A Curry Pumpkin Stoup Dr. Fuhrman Would Love

Greens, onions, mushrooms and beans are a big part of Dr. Fuhrman's magical G.O.M.B.B.S. list and I try to be aware of eating these foods every single day. So when I saw that this soup recipe from Kitchen of Health had G.O.M.B.B.S. ingredients that are commonly found in my kitchen, I though it might be an easy, and hopefully fast, weeknight dinner.

It was.

And delicious too.

Not quite a soup but not totally a stew, this hearty and flavorful stoup (to borrow a phrase from Rachel Ray) just might become a regular weeknight thing for us.

Curry Pumpkin Superfood Stoup
serves 6

Print me!

1 large onion, chopped (approx. 2 cups chopped onion)
1 box (4 cups) low sodium vegetable broth
2 Tbsp curry powder (I prefer sweet curry powder, so if your curry powder is  hot/spicy, you may want to use only 1 tbsp)
1 large can (29 ounces) pumpkin puree
2 cups unsweetened almond or soy milk
2 tsp coconut extract
2 Tbsp natural creamy peanut butter
1 15 ounce can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
4 cups swiss chard (or other green you have on hand), chiffonaided
2 cups very thinly sliced mushrooms
hot sauce to taste (I used Sriracha)
salt (or not)

Coat the bottom of a large dutch oven or soup pot with vegetable broth. Turn heat to medium. When broth is bubbling, add chopped onion. Stir frequently. After 5 minutes, add curry powder and stir. Turn heat a touch lower and stirring frequently, saute onions and curry powder until onions are very soft (about 15 minutes).

Add vegetable broth, pumpkin puree, nut milk, coconut extract and peanut butter. Stir to combine.

When mixture is simmering, add garbanzo beans, swiss chard and mushrooms. Stir.

Let simmer for 20 minutes. Taste. Season with hot sauce (to taste) and salt (or not).

FAST! Moroccan Kale with Mushrooms and Apricots and Gratitude

I didn't want to get out of bed this morning.

It's Monday. My bed is cozy and warm. It's dark outside. I just wanted to go back to sleep and avoid the world and my responsibilities. The lunches to pack (again), the kids to wrangle, the bills to pay.

I needed a boost. So I started to think about a technique I had heard of: upon waking up think of things that you are grateful for.

My kids are healthy. My cat got down from high up in a tree after being chased by a neighbor's dog that got loose.

Getting out of bed got a little easier today.

And now the food.

Don't let the poor quality of this photo fool you! I was home this weekend cooking and I had forgotten my good camera at work. But there was no way I wasn't sharing this recipe with you a.s.a.p. so I used my iphone to capture the moment.

This is great, healthy, FAST, food. So fast that I would even recommend it for a busy weeknight Nutritarian dinner. So delicious that I can recommend you serve it to the most discerning adult Plant-strong dinner guest. And maybe the not-so-plant-strong ones too.

Now that's a recipe to hold on to.

HGK's Moroccan Kale with Mushrooms and Apricots
serves 4 as a main course, 8 as a side dish

Printable Recipe

vegetable broth
1 large onion, diced small
4 small cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (1/2 or even 1 tsp if you like it it hotter)
12 ounces mushrooms, sliced
11 ounce box of prewashed baby kale (available at Whole Foods) or the equivalent of washed and cut greens of any variety (either pre-done or self-prepared)
1 can diced tomatoes, fire-roasted is optional
1/2 cup dried apricots, julienned

Heat a dutch oven or large soup pot over medium heat and coat the base of the pot with vegetable broth. When broth is boiling, add onions and stir. Saute onion for 12 minutes, stirring infrequently, adding more broth or adjusting heat to prevent burning.

Add garlic, stir and cook for 3 minutes. Add cinnamon, coriander, cumin and crushed red pepper and stir, scraping bottom of pan. Spices will be toasting as the pan is quite dry.

Lower heat a touch. Add mushrooms and stir well. Add 1/2 cup vegetable broth, stir and cover. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice during that time.

