Vegan Nut-Free Seed Ricotta Cheese

The hardest ingredient to replace in Vegan Lasagna is the ricotta – that delicious creamy layer that is critical to any good lasagna.

Since my Ayurvedic diet also requires me to avoid nuts, it is very difficult to find a store bought ricotta that works. Thus, I created my own. In order to learn about some different techniques, I suggest you check out this amazing post from SuperFoodEvolution.

For my recipe, I use a bunch of different seeds and I am very happy with the finished product. In fact, my wife actually likes this ricotta as a dip which see eats with carrots, celery and HU gluten-free, nut-free crackers.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup of Sunflower Seeds

1 Cup of Pumpkin Seeds

1/4 Cup of Hemp Seeds

1/4 Cup of Flax Seeds

1/4 Cup of Chia Seeds

1 Cup of Water, Hemp Milk or Coconut Milk

2 Tsp of Himalayan Salt

4 probiotic capsules

1/2 Cup of Fresh Sage

(1) Add the Sunflower Seeds to a large mason jar.

(2) Add the pumpkin seeds (I like to use Sprouted Pumpkin Seeds) to the mason jar.

(3) Add the Flax Seeds to the mason jar.

(4) Add the Chia Seeds to the mason jar.

(5) Add the Hemp Seeds to the mason jar.

(5) Add your water, Hemp Milk or Coconut Milk to the mason jar.

(6) Put the lid on the mason jar and shake to get the liquid to mix throughout the seeds. Then place the jar in the refrigerator and let soak overnight.

(7) Remove the seed mixture and add to your blender.

(8) Add your probiotic by opening the capsules and pouring into the mixture. Then add your himalayan salt.

(9) Add chopped Sage to the blender.

(10) Blend until smooth. Add additional water, hemp milk or coconut milk as needed to get a creamy consistency.

(11) Remove from the blender and place in a nut milk bag. Add a mason jar full with water to act as a weight to help squeeze out any excess liquid. Let rest on the counter for 4-6 hours.

(12) Remove from the nut bag and place in a bowl or tupperware. Now your Vegan Nut-Free Seed Ricotta Cheese is ready to use or eat. Store in the refrigerator.

Healthy Red Sauce

I apologize for the delay in posting, but last week was a crazy work week.

I wanted to share my Vegan Lasagna recipe, but in order to complete the full recipe I wanted to share the recipes for the Healthy Red Sauce and the Vegan Nut-Free Seed Ricotta Cheese.

I’ll start with what I call my Healthy Red Sauce. Essentially, after years of cooking a traditional Italian Tomato Sauce, I created this recipe to (1) reduce the amount of tomatoes (trying to reduce the consumption of nightshades) and (2) to add a bunch of other ingredients that I couldn’t get my kids to eat any other way. So I essentially sneak them into the sauce.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Can of San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes

1 Cup of Carrot

1 Cup of Celery

1 Cup of Butternut Squash (blended)

3 Shallots

3 Scallions

3 Tbsp of Olive Oil

4 Cloves of Garlic

1″ of Fresh Ginger

1″ of Fresh Tumeric

1/2 Cup of Fresh Parsley (Italian Flat or Regular)

1/2 Cup of Fresh Oregano

1 Tsp of Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Tsp of Balsamic Vinegar

2-3 Cups of Water

Salt and Pepper to taste

Optional – 1 Tbsp of Dried Italian Herbs

(1) Add the Olive Oil to a large saucepan and put on medium heat

(2) Add finely diced garlic and cook for 1 minute

(3) Add the chopped ginger and tumeric and cook for another minute

(4) Add the diced shallot and cook for an additional minute

(5) Add the diced carrots, diced celery, chopped scallions, and apple cider vinegar. Cook for 3-5 minutes until soft

(6) Add 1 Cup of pureed Butternut Squash, stir and cook for another 2 minutes

(7) Add the Can of San Marzano tomatoes, smash and mix with other ingredients

(8) Mix all the ingredients together and add your water. The less water the thicker your sauce. Raise the heat to high and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to simmer, cover and continue to cook.

