They still have to be healthy, though, and that's where the challenge comes in. Take a wander through a grocery store sometime, or even your own pantry, fridge, or freezer, and see how many products you can find that fit all these criteria:
- plant-based with recognizable ingredients
- no animal products (meat, dairy, whey, egg, gelatin, casein, etc.)
- no oil (or butter)
- no soy (not even soy lecithin)
- no tree nuts (any other than peanuts)
- low sugar
- low salt (mg of sodium equal or less than calories per serving)
On my way home, I was wondering how I would use the yogurt. Bean burritos with a nice creamy dollop of yogurt on top? Luscious baked potatoes with yogurt used like soy cream? Hm, how else did I used to use soy yogurt?
Oh yeah, raita! Raita is the tasty yogurt dip that comes with Indian food. It has cucumber and mint in it and is spiced with cumin. Delish! And I just so happen to have leftover eggplant chana masala and basmati rice in the fridge. Perfect!
But wait! I could also make some curried potatoes that would love to have a side of my recently canned peach chutney. Oh, and I could make a peach lassi instead of the usual mango lassi, using the peaches I froze. And the collards in the fridge would work in place of spinach for saag paneer (without the paneer). Those tomatoes I just cut the bad spots out of this morning could be used to make up a new batch of spicy tomato chutney...
Yesterday I tried to cook some short-grain brown rice and messed it up. When the eggplant chana masala was ready, my sweetie's regular basmati rice was cooked but my brown rice was undercooked yet gummy. I just had my dinner over potatoes, but I didn't want to waste the brown rice. To salvage it, I added a little sugar and some rice milk, and cooked it over low heat, covered, until creamy. It turned into a tasty rice pudding. All I need to do to make it into an Indian rice pudding is add some cardamom and sprinkle each serving with chopped pistachios.
As I drove, I kept thinking of more dishes I could make. I jotted them down at the red light. By the time I got home, I had a list of over a dozen Indian dishes, including drinks and dessert.
Basmati rice (regular & brown)
Eggplant Chana Masala
Saag Paneer (made with collards but no paneer)
Curried Sweet Potatoes with Peach Chutney
Creamy Indian Eggplant
Red Lentil Dal
Raita
Salad with Raita as dressing (lettuce, cucumber, onion, tomato)
Pita bread substituting for Naan
Spicy Tomato Chutney
Mint-Cilantro Chutney
Peach Lassi
Decaf Chai with Rice Milk
Indian Rice Pudding
Now the only thing I have to do is figure out which dishes to have ready each evening. Tonight will obviously be the basmati rice and eggplant chana masala since they are already cooked. I need to make the cilantro-mint chutney today before my cilantro gets all slimy in the fridge. Maybe I'll toast the pitas and make chips to have with the chutney. And of course I've got to make some raita to see if I even like the coconut yogurt. Might as well make the peach lassi tonight, too. And season the rice pudding and chop the pistachios.
Sheesh, I've got a lot of work to do. What am I doing online?!
7 comments:
Four days' worth huh? I think if I had that much Indian goodness at my disposal, I would eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner (and it would last about.... 1 day, 12 hours, 17 minutes and 20 seconds :D
I love the spirit with which you approach your dietary restrictions, transforming them into a template for dietary abundance! It's a lot of work, I know. But so worth it when you sit down to eat.
We also use ww pita in place of chapatis. Works great. Did you ever figure out what kind of rice was in your freezer? Brown Basmati grains look a lot skinnier than jasmine, but it's hard to see that unless you have them both side by side.
I was just talking to a friend about that issue today. She mentioned that it would overwhelm her to have as many restrictions as I do. I told her that the key was to focus on the many, many foods available to me, rather than the few that are not. Works for me (most of the time).
I didn't bother to dig out the rice. It's at the bottom of a very full freezer. With the pita, I figured I had enough starch to survive tonight. ;-)
How creative you are! You have a great approach to your dietary situation.
I haven't been posting much but I've been lurking checking in on you and how you're doing.
Keep cool and so it will be working for us! :)
peace, shamba
You came online to help everyone else figure out what to do with your limitations. It's a monstrous task and I'm not sure I'd be up to it, myself. I'll try anything but cannot STAND to be told what I can or cannot eat. (Just obstinate, I guess) Great job. And, of course, I'm assuming that you'll freeze leftovers so that you can just grab and cook something, later.
Shamba - if you like to eat well - and I do - and you have dietary restrictions- and I do - then you learn to be creative! Just because I can't eat some things doesn't mean I'm going to eat boring food. Life's too short for boring food! :)
Sharlene - well, when it's your own body telling you what you can and cannot eat in order to feel good, then it's hard not to listen. I don't like pain and I don't like feeling sick, therefore I eat in such a way that minimizes the pain and sick. Make sense?
There will be no leftovers to freeze. If you check the food log on my other blog, you'll see that I will eat leftovers for breakfast if I have to (or want to). This morning, for instance, I had curried sweet potatoes with peach chutney and a whole wheat pita with cilantro-mint chutney for breakfast. Yummy!
Hey Chili,
Guess what? You journey since May has inspired me to try to eat a plant based diet. I say "try" because I frequently fall off the wagon. It is so tempting to eat the SAD when my dh and 4 kids aren't as enamored of the plant based meals as I am. Although, my 3 yr old happily ate a spinach salad at dinner tonight so maybe there's hope.
Anyhoo- I had one of those coconut milk yogurts that Whole Foods sales a few weeks ago. I found it to be very sweet almost too sweet for my taste. I did enjoy it I mixed it with fruit but I think I was expecting something a little more tart. I did appreciate having a yogurt though as I am trying to avoid dairy and limit my consumption of processed soy foods. Dr. McDougall has some videos on youtube that talk about how a high consumption of soy is not very good for you. It freaked me out a little- I mean is ANYTHING safe to eat???? KWIM!
Love your blog. Keep up the good work.
Hey, Trafal, that's great! What's safe to eat is whole plant foods, preferably organic (if ya don't trust some of the big guys in the agribiz like me). The more processed and/or refined, the less healthy it is. In fact, I was just thinking today about how I really need to cut back on sugar more. It's such a slippey slope for me ...
Glad you are enjoying it!
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