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To Bean or Not to Bean

To Bean or Not to Bean

by | Jul 20, 2022 | Food & Ingredients

To bean or not to bean. That is the question. Let’s discuss.

We all have foods that we like or dislike. Foods that agree with us or don’t. And foods that for some reason, perhaps an allergy, we just cannot eat.

Some people in our What’s Plant-Based Cooking Good Looking? community will not eat tofu, others won’t or cannot eat nuts and others won’t eat beans. The beans issue, I have learned, is less from a health concern standpoint, but more from a comfort standpoint. 

We all know the old rhyme:

Beans beans the magical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot. (Did I just write that? It appears I did. And I used to say it a completely different way when I was a kid too.)

Honestly, when I eat too many beans, well, you know what happens. (I’m pretty sure I did not just write that.) 

Some people find that soaking them first helps, other people find that taking Beano works, and others find that nothing works and it’s just easier to stay away.

I find that some beans always make me a little gassy (Am I still writing about this?) and others not at all.

For example, I don’t think I ever have problems with lentils. And I’ve heard others who are the same. But the white bean dip that I make…Oh boy. That I have to eat in moderation. Maybe I’ll do an experiment and try soaking them next time (they are already canned, so it might not help, but it’s worth a try). 

Last week I had bowls of chili with three types of beans, and I was fine. So, it’s all a big personal experiment.

All of this leads to why it’s worth eating beans.

🍃 Beans are an excellent source of plant-based protein

🍃 Beans are versatile and can be used in many dishes

🍃 Beans are lower on the glycemic index and won’t spike blood sugar

🍃 Beans are relatively inexpensive

🍃 There are many different types of beans and pulses- i.e. black, kidney, pinto, white, soy, chickpeas and others

🍃 You can buy dried beans and soak them yourself (super easy) or you can buy them canned (even easier).

According to just one of many studies:

“Beans are an inexpensive yet nutrient-dense food… A ½ cup serving of cooked beans provides up to 25 g of protein…The micronutrient content of legumes and pulses consists of an array of vitamins and minerals necessary to human nutrition.” — Health Benefits of Plant-Based Nutrition: Focus on Beans in Cardiometabolic Diseases

I have definitely increased the number of dishes I make with beans. And the dish I am sharing in the group this week uses lentils instead of meat to make a Bolognese sauce. I have a couple of different Bolognese recipes that I will be sharing over time, but my husband thought this one really tasted like meat. In fact, to our knowledge, this was the first time he ever ate beans! I told him afterward that he just ate beans and he was rather surprised. Win!

There are many creative chefs using beans to mimic meat and omnivores are enjoying the dishes.

Let me know if you eat beans, and/or if you are willing to try again. And for sure join us in the group to check out the recipe. The chef is really fun, has great energy and her recipes are wonderful.

Q and A: Chopping Veggies

Q and A: Chopping Veggies

by | Jul 13, 2022 | Food & Ingredients

For those of you in our Facebook group, you saw the question I asked when you asked to join the group.

The question is: What are some of your questions or concerns about eating plant-based?

Many of you answered it which was very helpful. One thing I’ve learned is that if one person has a question, then many others do too.

Some of the questions have quick answers (i.e. simple cooking questions), and others take a bit more explaining (i.e. getting enough protein), but they are all equally important and we will get to them all.

I’m going to start out easy because my response this week actually dovetails with the recipe.

Since summer is in full swing and my kids will be home to visit soon, I pulled out my favorite gazpacho recipe that they love too. (As always, you will find this recipe in the group.)

Many gazpacho recipes call for pureeing your veggies into a smooth cold soup. But not this recipe, which is a) why I like it and b) why it’s the topic of this post today.

One of the comments/questions I got in the group resonated with me. She said, “I really don’t like chopping vegetables, is there a better way?” 

The answer is yes and no. If you are going to cook with fresh vegetables, it may require chopping. In fact, it will, at some point, require chopping.

Here are some tips:

🌱 Personally, I can’t stand too long in one position so if a recipe I’m making does require a lot of chopping I will either chop some of it earlier in the day (or the day before) and then go do other things, or sit down while chopping.

