Still cooking and eating / Dr. Michael Klaper video

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.

Mesquite BBQ salt and more

Some time ago I was offered samples of 'bacon' bits made from beans, but I ignored the offer, as I often do when companies want me to review their products. Then I read a rave review of the beans on Vegan Eats and Treats, and I had a moment of doubt about my prior decision. So, I looked up the tossed aside email, and wrote back saying I'd be happy to review the bean bacon if it wasn't too late. The sender wrote back saying not only was he sending beans, he was also sending gluten-free ice cream cones, chips and salt. I planned to write back and say only the beans, please,  but didn't get around to it. (Not good timing for chips and ice cream cones when I'm trying to eliminate extracted oils and cut way back on sugar and salt.) I forgot all about it until boxes started arriving at my door. I didn't receive any bacon made from beans, but I did get three other boxes, including a box full of Pacific sea salt. The salt comes from New Zealand. "It is harvested from the pristine waters of the great southern oceans. Currents sweep up the Southern East Coast of New Zealand and into the solar salt field at the top of the South Island. The seawater is evaporated by the natural process Of sun and wind for 13 to 22 months. At the end of each summer, Pacific Sea salt is carefully gathered to retain the balance of minerals and trace elements naturally present in sea salt."



As you can see in the first photo, I received five samples — all of which I will use. So far I've only sampled the three small bottles, and all three seem excellent. In line with our oil-avoidance, we found at a resale shop, an Orville Redenbacher air popper for $3.00, which seems to be in perfect, like-new condition. The salt arrived just in time to sprinkle on our first batch, and both the barbecue and the mesquite flavors were delicious. It didn't take very much of the very fine salt to give the popped corn a delectable flavor. The smoky mesquite was my favorite, but the chipotle is excellent, too. They both will be terrific to use for cooking either on the grill, or on the stove.

The third bottle, flake salt, is a gourmet item. The description on the bottle says, "Marlborough Flaky Sea Salt has been specially evaporated to produce a unique flake shaped salt crystal prized for its enhanced natural flavor and soft texture. This makes it ideal for garnishing all your favorite dishes." It does seem to have a richer flavor than plain salt. I'm very pleased with the Pacific salts and am happy to recommend them. In fact, I think I'll have to re-buy the mesquite and the chipotle when they're gone. Have you tried any of the Pacific Sea Salts or other specialty salts?



I probably shouldn't be including the photo above since it detracts from the serious intention of my review, but I can't help myself. When I walked into the kitchen, this is what I saw. My husband had set the new popper on the counter next to the dog dish, which hadn't yet  been given to the dog. When I saw the two together, I couldn't help but take a photo. It's a pretty special popper, don't you think?

Disclaimer:
I received free product. I wasn't paid. All opinions are my own.

Crock pot soup — no oil, big taste

In my last post I mentioned I took the ferry to Port Townsend to attend a meeting of the Port Townsend Vegan Meetup Group, because they were hosting a talk by Dr. Michael Klaper. I've never heard Dr. Klaper speak before, and was, in fact, unfamiliar with his work other than knowing he advocated a no-oil, vegan, whole foods lifestyle as a way to maintain or regain health. He also says sugar should be used as a favoring agent, not a food. His 'talk' turned out to be a 3-1/2 hour class on becoming healthier through diet. He addressed many health issues, from the reasons people struggle to lose weight, to the connections between diet and ailments like rheumatoid arthritis, leaky gut and heart disease. He also incorporated animal rights into his talk. Dr. Klaper is such a genuine, compassionate, intellegent, knowledgeable and humorous speaker, his talk went by in a flash. And I was inspired to incorporate his ideas into my daily meals. (At the end of the post, I'll provide a link to the talk I listened to so you can hear it, too.) I don't know if I can keep it up, but I've managed to follow his suggestions for a little more than a week. (It will be kind of impossible for me to do when eating out because I don't have the kind of resolve that Dr. Klaper has. He suggests eating before you go, and ordering a plain salad or soup. Not there, yet. I was out to dinner with the family last night and ordered lentil soup and dolmas, which was exactly what I wanted — but I could tell the dolmas, at least, were pretty oily.)

I've never been able (or willing) to remove extracted oils from my diet, and, in fact, thought it was kind of overkill, but I'm reconsidering. I know people who have followed Dr. John McDougall's similar no-oil diet for years, and they love it. One of them started following it because she has MS, and she went into remission. I've been making no-oil dishes lately, but I will probably be posting both my experiments with no-added-oil foods as well as the usual choices.

Dr. Klaper suggested eating very large salads for lunch and using the slow cooker to make soups that last for a few days. He really does love soup! I followed his lead with a couple of slow-cooker creations. I have to admit when I read a recipe that has tons of ingredients, my interest starts to dwindle. But, when I'm making something up on the fly, adding a load of ingredients seems easy. The soup took about a half hour to prep, using ingredients I had on hand. I steamed the broccoli separately and added it at the end because cooking broccoli in a soup isn't as good-tasting as adding it just before serving. Although the ingredients look pretty basic, the soup surprised me with its rich, delicious flavor. Even my husband, who thought not sauteing the veggies in oil would ruin the taste, loved it.



This is what I piled into my six quart crock pot:

• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 3 large cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
• 3 or 4 large carrots, peeled, cut into 2-inch pieces, then sliced lengthwise
• 1/2 small cauliflower, roughly chopped
• 2 medium potatoes, 1/2-inch dice
• 1 can of low-sodium black beans (or other beans), drained and rinsed
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 1/4 cup dried red lentils, rinsed and drained (I learned this broth-enhancing trick from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's cook books)
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes ('nooch') (You won't taste it in the end.)
• 1 quart low sodium soup stock (can use water instead)
• enough water to fill the pot to the cooking line
• 1 teaspoon chipotle chile powder (for non-spicy soup, use 1 teaspoon smoked paprika or 1 teaspoon paprika plus 1/2 to 1 teaspoon liquid smoke)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• juice of 1/2 to 1 small lemon (to taste) 
• two cups of chopped broccoli (about one large stalk), steamed (in a bamboo steamer, if you have one.)
• fresh or dried herbs as desired (I used fresh oregano and thyme from my garden, but parsley, basil, rosemary or cilantro also would be good.)

1. Add the onions, garlic, carrots, cauliflower, potatoes,  beans, tomatoes, lentils, yeast flakes, stock and water to a six-quart crock pot.
2. Stir in the chipotle chile powder (or paprika and liquid smoke).
3. Cook on high for four hours, then low for one to two more hours, until veggies are tender.
4. Steam the broccoli and add to the pot. Stir in salt, lemon juice and herbs.
5. Taste for seasonings, Eat.

We served our soup over a small amount of brown rice.

Here is the link to Dr. Klaper's talk, should you wish to listen.  There is a brief introduction by one of the PT Meetup organizers, before Dr. Klaper's talk.