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What's stopping you from eating less meat? Well, we recently teamed up with researchers from the University of Cambridge to ask that very question. And two answers rose to the top. Number one, my closest family doesn't want to eat less meat. And number two, I need meat to get enough protein. That second one comes up again and again, and it's the one I want to put to rest today because we're going to be making three different meals, and every single one offers at least 30 grams of protein, and not one of them comes from meat or eggs or protein powder. Now, all three of the recipes that we're making today are from my first ever cookbook, Simply Plants. And these are so darn delicious, they're
going to bring all the meatloving family members around the table, too. Let's get started. For the first recipe, we're making comforting baked pasta shells stuffed with spinach and a tofu cashew ricotta. Let's start with the shells. We're going to drop them into a large pot of wells salted, properly bubbling water. So, my pasta shells are very jumbo, but yours don't have to be. Any size is fine, but what's very important is that you cook this 2 minutes shy of what the package time tells you to do. It'll continue cooking later in the oven. Then, we can drain the pasta and set it aside. For the sauce, we're going to warm a little bit of oil in a saucepan and then add in some sliced
garlic. I've got four cloves here, but if you're a garlic lover, well, you can never really go wrong with a little more, right? Plus, we're going to add in some chili flakes and let them cook until the garlic is lightly golden. Then, we're going to pour in some patada, fresh basil, a little bit of salt, and let it simmer uncovered for around 7 minutes, just so it thickens slightly. Now, in case you're wondering what patada is, this is essentially just raw tomatoes that have been pureeed and strained until silky smooth. That's it. But if you can't find this and you've got pasta sauce on hand instead, that'll do the job, too. Then, we can spread this across the bottom of a baking dish.
And this is going to be the bed that our shells will later nestle into. So, just set this aside for now, cuz next we're going to take some thawed frozen spinach and really squeeze the water out of it using a seieve. Now, save the spinach water. We're going to use some of it in just a second. Now, let's make the filling. In a food processor goes some firm tofu. No need to have pressed this first. Then, tumble in some raw cashews, nutritional yeast for some savory cheesiness, 3 tablespoon of that reserved spinach water, and no more than that. So, whatever is left you can save for a future smoothie or soup, or you can just then finish with a little garlic powder, black pepper, a whisper of nutmeg, and
some salt. Now pop the lid onto it. Blitz it up. And when the mixture is as smooth as you can get it, you can take out the blade. Then stir in the squeezed spinach using a spoon so that you keep the pretty green flexcks intact. Now the fun part. We can fill each shell with this ricotta-ike mixture and lay them into the sauce. Tuck them to bed, if you will. Once they're all snug and cozy in there, we're going to scatter over some vegan cheese. And now we can pop these into the oven at 420 Fahrenheit or 200 C for about 15 minutes or until it's bubbling at the edges. Now you can enjoy this pasta as is. It is a complete meal on its own. Or you could serve it with a simple salad if you'd
like. And then you've got yourself a cozy proteinpacked dinner that comes in at 31 g of protein per serving. Now, if you liked how that recipe looked, it's just one of over 100 recipes in my new cookbook, Simply Plants. And the idea behind this book is just to make eating well feel really easy and simple. Like I want you to be able to come home after a long day, flip through this book, and know that you're going to make something that's packed so full of flavor, is so nutritious, and is just something that everybody at the table is going to be so excited to eat. And one thing that we're also doing that's really unique is that when you buy this cookbook, you're also going to unlock all of its recipes for
free in our app. And that makes cooking from it that much easier because you're going to get step-by-step photos as you go, full nutrition breakdowns for every single recipe. And yes, that includes protein and so much more. Now, this book comes out this month, like just in a couple of weeks. But if you know you want to get it eventually, there are actually some perks to getting it today. The first is that as a thank you, I'm going to send you an ebook that has 10 recipes in it. And trust me, these recipes are so good, you're going to want to make them while you're waiting for your cookbook to arrive. and you'll
also be entered in the chance to win one of 10 lifetime memberships to our Pickup Limes app. I'm going to leave more details for you below. For now, let's move on to making the next cookbook recipe. Right, next up is a coconut rice bowl that I am in love with. It features crispy baked tempeh, roasted broccoli, and a peanut sauce. So good, you're going to want to drink it. If you've never cooked with tempeh before, this is a great place to start. This is offering up a lot of the protein in this recipe, and it's essentially just cooked fermented soybeans that have been pressed into this firm little cake. It has a bit of a nutty taste itself, but it also soaks up flavors deliciously.
