Happy Thanksgiving, to all of my US readers!! I hope you are having lovely holidays thus far. Thank you to everyone who commented on my two versions of vegan stuffing; the leftovers of both batches are safely tucked into my freezer, and I can’t wait to devour them next week.

Since last night was my true Thanksgiving feast (and what a feast it was—wonderful food and the company of family), I woke up this morning with no schoolwork, no classes, and, most importantly, no cooking to do! I adore making holiday food, but two days straight in my kitchen were a little exhausting. Rather than turning on the oven, dehydrator, or stovetop, I set about making a cool, sweet, and simple smoothies. Much to much surprise, I was out of berries (this is an unusual event in my house). But I did have frozen, organic peaches that I’d gotten in case Thanksgiving called for peach pie in addition to the many, many varieties of pumpkin pie I’ve been laboring over. It didn’t, and so the peaches have been neglected. This was the moment to fix that.

This smoothie is a winner. Mellow, creamy, and a very easy way to get some greens into your diet. I find that green smoothies work best with sweeter fruits, and so the banana and peach in this recipe is quite ideal. The hemp protein and milk can all be varied, of course, according to your tastes.

Peaches n Green Smoothie (raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)

Serves 1

1/2 frozen banana
1 cup frozen peaches
1-2 ice cubes
3/4 cup tahini milk (or any nut/seed milk you like)
2 large leaves kurly kale
2 tbsp hemp protein
1 pitted date or 2 drops stevia (optional)

Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender till smooth, using the tamper to keep things moving. If you use regular almond milk in place of the tahini milk, you may want to add a tablespoon of hemp seeds or nut butter for creaminess.

What a wonderful way to infuse your Thanksgiving with a little green!

Now, if your family is like many families, you may have guests or other family members spending the night this Thanksgiving eve. Which means you’ll be waking up to company. Why not treat them to any number of quick, easy, and delicious vegan breakfasts? Thanksgiving week is a week of indulgence, and rightly so, but there’s no reason not to meet it with equal parts nutrition and taste.

1) Sugar Plum Muffins

2) Classic Tofu Scramble

3) Green “Eggs” and Hmmmm

4) Banana Carmel Bread Pudding

5) Chocolate and Zucchini Smoothie

6) Classic Blueberry Pancakes

7) Vegan French Toast

Zucchini Date Muffins

9) Banana, Oat, and Chia Seed Muffins

10) Chia Power Pudding

Before I go, I was just reading over my “I Am Thankful” post from a few Thanksgivings ago. My, was it touching! My life has changed so dramatically in such a short period of time, but I can say for certain that everything I was grateful for then, I’m grateful for now.

Happy T-Giving, folks!

xo

I’m almost sad not to have a Vida Vegan Con recap for today! If you missed any of my dispatches from the weekend, you can check them out here:

• Day One: Champagne reception and VegNews dinner at Portobello
• Day Two: Panels and Galarama
• Day Three: Panels, closing remarks, dinner with friends, and breakfast at Black Sheep Bakery

Travel is great, especially when it involves vegan restaurants in cool new cities. But to be honest, I always greet a return to my kitchen with glee To see me run out for fresh groceries and start cooking (sometimes before I’ve even unpacked my carry on) you’d think I’d starved on vacation, which is never true. I’ve just missed the pleasures of doing it all myself.

When I got home from PDX, I was greeted with terrifying reality of organic chemistry. I know, it sounds so nice, right? Organic! But let me quote the interwebs for you:

There is nothing quite like organic chemistry to strike fear into the hearts of pre-med students everywhere. Few other subjects require such massive memorization of terms and concepts, and even fewer cover so much difficult work at such a feverish pace.

If you have any doubt, your orgo professors will apparently be glad to confirm these legends by spending the first few days of class warning you what you’re in for.

To distract myself, and to celebrate coming back to the hobbit house after ten days of travel, I decided to prepare a dish that was both homemade and inspired by my restaurant dining in PDX. Remember the goddess bowl I ate not once, but twice at Blossoming Lotus? If you don’t, it was steamed kale and raw baby greens over a bed of hot quinoa, topped with balsamic and smoked avocado dressings and some avocado slices. It’s as if someone googled “choosing raw dream comfort food” and then constructed a dish according to my wishes. Heaven.

