Vegan Crispy Oven Baked Tofu Ⓥ

INGREDIENTS:
  • 2-16 oz blocks of extra-firm tofu
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
METHOD:
  1. Drain & press tofu. You can just wrap the block of tofu in kitchen towels & lay it between pans with weights on top a cutting board on top to hold it down & press it well. Let the tofu press for 15-30 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 425°F in the meantime.
  2. Remove the weights & towels.  Dry & tear the tofu into bite size cubes with your hands. 
  3. Add the tofu cubes to a large mixing bowl & add the olive oil, tossing until evenly coated.  Add the cornstarch, nutritional yeast, salt, garlic powder, onion powder & pepper to the bowl & toss until evenly coated.
  4. Lay the coated tofu cubes on a silicone baking mat or a parchment-covered baking sheet.
  5. Bake for 15 minutes, flip them over to the other side & bake for another 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven & serve with your favorite sauce.

Vegan Chick’n Parmesan Ⓥ

Ingredients:

  • 2 & 2/3 cup of garbanzo fava flour
  • 1 cup of water + a dash of veggie broth
  • 2 tsp cornstarch
  • The following are optional, but this was what I used: make it your own flavor if you want by adding more or less of any:
  • 1 tsp vegan chickenless seasoning
  • 1 tsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic salt
  • 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1/2 tsp parsley
  • pinch of cumin, paprika, salt & pepper
  • Vegan Panko or bread crumbs (I used about a cup of plain ones & added seasonings):
  • 1/2 tsp garlic salt
  • 1/2 tsp parsley
  • Pinch paprika, salt and pepper
  • vegetable oil for frying
  • 1 cup marinara sauce of choice
  • 1/2 cup vegan Mozzerella shred’s

Method:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl EXCEPT for the breadcrumbs, 1/2 tsp garlic salt, 1/2 tsp parsley, pinch of paprika, salt & pepper!

2. Add the water & broth. Mix until it forms a dough. I let it sit in the fridge for about 10 minutes then separate into 4 even balls of dough. 

3. Use a flat pan with edges, mix the Panko and spices and add a ball to the pan. Press the patty down to get some crumbs on both sides and flatten it into a patty shape. Flip it over a couple of times to coat it well. 

4. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Pan fry your bread crumb coated patties for a couple of minutes per side in the heated vegetable oil. Keep your eye on them! I also like to crisp them up in the air frier for a few minutes.

5. Add tomato sauce to the top of the patties & sprinkle vegan Mozzerella cheese on top. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Crockpot Vegan Chili Ⓥ

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 package of frozen, cooked vegan ground beef, I used 13.7 oz Gardein Plant Based Ground B’ef https://www.gardein.com/beefless-and-porkless/gluten-free/ground-bef
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/2 white onion, diced
  • 3 stalks of celery, diced
  • 15.25 oz can corn
  • 15 oz can beans of choice, I used a trio
  • 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
  • 1 packet of store bought chili seasoning or make your own:
  • 2 tbsp chili powder
  • 1 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tbsp all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp ground coriander
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • METHOD:
  • Add all of the ingredients to a slow cooker, set it on low for 4-6 hours, stir well & forget it until you are ready to eat! If you are around you can stir while cooking but it isn’t necessary.
  • Serve with rice & your favorite sides. My favorites include: vegan shredded cheese, vegan sour cream, diced green onion & chopped pickles!

Vegan General Tso’s Tofu Ⓥ

Ingredients:

For the Baked Crispy Tofu:

  • 16 oz extra firm tofu
  • 3 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil

For the General Tso’s Sauce:

  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tsp minced ginger
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 tbsp brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp teriyaki sauce
  • 3 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 2 tsp chili garlic sauce
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 tbsp Cold water
  • Optional garnishes: sesame seeds & green onion, diced

Method:

Prepare the baked Crispy Tofu:

  • Drain press and dry the tofu then cut it into cubes. 
  • Preheat the oven to 350F.
  • Once the tofu cubes are dried and cut, add them to a mixing bowl. Add the cornstarch & sesame oil. Toss well to coat the tofu cubes evenly.
  • Spread them out on a lined or lightly greased baking sheet.
  • Bake the tofu at 350F 30 minutes. I like to flip them over half way. Remove pan from the oven.

