Vegan Diet Tips
Rss Feeds

Welcome to the Vegan Coach Blog!

Here you'll see a REAL LIVE VEGAN in action. See how EASY it is to create delicious and nutritious vegan meals in minutes. Plus, you'll also discover how to use the information contained within this site to whip up EASY meals for you and your family. And I'll mix in some simple vegan nutrition ideas too.

It is my sincere hope that this will help to light that fire under you to let loose and have fun in the kitchen, with the knowledge of nutrition for a vegan under your belt that you need to succeed.

Thanks for visiting!




Patty "Sassy" Knutson, NC
Vegan Chef/Author/Nutritional Consultant

p.s. Be sure to sign up for my free weekly newsletter...

Vegan Mexican Pizzettes with Teff Tortilla Crust
May 2, 2012

I love pizza. But sometimes I just don't want that much crust. So I use teff tortillas as a base for crunchy personal pizzas -- or as I like to call them, pizzettes.

You can actually use any type of tortilla you want. I happened to have teff tortillas (actually called "wraps") on hand. But sometimes I use rice tortillas. Sometimes I use spelt tortillas. No matter which tortilla you use, the results are pretty much the same -- bake them in the oven, directly on the oven rack, and after 10 minutes or so your tortillas have crisped up.

They are really the perfect crunchy base for a pizza!

What I concocted tonight actually tastes nothing like a pizza, but it's the same idea -- crust on the bottom with toppings.

You can use any toppings you like. Mine combined what we had on hand, which included collard greens (my NEW favorite green -- chock full of VEGAN CALCIUM!!!), black beans, and the rice medley Jeff made this week which was a mix of brown rice, mung beans, adzuki beans, barley, wild rice, and orange lentils. By the by, did you know orange lentils are the most nutritious lentil out there? Just an interesting little factoid. :)

You can use store-bought or make your own homemade guacamole and sour cream.

Use what you have on hand to make YOUR favorite masterpiece.

Here is how mine came together -- I'm sure you can do a MUCH better job with the flavorings than I did. But you'll get the idea -- play with your food and have fun!

Vegan Mexican Pizzettes with Teff Tortilla Crust
Serves 2-4

2 tortillas, any kind you like (I used Teff tortillas by the incredible La Tortilla Factory)
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped orange pepper (or your fave color)
1 Tablespoon chopped jalapeno
1/2 - 3/4 cup cooked brown rice, or your fave rice mix
1 cup cooked black beans
8 collard green leaves, stems removed, coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)
Bean juice or water, to steam
1/8 - 1/4 cup salsa
ADD TO TASTE:
Bragg Liquid Aminos
Agave nectar, or maple syrup
Fresh squeeze of lime juice
Chili powder
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
TOP WITH:
Guacamole
Sour cream, vegan
Dusting of chipotle chili powder, optional

1. Preheat oven to 375, place tortillas directly on oven rack, and heat until crisp, approximately 10 minutes -- but watch so they don't burn. Place on cooling racks.
2. Heat a large pan (with a cover) over medium heat. When warm, swipe with extra-virgin olive oil. Add onion, orange pepper, and jalapeno. When onion turns translucent, add pre-cooked brown rice (or rice mix), pre-cooked black beans, collard greens, and about 1/4 cup bean water or plain water. Stir. Cover pan and heat until collards are softened, about 7 minutes or so.
3. Remove lid, stir, add a little more water if you need to in order to keep mixture moist and yummy. Add salsa, and the next 5 ingredients, to taste.
4. Plate tortillas. Cover one tortilla with half of the beans/rice the mixture, and the other tortilla with the other half of the beans/rice mixture. Top with dollops of guacamole and sour cream. Dust with chipotle chili powder (optional). Slice with pizza cutter, or knife. May crumble a bit, but who cares? Olé!

Vegan Mexican Pizzette with Teff Tortilla Crust

Vegan Panini - Swiss Chard and Potato
April 23, 2012

This vegan panini is so incredibly tasty you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. Crisp on the outside, with the creamy mashed potato filling on the inside. SO good.

Seriously.

