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March is National Nutrition Month, a yearly campaign created by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The month presents the perfect opportunity for learning to make better food choices and for developing healthy eating habits. The theme this year is Personalize Your Plate.
In recognition of National Nutrition Month, I created a four week series. Week One, I posted Eat a Variety of Nutritious Foods. It shares the benefits of eating highly nutritious food. Find the list of foods that I selected on that post.
Week Two, Shopping for Nutritious Food, serves as the bridge between knowing what to eat and preparing delicious, highly nutritious meals. I shopped at Aldi Grocery Store for nutritious food, using the previous week’s list as my guide.
This week, you get a peek at the results, with Creating Highly Nutritious Meals. And finally, next week, is Thrive Through Powerful Nutrition Habits.
Putting the Pieces Together
Shortly before becoming plant based, I shared with others a desire to cook more at home. Cooking is a way to express creativity and I felt drawn to that.
Little did I know that embracing a plant based lifestyle would open that door to fulfilling my desire.
It’s fun for me, creating highly nutritious meals. And crafting this series, I especially enjoyed this week’s meals based on the list of highly nutritious foods. It was like having all these pieces laid out before me and then putting them together to create beautiful, colorful works of art.
Creating Highly Nutritious Meals
Using the foods from the Week One list, that I purchased at the Joplin Aldi Grocery Store during Week Two, I created seven days of meals. Here they are.
Day One
Breakfast – gluten free oats with berries and chia seeds. I discovered it’s easy to make oatmeal in the microwave. Add 1/2 cup of rolled oats, regular or gluten free, to a large mug or bowl. Pour 1 cup of water over the oats. Microwave for about 2 minutes. That’s it! I typically add a dash of sea salt and then top the oats with berries and chia seeds or bananas and walnuts.
Lunch – chopped salad. Check out how easy it is to create these amazing bowls of chopped veggies HERE.
Snack – 1/2 a sliced apple
Dinner – steamed Brussels sprouts, asparagus and cauliflower with a baked potato
Snack – Cara Cara orange
Day Two
Breakfast – fruit smoothie. I combine fresh bananas with frozen fruit and enough chilled filtered water to create a smooth blend.
Lunch – chopped salad with organic vegan tomato soup (from Pacifica)
Snack – handful of walnuts and cashews
Dinner – avocado and kale pasta (recipe below, adapted from Forks Over Knives)
Snack – apple slices
Avocado and Kale Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 16 oz package of gluten free pasta
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 8 oz asparagus, cut into one inch pieces
- 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup baby kale
- 1 avocado, halved
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving one cup of pasta cooking water. Return pasta to pot.
- In a large skillet, saute asparagus and tomatoes in olive oil.
- In blender, combine remaining ingredients, through crushed red pepper. Cover and blend until creamy, adding 1/2 to 1 cup of reserved pasta cooking water to make a smooth sauce.
- Add sauce and sauted asparagus and tomatoes to pasta. Gently toss to combine. Season with sea salt and fresh or dried dill, if desired. Makes four servings.
Day Three
Breakfast – fruit smoothie
Lunch – vegan tostadas (we ended up enjoying an afternoon out and had a fabulous lunch at the vegan restaurant The Veggie Table.
Snack – handful of walnuts and cashews
Dinner – avocado and kale pasta (leftovers)
Snack – apple slices
Day Four
Breakfast – gluten free oats with sliced bananas and walnuts
Lunch – stir fried brown rice and veggies. This is a great way to use left over brown rice and an assortment of fresh or cooked veggies. I saute the veggies together, add the brown rice and a sauce made from 2 tbsp Bragg liquid aminos (soy sauce substitute), 1 tsp toasted sesame oil and 1 tsp fresh or powdered ginger. This lunch stir fry contained at least a dozen veggies.
Snack – skipped due a larger than normal lunch
Dinner – red lentil and sweet potato curry (recipe below, adapted from Forks Over Knives) served with brown rice
Snack – apple slices
Red Lentils & Sweet Potato Curry
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 4 1/2 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 1 1/2 cups dry red lentils
- 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 small can tomato paste
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 1 small green bell pepper, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tsp fresh or dried ginger
- 2 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
- Hot cooked brown rice, couscous or quinoa
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in slow cooker along with 2 cups of water. Stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on high heat 4 1/2 to 5 hours or on low heat 9 to 10 hours. Check for doneness after 4 1/2 hours (or 9 hours). Season with sea salt and black pepper, if desired. Serve over brown rice, couscous or quinoa. Makes 8 - 10 servings.
