Although we are becoming more conscious about the importance of eating a healthy balanced diet, our good habits are usually disturbed during the Christmas holidays by the quantity of meals that instead of being healthy, are traditional and seasonal.
After such a concentration of calories in the deserts, meats and seafood, our bodies are crying out for us to retake our simple and balanced recipes with urgency.
How can we help our clients who don’t have time to cook so buy prepared meals, to begin the new year eating healthily out of home?
We count on the collaboration of Montse Tapia, a vegetarian cuisine teacher and gastronomic assessor, who for years has contributed with her innumerable recipes to the magazine Cuerpo Mente (Body Mind) and has helped hundreds of business to adapt their menus, offering vegetarian diets, dishes for digestive intolerances and food allergies, etc.
According to Montse Tapia, having plates of vegetables on the menu is not the same as offering vegetarian dishes. When we start thinking about preparing a menu for vegetarian clients, we must make sure that we are covering all our client’s needs for proteins, vitamins and minerals with products from vegetable origin. We must think of offering a variety of appetising plates, visually attractive, highly nourishing…: and without any type of meat!
Here is some advice to start you off:
1.
Cook recipes with brown rice, as it carries more nutrients than refined rice. We often choose not to cook brown rice at home as it requires a longer cooking time than white rice. What if we could buy an pre cooked brown rice pilaf with vegetables?
2.
Get familiar with tofu and seitán. They are very versatile products that can be used as a base for many plates and they also contain proteins that the body needs every day.
3.
Introduce seaweeds into your menus. They are highly rich in minerals and vitamins so the daily needs for some nutrients can be covered in just one dish.
4.
Reinvent dishes that traditionally use meat and transform them into vegetarian meals: aubergine cannelloni, vegan bolognese sauce, vegetable (meat)balls…
5.
Think about consumers with intolerance to lactose and make your bechamel and other sauces with cereal milk (of oats, almonds, rice, soya, etc.). These can perfectly replace the derivatives of cow milk.
The presentation of these plates is the same as the traditional ones. You can use the same meal containers that you usually buy, but you know that you are helping to improve the health and the well-being of your clients.
So, are you in? We’ll accompany you at García de Pou!
