SoulVeggie

3 Plant-Based "Cheese-like" Topping Recipes for Pizzas, & More

Three plant-based "cheese-like sauce" recipes that firm up on a pizza (or in pasta, etc.) from an article I wrote not published.  It was for the Engine2 Diet Blog and there were editorial differences of opinion on using low-quality snapshots of photos I spent hours on versus the higher quality supplied. Here's an edited version that shows how easy making a heart healthy pizza is, especially if you already have a crust prepared or purchased.  There's a link below to an article that includes my gluten-free oat crust recipe, the most popular of my gluten-free crust recipes.  Enjoy!

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"PIZZA CHEESE-LIKE TOPPING SAUCE RECIPES:  A PLANT-BASED TRIAD"  

One of the biggest problems with the Standard American Pizza (SAP!) is that according to recent surveys, the toppings most people prefer are (in order): pepperoni, cheese, and sausage. All of these animal products are very high in fat (in the case of pepperoni, surprisingly high in saturated fat), and the consumption of nutritionally sub-standard pizzas using these toppings will most likely contribute significantly to the development of any number of health problems for an individual (including, but not limited to, obesity, Type II Diabetes, and Coronary Vascular Disease).

Fortunately, it's very easy to make a plant-based pizza, one that doesn't employ meat, dairy, or high-fat oil-based high-processed "fake" non-dairy cheeses.  "Cheese-like" topping sauces providing excellent taste and texture profiles can be creatively made with simple and inexpensive ingredients. They "firm up" when baked!  Here's how it's done:

The basic method for making delicious and nutritious plant-based pizza topping sauces is to blend all selected ingredients in a blender or food processor, being careful to add the "harder" ingredients like nuts (if used), in incremental amounts with water, slowly achieving a smooth and thick pancake-like batter.

The sauce is then poured on the prepared pizza dough or crust (followed by vegetable fillings), or on top of vegetable fillings (in the same way some people prefer cheese on the "bottom" of a pizza, others, on top). When baked, the sauce will "thicken" to varying degrees, depending upon the recipe.

To finish, optionally sprinkle on such spices as ground black pepper or paprika, and put the pizza into a pre-heated 425 to 450 F. oven. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until your pizza fillings and toppings are cooked to your satisfaction. 

The following recipes were designed for pizzas generally containing a lot of "heat and spice" from their vegetable fillings, so plant-based pizza cooks may want to add more spices, a little salt, and/or herbs during the initial blending process.

 

MILLET, CASHEWS, & MUSTARD SAUCE

Cultivated for over 10,000 years, millet is a significant source of niacin, B6, and folic acid (B vitamins), as well as magnesium, calcium, iron, and zinc. In this recipe, millet combines with tasty cashews (containing manganese, phosphorus, and copper) to make a thick, almost custardy "cheese-like" topping sauce .

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups cooked millet (see recipe below)

• 1/3 cup raw, unsalted cashews

• 2 T. nutritional yeast (optional)

• 1 t. garlic powder

• 1 t. salt (optional)

• 3 T. corn starch

• 1/2 T. wet mustard

• 1 3/4 to 2 cups water

METHOD:

1. Process everything in a blender or food processor until the mixture is a smooth, thick pancake-like batter. Adding the water incrementally will help facilitate assessing the sauce's thickness as it's blending.

2. This is a longer processing due to amount of millet being used. 

NOTES:

• Using 1 3/4 cups of water yields a very thick sauce that makes nice "clumps" on top of a pizza, whereas more water will enable it to be poured easier from processing container.

• Dijon mustard will provide a tangy taste, while substituting chili-garlic "Sriracha" sauce adds a nice kick in addition to a reddish tinge.

• Left-over sauce plays well with cooked pasta, steamed vegetables, and baked potatoes.  You may need to thin it some with a little liquid of choice.

• Using raw sunflower seeds instead of cashews is an interesting and inexpensive substitute, as well as being a very good source of Vitamin E.  The sauce's texture profile will be a bit lighter, while still maintaining a nice taste feel.

• This makes around 3 cups of sauce.

COOKING MILLET: combine 2/3 cup millet with 1 1/3 cup water in a pot, bring to a slow boil, then turn heat down low.  Let simmer, covered, 15 to 20 minutes.  Note: this recipe differs from some in that it doesn't produce a very fluffy millet.  Yields about 2 cups cooked millet.

