Heather the Vegan

Vegan Meal Plan Week 1

Hello! As I mentioned in a previous post, my husband and mom are going vegan for the month of January. That means a lot of planning and prepping for me. I have decided to share my weekly meal plans, and grocery list here to encourage or inspire others to try out the recipes and meal plans. Please leave me comments if you do.

Grocery List ($186 at my local Sprouts)

Zucchini noodles

Nutritional Yeast

Cashews

Walnuts

Gluten free rolled oats (or oat flour for bean balls)

Carrots ( 1 Bunch)

Parsley

Basil

Sun dried tomato

Garlic (1 Bulb)

Kidney beans (2 cans)

Garbanzo beans (5 cans)

Navy Beans (1 can)

Mushrooms (1 8ox pack)

Veggie Broth (1 Box)

Jalepeno (1)

Diced tomatoes with juices (2 Cans)

Tomato paste

Ground flax

Quality Cold-Pressed Olive oil

Avocado Oil

Sweet onions (2)

Red onions (2)

Marinara sauce ( I got Organic Sprouts brand)

Cilantro (1 bunch)

Limes (3)

Fruit

Nut butter

Rice cakes

Baking Potato or Sweet Potato (5)

Organic Spinach

Organic Romaine

red peppers (4)

cucumbers (2)

Beyond Meat Beefless crumble

Organic Frozen Corn (2 bags)

Tortillas Chips ( I got Late of July)

Salsa

(10) avocados

Hot sauce

Tofu (2 packs)

Dave’s Killer Everything Bagels (2)

Kite Hill Almond Milk Cream Cheese (2)

Nut Milk of choice

Vegan Cheese of choice

Brown Rice

Lentils

Menu:

Tuesday:

Breakfast- Tofu Scramble with toast

Snack 1: Sliced apples with nut butter

Lunch: Salad with choice of toppings and dressings

Snack 2: sliced veggies with homemade hummus

For the hummus: 1 can of rinsed and drained chick peas, add to food processor and add ¼ tsp salt, ¼ cup olive oil, and 3 cloves of garlic. Process until smooth

Dinner: Loaded Chili Baked Potatoes

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Dave’s Killer Bagel with Kite Hill Cream cheese and Kraut

Snack 1: fruit of choice

Lunch: Salad with choice of toppings and dressings

Snack 2: sliced veggies with hummus

Dinner: Slow cooker orange chick peas with brown rice, edamame, rep peppers, and broccoli

Thursday:

Breakfast: Lean Green Protein Smoothie

Snack 1: rice cake with peanut butter and banana

Lunch: salad or choice of leftovers

Snack 2: cherries

Dinner: Taco Salad

Friday:

Breakfast: Dave’s Killer Everything Bagel with Kite Hill Cream Cheese and Kraut

Snack 1: fruit of choice

Lunch: Avocado Toast with sautéed spinach or salad

Snack 2: veggies and hummus

Dinner: Bean Balls with red sauce over zoodles

Saturday:

Breakfast: Smoothie of choice

Snack 1: rice cake with nut butter and banana

Lunch: Taco Salad

Snack 2: fruit of choice

Dinner: Eat out

Recipes:

Tofu Scramble:

For Tofu Scramble heat skillet over medium heat, add crumbled tofu and season with salt ¼ tsp, pepper ¼ tsp, ½ tsp garlic powder, and ¼ tsp turmeric. Add spinach if desired and serve with toasted bagel.

Chili

For the chili, in a large pot add 2 tbs avocado oil and sauté onions until tender (5 min), add 2 diced carrots, 1 diced red pepper, 1 8oz pack of mushrooms dices, 4 diced garlic cloves, and 1 diced jalapeño and sauté for another 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently. Next add ¼ tsp cayenne, ½ tsp salt, 2 tbs chili powder, 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp oregano, and 4 tbs tomato paste. Next, add ¼ cup of lentils and stir to combine. Next, add 1 can of Navy beans and 2 cans of kidney beans that have been drained and rinse. Finally, add 1 ½ cup to 2 cup veggie broth and 1 tbs. balsamic. Let everything cook together over low heat for about an hour. Serve over a baked potato and top with your favorite non-dairy cheese, salsa, and smashed avocado.

