Forget about drinking your veggies. Brooksville author Jen Hansard is straight-up telling us to eat more of them through Simple Green Meals: 100+ Plant-Powered Recipes to Thrive from the Inside Out, her latest book.
Hansard, who resides on a mini-farm with her husband and two kids, is the co-founder of the popular Simple Green Smoothies website. Simple Green Meals acts as a complementary follow up to the avid runner's first tome — titled, you guessed it, Simple Green Smoothies — carrying on the inspiring message loyal readers have come to expect.
Simple Green Meals is now on sale, and essentially, it's a flavorful guide to affordable, easy-to-make dishes for vegetarians and meat eaters alike.
With more than 100 recipes to choose from, the new read published by Rodale Books is fit for all levels of home cooks, because, thing is, Hansard doesn't really care how, or when, you decide to incorporate a larger amount of plants into your diet. What's important is that you're doing it in the first place.
Featured dishes include quinoa corn muffins, garden burgers with baked veggie fries and homemade ketchup, Austinite cauliflower barbecue tacos with simple cashew slaw, and salted caramel bites. A side of meal prep and grocery shopping advice is also served up.
Simple Green Meals is available for purchase online via Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Check out an excerpt from the book — and the recipe for those salted caramel bites — below:
Salted Caramel Bites
Makes 18 Bites
Oh, my goodness — these tasty little treats are loaded with sweetness, protein, and fiber. They will not only help with your sweet cravings but also nourish and satisfy your body. No empty calories here! Feel free to indulge!
1 cup raw cashews
1 cup soft and sticky Medjool dates, pitted
1/2 cup tahini
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the chopping blade, pulse the cashews until finely chopped. Add the dates and process until a thick, sticky paste forms. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
2. Add the tahini, vanilla, and salt and process until the mixture forms a dough. If the mixture isn’t sticking together well, add a tiny bit of water and process again.
3. Scoop out a heaping teaspoon of the mixture and roll into a ball about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Repeat to form approximately 18 balls. Freeze on a baking sheet until firm, then transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 5 days.
This article appears in Sep 6-13, 2018.
