So I have this awesome friend that is following a very simple nutritional program that I've laid out for her and she mentioned that I should pass along any veggie recipes I knew.
The truth is... I LOVE VEGETABLES. Here's how I answered her:
As far as veggie recipe ideas go...
I know you love Elana as much as I do but FOR SERIOUS... the list of things she makes is EXHAUSTIVE and so dependably good! http://www.elanaspantry.com/recipes/ I like the savory stuff and the veggies! :) If you stick exactly to some of the salad recipes too you're not getting a ton of fat at ALL with the dressings. If you're fretting about that anyway you can always stick with super lean meats to go with your salads... simple boiled chicken breast or pre-sliced turkey and chicken or pre-poached salmon from Trader Joe's. The great thing about most of her veggie recipes too is that there IS some fruit flavoring (like raisins in the kale, oranges in the salads...). This is ok! All I would do is just take out the fruit you might have in the morning and exchange it for the fruit in the salad later in the day.
A word on salads:
They can be great and really filling because of all the bulk from the leaves. I'm sure you could figure out a way to do a cobb salad... I often eat my salads without dressing and find that I'm totally cool with that as long as I can drizzle a little of the fat from the pan of whatever I cooked over my salad - or do a little lemon/lime/orange squeezing... OR - do mustard. Mustard's a pretty sweet thing to use when trying to get lean because it does provide good flavoring - but it's pretty much not very calorie dense at all. Mustard chicken could be easy to make and fun to eat. You could also do a thai tasting salad pretty easily too by adding a tiny pit of almond butter to a chicken marinade (marinating stuff is WHERE IT'S AT by the way). OR make it simple and buy a marinade that's real and a little low in fat... use it sparingly (don't drench your meat) and you should be safe!
Here are some of the veggie recipes that I think would be great to try:
http://www.elanaspantry.com/asian-slaw/ - do this one without the stevia, sesame seeds, and instead of buying a JAR of almond butter that you will then have around - just buy a packet or a small tin of almond butter. Peanut butter if you have to.
http://www.elanaspantry.com/coleslaw/ - no agave nectar! You're probably safe trying this recipe without the sweetener altogether but what I would do is just throw in a little raw honey. It's tough to eat a lot of that stuff so having it around probably won't be that bad. Feel free to just use packets of honey if you don't want to risk it. A few is fine. As far as the mayonnaise part goes - just get the omega-3 mayo wegmans has and only do like anywhere from 1/2 to 1/4 of a cup. Pretty basic.
http://www.elanaspantry.com/cucumber-mango-salad/ - super simple, super refreshing. What I would do as far as the mango goes is do a LOT more cucumber than mango and again take out the fruit in the am. PS... ume plum vinegar is GREAT for you... the Japanese use it to cure hangovers.
http://www.elanaspantry.com/no-potato-salad/ - this is an EXCELLENT idea and would go REALLY well with burgers for a week. I think you could easily get away with making this just as is.
http://www.elanaspantry.com/sunflower-sprout-salad/ - SUPER SIMPLE! And as easy as it gets. Grab greens, grab tomatoes, grab some sprouts (good for you!), grab a teeny bit of olive oil and lemon juice, maybe some cracked pepper and you're golden! Serve with fish, I think! Or maybe some shrimp!
http://www.elanaspantry.com/zucchini-attack-summer-squash-salad/ - sounds good to me, I'd do one tbs. of olive oil and skip the almonds. Summer means SO MUCH SQUASH AROUND... should be pretty simple. DO NOT skip the FRESH BASIL. Fresh herbs make food incredible.
http://www.elanaspantry.com/roasted-asparagus/ - so simple... asparagus is CHOCK full of B vitamins (some of the best for your brain and nerve tissue regeneration (makes you stronger!)... it's also got folic acid in it which makes you smell. ha!
http://www.elanaspantry.com/squash-pie/ - I've made this before... it's AWESOME as a breakfast takeaway thing! I'd eat it with a hardboiled egg on the side since it already has eggs in it... but you can make it as is because it makes a LOT of food so the fat gets distributed well. It's great too because there's no fruit in it but it still tastes just slightly sweet!
http://www.elanaspantry.com/bbq-sauce/ - lucky you... this barbecue sauce is SAFE to make! The orange juice will be giving it a little bit of sugar... but you can just take the fruit out of your day for days when you eat this too (especially given the tomatoes)! :) I'd make a big vat of it if you really like it and just dress all your chicken in it. Eat it with some collard greens and plain sweet potato and you've got a bangin' meal.
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes/carrots - so many ways to make CAAAARRRROOOOTSS!!!!!!!!! Go light on the butter with the first recipe and you should be fine (you probably won't need more than a pat of it to give it some depth).
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes/baked-mushrooms - these are fine too! Lay off anything but a LITTLE bit of hard cheese. Just the baked mushroom itself is AWESOME. You know you want to eat these when someone ELSE makes them for you! :)
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes/braised-greens - this is definitely a good way to make greens. Pretty much a staple. You can mess around with flavor. Ginger and garlic with bok choy. Nutmeg with spinach. Stuff like that.
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes/easy-peas - Peas and mint. It's genius. Don't be afraid to like peas! Obviously use less butter.
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes/good-old-french-bean-salad - You thought you would never have a reason to use chervil. Now you do. This is another recipe that shows you how AWESOME mustard is.
http://www.molliekatzen.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipe=mashed_parsnips - you should know what a parsnip is. It's the Beatrix Potter amazingness you need to seriously LOVE.
http://www.molliekatzen.com/archives.php#vegetables - in general, mollie katzen is awesome...
That's about it! I have a lot more - like do you even know what daikon is? And we didn't talk about pickles! - but I'll hold off for now.
Love,
me
No comments:
Post a Comment