Vegan Sugar and Flour cookies!

This is the first ever food picture I am posting on a public blog.I usually don't post pictures or recipes because people steal the hell out of anything that is put out for free on the Internet.
Either ways, This picture is for Wayne-My godfather.I call him Pa!
Hey pa.."Here you go>A plate full of vegan cookies for you!"

  

The recipes are not posted here because they will appear in a future vegan cookbook.
Feel free to ask for more pictures or food info.My email is on my profile page.You can also tweet me up.Twitter stream on the right.Thanks

Potato,Potato!

When i first turned vegan a year and few months ago, The one argument that helped me get convinced to go vegan and yet feel this sense of comfort was that I will still have french fries to eat.After all , French fries are vegan.The ultimate vegan comfort food-Starch and fat laden!The ultimate splurge!
The potato-A great food.Instant source of starch.Starch is good.Starch is a complex carbohydrate that our body breaks down and uses the sugars thereof to make energy from.Carbohydrates are good for us.It is only when we eat more than what we require that the body then decides to store the excess as fat.Infact the body will store excess of proteins as fat too.ya know!So if you eat more proteins than you require, it will still make you fat.
I was recently watching this documentary on farming and the green revolution and mono-farming and mixed farming and such.They talked about Potato--There are a thousand different varieties.And yet most of the world probably knows of only two or three-The Russett is just overused.The golden yukon comes a close second.
But, to think that there are a 1000 varieties(infact 2000 or more) kinda takes you aback and makes you think.We preferentially farm certain varieties of plants and in some way contribute to the principle of SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST in a very skewed twisted manner.
Did you know that prior to farming, the naturally occurring potato was poisonous to eat?The natural defense of the plant protecting itself against animals was this poisonous alkaloid that it produced right under it's skin, which kinda makes the underskin area of the potato a lil green.Boiling essentially deactivates this alkaloid.So the next time you see a slightly greenish potato, think of the alkaloid.
Thanks to Humans discovering fire and cooking thereof, we all now eat up potatoes like crazy.Remember, potatoes are good for ya, but please eat in moderation!Enjoy!Also, try eating the other varieties and farming them too. After all everyone of them deserves a chance to rule our hearts!

My Hot Beverage alternatives to coffee! More about Coffee!

I know , I know I haven't blogged in a month or TWO.  First off let me start off with blaming twitter.I have been twittering or tweeting like crazy these past two months.I guess it is the easy factor of just needing to type in a mere 140 characters or so . 

  Anyways, while I was tweeting on twitter about how i am gonna try find hot beverage alternatives to coffee ..someone replied back asking me what I had in mind. I had quite a list in mind..So, decided , why not just blog about it .

Why do people drink coffee?

First off, coffee has a lot of bio active components but the most important component that we look for is caffeine.Caffeine per say is a stimulant-makes us active, alert and even happy. But , in lieu of its same effect, overconsumption of great amounts can lead us to become jittery and hyper too.

Some other reasons people drink coffee is 

a)instead of water when thirsty.

I have myself noticed that sometimes when I am really thirsty, i kinda don't immediately feel like i need to drink water.Instead I have this craving to drink coffee.The sad part though about this situation is that coffee is a diuretic--It actually causes the kidney to excrete out more water from the body making the body even more dehydrated.So yes,if you are thirsty, coffee is not the right drink to drink at all.

b)when i need of something warm or hot to warm the innards when it rains or is cold weather

Drinking cups and cups of steaming hot coffee just coz it is cold outside is not a great idea after all. As such in winters coz it is so cold outside, our body doesn't send you signals asking for water and on top, water does get lost from the skin even when cold. So we do need our water quota each day no matter what the weather outside.Water is our vehicle to excrete toxins produded in our body.On top of all this limited water intake, we end up drinking alcohol and coffee in large amounts and both of them are diuretics  and they end up making you lose more water from the body.

c)To cure the blues

Because of its stimulant effects and by virtue of other biologically active compounds, coffee does literally pep you up . 

Q.So, is coffee bad for us?How much is okay?

Coffee is not bad at all. It is not bad if you consume just a single 150-200 ml cup of milked coffee each day. Please remember that coffee can be addictive and also can cause you get hyper and insomniac if consumed in large amounts.Yes, compared to other mind altering substances, coffee really may not alter your perception or sensorium and thus is SAFER than other substances like alcohol or drugs..but then, it does alters sleep patterns .

Q.Why am i looking for hot beverage alternatives for coffee?

I strictly limit my coffee intake to that single cup of coffee early in the morning just to kick me awake. I don't drink any more ever, unless I am on a night shift and absolutely nodding off or some such which hardly happens if i have had a good 8 hrs of sleep in the past 24hrs.Ideally, If you are nodding off that means your body is really tired and wants rest. Coffee is not the solution to nodding off .Sleeping is the best solution for nodding off.So, anyways, the past week or so , random sleep timings have led me to drink 3 cups a day and then I noticed that ,THE THREE CUPS OF COFFEE PER DAY  were perhaps the real reason behind my silly nightmares and fitful sleep and then the VICIOUS CYCLE of sleepy groggy days that follow the fitful poor quality sleep nights and then i drink coffee to keep awake.. 

  Contrary to popular belief, not drinking coffee 4 hours prior to sleep is not going to prevent insomnia ESPECIALLY if you have consumed more than 500ml of coffee prior in the day.. the coffee still circulates in your system longer and thus might still give you insomnia.

IF YOU ARE A LARGE COFFEE DRINKER AND HAVE INSOMNIA PROBLEMS, AND IF YOU CAN MANAGE TO SOMEHOW CUT COFFEE COMPLETELY JUST DO SO . 

  Speaking of which that is what  I am planning to do in the next three days, just to detox myself of the overdosing i have done in the past week. Also, i have noticed that i sometimes drink coffee just coz it is so cold outside or raining and i want something warm.

HERE IS MY PLAN 

Here is my list of non coffee hot beverages I am looking at instead of coffee

1/Tea- Tea has a lesser conc of caffeine and thus will give me (hopefully) lesser nighmares 

2/Hotchocolate-Also, even lesser caffeine.More than anything a soymilk hot chocolate is greatly vegan when made with cocoa powder and is damn tasty and is a hot treat on a cold day.

3/Warm salty spiced soymilk-I think they actually do drink warm salted soymilk early in the morning in china instead of coffee. I guess it is nutritious, replenishes the salt in the body(sodium and chloride).The spice kinda accentuates and makes the soymilk special

4/Warm soup- Well, for one, this takes a long time to make when compared to a quick cup of coffee in a microwave and as all of you know, I will not touch a canned soup spiked with preservatives and color and what not..But then, yes , microwaving at tomato makes for a quicker soup . A good choice esp if i have a wee bit of time.

Why RAW VEGANISM may not be such a good idea afterall!

well, I turned vegan last year. it has been great.I was a vegetarian prior to that,so the transition wasn't as tough as some of the meat eaters might find it .

Anyways, Now that i am vegan, many people come up to me and ask if i will try and go all raw vegan in the next year, as if raw veganism is an upgrade from veganism. I say, "NO" 

  Well, for one exculsively raw food may not be a great idea . 

Raw veganism essentially excludes the heating process altogether and I have a problem with that. 

WHY COOKING FOOD IS A GREAT IDEA! 

Heat sterilizes food prior to consumption

Please remember that the food we eat is not sterile in any way.Cooking food is a great way to make sure that the food is safe enough to eat .There are lot of parasite eggs, worms, insects , dust etc that are present in fresh food-vegetables or otherwise. Plainly just washing them is not going to kill all of them.Some parasite infective forms though get easily killed by simple heating. Not just parasite eggs but many viruses and bacteria also get killed during the heating process. Needless to say, raw veganism usually avoids heat and thus skips an important sterlization process..

       

Heat breaks down fibrous food into easily digestible forms

Plant food is the greates for our bodies since it doesn't stagnate in our foodpipe and start rotting there for days like meat does, But having said that, some nutrients don't get absorbed fully coz the cellwalls of plant material are too tough to break down completely. Slightly steaming or cooking foods helps plant nutrients to become more assimilable and absorbable. Having said that, overcooking/frying/ovencooking might make foods lose their nutritive value by the same principle of heat breaking up nutrients into useless forms.Thus, slightly cooking plant foods is the key. Slightly cooked food is better than just raw or overly cooked food.

Heat breaks down some forms of plant food toxins in food to harmless forms

Many plant products, nuts etc have slight traces of toxins which easily get destroyed during slight cooking or steaming.Thus, cooking foods is a great idea just to make sure the harmful substances are broken down into less harmful or harmless structures.

Heating/cooking alters texture and taste of foods and make them more tasty or palatable

Point in question is vegetables which get tastier with a bit of steaming or roasting etc(again, please don't roast the hell out of food so that there are no nutrients left at all , even if that make them super tasty). Nuts when toasted get nuttier and tastier. Rice when cooked gets tastier, easily digestible and tastier too, same for potatoes and tubers etc.

Just because in raw veganism you are not heating things yourself doesn't mean you are not using products that were previoulsy processed in any way/Using a blender is a processing method in Itself Ya know!

I see a lot of raw vegans who use the blender a lot. I mean, i would rather eat crunchy semi cooked spinach rather than blend it raw. that way, i chew better, experience better natural texture of food and also break down spinach to take full advantage of its nutrient value. Blending uses electricity(so that cancels out the energy saved by not cooking) and seriously, why not enjoy the textures of food as is rather than blend it like that.Yeah, blending once in a while is a great alternative texture experience, but then using the blender like crazy everyday is really bad.After all , we do have teeth for a reason.

Speaking of teeth I don't want all the meat eaters saying, see, we have teeth to eat meat.. really? try chewing raw meat and tell me how long it takes for your silly lil non carnivorous human teeth to make a paste of the raw meat piece.Sure, we have teeth but we have herbivorous teeth.

   So, coming back to why raw veganism is not processed food free. See, I see a lot of coconut oil being used.No matter how virgin it is, some amount of processing has taken place to extract the oil from the coconut meat, yeah? Some machines very used to grate the meat, crush out the oil , then refine it and make it bacteria free.There ya go, raw veganism is not really that natural. Yeah, eating up raw pieces of coconut after freshly breaking open a coconut from a tree sure is a natural one though.

