Easy Vegan Chili and Pumpkin Spiced Cornbread Muffins

I'm SO excited, I have a guest blog post over at The Engine 2 Diet Blog right now! Please hop on over there and check out How Healthy Girl Makes a Salad and Makes Salad Making Easier.

And that's not the only thing I'm excited about! Did you see this article over at VegNews about the leaders of the Raw Food movement making a statement that oil and nuts are not good for you? Holy. Moly. That is a major shift in thinking for the entire raw food world. Here's the comment I left on the article:

"Oh. My. G... I am in shock. And actually, really relieved. I thankfully figured this same thing out after trying to go raw for a couple of months and gaining a ton of weight from the oils and the nuts and the raw desserts. I am so happy that this information is coming out now and that more people do not have to be lead down a ridiculous path of consuming coconut oil, olive oil, etc. and thinking that these things are health foods. Yes, eat raw vegetables! But don't shun incredibly healthy cooked food."

So on and on it goes. Trying to figure out what is best for humankind. It's never easy, but I think it's worth it.

I have a feeling that a lot of people are craving chili right now. With the cold weather and the dreary days, I know that chili is one of the easiest ways to warm myself up.

But you don't always have the time for a complicated or lengthy chili recipe. That's why this recipe is so outstanding. It's fast, easy and very, very tasty.

And what goes better with chili than cornbread? I have tried a number of Vegan cornbread recipes and this is by far the best one to date! The pureed canned pumpkin and Pumpkin Pie spice add an unusual twist to this classic.

Easy Vegan Chili
serves 8-10
Prep time: 20 min. Cook time: 70 min.


Printable Recipe

2 cups chopped onion

8 garlic cloves, pressed

2 28oz. cans diced tomatoes

1 4 oz. can green chilies

4 Tbsp chili powder

2 Tbsp dried oregano

2 Tbsp ground cumin

3 15 oz. cans black beans, drained

1 10 oz. bag of frozen corn

Saute onions in a large pot over medium high heat for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add water if necessary to prevent sticking. Add garlic and saute 3 more minutes.

Add tomatoes with juice, chilies and dried seasoning. Mix and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add beans and corn. Reduce heat to med. low and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Pumpkin Spiced Cornbread Muffins

24 small muffins or 18 medium sized

Printable Recipe

dry ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 cups cornmeal (for a smoother finish, use corn flour)
wet ingredients:
1 15 ounce can pure pumpkin puree
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 Tbsp flaxmeal
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup unsweetened almond or soy milk


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


In a large bowl, stir together all dry ingredients.

In a medium bowl or a very big measuring cup stir together wet ingredients until well blended.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture and mix until well blended.


Distribute batter evenly into greased muffin pans (either 18 or 24 holes). Bake for 20 minutes.

What foods are warming you up these days?

Autumn on a Plate: Pumpkin Bulgur Stuffed Acorn Squash

What's bulgur you ask? Why it's a whole grain that's high in fiber and rich in B vitamins, iron, phosphorus and manganese. Bulgur is a quick-cooking form of whole wheat that has been cleaned, parboiled, dried, ground into particles and sifted into distinct sizes. Read all about it here.

I was having guests over last Saturday night, so I spent the day cooking up a storm. Lucky for me, my experiments in the kitchen worked out well. So well, in fact, that I believe this is one of the best recipes I have ever "created" (if a recipe can ever really be "created" with so many zillions of recipes already in existence).

I'll definitely be making this one again for Thanksgiving. It would make a fabulous main course for the Plant-strong!

I could have used brown rice for this recipe, and you can too if you don't feel like running out and getting yourself some bulgur. But bulgur has a lot more going on nutritionally, and, well, it's just way more interesting to make a bulgur stuffed squash than a rice stuffed squash. I'm all about the interesting!