🌱 I’m more than ok with cheating a little and buying some pre-chopped vegetables when I can. Mushrooms can often be found sliced in a package and I always have chopped garlic in a jar. I have, in the past, bought pre-chopped onions too. If they are super fresh, it’s great. But if you’ve ever cooked with onions, you know that the flavor (and smell) gets stronger each day. So sometimes it can be overpowering to cook with pre-chopped onions.

🌱 Sometimes cooking with chopped frozen veggies will work too (spinach is a good example that I have used in the past, and I know that many other vegetables come frozen. In fact, my son makes smoothies with frozen strawberries because the smoothie stays colder than just adding ice).

I know some purist cooks would never in a million years buy pre-chopped or frozen anything. I get it! And I get that the pre-chopped requires more packaging, which isn’t great for the environment. But if it’s a make-or-break situation, then I’d rather buy some pre-chopped items and still cook the food. There are a bunch of ways you can do it and still end up with a home cooked meal.

Either way, it’s kind of like other tasks that we don’t really like to do. If we want to get into a neatly made bed at night, we make our beds in the morning. If we want to wake up to a clean kitchen, then we clean up after dinner. And if we want the benefits of a healthy plant-based diet, sometimes it’s best to just set aside some time and get Zen about the whole experience. Put on some music and just get into the chopping. 

This week’s gazpacho recipe calls to roughly chop the veggies. I like “roughly chopped” because it doesn’t take very long. Then they go into the food processor which does the rest of the work (though as I mentioned above, they do not get pureed which I like because it ends up tasting more like a salad than a soup). Be sure to join us in the group to find out which recipe I’m sharing!

Another question I received from a friend was about how to actually chop and slice veggies.  Many people have zero experience cooking and this is all new to them.  Let me know if you already have a handle on this or would like for me to make videos. Remember, I’m not a chef, but I’m happy to show you how I do it. Email me at diane at whatsplantbasedcooking dot com and let me know!

Have you ever brushed a cow?

Have you ever brushed a cow?

by | Jun 29, 2022 | My Story

I know I’m veering off of food blogging territory here, but this is important, and, in my opinion, really interesting. We all have our reasons for eating more plant-based. For some of us it’s purely health, others shift their eating for the environment, and others care about animal welfare. 

My first exposure to an animal sanctuary was The Gentle Barn located outside of Los Angeles about 10 years ago. While there, I got to brush a cow for the first time, hang out with pigs, turkeys, llamas and I fed the horses carrots too. 

The Gentle Barn, like other animal sanctuaries, takes in rescued farm animals. Of course, they can’t save them all… yet*. The numbers of animals slaughtered for meat consumption is in the billions. But every once in a while, one gets lucky, and they get to live out their days being cared for by a group of compassionate people. 

Not only do the animals benefit from the loving care, but the sanctuaries enable visitors to meet farm animals up close. For many people, this is a first exposure to animals other than pets. It’s an opportunity to experience the sentience of these beings firsthand.  I remember the sign at Gentle Barn’s entrance requesting that if anyone brought lunch to enjoy, to make sure it had no animal products in it out of respect for their residents. 

Makes sense, right? The sanctuary is home to rescued turkeys, but you’ve brought a turkey sandwich to enjoy. There’s a bit of a disconnect. 

In fact, more recently I was visiting a different sanctuary that had chickens, goats, pigs, horses and cows and one of the employees there was eating a salad with chicken. What???!!!! But I also know that not every sanctuary is “vegan.”**

It’s tough to care about a topic that we are very removed from on a daily basis. Factory farming largely happens behind closed doors and all we see are the neatly wrapped meat packets in the supermarket ready for consumption. What we don’t see are the innocent animals suffering. 

But why would we care anyway? 

It often isn’t until we have a direct experience that we even begin to care. And the sanctuaries provide opportunity to meet the animals and teach us about the fate that might have been for these wonderful animals had they not been rescued. 

I support a few sanctuaries. 

One of them is Animal Place in Northern California. In addition to offering onsite opportunities to meet their animal residents, they host an annual conference.  The conference offers good information not only about the plight of farmed animals, but also about technologies and good people that are helping improve plant-based and vegan food. And if you are interested in advocacy, they offer ways for your voice to be heard. 

