After lunching with Dr. Michael Klaper and Marlene Watson-Tara
Marlene Watson-Tara operates her global business online from Scotland.
How did I do that? By watching their interview on YouTube while enjoying my “doctored-up” version of the Spaghetti and Veggie Balls frozen meal from PlantPure Foods. Their visit was airing via Skype and YouTube from California and Scotland respectively.
While I have enjoyed many of the meals right out of the box, I like to add fresh veggies and fruit as available. Today, I added broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, tomato and avocado. In a word, it was SENSATIONAL Scroll on down for my preparation technique.
A little background. About six weeks ago, I went online and ordered ten frozen, whole food, plant-based meals–and they arrived less than ten days later at our doorstep in Vermont. Total price, including delivery (in a styrofoam frozen container) was $8.49 per meal. If I had ordered a 20-pak, my cost per meal would have dropped to $6.89. Before I share my preparation method…
I want to show you a picture of the finished meal.
As of now, my good friend Nelson Campbell’s PlantPure Food company is offering ten different frozen meals. If you order the 20-pak, you will receive two of each meal. But since my freezer is rather small here in our vacation condo, I opted for the 10-pak. Today, I started with the PlantPure Spaghetti & Veggie Balls meal and went from there.
My first step today was to slit the plastic cover and cook on HIGH in the microwave for 5 minutes. Since I used only half of the contents for today’s lunch, I have halved the various nutrition facts that appear on the carton:
- Total calories 330; Calories from fat 17 (The meal is a very low 5.2% fat)
- Sodium is 75 mg., 6 grams of sugar, 3 grams of fiber and NO cholesterol
- #1 ingredient is whole wheat pasta, along with lots of veggies, nuts and soy.
- Particularly with all the veggies that I added, this is definitely a 4Leaf winner.
Spaghetti, Vegetable Balls, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts, etc.
Preparation: While the frozen meal was heating, I cut up one serving each of broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts and spread them out on a plate. When I took the meal out of the microwave, I added a little soy sauce to my veggie plate and set the microwave for 3 minutes.
Michael Klaper, MD.
While the veggies were cooking, I stirred up the PlantPure meal, left about half in the package and put it back in the refrigerator (for tomorrow). I then cut up about 1/4 of an avocado, a dozen cherry tomatoes and a tiny bit of bread.
I then added the spaghetti and veggie balls to the top of my fresh veggie plate and gave the mixture one more minute in the microwave. When the bell rang, I added my avocado, tomatoes and bread on top and went into the living room to enjoy my meal with Marlene and Michael–on YouTube on our big Sony Smart TV.
A healthy blend of nutrition and economy. Along with the additions that I made to this meal, I compute that the total cost was about $6. That includes 1/2 of the $8.49 frozen meal plus my other ingredients. With my veggie, bread, avocado and tomato additions, my total meal contained about 450 calories–working out to a total of just $1.33 per 100 calories.
Taste, Convenience and Nutrition. In addition to the wonderful taste, the thing that I love most about these PlantPure meals is the great feeling that I have all the time–knowing that I can have a tasty 4Leaf meal on the table in just a few minutes. Click here to take a look at all TEN of the meals. Each one has a picture and complete nutritional information.
Worried about microwave cooking? I am not–and I blogged on that topic a few years ago. Are microwave ovens safe? Do they destroy nutrients?
In addition to the food, the PlantPure online Store offers many kinds of health related products.
Finally, don’t forget to visit “Marlene and Friends.” She is featuring yours truly on an upcoming half-hour webcast before the end of March. As she says below, “Food is our Future.” I am delighted to be one of her 30 “friends” to be included in this series.
Food is our Future is the basis of my series and with over 30 of the most fantastic friends and colleagues from around the world you will find these videos packed with incredible information on how to live a long healthy life. Sincerely, Marlene
Happy St. Patrick’s Day from the GREEN state of Vermont!!
The following six books can be purchased on Amazon for a grand total of less than $60—and will enable you to understand the overwhelming challenges we face—along with the single most-powerful solution of all.
Six-Pack from Hicks—for health, hope & harmony on planet Earth
- 4Leaf Guide to Vibrant Health, powerful new book by Kerry Graff, MD and yours truly
- Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (my first book)
- An essential scientific resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell; the primary book that influenced Bill Clinton to adopt a whole food, plant-based diet.
- Primary cause of cancer is not bad luck. Stop Feeding Your Cancer, by John Kelly, MD
- A horrifying wake-up call for leaders. TEN BILLION by Dr. Stephen Emmott
- Food choices are the primary cause of our environmental problems, yet our world leaders, scientists & experts are Comfortably Unaware, by Richard Oppenlander.
Why should we be eating mostly plants? The “big picture” in 4 minutes.
Want to find out how healthy you are eating? Take our free 4Leaf Survey. It takes about two minutes. eCornell is now using our survey in their plant-based nutrition course.
International. We’re now reaching people in over 100 countries. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter or get daily blog notices by “following” us in the top of the right-hand column. For occasional updates, join our periodic mailing list.
J. Morris Hicks, working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.
To order more of my favorite books—visit our online BookStore now For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, visit our 4Leaf Program website, which is now being used by an ever-growing army of enlightened medical doctors who are fed up with “disease care” and want to promote true health for their patients.
Got a question? Let me hear from you at jmh@4leafglobal.com
—J. Morris Hicks, board member since 2012; click banner for more info:
J. Morris Hicks, engineer. writer. big picture guy. 
Wait! The food is shipped in a Styrofoam container? Styrofoam does not decompose in the environment under normal circumstances. Much like plastic, Styrofoam is made from a polystyrene-based petroleum product that is not biodegradable. Plastic takes hundreds of years to decompose, and Styrofoam takes much longer because it is a stronger form of plastic.
How does PlantPure Foods justify the use of Styrofoam. What am I missing?
You make a good point and here is the answer as I understand it. The company could not start with a biodegradable shipping container because this option was not available for reasons of economics and logistics. However, due to their progress and resolution of certain issues, they are presently exploring the option of a biodegradable shipping container.
They were willing to start the way they did because of their overarching goal of motivating people to switch to and sustain a plant-based diet. Compromises such as this are sometimes necessary in pursuit of a higher good. They believe they already have had a major positive effect on carbon emissions because of their success in promoting the plant-based diet, and just as important, have laid a financial and operational foundation for their organization that will enable them to make further adjustments to improve their offering.
Correction : The Igloo Freezer was shipped by Home Depot, not Costco.
We still enjoy the 10 different meals from PlantPure. I am into a 2nd order of 20 meals. Though after 13 years of refining my plant-based meals foods selections, I do good without the easy help of these frozen meals.
Hope people don’t get hung up on the fact that the meals are a little bland. I know they do this on purpose so they appeal to everyone and don’t pose health risks for people with high blood pressure, etc.
HELLO!
I Just threw flowers at you on Facebook.
Congrats on a very well organized E-Mail.
CHEERS.
Jim – My wife and I are injoying the healthy plant-based Jumpstart meals, too. The one pound meal is enough for two people, especially when you add a few items. I had a 20-meals package shipped to my busy professional dance instructor and performer daughter. Since the refrigerator in her shared home is full, I had a 3.5 cu. ft. Igloo freezer shipped by Costco to her. I agree that microwaving is not damaging to the foods. The Warming unit that is offered is a good way to heat a meal in 90+ minutes.