Free Recipes & Tips

With Jack eating three meals a day now, I am simply modifying my meals to make them work for him instead of cooking separate meals. We have busy days so all of these meals are made in 20 mins or less and provide important nutrients – with the help of California strawberries! @castrawberries 

Not only are strawberries Jack’s favourite fruit but they are versatile and nourishing as well. Just one cup of strawberries has 95% of the daily value of vitamin C for the day! California strawberries are delicious, versatile, and perfect to eat on their own or as an addition to any recipe (even for lunch or dinner). A bonus is that California strawberries are available across Canada even when local strawberries aren’t.  
 
Below is how I modified meals for Jack and why each of these recipes work for us! Don’t forget to grab some California strawberries at your local grocery store and check out californiastrawberries.com for more recipes. #californiastrawberries 

Breakfast: Strawberry Yogurt Bowl. I made Jack and I nearly identical bowls, his was a smaller portion however. The California strawberries are a great fibre boost in this yogurt bowl to start our day.  

 
Lunch: Strawberry Feta & Avocado Toast. Jack just didn’t receive the raw onions (hard to chew) and feta cheese (higher in sodium). I love a quick and easy lunch like this one because we are often on the go in the middle of the day and this lunch is very portable for both of us! 

 
Snack: Strawberry Spinach Chickpea Muffins. These are perfect for on the go! The strawberries add some vitamin C, which helps to absorb the iron in these muffins. Iron intake is so important for Jack right now!  
 
Dinner: Strawberry Tofu Bowl. Jack didn’t receive the raw veggies in the bowl and instead I put quinoa, California strawberries and tofu on his plate. I added some hemp hearts to the California strawberries for an iron and protein boost as well.  

Find California strawberries at your local grocery store. For more recipes and information, visit californiastrawberries.com. 

I have been plant-based for many years now and also have struggled with low iron on and off. I have to say, I haven’t always had the most well-rounded diet over the years of being plant- based. Being plant-based doesn’t automatically mean that you will have low iron but it is important to identify plant iron sources and incorporate them into your everyday meals.

This is why I’ve created this handy graphic and meal plan for you! As I have recently been through pregnancy and am about 1 year postpartum, my iron needs have increased. In additional to incorporating these plant-based iron sources into my everyday meals, I have been supplementing with Megafood Blood Builder daily, which has been clinically shown to increase iron levels without the common gastrointestinal side effects. If you struggle with your iron, I definitely recommended checking out Megafood Blood Builder. Have you struggled with your iron before?

Save this post for the iron list in the graphic and below!

Tofu (9 oz) – 4 mg

Protein Pasta (85 g) 2.5 mg

Tempeh (9 oz) – 6 mg

Edamame (1 cup) – 3.5 mg

Lentils (1 cup) – 6.5 mg

Peas (1 cup) – 2.4 mg

Cooked spinach (0.5 cup) – 2 mg

Black beans (1 cup) – 4 mg

White beans (1 cup) – 2 mg

TVP (1/4 cup) – 2.5 mg

Fortified cereal – 1/4 cup – 4 mg

Blackstrap molasses – 1 tbsp – 3 mg

Pumpkin seeds – 1/4 cup – 2.5 mg

Megafood blood – 26 mg in 1 tablet

f you’re struggling with meal prepping, let me show you how seamless it can be. This meal prep only uses 15 main ingredients (plus a few spices) to make four different recipes – let me show you how I did this.

The key is to use versatile proteins, starches and vegetables and to use recipes that use these overlapping ingredients. This way you’re never bored of your meals, you don’t have a long grocery list and you can get the meal prep done quickly and cheaply!

The first step is prepping the staples. For this meal prep, that means cooking rice in the rice cooker, making pickled onions, chopping the lettuce and tomatoes and making the BBQ tofu. From there, you are simply arranging these ingredients together in different ways for the different dishes.

For the taco bowls, I combined the wild rice, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles onions and tofu. I added guac for dressing.

For the meal prep BBQ tofu & wild rice bowl, you just need wild rice, BBQ shredded tofu, pickled onions and coleslaw. For the meal prep BBQ tofu tacos, you need the wraps, BBQ tofu, pickled onions, tomato and lettuce. Top with guacamole.

For the overnight oats, grab oats, chia seeds, protein powder, cocoa powder, banana and almond butter.  

I may ruffle some feathers by saying this but plant protein is actually superior to animal protein in a few ways.
First, it’s also a fibre source which so many of us are actually deficient in, second, it’s packed with health-promoting plant chemicals including antioxidants and phytonutrients while being lower in saturated fat and third (I could keep going on) – it’s cheaper!

So, whether you are a plant-based eater or simply want to eat some more plants, it’s time to incorporate more of these plant proteins into your daily eating habits.

My top plant proteins are:

• Bean Pasta – 85 g – 17 G protein & 8 g fibre
• Edamame – 1 cup – 19 G protein & 8 g fibre
• Peas – 1 cup – 9 G protein & 7 g fibre
• Tofu – 8 oz – 24 g G protein & 1 g fibre 
• Tempeh – 8 oz – 46 G protein & 8 g fibre
• Lentils – 1 cup – 18 G protein & 1  g fibre
• Black Beans – 1 cup – 14 G protein &  18 g fibre
• Chickpeas – 1 cup – 12 G protein & 11 g fibre
• Hemp hearts – 1/4 cup  – 13 G protein & 2 g fibre
• Chia Seeds – 1/4 cup – 7 G protein & 14 g fibre
• TVP – 1/4 cup – 12 G protein & 3 g fibre
• Soy milk 1 cup – 9 G protein & 1 g fibre
  

One underrated vegetable I’m looking to eat more of is parsnips. They are closely related to carrots but have a distinct, slightly sweeter and earthier flavour. They’re also packed with nutrients! They’re high in fibre, rich in potassium and contain folate and vitamin C.

How do we prepare parsnips? Well they’re super versatile – roast with oil, mash them with potatoes or air fry as fries. In todays post I’m showing you how I’ve incorporated them into 6 different bowls – with different flavour profiles! 

For the parsnips, I’m picking up parsnips from Gwillimdale Farms. I always trust Gwillimdale Farm products as their family-run farms nourish families across Canada with their quality and fresh produce.

Which bowl are you trying first?

I’m willing to bet that you aren’t protein deficient but you probably are lacking FIBRE! It’s estimated that ~90% of people don’t get enough fibre in a day. Not getting enough fibre can increase our changes of colorectal cancer, heart disease, diabetes and more.

So – let’s change that! I put together my top recommended fibre-rich foods in the post and ideas for how to use them. Save this post to reference later!

My top high fibre foods:

• 3 Tbsp Chia Seeds = 10 g Fibre
• 1/2 Cup Black Beans (cooked) = 7.5 g Fibre
• 1/2 Cup Edamame = 5 g Fibre
• 1/2 Cup Oats (cooked) = 4 g Fibre
• 1/2 Cup Quinoa (cooked) = 6 g Fibre
• 1/2 Cup Barley (cooked) = 7 g Fibre
• 1 Medium Sweet Potato = 4 g Fibre
• 1 Cup Cooked Broccoli = 5 g Fibre
• 1 Avocado = 12 g Fibre
• 1 Banana = 3 g FIbre
• 1 Pear = 5.5 g Fibre
• 1 Cup Berries = 8 g Fibre