Linda Watson's Blog, page 3

Chocolate Pudding with Oat Milk

This creamy chocolate pudding uses oat milk for dairy-free creaminess. I used to whisk up pudding nearly every week, but after going vegan none of the plant-milk options measured up. Then I tried oat milk, and it’s like old times! Actually, even better, because the pudding is healthier, kinder, and better for the planet. I use Oatly Full-Fat Oat Milk.

This chocolate pudding is best cold but good warm. Serve it plain or use it as a chocolate sauce over sliced bananas. I’ve added a new option: stirring in half a dairy-free chocolate bar for a step up in luxurious texture and taste. My Taster and I agree that this homemade chocolate pudding is excellent without this extra step, but try it if you want to splurge.

All these options make this way to make chocolate pudding a great “cook once, enjoy twice” recipe. Have it warm over bananas one night, then serve it plain and chilled the next day. Or give the kids the plain pudding and stir in extra chocolate for the grownups. I’ve used our local Escazu’s sea-salt bar for the ultimate splurge, but priced this recipe using the more widely available and less expensive 365 Organic Dark Chocolate Bar from Whole Foods.

In it’s plain, simple glory, Chocolate Pudding with Oat Milk costs $1.43 a serving, using many organic ingredients. Oatly Oatmilk isn’t organic, but it does come in a recyclable gable-top carton. I’m not willing to buy oat milk in a plastic bottle, even if the contents are organic. Of course, you can use other plant milks here if you want to, including almond, coconut, and cashew.

Chocolate Pudding with Oat Milk

Creamy chocolate pudding or chocolate sauce. Dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian. Makes four generous 1/2 cup servings or 4 to 8 ladlings of chocolate sauce.



Coursedessert





Servings4 servings

Prep Time20 minutes







Ingredients








2/3cup

sugar132 grams

1/4cup

natural cacao or cocoa18 grams

3tablespoons

cornstarch24 grams

1/4teaspoon

salt2 grams

2 1/4cups

full-fat oat milk540 ml

1teaspoon

vanilla

1 1/2ounces

chocolate baroptional, chopped. 42 grams or half a bar

2medium

bananasoptional










Instructions









Sift dry ingredients into a medium pot. (Sifting helps avoid lumps that even vigorous stirring won't break up.) Add one cup of oat milk. Whisk until smooth.



Whisk in remaining oat milk and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally at first and more often as the mixture thickens. Set out four custard cups or a bowl that comfortably holds four cups. Slice bananas, if using, into cups or bowl. When chocolate pudding starts to boil, reduce heat to medium low and stir constantly for one minute.



Remove pudding from heat and stir in vanilla and, if using, chopped chocolate. Pour into custard cups. Let it set for at least five minutes if eating warm. Let it come to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate for several hours to serve cold.











Recipe Notes

Nutritional Information for Chocolate Pudding with Oatmilk

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Letter template: ask restaurants for vegan food

I love to cook, but I also love to eat out. It can be a challenge finding a place that serves vegan food and makes it easy for you to decode the menu. When I’m interested in going to a restaurant that doesn’t make it clear what menu items are vegan, I send them a note like the one below, with the reasons selected to match the restaurant. Feel free to use it as a template for your own emails.

How to Ask Restaurants for Vegan Food

Dear [Restaurant],

Do you serve vegan options? Would you please let me know what my choices would be? I’m looking forward to dining with you soon. [Optional: something nice about why you want to come: Congratulations on the terrific review in … / My friend recommended your place … / I’m planning a friend’s birthday party and she loves …]

Please consider making it easy for people who want plant-based options to choose them from your menu. An Adweek study found that in 2020, people of all ages are eating less meat.

1 in 4 families are eating less meat
1 in 3 families have at least one family member who is vegan, vegetarian, flexitarian, or pescetarian

Even back in 2018, a Gallup poll found that 8% of people aged 30 to 49 considered themselves vegetarian and 4% considered themselves vegan. Even KFC is serving faux chicken these days!

Offering plant-based options welcomes more customers, including those who are lactose intolerant, watching their cholesterol, or have religious dietary practices.

Finally, offering offering plant-rich food and reducing food waste makes your restaurant a climate hero!

Just one person seeking a plant-based meal in a family or group can influence the entire party’s choice of where to eat. If you make the options clear on your menu, then people can order what they want, without taking up your time asking questions or just going elsewhere. If you want to help your staff understand these terms, check out Cook for Good’s definitions.

