Beans/legumes are such an important part of a healthy diet, full of fibre, protein, and a host of minerals, vitamins and phytochemicals. But many people struggle to get enough (or any!) beans into their regular diet. 

So in episode 36 of In My Plant-Based Kitchen I decided to talk about some of the great benefits of beans, and I share lots of practical tips to help you get more in.

In this episode we're talking about:

🫘some of the exciting benefits of beans for healthy living
🫘the advantages and disadvantages of canned beans vs beans that you soak and cook from scratch
🫘a step-by-step on how to soak and cook beans from scratch
🫘tips for quick-cooking legumes to keep on hand for days you are rushed
🫘tips on things you can add to increase flavor, nutrition and digestibility and decrease gas and bloating
🫘and more!

Click here to watch now.

I also promised to share my Bean Tips handout on this page. You can click here to access it.

AND I have a bean recipe to share with you!

Dilly Chickpea (Toona) Salad

4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed, drained OR 1 ½ cups cooked
• 3 TBSP tahini
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 TBSP agave syrup
• 1 ½ TBSP fresh lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ½ orange bell pepper, finely diced
• ½ cup red cabbage, finely chopped
• ¼ cup pickle, finely chopped
• 2 TBSP – ¼ cup fresh dill, minced (to taste)
• Sea salt and black pepper to taste (I used about ½ tsp)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl crush cooked chickpeas with a potato masher, until they are flaky.
2. In a small bowl combine the tahini, mustard, agave, lemon juice and mix well.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl with the chickpeas and mix well (you may want to put a little bit of dill/pepper/cabbage aside to garnish the salad with; if so set that aside before combining).
4. Add the dressing and mix everything together!
5. Enjoy as part of a wrap or sandwich, served with greens, on its own as a side dish, or even top your salad with a few spoonfuls.

 

What's your favourite way to add beans to your diet? Do you cook them from scratch or mostly use canned? I'd love to hear from you!

Cruciferous vegetables like kale, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and cabbage are an especially beneficial group of veggies to add to your daily diet. We're talking:

• preventing DNA damage and metastatic cancer spread
• activating defenses against pathogens and pollutants
• helping to boost liver detox enzymes

and so much more too!

In Episode 35 of In My Plant-Based Kitchen we talk about why they're so helpful, as well as:

🥦 cooking methods and food synergy tips that you can use to maximize their nutritional benefits
🥦 preparation tips for avoiding the excess gas and bloating that some people get from these foods (and why they get them)
🥦 we make 2 easy side dishes illustrating the points above
🥦 AND I talk about a special serving trick that can help optimize the nutritional benefit you are getting from your cruciferous veggies

LOTS of nutrition tips and healthy eating inspo in this one! Click here to watch now.

Ready to get cooking? Check out the recipe ideas below.

In Episode 35 of In My Plant-Based Kitchen I made 2 recipes. The first (pictured above) was a Simple Steamed Broccoli dish. To make it:

1. Cut  a head of broccoli (or the amount you want for your meal) into florets. Once cut let them sit for 45 minutes to allow the sulforaphane to develop (see video if you don't know what this means).

2. Bring a pot of water with a steamer to a boil and place the broccoli florets into the steamer. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes, or until fork tender and bright green.

3. Remove from the pot immediately and place in your serving vessel. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds (or other seeds), dulse flakes (optional but lovely) and a squeeze of lemon/lime.

4. Serve immediately

This side dish is lovely with pasta, casseroles, tofu scrambles, wraps, or just about anything. Delicious and simple!

The second dish we made was Almond Roasted Cauliflower (pictured above), which as mentioned in the video is a Dreena Burton original, to which I have added a few tweaks and twists of my own.

Here is Dreena's original recipe: https://dreenaburton.com/almond-roasted-cauliflower-and-evolving-taste-buds/

My tweaks include (as described in the video):
- I usually use equal parts almond flour and nutritional yeast
- I love to top the dish with fresh herbs (this time I did a mix of parsley and oregano) for a nutritional boost, and some raw red cabbage, shredded, to provide the enzyme so that sulforaphane can develop (again, if you're not sure what I'm talking about be sure to watch this week's video!)

I love serving this as a side dish to curries, tofu scrambles, I put them in wraps, top salads with them, or just eat them straight up! Yum!!

AND FINALLY I promised to share one more cruciferous recipe with you:

Purple Secret Smoothie

• 1 cup non-dairy milk
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 large leaf of purple cabbage
• ½ –¾ cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• 2 dates, pitted
• ¼ tsp amla berry powder (optional)
• 2 tbsp white beans or chickpeas (optional)

Blend and enjoy immediately.

Are you adding more cruciferous to your daily diet? How? Have you tried these recipes? I'd love to hear your thoughts...

For the past 3 weeks of In My Plant-Based Kitchen I have been talking about different aspects of Nutrition for A Healthy Gut, and in Episode 34 we're building on the information in the past 2 episodes...

In this episode we're exploring:

• the importance of DIVERSITY, and mindset for increasing diversity of plants in your diet
• some specific foods that can be helpful (or harmful) to our gut health
• tips for creating resistant starches out of regular starches
• why fermented foods are so helpful, and ideas for getting more in

AND I walk you through the gut-healthy aspects of my favourite rice salads...(and ideas for increasing plant diversity in this and any dish).

