Rip Esselstyn's Blog, page 5

Top Engine 2 Recipes -Epic Brats

 

 

Feeding a crowd?  Or your local fire station?  Got kids? Epic Brats are a surefire hit!

 

Epic Brats

American Style

(For more styles and options – see the full recipe in the Engine 2 Cookbook)

 

Base Ingredients:

1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans (no salt added), drained and rinsed

1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans (no salt added), drained and rinsed

1/2 cup cooked brown rice or 1/2 cup baked potato peeled

1 cup rolled oats

American Style Ingredients:

6 brown rice spring roll wraps (we prefer Happy Pho brand)

3 tablespoons diced tomatoes

3 tablespoons diced red or green pepper

3 tablespoons diced red onion

2 tablespoons mustard

2 tablespoons diced dill pickles or low sodium relish

 

Fixings of choice: ketchup, mustard, sauerkraut, lettuce, tomatoes, kale etc.

 

Instructions:

Place the first four base ingredients in a large bowl.  Use an immersion blender or food processor to partially process the ingredients until some beans are halfway smashed and others fully mashed. If you are looking for a good arm workout, mash all the ingredients using a fork.

To the bowl add in the ingredients for American Style brats and stir into the mix until well combined.

Place the bowl in the fridge for at least 15 minutes; the longer the better.

In the meantime, set up a rice wrap station with a deep plate or pie pan filled with warm water. Remove mixture from the fridge.  Place a brown rice wrap into the warm water until it is fully covered with water and then place it on a flat surface, like a cutting board. Place 1/3 cup of the mixture – formed into a roll shape into the center of the wrap. Fold the bottom of the wrap (the side closest to you) up, fold in the sides (burrito style) and roll it tight toward the top. Repeat until all of the filling is used. Chill the brats another 15 minutes in the fridge before cooking.

 

Place brats in a skillet over medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes, rotating them every minute and a half. If cooking on a barbeque grill, rotate them every minute or two until the brown rice paper starts to bubble and grill marks appear.

 

Place Epic Brats in whole grain buns and load up with all the fixings.

 

 

The Plant-Strong Podcast

This project is personal.

When I was a firefighter at Engine 2 in Austin, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine my lifestyle would become a pipeline for people to join in a quest to take back their health.  A lot has changed since those sleepless nights and adrenaline-powered shifts in the fire house, but I still care deeply about the everyday heroes.  These men and women often sacrifice their fundamental right to thrive and to be healthy while serving others – eating foods that harm while forever chasing a good night’s sleep.

Starting a podcast, I wanted to return to my roots and give back to America’s bravest who serve at-the-ready each day.  So season one of Plant-Strong will follow my journey with Joe — a young firefighter from the Bronx who knows what to do but just has a hard time making it stick.  He represents so many of the stories in my inbox and he’s going to be my personal project for the next few months.  We’ll check in on Joe’s progress and call in some favors from my friends in the movement.

I know you have a lot of choices in who you invite into your earbuds.  Please know I would be honored if you’d give this a listen.  My hope is you’ll feel empowered and excited to start or stay plant-strong, and we’ll have some serious fun along the way.

It’s not rocket science.  It’s just plants.

We’ll release one episode a week, around 30 minutes long.  Consider taking us on your next workout!  And speaking of workouts, Joe is going to train for something big.  So big, I’m going to pace him. Will you join us?

-Rip

 

Easter Options for Kids

My kids love Easter, and I do too. I find this amusing because my childhood Easter involved hard boiling a ton of eggs, painting said eggs, finding those eggs and then eating ham for dinner. None of that has passed onto my kids as our family tradition.

Early on I explained to my kids that mom will not buy eggs just to paint and then give or throw them away. That’s wasteful and we do not support that. However, painting and decorating eggs is a tradition! Every grocery store end-cap is filled with fancy egg decorating kits! They’d beg me for them even though we have zero eggs in our house!

