Vegan Mushroom Gravy

Vegan Gravy

You will need:
2 TBSON of extra virgin olive oil
1 cup of diced sweet onion
6 Medium garlic cloves sliced
2 cups of low sodium vegetable broth
2 cups of sliced mushroom ( we mixed Cremini with shiitake)
1/4 cup of rice flour
1/4 cup of low sodium Tamari or soy sauce
2 TBSPN of nutritional yeast
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 TBSPN white wine vinegar

1. Throw everything into a blender and liquefy.
2. Pour into a pot.
3. Cook over low-medium heat until it thickens.
4. If you find its too thick add more broth and stir.

This goes great with the Shepard's pie. I would put this on anything it's so good.
Enjoy :-)

Vegan Sheppards Pie

Shepard's pie

For the potatoes you will need:
2 1/2 Pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes Peeled and chopped
2 large cloves of Garlic minced
1 TSPN garlic powder
Salt to taste
1/4 cup vegan butter
1/4 cup of plain almond milk

For the filling you will need:
2 TBSPN extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 large sweet onion diced
6 medium cloves of garlic minced
16 ounces of cremini mushrooms thinly sliced
1 450g bag of organic frozen vegetables ( peas, corn, carrot and bean)
2 TBSPN of potato starch
3/4 cup of low sodium vegetable broth
1/4. Cup dry red wine
Salt to taste
2 1/2 TSPN.  Chopped fresh Rosemary

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
2. Put cut potatoes into a pot for steaming. Cook on high until tender. Roughly 15 minutes.
3. While potatoes are cooking make filling. In an extra large sauce pan heat oil, onion  and garlic over low heat. Stir for 3 minutes. Add mushrooms, stir, and increase heat to medium until most of the liquid released by the mushroom is cooked off. 10-13 minutes.
4. Add the bag of frozen vegetables and Saute' for a few minutes then add starch and stir.
5. add broth and wine and stir. Simmer over medium heat until it thickens. Add salt and Rosemary and saute' for 2 minutes.
6. Spoon the filling into a casserole dish and spread evenly.
7. Mash the potatoes with the almond milk, vegan butter, minced garlic and garlic powder. Spoon the mashed potatoes over the vegetables evenly.
8. Bake for 25 minutes.
   
   Notes: You could use Mashed Cauliflower instead of potato if you want lower carb intake.
   Note: You could ground Turkey or beef in addition to the and make it the bottom layer :) 
   Note: Gravy is a great addition to this. See Vegan Gravy in Next post.
   
   Recipe pulled from "oh She Glows" cook book

Vegan Cheese Sauce

You will need:
1/4 Cup raw Cashews
1 1/4 Cup peeled/diced potatoes
1/2 Cup of carrots peeled and diced
2-3 TBSPN of Nutritional yeast
2 TBSPN Oil of choice-We used Grapeseed
1 1/2 tSP Fresh Lemon Juice
1/2 TSP Salt
1 Garlic Clove
1 TSP White Wine vinegar
1- Soak cashews in a bowl of water over night or at least one hour and drain.
2-Steam carrots and potatoes until tender.
3-transfer the cashews, potatoes and carrots to a blender. Add nutritional yeast, oil, lemon juice, salt, garlic and vinegar and blend until smooth. Add water if it's too thick.

This is great for nachos, Mac n Cheese or for dipping.
Note- You could swap the oil and salt for truffle oil and truffle salt if you want to have truffle Mac and cheese :-)

Brown Jasmine coconut rice

you will need:
2 cups of Brown Jasmine rice (or any brown rice)
2 cans of lite coconut milk
2 TBSPN of vanilla
1/2 cup of un-sweetened coconut
This makes a large batch.

In a pan toast 1/2 cup of unsweetened coconut. (roughly 3 minutes)

In a large pot put- cup 2 cups of brown Jasmine rice with 4 cups of lite coconut milk. 2 cans is almost 4 cups and top with water. Add 2 TBSPN of vanilla and toasted coconut.
Bring to a boil the turn to low, cover and cook for 30 minutes. 
This goes great with stir-fry vegetables and a peanut sauce or a  curry sauce.
Great for meal prep

Simple stir fry

When You don't have a ton of free time this is a quick and easy go-to.
You can do this with Rice or quinoa the difference is roughly 15 minutes longer for the rice.

