Cotorra
29-mar-2012, 21:08
http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=JG&Date=20120328&Category=FEAT0107&ArtNo=303289989&Ref=AR&Profile=1111&Q=85&MaxW=400&MaxH=600
BBQ Ribless Ribs are among the vegan dishes that Jase Spiegel has turned to as part of his new diet.
Jewelry artist to teach vegan recipes
A cow’s “kiss” was all it took to convince Jase Spiegel to change his eating habits.
“We were invited to SASHA (Sanctuary and Safe Haven for Animals) for a vegan potluck. We came across a cow. It kissed us, and we thought, ‘We can’t eat this,’ ” says Spiegel, of Fort Wayne. “It clicked. Hamburger or this? We saw an ostrich – sweetest thing. I thought, ‘Why does anything have to die for me?’ ”
During the trip, Spiegel and his friend, Chris Seagle, said they learned many things from the Manchester, Mich., animal sanctuary.
“Cows are given growth hormones that make them gain three pounds a day,” Spiegel says.
Soon after their visit to the farm, Spiegel, 39, said he sat down and gave his diet a closer look.
In describing his health before becoming a vegan, he says, “I was borderline diabetic. That’s gone. My blood pressure was stroke-high. I was on the verge of death. I could hardly walk. It was that bad. Now I can run two miles.
“We got into it about two months and I said, we eat too much fat and bad carbs. I said we need to start thinking of our bodies as something that runs efficiently. I started looking at the different types of fats and carbs and figured out that I was getting most of my fat from dairy and meat. The carbs I was eating (such as white bread, white pasta) were not the good type,” he says.
Spiegel, a jewelry artist, admits he tried different diets with no results.
“I was unwilling to give up things I love to eat, so they didn’t work. You shouldn’t have to give up things you love to eat to be healthy. I just modified things,” he says.
Now, healthy alternatives include tempeh, “Tofurky,” Seitan, tofu and veggie burgers. In addition to making his own “sausage,” “chicken” and “cheeses,” Spiegel switched from using sugar to using stevia in his recipes. He also uses almond, rice, soy and hemp milks.
Soon after, Spiegel found he was losing weight. So far, he’s lost 170 pounds and Seagle has lost 100 pounds.
Next month, Spiegel will be teaching a vegan cooking class at SOZO Art Studio and Gallery in Kendallville.
“I might do the ribs or a Seitan roast. I’m going to do a wasabi mashed potatoes. I’ll start with a nice hors d’oeuvre and appetizer. I’m going to show all the different products and ‘where to buy’ information,” he says.
Q. Do you have a favorite cookbook?
Spiegel: I would have to say no. I would say every cookbook I’ve looked at says you have limits. Recipes are just guidelines.
Seagle: It wouldn’t matter if he had a cookbook; he wouldn’t follow it.
Q. What’s your go-to meal?
A. If I want a home-cooked meal – creamy “beef” stroganoff with mushroom and “sour cream” and red potatoes or mashed potatoes. I like to take fresh corn with red peppers and onions and cook that on the stove. It’s a comfort food like at Grandma’s house.
Q. What vegetable do you eat most often?
Spiegel: Let’s see, probably asparagus.
Seagle: Could be. You eat a lot of lettuce.
Spiegel: I eat kale, asparagus and I’m a mushroom fan.
BBQ Ribless Ribs
1 cup Vital wheat gluten
2/3 cup of water
6 tablespoons nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons almond butter (can easily substitute smooth peanut butter)
2 tablespoons Earth Balance (or favorite soy-based spread)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon hickory flavor liquid smoke, optional
1 cup of barbecue sauce
Heat up your soy butter and almond butter just until melded together. Mix dry ingredients (wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, spices) in a bowl. Add water and liquid smoke to the dry ingredients. Knead until all the water is adsorbed. Make sure not to over knead. What you should have at this point is a sticky dough. Place the dough on a non-stick oven sheet. Form dough into a flat square about 1/2 -inch thick. Take soy/almond butter mixture and spread half onto the dough. Using your fingers, push the soy/almond butter into the dough. Turn dough over and repeat on the other side. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Using a pizza cutter, cut “ribs” into 18 to 20 1/2 - to 3/4 -inch strips of dough. You can leave them longer or cut them in half at this point. Put ribs on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, apply barbecue sauce. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove the ribs from the oven and apply more sauce. Bake 5 minutes. Makes 4 to 6 servings. Note: If you want grilled flavor, take ribs out after the 10 minutes in the oven and put them on a lightly oiled grill. Baste with sauce, turn and baste again.
