Vegan Cooking Mini Guide
The Spirit of Change Magazine Fall 2012 issue features animal stories, wisdom and a tribute to animal rights. Disturbingly, the biggest abuse of animal rights occurs daily in our food choices, a complex topic heavily influenced by cultural, emotional and individual health factors for each person.
The vegan diet includes a simple, inexpensive and nutritionally complete menu of foods containing no animal products of any kind. Visionary artist Madeline Tuttle publishes a two page handout called Intuitive Cooking: Happy Dining for Body, Soul and Spirit. On just two sides of one sheet of paper Madeline includes the basics of all the recipes and supplies you'd need for one week of healthy, delicious vegan eating. Mix and match for unlimited combos or try introducing just one or two new vegan recipes or ingredients into your diet slowly. Before you know it, you could be a happy vegan diner too!
INTUITIVE COOKING: HAPPY DINING FOR BODY, SOUL AND SPIRIT
By Madeleine W. Tuttle
Here are some basic recipes for one week (which can be repeated or mixed and matched in different ways) with a shopping list at the end. I kept the dishes pretty simple, but there is a lot of variety. Please use only organic ingredients if possible!
It can be convenient to cook pasta, potatoes, rice, and other grains in a large quantity and store them in the fridge to use later in stir fries, salads, and other meals. Some recipes call for leftover grains. I purposefully don't mention measurements, just the different ingredients. So let your intuition create wildly and have fun!
I love to "paint" the meals. For example, add paprika if it lacks red, or herbs, baby leaves, or sprouts if it lacks green. Turmeric, curry, or peppers for yellow.
♥ Favorite breakfast – a Green Smoothie! Feel great 'til lunch! Blend fruits in season, bananas, citrus, apples, kale, ginger, flaxseeds (can be ground first in coffee grinder), cinnamon, clove, nuts, and water.
♥ Favorite lunch – Tortillas! Spread vegan mayo on tortilla, add lettuce, sprouts, tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, grated horseradish, herbs. Variations: walnuts, avocado, tofu, tempeh, "fakin bacon," etc.
♥ Favorite dinners – Mashed potatoes topped with veggie ragout. Boil cut-up potatoes in water. When soft, pour most of the water into a bowl and save. Add olive oil, nutmeg, celtic salt, and mash with potato masher. Add some of the water back if necessary. Steam seasonal veggies, and when al dente add olive oil, tamari, herbs, minced garlic, and mix. Add herbs & nutritional yeast to the leftover potato water for a delicious soup. Save leftover mashed potatoes for Shepherd's Pie (below)!
❀ Spaghetti – Cook spaghetti with chunks of kabocha squash in water, and when nearly soft, put broccoli flowers on top. Cover and cook till al dente. Pour water off (as a soup) and serve with tomato sauce, or with a grated ginger-tahini sauce (add water to tahini & stir until smooth).
❀ Salad – Chop and mix greens, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, onions, carrots, etc.; add olive oil, lemon, tamari, herbs, and spices (or tahini sauce above), and mix. Variations: add tofu, tempeh cubes, leftover rice, noodles, kasha, or cut-up boiled potatoes, or eat with bread or crackers.
❀ Couscous – Boil water and pour over couscous in a bowl with added cumin seeds. Sauté onions, squash, cabbage, and a few potato chunks and curry. When soft, add olive oil, Celtic salt, ground pepper, peppermint, and mix. Place in the middle of bed of couscous.
❀ Polenta – Boil water with rosemary; with whisker, stir in cornmeal. Steam seasonal veggies, add tofu. When soft, add olive oil, tamari, Italian herbs. Top cornmeal with nutritional yeast, add veggie mix.
❀ Quinoa – Boil quinoa in water (approximately 3:1) for 45 minutes. Add kale when 2/3 done. Sauté slices of tofu, then sauté mushrooms with onions. Top quinoa with sauté and fresh basil.
