B00AG0VMTC EBOK (20 page)

By Ben Baker

This polenta French toast is the mastermind of Ben Baker of the Travassa Spa and Resort, located in the Texas hill country (where we have held several of our Engine 2 retreats). Ben came up with this wonderful recipe for our gluten-free, plant-strong participants. It serves its purpose as good ol’-fashioned comfort food.

3 cups water

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1 cup polenta

1 cup dried cranberries (about 5 ounces)

Add the 3 cups of water to a small pot. Whisk in the cinnamon and maple syrup very well, breaking up any clumps. Bring the mixture to a low boil.

Following the package instructions and using the suggested polenta-to-water ratio (some varieties are of a coarser grind and will absorb more water), whisk the water and slowly pour in the polenta. Cook, stirring rapidly, to keep the polenta from forming lumps. When the polenta has thickened like a nice porridge, stir in the cranberries.

Pour the mixture onto a baking sheet with a rim at least 1 inch high. Spread out the mixture to a thickness of less than ½ inch, making it as smooth as possible. Place a piece of parchment paper on the top of the smooth surface, and press the polenta flat. Allow the polenta to cool down, then refrigerate.

Once the polenta has set, you can unmold it onto a flat, clean surface. Cut it into even squares, and then cut the squares into triangles. Over medium-high heat, cook the triangles on each side in a nonstick pan until they turn golden brown. Serve plain, or with pure maple syrup, berries, or try Ben’s magic trick below.

Ben’s Baker Tip:
Top with Cabernet Cranberries. In a small pot over medium heat, combine 2 cups of Cabernet wine with 1½ cups dried cranberries. Cook, letting the mixture slowly reduce, and until the cranberries have absorbed all of the wine. The pectin that still resides in the cranberries will cause the mixture to thicken. Drizzle the sauce over your Polenta French Toast—you are in for a real treat!

By Anne Bingham

Near our family farm in upstate New York, tucked between the Berkshire and Catskill mountains, is a little natural-food grocery called Guido’s. Shopping there one perfect summer day, my sister-in-law Anne came across a sample table offering several dishes with amazing blends of flavors. After taste-testing nearly all of their samples, she headed home to re-create this plant-strong version!

½ cup raw cashews

1 red onion, sliced

¼ teaspoon salt or low-sodium tamari sauce

¼ cup water, as needed

6 to 8 fresh figs

Soak the cashews in a bowl of water for 30 minutes.

Place a sauté pan over high heat until a drop of water beads across the preheated surface. Add the red onion slices and cook until browned and caramelized. Set aside.

To make the cashew cream: Combine the drained cashews, salt or tamari, and water in a food processor and blend until creamy.

Without cutting all the way through, split figs into quarters—length- and width-wise—then open them out flat like stars. Spoon a dab of the cashew cream in the center of each split fig. Cover with the caramelized red onions. Serve cold or at room temperature with plenty of napkins.

Adapted from a Crile family recipe

Kitty was a full-time cook for my great-grandparents’ household nearly one hundred years ago. Whatever she cooked, the family loved. Her “first course” was heavenly, and perhaps helped send a few people in that direction since it included white bread, egg whites, mayonnaise, hollandaise sauce, grated egg yolk, and
caviar. Gulp! Here is our E2, plant-strong, equally heavenly, and healthier version.

6 slices whole-grain bread, each cut into a 3½-inch diameter circle

6 artichoke bottoms—not hearts! (available canned)

2 cups steamed greens: kale, beet greens, Swiss chard, spinach—your choice

6 thick tomato slices, cut roughly the diameter of the toast rounds

½ cup OMG Walnut Sauce (
here
)

Kelp flakes, or fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish

Using the circular rim of a cup or cutter, cut the bread into 6 circles. Toast the bread circles.

On top of each round of toast, place an artichoke bottom. On top of each artichoke bottom, place ¼ cup of steamed greens. On top of the greens, add a tomato slice.

Prepare the walnut sauce and add water until the sauce has the consistency of a dressing. Spoon the sauce over the top of each “tower.” Sprinkle with kelp flakes or cilantro. Enjoy!

By Ann Esselstyn

These are bold, bright, fresh, and alive, just like my mom, Ann Crile Esselstyn (aka ACE), who created them.

4 collard greens (tips of stems removed so they are round)

½ cup hummus (see variation Plain Jane Hummus,
here
)

3 to 4 scallions, chopped

1 red bell pepper, julienned

1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and sliced lengthwise into ½-inch strips

4 to 6 leaves fresh basil, chopped

cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Lightly steam the collard leaves in a shallow pan of water for 10 seconds per side. Flatten out the steamed greens on a clean dish towel and dry both sides. Place one collard on a cutting board and coat the center spine thickly with the hummus.

