Vegan Teriyaki Tofu Bowls

Recipes

Tofu is not something we eat very often in our house, but when I do make it, I want it to be as flavorful and least tofu-like as possible. This teriyaki bowl recipe is a great vegan substitute for a typical chicken teriyaki bowl with vegetables and rice. If you prefer to not include tofu, you could also just increase your serving of vegetables since edamame and broccoli are decent sources of protein. Ordinarily, I would probably also make this with brown rice, but was in a rush so decided to go with white rice instead.

Tofu is best when as much liquid is squeezed out as possible and replaced with a marinade or sauce. Whatever sauce you use will soak into the tofu lending it that particular flavor. This teriyaki sauce recipe is adapted from Mayim Bialik’s cookbook Mayim’s Vegan Table. It is a good sauce for when you’re in a little bit of a hurry, since it puts out strong flavoring without too much marinating time needed. I hope you enjoy!

Vegan Teriyaki Tofu Bowls

White or brown rice, prepared according to package instructions

2 red bell peppers, chopped

2 small broccoli crowns, chopped

1 cup of edamame

3/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup mirin

2 Tbsp 100% natural maple syrup

1 package of extra firm tofu

1. Wrap tofu in paper towels and press to release fluids. While tofu is pressing create sauce by whisking together the soy sauce, mirin and maple syrup.

2. When fluid is sufficiently removed from tofu, cut into 1/4 inch slices down the short side of the block of tofu. Place slices into sauce, making sure every piece is covered in sauce as much as possible.

3. While tofu soaks, prepare your vegetables. Tofu should soak for a minimum of 10-15 minutes for best flavor. Once the rest of the ingredients are prepared, place the vegetables and a few tablespoons of water into a large skillet over medium heat. Place lid on pan and let vegetables steam, stirring occasionally.

4. Cook the tofu in a separate nonstick pan while vegetables cook. Place pieces of tofu into heated nonstick pan over medium heat. Cook 4-5 minutes per side. Repeat until all pieces are cooked. You can use remaining sauce to flavor vegetables if desired. Pour sauce over steaming vegetables.

5. Serve bowls with a scoop of rice, a large scoop of vegetables and 5-6 slices of tofu.

Quick & Easy Vegan Enchiladas

Recipes

I could probably eat Mexican-style food every day for a year and not grow tired of it. Even eating as a vegan without real cheese, Mexican food is hands down some of the tastiest and satisfying type of food out there. I love this recipe in particular because it’s packed with veggies, it’s quick and it’s easy to make. The most time consuming part is either the chopping or the rolling of the enchiladas themselves, but if you’ve got even a small amount of skill in the kitchen these tasks should take no time at all.

These enchiladas go great with some rice on the side (add some cilantro and lime to your rice for an extra delicious side) or eat them on their own – they are pretty filling! I like to make these with flour tortillas, but you could totally use corn if you prefer. I should also mention that I did eat these for leftovers but the avocado does turn dark after only a night in the fridge. It didn’t taste bad, but if you’re looking to use these for meal prep, maybe leave the avocado out until you’re ready to serve. I can’t wait to make these again!

Quick & Easy Vegan Enchiladas

7-10 tortillas (flour or corn is fine, I only had giant burrito tortillas on hand so I used those. Have enough to fill whatever pan you’re using)

1 avocado diced

1 large tomato diced

1/2 red onion, diced

8 oz corn (I used frozen because that’s what I had, but canned or fresh would work too)

1 8oz can green chiles

1 15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 28oz can green enchilada sauce

Your choice of vegan cheese for topping

Other topping ideas – olives, salsa, more avocado

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place all ingredients except tortillas, enchilada sauce and toppings in a large bowl and gently mix together.
Grab a 9×13 baking pan and pour about 1 cup of sauce into the bottom of the pan.
Place a tortilla in the pan and smother with the enchilada sauce you just poured.
Fill tortilla with the vegetable mixture and roll up like a burrito (see gallery above for step by step images).
Continue step 3 and 4 until you have filled the pan. I really like to squeeze them in there. If you run out of sauce along the way, just pour more in. This really isn’t an exact science, just make sure your tortillas are nice and saucy.
Once your pan is full, top the enchiladas with more sauce, vegan cheese and any other desired topping.
Bake for about 25-30 minutes. Let sit for about 5-10 minutes before serving.
Enjoy!