You will need:
one box of onion soup mix (low sodium is great)
1 yellow onion
1 small bag of sugar peas
1 small bag of green beans
1 small bag of broccoli
1 small bag of sliced carrots
1 large package of sliced mushroom ( cut into bite size pieces)
1 zucchini sliced and cut into quarters.
NOTE-you can get all of these vegetables pre-cut at safeway. I try to use organic.

Start by chopping half a yellow onion in to very small pieces. Place in pot with Rice or quinoa and cook accordingly. If you're unsure see directions below.

once the rice/quinoa is started throw all other vegetables and other half of the onion in a wok or pan with 3 tbsp of olive oil. Stir the vegetables and add spices of choice. We use Garlic plus, onion powder and organic seasoning from Costco. we use a generous amount. Cook on medium string frequently. it takes about 20-30 minutes to cook depending on how you like your vegetables cooked. We like ours crunchy so closer to 20 for us. closer to 30 if you like them soft.

Quinoa-2 cup of quinoa, 4 cups of water half a yellow onion and 1 pkg of onion soup mix. Bring to a boil and turn down to low and cook for 15 minutes. This is a large batch so you could cut it in half but make sure you only use half the onion soup mix. 

Rice- 2 cups of rice, 3 cups pf water, half a yellow onion and 1 pkg of onion soup mix. Bring to a boil then turn to low and cook for 30 minutes.

Optional sauce- soak 1 cup of cashews in 1.5 cups of water and blend with 1 pkg of onion soup mix. Ryan found the sauce too salty but I loved it so you could try half a pkg and taste test it before you add any more.

This is great for meal prep or for hosting dinner for a big group.

Eggplant vegan lasagna

you will need:
2 zucchini diced
2 small pkgs of button mushrooms  diced
2 peppers (we uses red) diced
1 yellow onion diced
2 eggplant
1 small pkg organic spinach
2 TBSP of olive oil
1 pkg of Day Smoked Gouda grated

1 jar of organic marinara
vegan caesar Dressing:
1/2 cup of raw cashews
1/4 cup of water
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoon of dijon mustard (we used honey dijon)
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoon of worcestershire sauce
2 1/2  tablespoons of capers
salt and pepper

1-soak cashews in 1/4 cup of water for 2 hours prior to starting prep
Pre-heat oven to 350
2-slice eggplant into 1/4 inch slices and bake for 15-20 minutes ( if you cut them larger bake closer to 20)
3-in a wok with 2 TBSP of olive oil cook vegetables ( onion, pepper, mushroom and zucchini) roughly 10 minutes. OPTIONAL->( we seasoned ours with onion powder and garlic powder )
4-Make caesar dressing by putting all dressing ingredients into a ninja or blender and mixing.
for our sauce we mixed 1 cup of caesar dressing with 2 cups of marinara sauce.
5- now theres 2 ways too assemble this. 1 large lasagna dish or individual dishes (see below)
start with a layer of the sauce. Then a layer of spinach. A layer of vegetables.  A layer eggplant. Then some cheese and repeat.
6- bake @ 350 for 20 minutes.

Note-if you wanted to add ground turkey, sausage or beef I would make it first and add its after the sauce so it mixes.
We made the vegan caesar salad to go with this and used the extra dressing for that :-)

This makes 10 servings.  You could also half everything and make a smaller batch.
 

Pad Thai Stir-fry

You will need-
Vegetables:
1 head of Broccoli
1 head of Cauliflower
1 cup of Snap Peas
1/2 Red onion
2 cups of Mushroom
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper

2 TBSP olive oil

Sauce:
1 cup of all natural peanut butter
2 teaspoons of ginger (grated)
1/4 cup of low sodium soy sauce
4 TBSPN organic Honey
4 TBSPN of red whine vinegar
3 TBSPN olive oil

In a small bowl mix all the sauce ingredients and set aside.