 

SWEET POTATO, OATS, CARROT, & GREEN CHILI SAUCE

Sweet Potatoes are a good source of Vitamins A and C, and manganese, while carrots double-down the overall nutrition with Vitamins A, C, and K.  Combined with oats, these three main ingredients not only bring fiber to the game, but help make this a somewhat "fluffy" topping sauce.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup raw sweet potato (peeled, 1/2" dice)

• 1/2 cup carrots (1/4" dice)

• 2/3 cup rolled oats

• 4 oz. can chopped, diced chilies (undrained)

• 1 T. Dijon mustard (to taste) or 2 T. of nutritional yeast

• 2 T. corn starch

• 1 to 1 1/4 cup water (water plus leftover cooking broth)

METHOD:

1. Cover potatoes and carrots with water in a small pot. Bring to a boil, and let simmer for a few minutes until "fork tender." Remove cover, let cool.

2. Add drained vegetables and remaining ingredients to a blender or food processor, reserving the water.

3. Add liquid in incremental amounts, blending carefully until a smooth and thick pancake-like batter consistency has been achieved.

NOTE:

• This recipe makes more than enough sauce for two 12" to 14" pizzas (around 3 1/2 cups).

• Experimenting with adding different types of mustards or other condiments is encouraged.

 

BARLEY, WHITE BEANS, & HORSERADISH SAUCE

More than 1,800 years ago the gladiators of Rome were known as "hordearii" (literally, barley-eaters). They were vegetarians by choice!  Preferring to fuel themselves with barley and legumes, they took advantage of the fiber, iron, niacin, and manganese in barley with the protein, fiber, folate, and potassium in beans. This thick and filling topping sauce does, too. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/3 cup pearl barley

• 1 1/4 cup water

• 1 cup cooked white beans

• 2 T. corn starch

• 1/2 T. prepared horseradish

• 1/2 T. wet mustard (optional)

• 3/4 cup water 

METHOD:

1. Rinse and drain the beans (to remove any salt).

2. Bring 1 1/4 cup water and barley to a boil, cover, turn down to very low, simmer, covered, for 30 to 40 minutes or less (until the water is absorbed). Let cool to room temperature.

3. Add all ingredients except the water to a blender or food processor, pulse a few times, and add half the water, pulse, and then the remaining water to blend until it's a smooth and thick pancake-like batter. 

NOTE:

• Makes enough sauce for two 12 to 14" inch pizzas (around 3 cups).

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

For a gluten-free oat flour pizza dough recipe, see:

http://www.hearthealthypizza.com/PSPCache.010.html 

Photos and text all ©2014 by Mark Sutton. These recipes are variations from those first published in: "Heart Healthy Pizza: Over 100 Plant-Based Recipes for Making the Healthiest Pizza in the World," 

http://www.hearthealthypizza.com • [email protected]

Pizza Cookbook Review & FREE Giveaway

"VeganRunnerEats" reviews "Heart Healthy Pizza," offers FREE book giveaway.  Some great photos, I'll post the recipes later this week (in the process of moving domiciles). Check it out: http://wp.me/p3LYmB-FV  Here's one of her photos:

The "Healthy Librarian Interview"

The Healthy Librarian has been an inspiration to me for years, and constantly impresses with analysis and interpretation of current studies on nutrition and a healthy lifestyle.

A little over a year ago she interviewed me, and it was long.  Since then, our lives have been quite busy and she was unable to finish the project.  Over the past couple of weeks, I've been able to complete the work and just now posted the results.  She asked some great questions that I've not been asked before in a public forum.  We talked about my relationship with Howard Lyman (the Mad Cowboy), my diet, my youth/family, many aspects about my book, how I came up with my "non-cheese" sauces and why I wrote the 1st vegan pizza cookbook, my screwing with the FDA, interacting with various vegan cookbook authors, and much much more.

Here's the primary link to the, admittedly, long interview (broken down into 4 parts). 

http://www.hearthealthypizza.com/14_0223_HHLMSSiview01.html

I've embedded many hyperlinks to make it easy to learn more about what we were talking about.  It's the most detailed and informative interview I've ever given, and might be of interest.

A great experience... she's an impressive soul, and gave me full permission to post this all.  

Thanks, Deb!

Enjoy!

 

Review of "Whole" (Campbell) & FREE Giveaway of Same

Books that significantly change your life don't come around all that too often.  A handful of the ones that come to mind for me are "The Mad Cowboy," by Howard Lyman, "Diet for a Small Planet," (Francis Moore Lappe), "Diet for a New America," (John Robbins) "Vegan Planet," (Robin Robertson), "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease," (Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn), and "The China Study" (Dr. T. Colin Campbell). 

