This has been a favorite of ours we found pre-vegan days. I made it last night with a vegan twist. This is a great meal that gives you lots of veggies, pasta, and great lemon flavor without all the associated hassle of calories. It is a full meal that can be served with a salad and garlic bread.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 green zucchini
• 1/2 yellow zucchini
• 1 bunch asparagus tips
• 1 head of broccoli
• 1 cup of carrots
• 1/2 package whole wheat angel hair pasta
• 1/2 cup vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp margarine
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 pkg Light Life vegan Smart Tenders
• 2 lemons

Cut up all the vegetables on a large cutting board. We use the Pampered Chef hand slicer which makes great juliann strips of the vegetables. Dump the veggies in a bowl and mix them with oil, salt, and pepper. Put them on a cookie sheet and roast them in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, boil your pasta.

In a large skillet, get 2 tbsp of oil nice and hot. Open the box of vegan smart tenders and cut them into strips. Mince the garlic cloves and mix them in with the pieces. Make sure your pan is hot! Throw in the tenders into the pot. The tenders have a nice coating on them that should brown. Cook for about 3 minutes until nice and brown. Remove from the pan.

Put the pan back on the burner and add the white wine, veggie stock, margarine, parsley, and basil. Let this cook for 3 minutes. Mix the cornstarch in a separate bowl with some water until it is all dissolved. Wisk this mixture into the cooking sauce. It should thicken immediately. Remove the pan from the heat and add back the vegan smart tenders.

Pull your roasted veggies out of the oven and drain your pasta. Start combining all ingredients in the pasta pot. Start by pouring in the tenders mixture. Add your veggies. From here, add scoops of pasta at one at a time until you get a good balance of all ingredients (some people don’t like a lot of pasta).

Finish the mixture off by squeezing 1 – 2 full lemons over it (to your taste) along with some salt and pepper. Serve in bowls (4 – 6 servings). You should have a nice, light, and satisfying pasta dish.

It has been almost 90 days since we began our vegan diet adventure. As you already know, Aleta has discovered ways to reduce her arthritis pain, I have reduced my cholesterol, we have both lost 35 lbs between the two of us, and we rarely have the heartburn and lethargic feeling after eating a steak. Many of you still have concerns about eating a vegan diet. Below I have compiled the 5 most common questions and answers from our experience.

1) Do you get enough protein eating a vegan diet?

If you don’t eat a balanced vegan diet, sure. If you eat a balanced vegan diet full of beans, whole grains, nuts, and soy products, you will have no problems getting all your protein.

2) Do you get all your nutrients eating a vegan diet?

If you don’t eat a balanced diet, sure (notice a theme here?). A plant based diet provides every nutrient you need for your daily intake. The only nutrient you can’t get in a vegan diet is vitamin B12. This is only produced in the digestive track of animals. We need vitamin B12 for healthy brain and nervous system function. We only need a couple micrograms daily. You can get vitamin B12 in soy milk and supplements. We take a multivitamin every day (as everyone should regardless of diet). Check out my post on my bloodwork before and after my vegan diet.

3) Do you have to eat salads all day?

No, you don’t. Aleta and I eat a small salad once a day for dinner. There are vegan alternatives to all meat and dairy products. There are also many vegan recipes out there that use vegetables, vegan meatless products, rice, and noodles. Just about every meal can be replicated in a vegan form. Check out our recipes.

4) How do you go out to eat?

There are many fewer options for dining out as a vegan. Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, and Mediterranean restaurants all offer purely vegan meals. Also, there is bound to be a handful of healthy restaurants in your hometown.

5) How hard is it to buy all this special food?

You can get 80% of your vegan food at any grocery store. Many of the meatless products can be found in most frozen food sections. You will have to head to a specialty store like Whole Foods to get a small handful of items: soy cheese, soy yogurt, soy cheese, vegan cold cuts, and vegan porklike products.

