We've been doing pretty well on our mission to cook without added oil since our class with Dr. Michael Klaper, but our new appreciation for oil-less food is sure making it harder to eat out. Tonight I had a piece of gluten-free pizza that just might have had oil as the main ingredient. Even if I were still cooking with oil, it would still have been too greasy for me. But, I ate it anyway. Oh well. No photo, sorry. Instead here's a photo of homemade chickpeas and veggies over rice.
It's amazing to me that although I can tell right away if a dish is loaded with oil, I can't notice anything lacking when it's not. Does that make sense? My usual stir-fried noodle lunch thing tasted just as delicious without oil. Not everything I cook or eat is oil-free—not yet, anyway—and I'll be surprised if I ever manage to totally give up oil. For example, over the years I've learned how to greatly reduce oil in baking, but I still add some. And there's, you know, eating out.
Here's a lentil and quinoa stew made by my husband from a Fat Free Vegan recipe.
And a potato and kidney bean stew. Soups and stews are really easy to make without oil, and they still taste rich and delicious. If you ever wanted to reduce your use of oil just a couple of days a week, this would be a good way to do it.
A mushroom, kale and tomato sauce pasta dish was especially delicious.
We're trying to eat a big salad everyday either for lunch or dinner, and I've been preparing a salad dressing of the week to have on hand to make the salads more interesting. The salad above, in addition to five-spice roasted chickpeas (from Protein Ninja by Terry Hope Romero but minus the oil) has a whole grain dijon mustard dressing. If I could only remember what was in it, I'd tell you. No oil, though, but it was tangy and wonderful.
If you are interested in viewing the Dr. Klaper class we attended in Port Townsend, it's now available on youtube. We found it very inspirational. I warn you that it's about 3-1/2 hours long, so you might want to watch it in parts, but it's extremely informative, and Dr. Klaper is entertaining as well as illuminating. I've posted it for you, but here's the link in case you want to see it in a larger size.
https://youtu.be/gQQSEFn4Q80https://youtu.be/gQQSEFn4Q80
Dr. Klaper was in Port Townsend as the guest of the Port Townsend Vegan Meetup Group, and if you watch the video, you'll see it begins with a short introduction by one of the founders of the group,
Let me know if you watch it, and what you think about it.
Andrea, we try to eat a no-oil lifestyle, but, sometimes it's just not possible. Eating at home is easy - and no oil clean-up is great! But as you say, eating out is/can be difficult. We don't eat out very often, so I don't worry. Happy eating and am glad you are posting again!
ReplyDeleteEating out has always been hard for me, and is getting harder. When I eat at home I never have any problems but when I eat at restaurants I often have digestive woes. I keep trying, though, because sometimes I just want to eat out!
DeleteOil really is very difficult, if not impossible, to avoid when eating out. It's like mainstream chefs think food can't exist without it. Although I'm on board with oil in moderation, it's frustrating that there aren't more alternatives out there, considering how much more aware most people are of alternative diets these days.
ReplyDeleteI was always an oil in moderation fan, too — except maybe when I get near a bowl of good chips. :D But yeah, I prefer my food to not be oil-soaked, and popular vegan comfort food seems to require deep frying!
DeleteThe whole eating out thing is a good point - I really can't think of a type of cuisine that don't use oil to some degree. Those stews look delicious, oil or not!
ReplyDeleteI've always found restaurant food too greasy, but since I've cut way back on oil, it seems especially so. I really don't know if cutting out oil is a good thing or not, but I'm experimenting with it for at least a while. It does seem to be helping my husband lose some of his excess weight.
DeleteYour oil-free meals look delicious! I been meaning to try cooking without that little bit of oil at the beginning but it's so ingrained I keep forgetting not to do it. Eating out is always a challenge between too greasy (oil) or too salty. :-)
ReplyDeleteI agree totally that it's hard to change to no-oil cooking. I feel almost compelled to add oil to the wok. Maybe because I attended the class, the no-oil thing stuck with me. I cook without oil, except for baking, but I still eat it when not in my house. And in desserts. :D
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