Add kale, tomatoes and apricots. Stir well and cover. Raise heat a bit. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes, depending on the type of greens that you used. Dish is ready when greens are wilted.

Serve with whole grain of your choice.

What are you grateful for?

Vegan Sweet-n-Sour Superfood Stuffed Cabbage

Lately I've been obsessing about an old country favorite of mine-Stuffed Cabbage. If you've never had it before, it's quite a treat. Originally made with ground beef and white rice as the filling, I think you'll find that my no-oil, no-added-salt, Vegan superfood version doesn't leave anything to be desired.

Some people might consider the preparation of Stuffed Cabbage to be an ordeal. But if you grew up eating it (thanks Mom!) and absolutely miss it now that you are Plant-strong, you might just consider this recipe worth every minute of your time. I know I do.

Like a woman, stuffed cabbage gets even better with age. I served it to a group of friends for dinner on the night that I made it. It was very good. When I ate some leftovers three days later, it was markedly more delicious. I think I actually had a foodgasm.

HGK's Vegan Superfood Stuffed Cabbage

Printable Recipe

1 1/2 cups diced onion
2 cups diced zucchini (1 small zucchini)
5 cups diced mushrooms (16 ounce package, diced)
2 cups cooked whole grain like quinoa, bulgur or brown rice
2/3 cup currants
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp pepper
1 large head green cabbage
1 recipe Sweet-n-Sour Tomato Sauce
1 apple, peeled and sliced thinly

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Prepare your whole grain if it is not yet cooked.

Prepare a batch of the Sweet-n-sour Tomato Sauce.

Boil a large soup pot full of water. Turn off until you are ready to prepare cabbage leaves.

Place a large saute pan over medium heat. Pour some vegetable broth into the pan to just cover the bottom. Once the broth is bubbling, add the diced onion and stir. Cook until the onion is translucent, stirring frequently. Add a touch more vegetable broth as needed to prevent burning.

Add the diced zucchini and stir. Let cook for three minutes. Add diced mushrooms and stir. Cook, stirring frequently, until zucchini and mushrooms are soft and liquid released from mushrooms evaporates.

Turn off heat. Add cooked grain, currants, walnuts, spices and 1/2 cup of the Sweet-n-sour Tomato Sauce. Stir gently to combine.

Cover the bottom of a 9x13" casserole dish with some of the Sweet-n-sour Tomato Sauce.

Bring the pot of water back to a boil. Carefully cut all the way around the core of the cabbage, as deep as you can go (about 3 inches deep). Carefully place entire head of cabbage into water. Let cabbage boil until the outermost layer is soft and is beginning to come away from the head. You may need to nudge it a little with a pair of tongs. When leaf comes away from the head, use the tongs to lift the leaf out of the water, letting the excess water drain back into the pot.

Keep the rest of the cabbage simmering as you roll each individual cabbage roll.

Lay leaf inside out in the middle of a dinner plate. Holding a paring knife (or other small knife) horizontally, carefully cut away the hard part of the stem. Place a heaping 1/3 cup of the filling onto the lower middle of the leaf. Fold the left and right sides of the leaf over the filling. Roll the cabbage all the way up from the bottom, pushing the left and right sides in if necessary. Place roll into casserole dish.

Repeat process until casserole dish is full of rolls or all of your filling has been used up.

Place apple slices evenly on top of cabbage rolls. Pour remaining Sweet-n-sour Tomato Sauce over rolls and distribute evenly. Bake, covered, at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. Turn heat to 250 degrees and bake for an additional 2 hours.

The stuffing-mushrooms, zucchini, onions, currants, walnuts and quinoa.

The individual cabbage leaf, turned inside out, before stuffing.

Apple slices over the top add to the magic.

Sweet-n-Sour Tomato Sauce

10 pitted Deglet (small) dates, soaked in water for at least 1 hour (less dates if you are using the larger Medjool variety)
vegetable broth for sauteing
1 cup diced onion
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 14.5 ounce (or 1 28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, unseasoned (not Italian style)
1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
juice of 1 large lemon
In a medium sauce pan, saute onion over medium heat in a few Tbsp of vegetable broth until translucent. Add garlic, stir and cook for an additional 3 minutes.
While onions are cooking, pour tomato sauce into the bowl of a food processor or high powered blender. Remove soaked dates from liquid and add to sauce. Blend until sauce is smooth.
Add diced tomatoes and tomato/date sauce to onions. Stir in lemon juice. Simmer on very low heat for ten minutes.

