How to Eat Persimmons with Two Recipes

A requirement for sustainable weight loss isn't trying new foods (this is great news if there's not a lot of veggies you enjoy).

However, trying new optimal foods (whole, plant foods) can help curb the boredom of eating the same things each week.

After at least 3 weeks of eating optimally, some of my clients start to expand their palate by trying new foods (and there's a strategic reason for waiting).

Why try new optimal foods?  Well, you might like them!  And, you'll also have a more diverse range of foods to happily choose from.  This will keep optimal eating interesting and exciting which helps with maintaining weight loss.

For example, one of my newest clients likes white rice.  She ate optimally for 3 weeks which included white rice (she also lost 10 pounds in these 3 weeks!). 

Then, after 3 weeks and great weight loss results, she tried brown rice, a new food for her.  And guess what?  She liked it! 

She liked brown rice even more than white rice because it had a "nuttier" flavor.  Now, she eats brown rice multiple times a week (and she started with a very limited palate). 

Today I'm sharing how to eat one of my favorite fruits to eat this time of year... persimmons!

Persimmons are subtly sweet and "spread-ible" like jelly and you may have never had them before!  

Here’s a sneak peak of the recipe’s ingredients…

Get the optimal Persimmon Bread Recipe here!

Get the optimal Butternut Squash and Persimmon recipe here!

Now I’d love to hear from you. Comment below and tell me…

1. Have you ever eaten a persimmon before? If so, what did you think?

2. What’s a fruit you’ve never had before but would like to try?

Then, accept my challenge and try a new optimal fruit or veggie! As always, report back and let me know what you think.

Remember — get educated, get support and take control because you can get the healthy body, you deserve.

Gazpacho recipe (or the healthiest smoothie ever)

Gazpacho (a cold, tomato-based soup) is so refreshing in the summer, especially in the thick South Carolina humidity.  Fresh garden tomatoes and veggies chilled for a cool, refreshing soup to counteract the record high heat in Columbia.  Yes please!

But not only is it great for lunch and dinner (we serve it with "decorated potatoes" (aka baked potato bar) for our Trisha's Healthy Table clients, but my personal favorite way to eat gazpacho?

I love drinking a small cup of this gazpacho with breakfast or any time during the day.  Not only is the taste just so good, it's so insanely good for you!  Move over green smoothies, the healthiness of gazpacho has definitely got you beat.  

This gazpacho is lower in calorie density, and higher in herbs and veggies than green smoothies.  That's what makes it even better for you.  Green smoothies are normally a few types of fruit, one dark leafy green with juice or plant milk.  Gazpacho is all veggies.

Think you won't like it?  We've served shots of gazpacho to 100+ people at the SC State Museum (and repeatedly to our Trisha's Healthy Table clients) and here's some of their shocking feedback.... 

“Your food is great! I didn’t think I’d like the gazpacho — I don’t like tomatoes, but that’s good! And the garden caesar salad is awesome y’all. It’s really good!”

— Victoria Justice, age 56, Department of Justice, Columbia, SC

Gazpacho

By: Trisha's Healthy Table, Chef Erik Hoffman

Ingredients

5 large tomatoes
2 cucumbers, peeled
1 red onion
1 red bell pepper
3 scallions
3 cloves garlic
1/2 c flat leaf parsley
1/4 c chives
1/4 c champagne vinegar
2 T salt
1 T black pepper
fresh lemon juice
sherry vinegar

Instructions

1. Cut veggies into approximately 2 inch pieces and place in a large mixing bowl.
2. Combine garlic and herbs with veggies. Add the vinegar, salt and pepper and toss until well coated. 
3. Cover and marinate for 1-2 hours (though over night in the fridge is ideal). 
4. Once marinated, blend in batches until entire mixture is well blended (we use a high-powered blender to make it extra smooth). 
5. Strain through a fine mesh strainer (you may need to force it through using the back of a ladle to get all liquid through). 
6. Add fresh lemon juice, sherry vinegar and salt to taste.  
7. Chill in the refrigerator. 
8. Once chilled, it's ready to serve.  Be sure to stir the gazpacho right before serving though. It may have naturally separated a bit (which is normal).

Don't have enough time to make gazpacho? Let us do it for you.

Want someone else make gazpacho or other healthy but dang delicious meals for you?  Look no further.  Trisha's Healthy Table makes healthy meals to-go for the nights you just don't want to cook, but don't want to compromise your health with greasy restaurant food.  