This prompted me to do a little research. First, I came across these eggs.

Initially, I found them at Target in their $1 bins (winning!) and while they decorated “okay” with the standard store-bought paint kits, we learned that just plain old markers worked equally as well (and way less mess). The problem with these, however, is one, maybe two uses and the eggs start turning ugly shades of brown from previous paint jobs. I don’t have the kind of time post-Easter to sit and prime each egg again for next year’s use; however, it IS on my list of things to do.

There is, of course, the standard “plastic-egg” where you can hide a treat inside. We still use these eggs each year (same set, used over and over) only instead of a treat, our Easter Bunny hides scavenger hunt clues that lead the kids all throughout the house/yard until they find their Easter baskets which are usually filled with one treat, a book, and a toy. That’s it.

Recently I discovered EcoEggs. EcoEggs are made in the USA from 100% renewal content and are plant (not petroleum) based plastic! They are similar to your standard plastic egg; however, they are fully compostable after use!  I love the idea of reducing our carbon footprint and EcoEgg’s message. They also sell Easter grass for decorating baskets that are made from 100% recycled paper too.

Photo provided by EcoEgg

Now that my kids are a little bit older, they do not seem to care as much about decorating or coloring Easter eggs, they want the end prize.

The bottom line with any holiday “tradition” is that it becomes what you make it. For my kids, the tradition they remember most and look forward to ,is the scavenger hunt! I debated and sweated for years searching for the best “fake egg” I could find, only to discover that reusing the eggs we have and having the kids use their brains and work as a team to find them, has been the best and most memorable part of our Easter tradition.

So if you have kids or grandkids and are struggling with the same Easter dilemma, think outside the … egg (sorry, had to). Tradition and memories are what YOU create. Ours has clearly evolved over the years, and that’s okay. What is your Easter tradition and how has it evolved now that you are plant-based?

Stay Plant-Strong!

~Pam

SPRING CLEANING AND HUMMUS

April showers bring May flowers right?! So maybe things are not exactly starting to bloom in your neck of the woods yet, but they will be soon, I promise!

April is one of those months that really gets me excited. School is still in session, so the kids are focused on homework and sports. Winter is technically on its way out the door, so we start dusting off the bins that house our shorts and t-shirts, secretly hoping that we’ll have a warm sunny day to wear them (showcasing our beautiful winter white tans). Some of us even get to go on Spring Break!

Also with April comes spring cleaning and that doesn’t just go for your closets. I like to spring clean my refrigerator and start loading it up with what I call my A-B-C items! That would be asparagus, arugula,  broccoli, bok choy, cauliflower, and cilantro – among tons of other great veggies that are coming into season.

Okay full-disclosure, I live where the produce is pretty abundant all year round, but if you’re not on the west coast, this is an excellent site for determining what is in season by you as well as the history, how to store and some interesting ways to cook or prepare tons of veggies and herbs. Go here: https://www.seasonalfoodguide.org/

What veggie is in season by you? What are you going to stock your fridge with this Spring?

For me, I always stock up cilantro. We also try and grow it in our garden, but in Northern California, when the heat comes, it comes fast and usually kills off my cilantro before I can use it all up.

Here is a fun Cilantro Lime Hummus Recipe if you’re not one of those that think cilantro tastes like soap. If you are one of the few that have a strong opposition to cilantro, you can try basil as a substitute and switch the lime juice with lemon.

Cilantro Lime Hummus

1 can of low or no sodium garbanzo beans

1 tbsp of lime juice

2 cloves of garlic

cilantro (I used almost a full bunch – but use to your liking)

*I used my semi-broken Vitamix for this, but you can do this in a food processor as well.

Open the can of garbanzo beans and strain the liquid (aka aquafaba) into the blender.
Add the lime juice.
Add the cloves of garlic and the cilantro.
I blended gently here to get things started but this does cause the liquid to get frothy, that’s okay.
Add the garbanzo beans and blend until combined scraping down the sides as needed.