   I see a lot of raw vegans using cocoa power in recipes and calling it raw recipes. It is not really raw if the cocoa beans went through processing where they were first powdered, heated up , then cocoa butter seperated and the rest of the paste then dried up and packaged.That is major processing right there. Yeah? So that kind of raw veganism is not really raw at all.

    Which is why, you might as well cook most of your food prior to consumption.No biggie.Raw veganism is good only if really raw. If one is going to use coconut oil and cocoa powder and other preprocessed foods , why not just make that lil bit of cooking as acceptable too.

What is the ideal vegan diet ?

Raw is good in some way but then Cooking your food for most part ensures that it is safe to eat since heat kills most bacteria and viruses. Thoroughly wash your fruits and veggies and cook most veggies since they are more fibrous and have more minerals which get better absorbed after plant cell walls are slightly broken down with food.Eat your fruits raw since that ensures you get your water soluble vitamins intact which usually evaporate or get destroyed upon super heating . Include a lot of grains in your diet-whole grains is a great idea since that ensures consumption of fiber along with the complex starches.Our body runs of sugars , therefore, a low carb diet is a very foolish thing to do. Sure, don't stuff yourself like a pig.Overeating any food will make you fat be it protein or starch.So, eat in moderation. There ya go, that is it.

           

Cooking In an Iron wok-Great Iron source for vegans

First off, as you as you tell people that you are vegan, they have a pitiful shocked out look on their faces, as if they just witnessed a starvation case or some such.The truth of the matter is , veganism is the only healthy way of diet . It is only because of lack of familiarity with any ingredients other than pieces of another animal's flesh that makes them think that vegans don't eat much.In fact we eat much better than the average meat eater.We tend to have a better variety in foods, more fiber and more vitamins too.  One concern that people often express is, "How can we make sure we get enough Iron and enough calcium?"

            I already wrote a brief but informative blog about vegan calcium sources. About Iron, yes, spinach is a great source and it is very commonly available too. Don't cook the hell out of your spinach though , because overcooking removes all vitamin C and vitamin c is what helps absorb both the calcium and iron abundant in the spinach. 

     Let us get back to Iron for a minute.I am going to write another mini blog listing common foods which have decent amounts of iron in them and those which are vegan but commonly available in the remotest of countrysides even. 

     Let us just talk about the wok shall we. I used to cook my noodles and stir fries in a large nonstick pan. It works great in terms of no trouble cooking. No stuck up food at the bottom of the pan, all even cooking and what not. Lately I haven't had enough time to make sure I eat spinach everyday. And that got me thinking of ways to ensure that i included enough iron in most of my vegan meals, spinach or not. That suddenly made me remember about the charm of Iron utensils. Of course, cast iron won't do. A pure iron wok is what you need. A pure iron wok for stir fries kinda scrapes small traces of iron each time you scrape together a stir fry in it. NO , I am not joking. Trust me, it does. Just as much as bits of Aluminium get scraped up when people used to cook food in large aluminium pans in yonder times.Till ofcourse Alzheimer's disease was associated with aluminium utensil usage. So, yes, don't use any mixed alloys or aluminium dishes or those cheap tin crock pots for cooking.Stick to good ole stainless steel or ceramic or clay. iron is just fine. After all, most of Hb(hemoglobin ) needs iron in its structure. So yes, An iron wok is a great idea irrespective of how much spinach you include in your diet. Especially women who lose some amount of Hb each month during menstruation. 

  Also make sure you use pure iron woks only. I reiterate here, don't use pathetic cheap lil alloys. As far as where you can get a good iron wok. Try china town. Ask for thick iron woks. You it as cheap as 4 -5$ if you know how to bargain. how to test if it is pure iron,"you scrape the surface and then smell. It needs to smell rusty or irony in some way" Ask the wok seller though.They will tell you if it is a mixed alloy . Cheers.

Great breakfasts-vegan breakfast options

A lot of meat eating people are so used to rut of eating pig pieces in the morning , they get so used to not having to think and decide what to make for breakfast since ofcourse it is gonna be eggs and some pig pieces. they quite forget that eating the same thing over and over is not really luxury . 

  After having given up eggs, I suddenly was left with the question, Now what do i do for breakfast?

For the first few days, it looked like there is no choice, nothign available, what does one eat if they don't eat eggs for breakfast. Then slowly i figured that i must research to find foods that will substitute by calcium needs adequaltely and more than anything else, it is so necessary for any breakfast to be laden with carbohydrates. As you all know, when we sleep for 8 or more hours, we are starving during that period and the body needs carbohydrates after having starved that long. Protein is not really a requirement . We can have protein but like i mentioned in one of my older blog entries, there is only so much of protein a body needs especially if you are one of those people who doesn't do much hard manual labor. 

           Here is a list of great breakfasts i eat nowadays, all vegan, all much more tastier than any non vegan breakfast I have ever eaten. They are not any pricier than a non vegan breakfast even

1/ Nice toasted white or whole wheat bread with tomatoes , cucumber and some vegenaise with a nice cup of soy latte

2/ Good cup of granola with nuts and raisins and cornflakes and wheat flakes with guava nectar and some good coffee .

3/Nice tofu scramble with pepper and tomatoes ,coffee and or fruit juice

4/ Nice warm bagel(vegan) with fruits and some good hot chocolate

5/Millet and lentil pancakes with sugar and fruits and coffee

6/Nice stuffed wheat breads again with fruits and coffee

Anyways, it is all about coming out of that meat and egg breakfast rut and thinking different.  These six sets are just examples , I have had

7/ bean tortillas with potate falafels with soy yogurts another day.. 

8/Nice pasta with olives and tomatoes(yeah , pasta for breakfast, why not?
 

4

Homemade mustard and condiments

There is nothing better than homemade condiments. I know, I know, many of you are going, "Awww, she now wants us to slave in the kitchen and make our own condiments.Surely, she doesn't know what tight routines we all have"

Well, I for one do understand that when you have no time to even cook a normal meal, making your condiments would be like a herculean task. But, having said that, I secretly also am of the opinion that people often end up not having time not because they actually don't have time but because they mismanage time. I am a physician with tough working hours.The one day that i get as an "off"day, I make my week's worth of condiments and ready mixes and what not .All because , first off , I am vegan. It gets quite embarrassing constantly asking every chef at every restaurant if they include any non vegan recipes and yada yada yad. I find it less cumbersome to pack a whole day's meals(lunch+snack+drink+extra snack) along early in the morning before I leave home, just so that I can peacefully eat my wholesome tasty homemade vegan meals whenever I get hungry,instead of having to deal with stares and irate chefs .

So yeah, I made homemade mustard. Will make a batch of homemade garlic vegenaise too . Coming to think of it, Homemade condiments are better . Why? Just go read the labels of your salad dressing. You won't believe how many unknown ingredients there are in there. Things that you never knew went into(or needed to go into) a thousand island dressing if you made it at home.
So, well, if these ingredients don't figure in the original homemade recipes how come they are in the store bought ones?
That is because when you design for a condiment to sit on a store shelf for months on end till a customer buys it, you design the recipe in such away so that it stays stable and presentable while it sits there on the shelf and also you don't want it to spoil while it sits there on the shelf like that.

What do the companies do for that?
They add a lot of preservatives, some conditioners and stabilizers to keep the salad dressing from splitting, some other stuff to maintain the constant acidity, again so that it won't split up and such and also to prevent bacteria and other gunk growing in it. So, in short, you are buying yourself a bottle of chemicals in lieu of a salad dressing.
Most store bought condiments also taste very chemically to me. I wonder how some people actually crave these chemical tasting stuff. I guess they are just plain hungry and when you are hungry you will eat anything and everything feels tasty.Yeah?Maybe they never ever tasted a fresher and original version of a salad dressing at all !
Another advantage of  homemade condiments is that they cost a fraction of what you would spend if you bought it at the store. You can also be assured that it is fresh, coz , duh, you know that yourself when you actually made it .
Homemade condiments are preservative free too.
How long did it take me to make Homemade mustard? well, It prolly took me a good 20min  from scratch to finish and this batch will last me at least a month or more. 20 min is not as long ,especially given how many people spend 20 min just fooling around on the Internet or chatting or gossiping on the phone or idly playing video games and what not. With those 20 minutes, you can make yourself a month's worth of creamy tangy homemade vegan mustard. How about that?


Recipes not being posted here due to plagiarism concerns.If you need the recipe place a request for the recipe in the comments section and I will get around to it.
EVERYTHING THAT I COOK ARE RECIPES THAT I MYSELF DESIGN OR DEVICE..Hence, I am holding on to those recipes for a FUTURE VEGETARIAN COOKBOOK.

HumanS are NOT carnivores. Information about veganism.

