Thanksgiving-ish. Yes. Okay. So if you guys are cool, let's move on. One of the things that we eat a fair amount at our house is tofu and tempeh. We're big fans. We're not freaked out by soy because we know the fighter estrogens actually can be very, very- Jane, well then tell me about the Wonder Woman Salad, for starters. Unless you want to talk about the Three Goddesses. Now, if I'm not mistaken, this is the third time that you guys, as a team, have appeared on the Plant-Strong Podcast.

So Jane, when I read that chapter about the food head and how you were experiencing that, it made me realize that I've never talked to you about that. It's kind of scary because anytime I go over, every night, Jane and Brian are eating grits and greens. Washington DC, The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine hosts a live Exam Room Podcast Live Celebration with Esselstyn Family and the Esselstyn Foundation at the National Press ClubI was trying to make salsa one night and I didn't have anything fruity or sweet. Because I kind of come like a little bit of the balance of the sweet with the onion, kind of almost coming from the chutney family. So I put in tiny little cubes, I mean, not minced watermelon, but just micro-cubed watermelon with all the other sort of typical salsa stuff. And it was so yummy and refreshing, because salsa brings a moisture and this refreshment and pop a flavor to whatever dish you're using. So that was a ton of fun to make that one.

Right. And I tell you, it really works. Really, it did. Rip has three children and it particularly works on two of his three children, and Hope will try absolutely anything I ask her to try. Cole will sort of, and Sophie will refuse to try anything. And for those that are wondering, tell me what are the guidelines for the recipes that are in this book? Here we all are decades later and I’m so proud to sit with Jane and Ann and share some of the inspiration and recipes with you today. My Mother has been called the “Julia Child of Plant-Based cooking” and you’ll see why after you dig through some of the recipes and photos in this gorgeous book. This truly is a fun and inspiring message of hope for all women to improve their own health so that they remain strong, bold, and fierce in body and mind! I've become big on brussel sprouts, but they have to be prepared the right way. Let me just see if I can find it here.

Big 3 Episode Takeaways (outside of all the recipes discussed): 

Now, mostly, Jane and Ann pay homage to the people who started it all Ann and Essy, for forging and navigating that undiscovered world of plant-based nutrition at a time when virtually no one understood how vital it was for our health, including myself and my two brothers and my sister, Jane. Here we are, all of us, decades later, and I am so smitten to be able to sit down with Jane and Ann and share some of the inspiration and recipes with you today that are in this cookbook. Okay. The publisher just said, "You guys have all these breakfast, lunch, dinner, da da da da. But you keep saying that the sauces are the answer to everything and they're your secret weapons and this is how you can go forward and this is what makes all the difference. Can we put it first?" And then we were like, "Let's put breakfast first and then you can put the secret weapons." Because we actually do use some sort of sauce, hummus, dressing, salsa or a guacamole in everything thereafter. So they were clever in putting it right there. Although this book is marketed to women, there is nothing really in it that doesn't apply to everyone. All of the recipes are vegan. Although the cardiac diet is strictly low-to-no-fat, the recipes here are low in added oil. If there is any, such as in nuts, suggestions are given for substitutions if a reader is on the stricter diet.

I made it one Christmas when we had a lot of family and it was sort of a last Christmas day. Everybody brought- I made six or seven tubs of tofu so those were all the same. Because I just put them all in a big dish with Sophie. She helped me make them. We just did them all with the teriyaki, which is kind of close to our basic way to do it. Yeah. It was delicious. And just the other day we had some people over for lunch and you made the most gorgeous open-faced heirloom tomato and corn- It's spinach or butter, whatever green you want. And then the barbecued pulled portobellos are so fun. You just have portobello mushrooms and you take the stems and you literally pull them apart so it looks like the strings of pulled pork kind of stuff and put in a little liquid smoke and cook so the smokey flavor's in them, and then some barbecue sauce at the end just to coat them. Cha cha cha. And then you've also got... What's underneath it? Do you have some sort of green? Yesterday, you had some greens in there.Because you've tried to write a lot of headers yourself and you know how my goes into that, that's why. We like to have it in all variety of ways. Usually, I like to bake it or to pan fry it. And that pan fry is dry fry, nothing oil. But we like to use usually a base of tamari, which is a low-sodium soy sauce. And sometimes that's enough, but sometimes I want to put a little kiss of maple syrup in there to give it a luster. And if you want to take it even a little further, you can put in what gives it a little more umami is some tomato paste, or if you don't have that, just use ketchup. And if you want to really be a pro, chefy-chefy, add a wee bit of ginger. You've got some teriyaki. Done and done. So easy, so fun. Like many in the Esselstyn family, Jane presents her work, research, and high energy food demos across the country and world. Her presentations, food demonstrations, samples and food parties bring clarity, hilarity, and a can-do attitude to the power of plant-based eating. Numerous times a year, together with her husband, Brian Hart—executive director of The Esselstyn Foundation, Jane hosts a one-day, food-focused, hands-on seminar called Wrapping Your Head, Heart, and Hands Around Plant-based Eating. It is the very embodiment of this plant-based movement: all about the food— eating, tasting it, and making it— all day long! And I tell you, it's hard to get the cooked pan-fried tempeh out of the pan and to show the audience because I am dying to eat it all. It's so delicious.