Camp Plant-Stock

The Engine 2 Team works year round to prepare for the annual Camp Plant-Stock celebration and looks forward to welcoming folks from around the globe August 9th-11th, 2019.  Hosted by Rip Esselstyn and held at the historic Blue Ridge Assembly Retreat in Black Mountain, North Carolina, we’ve packed a robust itinerary into this summer soiree.  With the brightest luminaries in the plant-based movement, Camp Plant-Stock is designed to make you feel enlightened, inspired, hopeful, and refreshed. You’re invited to attend this special weekend with the tribe and meet new friends, discuss the latest science, and savor amazing plant-strong meals.  Plus, there’s kickball.  Not to be missed!

Aerial view of Blue Ridge Assembly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 2019 Camp Plant-Stock lineup includes:

The Emmy Award-winning, NY Times best-selling, triple Guinness World Record holding Happiness Expert, Dan Buettner, will be joining us at the 8th Annual Camp Plant-Stock. Kicking off the weekend with “The Blue Zones – Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest”, Dan will share his deep expertise on the communities where people thrive decades longer than most.

 

 

 

 

 

Paul De Gelder, the host of Discover Channel’s Shark Week, author of No Time For Fear, Army Airborne – Navy Bomb Disposal Diver – Shark Attack Survivor. You won’t want to miss his incredible and inspirational story. (and hint!  He’s plant-based!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Food Market stores, one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time, and a huge advocate of a whole food, plant based diet will share his hope for the near future and how we can all do our part.

 

 

 

 

The dynamic husband and wife physician team, Drs. Dean and Ayesha Sherzai—authors of The Alzheimer’s Solution, will discuss how we can Thrive in our 80s, 90s and Beyond.  

 

 

 

 

 

Plus, the whole Esselstyn clan and 14 other amazing speakers. Click here to see the complete speaker line-up for Camp Plant-Stock 2019. Join the tribe August 9th – 11th and we’ll save you a seat! Hammocks are optional.

 

 

Mashed Potato Muffins

One day I settled in to make a recipe. I had an idea in my head that stemmed from a baking show my kids enjoy watching. I fiddled around and the end result was good, but not great. I packed my creation into the fridge labeled it a failure but figured my husband would still eat it (he’s our human vacuum cleaner) and low and behold, just letting it sit for a day in the fridge, created something wonderful!

I call these St. Patrick’s Day “Golden Nuggets” but really, you could make these anytime. They would be ideal for parties or kids birthdays too. I tried some variations which I noted below because I wanted to cover all the bases for people making these.

I hope you enjoy them and perhaps they will bring you a little luck of the Irish this season!

The basic recipe is mashed potatoes. You can make plant-strong mashed potatoes anyway you like and still make this recipe work. I chose to do this using my pressure cooker for hands free cooking.

I started out with 5 fairly large russet potatoes. I left the skins on but feel free to peel if you are making these for the kids.

I chopped them up threw them  into my pressure cooker.

I then added 1 cup of veggie broth to my blender and added the garlic (use as many cloves as you like – I went big because I love garlic but it was almost too much for me), then add the nutritional yeast, onion powder and Italian seasonings.

I blended this until combined and poured it on top of my cubed potatoes in the pressure cooker. Looking at potato to liquid ratio, I realized I probably needed a tad more veggie broth so I added another cup. Again, this will be based on how many potatoes you use.

I set my pressure cooker to 20 minutes and let pressure release naturally. I then used an immersion blender to blend the potato mixture creating a creamy yet thick batch of mashed potatoes. Feel free to taste them here and add more seasonings if you feel the need.

Next, I wanted to make the muffins but I wasn’t sure which kind of liner to use. I have silicon, I have parchment paper (my favorite) and I have a huge stash of regular cupcake liners. So, I decided to try all three so you all don’t have to guess.

