Vegan friend coming to dinner? Here’s an easier way to plan a meal: create the vegan meal first, then add the meat, egg, fish or cheese.
Many of us tend to create a meal with the meat as front & centre.
It's easier and healthier for us to reverse our thinking.
I pulled this together for dinner last night. Here's the recipe (if I can remember what the ingredients were!)
***A note on rice: always go for brown or wild rice. Basically white rice is just brown rice with the goodness stripped away! Source organic rice, to avoid pesticides & naturally occurring arsenic in the soil. Soak rice for several hours on the bench. This will increase bio-availability of nutrients, decrease cooking time and be easier to digest. A good option if you're time poor is to buy an organic brown rice sachet, which just gets heated in the microwave
*** Mix up the protein: So many protein foods go with rice. Nuts and seeds are fantastic, because they packed with nutrition, having all three micronutrients: fat, carbs and proteins.
Optional protein foods for this dish:
Hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, pine nuts, cashews, lentils, black beans, pasture-raised chicken, beef, eggs or cheese - a firm goat's cheese is great in this. Peas are a high protein vegetable.
***Add a variety of veg - this one only had cooked asparagus, the rest was raw. The warm rice is simply stirred through the veg, then served.
Brown rice
chopped coriander
rocket/arugula
pine nuts
hemp seeds
sunflower seeds
tomato
finely chopped shallots/spring onions
peas
chopped radish
chopped mushrooms
asparagus - blanched
dash of Tamari to taste
pepper & turmeric
lemon - a generous squeeze.
Enjoy :). Eat well & Be well.
BTW - Rice has been known to absorb arsenic whilst it is growing. Arsenic is a natural element, however to much is obviously poisonous! It is more prevalent in farming methods which use pesticides & fertilizers.
The benefits of brown rice include: high in fibre which the beneficial gut bacteria love, magnesium, protein and vitamins B1 B3 & B6.
It is still a healthier option than many carbohydrate foods.
TIPS to reduce arsenic:
Eat rice in moderation.
Choose organic brown/wild/black rice
Soak, then boil to cook - discarding the water - not the absorption method.
White rice has less arsenic, however is nutrient depleted by the processing of removing the husk and other processing.
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