Plant-Based Delicious (recipes with no oil or gluten)
Plant-Based Delicious is a book of flavourful recipes that are also super-healthy. The author is a chef and nutritionists, so combines her knowledge of both areas.
Before cooking, read up on food safety for people and pets (many foods are unsafe near animal friends). Bin allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallots, chives) and citrus/tomato/rhubarb scraps, as acids could harm compost creatures. It’s okay to put them in food waste bins (made into biogas).
For tinned foods, fully remove lids (put inside) or pop ring-pulls back over holes (and pinch top opening closed) before recycling, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.
What Makes a Cooking Oil Healthy?
Oils are not really ‘healthy’, as they are refined. Brandi (who wrote the cookbook below) never uses oil in recipes, but she does use fats (olives over olive oil, nuts over nut oils).
If you use oil to cook, the smoke point is what determines if it’s healthy or not (Italians may disagree, but olive oil is best for salads, and the best oil for cooking is local rapeseed oil (makes lovely roast potatoes with no goose fat needed).
When cooking, avoid floaty sleeves and tie long hair back, and keep a small kitchen fire extinguisher nearby.
Sunflower oil is cheap and popular and okay in moderation, but not too much. Nutritionist Michaella Mazzoni says that deep-frying with this oil damages the fats like a broken vase (‘it has been put together, but isn’t quite right anymore’).
Coconut oil has more saturated fat than butter (so can raise cholesterol) and is flammable (so take care when cooking). Popular in Asian cooking, the odd creamy coconut curry is not going to harm, but don’t eat this oil every day. Life in balance!
The recipes in this book include:
- Cauliflower Casserole
- Tofu Black Bean Burgers
- Spicy Sheet Pan Cauliflower Tacos
- Rice Poutine with Miso Gravy (not for pregnancy, unpasteurised)
- Tofu Benedict with Corn Hollandaise & Spinach
- Mushroom Lasagne with Kale & White Bean Ricotta
- Moroccan Potpies with Almond Pastry
- Maple ‘bacon’ Cauliflower Steaks with Lentils
- Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Cheesecake
- Double Chocolate Chip Chickpea Cookies
- The Chocolate Cupcake
Neal Barnard MD calls this book ‘a secret culinary weapon’, and it’s loved by acclaimed chef Sarah Britton as ‘food you want to dive headfirst into’.
Originally from Canada, Ashley Madden is a certified holistic nutritionist and former pharmacist, who became interested in anti-inflammatory foods, after being diagnosed with MS. She lives in Taiwan.
