Mexican Potato Casserole [VEGAN]

Mexican Casserole inspired by THIS recipe, but definitely altered.

This was the first "vegan" recipe I made my husband try. And he actually approved of it! It made me so happy because I was very worried about him refusing to eat ANYTHING as I started my vegan journey last year.
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Ingredients:

2-3 large Russet potatoes, cubed
1 16 oz can seasoned chili beans
8 oz of canned corn, drained (half of a can)
1 cup of salsa
2 Tablespoons taco seasoning
1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast

Optional: Top with vegan cheddar.

Directions:

Mix everything together and pour into a greased pan.

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 min.

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We like to eat it all on its own or with a side of rice. For leftovers, I will usually wrap it up in a tortilla with some lettuce just to switch things up a bit. Enjoy!

It's super simple, extra yummy, and a vegan dish that will satisfy non-vegans too!

And it's a great way to use up potatoes when you just have too many (this happens in our house awkwardly often)!

Enjoy!

Love,
Alaina

Healthy Spicy Cheesy Hummus Spread for Quesadillas

This is my go-to for quesadillas and grilled cheese. It's cheesy and spicy. It would be an awesome dip on its own too!

Based on THIS recipe, with the heat turned down.

Ingredients:
1 cup (measured dry) chickpeas, soaked, cooked
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small jalapeno without seeds
1/2 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1 medium/large whole tomato chopped

Directions:
Put everything in the food processor and mix until you get a nice, smooth consistency. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to a week.

Usually I don't need to add water because the tomato is so juicy. But if you aren't getting a nice spreadable consistency, just add a couple tablespoons of water.

Enjoy!
Love,
Alaina

Easy Vegan Dinner : Baked Pasta

This is such an easy and delicious dinner. We used to make it with meat and real cheese before I went vegan, but let me tell you, it's just as delicious veganized. I promise!

Ingredients:
2 cups of macaroni noodles (measured dry)
1/2 jar of tomato basil pasta sauce
1 cup of cooked lentils
vegan Parmesan and mozzarella cheese to taste

Directions:
Mix the noodles, sauce, and lentils together.
Pour it into a lasagna pan, then pat it down.
Top with veg parm & mozz.
Throw it in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.
Serve with garlic bread.

Enjoy!
Love,
Alaina

The Best Vegan Cheese Sauce

This is the yummiest cheese sauce I've come up with so far. Plus, it's actually good for you! I'll use it for everything.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cashews, soaked
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground mustard
1/8 tsp pepper

Directions:
Soak the cashews at least 2 hrs, drain.
Blend all ingredients until smooth.

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Ideas:
Nachos (actually approved by my super picky, non-vegan husband!)
Pasta (even mac n cheese!)
Quesadillas
Grilled cheese (just not stretchy)
Cheesy filling for ravioli or wontons (haven't tried yet but it sounds so good)
Cheesy broccoli and cauliflower (my mom used to make that all the time when we were little)
Baked potato?!
Dip for anything you can think of...
There are endless possibilities for this yummy sauce and I can't wait to try them all!

Thanks for reading!
Love,
Alaina

Easy One Pot Vegan Pasta

This batch has zucchini, broccoli, and sun-dried tomatoes chopped finely with a slice of toasted sourdough bread on the side.

This is my go-to favorite pasta since starting my transition to veganism.
I thought I would never be able to satisfy the craving for a nice, creamy pasta sauce, but seriously, this stuff is delicious!
You will NOT feel like this pasta is lacking. You won't miss cheese at all. Cooking the pasta in plant milk and veggie broth gives it sooo much flavor on its own!

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic minced
1 cup veg broth
1/2 cup plant milk (like unsweetened cashew or almond)
2 cups macaroni pasta, uncooked
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup (or more) each of chopped zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, or whatever else sounds yummy.
tomatoes - sundried, grape, or cherry

Directions:

Use a pan with a lid.
Heat up the olive oil in the pan.
Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds to a minute.
Add the veg broth and plant milk. (If I don't have veg broth I'll just add 1 cup of water with a bouillon cube. You shouldn't need to add salt because the broth is salty enough.)
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover with a lid. Let simmer for 15-20 min. Check to see the liquid has evaporated and the pasta is soft.
From there, you can add whatever extras you like. I like roasted veggies.

Serve on its own, with a bread stick, or a slice of yummy sourdough bread, & eat up!