In a wok put oil and all vegetables cook on Medium stirring frequently for7-12 minutes. If you like your vegetables with a lot of crunch stay closer to the 7 minute mark.
once cooked move to a bowl avoiding the transfer of juices in the bottom of wok. Add sauce and stir.

We used black bean spaghetti for the base because its loaded with Protein. This would also be great with coconut rice.

Optional toppings: pineapple and/or cashews We did both.
Note-Chicken would be a great addition to this.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with maple coconut

You will Need:

for the Sprouts:
2 pounds of Sprouts
1 TBSP Blood orange olive oil
2 TBSP of Maple balsamic vinegar
2 cloves of minced Garlic
Sea salt and pepper
1/8 TSP of cayenne pepper
1/8 TSP granulated garlic

For the Coconut:
1/2 cup of unsweetened large flaked coconut (we got ours at costco) I would cut into smaller pieces because they're pretty big.
1 TBSP blood orange oil
2 TBSP Maple balsamic vinegar
1/8 TSP sea salt
1/8 TSP paprika

Preheat the oven to 400 and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
 In a large bowl add all the brussel sprout ingredients and toss. Spread over parchment paper in a single layer. Roast for 15 minutes turn and roast for an additional 15v minutes.

While the Sprouts are cooking in a pan place coconut with all the other ingredients. cook on med heat for 5-10 minutes. Keep separate from Sprouts until serving.

Vegan Caesar salad with Garlic toasted Chickpeas

you will need:
Dressing:
1/2 cup of raw cashews
1/4 cup of water
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoon of dijon mustard (we used honey dijon)
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoon of worcestershire sauce
2 1/2  tablespoons of capers
salt and pepper

Garlic chickpeas:
1 (14 ounce) can of chickpeas drained and rinsed and towel dried
1 teaspoon of extra vergin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

topping sliced almonds (roasted is amazing)

1 make dressing by placing cashews  in a bowl with the water and let it soak for 2 hours. drain and rinse. Transfer to blender or bullet on high speed with remaining dressing ingredients except salt. mix until smooth. (add additional water if it too thick) Set aside.

Make the garlic roasted chick peas-
pre-heat oven to 400. in a bowl toss the chickpeas with oil then add garlic powder, salt and cayenne and toss more. spread chickpeas on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. 
Bake for 15 minutes and stir and then bake for an additional 20 minutes.

We used an organic spring mix for the salad tossed it in a large bowl with the dressing and topped it with the garlic toasted chick peas and almonds and our vegan parma (see picture below)

For non-vegans you could add any meat to this and it would be amazing.
We made this 2 days in a row it was so good.

Mushroom and tomato spaghetti sauce

You will need:
1 large can of diced Italian seasoned tomatoes
1 large can of diced garlic tomatoes
1 large can of sliced black olives
2 green peppers diced
1 yellow onion diced
3 cups of mushroom diced ( we used a mix of cremin, shitaki and brown)
2 cans of water chestnuts
2 jars of organic tomato and basil sauce

dice all vegetables and throw them in the crock pot with all the canned vegetables. add sauce and stir and cook for 4 hours and let simmer for 1.
 I like to do these over night the day before of first thing in the morning so it can sit all day to let the flavours blend.

We put this on black bean spaghetti noodles. Low in calories and high in protein.

sweet potato and chickpea coconut curry

You will need:
4 medium sweet potato
1 can (398ml) of chickpeas drained and rinced
1 can(400ml) of lite coconut milk
1 cup of organic vegetable broth
1 medium onion
3 garlic cloves
4 teaspoon fresh minced ginger
1 teaspoon of turmeric
1 tablespoon of ground cumin
1/4 cup of  olive oil
cashews for topping

Optional-
2 cups of brown Basmati rice
3 cups of organic vegetable broth
cook in pot by bringing broth and rice to a boil the turn to low and cover for 30 minutes.


Step one- in a large sauce pan heat oil, onion, garlic and ginger for 2 minutes. Add all other spices and cook an additional 2 minutes.  Add yam, chickpeas, coconut milk and 1 cup of vegetable broth. Turn heat to medium cover and cook for 20-30 minutes and stir occasionally. 
it's done when you can poke a fork in the potato easily.