Here's a nice video demonstrating how to roll stuffed cabbage:


Do you prepare any special food that takes a long time but is oh-so-worth-it?

What Exactly is Miso?

I've never been a stranger to Japanese food. In fact, one of my earliest memories is of being at a party and tasting octopus and thinking it tasted like rubber. I was around five years old, and an adventurous eater (I have always had a love affair with food). My father was working for Ikegami Electronics, the manufacturer of the finest television cameras in the world, and the Japanese are wildly hospitable. So along with receiving gifts galore from his boss and co-workers, I received the gift of sushi.

I don't remember when I had miso soup for the first time. All I know is that I dug it. And twenty years ago, when I was a first year law student, I attempted making a miso soup with noodles and vegetables for a new friend. I was newly living in Los Angeles and excited about shopping in the Asian markets there. My noodle soup creation was gross and I'm impressed that my friend Lisa still wanted anything to do with me after that culinary fiasco. It was like I was feeding her poison.

I'm happy to report that when I made Miso Soup with Buckwheat Soba Noodles this time, things went much, much better. Why?

We have the Internet now!

Thank you to my cousin Ira and his wife Angela for sharing this link with us for the South River Miso Company. I think you will find this video very interesting. It answered all of my questions about what miso is and how it is made.



Exactly twenty years later, my second attempt at miso soup. This time, perfection!

Miso Soup with Buckwheat Soba Noodles
inspired by Susan at Fat Free Vegan who posted her recipe the day I went to my local Asian Market

Printable Recipe

12 cups water
1/2 Tbsp dulse flakes or wakame or other seaweed
1 1/2 cups matchstick carrots
1 1/2 ounces dried shitake and/or porchini mushrooms
1 medium head napa cabbage, sliced
15 ounces buckwheat soba noodles
8 Tbsp mellow white miso
red pepper flakes
cilantro
2 scallions, sliced
1small bunch watercress
1/2 package firm tofu, drained and cut into small cubes

In a pot, bring water for cooking noodles to a boil. Cook noodles slightly under the package direction time (al dente). Drain noodles and run under cold water. Reserve.

In another large pot, place water, seaweed, carrots and dried mushrooms. Bring to a simmer and cover. Cook for 20 minutes or until mushrooms are tender.

Add shredded napa cabbage to soup and cook for another 5 minutes.

Place miso in a small bowl. Add 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid from the soup. Whisk until lumps disappear. Add mixture to the soup but do not let soup boil.

Taste and add red pepper flakes to taste.

Place individual servings of noodles into a soup bowl. Ladle on soup. Garnish to taste with tofu, scallions, watercress, and/or cilantro.

Chris-Anna's Show-Someone-You-Love-Them Vegetable Sugo

Think of this recipe as a killer substitute for meat bolognese, one of my husband's absolute favorite foods. Sugo is an Italian word meaning "juice" or "sauce." I love how it sounds . . . "sugo" . . . I could say it over and over.

My friend Chris-anna (who is also my business partner) perfected this recipe. The key is in the chopping of all of the ingredients. You want to finely mince everything. That and cooking the onions for a really long time. Oh, and also the reduction for hours at the end.

What you end up with is this ridiculous, rich, thick yum-of-a-sauce. Perfect for layering between slices of grilled polenta or tossing with some whole wheat rigatoni or served on top of some crusty crostini. You really cannot go wrong with this sugo.

But you've gotta have the time to make it . . .

Show-Someone-You- Love-Them Vegetable Sugo
serves 8-10

Cooking time: This dish takes hours and is great to make while you are either cooking other dishes.

