By: Jane Shersher, LSW & Founder of Counselors Autonomous, a program within Ava Today
Healthy & Easy Recipes for Students and Professionals
The following are tips, tricks, and recipes for eating healthy with ease.
- Veggie Roll
(gluten free, vegan, & mostly raw)
– boil seaweed with glass noodles (mung bean)
– cut up pepper (orange or yellow) and place on top of a sushi seaweed sheet with fresh (raw) spinach, cilantro, dill, and avocado
– place boiled noodles with other veggies
– roll the veggies and noodles within the seaweed sheet and wrap in tin foil
– let the roll sit wrapped overnight in your fridge in order to soften the seaweed.
– eat cold and just bite like a burrito the next day for lunc
- Asian Stir Fry
(gluten free & vegan optional)
- stir-fry broccoli (cover with lid on pan to retain moister) with avocado oil (has a high burn rate, unlike olive oil, and has no taste, unlike coconut oil), add pink Himalayan salt (iodized salt is not beneficial for health) and crushed black pepper
- add diced red pepper, stir for 4-5 minutes
- add sesame oil & raw sesame seeds
- add shrimp or chicken if preferred
- Cauliflower Rice With broiled Beef & Mushrooms
- place beef in cast iron skillet (can purchase for $10 from Target) in the oven with pink Himalayan salt (iodized salt is not beneficial for health) and crushed black pepper
- stir-fry cauliflower rice (can purchase at Trader Joe’s) with salt & pepper to taste
- add diced mushrooms to beef after meat is half cooked
- plate beef on top of rice and enjoy
4.Broiled Salmon with Curried Lentils
*gluten free
- Wash and broil raw salmon with a touch of salt and pepper (likely this will take 20 minutes or less, just cook until it looks like something you would be comfortable consuming, Cut in half toward the end to ensure the fish is cooked through and not raw.)
- While the fish cooks, boil lentils and add curry powder along with cayenne pepper, avocado oil, turmeric, black pepper, and salt. You can add onions if you would like for taste and health.
- Pull the fish out of the oven and top with lentils. To add another texture and a fancy component, one could top with caramelized onions as well.
- Every Day Supergreen Smoothy
gluten free, dairy free & vegan
Make your own almond milk:
Soak desired amount of raw almonds with water in the refrigerator over night
In the morning, drain water, add new filtered water (double the amount that there is nuts) and blend. Pour mixture through a netting to separate the fiber.
Toast the almond fiber and add to cookies, salads, or as a snack all on it’s own. Sometimes I mix it with coconut shavings and fruit for an afternoon delight.
Use this milk for your smoothie base. Add a handful of raw organic spinach, a frond of kale (cut out the central fibrous stem first), and add one banana.
Add turmeric, chia seeds, cocoa nibs, black pepper, ginger powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Ice or frozen berries or bananas are optional and can be delicious.
Blend and enjoy your superfood smoothy!
Sneaky Tips to Staying Healthy and Energetic
- Chia seeds have a ton of fiber jell up when left in liquid, so try using them as a vegan superfood thickening agent for smoothies, vegan puddings, or even baked goods.
- Add Turmeric to almost everything (including oatmeal and French toast). It reduces inflammation, which causes disease in the body. The curcumin in turmeric is not easily absorbed in our bodies without adding crushed black pepper to the mix, so always add a little pepper with your turmeric whenever possible- sounds gross but actually, you probably wont taste it. Your taste buds won’t hate you but your body will love you!
- Ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper are all anti inflammatory- I try to add them, along with turmeric and black pepper to most of my cooking and smoothies. They also happen to taste delicious. Grinding your own nutmeg strait from the seed is also way cheaper, more fun, and not as intimidating as it actually sounds
- As in the smoothie recipe, make your own nutmilks whenever possible! Cashew’s only take 3 hours to soak, along with most other nuts, almonds require the most soaking time of all the nut varieties. It seems like such hard work, but it actually requires little commitment and skill, just a change in perception to see that it’s fun to make your own vegan milk, it’s a great way to get more fiber into your diet, and it’s really not that hard or time consuming.
- Try to cook with avocado oil, sesame oil, coconut, sunflower or grapeseed oils rather than olive oil, as they have a higher burn point than olive oil does.
Resources:
English, N. (2013, September 15). The 16 Most Surprising High-Fiber Foods. Greatist. Retrieved from http://greatist.com/health/surprising-high-fiber-foods
