Mmmm comfort food at its finest. I love using chickpea pasta and other bean pastas. They’re super high in protein, fiber, iron, and resistant starch to really help feed your good gut bacteria- helping not only your digestion and blood sugar levels, but also your immunity and mood! Lots of nerves in the gut- feed it well!
Serves about 8:
1 cauliflower, rough chop into large florets
1 yellow onion, discard outer layer and chop into quarters
1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon black pepper
1/3 avocado
1 boiled sweet potato (skin removed)
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1-2 garlic cloves
Juice of 1/4 – 1/2 lemon
16 oz dry elbow macaroni pasta (I like using banza chickpea pasta)
1 cup frozen peas
Steam onion and cauliflower until soft and translucent (about 15 minutes)
Combine steamed vegetables with salt, pepper, avocado, potato, and nutritional yeast in a food processor S blade or high speed blender and blend until smooth
Boil macaroni according to manufacture’s instructions and mix with peas. Pour sauce over macaroni and peas and mix well. Transfer to casserole dish for serving
Who doesn’tLove pasta? Yes, love with a capital “L”. For these recipes I used banza pasta made from chickpeas. Bean pasta is awesome! It is super high in nutrients like iron and beneficial fiber. Plus it is loaded with protein. It’s gluten free and only takes 7-8 minutes to cook. Obsessed. I particularly like the Banza brand because it looks just like regular pasta and has a really nice consistency. Some bean pastas that I have tried are a little mealy and chalky, this brand is nice and noodle-y. I don’t know how else to describe it 😛 Hope you enjoy these recipes! xo
Mmmm when I had this recipe the first time I could have sworn it had peanut butter and sugar in it with its gingery garlic creamy deliciousness. Its just sesame seeds and dates!? What!? So simple and I can assure you this recipe will not disappoint!
Adapted from Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s Quick and Easy Chilled Sesame Noodles
Serves 6
Ingredients:
8 ounces bean pasta, cooked according to package directions, rinsed under cold water, and drained
1 pound fresh or frozen broccoli florets, steamed
1 pound mushrooms, chopped + steamed (or use another pound of broccoli or any other vegetable you love!)
1 large red bell pepper
6 scallions thinly sliced
For the Sauce
1/4 cup unhulled sesame seeds, lightly pan toasted
1 cup water
2-3 tablespoons raw almonds or cashews (preferably soaked / sprouted)
3 tablespoons lime juice (or rice vinegar / apple cider vinegar)
Steps
In a high speed blender, puree all the sauce ingredients until smooth
In a large bowl, toss the cooked pasta, bell pepper, scallion, steamed broccoli, and veggies with the sauce until thoroughly coated.
Divide among 6 plates and serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to use.
Prescription Pesto
Yaaas pesto :-P. This recipe has got all the medicine in it, and TBH: there is nothing I crave more. This pesto is BOMB. Don’t be fooled by the word, “medicine.” Back in the day when you used to plug your nose to get the stuff down. This powerful pesto has got the most potent DNA protecting and disease reversing foods like greens, turmeric, beans, walnuts, and garlic. And this medicine, baby. Just can’t get enoughhh yuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pasta. What a delectable vehicle for vegetables! Add your favorite beans, steamed veggies, and tomato sauce and BOOM! An impressive gourmet dinner. While intact grains are the gold standard (grains in their whole form), whole grains, yes including their bran, germ, and endosperm, are milled into a fine flour to make whole grain pastas, breakfast cereals, and other “whole grain” products. A few examples of legit whole intact grains would be steel cut oats, brown rice, quinoa, and millet.
How to tell if the product is WHOLE GRAIN?
Whole grain stamp is on the package
“100%” or “Whole” are used to describe it
The first ingredient listed is a whole grain
Refined grains are not only grains milled into a flour, but their grain was stripped of the nutrient and fiber containing bran and germ! Murder! Refined grains are white / light in color and examples include white bread, cookies, cakes, pretzels, white rice, regular pasta, and anything made with white flour. Darn!
Don’t fret too much! The recommendation is:
Make at least 1/2 of your grains whole grains.
Grains are an important part of a healthy balanced diet for fiber, iron, magnesium, selenium, b vitamins, and lasting energy! Be sure to include them on your plate.