In honor of that dish, I decided to make a slightly raw-er version for lunch on Tuesday, subbing kelp noodles for quinoa and spiralized zucchini for mesclun, and adding some of my favorite power food, hemp, for a little extra protein and fat. I threw in some cherry tomatoes, too, and ended up with a bowl that was lighter and brighter than the Blo Lo creation, but totally authentic in terms of flavors.

I’m going to use the same idea and dressings to make a more authentic, hot version next week, which I’ll also be sharing.

The Raw Goddess Bowl (inspired by Blossoming Lotus in Portland, OR; high raw, vegan, GF and soy free)

Serves 1

3 cups kale, chopped
1/2 cup broccoli florets, chopped
1/2 zucchini, spiralized
1/2 cup kelp noodles, soaked and drained
1/3 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp hemp seeds

Smoked avocado cumin dressing
Balsamic tahini dressing

1) Lightly steam kale and broccoli, and blanch in cool water to retain freshness and color.

2) Mix zucchini and kelp noodles, and toss them with a generous serving of smoked avocado cumin dressing. Add cherry tomatoes and toss again.

3) Plate the kale and broccoli, and drizzle them with some balsamic tahini dressing. Top them with the dressed noodles and tomatoes and then sprinkle the whole dish with hemp seeds. Serve.

Avocado, hemp, greens, and sea veggies—so much unbelievable nutrition in every bite of this dish!! This is what I call a power meal. Maybe orgo won’t be so tough, after all.

Speaking of power foods, raw foods, super foods, and the people who know them best, my dear friend Brendan has a new book coming out—Thrive Foods. It’s already available for order on Amazon, and I’m already planning on a giveaway, but right now you can download a FREE sneak peak on his Facebook site. Don’t waste a single minute! Brendan’s recipes are stellar, but that’s not even the main reason to invest in his work. He may be the single most balanced, intelligent, inspiring, and well-educated person writing about high raw, plant-based, and nutrient dense foods out there. Beyond that, he’s a professional athlete and tireless entrepreneur who fuels his busy life with the same foods he writes about. I don’t throw praise around lightly, so trust me: this one is worth it.

See you back here tomorrow with a special “back to school” feature!

xo

Last week, I told you all about my lovely friendship with Kathy, who is one of the most enterprising and talented vegan chefs I know. I also alluded to a special project that Kathy and I were cooking up, which I’m ready to unveil today: The Kathy and Gena show!

Yes, that’s right: I’m banishing my camera-shy side to the curb. All of you who’ve asked me to do cooking videos, your wish is granted! Now you get to see just how goofy and awkward I am in person.

Of course, none of this would ever have been possible without Kathy, who is a tech mastermind and has the patience of a saint. In spite of the fact that we faced a number of tech issues in this, our first video, Kathy plugged away at the editing process and left us with two fun, entertaining, and beautifully put together videos. Kathy, you are amazing! Thank you for this, and for your watermelon frosty recipe, which is possibly the best thing I’ve tasted this summer so far.

So what was the theme of our video? As you’ll see in a moment, our goal was to share some raw and cooked, vegan summer recipes that would be quick and easy for entertaining, but pretty to serve, too. Most of all, we wanted to give you a few useful how to’s, including:

• How to “massage” kale salad (finally! I owe you guys a demo)
• How to wrap a wrap (seriously, how many of you don’t quite know how? I’ll be the first to admit that Kathy blew my mind here)
• How to make a summery frosty that doubles as a margarita base (AND succeeds in making Gena, the Watermelon Skeptic, love everyone’s favorite summer fruit)

Excited yet? I hope so!!! Todays featured recipes include two CR classics: my hemp hummus (which appeared on the blog this week in some cute zucchini wraps) and my massaged kale salad with outstanding miso sesame dressing, which I’ve eaten nearly every single day for a week! It also includes Kathy’s amazing frosty and photos of her bruschetta trio, which didn’t make it onto the video intact, but were absolutely delicious. The recipes can be found in Kathy’s recap! Our recipes come together in this amazing wrap: the GK wrap! Stuffed full with hummus, kale salad, mango chunks, and shitake mushrooms, it’s a cornucopia of flavor and texture! Wrapped to perfection by the wrapmistress herself, Ms. Kathy.

Enough talk: it’s time for you to see for yourself how all this stuff comes together. Let us show you!

Video 1: Hemp Hummus, Kale Salad, and the “GK Wrap”:

Video 2: Kathy’s Watermelon Frosty!