The most common question people ask us about our vegan diet is “What about X, how do you get enough of it?” The “X” is usually protein or iron or some other critical nutrient. Here is a power drink that Aleta and I slam down every morning before we start our day. The shake has all the ingredients I talked about in the “Superfoods for Vegetable Haters” posts. The recipe is below:

• 1 cup vanilla soy milk
• 1 cup of water
• 1 tbsp chia seed
• 1 tbsp hemp seed
• 2 tbsp flax seed
• 1 tbsp blackstrap molasses

Pour the soy milk and water into a shakable container. Grind all the seeds in a coffee grinder and pour into the cup. Add the molasses last. Seal your container and shake until your arms fall off. Open the container and slam down. It will taste like a sugar/gingerbread cookie.

Below is a comparison of what you just drank to an 8 oz trimmed (1/8 inch) sirloin steak.  All I did in creating this chart was use the facts printed on the nutritional labels of all the food ingredients.  Obviously, this drink does not substitute the satisfaction of gnawing on a juicy steak over a bottle of red wine on a Friday night. Still, the nutrition speaks for itself. The one thing the steak has over the shake is the concentration of protein. Still, the shake gives you 25% before you start your day with 3 meals left and plenty of nutrients to get your brain engaged (think twice about coffee, this is a natural stimulant).

All I did here was add a couple of the superfoods to make these (still unhealthy) cookies a little less guilty…and vegan, of course.

3/4 cup unbleached flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour (heaping)
1/4 cup brown sugar (heaping)
1/4 cup white sugar (heaping)
7 tbsp margarine
3 tbsp flax seed
1 tbsp hemp seed (rounded)
1 tbsp chia seed (rounded)
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 pinch of salt
1 cup of vegan chocolate chips (semi-sweet for the sissies will do)

1 Ener-G Egg Replacement

Grind chia, flax, and hemp seeds in a coffee grinder. Mix the ground powder, margarine, and sugar into an electric mixer or by hand (just go buy a Kitchen Aid). Mix in eggs and vanilla until all is blended. Combine the flours, baking soda, and salt. Add it to the wet mixture and mix just until the ingredients are blended. Add the 1 cup of chocolate chips until mixed throughout. Don’t over mix. You have a lot of gluten in your flour and every stroke makes it more angry and chewy (not the chewy cookie kind,  more like the chewie Tootsie Roll kind).

Use that cool Pampered Chef scooper or two lame spoons and drop the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake them at 375 (oh yeah, preheat the oven) for 9 – 11 minutes. You will know when they are done based on your chewy or crunchy preference. Let cool for 5 minutes and put on a baking rack (invest in one of these, they make a difference).

I dare you to make these and honestly tell me that the “real ones” taste better OR that lame souless pre-made doughs (shame on you busy parents) tastes better than these. The hemp and flax seeds add some oil and earthy flavor to these. They are borderline nutty with all of the soft dough and chocolate infusion.

PS – You get a nice shot of iron, calcium, protein, fiber, omega-3, and antioxidants in these thanks to the superfoods. They still have the calories, but zero cholesterol and a tad less saturated fat.

This is my 4th and final installment on really small foods that pack very large punches and avoid you having to eat 50 lbs of salad a day to get nutrition. I have previously talked about chia, flax, and blackstrap molasses. My fourth installment may sound kinda illegal, but it isn’t. Shelled hemp seeds. They can be obtained (legally) at your local health food store. They usually come in the form of a toasted snack or simply raw.

I prefer the raw seeds. They are tiny little guys and very soft. These seeds are considered a complete protein, a source of omega 3/6/9. One tablespoon is loaded with protein and significant nutrients (click on each to see why: vitamin E, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, and maganese). Grind these up in the coffee grinder and mix them in anything: smoothie, peanut butter, cookies, pancakes, etc. I buy Ruth’s Soft Hemp here at the Akins, the local grocer. An 8 oz. bag will run you $11. Much cheaper than the illegal alternative (or at least from what I remember in my college daze).

A common misconception about eating vegan is that you do not get enough iron or protein because vegans don’t eat meat. I have posted about this before (see iron and protein). The bottom line is that there are plenty of iron sources out there in vegan foods. Flax seed is not only a rich source of iron, but also omega-3 (for lowering cholesterol), protein, fiber, and antioxidants (anti-aging). This is one of the power foods I rely on every morning before I head to the gym.