The Taste Test
Well before #1, my personal favorite is ZUCCHINILINI OF COURSE! Which is simply zucchini or summer squash, spirilized to look and feel like spaghetti. I like to mix it with pasta dishes to add bulk, flavor, color, and more veg of course!
#1 Nature’s Promise Whole Wheat Spaghetti: #1 in taste, texture, and nutritional profile. Contains gluten.
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#2. Bionaturae Gluten Free Corn and Soy Spaghetti: Fabulous texture and taste and with 5g protein and 6% iron, this product is ok. Low in fiber
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#3. Jovial Gluten Free Brown Rice Spaghetti: Quite sticky texture, but great flavor and elasticity. Would go great with a sauce. However, low in fiber although whole grain. Brown rice is naturally low in fiber.
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#4. Ancient Harvest Gluten Free Corn and Quinoa Spaghetti: Texture dry and kinda crunchy, but a good source of fiber at 16% daily value and 10% iron!
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#5. Andean Dream Quinoa Gluten Free Spaghetti: Texture was definitely a little sandy. But I must say with 6% calcium, 12% iron, and just barely a good source of fiber at 10% daily value, not bad.
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The Consensus:
The quinoa based gluten free products have a better nutritional profile, but are not as delicious as the lower fiber rice based ones.
Why I personally still avoid Gluten?
Do I go out of my way to avoid gluten?
No. I still enjoy it in moderation. My mom makes homemade bread and pizza with gluten which I eat occasionally. My diet is whole foods based, so I rarely purchase packaged products that might contain gluten.
Do I eat gluten every day?
No. Maybe I eat a gluten containing meal or snack 3-4 times a week. I am generally healthy and do not currently feel any reason to put more effort into seriously avoiding wheat, barley, rye, and foods containing gluten 100% of the time.
Why I make this personal choice:
My sister has ulcerative colitis, which is similar to celiacs in that they are both autoimmune inflammatory intestinal disorders. With a genetic risk factor in my family, I try to not over load the gluten as a personal preventative measure.
Studies linking gluten and autism spectrum disorders autism-and-nutrition-1. The GFCF (gluten free casein free) diet has been shown to help people with ADHD and autism, what else could it be linked to? I am ever curious and after reading such articles have trouble stomaching gluten (and of course would never recommend drinking milk).
Naturopaths recommend avoiding gluten initially when trying to avoid inflammation with an “elimination diet,” along with dairy and other common inflammatory trigger foods. With this in mind, many people have success reversing adverse symptoms like rashes, IBS, fatigue, etc (SO MANY), once they remove gluten from their diet. I grew up with canker sores, weird rashes, and eczema so, avoiding inflammation (and gluten) is in my best interest.
Close friends with celiac disease so it is easier for everybody to find a gluten free delicious option!
While as you could see from the video, a gluten free diet is not recommended for the general public because it tends to have less nutrients. Be a savvy shopper and let me know if you have any questions! Enjoy those intact whole grains and plant yums! xx
School, work, packing for kids, or just want easy healthy lunch ideas; I’ve got you covered! Three of my favorite and most simple lunch combos. Watch this video to get the tips, snacks, and full recipes.
Last week I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Washington DC for a plant based dietitian job interview at the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine. They had me stay at their guest house, The Baker House, with interns who are occupants there for the summer. If you haven’t already heard of the PCRM, it is an organization whose mission is ultimately to provide evidence based expertise to save the world. You can imagine how nervous/excited this wanna-be superhero was for this interview!!!
Back to the ziti- The ladies residing at The Baker House, Sofie and Catherine, are two brilliant, friendly, open minded vegans that became my close friends insanely quickly. Catherine has made this dish a bunch of times and raved how it is always a win. Girl- you got that right! Pool money to make dinner and eat it together!? Of course!!! Which lead me to enjoy the dish that I am sure will get anyone to give more vegan meals a try. Thank you ladies!
1 24oz jar marinara sauce (we used an organic fat-free option plus some that was already open in the fridge)
1 1/2 cups vegan mozzarella shreds (we used 1 bag of daiya shredded mozzarella)
1 lb firm tofu, drained
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast or vegan grated parmesan
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup vegan cream cheese (we used 1/2 of a container of tofutti)
Steps
Boil water and cook ziti to manufacturer’s instructions and preheat oven to 425*F
For ‘ricotta’: crumble tofu in a large bowl and add in nutritional yeast (or parmesan), salt, pepper, oregano, garlic powder, and cream cheese. Mix fully with a fork or large spoon.
