I thought eating would no longer be fun when I first began transitioning to a plant-based lifestyle. I was desperate to take my old beloved comfort food recipes accumulated through the years and make them vegan. In the beginning, It was pretty tough. Still, with the help of those pioneers who went before me, like Lindsay S. Nixon, creator of the Happy Herbivore, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, and Dr. Neal Barnard, I could find my way and make this something I could do for the rest of my life!
As a result, I’ve lost 35 pounds that I’ve been able to keep off for over 4 years! I can keep my blood sugar within a healthy range and lower my cholesterol. I have tons more energy, which is terrific for a person in her 60’s! And what’s neat, I have learned so much about how food is the perfect “medicine” – the good kind that fixes things instead of just masking the symptoms.
A Bowl of Comfort
Take this lovely Creamy Tuscan Gnocchi Soup, for instance – it’s a terrific example of how good a plant-based meal can be! It’s creamy and loaded with flavor! The gnocchi are little chewy pillows of potato! Like little dumplings – checking all the boxes! Yet, when I share this with my omnivore and vegetarian friends – they look at me incredulously when I tell them its only ingredients are PLANTS! It’s lower in fat than the original animal-product version, too! I wait till they take a few bites, and then I tell them – and it thrills me whenever I see the look of disbelief that comes over their faces!
Before trying plant-based recipes, people (myself included) think (thought) that it’s all about “rabbit food” – probably very boring. Certainly couldn’t be very exciting, could it? On the contrary, I’ve learned how to enhance each recipe with a combination of spices and other plant-based ingredients that add richness and zing to each bite! I must confess to not having much skill in the “flavoring” game in the past. I would just let meat, dairy, and fat do the heavy lifting, which is not nearly as healthy or exciting!
I’ve added the nutrient details at the bottom of the recipe. So you will see just how much protein and other good stuff you can get from one bowl of this creamy, dreamy soup!
Try this soup and let me know what you think! link to recipe
check out my sample recipes from my cookbook
The bowl of soup image (above) is my own, but the featured photo of the “raw gnocchi” on the previous page was from https://www.freepik.com/photos/background”>Background photo created by atlascompany – www.freepik.com