From the kitchen of Jesse Haas, CNS, LN

I incorporate plant proteins into my weekly meal plan to ensure I'm meeting my nutrition needs with a variety of sources, while also making food choices that have a positive impact on the environment. I always have nuts around for snacking, seeds to top salads, and an assortment of beans and lentils to throw in a pot of soup or make into a veggie dip. 

This recipe has become a staple and one that I double whenever I make it. The patties can be frozen on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet for a quick meal on the fly. These are also great to share with friends and family members who are facing hardship, illness or have welcomed a new babe to their household. 
​

Adapted from The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup dry lentils
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 2 Tbsp cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup finely minced onion
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup very finely minced walnuts
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 cups fresh spinach, finely minced
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• fresh black pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup ground flaxseeds

Directions

1. Place lentils and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered for about 30 minutes or until the lentils are soft and the liquid is gone. Transfer to a medium-sized bowl, add vinegar and mash well.
2. Heat oil in a medium-sized skillet. Add onions and sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
3. Add all the remaining ingredients except flaxseeds and sauté 5-7 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender.
4. Add the sauté and flaxseeds to the lentils and mix well. Chill for about 1 hour.
5. Form 4-inch diameter burgers. Fry in a small amount of hot avocado oil on both sides until heated through and crispy on the outside or broil for 5-8 minutes on each side.
6. Serve with your favorite toppings over salad greens or between bread.

From the kitchen of Dr. Lori Hulsing

After the birth of my second child my cooking strategy shifted to the following:

1.  Keep it simple.
2. Grab whatever is in the fridge and put it into a soup or stew before it goes bad.
3. Put in as many vegetables as possible.

 
For this recipe I focused on autumn seasonal vegetables and also what I found in my fridge! You can use whatever vegetables you have on hand but just follow the base of the recipe. This hearty stew was perfect to warm up the whole family on this beautiful chilly fall day.
 
Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1-2 tsp of thyme
• 5 gloves of garlic, crushed and minced
• 3 med. sweet potatoes, diced
• 3 large carrots, diced
• 1-2 zucchini squash, diced
• 1 (32 oz) container of chicken or vegetable broth or homemade stock
• Optional: 2 chicken breasts, cut into pieces
• Optional to add 1-2 cups of kale, chopped, if you found it in your fridge and it’s about to go bad. Hypothetically speaking.
• salt and pepper to taste

 
Directions
 
    1.     Add 2 tbsp of olive oil to a large, heavy stock pot over medium heat. 
    2.     Add 1 diced onion and sauté for about 5 minutes. 
    3.     Add garlic and sauté for about 1 minute. Enjoy that smell!
    4.     Add Thyme—crush between your fingers as you add it to the pot. 
    5.     Add pieces of chicken or leave it out if you are making a vegetarian dish and sauté for 3          minutes.
    6.     Add the vegetables (sweet potato, zucchini, kale, carrots) and sauté for 5 more minutes. 
    8.     Add 32 ounces of chicken or vegetable broth and simmer for 25 minutes or until veggies are tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste if you wish.
Click here for a printable copy

From the kitchen of Raki Kopernik

This is a recipe I created based on the idea of tradition basil pesto. I wanted to make a healthier pesto and find a way to feed those leafy greens to my family and friends when they get sick of salads and steaming. This is also a great way to preserve large amounts of greens. I often make a few batches at the end of the garden season.
 
I’m not much of a recipe follower, but I love cookbooks and recipes for the seed (pun intended) of inspiration. I encourage you to use whatever greens and seeds or nuts you have on hand and whatever flavors you’re craving. I like to spread this on toast, sandwiches (particularly tempeh Ruebens – I’ll give you that recipe next time), add to salads, as a veggie or cracker dip, mixed in with grains, pastas, on eggs, really it can go on anything savory.
 
         Ingredients

• 1 bunch of kale, any variety - You can also use any or a combination of collard greens, broccoli leaves, chard, beet greens, carrot tops etc. Literally any hardy greens.
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds - Sunflower seeds are particularly delicious to me, but you can use pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, hazelnuts, or a combination etc. If using something less oily like almonds, soak them first for a few hours.
•  1-2 tsp turmeric powder - This is less for the flavor and more for the health benefits. I add turmeric to everything. It’s high in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant nutrients.
•  2-4 cloves of garlic
•  Juice of 1 lemon or lime
•  1/4 cup olive oil and/or coconut oil
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• Any other spices you like to use. I am very fond of smoked paprika

​          Instructions

1. Loosely chop up greens and place in a food processor. Pulse or run for a few seconds.
2. Add seed/nuts and again pulse or run for a few seconds until things start to look combined and mealy.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and run for about 10 seconds. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the sides of the container and run again for 5-10 second.
4. Add more oil if it feels too thick. I like the consistency to be pasty so I can spread it, like peanut butter. It can be as chunky or as creamy and you prefer.
5. Store pesto in a mason jar in the fridge and label it with the date. It will likely last for about 3 weeks.
6. YUM!