Printable Recipe

4 cups onion, finely minced

1 � oz. dried porcini mushrooms

4 cups warm water

3 cup celery stalks, finely minced

3 cup carrots, finely minced

2 cups baby portabella mushrooms, finely minced

1 bulb garlic, peeled and squeezed with garlic press or minced

2 cups Italian parsley

� tsp. dried oregano

� tsp. dried thyme

� tsp. rosemary

1 cup dry red wine

30 oz tomato sauce

2 bay leaves

2 low sodium vegetable bouillon cubes (crumbed)

pepper to taste (or not)

In a soup pot, saut� onion over medium high heat for about 15 minutes. You can dry saut� at first. The onions should have enough moisture to keep them from sticking to the post. After the first 15 minutes, turn the heat to medium and continue to cook for another 30 minutes. At this point you can add stock as needed to keep onion from sticking to pot. The onions will be very soft and golden brown. This step is KEY. The onions need to cook for a good, long time.

Because the onions take a long time to cook down, this is a good time to prepare the other ingredients.

Soak dried mushrooms in 4 cups warm water.

After onions have cooked down, add celery and carrots to pot and cook 10 more minutes.

Bring heat back to medium high and add the portabella mushrooms, garlic, parley, oregano, thyme and rosemary. Stir and cook about 5 minutes.

Drain mushrooms, reserving liquid. (You can pour the liquid through a paper towel or coffee filter to remove any fine grit.)

Finely mince porcini mushrooms and add to pot.

Push all ingredients in the pot to the outside edge, leaving the center of the pot clear and open. Add the wine and cook wine down for about three minutes.

Next add the tomato sauce, reserved mushroom liquid, bay leaves and bouillon cubes.

Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and cook for 1 � hours, stirring occasionally.

Remove cover and cook on medium until much of the liquid cooks off, leaving a rich, dark, thick sauce (about � hour).

Salt and pepper to taste.

This sauce is great served over baked polenta, pasta, gnocchi or ravioli.

What are you making this weekend?

Breakfast Duel: Green Smoothie vs. Oatmeal

Ever since reading The Healthy Librarian's completely inspiring blog post about her 15 month transformation on the Esselstyn plant-based no-oil diet, I have been rethinking my breakfast.
It's not that there's anything wrong with a green smoothie, it's just that after eating the same thing for breakfast for about two years, I'm kinda sorta ready to mix things up a bit.

And Debby (The Healthy Librarian) reminded me that I have options. Specifically, this incredible and easy concoction of savory, cheezy, nutrient dense oatmeal. Make it once and have breakfast for 3-4 days. How nice is that?

Get the recipe for Cheezy oats here. This is so wonderful, and makes a great, speedy dinner too.

Oatmeal seems to keep me fuller longer than my green smoothie does. So I'm seriously considering going on an oatmeal tear. It's a lot more comforting too with the cold weather just around the corner.

Ellen Darby, the Healthy Eating Specialist at my local Whole Foods has this to say about oatmeal:

"[Here] is my 32-year-49-mornings-out-of-50 OATMEAL breakfast:

For the first 29 years, I used regular Quaker Oats and for the last three years have been using steel cut oats. Either is fine � I just don�t recommend using quick oats � especially the packaged, flavored quick oats. I will share my procedure for steel cut oats: (if you choose to try, adjust the water-to-oats ratio to taste)

 � I use 1-1/3 cups water. Boil water.
� Reduce to simmer . (very important step: twice I wound up with overflowing water/oats and a very tough pan to clean!)
� Add 1/3 cup steel cut oats
� Set timer for 20 minutes
� I use that time to take my shower, check my e-mail. You may choose to walk your dog.
� Remove steel cut oats from heat
� Add frozen fruit to pan (I usually rotate between blueberries and raspberries) Fresh fruit is absolutely fine!!! I choose our 365 brand frozen because I love berries, but they mold so quickly � this way I don�t have to worry about it)
� Add 1 heaping teaspoon natural peanut butter. Yes, almond butter is fine. This may sound strange at first but try it, you might love it. The nut butter gives you protein and good fat -- which leads to long lasting energy.
� Empty oats, berries and peanut butter into bowl.
� Spoon on two tsp. maple syrup.
� Put on six almonds. (I mention, ONCE AGAIN, that I am a food-a-holic. If I didn�t program myself to add SIX almonds, I would be putting on handsful!)

