Day In The Life - Recipes

By Nina & Randa Nelson

Here's what your day could look like while clearing skin.

For breakfast, maybe it's the weekend and so you are really filling like  -

Willie’s Waffles

These waffles are named in honor of our brother, Willie, who would have eaten waffles for every meal growing up if our mom had let him. This is a Willie-approved recipe, and we hope you like it too.

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes
Servings: About 6 waffles

INGREDIENTS:

1 & 1/4 cups all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour mix

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

11/3 cups homemade plant milk

1/8 cup chickpea flour beaten with 1/8 cup water

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons applesauce

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In one bowl mix the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. In a separate bowl, mix the plant milk, chickpea flour blend, apple cider vinegar, applesauce, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.

Pour the wet ingredient mixture into the dry ingredients and mix lightly. Let stand for about five minutes before using.

Heat a nonstick waffle maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Pour the batter onto the waffle iron. Cooking time will depend on the waffle maker, but you want to cook your waffles until they are crispy golden-brown. Usually, when the waffle iron stops steaming, the waffles are ready.

 

Now it's lunch!

It's Saturday, so maybe after a busy morning, you could go for a Sloppy Joe. Not exactly, but it's called - 

Nina’s Lentil Femwich

The traditional sloppy Joe is made with oil and meat and fried. This healthy, inexpensive plant-based version is one of our favorites to serve when we have guests because it takes almost no time to prepare and cook, and everyone scarfs it down like they’re getting a special treat. (Not a manwich, but guys do love to eat them too!) The leftovers are even better the next day.

Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 40 minutes (Instant Pot),about 1 hour (stovetop)
Servings: 8

INGREDIENTS:

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1/2 cup dried minced onions

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 cooked russet potato, mashed with skin

3 cups dry green lentils 

4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth or water (about 1 carton)

2 cups ketchup (no high-fructose corn syrup)

1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

Preparation with Instant Pot: Add all ingredients to an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker, and set timer for 30 minutes.

Preparation on stovetop: Add all ingredients to large pot, bring to a boil on high. Lower heat, and simmer covered for about 1 hour (occasionally stirring to make sure the lentils do not burn or stick).

Serve on your favorite whole wheat bun with lettuce and BBQ sauce, or on brown rice.

 

Now it's dinner!

Ya had Nina's Femwich - if there's any leftovers, that might be dinner. Otherwise, how about some -

Get in My Belly Burgers

This recipe is a variation of the classic bean burgers developed by our friend Chef Jeff Novick, MS RD, who is also a trained chef and registered dietician. We learned how to make burgers from Chef Jeff when we were only fifteen years old, while shooting the Fast Food DVD series with him. Very few chefs are also dieticians, which makes Jeff unusual—he’s also a brilliant researcher, who helped us a lot while we were working on this book. So please give a round of applause to Mr. Novick for inspiring this recipe, and then pat yourself on the back for making these burgers yourself!

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: approximately 5 minutes
Servings: 12 burgers

1 cup cooked beans of choice, chilled overnight

1/2 cup cooked barley, chilled overnight

1 cup cooked lentils, chilled overnight

1/2 cooked brown rice, chilled overnight

1/2 cup oats

1/4 cup ketchup or BBQ sauce

1/2 cup dried onions

1 tablespoon poultry seasoning

Whole wheat burger buns

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Sweet red onion

Pickles

Condiments of choice

We are asking you to chill the beans, barley, lentils, and rice overnight, as the mash binds together better with cold ingredients. In a large bowl, mash beans, barley, lentils, rice, oats, and ketchup or BBQ sauce together with a potato masher. Add more sauce if the mixture is too dry. Use a masher, not a food processor, because you want burgers—not a spread.

Add the onions and poultry seasoning and squish together with fingers. (Squish is the most accurate way to describe how you mix these burgers!) Form into patties, and place them on a cookie sheet. We like to chill the burgers for at least an hour before cooking, giving the flavors and mix a chance to set.

Preheat a grill (we use a Cuisinart panini grill). Grill the patties for about 5 minutes, until heated through or slightly crispy. Toast your bun, add your lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, and condiments—and it’s Burger Time!

Option: For some variety in your burgers, you can replace rice with one of the following: 1/2 cup sweet potatoes (add 1 tablespoon curry), 1/2 cup mashed potatoes, 1/2 cup mashed cauliflower, or 1 cup minced mushrooms.

 

Final words -

As you'll learn in our online masterclass, we actually eat a LOT more simple generally. Day in and day out, we have a handful of meals we love, they're easy and fairly quick to prepare. But there's also no shortage of fantastic meals like these!

Happy eating!