is the province of elitists, hippies, liberals, and environmental activists, think again.

Clean air, pure water, rich soil, along with fresh food is our birthright.

We'll explore budget-friendly options to eating well, as we go back to the cutting board today on Christina Cooks.

(upbeat music) ♪ (female speaker) Underwriting for Christina Cooks is provided by Suzanne's Specialties, offering a full line of alternative vegan and organic sweeteners and toppings.

Suzanne's Specialties, sweetness the way Mother Nature intended.

Additional funding is also provided by Old Yankee Cutting Boards, designed for durability, and custom crafted by hand with Yankee pride and craftsmanship.

Jonathan's Spoons, individually handcrafted from cherry wood, each designed with your hand and purpose in mind.

Additional funding is also provided by: Hi, I'm Christina Pirello, and this is Christina Cooks, where each week we take fresh, seasonal ingredients, whip them into amazing dishes.

Will it all be plant based?

Yep.

Will it all be delicious?

Of course.

Mother Nature provides for us.

So, one thing I hear so much, so much in my cooking is that eating plant-based foods is the province of the elite, the rich, the intellectually superior It's such nonsense.

Vegetables are cheap.

Everything we're gonna show you today, with the exception of a couple of ingredients that you might want to invest in, are gonna be everything you can find in the supermarket.

I always say, you can pay now, or you could pay later when your health fails.

So, I'd rather buy an organic carrot today for a nickel more, than have heart disease down the line.

So, we're gonna make simple dishes, all economical, and I'll give you options for those few ingredients that might be expensive that you don't wanna invest in, so here we go.

This first dish is called simmered tofu and vegetables, and what we're gonna do is take a bunch of veggies that you can find at any supermarket, put them in a pan, simmer them with tofu, and serve it.

It does not get easier.

So, the first thing we're gonna do is take a shallot.

Now, you can use an onion-- settle down.

So, shallots are smaller than onions and sweeter, and I just like them.

If you don't like them, you can use an onion, you can use a leek, you can use a scallion, you can use a chive, you can leave them out.

So now, we're gonna go over to our soup pot, and I'm gonna try something a little different.

So, I'm gonna add a little bit of avocado oil, and turn on the heat.

(flickering) And add the shallots.

You don't have to do this part.

You can just simmer everything, but sautéing the shallots is gonna give us a little bit added richness to the dish, so we kinda want that.

So, that's in, and the next thing we're gonna add are diced carrots.

(pattering) And a pinch of salt.

And the pinch of salt just makes everything sweeter.

It's not a big deal, if you forget it, don't do it.

It's no big deal.

Everything will taste-- If you use the salt, everything will taste like itself, everything will hold its own character.

Carrots will be sweet, shallots will taste like shallots.

If you don't do that, everything tastes like the strongest thing in the pot, which is not gonna be shallots actually, it's daikon, which is this, this is a daikon.

A daikon is also known as an icicle radish, but it's a daikon, it tastes like a red radish.

It's very peppery.

And since we're dicing, so this broth simmers quickly, we're gonna take the daikon and cut some spears.

Okay?

And then, because this is a big daikon, we're gonna split the spears again.

And what you do by dicing is expose more surface area of the vegetable so the broth is sweeter, and the dish cooks a little more quickly.

(sizzling) You can hear the sizzle happening, on our lovely carrots and shallots.

Now, the daikon goes in.

(hissing) And next, we'll add cauliflower.

Just little florets-- again, keep everything bite sized, because somebody has to eat this with a spoon, right?

In goes broccoli.

(sizzling) The star of the show is tofu.

Now, now, before you run from the room screaming, tofu is a great protein source, it's low in fat, it tastes like nothing, so when people say they hate tofu, I think, "That's like hating air."

If tofu's badly cooked, yeah, you might not like it, but this is beautifully cooked.

Tofu takes on every flavor of the dish.

So, we're gonna cut it into cubes, and because the broth is flavorful, we will have a delicious main course.

This goes on top.

Some water to just cover.

(hissing) And then, we're taking kombu-- this is kombu.

Kombu is a sea vegetable.

If you don't wanna use it, use a bay leaf.

What it does is make the protein and the fiber in the dish more digestible.

