Faux Grains, Cereals, Grasses

Whole Food Plant-Based Versions: Joe Vanessi’s Special

December 4, 2014

When I was a child, my mother would throw together a week night comfort meal she called “Joe Vanessi’s Special,” a recipe from one of our many Italian friends. It was one of my favorite meals. The smell of it cooking in the square cast iron pan my Italian grandmother gave to my French Canadian […]

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Coconut Kissed Pumpkin-Persimmon Pie with Millet Carob Crust

November 20, 2014

  (Or, “My, My, Me Oh My, I Love Pie”) Does anyone remember the John Travolta movie Michael about an angel who behaves most unlike an angel? Nora Ephron wrote the screen play. Pie is very important to the plot of that movie and its off-beat treatment of disillusion and faith. So if you’ve never seen […]

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Sourdough Starter and Vegan English Muffins–Spelt or Gluten-Free

October 23, 2014

I haven’t been much of a television watcher in my adult life. Back in the days when you could get public television reception without paying for cable and there weren’t a million stations anyway, that was good enough for my son and me–at least most of the time. The one notable exception to that back […]

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Food Dehydrator Love, Part 3: Teff Carrot Cake Bars (Vegan and Gluten-Free)

September 29, 2014

  You know what they say about the third time being a charm? I think it’s true. And isn’t it usually the third wish in fairy tales that sets the story in dynamic motion? Often though, that magic is bestowed upon the heroine by the humblest looking creatures, ones we wouldn’t expect to hear talk, […]

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Crazy-Easy Low Fat Vegan Candy Bar Innards Dessert (or Heavenly Bites)

June 11, 2014

A dear friend of mine in grad school always insisted that people need comfort food during a move to help ease the craziness. And she said, neither one of us knowing she was echoing Dr. McDougall, that comfort food meant starch. Potato salad. Potato chips. Pasta. Oatmeal cookies. Tortillas. Burritos. Bread. Pretzels. You get the […]

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Vegan Versions: Living Oatmeal

May 19, 2014

A few years ago when i first read somewhere online that in addition to his morning big bowl, Rip Esselstyn often eats a bowl of oats before bed, I felt like I had been given permission to eat more oats. Then I read in a thread on the McDougall discussion board that for some people […]

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Sprouted Black Bean Hamburger-less “Help Her”

May 3, 2014

I like to laugh to myself that my skillets full of veggies, beans and starch are vegan versions of old timey hamburger helper–without the hamburger, salt, fat or pasta. Instead they are a mishmash of flavors, colors and textures that come together really quickly and leave me full and happy. They help the “her” in […]

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Vegan Strategies: Last Minute Chopped Salad with Sprouted Quinoa

April 14, 2014

Life is full of contradictions. How can a house that’s been a residence for 117 years be the only one on the block not zoned as a residence? How can a salad you can make at the last minute have an ingredient it takes about two days to make? I will tell you how. What […]

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Out of the Blue (and Sprouted Buckwheat Sunshine Burgers to celebrate)

April 6, 2014

This is the house I’ve lived in and loved for 20 years. I’ve owned it outright almost 8 years. I first noticed it when I was renting across the street. Instead of grading my student papers, I would find myself staring out the window wondering about it. When I couldn’t sleep at night, unsure if […]

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Sure Things

March 30, 2014

I love it when someone answers me in a way that sends me back to the literal application of what I’ve just said, even if it was couched in an expression or figure of speech no one usually takes literally. It’s especially rich when it’s someone who’s known me over a long span of time. […]

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