Brandi Doming is a former model, who helped heal her husband’s gout, by creating tasty recipes without oil (or gluten). Her book The Vegan 8 has recipes with 8 ingredients or less (not including water and salt).
These recipes are ideal for people who need to lose weight or have been told to eat less oil by their doctors, as the recipes still use healthy fats, but no refined oil.
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!
Recipes include:
- Roasted Gold Potatoes with Rosemary Sauce
- Bakery-style Blueberry Muffins
- Cream ‘Cheese’ Spinach Artichoke Dip
- Cajun Veggie & Potato Chowder
- Skillet Baked Mac n ‘Cheese’
- BBQ Bean Ball Sub
- No-Bake Chocolate Espresso Fudge Cake
To hit the same amount of fat and calories in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, you would need to eat 24 pitted green olives. 8 olives vs 1 teaspoon of olive oil gives a lot more food, with fibre and nutrients. A tiny dab of oil or lots of olives? I’ll take the olives. Chef Lindsay Nixon