Thank you for considering this. I look forward to eating at your restaurant soon!

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

Related Template

You may also want to ask meeting organizers for plant-based food. Here’s a letter template to get you started.

Food News

I’ve found lots of tasty food news for you to help you save money, eat well, and make a difference!

Cut your Covid-19 risk in half by cooking at home or getting take-out. At health facilities across the country, people who tested positive with Covid-19 were twice as likely to have eaten in restaurants as those who tested negative. After all, you have to take off your mask to eat or drink. You often sit close to people for fairly extended periods and talk face-to-face, too. See the study on the CDC website.
Base your meals on fresh, wholesome ingredients for a long and active life. Eating ultra-processed food is dangerous, according to studies by a team of Spanish researchers. Their latest study shows it does genetic damage, shortening our cells’ telomeres. Study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Last year, they published a study showing that for each serving of  ultra-processed food a day, the risk of death went up 18%. See the study in the BJM.
Learn about international efforts to cut food waste. Join me online at the UN’s first International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste. This free online event highlights “the importance of working together to reduce food loss and waste to bring about transformative change that benefits the health of people and of the planet.” They want to cut food waste in half by 2030 at the consumer and retail level, and reduce losses all along the supply chain. September 29 at 10am EDT (16:00 CEST). Register here.
The climate fires and the pandemic make it even tougher for farm workers. Strong local-food networks help relieve demands on any one region. Much of the nation’s food is grown on the West Coast, where farm workers continue to toil despite the pandemic, climate-fueled fires, and evacuation orders. Housing is cramped and many workers are undocumented, making things worse. See the story by Democracy Now.
Fighting climate change fights hunger and disease. Research on new crops can help us adapt. Climate, Covid-19, finance, and nutrition are linked in non-obvious ways. Rising CO2 levels can make plants grow faster, but without corresponding increases in the soil nutrients, they may lack the amino acids, proteins, lipids, and vitamins that we rely on. Disaster-driven financial hardship can lead to hunger. Good diets and nutrition reduce the risk of conditions that lead to serious complications and death from Covid-19, including cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Fortunately, researchers are working on improved crops, including UltraGrain from Ardent Mills of Colorado, which is a high-protein white wheat.  See the story by the Thompson Reuters Foundation.
Eating plants or at least not wasting meat can fight a variety of social ills. Slaughterhouses and meat-packing plants subjected their workers to repetitive motion injuries and other hazards well before Henry Ford set up his first assembly line. Now the conditions are ripe for breeding Covid-19 or triggering the next pandemic. These “disassembly lines” are huge, with just “50 enormous abattoirs account for 98% of cows killed in the US.” The authors offer a strong call to action. “Rather than being rivals, socialists, trade unionists, animal-liberation activists, public health officials and environmentalists should recognize their shared aim of abolishing relentless meat production.”  See the story by The Guardian.

Green Bean Velvet Soup

Green Bean Velvet Soup has the velvety smoothness of a classic French velouté sauce and the comfort-food flavor of green-bean casserole. It’s healthier and easier than either one, though. No butter, no canned soup, no canned fried onion rings, no baking or stirring, yet a rich and creamy flavor! The roasted flavor comes from toasted bread and roasted cashews.

Blend just six ingredients for satisfying soup in less than ten minutes of active time.  Serve it plain or with a dollop of cashew yogurt. Add a scoop of hummus and some roasted veg for a complete and quite fancy-looking meal (see note below the recipe).

 

 

Green Bean Velvet Soup

Creamy soup that tastes like green-bean casserole. Eat it plain or top with yogurt, hummus, or roasted vegetables.







Servings4 servings

Prep Time8 minutes

Cook Time7 minutes

Passive Time15 minutes







Ingredients








12ounces

fresh green beans

4ounces

white button mushroomsor baby bellas, about 6

1/2cup

roasted cashews

1teaspoon

salt

2 1/2 cups

water

2slices

whole-wheat bread










Instructions









Remove any stems from green beans and take a slice off each mushroom stem. No need to chop or slice them; let the blender do the work later. Put all ingredients except for bread in a medium pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and reduce heat to medium low so that water barely boils and cook until green beans are fork-tender, about 7 minutes. Allow to cool for 15 minutes.



