Thai Peanut Noodle Stirfry

Here is another recipe we enjoy, that I don't really have measurements with because I made it up, but it's not to hard to make to taste. And I'm still looking for some good Asian whole grain noodles to replace with white flour ones we use, but if you don't want the white flour noodles, it would probably be good over brown rice, too.

Stirfry your favorite veggies till tender and brightly colored. We like broccoli, pea pods, celery,sweet onion, green onion, carrot, green and red pepper, and mung bean sprouts. I add the sprouts at the very end, and just stir to heat through.

I boil and drain enough Asian noodles to feed our family. We like a ramen style noodle that doesn't have any weird additives.

Then I make a sauce with several heaping tablespoons of natural peanut butter, a few teaspoons of honey,and a couple cups of warm water. Then I add more water or peanut butter depending on how thick or thin we want the sauce. I season with a small piece (about an inch) of fresh grated ginger (or I shake in some dried ginger to taste), and one or two cloves of minced garlic (or I shake in some garlic powder to taste), and salt and pepper to taste. I usually heat the sauce before adding it to the noodles.

Sometimes we mix the sauce with the noodles, and other times we serve it on the side. My sister likes to make enough sauce to do both. We like top the stirfry with toasted cashews.

Everything But the Kitchen Sink Potato Salad

This is a meal that our family enjoys. I've combined several recipes, and added some twists of my own, and I still think I can make it better, but that said, it's really good. I hesitated to share it because I have no real measurements, but I hope it's not too hard to throw together.

We steam several diced potatoes,about one potato per person, more or less. Then I chop a mix of most of the veggies in our fridge. Usually we use carrots, celery, green pepper, green onion, cucumber, sugar snap peas, and broccoli. I think we've added tomato and radish before. Just about anything is good, but the ones I mentioned first are our basics. I drain and rinse 1 can of kidney beans and 1 can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), and mix those with the potatoes and veggies. Then I make a dressing. Last time we made this was the first I tried to make a vegan version of our old dressing. The kids liked it better than the old version with mayonnaise. I made a vinaigrette with about half a cup of grape seed oil, a fourth to a half a cup of apple cider vinegar, about a fourth a cup of organic mustard (the condiment, not the spice), and about a tablespoon of dry dill.

It tasted so good, my daughter asked for extra dressing to dip potatoes in, but I think the mustard and vinegar were a little stronger than I'd like. If you try it and tweak the recipe, I'd love to hear your changes. I hope you like it.

Transition--Ease into it

Lest I gave anyone the impression that we (the Woodruff's) are eating a full-on, whole-foods, plant-based diet, we're not there yet. We're taking little steps here and there towards a healthier diet, and we feel better with every step we take. As I've prayed about this and worked toward this, I've really felt that we need to not run faster than we have strength as we work towards a lifestyle that is better for our family.

Here are some ideas if anyone wants to make changes, but is feeling daunted. Like Konnie said, start with one meal of the day. Breakfast is an easier meal to change. Green smoothies (or fruit smoothies) make a great breakfast. Hot cereal (or cold cereal, if you're not ready to start on the whole food side of things--but choose one with more wholesome ingredients) is good with rice or almond milk. Toast is great with coconut oil or peanut butter. I have recipes for great vegan muffins, waffles, and scones. I know lots of people in the ward are sugar sensitive like I am, so nuts and seeds are a great addition to breakfast. Fresh fruit is always good too.

Sharon suggested, try one vegan dinner a week. I have several great recipe books that feature wonderful meals without meat or dairy that anyone is welcome to come look through to find something that you think your family would like. The internet is a great resource, too.

Another thing to think about, in the China Study, while 5% or less calories from animal protein was proven to be ideal, 10% still gave a lot of the health benefits. For someone eating approximately 2000 calories, that means about 200 calories a day, which according to one online calculator could include 2 small servings of a wide range of animal protein choices. Less is ideal, but this could be a good first goal to work toward.

Konnie's Favorite Nutrition Blog

Here's what Konnie has to say about her favorite nutrition blog.

"It's Word of Wisdom Living at http://www.wordofwisdomliving.com/. The blog is written by Skip Hellewell, a father, grandfather, and engineer who worked in the medical industry. Skip focuses on a new topic of nutrition every few days, and his main focus is (of course) living according to the Word of Wisdom. Coincidentally, his newest post is about . . . The China Study. His post gives a good, concise overview of the study and why it is important. He also goes on to give advice for those who are wanting to eat less meat, but aren't sure where to start, including several references to other books and articles. It's a great blog."

