Get ready to cook! And by that I mean that if you have less than a passing acquaintance with your stove and culinary utensils, it’s time to stop by and reintroduce yourself. There is no shortchanging this—unless you want to eat cold salads 24/7, you will cook on the PV diet. And for those of you defying me, saying, “Heck yeah, I’ll eat salad all day long. I LOVE me some salad!” you still have to chop and prep vegetables, so quit acting so smug. Bottom line, there is no Jenny Craig “pop-a-frozen-meal-in-the-microwave-and-dinner-is-ready” equivalent in the PV world.
Does this mean you need to be a gourmet chef? While I can’t deny a week spent at Paris’s Le Cordon Bleu would help, who has the time? No, it’s not that bad. You can keep things simple with tips to help minimize time spent in the kitchen. But life will taste better if you’re willing to spend maybe just a smidge more time in the kitchen than you currently do. Here are some of my best tips for getting in and out of the kitchen while having loads of great-tasting meals available at any time.
TIP #1: Organize your sh**. It’s hard to be efficient in the kitchen when you can’t find the sharp knife, your kids are using the cutting boards as the foundation for their Play-Doh castle, the Tupperware drawer looks like the cat ran through it, and the only measuring spoon available is the 1/8 teaspoon. Organize once, benefit forever. And remember to give yourself plenty of counter space. Tuck all the seldom-used or overly huge appliances away so your kitchen looks inviting for you to come in and cook.
TIP #2: Mark cooking time on your calendar. We’re willing to schedule time for the “must do’s” in our life like dental appointments and taking the dog to the groomer. Guess what? Your health just became a priority. And wishing you ate healthy food or wishing you stuck to your diet won’t get you anywhere. Action is where it’s at. If you love being in the kitchen, you may not need this. But if you know you’re prone to putting off food prep, schedule a day and time, put it on the calendar, and honor it.
TIP #3: Meal planning. While you’ve got your calendar out, include some meal planning time in there. Frankly, I find this takes longer than the actual cooking. Remember though, you can keep it simple and eat the same meals over and over again. Those diet books that offer a different breakfast for every day of the week crack me up. Don’t 90 percent of us pretty much eat the same thing for breakfast every day? But suddenly we’re on a “diet” so we have to whip up fancy grain-free french toast before we leave for the office? I do best when I try one or two new recipes a week, max. On busy weeks I just eat the same three meals over and over again. Instead of being bored, I find it removes a source of stress. I know how to make this, it’s fast, and it tastes decent. I’ll save the “WOW!” meals for weekends or when I have the urge to cook.
TIP #4: Mise en place. The French term for “together in place,” it means having everything assembled before you start cooking. Think of the chefs on TV shows who have all their ingredients chopped up in little bowls so they can just dump them in one at a time as the recipe calls for it. Sure, they have production assistants who prep all that, but that’s what kids and significant others are for, right?
TIP #5: Recruit friends and family. If you’re going to spend time in the kitchen, do what you can to make sure it’s a joyous occasion—or at least doesn’t suck. Listen to your favorite music, sip a glass of red wine, have your kids do their homework nearby, or ask a friend over and cook together. Call your mom and chat while you chop veggies. Catch up on your favorite podcast. The kitchen truly is the heart of your home. Make your time spent there something you look forward to.
TIP #6: Buy prechopped vegetables. I won’t tell if you won’t.
TIP #7: Pull out your slow cooker. Throw a bunch of veggies, spices, and marina sauce in your slow cooker in the morning, come home to the smell of heavenly slow-cooked vegetables ready to be added to a meal (throw it on top of baked spaghetti squash or cauliflower rice) at night.
TIP #8: Eat the skin. Forgo peeling. Vegetables like carrots, turnips, sweet potatoes, chopped eggplant, and beets can all be roasted skin-on. Just wash them well, stick them in the oven, and go.
TIP #9: Dice everything at once. I just love recipes that call for 1/4 cup onion. So just what the frig am I supposed to do with the other peeled 3/4 of it? Answer: Go ahead and dice it up too. The same goes for bell peppers, garlic, cabbage… you’ve got the knife and cutting board out, the countertop’s already a mess, you’re already invested in the cooking process. Just finish the job and put the extra chopped veggies in a resealable bag or storage container in the fridge. Now you’re a step ahead of the game when you need chopped onion for a future recipe.