(9) Add your chopped parsley

(10) Add your chopped oregano, balsamic vinegar, and Italian herbs

(11) Let simmer for 3-6 hours and then your sauce is ready to use.

Adzuki Bean Tempeh

As Team Harrison continues to expand our horizons on vegetarian and vegan options, I am increasing my exploration into homemade options over store bought packaged food. In fact, I touched on this topic in my post Make Your Own Food. Most of the packaged food includes ingredients that violate my Ayurvedic diet or have lots of preservatives, sweeteners, and excess additives that I simply don’t want. Therefore, I know that by making my own food at home I can avoid these ingredients.

One of the key foods that both Dr. Nibodhi and Andrew Sterman both recommended is tempeh. Unfortunately, most store bought tempeh is made with soy, wheat, and/or grains which I am trying to avoid. Therefore, I decided to try and make my own homemade Adzuki Bean Tempeh.

After doing a lot of research, I found the perfect recipe from Meatless Makeover which specifically uses an Instapot.

I tried this recipe and it worked GREAT! I was really surprised at how good the tempeh tasted, and more importantly I was shocked that Angie and Elvis seemed to really enjoy the finished product.

A few things to note if you are going to try and make this at home is (1) don’t overcook the beans and (2) it took MUCH longer in my Instapot then the recipe suggested. In fact, I think it took 72 hours or longer on the “Less” Yogurt setting on my Instapot.

Ingredients:

2 cups of Adzuki Beans

4 tbsp of rice wine vinegar

1 packet of Tempeh starter

6 cups of water

Below are the steps and a few pictures to help you.

(1) Buy quality Organic Dry Adzuki Beans

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(2) Measure 2 cups

(3) Soak the beans in water

(4) Add them to the pressure cooker in 6 cups of water and set to “Normal”

(5) Set to “High” for 7 minutes. When done let sit for another 10 minutes and then vent the steam and check that the beans are cooked.

(6) While the beans are cooking, prepare a ziplock bag by punching wholes 1″ apart through both sides. Also, get the metal rack to use later inside the pressure cooker.

(7) Strain and rinse the beans, then pat dry. Then transfer to a bowl, add the 4 teaspoons of rice wine vinegar and the tempeh starter pack.

(8) Add the beans to the ziplock and roll the top down pulling the beans tight.

(9) Place the bean package on the metal rack in the Instapot with the ziploc seam face down.

(10) Set the pressure cooker to the “less” setting on the Yogurt mode. I originally did 24 hours, but on my second batch I set the timer for 72 hours.

(11) Check the tempeh after 24 hours and every 12 hours thereafter until you see the growth of the mold and crust.

(12) Remove when ready and cut in half.

(13) You should be able to see the mold on the outside and the inside. This will last 10 days in a sealed container in the refrigerator or 2 months in the freezer.

(14) Now slice into 1″ to 1 1/2″ pieces and saute in your favorite way – ghee, miso tamari, olive oil, etc. and then serve over your favorite dish. Below is an example of Adzuki Bean Tempeh over Vegan Pesto Chickpea Pasta.

(15) Here is the same sauteed miso glazed tempeh over cauliflower fried rice. Garnish with mung bean sprouts, scallions, and sesame seeds. If you are making Lettuce Wraps, you can actually use the same dipping sauce and toppings over your tempeh.

I hope you enjoy and remember be kind to yourself and just do the work today!

Make Your Own Food

The single most important thing to do when you want to eat healthy is to prepare your own food.

When I do research and go to the Supermarket or Coop to look at plant-based foods, I am very shocked at the amount of ingredients that are added to most of the products from Impossible Burgers, to Beyond Meat and all the various meat and cheese alternatives.

To get started, let me share that my current focus is an Ayurvedic diet aimed at overall health and wellness, with a focus on reducing inflammation and reversing some coronary calcium buildup in my left anterior descending artery (LAD or Widowmaker). The inflammation in my body is mainly due to three major injuries in the Army which left me with a Service Disability rating of 30% and no cartilage in my right hip. The mild coronary artery disease is part genetics, part diet, and part lifestyle, but as I approach 50 I am more committed than ever to eliminate the plaque through science and dietary changes.