Prepare General Tso’s Tofu Sauce:

  • While the tofu is baking in the oven, prepare the General Tso’s sauce.
  • In a bowl, combine the rice vinegar, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar & chili garlic sauce & set it aside.
  • In a pan over low-medium heat, add the sesame oil, minced ginger & garlic. Sauté & stir until fragrant.
  • In a separate small bowl, add the cornstarch and 2 tbsp of cold water and mix well to make your cornstarch slurry then set it aside.
  • Add the sauce mixture to the pan & turn the heat to low. Add the slurry of cornstarch mixed with cold water & continue to stir as it begins to bubble & thickens up. Remove from the heat.
  • Add the oven baked crispy baked tofu to the sauce in the pan & stir well to combine.
  • To serve, garnish with sesame seeds, scallions and sides of choice. I used rice, crispy spinach & Trader Joe’s Kung Pao Cauliflower.

Is it a personal choice to eat meat, eggs, dairy, seafood or whoever else you want?

Personal choices have been used for a very long time to justify eating animals. There is just one problem with this…personal choices DO NOT have victims. A personal choice is coffee or tea, jeans or sweatpants, flip flops or sneakers, eating out or dining in.

We now know that eating animals is not essential for our health or wellbeing. Actually, quite the contrary is true. 80% of preventable human diseases come from eating animals and eating plants reverses many of them. As you will see if you keep reading, eating animals is incredibly cruel. We have also just been given the latest IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report you can read it here: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-cycle/ We know that eating animals is quite literally putting ALL LIFE ON EARTH in the danger zone right now. It is the largest emitter of pollution and humanity has literally been given a LAST CALL warning to make changes. The world’s leading scientists agree that: WE NEED A GLOBAL DIETARTY SHIFT TO A PLANT BASED FOOD SYSTEM NOW. I wonder why no one calls them pushy vegans?! 😉

Let’s explore the lies of personal choice and what that means to the animals when you choose to eat them:

What about the choice of the bull to not be electro ejaculated (it is worse than it sounds) to have his sperm stolen?

What about the choice of the mother cow to not be repeatedly forcibly impregnated, have her babies stolen at birth, kept in a crate being fed a supplement while they cry for one another for days and then mom is quite literally milked to death after 4 or 5 cycles of this?

What about the choice of the cow to not be skinned alive for someone’s jacket or shoes?

What about the cow’s choice to not be branded or have their horns disbudded (burned off)?

What about the baby male chick’s choice to not be ground up alive on his first day of life because people want to eat his mother’s ovulations (eggs) & use them for fluffier baked goods?

What about the hen’s choice to not have her beak seared off with a hot blade and no anesthesia or pain medication?

What about the hens right to be able to raise her arms or not live in a crate with 3 of her sisters going insane pecking one another, or having been genetically modified to lay hundreds of eggs per year (a very taxing event on her body-think of a human woman giving birth every single day) when in reality, they only lay a dozen a year?

What about broiler chickens’ choice to not be kept in a shed full thousands of other hostile prisoners. Forced to keep the lights on to grow faster all day and night, a toll so taxing on their bodies, they often can’t even bear their own weight and collapse only to be burned by the ammonia in the urine and feces covering every surface of their space?

What about the pigs right to not be sexually exploited by humans to become pregnant and be forced into gestation crates where they cannot even turn around or care for their own struggling piglets and often crush them to death with their own weight by accident?

What about the baby piglet’s choice to not have their teeth & tails cut without anesthesia or to have their testicles removed without pain medications right in front of their mothers who fight from their prison cells to stop it?

What about the pig’s choice to not be forced into a gas chamber to become a sandwich someone will eat and soon forget?

What about the fish’s choice to not be crushed to death or suffocated while huge nets plunder the bottom of the ocean dragging and killing them and many other sea animals with it?

What about the fish’s choice to not have hook in their face?

What about the deer’s choice to not have bullet between their eyes?

If you still think that eating someone else’s body and subjecting them to an entire life of imprisonment, torture, abuse, exploitation, slavery, painful mutilations, family separation, disgusting living quarters with no freedom to exhibit their natural behaviors, and then ultimately suffer a violent and brutal death for your taste pleasure, convenience, habit or tradition, you are forgetting someone…

All animals (including humans) are sentient. That means they can feel fear and pain. They have a central nervous system, a brain, pain receptors, individual likes and dislikes and personalities. Like us, they just want to be loved, be free to live with their families, have rights over their own bodily autonomy & not have violence inflicted on them for someone else’s pleasure or gain. If you want to know if any of these standard practices are humane, (yes, they do all of this on: local, free range, organic, cage free, humane, family run, grass-fed farms too), put yourself in the place of the victim, and ask if you want to have that done to you even though it was not necessary. If the answer is no, it is NOT humane.

