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My Top 15 Go-To Plant-Based Meals

My Top 15 Go-To Plant-Based Meals

by | Feb 28, 2023 | Food & Ingredients, My Story, Whole Food Plant Based

Some people love to cook.

Others do not and will not cook anything. Ever.

And many people fall in between.

Where do you see yourself? 

What’s Plant-Based Cooking Good Looking? was created to support people who are interested in cooking and eating more plant-based. Ideally we will all cook more so that we have more healthy options, plus more variety. Yet, there are days and weeks that cooking is just not going to happen.

Here are some of my go-to quick plant-based meals for those days: 

Breakfast:

  • Cold cereal- Be sure to find the healthiest cereal, plant-based milk and add fruit. My go to is: Ezekiel flax and I add fresh blueberries
  • Hot Cereal- Oatmeal is great. Sometimes I make a big pot so I just have to reheat portions for a few days after that. When I eat plain oatmeal I add flax and walnuts. Trader Joes has a rolled oats with ancient grains and seeds that’s good. Qi’a has individual breakfast packets. My favorite flavor is: Superseeds and Grains. Years ago, I used to add sweetener but now I just top it with fresh berries.
  • Whole grain breads or waffle topped with a nut butter. 

Lunch:

  • Homemade salad. It only takes a few minutes to assemble, and you can add lots of different toppings and sample different vinegars or low oil/oil free dressings.
  • Whether we cook or order in, I usually make or order enough to have lunch for the next day. I almost always have brown rice and a roasted vegetable around.
  • Prepared food from the market. Most supermarkets have a prepared food section with a variety of choices. Trader Joes has a few salads, Whole Foods has some options, and our local farmers market has a few stands with wonderful choices too.
  • Soup (I love Amy’s soup and am trying to eat the low sodium options). I like their lentil and pea soups. 

Snack:

  • Crackers or soft Tortilla (like Ezekiel) with hummus or bean dip. Healthier cracker options are: Mary’s Gone Crackers or Flackers
  • Almonds and fruit
  • Or an apple or banana with some peanut butter
  • Edamame

Dinner:

  • Veggie burger. Our local hamburger joint makes a homemade vegan veggie patty and I get it in a salad bowl with avocado, sprouts and Dijon balsamic dressing.
  • Sushi restaurant: miso soup, edamame, salad, and an avocado and cucumber roll. See if they can make it with brown rice.
  • Thai food- I love Pad Thai and most places can make a vegan version. Call ahead and ask. I also love curry and many can be made vegan.
  • Pasta is always easy. I love pasta and there are so many whole grain and gluten free options to try nowadays. A simple marinara is great, or a plant-based pesto

These are just a few suggestions to get you thinking about all the options out there. It is far from an exhaustive list. When I was first vegan I pretty much lived on the above choices, but I really wanted to have more options.

That’s when I learned how to cook plant-based meals which changed everything for me. Now I have dozens of recipes that I love to cook again and again and I’m constantly trying new ones.

We have been sharing recipes regularly with our community. But sometimes just having a recipe in front of you isn’t enough.

That’s why we will be offering cooking classes so that you can learn how to cook delicious plant-based meals too. It’s so much easier than you realize, and we will be here to help you as you go.

Stay tuned for details!

Why the Hawaii Story Stuck With Me

Why the Hawaii Story Stuck With Me

by | Jan 25, 2023 | My Story, Whole Food Plant Based

Let’s begin with a story. 

Years ago, I was in a tennis group and one of the men had just returned from Hawaii where he almost drowned in an undertow. While he was churning in the water, he thought to himself: If I’m going to die this way at a relatively young age, why did I eat so healthfully all these years? 

Apologies for the scary visual, but it got me thinking. 

It struck me that we want to eat healthfully to gain and maintain optimal health and increase our chances of extending and enjoying our lives. But for me, and many people, food is also fun and a way to be creative and social. 

Thus, my motto is everything in moderation. 

As we have previously discussed, for me eating plant-based means ONLY plants. Zero animal products. That is non-negotiable. So, everything in moderation applies to vegan vs. whole food plant-based. 

When I first began eating plant-based it was simply a vegan diet: Anything that wasn’t animal-based was an option.

Sure, I ate oatmeal for breakfast and salads for lunch a few days a week. But before I learned how to cook plant-based, there was a lot of ordering from restaurants, or eating pre-packaged vegan food. 

EATING VEGAN WAS AN EXCELLENT FIRST STEP TOWARD EATING PLANT-BASED.

