Category: Dairy-Free Page 3 of 5

Sweet Potato, Edamame & Quinoa Bowl

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On July 23, 2016

In Anti-Inflammatory, Clean Eating, Dairy-Free, Dairy-Free, Detoxifying, GBOMBS, Gluten-Free, Products I Use, Recipes, Vegan

What if meal prep and planning could be easier? Cheaper? Tastier? More nourishing?

During the typical work week when I have lots of presentations and meetings and spend a good amount of time in my car, one of the best ways to make sure I stay energized is to have nourishing meals readily available.

I was preparing to teach a cooking demo about Meal Planning Made Easy to a client in DC and shared how to make overnight oats and mason jar salads. I knew I wanted to add one more recipe into the mix. I thought about the types of meals Bill and I typically prepare during the week without following recipes and was inspired to create this recipe.

sweet-potato-bowl-closeup

We tend to use recipe templates instead of always following a recipe line by line. In addition to the versatile overnight oats and mason jar salad recipes, grain bowls are another template we roughly follow when coming up with meals.

They’re easy to assemble. We toss together whatever veggies, grains and proteins we have and mix everything up with a homemade dressing (or whatever we have in our fridge!). We top everything off with chopped nuts or seeds to add some crunch.

In this Sweet Potato, Edamame & Quinoa Bowl, I combined a gluten-free grain (quinoa) with a fiber-filled roasted veg (sweet potatoes) and protein (edamame), a pop of color and greenery (scallions), and some crunch and healthy fat (cashews). I topped everything off with my favorite salad dressing of all time plus one of my favorite anti-inflammatory, digestion-loving, heart healthy ingredients – fresh ginger root.

ginger-389906_1920

My husband, Bill, and I love this dish so much that we’ve made it twice in the past few weeks. It can be served warm or chilled, and it’s lasted us for multiple dinners and lunches each time, which has saved us time and money.

We decided to repurpose the dressing from our favorite kale salad for this recipe and added minced ginger to boost the flavor even more.

sweet-potato-bowl

Sweet Potato, Edamame & Quinoa Bowl

This dish has every texture and flavor you could want in a dish and is ALWAYS a crowd-pleaser!

Salad

  • 1 pound sweet potatoes (chopped)
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • black pepper (to taste)
  • 1 cup quinoa (uncooked)
  • 2 cups shelled edamame
  • 1/2 cup raw cashews (lightly toasted and chopped)
  • 1/3 cup scallions (chopped)

Creamy Ginger Tahini Dressing

  • 3 tablespoons tahini ((sesame paste))
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon 100% pure maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon tamari ((gluten-free soy sauce))
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 2 small cloves garlic (minced)
  • 1 inch ginger root (peeled and minced)
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil (extra virgin)

  1. Preheat oven to 400F. Toss sweet potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roasted for 20-25 minutes until pierced easily with a fork.

  2. Cook quinoa according to package directions. Spread quinoa on a parchment-lined baking sheet to cool and prevent it from clumping together. This last step is optional but really helps.

  3. While quinoa is cooking, cook edamame according to package directions and then set aside.

  4. Whisk dressing ingredients together in a small jar. Set aside.

  5. Put cooled quinoa in a large bowl and add sweet potatoes, edamame, scallions, and cashews. Pour dressing over salad and toss to combine evenly. Add more sea salt and pepper to taste.

Cheezy Cauliflower Nachos {Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free}

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On May 16, 2016

In Clean Eating, Dairy-Free, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Nourish, Paleo, Recipes, Savor, Vegan, Vegetarian

We’re in the FINAL stages of our kitchen renovation, and I can’t wait to show you all the before and after pics! It took so long to find the right styles and materials, and we spent so long looking through different kitchen designers melbourne for some inspiration (we heard they were really good)! So I am finally excited to see our before and after pics to see how far we have really come. I’m waiting for some frames to arrive to hang up artwork, and then I’ll reveal the final look. It’s been very exciting! 🙂

On Thursday night, we decided that we’d had enough of eating dinner in our basement. We brought most of our kitchen stuff upstairs and started putting food, cups, plates, bowls and other accessories in their new homes. For the first time in my life, I have a pantry and soft close drawers and doors! It’s the little things.

We decided to break in the kitchen by making our first dinner in the new space that night. And we shared some pretty nasty champagne to celebrate! Me and Bill Cheers

Inspired by a recent visit to the AWESOME MOMs Organic Market and cafe in Hamdpen, I decided to take a stab at making vegan cauliflower nachos, a dish they had on their menu at the Naked Lunch cafe. My friend Katie and I split it the other day when we met up for lunch, and it was delicious!

