Day 6
Breakfast: Triple Berry Smoothie
1 scoop whey protein powder, 3 tablespoons ground flaxseeds, 1 cup blackberries, 1 cup kale, 1 cup almond milk. I didn’t have almond milk, so I placed 1 ½ cups of water in my Vitamix and added about 2 tablespoons of almonds, and pureed, then I added the kale, and pureed, then the remaining ingredients.
Chickpea Lunch Scramble:
A fast, Mediterranean-inspired skillet
Ingredients:
2 large whole eggs
1 cup canned (or cook your own) garbanzo beans, rinsed
2 cups shredded green cabbage
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced thin
1/2 jalapeno, minced
Sautéed in 1 tablespoon of olive oil or avocado oil
Sauté the shredded cabbage, red pepper, and jalapeno in the oil for 3 to 4 minutes until they begin to soften. Toss in the rinsed garbanzo beans and let them warm through for 2 minutes. Crack your eggs directly into the pan, turn the heat to medium-low, and gently stir everything together until the eggs are fully cooked and scramble throughout the veggies and beans.
Creamy Cauliflower Soup
Ingredients:
4 ounces ground turkey
2 cups cauliflower florets
1/2 zucchini (sliced)
1/2 red bell pepper (diced)
2 cups homemade chicken broth
Sautéed in 1 tablespoon of olive oil or avocado oil
Simmer the cauliflower florets, zucchini slices, and chicken broth in a pot until tender. Carefully transfer the veggies and a splash of the broth to a blender and blend until completely smooth and creamy, then pour it back into the pot. Stir in your browned ground turkey and diced red peppers, then simmer for another 5 minutes until hot.
Daily Totals
Total Calories: 1,418 kcal
Protein: 83.1 grams
Carbohydrates: 93.8 grams
Dietary Fiber: 40.5 grams
Total Fat: 52.2 grams
Monounsaturated Fat: 24.2 grams (Driven by the sautéing oils)
Polyunsaturated Fat: 17.8 grams (Driven heavily by the premium plant Omega-3s in the sm o othie’s ground flaxseed)
Saturated Fat: 10.2 grams (Naturally occurring fats inside the ground turkey and homemade chicken broth)
Day 7
Something that crossed my mind during the first 6 days was the flavor profile known as Umami. All my breakfast bowls and salads were missing that flavor.
So, what is Umami, exactly? According to The Umami Information Center, “Umami is the fifth taste, joining sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. These are unique tastes that cannot be created by mixing other tastes, and are known as the basic, or primary tastes. Umami is a general term used mainly for substances combining the amino acid glutamate, and/or the nucleotides inosinate and guanylate, with minerals such as sodium and potassium.”
Also, “Glutamate is naturally present in most foods, such as meat, seafood, and vegetables. Two kinds of nucleotides that contribute most to the umami taste, inosinate and guanylate, are also present in many foods. Inosinate is found primarily in meat and fish, whereas guanylate is more abundant in the mushroom family, such as dried shiitake mushrooms. In addition, the umami scores in foods are found to increase due to maturation. Tomatoes and cured ham are typical of this. Due to maturation, the glutamate in tomatoes increases and reaches its highest when tomatoes turn very red.”
It occurs to me that if mostly plant-based meals had an umami component, folks might eat more plant foods, perhaps improving human and planetary health.
I have lots of leftover ingredients to use today and tomorrow, so here goes!
Breakfast
Creamy Avocado Smoothie
1 scoop Pure Paleo Bone Broth powder (or whatever brand you use), 2 cups kale or spinach, 1/2 small avocado, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1 tbsp ground flaxseed, water.
Lunch
Sambal & Tamarind Tofu-Bean Skillet
Ingredients: 1/2 block tofu (cubed), 1 cup green cabbage (shredded), 1/2 cup garbanzo beans, and 1/2 cup black beans.
I sautéed in 1 tablespoon of oil with 1 teaspoon of Sambal Terasi (red pepper relish with shrimp paste—yes, I had some — and 1 tablespoon tamarind paste, thinned with a splash of water).
After I tasted it, it needed something, so I added a little salt and lime juice.
Snack: Apple and Banana
Dinner: Fennel and Feta Salad
2 cups chopped Romaine lettuce, 1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced, ½ cucumber, sliced, 1 hard-boiled egg, ¼ cup crumbled feta, olive oil, and lemon juice.
Total for the Day
42.4 grams of fiber, 69.3 grams of protein, 1,285 calories (hard to believe—I’m so full!)