Along the center strip of hummus, add the scallions, bell pepper, and cucumber strips atop the hummus. Add the basil, cilantro, lemon zest, and plenty of lemon juice. Roll up each collard green so each looks like a thick green cigar, then slice into ½-inch sections and serve.

Tip:
Also try these using bok choy strips and asparagus!

By Jane Esselstyn

Asparagus and cashew cream are Jane’s twist on my mom’s Original Hummus-Collard Wraps. One rainy day while Jane was offering demos at a farmers’ market, a young man tasted a collard wrap sample and shouted, “No way! What is this? I need this recipe!” Ask and ye shall receive.

½ cup raw cashews, soaked

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup water, or as needed

½ red onion, sliced

6 asparagus spears, steamed

4 collard greens, tips of stems removed so they are round

1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and sliced lengthwise

1 red bell pepper, julienned

3 to 4 scallions, chopped

4 to 6 leaves fresh basil, chopped

cup chopped fresh cilantro

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

In a food processor make cashew cream. Combine the soaked cashews, salt, and water and process until the texture is similar to hummus. Place a pan over high heat until a drop of water beads across the preheated surface. Add the red onion slices until browned and caramelized. Set aside.

In a shallow pan of water, lightly steam the asparagus. Set aside.

In the same pan of hot water, lightly steam the collard greens, about 10 seconds per side. Flatten out steamed greens on a clean dish towel and dry both sides.

Place one green on the cutting board at a time and coat the center spine thickly with cashew cream. Add a few cooked asparagus spears, cucumbers, bell peppers, and scallions atop the cashew cream. Sprinkle with the chopped basil and cilantro, lemon zest, and plenty of lemon juice. Roll collard green up so it looks like a thick green cigar. Repeat for the rest of the collard greens, then slice each into ½-inch sections and serve.

By Jane Esselstyn

Add these to pasta night and have an absolute ball! You can also serve them with toothpicks as hors d’oeuvres and watch them disappear. If you like things less spicy, use less Italian seasoning.

¾ cup vegetable broth

1 tablespoon low-sodium tamari sauce

1 fresh garlic clove, minced

1 cup wheat gluten

1 to 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon dried oregano

¼ teaspoon garlic salt (optional)

1 teaspoon onion powder

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 cup Fast and Fresh Marinara Sauce (
here
)

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a roasting pan with a layer of parchment paper.

In a small bowl, whisk together the broth, tamari, and garlic. In a separate bowl, mix together the wheat gluten, Italian seasoning, oregano, garlic salt, if using, onion powder, and nutritional yeast.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Hand mix and/or knead ingredients until there is an elastic texture to the dough. Using your hands, roll the dough into balls the size of grapes, walnuts, or golf balls. Place the balls onto the lined pan and baste with 1 cup of the marinara sauce. Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven, and, using a fork, rotate and roll the balls around, basting the tops and sides with the marinara in the pan. Bake for 10 minutes more. Remove from oven and serve warm over pasta with the remaining sauce.

Adapted from Bryant Terry’s Vegan Soul Kitchen

After a long chat with my dad and mom, the producers of the documentary
Forks Over Knives
decided that as part of the movie they needed to film the story of a type 2 diabetic following a plant-strong diet. The woman they found was San’Dera Nation, a 300-pound, type 2 diabetic single mother of five who had little to lose by deciding to accept the challenge.

So, as cameras rolled, San’Dera started the plant-perfect way on Mother’s Day of 2009. It was tough at first, but her near-immediate results—plummeting weight and blood sugar levels—made her stick with the plant-based approach. Now, more than a year later, San’Dera is 100 pounds lighter, no longer diabetic, and off her medications, and she feels great.

There are still challenges, however. Some of her African-American friends told her, “You’re eating white food.” Her response was, “I am eating healthy food. Not white people food or black people food, healthy food. I want to be around to play with my grans.”

Here is a plant-soulful healthy favorite adapted from Bryant Terry and inspired by San’Dera’s courage and resolve to rise above the fray.

1 medium onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 green bell pepper, diced

Two 15-ounce cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed

10 ounces tempeh, chopped into small cubes (optional)

One 16-ounce jar barbecue sauce, your favorite

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a cast-iron skillet, or other oven-safe cookware, cook the onion, garlic, and bell pepper over high heat until soft.

Decrease the heat to medium, add the black-eyed peas and tempeh, if using, and stir to combine. Add the barbecue sauce and stir until ingredients are uniformly coated with the sauce.

Place the pan into the oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until heated through. Serve warm on its own, over rice, or atop steamed greens.