3rd Class Project Cancer

Last night was my third class at Parma Hospital Community Health Education Center. Pictured is me preparing a casserole of quinoa seed and cauliflower topped with a mushroom gravy. Any grain can be substituted for the quinoa -- but I wanted to give the class a chance to taste quinoa as it's one of the hot new discoveries in the vegan cooking world because it's a compete protein, and gluten free!  It is served by the students' taking a helping of the quinoa and cauliflower, as pictured, and then separately spooning over the mushroom gravy. The gravy is made with vegetable broth and flour. No oil was used. I used vegetable broth for sauteing the onion for the casserole and the mushrooms for the gravy. This takes the fat in this course down to almost nothing.

Here I am preparing Basil Citrus Salad. There is no oil used in this recipe. The salad gets its "dressing" flavor from seasoned brown rice vinegar, fresh basil, and the juice from the oranges. This again brings the fat content down to practically nothing. (Believe it or not, there are trace amounts of fat even in oranges!) This dish also takes advantage of our Cancer Project poster where we are encouraged to use the full spectrum of colors in plant foods to best maintain and restore health in our systems.

For some students, this next dish was the big hit of the evening. This is a tofu scramble which looks and tastes similar to that old classic, scrambled eggs, and is packed with healthy protein. It is turmeric that gives it that yellow color although as one student pointed out, curry powder would also give that yellow color -- because of the turmeric in it! The same things which are scrambled into the old classic are also perfect for this dish. I kept it fairly simple rather than add even more vegetables to an already high array of vegetables we were about to eat. Soy sauce and nutritional yeast are very good for flavoring this scramble.

Art and Photography work in this entry by Carol Irvin.  All text by Rebecca Dingle.

Second Class Vegan Stir Fry

Our second class introduced the health benefits of eating low-fat, high fiber foods. The main course was a vegan Sweet and Sour Stir Fry served over Toasted Brown Rice, using seitan (wheat protein) in place of meat. I use specialized Saladmaster cookware that is made out of surgical stainless steel and Titanium – but any cookware will do! If you have any chipped or peeling non-stick pans, toss them out, and replace them with stainless steel.

I do not use oil for frying. Instead I use a homemade vegetable broth which I make from saved vegetable trimmings. You can see a photo of my latest batch (in the glass jar) that I used in class -- its dark red color from beet trimmings!

I also demonstrated how to make a delicious low-fat Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, and for dessert we had diced mango with candied ginger. As usual, the class sampled these recipes and were encouraged to recreate them and make their own variations. Stir fries are especially capable of great creative variations and your market's produce department will inspire you by its colors and textures. Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Heinen's have wonderful produce departments. 

The recipe for this dish is found in the Cancer Survivor's Guide, shown in the right hand column of this blog, with a link to Amazon, where it can be purchased in ebook or large paper format.

Art and Photography work in this entry by Carol Irvin.  All text by Rebecca Dingle.

Cancer Project Class at Parma Community Hospital

The location for my present classes is Parma Hospital's Community Health Education Center on Thursday nights.  If you want to see the national Cancer Project site, click on the below image:

I demonstrated four dishes in the class: a bean salad; spaghetti squash marinara; a hummus, carrot, and spinach tortilla; and chocolate mousse made with tofu and served with strawberries.  Everyone in the class samples the food when I am done.  The spaghetti squash marinara was an especially big hit. Essentially we are using the spaghetti squash as the "pasta", topped with a prepared marinara sauce and fresh basil -- getting loads of fiber and nutrients from the squash in place of regular pasta! Below is a picture of how the squash looks going from whole vegetable to forked "pasta". Click on the picture to enlarge it.

 In the classes, following the one where we learned something new, the students will report their success on making the dishes and/or variations to them.  A number of students were suggesting variations even before they left this class.  One wanted to save time by cooking the squash in a microwave.  Another student wants to "zap up" the bean salad by adding cilantro.

Please refer to the below chart by Cancer Project in planning your meals and foods.  You can print it out to further aid your cooking efforts from the enlargement (click on image).