The truth is that most people know these things are bad, they would not approve of them if they saw the truth on the packaging, many of them would never do any of these things themselves but they don’t realize that they are still paying someone to do it on their behalf. The only reason slaughterhouses are still in business is because of supply and demand. Their best customer is one who avoids the truth & lucky for them, most people will spend their whole lives choosing to do that and believe something humane is happening and it is their personal choice to do so.

The bottom line is a simple question can help answer it all. Which has more value? The taste pleasure of one, or the life of another? If you said that life is more valuable than pleasure, you understand veganism. Make the connection, choose to be vegan for them.

-written by Lauryn G 3/20/22 veganyogamomma.com

Vegan Spinach & Artichoke Alfredo Ⓥ

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound pasta of choice, I used Eat Banza
  • 1 14.5-ounce can artichoke hearts, chopped roughly
  • 2 big handfuls of spinach

For the Sauce:

  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup cashews, soak in hot water for 30 minutes
  • 3/4 cup plant milk
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp white miso paste
  • 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper

Method:

  • Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to a large pot on low-medium heat.
  • Sauté onions for about 8-10 minutes, until tender & translucent. Add the garlic & cook for about 30 seconds, until fragrant.
  • Remove the onion & garlic from the heat & and it to a high-speed blender with remaining sauce ingredients. Blend until smooth.
  • Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water & drain the rest.
  • In the same pot from the sauce, heat the remaining tbsp olive oil & chopped artichokes, sautéing for 5 minutes.
  • Add the blended sauce back to the pot with the spinach. Stirring for 1-2 more minutes until the spinach is wilted.
  • Add the cooked pasta & reserved pasta water to the pot with the sauce & stir to combine well.
  • Serve warm. I like to add sriracha or any fresh herbs of choice.

Vegan Coconut “Shrim-peh” Ⓥ

INGREDIENTS:

  • 10 oz of 5 grain tempeh, I used 2 5 oz blocks, cut into cubes
  • 1/2 cup of plank milk, I used unsweetened oat milk
  • 2 tbsp miso paste, I used White Miso
  • 1 tsp of sriracha or Frank’s hot sauce
  • 1/2 cup of vegan panko bread crumbs
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 2-3 tbsp coconut oil or olive oil 
  • 4 Tbsp whole wheat pastry flour
  • Pinch of salt & pepper

METHOD:

  • Add the shredded coconut to a food processor & turn it into a crumb like consistency, think like bread crumbs.
  • Mix the coconut crumbs, vegan panko bread crumbs, pinch of salt & pepper together in a shallow dish & set it aside. 
  • In a mixing bowl, add the oat milk, miso paste& sriracha, whisk well & set it aside.
  • Add the flour to another shallow dish & then you can set up your dredging station.
  • Coat the tempeh cubes with the flour, the miso glaze, then the coconut panko mixture until coated well. 
  • Use a large frying pan & set it to medium-heat. Add the coconut oil to melt in it.
  • Cook the coated tempeh cubes for 2-3 minutes per side turning to heat all sides.
  • Serve with rice & veggies of choice & dip in any store bought or homemade vegan sweet thai chili sauce.

Vegan Cheeseburger Wraps Ⓥ

Ingredients

  • 1 onion, diced
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 bell pepper, diced
  • 2 tbsp olive oil (or vegetable stock if oil free)
  • 7 oz meatless crumbles, I used Morningstar
  • 8 oz mushrooms, diced  
  • 1/2 cup of black beans, drained & rinsed
  • 1/4 cup ketchup
  • 2 tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tbsp yellow mustard
  • 2 tsp liquid smoke
  • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 4 large burrito size tortillas
  • 1 cup vegan cheese
  • lettuce
  • pickles, sliced

Method:

