Healthy Vegan Fats – Avocado and Hemp Heart Rice Bowl

I have a love/hate relationship with avocados. I love them when they’re that perfect creamy green and I hate them when they are brown and stringy or watery, insipid and overfirm. Nary a week passes without some avocado-inspired ire in my household. Perhaps I need a new hobby, or counselling.

Today was the day of perfect avocado ripeness and I celebrated by making this gluten-free, vegan lunch that boasts some serious nourishment: Healthy fats, B vitamins, fibre, protein, calcium, magnesium, zinc, and vitamin nom (my essential nutrient). If your hands and face are feeling the strain of cold wintery air outside and stuffy heating inside then give yourself a little boost of essential fats and lubricate from the inside out.

An Avocado Face Mask!

You can also use the spent avocado skins as a simple face mask or skin rehydration therapy, just cut the avocado skins to open them out and apply to the face or hands, then cover the area with a damp, warm facecloth or towel and relax for a few minutes. Beautiful, hydrated skin with happy lipid (fat!) cell membranes and all from things that were about to go in the compost.

The Rice Bowl Recipe

If you want a breakdown of the nutrition contained in this delicious dish see below for the most significant info, taken from the usual USDA tables.

You Will Need

• 1 cup cooked brown rice
• 1tbsp hemp hearts
• Half and avocado
• 1/3 block of smoked tofu, cubed
• 1/3 orange pepper, diced
• 1tbsp nooch (nutritional yeast yo!)
• 1tsp sesame oil
• Dash of salt and pepper

There’s not much method, really

Seriously. Stuff is piled in a bowl and mixed. It’s hardly even a recipe. It’s just another delicious vegan lunch idea that’s quick to make, full of goodness, and looks pretty damn snazzy.

Accounting for the avocado, rice, tofu and sesame oil only – nutritional yeast and hemp hearts have not yet made it to the USDA nutrition database, oddly – here are the major nutrients, calculated to the best of my ability at this time:

• 536kcal
• 21.91g fat
• 12.1g fibre
• 19.31g protein
• 585mg calcium
• 162mg magnesium
• 833mg potassium
• 3.12mg zinc
• 2.160mg (B5) pantothenic acid

To break down the fats: Saturated fats – 16:0 3.109g, Monounsaturated fats – 18:1 12.998g, Polyunsaturated fats – 18:2 7.609g.

This simple vegan dish also has a healthy shot of phytosterols and lysine – to combat high bad cholesterol and, er, the herpes virus that causes coldsores!

Tagged as: calcium, dairy-free, gluten-free, protein, recipe, recipes, sugar-free, wholefood

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