I turned vegan in july 2008, Have successfully managed to stay vegan though I was really skeptical about my capacities at resisting cheese and eggs since I was a major cheese addict. Most other people cannot give up certain foods not because of the simple reason that they like them but because many of these said foods contain or release certain substances in the body which have an action on the brain similar to opiates. Thus these substances have the propensity to make people want to crave them and want to eat them over and over. Examples of such foods are eggs, cheese and red meat. Due to such addictions people might be too unwilling to even try veganism.
They start making excuses about how
EXCUSE 1/We are all carnivores --
Well, we are scavengers , we are not carnivores coz we don't have large jaws that can bit through a large animal and eat raw meat. We are not carnivores since naturally we have no capicity to hunt with our bare hands without instruments. Lions, Tigers , crocodiles and sharks are true carnivores since they can prefectly hunt their prey without any outside help of instruments and such. We on the other hand pick up pieces of dead animals from supermarket shelves and then call ourselves carnivores
EXCUSE 2/Oh what about our protein needs -
First of all animal protein has no inherent fiber in it. Our digestive systems are very very long much similar to plant eating herbivores. When an intestine is meters long , the food only passes very slowly.This only foods containing undigestible fiber can have enough bulk to pass along these long herbivorous intestines. So, our intestines are not designed to consume and properly digest animal proteins.
Also, Our daily protein intake must only be 20% of our daily calorific diet. An average weighing human who does moderate work will prolly require just 1600-2000 kcalories of energy and 20% of that is around 400 kcal of energy be derived from proteins(any protein-not just animal protein) Each gram of protein approximately yeilds around 4.5kcal of energy .So , our daily protein intake must only be around 90g . Please remember that a combination of lentils in a single serving of a very small portion of 90-100g is what our body needs in terms of protein requirement.
In contrast, a large steak by itself is fiberless protein with marbled fat and this protein by itself is 200-400g per serving and thus giving us more calories and proteins than a human being required.
I explain all this coz people use the "oh but what about our protein requirement if i become vegan" clause each time I talk about veganism.
Also, if you eat a nice bowl of lentils which weigh around 100 grams , you fulfil your daily requirement of protein and feel full at the same time.
If you, on the other hand eat a single small piece of meatweighing 100g , you don't feel full at all. If you eat more meat enough to make you feel full , you are overstuffing yourself with protein you don't need. Why do you think this happens? coz meat is not our natural diet.Our bodies are designed to not stop eating till we are full. Lentils thus work for us. We can eat as much as want till we feel full and yet we won't overeat in terms of calorific intake. . Also, this meat sits and rots in our colon as it has no fiber and give rise to coloncancer in the long run in heavy meat eaters. There has been an increased incidence of colon cancer off late due to the easier availability of meat off supermarket shelves and thus increased consumption of meat.
Also, there is something calling NITROGEN BALANCE in our body. Proteins are nitrogen containing molecules . when meat is consumed at more than 100 g per day(which on a average all meat eating people do if they eat two meals with meat in it) , it tips off the nitrogen balance and your kidneys work overtime to work off and bring this nitrogen balance to normal. To explain this further, people who were purely on a animal protein diet and nothing else especially Atkins etc, within a couple of weeks the urine started smelling really WEIRD in the words of the subjects themselves. This is the kidney trying to expel all toxins to bring back the nitrogen balance within normal limits. Thus regular meat eating puts pressure on yoru kidneys and can actually lead to kidney stones . You can clearly note how your urine and fecal matters starts smelling less offensive if you have been on a meat free diet for more than two weeks. Try it out and let me know
EXCUSE 3/Oh how can we get calcium without milk-
You need first understand that milk is the breast secretions of a pregnant cow. A cow has to get pregnant and give birth to a calf before being able to start producing milk. I am sure you get the point when i say that obviously nature hasn't designed any animal where it depends on another animal's pregnancy state for its own calcium needs. There were no farms during the time of early man. yeah? There was absolutely no way man could ensure that wild buffaloes would first get pregnant and then let themselves get milked or some such. All these foods are acquired tastes and altered food patterns. A cow's milk is designed for the rapid growth of a calf and not for calcium needs of an adult human being. Moreover the calcium that is present in cow's milk is present in combination with other substances that make it not easily absorbable in our intestines.
There are better and easier sources of calcium in our plant sources. Easily available are spinach, broccoli, millets etc. oranges have good amount of calcium too. And also the calcium from plant sources is more easily absorbed too.
EXCUSE 4/We are on top of the FOOD CHAIN , this is how nature works yada yada, so veganism doesn't make sense
Well, first off, A food chain is a chain, It doesn't make sense talking about top and bottom of a chain. Anyways, I already explained how , if we are left in the wild with no instruments, we are prefectly incapable of hunting down a cow or even a pig with our bare hands. I mean a cow is larger than us and a pig is heavier than us and both of them run faster than us. Have you see a lion hunt a deer? A lion is not only heavier than the deer, it runs as fast as a deer and has large heavy paws and very very long carnivorous canines. The kind of small tiny canines we have,those are not even useful to crack open an almond nutshell. Really. Our bodies much like other monkeys is suited for gathering fruit and gathering mushrooms, gathering stuff and eating them up.Yes agriculture allowed us to give back to nature by planting and growing our own foods rather than just constantly gather things from plants and never propogate them. But even prior to agriculture, we were only gatherers coz we are perfectly incapable of hunting. Our bodies are not designed to hunt at all. If still in doubt, go watch some animal planet where a lion or a cheetah or a shark or a crocodile or even a wild dog hunts for its food. Can we do that? NO, NOT WITHOUT INSTRUMENTS. so, yeah, WE ARE NOT CARNIVORES, we are plain humble scavengers .
EXCUSE 4/Oh veganism or vegetarianism is an eating disorder
whoa, where did this come from. It looks like people are so used to what they have been eating since they were born that they somehow have come to view that eating pattern as normal and therefore view anything different as an eating disorder primarily as a way of IMMATURE EGO DEFENCE. you know, something like, fear of the unfamiliar. If you were born in a meat eating family, you most likely were fed meat all through childhood and therefore that is where emotional childhood attachments lie. That is what feel normal to you.But please remember that just because that is what you are used to doesn't make it normal food.
A cow always only eats plant matter but off late, the factory farmers decided to save up money and therefore have started feeding these animals ground up body parts of their own species after butchering out the saleable parts. So, now we have a whole bunch of cows in farms that are eating other cow remains. People start eating anything when they get hungry, that doesn't mean it is normal. So yes, if you are eating meat and that is what your great grandmother ate doesn't mean that meat is normal.
So yeah a horse or a cow only naturally eats grass . Will you call that an eating disorder too? NO, right? Well, we are gatherer herbivores too. We are not natural meat eaters. So infact, eating meat is the actual eating disorder where humans have taken to eating anything to survive in areas where plants don't grow year round.
Do you remember that episode in Sienfeld where kramer feeds the horse canned meat? Well, the horse ate it and kept farting all the time. You know why? The same reason most meat eaters fart horribly smelly stuff. Neither of our intestines are naturally designed to digest animal protein.
Also, vegan and vegetarians are less likely to get obese or get diabetes or cardiac disease. Why? Because they are eating what their bodies can take. Meat eaters on the other hand are pressurizing their bodies and testing the limits each day. No wonder the body gives up and starts showing signs of stress aka Diabetes, kidney stones or cardiac disease.

excuse 5/Oh vegan food tastes like crap
dude, the reason why it tastes like crap is because you didn't make it right. The reason why you didn't make it right is coz you never ate good vegan food in your life. You know how recipes are handed down from parents to children. Btw, If you undercooked and underseasoned meat I am sure it tastes even crappier than badly made vegan food . The solution to this is to first start understanding and accepting that vegan food is our natural food . Meat is the abnormal food. This positivity will then allow you to buy and try out all vegan foods(which there are a lot many and many of them are actually cheap products too if you start thinking clear. potatoes are vegan , yeah? yeah, Tomatoes are vegan, yeah? yeah. Olives are vegan , yeah? yeah. nuts are vegan , yeah? yeah. ) Infact most meat dishes depend on plant ingredients to make them tasty. you know how a few herbs and some lemon and pepper makes meat palatable? well, you essentially had to use vegan ingredients to make your meat more edible. That says a lot , doesn;t it? it says that our bodies are naturally inclined to find vegan smells and tastes edible . yeah?
So, yes, with some lil googling you will easily find recipes with vegan dishes and recipes. Even otherwise, all it takes is, buy anything that you find vegan, come home, experiment and do not be afraid to try. You will be baffled at how much more variety there is in vegan food than in meat.
Try it , be objective, be ready to take up a challenge and have an open mind. Do your body a favor and love your fellow animals and become vegan today. Trust me, your body will thank you.

p.s: yeah for the close minded stubborn person who told me, " Never eat anything your great grandmother ate"
Dude, your grandmother never ate this much processed food, no pocky, no cheerios no nothing. Cereals and pocky are modern day inventions much past your greatgrandmother.How come you are chomping them down like there is no tommorow? Also, if your greatgrandmother had never eaten what her great grandmother never ate and if in turn her great grandmother had never eaten what her great grandmother had never eaten, we humans would never had gotten around to eating meat in the first place.
So stop being stubborn, stop being afraid to give up things you are Addicted to and try . When there is proof that meat is not good, not for us, not for the animals, we must be humble enough to admit our mistake and give it up.
Trust me, I thought that i would never ever able to give up cheese but you know what, it is easy, The first two weeks are the toughest , after that our body goes back to our natural mode and you start realizing how much cow's milk and cheese smell weird in some ways.
I know this guy who went vegetarian for his girl friend for six months and finally when he broke up with her after six months and tried eating meat again, he kinda puked coz the bad smell and lack of texture was hard to ignore after months of crunchy good smelling food.. True story.

sphagetti and Vegan 'meat' balls

Funny how I call them meat balls. I have never eaten meat . My mom is vegetarian and she never made meat dishes at home. So, yeah, i never tasted meat ever . Like they say it tougher for meat eaters to become vegan coz they crave meat. Meat and chicken due stimulate the production of opiate like substances in the body when ingested and thus cause an addictive craving for meat. After all meat doesnt smell good and has no fiber and is not a natural diet of primates at all. So how then are so many people addicted to it? Well, the aforementioned reason of opiate simulative action.
Anyways, I like the look of a plate of sphagetti and meat balls. Look very inviting since it is usually served as a hearty portion and thus promises sateity of hunger .
sphagetti is my favorite pasta. All pastas are essentially made of the same durham wheat semolina meal, yet, just a different shape can alter our eating experience. Well, sphagetti is my fav for some reason. Perhaps the fact that i can lift up a bunch of thick strands and stuff myself silly is why i like sphagetti.
No recipes or pictures due plagiarism concerns . I am saving recipes for my future vegan cookbook.
If you need this recipe, post a request in the comments section and i will get around to it.
Chao

Fried potato cravings

It is just the skipped meals I guess. The potato cravings are just my body's way of asking for some good ole starch . Potato is commonly accused of being fattenning. It hardly is if eaten in moderate amounts. What potato is rich in is complex carbohydrates. it is not refined fiberless pure sugar. So, it is not fat at all. The only problem with the way people cook potato. Mashed potato is full of unnecessary cream and butter. French fries are dripping in oil and salt . that is the culprit.
Infact raw potato is rich in vit c and B vitamins. Believe it or not, A nice mildly boiled potato still retains many of its water soluble vitamins especially if boiled with the skin and then the skin is peeled off after boiling.
Yeah, anyways, though I usually eat boiled potatoes , these past three days, since i have been too busy with work leading to skipped or delayed meal times, I have ended up craving fried potatoes. yeah, I did make five batches of them in the past two days. A batch in my book would be a single medium sized potato semi deep fried . The reason my body started craving them would perhaps be because i was using up a lot of my brain to study and such leading to the brain needing instant energy aka carbs. Carbs are good for ya. Good carbs are good for you. So anyways, as much craving that I had for plain salty fried potatoes, by the fourth batch I started feeling the need to add in fresh chopped tomatoes. This combo made the meal more tasty and tangy too and healthy ofcourse. Gotta go now.

