The Yoga Plate

High in fiber and low in fat, this lovely grain is a star. Many of our family’s mornings begin with a pot of nutritious Superfood Oatmeal, accompanied with chia seeds, coconut oil, nut butters, and fresh fruit. Oats are packed with vitamins and minerals, including manganese, phosphorus, magnesium, selenium, zinc, and copper. Oat groats are the original whole form oats are harvested in, but most people prefer rolled, crushed, or steel-cut oats. Oat flour is incredibly easy to make at home and is great for using in baked goods. Make sure to buy gluten-free oats if you have any gluten allergies or sensitivities.

Technically not a grain, buckwheat is a seed that is high in both fiber and protein. Since it often serves the purpose of a grain in cooking, we’re taking a bit of creative license here. Buckwheat is a complete protein, containing all nine essential amino acids. To maximize its nutritional content, we use it in its raw form, called buckwheat groats, as opposed to its roasted form, called kasha. Raw buckwheat is gluten free and simple to make into flour for baking.

We always seem to have a mason jar filled with black beans soaking in water. Our son, Kanai, is obsessed with black beans and would eat them for every meal every day if he could. We fully support his obsession: black beans are loaded with nourishing things, such as protein, fiber, antioxidants, and micronutrients. They will keep you full and give you steady, consistent energy throughout the day. Black beans are great in tacos or in our Hearty Vegan Chili.

Lentils are a daily go-to food in our family. They are full of fiber, are easy to digest, and can be prepared in a jiffy. We throw on a pot of lentils in the morning while we’re getting ready for the day and then have a staple to play with after we return from our morning meetings or workouts. We use french lentils, black lentils, green lentils, red lentils, and yellow lentils. There is so much you can make with these gems! Try our Bombay Red Lentil Soup for a nutritious and delicious all-in-one meal.

One cup of cooked lentils has about eighteen grams of protein and fifteen grams of fiber, making them one of the most filling stick-to-your-ribs foods there is. They are also packed with minerals, such as folate, manganese, phosphorus, and iron, and are very alkalizing to the body, which is hard to find in a protein. To get even more nutritional value, you can soak and sprout them. Soaking and sprouting lentils increases their nutritional value and makes them even easier to digest. They become sweet in taste and are great for tossing on top of a salad.

AVOID CANNED BEANS

Preparing dried beans from scratch allows you to sidestep the sodium and other additives that canned beans contain. In fact, in general, we should all use fresh or frozen foods as much as possible in order to avoid cans.

Cans are often laced with the dangerous toxin bisphenol A (also known as BPA), which can leach into the foods. BPA is an artificial estrogen that has been linked with heart disease, blood sugar issues, miscarriages, low testosterone in men, and prostate and breast cancer.

Canned foods generally contain astronomical levels of sodium — up to 15 percent more than their noncanned, home-cooked counterparts. Excess sodium can cause high blood pressure and other heart issues. It is much better to prepare your own foods in order to control the amount of sodium in your diet.

Canned foods also contain sulfites, preservatives added to foods to extend their shelf life. Many people are seriously sensitive to sulfites, and others are a little less sensitive but still react. Sulfites can cause such reactions as wheezing, coughing, and skin rashes. Sulfites can also appear under the aliases sulfur dioxide, potassium bisulfite, potassium metabisulfite, and sodium sulfite.

Another problem with canned foods is that they are heated to an extreme degree for a long time. The high temperatures kill off any bacteria or pathogens that may be in the food, but this process also kills off many heat-sensitive vitamins and minerals, and it changes the structure of the proteins in the foods. The reason canned foods last so long is because anything that could degrade them has been killed!

If you are short on time, can’t soak and cook your beans from scratch, or opt to use canned foods, be sure to get organic options that are in BPA-free cans.

DIY PRESERVING

It’s important to soak dried beans in a large, uncovered bowl of water at room temperature for at least eight to ten hours prior to cooking. Soaking the beans not only lessens the cooking time but also improves their digestibility and increases their nutritional content. After you have finished soaking the beans, be sure to thoroughly rinse them with water to remove unwanted elements, such as the flatulence-causing substances you are trying to eliminate by soaking the beans in the first place. It’s also important not to add any salt to the beans before cooking them because it will cause them to cook unevenly.

Cashews are king in our kitchen. We are obsessed with making our Cashew Cream Everything Sauce, which we drizzle on everything from tacos or salads to whole-grain bowls, and our out-of-this-world Cauliflower Mash. Creamy and rich when soaked and blended, cashews are super versatile and can be used in savory or sweet dishes, like our Raw Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake. Loaded with vitamin E, minerals such as magnesium and zinc, and rich in antioxidants, cashews are a great addition to any plant-based diet.

