Grains For Your Gains
If you want to swap in a couple of plant based dinners a week without the hassle of intricate recipes, these warm hearty grain bowls are a simple, nutritous segue into your “Meatless Monday.”
It’s important to consume whole grains as part of a healthy diet for many reasons- heart health, weight management, diabetes, and digestion just to name a few. I often see friends or clients that want to lose weight shy away from this “Carb heavy” food, but whole grains are actually a major aid during weight loss! Because they're so fiber-rich, they’ll keep you satiated for longer while still providing that “carb satisfaction.” This leaves us much less susceptible to later binging on refined or enriched grains that are significantly higher in carbs and empty calories like crackers, chips, and most breads. So what’s in these nutrient powerhouses? Lots of Vitamins(Vitamin B, folate, niacin, and more), minerals like Zinc, iron and magnesium, antioxidants, polyphenols, and yes even PROTEIN!
Easy to make with endless ingredient variations so you will never get bored!
Here are my tips to creating your delicious Grain Bowl:
1.Choose your base grain: Rice (opt for the more nutrient dense brown, wild, or black rices instead of the white), Quinoa, Buckwheat, Lentils, and Barley are all great options.
Save time by batch cooking a few days worth of grains. I always recommend 1 cooked cup per bowl as your serving size, and store the rest in the fridge. When you want it for the next night’s dinner, simply warm up your 1 cup serving on a skillet for a few minutes with a couple of tablespoons of water (or use a microwave).
2. Choose 3 vegetables you love. Some of our go-to options:
Sautéed 1 cup mushrooms -these are a great replacement for that “meaty” texture for those that are swapping out their usual animal protein dish for a plant based option.
Roasted Cruciferous vegetables: Broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts. Not only are they high in vitamins and phytonutrients, like the grain they’re all high in fiber making them super filling but with very little calories, carbs, and fat. Simply place broccoli/cauliflower florets or brussel sprout halves into an oven dish, season with some salt and pepper (or bare) and bake/roast for 20 mins (until you see edges browning) at 350 degrees.
Steamed or roasted veggies: baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, or sweet potatoes all add a touch of sweetness to your bowls.
Baked & cubed Squash: eggplant, zucchi, yellow, or butternut-any work!
Chopped Onions, garlic, shallots or chive for extra flavor.
3. Spice it up: One of my favorite things about grains and cooked veggies is how well they absorb spices. Play around with your favorite spices. My staples: cayenne pepper, paprika, black pepper, crushed red pepper, turmeric, and/or cumin.
4. Top it off: Drizzle some tahini or hummus for a middle eastern bowl. Add Salsa or guacamole/avocado if you’re doing more Mexican style.
5. More ideas? Throw in some corn, beans, avocado, tofu or tempeh! Like I said, possibilities are endless!