Energy Saving Cooking tips

I actually initially wrote this blog entry for my Ecology Blog. I then figured that it is only sensible to repost the cooking tips blog on my Cookblog as well.
So, here goes

well, someone reached my blog asking the question of
"whether a microwave saves more energy than a stovetop.?"
They reached my other blog entry where I talk about
'How A Microwave is better than both an Oven and a stovetop'.

I didn't compare the merits of Microwave over the stovetop in that blog entry as much as I did as to how a microwave is better than an oven.

Well, the thing is, a microwave works on a principle of using microwaves to shake the particles in your food and thus heat up your food.
Stove top uses electricity to heat up a coil (if it is a coil stove top) and then that heats the vessel in which you are cooking and thus heat enegry is transferred to your food through the vessel and then it cooks.

At the end of the day both of them do use electricity unless you are using a gas based stove top in which case, combustion of gases produces heat and that then heats a vessel and then the food.Well,
energy cosumption depends on
1/cooking methods,
2/the time you use to cook foods and
3/the vessels you use too.

So comparing just the methods of cooking without telling you about cooking utensils and cooking methods will be like telling you only half the truth.


COOKING UTENSILS--Use good conductors as cooking utensils. Copper is the best vessel to cook in . Copper heats up quickly, heats up evenly and so yeah, good. But then, If you are cooking acidic foods like tomato and what not, There is a possibility for the vessel reacting with the food. Stainless steel is great for cooking also. Iron is a good conductor also, also actually good if the iron keeps getting added to your food, especially to prevent iron deficiency anemia .Anyways, Using a good conductor vessel on a stove top prevents wastage of heat.

Speaking of which,
A gas based stove is better than a coil stove.
Why?
1/Better heat control,
2/lesser wastage of heat,
3/quick heating and quick cooling down preventing wastage again.

Which is the most efficient for heating up foods?
Definitely the microwave, coz it uses a different principle to make the food hot and it doesn't waste heat due to that very reason.Better than the stovetop coz when heating on a stovetop you have to stir and ofcourse you cannot stir up your apple or carrot cake, can you?

But having said that, If you are using a coil stove or a microwave,Please take note of the various details on the back of your equipment. When you know the volts and the watts, you can calculate the the electricity units that this appliance will consume per minute .

Which is where the duration of cooking plays a major role in which appliance is energy efficient!

You see, crock pot recipes use up hours and hours of cooking and well, end up wasting shocking amounts of energy. Here again, You could very well use a pressure cooker to get the same texture you could get out of four hours of slow cooking.A pressure cooker would make lentils in 15 minutes while a crockpot will in four hours. So yeah, choosing the right cooking utensil is also a key factor in determining which appliance will save energy.

Please note thatdifferent micowave ovens have different wattages sometimes.
Why use a large watted microwave when all you are doing is heat a cup of coffee? yeah?I shall write another blog entry where I teach you how you can calculate the power consumed by your appliance .

For now, I hope this kinda helps whoever wanted to know if a microwave is better than a stovetop.My answer,"a low wattage microwave cooks faster than a stovetop and by the virtue of the fact that the shorter time of use of appliance pretty much saves energy". yes. Please send in more queries if you want to know more

Kimchi and Sauerkraut

Kimchi is korean fermented cabbage. A different type of chinese cabbage fermented with chilly pepper paste and sea food .
Sauerkraut on the other hand is German fermented cabbage. English cabbage fermented with just plain salt.
IN both cases similar organisms ferment the cabbage and make it more palatable(less palatable depending on what you find palatable or agreeable taste)
Both these types of fermentation definitely reduce the myrocin induced cabbagey smell of cabbage and impart a more sourish taste to it.
Kimchi is used like a pickle in korea , as a side to a bowl of rice.
Sauerkraut is used to saute with bacons bits and onion for breakfast or in soups or stews per say.
The thing is, I make my own vegan version of kimchi and sauerkraut.
I make kimchi sans the seafood bits. I make sauerkraut the usual way but use it to make sauerkraut omelette or sauerkraut soups.
I love them both as condiments or in salads to spike up the deal .
I usually don't post recipes in here due to recipe stealers who won't give me any credit or link back to me on their foodblogs . I also am saving up the pictures and recipes for my future vegan cookbook. If inspite of this if you need my recipe, place a request in the comments section.If I accumulate twenty requests from 20 people, I shall take the time to post a step by step picture blog for the recipe.Free time is hard to come by and unless i have solid requests , I won't waste time watermarking stuff and putting them up on this blog.

My breakfast patterns from 2006-How I gave up eggs and milk one day

whoa , I cannot believe it is 2009. three years down the drain? Shall we call them that? Or three years of soul searching and self discovery.
Well, I am just gonna be happy and all positive and call them, THOSE THREE YEARS OF PERSONAL GROWTH AMONGST RELATIVE SELF IMPOSED SOLITUDE.
So yeah, I remember my breakfasts from 2006. I used to more patient, I used to take time to set my plates neatly on the table one by one after fixing them and then finally , I would make my cup of coffee and then lay this whole beautiful set up near the window of the balcony and then finally take a picture with the rising sun and then slowly proceed to eat them one after another.
I became vegan in the past six months. I was ovolacto vegetarian prior to that. For one, till i gave up eggs and milk, I was super addicted to both eggs and milk and cheese . To such an extent that though In my head I had been wanting to become vegan since the age of 14, I just could not fathom not eating eggs and being happy. I was afraid that If i stopped eating cheese, I would die or be miserable for the rest of my life. So for most part, I kinda felt like a hypocrite eating up tons of cheese and then talking about how animals are not part of our natural diet and such. One night suddenly I realized that the only way to gain respect in my own eyes would be to actually just give up eggs and that is that. I gave up eggs that night. I took my last eggs(there were three and i made a midnight snack with those three eggs and ate them up telling that they would be my last eggs. I ate them and rinsed my mouth( I don't remember if i did rinse ) and then with a nodding conviction went to sleep. I haven't eggs since then. Ya know what, it doesn't matter . coz , eggs do not belong to us. The wild hens would peck you if you attempted stealign their eggs in the wild. So yes, keeping a poor hen in a cage and not allowing it enough room even to turn around and then stupidly stealing those eggs and eating them up, not something we must be proud of. I haven't eaten eggs in six months, and I am very proud, I have more respect for myself than ever before. I haven't eaten cheese in six months or more, and surprise, surprise, I haven't died.
anways, My breakfasts in 2006 invariably used to contain eggs. each day one type of egg preparation. I also used to add up toasted bread with jelly or jam and butter and a small serving fo sliced fruit with each egg serving each morning. And a good latte to go with it all.
The pictures all llok cool, scarmbled eggs, bull's eye fried egg, frittatta, this and that, scones with eggs, cake with eggs and fruits. It was all great.
fastforward to 2009, my breakfasts contain nice bean tortillas, millet panckaes, corn bread, fruit , toast and jelly, vegan scones, raisin bun, vegan cinnamon bun, vegan bagels and what not. Infact, after I gave up egg, the variety of my breakfast has multiplied.
So yeah, Now I have this urge to go and look at all those breakfast pictures. Maybe I will go look right now.

Malting and fermentation as methods to enhance nutritive value

I did write a blog post about fermentation. I just gave out a basic definition of fermentation and how it can make foods more digestible. Now that I have talked about fermentation, why not talk about Malting.
Malting is a natural way of processing foods.
Malting essentially involves sprouting various types of grain and thus arresting this process of germination by suddenly application of moderate heat- as in not roasting out the germinated cereal but actually slow gentle heating of the germinated cereal and then finely powdering this grain.
Fermentation might occur to a lil extent during the time that the grain is left in damp conditions to sprout.
Either ways, Malting makes things easier to assimilate and digest. Therefore ofcourse in older times home malting of tough grains and then making baby food out of the malted grain was a better way to ensure that the baby is able to take full advantage of the diet being fed.
My gramma for one actually undertook huge projects of home malting to make baby food for her grandchildren(me included) I was trying to recall in my head what she used to do while she malted millets for my aunt's babies . No one really tries home malting anymore . They should though, especially if one is vegan and wants a super great milk supplement in the morning that does not contain non vegan ingredients in them. Look at it this way, On a sunday , if it takes a good 20 minutes to go out and then 20 minutes to order your breakfast and then 10 min to eat it and another 20 minutes to come back home., why not just save gas and save the environment and spend the two hours at home malting stuff that will last a whole month?
Anyways, if you look at modern protein supplements and those protein powders that people that work out partake of, many of them do contain one or more malted cereals in them. Go look on the food labels. Many liquors also use malted grains . so , if you are one big drunk ass, you sure are consuming some malted stuff .
So yeah, coming back to home malting, Germination is gonna be easy to do .Wet your grains damp , let them sprout.the tricky bit is the gentle heating part. What my grammy used to do was to sun dry the germinated grain, thus ensuring that everything dries gently but crisply dry . If you live in the sunny southern states, you could very well try this trick of drying things on your back porch on large polyethene sheets. works. try it and tell me how it worked.cheers.

spiced savory crunchy tea biscuits aka vegan shortbreadcookies

Damn, I did it. I did it big time, I made a great batch of these oh so slightly spiced, semi sweet, but slightly salty and ultra crunchy(read not so chewy and light and crumbly) shortbread cookies. These are prolly called tea biscuits in England and prolly called as biscuits to go with tea in turkey and some mediterranean countries.
I added italian dried herbs and some oh so good coarsely ground spices. Coz i wanted all the myriad of flavors. These are vegan cookies. But no earth balance used .i have an issue with Earth balance coz it uses palm oil and according to me palm oil cultivation is one of the chief causes of deforestation in favor of agriculture or commercial produce of palm oil. Seriously, we don't need anything other than plain ole vegetable oil to make those greasy cookies-not that my cookies were greasy .
These turned out so great and that i chomped down a good ten after dinner. Yeah, they were small light fragrant cookies.
So, it is all okay, with the cookie chomping in large numbers since they are small and bite sized.
I am thrilled coz i have been wanting to master the art of making shortbread cookies at home. These are perfect.
If you need a recipe, please place a request in the comments for this blog.when i accumulate twenty requests, I shall post a step by step picture blog to help you make these cookies. Till then, my recipes and pictures are under lock and key.