Toast bread and cut each slice into about six pieces to make it easier to blend. Add cooled green-bean mixture and blend on high for about a minute until very smooth. Taste and add more salt or water as desired.



Reheat soup if desired or serve warm. Optionally, add yogurt, hummus, or roasted vegetables. Keeps refrigerated for five days.











Recipe Notes

For the picture above, I roasted four chopped carrots and two chopped red bell peppers tossed with a little olive oil and salt for 20 minutes at 400 convection. I blended half the roasted vegetables into two cups of Win Win Win Hummus and saved the rest for garnish. By stopping the blender just before the vegetables where completely combined, the hummus came out with lovely tan-and-orange streaks.

Avocado-Lemon Sauce

I wanted a bright, creamy pasta sauce without loads of fat or the heat and work of making a roux. Fortunately, I had a ripe avocado and some raw cashews on hand. With a blender and just six ingredients, including salt and water, I whipped up an updated Alfredo in less than 10 minutes. The lemon keeps the avocado from oxidizing, so this sauce stays green for at a day or more.

Avocado-Lemon Sauce costs just $1.19 a serving, using organic ingredients.

Try cooking some green beans or broccoli with whole wheat rotini, draining, then tossing them with the sauce. Add some chopped raw tomatoes or bell peppers. Sprinkle with fresh basil ribbons if you’ve got the energy and the herbs.

Avocado-Lemon Sauce

Make a quick, creamy sauce to toss with whole-wheat noodles and seasonal vegetables.
Vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, no added oil.



CourseMain Dish

CuisineAmerican





Servings4 servings

Prep Time8 minutes







Ingredients








1/2cup

raw cashews

1/2cup

water

1medium

avocado

1clove

garlic

1medium

lemonjuice only, about 2 tablespoons

1/2teaspoon

salt










Instructions









Soak cashews in water for several hours or use one of my quick-soak methods.



If desired, zest lemon so you can save zest for another recipe. Put all ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend on high for 1 minute. Taste and add more salt or lemon juice if needed.



Avocado-Lemon Sauce is ready to serve at once. Amazingly, the lemon keeps the avocado from oxidizing, so you can refrigerate it for a day or two.











Recipe Notes

Nutritional Information for Avocado Lemon Sauce

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How to Clean Blenders with Reusable Swabs

Blender lids are notoriously hard to clean. You can:

Ignore the problem, and risk food poisoning (nooooo!)
Scrub the crannies with cotton swabs
Use homemade reusable swabs

When I got tired of cutting Q-Tips in half to cut my costs and the waste, I looked for a little brush or sponge on a stick that would do the job. No luck. Then I cut up an old knit nightgown into two-inch squares and some larger rags for other purposes. I wrap a mini-rag around the end of a measuring spoon to clean the gullies of my Vitamix cap and the tight spots in its lid. These reusable swabs work just as well as Q-Tips for nudging out the dregs of soup or smoothie.

I toss the squares into the washer and dryer along with cloth napkins and bigger rags used to replace paper towels. The vivid color makes them easy to pick out. The knit fabric doesn’t ravel.

You’ll probably find other uses for these little cleaners too: from tidying up other appliances to wiping up minuscule spills.

Saving More Than Money

What will you save by cleaning your blender with a homemade cloth squab? Somewhere between two and ten dollars a year.

More importantly, you will save a little room in your local landfill by not tossing out swabs or their packaging. You will cut greenhouse-gas emissions by not transporting the swabs. You will protect greenhouse-gas sinks by not having trees cut down to make single-use items. Some of the packaging and even the squab stems can be made of plastic, so this thrifty practice reduces pollution and health problems associated with plastic.

I like cleaning my blender top every morning with a physical reminder to question what I throw away, another step toward a zero-waste life.

Voting for Food’s Sake

If you live in the United States, do you have a plan for voting in the upcoming election? It couldn’t be more important.

I’ve already asked for my absentee ballot so I can vote by mail ASAP. That way, I don’t give or get COVID-19 at the polling place. Request yours early, in case you mess up. I did! I’m embarrassed to say that after registering hundreds of voters and reminding them to fill out an easy-to-miss box for your ID numbers, I left that off myself! The Board of Elections kindly sent me a blank form in a bright pink envelope, with a matching envelope for mailing.

