Tag Archives: cooking

Great British Bake Off – vegan week

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The Great British Bake off is a popular British TV show featuring a group of amateur bakers who are challenged to bake three different creations each week in a limited amount of time.  At the end of each week, the judges eliminate one contestant, until the winner of the Great British Bake Off emerges.

This week, the challenges are all focused around using non-dairy products, so it’s been labelled “vegan week”.  Some regular viewers are horrified, thinking that baking can’t be done without dairy products, but the show is calculated to appeal to a younger audience, in a country where a significant percentage of the younger population are transitioning to veganism.

The episode kicks-off, as ever, with the signature challenge which will see the bakers tasked with preparing eight savory tartlets – four with one filling and four with another – with a short crust pastry. For their showstopper, the bakers must whip up a vegan celebration cake that is “inventive and visually exciting”. There aren’t any stipulations – the cake can look however the contestants want – but it must be made from plant-based ingredients. It sounds like many contestants may be taking quick lessons about how to use aquafaba – the water left after cooking beans – as the base for vegan meringues!

Look out for the vegan Great British Bake Off (Series 2 Episode 7) when they release the latest season on Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, PBS and other TV options.

Defeating Diabetes – cooking classes

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Are you worried about diabetes or prediabetes? 

Amanda cooking feature 1.1Join us at our “Defeating Diabetes” series of classes, four Saturday mornings starting Saturday Nov 5, 10am, at East Shore Unitarian Church in Bellevue.

Register here

Plant foods are powerful medicine for diabetes (Type II or Adult Onset). Medical researchers have discovered that a plant-based diet is very effective for both preventing and helping to reverse diabetes and pre-diabetes. In some cases it’s even more powerful than medication.

You can reduce your risk of getting diabetes by just taking the following medicines: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans and nuts. The more you take, the more protection you can get. For instance, researchers found that those following semi-vegetarian diets, pesco vegetarian, lacto ovo-vegetarian, and vegan diets, reduced their risk of diabetes by 28%, 51%, 61% and 72% respectively. The pattern here is clear: the more plant foods you eat, the more protection you get.

What about if you already have diabetes? Even here plant foods are powerful medicine. In one study, conducted at George Washington University, 46% of diabetics were able to stop or significantly reduce their medications in only 6 months. Even more impressive is how the powerful plant-based diet reduced blood sugar by about 25% more than the usual treatment – the drug metformin combined with the standard American Diabetes Association diet.

If you’d like to learn more, we’re here to help.  Amanda Strombom, a certified Food for Life instructor, is teaching a special “Defeating Diabetes” series of classes.

On four Tuesday evenings, starting May 31st, you can learn more about how a plant-based diet can help treat and prevent diabetes, and discover delicious new foods and recipes.  Each class will focus on a different aspect of plant-based foods, with an informative short video and a delicious cooking demonstration where you can enjoy tasting all the different recipes. Get all your questions answered.

All are welcome. A small fee of $12.50 per class, or $40 for the series, helps us cover the costs, but scholarships are available.

See professional level information on Type 2 diabetes

Please note our articles and classes are for educational purposes only. Consult your physician before making any changes to your health care.