Another favorite sanctuary has a different story. Rowdy Girl Sanctuary is located in Texas. Rowdy Girl was founded by Renee King-Sonnen, who, until 2014 was the wife of a cattle rancher. She woke up one morning and decided to go vegan because she just couldn’t handle sending those cows to slaughter. She launched a fundraiser and raised enough money to buy her husband Tommy’s cattle and today they run a sanctuary instead of raising animals for food. (Renee is now the wife of a former cattle rancher. I love that she had the vision, took action, and Tommy joined her efforts.) 

Not only do they run the sanctuary, but they started the Rancher Advocacy Program helping ranchers around the world shift from raising cattle for food, to growing plant-based foods– vegetables, legumes, grains, etc. It’s a whole movement and it is fascinating to watch these people get creative and support one another. Renee is a firecracker and I’m honored to support them in their monthly membership program. 

Perhaps you’ve already heard of Farm Sanctuary. They have a large following with locations in both NY and Los Angeles.  In addition to offering sanctuary to their residents, they: “fight the disastrous effects of animal agriculture on animals, the environment, social justice, and public health through rescue, education, and advocacy.” 

While there are dozens more, I’ll leave you with this last one. It’s a small sanctuary in upstate New York called Squirrelwood. They got smart and turned a camera on one of their cows named Crouton when she first came to their sanctuary.  Now they have this wonderful following of people who love watching their animals’ antics in their barn. Sometimes they even put a GoPro on a resident and you can get a pig’s eye view of life on the farm. They do a great job with their social media- especially on Twitter, and it’s fun to watch the life in the barn. I don’t know that they are vegan, but I do know that if you’ve never spent time with a cow or pig or horses and want to have some fun, their social media is great. 

*One of Rowdy Girls missions is to help turn animal farms into plant farms so that we can save them all. Tall order, I know, but they are leading a movement that is slowly coming around. 

**Animal Place has a program that helps sanctuaries that are not already vegan, go vegan. It’s surprising to me that some sanctuaries rescue pigs, chickens and cows, but then eat food made from those animals. I’m happy that Animal Place is helping to shift that.

When is Not Milk, Milk?

When is Not Milk, Milk?

by | Jun 22, 2022 | Food & Ingredients

I don’t remember exactly when I switched to plant-based milk. I’ve had a lactose intolerance* since college and switching away was originally to enjoy cereal without an upset stomach. I suspect this was in 2012 or so. 

Back then, the only types of plant-based milks that I was aware of were soy and rice milks.  I noticed that there was a difference in taste and texture between the different brands. I didn’t really like soy milk in cereal, but I liked it in coffee. 

Then almond milk came into my purview. I preferred the consistency and taste of almond milk to soy milk for cereal. 

A couple of years ago I discovered Milkadamia and as you may guess, it is made from macadamia nuts. My understanding is that the production of almonds is rather water-intensive and I really like Milkadamia. (Nuts in general are water-intensive to grow, but the majority of them are grown in California where droughts are common. NOTE: Growing nuts is still significantly less water intensive than raising farm animals). 

Additionally, for many California almonds, bees are often shipped in from elsewhere to pollinate the trees. Many bees die in the process so I seek out alternatives to almond when I can. I find, however that Milkadamia or almond milks are too thin in my coffee. 

The plot (and non-dairy milk) thickens: 

My husband was willing to try non-dairy milk and decided that he liked some of them a lot. His preferred brand is Califia Farms creamer in his coffee. We also learned about a new company called Not Milk. Not Milk is a plant-based milk that was engineered to act and taste like dairy milk. It is pretty darn close. My husband loves the 2% and is totally satisfied using that in his morning cereal. The 2% Not Milk works well for me in my coffee, and we no longer use dairy milk in our home! 

The whole food plant-based experts from Cornell’s plant-based nutrition program suggest using plant-based milks that aren’t overly engineered or contain added oils like the Not Milk. But at the end of the day, it’s all better than dairy milk** and we should delight in all the plant-based options now available to us. 

There are always other environmental issues to consider when choosing a product. We can spend all day researching each brand (which I sometimes do, but not always.) I try to use as many organic products as I can too. 