I was most intrigued when receiving a copy of "Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition" by Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Howard Jacobson.  I mean, can they possibly top "China Study" in impact, new nutritional realities, dietary insight, and health perspectives?

I read the book twice, in part in preparation for my interview the co-author (yet to be transcribed and published due to technical problems), and primarily as it's a stunning read.  Comparing "China Study" to "Whole" would be folly.  They are two entirely different masterpieces.  The 1st, a very detailed technical scientific report, if you will, from the Director of history's largest study on diet.  It's how, why, and what it means.  The indisputable (in my mind at least) conclusion that animal casein facilitates and enables cancer and heart disease (among other health problems), is mind-blowing. 

"Whole" however, is more philosophical in tone, a more accessible read (thanks to the co-author), and in many ways, a summation of what Dr. Campbell has learned from the experiences of the China Study, his entire career, the media tour, the medical industrial establishment, and is a finely tuned critique of the problems that keep people from embracing the demonstrable restorative and preventative value of a whole foods plant-based diet (WFPB).  It chronicles this stellar scientist's journey from the highest government and academic levels of health-related research, his early "daze" of reductionism, to now embracing a "wholistic" view of nutrition and what that means for society.  

Dr. Campbell's paradigm isn't new:  mystics, philosophers, new age practitioners, and quantum physicists, as but a few examples, have all embraced the concepts of everything being interconnected and synergistic in processes where the "whole" is greater than the sum of the parts.

What IS new, however, is Dr. Campbell's superbly trained mind and powerful insight carefully, and with a surgeon's precision, dissecting all the mistaken perspectives/values/money spent in research, corporations, the health care industry, government, and mass media, until the conclusion he presents is inescapable.  He points out tirelessly, how the collective reductionist paradigm is not solving our health problems, but in fact, make things worse.

One of the most stunning revelations in this book is the (soon to be infamous) study by a colleague of his on the amount of Vitamin C in a single apple.

"...the specific chemical we refer to as vitamin C accounts for much less than 1 percent of the vitamin C-like activity in the apple --- a minuscule amount.  The other 99-plus percent of this activity ["an astounding 236 times as potent as the same amount of the isolated chemical!"] is due to other vitamin C-like chemicals in the apple, the possible ability of vitamin C to be much more effective in context of the whole apple than it is when consumed in an isolated form, or both."  (p. 153)

With 4.5 billion years of evolution, our bodies have developed the means to extract exactly what it needs from plants,in both quality and quantity, and synergistically build on that input to nutrients and vitality superior to the original input.  An absolutely fascinating discovery and it has a wide range of implications in regards to nutrition and human diet/health.  

WFPB: the summarized prudent dietary strategy, as exemplified in Dr. Campbell's summation (see below) is to, in my words, consume as diverse and many multi-colored vegetable, fruit and plant-based foods as you can, and let your body figure out what to use, and dispose of.

Dr. Campbell's marvelously succinct description of what his and other's research is that the best diet you can effect follows:

"Consume plant-based foods in forms as close to their natural state as possible ("whole" foods).  Eat a variety of vegetables, fruits, raw nuts and seeds, beans and legumes, and whole grains.  Avoid heavily processed foods and animal products.  Stay away from added salt, oil, and sugar.  Aim to get 80 percent of your calories from carbohydrates, 10 percent from fat, and 10 percent from protein."  (p. 07)

Everyone should memorize the above words, as they are subtle in text, but profound in terms of your health. 

Furthermore, Dr. Campbell, as does Dr. Neal Barnard in "Power Foods for the Brain," comes down hard on the issue of supplements.  Not how the body works.  They are ill-considered, make no sense from a wholistic paradigm's perspective, and can easily cause more harm than good.  Ironic that a few weeks ago the Feds came out with a major study saying that supplements have no serious benefit (other than B12, maybe Vitamin D on occasion).  It's a reductionist view that we can add "X" to get "Y." 

I could go on for "pages and pages" about this superb effort. The old story of blind men studying an elephant was so incredibly apt for what he wanted to explain.  Modern scientific research (and funding) is akin to these individuals attempting to comprehend what an elephant is by, for example, studying the ears, or just the trunk.  Marvelous way to explain what's going on and why this approach is conceptually myopic. 

