Here's Dr. Fuhrman's Eat to Live suggested meal plan:
Breakfast:
fresh fruit
Lunch:
salad, beans on top, and more fruit
Dinner:
salad and 2 cooked vegetables (1 lb.), fruit dessert
Here’s what I'm eating today:
Breakfast:
smoothie
Lunch:
Afghan Carrot Hotpot and Salaata
Dinner:
chopped salad, banana for dessert
I adapted the lunch recipes from The New Middle Eastern
Vegetarian by Sally Butcher. The author is based in London, and the book
has a decidedly English tone, but the measurements are all given
in U.S. terms so no translation or conversion is necessary. I got the book from
the library, and there are some other recipes that I’d like to try. Adapting
the recipes I used to fit the Eat to Live principles was easy. I basically just
omitted the oil and salt. I also subbed ras al hanout, a Moroccan spice
mixture, which I had, for ground cloves, which I didn’t have.
For the hotpot, I just put the following in a large pot in
this order:
1.5 cups chana dal (from Indian grocery)
2 medium onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 habenaro chili, ribs and seeds removed, chopped fine
About 1 inch ginger root, peeled and chopped fine
1 pound baby carrots
3 large tomatoes, chopped
1 heaping tsp ground turmeric
1 heaping tsp ground cumin
1 heaping tsp ground coriander
1/8 tsp ras el hanout (recipe called for ground cloves, but
I thought this would do)
1 Tbs tomato paste
1 Tbs red wine vinegar (recipe called for 2 Tbs sour grape
juice (a specialty item) or 2 tsp vinegar)
Then I poured a good 2 cups water over all and brought to a
boil, then simmered for an hour.
The original recipe instructed to fry the onions in a little
oil, then add the garlic, chili, and ginger, followed by the spices, carrots,
and chana dal when the onion had softened, followed a few minutes later by the
tomato chunks and paste. Then salt to taste plus the sour grape juice/vinegar
and water. Omitting the sautéing actually speeded up the prep work; although I
probably lost some flavor this way, I upped the spices a bit from the original
recipe to compensate and the hot pepper was still plenty hot enough, even
though I took out the seeds and ribs. If you don’t like hot, I suggest a milder
chili.
When I make this again, I’ll probably just use a can of
diced tomatoes and their juice, plus enough water to make a little more than 2
cups liquid, instead of the fresh tomatoes. Also, the author says you can make
this with pumpkin instead of carrots. I’ll probably try using butternut squash
in the fall. I made this on Friday and had the last of it for lunch today. It was still very good and plenty hot.
As for the Salaata, I just chopped:
1 cucumber, seeded
Fresh tomatoes chopped to equal the amount of cuke
3 green onions/scallions, using both white and green parts
A good handful of cilantro
A good handful of mint
2 jalapeno peppers, some ribs and seeds removed (chopped
fine)
Then dressed with juice of 1 lemon and popped in the fridge
until dinnertime.
The only real change I made to the original recipe was to
omit the salt and a chopped small onion, as I thought the green onions would be
enough onion-y flavor. I finished off the last of this today, too. If I made this again to go with the hotpot, I’d probably
omit the jalapeno so that the salad would be a refreshing counterpoint to the
heat of the chili in the hotpot.
If you’re not following the Eat to Live plan, Sally Butcher
suggested serving the hotpot over plain white
rice, with yogurt and bread in addition to the salaata.
This was my first time trying these recipes – or any from
this book. I don’t buy cookbooks much anymore, but I do get them a lot from
the library. This one’s good. I'll definitely make this hotpot again. In addition to recipes, it has
interesting sidebar articles. And the breezy tone of the author makes it fun to read.
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