Thursday, September 12, 2013

Friends and Chickpeas

Last weekend we went up to visit some friends who have recently moved to Paekakariki. It's always nice visiting Maria and Joe because there's always good talk and a lot of laughs and great food.

Joe made us lunch on Sunday and we had a tabbouleh salad with pearl couscous, home made pita bread and yacon.


It was really nice and we ate outside and it was great. It got me thinking about what a vegan meal looks like. I always think of a vegan meal as protein, vegetables and grain and that's where I start most of the time. Usually the protein is a pulse - like in this meal it's the humus made of chickpeas. The vegetables can be raw or cooked. I always aim for as many colours as possible. I always have this goal of including vegetables from as many of the colour groups as possible. I really like these pamphlets to help me remember the groups and what's in them.I really love how this meal has the deep greens of parsley, the purple onion and the red tomatoes (I realise when I say 'vegetables' I also count fruits, plantains and herbs). Wholegrains are awesome! For years I didn't eat them but I am really enjoying getting reintroduced to them. Here's a list of them from A-Z.

These are some of my go to meals, based on this pulse, vegetable, grain plan:
  • Dahl, rice and salad (Dahl may also include vegetables)
  • Quinoa loaf and salad
  • A vegetable soup with pearl barley or quinoa and red lentils
  • Pizza (wheat or other flour base), topped with roast vegetables and tofu or refried beans
  • Buckwheat tabbouleh with hummus and maybe another vegetable or salad
  • A stir fry with vegetables, adzuki beans and rice

I was talking a couple of days ago about raw sprouted hummus. Here's a great recipe from The Simple Veganista blog.


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