A Few of May Favorite Recipes 🌱 🧑🍳
May 01, 2021
Happy May My Friends!
I wanted to share with you some of my favorite recipes to empower you to explore and adventure a bit more this May! This newsletter will also feature a weekly challenge for each week throughout the week of May!
Challenge #1 for Week 1: Use a veggie alternative to a common meat-based recipe you already love!
This is a super easy challenge this week to start us off! You can try Zucchini Noodles, Cauliflower Rice, Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes, Lentil Burgers or Lentil Chili, Chickpea Pasta, Flax-eggs and so much more!
Find a veggie-friendly alternative to a common meat-based dish or recipe you typically use and snap a photo to share with us online.
Can’t wait to see what you make, and what awesome steps you take towards living your best life possible!
Health is a Journey, not a Destination.
Can you believe it’s already May?
My goodness time flies when you’re having fun, and I have had such a fun time sending out this newsletter each week to you.
Thank you for being here.
Plant - Based Nutrition: The “Why”?!
Reduced risk of Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease, and certain types of Cancer!
Improved Gut health and motility, healthy bowel movements and healthy flow!
Sustainability benefits for the planet with reduced animal intake
ENDLESS opportunities for more and more plants!
By making it simple to just a suggestion for “Adding more plants” takes the focus off of “restriction” and “damnation” that often happens in the diet dogma wars between carnivores and vegans.
There are hundreds of plants to choose from to consume more, but we commonly only eat a few foods (such as the top major grains and top major meats) and typically nutrient deficiencies and lack of flavorful, wonderful, experiments and experiences with trying new foods! But have no fear, recipes are here to save the day!
Plant - Based Nutrition Made Easy!
Breakfast
Easy Egg Muffin Quiches for making a batch to prepare ahead of time and have on hand throughout the week - with good portions in protein, fats, and veg!
Don’t get overwhelmed by the ingredient list, it’s easier than what you think. You’re just making a egg-like batter with flax-eggs and adding diced veg however you like!
Flax Egg = (1T ground flaxseed to 3T water) - stir and let set for 3 min“Made a big batch to freeze. Easy back-to-nonvirtual-school breakfast!”
Lunch
Lemon Hummus Pasta Penne - a zestful, flavorful, surprisingly delightful pasta penne dish with delicious additions from garlic, onion, tomato, lemon, chickpeas, with oregano and olives. Olive me some olives, don’t you?
Let me tell you how much I love using hummus as a sauce - oh my this is a lovely and you can even make your own hummus to save some $$ if you’re having trouble finding an oil-free hummus, it is honestly hard to find at the store typically! I also want to throw in a suggestion for throwing in a couple handfuls of massaged kale (chopped) or chopped broccoli added into the fully cooked pasta dish and the leaves will lightly cook as you mix in all the wonderful, colorful ingredients.
You can even make this a bit more plant-friendly by using some of these pretty awesome veggie-pastas! You can also use zucchini noodles instead if you like those!
Plant-forward and Plant-friendly Pastas!
Gluten Free + Green Lentil = Penne Pasta | link
Green Lentil + Pea + Cauliflower = Penne Pasta | link
Green Lentils + Spinach + Kale + Broccoli = Penne Pasta | link
(this might be my favorite, but I’m biased because I met the CEO, founder, mother and creator of this pasta at a conference years ago! Cybele’s Free to Eat!
Dinner
Festive Veggie-full Focaccia Bread - this is actually pretty crazy! Just take a look at the photo and you might laugh out loud in surprise and delight like I did! I would have never thought about this until I saw it, but man this is genius!
+ One of the healthful, plant-based hacks here includes the use of Nutritional Yeast, which provides that cheesy casserole flavor we all love without any of the potentially problematic addictive properties of commonly prepared cheeses.
+ I’m also a fan of using garlic, basil, oregano, sage, chives and sliced tomato in this recipe too!
Wait, you said cheese can be addictive ?!
What gives?! Tell me more!!
It’s true! I actually come across this almost daily when working with clients. So many people have told me,
“I just feel like I LOVE cheese. I feel like I eat it all the time and I might have a problem with it. Like, why do I seem to crave it all the time and need add it to everything!?”
Like I said, it’s actually pretty common. And a pretty famous Doctor, Dr. Neal Barnard actually wrote a whole book on the topic! The particular point I like to highlight for people is the impact of the primary protein found in cow’s milk cheese named casein.
This protein casein actually presents itself as a casomorphin at a cellular level - in other words, this is an opioid peptide (hear peptide, think protein) that is formed by this common cow’s milk protein casein. So, don’t feel too crazy if you feel like you too, might be struggling with an addictive, neurological, biological attachment to cheese!
Here’s some additional resources if you want some more reading, listening, and learning for your personal health journey as it pertains to cheese!
Dr. Neal Barnard - The Cheese Trap - book link - NPR story calls it “Dairy Crack”
- How Food impacts our hormones
- if you can’t give up cheese
- break the cheese addiction, transform your health
- modern dairy, cancer, and hormones
Want a Plant-Based Cookbook to keep on hand and help you make changes in your everyday decision making with tons of flavorful, colorful, veggie-full recipes?
I frequently recommend this champion of a cookbook by Forks Over Knives (FOK).
If you like to work in a journal or workbook, you might also like this companion piece to help you make incremental changes in your personal lifestyle of eating and give you a better chance for long-term success! FOK Whole Foods + Plant-Based Plan
Lastly, if you’re a parent striving to get more veggies and more plants in general into the healthy diets of your family and especially your kiddos? I can add this recommendation for the Parent’s Guide by Forks Over Knives as well!
Okay, seriously last suggestion! I just love this this stuff! Another option would be this heroic cartoon friendly cookbook SuperFoods for SuperKids that would go well in any kitchen!
Goodness, I could geek out on this for days.
Talk about having fun in the kitchen with food and your family! Full of colorful pictures, easy to assemble recipes… getting the kids involved is just seriously so fun in my opinion!
May you have a wonderful rest of your weekend, enjoy some rest and stay abreast the best ways you can be living your best life possible through mindful, intentional, loving and supporting lifestyles that match your values and the life you want to live, the legacy you want to leave.
Peace and Blessings to you this week!
Every new season brings new delight and new challenges. This is the ebb and flow of life and our values will continue to be our guiding compass leading our steps forward.
We Zig and We Zag, as we learn to adapt.