Tag: comfort food

Plant Based Potato Salad

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My mother in law used to make the most fabulous potato salad, the kind that is so rich and creamy it just melts in your mouth.  But alas, it was far from plant-based with its mayo and eggs.  So this is the substitute, not as creamy but certainly as tasty.  We test made this over the Labor Day holiday weekend, when all my kid’s were home.  They are always good taste testers.  They agreed it passed and could be added in to those family gatherings where we used to enjoy grandmas potato salad.  It’s fairly quick and easy to pull together and best yet, it can sit outside at the family picnic without any worries about whats going on with the mayo sitting in the sunshine.  We chose to leave the skin on the potatoes but you can certainly peel them if you want.  Potato skins are actually quite healthy.  One whole baked potato amazingly has more potassium than a banana. Spuds are also rich in iron, magnesium, and fiber, and fiber my friends is only found in plant food, and is a must have for our bodies to run efficiently.  Enjoy!

Plant Based Potato Salad

  • Servings: 6-8
  • Difficulty: easy
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A flavorful salad, rich with herbs and packed with nutrients

Ingredients

  • 4 lbs medium red potatoes, cubed
  • 1/2 cup apple sauce
  • 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp. whole grain mustard
  • 1 tsp maple syrup
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups diced celery
  • 1/2 cup chopped parsley
  • 1/2 cup minced scallions
  • 1/4 c. finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes
  • 2 Tbsp chopped dill

Directions

  1. Put potatoes in a saucepan full of water.  Bring to a boil and cook 5-8  minutes, until just tender.  Drain and set aside.
  2. Whisk apple sauce, vinegar, mustard, maple syrup, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the hot potatoes and toss to coat.
  3. Add celery, parsley, scallions, sun-dried tomatoes and chopped dill.  Stir.
  4. Serve immediately while still warm or refrigerate to serve chilled.

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Steff’s Mac and Cheese

 

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This past 4th of July my family traveled as we have for many years to my sister’s house on the east side of Cleveland.  Her home is nestled in Ohio wine country and we celebrate yearly at Chalet Debonne Vineyards.  It’s a joy to visit because she prepares scrumptious plant-based dishes too.  This year she prepared a Mac and Cheese, (along with lots of other dishes) that was extra yummy.  My hubby even went back for seconds and he was never a Mac and cheese kind of guy before this plant-based adventure.  I was initially a little concerned because following Dr. Esselstyn’s prevent and reverse heart disease lifestyle one is supposed to stay away from nuts.  I have been avoiding them like the plague.  However, at a recent conference, Dr. Esselstyn was asked about nuts and he stated he doesn’t like nuts because no one can stop with just one handful and people end up with nuts in their car, nuts in their desk, nuts in their purse, essentially you can’t stop with just one.  So I made the executive decision that I can use them occasionally within a recipe and just keep them out of sight and hidden in my house so they don’t become a go to snack.  Over Labor Day weekend I prepared Steff’s Mac and Cheese for the first time.   My sister assured me it was super easy.  Just toss everything in the Vita-mix.  I’m told if you have a Vita-mix you don’t need to soak your raw cashews, however the ones I had were lightly salted so I soaked and rinsed them just to get rid of the added salt.  I had to text her photos of my progress several times during the process because I was expecting the sauce in my Vita-mix to be much thicker than it was.  She assured me it was perfect.  Sticking with Esselstyn I used 100% whole grain elbow macaroni.

Steff's Mac and Cheese

  • Servings: 5-7
  • Difficulty: easy
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A yummy substitute for the traditional blue box, approved by one their most avid fans.

Ingredients

  • 2 red peppers
  • 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 tsp. onion powder
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup raw cashews
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1 -1lb box elbow macaroni

Directions

  1. Place the nuts in a small bowl and cover with water, let sit for approximately  6 hours, then drain and pat dry, this step is not necessary if you are using a Vita-mix.
  2. Prepare pasta and while the pasta is cooking, chunk up red peppers.
  3. Toss red pepper chunks, nutritional yeast, onion powder, water, cashews, salt, nutmeg and turmeric in food processor. Blend until smooth.
  4. Drain pasta and pour back into pan.
  5. Pour sauce over the cooked pasta, stir and place over low heat just until heated through.

theheartie.kitchen