Jamaican Red Bean Stew

A good friend of mine passed this recipe along to me.  I made changes, as I do, to make it more plant based and use the foods that I had available.  The Savvy Vegetarian also borrowed the recipe from the book the Quick-Fix Vegetarian: Healthy (Google Affiliate Ad).  If you enjoy my blog and the delicious recipes that I share here, please follow this blog and share it with your friends.  You may also choose to subscribe via feedburner for email updates.  See the link to the right.

My version is below

Ingredients:

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups sliced baby carrots
• 3 scallions, chopped
• 1 sweet potato, diced
• 1 large tomato (about 2 c. chopped)
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 2 tsp fresh thyme or 1/2 t. dried
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 t Salt
•  Freshly ground black pepper
• 4 c. kidney beans (if you prepare them yourself) 2 (16 oz) cans dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups unsweetened lite coconut milk (1 can)
• 1 cups unsalted vegetable broth or water

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a pressure cooker.  Bring to pressure quickly and cook with top rocking slowly for 5 minutes.  Bring down pressure quickly or wait for it to come down on it's own.

Ingredients combined and ready to cook

chopped carrots

chopped sweet potatoes

Stew and Cous Cous Cooking

home prepared kidney beans

The stew is finished!

Dinner is served with a green salad on the side.

I also served it with pearl cous cous stirred in which was tasty.  I cooked up 1 cup of dried pearl cous cous in 1 1/4c. of water for 20 minutes then added it to the pot.

Plant Based Camping

When I started writing this I had gone over a month without a post!  I hope you will forgive me and forgive my lack of photos with my recipes.  I realized that I was worrying about getting my blog just right, about posting my recipes and messages as soon as possible and about devoting enough time to this project.  So, I took a little break.  I am still plant-based and we are going strong on the food.   I hope these posts continue to inspire you to be adventuresome and take a leap of faith for your health.

We are approaching our second family camping trip as a plant-based family.  I was worried the first time.  It wasn't long into this trial that we set out for the great outdoors and I worried that we would have enough to eat and that the kids would enjoy it. But being plant based is not difficult.  Transporting plant based food is a bit easier that it's dairy and meat counterpart.  Our kids are truly embracing plant-based at this point and aside from the occasional rumbling, 'I want meat,' don't ask for or miss it.

Here are a few of our recipes that camp well:

Breakfast

Rip's Big Bowl - I usually increase this 8x over to feed our family for a couple of days.

Oatmeal

Breakfast Bars

Snacks

Fresh Fruit - apples, oranges, bananas or easy to take along.  Berries, although tasty are easily mushed!

Trail Mix (can I just say, 'duh') the original plant-based camping recipe :-)
I usually throw together a mix of cranberries, raisins, cut up apricots with sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pecans and peanuts.  You could really use any dried fruit, seeds and nuts in your cupboard.  I avoid very small seeds because they just get messy when trying to eat a handful!

Muffins - make ahead and you have a ready to go snack.

Peanut butter balls (or Energy Balls)

Chocolate balls

Lunch

Bread or Pita with 

• Peanut butter and jelly or honey
• hummus, lettuce, veggies
• nut butter, banana slices, apple slices

Dinner

Hotdogs, Buns & Beans - you can easily make this plant-based by switching to tofu dogs and whole wheat buns.  Opt for organic ketchup to avoid high fructose corn syrup.  Don't forget the mustard.  You can make your own or buy vegetarian baked beans.  Add a side of cut up carrots.

Hamburgers, Buns, Potato Salad - I always make my own bean burgers but you can buy them, too.  Whole wheat bun and and easy potato salad like this one (link to spring potato salad).  Don't forgot some cut up veggies - asparagus, broccoli, etc make great sides.

Chili - you can make it ahead and heat while camping.  I often wing it when it comes to chili but this recipe is VERY good if you are looking for guidance.

