Forks Over Knives

http://www.forksoverknives.com/my-journey-from-doctor-to-ms-patient-and-back-thanks-to-plant-based-eating/

I love this story. It's always so amazing to me that people don't see how there is a connection between what they eat and their health.

Food can alter the expressions of genes; the study of the modification of the expression of genes is called epigenetics. When you eat plants, they often "turn off" bad genes. Eating plants can help with inflammation, obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and immune diseases.

I've never really spoken about why I went plant-based, but you may have guessed that it was because of health reasons. I honestly believe I'd be a sick, medicine-taking person if I weren't plant-based.  Plants are so amazing.  I love Forks over Knives for what it tries to do for people. I wish people would give diet a try before taking medicines. Plants are usually more effective (maybe not as fast acting as a drug, but more effective in the long run) and pretty much always safer.



 

Garden update

 

Taken June 14.

Peanut Sauce

I started making this recipe in 1999. It came from a Canyon Ranch cookbook.  I adapted it a little.  You'd think I'd have a picture of it, but alas. I'll get one someday.

2 - 3 teaspoons of cornstarch (depending how thick you want the thickner)
1 cup of water
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1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup peanut butter (homogenized or natural--just peanuts no other stuff)
2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon dark sesame oil
garlic cloves (I've made it with from 1 clove to 3 depending on my mood. Original recipe says 4.)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or to taste)

1. Combine the cornstarch and water in a saucepan and stir until the cornstarch is completely dissolved. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and stir constantly till thickened. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.  

2. Combine all the other ingredients in a blender and puree. Add the cooled cornstarch mixture and either blend in the blender or stir well with a whisk.


I typically pour it over  broccoli, or any veggie, noodles, rice, quinoa... You can pour it over so many things.

Just for the record, I made this as Christmas Dinner in 2006.  (The girls were little, and we'd moved into our new house on the 23rd. It was a super fun Christmas with no working oven.)

 

Here's a picture of it with broccoli and whole wheat spaghetti.  YUM!  (It looks even prettier when you sprinkle in red pepper, but I didn't this time.

 

It's Summer: Chocolate "fudgesicles"

Or it's nearly, officially, summer!

I love summer!

I love the laid back, no-school thing.  I love school and learning, but by the time summer gets here we all need a break.

Okay, on to the important business, I've been meaning to post this recipe for a couple years.  This winter, I found these great molds and asked for them for Christmas.  

http://www.amazon.com/FoodWorks-Silicone-Maker-Molds-Popsicle/dp/B00D9HQ30W

What I did:

2 packs of tofu (I used this brand)
1/2 cup cocoa
5/8-3/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon arrowroot starch flour
1/4-1/2 cup peanut butter (I didn't really measure) (Next time I'm going to make some cashew cream and use it.) (Note, we made this with almond butter and it tasted like dark chocolate!)

Blend until mixed and smooth.  Pour into silicone molds and freeze. After frozen, run the molds under hot water for a minute. (Or leave out for 10 minutes or so... like any one has the patience to do that.)

I like the molds 'cause the popsicle/fudgesicle comes out much easier 'cause you can squeeze them up!  The molds make BIG popsicles.  If you have little kids, you might want to get smaller molds.  (Not sure if they are smaller ones, but I think there are.)

You can also use dark chocolate chips (vegan) if you want, instead of the cocoa.

Here's the nutrition facts on these wonderful treats!

 

Garden update

 

This was the garden at the end of May!  It's gone crazy since.  I'll need to get a new picture, today. 

We ate our first zucchini from the garden, last week. It was HUGE.  I'll post a picture.  (It's not good to let them get so big, but it worked out okay 'cause it makes awesome zucchini bread--Nick made and I'll share the recipe.)

And.... we have APRICOTS. 

 

We did pretty well picking this year.  We lost some because we had a heat wave on Thursday and we didn't pick Thursday night. (They got ripe and fell off the tree on Friday.) We still got 75 -100 pounds, I'm guessing.  Our first picking session gave us 25 pounds. We had two more picking sessions where we got at least another 25 pounds--maybe more. I didn't weigh the apricots from the second and third session because we didn't pick them into bags.

I learned to pick them into smaller containers and store them in baking pans so they are only two levels deep.  That way, they don't get too ripe too quickly and turn into mush in the bottom of the bag.  I have learned this trick a couple of times, so I'm writing it down so I remember it.  (In paper bags, they ripen VERY quickly.)

We've made 2 apricot crisps so far. I'm sure I'll make another two, today and then we'll make (OMG so good) Apricot Jam! We've cut a lot of apricots and frozen them (for a few days/weeks) so we can make jam at our leisure. Our Super Nanny returns from her vacation, tomorrow and I'm sure she'll be excited about the apricots!  Here's hoping she wants to make jam.  (Chelsea, we've missed you!)