Beet and Quinoa salad

You will need:
2 cups of raw Quinoa
4 beets-We use "love Beets" from costco. already cooked and peeled. otherwise you're gonna have to boil and peel them yourself.
4 cups of organic vegetable broth
1 can of Lima beans
1 can of organic clementines
1 cup of shaved almonds
1 bag of julianed carrots
1 cup of Balsamic
1/4 cup of organic maple syrup
1/2 cup of green onion
Sea Salt for topping-optional

Start by cooking Quinoa-Put vegetable broth and quinoa in a put and bring to a boil then reduce to low and cook for 15 minutes. place in a big bowl. While the quinoa is cooking in a sauce pan heat the balsamic and maple syrup until it reduces and gets thick.
Cube beets and add them to the bowl with carrots, green onion, lima beans, Mandarin and almonds. top with balsamic reduction and mix. This is a huge batch. Great for meal prep or a party.
Calories per cup-223
Protein-6
Fat-2
Carbs-40

Tip-this would be great with goat cheese or feta. We added a Vegan Parmesan and it was amazing.

coconut-lime rice with Mango and red beans.

You will need:
2 cups of Brown Basamati rice raw
2 Teaspoons of oil (we used Olive)
1/2  of a yellow onion chopped
1 1/2 TBSPN of minced ginger
1 can of Lite coconut milk
2 1/2 cups of organic vegetable broth
pinch of salt
sprinkle of Cayenne pepper ( be generous if you like if with some heat)
1 Mango chopped
1 can of red kidney beans cooked
Juice from one lime
Cilantro and green onion to top

In a large pot heat oil on medium. Add yellow onion, ginger, cayenne and salt. Once onions are reducing (roughly 2 min) add rice and stir for 3 minutes. Then add coconut milk and broth. Stir and turn to low and cook for 40 minutes. (do not touch the lid until the 40 minutes is up)

While the rice is cooking, Cook Beans, Chop mango (small Cubes), cilantro and green onion.

When the rice is cooked fold in Mango, Cilantro and green onion.

Serving = 1 cup
192-Calories
1g -Fat
9g-Protein
39g- Carbs

This is great for meal- prep and would compliment chicken or fish

 

Dragon Bowl

You will need:
4-6 cups of mixed vegetables We used-Broccoli, Cauliflower, Peppers, red onion, shredded carrots, Cabbage and Bok joy
1-2 TBSPN olive oil
4 cups of cooked Basimatti brown rice
cashews for topping (optional)

Sauce
1/2 cup canned lite coconut Milk
1/2 cup natural Peanut butter
TBSPN minced ginger
TBSPN maple syrup
1.5 TBSPN olive oil or sesame oil
1.5 TBSPN soy sauce
1.5 TSP Sriracha  (optional)

-Pre-heat over to 425
-Make rice so it cooks while you prep and cook vegetables. Ours called for 1 cup of rice to 1.5 cups of water. We made 2 cups and coconut water for half of what it called for water (1.5 coconut water/1.5 cup water)
-CHop all vegetables and throw them in a bowl. Toss them around in olive oil and spread them out evenly on a cookie sheet. NOTE-Costco sells most of the vegetables in bag already cut into pieces to save yourself time.
-bake for 40 minutes and stir half way.
-mix all the sauce ingredients while vegetables and rice are cooking. 
We used this for meal prep and keep the sauce, vegetables and rice separate so you can choose your own desired amounts of each.

Serving
3/4 cup of rice = 321 calories, 9g of Fat, 10 g of Protein and 52 Carbs
 

Apple lime Spinach Salad

A great side dish for a BBQ or even meal prep.

You will need:
Organic Spinach-We used a large container for roughly 8 people
Avocado-1 Diced
Granny Smith Apple-1 diced
Red Pepper-1 diced
Orange Grape Tomato-20 halved
Walnuts-1/2 cup chopped
Light Goat cheese-50 grams crumbled ( you could also use Feta)
Chives-1/8 cup

In a large bowl layer all the vegetables and cheese


For Dressing I was thinking of something with lime and found Kraft Lime Italian Dressing.
its only 30 cal for a TBSPN.

