Grandpa’s Vegan Dipping Hot Sauce

Vegan Dipping Hot Sauce PinI was raised on Grandpa’s Vegan Dipping Hot Sauce recipe and loved it! Although he didn’t call it vegan, it didn’t contain any animal products…only delicious veggies straight from his garden.

Yes, this is my Grandpa Gene’s amazing jarred hot sauce recipe, modified to make it a more manageable batch size. He made this hot sauce using 5 quarts of homegrown tomatoes. That’s 160 ounces of tomatoes!

He loved giving them out to friends and family, and we loved eating them! This recipe only makes about 40 ounces and I’ve reduced everything to about 1/4 of the original except the salt and sugar, which I reduced to 1/8 of the original.

Original Vegan Dipping Hot Sauce RecipeHere’s his original recipe card in case you’re uber ambitious and want to make the full batch (click to enlarge). The original recipe calls for a lot of salt and sugar but I cut it in half and it still tastes great. Maybe that’s because our tastebuds have changed and are more sensitive since going vegan.

While most hot sauce recipes are meant to be consumed in small amounts, dripped on your food to add some spice, this recipe is different. You can still use it as a condiment, but it’s superb as a dipping hot sauce. It’s spicy, but not so much that you can eat it with your favorite corn chips. You can also make it spicier or more mild by varying the quantity of jalapeño peppers.

We prefer to make our own Corn Tortilla Corn Chips using organic, oil-free corn tortillas. This Vegan Dipping Hot Sauce also tastes great on Boiled Potatoes, Vegan Baked Potatoes, Tofu Scramble, Vegan Huevos Rancheros, or any other dish that could use a little extra 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.

Lentil and Brown Rice Stew

Lentil and Brown Rice Stew PinAmelia’s mom made this Lentil and Brown Rice Stew recipe for us when we went to visit her. She was very excited to integrate more plants into her diet and made good use of the time she had with us. This recipe was absolutely delicious and the whole family thoroughly enjoyed eating it.

The great thing about this recipe is that it’s very filling, but relatively low calorie with only 257 calories per serving. It’s also high protein and high fiber with 20 grams of each. Adding a tbsp of Vegan Cashew Sour Cream gives it a creamier texture and a lot of extra 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 Tomato Cream Sauce Spaghetti with Kale

Vegan Tomato Cream SauceThis Vegan Tomato Cream Sauce over spaghetti and topped with kale is rich, a little spicy and completely delicious. It’s also very nutritious with 11 grams of fiber, 15 grams of protein, 208% RDV Vitamin A and 171% Vitamin C. That’s pretty darn healthy for a tomato cream sauce!

We used Ancient Harvest Gluten Free Supergrain Pasta™ Spaghetti noodles for this recipe since gluten bothers Amelia. To be honest, I couldn’t tell the difference. If anything, this pasta is a little richer than regular wheat pasta. If you’ve never had it, give it a try. You might like it better and it has more nutritional value.

You’ll need the Vegan Cashew Cream recipe for this dish. Remember to soak the cashews 2 hours before you’re ready to start cooking.

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.

Lentil Stew w/ Quinoa and Kale

Lentil StewThis Lentil Stew w/ Quinoa and Kale is delicious, filling and very nutritious. Lentils and quinoa are both loaded with protein, giving this recipe 22 grams of it, but the nutritional value doesn’t stop there. Combined with all the other veggies, you get 24 grams of fiber, 544% RDV of Vitamin A, 289% Vitamin C, 24% Calcium and 44% Iron.

Lentils are a new addition to our kitchen. We always cooked with your typical beans: white, black, kidney, etc. But since we’ve discovered lentils, we look for recipes to use them.

Lentils are member of the legume family, but they’re milder than other beans, they cook faster and they absorb the flavors of your dish better. Plus, they’re loaded with fiber but have only 230 calories for one cup of cooked lentils. All of these wonderful benefits make them a great ingredient for your weight loss goals.

If you decide you like lentils as much as we do, you might enjoy our Lentil Hummus with Roasted Garlic or our Vegan Lentil Burger.

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.

White Bean Soup w/ Garlic and Basil

White Bean SoupThis hearty, delicious white bean soup with garlic and basil is full of flavor and nutrition. It can stand on it’s own with a slice of bread, or it pairs well with a side salad. With 14 grams of fiber, 13 grams of protein and 33% RDV of potassium in each serving, it’s packed with nutrients that your body craves.

This white bean soup is very filling but only has 231 calories so it’s a great soup to help with your weight loss goals. It only takes 30 to 45 minutes to prepare and cook, so you can whip it up quickly when you get home from work.

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 Gluten Free Lasagna (Overnight)

Vegan Gluten Free Lasagna PinSimply amazing, guilt-free vegan gluten free lasagna. This lasagna tastes like the real thing without any meat or cheese. The only difference is you won’t have the typical post-lasagna gut bomb. You’ll want to trick your non-vegan friends with this one.

This is the easy way to make lasagna. By assembling everything in a baking dish and placing it in the refrigerator overnight, you don’t have to boil the lasagna noodles. And that saves a lot of time and hassle.

To make it even easier, use two 26 oz jars of marinara sauce instead of making the sauce from scratch. That saves a TON of time! Sometimes, I let the sauce cook down too much and we run short so I make up the difference with a jar of marinara sauce. It’s also good to heat up some marinara on the stove to ladle over the top of the lasagna when you serve it (as shown in the pictures).

We used rice noodles in this recipe to make it gluten free, but you can use whole-wheat lasagna noodles if you like. It works the same either way.

We also used Beyond Meat Beefy Crumbles as the ground beef substitute. It adds some good flavor and texture without saturated fat. However, it does contain oil, so you can skip it or try using cooked and mashed brown lentils instead. If you skip the cheese and the Beefy Crumbles, this is an oil-free recipe.

We made another version of this recipe called our Easy Vegan Lasagna using lentils and tofu ricotta. It tastes just as good but it’s a lot cheaper (tofu is much less expensive than 2 cups of cashews) and completely oil-free.

Prepare the Vegan Cashew Cream 2 to 4 hours before you’re ready to assemble the lasagna. You’ll use this to make the Cashew Ricotta Cheese.

This vegan gluten free lasagna recipe was inspired by an old family friend, Helen Breitenstein, who passed away back in 1993. She was a tiny Irish woman with a huge personality. She made this lasagna the typical way with conventional meat and cheese, but I’ve veganized it for your ethical eating pleasure. I’ve included her “hints” below the recipe.

Vegan Gluten Free Lasagna

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 Spaghetti Sauce on Spaghetti Squash

Vegan Spaghetti SauceI used to be a jarred spaghetti sauce guy. I doctored it up to taste better, but it took less time than making my own. However, once I realized how much added sugar is in a regular jar of spaghetti sauce, I decided it was time to make it from scratch. After lots of trial and error, here’s my delicious Vegan Spaghetti Sauce.

We prefer spaghetti squash since it’s much healthier and lower calorie than regular pasta, and it tastes really good. Just be sure to cook it long enough or it’ll be crunchy. It should be al dente but not crunchy.

You can also substitute Tofu Shirataki Spaghetti for real pasta. This looks and tastes like pasta, but it only has 10 calories and 3 grams of carbs per serving. It’s also gluten free and has been eaten for centuries in Asian countries. You can usually find it in the vegan cold foods section near the tofu. It’s in a plastic bag filled with water and noodles.

Enjoy your Vegan Spaghetti Sauce on Spaghetti Squash with a delicious side salad for some extra leafy green roughage.

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.