Order meals on-line, schedule your pick-up date, then pick-up them up on your way home from work, reheat or assemble at home.  Bing, bang, boom, dinner is done.  Located at 1305 Assembly St., Columbia, SC.

Right now, Trisha's Healthy Table is offering a limited amount of highly discounted meals on pre-sale until September 20th.  Some are already sold out!  Want in?  We hope so!  You can't get these deliciously healthy, plant-based meals anywhere else.  Check out www.THTmeals.com before they'll all gone!

Now it's time to hear from you.

What foods do you crave in the hot summer months?  Or, what would you like to see Trisha's Healthy Table make so you don't have to?

Answer by clicking 'comment' below.

How to make and use Spinach Tofu Ricotta

Tofu Spinach Ricotta                                                                                                                          By: Erik Hoffman                                                                                                                        Serving size: double for a lasagna tray

Ingredients

• 1 block firm tofu
• 8 ounces baby spinach
• 1 clove garlic minced
• veggie broth for sautéing
• 3 T nutritional yeast
• ½ a lemon zested (microplane preferred)
• 1 lemon juiced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Step 1:  Remove the excess liquid from tofu.  To do so, place tofu in a colander with a paper towl on top.  Add a heavy object like bowl on top of paper towl and let strain for at least 10 minutes.

Step 2:  Add garlic and a thin layer of veg stock to a pan and sauté for about 2 minutes.  Next, add spinach until wilted.  Remove from heat, then place in a colander to drain excess liquid.

Step 3:  Once pressed, crumble tofu by breaking it apart with your hands and place in a food processor.  Add the drained spinach, nutritional yeast, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Blend until smooth and creamy.

If it’s too thick, add a few tablespoons of veggie broth to thin out.  Then taste.  Add more salt and or pepper to your liking.  You may also add more nutritional yeast for a cheesier flavor.

How to use:

• In veggie lasagna:  we served it to our ideal customers for feedback (who aren’t plant-based eaters) and they loved it.  Layer the ricotta over 100% whole-grain lasagna noodles and sautéed veggies (zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, peppers, onions and broccoli), tomato sauce then bake
• Use for stuffed shells
• Manicotti filling
• In baked stuffed cherry tomatoes (hollow out cherry tomatoes and fill with tofu ricotta. Bake at 400 degrees until heated through) 
• Cheese on a pizza
• Spread for toast

Take Control Now

Erik and I are challenging you to make Spinach Tofu Ricotta this week.  Answer in the comments section and share how you'll use it, when you'll shop for ingredients and when you'll make it.  The more specific and detailed you are, the more likely you are to follow through on this goal.  Take the first step toward making a healthy, tasty, cheesy dinner by answering below. 

How to Make Creamy Tahini Mashed Potatoes

This is one of my favorite oil-free vegan (and delicious!) culinary wonders that my husband has made yet.  We've enjoyed it as a dinner with creamy mushroom gravy and sautéed kale, served it to multiple groups in the Columbia's Cooking kitchen classroom, for Thanksgiving with 3 different types of gravy (I really love gravy) and most recently, with our family as part of our Christmas meal.  It's fairly simple and pleases all crowds.  I encourage you to try Erik's recipe, then answer the Take Control Now Question below and let us know what you think.  We'd love to hear from you!

Creamy Tahini Mashed Potatoes           

By: Erik Hoffman                                                                                                                              Serves: 4                                                                                                                                               Prep + cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 large russet potatoes (peeled and quartered)
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 large onion diced
• ⅔ c vegetable stock
• 2 T tahini
• 1 c unsweetened almond milk
• salt
• white pepper

Directions

1. Prepare your mis en place (all of the ingredients prepped and cut).  

2. Start the potatoes.

Add prepared russet potatoes to a large pot and cover with at least two inches of water.  Salt liberally (at least 2 tablespoons). Place on stove top and turn heat to high. Cook uncovered until water comes to a boil (begin step 2).

Check potatoes three minutes after the water begins to boil. You want potatoes to be tender and have a starchy, translucent look.  They should be tender enough to cut through with a spoon with very little resistance. At this point, remove from stove and strain through a colander. Return potatoes back to pot or transfer into a large mixing bowl.  Cover to keep warm and set aside.

3.  Begin potato mixture.

In a small sauce pot, cook onions and garlic in ⅓ cup vegetable stock over medium heat until tender and liquid is almost gone.  Add to the onions and garlic, ⅔ cup almond milk and the remaining the vegetable stock.  Bring to a boil. As soon as it boils, turn down to a simmer and add 2 tablespoons tahini. Mix well to incorporate tahini.  Once tahini has been stirred in, add the mixture to the potato pot.