As a kid I never ate beans, brown rice, avocados or scallions, so everything in this dish represents quite a few transformations along my food journey. Our taste buds are highly adaptable, so give foods you’ve previously sworn off a second chance!

Since removing dairy products from my diet (here’s why I did), I’ve missed some of the creamy goodness dairy-based foods provide. But, because my body feels and functions so much better without them, I don’t consider it a struggle to be without them. And that’s what motivates me to find alternatives like the cheese-y sauce used in this recipe.

The “cheese” sauce has a bit of a kick to it (back off the cayenne if you want less).

Cheese Sauce CloseupIt’s creaminess comes from the cashews and tahini, two ingredients I use in a lot of my recipes that you can find at just about any grocery store (find tahini in the natural food aisle or international aisle in the Mediterranean section).

We haven’t made this cheese sauce in over two years, and Bill liked it so much that he said, “We need to make a batch of this stuff every week!”

From start to finish, this recipe comes together pretty quickly, as the cauliflower takes very little time to roast and the cheese sauce can be whipped up in a matter of minutes in the blender.

Vegan nachos pic

Ingredients

  • 1 head cauliflower, cut into bite-size pieces
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cups cooked brown rice
  • 1 15-ounce can no sodium added black beans, drained and rinsed (Eden Organic or Field Day Organic are our go-tos)
  • 1 avocado, diced
  • 2 scallions, chopped
  • Sea salt and black pepper to taste
  • 1 batch noocho cheese sauce

To learn more about the ingredients in the noocho cheese sauce, check out this blog post I wrote about it previously.

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400F.
  2. Toss cauliflower with olive oil and a few pinches of sea salt and pepper. Roast on a baking sheet for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown and a fork pierces through easily. Remove from oven and set aside.
  3. Add rice and beans to a medium bowl and stir to combine. Top with roasted cauliflower, avocado, scallions, and noocho cheese sauce.

Mexican Brownie Bites {No-Bake, Paleo, Vegan}

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On April 15, 2016

In Dairy-Free, GBOMBS, Gluten-Free, Paleo, Recipes

One of my favorite things to create in my kitchen are recipes for energy bites and balls and no-bake cookies. They are one of the most popular and well-liked things I make.

I wanted to share my latest creation with you today. Because I love chocolate, I thought I’d take a stab at making a no-bake version of Mexican brownies inspired by this recipe.

The only difference between these and my typical fudge bites is the addition of some heat in the form of cayenne powder 🙂 You don’t notice it right away, but it will linger just a bit on the back of your tongue when you finish savoring these little chocolate bites of joy!

Ingredients

1/2 cup raw walnuts
1/2 cup raw almonds
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/3 cup raw cacao powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder
1 1/3 cup Medjool dates, pitted and coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Put the nuts in the food processor and run until finely ground.
  2. Add the remaining dry ingredients and process until evenly combined.
  3. Add the dates and vanilla and run for about 60-90 seconds or until the mixture starts sticking together.
  4. Press dough into parchment paper and cover with another piece of parchment and roll out dough with a rolling pin. Use a pizza cutter or knife to cut dough into rows and then squares. Another option is to shape the dough into 1-inch balls. Store in the refrigerator or freezer.

10 Cauliflower-Powered Recipes {Vegan, Paleo}

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On March 24, 2016

In Anti-Inflammatory, Clean Eating, Dairy-Free, Dairy-Free, Detoxifying, GBOMBS, Gluten-Free, Gluten-Free, Paleo, Paleo, Recipes, Tips & Tricks, Vegan, Vegetarian

I was teaching a workshop about Eating for Energy last week at a company, and one of the employees said she would love some creative ideas for how to use cauliflower, so I thought I’d dedicate an entire post to it.

This one is for you, Deb!

For starters, cauliflower is one of the most nutrient-packed yet under appreciated veggies out there. This less colorful cousin of our beloved broccoli happens to be one of the best foods we can eat, yet very few of us eat it!

mash

Cauliflower is one of Dr. Fuhrman’s GBOMBS, which are the most powerful, nutrient-packed, antioxidant-rich, anti-inflammatory, immune-boosting, disease-fighting foods on the planet! Most of what we eat on a daily basis are GBOMBS. To learn more about them, click here.

