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Does It or Doesn't It Contain Dairy?

FitSugar — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:00:42 -0700

If you're giving up meat in honor of World Vegetarian Awareness Month, you may consider doing the same with dairy products as well. Foods containing diary can be high in saturated fat and cholesterol, so it's good to know which foods contain it. Ice cream, cheese, and yogurt are obvious, but can you figure out what other products contain hidden amounts of milk? Take this quiz and see.

Question 1 of 8

Barbara's Organic Cinnamon Crisp Granola Bars

You'll Never Miss the Meat: Conscious Cook Cookbook

FitSugar — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:30:09 -0700

We know that eating less meat is a good thing - it reduces your carbon footprint, lowers your grocery bill, and makes sense for your heart. But does it taste good? Vegetarian diets are often associated with a bland menu of tofu, sprouts, and brown rice day after day. Chef to the stars Tal Ronnen sets out to bust this myth in his new cookbook, The Conscious Cook - Delicious Meatless Recipes That Will Change the Way You Eat ($20).

The cookbook is divided into sections by meal courses that include starters, soups, entrées, and desserts. I'm most excited about the entire section devoted to sandwiches because of all the new lunches I get to try. There's a nice intro that covers Ronnen's must haves in the kitchen - from what items he always has in his pantry (agave nectar) to the chef tools he can't live without (food processor). Ronnen touches on the importance of a vegan diet but does it without making you feel like you're choking on someone else's politics. It's obvious the chef's main focus is making food that tastes exceptional.

To hear more about The Conscious Cook and see a killer quinoa recipe, read more.

Each of the 75 recipes features a protein and ranges from the comforting - free-form ravioli with tofu ricotta and arugula pesto - to the sophisticated - peppercorn-encrusted portobello fillets with yellow tomato bearnaise and mashed potatoes. And every recipe has an inspiring photo accompanying it.

What's great about this cookbook is its range and its approach to meatless cooking. No main dish ever feels like a side dish, which can happen a lot in vegan and vegetarian cooking. Instead, each meal is made to be complete and satisfying. There are recipes for a quick or casual meal, but if you want to pull out all the stops, there are recipes for that too. As an added nice touch, there are seasonally driven dinner menus included at the end.

Quinoa, Avocado, and Sweet Potato Timbale With Roasted Tomatillo Dressing
The Conscious Cook: Delicious Meatless Recipes That Will Change the Way You Eat

Ingredients

For the quinoa:
1 cup quinoa, cooked in vegetable stock according to the package directions and cooled to room temperature
1/2 jalapeno, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lime
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

For the sweet potatoes:
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

For the dressing:
2 tomatillos in olive oil, skins removed
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon light agave nectar
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

For the tortilla strips:
Canola oil
2 corn tortillas, cut into 1/4-inch strips
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

To serve:
2 avocados, diced
Microgreens

You'll also need 4 salad plates, a food processor, and a 3-inch ring mold.

Directions
1. Make the quinoa: Place all the of the quinoa ingredients in a medium bowl and toss to combine.
2. Make the sweet potatoes: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, toss the sweet potatoes with the oil, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes, or until soft in the middle and lightly browned. Be careful not to let the sweet potatoes burn.
3. Make the dressing: Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, toss the tomatillos with 1 teaspoon of the oil. Place on a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes. Transfer to a food processor, add vinegar, cilantro, and agave nectar, and pulse to combine. With the motor running, pour in the remaining 3 tablespoons oil in a thin stream. Continue blending until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Make the tortilla strips: Pour 2 inches of oil into a small, heavy pot and heat until the oil shimmers. Add the tortilla strips and fry until crisp and browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with the Cajun seasoning.
5. Assemble the salads: Place a 3-inch ring mold in the center of one of the 4 salad plates. Fill with 1/4 of the quinoa mixture and press down with a spoon to pack the mold, smoothing the top. Place 1/4 of the sweet potato pieces on top of the quinoa and press down gently. Top with 1/4 of the avocado and press down gently. Carefully remove the mold. Repeat on the remaining salad plates.
6. Carefully place 2 tortilla strips parallel to each other about 1 inch apart on top of each timbale. Place 2 more tortilla strips perpendicular on top of those. Top the timbales with the microgreens and drizzle the dressing around the timbales.