So, we'd usually put that in, but again, don't wanna buy it, use a bay leaf.

And then, this gets covered.

And it's gonna simmer for about 25 minutes, and then we'll come back and season it, and you'll have this delicious main course.

-Can a vegetable be a fruit?

-A fruit can be a vegetable.

What?

It can be both?

What happens if you swallow a seed?

(unintelligible).

-I don't get it.

-I am so confused.

(upbeat music) So, we get a million emails, phone calls, and letters each week of people struggling with what they should do to not be so confused as they get started on their path to being well.

So, often I answer those questions, but every now and then I think, "Wouldn't it be great to bring in an expert who can help you to understand some of the things you struggle with."

So, today I'm here with Dr. Vicki Bralow who runs an MDVIP practice in Philadelphia, a family practice dedicated to health and wellness.

So, she's gonna answer some questions for us today.

-Hi, Vicki.

-Hi, Christina, how are you?

-I'm so glad you're here.

-Thanks for asking me.

So, one of the things that I hear a lot about is people are trying to avoid sugar, as we know that they should.

But they're not sure on labels whether they're getting added sugar or not, so what are some of the things they should look for?

Well, that's a great question, because I think most consumers don't really have an idea of how much sugar is hidden in our foods, okay?

-Right, right.

-And that is one of the things that I talk to my patients about, independent of whether they have diabetes, or are near getting diabetes.

-Or even if they're well, right?

-Right, if you're well, you're healthy, you don't think you need to worry about sugar, you need to worry about sugar, okay, because it's just poured into our foods.

So, the recommendation for a female is to have six added teaspoons of sugar a day.

For a man, it's nine added teaspoons of sugar a day.

-Right.

-So, what does that mean?

You look on the side of a package at the label, all right, and it's in grams.

-Yeah.

-Isn't that funny?

Our entire system in the United States of America is not metric, except when you look on a food label, which leads me to wonder, "Hm, how much do they really want people to understand what's on a food label?"

-Right?

-Right, right, exactly, exactly.

(Vicki) Right, it's very funny, so four grams is one teaspoon.

-Okay.

-All right, so whenever you look at a package, if it has 24 grams of added sugar, you're eating 6 teaspoons, which, for a female, is all of the sugar that they are supposed to have for the day -that is added to their foods.

-And that's in that one product -that they're eating.

-And that is in that one product and one serving of that one product.

(Christina) But how do they know, when they're looking at a label, how do they know what is sugar?

(Vicki) Okay, so when they look at the label, the first thing you wanna look at is actually the sugars, okay, and it gives you the grams.

Then, you wanna look at the ingredients to see what type -of sugar they're talking about.

-Okay.

If they say cane sugar, then we're talking about the white granulated sugar.

If the sugar is high fructose corn syrup, that's a subject for a whole other discussion.

-Right.

-But, that is also a concentrated sweetener.

And then, there's maybe 100 other types of ingredients that are sugars that people don't realize.

Honey, people understand that.

Molasses, people might understand that.

But then you get into things like barley malt, or rice syrup.

I mean, rice isn't sweet, so why would rice syrup -count as a sugar?

-Count as a sugar, exactly.

So, the reasons for using these different sugars and products are various.

I mean, it's-- sometimes it's for health, if it's actually a good product, because things like rice sugar keep a controlled... -Release-- -...a release of sugar -into your body.

-Right, right, right.

And you don't get spikes, right, like you do, so-- (Christina) So, just one quick thought on that.

So, that's like a commercial product.

When you're looking at a natural label, do you have to worry, or are we good?

You're not good, you have to worry.

You have to worry-- it was interesting, I had a patient in my office who only drinks oat milk, and we're talking about it, okay, right?

-Yeah, yeah.

-So, she leaves the office, she goes to Whole Foods to go food shopping, and she sends me a picture of the oat milk that she has been drinking, and it's this -green, beautiful package.

-Looks very earthy.

(Vicki) "Non-GMO," you know, everything.

"Plant based," and then you turn it over, 17 grams of added sugar-- added, added sugar -in each serving.

-In each serving.

So, yeah, just 'cause it's healthy doesn't mean that it doesn't have a lot of added sugar.

-Great, thank you.

-You're very welcome, Christina.

So, read your labels, pay attention, and try not to get too much added sugar.