Here are just a few more reasons why you’ll want to add more of this cruciferous vegetable to your life:

  • Packed with vitamin C and other powerful antioxidants that helps our cells protect and repair themselves from damage, which is essential for optimizing our health
  • Contains sulforaphane, a compound that has been shown to kill cancer stem cells, thereby slowing tumor growth, AND improve blood pressure
  • Source of potent anti–inflammatory nutrients. Chronic inflammation (caused by stress, what we eat, lack of movement, etc.) can significantly increase our risk of cancers and other chronic diseases, so we want to do anything we can to reduce inflammation!
  • Supports our body’s detoxification (“clean up”) process, which is important because we are exposed to so many environmental and dietary toxins on a daily basis

To learn more about the awesomeness of cauliflower, click here or here.

Most of us are familiar with eating raw or steamed cauliflower, but there SO many other ways to use this versatile veggie that taste amazing!

Why not try something a little more exciting? 🙂

You can roast it, make a substitute for mashed potatoes out of it, turn it into a pizza crust, whip up a batch of cauli-fredo fettuccine sauce (don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it!), and use it to make soups creamy.

Check out the links below to 10 recipes that will make you fall in love with cauliflower.cauli collage.jpg

Roasted Buddha Bowl by oh she glows

Roasted Cauliflower in Lemon Tahini Sauce by Vegetarian Times

Easy Cauliflower Rice by All Recipes

Smoky Roasted Cauliflower by Tori AveySmoky-Roasted-Cauliflower-5-640x480

Fancy Pants Curried Cauliflower Steaks & Mash by RNKcauli2name

Caulifredo Sauce with Zoodles by RNKcaulifredo

Cauliflower Pizza Crust by The Detoxinista

Detoxinista Pizza Crust

Photo Credit: The Detoxinista. Used with permission.

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Mash by RNKcauli mash cover.jpg

Creamy Rosemary Sweet Potato Soup by RNKIMG_8875Soupbanner

Garlic & Red Pepper Cauliflower Hummus by Our Fifth House

garlic-red-pepper-cauliflower-hummus

Photo Credit: Our Fifth House. Used with permission

What are your favorite cauliflower recipes?

Feel free to leave a comment below with a link!

I love hearing from you 🙂

How to Make Your Own Granola {Video}

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On March 10, 2016

In Clean Eating, Dairy-Free, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Gluten-Free, How To, Recipes

Let’s get back to basics.

With all of the talk and media buzz about the latest and greatest superfoods, sometimes we lose sight of how amazing some of the most basic and familiar foods are.

That’s why today is all about OATS!

oats

Whether you know them by oatmeal raisin cookies, a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast or as a common ingredient in granola, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ve eaten oats before. The oats I recommend buying are whole rolled oats (rather than the packets or “quick oats.”). If I want a chewier texture, I’ll change it up and use steel cut oats.

Oats are PACKED with some pretty awesome body and brain-boosting benefits:

  • With more soluble fiber than any other grain, oats help us stabilize our blood sugar, energy and mood AND help slow digestion and increase feelings of fullness
  • The contain compounds that help lower our cholesterol, which is why they are commonly recommended as a heart healthy food.
  • Second only to quinoa in protein content, oats contain a variety of amino acids, which serve as the building blocks to everything from our skin, hair and nails to our enzymes, hormones and neurotransmitters
  • Oats are rich in anti–inflammatory and antioxidant–rich compounds that protect our body and our brain

Oats are the star of today’s video that shows you how easy it is to make your own granola using everyday ingredients. It takes less than 5 minutes to assemble and only about 30 minutes to cook. Once you see how simple it is to do yourself, you won’t want the store-bought stuff!

Check out these other posts about two more granola recipes I’ve shared before:

granola closeup

Easy Trail Mix Granola

Ingredients

  • 4 cups rolled oats
  • 1 cup raw walnuts, chopped
  • 1 cup raw sunflower seeds
  • 1 cup shaved coconut
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup honey or 100% pure maple syrup (or a combo of both!)
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
  • 1 cup dried cranberries, raisins or goji berries

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 300F.
  2. Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add cinnamon and sea salt and stir to combine. Add honey, coconut oil and vanilla and combine with a large spoon or your hands until all of the pieces are coated and begin to stick together.
  3. Press granola onto a lined baking sheet and cook in the oven for 30-35 minutes, removing the pan to turn the granola with a spatula every 10-12 minutes. For more clumps, firmly press granola onto sheet with the back of your spatula or spoon after you toss it for the first time and don’t toss it again.
  4. When granola begins to smell fragrant and is starting to turn golden, remove it from the oven to cool. Once cool, add dried fruit and toss to combine. Store in a glass jar in the fridge.

