A food memoir of weight loss, family recipes, and strategies for staying healthy in your 70's and beyond
H Robert Silverstein, MD, FACC
After 47 years as a cardiologist with 200,000 patient visits, I can firmly say that vegans are my healthiest patients. I certainly agree with you it is not easy. My position is that 90% vegan which is 19 of 21 meals a week will do just fine. Foods should be, prior to preparation, ideally organic and unprocessed whole foods exactly as they grow up out of the ground and in the field.
Sopa de Frijol con Vegetal
1/2 pound dried pinto beans
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried oregano (Mexican variety preferred), crumbled
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic (medium), finely chopped
1 can tomatoes, fine dice
2 teaspoons chili powder
pinch salt
1. Pick over the beans carefully and remove any foreign particles. Put the beans in a strainer and rinse under cold running water. Put the beans, bay leaf, oregano, and cumin in a large saucepan with water to cover by about 2 inches. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook until the beans are tender and the liquid thickens, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Do not let the beans boil dry. Check the water level during cooking and add hot water, when needed, about 1/4 cup at a time. There should always be about 1/2 inch of water above the level of the beans.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium heat in a medium skillet and cook the onion, stirring, until it browns, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, tomatoes, and ground chili. Cook, stirring, until the tomato juices evaporate, 2 to 3 minutes. When the beans are tender, add the onion mixture to the beans. Add salt, and continue cooking for about 20 minutes to blend flavors. Remove the bay leaf, and serve hot.
Adapted from the original meatless recipe found in “1,000 Mexican Recipes.” Copyright 2001 by Marge Powe, Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Tips
I love pinto beans and found this recipe a long time ago. When the offspring were little I didn’t fix beans at home. I got my bean fix when we went out for Tex-Mex and gorged myself on the refried variety. Nowadays as an Aging Wonder I tend to eat a lot healthier than during my younger days. Give me a good bowl of beans and I’m a happy camper.
Check back for updates and tips on this soup recipe. I’ve got beans on the stove and I am absolutely positive I no longer follow the recipe as written.
Update
Substitute Mayocabo beans instead of pinto beans.
That’s it. That’s the update.
Spinach and kale are favorites of those looking to stay physically fit, but they also could keep consumers cognitively fit, according to a new study. The study, which included 60 adults aged 25 to 45, found that middle-aged participants with higher levels of lutein — a nutrient found in green leafy vegetables such as spinach and kale, as well as avocados and eggs — had neural responses that were more on par with younger individuals than with their peers.
Source: Lutein, found in leafy greens, may counter cognitive aging — ScienceDaily
Today I made a warehouse club run. I needed mineral water, coffee, and…spinach. Seriously, I just bought a huge tub of organic spinach. I have no clue what I’m going to use the spinach for but at least I’ll be improving my neural responses.
Kale? No thanks.
Source: 88-Year-Old Vegan Climbs Kilimanjaro
That’s 19,341 elevation. One of my offspring lives and works in Aspen CO. He climbs fourteeners for fun. But the offspring is 27.5. This dude is 88!
It’s been two months since I posted a recipe. Too many interesting research articles, bunnies, work…the list is endless. Well the drought is over. I had leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge and told myself “I am not going to waste perfectly fine leftover mashed potatoes”. I hopped online to find a decent potato pancake recipe. But instead, I stumbled on a quiche recipe that used instant mashed potatoes for the crust. One of my go to recipes is frittata that has plenty of potatoes in it. So why not quiche?
Trigger Warning for Easily Offended Militant Vegans
Stop reading now. This recipe has eggs and dairy.
You’ll need:
3 tablespoons EVO
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups leftover mashed potatoes
1 small (or half a large) sweet onion, chopped
2 cups frozen organic chopped spinach, thawed & drained
2 large mushrooms (white button or baby bella) sliced thin
4 large eggs
1 cup organic half and half
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Two dashes nutmeg
salt & pepper
Slice & serve.
Tips
Why yes, of course you can add cooked diced bacon at step 8.5. Swiss instead of cheddar would be an excellent substitute. If you don’t have any leftover mashed potatoes by all means use one of those deep dish frozen pie shells. If you add bacon and use a frozen pie crust this recipe becomes my world famous spinach quiche that I’ve been making for years. But as I move along the spectrum to more of a WFPB diet I’ve been leaving the bacon out.
