Creamy Cucumber Dressing

Taking advantage of recipes using non-dairy yogurt is getting easier and easier, as this product becomes more readily available in even conventional markets across the country. Sometimes, though, it can still be difficult to find the non-flavored yogurt in the non-dairy variety, which happened to me when I decided to try the "Creamy Cucumber Dressing". After contemplating the recipe, I decided using vegan sour cream would be an acceptable substitute, and it turned out I was right! (If you want to make your own vegan sour cream, this book also has a recipe for that.) I was especially happy to see this dressing includes no added oil, always a bonus! This simple dressing consists of the yogurt (or sour cream), cucumber, a splash of lemon juice, and some herbs and spices (salt, cayenne, and parsley). I thought it was begging for a clove of garlic, so I threw that in as well.

 

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

• No changes necessary if you can find oil-free yogurt, or use or make oil free sour cream.

Golden Harvest Soup

This slightly sweet soup is rightly named "Golden Harvest Soup" (page 148), with no less than seven yellow and orange ingredients contributing to the golden hue: yellow onion, carrots, sweet potatoes, yellow bell pepper, yellow tomatoes, chickpeas, and turmeric. Add to this some garlic, herbs, and a flavorful broth, throw in a handful of small soup pasta (cooked with the turmeric before adding), and you've got a hearty main dish soup, just the thing on chilly evenings. What says nutritious and delicious better than a pot full of vegetable soup?

 

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

 

• Omit the oil when sautéing the veggies; use a non-stick soup pot instead and/or use water, broth, or sherry as a sauté liquid.

Whole Wheat Raisin Bread

"Whole Wheat Raisin Bread" (page 394) is a recipe I plan to make again and again. If you find yourself trying to decide which of the yeasted breads to try from this book, I would suggest you try this one first. Made from half whole wheat, half all-purpose (white) flour, sweetened with molasses, and with no added oil, this bread already has a lot going for it nutritionally speaking. But the flavor is what makes it sing! The raisins and cinnamon make this a slightly sweet bread, but not enough to classify as dessert. Since this is a yeasted loaf, plan on at least 3.5 hours to allow for the raising and baking times. This bread makes the most heavenly toast!  

 

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

• You can make this using 100% whole wheat flour with excellent results. If you do, double the kneading time to 10 minutes so the dough gets fully developed.

Beer-Marinated Seitan Fajitas

The Fajitas and Burritos section of this cookbook (a subset of the Sandwiches, Pizza, and More chapter) contains just seven recipes. The "Beer-Marinated Seitan Fajitas" (page 125) makes the sixth recipe I've tried, and brings me close to wrapping up another category. Being more than a third of the way through the 1000 recipes, I find this starting to happen more frequently! The biggest challenge here is finding a tortilla that adheres to the McDougall guidelines. As I've mentioned before, if you can find a whole grain tortilla, it usually contains oil. If you find a fat free tortilla (easier), it is almost certainly made from white flour. This time around I opted for the Food For Life brand Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Whole Grain tortillas. With no added oils (made from sesame seeds and sprouted soybeans barley, millet, lentils, spelt, and sea salt), these are in my opinion the healthiest tortillas around. Not everyone appreciates their hearty texture, and they certainly don't roll up as easy as a more traditional tortilla, but I find the flavor more than compensates for these differences. To make these fajitas, you start by marinating seitan in a mixture of beer, onion, garlic, lime juice, cilantro, and crushed red pepper. Begin early, as you need to marinate the seitan at least 4 hours. The seitan and marinade is sautéed in a skillet, piled into warmed tortillas, and topped with avocado and salsa. Very tasty as is, but if you want additional filling add some shredded lettuce per the recipe suggestion.

 

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

• Omit the oil when sautéing the seitan. Use the marinade as a sautéing/simmering liquid, and don't be concerned about browning the seitan. 

Creamy Tomato Soup

Whenever I want the perfect go-to soup alongside a sandwich, I turn to tomato soup. With this "Creamy Tomato Soup" (page 170), you will never have to resort to the canned or packaged variety again. This soup is so easy to put together and is so much more satisfying than something not homemade. You start by sautéing onion, carrot, and garlic in a soup pot, adding both fresh and canned tomatoes, plus broth and seasonings, and cooking until everything is tender. The entire batch of soup is puréed, heated back up, and ready to serve. Both dried and fresh basil are used in this recipe - dried in the pot, and fresh as a garnish. Fennel seeds add a subtle but delightful flavor to this very comforting soup.