Easy Vegan Cauliflower Alfredo

Recipes

I love pasta! Who doesn’t, right? Red sauce is fairly easy to replicate as a vegan dish. It’s easy because it’s made of mostly vegetables. Simply omit the meat in meat sauce and you have a vegan red sauce (at least, usually). Alfredo can be a bit more tricky. It’s creamy and thick and has loads of cheese and dairy in it. But it doesn’t have to! This recipe is the perfect example of how eating plant-based can be easy, oil and gluten free and still just as delicious as a traditional alfredo. The main ingredient is cauliflower, and I never would have guessed that blending up this sometimes misunderstood vegetable would be so tasty!

This recipe is incredibly easy. It takes a handful of ingredients and about 20 minutes or less to make depending on how you time it out. I used gluten free fettucine, but of course you can use whatever pasta you like. Pair this pasta dish with your favorite veggies – we did broccoli – and enjoy a creamy bowl filled with pasta entirely guilt free. I think next time I’ll throw in some Beyond Meat “chicken” strips, YUM!! Let’s show you the recipe…

Easy Vegan Cauliflower Alfredo

12 oz. gluten free fettucine, cooked and drained

1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets (size for this isn’t super important, since you’ll be blending it up later on, just make sure the sizes will fit in your blender)

1/2 cup vegetable broth

1/2 cup unsweetened plain almond milk (or dairy-free alternative of your choice)

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Fill a large pot with water and cauliflower, cover and place over high heat until it comes to a boil.
Once mixture is boiling, reduce heat to low or medium-low and let simmer for about 10 minutes or until cauliflower is softened. (You can use this time to cook your pasta if you like, or do like I did and wait for the cauliflower to be finished so you can use the same pot.)
Drain cooked cauliflower and then place into your blender along with all other ingredients (except pasta) and mix on high until smooth.
Taste mixture to see if you need more seasonings and for salt and pepper.
At this point, you can add directly to your cooked pasta, or you can put your sauce back on the stove to stay warm.
Once you’re ready to serve, mix the sauce and pasta well. Top with pepper and fresh herbs of your choice. Serve with a side of steamed broccoli.
Enjoy!

Vegan Penne Primavera

Recipes

I’ve almost reached 2 whole months of eating vegan, and I gotta say, I like how it’s going. The food is delicious, made of fresh ingredients, and I don’t feel like crap after eating it. This particular recipe is going to be a new favorite in my house because I always seem to have random unused veggies and pasta (usually gluten-free or whole wheat). I love how the aroma of the vegetables filled the house and went so beautifully with the herbs. It was super easy to make too. The most time consuming part is chopping all the veggies, but so many grocery stores sell these pre-sliced now you could always go that route if you wanted to save even more time.

Feel free to sub in whatever veggies you have on hand for this dish. Just be sure to add them at the right times for cooking. For example, I added the broccoli first since I knew that would take the longest and the roma tomatoes last since I knew I really only wanted those warmed and not super mushy. You can also use whatever type of pasta you prefer. I like penne because it’s easy to get a good bite with pasta and vegetables in it all at once. This particular penne was gluten free so you could always do that as well, or heck make some zoodles if you’re looking for something without any carbs. Lastly, feel free to leave the oil out of this as well and instead add a small amount of water when cookies the veggies. I did use oil in this dish this time. I have been leaving oil out of my food for the last three weeks or so, so I didn’t feel like a tablespoon or two of good olive oil would hurt. I hope you enjoy!