One serving
88 calories-with dressing add 60 calories = 148
5g Protein
4g Fat
9g Carbs

Mexican Bowl

You will Need: 
Cooked Quinoa
Chicken
Guacamole
Slasa
optional-BBQ Corn/Black beans/Cheese)

Cook Quinoa by Heating it to a boil then turning it to low and covering it for 15 minutes. We BBq our chicken because its fas, easy and tasty. We cover it in the Kegs chicken and rib spice for 20 minutes (10 minutes a side). We use tableside guacamole from Costco and mango salsa (also from Costco).

NOTE- on the weekends if we are entertaining or if we were out golfing and in need of something more I will add the bbq Corn, Black Beans and Daiya Cheddar cheese. I love these additions but not for weekly meal prep.

Calories per serving-267
Protein-36
fat-17
Carbs-21

I use 4 Ounces of chicken, 2 tablespoons of guacamole and 4 table spoons of salsa and 1/3 cup of quinoa. Ryan would have 6 ounces of chicken and 1/2 cup of quinoa bringing his meal to 356 calories. 52 grams of Protein. 23 Grams of Fat and 27 Carbs.

Breakfast Bowl

You will Need:
Cooked Quinoa
Eggs
Mango Salsa ( or any kind you like)
Avocado (or Guac)

In a bowl Put 1/3 cup of quinoa, $ TBLSPN of salsa, 2 TBSPN of guacamole and eggs.
Super easy and great meal prep for the week. You could add more quinoa. (Ryan has 1/2 a cup) 
For me 1/3 a cup is more than enough to feel satisfied.

one serving-
calories-256
Protein-16
Fat-15
Carbs-16

Pad Thai Quinoa Cashew salad

You will need:
3 cups of cooked Quinoa
2 cups of Shredded red cabbage
1 red bell pepper
1/2 a small red onion
1 cup of grated carrots
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
1/4 cup diced green onion
1/2 cup of roasted cashews

Dressing
1 cup of all natural peanut butter
2 teaspoons of ginger (grated)
1/4 cup of low sodium soy sauce
4 TBSPN organic Honey
4 TBSPN of red whine vinegar
3 TBSPN olive oil

In a large bowl mix Quinoa, cabbage, red pepper, red onion, carrots, green onion and mix.
In a small bowl mix all the wet ingredients.
Add the wet ingredients to the large bowl of quinoa and vegetables and mix until blended. Top with cashews.

 We made this in a large amount for a BBQ we were having. You could half or 1/3 all the ingredients BUT honestly this would be great for weekly meal prep with chicken or whatever protein you like. When I took my first taste I honestly wanted to eat the whole thing to myself. This is by far my new favourite side dish.
I hope you enjoy it :-)

2/3 cup serving =
260 calories
13.5g of Fat
27 Carbs
8 g of Protein

Apple Bruschetta

You will need:

2 1/2 cups of diced Roma tomatoes ( 4-5 tomatoes)
1/2 red onion Chopped
1 Fuji Apple Chopped
2 TBSN fresh Basil
2 TBSN Balsamic Vinegar
2 TBSN olive oil (I have used truffle oil(
Garnish with Goat Cheese (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
It's great on any type of bread but I have also used it as a topper on my chicken burgers.

1/2 cup serving
Calories-77
Protein- 1
Carbs-11g
Fat-3g

Tuna Avocado Salad

you will need:

1-Avocado
1-Cucumbers
1/4 cup-Cilantro
1/2 Red onion
TBSP-Lemon juice
pinch Salt and Pepper
1 can-Tuna
Peel, Slice and quarter cucumber. Cut Avocado into bite size pieces ( i like it pretty small). Chop Cilantro. Chop red Onion (again I like it very small). Open Tuna.
Throw every thing into a medium mixing bowl. add salt and lemon Juice and stir.

Calories in 1 cup of salad- 116
Protein-8g
Carbs-6g
Fat-5