Vegan Wellington

Vegan WellingtonIt was the first snow of the season here in Denver and the roads were treacherous, but we were determined to get to Whole Foods during rush hour. Amelia read that a plant-based chef, Kelley Williamson at PlantBasedKitchen-Recipes.com, was teaching a holiday cooking class and the main dish was Vegan Wellington.

This being our first vegan Thanksgiving, Amelia wanted to make us a special occasion meal, and the description Kelley wrote fit the bill so we trekked through the snow and only arrived 5 minutes late. It was totally worth it!

This delicious Vegan Wellington recipe is made with eggplant and other veggies in lieu of beef. It’s packed with flavor and plates nicely with your other Holiday Dishes.

Vegan Wellington is a labor of love and took us the better part of a day to make it, but the result was worth the effort. It made our Thanksgiving dinner simply amazing.

This recipe makes 2 Vegan Wellington loaves so you’ll have plenty of servings. Since there was only two of us, we froze one of the loaves to eat in a few weeks. Or you can cut the quantities in half to make one loaf.

Mom’s Famous Pie Crust will make this an extra special treat, but you can also buy frozen vegan pie dough at the store if you can find it. We couldn’t find any. The guy at Whole Foods said they were out.

You’ll need the Flax Egg recipe here. This recipe calls for two flax eggs.

You can make the mushroom mixture ahead of time to save time on the main cooking day. You can also make the Vegan Wellington loaves the day before and refrigerate them overnight so they’re ready for your holiday and you don’t have to spend the whole day cooking. Just pull them out of the refrigerator an hour early and put them in the oven 30 minutes or so before meal time and the loaves will come out piping hot and ready to eat.

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.

Balsamic Salad Dressing

Balsamic Salad DressingThis Balsamic Salad Dressing recipe is Amelia’s favorite salad dressing. It’s simple to make and very tasty. The agave gives it a little sweetness and the garlic…well, it’s garlic. You can’t go wrong with garlic.

Balsamic vinegar has a delicious, savory flavor. Amelia prefers white balsamic and I prefer it dark, but both are very flavorful. Sometimes we just put plain balsamic vinegar on our salads, especially if we’re trying to reduce our oil intake.

This balsamic salad dressing will go well on our Hearts of Palm Salad or any side salad. It only takes a couple minutes to throw together with ingredients found in most kitchens.

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.

Sweet Potato Hash

Sweet Potato Hash PinThis Sweet Potato Hash recipe is a great main dish or side dish for your Tofu Scramble or in a breakfast burrito. The black beans and veggie sausage give it a little more flavor, texture and protein.

We really like the fat-free Gimme Lean Sausage from Lightlife, but it’s not available here in Cuenca, Ecuador so we used Vegan Chorizo Sausage that we bought from Fratello Vegan. Rene, the owner, makes his chorizo oil-free with black beans.

We had some extra kale a few weeks ago and thought it might go bad so we froze it. About 30 minutes before Amelia cooked this dish, she pulled it out of the freezer and let it warm up a bit. It worked perfectly in this dish. Kale is so durable that freezing doesn’t damage it. It has almost the same texture as fresh cooked kale, but maybe a tiny bit softer. This recipe is a great way to get some extra dark leafy greens in your diet.

Sweet potatoes are considered a super food by many because of their high fiber and vitamin content. In fact, this sweet potato hash recipe has 8 grams of fiber and 9 grams of protein, as well as 240% RDA of Vitamin A. Eating this dish for breakfast is a great way to start your day.

Pair it with some warm corn tortillas, salsa and avocado to make it even more amazing! Vitamin A is fat soluble, so eating this dish with avocado will help your body get at all those healthy phytonutrients.

Sweet Potato Hash

This makes 4 servings as a side dish, but if you want to eat it as a main dish, it’s really only 2 servings.

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.