HGK's Pumpkin Bulgur Stuffed Acorn Squash
serves 8 as a main course-16 as a side dish

Printable Recipe

1 3/4 cups uncooked bulgur
3 1/2 cups water
4 acorn squash, cut in half from stem to base, seeds and membrane removed
2 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
1 large Fuji or Honeycrisp apple, finely diced
6 Tbsp dried cranberries
1 cup raw, unsalted walnuts, chopped
1 small sweet onion, finely diced
2 Tbsp parsley flakes
3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup maple syrup (or less if you want it less sweet)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt (or not)
additional maple syrup for brushing onto squash

Place uncooked bulgur and water in a rice cooker and turn rice cooker on (or follow package directions for bulgur).

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with aluminum foil and lightly spray with cooking oil spray. Place acorn squash cut side down and bake for 30 minutes.

When bulgur is done cooking, fluff with a fork and transfer to a large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients, from pumpkin to salt (optional). Stir to incorporate all ingredients. (Taste it-it's amazing!)

After acorn squash halves are done baking, lightly brush each cut side and cavity with maple syrup.
Press the pumpkin bulgur mixture into each cavity, mounding filling as much as possible. Depending on how large the squash are, you may end up with some leftover bulgur mixture, which makes an amazing side dish by itself.

Return squash halves to cookie sheets and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for at least 30 minutes or until squash flesh is thoroughly soft. Keeping these in a warm oven (200 or 250) after they bake and before you are ready to serve them will only improve their taste and texture.

Have you ever used bulgur (aka bulgar) in a recipe? Have you used any unusual whole grains lately? What were your results??

Super Immunity by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, The Review and GIVEAWAY!

The people over at PEERtrainer beat me to it. They wrote an amazingly comprehensive review of Super Immunity, the new book by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. I highly recommend reading their summary if you are interested in some of the incredible nutritional information that is packed into this work.

What's left for me to tell you?

This: everyone should read this book.

It's not a book about weight loss, although that could be the natural result of eating loads of vegetables. It's a book about our health and the medical establishment. About why doctors and pharmacutical companies should not be relied upon for health. We need to take responsibility for our own health, and eating the right food everyday makes a huge impact on our bodys' ability to be disease-resistant.

I thought I knew about food.

I for sure knew nothing about medicine.

Now I know something about both.

Of particular interest to me was the argument that instead of treating colds, fevers, coughs and flus with remedies, that is, after the fact, we can improve our nutrition to the point that these sickness occur far less frequently and when they do occur, with far less severity. Personally, living with three young children, Chapter Four, "Colds and Flu--What We Need to Know" was hugely eye-opening. Fuhrman reviewed the science on what works, what doesn't work and why. And do you know what I am left feeling?

Empowered.

It's just what I needed. I was really struggling with "pushing" vegetables on my kids. My eleven year old eats lots of cooked vegetables, but nothing raw. My six year old will eat raw carrots and that's all. And forget about my three year old.

I didn't know how to make them eat the food that I wanted them to eat. I figured they would learn to love vegetables, just like I did, when they got older. I figured there was still time. I didn't realize the impact it was having on their health right now.

And as if that weren't enough, the back of the book is full of delicious Nutritarian recipes like this, this and this:

Just when you thought you had seen the last of the days of enjoying rice pudding! This can be devoured for breakfast or dessert, even topped off with a little frozen banana soft serve. It's soooooooo good.

Forbidden Rice Pudding
adapted from a recipe from Super Immunity by Dr. Joel Fuhrman

2 cups cooked black (Forbidden) rice (I used a rice cooker or you can follow the package instructions)
2 cups unsweetened almond or soy milk
1/2 cup dried apricots, diced
1 cup frozen blueberries
2 large or 4 small dates, pitted and chopped
1 Tbsp currants
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp chia seed

Place all ingredients, except chia seed, in a medium-sided pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat then reduce heat and simmer on low for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the chia seed, stir well, cover and let stand for 5 minutes.

The kind people over at Dr. Fuhrman are providing one copy of Super Immunity for HGK to give away. How nice is that? Here are the rules for the giveaway:

One lucky winner will be chosen at random. All you have to do is this:

Leave a comment with your name and the answer to the following question:

Name one whole food item that you keep in your kitchen that 5 years ago, you had never heard of, let alone enjoyed eating on a regular basis.

Contest ends Tuesday, September 26, 2011 at 11:59 pm PST. One winner will be chosen at random and announced on Wednesday, September 27, 2011.

