Secret Ingredients

There’s no doubt that good nutrition helps fuel your body and mind. What we put in our body matters for our general health. In the new year, we often fret about what we eat or seek trends to help us get healthy, but while nutrition can be complex, it doesn’t necessarily have to be complicated. A balance of whole grains, lean proteins, and fresh fruit and vegetables is an excellent base for good health.

Here are three filling dishes featuring extra ingredients that pack a healthy punch.

Mujadara, Anar

This savory, signature Middle Eastern dish is typically made up of brown rice, lentils, and caramelized onions. You’ll find those essentials all topped with pickled Fresno chilis, pickled red cabbage, and garlic yogurt. Secret ingredient: lentils. Packed with protein (the number two bean in terms of protein behind soybeans), lentils are also made up of appetite-filling fiber, folate, potassium, and iron. Anar, nadimama.com/anar

Kimchi fried rice, Ba Bar Green

Newly opened Ba Bar Green has a fantastic selection of East Asian cuisine. The kicker? All the dishes here are vegan. Check out the garlic and kimchi fried rice made with house made kimchi, cargo rice, brown rice, Beyond Sausage, Just Egg, fried and roasted garlic, toasted sesame seeds, tamari, cucumber, and green onion. Secret ingredient: kimchi. Made from fermented cabbage, scallions, and radish, kimchi is the national dish of Korea. Fermented foods are probiotics, which can help maintain healthy digestion. It’s also packed with bone-strengthening Vitamin K and choline, which can help maintain your muscles and nervous system. Ba Bar Green, babargreen.com

Supergreen Goddess Salad

A nutrient-packed version of a green goddess salad, this tasty bowl of goodness is filled with super greens, chicken, egg, avocado, radish, cucumber, green goddess dressing, feta cheese, mint, and superseed crunch. This meal is brimming with protein, greens, and good fats. Secret ingredient: radishes. Aside from the pleasantly crunchy texture, radishes are full of antioxidants and heart-healthy calcium and potassium. Vitality Bowls, vitalitybowls.com/locations/seattle