That’s it, guys! The “real me!” As you can see, I’m more of a goofball than the measured prose would suggest!

And if you need a refresher on the recipes:

High Protein Hemp Hummus (vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Makes 4-5 servings

1/4 cup shelled hemp seeds
1 can chickpeas, drained, or 2 cups freshly cooked (heat before blending for ideal consistency)
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
2-3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp tahini (optional)
1/2 tsp cumin
Water

1) Place the hemp seeds in the bowl of a food processor and grind till powdery.

2) Add the chickpeas, salt, lemon, garlic, tahini, and cumin, and begin to process. Add water in a thin stream (stopping to scrape the bowl a few times) until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

3) Garnish with hemp seeds and serve.

Outstanding Miso Sesame Dressing (high raw, vegan, gluten free)

Makes 1 2/3 cups

1/2 cup mellow white miso
1/3 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup tahini (raw is preferable, but roasted is fine, and less costly)
3-4 tbsp tamari
1/2 inch fresh ginger (or 1/2 tsp dry)
1 1/4 cup water

1) Blend all ingredients together on high. Add more water if the mixture is too thick.

To make the kale salad pictured, begin with:

1 bunch curly kale
1 large beefsteak tomato, chopped
1 large bell pepper (or 2 small), chopped

1) De-stem, chop, and wash kale well

2) Add about 1/3-1/2 cup of the miso dressing to the kale. Using your hands, "massage" dressing into salad well, till it’s a little wilted in texture.

3) Add tomatoes and peppers, and toss. Serve!

And now, time for some feedback! What do you want to see more of from the Kathy and Gena show?? We’re so excited about future episodes and want to take reader requests. Send them now!!

And now, I’m returning to what has been a so far blissful first day home in NYC. Tomorrow morning, I’ll start recapping all of my dining adventures for you!! See you then.

xo

Thanks as ever for some kind responses to yesterday’s post! Things are looking up, and I have some new food photos to show you. I also have a newfound appreciation of electricity.

One of my favorite recipes of this past year is my hemp hummus, which is a perfect answer to the age old question of “where do you get your protein?” It’s a higher-protein spin on traditional hummus, which already offers protein in the form of chickpeas, because it throws hemp seeds into the mix. These little nutrition bombs deliver complete protein, essential fatty acids, and Vitamin E. They have a very distinctive taste (that doesn’t appeal to everyone) but here, in this recipe, they’re softened by the familiar flavors of a bright, lemony hummus. If you like hummus, I challenge you not to like this hummus.

So how do I usually serve hummus? It’s a good question: I make so much of it here on CR, but I don’t always talk about what I do with it. There is an obvious first answer: I snack on it, with veggies, or in these kinds of post-class snacky plates:

I also stuff them into collard leaves:

And put it in sandwiches:

I dump it onto salad:

…and maybe I cover it with a raw spinach burger:

Or, I might do the following.

These little raw wraps look complicated, but they’re actually super easy, and a nice way to keep things high-raw if you’re getting tired of the same old Ezekiel tortillas every day (I love them, too, but can only eat so many). The procedure is so, so simple, and the taste is more user-friendly than raw collards!

Begin with three thin, long zucchini strips:

Place about 2 tbsp hummus into the top portion:

Cover it with a tomato slice or two:

And roll away:

Nice snacks, but even better on a good salad!

Not really a recipe, per se, but a fantastic new technique for the aspiring raw foodies who want some easy lunch options. So much of raw food making is in the mastery of simple, surprising little ideas like this one.

On that note, it’s a quiet night for this veggie freak. See you back here tomorrow!

xo

It’s Friday! Phew—this week felt pretty long, and in spite of that I keep having to remind myself that my more intensive coursework hasn’t even begun yet. I wonder what Juy will be like?

For the last few weeks, you’ve all patiently listened to me speculate on how I can find a breakfast option that’s super filling (has to hold me from 8 or 9 am to 3 pm, often with a workout squeezed in) but also not too hot in these summer temperatures. Smoothies, no matter how voluminous or full of fat and protein, tend not to sate me entirely (this may very well be a texture thing: I didn’t chew, so I don’t feel “full”). So I’ve been opting for big chia puddings—most recently my very berry chia hemp pudding—and also for overnight chia+grain concoctions (like my superfoods breakfast bowl). I plan on experimenting with some healthy vegan pancakes, and I even came up with at least one baked good (my blueberry oat bars) that managed not to feel like air, and tide me over for a few hours.