You can buy flax seed at many grocery stores. You can either get whole seeds or ground seeds. If you get whole seeds, you have to grind them as the flax seed shell is to hard to digest and you will simply pass them out. Eating two tablespoons a day will give you about 40% of your iron intake, some calcium, and a good does of protein and fiber. You can safely throw it in anything. Mix it in your morning smoothie, peanut butter, oatmeal, brownies, etc. You can also use it as an egg or butter substitute in baking recipes.

Many people here in middle America don’t even know what the word “vegan” means. Once I explain, they say “Oh, you eat a lot of salads and want to save the animals”. For some, this is true. For us, neither of these are true. The idea of eating salad around the clock is enough to make me contemplate heading to the Siberian goulags for a better meal. Our children would also be emotionally scarred and melt down at their first school birthday party at the sight of pizza. “Does not compute. Does not compute. Does not compute.”

If you have picky eating children or a “salads are for sissys” kinda husband, I want to introduce you to a bunch of superfoods you can sneak into just about anything. I would have never come across these foods had I not started eating vegan. The reason why I stumbled upon these foods is because I started studying how to get a daily balanced nutrition without animal products and without having to gorge myself on raw broccoli (yeah baby). What I found is that you can get a whole lot of your protein, fiber, carbs, and vitamins from a couple very small sources. These food pack vegetable power in 1 teaspoon doses. For those of you who want to balance out your nutrition (vegan or not), you can incorporate these throughout your day and boost your nutrition by 50%.

The first food is closely related to your Chia pet from the 80’s. “Cha-Cha-Cha-Chia Pet!” Remember? Well, you can eat part of your Chia pet. I am not suggesting that you buy one, bust it with a hammer, and stir it in a soup. Specifically, I want to talk about the chia  seeds that you spread all over a Chia pet. Chia seeds are the first power food I want to discuss. These seeds have ancient roots and were known as an energy, strength, and endurance food for the Aztec indians.

Chia seeds pack 8x more omega-3 than salmon and 30% more antioxidants than blueberries. A tablespoon serving has 17% of your fiber intake, 5% of your protein, and around 10% of your different mineral requirements. It’s completeness in nutrition makes it a great morning energy booster. This is what you do: the tiny seeds can can be ground into a fine powder (your coffee grinder) and put in just about anything as they have little to no taste. Put it in a morning smoothie. Drop the powder into your pancake mix. Mix it with some peanut butter and spread it on your toast. Stir it in a glass of water or OJ.

You can pickup white chia seeds (Salba seeds) from http://www.salba.org OR you can just head to Whole Foods or a decent health food store and pick up a bottle. A decent sized bottle will run you between $15 – $25. And if you get bored with them, you can always rub them on a piece of clay and try to grow a Jerry Garcia head.

Making decent alfredo sauce is next to impossible in a home kitchen. This is because cream is very delicate and will simply “break” with too much heat. You have to make double boilers and stir until your fingers cramp to the whisk. If you can make it through the whisking, then you have to watch your heat. Too much heat and you have “Alfredo The Busted.” This will leave you with water and chunks of white stuff in your pan. Throw in your parm too quickly and you will have a glob of goo along with your chunks. Did I mention that Alfredo is cream, milk, and egg yolks? If your sauce doesn’t break, then you arteries just might.

How about this:

Take a half chunk of any kind of tofu except “extra firm”. Throw in in a blender with 1/4 cup of tofu sour cream. It will blend to the consistency of mayonnaise. Add about a cup of plain soy milk to get it to a sauce like consistency. In a medium saucepan, get two tablespoons of canola oil REALLY HOT. Throw in two chopped scallions and a quarter cup of pine nuts. Cook until the pine nuts are nice and brown. Pour in 1 cup of vegetable broth and a 1/2 cup of white wine. Simmer this until the mixture is reduced by half. Add in your alfredo sauce and reduce the heat to medium. Let the mixture come to barely a boil. Cook the sauce a couple minutes until it is at your desired thickness, add some vegetable stock if it is too thick. Season with salt, pepper, and onion powder. When the sauce is ready, throw in a shot of nutmeg…just a sprinkle and mix. Here is the good news: Tofu Alfredo does not break!

