15 grams of protein
32% of my daily recommended iron
17 grams of fiber
0 grams of saturated fat
5% calcium
17% vitamin C
2% vitamin A

I will easily pick up the slack in my vitamin intake when I eat a salad later and snack on fruit. But here’s what I was really considering this morning: I am constantly shown concern about my sources of protein as a vegan. What most eaters don’t realize is that standard American fare includes much more protein than our bodies need, and extra protein leads to weight gain, strain on your internal organs, and calcium loss.

If I use the standard RDA formula for determining daily protein needs, (1. Weight in pounds divided by 2.2 = weight in kg, 2. Weight in kg x 0.8-1.8 gm/kg = protein gm) then my daily protein intake should be about 50 grams. According to other research, this number might even be too high. Compared with caloric intake, only 5 or 6% protein is needed to replenish the body of the protein expended. 50 grams, or 200 calories, in a 2000 calorie diet, is 10%.

Regardless of this, I’m on par with egg eaters with my protein levels at this time in the morning. Two eggs for breakfast will provide you with 12 grams of protein. It will also provide you, most generously with 10% of your allowed saturated fat and 70% of your allowed cholesterol.

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1. Vegan Oatmeal
2. What Goes in Our Daily Oatmeal
3. Why Do Runners Eat poorly?

mung bean sprouts, day 2

I was so ready to start sprouting some beans that I couldn’t wait for a professional set-up. Honestly, I was having a hard time in Chicago even finding any equipment, and the internet wasn’t helping much either. I did find these sprouting strainer lids on amazon.com that fit mason jars, which is really all you need, a large mason jar and a strainer lid, but it just felt wrong paying almost $8 in shipping for a $4 item. Besides, if I got my creativity going, I could fashion something to do the job.

I found a large jar, seen here, and some mung beans in the cabinet, purchased when our friend had shown us how he had eaten them boiled as a child, and since forgotten. I soaked a half cup of mung beans for 12 hours in about three times as much water as their volume and drained them well. I tried to make a strainer lid by punching holes in this jar’s plastic lid with a drill, but it wasn’t porous enough. So I set up this strange sprouting station using the splatter screen for my pan. Hey, it works, what can I say?

wash your sprouts

The most important part of sprouting any kind of bean or grain is the rinsing that you’re required to do every 8-12 hours. When I first come back to the mung beans after that period of time, they smell musty and not appetizing. But as soon as I thoroughly rinse and drain them, they smell fresh and green, like new plant life again.

Mung bean sprouts don’t require light, like other sprouts. But some people say that their need for lack of light is also exaggerated. Just put the sprouts somewhere in your kitchen that doesn’t get a lot of sunlight and they should be fine. After soaking and regular rinsing, your sprouts should be ready in 3-5 days depending on how large you want them to be when you eat them.

These sprouts aren’t going to look like the mung beans you find in big bags in the produce section, and the reason is that those commercial operations use machinery and chemicals unavailable (and undesirable) to you. Sprout People has a good article on sprouting mung beans, and techniques for making the sprouts big and thick.

mung bean sprouts, day 3

sprouting in general

Sprouting is a way to consume beans and grains on a raw-food diet. When I first read about raw-food diets, I literally sat there for a few minutes and thought, But how do they eat beans? imagining my beans on the stove cooking for over an hour after being soaked. Mystery solved!

Sprouting grains and beans increases the nutritional content of the grain or bean. The sprouts have more protein, fiber, vitamins, and essential fatty acids. They also have a lot of enzymes which aid in the digestion of other food and nutrients, enzymes that are present in a lot of plants, but are destroyed by cooking and are usually inactive in plants anyway. If you’re someone who used to eat yogurt before you stopped eating dairy because you wanted some help with digestion, this might be an interesting aspect of sprouts for you.

