Do NOT read this book! I mean it!If you have not read my first book, Hungry for Health, or its equivalent, and have not incorporated its four principles into your diet, don’t even THINK about reading this one – especially if you have not given up diet soda and cheeseburgers. Trust me, you are not ready: You need to take Hungry for Health 101 first; this is the graduate course. If you are not eating primitive, colorful, alkaline and organic as a matter of course in your life, believe me you don’t want to read Hungrier for Health – because now there is REALLY nothing to eat (just kidding)!
The recipes in Hungrier for Health are not only animal-free, they are also dairy-free, wheat-free, and gluten-free, and definitely microwave-free. But they are not only for vegetarians or vegans. It is my hope that non-vegans, lacto-ovo vegetarians, fish-eating vegetarians, and non-vegetarian animal eaters will adopt many of the delicious plants-only recipes in this book as healthful additions to the meals they are used to consuming, even if they are not intending to adhere to a strictly vegan diet. In fact, a vegan diet is actually inappropriate for certain metabolic types. Some people do not thrive on an all plant diet, especially if it is heavy in grains.
Why buy a recipe book these days when there are hundreds of thousands of recipes you can get online for free? Well, I started with those online recipes too. But what you see in this book is hardly ever how I downloaded it: Many recipes I found were unappealing to the taste buds, used difficult to find ingredients, were too complicated to execute, took too long to prepare, contained ingredients that were not vegan or gluten-free, and/or most importantly, included poor quality ingredients or cooking methods not in keeping with my health standards. So I changed nearly every single one! Moreover, often the recipes omitted the number of servings they produced or just gave ingredient guidelines without exact amounts. Right-brainers always cook that way; I, like most people trying to follow a recipe for the first time, am a left-brainer. If I make something I like, I want to know exactly what I did so I can duplicate it.
In my first recipe book, Hungry for Health, I tried to use as common ingredients as possible in my effort to prove that really tasty, healthful dishes can be simple to prepare with easy to find ingredients. In Hungrier for Health, I continue that mission of offeringsimple, nutritious and delicious recipes.... As before, I recommend using the purest, highest quality, organic and unadulterated ingredients you can possibly find – including water….
Remember, too, as I reminded my readers in Hungry for Health, you don’t need to do a perfect job…. You have to cheat on my diet; it’s absolutely required! Because if life isn’t worth living, why bother fighting to be well? So no guilt! Guilt is more carcinogenic than any dietary indiscretion, so eat what you feel good about, and feel good about what you eat. Adhering to or moving to a plant-based diet is easier than you think. Enjoy!
SAMPLE RECIPES
Coconut Curry Quinoa Stew
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 medium leek, thinly sliced crosswise
1 small zucchini, cubed
1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced into thin pennies
2 ribs celery, diced
½ small yellow pepper
2 t curry powder
1 t ground cumin
1 C uncooked quinoa
1 C water
½ t sea salt
dash black pepper
1 cinnamon stick
2/3 C cooked chickpeas
1 ½ C light coconut milk
1/4 C raisins (optional)

Heat a deep stew pot. Add olive oil and leek and cook for 2 minutes over medium heat, stirring often. Add carrots and cook 2 minutes more. Stir in all of the other ingredients, cover, and simmer about 15 minutes, or until the quinoa soaks up all of the liquid. Remove cinnamon stick and serve.

Yield: 4 servings

Pralines and Cream
2 bananas, peeled, sliced in pennies, and frozen
½ C So Delicious vanilla-flavored coconut milk
2 T raw almond butter
2 T whole salba, finely ground in coffee mill
1 t pure maple syrup
½ t vanilla
¼ C hazelnuts
2 pecan halves

Place all ingredients except nuts into blender jar. Puree slowly until creamy. Pour into two dessert bowls. Grind hazelnuts finely in food processor. Transfer into dessert bowls and incorporate gently. Place pecan half atop each bowl and serve.

Yield: 2 servings


Shitake Mushroom Bisque
1 large Vidalia onion, chopped
¼ C extra virgin olive oil
16 oz vegetable broth
½ C Madeira or red cooking wine
4 oz white or baby bella mushrooms, chopped
4 oz shitake mushrooms
¼ t sea salt
Dash black pepper

In a soup pot, saute onion in olive oil over medium heat for about 6 minutes or until soft, stirring occasionally. Add white mushrooms and sauté 3 minutes more, continuing to stir. Remove from heat and place in blender. Add broth, wine, salt and pepper and blend until smooth. Return to soup pot. Remove stems from shitakes and discard. Slice mushrooms in very thin strips and add to blended mixture. Cook at medium-low temperature for about 20 minutes, stirring often.

Yield: 3-4 servings

Sweet Potato Canapes
1 medium sweet potato or yam, scrubbed
½ zucchini
½ medium onion, diced
1 ½ t raw almond butter
1 ½ t pure maple syrup
20 pecan halves
Dash salt
Pinch pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake potato 45 minutes or until soft. Steam fry onion with 1T water in small frying pan over medium heat for 10 minutes, adding water by the tablespoon as needed. Place onion, potato, almond butter, maple syrup, salt and pepper in food processor and process until smooth, scraping sides of bowl periodically. Slice zucchini into 1/8 inch slices and spread sweet potato mixture by the teaspoons onto each slice. Garnish with a pecan half.

Yield: about 20 canapes