Vegan Penne Primavera

12 oz of your favorite penne – cooked and drained

1 zucchini, halved and sliced

1 squash, halved and sliced

1 head of broccoli, chopped

2 carrots, thinly sliced

2 roma tomatoes, halved and sliced

1 Tbsp olive oil (or water for cooking the vegetables)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp thyme

salt and pepper to taste

Non-dairy mozzarella for topping, if desired

Add the broccoli and the carrots to a large skillet over medium high heat with olive oil (or water) and let cook covered for about 5 minutes
Add zucchini, squash, and garlic and cover. Cook for another 5 minutes, or until vegetables reach desired consistency.
Add roma tomatoes at the end and stir to combine. Add thyme and salt and pepper to taste.
Once all vegetables are cooked, mix in the penne pasta.
Top with non-dairy mozzarella or parmesan if desired.
Enjoy!

Vegan Applesauce Ginger Oatmeal

Recipes

Oatmeal is an easy and filling breakfast staple. Mix it with fruit and you’ve got yourself something really tasty. This particular version uses my Easy Sugar-Free Applesauce recipe, or you can use your favorite applesauce instead. I do add sugar as well but if you prefer to leave that out feel free to do so. I love the kick of the ginger especially as a morning pick-me-up and the almond milk added at the end gives this oatmeal the perfect creamy texture. The portions here make about 4 servings so adjust as necessary for your family. It also keeps well as leftovers in the fridge for a few days if you enjoy meal-prepping.

Vegan Applesauce Ginger Oatmeal

1 cup old fashioned oats

2 cups water

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup applesauce

2 tsp brown sugar

Pinch of salt

Almond milk, or other milk alternative for topping

Bring water and oats to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium and allow oats to cook fully.
Add all ingredients except almond milk and mix well.
Make sure all ingredients are warmed through.
Serve in a bowl and top with desired amount of milk alternative.
Enjoy!

Vegan Sweet Potato and Portabello Fajitas

Recipes

Fajitas are easily in my list of top five easy dinners. They are quick, they are cheap and they are absolutely delectable. These particular fajitas are also great because the ingredients are so versatile. Don’t like mushrooms? Add more sweet potatoes. Not a sweet potato fan? Add more mushrooms! Or heck, go get some Beyond Meat chicken strip thingies and leave both out if you prefer, but I hope you won’t! Because the sweet potatoes and Portabello mushrooms are absolutely divine in this recipe. Especially when mixed with some fresh smashed guacamole. Mmm, mm, mmmmmm. Okay, honestly, everything is delish with guacamole – am I right?

When I made this recipe, I cooked the mushrooms separately from the rest of the veggies because hubs doesn’t like them, but you can totally cook all veggies in the same pan to save time. Another tip is to always wrap your sheet pans with foil before roasting veggies. This makes for super easy clean up at the end – you’ll thank me later. Another tip that’s helpful if you’re not super familiar with Portabellos (like me), is to scrape the gill looking portion of the portabello caps out before slicing and cooking. The gills area very dark brown and can turn whatever else is in the pan with them dark brown as well making it look less than appetizing. They are easy to scoop, just use a small spoon and carefully scrape the bottoms of the mushroom caps. You can then rinse if you’d like or go to straight to slicing. They are super delicious cooked up and in these fajitas! You won’t be sorry! (Also, sorry for the poor image quality – I took videos and forgot to take photos so these are crappy screenshots)

Vegan Sweet Potato & Portabello Fajitas

3 Portabello mushroom caps, scraped and sliced into about 1/2″ wide pieces

2 Sweet potatoes (or garnet yams), cut into wedges

1 green, 1 red, 1 yellow bell peppers, sliced

1 yellow onion, sliced

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp garlic powder

Salt and Pepper

Olive oil

Guacamole or salsa for topping

Tortillas

Preheat oven to 425°F. Place sweet potato wedges on a prepared sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil and half the cumin plus salt and pepper. Once preheated, bake sweet potato wedges for about 25 minutes or until cooked to desired consistency.
While the sweet potatoes are cooking, heat 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil in a pan and add veggies (or you can cook them separately for picky eaters).
Season with cumin, garlic powder and salt and pepper.
Once potatoes and veggies are cooked, you can add them all to the same pan for easy serving.
Add a scoop of veggies and potatoes to a tortilla, top with guacamole or salsa if desired and enjoy!

