Mother Nature's Garden: Healthy Vegan Cooking

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© 2013, 2014 Florence Bienenfeld Ph.D, MFT. . All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 05/15/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4918-2656-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-2655-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013953725

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

Ingredients

Tips

Tempting Appetizers, Salads And Dressings

Soothing, Satisfying Soups

Exciting Entrées, Festive Party And Holiday Dishes And Ethnic Specialties

Healthful Whole-Grain Breads And Muffins

Delicious Cakes, Tortes And Pies

Wholesome Cookies, Pastries And Sweets

Nourishing Breakfast And Brunch Specialties

About The Authors

Dedicated to our lovely, sensitive, caring granddaughter, Amanda,

who loves all animals and has been a vegetarian all her life,

to Cousin Ladene, who is allergic to eggs,

to Cousin Mae, who is allergic to all dairy products,

and to all who wish to explore a healthy,

pure way of nourishing the body.

First of all we wish to thank Michael Klaper, M.D., author of Vegan Nutrition: Pure and Simple, for honoring us with the foreword for Mother Nature’s Garden. And our son, Dan Bienenfeld for re-editing this book, and identifying the Gluten Free recipes within.

We also wish to acknowledge and thank our wonderful family and friends who love, encourage and inspire us.

FOREWORD

Heart disease and cancer are fast becoming national epidemics. However, there is something we can do to help prevent these scourges:

• By reducing or eliminating our intake of meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products, with their excessive loads of artery-clogging saturated fats and cholesterol, we can minimize our risk of heart attacks, strokes and various kinds of cancers, as well as drastically decrease the amount of pesticides we ingest.

• By reducing our intake of high-sodium foods, many people can help prevent and successfully treat high blood pressure.

• By reducing our intake of refined sugars, we can lessen the damage from tooth decay, calcium loss from bones, and free-radical damage that ages vital tissues, all associated with high-sugar diets.

For those interested in lowering their risk of disease and raising their levels of health and well-being, Mother Nature’s Garden, by Florence and Mickey Bienenfeld, is an ideal cookbook choice. The recipes contain purely non-animal foods, free of cholesterol and low in sodium and fats. Their baked goods are sweetened mainly with fruit and vegetable sweeteners. They feature a large and exciting variety of vegetarian salads, soups, appetizers, entrées, breads, breakfast and brunch items, and desserts of all kinds. This garden’s paths will lead you along a delicious journey toward better health.

Michael Klaper, M.D.

Vegan Nutrition: Pure and Simple

INTRODUCTION

There are many reasons why people choose not to eat meat, eggs, and dairy products. Some do so for religious and moral reasons, others because of allergies and yet others to maintain or recover good health. We have written Mother Nature’s Garden for all these people.

In the next few pages we wish to expound on the health benefits of a pure vegetarian diet, free of all animal products, which are really quite astounding. According to John Robbins, author of Diet For a New America (Stillpoint Publisher, 1987):

• Populations with high meat intakes have correspondingly high rates of colon cancer.

• Women who eat meat daily have a fourfold higher risk of getting breast cancer than do women who eat meat less than once a week.

• Women who eat eggs daily have a threefold higher risk of getting breast cancer than do women who eat eggs less than once a week.

• Women who eat butter and cheese three or more times a week have a threefold higher risk of getting breast cancer than do women who eat these foods less often than once a week.

• Women who eat eggs three or more times a week have a threefold higher risk of getting ovarian cancer than do women who eat eggs less often than once a week.

• Men who consume meat, cheese, eggs, and milk daily are 3.6 times more likely to get prostrate cancer than are men who eat these foods sparingly or not at all.

• Whereas for the average American man the risk of death from heart attack is 50 percent, the risk of death from heart attack for the average American vegetarian man is 15 percent. For the average American pure vegetarian man (who eats no animal products), the risk of death from heart attack is 4 percent. An omnivore who stops eating any meat, dairy products, or eggs reduces his or her risk of heart attack by 90 percent.