TIP #10: Portion out food as you cook it. As I finish cooking food, I’m divvying it up and storing it in containers for lunch and dinner. It saves the step of having to take one big container out of the fridge each morning to pack my lunch. Do this with nuts as well—put 10 to 12 almonds in a resalable bag and know that’s your allotment for the day.
TIP #11: Bulk cooking. Here’s how bulk cooking works.
Step 1: Pick Your Day. Sundays work for me. I’m up early and don’t have to be at the gym until 9 a.m. for my favorite BodyPump class, giving me 2 to 3 hours to get my cooking done.
Step 2: Prep Food for the Week. I get the easy stuff out of the way first. I hard-boil about a dozen eggs, and while those are working, I start washing and prepping my vegetables. I chop the quick and easy stuff like the bell peppers and broccoli, and then while those are roasting, I prep the more time-consuming stuff like the brussels sprouts. Once I get in the groove, it’s one big assembly line as food moves in and out of the oven.
Step 3: Roast/Boil/Slow-cook/Sauté. Feel free to prepare your food any way you like. Me, I’m a roasting girl. Most bang for my buck, flavor wise, and I appreciate a cooking skill set that allows me to shove food into an oven and walk away for 30 minutes. Every Sunday morning is almost guaranteed to find me roasting broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, red/green/yellow/orange bell peppers, green beans (stop your howling that they’re not Paleo; if they’re in season, all the Paleo gods like Robb Wolf and Mark Sisson say it’s okay), spaghetti squash, pattypan squash, and whatever vegetables are in my fridge at the end of the week that are about to go bad. (I usually have some mushrooms and sketchy grape tomatoes breathing their last breath that get thrown into the mix.) Other options include eggplant, kale, asparagus, broccolini, fennel, carrots…the list goes on. Don’t be afraid to throw some garlic cloves in there either. Roasted garlic is divine, plus the smell keeps the vampires away. (Kidding.) I also typically make a simple egg fritatta (page 72) that I eat for either breakfast or lunch throughout the week. Go ahead and shred two heads of cauliflower so you have “rice” ready to be sautéed for the week. Also, wash your greens (kale, collards, Swiss chard) and go ahead and boil or sauté them.
Are you getting the idea? The secret is to double most any recipe and freeze the extra batch of soup or marinara or whatever it is you make. That way you have ready-to-go meals on the days or weeks you fall behind in your cooking.
My preference is to bulk cook once a week. If you have a large family, you may need to up it to twice a week. SUPER-prepared people cook once a month, but honestly, I don’t think I have that much meal planning in me. My hat’s off to you if you do.
If you’re unaccustomed to bulk cooking, it can feel overwhelming at first. Give it a few tries, though, and see if, in the long run, it doesn’t improve and open up significant windows of time in your life.
If It Tastes Good, Spit It Out
There is a group of retired gentlemen who, every day like clockwork, arrive at my gym at 5 a.m. They get their workout in and then hold court by the coffee machine for the next several hours. I adore this group and often head to the gym early so that I have enough time to sit and chat with them after I finish my workout.
During the process of writing this book, they kept tabs on my progress. One gentleman, a doctor, was and is less than taken with the idea of a Paleo Vegetarian diet, especially once I explained that meat, grains, beans, soy, dairy, and added sugars were on the banned foods list.
“So basically, if the food tastes good, they should spit it out,” he said.
Everyone roared laughter, me included. I swore I would include that phrase somewhere in the book and so here it is.
Dr. Gloom aside, no, eating PV does not mean you only get to eat bland food. So let’s dig in. We’ve spent enough time talking about what you’re not going to eat on this diet. It’s time to switch gears and talk about the foods that will actually fill your plate.
Include at Least Two or Three of These Foods in Every Meal
The challenge for PVers is getting enough protein and omega-3s in your diet. The list below is by no means a comprehensive one of foods you can eat. However, the foods on this list are high in either healthy fat, protein, or omega-3s. For that reason, aim to include as many and as much of these foods in your diet as possible.