Vegan Chickpea Noodle Soup

Ramble On

Soup is seriously one of my favorite foods! There are so many different kinds and variations that I could go crazy trying to make them all every night for dinner. This particular recipe I realize now probably isn’t so vegan since I used egg noodles – DUH, new vegan eater over here. BUT you could totally replace with vegan egg noodles if you have an issue with it. I’m not as weird about eggs as most people who eat vegan because I buy cage free organic and cruelty free eggs. I actually prefer eggs from backyard chickens and am even considering getting my own chickens in the spring so that will make it even less of an issue. ANYWAY – this soup is bomb no matter what noodles you use, heck you could even use rice! It’s super duper fricking easy and only requires 5 ingredients plus a TON of spices.

I fully suggest letting the broth simmer for a while before adding your noodles – the smell is DIVINE. It also makes for great leftovers. Isn’t leftover soup at work the best? It’s like being transported home for a little bit with all the yummy comforting warmth. Did I mention I love soup?

Easy Vegan Chickpea Noodle Soup

4 carrots, sliced

4 celery stalked, sliced

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1 15oz can chickpeas, drained

7 cups vegetable broth

1 cup water

2 small bay leaves

1 tsp thyme (or herb de Provence is super yummy too!)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cup egg noodles, vegan if desired (or any pasta)

1 Tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Add olive oil, onion, carrots and celery to a large pot over medium heat and cook until soft, stirring occasionally.
Add spices, broth and water and bring to a boil on high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat and let simmer for at least 30 minutes.
5-10 minutes before you’re ready to serve, add the noodles and chickpeas and remove the bay leaves. Let noodles simmer for 5-10 minutes or until they reach desired firmness. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Enjoy!

Easy Sugar-Free Applesauce

Recipes

I love apples and I love quick and easy recipes so this sugar-free apple sauce is one of my favorite things to make after apple-picking. Lucky for me, my mom has an apple tree so I have almost unlimited access to apples all autumn long. This allows me to play around with recipes to my hearts content. This recipe is by far one of the easiest and probably healthiest dessert recipes around – at least I eat it for dessert. There is no sugar added, just cinnamon, because the apples are sweet enough. You can make this on the stove or in a crockpot, but I really do prefer the stove method because it is faster and makes the house smell so yummy. Happy Fall Ya’ll!!

Easy Sugar-Free Applesauce

4 medium sized apples, peeled and cut into chunks

A few Tbsp of water

1/4 tsp cinnamon, or more to taste

Add your apple chunks to a medium sauce pan and add just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan but not cover the apples.
Place on the stove over medium-low heat and let simmer until the apples are soft
Using the back of your spoon or a potato masher, squish those apple chunks to your desired consistency. If you like super smooth apple sauce you could always use an immersion blender here to really whip it up.
Add cinnamon and mix completely.
Pair with a scoop of your favorite non-dairy vanilla ice cream or enjoy by itself!

Easy Vegetarian Sheet Pan Nachos

Recipes

Sometimes I get home from the gym knowing exactly what I want for dinner. This event is rare, but it does happen every so often. The night I made these nachos was one of those times. It was hot, I was tired and lazy and was craving something salty. I started to think about what I had at home to work with and the only thing I could think of was Trader Joe’s Beef-less Ground Beef. What could I make with crumbles that would be satisfying and easy? Immediately into my head popped NACHOS. I hadn’t made them at home in a while and that made me wonder why. They can be incredibly filling, easy to make and ready in less than 10 minutes. And so, I headed to the grocery store to buy a few inexpensive ingredients that I knew would combine into a giant plate of nachos that would satisfy my cravings.