Mix the sauce in with a pile of whole wheat penne or rotini and enjoy. If you want to get crazy, cut up a handful of tomatoes, basil, and steamed broccoli and throw it in 30 seconds before you remove the sauce from the heat. If you absolutely MUST have that parm taste, sprinkle some parm cheese on all ye non vegans. You are still eating close to 80% less fat, calories, and 100% less cholesterol. Afterwards, you will not need to loosen your belt, lay on the couch, or take some Rolaids. This is because you were not beaten up by Alfredo.

Ingredients:
1/2 package any tofu except extra firm
1/4 cup soy sour cream (folks, if I can find it in Tulsa, you can find it in your town)
1 cup plain soy milk
1/4 – 1/2 cup white wine
2 scallions
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 cup of vegetable stock
a dash of nutmeg
2 teaspoons of oil
Optional:
1 cup of diced tomatoes
1 cup of diced basil
1 cup of steamed broccoli

Peanuts, to be exact.

We started eating almond butter a couple years ago simply because it was not as “strong” as peanut butter, but it also packed all the nutrition with less saturated fat (make no mistake, it still has fat. Almond butter is expense in general ($6 as opposed to $2.50 peanut butter) , but ridiculous in the two stores in Tulsa that sell it ($11+). This has caused me to pick it up at Trader Joes in CA on my biz trips.

Since I have already started throwing nuts in a blender, I decided how hard would it be to just make my own nut butter of some kind. So, I threw a handful of almonds, pecans, flax seed (gotta have the flax), and walnuts into a blender. They chopped up to a sticky powder. This was hardly spreadable. Instead of pouring oil into it to make it more “creamy”, I opened a can of conconut milk and threw it in. That definitely worked. I finished it off with some cinnamon and sugar to add a little sweetness.

When it was all said and done, I took a wiff of the stuff. It smelled like a cross between maple pancakes and tropical something. When I tasted it, I was shocked at how well all the flavors came together. Since then, we have been making a batch a week and just kinda throwing it on bread, in cereal, or even in my smoothie. Compared to peanut butter, it has a wider spread of protein, nutrients (especially calcium and iron), and is very “basic” (as in chemistry) to neutralize stomach acid, a natural antacid.

A couple of our non-vegan friends and family are deeply concerned about our vegan diet and whether we will get enough protein. There are 4 main sources of vegan protein: soy products, nuts, legumes, and whole grains. If there is one nutrient that is abundant in vegan diets, it is protein. I can’t eat anything from the above 4 categories without eating at least 20% in one sitting.

Here is a great example: Darren’s vegan cheeseburger. Yes, you heard me right. I made up a vegan cheeseburger. Here are the ingredients:

• 2 slices of whole wheat bread: 8g
• 1 chipotle veggie burger: 4g
• 3 slices “Fakin’ Bacon” tempe (soy product): 8g
• 1/2 tablespoon soy mayonnaise: 0g
• 1 slice vegan american cheese: 4g

That is 24g of protein or 50% of my daily intake in one sitting. To take it one step further, here are the total numbers:

• Calories: 475
• Total fat as percent of daily intake: 27%
• Total saturated fat as percent of daily intake: 4.5%
• Total cholesterol as percent of daily intake: 0% (yes, not a gram!)
• Sodium: 57% (that still is a little high)

BTW, it really does taste rather good slopped together with ketchup, lettuce, and mustard. I was pleasantly shocked considering Aleta and I used to spend our date nights going through the “Annual List of Tulsa’s Best Burgers”.

I went to Wendy’s website and got the facts on a single bacon cheeseburger. It has slightly higher protein at 32g. Here are the other numbers:

• Calories: 550
• Total fat as percent of daily intake: 45%
• Total saturated fat as percent of daily intake: 72%
• Total cholesterol as percent of daily intake: 33%
• Sodium: 70%

After doing a calculation of 2 days worth of diet, I am counting an average of 2000 – 2200 calories a day, 55 -65g (115%) of protein, 10g of saturated fat (50%), and 0 (0%) mg of cholesterol.

* Disclaimer – I am no expert at nutrition, just trying to understand what I am reading. My comments are not authoritative.