What sauces help dry grains/legumes go down easy?

[z0rzz]

I've reached the point of my bulk where I need to be eating 4.5-5k calories a day to see any noticeable difference in weight. However, eating 5 cups of cooked quinoa is incredibly difficult to choke down.

What sauces/spices can I add to my typical carb sources to help me eat them faster? Brown rice, white rice, lentils, quinoa, split peas, any specific information would be extremely helpful.

[C.O.]

I like gluten-free soy sauce. Its hard to find but you can make your own thai peanut sauce. Taco seasoning with tempeh is also good.

-Dylan

[stcalico]

I will not say this is that good .. but it is extremely easy and something I've done when I had no time... I buy Annie's lentil canned soups and mix them in with rice. Sometimes I'll throw in salsa too as I find that soup brand rather bland for my taste. This mixture would definitely be easy to eat in a hurry. You could also probably just have tomato soup with rice. Throw in taco seasoning with the tomato soup if you prefer a tortilla soup flavour.

If you have time to prep/cook tho... here are a few recipes (I've not tried any of them myself yet.. they are just in my collection):
http://fortunavirilis.blogspot.ca/2010/ ... ckpea.html
http://deliciouslyella.com/2012/10/27/r ... uten-free/
http://hotpotmeal.blogspot.ca/2012/09/k ... V479DfSzSI
http://keepinitkind.com/roasted-caulifl ... peh-sauce/

[z0rzz]

Thanks for the suggestions - really, anything could work as long as I can eat the mounds of food. I never thought about taco seasoning - I should try that.

[lepiante]

Calories doesn't equate power or muscle mass. Have you tried including essential fats? Walnuts, hemp seeds, chia seeds, etc..

[z0rzz]

My macros are fine; furthermore, I don't abide by the ALAIFYM. I make sure to get plenty of Omega-3s and essential fatty acids from a wide variety of sources including tree nuts, hemp, and chia - after bulking and cutting for 2.5 years, I have personally found that my biggest problem in success is continually putting on weight past 205lbs. When I gain weight, my power and physique skyrocket. If I don't gain weight, they stay the same. It's a simple matter of managing to get past these BF% plateaus for me.

I'm thankful enough to know that for me, personally, calories DO equate power and muscle mass (as long as the macronutrient ratios for those calories are correct and not entirely from soy or nutrient-poor sources).

[jezabel]

Can you get addive free Passata? I love that stuff I add chilli flakes to it, I guess it like the soup option but a bit simplier.

[z0rzz]

Never heard of it, but I'll definitely keep an eye for it. We have a lot of organic food stores where I live, so hopefully one of them carries it. Thanks!

[stoumi]

I love quinoa, but I agree, eating it without something on it is rather boring. I usually top it with tamari and Furikake, but will use quinoa with soups and chili over it as well, which makes it go down very easy.

[NOTVEGAN]

In a food procesor..

2 bunches of fresh basil
2 cloves garlic
Fistful of toasted pinenuts
Juice of 1/2 lemon
s&p
Blend and then add between 500ml to 750ml of cold pressed
Extra virgin olive oil. pour over your grains, pasta etc.... Enjoy

[Compassion]

Sracha , Franks , soy sauce are the only 3 things I put in food.

Also, with quinoa, ill cool it, mix with vegenaise, nutritional yeast, celery, green onions, can of chick lease, salt pepper and have the best cold salad EVER... I also top with Franks:.. Just because I put that shit on everything.

[Compassion]

Chick lease is supposed to say chick peas. Autocorrect

[muchidna]

my fav thing to do with quinoa is cook about a cup (of dry stuff) with 2 cups water, with a little stock, then stirfry some vegetables ( my favorites would be brocolli, mushrooms and tomatoes, high protein also ) with about a cup of solid tofu, and a sauce made up of soy sauce, garlic, ginger and lemon juice, maybe some chilli powder too if you like the spice, just chuck chuck all these ingredients ( aside from quinoa ) stirfry them for about a minute, then add the sauce ( probably ends up about 1 3rd- 1 half cups sauce, vary ingredients to taste) and stirfry for a couple more minutes, then server over quinoa, makes 2 servings when i make it, though i made this with protein more in mind than carbs, should still have a good hit from the quinoa and veg though

as for lentils, and stuff, i usually like to cook them in a tomato gravy type curry with peas, and some other vegetables
i havent cooked for lentils in a while, i think it was something along the lines of
3 tomatoes blended, with a tablespoon of tomato paste, garlic and an onion, along with indian spices ( garam masala, ground cumin, red chilli powder, turmeric ) cooking and mixing in a pan, then vegetables added (like peas, pre steamed carrot/potato chunks etc, whatever you like) and cooked for a bit, then some flour( i think about half a tbsp) added, and mixed a round, aswell as some red lentils (or whatever you like) boiling in another pot, after cooking for a while, tomato gravy added, aswell as lentils and about half cup of vege stock, then cooked till done - though you take your chances with this recipe, i made this a while ago, i think it was along these lines though.

chick peas are good blended (as hummus or just with some liquid) and put on grilled wraps, and... almost everything