(cheerful music) Before we make the next dish, we need to finish off our simmer tofu and veggies.

It's really simple.

So, we're gonna go here to our beautiful broth, and you can see, everything is nice, the broccoli's bright green, so you don't wanna overcook this, right, otherwise you'll lose the point of eating the broccoli.

So, what we're gonna do is take a little bit of this hot broth, and what we're gonna use next is something that's gonna help to make the protein from the tofu and the fiber from the veggies more digestible.

Now, this is where things get a little bit expensive.

This is miso.

Miso can cost several dollars, like five or six dollars for a pound.

It's gonna last you a really long time, because for every cup of liquid in your pot you're only using a teaspoon.

Now, if you, for whatever reason, cannot find or afford miso, you may use salt.

If you add salt, you wanna simmer the dish for five more minutes so that the salt becomes part of the broth, and doesn't taste salty.

And so, otherwise, you take your miso and you dissolve it just like this, until it's all creamy, so that you don't have a big lump of salty miso in your broth.

And you just do that.

Dump it in.

And then, you take about 30 seconds.

When you add your miso, you have to make sure that your broth's not boiling.

See how we have steam rising, but it's not boiling.

Because you eat miso because of the enzymes and the friendly bacteria that it does for your digestion.

If you boil miso, you ruin all of that.

So, once that's done, then we'll take our serving bowl.

I love this dish, this dish is so satisfying, so easy to make.

I haven't cooked this dish for one person who said, "Uh, I don't know about the tofu."

It's delicious.

And if you have a person in your life that says, "I don't know about the tofu," tell them to put on their big boy pants, and grow up.

So, because this simmered for a while, I wanna add some freshness to kind of lift it up again.

So, just take some scallions like this, and there's our finished dish.

One pot meal, all good.

(lively music) Okay, so now we're gonna make corn fritters, and you can make 'em spicy, sweet, or however, but it's a really nice way to get whole grains into your diet, and they're inexpensive to make.

So, we're gonna take some whole wheat sprouted flour, which I really love, because it digests really well, but if you can't get it, use whole wheat flour, or whole wheat pastry flour, whatever.

So, that's gonna go in about three-quarters of a cup.

We're gonna add a pinch of salt, a teaspoon of baking powder, so that they're lighter.

(clanking) And, you know, don't get crazy with measuring, just--you know, do your thing.

Then, we're gonna add to that some powdered ginger for spice.

You can also use chili spice, whatever you like.

I like this because ginger stimulates circulation, helps to warm the body, and you just feel a little bit stronger.

And then, we're going to add some cornmeal.

This is like polenta, right?

So, when my grandmother, who was from Naples, would talk about cornmeal, and she'd see it served in restaurants, she'd say, "So, you dopes are paying all this money to eat polenta.

Polenta meant your grandfather's paycheck didn't make it all the way."

So, now we're gonna add to this organic frozen corn.

Please use organic corn, please, because it's better quality, it doesn't have genetically modified organisms in it, and it's better for you, so please use it.

Okay?

Thank you.

Next goes some scallion after the corn.

And this is crumble tofu, right?

So, this is gonna sort of hold everything together like an egg.

And you'll mix all this in, and you'll have sort of a lumpy, moderately wet batter, but not really wet, and you're gonna take water.

Now, a lot of times for recipes like this, people use various nut milks or grain milks.

You can use 'em if you want to.

I've kind of become a water girl.

Saves calories, it's less expensive, 'cause everyone has water.

And so, you're just gonna do this until you have a nice... (sloshing) ...batter that's moderately wet, but it has to hold together, 'cause these are gonna get dropped into hot oil.

So, we're gonna use avocado oil, because it's a nice high heat oil.

And we're gonna put that to just cover the bottom of the skillet.

(clanking) And because my pan's hot-- I heated my pan, 'cause it's cast iron, the oil is already hot.

So now, we're gonna take a quarter-cup measure, and you're gonna take this batter, and drop it into the oil.

And use the back of the quarter-cup measure to kind of flatten them and shape them.

And a quarter cup gives you a really nice size for people to eat.

(sizzling) And then, you can see the bubbles are sort of starting around the edge of the fritters.

So, you let that kind of go.