​Click here for a printable version

Authored by Dr.Sara Jean Barrett

I love backpacking. Getting deep in to the woods, miles from anyone else and being totally immersed in nature is pure bliss. One major challenge for backpacking is how do you bring nourishing food to last several days that is light and easy to bring along? An even bigger challenge is doing this on a low carb diet! I had to tackle this head on getting ready for a backpacking trip this summer. My partner and I spent many hours researching and preparing so I want to share with you what I have learned. This isn’t a typical recipe blog more of a how-to guide to plan for healthy
camping/backpacking meals.  

Breakfast:
Most backpackers rely on oatmeal for a satisfying breakfast. It is light to carry and easy to prepare. So we didn’t stray far from this classic we found Wildway Grain Free Instant Hot Cereal. We tried four of their flavors and my favorite was toasted coconut. We brought along some chia seeds and coconut oil to add to this breakfast.
Net carbs= 8g
 



Lunch:
In the middle of the day we were moving so we didn’t really want to sit down and eat a big meal so we broke lunch up in to two smaller meals.

Meal 1: We brought along with us some pecans and my favorite turkey jerky by Vermont Smoke and Cure. Eating ¼ cup of pecans and 2 jerky sticks each gave us enough fuel to make it to our second smaller meal.
Net carbs=  3g
 
Meal 2: We combined chocolate protein powder, fiber powder, greens powder and powdered coconut milk with water for a chocolate pick me up drink. My current favorite protein powder is NutriDyn’s Chocolate Paleo Protein.  We also use NutriDyns fruits and greens powders for an extra boost. My favorite is their espresso flavor.

Net carbs= this will depend on what fiber you use and if you choose to add a greens powder. The greens powder does increase the carb count for us this came out to 9 grams.
 
Dinner:
We rotated through 4 different dinner meals that each combined a protein + veggie pouch + seasoning + fat.
 
Let’s start with the prep work at home.

Protein:
We have a dehydrator and used that to dehydrate several pounds of ground beef. (insert picture of dehydrating beef). The process is quite simple you cook the beef thoroughly, strain off the fat (I know this isn’t very ketogenic but in order dry properly and keep it from spoiling it must be done) and pat it dry with a paper towel. Then spread it out on the dehydrator. We found that after a few hours it helps to move it around to ensure if fully dries out. It’s amazing how small a pound of ground beef becomes

Next time we will try dehydrating chicken. This time we settled for some chicken pouches that we took with us on shorter trips.
 

Veggies:
For vegetables we didn’t have the time or energy to dehydrate ourselves this trip so settled for buying dehydrated broccoli, spinach, onion and celery. We made individual pouches combining these and used them with every dinner. In the end we didn’t like the celery. It never rehydrated well and was quite chewy so I would leave that one out.

For multiday backpacking we used pouches of spices that we assembled at home. My favorite was a curry we put together. For days that we weren’t hiking far we used premade sauce mixes.

Fat:
We brought two small jars of coconut oil to add to our meals. We also had some packets of almond butter to add to our curry dinner as well as powdered coconut milk. We bought a few unripe avocados and managed to keep them safe and added them to a few of our dinners as well.
 
Putting it all together:
The dehydrated beef worked out surprisingly well. We did discover that it works best if you add the beef to a bowl with a few cups of water and let it sit covered for at least 30 minutes before starting to cook. Once the dehydrated beef was pretty well rehydrated we used our camping stove to heat the beef, add more water if needed and added the spices/flavor pouch and vegetables. Cook until everything is rehydrated.

We ended our day with a square of Choc Zero chocolate

Tips:
We didn’t factor in how much sweating we would do and how much extra sodium we would require. We did bring along electrolyte packets to take once per day but a few days in I was starting to get lightheaded and realized I needed more salt. We make a quick stop and picked up some more salt before continuing on our way. A low carb diet often increases your salt requirements so if you will be sweating a lot in addition make sure you bring extra salt!
 
If you have any camping food tips please comment below. We are always looking for new ideas.it.

From the kitchen of Dr. Barrett
 
I grew up in Georgia but didn’t develop an appreciation for collard greens until moving to the Midwest. I was getting a little tired of kale and wanted to add some variety to my leafy green repertoire. Collard greens brings up images from my childhood of soggy overcooked greens with large pieces of bacon fat, not a pretty picture. Luckily, I overcame my bias against collard greens and now this mild tasting leafy green is a staple in my diet. The recipe below is one of my favorite ways to eat collard greens.

