White Bean Pasta

Gave this one a try from Budget Bytes via social media...

Recipe

• 8 oz pasta (a long type like spaghetti or linguine)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pint grape / cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• salt & pepper
• 1 15 oz can cannellini beans, drained & rinsed
• 4 oz baby spinach
• parmesan

Start your pasta. Heat the olive oil & butter in a skillet, on the medium-lower heat side. Add the garlic, then tomatoes, salt & pepper, and basil. Saute until the tomatoes pop - fun! Then add the spinach and wilt it a bit, then add the beans. Heat through and get a nice thick sauce going. Then toss in the pasta! 

Sweet Potatoes With Noooooch Sauce

Vegans like myself are obsessed with Nooch (Nutritional Yeast) because it is SO TASTY but also is so healthy because it is packed full of B12 vitamins which give you energy. Most animals are injected with B12 so if you eat meat, you're getting it second hand. But why not just skip the middle man and join the nooch fan club :)

This recipe is from one of my favorite wellness authors Darin Olien (he has a show on Netflix with Zac Effron that is actually really awesome)

Nooch Sauce (You can use this with ANYTHING and it is so so so good)

*I can't quite remember the exact numbers but these are a place to start and i always add more of whatever to taste

2 cups of cashews
1/2 cup of Nutritional Yeast (Nooch)
3-4 cloves of garlic minced
4-5 Tbsp lemon juice
Some water or plant-based milk (I forget how much! Just eye it. Prob about a quarter cup. It should come out like a sauce)

(You could really add whatever you want to this sauce to spice it up. I've added Poblano Chipotle peppers, cilantro, whatever!)

1. Soak cashews for 30 mins

2. Put all ingredients in blender and blend! 

3. Salt, pepper, water and modify for taste

Whole-Roasted Sweet Potato Dinner

Sweet Potatoes
Coconut Oil
Can of Black Beans
Cherry tomatoes (sliced in half)
Garlic
Cilantro

1. Preheat oven to 425

2. Drizzle baking sheet with a little bit of Coconut Oil. Cut sweet potatoes in half and lay flat on pan. Roast for 40/45 mins until done

3. In a pan, drizzle some coconut oil, add the cherry tomatoes, and cook until it smells deliciousssss. Add the garlic and the beans and simmer low for 5/10 mins.

4. Take out Sweet Potatoes. Scoop out a small dent in each sweet potato (you can save the inside scoops for a yummy sweet potato mash later!). In each Sweet Potato hole, add a nice glob of the beans mixture. Top with the cilantro and NOOCH SAUCE and OMG ENJOY. 

In the pic I had done it with some roasted brussel sprouts but you could add any green side if you want more food.

Vegan Mixed Veggie Flatbreads

This pizza is from the Forks Over Knives Cookbook and it came out BOMB. I used an Almond Flour pizza dough from Whole Foods but I also just noticed they have it on Amazon. It was sooooo yummy.

Ingredients:

Simple Mills Almond Flour Pizza Dough Mix (I got it at Whole Foods but Amazon has it too)
Olive Oil
6 baby potatoes (or 3 regular)
8 brussel sprouts
1 medium carrot (or a few baby carrots)
1 medium shallot (or onion)
red wine vinegar
balsamic vinegar
1 can white beans/cannelini

himalayan crystal salt (or whatever salt- but the crystal salt is the least likely to be polluted and has the best minerals)
ground black pepper
fresh sage (i didn't have this and it was fine without- i just used some random other herbs like oregano)
microgreens (not necessary but nice)

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 425. Line a baking pan with foil/oil

2. Chop up all veggies and put on pan. Sprinkle with some red wine vinegar and salt and pepper (I went heavy on the red wine vinegar and it was gooooood)

3. Roast the veggies for like 15 mins.

4. While veggies cooking, make the dough according to package instructions. Take veggies out of oven, change temp to whatever it says on the pizza dough box. Put just the dough in for 10 mins/15 mins till lightly brown.

5. In a bowl, mash the cannelini beans and stir in sage or some other herbs and 2 tsp of water.

6. Take the pizza dough out. Spread the Cannelini bean mash on the pizza dough as if it was sauce. Then top with the veggies :) Put in oven for 20/25 minutes until the veggies are nice and roasted and the dough is done.