"I can't think of a better metaphor to highlight the big problem with scientific research today.  Except that instead of six blind men, modern science tasks 60,000 researchers to examine the elephant, each through a different lens... [the] researchers don't talk to one another or acknowledge that the overall goal of the exploration is to perceive and appreciate the whole elephant."  (p. 851, 853) 

Suffice it to say, it you want to understand WHY we are in the health mess we're in, the implications, the waste of time and money focusing on genetics, and the incredible curative and preventative value of a WFPB diet, this book is mandatory reading.  This book is a magnum opus: the culmination of over 50 years of the highest level of scientific research (both government and academia) and the brilliance of a man who's internal integrity forced him to question his previous assumptions and follow the truth as it unfolded.  People, he's published over 350 mostly peer-reviewed studies.

He has the cojone to lay out his life's efforts and show how he was wrong, and what he's come to understand from the realities in his subsequent research and deliberate integration into what it all truly means.  A totally thoughtful, intelligent, and unassailable analysis of the "disease-caring" industry and why it must change.  He is, indeed, "re-thinking" nutrition with the scientific caliber of few alive today.  His perspectives demand attention.

I'm just so impressed.  It's a wonderful read, and I recommend it highly for anyone who wants a "whole" view of the problems of health in our society, and particularly, for any health professional who REALLY wants to help people help themselves, as well as the individual who wants to foster good health, knowing that a WFPB diet will get them there. 

And yes, this book has had a major impact on how I view the world, health, diet, and society.  Somehow, for me, he's done it twice with his first two books, and I dearly hope there's more to come.  IMHO, there needs to be two statues in front of the National Institute of Health: one of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn (whom Dr. Campbell notes did one of the most incredible research studies ever accomplished, reversing heart disease), and Dr. Campbell himself.

These are two scientists that should be put out in front of the building to inspire future researchers and remind us (and everyone entering and exiting that prestigious institution), that true revolutions in thinking and saving human lives are not always loud or corporate-funded, but they can be quietly persistent, and "whole."  The work of both of these individuals has the potential of saving, literally, millions of lives from long-term degenerative diseases that need not exist.

With "Whole," Dr. Campbell provides a deeply penetrating, experienced, and encompassing "thought umbrella" to understand how to avoid the mis-information raining down on use from media, government, corporate, and academic sources, and instead, shine with the time-tested knowledge of how a whole foods plant-based diet can cure, prevent, and promote a truly healthy life.  I cannot recommend this book any more highly than I just have (especiall to all medical students or anyone involved with health and nutrition).  With regards to Dr. Campbell's two books, IMHO, lightning has, indeed, struck twice.

"• What you eat every day is a far more determinant of your health than your DNA or most of the nasty chemicals lurking in your environment

• The foods you consume can heal you faster and more profoundly than the most expensive prescription drugs, and more dramatically than the most extreme surgical interventions, with only positive side effects.

• It's never too late to start eating well."  (p06) 

My sincere thanks to BenBella (publishers of "Whole" and many other fine books) for sending me a copy for review, as well as offering to sponsor the giveaway of a FREE copy of "Whole" for the lucky winner.

RULES:  leave a comment on this blog (w/ e-mail address) telling us the most important event, book, person, whatever, that enabled your epiphany to give up animal protein and embrace a plant-based diet.  Doesn't have to be long, spelling won't count!  Deadline for entries is Tuesday, February 11th, 11:59pm est.  The winner will be selected at random.  I'll send the winner an e-mail requesting a physical mailing address on the 12th.

Go for it!

[Extra Credit:  check out Dr. Don Wagner's excellent interview with Dr. Campbell about "Whole" from last month.  Available (free) as a streaming/downloadable audio here.]

AND WE HAVE A WINNER!  Here's what she wrote to earn her free hardback copy.

"Hello, my name is Monica Cameli and I am 56 years old and when I was 7 years old, my mother remarried and we went to visit my new step dads brother on a farm. My sister and I went with our new cousins who were the same age as us to the 'slaughter house'. I had no idea what we were walking in to. Every time I tell this story, I can see it, smell it, and hear the animals crying for their lives! That experience is what started me on my vegan journey. It's taken many years to figure out how to eat right, though. Thankfully, I've heard Dr. Esselstyn speak twice and have read many good books within the last few years to help me along in this journey.."

Next week: a review and free giveaway of "The China Study Cookbook!"

Special! 200 Recipes: "No More Bull" (H. Lyman) & HHPizza Together!