You wanna cook them for like one or two minutes each side.

If you try to turn them too soon, flip them too soon, what happens is they stick.

They stick instantly when you put them in, but if you leave them in there until they brown, and don't be impatient.

When they brown, they'll flip really easily.

So, we're just gonna let these cook.

(upbeat music) So, you can see there's lots of simmering happening here in the oil.

So, now we take and we flip them.

And you're gonna have a nice golden color.

And now, they just have to sit, right?

They have to sit in the oil again until they brown on both sides, so that they hold together.

So, we're just gonna let them go for maybe another minute.

The whole thing takes about two minutes each side, we're easy.

Okay, so now we're gonna take these, they're browned on both sides, and I usually transfer them to a tray lined with parchment, because that'll help to absorb some of the oil.

(sizzling) Okay, and you let them sit here for like a minute.

They fall apart a little, but that's okay, because they're fritters, they're not, you know, a pie crust.

And then, we're gonna take and plate them, so they look beautiful, but if only I had a plate.

(snapping) Wow, it's good to be the queen.

Okay, so we're gonna plate these up.

(crinkling) I kinda like to layer them a little bit over each other.

And then, you wanna garnish them with a little bit of chopped scallion, or parsley, or whatever floats your boat, just so that they'll look finished and fresh.

And this is a great side dish to go with any meal.

(lively music) ♪ So, we hear a lot about seaweed, and I don't like to call it seaweed, because weeds are unwanted.

These are sea vegetables, and they're some of the most mineral-dense and nutrient-dense foods we can eat.

You eat them in small amounts.

You're not gonna eat a gelato flavored with seaweed, because they have so much mineral density.

So, I'm gonna take you through a couple of them, so you can see why we have different ones, 'cause each one serves a purpose for your wellness.

So, this is hiziki.

This one is what I like to call "between-the-eyes sea vegetable."

It's the most taste like the sea.

It's strong, almost fishy, but what the beauty of it is, in each half cup of cooked hiziki there are 1,350 milligrams of digestible calcium.

So, you wanna eat this a couple times a month to keep your bones where you want them to be: Dense and healthy.

Then, we have kombu.

Kombu's also known in our country as kelp, and this is rich not only in iodine, but really rich in keratin, which is the protein that makes your hair.

And so, you can eat this, and because your hair grows from inside the body, right?

So, if you eat kombu, your hair comes out shiny and strong, so it's beautiful.

This is wakame.

Wakame is a very delicate, mild flavor sea vegetable that we use in a lot of soups and salads, and it contains a compound called fucoxanthan, and fucoxanthan is said to be one of the reasons that most Asian populations, particularly the Japanese, look young for so long.

And last, we have nori, which most of you know as the wrapper around sushi or vegetable rolls.

Loaded with calcium, and fiber, and minerals like iodine, this sea vegetable is not only mild tasting, but easy to use in its just raw state.

You don't have to cook it, and it adds all of the minerals you need.

The combination of these gives you all the minerals you need to be healthy.

(upbeat music) ♪ So, no meal would be complete, economy or otherwise, without dessert.

This one's simple, affordable, and easy to make.

You're gonna love this.

I'm using Granny Smith apples, because I kinda like the tartness of them when I put them in dessert, but you can use whatever apples you like, whatever apples are on sale.

It doesn't matter.

Now, the one thing I don't do is peel my apples.

A lot of people do when they make pies, or whatever dessert with apples.

In fact, my husband will be the first one to run in the kitchen and go, "Did you peel the apples?"

I never peel the apples.

It's fiber, it's pectin, it's good for your heart.

Leave the peel on-- besides, they look really nice, and you don't get apple sauce in your dish.

You have actually pieces of apples.

And if you don't like the texture of the skin-- Okay, so now we have what's called acidulated water, which is a fancy chef word for lemon water, and what we do is we take apples when we're cutting like more than one, and we soak them in water with lemon juice, and it prevents them from browning.

So, after you have the apples like this, then you're gonna take your mixing bowl.

You're just gonna drain them by hand.

It's okay if there's a little of the lemon water, you know, just a tiny bit.

It adds flavor, plus it's gonna help in the next part of the recipe.

And then, you just set this aside.