Super Spring Quinoa Salad
1 cup quinoa, red or regular
2 cups of water
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium lemon, juiced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons maple syrup or pancake syrup
1/2 cup of your favorite fruit, such as strawberries or pineapple, diced
1/2 red, orange or yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped, optional
1/2 large cucumber, seeded and diced
3 tablespoons sliced almonds or pine nuts
Crushed black pepper, to taste
Put the quinoa and the water in a medium-sized saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook until all water is absorbed, about 10 to 15 minutes. When it’s done, the quinoa will appear soft and translucent and the germ ring will be visible along the outside of the grain. While quinoa is cooking, toast almonds (or pine nuts) in a dry pan, just to give them a nice light toasting. Set aside. Add quinoa and olive oil and let it set until room temperature. While waiting for this, cut up fruit and toss it with syrup, salt, squeezed lemon, red pepper and cucumber. Add nuts and combine to quinoa. Refrigerate for a few hours to meld flavors. Makes 4 to 5 servings. Note: You can change up this recipe by adding walnut oil instead of olive oil and 4 tablespoons of raspberry or fig balsamic oil instead of the lemon juice.
Mock Tuna Salad
1 (16-ounce) can of chickpeas, drained
3 tablespoons Veganaise (or another low-fat non-dairy soy mayo such as Nasoya Nayonaise)
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
2 tablespoons stevia (or 3 tablespoons sugar)
Crush chickpeas using a food processor. Mix in remaining ingredients. Chill. If desired, add sea salt and crushed red pepper, to taste. Makes 4 to 6 servings.
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120328/FEAT0107/303289989
BBQ Ribless Ribs are among the vegan dishes that Jase Spiegel has turned to as part of his new diet.
Jewelry artist to teach vegan recipes
A cow’s “kiss” was all it took to convince Jase Spiegel to change his eating habits.
“We were invited to SASHA (Sanctuary and Safe Haven for Animals) for a vegan potluck. We came across a cow. It kissed us, and we thought, ‘We can’t eat this,’ ” says Spiegel, of Fort Wayne. “It clicked. Hamburger or this? We saw an ostrich – sweetest thing. I thought, ‘Why does anything have to die for me?’ ”
During the trip, Spiegel and his friend, Chris Seagle, said they learned many things from the Manchester, Mich., animal sanctuary.
“Cows are given growth hormones that make them gain three pounds a day,” Spiegel says.
Soon after their visit to the farm, Spiegel, 39, said he sat down and gave his diet a closer look.
In describing his health before becoming a vegan, he says, “I was borderline diabetic. That’s gone. My blood pressure was stroke-high. I was on the verge of death. I could hardly walk. It was that bad. Now I can run two miles.
“We got into it about two months and I said, we eat too much fat and bad carbs. I said we need to start thinking of our bodies as something that runs efficiently. I started looking at the different types of fats and carbs and figured out that I was getting most of my fat from dairy and meat. The carbs I was eating (such as white bread, white pasta) were not the good type,” he says.
Spiegel, a jewelry artist, admits he tried different diets with no results.
“I was unwilling to give up things I love to eat, so they didn’t work. You shouldn’t have to give up things you love to eat to be healthy. I just modified things,” he says.
Now, healthy alternatives include tempeh, “Tofurky,” Seitan, tofu and veggie burgers. In addition to making his own “sausage,” “chicken” and “cheeses,” Spiegel switched from using sugar to using stevia in his recipes. He also uses almond, rice, soy and hemp milks.