 

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

 

• Omit the oil when sautéing the veggies. Use a non-stick pot along with water, broth or sherry as a sauté liquid. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting

The "Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting" (page 504) is an easy spread that you can whip up in a flash whenever you want a rich frosting for cakes and cupcakes. A simple blend of peanut butter, cocoa powder, confectioner's sugar, vanilla, and non-dairy milk yields about 3 cups of delicious frosting. The recipe calls for "thick" dairy-free milk or cream, which often times translates into something containing oil. I opted to use plain soymilk and got good results. The directions call for mixing this in a food processor, but I was able to mix it up in a bowl using a whisk, much easier and less messy.

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

 

• Make sure the non-dairy milk is oil-free.

Banana Walnut Cake

As I've mentioned before, trying to recreate healthier versions of traditional desserts can be a bit of a challenge. When you replace the ingredients that most people associate with the familiar texture and consistency of a delicate cake, or a melt in your mouth frosting, you end up with something, while still delicious in its own right, is quite different than the original version. The "Banana-Walnut Cake" (page 448) is a case in point. After switching out the white flour for whole wheat pastry flour, and using apple sauce to replace the oil, what I ended up with was something more like banana bread, rather than cake. Mind you, I am not complaining, not in the least! This healthier version of an already vegan dessert is not only delicious, it is a guilt-free indulgence for those times I am craving a dessert. With three bananas in the batter, the "cake" is already very moist, and using applesauce instead of oil provides a complementary flavor.  The recipe suggests a couple of different toppings, but I chose to frost it with the "Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting" found on page 504, which turned out perfect!

  

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

• Use whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose (white) flour.
• Substitute 1/3 to 1/2 cup apple sauce for the 1/4 cup oil.
• Use a non-stick cake pan that doesn't need to be oiled before baking.

 

Red Bean Jambalaya

Red beans and rice, already a perfect combination as far as I'm concerned, really shines in this vegan rendition of "Red Bean Jambalaya" (page 252).    This Creole dish combines a tomato-based stew (a simmered mixture of tomatoes, onion, celery, bell pepper, chilis, garlic, and herbs) with red kidney beans and rice. Already tasty and delicious, this dish gets even better as it sits, so you will be happy to have leftovers (it makes a lot!). The recipe calls for one cup of uncooked long-grain rice, but I used just ½ cup so all the liquid from the stew wouldn't get absorbed into the rice. This yielded just the right amount of rice after it was cooked. The recipe doesn't specify white or brown rice, but if you chose to use brown rice, you might have better luck cooking it separately and adding to the jambalaya once it is done. Often I don't have satisfactory results when trying to cook brown rice in a pot with anything other than water (it doesn't always cook tender). If you find you still want this dish to be a bit soupier, add additional broth at the end of the cooking time.

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

• Omit the oil when sauteing the veggies: instead, use a nonstick soup pot and/or use broth, water, or sherry as a saute liquid.

• Use brown rice instead of white (possibly cooking ahead for better results.)

Creamy Potato-Chard Soup

"Creamy Potato-Chard Soup" (page 178) is a puréed soup with very earthy ingredients, which somehow end up tasting quite heavenly. Onion, celery, potatoes, and chard, seasoned with garlic, fennel, and nutmeg, and that's about it. Once everything has cooked tender, the soup is puréed in a blender and served hot. I found the addition of fresh ground black pepper added to the serving bowl a perfect finishing touch.

 

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

ü Omit the oil when sautéing the veggies; instead, use a nonstick soup pot and/or use broth, water, or sherry as a sauté liquid.

Fresh Cherry Smoothie

When fresh cherries are in season, the "Fresh Cherry Smoothie" (page 531) is a wonderful way to enjoy this delicious fruit. Here is another smoothie that is much richer than one made with simply fruit, juice, and/or nondairy milk. The ingredients here include raw cashews, nondairy milk, maple syrup, and vanilla extract, along with the cherries. How can this not end up tasting good after a whir in the blender?

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

ü     No changes necessary! J

Creamy Orange Smoothie

Who doesn't like a smoothie? Most of the time, they are like a healthy version of a milkshake! I save smoothies for special treats, because it is just too easy to add a lot of quickly absorbed calories to a meal, but when I do partake, I thoroughly enjoy it! Not too long ago I had some oral surgery, and was only able to eat soft foods for a few days. Perfect time for a smoothie! On this occasion I decided to try the "Creamy Orange Smoothie" (page 531), which really is closer to dessert than, say, a smoothie made from fruits and juice. Made from orange juice, vegan vanilla ice cream, and ice cubes, this goes together fast, and goes down even faster! But I didn't feel bad indulging myself under the circumstances, would you?

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

ü So far I have not found any commercial vegan ice-creams that are oil free. You could skip the vanilla ice cream concept altogether and use a fruit sorbet instead, but this would change the nature of this smoothie entirely.