One of the best ways to keep a dinner easy is to make the clean up easy. Meals that only require one pan to create are the perfect solution. This nacho recipe only uses one sheet pan, and you can cover it in foil to make clean up even easier. What makes this recipe even better is that you can use any combination of ingredients that you like. My recipe is simply a guideline. I enjoy refried beans with the crumbles since the beans help the crumbles stick to a chip. However, you could totally use whole beans (or both!) if you prefer. I also added corn for a sweet crunchy element and tomatoes with chiles for a spicy kick. You could also make this recipe vegan by using a vegan cheese option. Make sure you purchase one that has a nice melting consistency as that is the best part of eating nachos.

Vegetarian Sheet Pan Nachos

1 package of meatless crumbles – any brand you desire. If using something that comes frozen, make sure you thaw before cooking in the oven

1 can refried black beans

1 can corn, drained

1 can Rotel, drained

2 cups Mexican style cheese blend

1 bag tortilla chips

Preheat oven to 400° F
Layer items on foiled sheet pan in this order – chips, beans, crumbles, corn, rotel, cheese.
Bake for 5-7 minutes or until cheese is melted

Seriously, it’s that easy! Enjoy!

Vegetarian Enchilada Casserole

Recipes

Mexican food is easy to make vegetarian because of the variety of ingredients you can use to make it. Which is totally fine with me because I LOVE the flavors in Mexican food. Whether it be chile verde sauce, red enchilada sauce, black beans, refried beans, smothered in cheese, chances are it’s going to be one of my new favorite recipes. This particular recipe is a new one for me and strays from my usual use of green enchilada sauce instead of red. I was pleased with the spicy kick of this dish and think that it’s a great way to incorporate lesser used ingredients that I hadn’t really thought about using in Mexican food before. The butternut squash was a delightful addition not only providing a nice texture to the dish but some good health benefits as well. Butternut squash is low in fat and is a great source for potassium which I’ve been needing since getting my butt back in the gym. It just goes to show how versatile Mexican recipes really can be.

This recipe is a quick and easy one for a weeknight dinner. If you wanted to skip the baking portion I’m sure you could, it would just mean your cheese would not be as melty. To remedy this, you could also cook it on the stove only and place a lid on your pan after adding the cheese. Just be careful not to leave the lid with the heat on too long or things could get mushy. You could also add a variety of other ingredients if you have them on hand. Next time I think I will add some corn and maybe some tomatoes too. I hope you enjoy this recipe! Let me know in the comments below what you think.

This recipe adapted from ambitious kitchen.

Vegetarian Enchilada Casserole

3 cups diced butternut squash, I used frozen, but if you’re feeling feisty you could also use fresh

1 15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 8oz can diced green chiles

1/2 yellow onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp chili powder

1 15oz can red enchilada sauce

7 corn tortillas, cut into thick strips

1 cup Mexican style cheese, or whatever cheese you prefer

Olive oil – about a Tbsp to cook ingredients

Salt and pepper to taste

Garnish – I used sliced avocado and chopped cilantro, but next time will also use sour cream to cut the spiciness of the dish

Preheat oven to 350°F
Heat olive oil over medium high heat and add onion, garlic and green chiles. Cook for about 3 minutes or until onions are translucent.
Add squash and spices and cook for about 10 minutes or until the squash can be pierced with a fork. You don’t want to cook it until the squash is mushy so make sure you check it.
Add black beans, tortilla strips and enchilada sauce and 1/2 of your cheese. Stir to combine.
Once everything is heated through, pour mixture into an 8×8 baking dish and sprinkle remaining cheese on top.
Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Remove from oven and top with desired garnishes.
Enjoy!