• If your blood cholesterol is within the range considered normal, your risk of dying of a disease caused by clogged arteries is over 50 percent. If you do not consume saturated fat and cholesterol, your risk of dying of a disease caused by clogged arteries is 5 percent.

• Meat supplies 55 percent of the pesticide residues in the average U.S. diet. Dairy products supply 23 percent; vegetables supply 6 percent; fruits supply 4 percent; and grains supply 1 percent. Ninety-nine percent of U.S. mothers (but only 8 percent of U.S. vegetarian mothers) have significant levels of DDT in their breast milk.

Besides being free of all animal products, our recipes are also low in fat and salt, and free of refined sugar. Only whole-grain flours are used in our baked goods.

In Live Longer Now (Grosset, 1974), the late Nathan Pritikin, renowned nutritionist and forerunner in the area of preventative health, identified five basic categories of foods as harmful because they can lead to serious degenerative diseases, such as heart disease, atherosclerosis, hypertension and diabetes. These categories are cholesterol, fat, salt, sugar and caffeine. We therefore suggest the following five rules for healthy eating:

1.  The first rule for healthy eating is to reduce your cholesterol intake. Americans consume four times the amount of cholesterol they can handle, and this can lead to illness. Cholesterol is found in all animal products, such as egg yolks, dairy products, meat, and poultry. As blood cholesterol levels rise, the risk of heart disease also goes up. As the arteries become blocked with plaque, blood flow is reduced, less oxygen reaches the body and the brain, and heart attacks become likely. The good news is that plaque in the arteries can regress in time if cholesterol intake is reduced. Every recipe in Mother Nature’s Garden is cholesterol free.

2.  The second rule for healthy eating is to reduce your intake of all kinds of fats as much as possible, and to avoid deep-fried foods entirely. Cook with as little fat as possible. This includes solid as well as saturated liquid or polyunsaturated fat. The average American’s diet is 42 percent fat. Most hunting and gathering peoples get about 10 percent of their calories from fat. There is increasing evidence that eating nofat is better than eating either saturated or polyunsaturated fat. Recent research shows that hydrogenated fat, found in shortenings and margarines, is especially harmful. When corn or soybean oils are hydrogenated, molecules in the oil are changed into trans-fatty acids. These fatty acids are capable of raising harmful low-density lipoproteins (LDL), the cholesterol-carrying proteins that are associated with the risk of atherosclerosis. Researchers warn anyone at risk of heart disease to avoid a diet high in trans-fatty acids. Most breads, crackers, and pastries found in bakeries and markets are made with hydrogenated fats or partially hydrogenated oils. It pays to check labels before buying. Most health-food stores carry brands of baked goods without hydrogenated fat or oil. Heated and reheated oils, especially those used in frying, are known to contain carcinogens (cancer-producing substances). Our recipes are low in fat, and many are fat-free.

3.  The third rule for healthy eating is to eat as little salt as possible. Salt sometimes contributes to hypertension, which can lead to strokes. Northern Japan, where great amounts of salt are used in cooking, has the highest incidence of hypertension in the world.

You can enhance the flavors in foods with little or no salt. In our recipes, we call for reduced-salt soy sauce in place of salt. One tablespoon of reduced-salt soy sauce contains less sodium than ¼ teaspoon of salt. Bragg Liquid Aminos which tastes like soy sauce and contains essential amino acids, is also very low in sodium.

4.  The fourth rule for healthy eating is to reduce intake of sugar and alcohol. Consuming sugar (and alcohol) tends to raise levels of blood fat and increase levels of blood cholesterol, and can also lead to diabetes. Sugar, honey, molasses, and syrups are simple carbohydrates. Eaten in large amounts, they can overwhelm the body, causing the cholesterol levels in the body to increase very quickly, and they can even cause the person to exhibit diabetic symptoms. Complex carbohydrates, found in breads, grains, vegetables, roots, pastas, potatoes and fruits, are broken down by the body into sugar at a slow rate. This sugar trickles into our bloodstreams a little at a time, without overwhelming the body and causing high fat levels or diabetes. Fortunately, both diabetes and hypoglycemia (abnormally low blood sugar) can be prevented and treated by decreasing intake of simple sugars. Our baked goods are sweetened with only fruit, fruit juices, or yams, squash, carrots, and occasionally molasses and maple syrup.

