Kid-Friendly Tofu Fingers

Kid Friendly Tofu Fingers PinWhile we were visiting Amelia’s family in Atlanta, Amelia’s 9 year old niece  challenged us to make more kid-friendly vegan recipes and this Tofu Fingers recipe one of them. She really liked them, as did the whole family. She’s a VERY picky eater, so anything other than “I hate it” means she loved it. She dipped hers in ketchup, but her grandpa and I preferred BBQ sauce.

If you’re concerned about feeding organic soy to your children, rest assured it’s not only safe, but highly nutritious. Most of the myths about soy were created by the dairy industry when soy milk started eating away at their profits. The unbiased, legitimate science shows soy is actually protective against the very ailments that, ironically, dairy has been shown to cause.

One of the main concerns about soy is the phytoestrogen content that the myths claim can interfere with human hormones. Phytoestrogens are a type of plant estrogen that behaves much differently in the human body compared to mammal estrogen found in cow’s milk, which looks just like human estrogen inside our bodies.

In fact, one study found that soy was protective against early puberty in girls, whereas consumption of meat was strongly associated with early puberty in both girls and boys.

We strongly encourage you to buy only organic soy products, though. The unbiased science is far from settled on the health effects of GMO, but putting that aside, there are plenty of non-health reasons to avoid GMO products. GMO’s encourage monocrops, which are destroying the soil. They are leading to superbugs and superweeds that are resistant to even the strongest pesticides. They lead to more fertilizer and pesticide use, which contaminates water supplies. And they give corporations too much control of our food system. Please consider watching GMO OMG for an overview of the GMO industry.

Back to the recipe at hand… These Tofu Fingers are very tasty dipped in your favorite dipping sauce like ketchup, BBQ sauce, Vegan Ranch Dressing, salsa, Grandpa’s Vegan Dipping Hot Sauce, etc. They make a great afternoon snack or appetizer, or as a side dish with soup and salad.

Tofu Fingers 2

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.

Lazy Girl Easy Vegan Enchiladas

Easy Vegan Enchiladas PinThis Easy Vegan Enchiladas recipe is fast and easy to make. Why spend time trying to wrap and bake tricky enchiladas when you can do them open-faced?

I love our Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas recipe, but we never have it because it’s such a pain to make. When we first made them for the website, it took us 3 tries to get them to come out good enough to be photographed. And we haven’t made them since!

So I asked Amelia if we could do them a different way that would be easier. After all, it’s the ingredients that taste good; not the shape. I suggested we sauté the filling in our cast iron skillet and then bake it covered in our Vegan Enchilada Sauce, but Amelia’s way was even easier. We served them open-faced on corn tortillas and poured the enchilada sauce over them. Then we topped them with some baked corn tortilla strips.

These “lazy girl” enchiladas, as Amelia calls them, are by far the easiest and fastest way to make delicious enchiladas.

Easy Vegan Enchiladas

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 Enchilada Sauce

Vegan Enchilada Sauce PinThis Vegan Enchilada Sauce recipe is mildly spicy with delicious depth of flavor. It’s designed to go with our Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas, but it tastes great on lots of things!

Amelia makes us a large batch and we keep it in the fridge for up to a week. I like to heat up some leftover sweet potatoes and pour this sauce over them. You could also use this enchilada sauce on Vegan Nachos or as a dip for corn chips.

As with almost everything we make these days, this recipe is oil-free. There’s just no need for oil in most recipes except some desserts.

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 Black Bean Soup

Vegan Black Bean Soup PinThis Vegan Black Bean Soup recipe is like a party in your mouth! It’s loaded with savory flavors and lots of protein. Top it with a little diced avocado for some extra deliciousness and you’ve got one delicious bowl of soup!

Beans are a great source of protein, calcium and fiber. That’s why they’re such an important part of a plant-based diet. It can take your body a few weeks (or months) to adjust to the flatulence caused by beans in some people, but the short-term discomfort is well-worth the long-term health benefits.

Before we transitioned to a whole-food plant-based (WFPB) diet, I never ate beans because of the horrible stomach and intestinal discomfort. Within a few months of switching our diet, I slowly started adding beans into the mix. Now we eat them every day and only occasionally do they cause gas. I’ve found that red beans still seem to be the worst offenders, while black beans, chickpeas and lentils are now fine.

According to the Harvard Health Letter, “A little bit of extra flatulence could be an indication that you’re eating the way you should!” So if you accidentally let one slip while waiting in line at the bank, just smile and say “Hey. I’m plant-based.”

This Vegan Black Bean Soup pairs well with a salad or cornbread.

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.

Tex-Mex Jackfruit

Tex-Mex Jackfruit PinThis Tex-Mex Jackfruit recipe is a veganized version of the old standard Tex-Mex Pulled Chicken. We served it over rice but it would go great wrapped up in a tortilla. It’s savory, satisfying and delicious!

