Quick ways to add more Plant Based Ingredients to your Meals

By Kiran Bissoon | January 15, 2018

I shared many of these with my social media audiences, and thought I owed it to my loyal readers too! People are always inquiring how they can add more plant based ingredients to their diets without having to lean on salads all the time. What is interesting, is aside from the cancer fighting salad we serve regularly at Ki’s Kitchen, most of our plant based goodness is instead, found in our other recipes.

Eating a more plant based diet shouldn’t mean salad — all day, every day. I mean sure, salads are great however, they are not always the best option. After all, it is what we put on our salad that can jack up those calories and bad fats, or without including proteins we are starving an hour later. In this post, I share with you five (5) of Ki’s Kitchen’s favourite ways of adding more plant based ingredients (and recipes) to your diet!

Five Ways to add more Plant Based Ingredients to your Diet

Plant Based Ingredients #1

Let’s talk about pasta dishes. Everyone loves a good pasta dish! Give me a chance and I’ll eat pasta everyday! But unfortunately that is not my reality. So to get my pasta fix, I choose lentil or bean based pastas, because among the many health benefits, I also get a #plantprotein boost!

When making a marinara sauce remember to add sauteed galric/mushroom/spinach/cauliflower.

If you’re in the mood for a cream sauce, use only 1/2 of your store bought alfredo sauce, blend with cooked cauliflower and white beans for an extra plant boost.

Plant Based Ingredients #2

If you are like me at all, you love stir fries – Frozen veggies are a great convenience when you need to make meal in a hurry, but just make sure to purchase the bags that have big chunks of veggies you can recognise.

Divide your pot portions so that 1/2 of your pot is veggies, 1/4 noodles and 1/4 protein.

Some great veggies to use are;

cauliflower
broccoli
eggplant
green beans
sweet peppers
bok choi
cabbage
mushrooms

Plant Based Ingredients #3

Sauces are a fantastic way to add more #plant based ingredients into your meals without anyone even noticing is in a sauce.

Here is a list of some of Ki’s Favourites;

tahini – high in #plantprotein, calcium and iron. Mix with lemon/dill/garlic or tamari/honey/roasted sesame oil/sriracha or wholegrain mustard/horseradish.
basil pesto with spinach – extra #plantprotein and iron from the spinach
roasted red pepper sauce with parsley – extra #vitaminC from the parsley

Plant Based Ingredients #4

Not just any ordinary casseroles/soups/stews. Truthfully, the list of veggies for these dishes are endless! These 3 cooking techniques are 3 of the best ways to include more veggies in your meals. Some great options are;

Casserole – Sheppard’s Pie – A Ki’s Kitchen SIGNATURE ITEM 100% #plantbased!
Chili – tomatoes, red kidney beans, green peppers, eggplant and mushrooms
Soup – butternut squash and pinto bean topped with sauteed kale with almonds

Plant Based Ingredients #5

Oodles of Noodles – noodles are my MOST FAVOURITE thing to eat in the world!! (after french fries). When looking for low carb options, I’ve realised that I don’t have to limit myself to wheat based products. Veggie noodles give you an extra boost of colon cleansing fibre, they’re low carb, sugar free, and easy to digest.

Some fantastic plant based alternatives are spiralled;

zucchini
carrot
beets
parsnips
turnips
spaghetti squash
sweet potato
butternut squash

So, I would love to know which one you are going to try first?! And, definitely let me know how easy (or hard) you found making these adjustments. Plants based eating takes a little bit of thought, but once it becomes part of your routine — you will be thankful you made it happen!

Furthermore, Thank you so much for visiting! I hope you have found some valuable information, if so, I’d love to hear about it!

Please feel free to share this post with anyone who might benefit, and comments are always welcome!

I look forward to connecting with you next time!

And be sure to check out why you should order your family’s next meal courtesy of Ki’s Kitchen

From our kitchen to yours,

Love + Peace

Kiran

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