I preheated my oven to 375 degrees and filled the tin with mashed potatoes, garnishing with chives (optional) and placed them in the oven for about 10 minutes.

This is what they looked liked right out of the oven. They were pretty soft and not a true muffin texture. I let them sit and cool for about 20 minutes. They looked very pretty and delicious!

So after letting them sit, I removed them from the liners and plated them up. Some of them lost their muffin shape and I wasn’t sure whether to eat them with our fingers or use a fork. This made my “party idea” seem irrelevant now.

I packed up the rest in the fridge only to come back the next day and see that they totally held their shape MUCH better after having sat in the fridge over night. They also had way more (garlic) flavor as well. Score!

Then, I had the brilliant idea to toss them into the air-fryer to warm up (about 8-10 mins) and this is where I think I blew myself away. They turned extra golden and truly became a finger food!

You lose the contrast of the chives on top this way but they really look like golden nuggets now and would be so fun to serve at party as an hor-d’oeuvre! So fancy right?

So the final verdict on the liners goes like this:

Silicon – fabulous, the muffins removed easily;
Parchment Paper liners – great, they lost shape a little but nothing terrible; and
Regular Cupcake liners – do not even bother, total waste as they stuck completely.

So there you have it. I don’t create recipes out of the blue like a lot of people and often times, my failures turn into the best meals yet!

MASHED POTATO MUFFINS

5 large russet potatoes peeled

1 to 2 cups veggie broth (plus an additional ½ cup if necessary)

3 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp granulated onion powder

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

Garlic (I used 1 package from Trader Joe’s about 6 cloves or more – this was garlicy!)

Chives (garnish)

Chop potatoes and add to your pressure cooker. Alternatively, use whatever plant-strong mashed potato recipe you like.
Place 1 cup of veggie broth along with the garlic, nutritional yeast, onion powder and Italian seasoning into a blender and blend until combined.
Add blender mixture to your pressure cooker. Add additional cup of broth if the liquid ratio seems low.
Pressure cooker for 20 minutes and let pressure release naturally.
When the button has come down, use an immersion blender to create thick mashed potatoes. If you have to, add more broth.
Line a muffin tin with silicon or parchment paper muffin liners and fill with mashed potatoes.
Preheat oven 375
Bake for 20 minutes check add more time if necessary.

When the muffins are done, let cool and then store in your refrigerate overnight. The next day, add the muffins to an air fryer set to 350 degrees for 10 mins or alternatively, you could place in your oven to warm up for about 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Stay Plant-Strong!

~Pam

Top Engine 2 Recipes: Plant-Strong Reuben on Rye

Craving a hearty two-handed sandwich?  Hope you enjoy this plant-strong version of the iconic Reuben.

Want more delicious, plant-strong recipes? You’ll find old favorites, plus hundreds of new recipes in the E2 Meal Planner. With access to hundreds of customizable recipes, printable grocery list and grocery delivery in select markets, you’ll wonder how you ever planned meals without it – and all for less than $2 a week!

 

 

Plant-Strong Reuben Sandwich Ingredients

8 ounces tempeh
1/2 cup low-sodium tamari sauce
8 ounces silken tofu
1/3 cup ketchup (we like Simply Heinz)
1/3 cup pickle relish
1 loaf rye bread – whole grain and oil-free
1 jar sauerkraut
1 cup fresh spinach leaves

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice the tempeh in half vertically and then horizontally, to make 4 thin, square patties. In a shallow dish, pour the tamari over the tempeh and marinate for 5 minutes, or more if time permits. Place the tempeh on a nonstick pan or on a pan lined with parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes.

In a bowl, whisk together the tofu, ketchup, and relish until it looks like Thousand Island dressing.

Toast the rye bread to the desired crispiness. Spread with dressing. Drain desired amount of sauerkraut and heat in microwave or in a skillet.  Add to your sandwich, then add tempeh and top with fresh spinach. Cut the sandwich in half and serve.

