Cherries, Arugula & Black Beans

Today is a challenge for getting my daily dozen because I’m not following my normal schedule. Instead of breakfast and then exercise, the first thing I have to do today is run. At 8 a.m., my partner is dropping his car off at a garage 13 km from our house, and he’s running home. I’m running from the house to meet him half-way and then we’ll return together (it may seem like a strange plan, but we have our reasons). The problem is that I can’t run soon after eating, so I’m just going to drink some water and go. I don’t have a post for what I ate yesterday, but I had tons of carbs, so I’ll be just fine!

By the time we get home, it will make more sense to go directly to lunch, so I’ve decided to try to fit the daily dozen into 2 meals & a snack. Let’s see how we go…

I had some peas and corn left over that I’ve been excited to eat, one extra corn tortilla that I haven’t made use of yet, and tons of arugula in my garden. It’s a quick & easy lunch to throw together, which is exactly what I need right now!

 

• corn tortilla
• 1 c. peas
• 1/2 c. corn
• 1/2 c. arugula, chopped
• 1 c. lettuce or other greens, chopped
• Chef AJ’s House Dressing, to taste

Here’s how I put my tortilla together:

1. Mash the peas in a bowl
2. Add corn, arugula & dressing
3. Mix together well
4. Put as much of the mixture on the tortilla as will fit & wrap it up.

I couldn’t fit all of the filling into the tortilla wrap and I only had one left, so I ate the remaining mixture straight from the bowl. If you prefer, you could use 2 wraps and increase your whole grain servings by one.

Checklist items: 2 beans, cruciferous, 1 greens, 1 other vegetables, 1 whole grains (6 out of 18 servings)

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The village I live in is full of cherry trees. It’s beautiful in the spring, but the real benefit comes when the cherries are ripe!

 

• 1/2 c. cherries
• 2 nectarines
• .6 oz. (17 g.) any nuts or seeds you want

The amount of nuts & seeds is very small – literally a palm-full – because the rest of the daily serving will be in the meal I have planned for dinner.

Checklist items: berries, 2 other fruits, 1/3 nuts (3 1/3 out of 18 servings)

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When the cherries are ripe, it’s also time to start using the BBQ! So much love went into the burgers I’m making today.  They’ve got a black bean base – my favorite beans! – and they’re far & away the best veggie burgers I’ve ever had. Everyone I’ve made them for, vegan or not, agrees they’re totally amazing.

• 2 of these perfect veggie burgers
• whole grain buns
• 1 c. greens
• 1/2 c. sliced onion & tomato
• anything else you like to dress up your burger

I made only 1 small change from the original burger recipe: I divided the mix into 6 rather than 8 patties. This works better for me because the whole grain buns that I buy are only available in the size giant. Plus, it has the awesome benefit of fitting beautifully into my Daily Dozen calculations!! Cook as instructed in the original recipe, or as you prefer. I have to adjust my cooking times up a bit to account for the larger size of my burgers.

One more note about this meal: You may have noticed the lack of a side-dish. That’s because you’ll get everything you need if you eat 2 burger patties. I like to eat one in a bun, and one without. My Daily Dozen serving calculations are based on this.

Checklist items: 1 beans, 1 greens, 2 other vegetables, flaxseed, 2/3 nuts, spices, 2 2/3 whole grains (9 1/3 out of 18 servings)

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I almost never eat dessert, but my partner makes a mean grilled banana, and it just so happens that the only thing remaining on my Daily Dozen checklist for today is one serving of “other fruits”.

 

• 1 banana
• cinnamon, to taste

Intructions:

1. Slice the banana in half, lengthwise
2. Sprinkle with cinnamon (and anything else you want)
3. Grill until heated through, being careful not to burn the skin.

Checklist items: 1 other fruit, spices (2 out of 18 servings)

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Taking account of the day:

20 2/3 servings in total.

We got at least the minimum recommended servings of everything.

In addition, we had one extra serving each of other vegetables & spices, plus 2/3 of an extra serving of whole grains.