Just glommed a vegan "healthy happy Homestyle Tofu Pot Pie" recipe blogged (at http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/) yesterday. As busy as I am (harvesting, digging, fencing, etc.), a quick "fat fact check" on this "killer" recipe was in order. Here's the ingredients with significant fat in them:
1 block (10 oz) extra firm tofu: about 13 grams fat
4 T olive oil: 8 grams sat fat or 48 gram fat
1 cup full-fat soy milk: .5 grams sat fat or 4 grams fat
3 T vegenaise: 3 grams sat fat or 27 grams fat
Total: 140 grams of fat (around 20 grams of saturated fat).
At 4 servings (avg. for a 9" pot pie): that's at least 35 grams of fat PER SERVING. Unbelievable. Remember, the entire Denny's Grand Slam breakfast is around 50 grams of fat (14 grams saturated). This recipe has, per serving, has about 2/3rds the TOTAL fat content of the entire Grand Slam Breakfast.
Why does this matter? Well, the guys who've reversed (and in theory, prevent) heart disease (Esselstyn & Ornish), and Barnard (who's reversed Type II diabetes with diet) recommend 14 to 20 grams of fat total PER DAY. The Feds recommend around 60 grams of fat per (25% of a 2,000 calorie a day diet). So, that tofu pot pie has over half the daily fat recommended by the Feds in ONE serving or over 1 1/2 times the recommended fat by the three good doctors on the high end.
You can read about the amazing impact just ONE high fat meal can have on your cardiovascular system, for 6 hours, here (courtesy Rip Esselstyn, vegan firefighter).
Please be kind to your cardiovascular system and pancreas. Avoid the "Homestyle Heart Attack Pot Pie" and instead, try this neat and clever "Savory Swiss Chard Pie" from the always amazing Susan Voisin:
(http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2009/06/savory-swiss-chard-pie.html)
... it's a fine low-fat vegan pot pie (you could easily use other vegetables), it has less than 3 grams of fat per serving (the tofu pot pie has over 10 times that per serving), and significantly less saturated fat.
Now that's a Happy Heart-Healthy Recipe for a Longer Life!
[ADDENDUM: 08/09/09: 2300 est.: It's amazing.... said blogger above just bashed a recipe (http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2009/08/my-review-of-melissas-ten-dollar.html -- Kathy's so proud of her posts that she prevents my blog from linking to them) from some cable food network show as being unhealthy, too fatty, etc. Surprisingly enough, the per serving of the the torte recipe she complained about (35 grams of fat) is the SAME amount of fat grams per serving of the recipe for "Homestyle Tofu Pot Pie" she posted yesterday.
That blogger also seems to still think that "saturated fat" is the only significant issue regarding health. For a read on issues about fat, check out a previous post I made summarizing the issues:
http://soulveggie.blogs.com/my_weblog/2009/01/15-reasons-to-avoid-vegetable-oils.html
I do think that if one is going to come down on a recipe for having too much fat, then you probably, from a credibility standpoint, shouldn't post a recipe with the same numbers the day before. That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.
Furthermore, we need to realize, even as vegans, that added oil/fat is wrong, and it's not food... real food... the sooner we get past this taste addiction, the better. You can have it as a vegan or non-vegan, and that's what altogether too many vegans don't realize.' But, despite what some people say, you CAN "reset" your taste receptors to not desire fat if you want to. It takes several weeks, been there, done that.
It works, and will help keep your heart working, too.
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