Right before I left for DC, I made a raw, vegan granola recipe that was truly the best I’d ever attempted (maybe one of the best I’ve eaten, too). I haven’t made any more since I got here, and I keep saying I will. Last Saturday, as I prepared for a day of hiking in Virginia, I was struck by a strong hankering for raw granola (“rawnola,” to use the parlance), but realized that I didn’t have time to dehydrate a batch of my new favorite mixture. Instead, I decided to throw together a “cheater’s” bowl of buckwheat, sunflower seeds, hemp, spices, and raisins, and to top it all off with fruit and some homemade almond milk. It had the same effect as real granola, and it tasted almost as good (though not as sweet). I figured I’d share the recipe with you all, since I know I have a lot of busy readers without time (or dehydrators) to spare.

Dehydrated or baked granola is wonderful, and I won’t be supplanting all of my granola cravings with this little slapdash method. But it’s a fast, easy solution to the question of “what can I eat for breakfast that’s filling, nutrient dense, fast, and easy?” Enjoy it.

Raw, Vegan “Cheater’s” Granola (raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)

Serves 1 Hungry Person

1/2 cup dehydrated buckwheat (follow my method in this post)
2 tbsp sunflower seeds (raw or roasted)
1 tbsp hemp seeds
2 tbsp raisins, dried cranberries, or dried currants
1 tbsp cacao nibs
1 tsp cinnamon
1 medium banana, chopped
1/3 cup blueberries
Almond milk

1) Mix the buckwheat, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, raisins, and cacao nibs in a bowl with a tsp of cinnamon.

2) Place your banana and berries in a bowl. Pour the cheater’s granola over them, and then soak it all in almond milk.

3) Dig in.

I’d say this bowl is good for one person with a big appetite or a busy schedule, and good for two people as an afternoon snack. Could it get any quicker or easier? Check out how nice and messy it gets after you mix it all up:

Yum.

For the record, that is indeed a Zabar’s cup you see up there. The Upper West Side travels with me.

Coming Out As a Blogger

So, my funny experience of the week was learning that a few of my fellow post-baccs have now read my blog, or at least looked at it. This is because I told them about it, so I guess I shouldn’t feel odd, but it’s also always a shock (albeit a flattering shock) to realize that people actually care. I’m right now involved with a very special group of post-baccs as a research associate (this means we’ll all be doing research work together at Georgetown Hospital, and possibly weaving some of our findings into a real study), and my first reaction to watching them pull up my URL on their iPhones or tell me in class that they’d checked the blog out was to feel unworthy of their interest. But when a fellow RA (who had just been asking lots of questions about veganism and how it works) exclaimed “those look awesome!” to my black bean enchiladas, I felt really happy.

It’s funny: I think my blog voice is pretty representative of who I am, minus a few f-bombs and some snarkiness that I try to confine to my waking life. But I always wonder how my blog voice matches my real-life persona to the people who meet me outside of the blog. Do my fellow post-bacc students see me in my blog? I’m don’t know. I guess I hope they do, because I try to pour the best of myself into what I write here each day.

Fellow bloggers, how do you feel about sharing your blog with people in your life who don’t really connect to it—coworkers, for instance, or distant family? Does it feel strange? How closely do you think your blog represents you? Is it a side of yourself that you actually reserve for the cyber-world, or is it very much an accurate portrait of your everyday persona?

I find this fascinating!

Happy wkd…

xo

Hey all!

Hope you had nice weekends. I’m catching up on some labs and pre-labs, some blog comments and questions and emails, and also prepping a Mexican-themed salad dressing for tonight’s dinner. I wanted to pop in quickly, though, to share my new favorite chia pudding, which is very berry chia hemp pudding: a simple concoction made from chia, homemade hemp milk, and frozen berries. This is part of my project to find a perfectly filling breakfast that also won’t weigh me down in DC summer temperatures. For two mornings straight last week, it hit the spot.

A word about my homemade hemp milk: I honestly forget to make this regularly, but each time I do, I’m blown away by how rich, tasty, and downright healthy it is. I love almond milk, if only because it’s easy to buy when I don’t have time to make it, but the nutrition just doesn’t stack up next to this. Paired with antioxidant-rich berries and calcium-rich chia seeds, this is a breakfast of true champions.

