I must admit, I have never felt better about my diet and nutrition. Yet it sometimes tricky when you are invited to a party and you are wondering whether you should take your own food with you or not.
Last night it was not the case – the hosts were amazing with cooking a few vegan dishes and people seem to enjoy them without making any statements about restrictive vegan diet and so on. I was delighted. Yet there was something else, even more shocking, that really surprised me during those conversations. Two ladies were nodding enthusiastically about vegan lifestyle and then asked me where do I shop for vegan meals. I thought I was not getting the point slightly – surely, you can find veggies in every supermarket? Yet they were wondering about something else – vegan ready meals. They said that they could not possibly go all vegan because there isn’t much variety of vegan ready meals. I think my confession, that I actually cook, shocked them much more than the whole vegan lifestyle chat. To them, buying a weekly supply of ready meals for the whole family is a culmination of human progress and something that is very normal.
Not to me. I grew up in a society where we did not have any ready meals available, it wasn’t in a culture at all. Though in the western world, we are now programmed to have this convenience of refined, processed, highly sweetened or seasoned with salt foods. It became very normal. I remember a few years ago I had my close friend visiting me. She used to work abroad for a very big supermarket as a Head of Marketing. She has concluded that she has never seen so many ready meals in her life. It seemed to her that we have more shelves allocated to those convenience foods than to actual vegetables and fruit. I wish people will start looking around with a more critical thinking – it is not all true what we hear from big corporations adverts and ‘research’. Just look at the ingredients and nutritional data of those ready meals. Half of the items are heavily processed substances that we all do not even know what exactly are. You are eating processed foods that fill you up but provide no nourishment and trigger many diseases.
Eating healthier doesn’t need to be difficult or take a lot of time. My recent discovery of seaweed may be somewhat exotic, but you can find it everywhere now.
Let my seaweed confuse you not. Seaweed or not seaweed, after last night’s party I wanted good food for breakfast and, surprise surprise, there is my sourdough toast with a generous dollop of hummus (see my hummus recipe here), amazing tomato and avocado slices and a few stripes of seaweed. Total prep time is less than 5 minutes, great nutritional profile (see below), and super good to your gut. I think the party went really well at the end as I topped this toast with a warm oat porridge with blueberries (see how great oats are for you here).
Sourdough Toast with Hummus, Tomato, Avocado and Seaweed
Prep
Total
Yield 1 large toast
Just 4 ingredients to nourish your body in the morning. I love this combination, it has a texture, creamy hummus and so much goodness from fresh veggies.
Ingredients
To make a large toast:
1 large slice of sourdough bread
1 tablespoon of hummus (you can make your own or buy a pack of organic one)
1/2 tomato, sliced (best quality and ripe)
1/2 avocado, sliced
10 g seaweed
Instructions
If you have a packet of seaweed in your cupboard, take out a small amount and follow the guidelines how to soften it (wakame needs just 2-3 minutes, where more sturdy who leaf ones will need longer - 10 minutes or even more). When softened, cut in few stripes (or julienne it).
Toast your slice of bread.
Assemble all together by spreading hummus on your toast and adding tomato and avocado slices on top. Finish off with your seaweed stripes.
Enjoy!
Notes
Try sourcing the best quality sourdough bread - it provides more fibre and much healthier for your gut. Don't go for a refined and processed bread - it diminishes the whole idea.
Courses Breakfast
Cuisine International
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 large toast
Amount Per Serving | ||
|---|---|---|
Calories 154 | ||
% Daily Value | ||
Total Fat 14 g | 22% | |
Saturated Fat 5 g | 25% | |
Unsaturated Fat 9 g | ||
Sodium 100 mg | 4% | |
Total Carbohydrates 65 g | 22% | |
Dietary Fiber 9 g | 36% | |
Sugars 0.4 g | ||
Protein 7 g | 14% | |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
