A quick salad made mainly because I wanted to enjoy an awesome gouda cheese sampled on Sun at Kroger (and bought a small block soon after).

#Spinach salad with #blackbeanburger, #walnuts Patty and gouda cheese (the gouda was the inspiration for #salad). #vegetarianrecipes

A post shared by Nari Soundarrajan (@spicetruck.in) on Aug 14, 2018 at 9:28pm PDT

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Taco Tuesday - Revisited

Tuesday dinner. Homemade veggie tacos based off a texmex delight I love from a restaurant at pennstate area. Black beans were lightly sauteed with roasted cumin seeds, minced garlic, rock salt,  black pepper, turmeric powder.

Loved it though as it took under 30mins.

Bean and potato tacos

Taco Tuesday Ingredients

Cheddar cheese mixed in with Mashed potatoes. Fresh pico de gallo (fine chopped items on wooden board with lemon juice and salt). Shortcuts galore: beans from can, instant mashed potatoes from powder, corn tortillas are store bought.

Cooked and seasoned black beans

Ingredients for fresh salsa (pico de gallo)


Beans, Mashed potatoes etc.

Quick Cuboidal lunches

Wait, what? What is a cuboidal lunch.

Well, it's really just lunch tha's packed into rectangular tupperware. But using geometric words make things sound cooler for engineers!

Home made Indian lunch, placed in rectangular box tupperware, makes it easy to carry in another rectangular shaped lunch bag. That's all it is folks.

Pic 1: Assembled cuboidal lunch

Now, let's get on with the plan.

What you need already prepped/cooked:

1. Dal (lentil dish) - green mung+split chickpeas featured here. (Recipe for lentils).
2. Rice.
3. Vegetable curry or some side (Suggestion: cooked plantains) 
4. Fruits (your favorite). e.g. Peeled oranges, berries, chopped melon/cantaloupe etc.
5. 1/2 cup yoghurt - plain, whole & with live cultures. (optional, but highly recommended)
6. Chopped cucumber (optional) and radishes (optional, in season) or baby carrots. They add color!

Image of ruler embedded into pic 2 is sourced from http://nitasoesabdo.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html

Spices can help you eat better

Picture of calf nuzzling to a human's hand

My thoughts on animal protein, more animal pettin - less animal protein.

I can say with quiet confidence, that spices help satiate you better and eat more vegetables and lower your animal protein intake. In a non-scientific study involving one participant (me), this has been tested for the past three years and has helped me balance the amount of animal protein needed as well as lower my carbohydrate intake, to cope better with an ageing metabolism. 

An article came out this week in the New York Times (NYT Mobile) (Full article) based on the World Health Organization (WHO) study, detailing the findings on correlation between cancer and red meat as well as processed meat.

Based on that the press release on the

Red meat After thoroughly reviewing the accumulated scientific literature, a Working Group of 22 experts from 10 countries convened by the IARC Monographs Programme classified the consumption of red meat as probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A), based on limited evidence that the consumption of red meat causes cancer in humans and strong mechanistic evidence supporting a carcinogenic effect. This association was observed mainly for colorectal cancer, but associations were also seen for pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer.  

Processed meat Processed meat was classified as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1), based on sufficient evidence in humans that the consumption of processed meat causes colorectal cancer.

Red meat refers to all types of mammalian muscle meat, such as beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, horse, and goat. Processed meat refers to meat that has been transformed through salting, curing, fermentation, smoking, or other processes to enhance flavour or improve preservation. Most processed meats contain pork or beef, but processed meats may also contain other red meats, poultry, offal, or meat by-products such as blood. Examples of processed meat include hot dogs (frankfurters), ham, sausages, corned beef, and biltong or beef jerky as well as canned meat and meat-based preparations and sauces. 

A summary of the final evaluations is available online in The Lancet Oncology, and the detailed assessments will be published as Volume 114 of the IARC Monographs. 

I have personally never consumed much red meat in my life (a handful of occasions) sheerly due a cultural consciousness that did not lend itself to choosing meat from such mammals. However, even the white meat consumption which I had picked up in my life about 10 years back based on the advice of a doctor, was limited to the 3-4 times eating out at Mexican or Thai restaurants. At most Indian, Italian and Middle eastern restaurants, I always found myself choosing more spicy vegetarian options. Again, I used to alternate between vegetarian and chicken options at Thai restaurants.

The key point for me was that, in Mexican restaurants, I could order a 3 taco plate, and have only one of them with meat. But in a lot of the Italian restaurants, the meat entree meant a full portion of meat, or a full chicken breast - which was more than what was needed perhaps.

So, the quick summary is that it is probably good to reduce your meat intake and flavor it more. Again, this is purely my opinion based on what has worked for me. One should always figure out what is the best combination based on several factors - current health, fitness regimen, cost, access to other substitutes, genetic predisposition/family history and other cultural factors.

But remember, spices help flavor even the most bland vegetables more, so they can increase vegetable consumption and your stomach has only a standard amount of room.

Calf image courtesty: Flickr user: bagsgroove (image).

A downloadable postcard size image is provided below free!

Additional Resources:
Clairy: http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2015/10/26/processed-meat-and-cancer-what-you-need-to-know/

Sundal - Chickpea Snack

Sundal is a quick and easy snack that can be made with just a few ingredients where the prime item is cooked garbanzo or chickpea. It can also serve as a nutritious and tasty addition to any salad. 

This is also a traditional dish made as a temple offering in south Indian temples when it is made without onions, garlic etc.

The recipe that we will list here includes onions, which adds a nice "kick" to it.