Very Berry Chia Hemp Pudding (raw, vegan, GF and soy free)

Serves 1

3/4 cup frozen strawberries, raspberries, and any other berry you fancy
2/3 cup creamy hemp milk
3 tbsp chia seeds

Toppings: bananas, berries, trail mix, etc.

1) In a Vita-Mix or blender, blend the berries and hemp milk well.

2) Pour the mix — which will be very thick and smoothie-like–over your chia seeds. Don’t worry about the fact that it’s so thick; it’ll melt overnight in the fridge and loosen up.

3) Refrigerate overnight and serve with toppings of choice.

Speaking of nutrients and nutrient density, I was pleased to get so much feedback on my request for your most wanted nutrient/vitamin/mineral topics. Looks like a post on sweeteners is in store! If you haven’t weighed in and want to, leave me a comment tonight letting me know what’s on your mind!

Sorry for the quickie post, friends, but I have a summer evening that’s calling my name. See you back here tomorrow with some musings on relationship between EDs, recovery, veganism, and the touchy topic of putting certain foods off limits.

xo!

Thank you to everyone who commented on the Green Recovery post yesterday. It’s one of the most moving submissions I’ve gotten, and I’m so thankful to the anonymous writer for sharing her story. And please keep the submissions coming! Do note that the focus of the series truly is on vegan diets and their relationship to recovery, so posts should specifically address how veganism helped to redefine your relationship with food in a positive way.

Today’s recipe for hemp hummus is probably as exciting as things’ll get around here for the next five days: with two enormous finals looming, my capacity to get creative in the kitchen is slim. Fortunately, I have an audience that appreciates the power of simple food, and so I’ll try to stop apologizing. And anyway, there’s not much to apologize for when it comes to hummus!

Lately, I’ve been thinking that hummus and smoothies have a lot in common. Weird? Yes, but hear me out. We all love smoothies because we can use them to pack in some of the healthy stuff we might not eat otherwise: protein powder, greens, maca, spirulina, seaweed, flax oil—you name it, if you don’t love it on its own, chances you’ll like it in a smoothie. The same goes, I think, for hummus, even if it’s less intuitive to most people to stuff their hummus recipes full of nutritional boosts. I’ve put hemp, blackstrap molasses, nutritional yeast, kelp flakes, and even maca in my hummus, and each time, the taste of the hummus itself far outweighs the taste of these little supplementary ingredients, which aren’t always delicious on their own. (OK, nooch is always delicious. But maca? Crikey.)

A few weeks ago, I shared a recipe for hemp hummus that got tons of enthusiastic feedback. It made a lot of sense: instead of using the traditional sesame seed paste in hummus, why not grind up some hemp seeds—which are far more nutrient-dense—instead? Today, I’m sharing a shortcut on that recipe, which employs hemp protein powder in place of actual hemp seeds. I suspect this will appeal to three kinds of readers:

• People in a rush. The recipe eliminates one step from my original one—grinding the hemp seeds. And who doesn’t like saving a minute or two when hunger strikes?
• People who are watching their fat intake. Lately, this seems like a lot of my readers. I have mixed feelings about the trend, but my readers know what’s best for their bodies. If using low-fat hemp protein powder vs. full fat hemp seeds allows some of my readers to maximize plant-based protein intake while also limiting fat, cool.
• People with budget food processors. The protein powder is pre-ground, so it can work in a mini or low-power food processor better than whole seeds can.

In this recipe, I used hemp protein powder from Manitoba Harvest.

I’m a big fan, but I also use the Nutiva and Navitas Naturals hemp protein, and like those brands a lot, too. You really can’t go wrong with hemp protein: it has a balanced amino acid profile, it’s rich in Omega-3s, it provides 10% of your daily iron, and it’s a raw, whole food.

In fact, the only downside of hemp protein is that a lot of people just can’t get down with the taste, which can only be described as, well, hempy. Hemp has a unique, nutty flavor that you either love or you don’t: I do, but I came up with this recipe specifically to help out my readers and clients who don’t. It’s hard not to like anything that comes dressed up in chickpeas, lemon, tahini, cumin, and salt, and this is no exception.

Protein Powder Hemp Hummus (vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Yields 4 servings

1 can BPA-free chickpeas, or 2 cups freshly cooked
3 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp lemon juice, fresh
1/4-1/2 tsp salt
Pepper to taste
1 tsp cumin powder
6 tbsp hemp protein powder
Water as needed

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor, adding water in a thin stream till the mixture is thick, creamy, and the right consistency for your taste. If you like, drizzle with some hemp oil to serve!