Hummus:

Add 1 can rinsed and drained chick peas, ¼ olive oil, and 3 garlic cloves to a food processor and process until smooth.

Salad Toppings:

Chickpeas- Recipe Here

Tofu – Drain one pack of firm tofu. In a bowl combine ¼ cup Tamari and 3 tbs maple syrup. Cut the tofu in cubes and marinade in mixture for 30 minutes. Bake at 430 °F for 20 minutes.

Salad dressing:

Smash one avocado with 2 tbs maple syrup and 1 tbs Dijon. Sprinkle with salt and use half od mixture on top of salad. This is best made fresh

Maple Balsamic Dressing:

Add ¼ cup balsamic, ¼ cup water, and ¼ cup olive oil in a blender. Next add 2 tbs maple syrup, ¼ tsp salt, 3 cloves of garlic and process.

Bean Balls- Recipe here

Kung Pao Chickpeas- Recipe here

Ginger Molasses Cookies (Vegan)

Did you know that black strap molasses is packed with iron? As I have mentioned previously, both my daughter and I have had low iron in the past, in face anemia runs in my family. When the doctor told me Sloan had low iron I started to research iron-rich foods that I could incorporate into our daily meals in order to naturally boost her iron levels. Here you can find my recipe for the green juice I use to help Sloan get her iron.

I also use black strap molasses in baking, oatmeal, and smoothies in order to make sure Sloan is getting plenty of iron. These ginger molasses cookies are a great way to get a dose of iron in her dessert. Also, I like to use coconut sugar when I’m baking because it has a lower glycemic index, so it won’t spike your sugar levels, but you could use a different sugar if you’d like.

Ingredients

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup Oat Flour

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Baking Powder

2 tsp. Ginger

1 tsp. Cinnamon

¼ tsp. Salt

¼ tsp. Cloves

¼ cup Melted Coconut Oil or Vegan Butter

1 cup Coconut Sugar plus a quarter cup to roll the cookies in

4 tbs. Black Strap Molasses

1 tsp. Vanilla

2 Tbs. Nut milk of your choice

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 °F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl combine all of your ingredients. I usually start with wet and then add the dry. I needed this mixture my hand until is formed a solid dough, but you could also used a handheld mixer. Once the dough is combined roll out small balls, and then roll these balls in the coconut sugar. Place them on the baking sheet and press down slightly to make a flatter cookie. Bake for 10 minutes, and allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing them from the baking sheet.

January Challenge

I know, I know it seems cliché the whole “new year, new you” thing and honestly I don’t really believe in that. I do believe in setting intentions for your year, and reflecting on what you’ve learned over the past year. A lot of New Year’s resolutions include ‘becoming fit or healthy”, and while there is absolutely nothing wrong with this, my goal is to focus on happiness. Happiness can include becoming healthier or becoming more fit, but it takes away the emphasis on appearance, and for me that’s important. In 2017 I became a vegan, and this was such an important decision for me. I was already “plant-based” because I believe food can heal your body and you find the most nutrients in your veggies; however, becoming vegan had to do with me accepting the reality of farmed-animals and deciding that I didn’t think it was right. Prior to this I was a vegetarian, and prior to that a meat eater, and I always thought “I can’t give up my steak” or “I can’t give up my cheese”, until I saw the actual price of those things. Once I accepted the reality of cheese, meat, eggs, and all animal bi-products I decided that I wouldn’t participate in that. You vote with your dollar, and so I have been voting vegan. I was also so touched and moved by the reality of farmed animals, that I wanted to do my part through my actions. For me that meant starting this blog, sharing recipes, and having conversations with people about why I’m a vegan, and why I think they should be one too.

I have met resistance, and at times my family and friends have told me “Heather, don’t become one of those annoying vegans”, and I get it because I have also felt that way. Until I was ready to accept how farmed animals are treated, beaten, neglected, torn apart, and brutally murdered against their will, I would have none of it either. But I go on, I keep on showing the videos, and having the discussions, and finally this had paid off.