No animals were harmed on my behalf and the foods I ate did not contribute to climate issues like factory farming does. 

In the beginning, I did miss some of my usual foods, and sought to replicate them via the veganized version. 

Examples are: tofu-based egg salad sandwich with vegan mayo; teriyaki tofu from Sam Turnbull at It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken; plant-based cheese.  All of these foods are SO delicious and I still make all of them. And for the record, I don’t miss dairy cheese, chicken or eggs with that vegan yumminess in my life. 

But none of these recipes are super healthy- they all contain oils or sugars. 

For the longest time, this was totally fine with me (and I didn’t know the difference anyway). 

Then I attended the online Plant-Based Nutrition program at Cornell. The education gave me a much better understanding of the difference between vegan food and eating whole food plant-based. 

And, once you know something, you cannot unknow it. As a result, I have chosen to move toward a cleaner whole food plant-based lifestyle. 

I do my best to eat cleaner, but I still eat meals in restaurants, and we get take-out too. 

For some of you reading this, the idea of eating exclusively plant-based is already challenging and whole food plant-based is out of the question. Others may be horrified at the idea of not eating whole food plant-based because for you, food is solely a source of nutrition. Or maybe you share my motto: everything in moderation. 

And for the record, this is not to say that eating whole food plant-based isn’t yummy. I have learned to make some amazingly healthy meals that are also delicious. There are incredibly creative chefs using spices and food combinations that are unbelievable. It’s just a balance. 

We all have our reasons for being where we are on our plant-based or vegan journeys. At some point most of us were Pregan (pre-vegan). Maybe this can also be an opportunity to practice non-judgment of other’s choices. 

That’s why I love Veganuary. It’s an opportunity to try something new, or double down on your resolve to eat only plants, or to up your game and eat closer to whole food plant-based.  Check out the books and films we have been sharing each week in our group and newsletter. They can be enlightening. 

As always, we are here to support you wherever you are on your plant-based journey!

How You Can Feel Empowered During Crazy Times

How You Can Feel Empowered During Crazy Times

by | Nov 30, 2022 | My Story, Whole Food Plant Based

There are so many big issues out of our control such as war, senseless shootings, pandemics, etc. and we often feel helpless.

And while we don’t have direct power to impact everything, like politics and wars and epidemics, we have more power than we think.

We can vote.  We can demonstrate.  We can wear masks.

But there’s more.

We are also empowered by our food choices.

Eating plant-based or being totally vegan has inherent merits. The most commonly discussed merits are: Our health, the health of our planet, and of course the innocent animals that we aren’t eating. (There are equally important social and spiritual merits but those are topics for another day.) 

It may not seem like such a big deal, but most of us do have control over what we choose to eat. (Granted, many people in the US and around the world do not have many food options. But for much of western society, we do have choice.) 

Our choices can impact how we feel as well as the situation, and that is empowering. 

The Power of a Plant-Based Lifestyle to Take Charge of Our Health 

Choosing plant-based products over animal-based products gives us much more power over our health than we ever realized. After studying plant-based nutrition at Cornell, and from the books and films I’ve read and watched, I’m more than convinced that eating plant-based is the healthiest option. And eating whole food plant-based takes it all up a big notch. (If you want some suggested books and films to learn more, email me and I will give you a few to get started.) 

I feel empowered knowing that I’m energizing my body with nutritious fuel. 

The Power of Choosing Plant-Based for Our Earth 

We’ve been hearing about climate change for years. Animal agriculture is one of the largest contributors to global warming and yet it’s not even part of the Paris Agreement. (The Plant-Based Treaty, created as a companion to the Paris Agreement has been endorsed by dozens of cities, businesses, organizations and politicians around the world.) Doesn’t it feel like dealing with climate change is all up to big corporations and government to do something about it? For the most part it is. But that makes us feel powerless.

We are interdependent beings.  We rely on a healthy earth, all of her plants and trees, each other, the animals and creatures that walk the earth, the ones that fly above it, swim in our oceans and more.

Many people are choosing cars with better gas mileage, or even electric cars. We turn off lights in our home and turn off the water while brushing our teeth. When we do this collectively, it has impact. 

As we each awaken to the importance of choosing a plant-based lifestyle that does not harm our environment, we awaken to our individual and collective power. Knowing how powerful these changes can be, how can we not?

 The Power of Compassion from Choosing a Plant-Based Lifestyle

For a long time I declared myself an animal lover because I was a champion for companion animals. One day it clicked that as long as I was consuming animal products, I was only a companion animal lover. Since I would like to think of myself as aligned with my values, I knew it was time to stop eating animals.

