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How do you get plenty of protein when you’re a vegetarian? This is one of the biggest challenges when you decide to adopt a plant based lifestyle. Now that I have an almost 9 year old who has chosen to shun meat products, it’s been my mission to make sure he gets as much protein in his diet as possible. He eats plenty of beans and rice, tofu, seeds, nuts, cheese and dairy, but Hemp Hearts have become one of his new favorites.
Hubby and I have been using hemp seeds in our smoothies for years for added taste and nutrition, but until Kenya became a vegetarian I hadn’t realized just how important they were for him as well. We have been buying Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts for years, so working with them on this post was especially fun coming up with new ways to use them in our kitchen.
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With 10 grams of plant based protein and omegas in every serving they’re a great way to get necessary protein into a vegetarian lifestyle with less carbs than flax or chia seeds per serving. The best part is that Hemp Hearts are tiny, so you can sprinkle them on salads, Oatmeal in the Crockpot, in smoothies, parfaits, roasted vegetables even on top of sandwiches to add a nutty flavor (resembling the taste of sunflower seeds or pine nuts) to tons of foods.
Kenya’s new favorite is this Persimmon Kiwi Parfait I posted on Instagram, my husband is truly obsessed with this Chocolate Almond Butter Smoothie and Chloe who eats almost anything asked for this Kale and Avocado Salad for dinner and then to be added to her school lunch the next day.
Keep a bag of Hemp Hearts at arms length to add them to your favorite recipes. You’ll be getting a ton of nutrition and great taste in every bite!
Added to pancake and waffle batter would be delicious!
I would like to try them in a salad!
I add them to smoothies and homemade granola bars
I haven’t tried these yet but have heard great things about them.
My little ones and I love to add them to homemade muffins and breads.
I would add to my crumble toppings and to yogurt and smoothies
I would like to see more ways to use hemp hearts. With a multi-food allergic toddler, hemp milk got us through months 12-24, but my use of the hearts has been limited.
We love hemp hearts in our homemade waffle mix!
Wow! Everything looks so scrumptious. I especially like the added pine nuts,
Smoothies!
Already a huge fan of hemp! I add it to everything I can!
Love the ideas for uses. Will have to try some!
I eat them in my salads and put them in the kids smoothies. I also recently started putting them in our homemade waffle or pancake batter and they are great! We call them “sprinkles” in our house and the kids want to sprinkle everything!
Shared on twitter!
I haven’t tried them yet, but you have definitely inspired me too! 🙂 I would probaby start by adding them to smoothies and definitely oatmeal.
i make a chocolate, date, nut, seed truffle type thing and add them to that. a nice nutty crunch