Tex Mex Quinoa with Cilantro, Lime and Apricots

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway yesterday with your most pressing plant-based nutrition question.

If you have not yet entered, please do! The contest closes on Thursday at midnight and Julieanna Hever has graciously offered to answer our 3 most popular plant-based nutrition questions in a guest post right here on HGK.

It's very interesting to read through everyone's responses. What I am struck by is the variety of questions. No single questions are being asked repeatedly by any volume of respondants . . . yet!

On to other big news, I made this quinoa salad as part of a taco bar (more on that in a later post) party that we hosted this past weekend. It was a big hit with the guests and I couldn't wait to share it with all of you.

HGK's Tex Mex Quinoa Salad with Cilantro, Lime and Apricots

Printable Recipe

1 cup quinoa
1 � cups water
1 cup packed cilantro
� cup raw pepitas
Zest of one lime
3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate
1 tsp ground cumin
dash or two of Cayenne pepper (depending on your heat preference)
� tsp salt (or not)
1 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 roma tomato, diced small
2 scallions, sliced thinly
1/3 cup dried apricots, chopped
1 avocado, � inch dice
Place quinoa and water into a rice cooker and cook, or prepare as follows: In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add quinoa and return to a boil. Reduce heat to lowest setting and cover. Simmer for 15 minutes. Water should be absorbed. Fluff with a fork and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Transfer quinoa to a large bowl.

In the bowl of a food processor, add cilantro, pepitas, lime zest, lime juice, orange juice concentrate, cumin, cayenne pepper and salt (optional). Process, scraping down sides, into a paste. Transfer to bowl with quinoa.

To cooked quinoa and cilantro paste, add black beans, tomato, scallions, apricots and avocado. Fold well to combine. Taste and add more Cayenne if necessary.

Farro with Roasted Eggplant Pesto

Did you ever wonder how Giada De Laurentiis doesn't get really fat?

I have.

I mean, she cooks the most delicious looking high calorie food continuously while staying her same teeny weenie size. Does she eat like a bird? Most likely.

But I don't.

That's why when I was vegetating on my couch the other day and I saw Giada make Farro with Pesto and it looked so delicious, I knew I had to recreate it my way. And I knew exactly how I was going to do it. With Susan Voisin's Roasted Eggplant Pesto from Fat Free Vegan.

And I was right. It's extraordinary!

Farro with Roasted Eggplant Pesto

inspired by Giada De Laurentiis and Susan Voisin

2 cups farrow

5 cups water

salt

1 recipe Roasted Eggplant Pesto

Place water, farro and a dash of salt in a pot and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cook farro for 18 minutes. Drain farro and mix with Roasted Eggplant Pesto. Serve immediately.

Have you ever tried farro? Scale of 1-10, how much did you like it?

Do you know how Giada De Laurentiis stays so teeny?

Roasted Eggplant Pesto and Roasted String Beans

If you are growing basil in your garden, you are probably looking for sure fire recipes to use it in. Well, folks, this one from Susan over at Fat Free Vegan is certified outstanding!

Get the recipe here.

Eat it as a dip or over some whole wheat pasta. You can't go wrong either way.

And in honor of my sister-in-law Lori's birthday, which is tomorrow, I present to you this: the Roasted Green Been. It's one of her favorites, I found out on my recent trip to New Jersey, and I had never made them before. They are quite good, although I couldn't ever give up my beloved Roasted Brussels Sprouts.

If you are participating in a CSA, you might be in need of something easy to do with string beans. Lord knows I received my share of string beans two summers ago!

 

Roasted String Beans

Preheat oven to 400�F. Wash, dry well, and trim green beans. Put green beans on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Spray lightly with cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Mrs. Dash may be substituted for salt and pepper as desired. Use your hands to be sure all the beans are evenly coated and spread them out into 1 layer.

Roast for 20-25 minutes, turning after 15 minutes, until beans are fairly brown in spots and somewhat shriveled. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Dr. Neal Barnard Comes to Cleveland, Part II and a Chef A.j. Inspired Quinoa Salad

Here I am at work today, enjoying my variation on Chef A.j.'s Quinoa Salad with Pistachios and Currants, for BREAKFAST. Not my usual fare, but sometimes I just can't eat the same green smoothie again.