 

Servings: 4 sandwiches

 

SUCCESS STORY : The Campos Family

We have shared a lot of Success Stories here at Engine 2, but this one by fellow Engine 2 Diet follower, supporter and mother of two, Kari Campos will truly pull on your heart strings. What do YOU do, when Dr. Esselstyn gives you a call? Read on to find out. 

Two weeks before we were to become parents, my 36-year-old husband, Alex, stared having chest pains.  He thought he was having a reaction to the shellfish we’d had for dinner.  We didn’t expect to hear the words “heart attack” in the emergency room that night.  Two days later he was sent home with two stents, a bag of pills, and the advice to follow the American Heart Association’s diet of low-fat dairy and lean meat.  We were told heart disease was hereditary and something he would deal with for the rest of his life.

Alex and pregnant Kari in 2008. Three months before Alex’s heart attack. 

I first learned about the Whole Foods Plan Based Diet (WFPB) after reading Finding Ultra by Rich Roll and Eat and Run by Scott Jurek.  Wanting to learn more, I watched the Forks Over Knives documentary and learned that heart disease is reversible!  This was contrary to everything we’d been told by Alex’s doctors!  I immediately wanted my family to go plant based.  Alex, however, was skeptical.  He identified with his Hispanic heritage through food.  Carne asada, carnitas, and chili verde were family favorites.  I decided to try the WFPB diet myself before asking my family to make what seemed like an impossible change.  Alex was frustrated at first.  “You cook what you want.”, I told him.  “I just won’t eat the meat.”  He took my picking apart his meals as a challenge to learn to cook new things.  Within a few weeks our dinners were meat free.  Alex quickly realized how good he felt eating this way and started asking questions.  He was onboard.

At his next doctor’s visit, Alex asked about getting off his medication.  His doctor laughed and said he’d be taking them for the rest of his life.  I was livid.   A life sentence of medications with disturbing side effects?  I remembered Dr. Esselstyn’s interview from Forks Over Knives and bought his book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.  More research led to the E2 community of thousands of people with amazing stories of recovery from debilitating health problems.  Still fuming from the doctor’s assurance that medication was the only answer, I emailed Dr. Esselstyn and explained Alex’s history and my frustration with the medical community’s apparent apathy toward heart patients.  I was discouraged and started to think maybe Alex’s doctor was right.  Within a few days, I received a call from Cleveland, Ohio.  “Mrs. Campos? This is Dr. Esselstyn.”  I nearly dropped my phone.  He took the next 20 minutes to reassure me that heart disease was not a death sentence and that adherence to his guidelines could lead to a long and healthy life.  This was the encouragement I needed.  The WFPB diet was going to be the key to keeping my family healthy.

Kari (pregnant with #2), Max (age 10), Alex. March 2018.

Learning to eat plant-based and oil free has been an iterative process for our family.  Alex remains on his medications for now, but this way of life has helped him regulate his weight since his heart attack and has been incident free for almost 10 years.  What started off as a plan to help Alex, became a passion for me.  After starting a WFPB diet, my weight stabilized and the sinus congestion and digestive issues that plagued me my whole life disappeared.  I maintained a WFPB diet through my second pregnancy and had none of the swelling and huge weight gains I had during my first, even though I was almost 10 years older!

Kari and her newest love Lucy. October 2018.

When you find something this life altering, you want to tell everyone you know and love about it.  So, when my sister called and asked for help with her journey to a healthier life, I had to share everything I’d learned with her.  She jumped in with both feet and has huge success with her health.

I’m so thankful to have found the E2 community.  Following the WFPB lifestyle has changed our lives and continues to inspire others around us.

