together with a fork.

–In an ungreased oblong casserole layer:

A thin layer of sauce

¼ noodles

¼ sauce

¼ tofu mixture

¼ vegan mozzarella

Repeat this process three times.

–Spread reserved 1 cup sauce over top layer of noodles. Sprinkle with ½ cup vegan parmesan topping. (At this point lasagna can be covered and refrigerated for several hours.)

–Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes (allow additional 10 – 15 minutes if lasagna has been refrigerated.)

For easier cutting, let stand for 15 minutes after removing from oven.

Raw Pizza Crackers

We made these raw crackers in this week’s Cooking for Health Class, and they are delicious! Serve them with a dip, hummus, or eat them plain. You will enjoy the pizza flavor which can be enhanced by adding garlic or red pepper flakes if you like your pizza spicy. The recipe makes two full trays of crackers. The photo shows how many crackers you will get from one recipe (of course that depends on how big you make them, too). Easy to make ahead so take some to the next party — enough for yourself and to share!

Ingredients:

2 cups ground flaxseed

2/3 cup whole flaxseed

2 large skinned plum tomatoes

2 Tbs. Italian Seasoning

1 tsp. pink Himalayan salt

2 Tbs. nutritional yeast

1 1/3 cups whole raw sunflower seeds

1/2 cup sesame seeds

2 cups water (add up to 1/2 cup more, a little at a time, if needed)

Optional additions: garlic powder, red pepper flakes, onion powder, chopped fresh basil

Nothing needs to be soaked. Simply mix all ingredients in a large bowl and stir well.

Spread 1/2 batter on each of two dehydrator trays covered with teflex sheets or parchment paper. Use the back of a spoon to spread batter evenly about 1/4 inch, thick keeping batter as square as possible. (If you have a round dehydrator you could drop batter by spoon and spread into individual rounds).

Dehydrate at 115 degrees for about 2 hours. They should be starting to harden. At this point, take a sharp knife and score the crackers (don’t cut all the way through) into squares or triangles as big as you want them to be. (If you score the crackers now they will be easier to break apart when finished).

Lower temperature and dehydrate at 105 degrees for 6 – 8 hours, until crackers are firm enough to move (go to work, go to school, go to bed). Remove teflex sheet (some of the crackers may separate along scored lines…that’s okay), and continue to dehydrate at 105 degrees on mesh dehydrator tray until crackers are completely dry and crisp.

Separate crackers along scored lines.

These can be stored in an air-tight jar in your pantry for weeks…but they won’t last that long!

Easter Onigiri

Onigiri may be new to Americans, but in Japan it is a common snack and bento box lunch treat for kids. Usually, they are small round or triangular rice balls filled with vegetable surprises. Onigiri is an ancient food that history tells us was wrapped in leaves and carried by Samuri warriors into battle. Today, making the cutest Onigiri, shaped and decorated like animals or people, has become somewhat of a crafty competition among Japanese mothers when preparing school lunches.

With Easter approaching I was inspired to try making something I’d never seen — Easter Onigiri! It was a little tricky getting the colors I wanted naturally, without going the standard food coloring route, but I think these turned out pretty cute. They’re really not that hard to make and would be a fun project to do with the kids. What a colorful addition to an Easter buffet table instead of the usual hard-boiled eggs — and no messy eggshells to deal with!

Ingredients:

1 cup sushi rice

3 Tbs. rice vinegar

1 Tbs. + 1 tsp. evaporated cane sugar

1 1/4 sea salt

1 sheet nori (to cut up for decorating)

Fillings: 1/2 inch slices canned baby corn, pickled radish (yummy!), red bell pepper, thawed frozen corn, diced avocado, etc.

I recommend making one color rice at a time. To make the different colors you will need:

1 tsp. Turmeric – yellow

1 tsp. red beet powder (I’m sure Hallelujah Acres BeetMax* would work, too. You may have to adjust the amount to get the color you want) – pink

1 Tbs. Hallelujah Acres BarleyMax* – green (For brightest color, in a shaker cup put 1 ice-cube the BarleyMax and enough water to measure 1 1/2 cup. Shake vigorously until ice-cube dissolves. Add mixture, foam and all, to rice and cook as directed)

If you want to decorate white eggs, then add no coloring.

