Whether you are just converting to veganism or you’ve been part of the vegan community for years, here are some delicious recipes that will satisfy your palate.
Breakfast
Pumpkin Bread
1 cup barley, soaked 2-3 days (rinse daily)
2 cups soft wheat, sprouted 1 day
1 ½ cups fresh pumpkin puree
½ orange
1 teaspoon orange zest
½ teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup dates
½ cup raisins
½ cup walnuts, soaked and chopped
Put 1 ½ cups barley & wheat mixture into a blender along with the dates. Puree the pumpkin and orange separately and add to the mixture. Add spices, raisins, walnuts. Mix well. Form into 3 loaves of bread and place on a dehydrator (teflex sheet) at 105 degrees for 4 hours. Remove teflex sheet and continue dehydrating for 4-6 hours.
Chocolate Banana Granola
3 bananas
3 tablespoons ground cocoa
½ teaspoon oil
Sweetener, to taste (optional)
3 cups oats, soaked 6 hours to overnight
2 ounces nuts, any kind, chopped and soaked 6 hours to overnight
1. In a blender, blend the bananas together with the ground cocoa, oil, and sweetener. When mixture is smooth, dump into a bowl with your oats and nuts. Mix thoroughly.
2. Place in the dehydrator at 110 degrees for 12 to 20 hours. About 6-8 hours in, break up the granola. The time depends on your environment, so after 12 hours, start checking the granola frequently.
Raw Pancakes
1 cup ground flax
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 mashed banana
A sprinkle of salt
A sprinkle of cinnamon
Mix all ingredients in a food processor. Make little patties. You can eat now or put them in a dehydrator until warm.
Lunch
Raw “Chicken” Style Sandwich Salad
½ cup sunflower seeds, soaked 3 hours
½ cup cashews, soaked 3 hours
¼ cup pecans, ground
2 inch piece of cucumber
1 tablespoon onion
½ celery stick
1 teaspoon dill
¼ teaspoon curry powder
Juice of ½ lemon
1 teaspoon salt
Ground black pepper, to taste
½ carrot
Pulse all together to a fine texture. Add to your favorite raw bread.
Raw Mac n’ Cheese
½ carrots, shredded
¼ cup nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons olive oil
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon ground red pepper
½ teaspoon salt
Set the carrots in a bowl. Blend other ingredients until smooth. Pour or scoop over carrots.
Peanut Butter and Banana Wrap
1 leaf lettuce
1 banana
1 tablespoon raw nut butter
1 teaspoon flax seed
Spread the nut butter on leaf lettuce. Sprinkle with flax seed. Wrap banana in leaf lettuce.
Appetizers
Hummus
1 cup chickpeas sprouts (sprouted overnight)
Juice of 1 lemon or lime
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons raw tahini
Optional seasonings (to taste): cumin, sea salt, chives, paprika, or cayenne pepper
Blend all the ingredients. Add water to thin to desired consistency.
Stuffed Mushrooms
1/3 cup pine nuts
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, packed leaves, chopped
1/3 cup fresh basil, packed leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup tomato, chopped
2 tablespoons Braggs
Whole mushrooms
Put all ingredients into a food processor (except tomatoes) and pulse chop several times. Stop to scrape down the sides and repeat. Add the tomatoes and continue to pulse chop until just blended. Keep a texture to apesto, it shouldn’t be a puree. Remove stems from mushrooms and stuff the filling into the cap of the mushroom. Place on a dehydrator sheet at 105 degrees for 2-4 hours.
Corn Chips
4 cups sweet corn, fresh or frozen
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon tomato powder
Chop corn in a food processor until fine. Add seasonings and process until combined. On a dehydrator tray, spread about 1/8” thick. Slice diagonally from left to right into triangles. Dehydrate for about 5 hours.
Dinner
Mashed Potatoes
6 cups chopped cauliflower
¼ cup flax seed oil
Spike all-purpose seasoning, to taste
Process cauliflower in a food processor until grainy. In a large pot, combine the processed cauliflower, oil, and seasoning and cook until heated and combined.
