My Favorite Healthy Recipes

One of the best things about being back in Sacramento is reconnecting with my Kaia tribe. Started up again in January with what we call a "BRIK" session, basically six weeks of fairly intense workouts and healthy eating. I decided to try to eat mostly vegan, whole foods, less processed, and minimize simple carbs. It went so well, I'm still doing it! Loving how I feel, how I look and that I am causing less harm to animals and our planet. Whether you want to try going full vegan or just cutting down on meat and dairy by substituting a few meals a week, here are some I tried and loved. I'm happy to share with you (as well as document so I can look them up for future meals! I always forget things I've loved in the past.) Sorry some are not very specific, I usually cook to the texture and flavor I like without paying attention to the details.

Breakfast

Steel Cut Oats are a fav. I usually make enough for the week each time. I usually add:

• Raw, unsweetened coconut
• Dried fruit
• Chopped nuts or seeds
• Cinnamon if it works with the other flavors

Leftover quinoa also makes a great bfast. I add similar stuff, in this case I had some fresh apples to throw in.


This recipe could be steel cut oats or quinoa. I add in the same stuff plus PB Fit with a little extra water to make it a pb sauce.


Sweet potato toast with avocado and white beans are delicious! I microwaved the sweet potatoes first until tender cause I don't have a toaster oven. Then I put in the toaster a few times through to crisp it up. You can sub any beans you like. I think I also added hot sauce, but took the pic before I did that.


I finally tried a tofu scramble recipe and can't believe I waited so long. I am not a huge fan of scrambled eggs, so I actually like this sooo much more than the non-vegan version.  Here's the recipe I used for inspiration. I subbed broccoli for kale and smoked paprika for tumeric and added black beans.


Smoothies are my go-to, especially right after a workout. My standard:

• Protein powder (2 scoops)
• Greens - usually arugula or spinach
• Fluid - almond, coconut, or hemp milk
• Frozen banana
• Frozen berries or cocoa and PB fit
• 1/2 avocado if one needs to be used in a hurry
• Optional tbsp of chia, flax, hemp seeds

Lunch/Dinner

I put these in the same category because one of the things I did during BRIK is try to eat my larger meal earlier in the day and no meals after 7 p.m. to give my digestive system some time off.



Lentil spring rolls got my BRIK off to a great start - never had lentils before that I was aware and was amazed at how yummy they were! Here's the recipe I used for inspiration, but I subbed romaine leaves for the rice wrappers and didn't use tomatoes.




If you like tuna or egg salad sandwiches, this one's for you. Here is the inspiration recipe. I of course adjusted - used pocket bread, subbed cilantro for basil, added chopped onion and red pepper.



Salads don't have to include lettuce. This one is cucumbers, kidney beans, tomatoes, carrots, cilantro, sunflower seeds and nutritional yeast, topped with a little lemon juice. Yum!


Marinara over zoodles or spaghetti squash- at least once a week! Sauce: saute onion and garlic with olive oil until translucent, add in broth and tomato sauce (less broth) or paste (more broth), oregano, salt and pepper. Zoodles - make sure you just saute a couple mins with olive oil and garlic, don't overcook, please don't boil like pasta.


"Meat" sauce over zoodles or spaghetti squash.
Sauce: saute onion and garlic with olive oil until translucent, add in cooked lentils, broth, and tomato sauce (less broth) or paste (more broth), oregano, salt and pepper. Squash recipe


Lentil chili - here is the inspiration recipe and I subbed carrots for corn and black for kidney beans. I also didn't have fresh jalapeno.


Quinoa spring rolls - here's the inspiration recipe and I added tofu and avocado and subbed carrots for peppers and peanut sauce for cashew sauce.


Basic veggie soup - this one saved my eating habits many a day. Start with sauteing the hardest veggies in olive oil (potatoes, carrots) and add in garlic and onions. When the veggies are tender, add in the softer ones (canned green beans, canned corn), broth and beans of any kind. Add in oregano, basil and salt and pepper to taste. Soup is better in the days after you make it.


Simplest recipe on here - canned tomato soup with avocado instead of sour cream. Who can't manage that?