For the month of January my mom and my husband have agreed to give up all animal bi-product and eat only what I make them. This makes me so happy, but it also means I will be doing a lot more cooking. If I haven’t shared on here, like many of you I am very busy. I work full-time, I have a very active three-year-old, a husband, and I’m in the last year of my Master’s degree. Needless to say this endeavor will take A LOT of time and A LOT of planning. So I have decided to share my weekly meal plan with all of you, take you through the prep with me, and share my grocery list and the cost of feeding four vegans full-time. I will post my first weekly-meal plan on Sunday Dec 31^st, and I hope it inspires some of you to join.

Best Ever Pesto (Vegan)

The Best Ever Pesto (Vegan)

Pasta is always my first go-to when cooking for a big group of people. Recently I had to make some dishes for a holiday potluck, which can be challenging as they usually happen mid-day. This makes it hard to bring in warm dishes, unless you have a place that will keep them warm. After some thinking I decided to make pesto pasta. In my opinion pesto tastes better cold anyway, so I thought it was the perfect solution. On a side note this recipe is vegan because I am a vegan, but my co-workers are not vegan. Everyone always teases me and asks me if all I eat is rabbit food, so for this meal I decided not to advertise that is was vegan. I brought my pesto pasta, a baguette with vegan butter, and a yummy salad with a home-made balsamic dressing and everyone was raving about my food. There is a mind-set that vegan food isn’t yummy, and I assure anyone reading this that vegan food can be even more delicious to non-vegan options. I saw a campaign recently from PETA that said Peace begins on your plate, and I fully believe that.

Crowd Pleasing Pesto Pasta

3 packs of basil (approximately 2 cups)
6 cloves of garlic
3-4 Tbs. Nutritional Yeast
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
½ cup roasted pine nuts
½ cup quality cold pressed olive oil

In a high speed blender place all ingredients except for the olive oil and turn it on. Slowly pour in your olive oil until you have your desired consistency, which may be more or less than ½ a cup. The key is using quality cold pressed olive oil, as this will change the flavor of the pesto. Add over your favorite pasta, and either serve warm or refrigerate until ready to eat.

Serves 10

Knock Off Chipotle Burrito Bowl

Homemade Chipotle Burrito Bowl

Serves 8

On Sunday’s I like to take a couple of hours and prep some lunches and snacks to make the week a little easier. This recipe for a homemade chipotle burrito bowl is made using brown rice and beefless tips. This recipe is easy, healthy, delicious, and vegan. From start to finish this process should take you just under an hour, because the brown rice takes a little bit to cook, which leaves plenty of time for everything else you’d rather be doing on a Sunday.

Ingredients:

3 cups brown rice

3 ½ cups water

2 tbs avocado oil

2 packs Gardein Beefless Tips

2 Red onions

2 Red peppers

½ cup lemon juice

Avocado

Store bought salsa

2 chopped head of Romaine

Combine rice, water, and oil in rice cooker and turn on correct setting. You could also do this on a stovetop. While the rice is cooking dice the onion and peppers. Using a nonstick skillet cook the onion and peppers on medium heat, adding the lemon juice to keep them from sticking. Once the onion and peppers have cooked down a little (approximately 10 minutes) add the beefless tips. Continue to cook until the beefless tips are done (approximately 10 minutes). Scoop 1 cup of brown rice into your Tupperware, and top with the beefless tips, peppers, and onions. Top with salsa, avocado, and chopped romaine. As a side note I usually add the avocado and chopped romaine to this right before I’m about to eat it for freshness.

Lentil Chickpea Burgers

To me nothing says “weekend” like a delicious burger. This recipe was inspired by whatever I had leftover in my fridge at the end of the week and could be adapted to add whatever you may have on hand. You could try with black beans if you don’t have chickpeas, or brown rice if you don’t have lentils…I mean the options are endless. This recipe is really easy to throw together on a relaxing weekend evening. I hope you enjoy.

