Loving this thread because I’m aspiring to eat this way again to reset.
My go-tos when I do this are low effort / high flavor using a few helpers for the protein or the veg or both – marinades, sauces, curry pastes, etc. Or simple & comforting things that don’t need much help.
Eg:
– Roasted salmon with steamed or roasted vegetables. Helpers could be mustard, zhoug, harissa, thai curry paste on the salmon.
– Roast chicken (pieces) ditto. I love roast chicken in its simplest form, but might also marinate it in yogurt with Indian spices or harissa or zhoug.
– Eggs! Steamed, omeletted, souffled, scrambled, boiled and then curried, and so on.
– Dal / lentil soup – I often add vegetables to the dal when pressure cooking it, and mash them in so they are indistinguishable. Enhances the flavor significantly. Eat as a side, or with rice or quinoa, or as part of a larger meal. Vegetables that mash in well include any kind of squash, cauliflower (especially stem stubs), carrots, and in the non-mash category, spinach.
– Kebabs, koftas, meatballs, and the like – with ground turkey.
– Turkey meatloaf with grated and sauteed zucchini mixed in (also minced carrots and mushrooms, especially black)
– Potsticker “patties” – ie the inside of a dumpling cooked as a burger, served with lettuce cups or any vegetable slaw or side. Korean wanja-jeon are similar idea, but the meat is cut with tofu and egg. Or Japanese tsukune / chicken meatballs.
– Big Salad – in the winter, it often has a warm component like roasted squash, or beets to bulk it up, or shaved fennel just because I love it. Adding a few crushed pita chips or fresh croutons makes it fattoush or panzanella light. Taco salad is also delicious, though I don’t make it as much (black beans, corn, chicken, taco seasoning, scallions, lettuce or cabbage, a few crushed corn chips for crunch), as is Asian chicken salad (cabbage, carrots, chicken, sesame or carrot ginger or buttermilk dressing, scallions, almond slivers).
I mix quinoa with rice to up the protein and satiation level.
I have also added broccoli slaw to all kinds of unrelated things (hello thai green curry with broccoli slaw! hey there tortilla-not-espanola with broccoli slaw instead of potatoes!)
On the veg front, I run into the prep issue too. I like to stock 2-3 frozen and refrigerated veg (broccoli or cauliflower florets, broccoli slaw) I can microwave or quick-saute while the protein is cooking, or to batch cook something like frozen spinach (sauteed in bulk with onion, garlic, chilli flakes) or any vegetables that roast well (cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, onions, squashes, fennel, etc) so I have something ready to eat when I don’t feel like it.
I shared some favorite bean-based dishes elsewhere:
And this collects some older threads that might be of interest:
