Thirteen Moons: More seasonal recipes to nourish and inspire

Introduction

Although all the recipes in this book are vegetarian, my intention is not to convert you to vegetarianism, but rather to introduce you to the wide range of food options that the plant world offers. There are many ethical and environmental reasons to follow a vegetarian diet. However, I encourage you to choose a diet that nourishes you and the planet. Most of the recipes complement whatever dietary regimen you’ve chosen to follow. This cookbook will appeal to anyone who wants to eat healthful, plant-based foods—at least some of the time.

Following the format of my first book, this cookbook is also divided into the four seasons to take advantage—as much as possible—of foods that are available locally in Ontario, Canada, and that our bodies need at various times in our seasonal climate. All the recipes are relatively easy to make; they contain whole, clean ingredients; and they are nutritious and tasty. For the most part, they contain limited dairy and sugars. Many are gluten-free, and you will also find several raw, vegan options.

The recipes also reflect the eating preferences of Thirteen Moons’ clients. Though most are not vegetarians, they all enjoy the opportunity to try meat-free options and leave inspired to incorporate these types of foods into their diets. Many of my clients have dietary restrictions for health or other reasons, and we specialize in meeting those requirements. When we’re feeding small groups, we are able to create dishes that address these diverse dietary preferences and still please everyone.

Each food category in the chapter Food Basics states my preferences for recipe staples such as salt, sugars, and fats. I also provide a substitutions list and variation suggestions to enable you to incorporate your personal choices.

Although all the recipes are vegetarian, most can be made vegan or gluten-free, and I include variations for those options. I have also added a few raw recipes and a section on sprouting to address the interest in these topics.

Each recipe is coded as follows to help you find appropriate dishes:

V = Vegan

GF = Gluten-Free

GF*= Adaptable

R = Raw

Though photos are not included because the cost of doing so when you’re self-publishing is prohibitive, you will be able to find them on our website at www.recipestoinspire.ca.

Why Seasonal Eating?

Most of us unconsciously eat a seasonal diet. A stew of root vegetables just doesn’t have much appeal in the heat of the summer. On the other hand, we want something heartier than a salad in the middle of a cold Canadian winter.

Fortunately, we now live in a time and place where a wide variety of fresh produce is available year round. In our global marketplace, we find foods from around the world readily available in local supermarkets. We also are able to freeze most foods when they are in season. Although it’s not uncommon to be eating fresh strawberries in the dead of winter, on some level it doesn’t feel right. Few would claim that they taste as good as those freshly picked in June, unless they were frozen locally.

In our Canadian climate, our bodies require foods that help us cope with the conditions of four distinct seasons. Adopting a seasonal approach to eating means we tend to rely on local crops, thus supporting the local economy and consuming foods that are appropriate for what our bodies need as the temperature changes. So not only do the kinds of foods we eat tend to shift somewhat, the cooking methods also vary to suit the weather

I have divided this cookbook according to the seasons to reflect this approach, and I hope this will make it easier for you to plan meals and shop more economically for ingredients.

Why Vegetarian?

Many people are shifting their diets from a meat-based one to a diet that features more plant-based foods. This certainly provides more variety and even some health benefits. One reason I serve vegetarian foods here at Thirteen Moons is to educate my clients about the healthful dietary options available to them.

Although a vegetarian diet is not for everyone, the benefits are many, including health, economic, and environmental.

On the health side, experts agree that a reduced intake of saturated fats found in animal products decreases the risk of heart disease and strokes. Without meat taking up a good portion of our plates, we’re more likely to eat higher-fibre legumes (dried beans, peas, and lentils), whole grains, and even more vegetables.

Economically, it’s usually less expensive to get protein from plant foods such as beans than from meat. There is a wide variety of beans on supermarket shelves, so it’s easy to find one or two that your family will enjoy. They can replace meat in most dishes, such as chili, pasta dishes, stews, and soups.

There are environmental reasons, too, for choosing to eat a vegetarian diet. The commercial processing of meat and poultry places great demand on the land and contributes to water pollution. In fact, this is also true for monocropping practices that are common in commercial agriculture.

One common misconception is that vegetarian cooking is time consuming and the results boring. In fact, you can easily cook good, wholesome vegetarian meals in less than half an hour. A great way to start is by simply replacing the meat in your favourite dish with something like beans, lentils, or tofu.

You might be surprised by the options and variety available to you with vegetarian cooking. It just takes a bit of creativity and a willingness to try something new. Plenty of resources are available to help aspiring vegetarians or those wishing to introduce more plant foods into their diets. These days there are many community organizations as well as online and print resources that support local, sustainable, healthful eating.

My hope is that this cookbook becomes a favourite in your kitchen and one that inspires you to learn and experiment more.

In this section, I discuss some of the key components of a plant-based diet. It is not intended to be a comprehensive discussion of each topic presented. Rather, I trust the information presented will be informative and inspire you to learn more, whether this is your chosen lifestyle or you simply want to eat vegetarian foods more often.

Although the Canada Food Guide is touted to be the gospel on healthful eating, it clearly falls short, and yet our educational and health-care institutions base their food policies on it. The guide was designed to show us how to meet our nutrient requirements, with potentially questionable influence from the food industry. In my opinion, we experience the impact of diet on our health when we take personal responsibility for what we eat, reduce our reliance on highly processed food, and rely more on the wide range of whole-food options that we are so fortunate to have access to.

How Do Vegetarians Get Enough Protein?

Non-vegetarians worry that they won’t get enough protein if they don’t eat meat, poultry, or fish. However, a well-balanced vegetarian meal provides all the nutrients you need for good health—including protein, which is the building block of health. There are many ways to get protein from plant sources. It is present in adequate quantities in dairy products and eggs. For vegans, protein is present in nuts, legumes, and grains.