4.  Mash the taters.

Mash potatoes well with the liquid. I use a rigid spoon and mix vigorously until the potatoes become very creamy.  You can also use a potato masher or hand blender if you want.  Once the potatoes are to a consistency of your liking, add the final ⅓ cup of almond milk and stir in until you have a very smooth result.  Season your creamy tahini potatoes with salt and pepper to your liking (I prefer the spice of white pepper in my mashed potatoes over plack pepper) and enjoy.

Then answer today's Take Control Now question by clicking 'comment' below.

Take Control Now Question

What did you and your family think of Erik's recipe?  Would you do something different?  Other thoughts to share?

Vegan, Plant-Based Food for Camping

Last night I returned from a fun-filled camping trip.  My ladies and I car-camped for a night and set off for hiking and swimming along Scott Mountain trail in Oregon the next day.  As you can see, it was beautiful and a lot of fun with great friends.  However...  

Me, Anna, Jodi and Maggie at the summit of Scott Mountain, Oregon.

We made sure we were eating an abundance of whole, plant-based foods to sustain us during our trip (it was more like an adventure really) because traditional, American camp food is crap.

I'm talking traditional hotdogs and hamburgers for lunch and dinner, s'mores for dessert,  scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast and chips and pretzels for snacks.  If you're lucky, there might be some baked beans in there.  

Where are the vegetables!?  The plants?  In these traditional eats?

To incorporate more whole, plant-based meals while camping, try these healthy, plant-based dishes to satisfy your hunger instead.  

Plant-Based Camping Recipes/Easy Meals

Breakfast: Oatmeal.  Bring little baggies filled with regular rolled oats, raisins and cinnamon.  Then, all you need is hot water to pour on top of your pre-made mix (in a bowl of course).  Next, chop up a banana or a piece of fruit for on-top.  This is also an excellent breakfast for a day of hiking.

(Psst.. you don't want to use 'thick' oats when cooking this way. You'll risk having hard, thick oats instead of soft and chewy!).

Lunch:  If you're on the trail, fill your hiking pack with a boxed soup and a baked sweet potato.  If you're hanging around camp with the kids, make veggie-hummus or -avocado sandwiches.  Spread oil-free hummus or 2 slices of avocado on 100% whole-grain bread, and top with sliced cucumber, carrot and lettuce.  Fresh fruit for a side-dish or again, boxed soup.

Snacks:  I brought lightly salted edamame beans, fruit, baked sweet potatoes and boxed soups that I could eat straight from the carton, or warm up on the fire on our camping trip.  Slices of watermelon were perfect in the heat!

Dinner:  Mexican tortilla wraps.  Combine canned beans, canned corn and salsa in a pot and place on the fire until warm.  While this is cooking, warm tortillas on the fire.  Then, simply add the warmed mixture to the tortillas and bam you have dinner (just don't forget your can opener!).  Takes less than 15 minutes. 

In addition you can, heat corn on the cob on the fire.  Leave the husks on, and once it's cooked, eat plain or spread a lime wedge along the corn and top with your favorite seasoning.  Mine is taco or cajun seasoning.  

Marinated veggie skewers are also a great addition and 100% whole-grain pasta with a can of tamato sauce (oil and sugar free) is also easy and quick to make.  

Dessert:  Fresh fruit like watermelon, peaches and seasonal summer fruit are always delightful.  

However, if you're looking forward to making something around the camp fire, try a roasted banana boat s'more.  Slice the length of a banana's peel with a knife length wise and insert a tablespoon of dark chocolate or peanut butter along the banana's flesh.  Close the peel and place on the grill on the fire or on a hot rock.  Open once warm and enjoy directly out of the peel with a spoon or, spoon out onto graham crackers instead of using marshmallows (marshmallows are horrible for you and your kids and ya'll should NEVER eat them!).  Replace all your marshmallows with campfire bananas (they're even sweeter this way!).  

Now I'd love to hear from you.  Please answer today's Take Control Now question in the comments section below and then click 'like' to show me some love and let others know, "that hey, there's valuable information here!".  Thanks.

Take Control Now

What's your favorite, healthy, plant-based meals for camping?  What unhealthy (treats) food are you serving that you shouldn't?

Answer in the comments section below and find me on social media.