Have you had a panini before? Normally, the outside of a sandwich of some sort is spread with some butter or oil, and it's placed into a panini maker to crisp up the outside. Here, my burrito is encased in a tortilla (of course) but there is no need to use any oil, it crisps up just beautifully.

If you don't have a panini maker, you can simply place your Swiss chard and mashed potato burrito on a baking pan and place under the broiler for a few minutes (you just won't have the "fancy grill marks" like you get with the panini maker. No biggie.)

In fact, the broiler is the way I have ALWAYS crisped up the outside of my burritos (when I'm in that mood). It was only recently we turned into panini freakazoids because it's just plain fun and the grill grooves adds an interesting new texture.

As usual, I came upon this recipe quite by accident.

I had some red potatoes on hand, which is pretty rare for us since Jeff really only loves sweet potatoes. But whenever I find myself with red potatoes, I make mashed potatoes because I loves them so very much. Of course, I had to add a token sweet potato to the mix for Jeff so he wouldn't whine. :)

But while the sweet potato is optional, I highly recommend it to up the nutrient quotient of your mashed potatoes. Plus, the sweetness works great with the slightly bitter chard. (Score one for Jeff!)

Usually I use 1 large red potato per person. You can also use Golden, or russet as well. I also tend to make MORE THAN I need because I like having leftover mashed potatoes on hand to make something like Tempeh Potato Patties for a special brunch the next day.

Have you tried Swiss chard? If not, PLEASE do. It's a dark green leafy veggie that is superbly good for you, as all dark green leafies are. Swiss chard is incredibly high in Vitamin K, manganese, and magnesium which helps to build strong bones, it's a fab antioxidant, and provides your body with energy as well as protein, fiber, and zinc.

Swiss chard is also a good source of calcium; however, it DOES contain oxylates which might interfere with the uptake of calcium. Honestly, I am on the fence about this point because some studies say it DOES interfere with calcium uptake, and others say it does not. Personally, I eat this delicious plant, hope I'm getting calcium, but still rely on other sources for my calcium including leafy greens such as kale, collard greens, broccoli, asparagus, beans, and nuts & seeds to name just a few.

Before you even get started, make sure you have some salsa on hand. I recommend Sassy's Salsa Asada. But you can use your fave, just be sure it has a sweet element to it, or add a touch of natural sweetener (like maple syrup, Agave nectar, or some chopped dates) to the small amount of salsa you put on top of your panini. Why, you ask? Because it helps to balance the total flavor of the dish and really sends it into orgasmic territory.

Okay, enough blabbering, let's get to the recipe!

Swiss Chard and Potato (Vegan) Panini
Serves 2

Make the mashed potatoes first:

2 large red potatoes, scrubbed and quartered (leave skins on for max nutrition)
1 small sweet potato, scrubbed and quartered (again, leave skin on)
Add to taste:
Non-dairy milk (I like plain oat milk or almond milk)
Bragg's Liquid Aminos, or sea salt
Earth Balance, or other non-dairy butter
Nutritional yeast
Garlic powder
Onion powder

Add quartered potatoes to a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, add a little salt, lower heat to a simmer, and cook potatoes until fork tender, 15-20 minutes or so. Mash, and add remaining ingredients, to taste. Keep warm.

Next, make the Swiss chard

1/4 cup thinly sliced leeks (or onions, but leeks add an amazing flavor that works so well in this dish)
2 cloves garlic
6-8 Swiss chard leaves, stems removed if desired, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon maple syrup or Agave nectar, or to taste
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper or red pepper flakes, or to taste
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tortillas

Step 1:Get your panini maker heating, or turn on your oven broiler.

Step 2:On the stovetop, heat a large pan with a lid. Add a swipe of olive oil with a napkin or paper towel. Next, add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent.

Step 3:Add the chopped Swiss chard with about 1/4 cup veggie broth (or water) -- this will help the chard to steam. Cover. Let cook for 5-10 minutes or until chard is tender to your liking. Add sweetener, lemon juice, spicy pepper, and season with salt and pepper. Stir.