Method:

Rinse and drain rice several times (It takes about 5 times until the water is no longer cloudy). Place in a heavy saucepan with 1 1/2 cups water and whatever coloring you choose. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to med/low. Simmer 12 minutes (don’t peek!) Remove from heat and let stand 1 minute.

Meanwhile, in a medium size bowl whisk together rice vinegar, sugar, and sea salt. Mix in the hot rice until the liquid is absorbed. Spread on a foil covered baking sheet to cool for about 5 minutes.

Place a square of plastic wrap over a 1/2 c. custard bowl. Scoop a spoonful of rice into center of plastic wrap making a thumbprint indentation. Fill indentation with your choice of fillings. Cover with another spoonful of rice and pull up sides of plastic wrap. Twist and squeeze wrap around rice, forming a tight, smooth egg shape around filling. Unwrap and place onigiri on a large flat plate. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Decorate Onigiri with cut up nori. Have a bowl of water nearby to glue down nori decorations. If rice sticks to your fingers wet them to solve that problem. I used die cut stamps (the kind used for scrapbooking) to stamp out flower and duck shapes, and a paper punch for little dots. Be creative — go wild!

*www.hacres.com

Did People in the Bible Eat Animal Foods?

As a Health Minister, one of the statements I often hear is, “But people in the Bible ate meat.” I encourage you to read below and learn the facts. The diet in Bible times did not in any way resemble the Standard American Diet. To read the complete article: http://healthtip.hacres.com/index.php/2013/02/12/how-to-stop-cheating-on-the-hallelujah-diet?

Animal-Source Foods

In Bible days, there were societies of pure vegetarians while other societies consumed some animal products – animal flesh and goat milk. However, even in those societies where animal flesh was eaten, consumption was extremely limited and confined to special occasions because the ancients had no means of refrigeration.

For this same reason, goat milk was consumed in its raw state almost immediately after milking. It is also important to note here that almost all milk consumed in Bible days was goat milk. Even to this day, The United States is one of the few countries in the world that consumes more cow milk than goat milk.

It is also interesting to note that in Bible days, the fat content of grass-fed animals, which was all they had to eat, was around 3%. This is the fat content that you will find in wild deer to this day.

6 Things Man Didn’t Learn from the Bible

Man started graining the animals in an effort to put more fat on their flesh.
Even later, farmers learned that they could get these animals to grow more rapidly if they gave them growth hormones.
Then they learned that by giving the animals antibiotics, they could cover up the physical breakdown that occurred by this unnatural and rapid growth.
Farmers next began to realize that by giving the milk cows hormones that caused them to grow faster, they could also generate more milk production.
Forcing these milk cows to produce more milk than God designed them to produce caused all manner of physical breakdown. Farmers realized (again) they could give cows more antibiotics.
As man began to drink more and more cow milk, man had to find a way to prevent the milk from going bad too quickly. To solve that problem man learned that by cooking the milk in a pasteurizing process that killed both friendly and unfriendly bacteria and destroying the enzymes (life force in raw milk) they could give the milk a longer shelf life under refrigeration.

With the consumption of ever increasing amounts of both animal flesh and dairy, physical breakdown from these animal source foods began to manifest earlier and earlier in the lives of those who consumed them. In fact, my research reveals that animal source foods, both flesh and dairy, are the cause or contributing cause of as high as 90% of all the physical problems being experienced today.

These animal sourced foods are the primary cause of high blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes, as the fat in these animal sourced foods clog up the arteries. In addition to the fat clogging up the arteries and causing all of these physical breakdowns, these animal sourced foods are the primary cause of cancer, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, colon problems, acid stomach, asthma, allergies…

The list goes on and on….

Be encouraged, God loves us and His way is always best 🙂 “And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
~ Romans 12:2

Grandma’s Chili (Vegetarian Style)

What is the perfect dinner for a cold winter evening? A steaming bowl of heart healthy chili! This recipe will provide mega protein and fiber with very little fat and calories. It’s a very simple recipe made with common ingredients, and is delicious with or without the optional ingredients. As a bonus, you can also throw everything in your crockpot and let it cook on LOW all day. Dinner will be ready when you return home!

Ingredients:

1 large onion, chopped and sautéed in 1 Tbsp oil (if you have the time)

1 large can tomato sauce

1 large can kidney beans

1 Tbsp. chili powder

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

1 1/2 tsp. sea salt

Optional Ingredients (use any or all as desired):

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. sweetener

1 Tbsp. vinegar

1 – 3 cloves minced garlic

1 chopped red bell pepper

a little cayenne pepper or Tabasco Sauce (to warm you from the inside out!)

