Recipes

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Tofu on Toast

Ingredients:

A slice of wholemeal bread

Frozen mixed vegetables 

Firm tofu (can be eaten fresh)

Soy sauce 

Method:

1. Toast bread.

2. Slice tofu.

3. Steam vegetables. 

4. Place tofu on toast, and drizzle a bit of soy sauce on top.

5. Serve with vegetables on the side.

Spaghetti Bolognese

Ingredients:

Plant-based mince or protein 

Can of diced tomatoes 

Pasta

Method:

1. Start to cook pasta.

2. Cook plant-based mince or chopped plant-based protein in a pan.

3. Heat tomatoes in a pot, add plant-based mince or protein and cook until boiling.

4. Drain cooked pasta.

5. Serve "mince" and tomato sauce on pasta.

Dahl and rice

Ingredients:

(Serves 2)

Half a cup of red lentils

1.5 cups of water

1 tomato

Half an onion

1 clove of garlic

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

Salt

Brown Basmati rice

Fresh coriander

Spices: 

0.5 teaspoons each of turmeric powder, curry powder, cumin powder, mustard powder

A sprinkle each of paprika, cinnamon powder, ginger powder

Method:

1. Start cooking rice

2. In a pot, cook lentils according to package (basically boil and simmer in water until soft)

3. In a pan cook the spicey sauce ie, combine and cook all other ingredients except coriander

4. Combine lentils and spicey sauce, stir and keep warm. This dahl.

5. Put cooked rice in a bowl. Pour dahl on rice. Garnish with some coriander leaves.

Porridge and Mushrooms

Ingredients:

2 Portobello mushrooms 

Oats

Balsamic vinegar 

Low salt soy sauce 

Flaxseed meal

Method:

1. Steam mushrooms and cook porridge. 

2. Slice mushrooms into quarters.

3. Place porridge in the middle of a plate and surround it with mushroom pieces. 

4. Mix vinegar and soy sauce. Drizzle this sauce mixture over porridge and mushrooms. 

5. Sprinkle a tablespoon of flaxseed meal over the porridge.

Make sure you have enough food from all five food groups.

Make sure your portions are small, but filling.

Always read the label on products when shopping.

Some frozen foods are almost as healthy as their fresh alternatives, such as frozen vegetables

Browning foods, through burning or charring, will make your food carcinogenic.

Lighter meals:

Porridge with sliced fruit and nuts.

Steamed vegetables, particularly nutritionally dense ones like broccoli.

Beans salad with wholemeal toast or brown rice.

As for condiments, I don’t usually season my food to reduce my salt intake. However, a tiny amount of iodised salt is recommended for your iodine intake.

(I also don’t use oil in my cooking, and my only cooking methods are steaming and boiling. If I do use oil, I use extra virgin olive oil that is cold pressed, this is a cooking or salad oil that contains a good balance of healthy oils like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated oils and undergoes minimal processing.)

Drink:

As a vegan, I lack omega 3 fatty acids, I get this from flaxseed meal. So frequently, I drink a glass of psyllium husk with flaxseed meal mixed into it. I am also an avid consumer of tea, particularly matcha tea. I generally drink low fat alternative milks like soy and oat milks, aiming for, if you are from Australia, a government approved 5-star health rating on all the products I consume.

Snacks:

Seeds, nuts, fruits of all types.

Eat until you are 80% full, as the Japanese say.

No meal can beat a homecooked one, one in which you have complete control over in terms of nutrition. This equates to control over a large part of your health and wellbeing.