Fish and seafood (if a part of your diet)
Whole eggs (pasture-raised preferred)
Flax and chia seeds
Hemp seed
Olive oil
Nuts, especially walnuts (pecans and pine nuts as well)
Leafy greens—kale, spinach, collards, Swiss chard, mustard greens, etc.
Cabbage
Broccoli
Avocados (limit to one per day if trying to lose weight)
Brussels sprouts
Seaweed—kelp and spirulina
Berries
Potatoes (for athletes or after hard workouts)
One Last Word about Beans
We’ve already touched on the topic of including beans in your diet, but as we move into the recipe section, it bears repeating.
Once again, beans are unequivocally not Paleo. As covered in the introductory section of this book, beans (or legumes) contain phytic acid. Phytic acid prevents the body’s absorption of nutrients. Not a huge problem if eaten in small amounts, but a definite challenge when consumed in large quantity. Beans are also carbohydrate-dense, which can make losing weight even more of a challenge if your diet is high in beans.
So where’s the debate? The issue is I’m going to toss you a curve ball and say that the occasional use of beans in your diet is okay. There are, in fact, a number of recipes just ahead that contain beans—chilis and pizza crusts and a lentil soup. Why?
Mainly because beans are an easy source of protein. Paleoists note that there are better sources of protein, ones that don’t contain phytic acid, and that’s true—if you eat meat and animal fats. Paleo Vegetarians don’t, and so your protein sources are much more limited. For that reason, I’m not above your tossing the occasional handful of beans into your salads or using them to make a substitute pizza crust (see pages 87 and 88). I don’t recommend you make beans a staple of every meal, but 1/2 cup of beans a day probably isn’t going to ruin your world.
Green beans are the exception. There are the die-hard Paleo purists who insist that since green beans are pods, they count as beans and are therefore unacceptable on the Paleo diet. However, the Paleo and Primal gurus Robb Wolf and Mark Sisson both agree that eating green beans in-season is Paleo acceptable. So long as they remain a side dish and not a diet staple, you’re safe enjoying them a couple of times a week as a side item or tossed into a stir-fry, soup, or stew.
While we’re on the topic, the same can be said for snow peas. You don’t want to gorge on them, but an occasional helping isn’t going to wreck your diet. I have a favorite frozen vegetable medley mix I buy each week that contains broccoli, red peppers, cauliflower, and probably six snow pea pods in the entire 12-ounce bag. I could pick them out but then I remember, “oh yeah, I have a life”—and I eat them and move on.
So let’s get to it. The recipes. What follows are but a smattering of the wide array of foods available to you. I’ve included examples of strict PV items such as a delicious roasted cabbage soup and breakfast (or dinner!) quiche. There are also some bean-infused soups and chilies that can be eaten in moderation to add protein to your diet and may be especially important for high-intensity PV athletes to use for fuel and recovery. There are also some fun PV sweets like a pumpkin streusel and organic coconut chocolate balls. These are more special-occasion treats, but I wanted to show you that you can still have healthy PV-friendly foods without having to wait for a cheat day.
I’ve also included a number of what I consider PV basics: cauliflower rice and mashed potatoes, Paleo bread, and simple Paleo pancakes.
Almost all of these recipes have been modified or inspired by what were once non-PV-friendly recipes. A deletion of corn here, an insertion of kale there, and voilá! PV deliciousness on a plate.
I encourage you to peruse Paleo and vegetarian websites to come up with your own PV culinary inspirations. But don’t feel you need to cook up a storm. The majority of your meals can remain quite simple: roasted vegetables doused in coconut or olive oil, big, fresh leafy-green salads, soft scrambled eggs served with slices of tender avocado.
Who’s ready to eat?
How the Recipes Are Organized
A quick browse of the recipes in the following chapters will reveal a lack of standard recipe book classifications, like “Breakfast,” “Lunch,” “Dinner,” and “Snacks.” That’s because I stand by my mantra that any food can be delicious and filling eaten at any time. Pizza for breakfast and “Breakfast Quiche” for dinner? You bet. Therefore, I’ve arranged recipes by type, such as “Egg Dishes” and “Salads, Soups, and Greens.” There’s also a “Just Try It” section that contains recipes that may be outside the norm or require more prep work than the rest. You may not make these every week, but they’re still delicious and filling, and you know what? You should try them!