Three Lentil Dal

"Three Lentil Dal" (page 264) is an interesting take on this standard dish found in Indian cuisine. This dal is made using green, brown, and red lentils, cooked until very tender, then mixed with a sauté of onion, garlic, ginger and spices. Finally, crushed tomatoes are added to the mix, and everything is cooked together until the flavors are blended. Since the three different kinds of lentils all have different cooking times, the recipe has you soaking the green and brown lentils in separate bowls, then staggering the cooking times by starting with the green, then adding the brown, and finally the red. Since I like the lentils in dal to be very well cooked, even to the point of overcooked, I skipped the soaking step, and just cooked all the lentils together until they were super soft, not minding at all if the quicker cooking lentils cooked beyond their "done" point. I also gave them a vigorous stirring to further mash them up and acquire the texture I like - almost to the point of a dish of refried beans. The wonderful spices in this recipe (ginger, curry cumin, coriander, and cayenne) give the dal authenticity, even if mixing the three types lentils was a bit unorthodox. Naan is traditionally used to scoop up dal, but it is hard to find whole grain and/or oil free versions of this Indian bread. However, any flat bread you like will work equally well.

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

ü  Omit the oil when sautéing the veggies; instead, use a nonstick soup pot and/or use broth, water, or sherry as a sauté liquid.

Tempeh & Vegetable Stir-Fry

In our household, my husband does all the stir-frying, so I felt a bit intimidated taking on the "Tempeh & Vegetables Stir-Fry" (page 295). Since I rarely even attempt stir-frying, I worry about ruining the dish, and I also have my husband's high standards to live up to, as he is The Stir-Fry King in our 5th Wheel Palace! But I am happy to report that I made this dish quite successfully, and even got rave reviews from the resident expert. The key to success in a stir-fry dish is to have all the ingredients chopped and ready to go before ever turning on the fire under the wok or skillet. In this case, the ingredients consisted of cubed tempeh, broccoli, red bell pepper, mushrooms, garlic, green onions, and ginger. It does take a while to prepare all the ingredients, since the broccoli is pre-steamed, and the tempeh is cooked in simmering water for 30-minutes. Once the tempeh has been simmered, it is cubed, coated with cornstarch, and browned in a skillet. At that point, assuming you've prepared all the rest of the ingredients, the dish goes together in a flash, as is customary for this style of cooking. I browned the tempeh cubes in a non-stick skillet without oil. This works just fine, but don't expect to the end result to be as crispy or brown as something browned in oil. Once all the veggies and tempeh have been steamed, simmered, and stir-fried, they are topped with a flavorful sauce of mirin, soy sauce, sesame oil, and crushed red pepper. The recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of sesame oil in the sauce, but you can get away with much less and still get the essence of that distinctive flavor; or omit it altogether if you want, and it will still be very good. In this case, I used ½ teaspoon of sesame oil. I served this colorful, spicy, and delicious stir-fry over steamed rice.

 

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

ü Omit the oil when "browning" the tempeh cubes; you can do this successfully in a non-stick skillet, although the tempeh will not come out quite as crispy or browned.  

ü If using sesame oil in the sauce, reduce to just ½ teaspoon - or leave it out altogether.

ü Omit the oil when sautéing the veggies. Use a nonstick skillet or wok, and substitute the oil with water, broth, or sherry. I used sherry in this dish and it provided excellent complementary flavor.

Lemon-Kissed Linguine With Garlicky White Bean Sauce

"Lemon-Kissed Linguine with Garlicky White Bean Sauce" (page 209) takes a handful of basic ingredients and transforms them into a delicious, quick, and filling meal. White kidney beans, also known as cannellini, are the basis of a simple sauce of beans, garlic, fresh squeezed lemon juice, oregano, and basil. The sauce is mixed with cooked linguine, topped with fresh minced parsley, and served hot out of the skillet. If you omit the 3 tablespoons of oil used for sautéing the veggies, there really is no other liquid to meld the ingredients together. To get around this, I took ½ cup veggie broth and used some of it to sauté the veggies, and the rest to stir back into the skillet (instead of using reserved pasta cooking liquid as called for in the recipe). As a personal preference, I only used 8 ounces of linguine, as opposed to the 1 pound the recipe called for. (I tend to like my pasta dishes a little saucier than what most recipes call for.) With the reduced amount of pasta, my husband and I almost ate the entire dish in one sitting!

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

ü Omit the oil when sautéing the veggies; instead use a non-stick skillet and/or broth, water, or sherry as a sauté liquid.

ü Use whole grain linguine (or another variety of noodles).