Day 2 - Write 31 - Discover For Yourself the Power of Plants and a Recipe for Oven Baked Chips

The Myth of All Things in Moderation

There was a time when I firmly believed that I could eat all things in moderation. The thought of giving up a nice juicy charbroiled steak or cheese on my taco was absolutely out of the question. Yes, people who called themselves Vegans or plant-eaters were just a little weird.

But what started out as a simple statement by my husband at dinner one night, "I want to cut down on the amount of meat I'm eating", brought me face to face with some serious facts about animal products and the effect they have on the body.

As I researched I became more and more convinced that giving up eating animals was the way to go. I'm no expert so I'll share some of the resources that I found helpful to me.

Carbs Are Not the Enemy! 

John McDougall MD author of  "The Starch Solution" was the first book I read on the subject of plant-eating. The good doctor showed me that I can eat potatoes, corn, rice, and beans. It taught me that carbs are not the enemy but that many past and currant civilizations live and live quite well on starches in their diet.

Just the Facts Ma'am

Michael Greger MD author of "How Not to Die" a book that outlines the most common health issues and how food can prevent or reverse these ailments. Go to his website Nutrition Facts as he has tons of videos on different subjects. I like the fact that he doesn't report on something unless he has scientific evidence to back it up.

First Do No Harm

Neal Barnard MD from the Physicians for Responsible Medicine and author of "The Cheese Trap" and many other books.  This was the final push I needed to cut dairy out of my diet. He also does a lot of work in the animal welfare area.

So I don't know that my husband intended to give up meat completely when he made that statement but I'll be forever grateful to him for putting us on this journey!

I'll leave you with an easy way to make oil free corn chips.

Baked Corn Chips

Preheat the oven to 325 F 

You'll need:

Corn tortilla (however many you want) Be sure to check out the label and make sure there's no dairy or lard. 

If you want to salt your chips lay a tortilla down on a cutting board, sprinkle on salt and then layer another tortilla on top. Keep repeating until you have four or five stacked up. Take a rolling pin and roll over the tortilla mashing the salt into each one. This way the salt will stick to each chip. 

Cut the tortillas in to whatever size triangles you want. 

Lay the triangles on an ungreased baking sheet. 

Use a timer and check on the chips every 3 or 4 minutes and bake until they are barely brown and starting to crisp. Turn off the oven at that point and leave them in for 3 or 4 more minutes until they dry out and are nice and crisp. Keep checking because they can burn pretty quickly. Pull them out and allow to cool. 

I make a big batch and store the chips in an airtight container.

Serve with salsa or guacamole. 

Adding salt by rolling or mashing it into the tortilla

Oil free corn chips to serve along with guacamole and black bean soup

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