Some years ago the Jewish Daily Forward published an essay of mine entitled Trans Fat: How a Staple of Pareve Foods is Hurting Our Waistlines. In this essay, I explained that processed-food manufacturers at the turn of the twentieth century attracted large numbers of customers from among recent Jewish immigrants with marketing campaigns based on the fact that the partially-hydrogenated (i.e., trans) fats in newly developed shortenings were pareve, meaning that they contained no meat nor dairy ingredients. This was revolutionary, because it allowed desserts traditionally made with dairy ingredients to be made suitable for meat meals. Procter & Gamble advertised that “The Hebrew Race has been waiting for 4,000 years” for a solution to its shortening problems. Endorsements were received from rabbis and other community leaders. Margarine, Crisco, and non-dairy “whiteners” rapidly supplanted traditional fats to become an integral part of what we now consider traditional Kosher cooking. In fact there is nothing traditional about it, and a thousand years of kitchen wisdom were lost in just two generations. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Vegan
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Tofu & Peas on Quinoa
I created this recipe for one of our family celebrations this past December. Of course I used frozen peas. The vegans ate it as their main course, and everyone else was happy to see another dish to try. Enough said.
1/2 large Vidalia onion, diced small
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and minced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. chili pepper
1/2 tsp. cardamom
1/2 tsp. garam masala
2 tsp. tamari
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup quinoa
1/2 cake tofu, diced approx. 1/2-inch
1 cup frozen (or fresh) sweet peas
1. Prepare 1 cup quinoa per directions on the package to yield approximately 2 cups of cooked quinoa. Set aside to cool for 10-15 minutes and make sure all the water has been absorbed. Fluff with a fork.
2. Heat olive oil on med-high heat, and add diced onion, stirring occasionally until the edges are barely beginning to brown. Stir in the diced ginger and garlic. Add diced tofu, continuing to mix occasionally, until the edges are becoming golden.
3. Add salt and pepper, serrano pepper, and cardamom, and stir for 30 seconds until well mixed. Immediately add the sweet peas, turn down the heat to low, and add tamari plus 2 Tbsp. boiling water. Stir to mix well, and cook for a minute or two just until the peas turn bright green.
4. Thickly cover the bottom of a shallow serving bowl with the cooked quinoa. Cover the quinoa with the tofu-pea mixture. Squeeze lemon over dish, and serve with a thin slice of lemon on top. Serves 3-4.
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Vegan Cholent (Crockpot Stew)
A happy reprise of my seasonal fall cholent recipe, from when my dad was still here to enjoy it with us:
This past week, I made a version of this recipe for the first night of Sukkot, the fall harvest festival, and we ate it inside our beautiful sukkah that my husband built last week. It warmed us from the inside out in the chilly weather. And then it was gone, I mean really GONE, just a few hours later. Even my father, who said “I don’t like cholent,” ate a huge bowlful and said he changed his mind. Please make a note of that. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Carrot-Zucchini Soup
Here’s a lovely plant-based soup that I tossed together a couple of weeks ago. I made it in a little green Staub Cocotte that I’ve had for a very long time. It always seems like everything I make in that pot comes out so flavorful and delicious. Any soup pot will do of course, but it’s always nice when you have a favorite. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Judith’s Avocado-Chickpea Dip
My friend Judith, a number of whose remarkable, inspired recipes have appeared in these pages, has brought us yet another! She calls this one her “newest obsession.” It comes to her from a beloved family member who made it for her on the occasion of a recent visit. She described it to me over breakfast last week, and I could practically taste it as her words came rolling across the table — Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Mushroom Potato Stew (gf, vegan)
A dear friend of mine, a great cook, recommended this recipe to me a couple of weeks ago. She made it, her daughter made it, and now I’ve made it. A triple play! It was not originally gluten free, but I made it gluten-free by substituting tamari and oat flour for the soy sauce and wheat flour in the prior version. Easy peasy.
Try serving this with a plate of sliced oranges, maybe sprinkled with a few berries. Nothing specific, just use whatever you can find in the fridge. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Vegan Eggplant Bacon
If, for any reason, absolutely any reason of all, you are not an eater of conventional bacon, then you may want to try this. Something new and different and delicious. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Stuffed Pepper Fireworks!
I love heat, so this is the perfect recipe for me. But if your tastes tend more toward the gentle landing, you can skip the jalapeño and reduce the red pepper flakes to 1/2 teaspoon, or just forget them altogether. The chili powder will still give you a little bit of excitement. For me though, I’m all in, which means that if my batch of jalapeños isn’t particularly hot I’m happy to use two. And that is why I’m just gonna recommend that you try this gorgeous fireworks of color all landing on your tongue at the same time. Your tastebuds will sing! Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Tsimmes
Preparing for the holidays with my mom was a major highlight of my childhood. Like many other special dishes that we ate on dedicated holidays throughout the calendar, we made tsimmes twice a year, in the fall for Rosh Hashanah (it is traditional to eat sweet foods on Rosh Hashanah), and in the spring for Passover. My mom never used recipes, preferring to combine ingredients as her grandmother and mother-in-law did, but, truthfully, tsimmes is one of those dishes that probably doesn’t really need much of a recipe anyway. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Autumn Sunrise Carrot Soup
These past two weeks my CSA boxes contained some very large bags of carrots, and so I decided to put them to good use before the first bag began to go bad. Because time is often of the essence in my world (and probably yours, too), I decided to do all the prep and cooking in advance so I could finish up the final steps quickly on Friday after I got home from work. It worked great, and the color of the final product reminded me of sunrise — warm, inviting, and full of hope. Continue reading