Meet Briana, an often-vegan-sometimes-omnivore—which is kinda how we roll here at NMDL too. The best part about this menu though, aside from the delightful-sounding flavor profiles (you had us at caramelized onions!), is that Briana has included links to other sites with the recipes. Very thoughtful!

Name: Briana

Hometown: New York, NY

My dietary leanings: My diet is mostly vegan, but I’m not a vegan. I will occasionally (though rarely) eat fish, eggs or chicken (super rarely!) and I don’t generally sweat it if I eat something, like a cookie, that has butter and eggs in it. So maybe I’m a mostly-vegan/sometimes-omnivore. I’m also really careful of how much sugar I consume.

My favorite vegetable: Tough call…I have to give it to onions, because caramelized onions are one of the most tasty things in the world, but beets and avocados are also frontrunners!

This morning I ate…

I had a very big green monster smoothie.  I made it with almond milk, chia seeds, peanut butter, 2 bananas, a handful of spinach, and a blob of chlorella cream. I like to make them in the morning and bring it to work in a jar (today’s was an old spaghetti sauce jar) and it keeps me full all morning and into the afternoon.

Then for lunch it was…

Salad wrap! I make these a lot. I put an assortment of veggies (lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, avocado, sprouts, grated beets) in a whole wheat wrap with homemade hummus and a little sprinkle of herbamare (seasoned salt…yummy stuff).

Snacks…

I like to sip on green tea sweetened with agave during the day, and I drink a TON of water (I suspect people in my office may think I have a bladder-related problem). I snacked on a package of Eden Organics trail mix a little.

Finally for dinner I had…

Beet burgers! These are SO good. We put them on wheat buns with vegenaise, ketchup, pickles, lettuce & tomatoes.

Last but not least, dessert…

SoDelicious coconut milk ice cream…the one with chocolate and pieces of almonds. I don’t miss ice cream in the slightest!

We heart SoDelicious too—and if you have yet to try their chocolate and almond covered almond-milk bars, you’re in for a real treat. It also seems like chlorella is showing up in everything these days, from moisturizers (see my new fave Acure creams—and feel free to make fun of the fact that I’m posing with them!) to smoothies. I have yet to try chlorella as food but am super inspired by the My New Roots post linked above. Have you tried chlorella?

I’m on a big seed kick lately. It all started when I (successfully!) recreated my favorite salad in the whole entire world. It’s this carrot and avocado one* from ABC Kitchen here in New York, and despite how unspecial it sounds—carrots are carrots, avocados are avocados—it’s shockingly delicious. One reason: The sesame and sunflower seeds it calls for on top.

Since I like to take liberties with recipes, I decided to stock up on pumpkin and hemp seeds** and include those as well. Of course, whenever you make something at home that calls for a teaspoon of something you wouldn’t otherwise buy, you’re stuck with the “What do I do with the rest?” conundrum. Well, I’ll tell you:

I’ve been putting nuts and seeds on everything. Who knew simple seeds could make such a big difference on your old standbys? Not this guy.

Some basics…

Here’s why hemp seeds are good for you: They’re high in easily digestible protein, which means they don’t make you bloat like some other vegetable protein sources like whey and soy. They also have the 3:1 omega 3 to 6 ratio (that’s food-nerd speak for “good”), a nice amount of fiber, and more essential fatty acids than anything else in nature—including flax seeds, which I could never get into, frankly.

Here’s how to store them: In an airtight container or airtight resealable bag, in the fridge. Airtight is important; otherwise the natural oils can go rancid.

Here’s where to buy them: At any health food store, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, etc. Go with organic.

And finally, here’s how I like to eat them…

1. Raw in Greek yogurt or a warm breakfast cereal. Do this with some nuts, coconut flakes, dried fruit and any other seed you have handy for a tasty breakfast high in plant-based protein and healthy fats.

2. As part of a nut-and-seed crust for fish or tofu. Dry toast your seeds together in a cast-iron skillet—no oil, medium heat, until they start to pop and crack. Turn off the heat, let them cool and them combine with a little dijon and honey for the most delicious crust ever.

3. In a smoothie. Just toss ‘em in there.

4. Dry-toasted with spices then sprinkled on a salad or some kale. Same dry-toasting method as above, but this time with spices you like. This brings out the nuttiness of the seeds and with a little cumin (or whatever), it can completely transform something as simple as steamed kale or salad.

5. Baked into homemade granola bars. I’ll admit that I have not done this yet, but I’m going to try this recipe from My New Roots, the best food blog in the world, for Totally Baked Hemp Protein Granola Bars this week.

Are you into hemp seeds? Some other seeds? How do you eat them?

* The recipe is in the new Jean-Georges cookbook, Jean-Georges Cooks At Home (a few more of his vegetarian recipes here), which I have been tearing through at an incredible clip. I swear I’ve made almost all the salads already—and there are many.

** Can’t get high off of them but yes, they are from the same plant.

Image via my favorite food blog, My New Roots

Talk about inspiring. Many of you participated in our Fruit and Veggie Challenge, and your stories read like a resounding WOW.

You guys felt amazing! Many of you were more energized, less bloated, experienced fewer food comas, had better digestion, and even saw a perceptible difference in the quality of your skin tone (that famous veggie glow!).

Some of you were already on the fruit-and-veggie tip but still seemed to appreciate the extra kick. Excitingly though, not all of you started out as big plant-based food fans, so it was especially cool to hear about the changes you noticed and how much you enjoyed the challenge.

As promised, there is a prize for one lucky winner. We reached out to Sarah Britton over at My New Roots, one of our favorite food blogs, to see if she had any plant-based cookbooks to recommend.

She told us that one of her favorites is Enlightened Eating by Caroline Dupont, so our intern Sylvie got ahold of Caroline who was kind enough to donate the book along with her DVD to our lucky winner.

And the winner is…

Sydney Skillen, of Middlebury, Indiana.

We didn’t pick out of a hat this time, but actually chose Sydney because she told us this was a tough challenge for her, but she noticed positive changes and wants to keep it up. So as a new convert to a heavily plant-based diet, we thought this would be good encouragement. Sydney, we will email you with more details!

As for the rest of you, thank you so much for participating. We currently have a big challenge in the works and we’re hoping that this one will actually have a prize for everyone… Because we’re all going to Australia!! Just kidding. But it’s going to be really awesome.

Happy Meatless Monday!