Chef Wendell: Ghoulish Goulash

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp. olive oil
• ½ medium onion, sliced thin
• 1 carrot, chopped
• ¼ cup celery
• 2 cloves of chopped garlic
• 1 cup shiitake mushrooms, sliced thin stems discarded (Stimulate the immune system)
• 1 green pepper, sliced thin
• 1 tbs. wheat germ
• ½ cup ‘meat’ crumbles
• 1 tsp. paprika (smoked if you can find it)
• 1-14 ½ oz. can whole canned tomatoes, chopped, reserve juice
• 1 cup of cooked beans, drained
• ½ cup red wine
• 1 tsp. oregano

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat.
2. Sautee the onion, celery, peppers, carrot, garlic, paprika, crumbles and mushrooms till just tender.
3. Stir in the tomatoes with juice; add beans, wine, oregano and reserved tomato juice.
4. Bring to a boil, but do not cook more than 5 minutes. Add wheat germ and stir.
5. Serve over a bed of brown rice, whole wheat pasta or quinoa and a dark leafy green salad.

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Parents, there are ghoulish dangers awaiting your children this Halloween eve; dangers like high-fructose corn syrup, sugar, refined carbohydrates, food coloring, artificial flavorings, trans fats, and triglycerides just to name a spooky few. All of these kick the “BOO” out of your immune system leaving the door ajar for H1N1.

Food colorings and artificial flavorings have been linked with worsening ADD and ADHD plus, according to several studies, they cause aggressive behavior; the bully syndrome.

All of these common ingredients in Halloween candy are linked to such conditions as childhood obesity, coronary artery disease, diabetes, yeast overgrowth syndrome and multiple-chemical sensitivity. Very frightening!!

If you find this hauntingly objectionable, serve this vegetable rich Vegetable Goulash to neutralize the damage ‘Over-Dosing’ on sugar can cause. Sugar is a drug. Too much of anything is not a good thing. The vegetables and fiber is this dish will help neutralize the damage from the annual Halloween sugar bloodbath of gore.