Now, to this we're gonna add some arrowroot, which is gonna sort of hold the apple filling together and create like a gravy.

And then, we'll add a pinch of salt to make it sweet.

Then, we'll add some olive oil.

You can use avocado oil or olive oil.

Some spices.

Some allspice-- go really light with allspice.

Allspice can be really delicious, and if you use too much, it kinda tastes like, uh, dirt.

A little bit of powdered ginger.

(grinding) And some brown rice syrup.

And just a little bit of brown rice syrup.

I mean, you know, they're already sweet.

They're apples.

And then, we're gonna take them... (sloshing) ...and mix.

And you wanna mix just until the apples are coated with everything that's in here, the rice syrup, the arrowroot, so that you don't have a weird sauce.

This'll be really beautiful when you serve this.

Now, sometimes when I make this filling I add dried cranberries.

You don't have to do it, but sometimes I do, so what you would do if you did that was, put your apples in.

Right, try to get them nice and even.

(thudding) And you get the apples nice and even like this, and it's really pretty, you want them even so that it bakes evenly.

Okay, then you can take cranberries, do it, not do it.

Sprinkle them on top.

Right, they're a little bit of tartness that's really nice.

Try to find cranberries that aren't sweetened with sugar, 'cause that just ruins the whole healthy living thing.

Now, you take another small bowl, we're gonna take about a cup of flour.

Maybe a little more, I don't know.

Like that.

We're gonna add some rolled oats.

This is gonna give the biscuit topping some texture.

A pinch of salt.

And then, we'll add some baking powder, and that's gonna cause the topping to sort of rise, so it doesn't get heavy and sort of doughy.

About a teaspoon.

(rustling) Then, we're gonna mix this with pecans.

When I was teaching in Tennessee, I said, "Pecans," and they said, "Oh, thank goodness you said it that way, because you pee in a can, nuts are pecans," and I thought, "I pee in a bathroom, but whatever."

A little olive oil... ...to kind of pull this together, and it'll start to have the texture of wet sand.

Now, you're gonna come in and add just enough water to create like a batter, a thick cake batter.

(clanking) Yeah, that's perfect.

Okay, I don't need anymore, so get that out of the way.

And now, once your batter is mixed, you kind of go in there and do what's called folding, bringing it up from the bottom, so that your batter doesn't have like a big lump of flour at the bottom.

Then, using a quarter-cup measure, what I do is just put like biscuit-size dollops, and I usually do about eight or nine of these, and what you wanna see is you wanna see the apples peeking through.

You don't want this to be heavily, heavily covered, because this is gonna rise and spread a little bit, and it's gonna give you like a beautiful finished product.

And you want the apples to peek through, and brown a little bit, and get nice and delicious-looking.

So, this is gonna go in the oven at 350 for about 30 to 35 minutes, until the biscuits on top are really, really browned, and firm.

(upbeat music) ♪ So, here it is, perfectly baked.

And then, when you serve this-- (jangling) Like everyone gets a beautiful piece of the topping, and you can see the lovely apples and cranberries, if you use them, right on top.

So, there's our apple cranberry crisp.

Perfectly baked.

(uplifting music) ♪ So, what are you waiting for?

It's time to get back to the cutting board.

See ya next time on Christina Cooks.

♪ ♪ (female speaker) Underwriting for Christina Cooks is provided by Suzanne's Specialties, offering a full line of alternative vegan and organic sweeteners and toppings.

Suzanne's Specialties, sweetness the way Mother Nature intended.

Additional funding is also provided by Old Yankee Cutting Boards, designed for durability, and custom crafted by hand with Yankee pride and craftsmanship.

Jonathan's Spoons, individually handcrafted from cherry wood, each designed with your hand and purpose in mind.

Additional funding is also provided by: ♪ You can find today's recipes and learn more by visiting our website at christinacooks.com, and by following Christina on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

The companion cookbook Back to the Cutting Board takes you on a journey to reengage with the soul of cooking.

With more than 100 plant-based recipes, finding the joy in cooking has never been simpler.

To order your copy for $20 plus handling, call 800-266-5815.

And Christina's iconic book Cooking the Whole Foods Way, with 500 delicious plant-based recipes.

To order both books for $39.95 plus handling, call 800-266-5815.

♪