Hi there,
Can I just start by stating, welcome back to you (and to me). My goodness, it has been two months since my last entry and I really wanted this post out sooner, but hey better late than never right?
I am so excited to share this post, mainly because since becoming Vegan, my whole life seems to revolve around my kitchen. It has been almost six months since meat or dairy has freely entered my household, and boy our meals have never been the same. If you are curious .... no I do not miss my old diet at all. Eating a plant based diet has really changed my life and my taste buds are in fact happier than before. Although I do have to front up and say, it is hard work to be creative with dinners, not only do I have to keep myself motivated to eat, I have three hungry boys to keep full and satisfied.
However this post is to prove that, with a bit of research and planning, eating a purely plant based diet is not only nutritious it is damn right delicious and filling.
Hey I do thank you for dropping by and I really hope you enjoy this post, especially if you have ever wanted to know what Vegan's eat ;)
So let's get to the fun part, the FOOD. Below I have put together just some of the food I prepare for the family. It is all basic cooking that focuses on nutrition, taste and is budget friendly. As you know I run a busy little household, so time is of the essence, meaning that all meals for us must not take more than an hour to make.
Please be aware though that I love my carbs here and this isn't a dictation on what you should eat, rather just a inside look at what "WE" eat, based on a Vegan diet (no meat or dairy).
You may notice that cheese is in my meals, this is of course Vegan cheese and my favourite to use is : Angel Food - Cheesy sauce mix. This mix can be found in your local Pack n Save or from the link below:
http://www.angelfood.co.nz/
I also use homemade Vegan Parmesan Cheese.
Recipe here:
http://minimalistbaker.com/how-to-make-vegan-parmesan-cheese/
Dinner for me is whatever I feel like cooking, wait, correction it is largely dependent on what craziness is happening that day, which in my current situation with two young kids is everyday. All meals below feed our household of four hungry people.
Monday : Vegan Pizza
Preheat your oven to 220c. Now simply pick your favourite vegetables or whatever you have fresh in your fridge. On this day I had capsicums, beetroots, and sun dried tomatoes. I simply sliced up my veges and sautéed them in a pan with oil and added 2 teaspoons each of dried basil, oregano ,garlic powder and a couple of pinches of salt. Lazily I bought four wholemeal pizza bases ha-ha and spread some pizza sauce on the base before arranging my sautéed veges on top. I then generously sprinkled the vegan parmesan cheese on top with some fresh basil leaves and baked each pizza for 15 minutes till it was brown and veges were tender.
Now enjoy these as is or be a bit naughty and add to the side some wedges.
Tuesday: Vegan Burritos
These bad boys are so filling and easy to make, it is a crime to call this cooking. Cook one big pot of brown rice and use half for this recipe and save the other half for the next day for yummy fried rice. Pick whatever veges you like for your burritos but remember you still want it to taste like a burrito lol. I usually go for red onion, avocado, tomato and for a difference a leafy green , my favourite is baby kale. For the mince I use one can each of red kidney beans, black kidney beans and brown lentils. I fry the beans and then add a jar of salsa and 1 packet of taco mix. Once you have sliced all your veges, arrange them in a line on a large tortilla and wrap that bad boy up! Done and dusted!
Wednesday: Noodle Stir fry with Fried Rice
I currently cook with my phone in hand these days as I use the internet to get recipes for almost all my dishes. I usually find one I like, try it, then adapt to what I have in the kitchen or to my taste. These are some yummy ones I found on the internet. When you try these two dishes, I swear you can see how people make a tone of money selling Chinese food, as it costs next to nothing to make, robbery I tell you lol.
For the Stir-fry : simpleveganblog.com/vegan-stir-fried-udon-noodles/
For the Fried rice : http://simpleveganblog.com/vegan-fried-rice/
****I do adapt the fried rice recipe by first adding a tablespoon of sesame oil in the pan and fry my veges in it with diced red onion before adding rice
Thursday: Lentil Curry
Curry, curry and more curry. I love it so, to be honest we probably have curry more than once a week. The recipes are endless especially being that there are 500 million vegetarians in India. India being the birthplace of curry we are spoilt for choice. This particular curry dish I have to be honest I forgot the recipe ha-ha , but you can find so many online here is one that I have tried and is similar to the one I have made below.
http://simpleveganblog.com/vegan-lentil-curry/
Friday: Broccoli Mac and Cheese with Green Salad
Angel foods cheese mix has literally made my year ha-ha. Our family would consumer two blocks of 1kg cheese every two weeks, so going cold turkey with cheese has been a challenge, that is, until I discovered Angel Foods cheese mix. WHAT A LIFE SAVER!
Any who, below is a simple fast dish I make usually on a Friday if we don't have takeout, because it is ridiculously easy and fast. Simply boil a packet of macaroni pasta and add three cups of the Angel foods cheese mix and throw in diced raw broccoli, make a side green leafy salad on the side and BOB'S your uncle.
Saturday: Nuggets with Kale Salad and Broccoli
This is hardly cooking at all, but it's perfect for a Sat night when you have been out all day and you just want to come home feed the family and sleep ha-ha ! We usually have apple pie and dairy free ice cream after this meal...otherwise I will get a telling off from the boys for having too much vege here.
So another company I am gushing over is FRYS FAMILY. They do a whole range of Vegan friendly frozen goods my favourite is the chicken nuggets with no chicken of course shown below. It is a bit on the expensive side but so worth it.
http://www.frysvegetarian.co.nz/
Sunday : Mac n Cheese - Smoked Cauliflower - Roasted Kumara and Beetroot Salad
On Sundays, if I have the time I like to have a big lunch and just a very light dinner. So this dish below is what we had for lunch. It was so delicious that I am thinking about adding this to the Christmas menu.
Roasted Kumara and Beetroot Salad : I like to use golden kumara because it cooks fast and the texture is soft. 4 medium Kumara , 3 large Beets and 2 onions is needed, chopped up and baked for 45 to 55 minutes in the oven at 225c. Once they have roasted leave to cool and then chuck in a bowl and mix in some vegan aioli with fresh parsley.
Mac and Cheese : See Friday recipe but use fresh parsley instead of broccoli.
Smoked Cauliflower : This gem was found on the internet and it is currently our family favourite.
http://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/2011/12/smoky-roasted-cauliflower/
Here we are at the end of another long blog, I really do thank you for taking your time to click on my page :)
So from my brown table to yours, eat well, give thanks and put love into the food you make for yourself and family, that is truly the secret ingredient to making food yum.
Till next time take care
Cat xx
