I love cooking but when you are busy, sometimes its hard to find the time to whip something up. Whenever you do find yourself in the kitchen, think “cook in bulk”. This will make your life so much easier and will also make eating healthy much easier. No matter your eating habits or health needs, you should be able to find a recipe below to enjoy.
According to the American Heart Association, they recommend a Meditteranean Diet for heart health and cardiovascular disease prevention.
The Mediteranean diet is a fish and poultry focused diet with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. It includes healthy fats from olives, olive oil, and avocados. You will also see a focus on ancient whole grains, nuts, seeds, and beans.
Below are recipes that cover vegetarian options, ancient grains like Quinoa, and creative ways to sneak in beans.
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Enjoy!
Vegan Taco Salad
https://www.vnutritionandwellness.com/walnut-meat-tacos/ https://www.mydarlingvegan.com/vegan-taco-salad/
Modified by Dr. Lexi Lain
Ingredients
1 batch of walnuts for the "vegan" taco meat
2 heads of romaine lettuce chopped
2 cans of organic Black beans
1-2 cups of organic cherry tomatoes
1 Avocado, sliced
Corn tortillas chips
1 tbsp coconut oil
Salsa of choice
1-2 limes
Salt
Water as needed
Walnut-Minced Meat
Place Walnuts in a food processor.
Add 1 tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp cumin, ½ tsp chili powder, 1 tbsp tamari/soy sauce. Process until mixture is of a meaty consistency.
In a large bowel, add chopped romaine lettuce. Place Walnut-meat mixture in the center. Add the tomatoes, avocado, tortilla chips, and black beans in different lines or in whatever presentation you would like. Be creative. Squeeze the lime on everything. Then drizzle salsa on top and enjoy.
Black Bean Pasta and Stir Fry
Recipe by Dr. Lexi Lain
*You do not have to use the Black Bean Pasta. You can do zucchini pasta, rice pasta (my favorite place to go is the oriental section), veggie pasta, quinoa pasta, or rice pasta. The following recipe comes from the Black bean spaghetti packet itself.
Recipe modified by Dr. Lexi Lain
Ingredients
1 packet Explore Asia: Black Bean Spaghetti (www.explore-asia.com)
1 can coconut cream
2 tbsp of red curry paste
2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp freshly chopped cilantro
2 tbsp coconut oil
Salt and Black pepper(optional)
Parmesan cheese.
1 yellow onion
2 garlic cloves
2 colorful bell peppers sliced thinly
1 zucchini
1-2 cups of kale
Boil pasta in 8 cups of water x 6-8 minutes
Pour coconut cream, red curry paste, ginger, and cilantro into a saucepan and simmer gently.
In a wok or large pan, heat on medium. Add some coconut oil to the pan (about 2 tbs). Saute’ onions and garlic. Add bell peppers and then zuchinnin. Finally, add the kale until the kale becomes bright green. Once the kale is bright green, add the curry sauce to the mixture.
You can either mix the pasta with the vegetables or serve the vegetables on top of the pasta.
For added protein: add baked chicken, tofu, or shrimp
Ground Turkey stuffed peppers
Recipe by Dr. Lexi Lain
Ingredients
1 pound lean ground Turkey
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4th cup of fresh parsley chopped
2 tsp cumin powder
Pinch of sea salt
3-4 large bell peppers (you can pick your color1-2 cans or organic diced tomatoes
Preparing the Peppers:
Carefully cut the tops to the peppers off and take out the seeds. Place them on a baking pan with the opened end up.
Brown Turkey in a frying pan with coconut oil. With it’s toward the end of the browning season with salt, pepper, and 1 tsp cumin. Drain off liquid.
Saute’ onion, garlic, and 1 tsp of cumin in the same pan. Add meat back into pan. Add the 1-2 cans of organic diced tomatoes. Don’t drain these but actually use the liquid in the cans. Add ½ a cup of chicken broth. Let the flavors simmer x 5 minutes.
If you would like to add a grain: cook 1 cup of rice on the side
.
Combine all ingredients together and place ingredients inside the peppers. If there’s extra, simply place the ingredients around the peppers.
Bake at 400 for 45 minutes
Citrus Salmon, Quinoa, and Asparagus
Recipe by Dr. Lexi Lain
Ingredients
Salmon
2-3 Oranges
Raw local honey (if you desire)
1 cup dried quinoa
1 cup 100% orange juice
1 cup Chicken or Vegetable Broth
4 cloves of garlic
1 yellow onion
Asparagus (add as many other veggies as you may like)
For the Salmon
Place Salmon in foil. Drizzle olive oil on top. Squeeze fresh oranges on top and place the orange slices around the salmon. Add 2 cloves of crushed garlic. For a sweeter flavor, you may also add honey. Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt and pepper.
Bake at 450 degrees, skin side of salmon down, x 12-15 minutes.
For the Quinoa
Add 1 cup of Quinoa to 1 cup 100% orange juice and 1 cup Chicken or Vegetable broth. Add all ingredients in pot. Bring to a boil and simmer covered x 5-10 minutes or until liquid is all gone. While Salmon and Quinoa are cooking, you can saute’ asparagus with a bit of coconut oil, garlic, onions, and orange slices.
Squeeze some fresh orange juice on top to compliment the flavors.
Mediterranean Garbanzo Bean and Quinoa Salad
Resource: www.delish.com by Makinze Gore 4/25/2018
Modified by Dr. Lexi Lain
Ingredients For Salad:
2 cans organic chickpeas or garbanzo beans, drained, and rinsed.
1 medium cucumber, chopped
1 red bell peppe
r½ red onion
½ cup of kalamata olives
2 fresh medium tomatoes chopped
Sea Salt
Ground Pepper
You can watch how to make the video here.
Quinoa Salad
For Vinaigrette
1/4th cup of fresh parsley chopped
½ cup of extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon (might need 2 depending on your preference of taste)
Salt
Pepper
Put it all in a large bowl, mix together, and wallah!