From the kitchen of Amy Daws, CMT

This gluten-free (noodle free) take on vegetable lasagna is one of my favorite recipes for any season.  As someone who likes to eat nutritious meals packed with veggies, but doesn't like spending a lot of time each day figuring out what to eat this is a great option.  You can make a pan on a day off and have it to eat throughout the week.  This recipe can easily be made dairy free by omitting the parmesan cheese or substituting dairy free cheese.  Feel free to play with different vegetables as they go in and out of season.

From the kitchen of Ayanna Quamina, N.D.

One of the great things about having multi-cultural children is that I have an inside look into other cultures outside of my own. My father-in-law is Pilipino, and has exposed me to a variety of delicious traditional dishes. One of them is Chicken and Long Rice, and I try to make it as often as I can.

It is a perfect meal for a wintery evening, especially when you are feeling run-down or in the midst of catching a cold. It’s simple, yummy, easy to make, and fills you up without feeling bloated or uncomfortable. Plus the onion and ginger add some therapeutic qualities - who can argue with that?! 

Download a pdf to print
Serves 8

Ingredients

• 3 pounds chicken leg quarters
• 3 (32 ounce) cartons low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 (1/2 inch) piece fresh ginger root, sliced and julienned
• 1 large sweet onion, cubed
• 1 (8 ounce) package uncooked rice bean thread noodles
• 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced

Directions

1. Place chicken broth, chicken, and ginger together into a large pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to medium-low. Simmer until the chicken is tender and no longer pink, about 35 minutes. Skim the chicken solids as it cooks off.
2. Place the bean thread noodles into the broth and simmer until softened, about 10-15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, take each piece of chicken, remove the skin and bones and discard. Roughly chop the remaining chicken meat and place back into the broth.
4. Scoop out the chicken, noodles and broth mixture into each bowl, and sprinkle a few green onion slices on top.
5. Enjoy!

From the kitchen of Jesse Haas, CHC
Recipe adapted from Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo (find it in our Amazon store)
 
This grain-free breakfast porridge really hits the spot when I’m craving hot cereal on a cold winter morning. Grain-free diets are hitting the press these days, giving savvy Americans a dietary model that is completely opposite to the USDA’s Food Guide Pyramid my generation grew up with that emphasizes grain, breads and cereals. Instead of reaching for high-carb, low-nutrition oatmeal, give this veggie-based dish a try!

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat over a low flame to a desired temperature.

From the kitchen of Marian Kimball Eichinger

One of the best things about fall and winter are the plethora of squashes that fill our shop aisles, adorn our front steps and brighten our dining room tables. All the different shapes, colors and sizes never fail to amaze and impress me each year. This butternut recipe is one of my favorites - it’s a little bit of heaven in a bowl!
 
In addition to butternut squash, and a plethora of warming spices, this recipe also includes chickpeas and red lentils which add protein and depth. As a vegetarian, this combination draws me in. From a TCM perspective, the winter squash and the chickpeas are sweet and warm, nourish the spleen and stomach energy systems and aid digestion. The warming properties of this dish come from the turmeric, ginger, cinnamon and black pepper. All of these spices warm the body’s interior, making it a perfect dish for the cold weather of winter. The red lentils are slightly cool and tonify the Yin which balances perfectly with the warmth of the spices, peas and squash. Lentils also drain damp from the body. So if you are feeling chilled, bloated, and fatigued, this would be an excellent dinner for you!

Ingredients:

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and saute until starting to turn brown. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the garlic, celery, spices and 1 tsp ground black pepper. Saute for a few minutes. 
2. Now add the red lentils, chickpeas, tomato sauce, parsley and about half the cilantro. Cook over low heat for 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, peel and seed the squash and cut into large cubes. Add squash to the pot with the vegetable stock and bay. Cover and simmer gently for about 30 minutes. Add the pasta (or rice) and simmer until it is cooked. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Serve immediately, topping with chopped cilantro.

Download a printable recipe card here.

From the kitchen of Dr. Barrett
 
I discovered this recipe courtesy of Lakewinds Food Co-op. They were sampling this recipe during one of my frequent trips to their store and I fell in love. I am dairy-free and have been missing creamy noodles! 

Printable PDF
Ingredients:

• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion diced
• 1 cup mushrooms thinly sliced (optional)
• 2 zucchini, about 1 ½ cups diced
• ½ red bell pepper diced
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste
• ½ lb brown rice noodles (shells work well)
• 3-4 cups butternut squash soup

 
Directions:

1. In a large sauce pan, sauté the garlic, onion, mushrooms, zucchini and red bell pepper in the olive oil. Cook until tender about 5-7 minutes.
2. At the same time cook the noodles until about halfway done.
3. Add soup, vinegar, half cooked noodles, salt and pepper to the vegetable mixture and bring to a boil. Stirring until shells are cooked.

 
Serves 3-4
 
Variations: I find that adding a spicy meat such as hot turkey or pork sausage really adds to the meal.  I add the meat to the onions and garlic until fully cooked then add the vegetables and continue with the recipe as written.