 32 years and I still look forward to breakfast every morning. (especially when it�s the raspberry-rotation!) The combination of the salty peanut butter with the sweet maple syrup and the crunch of the almonds is just so darn delicious. Yummmm, I get excited just thinking about it. And the extra benefit is that it keeps me full for hours. Great way to start the day."

I've tried Ellen's oatmeal variation and I can say that it is awesome. PB&J in a bowl!

What is your breakfast preference these days? Are you a green smoothie devotee or an oatmeal devotee? Or is there something big I'm missing out on?

Tamale Casserole, Revisited and The Beck Diet Solution, Day 9-Select an Exercise Plan

About a week ago I prepared Lindsay S. Nixon's Tamale Casserole from her book The Happy Herbivore. My husband and I definitely thought it was GOOD, but I knew that it could even be better with a boatload more veggies. So I went to town this past weekend and set about making a Tamale Casserole that even Dr. Fuhrman would love.

If you are expecting the cornbread topping to taste like cake, the way an old fashioned cornbread usually does, you will probably be disappointed. This cornbread is made with no fat, so it is a little bit dry, but on top of the moist vegetables, I think it's a great compliment.

HGK's Vegetized (is that a word?) Tamale Casserole

serves a crowd

Printable Recipe

approx. 1/2 cup low sodium vegetable broth

1 large chopped onion

6 garlic cloves, minced

10 ounces mushrooms, chopped

4 cups medium dice zucchini

4 cups chopped greens (kale, collard, beet, etc. or a mix)

1/2 cup of your favorite red salsa

1 1/2 Tbsp Mexican or Southwest spice blend

OR 1 Tbsp chili powder + 1 tsp dried oregano + 1 tsp ground cumin

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup frozen corn (I prefer the Fire Roasted from Trader Joe's)

for the cornbread top:

1 1/2 cups cornmeal

1/2 cup whole wheat flour, either white whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup unsweetened almond or soy or rice milk

1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 cup frozen corn kernels

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place a large saute pan or dutch oven over a medium high flame and coat the bottom of the pan with vegetable broth. As soon as the vegetable broth is bubbling, add the diced onion. Turn the heat down to medium and cook the onions, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes. If onions get too dry, add a touch more vegetable broth as necessary to prevent burning. Add chopped garlic and stir. Cook for two more minutes.

Add mushrooms and stir. Cook until mushrooms begin to release their water.

Add zucchini and stir. Cook for approximately ten minutes.

Add chopped greens and stir. Cook for three minutes. Add salsa and stir.

Add either 1 1/2 Tbsp spice blend or chili powder, oregano and cumin. Stir well.

Add black beans and corn. Stir.

Take vegetable mix off of the heat. Now it's time to mix the cornbread.

Place all dry cornbread ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together all of the wet cornbread ingredients (except for the corn kernels). Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Fold in the corn kernels.

Now assemble the casserole. Pour the vegetable mix into a greased 9"x13" pan. Top with the cornbread mix and spread evenly over the vegetables. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cornbread topping at the center comes out clean. Serve immediately.

If you are serving Vegetized Tamale Casserole as a main course, I think it looks especially professional stacked in two layers.

And now for a Beck update! I am stuck here on Day 9, Select and Exercise Plan. Not because there is anything particularly difficult about this step, but just because my life has been busy as of late! The old me would have been a little agitated, thinking that I wasn't working through the steps fast enough. But now I realize that it is more important to really master the steps, slowly if you have to.

So in that vein, I have a confession to make: I'm not reading my Advantages Response Card twice a day like I am supposed to be doing! Every time my cell phone reminder goes off I think of how busy I am and that I don't have the time to do it. So I am going to reset the timer to go off at two totally different times a day--times where I know I am not going to be in the middle of a lot of other things.

As far as exercise goes, I believe that what Beck says is totally on point. Number 1, we have to schedule exercise like everything else in our lives and make it a major priority. And Number 2, we have to lead active lives and not just rely on the gym to take care of our exercise needs (like parking far away from an entrance to a building and taking stairs).