If you want granola that clumps together more, substitute 2-4 tablespoons of whisked egg whites in place of some of the oil. 

The Best of Broccoli: 10 Awesome Recipes to Try

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On March 3, 2016

In Anti-Inflammatory, Clean Eating, Dairy-Free, Detoxifying, GBOMBS, Gluten-Free, Paleo, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian

There’s a lot of talk about “superfoods” these days.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed when we hear about all the nutrient-packed foods we “should” add to our diet like maca powder, goji berries, and spirulina. Given what I do for a living and because I like experimenting with food, I often have these foods in my pantry. They’re fun to add in to desserts, smoothies, chocolate bark and even trail mixes.

BUT, do you have to stock up on specialty superfoods like these in order to be well nourished? 

Nope!

There are so many amazing everyday foods we can eat that don’t cost a lot of money, are easily accessible, and, in most cases, are already familiar to you.

I’m going to be focusing on highlighting some of these simple superfoods over the next few months to encourage you to take different spins on how to make them more exciting. Whenever I get into the mode of experimenting with new ways of cooking the same food, it makes me want to eat it more often.

The first food has always been my favorite vegetable.

Broccoli!

Loaded with fiber, bone-building calcium, and immune-boosting, cancer-preventive, anti-inflammatory, and detoxifying compounds, broccoli is one of the most nourishing foods we can eat. Fortunately, there are so many amazingly delicious ways to prepare it.

The recipes below showcase this nutrient-packed super star in a number of ways – in soups, lightly steamed, sauteed, and my favorite way…roasted!

Roasted broccoli is quite possibly one of the most delicious foods on the planet, especially in recipe #9 for Garlicky Roasted Broccoli and in recipe #6 as a pop of color and texture in THE BEST dairy-free mac and cheese.

broccoli collage

Here are ten of my favorite broccoli recipes. Add one or two to next week’s meal plan!

Lemon Lentil Vegetable Soup by Meghan Telpner (easy and delicious soup, especially with avocado slices on top!)

Broccoli, Avocado & Lime Salad by Deliciously Ella

Roasted Buddha Bowl by oh she glows

skilletgoodbroccoli soup

Tangy creamy quinoa broccoli salad

IMG_3284

Garlicky Roasted Broccoli (AKA Crack Broccoli) by The Kitchn (use 1/2 tsp salt not 1 tsp!)

Curb Cravings with Crunchy Cacao Nibs {Plus 7 Recipes to Try!}

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On February 25, 2016

In Anti-Inflammatory, Dairy-Free, GBOMBS, Gluten-Free, Paleo, Products I Use, Recipes, Tips & Tricks

For the video version of this post, check out my Facebook page!

Either way, make sure you hit up the awesome recipes at the bottom 🙂

——————————————————————————————–

Let’s pretend it’s 3:00 in the afternoon.

What’s something a lot of people crave right about now?

Nibs

Did you say CHOCOLATE?

The reason why might surprise you!

Many of us start to notice a dip in our energy levels and attention spans and the cumulative impact of stress throughout the day by mid-afternoon. Why not give our body a boost in energy, feel good chemicals and relaxation at the time we need it most? Why not enjoy some chocolate?

High quality dark chocolate that contains a high percentage of cacao (ka-KOW) is packed with magnesium.

Magnesium is known as the relaxation and anti-anxiety mineral, and most of us are deficient in it. Not only that, but in times of stress and high demands, our body needs it more than ever. Sources of magnesium include spinach, oats, beans, pumpkin seeds, leafy greens, sesame seeds.

And…CHOCOLATE! 🙂

The key is to use QUALITY chocolate. I’ve written before here about why I became a qualitarian and what it means to be one. As the word suggests, I encourage you to focus on eating the highest quality food you can, especially when it comes to things like chocolate – the darker and purer, the better.

One of the purest forms of chocolate we can eat is cacao nibs.

IMG_0529

These bitter, crunchy chocolate bits are peeled and crumbled from dried, whole cacao beans. They are PACKED with nourishing, fueling goodness! When we hear about chocolate being good for us, these little guys take the prize. One ounce (about 1/4 cup) of cacao nibs contains:

  • 35% of the recommended daily value of relaxing magnesium
  • 6 GRAMS of fiber, which fills us up and keeps things moving in our digestive system. Only about 3% of the population eats the adequate minimum intake of fiber, even though it is one of the main disease fighters, blood sugar regulators, and energy stabilizers out there
  • 4 grams of satiating protein
  • Over HALF of the recommended daily value of copper and manganese, trace minerals that help us with formation of tissues (like bones and skin), energy production, and blood sugar balance.

