Vegan/Vegetarian Favorites: Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

 

Who says you have to give up your favorite comfort foods when you cut meat from your diet? This meatless version of classic stuffed cabbage rolls is ever bit as delicious as the original made with ground beef, is much lower in fat and calories, and is completely and totally compatible with a vegetarian or vegan diet.

Stuffed cabbage rolls are a crowd pleaser; if you make them once, you’ll be asked to make them again and again. Their savory flavor makes them an excellent special occasion entree, perfect for holidays, Sunday dinners, and family gatherings. Best of all, following this recipe, you can make a dish which is friendly to vegans, vegetarians, and meat-eaters alike. It's so wonderfully tasty, the fact that it's meat free is simply no big deal. It's sure to have everyone at the table wanting seconds - it's a good thing the recipe makes plenty.

Cabbage is an excellent source of vitamin K; one cup of cabbage contains over 90% of the recommended daily allowance of the vitamin, which plays an important role in metabolism and protein synthesis. The same cup of cabbage also contains 50% of the recommended daily vitamin C allowance, and is an excellent source of fiber, manganese, vitamin B6 and folate, riboflavin, calcium, potassium, vitamin A, tryptophan, protein and magnesium. Obviously, cabbage gives you a lot of bang for your nutritional buck.

Ingredients:

*2 quarts water
*1 large head of cabbage, green or red
*2 tablespoons butter (substitute Butter-Flavor Crisco for a vegan version)
*1 large onion, chopped
*3 cloves of garlic, chopped
*2 cups cooked white rice
*1 package Morningstar Farms Cooking Crumbles
*Salt and pepper to taste
*1 tablespoon dried parsley
*2 celery stalks, chopped fine
*1 green pepper, chopped fine
*4 cups tomato sauce

Directions:

Boil two quarts of the water in a large pot. Core the cabbage and carefully peel off the individual leaves, running under hot water if necessary to loosen them. Boil the leaves two at a time for two to three minutes minutes. Remove the cooked leaves to a collandar. Reserve two cups of the cooking water. Cut out the bottom of the center vein on each leaf.

Melt the butter or Crisco in a pan over medium heat and saute the crumbles until browned; add the onion and garlic, and continue sauteeing until they are also golden brown. Remove from heat and mix the contents of the pan with the  rice, salt, pepper, parsley, green pepper, and celery.

Place 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the rice mixture on each cabbage leaf. Roll the leaves up by folding in the sides, then rolling from the bottom of the leaf. Carefully place the finished rolls back in the pot used to boil the water. The rolls do not need to be perfect, by any means, as long as they are placed close together in the pot.

Combine the tomato sauce and the reserved cabbage water in a bowl. Pour enough into the pot to almost cover the cabbage. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for two to three hours, gently pressing the rolls down into the sauce periodically. Add more of the tomato sauce and water mixture to the pot as needed. Let the rolls stand for a few minutes before dishing them up. Serve on beds of white rice or mashed potatoes.

Vegan Weight Loss - A Leafy Diet for Healthy Living

 

A form of diet that will benefit you greatly is the Vegan Weight Loss. The term Vegan comes from the word Vegetarian. On some part, these two have a similar meaning; Vegetarians may or may not include dairy products to their diet while Vegans are totally excluding it from their diet. Being a Vegan would give you many benefits; that is why Vegan population is increasing since its concept got founded.

If you are wondering how exactly a Vegan diet works, then you should have an idea of how Vegetarians eat. They only eat plant-based foods but they may include eggs in their diet, however for the Vegans, they totally eat plant-based foods excluding eggs. This is because they believe in the doctrine that men should live without hurting animals. For meat-eaters, it may take time to adopt being a Vegan for it would completely turn their lives around. However, it is good to try being a Vegan and see how it helps.

Concept of Vegan weight loss is a kind of Vegan diet that would result to weight loss; from the fact that they only eat plant-based foods and thus an effective way to lose weight. If you are overweight and you need to lose weight, this kind of diet would be the most effective for you to eliminate unwanted fats in your body. Not to mention, it is quite easy to learn vegan recipes. Most of the Vegan diets include food which is not required long preparation. At the same time, it is quick to shop and cook and finally dress it with your favorite flavor.

Another benefit of being a Vegan would include improving your health. Once you lose weight, your chances of having heart diseases and high blood pressure would gradually decrease. For meat-eaters, this is a major problem and cannot deny the fact that it results to different diseases like unhealthy heart, high BP etc. So vegan food not only helps you in weight loss but also keep you healthy in long term.

When you go for Vegan weight loss product, this would be your stepping stone for a better living. When you undergo a Vegan diet, make sure that you include exercise; it helps you to achieve the result much faster. Success stories would make you realize the importance of having a Vegan diet.

So, what you are going to do now? In my opinion, you should analyze your food habit and lifestyle and find out if vegan diet could fit into it. If yes, then what exactly should be the diet which will help you to keep healthy as well as help you to lose the weight? Remember that any vegan diet is good and you just need to develop your personal regime for weight loss.

Article Tags: Vegan Weight Loss, Vegan Weight, Weight Loss, Vegan Diet, Plant-based Foods, Lose Weight