5.  The fifth rule for healthy eating is to avoid intake of caffeine, which is found in coffee and tea. Caffeine gives a person an energy boost by increasing the free fatty acids in the bloodstream. But continuous high levels of free fatty acids help degenerative diseases to develop. For this reason, caffeine intake is associated with heart disease, atherosclerosis, and diabetes. One study has shown that caffeine intake can lead directly to conditions that bring about the fibrillation type of heart attack. Another study links caffeine to the development of cancer.

Many people are addicted to the caffeine in coffee, tea and colas. If you are planning to give up caffeine, be prepared for a period of withdrawal. Drink decaffeinated teas or coffees, or, preferably, herbal teas or one of the coffee substitutes available in health-food stores.

There are no guarantees in life, but neither is there need to put ourselves at risk. Our fertile planet abounds with a great variety of delicious, wholesome, satisfying, and life-sustaining foods to choose from. And these foods can be prepared in an endless variety of appealing ways.

In Mother Nature’s Garden you will find exciting recipes that not only taste good and please your palate, but satisfy you and keep you feeling good. Our best wishes to you for good health and good eating!

INGREDIENTS

All of the ingredients called for in our recipes are pure, natural, wholesome and free of eggs, dairy products, honey, and other animal products, and cholesterol, sugar, chemical additives, and preservatives.

In addition, most of the dishes are low in fat and low in salt. Only fruit and vegetable sweeteners are used in most recipes. A word of caution to those persons who must avoid salt entirely, and to diabetics who must restrict their use of all sweeteners: Please consult with your physician regarding these ingredients.

For Gluten Free diets, notice that recipes will indicate (GF) to represent Gluten Free. Some recipes will have Gluten Free options, by substituting ingredients.

Following is a list of the ingredients used. Some of these items are available only in health-food stores.

Sweeteners: Yams and sweet potatoes, banana squash, carrots, dates, black raisins, fresh fruits (choose organically grown fruits whenever possible), frozen concentrated fruit juices, fruit juice sweetened jams, maple syrup, dark molasses, and barley malt.

Flours and Grains: Whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, brown rice flour, oat flour, rolled oats, oat bran, rye flour, buckwheat, wheat bran, barley, cornmeal, cornstarch, masa harina, soy flour, gluten flour, brown rice, granola, whole-grain cereal flakes, puffed millet, whole-grain pastas and whole wheat matzos.

Proteins: Tofu (soybean curd), beans, lentils, peas, chia and other seeds, soy flour (ground dry soy beans), gluten flour (the high-protein part of wheat flour), and soy milk.

Vegetables: Onions, garlic, celery, carrots, mushrooms, bell peppers, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, string beans, squash, lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes, green onions, chile peppers, potatoes, corn, eggplant, yams, bean sprouts and Chinese snow peas. Use organic vegetables whenever possible.

Herbs, Seasonings and Spices: Reduced-salt soy sauce contains 85 milligrams sodium per ½ teaspoon, whereas regular soy sauce contains 185 milligrams sodium per ½ teaspoon. Bragg Liquid Aminos is a low-sodium seasoning that is made of only soybeans and water and it contains 100 milligrams sodium per ½ teaspoon, tastes like soy sauce but is not fermented. Loop for Gluten free (wheat-free soy sauce) for Gluten Free Diets. Sea salt is used only in a few recipes in small quantities. Vegit is another low-sodium seasoning, made from a special yeast grown on blackstrap molasses, sea greens, and a variety of vegetables and herbs. The sodium content is less than 50 milligrams per ounce. Other seasonings are basil, oregano, thyme, cumin, curry powder, chili powder, cayenne, gingerroot, ground ginger, ground coriander, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, onion powder and garlic powder.