I’m not quite sure how I would make this pie palatable for my easily offended militant vegan readers. I need to think about this a little more.
“It’s moving people along a continuum, whether people are eating red meat every day and you ask them to start eating a little more white meat, or they’re already on a white meat kick and it’s a little bit more seafood, or moving even further along to alternative proteins or produce. You can’t expect everyone to start loving lentils day one,” Giambastiani says. “Some do, most don’t. What you’re trying to do instead is get people to think about that continuum.”
Source: Google’s Quest To Develop A Plant-Based “Power Dish” More Popular Than Meat
Google? Wow.
Makes about four healthy servings.
I typing this as fast as I can. Before I forget.
The Boss is sick. Last night I made chicken soup. When you’re sick you have to have chicken soup. There was enough leftover for lunch. So we’ve had chicken soup, raisin bran, chicken soup for the last three meals. The Boss has a sore throat. As I’m typing I hear coughing. Well, time for soup again.
A high quality vegetable soup is the end result of the ingredients you have on hand. The other key issue is balance, hence the small amount of spinach leaves and just a half cup of diced tomatoes. This recipe is semi-organic because most of the ingredients were organic but some were not.
Tips
I kind of tossed this together and surprisingly, it tasted fine. Next time mushrooms. I used low sodium organic broth. The Boss didn’t add any additional salt but I added a dash and it really helped. Use vegetables you have on hand. I bought a green squash but didn’t use it. I also decided to leave out peas and corn. Try different beans. Chickpeas or kidneys would work well.
A salad on the side and crusty bread would make this a meal.
But so would a nice ribeye.
Source: Zannie’s Black-Eyed Pea Dip | The Pioneer Woman
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Drain black-eyed peas and mash, leaving some whole.
Add all other ingredients, stirring to combine.
Spread into a 1 1/2 quart baking dish and bake for 20 to 30 minutes until hot and bubbly.
Serve warm with tortilla chips.
I stole this recipe. I did the usual change one or two things but refuse to claim this recipe as an original. Instead of canned beans I prepared my own from dried beans. The hot sauce is optional because I forgot to add it and when we started to chow down the dip didn’t really need any more heat. As far as bean dips go this recipe is a keeper. There were only six people at the gathering and we ate it all. So the recipe serves six.
The stuffed mushrooms all got eaten too but that’s another recipe for another day.
Helpful Hints – This is a Texas thing, black eyed peas for good luck at New Year’s. So here are a few hints. Salsa is not optional and I think I used a half cup but since I tossed and didn’t measure it might have been a little less or a little more. Hell on the Red from Telephone Texas. Use a different salsa but the dip won’t taste the same. If you like your dip spicy add more jalapenos. Add hot sauce too but it better be a good Tex-Mexican hot sauce. Don’t do the sriracha thing that everyone else does or it won’t taste the same.
Adapted from a recipe in Delicioso! a cookbook from the Corpus Christi Junior League original copyright date December 1982. The only change I’ve made over the years was to substitute light brown sugar for white sugar. This is the family’s go to corn bread recipe.
I had forgotten how much time it takes to make lasagne. This recipe in particular takes hours due to the vegetable prep. The next time I make this I’ll prepare the vegetables the night before and assemble/bake the next day. There are a billion of these squash and spinach lasagne recipes on the internet. I bet virtually none of them tell you how long this sucker takes to make.
But it was worth it! If you like butternut squash and you like spinach you will like this veggie pasta bake. But in the effort of full disclosure I thought I’d screwed up this lasagne because when I got to the final naked noodle layer I realized I had left out a few steps.
I forgot to put any parmesan or mozzarella on any of my layers. I forgot to add parmesan to the spinach/onion/ricotta mixture. Too late to deconstruct so I put the dish in the oven and hoped for the best. To my surprise I didn’t miss the missing cheeses. The lasagne turned out OK. Less cheese allowed the flavors of the vegetables to shine.
I guess this recipe is a keeper.
garyskitchen.net 