Sunday, November 22, 2020

My Favorite Healthy Things to Eat

I'm going to keep updating this list I think.  But I've been meaning to make a list of reliably good recipes I make since this blog is a list of pretty much everything I've ever made, some of which should not be made again.  This list will focus on plant-based, mostly whole food recipes that taste good to me and also make me feel good (i.e., vegan healthy stuff).

 

Breakfast...

Kale-Berry Smoothie (My go-to breakfast.)

 

Soups...

I like to make a big pot of soup about once a week in the cold months.  I eat it for lunch with some fruit and give a cup of the non-spicy ones to Simran as a side dish to her usual quesadilla or whatever she's eating for lunch.

Curry Pumpkin Soup (The tastiest of the bunch. Even Simran likes it.)

Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup (Great way to pack beans and cruciferous greens into a meal.)

Sambar  (Full of protein and veg, so add brown rice or idli and it's a filling meal all by itself.  It's spicy, so I like it when I have a cold.)

Vegetable Manchow Soup (My favorite food when I have any sort of cold or flu because it's spicy and light but also nutrient dense.) 


Veggie Sides...

Blanched dark leafy greens with Walnut Sauce (Even Simran likes this.  It's best on lacinato or dinosaur kale, but it's good on chard or pretty much whatever you've got.)

Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Whole Grain Mustard Sauce (Simran doesn't eat the sauce on this, but she eats the seared sprouts without complaint.) 

French Beans with Caper Bagna Cauda (Simran's favorite veggie side.) 

Collard Greens with Almonds (It's easy and very healthy.) 

Steamed Asparagus with Lemon-Caper Mayo (I keep a container of lemon-caper mayo in my fridge all summer alongside a container of steamed, chilled asparagus ready to eat. This is another one where Sim doesn't like the sauce but she'll eat the veg plain.)

Smoky Potato Salad over Greens (This is good in summer whenever you have arugula or salad greens that you need to use up.)

Red Cabbage Slaw (This is another one no one in the house likes as much as I do.  It goes well with Mexican food though and Sameer will eat a large plate of it if he has red chile pesto to mix in.)


Main Courses...

Creole Red Beans & Rice (I replace the white rice with brown and adjust the cooking time and liquid amount accordingly.  I really need to type up the times and amounts.  Otherwise this is a quick and easy one.)

Vegan Shepherd's Pie

Tofu Pot Pie

Tofu Provencal

Dal Makhani  

Nut-Crusted Tofu

Hearty Veggie Hoagies (Sim loves these and you can make them hours in advance. Great for hot summer days.)

Veggie Summer Rolls (Light and delicious. A fair amount of prep work, but Sim helps, and they're perfect for hot summer days.)


My Comfort Foods...

Breakfast Burrito with sausage (Seems like a lot of work if you're tired and/or depressed, but you can buy vegan breakfast sausages ready made in the freezer section and, once you've got everything cooked, you've got several meals worth of breakfast burrito materials ready to re-heat, roll up, and eat.)

Black Bean Burgers (Make a batch whenever, individually wrap them in wax paper, and put them in a ziploc bag in the freezer.  Then you've got several meals worth of burgers ready to heat in the oven or toaster oven whenever you need something healthy, tasty, and protein-packed.) 

Vegetarian Club Sandwich (This isn't really health food, but it's quick and easy, not terrible for you, and it does make me feel better when I eat it.  Tofurky deli slices are vegan, but Morningstar bacon contains egg whites, so you can make it vegan by using bacon-flavored tempeh slices instead and Vegannaise in place of the mayo.  I exclusively use vegan mayo now. I've never missed the eggy version.)

Buffalo Tofu Salad (The theme I'm seeing in this post is "things I can make once and eat for several days." This is another one of those recipes I eat for lunch for like an entire week. I need to update my buffalo tofu recipe because I make it differently from the original recipe and bread it with 1/3 cup cornmeal and 2/3 cup oats.)


Sweets...

Healthy Chocolate Truffles (Even Simran likes this one, and she prefers straight up junk food.)

Cherry Chocolate Chia Pudding (Ideal healthy way to curb a craving for chocolate or candy.  I'm the only one in the house who thinks so though.)

Mango Sorbet (We all like this one.  I need to type it up.  It's just unsweetened mango -- canned or frozen, though fresh would work if you have it -- blended with the juice of a fresh lime or two and about a tsp of agave nectar.  Then run it through the ice cream maker.)

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