subject: Healthy Eating When Pregnant Doesn't Have to be Boring! [print this page] If you have spent any time looking at the cautionary lists of foods you should not be eating when pregnant, you may fear that the next 9 months are going to be terribly boring. They don't have to be. There are plenty of delicious, healthy foods to enjoy during your pregnancy. Here are a few recipes to get your going.
Quinoa Salad--One of my favorites because you get a complete protein, plenty of fresh veggies and it just tastes great.
1 cup quinoa cooked per directions to make 4 cups
2 small cucumber or one medium cucumber chopped
2 carrots, steamed and sliced on the diagonal
1 cup steamed peas
chopped red pepper
cup chopped raw cashews
cup chopped parsley or cilantro
cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
Sea salt and pepper to taste.
Cook what needs cooking, chop everything that needs chopping into a small dice, and mix it together with the oil, lemon juice and seasonings. If you like you can add a tomato as well.
Crustless Quiches
Using a Teflon-lined large muffin pan, place any sorts of leftovers into the bottom half of each muffin cup. Chopped chicken, shredded zucchini, broccoli florets and nitrite/nitrate free cold cuts are always good. Combine 4 whole organic eggs with 1 cup organic milk and whisk thoroughly.
Pour the mixture over the foods in the muffin cups, leaving about an inch at the top. Bake for about 30-45 minutes until the egg mixture has solidified. These are good for lunch, breakfast or dinner, depending upon what you have put inside. They make for great eating when pregnant!
Oatmeal Porridge
You can find steel cut oats at any healthy food store. There are various types, and the primary difference is how long they take to cook. Find the quick cooking steel cut oats and you can have breakfast ready in 10 minutes.
When the porridge is done, drop in a couple of whole organic eggs to boost your protein. Top it with some raw honey or some berries for a touch of sweetness.
Greens and Grains
Cook up some brown rice according to the directions. While it is cooking wash and dry some nice dark leafy greens. Spinach, kale, bok choi, mustard greens or even broccoli are all good choices.
In a hot pan pour about 2 Tbsp of olive oil and immediately add the greens. Let them wilt and then add a bit of sea salt and pepper, garlic if you like it, and perhaps a touch of cayenne pepper for heat. Once the greens have wilted fully, place them on the rice and you are set to eat.
Home made trail mix
This version of trail mix is much healthier than anything you will find in prepackaged sources. It is good all the time, but it is especially good as a take along item to keep you fed when you get hungry out of the house.
Mix up 2 cups of raw nuts. Almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans and pistachios are all great raw. Add to the nuts an equal amount of dehydrated berries or fruit pieces.
Remember that dehydrated fruit is high in sugar and even with the protein punch of the nuts, you should try to stick to a no more than a handful or two of fruit. If you can find puffed brown rice, you can add some of this to dilute the other ingredients a bit.
There you go; 5 easy, fun recipes that will give you the nutrients you need and taste great as they do so. Most of what you eat during your pregnancy won't change dramatically.
The same healthy foods will continue to be the foundation of your diet. The only difference is that sometimes, when you are pregnant, you crave something new, or something more. Hopefully, these ideas will help make eating when pregnant fun!
Healthy Eating When Pregnant Doesn't Have to be Boring!