Will this still taste a bit like hemp protein? Sure. Will you really care as soon as you stuff it into a delicious collard wrap, or between two slices of sprouted grain bread, or scoop it atop a nutrient dense salad? Probably not. This is a hempy recipe to be sure, but it’ll also be very familiar and tasty to any hummus lover.

And last time I checked, nearly all of us were hummus lovers.

With that, it’s back to the studying grind. I’ll be back tomorrow or Friday with more whining about my finals tasty recipes. Till then, have a great night—and if you need some added reading material, check out this article on five major myths about veganism from Carol J. Adams, which I enjoyed.

xo

“Hemp cacao energy bites”: now there’s the kind of title that reminds you that you write a raw-themed blog. Crunchy.

Happy Friday! I’m preparing to interview for a summer hospital volunteer position (cross your fingers for me!) and then it’s off to Virginia for some weekend backpacking with M—my first backpacking trip ever, I should add. Exciting! In preparation for this adventure, I decided to spend my Friday morning preparing a nutritious and portable snack.

There’s nothing too surprising about this recipe: they’re just like any other raw “doughnut hole” or ball, except that I tried to pack in a little more nutrition and texture with the addition of hemp protein and cacao nibs. I also used, as my base, a cup of special and high-quality cashews, which I received to review from the fine folks at Serrv, a co-op that works to bring artisanal foods from all over the world to the US. These cashews, collected and distributed by the nonprofit and fair trade company Just Cashews, are grown and processed in Honduras by a farmer cooperative. While not raw, these cashews are remarkably special: they’re roasted on adobe ovens, and they have an incredible, smoky flavor that I’ve fallen in love with (additionally, there’s some debate about whether or not it’s possible to get any cashews that are actually raw, though I do try to buy ones labeled as such whenever I can).

Fair trade cashews are fairly hard to find, and conventional cashews are often harvested under fairly exploitative conditions, so these felt like a worthy product to review. You can find more info here. As you can see, the price is quite steep, but I can vouch for the flavor, which is truly the best I’ve tasted! And in spite of the fact that roast cashews might seem like a strange fit for a date/nut ball, they actually worked beautifully—even though I plan on saving the rest to savor on their own.

Hemp Cacao Energy Bites (vegan, can be raw, GF and soy free)

Yields about 18

1 cup cashews
1 cup pitted dates, packed
2 tbsp agave nectar
1/4 cup hemp protein powder (I like Nutiva)
1/4 cup cacao nibs

1) Grind cashews and hemp protein in a food processor till coarse. Add the dates and run the food processor till the mixture is getting uniform, and sticks together easily. Add the agave and process a bit more.

2) Add the cacao nibs and pulse.

3) Shape mixture into 1 inch balls. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes, then snack away!

I may or may not just have popped a few of these into my mouth on the bus, and I can tell you that they’re well worth tolerating the funky green-brown color. Promise. Even if you don’t make these guys with fancy cashews, they’re a wonderful raw snack. And with the benefits of heart healthy fats, complete protein, antioxidants, and simple sugars for instant energy, they’re wonderful fuel for any kind of physical activity.

Hope you guys have some fun plans on the agenda this weekend! I won’t be back online until late Sunday night or early Monday, but when I get there, I’ll have a full recap of my weekend communion with nature. And, of course, a rundown of my eats.

What’s your favorite portable snack? To my outdoorsy readers, what kind of raw fuel do you like to take on a hike?

xo

On Tuesday, when I shared my awesome new recipe for high-protein hemp hummus, Hannah made a good observation:

It sort of annoys me that so much of the media touts hummus as a high protein “food,” when it really has only 2 grams per 2 T serving, but this? This is this is the real deal.

I couldn’t agree more, Hannah – at least with respect to commercial hummus, which has two grams per serving indeed. That’s not my definition of a high protein food—I’d say that I expect a dish or meal component to have at least 8-15 grams for it to qualify as a decent protein source.

There are various schools of thought within the vegan and raw communities on how much protein we need and how best we should source it. Some vegans seem overly nervous about the “protein question,” recommending a wide array of powders, soy foods, and bars, or brown rice protein shakes consumed every few hours. Other vegans (especially in the raw community) like to tell us that everything we’ve ever learned about protein is straight up BS, and that, as long as we drink some juice and eat some leafy greens, we’re fine.

