While only a vegan since April 2013, it’s has made me a better cook. Don’t know why. Dropping flesh in 1990 though continuing eggs and dairy was one thing. Maybe it’s a coalescing of three decades (since 1980) of self-taught kitchen skills. No matter. I’ve started sharing lessons.
I taught a sequence of three 90-minute classes at Ozark Natural Foods in October 2013. The classes were free, focusing roughly on breakfast, lunch and dinner with tips liberally sprinkled. The course was set up by ONF Community Outreach Coordinator Heather Artripe.
The title for this, my first cooking class, was “Vegan – As Easy as You Want.” Extended, it would go to “It to Be.”
Why “Vegan – As Easy as You Want … It to Be”? Why this page’s “Vegan, Softly”? Vegan is the best word for strict no-flesh no-dairy no-egg vegetarianism. Even the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (favored because of its adherence to solid, large or at least peer-reviewed research), terms the cuisine “plant-based diet.”
Can’t you see a bacon lover smirking, “Pigs and cows are plant-based eaters”? As vital as this diet is, in our 21st-century highly processed food product world, we need tolerance, compassion and practicality. I might eat a cheese cube at a party, or a handful, and my health will remain high. Friends will ask about raw diets, gluten-free diets etc., and I’ll say: I’m teaching easy vegan foods, if you want less easy, with juicing greens or rice flour crackers, for me the jury’s still out on those but consider my basics as a start.
This page holds links to course materials; my recipes, set at my blog Brick; plus links to helpful reading. This page will be updated as needed so please check back.
Thoughts for Food
- Vegan – As Easy as You Want. This is the introductory announcement for the class.
- Easy Vegan Breakfasts. Details on the first class, plus a personal update.
- The 4 Gram Coat. The Camp Pollock Coated Foods Theory of Moderate Excess.
- An Omnivore’s Manifesto. Why I’m offering the class.
Recipes
- Granola, Better Homemade
- “Kickstart” Pancakes
- Pan of Vegan Sausage
- Breakfast Taco-dillas
- Truly Five-Minute Tomato Sauce
- Hearty Har Har Lentil Soup
- Orange Hash with Sage Leaves
- Mom’s Chili – If She Was Vegan
- Fried Soup, Veganized
- Lunch Flask Kitchari
- Hummus Remember This
- Says Who? Miso
- Thought on the Thanksgiving feast: Kabocha Theater
- Archive of food posts on my blog Brick
Further Reading
- 21-Day Vegan Kickstart, online diet program
- 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart: Boost Metabolism, Lower Cholesterol, and Dramatically Improve Your Health, details on the book by Neal Barnard, M.D.
- Vegetarian Foods: Powerful for Health, a page on nutrients
- PCRM’s free fact sheets can be downloaded from this page as PDFs
- “Adults’ Daily Protein Intake Much More than Recommended” — National Center for Health Statistics
- SuperTracker: Foods, Fitness, Health — U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Is It Safe to Eat Soy? — N.Y. Times summary on health concerns, September 2013
- Information about ‘Ayurvedic’ health and diet
- “Bill Clinton Explains Why He Became a Vegan,” AARP The Magazine, August/September 2013
- “Breakfast with Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr.,” an interview with the prominent retired surgeon
- The Vegan Zombie, clear, brief video demonstrations of vegetarian recipes, with a light touch
Here is video from the middle seminar, “Dinner.”
