Monrovia Living Magazine September Issue
Plant-Based Recipes to Try at Home!
By Amanda Eisenagel, Little Green Forks
Summer’s coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean your health journey should, too. Building a healthy lifestyle is an exciting commitment that will improve your overall quality of life. There are many tasty and nutritious meals focused on whole food nutrition that enhance your health and extend your life. You may be getting bored eating the same “frozen” meals every day that are supposed to be healthy but taste like cardboard. Others may be stuck on what to cook at home because finding a healthy recipe that looks appetizing can be difficult. To help you, Little Green Forks wants to share two simple and delicious plant-based recipes!
Recipe #1: Sweet Potato Mango Bowl: Serves 2
Ingredients:
1 large cooked sweet potato, skin removed, cut into cubes 1 mango, peeled, seeded, and cut into cubes (can even use frozen peeled cubed mangoes) 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained ½ bunch chopped cilantro Juice of 1 lime Balsamic vinegar to taste
Directions:
1. Warm the sweet potatoes in a microwave if using chilled leftovers.
2. Place a generous portion of sweet potatoes into a large serving bowl.
3. If the mango is frozen, defrost it in the microwave.
4. Top the bowl with mango, bell pepper, black beans, and cilantro.
5. Drizzle with lime juice and vinegar, stir gently, and serve.
Recipe #2: Lasagna: Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients:
2 -25 oz. jars of no-oil spaghetti sauce (e.g. Trader Joe’s spaghetti pasta with mushrooms or Whole Foods non-fat pasta sauce)
1 -8 oz. package whole wheat lasagna noodles
3 -12 oz. boxes of lite tofu (e.g. Mori-nu lite packaged in shelf stable box)
1 tbsp dry basil (or ¼ cup chopped fresh basil)
2 tbsp dry parsley leaves (or ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley)
1 to 2 tsp salt to taste
½ tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp minced garlic (12 to 18 cloves)
Directions:
1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Boil lasagna noodles according to the package instruction, then drain and rinse.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
3. In a large bowl, mash and stir the tofu, basil, parsley, salt, pepper, and lemon juice.
4. In a 9x13 inch casserole dish, add the following in order:
§ ¼ pasta sauce (1/2 a jar) (bottom)
§ 1/3 noodles
§ 1/3 tofu mixture
§ ¼ pasta sauce
§ 1/3 noodles
§ 1/3 tofu mixture
§ ¼ pasta sauce
§ 1/3 noodles
§ 1/3 tofu mixture
§ ¼ pasta sauce (top)
5. Cover the pan with foil and bake the lasagna for 30 minutes. Serve hot.
Visit NuSci to try more whole food, plant-based recipes. If you don’t feel like cooking or need help sticking to a healthy meal plan, visit Little Green Forks, where you can receive delicious, quality-made meals delivered to your door. Call (626) 387-3675 if you have any questions about our service or to let us know how these recipes turned out for you!