While going through some boxes in my office, I found a box full of "No More Bull!" books by Howard Layman, aka, "The Mad Cowboy" (see description below). I helped edit this book, as well as select and manage the recipe section.

What a time interacting with some of the top vegan chefs ever! I've decided to share my find.

With Howard's permission, I'm offering a copy of "No More Bull!" and MY book (the 1st vegan pizza cook book) "Heart Healthy Pizza: Over 100 Plant-Based Recipes for the Healthiest Pizza in the World" for a special discount. I'm willing to autograph either or both. 

You get around 220 vegan recipes. 

"NO MORE BULL! The Mad Cowboy Targets America's Worst Enemy: Our Diet" by Howard Lyman with Glen Merzer & Joanna Samorow-Merzer 

"Howard Lyman, who told the story of his transition from cattle rancher to vegetarian in Mad Cowboy, exposes the flimsy lies sustaining the meat industry in this new volume.  With an update on the Mad Cow threat, an eye-opening discussion of the link between Alzheimer's and meat consumption, and a raucous dissection of the folly of high-protein diets, "No More Bull!" makes the case for a plant-based diet as clearly and powerfully as it's ever been made. 

Features over 100 vegan recipes from Howard's friends, cookbook authors, award-winning chefs, and easy-to-follow tips for those transitioning to a vegan or plant-based diet. 

Includes recipes from Robin Robertson, Nava Atlas, Chef Ron Pickarski, Chef Ken Bergeron, Bryanna Clark Grogan, Dr. Neal Barnard (President, PCRM), Brenda Davis, Chef Beverly Lynn Bennett, Patricia Bertron, Dr. T. Colin Campbell ("The China Study"), Albert Chase, Robert Cohen (the NotMilkMan), Joseph Connelly (VegNews), Sally Errey, JoAnn Farb, Dr. Alan Goldhamer ("The Pleasure Trap"), Dr. Michael Greger (Nutrtionfacts.org), Francis Moore Lappe ("Diet for a Small Planet"), Dr. John and Mary McDougall, Vesanto Messina, Marie Oser, Tanya Petrovna (founder, "Native Foods"), Jennifer Raymond, Jo Stepaniak ("The UnCheese Cookbook," Larry Wheat (Owner of the "Millenium Restaurant"), and many more! 

Pass this unique deal around.  You can learn more at:

http://www.hearthealthypizza.com/NMBHHP.html

 

The "Go Vegan Radio" Interview!

My 1st National Radio Interview w/Bob Linden on "Go Vegan Radio" is now available for streaming or an MP3 download:

http://www.goveganradio.com/2013/12/11/8-december-2013/

It was a great experience, although the 5 minutes on, 4 minutes of commercials (cut out in these audios, 'cept for a plug or two by Bob), 5 minutes back on, 4 minutes of commercials, etc., threw me initially.  I was honored that the previous speaker, Dr. Gary Francione, well-known academic and animal rights activist, mentioned that he just bought my book and was excited to receive it!  So cool.  Gary ends his bit mentioning my book around 42:11 and Bob segues into my interview.

Many thanks to Bob for the opportunity, and to Gary for really making my day!

P.S. - you can get an autographed sent to you at a special Holidaze Discount here.

"The Devolution of Thanksgiving" - my lecture to Olgethorpe University

"My recent lecture. The History of Thanksgiving, fasting/prayer, corporate excess, the modern turkey, the kitchen as a biohazard laboratory, a no-fat plant-based diet, veganism, metabolic syndrome (heart disease, type II diabetes, alzheimer's disease, etc.), pesticides, gmos, advice for dealing with Thanksgiving, and a host of other related issues.  Roughly a 35 minute talk, and I cut loose a bit in the subsequent 30 minute Q&A.

This slideshow accompanying the audio (the lecture was given via Skype) was a quick'n'dirty assembly of related images to the topics I was discussing.  By no means comprehensive, they seem to augment the whole experience." 

"A Vegan Should Be Able To...."

A re-post from 2007.

2007.10.11

A Vegan Should Be Able To:

The following is one of my all-time favorite quotes ('cept the hog bit).  In mentioning it to a friend yesterday, I had intended to just post it on this blog without much comment:

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." ---Lazarus Long in "Time Enough For Love," by Robert Heinlein.