Makes 4 servings
Prep time: 45 minutes

Print recipe with images | without images

8 Vegetarian Sources of Iron

FitSugar — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 05:50:00 -0700

Feeling sleepy and rundown lately? You may not be getting enough iron. A woman needs 18 milligrams a day. Beef, chicken, and fish are great sources, but if you aren't big into those foods or a vegetarian, check out these eight sources that will help you meet your RDI.

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Guess Who Said It?

FitSugar — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:53:10 -0700

Can you guess which singer said this about her body?

"I don't know how much I've lost, but I feel like my body is now what it was born to be. I'm training for a marathon in October and doing kickboxing."

Healthy Eating Tip: Make Nori Wraps Like Alicia Silverstone

FitSugar — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:00:00 -0700

The Kind Diet book by Alicia Silverstone doesn't hit stores until Fall, but you don't have to wait until then to get a taste of her vegan tips. A common qualm about veganism is that meals are time-consuming, but this famous vegan implied that doesn't have to be true and said, "One of the recipes in my book is leftover nori (a type of seaweed) wraps. Anything in the fridge I want to use up, I shove into nori. It's delicious."

Alicia sells the perks of seaweed by saying, "It makes your skin look amazing and your hair really strong," but the benefits of including seaweed in your diet are more than skin-deep. The sea vegetable is an excellent source of essential minerals like iodine, vitamin K, B-vitamins, magnesium, iron, and calcium.

You can usually find packages of nori in the Asian food section of your supermarket. It comes in thin sheets, making it ideal for wrapping, and Alicia has shown us that it's not just for wrapping raw fish.

Source

What's the Deal With: TVP

FitSugar — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:00:00 -0800

TVP might sound like a new sexually transmitted disease, but it's actually a kind of food made from soybeans. The letters stand for Texturized Vegetable Protein, and it's produced from soy flour after the soybean oil has been removed. It's cooked under pressure, made into little shapes, and then dried. Once added to food, like vegetarian chili, the texture becomes chewy, and it absorbs flavors just like tofu. Add it to foods to increase the amount of protein and fiber, plus it's also high in potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Some varieties are fortified with vitamins, so it's a great way for vegans and vegetarians to get vitamin B12. TVP is dry, so it doesn't need to be refrigerated. That means you can buy it in bulk to save money, store it in an airtight container, and use it as needed.

You can buy it minced or in chunks for about $3 a pound, and some companies even sell flavors. Add it to soups, chili, stir fries, pasta sauce, casseroles, burritos, or pizza.

To see the nutritional info for TVP read more.

Serving Size	1/4 cup
Calories	80
Total Fat	0 g
Saturated Fat	0 g
Cholesterol	0 mg
Sodium	2 mg
Carbs	7 g
Fiber	4 g
Sugar	3 g
Protein	12 g

Do you cook with TVP? If so tell me what you make with it in the comment section below.

Food Review: Rising Moon Organics - Vegan Stuffed Shells

FitSugar — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:00:00 -0800

I'm a big fan of Italian foods like baked ziti, lasagna, and stuffed shells. The only problem is the ricotta and other cheeses make them high in artery-clogging saturated fat and cholesterol. When I came across a healthier version of stuffed shells by Rising Moon Organics, my interest was piqued. Made with primacotta soy ricotta, these shells are completely vegan.

To find out how they compared with the real deal after the jump when you read more.

I really wanted to love this dairy- and cholesterol-free frozen meal, but truthfully, it lacked flavor. The consistency of the soy filling was a little smoother and spongier than real ricotta, but I didn't mind that. It was the fact that these shells just tasted "blah." The tomato sauce was sweet, but had this odd slightly smokey aroma and taste.

Just to see how much healthier these vegan stuffed shells were, I compared them to nonvegan ones made by Amy's Kitchen. Now I don't feel so bad about choosing the ricotta-filled shells. Although Rising Moon Organics Shells have less saturated fat and cholesterol, they also have more calories, more carbs, and less protein than Amy's Kitchen shells. The choice is obvious for me. I'll go for real cheese and real flavor, but if you're avoiding dairy, give these vegan shells a whirl.