So, grab your block of tempe and crumple it into tiny little pieces. The smaller you go, the better here, so I really like to break it down. Then, we're going to drizzle over some oil. Spoon in a good scoop of sambble for a hum of heat. We're going to add a pinch of salt and toss it all together until every piece is glossy. Then we can spread it out over one half of a baking tray. On the other half, we're going to tumble out our broccoli fuettes sllicked in a little bit of oil and then just give it a good toss. While that's getting gorgeous in the oven, let's make our coconut rice. We're going to give our rice a good rinse and then pour over some fresh water. Pop on the lid and let
it gently bubble away for about 12 minutes. Meanwhile, we're going to toast some shredded coconut in a dry pan until it's golden and smells absolutely incredible. And when the rice is fluffy, we're going to fork through that with toasted coconut. Oh, this smells so good already. Now for the sauce. Into a bowl goes peanut butter, a splash of water, a good squeeze of lime juice, a clove of crushed garlic, maple syrup, a little more sambble, and a pinch of salt. And then we're going to whisk it up until it's silky and glossy. Now, if this looks really thin at first, don't worry. The protein in the peanuts actually need some time to hydrate. So, as you keep whisking, you're going to see that the
sauce is going to thicken up beautifully. Now, if it's too thick, cuz you do want like a pourable consistency. If it's too thick because your peanut butter was too thick or your lime wasn't that juicy, no problem. Just add a small splash more water until you get the consistency you'd like. Last little thing, the snap peas. Two quick minutes in boiling water until they're a vivid green. And then you can drain them and rinse them under cold water so that they keep their beautiful green color. And if you'd fancy, you can slice them in half lengthwise just to show off the little row of peas tucked inside, which looks really pretty when it's in the finished bowl. Now, when you're ready to serve,
you can spoon the coconut rice into your bowls and pile on the broccoli, tempeh, and snap peas. I love a good scatter of chopped peanuts over top for extra crunch. And then the best bit. When ready to enjoy, drizzle over lashings of that peanut sauce and dig in. This whole bowl offers a whopping 39 g of protein. And it's the tempe and peanuts we've got to thank for that. Plants for the win, baby. You're going to want to just drink the sauce. I'm telling you, this next recipe has a special place in my heart. I grew up eating this all the time. My mama always made it for us.
It's called fistenjun or fistenjun. And it's a Persian stew. Now, traditionally, it's made with either chicken or sometimes duck, but we're going to swap out the beautiful animals for a plant-based meat alternative instead. And we're going to be using Satan. Satan is a protein powerhouse. This thing has an incredible amount of protein. Uh, and you can make this yourself at home if you'd like to. We have a recipe for it. I'm going to pop that up for you right here. But for the sake of time, mine is actually storebought. But first, let's focus on saffron. Just look at these gorgeous ruby red little threads.
Saffron is just at the heart of so much Persian cooking. It gives dishes a beautiful golden color, a floral aroma, and just a tiny pinch goes such a long way. So, for now, I'm just going to scatter about 10 threads over an ice cube and just let it slowly melt. This is going to coax out all of the color and fragrance. So, for now, we're just going to set this aside until it's completely melted. Then we're going to grab a food processor and add in a generous pile of raw walnuts, which we're then going to blitz until they're finely ground. The finer the better. This is what makes the dish so unique. Walnuts are literally the sauce. And they're also a brilliant source of omega-3 fats, the kind that are good for
your eyes, your heart, and your brain. Now, worth noting, you want to make sure you get fresh walnuts. If your walnuts are old, they go rancid, and that's going to throw the flavor of the sauce off. Now we can heat up some oil in a pan and cook a chopped onion until it's lightly golden. Then we're going to add in the ground walnuts and toast them for a couple of minutes. Just give it a moment and you're going to start to smell it. The toasting wakes up the natural oils and that makes the flavor a lot more rich and nutty. Then we're going to add in some tomato paste, some ground turmeric, a pinch of cinnamon, a bit of salt and pepper, and then we're just going to let it cook for a minute
or two just until the spices toast. We're going to pour in the saffron and its golden liquid. We'll add some vegetable broth. the Satan. And last but not least, sweet and sticky pomegranate molasses. This molasses is what gives fist and John its characteristic sweet and sour tang. This is not to be skipped. If anything, you can always add a little bit more if you'd like to. Now, just give it all a very good stir. Pop the lid onto it. Drop the heat right down and let it gently bubble away for about 20 minutes, giving it a stir every now and then. While that's working its magic, let's make some rice. I've got some basmati rice here that I'm going to cook up. Once the rice is cooked, you
can, if you fancy, tint a little bit of it a beautiful golden color. Let me show you how. For this, we're just going to grind up another pinch of saffron. And then we're going to steep it in a small splash of hot water for a few minutes. And then you can fold it through a portion of the rice. You can stir a little melted vegan butter through the rice, too, but that's totally optional. It just makes it look a bit more rich and glossy. Now, we're going to give our fish and John a little taste test. Traditionally, a lot of families like to stir in a little sugar because it's meant to be a sweet and sour dish. But I personally
find that the pomegranate molasses offers up all the sweetness I need. But if you want to add sugar, you do you. Perfect. All right, now it's time to plate this up. You can spoon the glossy fenon over your warm rice. Shower it with fresh cilantro and a scatter of jewelike pomegranate seeds if you'd like to. And there she is. A dish with a proper 30 g of protein per serving and my childhood in a bowl. This is just such a unique dish. I don't properly have words to describe the flavors. It's just so rich. I hope you enjoyed this video and the new recipe inspo friends. And I hope it's also
showed you that getting enough protein from plants is easy peasy. All of the recipes we made today are linked for you below, as is the link to pre-order my new cookbook. And thanks for hanging with me and cooking with me today. I really appreciate it. Pickup Limes signing off. I'll see you in the next video. Plants for the win, baby. On the other half of the tray, we're going to spread out some blur on the other half of the break. Nope. Again, for the first recipe, we're slow down. These are at the heart. You can tick things off as you work through the list. Bam it.