However, upon reflection, I thought maybe I could write a quick "vegan" version.  Normally I'd wait a day or more to review and re-edit, but we're having an extended harvest due to warm weather and I've too much else "on my plate" (actually, the 50lbs. of tomatoes are in boxes on the floor).  So, here it is as it is for now:

"A vegan should be able to:  press a block of tofu, roast vegetables, sprout beans, grains, and seeds, grow vegetables and herbs from seed, harvest lettuce or greens, water or pressure can produce, bake homemade bread, create a stir-fry from scratch in a friend's kitchen, boil three kinds of grains successfully without a recipe, make seitan, saute stuff without using oil, use rice or soy milk to make a thickened sauce, own a crockpot, blend a good pesto, eat a variety of colors every day, wash salad greens, mix an ad-hoc low-fat salad dressing, cook more than two kinds beans and grain dishes, know three types of "egg replacers" for recipes, use nutritional yeast, list plant sources of Omega 3 and calcium, suggest alternatives to ingredients on a restaurant's menu, answer the question "why are you vegan?" or correct the protein myths in 30 seconds or less, identify trans-fats and "hidden" dairy products on labels, comprehend what "calores from fat" means and why that's important, cite some environmental statistics regarding factory farming and modern food production when asked in line at the supermarket, remember at least three websites to recommend for aspiring vegans or vegetarians, vocalize the problems with dairy and cheese if asked to, have listened to or seen at least one talk by Howard Lyman, summarize Dr. Cauldwell Esselstyn's research and McDougall's Diet recommendations, have read a NotMilk column by Robert Cohen, have attended a Veg'n'-related Conference, design a flyer, write a convincing "letter to the editor," laugh often and for the right reasons, stop and smell some flowers, listen gracefully, be non-judgemental as much as possible, encourage all healthy eating habits, never stop learning, do volunteer work for a worthy cause, help build relationships in the veg'n community where you live, make love often, be polite to your carnivorous friends and family members, place a small footprint in the environment, then ultimately die peacefully with the knowledge that you made a difference..." --- Mark Sutton

Feel free to pass it around, but please include @2007 by Mark Sutton, and the address of this blog with the quote.  Thanks!

 

Audio: Orson Welles Meets "Vegan World"

Dr. Don Wagner and I did an "Orson Welles War of the Worlds" in a radio interview last week, with the concept of "what if the world went vegan last night?" 

It was quite the improv experience. 1st few minutes, my book, the rest, a "thought experiment" in real-time on what the implications would be for the planet and global society.  Apparently, some listeners actually thought it had happened and went looking online social media for reference to the event!

It's about 45 minutes streamed or as an MP3 audio download:

Don and I had talked about the possibility the night before, and I said, "sure, you lead, I'll follow."  We were basing the idea upon a recent blog anniversary essay I wrote, "While You Were Sleeping..." 

A wild ride ensued.  We covered, among other things, farm animals, Global  Climate Change, water, companion animals and cancer, the entertainment industry, the health profession, the military-industrial complex, and more. Don has interviewed so many "biggies" the past several years (Barnard, Esselstyn, Tuttle, Goldhamer, Greger, etc.) and was quite knowledgeable and obviously "on fire" during the discussion.

In many ways the interactions encapsulated some distilled essences of many of those interviews and what he's learned in his efforts to "change the way we eat, and in effect, change the world." We riffed on a war between two worlds: plant-based and current.

My thanks to Dr. Don for a wonderful bit of time thinking about the future, and the fun we had.  It was a tightrope walk, and I'm honored to have been on the rope with him.  We all DO need to ponder about and plan for the future inevitability of most of the planet being whole foods plant-based.  It's gonna happen.

Check out his archives for so many marvelous and informative interviews (over 600 he's done, don't know how many are in the archives) with authors, nutritionists, scientists, and movers'n'shakers swimming upstream society's river of ignorance.  You won't be disappointed.

Video/Audio Clip: "Thinking Outside the Pizza Box"

I've posted a short video clip with audio. The audio was the 1st (and only) practice take for the big DC pizza demonstration/presentation I did back in late January with VSDC (Vegetarian Society of DC).  This is my practice Intro, and I thought even unedited, it might be interesting to people.  I call it "Thinking Outside the Pizza Box."  The team and I made 9 16" pizzas from my cookbook to serve to 30 people. Wildly successful!

A quick bit of effort to also practice using the video/audio editing application I'm using.  It's limited (I'm used to higher end stuff), but I learned a few more things and that's part of the reason I spent the afternoon playing with it.

Note: I've no real control over the poster frame chosen, quite irritating). Here's the video embedded.