Let’s be honest, the vegan, paleo, gluten-free talk can get a little, well, intimidating. What kind of food-loving individual can sustain a diet that limits them from enjoying something they love?
As food resolutions are being made for 2015, we thought, there’s got to be a better way to achieve a healthier lifestyle, while not ridding yourself of good food.
Enter Jessica Murnane, creator of jessicamurnane.com and the One Part Plant restaurant program. She explains that by changing just one part of your diet, you can make a huge impact on your daily lifestyle. Introducing greens into your breakfast smoothie or ditching gluten at lunch, these small tweaks not only easier to maintain, but will make a difference.
Jessica launched the One Part Plant Restaurant Program in 2013 when she was forced to change her diet to avoid a major surgery. She loved food and after making some adjustments to what she was eating, she found herself at the same bland and boring “healthy” restaurants. So she decided to do something about it and to encourage Chicagoans to eat healthier. Select Lettuce Entertain You restaurants have partnered with her to identify plant-based dish offerings on their menus.
Lettuce has always been great about accommodating guest’s dietary restrictions and to make it simple to kick-start eating clean in 2015, we’ve rounded up a sampling of plant-based dishes from Lettuce spots around the city, for more visit jessicamurnane.com.
Beatrix
Chef John Chiakulas
Ten-Grain Oatmeal (shown) with sun-dried sour cherries, dark brown sugar, toasted almonds
Pumpkin and Avocado Carpaccio with thinly sliced avocado and pumpkin, toasted pumpkin seeds
HUB 51
Chef Michael Bellovich
Sonoma Salad with baby spinach, grapefruit, avocado, walnuts, sunflower sprouts and seeds, dried cranberries and mustard vinaigrette
Vegetarian Tacos (shown) with simply grilled peppers, Portobello mushrooms and butternut squash served with griddled-to-order corn tortillas, rice, black beans and guacamole (ask to leave off the crema, which will make this dish vegan)
Mon Ami Gabi
Chef Andrew Shedden
Vegetable Tagine with preserved lemon and almond, cilantro hot sauce and grilled toast
Nacional 27
Chef Chico Vilchez
Stuffed Piquillo with corn and nopales, coconut rice, plantain fritas
Ramen-san
Chef Doug Psaltis
Shiitake Ramen with shredded cabbage “noodles”, mushroom broth, fried shiitakes and tofu
RPM Italian
Chef Doug Psaltis
Strozzapreti with Basil Pesto with fresh strozzapreti pasta is extruded daily in-house and tossed with a fresh basil pesto (no cheese)
Summer House Santa Monica
Chef Jeff Mahin
Quinoa and Forbidden Black Rice Bowl with green curry, local vegetables, greens, sprouts
Tallboy Taco
Chef Tim Hockett
Crispy Avocado Taco with beer-battered avocado, pico de gallo, shredded lechuga
In to eating clean at home? Try whipping up one of Jessica’s favorite brunch dishes from her new new digital cookbook, A Year Of Breakfasts. For her recipe of French Toast Sandwich with Coconut Cream and Berries, click here. For more plant-based recipes, head to jessicamurnane.com.