Sunday, January 22, 2012

"Spaghetti"?

This was inspired by Spaghetti and GOMB but has no spaghetti in it.    Last week I made my GOMB chili, so this week I decided to make GOMB spaghetti.   I use GOMBBS as my easy way to remember how to eat healthy.  Greens Onions Mushroom Beans Berries and Seeds/nuts.  Dr. Fuhrman came up with this acronym.    I get my berries and Seeds in my salad, and lots of raw veggies of course.  So I aim for my GOMB in my soup--GOMB plus flavorings.  This week I was curious to try an old favorite:  spaghetti--well, the sauce anyway.   It turned out great:  the beans are a fine meat replacement, and the collard greens and mushrooms seem a fine substitute for the noodles, for me anyway.  I made noodles for housemate.  I haven't heard how she liked it.

Ingredients:
1 lb dried beans, or 2 cans already cooked, I used tepary
2 16-oz cans tomatoes or 1 28 oz can
1 can tomato sauce*
few Tbsp tomato paste if you have some (I don't)
italian seasoning herbs
2 onions
1 lb mushrooms
few cloves garlic
1-2 bunches of greens, like collards and/or kale
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 large carrot or 2 medium, cut into big pieces
1 cinnamon stick
1-2 Tbsp date syrup

*I actually don't buy tomato sauce because I use canned garden tomatoes that can't be beat.  I blend a third can of tomatoes in the blender (with the carrot, below) to make my tomato sauce.

Soak the beans overnight if dried.  Add the spices, cook for an hour, add the onions and garlic, cook for another hour, add the tomatoes and peppers and cinnamon stick, cook some more.  You don't want to add the tomatoes too early because they slow the cooking of the beans.  Steam the greens and carrot in a steamer or pressure cooker.   Blend the carrot with some of the sauce and add it to the soup--it adds a nice flavor and thickening.  Remove the cinnamon stick and add the date syrup at the end.   It adds just a touch of sweetness.  Since we don't get salt on our diet, the sweet is a nice touch.

I eat my nuts/seeds on my salad, but if you want some "parmesan cheese" for your "spaghetti," ground walnuts make a great substitute.  You could mix in some nutritional yeast to the ground walnuts.

3 comments:

Ginger said...

That sounds yummy. I have a son that is having a very rough time with his health. He can't keep weight on to save his life, literally. I make several things that taste like spaghetti for him. Potato pizza, polenta lazagne, lazagne rolls..he needs more grains and potatoes, because he needs more calories. We use tons of gombs. Each of the above uses a 'ricotta cheese' made with white beans, nutritional yeast, parsley, and kale. The sauce has lots of onions, peppers, mushrooms, celery, garlic, and tomatoes. He hates salad so I put a pile of sprouts on everything he eats. That is except his breakfast of blueberry-apple sauce and herbal chai made with my homemade almond milk. He also eats humus with carrots and peppers plus apples for snacks. I'm not sure why I wrote all this. Except as a nutritarian you might understand and care.

kneecap said...

Thanks for sharing! Those are great ideas. love the ricotta cheese idea. now that I think about it, nutritional yeast would be a good addition to my "parmesan cheese".

Does your son eat mostly nutritarian? Some high-calorie foods are nuts, avocado and beans. Do those help at all?

Ginger said...

When he eats at home, it is nutritarian. He loves avocado, tolerates nuts, hates but eats beans. He is young and wants to fit in. So he eats pizza and chips and candy, too. We know he would do better to skip the pseudo-food and so does he, but he wants to be a kid.