The key to getting the jackfruit to mimic the look and texture of pulled chicken is to steam fry it until it’s soft, and then use a fork to pull it apart. This will string-a-fy the jackfruit.

Once you add in the remaining ingredients and serve it over rice or in a tortilla with some extra salsa, it’ll fool just about anyone. Our non-vegan family loved it! Amelia’s dad honestly thought it was chicken! He was shocked when we told him it was a fruit!

A lot of vegans don’t like the idea of eating things that mimic meat, but if you’re trying to get someone to taste new cruelty-free foods, or you’re cooking for non-plant-based eaters, these types of recipes really help bridge the gap. They also show people just how tasty and creative plant-based foods can be.

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 Breakfast Burrito

Vegan Breakfast Burrito PinThis Vegan Breakfast Burrito recipe is delicious and filling. If you prepare the tofu scramble and potatoes the night before, all you’ll need to do is reheat them and assemble the burrito for a quick and easy healthy plant-based breakfast.

To make our delicious breakfast burrito, we combined our Easy Tofu Scramble recipe and our Oven Roasted Red Potatoes recipe and wrapped them up in a tortilla. We used flour tortillas since they make better wraps, but you can also use corn tortillas if you avoid gluten. Eat them open-faced, tostada-style if you can’t wrap them without splitting the tortilla.

Our roasted potatoes use a little olive oil to get them to come out crispy and prevent them from sticking to the baking sheet. However, if you prefer to avoid oil altogether, you can roast them without oil but they might be a little mushy and may stick to the pan.

We’ve tried several different oil-free roasted potato recipes and none came out well. That could be due to the high altitude in Denver. They either came out mushy or burned. We’d love to hear your experiences roasting without oil in the comments below.

This is one of our favorite plant-based breakfast recipes! You don’t have to give up your delicious breakfast burritos just because you eat a plant-based diet!

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 Cajun Red Beans and Rice

Vegan Cajun Red Beans and Rice PinThis Vegan Cajun Red Beans and Rice recipe was inspired by an old non-vegan recipe I used to cook for my daughter and me before I went vegan. Cajun red beans and rice with sausage was a favorite on our regular rotation, but my family requested a sausage-free version and I was more than happy to oblige.

This recipe uses dry red beans instead of canned. Dried beans take more prep work, but they’re a lot cheaper and we think they have a lot more flavor. They’re also more environmentally friendly due to reduced processing and packaging.

If you’re in a hurry or don’t want to mess with dry beans, you can use three 16 oz cans of red beans with the juice and reduce the vegetable broth to 1 cup.

This Vegan Cajun Red Beans and Rice dish pairs well with Vegan Cornbread and a Hearty Side Salad.

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.

Curried Lentils

Curried Lentils PinCurried lentils are a favorite of ours. These are super flavorful and fill our house with delicious curry smells. We prefer them over brown rice, but you can also serve them over naan bread, pita bread or your favorite asian noodles.

We think green lentils work best in this recipe due to their mild flavor, but you can try other lentils to see which you prefer. Let us know in the comments if you like a different type better.

We also like to add a dollop of plain, unsweetened vegan yogurt and stir it into the lentils. It’s a good source of vitamin B12, and it mimics sour cream when served with spicy foods. A sprinkle of paprika adds some nice color and flavor.

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 Sweet Potato Fries

Vegan Sweet Potato Fries PinThese Vegan Sweet Potato Fries are sweet, savory, spicy and delicious! Dip them in our Vegan BBQ Sauce for even more flavor and spice!

We rarely use oil when cooking anymore, but we used 1/2 tsp oil for two sweet potatoes in this recipe. We’ve tried several recipes that don’t use any oil for potato fries, but the fries come out mushy and stick to the pan, and the seasonings don’t stick to the fries.

All it takes is a tiny amount of oil to make them come out crisp and delicious. The trick is to stir the oil into the uncooked sweet potatoes fries first in a large metal or non-sticky bowl to get an even coating before stirring in the seasonings.

I prefer my sweet potato fries a little soft. Cook them a little longer if you want them crispier.

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.

BBQ Jackfruit

BBQ Jackfruit PinThis BBQ Jackfruit is meaty, savory and delicious. It’s a great substitute for pulled pork. If you serve it to your non-vegan friends with our Vegan BBQ Sauce, they won’t know it’s vegan!

Growing up in the Kansas City area gave me a special appreciation for BBQ. There’s nothing quite like KC BBQ so I was very happy when Amelia came up with this amazing BBQ Jackfruit recipe.

The texture of young jackfruit is almost identical to pulled pork. It doesn’t have much flavor of its own so when you cook it with a flavorful BBQ Sauce, it’s pretty much just like a pulled pork BBQ sandwich. We used Organic Young Jackfruit from Native Forest.

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.