You won’t miss the meat with these ingredients.
If you’d like to incorporate more meat-free meals during the week but aren’t sure where to start, we have a few ideas. It isn’t as hard as you might think.
• Beans — Canned beans are a fast way to add protein to meals (rinse them first!) while dried beans, although they take awhile to cook, allow you to flavor them how you’d like. Try beans on a salad, in tacos or added to a pasta dish. Chili is a great way to ease into eating beans — just sub in kidney, black or pinto beans instead of meat.
• Nuts — Need something fast and full of protein? Reach for nuts! Add almonds, walnuts or pecans to a salad for a nice crunch or put peanut butter or almond butter on a sandwich instead of a slice of deli meat. Another idea is to make a quick peanut sauce for pasta and vegetables — search online for tons of easy recipes.
• Eggs — Scrambled, poached, hard-boiled … eggs are versatile, delicious and full of protein. Add them to salads, eat them alone or get fancy and make a frittata, quiche or strata. Breakfast burritos with eggs and beans are a solid hit of protein first thing in the morning.
• Lentils — These little legumes come in a variety of colors. Add lentils to soup, mix cooked lentils into your pasta dishes or salads, or use lentils as a base for roasted vegetables.
• Tofu — Made from soybeans, tofu is a staple in Asian cuisines. It’s good added to soup or stir-fry. Marinate slices in your favorite marinade recipe and grill it — or put it in the smoker! Marinated and baked tofu is a nice addition to salad, too.
• Quinoa — this funny little grain is gaining in popularity and becoming more widely available. It comes in a few different colors, and it’s an amazing source of protein. Cook it like you would rice and eat it that way, too, for a protein-packed alternative.
• Spinach — This leafy green is a surprising source of protein, with almost as much as a hard-boiled egg. Opt for spinach salads or add a handful of fresh spinach to your daily smoothie. Spinach is also good in pasta and soup or as a topping on your sandwich.
• Peas — Another surprisingly protein-packed vegetable, a cup of peas has even more protein than a cup of spinach! Pea soup is a tasty option, or add a handful of peas to whatever dish you’re making. There are even recipes online for pea pesto!
Whatever you choose, your meals won’t be lacking in protein — or flavor.
Appeared in the ZP Challenge app.