Kathleen's Favorite Green Smoothie

(from the comments)

We purchased a bendtec blender for our anniversary, and we use it almost every day. Ross usually makes breakfast by blending a combination of spinach, fresh fruit, and frozen fruit. It is so good! We also include most of our favorite boosts each day which are:

Ground Flaxseed (you can buy it pre ground but we get the whole because the blender can grind it.
Oat Bran
Rice protein
Yogurt with active cultures (we put it in last and mix on low)

I need a bit of protein in my smoothie, because I have found that it stabilizes my blood sugar.

One More Note on Green Smoothies

Spinach is one of the yummiest greens to put in smoothies, so it's one of the best ones to use to introduce your family to green smoothies. but it does contain oxalic acid, which can inhibit some mineral absorption (calcium and iron). When we first started doing green smoothies every day, and we were only using spinach, I started to feel a little anemic. Then I learned about the oxalic acid and started using a wider range of greens, and I've felt much better. The Green Smoothie Girl says she has eaten handfuls of spinach every day for 15 years with no ill health effects, but she does recommend eating a wide range of greens.

Konnie's Favorite Green Smoothie

(In Case anyone doesn't read the comments section)

Here is my favorite smoothie recipe:

Fill the blender about 3/4 full (loosely) with washed spinach or chard
Add about 2 cups of water or orange juice
Blend until greens are liquified.
Add: 2 cups peaches (canned if fresh or frozen are not available), 2 cups frozen mango, 1-2 bananas, 1 cup fresh or frozen pineapple, a little more water or oj if needed, and a little of your preferred sweetener if needed. Blend away until the lumps are gone.

This makes a creamy, light green smoothie.

dietary supplements

We talked at book club yesterday about a part of the China Study that said there are three things (we remembered two at the time) that our bodies need that aren't found in plant food. First is cholesterol, but that's not a problem because our body makes its own and is harmed when we consume it from outside sources. Second is Vitamin D, which our body makes on its own with 10-20 minutes of exposure to direct sunlight (i.e. without any barrier like sunscreen or windows). It is probably wise for most people, particularly in our part of the world, to take a Vitamin D supplement. Third is Vitamin B-12. I mentioned at book club that I'd heard that nutritional yeast was a source of B-12. I looked more into that and found that nutritional yeast is not a natural source of B-12, but that some brands are fortified with it. I'm not sure the nutritional yeast at Broulims is fortified with B-12, but I learned that B-12 is killed when exposed to light, and Broulims' nutritional yeast is sold in clear bins, so the B-12 would not be active by the time someone buys it. I also learned that the B-12 found in meat may be killed when the meat is cooked, so a B-12 supplement would probably be wise for most people in our modern culture who aren't eating organic soil with their vegetables.

Great Recipes

I mentioned I really like all the cookbooks by Isa Moskowitz. She has a website where she gives away some of her recipes for free. We've loved everything we've tried.

theppk.com

Easy side dish

Beans are an easy way to keep blood sugar stable and stay full longer on a vegan diet. Plus, they're really good for you, so we try to have beans with most of our meals. Hear is an easy bean side dish:

1 can green beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can garbanzo beans

Drain and rinse. Heat and serve.

One of our favorite salads

Broccoli Salad

Chopped broccoli
Chopped carrots
Raisins
Peanuts

Optional:
Chopped red pepper
Shredded coconut

We often eat this wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla. This is great without a dressing. (If you don't feel like eating vegan, it's great with a little neufchatel cheese spread on the tortilla.) I'm toying with the recipe to try and find a way to add beans, but I haven't found the perfect combination yet. It's kind of good with garbanzos, but not perfect yet. If you try something that works, let me know.

Green Smoothies

My kids love green smoothies. They came home from Konnie's house one day very excited about them. (Konnie likes to make popsicles out of the smoothies, too, and kids love them.) I've been learning about green smoothies from greensmoothiegirl.com, and have recently purchased a couple of Robyn Openshaw's books, including The Green Smoothie Diet. I thought I'd post a review of the book, and then my kids favorite green smoothie recipe (though it's my recipe, not from the book).

Greens are some of the most nutritious foods on the planet (iceberg lettuce doesn't count). They are packed with minerals and vitamins, antioxidants, live enzymes, fiber, and chlorophyll. They work like a broom to clean out our insides and they nourish our bodies. Our teeth don't usually grind the greens fine enough to optimize the nutrition we can get from them, so smoothies are a great option. (Also, we don't often add a wide range of greens to our salads, if we eat salad.) If you are trying to eat healthier, green smoothies are a great place to start because they are fast, easy, and delicious.