Lentil Chickpea Burger

1 medium yellow onion

1 shallot

2 cloves garlic

Smoked Paprika

Salt

3 Tbs Whole Wheat Flour

Vegan Worcestershire

Tamari

Combine in food processor

1 cup cooked lentils

1 can (15oz) drained and rinsed chickpeas

Avocado oil (optional)

Toppings:

Chao original sliced tofu cheese

Sliced Tomatoes

Romaine

Red onion

BBQ Sauce

Instructions:

In a food processor add the onion, cut into fours, the garlic cloves, and the shallot and pulse until chopped. Next add the lentils and chickpeas and pulse until combined to your likeness. Next, add the salt, smoked paprika, whole wheat flour, vegan Worcestershire, and tamari to the mixture and stir to combine.

You can cook these on the stove top by adding the avocado oil to a pan and cooking over medium heat until each side is golden brown, about 10 minutes a side. Or you can preheat your oven to 425 °F and place patties on a lined baking sheet cooking for 30 minutes and flipping halfway.

I had mine on a toasted bun topped with a slice of Chao original tofu cheese, tomato, red onion, lettuce and BBQ sauce with a side of homemade sweet potato chips. But my family also enjoys these burgers with potato puffs or fries.

What my Picky Vegan Toddler Eats

Vegan Food for Picky Toddlers

This post is about what I feed my toddler on a typical day. Like many toddlers, she is a very picky eater and makes an audible disgusted sound when I present a salad to her. When I decided to become a vegan I knew I wanted to transition Sloan to a vegan diet as well, but also to let her make this decision for herself. I started to look for foods that were similar to what she ate before, hoping to make the transition as seamless as possible. Honestly, if my toddler eats at all I feel like a winner, and there are days where she is a great eater. But there are also days where I can’t get her to eat a thing. Hopefully this post will help any parent who has transitioned to veganism after they have already had a child.

In an Instagram post I made yesterday I explained that a year ago our pediatrician told us our toddler was iron deficient. Anemia runs in my family, so I was not surprised; however, at this time Sloan was a meat eater as was I. Instead of starting her on supplements I gave her this green juice below. This juice contains spinach and alkaline greens that I purchase from tropeka. I also put orange juice and a banana in it, to up the vitamin C and help her body absorb the iron. I am happy to say that by giving her this juice and trying to increase her lentil intake has corrected her iron deficiency.

Breakfast:

Green Juice and Oatmeal

Sloan usually starts her day with a green juice, and her favorite “oaties”.

1 cup almond milk
½ cup oats ( I use Love Grown Super Oats)
½ cup chopped strawberries
1 spoonful of peanut butter
2 tbs maple syrup

Bring the almond milk to a boil, and add the oats stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Once the oats are cooked, add them to a bowl and top with strawberries peanut butter, and maple syrup.

Green Juice

1 large handful of spinach
1 tsp Tropeka Alkaline Greens
½ a frozen banana
1 cup fresh OJ, or store bought

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until very smooth, I mean that spinach can’t be noticeable or your toddler may throw their cup across the room.

Lunch

Peanut Butter and Jelly toast and an apple

2 slices of Dave’s Killer Sprouted Whole Grain Bread
2 tbs peanut butter
2 tbs jelly (just make sure the brand is vegan)
1 apple

Toast the bread, and while the bread is toasting chop the apple up. Once the bread is toasted spread peanut butter on one side, and jelly on the other and hope that your toddler doesn’t flip the plate because “today they don’t like pb&j”.

Dinner

Chicken Nugs and Corn

3 Gardein Chicken Tenders
½ cup frozen organic corn
1 tbs BBQ Sauce

Follow the instructions on the back of the Gardein bag for the chicken tenders. I cook mine in the oven to give them a crispy outside. Microwave the frozen corn for about a minute. Put both on your child’s favorite plate with some BBQ sauce (make sure it’s vegan).

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are the best vegan chocolate chip cookies…EVER.