what you can sprout

You can sprout all kinds of grains and beans. Here’s wikipedia‘s list: kala chana, alfalfa, adzuki bean, almond, amaranth, annatto seed, anise seed, arugula, basil, brown rice, navy bean, pinto bean, lima bean, broccoli, buckwheat, cabbage, canola seed, caragana, cauliflower, celery, chia seed, chickpeas, chives, cilantro (coriander, dhania), clover, cress, dill, fennel, fenugreek, flax seed, garlic, hemp seed, kale, kamut, kat, leek, green lentils, lupins, pearl millet, mizuna, mustard, oats, onion, black-eyed peas, green peas, pigeon peas, snow peas, peanut, psyllium, pumpkin, quinoa, radish, rye, sesame, soybean, spelt, sunflower, tatsoi, triticale, watercress, and wheat berries.

Keep in mind that kidney beans are toxic unless cooked and for that reason should not be eaten as raw sprouts.

When you sprout at home, you don’t have to worry about all the scary stuff associated with sprouts, like food-borne illnesses. Sprouting is easy, inexpensive, and you have control over the quality of your food, you know where it came from. Just make sure that you’re buying consumer-grade beans and grains and not the ones that are intended for planting (unlikely, but still) as those are treated differently, chemically.

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1. Black-Eyed Pea – Green Chard Soup
2. Fava Beans
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Cornmeal is used in cultures all over the world to compose staple dishes. Popular uses in the American diet include grits, corn bread, and Polenta, a word incorporated into English from the Italian-named dish. Polenta can be cooked in a variety of ways, many of them expressly non-vegan, but it’s a dish that’s easily modified for a plant-based or vegan diet and also a whole-grains diet.

getting your whole grains

Polenta, as it’s sold, is degerminated cornmeal, meaning just like other refined grains, they take off all that stuff on the outside of the grain that provides you with protein, iron, vitamins, and other nutrients. Removing the germ also increases the inflammatory properties of the grain because it’s easier for your body to digest (which sounds good but don’t be fooled), and thusly spikes your blood sugar more than it would with the germ intact.

In the bulk section of Whole Foods, they sell the degerminated variety of Polenta, but the text on the bulk description doesn’t tell you that. Annoying! However, this is easily corrected by not buying polenta itself as they market it in the store, and buying instead Stone Ground Whole Grain Cornmeal and using that in the same exact way to make polenta. Bob’s Red Mill, for instance, sells a bag of whole grain cornmeal with the germ right next to the bag of polenta without the germ. I debated whether it would come out the same, but Bob’s bags reassured me as they provide useful descriptions: Polenta is SIMPLY degerminated corn meal… Okay, well if it’s so simple, then it should be no problem to cook the corn meal with the germ. And that was an accurate assumption.

I prefer a coarsely-ground grain, but you can get a whole grain cornmeal in a fine or medium grind as well. The grind will affect the consistency of the polenta, so experiment!

polenta cooking directions

6 cups water
2 cups stone ground whole grain cornmeal
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tspn salt
pepper to taste
favorite herbs
favorite hummus

Boil 4 cups of water in a large pot.

Meanwhile, mix 2 cups of cold water with 2 cups of cornmeal in a mixing bowl. Stir to make smooth.

Once the 4 cups of water is boiling, slowly add water/cornmeal mix and bring back to a simmer. Add a tbsp or 2 of olive oil to prevent sticking unless using a non-stick pot, and salt if desired.

Simmer and stir constantly for 20-25 minutes to prevent sticking and cornmeal explosions (you’ll see what I mean).

The polenta will become thick – give it a taste when you think it’s thick enough – the corn will be soft and edible. This is a little like cooking rice.

Pour the polenta into a serving bowl with tall enclosing sides, perhaps a baking dish. Let cool for 20 minutes. Then, using another plate, flip over the polenta to rest on plate and serve in slices.

Eat with hummus, fresh herbs, cracked pepper, et cetera. Combine this dish with beans, and you’ve got yourself a complete-protein dish.

Related posts:

1. Vegan Pizza Recipe
2. Vegan Gravy
3. Nutrition Labels Lie