Method:

Cover and simmer all ingredients for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add 1 pkg. Morning Star Farms (frozen meat substitute) Crumbles, and cook for an additional 15 minutes to heat crumbles. Remove from heat and enjoy with salad and warm cornbread. Mmmm-m-m-m! This chili tastes even better the second day, so look forward to any leftovers 🙂

Raw Vegetable and Nut Cereal

We call this cereal, but it’s really a salad disguised as breakfast. It’s the strangest and healthiest breakfast cereal I have ever LOVED! This recipe doesn’t contain any actual cereal at all, but oddly enough, it does have a granola-like texture and taste. I promise, it is really good — the teenagers in our house have been known to eat three bowls full! This simple recipe makes enough for several generous servings and will keep in your refrigerator for a couple of days (if it lasts that long).

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup carrot

1/4 cup pecans or almonds

1/2 cup cauliflower

1 cup broccoli

1/2 apple (peeled if not organic)

Method:

Cut vegetables into chunks. Chop carrots for about four seconds in food processor. Add other ingredients to processor and pulse until desired texture is reached (pieces about the size of granola). That’s it — wasn’t that easy?

Pour all in a bowl, and top with maple syrup (or sweetener of your choice) and pour almond or soy milk over top.

Optional: Sprinkle raisins and/or cinnamon on top.

Crunchy Garden Salad

Do you ever get tired of leafy green salads? With gardens producing just about every vegetable imaginable right now you might want to throw together a colorful vegetable salad that contains no lettuce at all. The ingredients in this crunchy salad can be altered to accommodate whatever vegetables you have on hand; for a surprising burst of flavor throw in your choice of olives (I like kalamata olives), pickles, banana peppers, or sun-dried tomatoes.

It will be more flavorful if you steam the heavier, more dense vegetables for a few minutes — not too long, just until the color brightens but they still retain some crispiness. Any Italian salad dressing will work well, and it always tastes better the next day after flavors have had time to marinate. Makes a great lunch!

Ingredients:

1/2 head cauliflower florets

1 stalk broccoli florets

2 carrots, sliced

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 green bell pepper, diced

1/2 red onion, sliced

2 red radishes, thinly sliced

1 pint halved cherry tomatoes

1 ear fresh corn kernels (sliced off the cob)

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

Optional: (any or all) olives, dill pickles, banana peppers, sun-dried tomatoes

Lightly steam cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots until just crisp tender (they will be easier to chew and absorb more flavor if steamed). Cool quickly in very cold water and drain. Place in a large bowl, add other ingredients and your favorite Italian dressing. Toss to coat everything with dressing and allow to marinate for best flavor (good to make the day before). Serve cold.

Makes 10 – 12 servings

Mikura Asian Cuisine and Sushi Bar, 840 North Park Rd., Suite #8, Wyomissing, PA 19610, Phone:610-373-5851/8805, 610-927-5555

Mikura is a new Pan-Asian restaurant at the site of the former China King in Wyomissing. China King was one of our favorite take-out restaurants, but I must admit the dining area was tiny and decor minimal, so we didn’t eat there often. Since Mikura has taken over this location the changes have been dramatic: The restaurant has doubled in size, and they have done major remodeling. It is now decorated in a sophisticated modern Asian theme, dark wood, colorful dimmed pendant lighting, and “stone” wall. Everything is new, clean and inviting, and the staff goes out of their way to satisfy every request.

I am happy to say the food is still delicious, and the menu has expanded to include many new dishes! The sushi bar is brand new, and they also offer party trays for office and home catering. They have kept their famous, very reasonably priced ($5.99/person or $5.45 for senior citizens) lunch buffet, although there is not much on the buffet for vegetarians. We have found that ordering from the menu is a better option for those wanting non-meat dishes. If you see something you’d like on the regular menu they will do their best to make it vegetarian for you. The menu also includes many vegetarian entrees ( I counted 17, but as stated, they will make any substitutions for meat if you ask). Some items on the menu are listed as gluten-free and brown rice is available on request if you prefer that to white (yes!).

Mikura is a classy, moderately priced restaurant for lunch, dinner, business, or pleasure. Service is excellent, food is delicious, decor lovely. Highly recommend!