❀ Carrot salad – Mix greens with finely grated carrots, (raisins,) and pine nuts or walnuts. Mix tahini butter with water, lemon, tamari, and peppermint herbs until smooth, and pour over carrot salad.
❀ Shepherd's Pie – Sauté onions and zucchini in a wide shallow pan with lid. Spread peas and crumbled Sunburger or tempeh, top it with leftover mashed potatoes and cook until warm.❀ Rice – Cook rice with wild rice. Mix raw sauce containing finely-cut peppers, celery, tomatoes, parsley, walnuts, olives, olive oil, lemon, herbs, and spices. Mix and pour over cooked rice.
❀ Millet with roasted leek – Cook millet (4:1) for 30 minutes. Sauté leeks. When soft, add olive oil, minced garlic, and tamari. Serve over millet with a few drops of lemon. Adorn with baby spinach.
❀ Pumpkin soup – Boil Kabocha squash (or other winter squash) in water. When soft, pour into blender. Add tahini and blend. When served, add a little tamari or Celtic salt.
❀ Bean tortillas – Spread fresh cooked or refried beans on tortillas. Cut up cilantro and/or other greens, tomatoes, cucumbers. Add tomato sauce or salsa, cayenne, pepper, and roll up.
❀ Angel-hair noodles on kale bed – Cook angel-hair noodles. Steam kale (not too long). Serve angel hair on a bed of kale with roasted sesame seeds, tamari, and toasted sesame oil or olive oil. Sprinkle with paprika.
❀ Sablé cookies – Mix spelt flour, Sucanat, vanilla, and a pinch of salt with liquefied coconut and/or canola oil and water. Shape into long bars 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Put into refrigerator for half hour. When firm, cut into 1/3-inch cookie slices. Put onto baking pan and bake at 350 until light brown (ca. 20-30 minutes). Variation: add hazelnuts or shredded almonds or raisins.
❀ Chocolate cookies – Mix spelt flour, chocolate powder, shredded coconut, crushed walnuts, and a pinch of salt. Add maple syrup or Sucanat and canola oil. Spread onto baking sheet and bake about 20-30 minutes. When still warm, cut into squares or bars.
❀❀❀❀❀ Shopping List ❀❀❀❀❀
Allow yourself a good hour to explore and buy the following items, always ORGANIC and non-GMO. The more love you feel, the better the outcome. Remember, only the most-evolved monks are allowed to cook in some Asian traditions.
Grains: rice, millet, spaghetti, angel-hair, couscous, quinoa, buckwheat, wild rice, cornmeal, beans.
Veggies: in season, pumpkin/squash, leek, onions, garlic, kale, cabbage, ginger, horseradish, broccoli, peppers, mushrooms, carrots, lettuce/greens, sprouts, edamame, spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, avocado, cilantro, peas (fresh or frozen), yams, potatoes.
Proteins: Tofu, tempeh, "fakin bacon", Sunburgers, seitan. Lentils, split peas, beans, and other legumes.
Dried herbs: peppermint, Italian seasoning mix, basil, dill, cilantro, paprika, cayenne, curry, turmeric, pepper, nutmeg powder, cumin seeds, rosemary, nutritional yeast.
Fruits: citrus, apples, bananas, grapes, avocado, etc. Other: Almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts; raisins. Flax, sunflower & sesame seeds. Tahini (sesame butter), organic Vegenaise, tomato sauce, olive oil, tamari or shoyu, refried beans. Spelt flour, Sucanat, Celtic salt, vanilla, canola oil, coconut oil, chocolate powder, shredded coconut. Also explore the plant-based cheeses, milks, butters, yogurts, meats, and ice creams.
When you sit down to eat, look at what you've created. Enjoy the colors, smells, tastes, and the love that blesses the food. The Oneness of all beings!
Bon Appetit! Stay in touch – feel free to copy!
Madeleine Tuttle – www.worldpeacediet.org ~ 1-800-697-6614
Artwork: ©Madeleine Tuttle