Soon after, Spiegel found he was losing weight. So far, he’s lost 170 pounds and Seagle has lost 100 pounds.
Next month, Spiegel will be teaching a vegan cooking class at SOZO Art Studio and Gallery in Kendallville.
“I might do the ribs or a Seitan roast. I’m going to do a wasabi mashed potatoes. I’ll start with a nice hors d’oeuvre and appetizer. I’m going to show all the different products and ‘where to buy’ information,” he says.
Q. Do you have a favorite cookbook?
Spiegel: I would have to say no. I would say every cookbook I’ve looked at says you have limits. Recipes are just guidelines.
Seagle: It wouldn’t matter if he had a cookbook; he wouldn’t follow it.
Q. What’s your go-to meal?
A. If I want a home-cooked meal – creamy “beef” stroganoff with mushroom and “sour cream” and red potatoes or mashed potatoes. I like to take fresh corn with red peppers and onions and cook that on the stove. It’s a comfort food like at Grandma’s house.
Q. What vegetable do you eat most often?
Spiegel: Let’s see, probably asparagus.
Seagle: Could be. You eat a lot of lettuce.
Spiegel: I eat kale, asparagus and I’m a mushroom fan.
BBQ Ribless Ribs
1 cup Vital wheat gluten
2/3 cup of water
6 tablespoons nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons almond butter (can easily substitute smooth peanut butter)
2 tablespoons Earth Balance (or favorite soy-based spread)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon hickory flavor liquid smoke, optional
1 cup of barbecue sauce
Heat up your soy butter and almond butter just until melded together. Mix dry ingredients (wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, spices) in a bowl. Add water and liquid smoke to the dry ingredients. Knead until all the water is adsorbed. Make sure not to over knead. What you should have at this point is a sticky dough. Place the dough on a non-stick oven sheet. Form dough into a flat square about 1/2 -inch thick. Take soy/almond butter mixture and spread half onto the dough. Using your fingers, push the soy/almond butter into the dough. Turn dough over and repeat on the other side. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Using a pizza cutter, cut “ribs” into 18 to 20 1/2 - to 3/4 -inch strips of dough. You can leave them longer or cut them in half at this point. Put ribs on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, apply barbecue sauce. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove the ribs from the oven and apply more sauce. Bake 5 minutes. Makes 4 to 6 servings. Note: If you want grilled flavor, take ribs out after the 10 minutes in the oven and put them on a lightly oiled grill. Baste with sauce, turn and baste again.
Super Spring Quinoa Salad
1 cup quinoa, red or regular
2 cups of water
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium lemon, juiced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons maple syrup or pancake syrup
1/2 cup of your favorite fruit, such as strawberries or pineapple, diced
1/2 red, orange or yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped, optional
1/2 large cucumber, seeded and diced
3 tablespoons sliced almonds or pine nuts
Crushed black pepper, to taste
Put the quinoa and the water in a medium-sized saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook until all water is absorbed, about 10 to 15 minutes. When it’s done, the quinoa will appear soft and translucent and the germ ring will be visible along the outside of the grain. While quinoa is cooking, toast almonds (or pine nuts) in a dry pan, just to give them a nice light toasting. Set aside. Add quinoa and olive oil and let it set until room temperature. While waiting for this, cut up fruit and toss it with syrup, salt, squeezed lemon, red pepper and cucumber. Add nuts and combine to quinoa. Refrigerate for a few hours to meld flavors. Makes 4 to 5 servings. Note: You can change up this recipe by adding walnut oil instead of olive oil and 4 tablespoons of raspberry or fig balsamic oil instead of the lemon juice.
Mock Tuna Salad
1 (16-ounce) can of chickpeas, drained
3 tablespoons Veganaise (or another low-fat non-dairy soy mayo such as Nasoya Nayonaise)
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
2 tablespoons stevia (or 3 tablespoons sugar)
Crush chickpeas using a food processor. Mix in remaining ingredients. Chill. If desired, add sea salt and crushed red pepper, to taste. Makes 4 to 6 servings.
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120328/FEAT0107/303289989