Mix the cooked pasta, most of the marinara sauce, and ricotta in a large bowl
In a large baking pan, add some marinara to line the bottom, transfer the mixture in, and spread it out evenly.
Top with the rest of the marinara and finally the layer of mozzarella shreds
Cover the dish with foil and bake ~20 minutes, uncover, and cook for another 5-10 minutes.
Eat with a side of greens and those people who actually get you and still like you! 😉 xo
Catherine, Sofie, and I eating takeout from ‘Hip City Veg’ on the Smithsonian Steps
I love not following recipes, don’t you? This is just a crazy good experiment of mine inspired by Healthy is a Verb and Ambitious Kitchen. Came out pretty bomb. I have no idea what the exact measurements are, I was just throwing stuff together. Feel it out, and make it with whatever veggies you like. With V day coming up, this is the perfect one to share with your hubby. Or, save the rest for later gator! Have fun!
The Stir Fry
1/3 cup water, (keep a glass of water close by, this is used to prevent sticking to pan without added oil)
1/3 small onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, grated finely using cheese grater or minced
1/4 cup almonds, chopped (I totally forgot about these until after I took pic and ate some of it, makes a great crunch!)
If you haven’t roasted your squash yet, prehead oven to 400*F. Cut it in half the long way and place it open side down on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for ~45 minutes or until soft
In a large frying pan over medium to high heat, heat the water, onion, garlic, and ginger, about 3-5 minutes, mixing often
Throw in the broccoli, cabbage, bell pepper, and mushrooms, let it get happy for another 2 minutes
Next comes the bok choy and mix another minute, feel free to add water if needed
Scrape out half of the spaghetti squash (keeping seeds- yum love squash seeds!) and mix that in
Mix in ~1/2 cup of peanut pinto sauce and mix until well combined
Peel orange and cut it into slices perpendicular to the way the sections go to make nice little orange pieces like in the picture. Makes for a delish orange, peanut, gingery kind of asian vibe
Mix in orange chunks, and top with lime to squeeze and crushed / chopped nuts. YUM!
Peanut Pinto Sauce
~1/2 cup dry pinto beans, soaked for 6 hours and boiled for ~30 minutes, [or feel free to use canned no salt added pinto beans, drained and rinsed (I like Eden’s brand the best, if using Eden’s, drain, but no need to rinse)]
~1/4 cup of peanut butter (the kind with one ingredient only: Peanuts. if there are “hydrogenated oils” on the ingredients label, toss it)
~2 Tbsp maple syrup
~1 cup boiling water (from cooking beans)
juice of ~1/2 lime*
Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth. Not sure about the measurements but I think it would be hard to make this combo taste bad. Hope you’re hungry!
*I put lime or lemon juice on everything, for flavor, for peak iron absorption, and it makes me feel amazing!
Hello October! While at home back in MA, the curvy streets covered with overhung trees are probably glowing red, yellow, and orange. Here in South Texas, the palm trees are still green, blowing a warm breeze. No matter where I am, October will always welcome the grounding, snuggly, sweater weather that requires something orange in every recipe. This simple pasta dish provides a creamy sauce with earthy tones and a variety of textures that can be served hot or cold- perfect for Mama back home and my friends here in the heat 🙂 Balance our chemistry, hydrate these cells! Enjoy ❤
Chiffonade kale and spiralize zucchini. If you don’t have a spiralizer, a potato peeler works great for making nice long thick noodles
Blend lime juice, tomato, and avocado, (and if you have any herbs like italian seasoning or fresh basil, thyme, or sage, throw some of that in! That’s be SO GOOD!) in blender or small food processor until creamy
In a large bowl, combine kale, zucchini, and sauce and mix
Dice the boiled sweet potato and add it to the bowl. Also add quinoa and sprouted lentils
Serve with sunflower seeds, lime, and grilled okra (I baked mine on a lightly greased with coconut oil pan on 350F for about 15-20 minutes, just to get it tender, I love the stuff raw too!)
magnesium, selenium, b vitamins, and lasting energy! Be sure to include them on your plate.
VITAMIN KATIE 