In a nutshell, these are the brands we currently prefer: 

Milkadamia (I prefer unsweetened vanilla flavor)

Califia Farms Oat Creamer

Not Milk 2% 

Do you have a favorite? 

*Humans are the only animals that drink another animal’s milk once they are weaned. Our systems really aren’t set up for milk past the age of too and our bodies retaliate in the form of upset stomach, and possibly acne.

**According to research in The China Study, casein, the protein found in milk also causes cancer.

Why it’s Worth Eating More Whole Food Plant-Based

Why it’s Worth Eating More Whole Food Plant-Based

by | Jun 15, 2022 | Whole Food Plant Based

Why bother eating whole food plant-based if you are already plant-based? 

I thought I was doing my body a favor by not eating animal products. I felt fine and have always eaten a relatively healthy diet (no fast food, minimal fried foods, etc.) but I didn’t realize how much processed food I was still eating. Sure, it was good for the animals (that I wasn’t eating them), and in many ways, better for me too, but foods high in sodium, sugar and fat are only marginally better (and for some people not at all) than animal product foods. 

Then I learned to cook a few plant-based recipes which was a first step toward eating more healthfully. I was originally hesitant because I didn’t recognize any of the ingredients in the plant-based recipes. But the cooking class I attended helped with that. 

The biggest shift happened after I attended Cornell’s online Plant-Based Nutrition program. I learned just how powerful a whole-food plant-based (WFPB) lifestyle is and now I endeavor to eat as much whole food plant-based as possible. 

“Most importantly, the diet that has time and again been shown to reverse and/or prevent these diseases [heart, cancer, diabetes, autoimmune, bone, kidney, cognitive and others] is the same whole foods plant-based diet that I have found to promote optimal health in my laboratory research and in the China Study. The findings are consistent.”*

 Let’s be clear, I am still not a pristine whole food plant-based cook or eater.  But I am moving in that direction. 

But it’s not 100%. My priority when I first started cooking plant-based was replicating the foods that I used to eat when I was an omnivore. That may be your priority at the moment too. I get it. It’s no fun feeling deprived. And now that there are SO MANY good recipes out there, there is no reason to feel deprived. 

And I still order in from restaurants or go out to dinner which is also not usually WFPB. 

I’m ok with this. Why? First of all, I if I can cook a plant-based recipe that husband will enjoy too, then I’m all for it, even if it’s not 100% WFPB. 

He’s kind of picky (can you say 4th grader palate?) and there are a ton of WFPB meals he wouldn’t touch. But we have made massive progress at home. 

Since I know that many of the restaurant recipes use more oil than I cook with, I try to balance it by eating more cleanly at home. Even though some of the recipes are not WFPB, I modify as best as I can (reduce or omit oil, sugar, white flour etc.)   

I feel really good too and dropped a couple of pounds without doing anything special. I eat more than ever but it’s clean food with minimal fillers. Pretty much the way we’re supposed to be eating. 

If you are familiar with The China Study, you know that the people in China who were studied eat more calories than in a typical Western diet and are much leaner and healthier. Their lifestyles were naturally WFPB because the western diet had not yet invaded their communities. I highly recommend this book. It’s big, but well-written and informative. 

The Cornell course I took is based upon this research (among other topics) and you can learn much of what I learned without the whole course. The course and book (and others that we will share down the road) remind me that we want to eat healthfully so that our bodies are fueled with proper fuel that prevents disease and supports our bodies in operating optimally. 

For me, and many people, however, food is also fun and a way to be creative and social. 

My motto continues to be; everything (plant-based) in moderation. 

For some of you reading this, the idea of eating exclusively plant-based is already challenging and WFPB is out of the question. And others may already be horrified at the idea of not eating WFPB because for you, food is solely a source of energy. Or perhaps it is solely about the animals. The point is- we all have our reasons for being where we are now. In the end though, studies show that the closer we can get to eating WFPB, the healthier our bodies (and minds) will be.  

Stay tuned because in addition to The China Study, we will be offering many more resources in the near future. 

*T. Colin Campbell, PhD
Thomas M. Campbell II, MD
The China Study: Revised and Expanded Edition