I fall someplace in the middle of these two camps. I don’t believe that high protein diets—say, 80 g or more of protein daily—are either necessary or necessarily healthy, especially if that protein comes from animal sources. I also think it’s foolish to claim that we need give no attention to our protein needs. Vegans do have to work a little harder at protein sourcing. That doesn’t mean we need to drive ourselves crazy, and it doesn’t mean that we’re at any significant disadvantage. It simply means we need to be mindful.

As a general rule, I think that most nutrition professors (my own former professors included) have it right. They’ll probably tell you that 45-65 grams of protein a day is a good guideline for women of average height and activity level (this would be slightly higher for men). It’s a reasonable guideline: what I take issue with is the notion that we have to eat animal foods in order to satisfy it. The claim that we have to eat “complete” proteins at each and every meal has been disproven, even within the mainstream nutrition community: it’s now a universally acknowledged fact that, if one eats all of the essential amino acids over the course of days and weeks, our bodies will assemble complete proteins on their own. So the question becomes, what protein sources can vegans rely on that will give them all of the amino acids they need?

It doesn’t take much research to see that those sources are widely abundant. Vegans have tons of options in meeting basic protein needs, just as omnis do; the options are simply less conventional. They include, but aren’t limited to:

• Edamame, tofu, and tempeh
• Hemp
• Beans and lentils
• Nutritional Yeast
• Dark, leafy greens
• Broccoli
• Protein powders (hemp, brown rice, yellow pea)
• Quinoa, rice, millet, oats, oat bran, and other grains
• Nuts and seeds

You’ll want to exercise a little caution with that last category, since it’s hard to get a really good serving of protein (say, 10 grams or higher) from nuts or seeds without also eating quite a bit of fat. (To give you some context, 2 tablespoons of almond butter has 16-18 grams fat and 4-8 grams of protein; 1 oz cashews has 5 grams of protein but 12 grams of fat.) This ends up being a significant challenge for raw foodists who avoid legumes, soy, and grains altogether: nuts become one of, or the only, significant protein source, but it’s hard to derive the desired protein without also consuming what may be a disproportionate amount of fat. For that reason, I encourage even very high raw foodies to consider legumes, high quality soy, and/or grains in addition to nuts and seeds.

But enough talk. The best way to show anyone how easy it is to get a good amount of protein as a vegan is to share easy and unexpectedly high protein recipes. Take my wall of green soup for example: one serving packs in a solid 20 grams. Eating a portion of my hemp hummus with two slices of Ezekiel toast would yield almost 19 grams. And even a single cup of my hemp milk would contribute 9 grams of protein to a smoothie.

If none of those options appeal, give my new quinoa protein bowl a try. This recipe came together two weeks ago, for the same client I made my hemp hummus recipe for. As soon as I tasted it, I was thrilled, and I plan to repeat it often. It’s a quick, easy weekday dinner, and it’s remarkably nutrient rich. Just see for yourself!

Quinoa Protein Bowl (Vegan, Gluten Free)

Yields two servings

1/2 cup quinoa, dry
1 1/4 cups water
Dash salt
1/2 cup edamame, shelled and frozen
1 cup almond milk
1/4 cup shelled hemp seeds
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 tbsp mellow white miso
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp lemon juice
Black pepper and salt to taste
6 oz. (about 3/4 cup) steamed and chopped kabocha or butternut squash
2 cups finely chopped raw kale

1) Bring 1 1/4 cups water to a boil with a pinch of salt. Rinse the quinoa in a sieve, and then add it to the boiling water. Add the frozen edamame to the water, too. Reduce to a simmer and cover loosely, until the quinoa has absorbed all of the water (about 20-25 min). Keep it in the pot over a very low flame while you prepare the sauce.

2) To make the sauce, place the almond milk, hemp, nutritional yeast, miso, mustard, turmeric, lemon, and salt and pepper in a high speed blender and blend till smooth and creamy. Add about 1/2 cup sauce to the quinoa, and stir to combine, keeping the flame on low.

3) Add the chopped kabocha and kale to the quinoa, and stir for a few minutes, until the kale wilts and everything is hot. At this point, if the quinoa isn’t as creamy as you’d like, add more sauce! If it’s perfect, then simply save the remaining sauce for another meal.

