Natural Vegan Cooking:
The Basic Rules of the Road

Once you become familiar with these foods you'll be on your way to creating your own homemade dishes.

We've worked hard to define the method of cooking that we use, teach, and promote.

Our name for this style of cooking?

Natural Vegan Cooking.

Okay, it's not a very flashy name or a sexy concept, but once you have mastered it we think you'll agree that this will be a game-changer for you in the kitchen.

The 7 Primary Qualities of Natural Vegan Cooking

Hang out with us for a bit and you'll see that we're entirely focused on cooking with vegan whole foods that make up a balanced vegan diet.

As long-term successful Vegans, here are the qualities we look for when choosing the food that makes up our daily diet.

We recommend that you...

• Choose 100% plant-based ingredients;
• Use a healthy mix of BOTH raw and cooked vegan foods;
• Select organic foods and ingredients whenever possible, which also has the benefit of being non-GMO (which stands for Genetically Modified Organism and is as scary as it sounds!);
• Cook with whole foods (like brown rice);
• Avoid refined ingredients (like white rice);
• Avoid ingredients that are factory processed whenever possible (like faux meats and canned foods);
• Focus on a variety of foods in dishes, at meals, and in everyday life.

We'll show you how to go deeper into — and cook with — the actual plain bean or grain or leaf or root, etc. Hardly anything at all comes from cans or boxes.

Then, you'll pull it all together into incredibly delicious meals that...

• Zero in on the optimum diet for human good health*;
• Require less land resources to produce than any other lifestyle;
• Carry a negligible planetary/environmental impact;
• Don't involve cruelty and violence;
• Cost less than you might think!

But don't worry — what you'll learn with us about working with whole foods is not difficult to master.

Now With All This Talk of Natural Vegan Cooking...

...I want to be clear that hubby Jeff and I personally do use plant-based processed foods from time to time. I encourage everyone to find their own balance.

We occasionally enjoy this product or that made of processed/premade vegan foods such as vegan "burgers", "chicken" and "cheese."

Why? Because they're fun to play around with once in a while! The point is that we understand that it isn't "natural" when we do so.

But there are at least two very good reasons for these convenient pre-packaged foods:

1. It helps Newbies make that transition to vegan in a way that's easy and familiar;
2. It gives long-time Vegans the experience they might occasionally miss from their pre-vegan days.

Plus, it's important to note that even though we advocate a diet as close to "whole food natural" as possible, there are some products that are just easier to buy slightly processed, such as nut butters or soy sauces or sauerkraut or miso. With some products it is a-okay to buy them pre-made and a lot easier.

Time is a factor. And if you're in a hurry (as most of us are) it just isn't an efficient use of time to make your own mustard, vegan mayo, non-dairy milks, tortillas, and so on. Sometimes it's best to buy certain things processed for you in advance.

But soon you'll learn all about the ingredients that will start you on a path that just might change your life.

And I truly, seriously mean that.

The 14 Primary Categories of Ingredients in Natural Vegan Cooking

In the halls of VeganCoach.com, in all of our courses, and in our everyday life as long-term successful Vegans, we use particular ingredients over and over again, and they form the base of this style of cooking.

I'll break them up into 2 main categories:

Unprocessed

• Raw and Cooked Veggies
• Legumes (all beans, lentils, and peas)
• Whole Grains (both cereals and "pseudo" cereals)
• Fruits
• Nuts
• Seeds
• Herbs
• Spices
• Sea salt

Slightly Processed

• Sweeteners (including whole food syrups but excluding honey and refined sugars, corn syrups, etc.)
• Oils, used very sparingly and optionally (olive, coconut, and flax)
• Vinegars
• "Milks" (usually commercially packaged made from legumes, grains, or nuts)
• "Butters" (such as peanut butter or sesame seed butter)

These are the ingredients we use nearly every day.

If you stick around with us we'll show you how to take these 14 primary ingredient categories, and create quick and easy, tasty and nutritious meals.

Excited?

Hope so!

Because Natural Vegan Cooking is a refreshing way to learn how to cook vegan food which makes sense and works for the everyday cook — that's YOU! And you'll do it all without a recipe in sight. I promise this is the way you've always wanted to cook but just didn't know it!

It should make sense that preparing your own whole food-based meals at home is not only the healthiest way to provide nourishment but it is also much less expensive.

A huge bonus is that making your own dishes is also fun and rewarding in itself!

In fact, cooking can (and should) be a soul-fulfilling experience from start to finish. And my friend, if it is anything less, you're missing out on half the fun.

I hope you're beginning to see this as a great adventure. Because it is!   :)

Happy cooking!