Plant Powered Cooking: 52 Inspired Ideas for Growing and Cooking Yummy Good Food

By Alice Alvrez and Elise Marie Collins

“Truly delectable veggie recipes for healthy living” and starter garden tips from the author of The Going Green Handbook (Mielle Rose, author of Veganish).
 
Organic gardener, environmentalist, and pop-up chef Alice Mary Alvrez wants to make it as easy as possible to reduce your footprint, grow and eat fabulous organic vegetables, and maintain a planet-positive, animal-friendly lifestyle. As she says, “I like to make it so simple that it’s brain-free so you don’t even have to think about it any more, you fall in love with a healthier and greener way of life.”
 
Her book, Plant Powered Cooking is simply brimming with brilliant ideas you can use from tips for growing your own food (even if you have a hard time keeping houseplants alive), shopping and cooking techniques for every mealtime, and even low-labor secrets for harvesting and canning the bounty from your own garden. Learn surprising facts about the impact of meat and animal products on the environment and how even small do-it-yourself ideas lead to real impact. Begin with small changes such as “Meat-free Mondays,” then eliminate all meat out of your diet and replace it with beautiful food grown by your own hand. With Alvrez’s Plant Powered Cooking, you and your family will be living the good life.
 
“Inspired ideas for healthy eating.” —Billee Sharp, author of Lemons and Lavender

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Sep 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781633535305

Alice Alvrez

Alice Mary Alvrez became a vegan ten years ago after a major health crisis and completely turned her life around. A women's studies teacher, she is also a dedicated gardener, cook and blogger. Alice is on a mission to help more people take charge of their own health through healthy eating. She lives with her family of five in Portland. Oregon.

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Copyright © 2017 Alicia Alvrez

Published by Mango Publishing Group, a division of Mango Media Inc.

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Cover + Layout Design : Elina Diaz

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Plant Powered Cooking: 52 Inspired Ideas for Growing and Cooking Yummy Good Food

ISBN: (paperback) 978-1-63353-654-8, (ebook) 978-1-63353-530-5

Library of Congress Control Number:

BISAC - CKB086000 COOKING / Vegetarian

Printed in the United States of America

Animals are my friends…and I don’t eat my friends.

— George Bernard Shaw

Contents

Foreword

Level 1 Introduction and the Basics

Kinds of Vegetarianism

How to Get Started

What Cruelty?

A Vegetarian Budget

How Vegetarians Help Animal Welfare

How Vegetarians Help the Environment

How Vegetarians Help Their Own Bodies

Causes for Vegetarian Issues

Level 2 Foods to Avoid or Change

Cruelty-Free Dairy

Cruelty-Free Eggs

Cooking Without Meat

What About Fish?

Hidden Ingredients

Avoiding Fur and Leather

Animal Testing Issues

Understanding GMOs

A Word About Soy

Level 3 Foods to Embrace

Cooking with Plant Proteins

Cooking More Leafy Greens

Cooking More Beans

Eating More Fruit

Eating More Nuts and Seeds

Keeping It Healthy

Officially Organic

Getting Your Nutrients

Level 4 The Vegetarian Lifestyle

Dining Out as a Vegetarian

Raising a Vegetarian Family

Are Your Pets Vegetarians?

The Vegetarian Tourist

Vegetarian at the Holidays

Living with a Meat-Eater

Cruelty-Free in the Wild

Jumping Through Hoops?

Cultural Background of Vegetarianism

Famous Vegetarians

Going Back to Meat

Growing Your Own

The Farmer's Market

Save It for Later

Vegetarian Brands

Documentaries for the New Vegetarian

One Step Further: Vegan

Level 5 Recipes

Vegetarian Lasagna

Tofu Stir Fry

Meatless Chili

Mushroom Quinoa with Garlic

Mock Tuna Salad

Eggless Banana Muffins

Eggplant Parmesan

Greek Berry Smoothie

Black Bean Soup

Homemade Granola

Foreword

Joy and Health

What is pure and natural food? The answer can be somewhat subjective, but it should be food grown without chemicals and not adulterated beyond what’s possible in an average home kitchen. Labels on prepackaged foods are not reliable guides for healthy choices, making it tricky to navigate the grocery aisles. My best advice is to eat a wide variety of naturally grown, unprocessed foods, and pay attention to how your brain and body feel. The word organic is widely touted but I strongly suggest you trust but verify. Buy ingredients that you recognize from nature and cook your meals from scratch as often as possible. Make an effort to avoid highly process-altered, refined ingredients. Be moderate, balanced, and flexible. Trust your intuition and maintain a healthy curiosity about what you find. The best of all possible options is to grow your own in an organic garden out back. It will bring both joy and health.

If you’re like most of us, you are aware that your energy levels and health could be improved by eating more vegetables. This book will help you learn to enjoy plant-based foods—whether you choose to eat this way all the time or just want to fill the rest of your menu with delicious and nutritious vegan foods. These recipes make up my suggested basic plant-powered repertoire, and can support a plant-based diet, but they’re also easily adaptable for omnivores and lacto-ovo vegetarians to serve with meat or dairy products. Avoid simulated meats or cheeses, though, since these products are frequently made of fatty and unhealthy ingredients and are often disappointing and leave you wanting to eat the meat to get the taste you were craving!

If you’re watching your health and trying to prevent or reverse high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes or looking for weight reduction, do your best to eliminate processed foods and focus on lots of leafy green vegetables and nutrient-dense whole foods. Digestive health is also very important so your system can absorb and use those nutrients. Fermentation improves the digestibility of many foods such as soybeans (miso, tempeh), milk (yogurt) and vegetables (sauerkraut). Fermented foods also provide probiotics, which help digest and utilize the other foods we eat and strengthen our immune system to fight disease. Living a plant-based lifestyle will definitely strengthen your immunity!

Another option to consider adding to your diet to amp up your plant-power quotient is raw and fresh juices. Fresh vegetable juice is an excellent way to consume a high dose of nutrients in one serving. Celery, cucumber, parsley, and dark, leafy greens are great choices. Limit higher-sugar vegetables like carrots and beets to add a dash of a flavor, rather than as a base. Ginger, apple, and lemon are great flavors too and enliven any smoothie or juice. Smoothies are a popular way to make a meal in a glass, but do note that most commercial protein powders contain unnatural ingredients. Stay organic with plenty of hemp seeds, nut butters, and spirulina to make high-protein smoothies.

Who knew good health could taste so good?

Once you convert to plant-power, you will become more aware of the seasons of the year. You will be shopping based on what is just harvested and also growing your own veggies will ensure you are living in tune with the natural world. A major cornerstone of a healthy diet is diversity. As much as possible, eat with the seasons, as