I know that I have been my most consistent with exercise ever since setting a schedule. In fact, I had a recent schedule change (really a temporary elimination of one form of exercise) and I thought I would make up for it by walking. Well, guess what? I have walked sometimes, but not nearly with the consistency as I would have worked out with a scheduled class. So I'm starting again with more scheduled classes a.s.a.p.!

It's all a learning process and I am a willing student.

How do you get in the most exercise possible? Do you schedule exercise like an appointment? 

What are you struggling with on The Beck Diet Solution? What day are you on right now?

What are you having success with on The Beck Diet Solution?

Updated Energy Soup Recipe and Beck, Day 4, Give Yourself Credit

For those that are participating, how are you all doing with keeping up with reading your response cards and sitting down to eat? I did pretty good with sitting down, better than I have in a long time, but I totally lost it on a grocery shopping trip at Whole Foods with my three kids at 4:30 in the afternoon. I was really hungry, so were they after a long day at camp, and I had gotten all of them a treat (vegan of course, but full of sugar nonetheless).

I proceeded to eat, as I walked around Whole Foods, a full half of one of their treats AND a mess of pretzels that were available for the pickin'.

The old me would have beat myself to hell, figured I could never stick to Eat to Live, and continue for however many days to eat whatever came my way. But the massive problem with that is the stress it causes us. So much stress that we never see the situation for what it is, a learning opportunity. We need to free ourselves of the hate talk and instead, take a deep breath and think about how, next time, things could go differently.

Next time, I can bring apples for all of us to eat before we go into the market. Or maybe there just shouldn't be a next time.

And instead of dwelling on the negatives from yesterday, I can focus on the positives, just like Beck insists that we do. We need to give ourselves credit, in our head, every time we make a good food decision, resist unplanned eating or overeating. Like this, "Wow, Wendy, that was awesome that you resisted eating the &#^$%@ on the kitchen table at work just now! Good going!"

Here's the reason I schlepped my kids to Whole Foods after work and before dinner: I needed mushrooms. I wanted to make a big batch of my Energy Soup. It has been a major weapon in my weight loss arsenal and I cannot remember the last time I made it. For real, that is not winning behavior. But I fixed that yesterday. Credit!

Healthy Girl's Energy Soup
makes 10 servings (2 cups of soup per serving)

Printable Recipe

1 very large yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves if garlic, smashed
vegetable broth for sauteing
8 cups vegetable broth (2 boxes)
6 medium sized zucchini, cut into cubes
1 package mushrooms, cut into chunks if mushrooms are large
3 big handfuls kale, washed and rough chopped
1 bag fresh spinach or 3 big handfuls fresh spinach
Salt and pepper to taste
Other seasoning to taste
12 ounces frozen butternut squash, defrosted

Saute the onion over medium heat in a large soup pot in a few tablespoons of vegetable broth, until translucent and slightly soft. Add more broth as necessary to prevent burning. Add garlic and saute for a few more minutes.

Add the 8 cups of broth, zucchini, and mushrooms. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. Simmer for about 20 minutes or zucchini are soft.

Stir in kale and let it wilt. When kale is wilted, stir in fresh spinach, it will wilt immediately.

Using a hand (immersion) blender, puree the onion-garlic-zucchini-mushroom-spinach mixture until soup reaches your desired consistency. Some will like it completely smooth, others will like to puree about 50% and leave a lot of chunks and texture. It is delicious both ways!

Add the defrosted butternut squash and stir until it is incorporated. Season with salt and pepper and ANY other seasonings you like, to taste. (I use a Southwest spice blend and you can use whatever spice blend you like, there are so many on the market now. My husband likes everything spicy, so we add hot sauce to his.)

How are you going to remember to give yourself credit? I'm going to create a credit account right here, on the right side of my blog. At least once a day, I will edit what is in there and fill it with the good choices that I have made that day.