So you see that, as with the pandemic, we can help experts do their best by flattening the curve. Instead of sending in  a mountain of paperwork on or near Election Day (November 3), let’s give the Post Office and election officials time. Make sure your vote counts.

Why This Election Matters for Food

Our elected officials have a huge influence on what is produced, how it is grown, what it costs, and who gets to eat. I’m voting a straight Democratic Party ticket to:

Protect the Post Office, which delivers medicine, ballots, love letters, and even food in an affordable, private, and reliable way.
Fight the climate crisis, which leads to extreme weather, pollinator death, and pest migration. Fortunately, the solution involves creating new jobs and a more enjoyable society.
Protect the food system. Environmental disaster leads to rising food costs, food scarcity, and hunger. We need support for food inspectors, organic farming inspectors, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Rein in factory farming and slaughterhouses, which cause misery for the workers, their neighbors, and the animals. Fortunately, plant-rich solutions help fight climate change and promote health.
Feed the hungry, including funding SNAP and WIC. Fortunately, well-fed people do better in school and at their jobs. They are healthier and have healthier babies, reducing medical costs.
Support rural communities. Joe Biden says his administration “will partner with small and mid-sized farmers to help them collectively create supply chains to deliver fresh produce and other products to schools, hospitals, and other major state and federal institutions, including the Defense Department.”
Do good work at the state and local level. Jenna Wadworth, who is running for North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture, promises to fight climate change, revitalize our suffering rural communities, and benefit everyone with the expansion of new crops (including cannabis), food-science research, soil health, and local foods. She got started as a Soil and Water Commissioner, another vital position!

There are plenty of other reasons to vote blue no matter who, including that Black lives matter, shutting down the pandemic,  protecting health care, expanding education, and treating immigrants with respect instead of caging them and separating families.

I’m haunted by the tweet from Peter Kalmus.

 

A key part of breaking the corporate death-grip on our politics is to vote in such huge numbers that we overwhelm any trickery. This election marks a fork in the path of our species that will literally show in the geologic records. Will our civilization thrive, and our planet come back into balance? Or will we burn on with business as usual to extinction?

I often urge you to vote with your fork, but it’s essential to also vote with your vote. For food’s sake, put your voting plan into action.

Open-Sesame Salad Dressing

Do you wish for a nearly free salad dressing that adds depth to light summer salads? Use the sesame oil you spooned out before stirring a new jar of tahini. Combine it with a little rice-wine vinegar and salt for a tasty something-for-nothing recipe. Homemade salad dressing in 3 minutes feels like magic!

Nutrition note: Carotenoids are easier to absorb with a little oil. Pair yellow and orange vegetables with avocados, nuts, or seeds for beautiful skin and sharp vision.

 

 

Open Sesame Salad Dressing

This almost invisible salad dressing adds a bit of smoky depth to cucumber salads, roasted summer squash, and more. Use sesame oil from the top of an unmixed jar of tahini or bottled sesame oil.







Servings4 servings

Prep Time3 minutes







Ingredients








1tablespoon

sesame oil

1 1/2teaspoon

rice-wine vinegar

1/8teaspoon

salt










Instructions









Put all ingredients in a small container. Stir with a fork until well blended and light-colored.



Spoon over salads or roasted vegetables. Keeps refrigerated for a week.











Recipe Notes

Nutritional Information for Open-Sesame Salad Dressing

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Chocolate-Raspberry Cupcakes with Basil Frosting

Capture summer flavors and bakery-level indulgence with these chocolate cupcakes. You’ll notice the fresh fragrance of basil before you take your first bite. Enjoy the unexpected pairing of vanilla, basil, chocolate, and a hint of cardamom. Take another bite to reach the zip of raspberry filling. My Taster says the raspberry ties the other flavors together beautifully. Want extra dazzle? Add natural food coloring and sprinkles.

Chocolate-Raspberry Cupcakes with Basil Frosting

Tender chocolate cupcakes with a subtle note of cardamom, filled with raspberry jam, and topped with creamy basil frosting. Makes 24 cupcakes. Vegan, dairy-free, egg-free.