Ready for the recipe? Here you go: 

Marinated Forbidden Rice Salad with Roasted Squash & Tamari-Roasted Almonds

Ingredients*:

• 3 cups cooked black forbidden rice
• 1 red bell pepper, diced OR 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 3 - 4 green onions, chopped
• 2 cups butternut squash, diced and roasted (OR use sweet potatoes)
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup almonds, roasted and salted with tamari/braggs/coconut sauce (*or leave them plain and get sliced ones)

marinade:

• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 3 tbsp orange juice
• 2 tbsp water (OR you can use 1 tbsp olive/walnut oil)
• 1 tsp light miso
• freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste (you may not need any salt, depending on the saltiness of your miso)

Directions:

1. Cook rice and roast squash and almonds 

   1. FORBIDDEN RICE: wash and dry roast 1 cup of black forbidden rice. Add 2 ¼ cups water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 50 minutes, or until all water has been absorbed. TO PRESSURE COOK: Use 1 cup rice : 1 ¼ cups + 2 tbsp water and cook for 25 minutes.

   2. SQUASH: cut into cubes, toss with a dash of olive oil and salt (or alternative) and pepper to taste and roast in oven on a parchment-lined baking sheet at 375 F for 30-35 minutes – check to see when it is soft and starting to carmelize on the edges

   3. ALMONDS: roast whole almonds uncovered in the oven at 350 F for about 20 minutes, turning occasionally. When they are fragrant and starting to brown, remove them from the oven and sprinkle a little bit of tamari/Braggs/coconut sauce – about 1 tsp – over them (you need to do this while they are still hot), stirring immediately until the tamari has dried up.

2. Chop green onions and peppers and set aside.

3. Prepare your marinade by whisking all ingredients together. Taste and adjust seasonings to taste. Put onions and peppers into the marinade first and let them sit for several minutes (if you are using tomatoes instead, add them when you add the squash). Then add rice and mix everything together well. Add the squash/potatoes and mix gently (don’t overmix or stir too much – the squash will be quite soft and you don’t want to mush it into the salad). Finally, add the almonds. Mix most of them in and save a few to garnish the top of the salad.

*options I mentioned in the video -- add some chopped artichoke hearts to include another inulin-rich food; add other veggies and greens, like massaged kale/chopped cabbage, diced celery, roasted zucchini, or whatever you have on hand! This salad is very adaptable, and can even be made with a different grain, so experiment and have fun with it!

We've just finished up a heart health series on In My Plant-Based Kitchen and I've had a few requests for a gut health series, so I've started that this week on the channel.

Anyone who knows me knows that this is one of my FAVOURITE topics! The microbiome is absolutely fascinating, and what we eat has a huge impact on the health of our microbiome. In turn the health of our microbiome determines SO MUCH about our overall state of health!

In this series we're going to get into the details, and of course I'll share gut health recipes, tips and inspiration along the way.

In Episode 32 of In My Plant-Based Kitchen (Part 1 of Nutrition For A Healthy Gut series) we are setting the stage. We cover:

• what is the microbiome, and why is it important
• why does it matter who is living in our gut?
• how do we encourage healthy microorganisms to thrive in our gut?
• what does it MEAN to have a healthy gut?
• and we made this Sweet Chili Hummus (below) HINT -- this is a great way to add some legume diversity into your diet, which your gut will thank you for!

Ready to get cooking? Here's the recipe:

Sweet Chili Hummus
(makes about 1.5 cups)
Ingredients:

• ½ cup sweet potato (cooked)
• ½ cup dried red lentils, rinsed
• ½ cup water
• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1-2 tsp ancho chili powder/another chili powder of your choice (or if you have chiles in sauce these are great too -- I used 1 tbsp)
• ¼ tsp sea salt (or salt alternative), to taste

Directions:

1. Combine the red lentils and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Once they have boiled turn heat to low and cook just until lentils are soft, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. If necessary cook a sweet potato*
3. Place garlic clove in food processor and mince.
4. Place the rest of the ingredients in the food processor and process until everything is smooth and creamy.
5. Adjust salt/alternative and chili powder to taste.

*Sweet potatoes make great snacks, and are a wonderful addition to many plant-based dinners, so I love to batch bake a bunch of them all at once, and pre-cooked is ideal for this recipe.

For the past few weeks of In My Plant-Based Kitchen we've been talking about nutrition and recipes to keep your heart healthy and strong! 

In episode 31 (part 3) we're talking free radicals, antioxidants, oxidative stress, inflammation, and how they're all related to heart health. Oh, and we make a scrumptious antioxidant (and nutrient)-rich Zingy Black Bean Salad too (recipe below)!

In this episode we cover:

• what oxidative stress is, how it is created in your body, and how it contributes to inflammation
• how free radicals work in your body, and they part they play in oxidative stress
• how antioxidants are related to oxidative stress
• how we can keep our bodies in a state of oxidative balance, and why that's important
• which foods are helpful and harmful when it comes to creating free radicals in your body
• where you find antioxidants, and ideas for getting more of them into your daily diet
• and more!

This is an info-packed session, and I hope you enjoy it!

Zingy Black Bean Salad

Serves 4

• Ingredients
• 2 handfuls of spinach/mixed greens, roughly chopped if necessary
• 1 15-ounce can black beans
• 1 lime, juiced (about 2 tbsp)
• ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
• 2 green onions, white parts thinly sliced, green parts julienned
• 1 roma tomato, diced small
• 1 yellow/orange pepper, diced small
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp chili powder
• ¼ - ½ tsp salt, to taste
• 1 large avocado, diced

Directions

1. Drain and rinse the beans thoroughly and chop the rest of the ingredients.
2. In a large bowl add the greens, beans, cilantro, onions, tomato and peppers and toss well.
3. Add lime juice, smoked paprika, chili powder and salt (or salt alternative). Toss again until well mixed/
4. Add avocado and serve!

NOTE: I love to put a bit of tomato, pepper and avocado aside to top the dish to make it look a bit brighter presentation-wise.