Here's why giving ourselves credit is so important. Ultimately, if you do it consistently and you never stop doing it, it ends the struggle over eating food that is off plan. You start to feel really, REALLY great (like a natural high) about staying on your plan. Way better than if you gave in and ate the junk. I know it sounds hard to believe, but this happened for me, and I was able to walk right by the stuff I didn't want to eat and feel so great about doing it.

It's a very important skill to master. So how are you going to remember to give yourself credit throughout the day?

What have you done today that you can give yourself credit for?

I'm "Cookin' with Gas!" and a Recipe

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Sweet Potato, Black Bean and Kale Enchiladas with Green Tomatillo Salsa
"They're not good, they're GREAT!"
-Marv Solganik

?My kitchen renovation is finished (well, almost, but it's nothing that's stopping me from cooking like mad and having parties). Thank you to all of the wonderful HGK readers who stuck with me through my recipe dry spell. You won't be disappointed! I am on the warpath.
I love the sound of  gas igniting a burner. That's probably because I have been cooking with electric for the past 4 years. And most of the 7 years before that. So it's been mostly electric for over a decade. Why? Control. With electric, you have little control over the heat. With gas, you have a lot. Plus, a roasted marshmallow every now and then couldn't hurt anyone, could it?

I have been spending every spare minute I have in my kitchen. I almost feel like I have to give it a nickname. It's definitely a "she." She is very feminine, really. Classic. Retro. Large. With an industrial element. So I need a name that reflects all of those qualities. Got any ideas?

I'm loving it that I can spread out and still have my kids and neighbors hanging out with me and having dinner. What an incredible luxury! I feel very blessed.

So what was the first thing that I whipped up in Bessie (if that's what we are going to call her . . . I'm not sure)? A recipe inspired by Gena Hamshaw at Choosing Raw, of course! As many of you know, it is rare that I create an original recipe. What I am really good at is tweaking recipes to fit within the Nutritarian framework, or at least be as Nutritarian as I can get them to be. I love the brilliance of adding Blackstrap Mollasses to vegan enchiladas in Gena's recipe. It's a great source of iron and as all of us Nutritarian's know, iron is something we should keep an eye on. And vegan enchiladas are hearty, crowd pleasing dishes. You really can't go wrong with that.

Sweet Potato, Black Bean and Kale Enchiladas with Green Tomatillo Salsa
Inspired by this recipe by Gena Hamshaw
Serves 8-16, depending on how much other food you are serving!

Printable Recipe

2 jars green tomatillo salsa (at least 20 oz. total)
5 large sweet potatoes (or 8 regular ones), peeled and cut into large cubes
1 large yellow onion
2 8 oz. packages sliced mushrooms
4 packed cups chopped kale (you could even use more)
2 cans black beans, or 4 cups freshly cooked
6 tbsp blackstrap molasses
2 tbsp tahini or almond butter (optional, but makes the filling nice and creamy)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
4 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp salt (to taste)
2 tsp cumin
4 tsp chili powder
Black pepper to taste
8 large whole grain tortillas (with sides trimmed off) or 12 small corn tortillas
1 cup or so Daiya pepperjack or cheddar cheese (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Boil a large pot of salted water, and add the sweet potatoes. Cook till they�re fork tender, and drain. Transfer to a very large bowl.

Saute onion with a few tablespoons of vegetable broth. Add broth as needed during saute process. When they�re tender and light brown, add the mushrooms and kale and stir. Cook, stirring frequently, until kale is tender.

Mash sweet potatoes, but leave them a little chunky.  Add cilantro, black beans, molasses, tahini or almond butter (if using), lime juice, salt, cumin, chili powder, and black pepper, and stir.

Coat the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish with tomatillo salsa.

Assemble your enchiladas by rolling about 1/8 of the filling into each of your large tortillas (adjust proportions if using small corn tortillas) and laying them side by side into the baking dish. Cover them with the rest of the the tomatillo salsa (they�s supposed to be smothered).

Bake for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with cheese. Return to oven and bake until cheese has melted and enchiladas are hot (if you make the enchiladas ahead and refrigerate them before baking, you�ll need to bake them for at least 45-60 minutes before the cheese step).

So what do you think would be a good name for my kitchen?