Spicy Avocado Sauce

Spicy Avocado Sauce PinWe made this Spicy Avocado Sauce to go with our Cauliflower Tacos w/ Lentils recipe and it was delicious! It’s so rich and creamy. And the jalapeño gives it a little kick, although this is optional if you don’t like spicy things.

This recipe is also great as a dip, sandwich spread or salad dressing. It almost has a ranch dressing flavor. Several important phytonutrients in salads are fat soluble, which means they need to be consumed with a healthy source of fat like nuts, seeds and/or avocados in order for our bodies to effectively extract all the nutrients.

Avocados have been shown to contain a lot of fiber and many beneficial phytonutrients of their own, and the fat found in avocados also helps our bodies get the most bang for our salad buck.

It doesn’t take much fat for our bodies to harness the power of fat soluble veggies, though. You only need about 1/4 of an avocado in your salad OR five walnut halves to get the benefit from the greens, so don’t load up your salad with a lot of nuts, seeds and avocado or the calories and fat will skyrocket. A little is good for you, but a lot is bad for you.

We like our foods spicier than most, and Amelia likes them spicier than me! If you have a bland palette, feel free to skip the jalapeño.

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.

Vegan Tortilla Soup

Vegan Tortilla Soup PinEven though I just finished eating lunch, my mouth is watering just thinking about this Vegan Tortilla Soup recipe! It’s that good!

While conventional tortilla soup typically uses chicken as the protein, we used white beans instead. Beans are loaded with protein and fiber, but contain no cholesterol nor measurable saturated fat. They’re also a good source of iron, magnesium and potassium.

There are several different types of white beans: navy beans, great northern beans, cannellini beans and butterbeans. We like navy beans in our soups because the starch gets released during cooking, making the soup creamier. However, you can use whichever beans you prefer or have on-hand for this recipe.

For the tortilla strips, we used two small corn tortillas made with only two ingredients: whole corn and water. Whole Foods carries organic corn tortillas that are made with corn, water and a hint of lime. When eating a whole-food plant-based (WFPB) no-oil diet, it’s important to look for minimally processed foods without added oils and sugars (or other mystery ingredients).

We cubed some avocado as a topping for our vegan tortilla soup, but if you’re trying to lose weight or lower your cholesterol, you may want to skip the avocado until you’ve reached your goal. Saturated fat, regardless of whether it comes from a plant or animal, will raise your cholesterol and can contribute to heart disease and weight gain.

This recipe pairs well with a nice Side Salad or some Corn Tortilla Corn Chips and Salsa.

Vegan Tortilla Soup Cooking Video

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.

Vegan Avocado Toast

Vegan Avocado Toast PinThis Vegan Avocado Toast recipe is fast, simple, savory and satisfying! I never had avocado toast before making this, but everyone seems to love it, and now I know why!

Some people thinly slice their avocado and lay the slices on their toast topped with seasonings, but I smashed it up and mixed in some lime juice and seasonings to give it more flavor. The guacamole texture makes it easier to spread on your toast, too. And I topped it with a little red pepper flakes to give it some spice!

If you’re an avocado lover, you’re no doubt familiar with the avocado’s temperamentality. It can go from green to overripe in about 5 minutes. And once you cut it open, it turns dark quickly. However, you can preserve it longer by submerging the unused portion in water. We seal ours in a container and put it in the fridge.

Vegan Avocado Toast

The best way to peel an avocado is to use the knick and peel method. Cut the avocado in half and remove the seed. Then cut the halves in half again making 4 quarters. At the small, pointy end of the avocado, knick the peel and pull it off. This ensures that you get all the dark green goodness closest to the skin. That’s where most of the critical phytonutrients live.

We ate ours with a cup of fruit: bananas, strawberries and blueberries. What an amazing breakfast!

Vegan Avocado Toast Cooking Video

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If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.

Vegan BLT with Avocado

Vegan BLT PinThis Vegan BLT with Avocado means you can still enjoy your bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich on a hot summer day even after you switch to a plant-based way of eating. This sandwich goes great with Vegan French Fries.

BLT’s were always a summer mainstay in the Stonestreet household. My grandpa lived about a mile from us on the other end of Gardner Lake in Kansas and he had a huge garden with tons of tomato plants. We used to go visit and never left without a bunch of fresh veggies and amazing tomatoes that were the perfect size and taste for a delicious BLT.

Happily, I can still enjoy a tasty BLT (sans cruelty) thanks to some Tofu Bacon. If you put this stuff on a sandwich and blindfold a meat eater, they wouldn’t know it’s not real bacon.

We cooked ours without oil because we try to eat oil-free as much as possible, but if you fry it up in a skillet with a little vegetable oil, you’ll be able to fool anyone into thinking it’s real bacon.

Remember to prepare your Vegan Cashew Cream ahead of time as well. Or you can use Vegan Mayo if you prefer that and don’t care about your oil consumption.

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.

Vegan Fajitas (Oil-Free)

Vegan Fajitas PinThese Vegan Fajitas with roasted portobello mushrooms and sautéed onions and peppers is absolutely delicious, and very nutritious!