Our daily protein requirement is dependent on our ideal weight (fat tissue doesn’t need protein). The amount of protein per kilogram (2.2 pounds) decreases as we reach adulthood. Pregnant and lactating women need more. For adults, the recommended daily allowance (RDA) is .8 grams per kilogram of ideal weight. A woman whose ideal weight is 132 pounds, or 60 kilograms, should have about 48 grams of protein daily.

Here are some examples of varieties of foods that contain substantive amounts of protein. Each of the following wheat-free sources contains about 7 grams of protein:

•1 cup (250 mL) peas

•3/4 cup (160 mL) cooked quinoa

•1 cup (250 mL) cooked brown rice

•1 ounce (28 g) nuts or nut butter

•1/3 cup (80 mL) cooked lentils

•1/4 cup (60 mL) cooked beans

•1/2 cup (125 mL) cooked chickpeas

•3 ounces (85 g) firm tofu or tempeh

•3 tablespoons (45 mL) hemp hearts

•3 tablespoons (45 mL) chia seeds

•1/3 cup (80 mL) sesame seeds

•1/4 cup (60 mL) sunflower seeds

•1 cup (250 mL) cooked broccoli

•1/3 cup (80 mL) edamame beans

•1 cup (250 mL) whole-milk yogurt

•1/4 cup (60 mL) Greek yogurt

•1 cup (250 mL)1% milk

•1/4 cup (60 mL) cottage cheese

•1 ounce (28 g) part-skim mozzarella cheese

It isn’t necessary to be fanatical about counting and measuring everything you eat. However, this gives you a guideline for some sources of protein from the plant world.

It was once thought that different types of foods had to be combined within a single meal to provide a complete protein. The latest research indicates that an assortment of plant foods eaten over the course of a day can provide all of the necessary essential amino acids. A balanced diet with a good variety of foods should ensure that you are getting what you need.

Sufficient iron intake is also needed for cell metabolism, energy, liver function, and overall good health. Lentils, quinoa, spinach, Swiss chard, and blackstrap molasses are good vegetarian sources of iron.

Vitamin B12 is another important nutrient often lacking in vegetarian diets because it is available only from animal products, including yogurt, cheese, and eggs. It is crucial for good health and impacts metabolism and energy levels, and it aids in the absorption of minerals, especially calcium. Vegans may need to supplement their diets with vitamin B12.

Food Quality

Most people would agree that good, clean nutrition is essential to a healthful lifestyle. As such, making this a priority with regard to how we spend our money and our time is clearly beneficial.

Why Organically Grown Produce

The health reasons most often cited for choosing organically grown produce are reduced exposure to toxins and increased nutrition. There is a lot of controversy on both sides of this argument.

The environmental reasons for choosing organically grown produce include the prevention of chemical pollution of the soil, air, and water. Organic farming moves away from monoculture, where crops are farmed in single-species plots, to rotating crops and mixing plants, which are much better for the soil and the environment. Healthier soil equals healthier crops equals a healthier population.

Buying locally grown organic produce is even better because it minimizes the transportation component, which contributes to air pollution. When we support local farmers, we also support our local economy and develop important connections to our food sources. We can take this a step further and make the effort to grow our own food, whenever possible.

Buying Organic Foods

Organic doesn’t mean pesticide-free because pesticides are so pervasive in the air and our environment that no crop can be declared totally free of synthetic chemicals. If you buy poultry that’s labelled free-range, you can’t assume that it is also organic. The term natural as used in the food industry is meaningless because there are no standards for the use of that word to market products.

Organic certification does have value because it is your assurance that a product is truly organic according to established standards, and it hasn’t been genetically engineered. Organic certification is given by independent third-party organizations that monitor farming practices and certify that what you are buying is truly organic. Regarding availability, you have many options besides buying organic products at supermarkets and health-food stores. You might consider joining or forming a co-op and purchasing directly from a Community Supported Agricultural (CSA) group or wholesaler.

Farmers’ markets are also an excellent place to find organically grown produce or freerange and hormone-free animal products. Some farmers may not have organic certification, even though they adhere to organic farming practices; you need to ask them about this, and then decide whether to purchase their products.

A greater awareness of the source and quality of the foods we eat makes us better consumers and helps support sustainable farming practices and the local economy. It may not be possible to purchase organic foods all the time, but I believe that it is well worth the money and effort to make this choice as often as possible—especially when it comes to animal products such as eggs and dairy, soy products, and produce that is most susceptible to chemicals.

In 2013, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that nearly two-thirds of the 3,015 produce samples they tested contained pesticide residues. The USDA tests found a total of 165 different pesticides on thousands of fruit and vegetable samples examined.¹ Given that there is increased consumer demand for food without agricultural chemicals, and not everyone can afford to purchase organic products, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) produced the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce. This list helps consumers know where to spend their food dollars.

As reported in the Watershed Sentinel, according to Statistics Canada, nearly 60 percent of our food imports (in terms of dollars) comes from the United States, most of which are fruit, vegetables, and fish.² In addition, in 2010, Health Canada and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adopted the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) standards for maximum residue limits (MRLs) for pesticides in food. As a result, the allowable pesticide residues for Canadian-grown fruit and vegetables are the same as those for American produce.³

The 2015 Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen Lists

Whether you are on a budget and need to prioritize your purchases of organic produce, or you would simply like to know which foods have the highest pesticide residues—and which do not—the following EWG’s Dirty Dozen list will help."

The EWG also names the Clean Fifteen, which lists produce that they have found to be the least contaminated. The foods on this list were shown to have