Day Five
Breakfast – fruit smoothie
Lunch – leftover avocado and kale pasta with chopped salad
Snack – handful of walnuts and cashews
Dinner – red lentils and sweet potato curry with brown rice (leftovers)
Snack – Cara Cara orange
Day Six
Breakfast – oats with berries and chia seeds
Lunch – cup of red lentil curry (leftovers) topped with fresh kale. I failed to get a photo of this but I loved the added kale.
Snack – apple slices
Dinner – my parents took me out for a meal. I had rice noodles with vegetables
Snack – chocolate avocado mousse. This simple dessert is so easy to make. Combine in a blender 3 ripe avocadoes, halved, 3 tbsp cocoa powder, 1/4 cup plant based milk (I used unsweetened almond milk), 4 tbsp pure maple syrup and a dash of sea salt. Blend until creamy. Divide into four small dessert cups. Chill at least one hour. Top with fresh berries.
Day Seven
Breakfast – fruit smoothie
Lunch – roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes with chopped salad. Recipe for roasted potatoes HERE.
Snack – Cara Cara orange
Dinner – navy beans, brown rice and kale. Recipe HERE.
Snack – chocolate avocado mousse with berries
Seven Days of Highly Nutritious Meals
After a week of delicious and healthy meals and snacks, I STILL have plenty of food remaining for several days worth of meals. I bought more bananas today and almond milk. That’s it.
As you noticed, I don’t mind eating left overs the next day. In fact, I love knowing I have food already prepared in the fridge. There’s still a large amount of red lentil and sweet potato curry to enjoy. I’ll need to make another batch of brown rice tomorrow, in the pressure pot.
Throughout the day I drink plenty of filtered water and at least one cup of herbal tea.
I hope this week of breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks shows you how easy and doable it is, creating highly nutritious meals. Truly, I love eating this way and my body and health show the benefits from it.
If you are not plant based, add in salmon or chicken. However, I encourage you to try meatless meals, and not just on Monday. The body thrives with this level of nutrition.
Next week I’ll share how to keep the good nutrition going, past the month of March!
Amazon Finds to Make Cooking Easier
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Wow – great post with so many resources and recipes. I could not take my eyes off the roasted potatoes! I absolutely love avocado, but for whatever reason I don’t cook with it a lot. So, I am excited to try the avocado and kale pasta. Just one question: you have two snacks listed. It appears one is for after dinner. I really love this idea because it would help me have smaller dinner portions (knowing I got to eat one more thing later) and also work more fruit into my diet. (It looked like a lot of your after dinner snacks were fruits.) I would love to hear any additional tips you have in this realm!
Glad to help! My primarily snack is fruit. I observe the practice of afternoon tea time. I typically have a sliced apple or a Cara Cara orange or a bowl of berries with tea. After dinner it’s more fruit. Or something a bit more indulgent but healthy like the chocolate avocado mousse. Sometimes I’ll have a banana in the evening, as they help with sleep. And sometimes I’ll add a spoonful of no sugar peanut butter to the sliced apple. When I have a handful of nuts I normally eat those as an afternoon snack. Glad you enjoyed the post!
So healthy! 🙌 Love this. We eat very similar healthy alkaline type meals too. Love getting other ideas to add or switch up 😊👌
Wow, lots of great options here, The avocado and kale pasta sounds great.
These all look so good! Lots of pretty colors too.
Yum! A couple of these recipes are definitely ones that I could see making (and my kids enjoying)! Healthy, colourful, and a good variety of options! Thanks for sharing!
Wow! There are a lot of great recipes to try. We love steel-cut oats for oatmeal. They have to be soaked over-night so it is actually really easy to heat those up too. We do not own a microwave anymore but 2 minutes in a pot works. I love your ingredients! Adding them to my list.
Awesome!
The Red Lentils & Sweet Potato Curry look amazing.
It was wonderful!
I definitely need this! I always try to make balanced meals and now I can refer to this too! 🙂
Excellent!
Wow I really have been trying to find balance in my eating. This is totally helpful. Really appreciate you for sharing.
I’m glad it’s helpful!
Healthy eating I found is so important for my mental and physical health. I try to preplan and make ahead so I stay on track. I cannot eat grains or beans or potatoes so I try and keep those temptations away too and focus on veggies, fruits, organic meats, and nuts. Stay well!
That’s excellent!
Colorful food always seems tastier! Being nutritious also is such a bonus!
True!
All of these look so delish and healthy!! Thanks for sharing!
My pleasure!
The avocado and kale pasta looks amazing!
It’s soooo good!