Chickpea and potato curry over quinoa - here is the inspiration recipe (waaay different than what I ended up with!) Chana masala was way too expensive, so I substituted regular ol curry spice. I used ginger powder instead of fresh (don't recommend). I didn't have cilantro, green chilis, or tumeric. I also left out the tomatoes. Was really yummy though. I put it over quinoa instead of rice and added a softened, cut up potato in the blender process to thicken up the sauce.


BBQ jackfruit tacos - so I bought the jackfruit at Bel Air already seasoned. Super easy to heat up and use gluten-free taco shells. I actually didn't like this much....funny enough, the texture was too much like pork. Sharing in case you like pulled pork - it was very convincing and waaay less fat and calories.

Snacks

If you like black licorice, fresh fennel chopped up is a great substitute. Learned this one in Guate.


Acorn squash slices - carefully slice your squash and save the seeds. Toss the slices in coconut oil and oil up a baking sheet. Bake the slices and seeds until they are as crispy as you like. Salt to taste.


Almond Joy bites - these are a ton of work and soooooo good. Can't believe how delicious they are for how healthy they are. Here's the recipe I followed to the 't".

Not picture, somehow, is the air-popped popcorn I eat ALMOST EVERY DAY. I add coconut oil, nutritional yeast and salt. So good!

Looking for more ideas? I can't recommend The Minimalist Baker enough. I just got their hardcover cookbook and it is beautiful. Thanks for reading through these, hope they've inspired you to try your hand at a few of them. Let me know how it goes!
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Connection & Mental Health

Driving to campus today I was so lost in my thoughts that I have no idea how I arrived here. The shooting at a Florida high school yesterday left me numb. I didn't even try to engage in the usual online debates or post on Facebook about how something needs to be done. I needed to grieve, again, and just retreat for a little while.

This morning though, a new perspective emerged as if my mind was working on it all along in the background. There are a lot of people now arguing about shoulds - should be harder to get a gun, should do something about mental health, should say something if someone seems dangerous. I hate shoulds. I think the word SHOULD disappear. :-)

My thoughts have turned instead to something every single one of us has the power to do. Today. This moment.

My very favorite thing about living in Guatemala was the part of the culture that puts people first. There is a love and care for others, even strangers, that I don't often see in everyday US life. I got used to making eye contact and nodding, smiling, or talking to just about every person I came across. I was the beneficiary of so much love and kindness - the rural folks who came out of their homes at 5 a.m. to help us turn our vehicle around in a mud pit, the indigenous woman at the lake who snuggled with me on the boat and shared a giggle about our picture and an umbrella for the walk up the hillside in the rain, the many people who just happened to be walking down the busy street at the end of our hill that stepped in that street and stopped traffic so that I could pull out and around a blind corner.

There was a warmth and affection everywhere we traveled in Mexico and Guatemala. Yes, getting to tasks is important and eventually happens, but people come first. I remember feeling shocked that McDonald's doesn't open until 9, and I also remember the person on the street telling me that "of course it's that way, people need time in the morning with family."

Coming back to the US (two years ago now!) has been a transition. I have struggled at times to maintain the peace and connection I cultivated while living down south. And yet, I feel that has to be part of the answer to our burning question - what can we do to stop this?

The disconnection and despair in this country is easier to see after living somewhere else. Guatemalans may be incredibly poor on paper compared to the US, but with few exceptions the people I met there were healthy and connected and dare I say, happy.

So I invite you to join me in upping our connection quota. As a professor now, each day on campus I make a point of making eye contact and smiling or nodding at each person I see. Most don't make eye contact but I try anyway. I talk to store clerks and people next to me at the gas station. I make small talk with the people in line with me at the grocery store or movie theater. Do some people think I'm strange? Undoubtedly. I'll take strange and connecting over sophisticated and isolated every day of the week.

With my family, friends, colleagues, and students I make an effort to ensure they know they are enough and valuable just the way they are. Do I challenge them to make better choices? Yup, but I love them even when they fail, and make sure they know it - especially when they fail.

Will that solve mass shootings in this country? Of course not. It is but one small part of the equation, but it's a part each of us can do.