— Afke Teunen

All right, so that's a, an interesting question because, um, some recipes just aren't intended to be a complete meal, right? So if you have, um, say a recipe for a chopped Mediterranean salad, that might be something that you can eat on its own, but it also might be something that you, uh, just have a side. If you have something like a glazed carrot, it's definitely not going to be, um, a full meal. It's meant to be a side dish. So you might wanna combine a couple different recipes to be able to make that complete meal to be also get the nutrients that you're looking for out of everything. Um, as far as recipes that don't provide enough protein, um, that is a very common theme in, uh, vegan and vegetarian meals. Um, and I definitely challenge you to look up the, uh, protein on each of the ingredients that you're looking at, right? So a lot of people don't realize that vegetables have protein that's on their own. And then what the dietary, um, what you actually need for protein, um, and what your lifestyle is like, you know? So the more active you are, the more protein you you're probably going to need. If you are a bodybuilder, you definitely need a lot more protein than if you, uh, you know, work at a desk for a day job and you are not as active or so, you know, something like, uh, outside of work. Um, so, uh, definitely not, you know, saying definitely look up your, the type of, um, how much protein you need for your own lifestyle. 'cause I can't tell you. Um, but if you're looking to add more protein to different things, um, look for some foods that have high proteins, right? So definitely look for those plant-based options that have high protein. Um, if you're doing something like, maybe like that Mediterranean salad I was talking about, you can easily add in just a little bit of cooked quinoa to that to be able to up your protein count. You can add something like a white canno bean or something to that Mediterranean salad if you want to be able to up the protein count on it as well. Um, and then, uh, you can always sneak protein in different ways. Me being, uh, the father of two, uh, kids, I'm always looking for ways to be able to sneak protein into, um, into their food. So I will do a, a slur of different things to, uh, a slurry of different things to be able to make things including, um, you know, that's a good example. We did a butternut squash soup the other day where I did a traditional butternut squash soup and then I pureed a silk and tofu with a little bit of lemon and then did a drizzle basically on the top of it to be able to incorporate the, um, the protein in it, but also add a little bit of acid to the dish. Um, and just the, the look of appeal for it. So, um, you know, added something that wasn't quite in the recipe to be able to start with, but it definitely added a great protein source. Um, I find tofu is actually one of my go-tos for my kids as well too. So, um, you know, we will add things like, uh, tofu to like a miso soup, uh, which is something that they love to have. Um, and if I'm using, you know, the veg stock that I get, uh, that I'm making on a regular basis, they're getting a lot of nutrients out of that. Um, and then adding the protein to it as well too. So, short answer is if the recipe, um, is just like a side, you definitely need to be able to and add an additional recipe to be able to make it a complete meal. But if you're looking for recipes that would add more protein, think of other items of vegetables, um, that would have high protein be your beans or your grains even, you know, broccoli and, uh, has a high protein count on, um, you know, spinach can as well. Um, and if you're doing different kinds of, uh, things that are packaged, always look at the protein count on the package to be able to, uh, be aware of how much protein you're getting in those.