As you are making or enforcing your new year’s resolutions, consider the why. Why are you resolving to lose weight, exercise more, or eat healthier? If the why isn’t strong enough, you’ll struggle with the resolve needed to make the right decisions multiple times each day, day after day to meet your goal. So dig deeper. If last year’s goal to lose 10 lbs or cut out fried foods didn’t work, reconsider why this goal is so important to you. If the why is there, if it is truly important to you, then you can do it- you can do hard things. And the benefits will be greater than you think. Making a lifestyle change provides energy to make other changes, to change other habits, to spend less time couch sitting and more time having fun.
Once you’ve figured out the why, plan out exactly how you’re going to keep your resolution. Leo Babauta has great advice on sticking to a habit . Perhaps you need to always have fresh fruits and veggies with you (at home AND at work) to snack on when cravings erupt or only order salads when you eat out. Perhaps you need to find a workout buddy or pay your kid to exercise with you, which has a bonus of getting extra one on one time with your offspring. Read this post for tips on meal planning and prep for the week.
Start now- while you’re thinking about it and energized to make a change- list out a few whole food plant based meals for the next week. Plan to make at least 3 meals you are familiar with (spaghetti with marinara sauce, salad and baked potatoes, refried bean quesadillas, vegetable soup, etc) so you have no more than 3 new recipes to try and one night of leftovers. Then gather the recipes and make a grocery list of the ingredients you don’t already have.
After grocery shopping, immediately wash all of your produce. Lastly, set aside 2 hours to prep the week’s meals, some in entirety but definitely any sauces or steps that take more than 30 minutes.
As an example, this is what we’re eating over the next week and how I’ll prep the meals:
Black Eyed Pea Salad over shredded lettuce with a side of brown rice
- In advance
- Cook the black eyed peas or use canned/frozen
- Make the black eyed pea salad and brown rice in advance for a 5 minute meal
- Evening of
- Make the black eyed pea salad and brown rice if you haven’t already
- Reheat the brown rice if you made it in advance
Stuffed Squash with green beans
- In advance
- Cook the acorn squash (tips here) and the wild rice
- Evening of
- Stuff the squash and reheat in the oven or microwave
- Steam or microwave green beans
Chicken-like Seitan Cutlets and Lentil Gravy with mashed sweet potatoes and sautéed greens
- In advance
- Make the Chicken-like Seitan
- Cook the sweet potatoes and peel once they have cooled
- Make the lentils and caramelize the onions for the gravy
- Evening of
- Slice seitan into cutlets and grill or sauté; try Chicken Baked Fake Steak if you have more time
- Make the gravy and mash the sweet potatoes
- Sauté the greens with minced garlic (add small amounts of water and cover to steam, adding a splash of lemon juice at the end) or like this with raisins and pine nuts
Irish Stew (Slow Cooker)
- In advance
- Chop the veggies either the night before or in the morning as you’re starting the slow cooker
- Evening of
- Add leftover veggies at end of cooking, such as green beans or acorn squash
- In advance
- Make the Cashew Ricotta
- Evening of
- After making the penne, pour the cashew cheese and tomatoes into the pot over medium low heat until warmed through (feel free to cover and bake if time is not an issue)
Baked Bean Chili (Slow Cooker)
- Morning of
- Add ingredients to slow cooker, stir, and turn on low
Black Eyed Pea Salad
32 oz drained and rinsed or 3 c cooked black eyed peas
1 red bell pepper, diced
¼ c red onion, diced
2 T pepper or jalapeno jelly
1 T red wine vinegar
½ t salt
¼ t freshly ground pepper
2 avocados, diced
Mix the black eyed peas, red bell pepper, and onion in a medium lidded container. In a small bowl, mix the jelly, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Add the jelly mixture to the black eyed pea mixture and stir to incorporate. Cover and refrigerate. Just before serving, add diced avocados and stir.
Baked Ziti
1 batch of Cashew Ricotta
16 oz whole grain penne pasta (wheat, rice, quinoa etc)
28 oz fire roasted diced tomatoes
Tomato sauce or additional tomatoes, optional
Cook the pasta according to the package directions and drain. Return the pasta to the pot over low heat and add the cashew ricotta and tomatoes. Stir well and cover until warmed through.
Lentil Gravy (adapted from Isa Chandra Moskowitz)
1 yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
Pinch of salt
½ T dried thyme
½ t ground sage
½ t freshly ground pepper
1 ½ c cooked brown lentils
2 T white miso
1 ½ c vegetable broth
1 ½ T tapioca flour or arrowroot, optional
Saute the onion til lightly browned, using small amounts of water to prevent sticking. Add the minced garlic and salt and continue cooking until onions are caramelized. Stir in the thyme, sage, and freshly ground pepper. Add lentils, miso, and vegetable broth and stir well. Transfer to a blender and puree for ~2 minutes until gravy is smooth. Return gravy to pot over low heat. If gravy is too thick, add broth or water. If gravy is too thin, make a slurry of tapioca flour or arrowroot with broth or water, then stir into gravy.
Chicken Baked Fake Steak
1 c non-dairy milk
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 batch of Chicken-like Seitan
½ c bread crumbs
1 t poultry seasoning
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Make buttermilk by adding the vinegar to the non-dairy milk and letting it sit for 5 minutes to curdle. Mix the poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper into the breadcrumbs. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly spray. Slice the Chicken-like Seitan and dip into buttermilk then coat with breadcrumbs. Bake at 350˚ for 15 to 20 minutes or until breadcrumbs are crispy. Serve with Lentil Gravy.