This means I am focusing on a diet high in fruits and vegetables with no four legged animals and no birds to include eggs. Additionally, I will be eliminating all nightshades (which I actually haven’t eaten in years) and while I am allowed limited fish, I will not be consuming shellfish (my favorite) nor will I be eating tuna, swordfish or catfish. Furthermore, my diet does NOT include nuts. While I am permitted to eat seeds – sunflower, flax, pumpkin, hemp – I am not allowed to consume nuts, nut milks, or nut products. Lastly, there is NO gluten. This includes wheat, rye, barley and oats. However, I can consumer long grain rice, quinoa, millet, and amaranth. I was very encouraged when I reorganized my pantry and discovered that I already had most of the approved grains in grain and flour form.

The reason I thought it was important to share my current dietary focus, is because when you go to the market or health food store and start to look at the back of the packaging for most plant-based alternatives for meat and cheese, the majority of these items contain gluten, nuts and/or soy. That’s pretty unbelievable, here I thought I was going to commit to being more planted based and I’d simply be able to go to the “healthy” section of the store and grab something from one of the new popular alternative brands like Beyond Meat or Impossible Burger. Unfortunately, that’s not going to work for me.

The good news is that it re-enforces the topic of today’s post – make your own food. The only way to truly know what you are eating and how it works for your body is to understand the process by which the food was created and what raw ingredients are assembled to get the final product.

Yesterday, I began working on two new homemade products: Adzuki Bean Tempeh and Sunflower/Pumpkin Seed Ricotti.

The reason I picked these two items was driven based upon what I wanted to eat next week – Adzuki Bean Tempeh stir-fried over mixed vegetables (next week I might try fermenting my own Kimchi) and Vegan Lasagna.

When I was in the market yesterday, I noticed the first ingredient in almost all the Tempeh was “vital gluten” or “vital wheat,” neither which I want to consume. Secondarily, most Tempeh is based on soy and while I am not technically avoiding soy, I am definitely trying to limit my exposure.

Dr. Nibodhi had actually mentioned that the local Whole Foods in Austin has one of the best Adzuki Bean Tempeh his ever eaten – so that’s what inspired my desire to make my own. I’ll let you know in a day or so how it came out.

As for the Sunflower/Pumpkin Seed Ricotti this is also a first attempt, but it’s currently sitting on the counter in a Mason jar with the probiotic, himalayan sea salt and some coconut milk. Again, I’ll check back later.

Thanks for your time today, and remember, the best way to watch what you eat is to make your own food.

Now go Do The Work Today!

Much Love

How to get started

One of the biggest problems people face when making life changes, is the simple act of getting started.

Often the beginning of any new diet, exercise program, meditation or other habitual change can be a daunting task.

Most of us have said to ourselves, I’ll start on Monday, the first of the month, or of course, after New Years.

It really doesn’t matter when you start, just start. And if you say Monday, and you don’t get started until Wednesday, then be kind to yourself and just congratulate yourself when you do get started.

The other big problem for most people is how to get started. You don’t want to be so drastic that your new program is unattainable. In my experience, it’s always easier to smart small and build upon your initial success.

How we eat is probably the most important overall factor in our health and longevity. We’ve all heard the saying “you are what you eat.” There is a lot of truth in this statement and in fact, if you can find a diet and lifestyle that gives you more energy and focus while providing the right levels of micro and macro nutrients then the overall benefits are remarkable.

Today, there are a lot of different types of dietary lifestyles with people embracing intermittent fasting, ketogenic diets, and vegan or plant based diets.

Whatever diet you want to try – start and see what works.

Personally, during my current journey I am going to combine intermittent fasting with a vegetarian based diet. My vegetarian diet will be mostly vegan with the elimination of dairy and animal protein from 4 legged animals and birds, however I will still be eating fish. (And for those of you who have been following Greensbury, don’t worry, I will still be cooking delicious organic meats and sustainable seafood for my wife and kids).