Three corn tortillas topped with all the fixin’s has 450 calories, 11 grams of fiber and 17 grams of protein. Add to that: 70% RDA of Vitamin A, 315% Vitamin C, 76% Calcium and 24% Iron. And this doesn’t include the optional avocado, brown rice or refried beans!

Looking at these stats for one vegan dish, it’s hard to understand how the protein and calcium deficiency myths gained traction and continue to be two of the most common questions vegans get asked.

We used corn tortillas in our recipe because they’re made with only corn and water. They contain no refined flour or oil. Most flour tortillas we’ve found here in Ecuador have either oil or lard, and we haven’t found any whole wheat tortillas, so we opted for the healthier non-GMO corn tortillas. If you can find oil and lard free whole wheat flour tortillas, feel free to use those instead of corn.

Vegan Fajitas

We like using my Grandpa’s Vegan Dipping Hot Sauce on our vegan fajitas, but you can use your favorite salsa. Just be sure to get a salsa without oil or a lot of added sugar, as most store-bought brands contain one or both.

The avocado, brown rice and Refried Beans are optional since this is already a filling and high calorie meal without them. However, they make great companions for these Vegan Fajitas! These are also fantastic topped with a little Vegan Cashew Sour Cream!

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.

Vegan Burrito Bowl

Vegan Burrito Bowl PinThis Vegan Burrito Bowl is another quick lunch that you can assemble ahead of time so you can take it to work or school.

Canned refried beans are pre-cooked so you just need to warm them up and add some salt and pepper to make them taste delicious. You can stir in the seasonings straight out of the can and heat the beans on the stove or in the microwave.

Or if you’re more ambitious and have time, try making our Vegan Refried Beans from either dry soaked beans, or canned pinto beans. These taste delicious and don’t have oil or any mystery ingredients.

You can serve this over romaine lettuce or your favorite leafy green if you feel like it, but this recipe serves it over brown rice. You can get creative with this recipe by adding onions, peppers, corn, fresh cilantro, black olives, tofu, pico de gallo, jalapeños or your other favorite veggies.

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.

Vegan Nachos

Vegan Nachos PinThese Vegan Nachos are loaded with goodies. Vegan Refried Beans, Potato Cheese Sauce, Vegan Cashew Sour Cream, jalapeños, black olives, avocado and salsa make this one yummy party dish!

Nachos are one of those treats that most people expect to give up when they go vegan, but there’s no need to make such a supreme sacrifice. The potato cheese sauce tastes better than the nasty cheese you find on most non-vegan nachos, and the cashew sour cream is absolutely delicious!

We used the toppings that we like the most, but you can be as creative as you want to be. These vegan nachos would be great with some sautéed onions or mushrooms, seasoned tofu, Tex-Mex jackfruit, vegan chorizo or anything else you can think of.

We bought some yellow and blue corn chips for this recipe, but you can easily make this with some Corn Tortilla Corn Chips.

Just promise me you’ll serve these at your next gathering of non-vegan friends so they can see how good veganized food can taste!

Vegan Nachos Instructional Video

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.

Vegan Tacos with Acorn Squash and Black Beans

Vegan Tacos Acorn Squash and Black BeansVegan tacos acorn squash and black beans might seem like an odd combination, but this recipe has just the right mixture of sweet, salt and spice. Your tastebuds will thank you.

Thanks to the squash and black beans, this recipe packs a nutrient punch. It has 15 grams of fiber and 11 grams of protein with only 353 calories for two tacos. You can reduce the calories and fat by cutting out the avocado and reducing the olive oil to 1/2 tbsp.

You could add some vegan shredded cheese to the tacos, but we didn’t feel it was necessary. They have so much flavor without it.

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.

Vegan Tostadas

Vegan TostadasThis is a super quick and easy vegan tostadas recipe that’s full of flavor, color and a variety of nutrients. It’s one of my favorite lunch recipes because I can throw it together in a few minutes and there’s virtually no cleanup.

Most tostada recipes call for the tortillas to be deep fried in oil, but we all know how unhealthy that is for us. Baking them not only removes the calories and fat from the oil, it makes cleanup a breeze since you won’t have oil splatters everywhere.

This recipe makes two vegan tostadas, but the serving size is only one tostada. You can eat both, but realize that’s over 500 calories. You can reduce the calories and fat even more by skipping the cheese and avocados. Removing the cheese also makes this recipe oil free if that’s important to you.

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.

Mexican Salad

Mexican SaladThis Mexican Salad is a flavorful, delicious, hearty salad that works well as a side salad or a main dish for lunch. With 14 grams of fiber, 10 grams of protein and 136% of your RDV of vitamin C, this is a nutrient rich recipe. And thanks to the beans and corn, it’s pretty filling, too.

Amelia whipped this recipe up one day with some spare ingredients we had laying around. Thanks to the lime juice and spices, it has a lot of flavor without using any oil.

You can put this Mexican Salad in a taco bowl to make it a little more special. EatingWell.com has a cool way to make your own taco bowls with corn tortillas and a muffin tin.

This salad is great on a hot summer day made with fresh corn on the cob, but you can eat it all year round and not get tired of it.

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.