Home made Rose-Orange-coconut Hard candy-vegan candy

Made some homemade hard candy. I love candy. I need to pop them each time i feel hypoglcemic. I also have a sweet tooth. I have a desperate need to immediately eat something sweet after I eat a nice wholesome spicy lunch or dinner.
I don't like candy from the store. The usual reason, Not to my exact preference, Not available in the flavors i desire. Many of them have only artifical flavors and colors and preservatives etc.
Again, sugar by itself a preservative, so why add more preservatives.
So yeah, where on earth do you get rose-orange-coconut hard candy? all vegan candy at that?
well, At my home.
Making candy is not really tough as you might think.
Either ways, I have a large box of them now . Also, candies are better than chocolate(read my other entries on vegan chocolate and candy) coz they last longer . That way , one candy lasts a good 10 min of rolling around in the mouth rather than the quick bite and swallow action with one piece of chocolate.
Like always, NO recipe.
But if you do need step by step picture tutorials with recipes for this item, leave a comment under this entry.
if for any entry , i accumulate twenty requests, I shall give in and post the pictures nad recipe.
I mostly don't post recipes due to recipe stealers who don't give me credit while posting my own recipe on their blog. You see, I device these recipes on my own . I need credit. I am a credit hungry person.

Onion and multigrain flour savory pancakes

Prior to becoming vegan, Most of my breafasts used to be eggs cooked in different ways. But now that i am vegan, I switched to pancakes. All and sundry varieties making sure i get my daily quota of proteins and calcium and what not.
These pancakes we just right, just enoughly savoury and the onions were the best thing i could add to the batter.
Cool and tasty.
As usual no recipes posted here coz i don't like recipe stealers who give no credit to the original recipe makers.
If you need the recipe to this, leave a request on the comments.If I get more than 20 comments, I will post a wonderful step by step picture guide on how to make them.
cheers

Millet and lentil pancakes-A great way to use millets!

This one i fermented overnight.The batter. Fermentation helps pancakes rise too.
I had them, They tasted better than i had anticipated.
Worked well with a cuppa.
No recipes, not yet. If you need a recipe for these, place a request on the comments section .If 20 or more people place requests, I shall post a detailed step by step picture recipe for ya.

OCT 2013 UPDATE
Way back in 2008,when I started this vegetarian blog, I did so to make TINY records of my food diary..Just for myself.
Since then,the blog has expanded to include visitor requests,answering food and nutrition queries for readers and such.
This particular blog entry about MILLET and LENTIL PANCAKES basically was made for myself-food diary purposes,but then,this blog entry is ONE OF MY MOST VISITED blog entries on this blog...So, I figured I EXPAND IT FURTHER and add a wee bit more nutrition information for the benefit of the eager readers.

Again,basic questions first
WHAT ARE MILLETS?WHAT ARE LENTILS?
As many regular readers of this blog already know,I studied food biochemistry and biotech BEFORE i suddenly transfered during my final year in grad school to MED SCHOOL.Then i proceeded to complete my med school successfully and then NOW I AM A KICK-ASS medical doctor.
What my years in grad school prior to med school have done is,EQUIP ME to combine my medical knowledge and my intricate knowledge about food TO qualify me to provide a more EXPANDED AND SENSIBLE view of foods to my readers.
Anyways,each time I write specific food information,I LOOK THE RESPECTIVE WIKIPEDIA ARTICLES on those topics,NOT ,so that i can plagiarize from those entries onto my blog entry(much like so many ignorant parrot food-bloggers seems to be doing these days),BUT ,in order to read what is written there and then CORRECT any popular MYTHS or incorrect information THAT IS DOING THE INTERNET ROUNDS.
I also will then proceed to write nutrition info on those topics THAT IS NOT ALREADY there on the wikipedia page,SO THAT ,readers can get something extra from my page.

PEOPLE ASK ME,why not go and correct and edit the wikipedia page then?why write blog entries..
Well,FOR ONE,there is no gaurantee that someone else will not come and RE-EDIT what I painstakingly write there and more than anything,SINCE I AM A QUALIFIED expert on the subject of health and also nutrition,I MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY and credit for what I WRITE AND post blog entries, WHICH CAN THEN BE QUOTED on a wiki article later.maybe?

GOSH,
Anyways,COMING TO topic on hand,

MILLETS,WHAT ARE THEY?
millets are seeds of grassplants.AGain,WHEAT is also a seed of a grass plant,rice is also a seed of grass plant
And all the above are cereals.

What are cereals now?
Cereals are a category of food that we humans eat as chief sources of energy and calories.
Contrary to the nutritional FADS of the 90s ,where calories were considered the ENEMY,I insist,
our body runs on calories.WE NEED CALORIES.

it is only when we consume TOO MANY CALORIES,much more than what an average human body requires per day,that the consumed calories then get converted into fat and are stored as fat in the body, to be accessed for LATER USE.

WHAT IS FAT NOW?
FAT is a type of compound,that on breakdown yield MORE calories per gram than carbohydrates.

What are carboyhdrates?
gosh,look how the TRAIN OF QUESTIONING GOES?
again,carbohydrates are compounds made of carbon,hydrogen and oxygen.They are seen in large amounts in cereals and are great as an energy source .

so,yeah,coming back to MILLETS.

LET US COMPARE MILLETS versus rice and wheat
how do millets fare against wheat and rice
Actually,millets fare quite great.

Amongst the three,rice has the highest amount of calories per equal weight consumed.But,wheat and millets come a CLOSE second..and yeild considerable amounts of calories too.

REMEMBER,calories are GOOD for the body.We need calories.(i am a doctor, and I am telling you that,so ,you have to trust me)

Again,WHEAT FARES HIGHEST in protein content amongst the three.Most of wheat protein comes from GLUTEN..
millets fare on par with wheat when it comes to protein content,but NATURALLY, the protein in millets is NOT gluten.Gluten is specific to wheat.

sO,YEAH,

When it comes to searching for a cereals which have both carbohydrates and protein,BOTH ,wheat and millets FARE BETTER THAN RICE.

For people with gluten intolerance,millets are a great cereal choice.

again,BOTH Wheat and millets have comparable quantitites of calcium,so,really,can't choose one over the other..

BUT,,
HERE IS WHERE MILLET SCORES over wheat.

MILLET HAS AMAZING QUANTITIES OF B VITAMINS....much more than any other cereal food.

And millet,especially SORGHUM millet,HAS HIGHER QUANTITIES OF IRON than even wheat..
So GREAT SCORING POINT FOR MILLET THERE.

does millet score environmentally and agriculturally over other cereals?
aCTUALLY,damn yes,

Rice requires extremely MOIST waterlogged conditions to grow especially after sapling planting..once a field is chosen to grow rice paddy,it should be reserved for it forever..

wheat is relatively better when it comes to being able to grow it in DRIER conditions..

But MILLETS SCORE big time when it comes to being able to grow well in Arid to semi arid conditions.
Since,water is such a scarce commodity these days,thanks to the EXPLODING POPULATION,millets can be our ANSWER for our future....
so little watering is needed, with nutrition comparable to wheat or rice and better in vitamin content too..YAY!SCORE.

IT APPEARS that millets were FAR MORE USED than rice or wheat in ancient times.Maybe,our ancestors were agriculturally WISER than us..:))

how do millets taste?
Because we are so used to the taste of wheat and rice,we might take some time getting used to the taste of millets.
In my personal taste opinion,THEY ARE NUTTIER IN TASTE..and once you eat them ,over time,you develop a CRAVING for this nutty taste.

are millets easy to cook?
I think,once you cook them a few times USING DIFFERENT METHODS,you get the hang of it....
FERMENTED MILLET AND LENTIL BATTER PANCAKES ARE once such experiment of mine..
i didn't invent this method,but i have experimented and modified designing recipes for today's time
populations have been eating a VERSION of this idea for centuries now.
again,MILLETS, can sometimes take longer to cook.but,processes like PRE-FERMENTATION overnight, CAN , pre-digest then enough, to make them EASY TO COOK and easier to digest.
Since the water percentage in each grain of millet is FAR LESS than a grain of rice or wheat,THEY WILL REQUIRE more water per weight than rice or wheat,get it?

now coming to my millet and lentil pancakes
When I set out to update this article, i was planning to write about lentils too..but judging from how long this article already is,I SHALL reserve the lentil information for a seperate blog entry,k?
So,yeah,lentils are a great source of protein.
and when you combine a cereal with a protein and add in some vegetables, your diet BECOMES BALANCED.

enough said,
go to a cereal and grain place,
get your whole millets and lentils,
soak them,
for hours ,
then wet grind them,
then set them aside to ferment,
preferably overnight or longer (depending on if it snows in your city or town)
and then just lay them out as pancakes like you would breakfast pancakes on a griddle,
voila,
UBER TASTY,UBER TASTY...