I'm still thinking about some of the things I learned at Dr. Barnard's lecture on Tuesday evening.  Here are a few more of the highlights:

1) Even non vegans should be taking a B12 supplement, especially after age 50. There just isn't enough of it in any food for anyone to get enough of it, whether they eat cow or not.

2) Why a low fat diet works so well for weight loss. There are two components to the lean vegan effect. First, because a low fat vegan diet is so high in fiber (plant roughage, fruit and beans), your appetite never gets out of control and you are so much less likely to overeat, a.k.a. "Volumetrics." I have found this to be miraculously true. And second, the thermic effect of food is at work. Also termed "the after meal calorie burn," the following is an explanation of this mechanism:

"Contrary to many popular diet books, Dr. Barnard says: 'Insulin is your best friend when it is working properly.' What�s more, 'Carbohydrates are not the enemy,' says Dr. Barnard. 'They are, in fact, our natural energy source.' Insulin, made by a gene on chromosome 11, can stimulate calorie burn. The problem is it can also shut down fat burn. The trick of is finding a proper balance between the two functions. Again, according to Dr. Barnard, the key is the type of food you eat.

The job of insulin is to push the proteins and sugars we eat into our cells to build body parts and provide fuel (glycogen) for our movements. 'Insulin travels to your muscles, liver, and fat tissues, where it pushes proteins and sugars into your cells,' says Dr. Barnard. 'As it does so, it temporarily shuts down your fat burning machinery,' he adds. That makes sense, of course, because there�s no need to burn fat when food is being pushed into the cells.

Happily, the building process inside the cells speeds up the metabolism and burns calories. '[It�s] is a big job, causing your cells to actually release calories in the form of heat,' says Dr. Barnard. This after-meal metabolism boost is called the thermic effect of food (TEF). 'It�s a nice way to burn calories,' says Barnard. 'All you do is eat, and your body does the rest. These calories are gone forever � they never even get a chance to turn into fat.'

The foods with the biggest TEF are those containing plenty of complex carbohydrates or a mixture of carbs and protein. 'For example, broccoli and other vegetables are about 50 percent complex carbs and 40 percent protein, a mix for a good burn,' says Dr. Barnard. 'On the other hand, butter, chicken grease, and [egg yoke] are just fat, and deliver a much poorer burn.' Again, plant foods win out over animal foods.

Under normal circumstances, the interruption in fat burning is brief. A problem arises if you become flabby and out of shape, however, because your insulin doesn�t work as well. The extra fat on your body requires more insulin and your calorie-burning system becomes sluggish. 'The body produces more and more insulin, and it shuts off fat burning more effectively than it should,' says Dr. Barnard.

You�re insulin also works overtime if you snack constantly. An endless stream of junk food never gives your insulin a chance to rest. 'If you have a constant supply of snacks, your body has no need to use its fat, and insulin keeps your fat-burning processes slower than they would normally be,' Dr. Barnard writes.

A lack of fiber is also a problem. 'Normally, fiber � plant roughage � helps keep insulin levels in check by slowing the release of sugars from the food you eat,' Dr. Barnard counsels.

To keep your after-meal calorie burn up and minimize fat-burn stoppage Dr. Barnard suggests a diet high in healthy carbohydrates and fiber, and low in fat." http://www.cbass.com/FatGenes.htm

3) It's never too late to undo the damage done by years of poor eating. Have you ever cut your finger? Did it heal? Of course it did! The same goes for your internal parts . . .the human body will heal if given a chance!

Dr. Barnard would love this quinoa salad that I'm eating as I type this. I threw it together last night and didn't have all of the ingredients that Chef A.j. called for, but it was outstanding nonetheless!

Simple Quinoa Salad with Currants and Pistachios
based on a recipe from Unprocessed by Chef A.j.

8 cups cooked quinoa
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (the juice of 3 lemons)
3/4 cup pistachios
1 cup currants
1 cup finely chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Combine ingredients in a large bowl and toss. Enjoy!

?