  • Add oil to a skillet & warm up over medium heat.  
  • Add the mushrooms & onions & cook them for a few minutes. They will start to soften. I usually add a pinch of salt & pepper too. Next add the bell peppers & garlic & cook for a few more minutes, stirring well. 
  • Add the vegan meatless crumbles & cook for 3 minutes. 
  • Add in the ketchup, yellow mustard, vegan Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, salt & pepper. Stir together well, turn the heat down to low & let it cook for another 3-5 minutes.
  • Lay out your wrap or tortilla. I like to work towards the bottom of the tortilla, add 1/4 cup of vegan cheese, lettuce, sliced pickles & 1/4 of your vegan burger mixture. 
  • Fold the sides up first, & then fold up the bottom, carefully tucking in the vegan burger mixture as you go. Keep going until you reach the end.
  • Optional: Place back in a pan on the stove top or on an indoor or outdoor grill pan to toast & crisp up the outside and make a bit crunchy. I use something heavy to weigh it down & flatten it a bit like another pan with my cast iron skillet on top. Light cooking spray will also help keep it from sticking to the pan. After about 2-3 minutes on medium-low heat, flip it over & place the weight on top for another 2-3 minutes & then serve it hot with any sides you like.

Vegan Almond Cookies Ⓥ

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 cup of vegan butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup of white sugar
  • 1/2 tsp blue food coloring this may differ depending on the brand of coloring you use
  • 1 tbsp ground flax
  • 3 tbsp water
  • 2 tsp almond extract
  • 2 cups of all-purpose flour spooned & leveled*
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup almonds, chopped

METHOD:

  • Preheat oven to 350°F & line a baking pan with parchment paper.
  • Make a flax egg by mixing 1 tbsp of ground flax with 3 tbsp of water and set it aside for about 10 minutes.
  • In a large mixing bowl with electric beaters or a stand-up mixer, cream the vegan butter & white sugar until light & fluffy. This usually takes about 3 minutes.
  • Mix in the food coloring. You may need to add more depending on the brand you’re using to get your desired color.
  • Add in flax egg & almond extract & mix until well incorporated.
  • In a separate large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, & salt.
  • Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients & mix well until combined.
  • Fold in the almonds.
  • Scoop dough into 18 balls (about 3 tbsp each-I use a large ice cream scoop) & place them on the baking tray 2 inches apart.
  • Bake cookies for 11 minutes or until bottoms are a light golden brown.
  • Let cookies cool to room temperature on the tray.

Vegan Mac & Cheese Ⓥ

INGREDIENTS:

  • CASHEW CREAM:
  • 1 cup of cashews, soaked in hot water for at least half an hour
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp white miso paste
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • MAC & CHEESE SAUCE:
  • 16 oz pasta of choice, I used 2 8 oz boxes of EatBanza shells
  • 1/4 cup vegan butter
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 3 cups of plant milk of choice, I like rice milk
  • 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 3/4 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 2 cups of shredded vegan cheddar cheese
  • CRUNCHY TOPPING:
  • 1 cup of French Fried Onions
  • 1/2 cup Vegan breadcrumbs, use Gluten Free if desired
  • 2 tsp parsley
  • 1 tsp garlic salt
  • 1 tsp paprika

METHOD:

  • Soak the cashews in hot water for at least a half an hour. You can also do overnight or the morning you plan to make it. Drain the cashews & make your cashew cream by adding them to a high speed blender with 1/2 cup of water, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp white miso paste, & 1/2 tsp salt. Blend until smooth & set aside.
  • Cook pasta according to package instructions, reserve 1 cup of pasta water, drain & set aside.
  • Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a large baking dish.
  • Make a roux by adding the 1/4 cup of vegan butter to a medium pot and set it to medium heat to melt. Add the 1/4 of flour & whisk well. Slowly pour in the 3 cups of plant milk about 1 cup at a time & whisk well. Next add the 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast, 2 tsp garlic powder, 3/4 tsp onion powder & 1 tsp paprika whisking to combine. Finally add the cashew cream & 2 cups of shredded vegan cheese whisking & stirring until it melts. You may want to lower the heat a little bit.
  • Prepare the crunchy topping by adding the cup of French Fried Onions, 1/2 cup of vegan bread crumbs, 2 tsp parsley, 1 tsp of garlic salt & 1 tsp if paprika to a food processor & chop until crumbly.
  • Add the cooked pasta, cup of reserved pasta water & cheese sauce to the large baking dish & mix well. Sprinkle the topping on it. Cover with foil & bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil, set oven to broil & with the door cracked, cook for another 2-5 minutes. Keep an eye on it so you don’t burn the topping!