The Green Smoothie Girl did a survey of her readers who were eating at least 3 pints of green smoothie a week (though she recommends a quart a day for adults), and found that they reported having more energy, improved digestion, fewer cravings for sweets and processed foods, more positive/stable moods, improved skin tone, weight loss (average weight loss of 18.25 lbs), increased desire to exercise, improved sleep, less stress, blood sugar stabilization, shinier hair or dandruff gone, decreased PMS symptoms, and a really long list other great health improvements that were more individual to the readers, like migraines, arthritis, and allergies going away. An interesting one was two readers had their gray hair return to it's natural color, which I've heard has happened to other green smoothie drinkers.

My Kid's Favorite Green Smoothie

I fill my blender with spinach and push it down. Then I add a can of pineapple chunks in pineapple juice. I add one or two handfuls of almonds and about 2 cups of frozen mangoes. Sometimes I add apples or pears.

I have a Vitamix, which is a really high-powered blender. If you don't have a high-powered blender,you might not be able to blend as many greens or whole almonds, and you might need more liquid. Almond milk or almond butter might work as a substitute to add the creaminess that the almonds give to this smoothie.

Berries are a good addition if your family doesn't like the green. A friend of mine calls her smoothies Green Slime Sublime just to make it fun. When you're first trying green smoothies, especially for kids, it's best to start with spinach, which is a sweeter green, and have more fruit than greens. Collards, kale, and chard also taste really pleasant, and romaine works well too. And green smoothies are a handy way to never waste your greens if you buy lettuce or spinach and won't be able to use it before it goes bad, you can just throw it in the freezer and use it for smoothies.

A couple things to think about

I forgot to mention at book club something I'd read on a blog that was reviewing The China Study. The blogger had met Dr. Campbell, and she asked him about fish and fermented dairy products, which her research had shown her were healthier animal-based foods. He said research is coming out supporting what she had found, and that raw, unpasteurized yogurt and kefir might not cause the same reactions in our bodies that most animal-based foods do, and that they might have some health benifits, due to their probiotic content. He also said that new research my be showing that our bodies may process fish protein differently than other animal proteins and that it may not be as harmful as other proteins. He said if he ever eats meat, he chooses fish. I thought these were some interesting things to consider.

For those who feel that they couldn't commit to a 100% vegan lifestyle (though if you give it a try, it feels so good) we talked about what 5% of your calories coming from animal products looks like. If you eat approximately 2000 calories, then 5% of your calories would be 100 calories. To give you an idea of what that is: 1/2 of a chicken fillet is 100 calories, 1 oz of cheddar is 113 calories, 1 cup of skim milk is 83 calories, 6 oz of lowfat yogurt is 140 calories (but I'm not sure if the calorie calculator meant the sweetened kind), 1 serving of turkey lunch meat is 28 calories, 1 Tbsp mayo is 90 calories, 1 pat of butter is 36 calories, 1 oz of neufchatel cheese (lowfat cream cheese) is 74 calories, and 3 slices of bacon are 103 calories. If you don't want to be vegan, maybe you could work toward 1 small serving of animal foods a day. Dr. Campbell doesn't suggest this, because instead of focusing on all the great plant foods you can eat, you'll feel constricted and it will feel harder. But I thought it was helpful to get an idea of what that optimum 5% of calories looked like to prevent and reverse disease.

Suggestions from Book Club

We met in book club this morning to discuss The China Study, by Dr. Campbell, whose research shows that a plant-based, whole foods diet helps our bodies to have the best health possible. I liked Sharon's suggestion to start with one vegan meal a week, or Konnie's suggestion to start with just changing one meal of the day, like breakfast, if the thought of making changes seems hard.

We talked about the importance of eating raw plant foods for the live enzymes they give our bodies. We talked about green smoothies, and I (Kim) shared my favorite vegan cookbooks (Veganomicon, Vegan with a Vengeance, Vegan Brunch, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, all by Isa Moskowitz and Terry Romero--all of their recipes are so good). Konnie talked about ways to use mixed grains to get a wider range of nutrition. She also talked about making Barley Water, like the mild barley drinks referred to in the Word of Wisdom.

Those of us who've tried eating vegan shared how much better we feel when we eat a whole-foods, plant-based diet. We also talked about how when you begin to eat a healthy diet, since our bodies are literally built from what we eat, when our body recognizes healthy building blocks it tries to clean house, getting rid of toxins and replacing unhealthy cells with clean ones. Sometimes it can take a couple of weeks for your body to clean out and adjust. You might experience gas, bloating, acne, headaches, or other cleansing reactions at first, but they go away, and they're just a sign that your body is trying to rebuild a healthier you.

We decided we wanted a venue to share our best recipes and resources with each other as we try together to live healthier. (If I left out any of your great suggestions, post them in the comments, or email me, and I'll add them.)