Spaghetti - always an easy to make transport camp dinner especially if you use jarred sauce.  

Don't forget some extra food containers to save left overs if there are any.  I like the lock tight containers or canning jars to camp with.  Both seal well for fewer leaks.

Kale, White Bean & Potato Soup

This is an original recipe.  I would like to tweak the seasoning some but I will throw it out there to the masses and you can report back to me on the adjustments that you would make.

Ingredients:

1 lb white navy beans (pre-soaked), rinsed and drained.

8 c. chopped fresh kale

1 c. (1 large) red potato, cubed

1 c. (1 medium) onion, chopped

2 t. (2 cloves) garlic, pressed

1 t of anise or fennel

1 T Miso

1 large (1-2 c.) chopped carrot

1. Add beans to pressure cooker and enough water to cover plus about an inch more. Cook beans by pressure cooker, 3 minutes rocking slowly.

2. Cool immediately, add remaining ingredients.

3. Bring to pressure again, cook 4 min additionally.

4. Cool immediately, test for seasoning.  Add salt, pepper, etc as necessary

Chocolate Pudding

1 large sweet potato (about 1.5-2 c.) (I usually cook on the 'potato' setting in microwave)
1/4 c. walnuts (optional)
2 T cocoa
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 c. dates
1/4c-1 c. of unsweetened coconut milk (I use Silk brand)

Mix in a high speed blender until smooth.  Serve warm or chilled.

Sharing

In recent weeks I have been fielding questions from curious friends on what we are doing, how it works and where to find information.  On the surface, it can seem as though you are delving into unchartered territory.  However, once you break through the psychological, cultural and tradition barriers you will find a thriving community of people just like you in exactly the same place as you thriving on a plant-based lifestyle.

Three months ago, I didn't even know where to start but now I know how to form my google search to find recipes and blogs that work for my family.  I know how to adapt recipes to make them plant strong and we have developed a new set of favorites and go-to recipes to make cooking easier.  That first month though was about wiping the slate clean from the eating that we were familiar with and trying something entirely different.

If you are starting this journey, I would encourage you to find blogs of others who are established in eating this way and to connect with friends and family that are willing to set out with you.  Here are a few I stumbled on:

http://myplantbasedfamily.com/
http://www.theflamingvegan.com/
http://wholeplantbasedfoods.wordpress.com/
http://forksoverknives.com
http://engine2diet.com

But there are MANY out there.  Find ones that resonate with you and your family.

A BIG kudos to two friends who have stepped out to try plant based ideas in the way the best fits them.

The first, "Alfonso", has switched to eating meatless lunches.  I absolutely love that he is open to trying what works for him and love that the result has been more energy  in the afternoon.

The second friend, "Clarisse", has fully embraced plant based and is on her third day with her young family.   Here is what she has to say on how things are going:

"The kids are diggin' the coconut milk! I bought Ezechial's sprout bread and they love that with pb. Loads of dry and fresh fruit. Thing 1 loves hummus so I've given her pretzels with that. Dried sweet corn too. The kids Clif bars are dairy free from what I can tell and they love those! Neither will do broccoli yet but beans have been a daily thing. It's the veggies that are hard with them but I did a brown rice pasta last night in a veggie marinara with kidney beans. They ate it, so yay! Even though Thing 2 picks out what's " different" we've gotten her to try things! Loving kale chips! Me n Hubby, not the kids yet. I did find a crunchy snap pea thing but its not the best. Dark chocolate's been a treat for them for trying things. Bought some rice cheese today and got the nutritional yeast today, too.


I'm going to make yams into "fries" tomorrow with a stir fry. Leftovers for lunch are great! Breakfast has been a lot of cereal and fruit, making sure its dairy free and going whole grains. Bought coconut and almond yogurt from the store because Thing 2 loves yogurt n granola for breakfast.'