The holidays are upon us, and to me holidays like Christmas are synonymous with chocolate chip cookies. I vividly remember spending time in the kitchen with my mom making chocolate chip cookies for the holidays, and I always thought her cookies were the absolute best. I also thought that she had some secret family recipe, although I would later come to find out that the recipe came from the back of Nestle Toll House chocolate chips.

Now that I have a daughter, it is important to me to make those memories with her too. I now realize that helping my mom early on in the kitchen is what fostered my love for cooking and creating recipes. This recipe is for the best vegan chocolate chip cookies. For this recipe I used cashew butter, but you could also use almond butter or peanut butter. The only requirement is that it’s the runny kind of nut butter.

Vegan Cashew Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup Cashew Butter
½ cup Maple Syrup
6 Tbs coconut oil (soft)
1 tsp vanilla extract, or vanilla powder
1 cup Old Fashioned Oats**
½ cup Oat Flour
½ cup King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour**
½ cup Arrowroot Flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 ½ packs Enjoy Life Chocolate Chunks

Preheat your oven to 350 °F, and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Next, combine all of the wet ingredients into a bowl. This includes the cashew butter, maple syrup. Coconut oil, and vanilla extract. Then add your dry ingredients and mix. Finally, add the chocolate chips.

**If you are gluten intolerant make sure that you use gluten free rolled oats. Also, instead of whole wheat flour you would use almond flour.

The Best Vegan Ranch Dressing

I don’t know about you, but when I was younger my mom could only get me to eat a salad if it was topped with ranch dressing. Something about the tangy saltiness of ranch dressing makes almost anything delectable. Usually the ranch dressing you buy at the store, or the packets of dried seasoning you can buy, not only contain artificial ingredients they also contain buttermilk. My version not only doesn’t contain a bunch of icky artificial ingredients, it derives its tangy flavor from apple cider vinegar instead of buttermilk so you can feel good when you dump a huge portion of this on your salad. Hemp seeds are the base of this recipe. I use Manitoba Hemp Hearts, but any brand will do.

Hemp seeds are a great source of healthy fats, vitamin E, potassium, iron, and calcium. Pair them with some water and seasoning, and you have a creamy delicious ranch dressing that any non-vegan will be fooled by.

1 cup of hemp hearts (shelled hemp seeds)
1 cup of filtered water
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp parsley (dried)
1 tsp dill (dried)

Combine all of the above mentioned ingredients into a high speed blender, and blend until completely smooth. You may have to scrape down the sides of your blender a few times, and you may need to adjust the salt (I usually always add more because I love salt). You can store this in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days, just make sure to shake before you use. I also topped my salad with my roasted chickpeas.

Roasted Chickpeas

Chickpeas are

Delicious
Packed with protein
Loaded with fiber
Most importantly Delicious

One cup of chickpeas contains 14.5 grams of protein and 12.5 grams of fiber. Protein is important because it helps your body build and repair tissue, fuels your muscles, and helps to support healthy bones. And fiber, well we all know what fiber will help you do….and that’s doo doo.

When I became a vegan I was searching for ways to incorporate protein into my diet, and I assure you that you can get more than enough protein from legumes, beans, and other plant powered sources. I started making these roasted chickpeas, and adding them to my salads and wraps to get an extra dose of protein, and because they are delicious. Let me know if you like this recipe, and other ways your incorporate chickpeas into your diet.

Ingredients

2 cans (15 oz) chickpeas
2 Tbs avocado oil
1 tsp salt
2 tsp garlic powder
1 ½ tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin

Preheat your oven to 425 °F. While your oven is warming up drain and rinse your chickpeas, and spread them evenly on a kitchen towel to dry. While your chickpeas are drying line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat. Spread the chickpeas evenly on your baking sheet and drizzle on the avocado oil. Next sprinkle the spices onto the chickpeas coating them evenly. You could also do this in a bowl, but I prefer washing as few dishes as possible. Roast your chickpeas for 25 minutes if you like them slightly softer, or 35-40 minutes if you like them crunchy. Let the chickpeas cool completely before storing in an air tight container for use during the week.