Cauliflower “Chicken” Fried Rice

Cauliflower Chicken Fried RiceThis vegan Cauliflower Chicken Fried Rice makes a great main dish but you can also serve it as a side dish or top it with your leftover Chinese food. We use the Beyond Meat Grilled “Chicken” Strips, which are so similar to chicken in terms of taste and texture, you won’t know the difference.

With the “chicken” this recipe packs 19 grams of protein, 10 grams of fiber, 225% RDV of Vitamin A and 169% Vitamin C. That’s enough protein for nearly half of your day’s RDV! And both the cauliflower and “chicken” strips contain Iron totally 1/3 of your RDV.

If you want to cut back on the fat and reduce the calories, you can replace the sesame oil with vegetable broth or mix it 50/50.

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 Caesar Dressing

Vegan Caesar DressingSomehow, Amelia made this taste so much like Caesar dressing…that I still don’t like it. But if you like Caesar on your salad, this Vegan Caesar Dressing will do just fine.

The two main ingredients that give regular, non-vegan Caesar dressing it’s distinctive flavor are egg yolks and anchovies. Some recipes even call for Worcestershire sauce, which isn’t typically vegan, either.

This recipe uses cashew cream, nutritional yeast and capers to simulate the richness provided by the egg yolks and the savoriness provided by the anchovies and Worcestershire sauce. The Caesar purists will argue that there is no substitute for eggs in this dressing, but they’d be wrong.

Remember to make your cashew cream ahead of time so it’s ready when you want to make your dressing.

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.

Italian Tomato Mushroom Sauté w/ Fresh Green Beans

Italian Tomato Mushroom Sauté PinThis oil-free Italian Tomato Mushroom Sauté w/ Green Beans is a fast and easy side dish that pairs well with Italian dishes like our Vegan Alfredo Pasta. You can whip it up in a few minutes while your pasta is cooking and it’ll add a lot of extra color and flavor to your meal.

We needed something to go with our Alfredo Pasta so Amelia threw this together one Saturday afternoon with spare parts from the pantry. She’s amazingly talented at making use of spare veggies, and this dish is a delicious example of her creativity.

When Amelia made this recipe the first time, she sautéed it in olive oil, but that was before we thought of oil as a processed food. Now that we know oil is a refined fat like sugar is a refined carb, we no longer cook with it. Instead, we typically sauté in veggie broth or water, and sometimes wine. The key is to cover the pot to trap the moisture, which is commonly referred to as steam frying. It works great and adds additional flavor without the calories and endothelial damaging oil.

This side dish wouldn’t as be good warmed up so we recommend only cooking what you’ll eat with your meal.

Italian Tomato Mushroom Sauté

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 Pizza

Vegan PizzaThere’s nothing like a delicious Vegan Pizza on Friday night to kick off your weekend!

We made the pizza sauce from scratch, but you can always buy ready-made pizza sauce to save time. Of course, then you’ll get all the added sugar that comes with it (and everything else they throw in). When you make your own sauce, you’ll know what every ingredient is, and it only takes a few extra minutes to prepare.

This recipe makes enough for 2 to 3 vegan pizzas depending on how much sauce you like on your pizza. You can cut the ingredients in half by reducing the serving size to 8 slices, or you’ll have leftover sauce.

You can get really creative with vegan pizza toppings. You really can’t go wrong. Some other toppings to consider: tempeh bacon, beefy crumbles, peppers, olives, roasted garlic, sliced tomatoes, etc.

The serving size is based on the traditional pie shaped pizza slice, but Amelia, being from Chicago, likes to cut them into squares. You’ll get about 16 pieces when you do it Chicago-style.

You can make your own pizza crust, too, but that takes a lot of extra time. We chose to buy a pre-made whole wheat crust from Whole Foods. You can buy whatever type you like, but it may change the nutritional facts.

Skip the vegan cheese to make it oil free. Use a gluten free crust to make the recipe gluten free.

Enjoy this with a delicious side salad for a little 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.

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.