Billions of animals are slaughtered each year and 25 million land animals are slaughtered in the United States EVERY DAY.

By choosing a plant-based lifestyle, we are not exploiting other souls. I can sleep at night knowing that I didn’t knowingly abuse an animal for my consumption. My heart continues to break for the animals that aren’t so lucky.

The more people that choose to eat plants instead of animals, the more we can make a difference. The plant-based sector is the fastest growing sector in the supermarket so there is no shortage of options.

Just like each vote matters, all of our choices matter. Our food choices and spending habits matter to our health the earth and the animals. 

I also have a lot of compassion for people who are concerned about their health and the planet and who do love animals, but who aren’t yet ready to go fully plant-based. It was not that long ago that I was one of those people.

If that sounds like you, stick around What’s Plant-Based Cooking Good Looking? We want to make eating plant-based as easy as possible so that you too can feel empowered by your choices.

How About ThanksLiving Instead of Thanksgiving?

How About ThanksLiving Instead of Thanksgiving?

by | Nov 16, 2022 | My Story, Whole Food Plant Based

Post Updated: November 8, 2024

How about we rename this holiday, “ThanksLiving”? This major holiday in the US is (very) slowly experiencing a makeover on a couple of levels.

First, there’s a burgeoning sensitivity to Native Americans and their plight amid centuries of oppression. For Native Americans, Thanksgiving Day is (understandably) a day of mourning. You can read more here.

Second, increasing numbers of people are choosing compassionate food choices on their celebration table. For my vegan friends and me, we call it ThanksLiving! Let’s celebrate being together and the sanctity of all lives, human and animal.

And there’s no shortage of plant-based food options either! Nutriciously has curated a massive list of options which you can find here. (I recommend subscribing to their newsletter too for good tips yearound.) 

Sam Turnbull, the chef from It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken (where I get many of my recipes) has curated a suggested list of recipes. 

One of my favorite plant-based bloggers is Shane and Simple. Here he offers 11 Easy Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes. Shane’s recipes are generally whole food plant-based, easy and healthy.

If you would like some ideas to have a more compassionate holiday this year (and every year in the future), this short post offers some tips.

And here’s Alicia Silverstone’s well-written take on the holiday including her favorite dishes.  

I’m not sure if one or both of my kids will be here this year for the holiday. While my whole family enjoyed the complete ThanksLiving meal I made in 2022, there was some grumbling about it being vegan after the fact. Ha ha ha- they both enjoyed it while they were eating. Just giving me grief.

I told my kids if they come home, it’s a vegan meal and that’s non-negotiable. But, I’m also not married to the idea of a traditional holiday meal either, so we’ll see what everyone wants. And who knows, we might end up at a friend’s house and I’ll bring something wonderful. The most important part is being together, whatever we eat. 

Enjoy a safe and compassionate holiday however you choose to celebrate.

I’m Going to Stop Using the Word “Diet”

I’m Going to Stop Using the Word “Diet”

by | Nov 2, 2022 | My Story, Whole Food Plant Based

I’m going to stop using the word “diet”.

Why? Because our society has primarily coupled the word diet with the sole purpose of weight loss.

Let’s look at the Oxford online definition of the word diet:

1. the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.

“a vegetarian diet”

2. a special course of food to which one restricts oneself, either to lose weight or for medical reasons.

“I’m going on a diet”

3. restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight.

“it’s difficult to diet”

While the top definition is the actual connotation meant when I refer to a plant-based diet, much of our society perceives diets as restrictive.

Look at the second and third definitions. The examples they use even suggest that dieting is restrictive or hard.

Instead, I’m shifting to the word lifestyle.

Lifestyle defined by Oxford:

The way in which a person or group lives.

“the benefits of a healthy lifestyle”

How do I use it in a sentence? I live a healthy plant-based lifestyle.

A plant-based lifestyle is about a healthy way of living that is NOT restrictive but actually grants us our best possible health with more variety than ever.

Now, I don’t swear that I’m going to completely stop using the word diet because I could slip up.

But the word has bothered me for years. I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s and dieting was (and still is) a toxic topic because it was associated with the ideal of being thin.

My mom, who will likely read this post, tried almost every diet trend there was. Most worked in the moment but as soon as she stopped whatever restrictive diet she was on, well, you can guess what happened.