You can find them in the natural food aisle of your grocery store, but I find the best deals at HomeGoods or online at Amazon or Vitacost. Wegmans, Whole Foods, and MOMs Organic Market carry them as well.

You can enjoy cacao nibs in trail mix, cookies, chocolate bark, brownie bites, sprinkled on top of smoothies or avocado pudding (recipe coming!), and as a topping for my chocolate walnut brownies.

Check out SEVEN of my favorite cacao nib recipes below!

Click the picture to get to the recipe.

PB Oat Bites CoverIMG_2208Mint Choco Chip Bday Ballssuper food trail mixcherry choco biteschococherrybanner2barkmain

Celeriac: Give This Ugly Vegetable a Chance

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On February 4, 2016

In Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, How To, Paleo, Recipes, Tips & Tricks

Avocado. Eggplant. Sauerkraut.

Most of us can think of certain foods that we don’t like or refused to try at one point. As a recovering picky eater, I was often afraid to try new foods, especially foods that looked or sounded “weird” to me.

Sauerkraut, eggplant and avocado were all foods that I wouldn’t even try at one point in my life but have learned to like, and, in the case of avocados, LOVE.

We’re told not to judge something without getting to know it, but, let’s be honest, most of us do. One vegetable that I had seen multiple times and was curious but afraid to try because of how strange it looked was this…

celeriac

Celeriac (say, sa-LAIR-ee-ac) also known as celery root.

It’s a relative of parsnips, carrots and parsley, and its taste resembles celery but is slightly sweeter, nuttier and milder. It’s a great source of filling fiber and also contains quite a bit of vitamin K, which supports heart and bone health.

This root vegetable isn’t always easy to find here in the U.S. (I get mine at MOMs Organic Market or Whole Foods), but if you can find it, it’s worth trying! It can be served the same way as a potato (mashed, roasted, sliced into fries, steamed, and as a component in soups and stews), so it’s really versatile.

Check out the video below to learn how easy it is to get the skin off of this less than beautiful root veggie and for a few more tips about how to prepare it!

Then, try one of the celeriac-centered recipes below:

Smashed Celeriac by Jamie Oliver

Celeriac Mash by Paleo Leap. This is the recipe I made, but I added about 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme, used 4 cloves of garlic, and used veggie broth instead of chicken stock.

celeriac puree.jpg

Autumn Celeriac Puree by food52

Cauliflower Celeriac Soup by Cook Eat Paleo

Easy Celery Root Fries by The Spunky Coconut

Rosemary Roasted Celery Root & Carrots by Everyday Health

Roasted Root Vegetables with Tomatoes and Kale by Simply Recipes

roasted-root-vegetables-tomatoes-kale-vertical-a2-1200

Photo used with permission from SimplyRecipes

 

Which recipe do you want to try? Do you have another you’d like to share? Feel free to leave a comment below!

 

 

GBOMBS Spaghetti Squash Saute + How-To Video {Gluten-Free, Paleo}

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On January 28, 2016

In Anti-Inflammatory, Clean Eating, Dairy-Free, Dairy-Free, GBOMBS, Gluten-Free, Gluten-Free, How To, Recipes, Tips & Tricks, Vegan, Vegetarian

I’ve been on a squash kick lately! From roasted butternut squash to creamy kabocha squash soup and even squash “pasta,” winter squash is one of my favorite foods because it’s versatile, delicious and nourishing.

Today we’re going to take a look at a squash that many of us have heard of before but might have been too intimidated to try making ourselves – spaghetti squash!

As someone who loved twirling pasta on my fork as a kid, this is a food that is fun to eat and play with…and it has lots of body-boosting benefits, too!

IMG_7154

Winter squash is packed with antioxidants that support our body from the inside out – vitamin A for our skin and eyes, vitamin C for antioxidant protection, fiber for fullness, and folate, a B vitamin that supports our body’s production of mood-boosting neurotransmitters.

For more info about the awesomeness of spaghetti squash, click here.

Now, I’m not going to lie to you and say that it tastes just like spaghetti (because it doesn’t…it’s a bit crunchier and a tad sweeter), BUT it does give you a similar experience and is basic enough to be paired with a variety of sauces – from pesto and marinara to pad Thai.

Check out my video below for the step-by-step instructions for how to prepare spaghetti squash and then buy some for yourself, so you can make one of the recipes below! It’s easier than you think 🙂 If you’re more of a picture person, check out this post I wrote for step-by-step pictures and directions.