Fats: Olive oil, safflower or canola oil (cold-pressed oil is preferable), avocado, tahini (ground hulled sesame seeds), nuts, nut butters, and seeds are included only in very small amounts.

Canned or Bottled Goods: Tomato purée, tomato paste, diced green chile peppers, and mustard.

Water: Use bottled spring water whenever possible, because foods taste better without chlorine content found in tap water.

Miscellaneous: Baking soda, baking powder (a non-aluminum kind is preferable), cream of tartar, carob powder, grain-based coffee substitutes, and, for jelling, agar (seaweed) flakes.

TIPS

Read each recipe through very carefully before beginning, and assemble all the ingredients called for. Preheat the oven before baking. Use level measures. Keep in mind that the amount of time required for cooking or baking and the number of persons each dish will serve is only approximate.

Buying and Storing Foods

Use only black raisins, which contain no preservatives. Cold-pressed oils, available in health-food stores and some supermarkets, retain more of their flavor and vitamins than oils processed with heat and chemicals. In recipes calling for whole grain cereal flakes, use fruit-sweetened, salt-free, and sugar-free products. These are available in health-food stores and some supermarkets.

Yams, called for in many recipes, can be baked until soft ahead of time, then refrigerated or frozen and defrosted as needed. One pound of yams, baked and peeled, yields about 1 cup.

Fresh basil, cilantro, and other herbs, jalapeño peppers, and fresh gingerroot, can be washed, drained and frozen for use as needed. Use them fresh whenever possible, though.

Nuts can be chopped and frozen, then measured out as needed for various recipes.

Buy organically grown produce whenever possible. The price for pesticide-free foods is well worth any additional expense.

Cooking Beans

To cook dry, cover them with water, bring them to a boil, and let them simmer for 10 minutes. Then leave them to soak in the water until they are cool, or overnight. Rinse them well, cover them with fresh water, and cook them until tender. You can store them for a day or two in the refrigerator before using them in a recipe.

Stovetop Cooking Without Oil

To sauté onions or other vegetables without oil, heat a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions or other vegetables and 1 to 2 tablespoons water. Sauté uncovered, stir occasionally with a wooden spoon. If the onions or other vegetables begin to stick, add a little more water, stirring to release them from the sides and bottom of the pan. Repeat this process until the onions or other vegetables are softened.

To brown onions or other vegetables without oil, use the same process as for sautéing, but do not add water in the beginning. Stir the onions or other vegetables occasionally with a wooden spoon. After they brown a little and begin to stick, add a little water, and continue sautéing until they are softened.

To fry pancakes without oil, heat a nonstick griddle or a large nonstick frying pan until it is very hot. Fry the pancakes until they are brown on both sides.

To reheat solid foods, such as rice, beans, casseroles, and stir-fried tofu and vegetables: Place the portion you are reheating in a nonstick frying pan or saucepan. Pour ¼ cup water into the pan, around the edges. Cover the pan, and place it over medium heat for 5 minutes, or over low heat for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the food is hot. To reheat thick soups or stews: Place the amount you are reheating in a saucepan. Stir in ¼ cup water. Cover the pan, place it over low heat for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the soup or stew is hot.

Preparing Tofu

Always look for organic tofu. In supermarkets, tofu usually comes in liquid-filled plastic containers. To prepare the tofu for use, place the container in the sink; with a sharp knife slit its plastic top on two adjacent sides and and tilt the container to drain off the liquid. Without removing the tofu, fill the container with fresh water, and drain off the water. Repeat this step twice more. Leaving no water in container, cover it. Place the container in the refrigerator, and leave the tofu to drain in the container for at least 1 hour and for up to several days. Before using the tofu in a recipe, drain off all the liquid that has accumulated in the container. Tofu is now ready to be used in a variety of recipes.

Baking

Use only whole-grain flours. These are available in health-food stores and some supermarkets. To prevent rancidity in whole-grain flours and cereals, store them in the refrigerator.