Cha-cha-cha chia! Chia seeds are so fun to cook with. These tiny black powerhouse seeds are packed with incredible nutrients, such as omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, calcium, magnesium, potassium, fiber, and protein. We make chia pudding almost every day and throw a spoonful of chia seeds into our Superfood Oatmeal and smoothies. Try our Cha-Cha-Cha Chia Pudding before a workout for a burst of energy.

These tiny seeds are bursting with omega-3s and fiber. The best way to absorb flaxseeds is to grind them up. We add them to our oatmeal or drop a tablespoon into our smoothies. Ground flaxseeds are also a great replacement for eggs. You can combine one tablespoon of flax meal with three tablespoons of water and let the mixture sit until it thickens, about ten minutes. As it thickens, it forms a gel-like substance that resembles an egg white. Make sure to store your flaxseeds in the refrigerator or freezer, because they tend to go rancid quickly.

If you are short on time, we have a cheat on the soaking method. We use hot water and soak the cashews for about 15–20 minutes. This works like a charm.

These powerhouse seeds are loaded with protein, iron, magnesium, and zinc. Just a half cup of pumpkin seeds packs in twenty-five grams of protein. We like to use pepitas in salads or soaked overnight to be added to our morning smoothies.

We could write an entire book on the benefits of coconut oil (and, in fact, many people already have!). We use coconut oil every day in some way, shape, or form, from adding it to our Farmhouse Granola to melting it in a cast-iron pan to heat up leftovers. Not only is coconut oil great as a food, but it also makes a terrific skin moisturizer and is excellent for oil pulling, an Ayurvedic practice by which you extract toxins from the body by swishing a teaspoon of oil in your mouth for ten to twenty minutes. Here is just a brief list of the many reasons coconut oil should be a staple in your pantry:

•Contains medium-chain fatty acids, which go directly to the liver and turn straight into energy, increasing metabolism

When shopping for olive oil, be sure to look specifically for cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil, which is high in monounsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants (in other words, it’s heart healthy). Olive oil should be housed in a glass bottle and stored in a dark, cool place to keep out light and prevent the oil from going rancid.

Grape-seed oil is our go-to for sautéing veggies and roasting potatoes, like those in our Autumn Roasted Veggies recipe. Its clean, light, neutral flavor works well in baked goods as well. This oil is also amazing for high-heat cooking because, like coconut oil, its molecular structure isn’t altered by high temperatures. Not only is it nourishing for your hair and skin because of its vitamin E content, but it also contains omega-6 fatty acid, which plays an important role in brain function, skin and hair growth, and metabolism regulation.

Creamy, dreamy avocado. Really, what’s better? We often find ourselves eating avocados straight out of their skins, with nothing more than a sprinkle of salt and pepper. As they’re bursting with healthy fats, fiber, and more potassium than a banana, we seem to eat at least one or two a day. At one point, we had an avocado tree in our yard, and it felt like an endless supply of pure gold was right at our doorstep. Try it in our Creamy Chocolate Pudding or Coconut Ceviche. In our book, this is one of the best fats to include in your daily diet.

Coconut sugar is made from the sap produced by the bud stem of coconuts. This sap contains nutritional electrolytes like potassium, magnesium, and sodium. Coconut sugar also brings to the table minerals such as iron, zinc, and calcium, not to mention it is lower on the glycemic index than refined sugar. We use coconut sugar in our Vegan Banana Walnut Date Bread and sometimes as a replacement in recipes that call for brown sugar.

We have so many mason jars in so many shapes and sizes, it’s comical. We use them for storing soups, sauces, and nut milks. We use the extra-large ones in our pantry for storing beans and grains. They also make great containers for gifts. During the holidays, Victoria makes her Farmhouse Granola with cranberries instead of raisins and hands it out as gifts to teachers, coaches, friends, and family. These beauties are a must in our kitchen.

We mostly use this gadget for our zucchini noodles, but there is much more you can do with a spiralizer. It is inexpensive and so much fun. The kids will want to get involved in mealtime with a tool like this. You can simply go online to get a basic version, which will cost you about thirty dollars. It makes a great gift for chef friends, too!

We love to bake, and when we do, we like to employ the large baking sheets (12×17) for big batches of roasted veggies, potatoes, black bean burgers, and, of course, cookies and granola. These are multipurpose and get plenty of use in our house. We line them with unbleached parchment paper for a quick cleanup.