4) Top the dish with more nutritional yeast or hemp seeds, if desired, and serve!

It goes beautifully with kale salad. But then, what doesn’t?

Hopefully this post gives you a sense of how I feel about protein, as I’m often asked to comment on it. Protein is important, and readers who are worried about meeting their protein needs on a vegan diet shouldn’t be made to feel embarrassed about their concerns. They should, however, take comfort in the fact that it’s not a tremendous challenge to get all of the protein you need on a vegan diet, just so long as you study the facts and do some meal planning. As soon as you do, you’ll get the hang of it.

And if you do find it a challenge to get the protein you need, recipes like this one should lend a helping hand. After all, one serving provides about 30 grams of plant-sourced amino acid power.

Back tomorrow with my new favorite salad recipe. Happy Sunday!

xo

A little while ago, I got the following comment on my sweet potato hummus post:

I don’t know if you’re still reading these comments, Gena, but this hummus is like divine intervention.  It is so good.  I made it without sesame oil (because I didn’t have any) and added a bit more salt than indicated (because I used dried beans instead of canned) and it is by far the best hummus I’ve ever had. Thank you for sharing.

Best hummus she’s ever had? Wow. That’s high praise, given how much excellent hummus is in the world. Thank you!

When I first made that sweet potato hummus, I ate it obsessively for weeks and weeks. I was certain that I’d never come up with a hummus recipe I liked more. I should have known better. Hummus is one of my favorite foods, and I’ll be making new versions that I love for a good long time: whenever I think I’ve identified a favorite, I quickly find another version I like even more. The hummus I’m about to share is my new favorite, but I’ll refrain from calling it my favorite for obvious reasons: a lifetime of hummus variation awaits me.

This hummus first sprung to mind as I was helping a client to add more high-protein foods into her routine without adding an excess of meat analogs. It’s often my job to help the newly vegan understand that, while imitation meat and processed soy can be helpful transition foods, and can certainly have a place in any healthy vegan diet if eaten with some moderation, we needn’t see them as our only possibly protein options. Plant based protein is all around us—in beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, high-quality vegan protein powders, nooch, and more. We’ve got options.

I’ll write more about the array of high protein plan foods later this week, when I share another high-protein recipe that I developed for my client (an entrée). Today, I’m offering you a higher protein hummus option that will allow you to easily add some amino acids to your sandwiches, salads, veggie snacks, or wraps. It’s thick, tasty, and easy to make. It’s hemp hummus, and I can’t believe I haven’t made it sooner.

In essence, this recipe is what happens when you replace the tahini (sesame paste) in traditional hummus with ground hemp seeds. The rest of the recipe is traditional: chickpeas, lemon, salt, garlic, and a dash of cumin. You can enjoy the recipe just as you would regular hummus, but with the satisfaction that you’re getting at least a little more protein and essential fatty acid action with each bite. Note that I did add 1 tbsp of tahini to help with creaminess and texture; if you want to keep it light, stick to the hemp alone.

High Protein Hemp Hummus (vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Makes 4-5 servings

1/4 cup shelled hemp seeds
1 can chickpeas, drained, or 2 cups freshly cooked (heat before blending for ideal consistency)
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
2-3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp tahini (optional)
1/2 tsp cumin
Water

1) Place the hemp seeds in the bowl of a food processor and grind till powdery.

2) Add the chickpeas, salt, lemon, garlic, tahini, and cumin, and begin to process. Add water in a thin stream (stopping to scrape the bowl a few times) until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

3) Garnish with hemp seeds and serve.

You can of course do anything you like with this hummus. My favorite use of the week was to stuff it into some nori sheets—a la my poppyseed sushi from last week—and devour piece by piece. One serving of the recipe has ten grams of protein—half of those the complete proteins afforded by hemp seeds—and you can make that even higher by adding a few tablespoons of nooch to the recipe. Easy, right?

Before I go, I just wanted to mention that submissions for Green Recovery are pouring in, and that the brave writers behind these submissions are pouring their hearts out. I’ve been moved to tears as I read these honest accounts—many of which represent the very first time that the writers in question have spoken openly about their histories. I have former anorexics, bulimics, binge eaters, compulsive eaters, and a few women with EDNOS histories. If there is an ED in your past, and you feel that eating a vegan diet in the present has helped you to move forward and redefine your relationship with food in a healthy way, then I’d love to hear from you.

See you tomorrow!

xo