Servings24 cupcakes







Ingredients








3cups

white whole whole wheat flour360 grams

1/2cup

natural cocoa43 grams

2teaspoons

baking soda

2teaspoons

cardamom

1teaspoon

salt

2cups

brown sugar440 grams

2/3cups

mild or fruity olive oil

2tablespoons

vinegar

2teaspoons

vanilla

2cups

cold water

1/3cup

raspberry jam





Basil Frosting



4ounces

Miyoko's Cultured Vegan Butteror other vegan butter (56 grams), softened

3 1/2cups

powdered sugar420 grams

1/4cup

aquafabaor plant milk

2teaspoons

vanilla

pinch

salt

1/4cup

basil ribbonsfresh, cut just before adding










Instructions









Heat oven to 350°F with a rack in the center of the oven. Line a muffin tin with twelve paper cupcake liners.



Put flour, cocoa, baking soda, cardamom, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to combine and break up lumps. Stir in brown sugar. Add oil, vinegar, vanilla, and water, and stir just enough to combine. Scoop batter evenly into cupcake liners, filling each one two-thirds full.



Bake cupcakes for 20 minutes until tops are firm. Remove the muffin tin from the oven and let it cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes and let them cool completely, for at least one hour.



While the cupcakes bake or cool, make the frosting. Let vegan butter soften but not melt in a mixing bowl. Beat until creamy, about 30 seconds. Add powdered sugar, aquafaba, vanilla, and salt. Beat on low to combine, then beat on medium high until smooth, about two minutes. If butter starts to melt, pop the bowl in the fridge for 10 minutes or so, then continue. When frosting is creamy and smooth, cut basil into ribbons, and immediately use a spoon to stir basil into frosting. (If you wait, the edges will turn brown.) Optionally, add food coloring "to taste." If you will be piping the frosting, spoon it into a pastry bag. Refrigerate until needed.



When cupcakes are cool, use a small melon-baller to scoop out a divot from the center of each cupcake, saving the top layer. I used one that holds 3/4 teaspoons of water. Use a spoon or pastry bag to fill the holes with raspberry jam, then cover with the reserved top layer of the divot you removed.



Pipe on or spread frosting, adding sprinkles if desired. Enjoy and share cupcakes right away if you want. Store any extra in a covered container. If you don't eat them first, they will last for a week refrigerated or four to five days at cool room temperature.

Slow-Cooker Ratatouille Italiano

My version of this classic rustic French eggplant and pepper stew amps up the flavor with oregano, chipotle, and black olives. Cook it with set-and-forget ease in your slow cooker.  You don’t need to be a cartoon mouse French chef or loads of time in the kitchen to dazzle your family.  This recipe makes a lot, but you can change it up with variations below or just freeze the extra.

 

Slow-Cooker Ratatouille Italiano

Italian twist on a vibrant French vegetable stew with meaty eggplant and loads of summer flavor. Vegan, gluten free, no added sugar. Serves 12 (sorry the chart below says serves 4. Only true if you are very hungry!)



CourseMain Dish

CuisineFrench, Italian





Prep Time20 minutes

Passive Time3.5 hours







Ingredients








2pounds

firm globe eggplantcut into 1/2 inch cubes

1pound

green bell peppersseeded and chopped

1each

red onionchopped

28ounce

canned, diced fire-roasted tomatoes

2cloves

garlicminced

1/2teaspoon

ground chipotle pepper

1teaspoon

dried oregano

1teaspoon

salt

1/2cup

water

8ounces

black olivessliced










Instructions









Put all ingredients except olives in a 3-quart or larger slow cooker and stir. Cover slow cooker and turn it on, choosing the setting based on your schedule: low to be ready in 8 hours, high to be ready in four, or something in between.



Ratatouille is done when eggplant is meltingly tender. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve hot in a bowl with sliced black olives on top and a baguette on the side or see variations below. Refrigerate extra for up to a week or freeze for up to a year.











Recipe Notes

Variations

Give your ratatouille some support. Serve it on hot baked potatoes, cooked noodles, rice, or quinoa.
Amp up the protein. Add a half-cup cooked chickpeas per serving.
Stretch it. Combine 1 cup ratatouille and one 28-ounce can crushed fire-roasted tomatoes for a more traditional pasta sauce.
Make it traditional. Use 1/4 cup basil ribbons instead of oregano and omit chipotle. Skip the olives too if you want.
Chill it. It makes a fine side salad or sandwich filling when cold.

Other tips

Why am I not using fresh tomatoes in season? I don't want to peel them. If you have a mountain of tomatoes and the time, by all means use what you have.
When it's really hot, I set my slow cooker on my covered porch to keep the heat outside the house.