I’ve included a recipe below for a winter veggie saute full of GBOMBS like shallots, garlic, dino kale, beans, berries and pumpkin seeds. Here are a few additional spaghetti squash recipes for you to try:

Spaghetti Squash Saute.jpg

Ingredients

1 large spaghetti squash
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter) or coconut oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 shallots, sliced
1 bunch dino kale (AKA lacinato or Tuscan kale), destemmed and chopped
1/4 cups water
1 15-oz can no-salt added cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds, lightly toasted
1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
Freshly cracked black pepper and sea salt to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Slice a line down the length of the spaghetti squash, about a half-inch deep or make several slits round the squash to allow steam to release. It’s usually too hard to cut in half at this point unless you have a really good knife.
3. Put the squash in a 9 x 13 baking dish in the oven for 25 minutes, so it can soften enough to easily cut it in half. Remove squash from the oven and let it cool enough to handle it. Cut it in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon.
5. Put the squash cut-side down in the baking dish and fill the bottom of the dish with 1/2 cup water. Return squash to oven for about 30 minutes or until the squash easily pulls away from the shell. Let the squash cool and then scrape out the inside into strands with a fork.
6. In a large sauté pan over medium heat, sauté shallots in ghee (or oil) until fragrant, about 4-6 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 30-60 seconds. Add spaghetti squash, dino kale and 1/4 cup water and toss until the kale is wilted but bright green. Add beans and toss until heated through then add cranberries and pumpkin seeds. Remove from heat and sprinkle with 1 1⁄2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar.

Yay for Tempeh! Why We Love This Plant-Based Protein

By

On January 21, 2016

In Clean Eating, Dairy-Free, Dairy-Free, GBOMBS, Gluten-Free, Gluten-Free, How To, My Story, Products I Use, Recipes, Vegan

I had never heard of tempeh until about two years ago when I was about to enroll in a Culinary Nutrition program.

One of the recipes my instructor, Meghan Telpner, had on her blog that I was curious to try was for Orange Maple Tempeh.

orange maple

I had never heard of tempeh (say TEM-pay).

I had no idea what it was.

And I wasn’t exactly jumping to try it because it sounded and looked, well…weird. I haven’t always been one to try “weird” foods, but I had gotten to a point in my food journey that I was more open than ever before.

What’s the worst that could happen? I wouldn’t like it? I was okay with that.

The rest of the ingredients in the recipe sounded so good that we decided to gave it a shot.

I’m so glad we did! It’s now one of our FAVORITE dishes…including my meat-eater husband, Bill. This is one of his go-to meals. If we had only five meals in our rotation for the rest of our lives, this would be one both of us would pick.

So, what exactly IS tempeh?

Tempeh is made from fermented soybeans (keep reading!) and is an excellent source of easily digestible, plant-based protein (15 grams per 3 ounce serving!) and fill-you-up fiber. Tempeh is a probiotic food, so it helps our digestive system (AKA our “gut”) produce healthy bacteria.

Having a healthy, well-fed gut is important for a strong immune system, so we want to make sure we’re including probiotic-rich foods in our diet. As I’ve shared before, 70-80% of our IMMUNE SYSTEM sits in and around our digestive system, so what we eat is critically important to our overall health, well-being and feeling good.

Tempeh has a “meatier” and denser texture than tofu and a mild, nutty taste, so it feels more like meat in a recipe than tofu does. If you’re a tofu hater (I’m not a huge fan of it), then give tempeh a shot. Tempeh can be baked, sauteed, grilled, and chopped up to be added to things like chili, salads, and stews. It can be a little tricky to figure out how to work with it the first time, but this post from onegreenplanet breaks it down into 5 easy tips:

5 Tips for Making Amazing Tempeh Dishes

Another perk is that tempeh is also a LOT cheaper than meat. One block of tempeh at my local market (MOMs) is $3.00. Not a bad deal for something that can serve as the main dish of a meal. We always make sure to buy organic tempeh, since the majority of soy crops these days are genetically modified. You’ll find tempeh in the refrigerated section of your grocery store next to the tofu.

Ready to give this lesser known protein a try? Here are our top two most favorite tempeh recipes (and great places to start for first-timers!). Click the picture to get the recipe.

orange maple.jpg

BalsMapleTempeh

And here are a few more tempeh recipes that we want to try.

Have you ever tried tempeh? Have you found any recipes you like that you want to share? Feel free to leave a comment or question below!

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