I think we make a big mistake and underestimate our beautiful children when we jump to the conclusion that they will not be 'on-board' with this diet change.  They may not love every part of it but I think you will find that they will be even more receptive than adults, more open to understanding the hows and why's and more likely to latch on to new favorites.  Well done Alfonso and Clarisse, keep up the great work and share your success so that it may be an encouragement to others!

3 months and counting - A new lifestyle not a diet

I have never been one for 'diets' unless you are talking about diet in the truest sense of the word to mean the foods that we consume.  Since changing to plant-based living three months ago I have never felt I have been on a 'fad diet' but the idea of bucking the system, going against the majority of information and traditions I have come to know and limiting my food options from the mainstream has made me feel a little like a weirdo.  I am convinced, however, that I will continue to be a weirdo and live and eat this way.

In previous posts I have rattled off the myriad of benefits my family and I have seen eating plant-based. The health benefits have continued the list has increased beyond what I would have ever thought possible.  I have had a thyroid condition since my first child was born seven years ago.  Tests at that time showed my thyroid to be heterogenous.  My levels were way too high.  I started medication and was monitored annually for changes in the nodules in my thyroid and every three-six months for my thyroid levels.  Last year, I had a 'problematic nodule' that was growing larger.  We decided to reassess in a year and if it was still growing, it would be biopsied.  I wasn't looking forward to this and the idea that something could potentially be wrong, even if it was fixable, was scary.

At the beginning of April I went for the ultrasound.  The technician looked and what she saw was.....nothing.  There were no nodules.  It wasn't that they had gotten smaller, they were gone. I understand that this could have happened because of the medication that I was on.  But given the response of the technician and the fact that I have been on the medication for years and the nodules were only getting bigger, my inclination that this was due to my change in diet.  I feel VERY strongly that God has been leading me to this very path through the opportunities for change He has placed before me in my life.   In my mind, what happened was a miracle.

Now, I will only have to have my thyroid levels checked annually and my next ultrasound is in five years.  My total cholesterol, too, has gone from 211 to 148. I feel great.  I feel alive.

So for all of those people who wonder if changing to plant based will work for them.  If you think this lifestyle is too hard or too drastic.  I do not understand.  What I know is that it is scary to change what you have known for your whole life.  But it is scarier to be diagnosed with cancer (or even the thought of it), it is scary to be wheeled into an ER with everyone thinking you are having a heart attack...at the age of 32.  It is scary to feed your children medication every day because their digestive tracks aren't working just right or worry about agressive behaviors.  It is not ok to be tired and run down when you are thinking you are doing all the 'right' things to be healthy.

For me and my family, we are plant based for life because we value our lives and what to live them to the utmost.

Meal Plan Week 8

I make preparing meals easier by cooking some things during the week while I am home such as rice or beans.  Also, I prepare the cereal mix we use for the week by multiplying the recipe by 8, I then store it in an air tight container.  Our snacks are things like popcorn, cut up carrots, cut up apples, oranges, trail mix, peanut butter power balls, etc that we can prepare quickly or just grab from the fridge or pantry.


Sunday
     Breakfast: Cereal Bowl with Hot Milk
     Dinner: Smart Dogs (Hotdogs), buns, cut veggies, cut fruit


Monday
     Breakfast: Cereal Bowl
     Dinner: Spaghetti, Prepared Sauce w/ TVP, Onions, Peppers, Mushrooms


Tuesday
     Breakfast: Peanut Oatmeal
     Dinner: Split Pea Soup


Wednesday
     Breakfast: Oatmeal Breakfast Bars
     Dinner: Thai Chickpeas over brown rice


Thursday
     Breakfast: Cereal Bowl
     Dinner: Black Bean Burgers, Whole Wheat Buns, Cut Veggies, Salad


Friday:
     Breakfast: Brown Rice Pudding
     Dinner: Minestrone Soup, Crusty Bread


Saturday
     Breakfast: Scramble Breakfast Tacos
     Dinner:  A Salad Dish TBA