TAGS: #millets, #lentils, #pancakes, #millets_vs_wheat, #millets_vs_rice , #millets_and_cereals, #recipes_with_millets_and_lentils,#fermenations,#fermented_batter , #nutrtional_information_about_millets,


For information about fermentation, please examine my tagcloud and click on fermentation..I have written more than one article on fermentation.
If you have any other specific question,please email me, and I shall get around to writing a blog entry based on your request.
cheers and good eating please!~

Easily available vegan sources of Calcium

As soon as I tell that I am a vegan, the people around me suddenly have this concerned look on their face. Whoa, what do you do for protein.
And what do you do for calcium.. Milk is so full of calcium and what do you .. ohhh, aaah.

well, for one, Elephants , are vegetarian. They derive all the proteins they need from non animal source. If An elephant can manage getting so big and strong eating just plant matter, I am sure I can too.

Here is a very small but useful list of plants or plant products that are immensely rich in calcium.

Oranges-- These are easily available.. many of us actually drink orange juice with breakfast. Not the best source of calcium but a decent source of calcium. Most packaged orange juices have preservatives or are made of concentrate. I prefer eating up a whole orange rather than drinking orange juice. That way i get the requisite fiber too.

Spinach- Any green leafy vegetable is a great source of calcium. Since most of us, vegans and non vegans alike use spinach very frequently, I have put this on my list. Spinach essentially is a good source of vit A too, All other vitamins infact. lots of fiber too. So yeah, just add in spinach wherever you can and you make sure you get your calcium.

Broccoli--yet again, I am only including items that everyone already is familliar with. That way hunting for your vegan calcium source is not really tough. I love broccoli. The fun part of cooking is making everything more tastier by choosing the right balance of salt and herbs . experiment and device recipes on your own.

Millets-- This is not such a common ingredient. But damn. This by far is the richest source of Calcium. I mean, You eat one serving of millets each day and you really will get more calcium than even milk . Use millet flour in cake making, or in bread making . Use millets for porridge and such. In africa, they make a fermeneted pancake out of mIllets called Injera. It is not only rich in calcium but is tasty as hell. Fermentation overnight makes the batter all fluffy for pancake making the next day. try it.

Soy tofu made with calcium coagulants. --Now now, you must remember that there are very many methods to make tofu. Some of them use calcium based coagulants and such type of coagulation adds to the calcium content of the tofu thus produced. So, be careful when you choose your tofu. You just might be under the false impression that all tofu is rich in calcium which it is not. It is the processing method that determines the calcium content of soy tofu. Please read the labels to purchase the rich type of tofu.

Nuts- almonds- Infact all nuts are very good sources of minerals .Many of them are laden with fat , so please only use nuts are garnishes or minimini snacks rather than chomping up platefuls of them. Almonds for one are surely rich in calcium. Though many vegans drink almond milk, I would rather suggest that all vegans eat a bunch of almonds so that they don't lose out on the vitamins and fiber in the skin of almonds.


yeah, the list is actually extensive , but I will stop here coz i don't want to overhwhelm the newbee vegans reading this page. let us do this with baby steps, Lil by little. K?

Also, all those vouching for how much milk is great for calcium, Please understand that the calcium in milk is in the presence of so much of protein that it hardly gets absorbed. What use is a ton of calcium if it goes waste?

Lotus root chips

Okay,some of you night not even be familiar with lotus root , Unless you are japanese or south east asian or east indian.
Lotus root is, well, just that, root of lotus.
You do know what a lotus is, right?
It growns in swampy ponds mostly freshwater. It propogates by tubers which run in the slush at the bottom.
during summers, the ponds dry up exposing these roots, and ofcourse, greedy hungry people dig them out and eat them
I was thrilled to find some at the grocers last week.
made some chips, though i had initially boght them for soups and stews.
ATe up all the chips too .In one go.
You see, I have these deep fried craving once every two weeks. I mostly don't like eating fried stuff, but once in two weeks, i have to eat a batch.

Thick potato soup

Something about potato is very very comforting.
I think it is the starch.
Starch is a complex carbohydrate and potato has minor quantities of protein and fiber to go with it.
Ideal meal for a person who is seriously hungry and raving for some fuel.
I made a large bowl of it and presently downing it all as I type.
So filling and comforting , I gotta go eat it before it gets cold.

Warm fermented Cornbread

Like i said in one of my recent blog entries, Fermentation prevents gas formation in the large intestine.
I feremented some cornbread batter, all vegan ofcourse, and absolutely loved the cornbread with some great coffee.
No recipes, no pictures, Not for now .Maybe after april 22.k?
chao
SEPTEMBER 2013
I really meant this TINY blog entry to be a mini-food-journal,but,judging from the number of search queries that lead to this blog entry,I ASSUME that a bigger,more elaborate blog entry is warranted on the subject of WARM FERMENTED CORNBREAD.

Fermentation is a process by which certain UNDIGESTIBLE components of otherwise tasty and nutritious food can be PRE-DIGESTED outside of the body using various MICROBIAL CULTURES and then this fermented product can be cooked and consumed.
I have written a separate blog entry on the finer details of fermentation.PLEASE SEARCH in my archives or look in my TAG CLOUD for the said topic.

hmmmmm,
I am gonna try and make this POSTNOTE as elaborate as possible,solely for the benefit for all the eager readers who come running to this blog entry searching for "FERMENTED CORNBREAD"

CORNBREAD,what is it?
Bread made from corn.
IT COULD BE LEAVENED bread-as in fermented with yeast.

It could be unleavened flat cornbread aka, tortillas or any other flatbread made out by flattening massa dough and roasted on a griddle!

It could also be PANCAKES, made out of batter which includes corn components .and inorder for the pancakes to be fluffy,the batter needs to be FERMENTED PRIOR to cooking or laying out on the griddle!

When corn based batter is fermented overnight-not only does the NATURAL YEAST in the air ferment the batter,but also, various bacteria will act on the batter and kinda digest it to various levels,adding a sour taste to the batter.Thus the batter is now MORE EASILY DIGESTED when consumed and also has a COMPLEX taste spectrum MOSTLY due the acids that have developed as a result of bacterial and yeast digestion of the cornbread batter.The gas released during this microbial pre-digestion also makes the batter airy and fluffy,thus making our pancakes all spongy and fun to eat.

When bacteria digest out the batter PRIOR to cooking and consumption,we save ourselves the FARTING issues that might often come along with consuming bean based batters or even corn based batters.
The farting usually occurs because of undigested food getting acted upon by the bacteria in the LARGE INTESTINE-where the solid wastes stay till we finally defecate.

Enough about farting,coming back to topic on hand,WHICH IS,fermented cornbread,

The cornbread I made ,i made from a batter that I fermented overnight.

Having talked about cornbreads,I would like to add a small note on corncakes-which are famous in the south of USA.
corncakes,THEY MAKE IT LIKE HOW WE MAKE CAKES.
They use cornmeal/polenta flour to make the corncakes.They use the bacteria in yogurt or buttermilk to quickly ferment the corncake batter  for a wee bit,before actually baking it.That is another form of fermenation, but a different example of fermentation nevertheless.

The unleavened corn massa tortillas that are made fresh really do NOT involve any process of fermenation at all...they are cornbreads nevertheless.

Now that we are talking about CORN, I WOULD like to talk a little bit about nutritional deficiences associated with a SOLELY CORN BASED DIET.
Corn is also called maize and in so many parts of south america and in africa,MAIZE is used a a chief staple food,,and unfortunately,corn in its NATURAL FORM,prevents absorption of certain B VITAMINS AND CAN LEAD TO nutritional deficiences especially PELLAGRA.

I will take the time to write a separate blog entry ABOUT PELLAGRA..but for now,let it be mentioned that pellagra is associated with a predominantly maize based diet.

Though corn comes from southamerica, and is very commonly consumed as a staple diet in southamerica,PELLAGRA is rare there.why?
The south americans MODIFY corn INTO an alkalized form .A process that makes B vitamins MORE available and more absorbable and which is why,PELLAGRA is not as prevelant historically or currently in southamerica though corn is a staple food there.
In africa however,maize flour is consumed as is and no modification procedures are adopted , and thus PELLAGRA is widely prevelant in AFRICAN COUNTRIES where maize is a staple diet.

I will write about southamerica and africa,maize,and pellagra and how to prevent it in ANOTHER BLOG ENTRY.
For now,HOPEFULLY, this blog entry suffices and does justice to the header of WARM FERMENTED CORNBREAD!

The advantages of Making Soy milk at home

What are the advantages of making soy milk at home?

1/First off, YOu can be rest assured that the milk is fresh.

2/You can make it to your preference, as in 'thick milk', 'thin milk' and 'very thin milk' all in one batch.
As in, from one batch of soaked soy beans, you can first extract the very thick milk which you can then use to make thick soy yogurt, soyanaise for your salad dressings and soy cheese and soy creme for desserts.
The second extract , the thin milk, you can use as coffee/tea whitener, to make white sauce etc
The third extract, the very thin soy milk works very well for soups and buttermilk and such.

3/When you make soymilk at home , you also get okara as a byproduct.
'Okara' is a japanese word for the pulp you get after extracting milk from soybeans.
This okara is what has all the minerals especially iron and other minerals.Don't throw it away.This okara can be used in cakes,cookies, casseroles, fritters etc.

4/Homemade soymilk is dirt cheap when compared to storebought soymilk.

5/Homemade soymilk has no added preservatives or aritifical flavors .That is good.

BUT PLEASE DO REMEMBER THAT HOMEMADE SOYMILK IS NOT FORTIFIED LIKE SOME GOOD BRANDS OF SOYMILK AT THE STORE. Fortification is a process by which extra minerals and vitamins are added to processed food to improve their nutritive value.

Soymilk is not as rich in calcium as in Cow's milk.Having said that, Though cow's milk is rich in calcium, this calcium is really not as easily absorbable in the human body as in plant source of calcium.
So, while on soymilk regime, please make sure you eat enough broccoli and spinach to get your daily requirements of calcium.Spinach calcium is almost hundred percent absorbable.