7. While flatbread is cooking, put 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar in a pan and heat to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 6 mins until it becomes syruppy. 

8. When pizzas are done, drizzle the balsamic glaze over them and top with the micro greens or something green!

Lentil Sloppy Joes

Investigating some camping-friendly vegan meals, found this one to try out:

Recipe
1 small onion, diced
1 anaheim pepper, diced
2 tbsp tomato paste
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c red lentils
1 1/2 c broth or water
1 tbsp mustard
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vegan worcestershire
1 tsp chili powder
buns

Heat a pot over medium and add the onion & pepper. Saute a few minutes, then add the tomato paste, then garlic for a minute or so. Add the lentils and water, boil, and cook 10-15 minutes until tender. Add the other ingredients and simmer until it thickens, 3-5 minutes. Serve on buns!

Lentil Mushroom Shepherd's Pie

Found another veganized favorite to try out!

Recipe
Filling
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 c carrot, diced
8 oz mushrooms, diced
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 1/2 c dried lentils, soaked and drained
2 c veggie broth or water
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 c frozen peas

Potatoes
5 c potatoes, chopped (~5 potatoes)
1/2 c cashews
3/4 c water
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried parsley

• Heat some olive oil in a large pot over medium-low. Add the onion, garlic, carrot & mushroom, and season with salt, pepper, and the spices. Cook 8-10 minutes until soft.
• Add the lentils, broth, tomato paste, and other liquids, and simmer until lentils are cooked, ~20 minutes. Add the peas at the end.
• Meanwhile, boil the potatoes until tender, ~20 minutes.
• Also meanwhile, make your cashew cream by blending them with water.
• Drain and mash the potatoes, then mix in the other ingredients.
• Put the filling in an 8x12 baking dish, and top with mashed potatoes. Broil on high for 5-7 minutes.

Tofu Tikka Masala

Love tikka masala, so definitely worth trying out this vegan version...

Recipe

2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
3 small Thai green chilis, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1" ginger, minced
1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp garam masala
1/4 c vegan yogurt (or 1/2 c coconut milk)
1/4 c cashews (soaked for 4 hours or boiled for 15 minutes)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1/2 lemon, juiced

1 block tofu
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp nutritional yeast

• Press the tofu, then cube and coat in the coatings.  Bake 15-20 minutes at 350, flipping partway through.
• Heat a pan with some oil on high, then add the garlic, ginger, chilis, and onion.
• Then add the tomatoes, then once some water releases add the spices, then the tomato paste.
• Add the tomato mixture, cashews, and 4 tbsp water to a blender, and mix into a sauce.
• Sauce goes back in the pan on low, simmer, and add the yogurt, then the lemon juice.
• Next add in the tofu and bell pepper, and simmer 10 minutes.
• Serve with the tofu over rice, quinoa, or whatever!

Notes

So, the saag paneer recipe made it really easy to make really authentic-, professional-seeming Indian food. This one was a little trickier - the flavors were there (and awesome), but the texture needed a little fine tuning / trial & error after the first attempt.  Second time around to make it creamier, we added a second (small) tomato, and more coconut milk, prob ending up around 1/2 cup.  Much better:

Vegan Avocado Mac & Cheese

In these vegan-y days, still figuring out how to find some old favorites.  Pizza's a struggle; mac & cheese does give a bit more in terms of options though.  After trying this one out, wanted to give another one a shot!

Recipe

1 large ripe avocado (or 2 small ones)
1 lemon, juiced
1 c basil leaves (loosely packed)
1/4 c cilantro
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
4-6 tbsp nutritional yeast (so, 6)
1/2 c + 1 1/4 c almond or other non-dairy milk
10-12 oz pasta
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp flour

• Get the pasta cooking
• Blend together the avocado, lemon juice, basil, cilantro, spices, nutritional yeast, and 1/2 c almond milk, plus a little salt
• Saute the garlic in some olive oil, then whisk in the flour, then slowly add the 1 1/4 c almond milk.
• Once the sauce thickens, remove from heat and mix in the avocado sauce.
• Pour over the pasta (cooked and drained) and eat!
• Top with more avocado, tomatoes, vegan cheese, etc.