Fun Fact: Do you remember The Scarsdale Diet? It was originally published in 1978. Well, my mom was a nurse and worked for the doctor who wrote the book. (She even got a thank you in the acknowledgments!) You can be sure that there was a lot of grapefruit and melba toast eating going on in my house back then. 

While I LOVE grapefruit and do eat them when in season, that is no way to exist.

Thus, we will delve deeper in future posts as to what a healthy plant-based lifestyle means. and how by adopting a healthy plant-based lifestyle, you can enjoy its benefits.

For now, I just want to move away from the restrictiveness of the word diet. Eating plant-based is actually rather freeing. There are so many options, especially these days. From foods you can find in your supermarket, to the gazillion recipes available online from wonderful bloggers and chefs. Would you join me in switching to a plant-based lifestyle?

 

What is Vegan Toastmasters?

What is Vegan Toastmasters?

by | Sep 28, 2022 | My Story

Years ago (decades actually), I heard of Toastmasters and all I knew was that it is a forum to practice public speaking. I was curious and decided to check out a meeting. The meeting took place in an office building nearby, and it was just a general Toastmasters meeting (no theme to it). 

The basic format of a Toastmasters meeting is as follows: 

There are some formalities as the meeting begins including an introduction of functionaries which are performed by members. These functionaries include:

🌿 A timer: each segment has guidelines for how long the speaking lasts. The timer tracks this. The biggest reason to stay within the timing guidelines is if you ever participate in a speaking competition, you must stay within the timed parameters. Thus, these same parameters are practiced during the regular meetings.

🌿 An “ah” counter: This person listens for filler words like um, ah, like, you know, etc.

🌿 A grammarian. This person offers a “word of the day” which people get to try and work into their speaking. The grammarian also listens for egregious grammatical errors but also for interesting or clever word or phrase usage.

The rest of the meeting is broken up into three parts:

First — there’s a section called Table Topics during which a member (the Table Topics Master) suggests a few topics and then members and guests have an opportunity to speak extemporaneously for 1-2 minutes on the subject.

Second — there are prepared speeches which are generally delivered by members and last around 5 minutes.

Third — there are formal evaluations of the speeches. Following the speech evaluations, the functionaries give their reports.

This, of course, is a very rough overview of a Toastmasters meeting, and each club runs a little differently.

Anyway, I think I joined and gave a speech back then, but wasn’t inspired to stick around. 

Fast forward to sometime around 2014 when I was vegetarian. I was poking around online — maybe looking for a Toastmasters meeting. I can’t remember. But I noticed that there was a Vegan Toastmasters meeting near me. Even though I was not yet vegan, I was curious and attended as a guest.

The topics and speeches, as you may have guessed, are generally (though not solely) vegan or plant-based themed, or a combination of both.

I really enjoyed Vegan Toastmasters, joined, and (oopsie) once again, didn’t last too long in the club because the meeting times conflicted with my kids’ activities.

Once my kids were no longer playing soccer on the weekends and needing me to drive them everywhere, I found the club and joined (again) in 2019. Lest I forget, our meetings also included a small potluck with shared vegan snacks during the break. Yum… Snacks.

By 2019 I was already vegan and even more passionate about spreading the word. 

The Vegan Toastmasters club is a wonderful compassionate group of people who wish to speak more cogently and vociferously for the animals. (Thanks, Vegan Jyoti for that.).

Of course, the pandemic hit in 2020 and we quickly shifted our meeting from in-person in Los Angeles to Zoom.

The bad news: No more potluck snacks.

The good news: We are able to reach people all around the world.

And, when you’ve been hanging out with people twice a month for a couple of hours, they really do become friends- even if you’ve never met in person. 

If you would like to attend one of our meetings, please join us. There’s no pressure to speak (other than introducing yourself at the beginning of the meeting) or join. You may simply observe. Guests are welcome to attend as many times as you’d like at no charge. And membership costs are reasonable.

We have a wide range of people who join as guests and potentially become members. Some are curious about going plant-based, others are moving toward a vegan lifestyle, and some are already completely plant-based or vegan and looking to spend more time with people who speak about these subjects.

You can learn more by visiting our little website (or look for Vegan Toastmasters on Meetup or Facebook). Or if you want to learn about Toastmasters in general, you can visit their website here.

Vegan Toastmasters meets the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month at 3 pm PT/ 6 pm ET for 1 hour and 45 minutes. (And yes, we still do have a short break, though it’s no longer a potluck.)

Please join us. We’d love to meet you there! 

p.s- a big shoutout to Toastmaster Dave for forming this club a gazillion years ago and keeping it running for this whole time. We are all grateful.