3 Vegan Lunch Ideas from a Plant-Based Dietitian

• A vegan diet can help prevent cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and help you lose weight.
• Plant-based dietitian Julieanna Hever shared her three favorite breakfast recipes with Insider.
• She recommended eating seven to ten servings of fruits and vegetables per day.

A vegan diet can provide many health benefits through a decreased risk of heart disease And Type 2 diabetes has weightloss. And, according to a plant-based dietitian, “it’s never been easier to change your diet.”

Julieanna Hevera Los Angeles-based dietitian who follows a plant-based diet and has written nine books on the subject — including “The Vegiterranean Diet” and “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition” — told Insider that a vegan A healthy diet should include as many whole plant foods as possible, including legumes such as beans and chickpeas. She aims to eat seven to ten servings of fruit and vegetables per day, with lunch being a great opportunity to pack some in.

“One serving is equal to one cup of raw vegetables, one medium piece of fruit, or half a cup of cooked vegetables. So sprinkling in seven to ten of these servings a day is very easy and will provide you with the most benefits.” , she says.

Hever shared three of her favorite vegan lunches with Insider.

A huge salad

Hever likes to make a huge salad for lunch because it’s a great way to get all of her daily veggies in one meal. “If your salad isn’t bigger than your head, it doesn’t count,” she joked.

She often fills her salad bowl with cooked vegetables, potatoes, corn and a can of beans for protein.

Two or three times a week, Hever prepares a new Vinaigrette which she keeps on hand in the refrigerator, which generally lasts three to five days.

She makes them in a blender and adds nuts and seeds, which are very cardio-metabolicly healthy, she said, as well as spices for flavoring. One of her favorites is a “cheesy” dressing made with cashews.

Cauliflower and Mushroom Rice Cream

This is Hever’s favorite recipe cream of rice with cauliflower and mushrooms. “It tastes like Thanksgiving in a bowl,” she said. This dish is a blend of herbs filled with fresh vegetables.

Ingredients:

• 16 oz cauliflower (or cauliflower rice)

• 1/2 cup cashews

• 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast

• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice

• 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar

• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce without anchovies

• 1 tablespoon low sodium tamari

• 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning

• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

• 2 teaspoons arrowroot (similar to cornmeal)

• 2 cups plain unsweetened almond milk

• 1 medium yellow onion (diced)

• 2 stalks celery (diced, 1/2 cup)

• 1 jalapeño (seeded and finely diced)

• 1 tablespoon minced garlic

• 40 oz mixed fresh mushrooms (stemmed and roughly chopped)

Optional (but recommended):

• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme (stemmed)

• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary (stemmed)

• 1 fresh sage leaf

• 2 cups kale (stemmed and chopped)

If you are making the cauliflower rice yourself, place the florets in a food processor and process until they are the consistency of rice.

Then mix together the cashews, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, tamari, poultry seasoning, red pepper flakes, black pepper, arrowroot root and almond milk and blend in a blender until they form a smooth sauce.

In a large skillet, sauté onions, garlic, celery and jalapeño until lightly browned.

Then add the herbs, if using, and the mushrooms and cover with a lid until the mushrooms have released their liquid. At this point, uncover and let sit for three to five minutes before adding the cauliflower rice and mixed sauce to the pan.

Reduce the heat and cook for a further 20 minutes and, if using, stir in the kale until wilted.

Either eat the dish immediately or let it cool to room temperature and place it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. This will last four to five days.

Chipotle Bean and Tofu Chili

A must-have lunch or dinner for Hever is a chipotle bean and tofu chili.

To prepare it, she sautés a red onion, a red pepper, and a jalapeño in a large pot. Then she adds lots of herbs and spices, including smoked paprika, cumin, oregano, chili powder, ancho chili powder, and cilantro, along with two cloves of garlic chopped, and mix everything.

Next, she adds the plant-based proteins: a package of firm tofu that she crumbled with her hands, a can of chickpeas and a can of red beans.

Finally, she pours a few store-bought chipotle peppers into the adobo sauce, tomato paste, chopped tomatoes and vegetable broth, and lets it all simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it is thick, signaling that it is ready to eat. She recommends eating chili over baked potatoes, cauliflower rice, cooked greens, or as a salad dressing.