Sunburgers
2 cups sunflower seeds, soaked 6-8 hours
½ cup carrots
½ cup celery
3 green onions, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
¼ cup fresh basil
¼ cup fresh parsley
Process all ingredients in a food processor. Make patties and dehydrate at 105 degrees on a teflex sheet until dry, about 12-24 hours. Turn patties over after 6 hours.
Vegetable Kabobs
4 mushrooms
1 zucchini
½ cauliflower
1 red bell pepper
2 carrots
1 onion
2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled
2 cloves garlic
½ cup Braggs
2 cups water
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
Clean and cut the first 6 vegetables into chunks. Blend remaining ingredients and pour over vegetables in a bowl. Marinate overnight in refrigerator. Put onto wooden skewer and dehydrate for 24 hours at 105 degrees.
Drinks
Energizing Smoothie
½ cup filtered water
¼ of a whole pineapple, peeled and cut into pieces
10 strawberries
1 mango, peeled and cut into pieces
1 banana
3 ice cubes
Process in a blender until creamy. Enjoy!
Almond Milk
1 cup soaked almonds
3 cups water
1 vanilla bean, seeds scooped out
3-5 soft pitted dates or other sweetener to taste (honey, stevia, etc.)
Blend the soft almonds with the water until smooth. Strain the mixture through a strainer into a big bowl. Save the almond pulp in a container and put in the refrigerator for later use. Put the almond milk back into the blender and blend in the vanilla and sweetener until smooth. This milk will last in the refrigerator for no more than 5 days. Shake well before using.
Golden Smoothie
2 kiwis, peeled and sliced
1 banana
½ cup orange juice
½ cup frozen mango chunks (or other frozen fruit chunks)
Blend all the ingredients until smooth. If desired, pour over ice cubes when serving.
Dessert
Cinnamon Walnut Turtles
2 cups walnuts
1 cup honey
½ cup cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
In a large bowl, mix honey, cinnamon, and vanilla into a paste. Stir in walnuts until thoroughly coated. Form into small clusters and dehydrate at least 24 hours.
Fig-Raisin Pudding
2 cups 2-day sprouted wheat and rye
1 ½ cups black mission figs, soaked overnight
1 ½ cups raisins, soaked in fig water for 1 hour
Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth.
Simple Apple Dessert
4 red, sweet apples
Cinnamon, to taste
Water
Core the apples and grate 2 of them. Puree the grated apples with some water in a blender. Cut the remaining apples into little cubes and place in a bowl or plate. Pour the pureed apples over the cubes; add some cinnamon and serve.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Low glycemic diet
When it comes to healthy eating guidelines, there is quite a variety in them. But one thing that all of these varieties have in common is the key nutritional message of eating low-GI. The Glycemic Index (GI) suggests consuming carbohydrates with a more complex molecular structure, such as starch, rather than consuming the simple ones such as sugar.
This index was formulated about two decades ago during the time when researchers were looking into the dietary recommendations for diabetes induced patients. They came up with the conclusion that carbohydrates like sugar and starch does not resolve the blood-glucose levels in our body. This index is basically an estimation measuring the aftermath of food consumption on our bodies’ blood-glucose levels. It is conventionally measured on a scale of 1 to 100.
After meals, high levels of glucose are induced in our bodies. These are known as glucose spikes which holds the risk of damaging our blood vessels as well as our arteries and they stimulate an excess of insulin as well.
The idea of consuming these low-GI foods suggests avoiding those glucose spikes in our meals which will aid in reducing the risk of heart as well as several other chronic diseases which are the implications of the fluctuations in the blood-glucose levels of our bodies. Its main motive is to reduce the blood-glucose levels significantly in order to enable our bodies to generate a constant cascade of energy in order to stay healthy.
The consumption of high GI foods is discouraged when it comes to weight control for an individual for two reasons. The first reason states that after having a meal containing a high-GI level, the glucose spikes trigger hunger in an individual’s body because he/she is experiencing a highly significant reduction in the glucose level of his/her body after meals for approximately 90 minutes to two hours. As a result, low-GI foods are suggested due to the fact that they help the individual in feeling fuller for a significantly long time period, which in turn helps them to stop looking for snacks on hourly intervals. Secondly, as stated earlier, that the consumption of high-GI foods induces quite a lot of insulin in our body. The consumption of a high-GI diet stimulates a lot of insulin in our body, which actually makes the storage of fat easier and also makes it difficult to burn efficiently.
