Forks Over Knives (18 page)

2 tablespoons tahini

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons light miso

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon dried mustard

Twenty 10-inch whole-wheat tortillas

1 to 2 jars of your favorite salsa

1 can vegan, oil-free, refried beans (I use La Preferida brand black beans)

2 bunches scallions, chopped

Additional salsa and guacamole for topping

1.
Combine the chickpeas, nutritional yeast, garlic, tahini, vinegar, miso, soy sauce, onion powder, cumin, salt, paprika, and mustard in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the “S” blade. Pulse until the ingredients become a smooth paste. You may have to scrape the sides down. Set aside. This is the “cheese.”

2.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.

3.
Spread a thin layer of the “cheese” on one tortilla. Top with a thin layer of refried beans, spread with a few spoonfuls of salsa, and sprinkle with scallions.

4.
Top with a second tortilla and gently place in the heated skillet. Dry-fry for 3 to 5 minutes, until the tortilla is crispy and starting to brown on the bottom. Flip and cook the other side until crisp and browned.

5.
Remove from the skillet and slice into wedges.

6.
Repeat with the remaining tortillas.

7.
Serve hot, topped with additional salsa or guacamole.

MARY MCDOUGALL | THE MCDOUGALL PROGRAM

SERVE THESE WITH salsa (and guacamole, if you wish) spooned over the top. These can be eaten with a knife and fork or cut into wedges, picked up with your fingers, and dunked into the salsa and/or guacamole.

SERVES 8

2 pounds garnet yams, peeled and cut into chunks

2 tablespoons vegetable broth

2 tablespoons chopped green chiles

2 teaspoons lime juice

1 teaspoon minced chipotle in adobo sauce

¾ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon minced garlic

One 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

8 whole wheat tortillas

Fresh salsa of your choice

Guacamole (or Pea Guacamole,
page 74
)

1.
Put the yams in a stainless-steel saucepot with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and cook for about 12 minutes, until soft. Drain off the water and add the vegetable broth to the yams. Mash with a potato masher until quite smooth, then stir in the green chiles, lime juice, chipotle, cumin, and garlic. Mix well, stir in the black beans, and mix again.

2.
Heat a nonstick griddle or large skillet over medium heat. Spread some of the yam mixture on half of a tortilla, then fold over and flatten. Place the folded tortilla on the griddle and cook for about 2½ minutes on each side, flipping several times to make sure it doesn’t burn. Repeat with the remaining yam mixture and tortillas. Serve with salsa and/or guacamole spooned over the top.

Tip
This makes quite a large amount. However, they store well overnight in the refrigerator and, reheated on the griddle the next day, they’ll taste just like they were freshly made.

ALAN GOLDHAMER AND DOUG LISLE |
THE HEALTH PROMOTING COOKBOOK

THIS SMOOTH, VELVETY soup has a beautiful orange color and makes a nice presentation with a sprig of parsley as a garnish.

SERVES 8

7 cups vegetable stock or water

3 acorn squash, peeled and chopped

2 large carrots, peeled and chopped

1 large yam, peeled and chopped

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon sage

2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels

1.
In an 8-quart soup pot, bring the stock or water to a boil and stir in all the ingredients except the corn. Cook over medium-high heat for 20 minutes, or until the squash is soft.

2.
Blend the soup in batches in a food processor or blender until smooth. Return to the pot, add the corn, and reheat on low for 10 minutes.

DR. DOUG LISLE, a graduate of the University of California at San Diego, received the President’s Fellowship and was a DuPont Scholar at the University of Virginia, where he completed his doctor of philosophy in clinical psychology. The author of
The Pleasure Trap
, Doug has worked with Colin Campbell, John McDougall, and other scientists in analyzing the impact of dietary and lifestyle changes in the treatment of chronic disease.

Doug’s career choices were highly influenced by his study of genetics, which motivated Doug to understand self-destructive behavior from a new viewpoint—that addictive habits are the result of our instincts chasing illusions (what he calls “pleasure traps”). Today, Doug’s practice is devoted to helping clients understand how to master and overcome self-sabotage.

“The health problems we see today are being caused by dietary excess,” he says. “People are simply eating too many calories. We don’t need to debate about whether it is too much fat or too many carbohydrates—the truth is that it is too much food. And the question is: Why?

“What we often hear is that people have become too sedentary, or to overly indulgent. But those explanations don’t stand up to scientific scrutiny—after all, there’s no reason why we would suddenly be more indulgent, a
lot
more indulgent, than we were just twenty or thirty years ago. So it must be something else.

“That ‘something else’ is what I call
the pleasure trap.
It’s what happens when our natural psychology—built for an ancient world where getting enough to eat was a struggle—collides with the modern environment, which is filled to the brim with excess.

“All complex animals have within them what we call the motivational triad: a three-part motivational guidance system that directs them to (1) seek
out pleasure, (2) avoid pain, and (3) conserve energy. In the natural world, that meant finding the ripest foods, avoiding predators, and taking every available shortcut to save precious calories.

“This system is inside every creature from a grasshopper to a gazelle, and it moves human behavior as well. The problem is that if you are ‘smart’ enough, you can trick the system—that is, you can create materials and experiences that short-circuit this machinery, so that a choice
feels
right, but it
isn’t.
Today we see the effects of these tricks everywhere, from using drugs to smoking cigarettes to drinking alcohol, but the most widely used trick of all is eating highly processed foods.

“The method is the same in each case. Drugs, alcohol, processed foods—they overstimulate the pleasure mechanism, and the result is behavior that is tipped out of balance and out of control. This is the pleasure trap, where the ancient message of pleasure tells us that we are doing the right thing. But we’re not.

“The modern economy’s ingenuity at doing this trick has gotten much more commanding in just the last few years.
That
is why we now have such astounding epidemics of obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other problems today. These are diseases caused by an overly rich diet that beckons us to overindulge, again and again, unless we are fortunate enough to understand and avoid the pleasure trap.”

CHEF AJ |
UNPROCESSED

A MUCH HEALTHIER version of a childhood favorite with a twist, reminiscent of Campbell’s Cream of tomato soup.

SERVES 4 AS AN APPETIZER or 2 AS AN ENTRÉE

1 pound Roma tomatoes, chopped

2 red bell peppers, seeded

1 garlic clove

6 to 8 large fresh basil leaves

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons sun-dried tomato powder (see tip)

¼ teaspoon chipotle powder (or more, to taste)

½ cup shelled hemp seeds, optional

Puree the tomatoes, bell peppers, basil, lemon juice, tomato powder, and chipotle powder in a high-powered blender until smooth. Add the hemp seeds and blend again until creamy. The high-powered blender will warm the soup without its being heated on the stove. Serve immediately.

TIP
If you can’t find sun-dried tomato powder you can easily make your own: Just grind hard sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed ones) in a coffee grinder.

CHRISTY MORGAN | THE BLISSFUL CHEF

NOT ONLY CAN you make this soup in under 30 minutes, but it’s gluten free, soy free, and full of antioxidants and beta carotene from the orange vegetables. The whole family will enjoy it!

SERVES 2 TO 3

3 cups water or broth

1 cup peeled and cubed butternut squash

3 cups peeled and cubed sweet potato

1 teaspoon dried thyme

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Tamari

Fresh herbs

1.
Bring water, squash, and a pinch of salt to a boil in a saucepan. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the sweet potato, thyme, and nutmeg and stir. Bring back to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until all the veggies are tender, about 10 minutes. Let soup cool slightly.