Potatoes

Vegan Month of Food Logo
Potatoes are one of my favorite things so any dietician/nutritionist that gives me permission, even encourages me to eat potatoes, is a hero in my book.

I nearly always cook potatoes in the pressure cooker. Occassionally I “bake” a potato, sweet or non, in the microwave. I use the pressure cooker partially because boiling takes a long time at 9000 ft. Also, they get steamed in the pressure cooker, rather than boiled, and I think they hold onto more flavor and have better texture.

To prepare I place the steaming plate in the pressure cooker and add some water, not so much that it rises above the steaming plate. I scrub potatoes and cut out any bad spots, then cut into roughly equal pieces. It doesn’t really matter what size as long as they’re not small enough to fall through the holes, into the water. Smaller cook faster. I usually choose a size that’s roughly equivalent to a medium-small red potato. Organic red potatoes are my favorite. I often wrap a salted potato or two in foil to eat during brevets. In that case I peel the potato either before or after cooking.

Potatoes ready to cook

I bring up the pressure and hold it for 10-15 min. (As I’ve said before, if you live at a lower altitude you’ll need to adjust your cooking time. At sea level you may only need to cook for 5-7 min.) After that I let the pressure release naturally. Then voilà! Perfect (most times) potatoes!

Pupusas – an easy way to eat your beans

Vegan Month of Food Logo

If these weren’t so expensive (about $2 per serving from Vitamin Cottage) they’d be a perfect food. Corn masa “pancake” stuffed with black beans and a little corn. The package recommends cooking with 1 tsp of oil. I just heat them in a non-stick skillet with no oil. They’re particularly good when they’re still hot and crunchy on the edges. The red sauce I posted last week is a good accompaniment. (Note: I’ve only found them at Vitamin Cottage in Pueblo.)

My favorite dessert

Vegan Month of Food Logo

This is my favorite dessert and post workout recovery snack. It has a good carb:protein ration and takes about 1 minute to prepare!

  1. Pour frozen blueberries into bowl
  2. Spoon Whole Soy Co yogurt over blueberries
  3. Sprinkle with diced, raw organic almonds (in the bulk section at Vitamin Cottage)

Blueberry, yogurt, almond parfait

If you have time, and you really want to make this special, set the bowl with frozen blueberries on the counter for 5-10 minutes before adding yogurt.

Any flavor of Whole Soy Co. yogurt is good. I usually choose vanilla. In the USA, the only good vegan yogurt I’ve found is Whole Soy Co. It has a great, creamy texture, not at all gelatinous. Of the others I’ve tried, only Silk is even edible. But comparing Silk to Whole Soy Co. is like comparing lemon Jello® to Ciao Bella lemon sorbet.

You can try other fruit too. Frozen cherries are the best, but they seem to have been unavailable for several months. Toasted pecans are a good alternative to almonds and especially yummy with cherries.