Experts in this case recommend that a low-GI food should be included in meals, two times a day. This recommendation doesn’t forbid anyone from avoiding high-GI food completely, rather, putting a low-GI item on most meals. Foods such as fruits and vegetables, with the exception of potatoes are recommended to be consumed regularly for their health benefits without thinking about their GI values and only considering their low, medium and high ranges of crucial carbohydrate content in them. Breads, cereals during breakfast, pasta, rice and selecting a couple of food with low-GI content will be adequate for an individual to enjoy the health benefits produced by the meal.
Low-GI foods are essential for diabetics. This is because, unlike the high-GI foods, the low-GI foods disintegrate in the intestines at a slower rate. This enables the release of sugar to be slow, preventing a rush which forces the blood sugar levels to rise, which results in the readings of the blood sugar levels in our bodies to be balanced and uniform. Basically, low-GI means a low level of carbohydrates in certain food. Basmati rice is one of the best examples of this particular index and is actually considered as an exception.
A low glycemic index diet might not be highly significant when it comes to weight loss, even though it does contribute to it eventually, the most important thing that makes people on this particular diet content is that their blood sugar levels and blood pressure are stable and even making their meals more enjoyable and at the same time, healthy.
This index was formulated about two decades ago during the time when researchers were looking into the dietary recommendations for diabetes induced patients. They came up with the conclusion that carbohydrates like sugar and starch does not resolve the blood-glucose levels in our body. This index is basically an estimation measuring the aftermath of food consumption on our bodies’ blood-glucose levels. It is conventionally measured on a scale of 1 to 100.
After meals, high levels of glucose are induced in our bodies. These are known as glucose spikes which holds the risk of damaging our blood vessels as well as our arteries and they stimulate an excess of insulin as well.
The idea of consuming these low-GI foods suggests avoiding those glucose spikes in our meals which will aid in reducing the risk of heart as well as several other chronic diseases which are the implications of the fluctuations in the blood-glucose levels of our bodies. Its main motive is to reduce the blood-glucose levels significantly in order to enable our bodies to generate a constant cascade of energy in order to stay healthy.
The consumption of high GI foods is discouraged when it comes to weight control for an individual for two reasons. The first reason states that after having a meal containing a high-GI level, the glucose spikes trigger hunger in an individual’s body because he/she is experiencing a highly significant reduction in the glucose level of his/her body after meals for approximately 90 minutes to two hours. As a result, low-GI foods are suggested due to the fact that they help the individual in feeling fuller for a significantly long time period, which in turn helps them to stop looking for snacks on hourly intervals. Secondly, as stated earlier, that the consumption of high-GI foods induces quite a lot of insulin in our body. The consumption of a high-GI diet stimulates a lot of insulin in our body, which actually makes the storage of fat easier and also makes it difficult to burn efficiently.
Experts in this case recommend that a low-GI food should be included in meals, two times a day. This recommendation doesn’t forbid anyone from avoiding high-GI food completely, rather, putting a low-GI item on most meals. Foods such as fruits and vegetables, with the exception of potatoes are recommended to be consumed regularly for their health benefits without thinking about their GI values and only considering their low, medium and high ranges of crucial carbohydrate content in them. Breads, cereals during breakfast, pasta, rice and selecting a couple of food with low-GI content will be adequate for an individual to enjoy the health benefits produced by the meal.
Low-GI foods are essential for diabetics. This is because, unlike the high-GI foods, the low-GI foods disintegrate in the intestines at a slower rate. This enables the release of sugar to be slow, preventing a rush which forces the blood sugar levels to rise, which results in the readings of the blood sugar levels in our bodies to be balanced and uniform. Basically, low-GI means a low level of carbohydrates in certain food. Basmati rice is one of the best examples of this particular index and is actually considered as an exception.
A low glycemic index diet might not be highly significant when it comes to weight loss, even though it does contribute to it eventually, the most important thing that makes people on this particular diet content is that their blood sugar levels and blood pressure are stable and even making their meals more enjoyable and at the same time, healthy.
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