Ingredients:

1. Garbanzo beans (soaked overnight, boiled and strained) - 2 cups
Easy: Use canned beans!

2. Garam masala OR 
sambar powder OR
turmeric, red pepper flakes, cumin seeds (light crushed in mortar pestle), asafoetida 

3. Onions - 1/2 cup - chopped.

4. Vegetable oil or butter or any standard vegetable oil. - 1 Tbsp.

5. Mustard seeds - black or brown mustard seeds. 1-2 tsp.

Optional items but these make it taste superb!!

4. Green chilis, Cilantro - small amount (2-3 chilis, 5-10 small leaves cilantro) chopped fine.

5. Coconut flakes - unsweetened <<-- do NOT use sweetened flakes, read labels carefully!

6. Flax seeds or flax meal.  1 tbsp

7. Lemon or lime juice/wedge.

Instructions

This is a general procedure with most "curry" recipes.

1. Cook chickpeas or use can. Open the can, use a strainer basket and rinse the chickpeas from the can in at least 1-2 cups cold water. let it drain.

2. Add oil or butter to a dry skillet/wok and heat to medium heat for 2 mins. Add mustard seeds. If you have a mesh splatter screen cover skillet with that as mustard seeds tend to "pop". Once mustard seeds have popped, add flax seeds, let them brown a bit.

You can add asafoetida powder now (or if  using just garam masala or sambar powder then wait)

3. Add onions now, saute for a min or two. 

4. Now add masala powder, salt and turmeric to the onion, mix slightly. 

4b. Add coconut flakes (optional step). Stir it around for a minute. Add green chilis or red pepper if present.

5. Add the chickpeas now, stir around for 2-3 minutes. Switch off heat.

6. Add the chopped cilantro leaves. Mix in.

7. Serve into plates or bowls and provide a lemon wedge or spritz some lime juice directly. OR use as salad topping.

Aloo Paratha Brunch

Here is a simple way to enhance Aloo Paratha (potato pancakes/stuffed flatbreads).

Serve it with some fresh cut onions, a dollop of yoghurt,  fresh cilantro. you can also add some Indian pickle and green chilis if you like spicy stuff.

Aloo Paratha (potato pancakes with yoghurt)

Of course, this is a carb rich breakfast for those who burn quite a bit of energy through walking or running during the day!

Groupon's Vegetarian Restaurant Deal - Really?

I get a "suggested post on facebook" from Groupon, alerting me to Great Deals on vegetarians restaurants.

This is the teaser picture:

Fine. Nice teaser picture, looks like a great vegetarian entree. 

I click on it, it takes me to Groupon's deal page and this is what I get!!

Really, Groupon? You can't build a query to actually pull up vegetarian restaurants? Instead you go one step beyond to 180 degrees and show a juicy steak? I personally don't care, but it defeats the whole idea of targeted marketing! The picture in the right bottom is ceviche.. fish, which sometimes is forcibly thrust as a 'vegetarian' option in some places, but come one. A fish is a fish.

The deals look very appetizing but Miami is hardly the vegetarian capital of the world. I am not sure if it was facebook or groupon, who did some mistaken targeted advertising and failed at it!

Eisman Lecture on Plant Based Diet - Apr 8th Mon, 7pm

NUTRITION LECTURE/EVENT

Health Benefits of Plant-based Diets - by Dr. George Eisman

Scheduled for Monday April, 8th at 7p.m. Location: 160 Willard, Penn State

This would be an informative lecture, relating to how we can eat healthy for ourselves, while eating an environmentally sustainable diet. Directions to the location are at the bottom of the page.

George Eisman is the director of "Nutrition for the Coalition for Cancer Prevention" and has been a Registered Dietitian for over 30 years. He has served as a public health nutritionist for three State Health Departments. He has taught nutrition at several colleges, and is the author of "Don’t Let Your Diet Add to Your Cancer Risk", and "The Most Noble Diet".

Don't Let your Diet Add to Your Cancer           and            The Most Noble Diet

                                                                


Getting there, Maps:

It is simpler if you park in Downtown State College (in one of the garages - closest on Fraser Street or Free parking on street after 6pm - you have to parallel park! ).  

Maps: Fraser Street Garage   Or Parking Along College Avenue. To reach an accessible location, you can drive on to campus near the Willard building and park in the lot behind the building. Link to psu ADA site.

View Larger Map

Colorful Food is Appetizing!

A good mix of colors in the food I eat is always very appetizing to me. Even a simple salad made out of carrots, cucumbers (and you can add spinach, cilantro, walnuts or almonds for plant protein) looks great simply due to the contrast of bright colors. That is one of the items I made today for lunch along with a lentil-rice "pie" and a stir-fry with assorted vegetables.

Carrot-cucumber salad: Washed carrots (scrub well), washed cucumbers and then peeled. Sliced both into small pieces, mixed them up in a salad bowl with some lemon juice and sprinkled salt to taste. Also added some almonds to my salad to give some crunchiness. Picture shows what is left of the salad after we ate it while waiting for the stir fry to get ready.

Stir-fried Vegetables: Will add procedure soon. This included potatoes, zuccini, red peppers with cilantro seasoning at the end. Spices used were garlic, ginger, cumin seeds and asafoetida (optional).

Lentil-rice "pie": Not really a pie, but I just shaped the rice and lentils that I had cooked to softness in a pressure cooker (with 1 tbsp butter added) into the shape of a pie. You can also make this in a crock pot but start preparing the lentils first and then add the rice in about a 1/5th into your estimated total cooking time. So if you wanted to cook lentils for 60 mins in a slow cooker, then add rinsed rice and appropriate amount water about 12 mins into cooking cycle.

A different angle

Note: usually I add 2.25 cups water per cup of dry lentils and 2 cups water per cup of brown rice. these amounts may vary with your rice/lentil type.. add less and you can add more later if needed.

For other recipes using lentils, check out: http://spicetruck.blogspot.com/search/label/lentils