Step 4:Turn heat off, add tortillas to the top of the chard mix, and cover with the lid to heat the tortillas and soften them in the residual steam.

Next, put your panini together

Carefully remove warmed tortillas and place on two separate plates. Spoon desired amount of mashed potatoes on one-half of one tortilla. Cover with 1/2 the Swiss chard. Close tortilla in half. Carefully place in panini maker and cook for 3 minutes (or on a baking sheet under the broiler until browned - watch carefully!). Bring first panini to a cooling rack so the bottom doesn't get soggy. Repeat these steps for the second panini.

Plate your delectable vegan paninis. Dollop with salsa. Devour!

Swiss Chard and Potato Vegan Panini

Diary of a Vegan Part 3: Health Junk in the Trunk
January 11, 2012

Welcome to Diary of a Vegan, where Jeff and I open our journals from days gone by to share our journey to vegan so you can learn from our successes -- and mistakes! Hindsight is everything! :)

3/3/94 - "To Co-op for Jeff's health junk."

If you have been shopping for groceries in your local (usually large) supermarket your whole life, as many of us have, it can be strange the first time you walk into a small, locally owned food cooperative, otherwise known as a co-op.

Jeff was the first to latch onto the idea of visiting (and joining) a co-op. Of course, I went along for the ride. I'll never forget that first experience. Unlike most grocery stores, which look quite stark and smell like a strange mixture between meat, fish, and cleaning supplies, a co-op usually smells more like healthy greens, grains, and...well, earth! It can really throw you because it's just SO different from what you're used to.

As we know, change can be difficult. And while Jeff embraced our local (at-the-time) co-op (Visit the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op), I wasn't so sure. Each week we would make two shopping trips, one to "my" store, and one to "his" store.

But over time, I began to see the wisdom in shopping in a co-op, and month by month my co-op grocery list grew longer as my supermarket list grew shorter, until one day we were doing all of our shopping in the co-op.

What exactly is a co-op? A co-op usually has very humble beginnings and is member supported, much like public radio. The cost to be a member is usually very low (for example, $15 per year). They usually start out renting a small space, and as the membership grows, the co-op usually does too. It's QUITE an organic process, and it's really exciting to watch your little co-op grow and grow.

When we moved to San Diego, the co-op we joined (visit the Ocean Beach People's Organic Food Market) was SO cute and little, with an itty bitty kitchen where soups, sandwiches, snacks, and desserts were made (Miss Kitty!). But when you go in today (12 years later!), the co-op has grown to be a huge 2-level store, with a beautiful deli and big kitchen where they make their yummy (mostly vegan) vittles.

Here in Reno, Jeff and I volunteered at our co-op when it was JUUUUST getting going. They rented a space in the back of a record shop! It was quite small and squishy. But membership grew, and they moved to a slightly larger location. And now we are all excitedly waiting for them to move to a huuuuuge spot where they can offer even more to our community. (Visit the Great Basin Community Co-op.)

So why join a co-op? Here are just a few reasons:

• Support local agriculture - co-ops carry foods grown by local farmers so the produce (especially) is as fresh as can be which means MORE nutrients for you!
• Support local businesses - such as those who make their own jelly, cookies, grow their own flowers and herbs, etc.;
• Co-ops usually carry cookbooks and other helpful items that will inspire you to follow a healthy diet;
• Co-ops sometimes have classes that teach you everything from sprouting to canning to gardening, and more!
• Co-ops usually have a large bulk section, so you only buy as much as you need, which saves you money AND saves excess packaging from entering our landfills

As you can see, joining a co-op is a very good idea for so many reasons.

Click here to learn of any co-ops near you. And if there are none (yet!), then there just might be a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) or Buying Club (a group of people who buy food together from a Coop Distributor). And if all else fails, get some friends together and start your own! :)

Until next time... xo

xoxo

January 2012 « 

 
RSS Feed For Vegan Diet Tips

Follow us on Twitter!

ADD TO YOUR SOCIAL BOOKMARKS: Blink Del.icio.us Digg
Furl Google Simpy Spurl Technorati Y! MyWeb