Hi to all new readers

heya people.
It is nice to be able to know that fellow vegans read this blog.
I absolutely love it.
Well, I am a physician who had a two year stint in nutrition college prior to pursuing Med school.
So yes, If you want me to blog about specific things or have specific queries , Leave me a comment here or even better, Email me.
If you want me to figure out a recipe for the vegan ingredients you have on hand, do email me the list of your ingredient set and i shall post recipes for you.
Either ways, Peace and hugs

Fermented foods-improved nutritive value and easily digestible too

First off, fermentation is a process where the foods are allowed to be acted upon by friendly bacteria that then digest previously undigestible components of foods and then make them more available in a form which is easily absorbed in the gut.
How does it increase nutritive value?
Well the microbes covert certain foods structures into simpler forms that can then be absorbed with ease in the gut and such.
Examples of fermented foods you might ask
Even simply soaking and sprouting your beans prior to cooking will prevent flatulence or farting later.
farting primarily with bean consumption is due to the fact that bean shells have a sugar called raffinose which has no corresponding enzyme in our body to digest it.
Microbes on the other hand are able to digest this sugar and make it simpler .
If we consume raffinose as such, it never gets absorbed and therefore reaches our large intestine where there the bacteria in the gut convert it into gas .
other examples of fermented foods will be
Fermented rice and black lentil cake very famous in southern india called as Idli
Fermented lentil flour pancakes very famouns in ethiopia and locally called as injera.
Tempeh , fermented soybean cake , very nutritive and used commonly in java.
Fermented soy bean cake , especially in china.

Some fermented food may be highly sour too and some of them might qualify as an acquired taste too..But, hey, anything vegetarian or vegan is worth trying.

Mushroooms

I made the bread myself too. A multigrain home bread.
ofcourse, I love mushrooms.
Mushrooms are solid plant protien.
Great source of minerals too. vitamins too if you eat them only very midly cooked.
I had some great open faced toasted bread with mushroom topping.
btw, mushrooms are fungi which qualify as plants coz their cells have cell walls. animal cells have no cell walls, which is why amoeba is an animal.LOL
yeah, I also made this wonderful pasta conjee with mushrooms.
Cool.

Made almond vegan chocolate, vegan chocolate

Instead of buying the next bar of chocolate( read my previous entries on this bar) , made a large batch of homemade almond vegan chocolate. I love love lovved it that i ate up the whole batch in two days. That was like 3500 calories for nothing. But since i decided to put on a good 4 pounds, the chocolate helped . the crunching almonds in between chocolate richness , looveed it.
the sad part is, i bought half a pound of almonds to last me atleast four such batches .. but , instead, i just chowed down the rest of almonds just as is.
So yes, the next batch of chocolate i made with raisins. which turned out even better.yay
As is usual, no recipes here. People steal recipes and then post them as their own on their own fake like blogs and no decency to link back or give credit.
Also, no pics(though i take pics of every thing i make) coz again, people steal pics . stupid people. I am saving the recipes and pics for a future vegan cookbook
bye and peace

Ramen marathon and soba cravings

I like authentic homemade or handmade noodles. especially soba or ramen. But then, Just like the rest of us, I end up eating the instant ones when i get a craving for noodles. Ya know, those are the only ones available on the shelf.
I don't really like the taste of stuff which have added preservatives .I can practically taste the chemicals.
So yeah, but then from time to time, I end up craving a spicy spicy cup of noodles. the ramen variety. On those days, I end up eating a bowl of ramen each day for three or four days in a row, Mostly as midnight snacks when i suddenly remember ramen and then i have to have them.
so yeah, I recently had such a spree, but then i think, giving in to craving breeds more craving. I vowed to myself that i would go buy a whole box of it when i went to the supermarket .
The funny part is, when i went to the store, ramen totally slipped my mind, while i was busy looking for millets(which btw, i did find,can you believe that?) and finally, i am back home with the grocery all set for the next ten days and therefore no reason to go back to the grocery store, but then no ramen.
And just like that the ramen craving just went away.
Meanwhile, what i find most appealing about soba is that it can be tasty though it is served cold and i like the fact that it is served on a small bamboo mat.. I like the presentation.

candies and chillies

I always end up with a craving for candy right after dinner.
And the store candy leaves my mucosa sore after rolling around in the mouth,
Yeah, so therefore, i made my own candy at home.Candy making is fairly simple if you understand the chemistry of crystallizition and melting ponit and such.
Also, Have been having seriously insane cravings for chillies-not chili, but chili the vegetable--ya know.. the peppers.
I bought some pepper pickle -It is an east indian recipe and very hot. I am trying to figure out the recipe just by eating it coz i am pretty sure the store guy won't be able to tell me the recipe either.

Date cookies

for 9one dates are great source of iron,
I made a large batch of date cookies last month. They were rich and rustic and had date and peanut bits in them
As usual no recipes in here . I am pretty sure you can figure the recipes out on your own, Also, I am reserving all my personal recipes for my future vegan cookbook
Dates work very well as a natural sweetening agent too and also , tthey can add texture and oomph to cakes and cookies.

The kickass vegan chocolate bar that i downed !

I finally gave in and purchased this large dark chocolate bar with nuts. I had been eyeing it ever since i discoverd that this particular chocolate bar had vegan ingredients. They used only cocoa butter instead of butter . Use of a larger percentage of cocoa and cocoa butter instead of butter makes for premier and pricier and tastier chocolate in general.
This cocoa bar was rich, absolutely satisfying and had tons of hazelnuts too. Ofcourse this bar was 12times the price of an average bar of milk chocolate but well, what can a chocolate nut crazy vegan do now? Especially if the vegan is lazy to make chocolate at home ..I downed a whole bar after i freezed it for ten minutes.Freezing my chocolate makes it snap when i finaly take a bit.

What next? I am hooked. I have have to go and get another bar of it.. seriously..damn i am hooked. I knew i was going that path.

Going excessive on nut purchase

Two blogs ago I wrote about how i want to make vegan chocolate at home with tons of nuts . well, looks like i made a mental record of it which is why i actually dropped by the spice and nuts store the other day and went ballistic with buying two large bags of raisins, a large bag of almonds , a bag of cashews, a bag of tutti frutti bits,a bag of dry coconut flakes and a bag of buchanania nuts(these are tiny nuts that are very interesting tasting).
The fun part is , i never really could recall why i needed to buy nuts in the first place. I forgot about the chocolate bar plan. So, i ended up chomping down a whole bag of almonds just like that.I used some cashews to make yellow vegan cake. Now, now, I suddenly remember about the chocolate and there are no almonds. damn.. and almonds are the best nuts for chocolate.so whatever.

Dryfruits and nuts--Vegan

Dryfruits are concentrated forms of freshfruits.
They are richer sources of minerals than the fresher form of a fruit if cosumed in teh same quantity by weight. Having said that dry fruits are essentially processed in a small given way when compared to their fresher counterparts and therefore all water soluble vitamins are gone. Nevertheless dryfruits are reall nutritious have large quantities of microminerals given the fact that one can consume larger quanities of a dry fruit at a given time than say the same number of fresh fruits.
ONe could eat greater number of dried figs than say freshfigs.
Having said that, It is always a better option to eat fresh figs than dried just so that you don't miss out on the fiber, water content and the water soluble vitamins.

Now coming to the nuts. Nuts contains a high quanity of essential fatty acis . They are yet again good mineral sources as well. But then, many of them do have varying quanitities of saturated fats in combination to the pufas-Poly unsaturated fatty acids. Which is, they are very very rich sources of calories.
Nuts do have fiber but come on, nuts are not hte only source of fiber.Vegetables are a far superior source of fiber without the cholesterol but with the minerals if at all you are looking for a mineral rich fiber source. I would suggest that nuts are better off when used of as garnishes rather than when consumed as is as a snack.Nuts when eaten by the handful are just not right. So, quit eating nuts as a meal. Rather just include a tablespoonful of nuts in your diet every alternate day.That should do.
Nuts and dryfruits do provide minerals for a vegan but i would rather than vegans derive all their fiber and minerals from vegetables which are quite balanced when consumed in large quantities than when nuts are . It is funny when i see vegans going crazy over cashew paste in every damn thing.Serioulsy, come on , cashew does have a lot of cholesterol-Not that cholesterol is bad, but then out own body is perfectly capable of synthesizing cholesterol on it's own from vegetable sources.

Six months without chocolate bars since going vegan

okay, I did make drinking chocolate as in cocoa from rich dry unprocessed cocoa powder, but besides that i never really purchase any chocolate from the store. Funnily, since going vegan six months ago i expected to start craving chocolate bars atleast .Yes, I do crave something sweet right after a meal, but mostly that sweet craving gets satisfied by a fruit-an apple or orange or guava or any other fruit that i have on hand. I do crave chocolate sometimes, as in those chocolate bars but since i have no patience to make vegan chocolate bars at home from cocoa powder, I Just let the craving pass.I did find some very good vegan chocolate bars at the store but never purchased any .Just was trying to save money.Trying my bit to avoid unnecessary expenditure and help the economic recession.See, I may have a million dollars in my bank account but yet i still have a responsibility to only spend wisely.
So yeah, I sure am cotemplating buying some really good nuts and then making some good chocolate bars from scratch from cocoa powder and other vegan ingredients.I mean to add animal breast secreations is what is abnormal really. \
whatever, whatver.

Red cabbage

Red cabbage...ate some the other day..tried boiling some of it..and suddenly i was left with whitish cabbage and purple water..whoooooo.whatever...As usual, no recipes coz i am getting sick of stupid food bloggers who really don't have any recipes of their own and live off of the posts of others.. hmmmm.

SEPTEMBER 2013

Because this is one the MOST VISITED blog entry on my THE ULTIMATE VEGETARIAN BLOG,and since I FEEL SORRY that this blog entry was written in a hurry and is so short and lacking in information,

I HAVE DECIDED TO ADD A POSTNOTE to this tiny blog entry in an attempt to make it more COMPLETE..afterall,the visitors,JUST DON'T STOP visiting this incomplete blog entry.

RED CABBAGE,RED AMARANTH,red or purple vegetables -what do they have in common?


