Parmesan "Cheese"
vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, oil-free, *but NOT taste-free
When we top our salads with one of our homemade vegan parmesan cheeses or sliceable cheeses, along with fresh lemon juice and Himalayan mineral salt, I just can’t seem to get enough salad. The entree that is coming next takes a back seat as I find the salad even more enjoyable than what I anticipated the entree to be.
One reason I’ve made such an effort to embellish my salads with such tasty toppings such as the vegan cheeses is because you can actually ruin the benefits of a good salad quite easily. You make yourself a nice salad where you’re getting lots of vitamin and nutrients, but then drench it with ranch or blue cheese dressing. What began as a healing meal has now become a hurting meal.
What’s the problem with dairy? Most dairy in the U.S. contains Monsanto’s genetically engineered recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST). This growth hormone is injected into dairy cows to increase their milk-production. Milk from rBGH cows contains up to 10 times higher levels of IGF-1, a hormone considered to be a high risk factor for cancers such as breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer and others. Higher incidences of infected udders in these cows result in finding higher amounts of pus and antibiotics in the milk as well. Milk is a cocktail of hormones, allergens, fat, cholesterol, herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, bacteria, viruses, blood, pus, and feces. The FDA allows 750 million pus cells per liter of milk. Cheese has 10 times whatever is in one sip of milk, ice cream has 12 times, and butter has 21 times. Yikes! Do you want to eat pus and feces? I didn’t think so.
You could call dairy “liquid meat” with its high levels of cholesterol, saturated fat leading to heart disease and animal protein that is harmful for the kidneys causing kidney stones. Milk is meant for babies. Cow’s milk is designed to turn 65 lb. calves into 400 lb. cows in one year. Might it make us larger than we want to be?
Because of these dairy dangers, we choose to top our salads with a whole-food, plant-based fat such as:
- parmesan vegan“cheese” (see recipe below)
- sliceable vegan “cheese”
- sunflower seeds
- pumpkin seeds
- walnuts
- sliced almonds
- avocado
- olives
And then we dress the salad with fresh lemon or lime juice and Himalayan mineral salt. These salads are so tasty, I end up wanting more salad than I do entree. And I don’t feel heavy or bloated afterwards as one may feel if dressing it with ranch or blue cheese dressing.
My parmesan “cheese” recipe is based on un-hulled sesame seeds (brown/tan instead of white) which are one of the highest sources of calcium. Just one tablespoon of un-hulled sesame seeds contains a whopping 88 mg of calcium compared with the same amount of crumbled feta or blue cheese containing only about 45 mg of calcium and ranch dressing at only 5 mg.
The turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory. Turmeric is about 5% curcumin, its powerful anti-inflammatory component. I have used it for pain from an injury and found it to be as effective as pain medications (but of course without any damage to my kidneys and liver). A recent study even revealed that curcumin was as effective as medications in managing depression. (Sanmukhani J, et al. “Efficacy and Safety of Curcumin in Major Depressive Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” Phytotherapy Research. 2014 Apr;28(4):579-85)
Himalayan salt is another key ingredient that is tasty and healthy. A common question many people have is, "Is salt bad for you?" Yes and no. There are two different kinds of salt. One is like a poison, the other is something your body actually needs.
Table salt is:
- Refined
- Heated to 1200°F destroying all natural trace minerals
- Bleached
- 99% sodium
- Added: anti-clumping chemicals, sugar, aluminum derivatives
- Causes high blood pressure, heart disease
- Makes diabetes, gout and obesity worse
Unrefined salt is:
- Unrefined
- Contains all 84 trace minerals your body needs including iodine. The iodine that’s naturally found in unrefined salt is more easily absorbed by your body than the iodine that is added to iodized table salt.
- 50% sodium
- Promotes restful sleep
- Balances electrolytes, pH
- Himalayan salt, Celtic Sea Salt®, or Real Salt®
Unrefined salts such as Himalayan salt and Celtic Sea Salt are very similar to the mineral content of human blood. As such, they do well in the body. If you can’t find any of these locally, you can easily order them online or try requesting them at your local grocery stores.
While we’re on the topic of salt, you might be wondering about pepper.
Pepper irritates the stomach and makes the blood feverish and impure. It makes the digestive system inflamed. This is what happens with all spicy spices like pepper, mustard, things like that. If you think about how it feels in your mouth, think about it doing the same thing to the delicate lining or your digestive tract. So we don't use it because of that.
Parmesan "Cheese"
vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, oil-free, *but NOT taste-free
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup sesame seeds, un-hulled
1/2 tsp Himalayan salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
DIRECTIONS
Grind in a coffee grinder for 10 to 15 seconds.
Sprinkle on top of salads, pasta dishes, potatoes, or anything to which you'd like to bump up the flavor.
VARIATION
You can use walnuts instead of the sesame seeds and a fresh garlic clove instead of the garlic powder for another tasty variation of this recipe.