I am targeting about 80% green leafy vegetables and 20% legumes, seeds, fruits, and fish. Additionally, I am following an Ayurvedic programs that incorporates fasting by targeting 1-2 meals a day. The first meal window is 9-10am and the second meal window is 12-2pm with no food after 6pm. In fact, I will try not to eat after the lunch meal which is the primary meal of the day.

To start my transition, I am actually using a program called Prolon. The Prolon program is a fasting mimicking diet that is vegan based. It comes in a box with all five days of the meals included in individual packaging with a simple guide of what to eat when. It’s super easy and the food is pretty tasty consisting of nut bars, soups, kale crackers and olives. I’ve only used it once before but I felt amazing and lost about 12 lbs in the first week. I am on day 2 and I have already shed 4 lbs.

This transitional program allows me to not have to think about what to eat when I get started. Then as I transition back to regular food, my system is already primed for the new lifestyle.

Another easy way to get started is an elimination diet. Make a list of things that you need to cut back on and then simply start eliminating them from what you eat. You can do this with gluten, dairy, red meat, etc.

I know that a lot of people think about eliminating carbohydrates is the key to weight loss and healthy living, but that is simply not the case. I think a lot of people confuse gluten with carbohydrates. Gluten in general is a very inflammatory food, whereas carbohydrates can be very beneficial. The consumption of sweet potatoes, legumes, seeds, quinoa, millet, long grain rice and fruits actually provide critical nutrients that our bodies need for energy. While you might think that protein is what your body and brain need the most, it is in fact carbohydrates. And when you eat protein your body simply converts the protein into carbohydrates.

Whatever diet you do pursue – please cut out sugar. Sugar is the most destructive additive to our systems. Did you know that cancer feeds off of sugar. Refined sugar is bad – plain and simply. This doesn’t mean that all fruit is bad because it has sugar. In fact, small servings of fruit can be very beneficial due to the nutrients and the energy your body gets from the fruit. I’d recommended lots of berries, red grapes, cherries, apples, kiwi, guava, mango, papaya and pineapple. However, according to Ayurvedic guidelines you should not mix fruit with the rest of your meal. In fact, have your fruit 90 minutes before or 2 hours after your other food. The only exceptions are avocados, olives and coconut. For me, this means that fruit will be the primary food at the breakfast meal without any other vegetables or protein. You can mix the fruit with coconut yogurt and you can chop in some cilantro to help detox. Cilantro is one of the best naturally chelation foods and can help remove heavy metals and other toxins.

That’s a lot for today, so think about it and then lets do the work today.

Day 1 – New Beginnings

Most people have had a lot of time to think and reflect during Covid-19 about their lives. In fact, one might argue that we’ve had too much time to evaluate our family, our job, where we live and ultimately what’s important in life.

I know for me that this period has been an amazing experience to spend more time with my family, focusing on quality time with my wife and kids. I really want to concentrate on the people and things that actually matter.

But at the same time, I have had plenty of time to eat, sleep, do pilates via Facetime, Yoga via Zoom and the occasional Peloton ride. I have also watched and read more than I ever would have during “normal” life. One of the things that has been of particular interest, is how I eat, meditate and practice self-care. I am very intrigued by Game Changers. This documentary essentially makes the case for a vegetarian based diet and the overall benefits for health and performance. The information very much aligns with a concept known as Food as Medicine which is the basis of Ayurvedic medicine. It also is very similar to concepts by a dear friend, Andrew Sterman who has recently published two books about Food for Energy and Healing.

For most of us, change and transformation is hard.

Therefore, we can’t look at drastic changes. We need to think about where we want to be in 5 years and then slowly make the changes to accomplish those goals. It’s a journey.

The purpose of this blog is to essentially help me and anyone that is interested in joining my journey to have information and tools to make changes to better our overall quality of life.

And really to live a full happy and healthy life.

To that end, the goal is not to do it all at once, but to Do The Work Today so that ultimately we can all arrive where we want to be.

I hope this site will help.