Kari, Alex, Max, and Lucy Campos

Creating Habits That Last a Lifetime – Rescue 10x

Earning badges, personal workbooks and journal sheets, live calls with coaches and so much more!
(Plants + Mindfulness) x Daily Habits =

Making it Stick

Are you stuck in the start/stop cycle of a plant-based lifestyle? Are you frustrated because it’s just not sticking? We invite you to join our 10-week behavioral program: Rescue 10x––specifically designed to help you create and maintain the daily habits needed to make permanent lifestyle change.

Our next Rescue 10x Session begins on March 12th!  Register before March 1st and save $50.

Rescue 10x is about discovering ways to stay on plan while navigating the real world.  You’ll take deep personal inventory, uncover your “why” and set goals that align with your values.

Our dedicated support system will provide a powerful sense of accountability and community.  It’s a Seven-Day Rescue Challenge multiplied by 10 consecutive weeks enhanced with live coaching support and so much more.

Each session is its own tribe – join today to be part of Broccoli Tribe, starting March 12th!

During the 10 weeks, there will be:

10x Weekly Educational Videos (All New!)
10x Weekly Live Group Video Calls with E2 Coaches
10x Weekly At-Home Goal-Setting Activities

Plus there’s a private Facebook group, a Rescue 10x Workbook, Meal Builder Guides, and Daily Rescue Journal sheets.  

Space is limited so don’t delay.

We can’t wait to walk side by side with you on this journey of a lifetime!

 

 

Give the Gift of Camp Plant-Stock

In 2015 I took a chance. I am a fulltime working married mom of two young kids but I hopped on a plane by myself and flew 3,000 miles across the country to fulfill a dream. What resulted was the motivation, education and desire to change my family’s life forever.

I will be honest; the trip was not cheap, but it was worth it. It sparked something inside of me that is still on fire to this day.

In 2015, I attended Plant-Stock (now called Camp Plant-Stock) on the Esselstyn family farm for the very first time. I traveled alone but I was nowhere near alone once I stepped foot into that conference.

Every person that I talked to or sat next to, was on a journey. They all had been brought to Plant-Stock for different reasons. For some, it was to thank Dr. Esselstyn for saving their lives, for others it was to educate themselves and learn how they can transform their health and live longer than they think their genes determine and still some, were dragged there by a spouse or loved one hoping to insight change.

Regardless of their reasons, they left feeling like they had found the holy grail, the secret to longevity and in truth, they had!

Fast forward to 2016 and I had friend tell me she wanted to go to Plant-Stock. Could I do it? Could I actually go again? If you want something bad enough, you make it happen. I put money aside when I could so that I could attend Plant-Stock 2016.

I was afraid it would be the same but it was not. New speakers, a different agenda and even some group exercise!

I fulfilled some long-time dreams on that trip and the memories we shared make me smile even today. The speakers we heard and met were amazing once again.

Two Plant-Stocks in a row should have been enough but then the impossible happened. My husband told me that he wanted to go. Did I just see pigs flying outside my window? Nope, it was real. Again, we saved what we could when we could. I am lucky to have family on the east coast to watch our kids but to this day, it was one of the best trips I’ve had with my husband.

It is one thing to hear your spouse telling you how important it is to eat a plant-based diet but it is a whole different story when doctors, athletes and people who were on the verge of death share their stories and more importantly, share the science. He was sold. He was mostly plant-based before that trip but attending Plant-Stock changed him in ways I did not see possible.

Now Engine 2 has Camp Plant-Stock. The dates are set for 2019. Click here for more information. It is bigger, better and so incredible that I have started saving my pennies already.

With all the Valentine’s Day gifts out there, it is time to sit down and think about YOU. What do YOU want to gift yourself that will spark some needed change in you or in someone you love? Engine 2 puts on all kinds of events throughout the year. Check their Events Page and see what speaks to you and what you can manage. Remember, if you want something bad enough, you can make it happen. Maybe it means foregoing that coffee shop coffee to save some money or selling some items that have been sitting in your closet for years. However you manage it, trust me when I say, you won’t regret it.

Stay Plant-Strong!

~Pam