ANTHOCYANINS...a type of pigment...they are antioxidants.

but,but,JUST COZ a vegetable is red or purple ,DOESN'T mean,that once we consume these veggies FULL of antioxidants,We are going to be able to BENEFIT from the antioxidant properties of the anthocyanin in them...

why?

because,no matter what we eat,it gets BROKEN down BY OUR DIGESTIVE SYSTEM...including ALL PIGMENTS.....

The antioxidants we consume,WILL GET BROKEN DOWN BY OUR DIGESTIVE SYSTEMS INTO basic units and then absorbed....Once,broken down,the purple pigments lose their antioxidant compound structure too...and thus don't work as antioxidants anymore.

Most of all complex foods consumed by our body,WILL BE BROKEN DOWN into their respective smallest absorbable unit in our gastrointestinal system...

ONLY CERTAIN VITAMINS though complex in structure get absorbed as is--and which is why,WE consume vitamins as a NECESSARY component of a balanced diet..Our body cannot synthesize certain compounds from the basic units it absorbs via the digestive system and hence it depends on outside food sources for these vital compounds called vitamins.

Maybe,I will write another separate blog entry about vitamins,but,for now,let us come back to ANTHOCYANINS and antioxidants in food!

HAVING SAID THAT,though purple vegetables GIVE YOU NO ADDED BENEFIT IN THE ANTIOXIDANT DEPARTMENT,they however STILL HAPPEN TO BE VEGGIES and hence are great sources of vitamins and fiber..and are nevertheless beneficial to the body.

So,no harm is CHOMPING down more purple veggies!

Having said all this,Final question is,do colorful veggies do any good to our food plates?

YES.

Including COLORFUL veggies in our diet, helps us improve the appearance of our food plates and make us WANT TO EAT the pretty food,and then,we eat more veggies and more food-thus allowing us the benefit of greater intake of food-an energy source for your bodies!

As far as antioxidants are concerned.We don't really need to consume them from an outside source.

OUR BODY SYTHESIZES its own antioxidants as part of various biochemical pathways.As long as we DON'T CONSUME so many toxins(alcohol,drugs,foods that tip the nitrogen balance of the body-namely animal meat),we are JUST GONNA BE FINE!

I know , it has been four weeks..and all that jazz

It is not that i didn't have anything to blog about ..but seriously, I guess i blog at seven different places and sometimes i want to talk about the same thing to all different sections of readers on each blog.. which eventually ends up with me typing the same thing over and over.So yeah, I figured why not use a platform and blog to all places in one go.You shall see in the future how i do that though.

I am so glad bananas are not NON VEGAN

i MEAN..i AM JUST EATING some overripe bananas..Not to the point of rotten ..but ripened more than usual.
And they taste so sweet, but not like the artificial sugars in too sugary cereals..
this is the sweetness that is tolerable but is an excess and yet satisfying.
LIke they say..You can’t beat nature ever…Coz nature is about the survival of the fittest species.. so yeah.. the best banana survived the centuries..LOL
Anyways..I am glad bananas are vegan food.. I am so glad.

See more progress on: become vegan

No more use for the egg racks in my refrigerator

Just a lil while ago, I was staring hard at finding things to eat inside my refrigerator and my eyes met the eggs racks..All empty and sitting there .. My eggs racks are detachable too..Slowly i proceeded to pick them out and make space for a whole new shelf.
You see,, i turned vegan six months ago and those egg racks have been barren since then..The sit there , waiting ,...well…
I just created a new space for my soy creame cheeses and other soy related condiments that i can happily arrange in this EX EGG RACK NOW.
bYE, bye, egg rack, you served me well while you did.And sorry to all the hens sitting in cages all distressed and laying eggs.. I will never distress you guys anymore.

See more progress on: become vegan

Cheap but tasty vegan recipe for teenage vegan beginners. RECIPE 1-- TOMATO OLIVE PASTA

Someone  on a FORUM website requested me for a cheap but tasty and nutritious recipe of mine for dinner or lunch.

You see, she is a teenager on a limited budget.

So i figured that i must post my own recipe here for the benefit of all the vegan beginners—esp the teenagers on a tight budget.

Here goes my recipe.

Cheap vegan recipe tips—Tomato olive pasta

Since you are on a budget-I am trying to give you this recipe.

You get four small bags of pasta for a dollar at walmart.Try to look for offers and pick them up.Each bag ends up being 25 cents and then each bag makes atleast 2 decent servings.Thus one serving of pasta will cost you around 10 cents.

Now for the other ingredients.

Buy around four medium sized roma tomatoes—Again might cost you around a dollar.When you make this recipe for one person and one serving, you end up using one medium sized tomato.I would suggest using 2 medium sized tomatoes for that extra vitamins and carotene .So tomato cost for one serving would end up being 40 cents.

Buy one very large onion(white or yellow or even spanish red would do) Might cost you 50 C .Again, you can use just half the large onion, use the rest for another salad or stir fry.onion cost for this single serving would end up being 20 cents

Buy a few jalapenos(3 large firm ones) might cost you around 30-50 cents.For one serving of this pasta , you might end up using just one large firm jalapeno.Thus jalapeno cost for this recipe would end up being 10 cents

Buy a can of green or black olives in oil or brine(Again they have offers where they sometimes sell it for four cans a dollar and such.Each can of olives contains around atleast 25-35 olives in number.So if you end up buying 4 cans of such olives for a dollar , you end up getting 100 olive fruits for a dollar..EAch olive ends up costing 1 cent-I LOVE OLIVES.so I end up using atleast 10-15 olives per serving, olive cost for one serving would then be 15 cents)

Salt-This is cheap.Buy an iodinized/iodized salt .One large sprinkler  comes at 50-70 cents.The cost of salt in this recipe almost comes to nothing especially if you are using olives in brine.

Sugar-Again, you might get the smallest size of bag for a dollar and few cents.(Remember that once you buy this sugar bag-it will last you for a month-so worth the purchase.)Each bag ends up containing atleast 20-30 teaspoons of sugar for a dollar.Each teaspoon ends up being 5 cents.and thus sugar cost for this single serving ends up being 5cents

Dried Italian herbs/Dried mixed herbs-This small bottle might cost you two dollars or so ..Again, you are going to use the herbs only sparingly(a pinch each time),So a bottle can last you anywhere from a month to three.20 pinches of herbs for 2 dollars..EAch pinch of herb=10cents.Herb cost for this single serving 10 cents

A Small bottle of cayenne pepper(Again 2 dollars).Again, Single half tsp=20cents=cayenne pepper cost for this single serving

One bulb of garlic.=70cents...You end up using 3 cloves of garlic.So garlic cost for this single serving=30cents

So you can shop everything for a good dollar ten and this purchase will make you at least ten or more servings of pasta with the sugar , salt and herbs left out for future use.

Yeah, buy oil—Don’t buy corn oil/soybean oil.Choose sunflower or saffflower or peanut oil.Again a small bottle will last you a long time.Use an oil with a high burning point and lots of POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACIDS....I prefer sunflower oil.It has a NEUTRAL TASTE.Most other oils have their OWN TASTE and thus might interfere with the taste of other ingredients in the recipe.

A 1000mL of oil can cost you 2dollars.Use 15ml or a tablespoon of oil for a single recipe.Oil cost for this single serving=15-20cents

 METHOD

Chop up two of your tomatoes into the smallest bits.with the seeds and all.

Wash the jalapenos and the cut them length wise, de-seed, then chop into very fine bits.

Take around ten olives, wash them, drain them squeeze out slightly all excess water, then chip into fine bits.

Now, peel two large cloves of garlic and then chop into fine bits.

Chop the large onion into fine bits..Use quarter portion of the chopped onion.

Now first , take 1 table spoon of oil in a pan(nonstick pan)

as it starts to heat, add garlic first, then onion and jalapenos,toss around for half a min, then add tomatoes and toss around for 2 min, then finally add the olives and take a pinch of the dried herbs and macerate in the palm of your hand so that you can smell it and then add it to the still cooking mixture.Add a teaspoon of sugar and salt to taste.

now set this sauce aside.

now take a handful of dry pasta or a handful and half more of pasta, Boil in salted water as per instructions . drain and immediately add to you sauce and toss around.

voila ! pasta ready.

NUTRITIONAL INFO about this recipe

Tomato=carotene,vitamins B,C.Energy in the form of fruit sugars(IF YOU COOK THE HELL OUT OF THE TOMATOES, ALL WATER SOLUBLE VITAMINS WILL BE LOST)

Pasta=Carbohydrates and proteins(wheat contains wheat protein),Carbohydrates are energy giving,Proteins help repair body tissue and also give energy when they can undergo protein metabolic processes in the body.

Oil-source of energy,and also fat soluble vitamins and polyunsatuated fatty acids

salt-replaces the sodium and chloride loss that might have occured in our body

onions-energy source from its glycerine and such.

olives-fair source of plant fat.

( I COULD GO INTO SERIOUS DETAILS OF NUTRITION, BUT DON'T WANT TO.I want this blog entry to be about the recipe,focusing on the cost and simplicity of the filling pasta recipe)

FINAL COST OF A SINGLE SERVING OF TOMATO OLIVE PASTA

tomato cost for one serving would end up being 40 cents.

onion cost for this single serving would end up being 20 cents

Thus jalapeno cost for this recipe would end up being 10 cents

olive cost for one serving would then be 15 cents)

sugar cost for this single serving ends up being 5cents

Herb cost for this single serving 10 cents

Single half tsp=20cents=cayenne pepper cost for this single serving

garlic cost for this single serving=30cents

Oil cost for this single serving=15-20cents

TOTAL COST OF ONE SERVING OF TOMATO OLIVE VEGAN PASTA= $1.80  

IF YOU LIKE THIS RECIPE AND WOULD LIKE MORE RECIPES OR IF YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO MAINTAIN A FOOD-BLOG WITH RECIPES, PLEASE MAKE A REQUEST .

HUGS AND CHEERS.

Email me with your list of ingredients or your budget for cooking and I shall figure something out for you.

If you are a group of teenagers or fresh in college kids and need help with making healthy balanced vegetarian meals that are cheap at the same time,email me with a request

Also, if 12 of you are ready to take instructions and cook , i can do a free weekly vegan class on the blog for ya..k?

Tight hugs!