If possible, use whole wheat pastry flour when it is called for. If you can’t get any, substitute regular whole wheat flour, but reduce the quantity of flour by 2 tablespoons per cup, and increase the baking time by 5 to 10 minutes. The product will be moister and slightly heavier.

It is not necessary to sift flour in any of the recipes; however, if your baking soda is lumpy, you may need to put it through a strainer before adding it to the other dry ingredients.

Use a brand of baking powder without aluminum, whenever possible. Such brands are available in health-food stores.

To prepare yeast dough, dissolve the yeast granules into warm water (105°). We advise using a candy thermometer, since hotter temperatures will kill the yeast.

When kneading is called for, knead the dough on a lightly floured board, using as little flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking. To have time, you may be able to knead dough in your food processor (refer to your food processor instruction booklet).

Yeast dough is normally left to rise, covered, in a warm place until it has doubled in bulk. The bowl need not be oiled. To slow the rising, you can leave the dough in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight. To speed the rising, you can set the oven at 200° (not hotter) for 60 seconds only. Turn off the oven, then place in it, on the same shelf, the bowl with dough, covered, and a small pan of boiling water. Dough will rise in one-third to one-half the usual time. This faster-rising method can be used for both the first and second risings. The second rising usually takes less time than the first. Dough has risen sufficiently when a moistened finger poked ½ inch into the dough leaves an indentation. Placing dough in the refrigerator or freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour can make sticky dough easier to handle or knead.

Take care not to over bake the low-fat, low-cholesterol cakes and breads in this book; they can easily become too dry. Remove cakes and breads from the oven as soon as a cake tester shows no sign of wet, raw batter. Don’t expect the tester to come out completely clean; a small crumb of dry batter may still cling to it. Cakes and breads become less moist as they cool.

To preserve the freshness and moistness of whole-grain baked goods, especially those low in fat, store them in the refrigerator or freezer until you are ready to use them. Before serving, wrap bread, muffins, scones or pastries in foil, and reheat them in a 350° oven just until they are warm, or toast them in a toaster oven.

TEMPTING APPETIZERS,

SALADS AND DRESSINGS

In this chapter you will find refreshing appetizers, dips, and salads, and a variety of tasty, low-fat dressings.

What may look and taste like egg salad is actually Spicy Tofu "Egg Salad," or sandwich spread. Seasoned with onions, gingerroot, curry powder, cayenne, and lemon juice, it tastes so good that you will want to keep it handy in your refrigerator all the time, yet it takes only 10 minutes to prepare. Other appetizers include an egg-free quiche; Babaganoosh (Middle Eastern Eggplant Appetizer); Sliced Tofu Wieners in Dough; an Indian Garbanzo Bean Dip; and a Fresh Vegetable Platter with Lemon-Tahini-Garlic Dip.

Mother Nature’s Garden is resplendent with healthful and refreshing salad vegetables. Whenever possible buy organic produce; it is worth the extra money. The salad recipes here include an easy pasta salad; a broccoli salad with avocado-mustard dressing; Tabouli Bulgar Wheat Salad; Pickled Beet Salad; Moroccan Bell Pepper Salad; and Buckwheat Noodle Salad with Ginger-Orange-Pecan Dressing.

All of these exciting dips, salads and dressings are low in fat and salt, free of cholesterol and sugar, and, except for one, is free of wheat, to which many people may be allergic.

SPICY TOFU EGG SALAD -GLUTEN FREE OPTION

This delicious and nourishing spread is delicately spiced with curry and ginger. It can be served on whole-grain bread or crackers, stuffed into celery, or spread on sandwiches with lettuce or sprouts. It takes only about 10 minutes to prepare, and can keep in the refrigerator for up to one week.

1 14-ounce package firm tofu, rinsed and well drained

½ small onion

1 1-inch slice fresh gingerroot, peeled

2 celery stalks

1 medium carrot

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 teaspoon Vegit

1 tablespoon reduced-salt