Serving Size: (3 stuffed shells)
Calories	370	310
Total Fat	10 g	13 g
Saturated Fat	1.5 g	7 g
Cholesterol	0 mg	30 g
Sodium	470 mg	740 mg
Carbs	54 g	30 g
Fiber	6 g	5 g
Sugar	4 g	7 g
Protein	16 g	19 g

YouTube Creates Teenage Vegetarians

FitSugar — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:00:00 -0800

A vegetarian diet is becoming increasingly popular. Many celebs forgo meat to be healthier, such as Marla Maples and Alanis Morissette. Others, like Alicia Silverstone and Kellie Pickler, choose this lifestyle for moral reasons. According to recent news, as many as one in 200 teens are ditching meat because of animals rights issues as well. Easy Internet access and shocking animal slaughter videos on YouTube have been cited as reasons for this lifestyle change. Teens under 18 choose tofu over chicken not for their health, but rather out of their compassion for animals. Once they make the connection that what they're eating was a living being, just like their family pet, eating meat just isn't an option.

Why are parents concerned? To find out, read more.

A vegetarian diet can be extremely healthy, if it includes fruits, veggies, whole grains, and a sufficient amount of protein. The problem is, many kids are giving up cheeseburgers and eating french fries and other junk food instead. Not only are they filling up on refined carbs and sugar, but those who are vegan (no meat, dairy, or eggs) aren't getting enough vitamin B12, D, iron, or calcium. Plus sticking to a diet full of bread, pasta, and potato chips isn't exactly low-calorie, so parents are concerned about their children gaining weight. Since teens are old enough to choose what they eat, it's up to the parents to help educate their kids about how to achieve a balanced vegetarian diet.

Source

Alanis Morissette Goes Vegan and Loses 20 Pounds

FitSugar — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:30:00 -0800

While many of us are just revving up our healthy New Year's resolutions, Alanis Morissette made her lifestyle overhaul months before the ball dropped. The unhealthy feeling she had from gaining weight and eating too many processed foods motivated her to make a major change, and Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s book Eat to Live gave her the tools to eat differently. Since converting to his recommended vegan diet in September, Alanis has lost 20 pounds. OK Magazine interviewed the slimmed-down singer, and here are the highlights.

On what made her gain weight: "A lot of salt and processed grains like bread. I was a sandwich person, and if I had rice, I would pack the salt on."
On why she wanted to find a new eating plan: "Longevity. I realized I want to live till I’m 120. There’s a lifestyle that I am now happily creating that can, as best as is possible, prevent most forms of cancer and other diseases."
On her workout routine: "When I’m out on tour, my shows are so physical that that really takes care of it. When I’m not on tour, I do between a half hour to an hour of light weights, running, biking, swimming, probably five times a week. I also love to kickbox and dance."

To see her answer when asked how it feels to be 20 pounds lighter, read more.

On how it feels to have lost 20 pounds: "I feel like a 12-year-old! I’m back to what I was born to be, at my best. I used to get out of bed in the morning and things were aching, and I just thought, this is what happens when you get into your 30s. But now I jump out of bed and have so much energy; I feel very alive. Even after a workout, I feel like if I rest a little bit I could go out dancing all night, so that’s exciting. I have no more aches and pains, and my allergies are gone, too."

Have you considered a vegan diet? Do you think you could handle the restrictions of no dairy or meat?

Source

Alicia Silverstone: The Kind Diet

FitSugar — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:30:00 -0800

It's no secret that Alicia Silverstone is an animal lover. Remember how she starred in that sexy commercial for PETA to tell the world she's a vegetarian? Well now she's taking her passionate views a step further with her new book about going vegan, titled The Kind Diet, that's set to hit stores in the Fall of 2009. In case you're not familiar with a vegan diet, it involves not eating any animal products including meat, milk, or honey. Alicia enthusiastically illustrates how choosing a plant-based diet can benefit your body and how you feel about your body. Although Alicia is vegan mostly for humane reasons, the Kind Diet is also healthy since it's high in protein and fiber and low in saturated fat and cholesterol. Even though the foods are plant-based, she makes them sound delicious and indulgent.

A vegan diet doesn't just benefit the people following it. It also obviously saves the lives of many animals, and in her book Alicia explains how choosing a vegan diet can benefit our world as well. Talk about a win-win-win.

I'm curious, will any of you buy this book and try a vegan diet?

Source