The first place to get protein as a vegan is from certain fruits and vegetables, I bet you didn’t realize that spinach and cauliflower are a complete protein. There are many ways to eat these two vegetables. I don’t like to overcook my spinach, but I usually cook cauliflower until soft, either steamed or sautéed. In my opinion, cauliflower is a great substitute for rice and is healthier than traditional white rice. Many times I mix it with curry or beans as if it were rice or quinoa. I make my salads with spinach instead of lettuce. Spinach has high nutritional value which makes it the perfect replacement, which is why I like to mix it with avocado, oil and chickpeas to make it extra creamy and chewy. Some fruits are believed to be complete protein like Goji berries because they contain 18 amino acids. I usually buy dried Goji Berries by the pound at my local organic grocery store and eat them with my other dried nuts and seeds. These fruits and vegetables are one of the many options that nature gives you for protein.
Nuts and seeds are a perfect snack to give you what you need in terms of amino acids. Walnuts, chestnuts, pumpkin seeds, cashews, chia seeds, hemp seeds have all the necessary amino acids to be considered a complete protein. There are many ways to incorporate these foods into your diet, such as baking granola bars and adding nuts and seeds to them or blending these nuts and seeds into a paste and mixing it with fruit preserves on some bread to make a tasty sandwich. Another cool thing I like to do is get hemp in powder form and mix it with almond milk with a healthy natural sweetener and psyllium husk for fiber. You can also get a lot of these nuts and seeds in powder form and mix them into your guacamole, which is what I do. You can also mix the powder into your pancake or muffin batter etc. Although I usually eat most of these protein sources throughout the day if I want to stay away from the kitchen, but you don’t have to, it’s totally up to you.
The third place I get my protein from is peas, quinoa, and lentils. You can consume these ingredients already baked into chips, or boiled, etc. My main way of preparing them is in a large pot of boiling water with a little salt and perhaps other seasonings added. Once done, don’t be afraid to give it a creamy vegan touch by adding avocados. You can also use quinoa, split peas, and lentils in flour form and make a variety of things, from desserts to breakfast foods, by substituting wheat flour in your favorite recipe. I have bought split pea, quinoa and lentil chips many times. This way of consuming a complete protein makes for a quick vegan snack. I usually make my guacamole to accompany the chips.
