Last month, I was thrilled to be going to Washington, D.C. to get trained as a Food For Life Instructor through PCRM (Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine). It was such an honor to be there and to meet these incredible people who were also accepted into the program, plus the amazing staff at PCRM! We were all thrilled to be there, to get to listen and learn from Dr. Barnard himself, plus the other incredible staff members that PCRM employs! They prepared us well to go out to teach the power of food for health to people in our community, who are interested in cancer or diabetes prevention, plus the fantastic 21-Day Kickstart Your Health for weight management. In addition to a program on Kids Health and diet.

When I decided to go plant-based vegan, one of the first cookbooks that I purchased was Dr. Barnard’s, “The Get Healthy Go Vegan Cookbook” along side the first “Forks Over Knives” cookbook. (I have mentioned this in an earlier post on my favorite cookbooks!) My library of whole food plant-based vegan cookbooks has since then grown to fill my entire coffee table – where they can’t even lay side by side – and then some. 

One day when I was at Barnes and Noble Bookstore, I unexpectedly came across “Cooking with Trader Joe’s – Skinny Dish”. It turned out that not only is this cookbook based on whole food plant-based vegan dishes, although it isn’t marketed as such, but this cookbook has become one of my personal favorites! Imagine my delight and surprise when I discovered that Jennifer K. Reilly would be one of the instructors during the Food For Life training! I could hardly contain myself! I wanted to Thank her in person for authoring this fantastic cookbook! And thank her I did! She’s an awesome person and instructor! Here we are together:

Jennifer K. Reilly and I

This weekend I tried a new recipe out of the book called “Veggie Pupusas” and I will share it, only because I have altered it a bit, but by all means do get your hands on this awesome cookbook! The photo of the Pupusa is a borrowed one. The one I took just didn’t turn out as nicely! 

 

 

Veg Pupusas

Recipe for Veg Pupusas: (Makes 2)

4 Corn tortillas

2 Tbsp hummus – spicy if you like

2 Tbsp canned low-fat refried beans

2 Tsp chopped fresh cilantro

4 tsp salsa such as Salsa Verde

2 Tbsp thawed frozen chopped spinach (Go Organic!)

4 Tsp chopped fresh green onion

A few Avocado slices – for garnish on top!

1 Tofurky Italian Sausage cut in long thin slices (or another flavor that you prefer) – optional

2 Tbsp Veggie Shreds – “cheese” – optional

Directions:

1. To make each pupusa, spread 1 Tbsp hummus on 1 tortilla and 1 Tbsp beans on another. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp each cilantro, salsa, spinach, fresh green onion onto the tortilla with the hummus. Add slices of Tofurky as well (or not) and sprinkle on a Tbsp of Veggie Shreds. Put the tortillas together and cook in a dry skillet over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Flip and cook another 2 minutes on the other side.

2. Repeat with next set of tortillas.

3. Garnish with avocado slices, green onion, sprinkles of Salsa Verde, and a few cilantro leaves on top.

4. Jennifer says that leftovers will last up to a day in the fridge and you can reheat in a skillet. However, I seriously doubt that there will be any leftovers after you try just one of these. They are so yummy!

Prep and cooking time ~ 10 minutes! Trust me, your guests or family will love you for making these!