Eating plant-based

Okay - so we’re meal-planning again.

After being off of work for a few weeks and semi-freaking out because of how meal planning and grocery shopping were making me go into hyperactive mode, I finally got to a more settled place. We also figured out our grocery cadence so that I wasn’t rushing to the store at 6 in the morning like a crazy person. Two other things happened- 1. my husband was noted to have high blood pressure after going for a PCP visit in January, and 2. I am going through a lifestyle medicine course for my health coaching training and it’s gotten me all jazzed again about whole food plant-based eating.

So over the past few weeks we have been cooking from our plant-based SOS (salt-oil-sugar)-free cookbooks. It’s felt really enjoyable and the recipes have been amazing.

Here are our plant-based cookbooks:

• Be a Plant-Based Woman Warrior by Jane Esselstyn and Ann Crile Esselstyn

• Forks over Knives Flavor by Darshana Thacker

• Plant-Strong by Rip Esselstyn

• Plantyou by Carleigh Bodrug

• The Engine 2 Cookbook by Rip Esselstyn and Jane Esselstyn

• The Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyn

• Recipes from the Forks Over Knives magazines

We also found this really helpful article from a Forks Over Knives magazine on how to read food labels, and that is what I’ve been considering when buying processed foods in the house (because- teenagers), particularly with the sodium content (“Jeff Novick’s handy trick is to make sure the milligrams of sodium don’t exceed the calories per serving.”). Also to note from this article- “Don’t worry about the protein! If you eat a whole-food, plant-based diet, you will naturally get all the protein you need, without having to think about it.”

After a few weeks my husband’s blood pressure is already down- whoo hoo.

Here are some of the dishes we’ve made over the past few weeks:

Best-ever cauli wings from the ‘Plantyou’ cookbook.

These cauliflower wings are made by wrapping them up in rice paper wraps and baking. They are so good. It’s what we had for Superbowl Sunday.

Shepherdess Pie topped with Tatties and Neeps from the ‘Be a Plant-Based Woman Warrior’ cookbook. This is fabulous. What stands out to me are the mashed potatoes (with turnips or rutabaga), which are made with plant-based milk, nutritional yeast, and garlic powder, and NO butter.

Balanced Rice Noodle Bowl from the ‘Be a Plant-Based Woman Warrior’ cookbook

Wicked Red Curry Soup from the ‘Plantyou’ cookbook

Leftover Fattoush salad from the ‘Flavor’ cookbook, with avo toast on Valentine’s Day morning