For the veggies:
Since my husband hates veggies, I cook them in the oven separately and just add them to my dish at the end. I'll toss them in olive oil and throw them in the oven at 425 for 25 minutes. I actually prefer my broccoli this way, I love when it gets a teeny bit charred on the edges. I usually add the tomatoes to the finished pasta, uncooked.

I hope you enjoy this pasta as much as I do. I could eat this every night, seriously.

Love,
Alaina

My Veggie Burger Recipe : Black Beans, Chickpeas, & Sweet Potato

I've been making these for a couple years now, before I ever thought about going vegan. (I've never been a big fan of traditional beef burgers to begin with). These are delicious and actually survive the grill! I cook them in the oven and freeze them for future use. I would definitely recommend!

Ingredients:
1 large sweet potato
1 cup (dry) chickpeas
1/2 cup (dry) black beans
1 bell pepper diced
1/2 of a sweet onion diced
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 flax egg (1 T ground flax, 3 T water mixed and set in fridge 10 min)
1 1/2 cup (dry) oats, ground (I measure before grinding)
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Form into patties.
Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 min, flipping halfway.
Makes 10-12 burgers.

Directions:
Soak the dry chickpeas and black beans overnight.

Put the sweet potato, chickpeas, and black beans in the crockpot (8 hrs on low, 4 hours on high).

Drain everything from the crockpot and put in a large mixing bowl. It's going to be hot, so you should wait awhile before you start mixing with your hands.

Start your flax egg by grinding 1 Tbsp of flax seed and adding it to 3 T of water. Put this in the fridge for at least 10 minutes so it can set and thicken to the weird, egg-like consistency you need.

While you have the blender out, grind up your oats too. Add to the bowl with the beans and sweet potato.

Chop up your bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Add to the bowl. Add seasonings. Add the flax egg. Mix everything together. I like to use a potato masher to get the consistency I like. I leave about 1/4 of the beans whole.

Then make the patties. If the mixture is a little too wet, you can add a bit of flour to your hands or the mixture itself. I can fit about 8 patties to a baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 min. You can eat them straight out of the oven, but I bet you're not going to be serving a dozen at a time, so you can also freeze them. I'll freeze them right on the baking sheet, then once frozen the next morning, I'll throw them into a big gallon Ziploc bag. When you're ready to eat them again, just throw it on the grill or in a pan and cook like a regular burger, no thawing needed.

before cooking

These really hold up on the grill! I have come across many veggie burgers that absolutely fall apart and these are not one of them!

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I love these burgers. I'll put some spicy hummus and ketchup on top and they are awesome!

Thanks for reading!
Love,
Alaina

Healthy Vegan Lasagna with Lentils Sauce and Chickpea Cheesy Layers

served with a french baguette with veg butter, garlic powder, mozzarella, and vegan parmesan 

I recently wanted some lasagna. So I watched a few videos, looked up some recipes on Pinterest and ultimately just decided to wing it with the tidbits of info I gathered online. So here is the lasagna I made a couple weeks ago. And it was delicious and totally hit the spot!

I'm sure you all know how to make lasagna, so let me just tell you the jist of things here.
I used lentils instead of meat.
I used a chickpea blend for the cheese.
I used store bought pasta sauce because I'm lazy.
I used magical no-boil lasagna noodles also because I'm lazy.
So pretty much the only thing you need to know is how to make the cheesy part.

"Cheese" recipe
2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 Tbsp basil
2 garlic cloves, minced
Throw it all in the food processor until it looks nice and mixed.
Then I crumbled it in my hands into the lasagna.

crumbled "cheese" layer

Other stuff you need:

Lasagna noodles (9)
Pasta sauce (nearly a whole jar)
1/2 cup (measured dry) Lentils, cooked

I'm sure you know how to layer lasagna, but here are the layers I made from bottom to top: sauce, noodles, sauce, cheese, lentils with sauce, noodles, etc.

Baked it according to the noodle box instructions at 375 F for 50 minutes with foil on top, then I removed the foil and baked another 10 minutes.

I did use a little bit of vegan Parmesan on top just to make it look a little more interesting than just the sauce. You could use store bought veg mozzarella or leave it plain.

I hope you enjoy it!

Love,
Alaina

Fancy Vegan Cheese to Take to the Winery :)

I made this cheese (Based on this recipe HERE) to take to the winery with my sisters over the weekend. Everybody liked it, so I thought I'd tell you how I made it. :) Enjoy!

1 cup cashews (soaked in water for 4 hours, then drained)
2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
Juice from one lemon
1 garlic clove minced
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
handful of sundried tomatoes chopped up all tiny

Blend everything together except the sundried tomatoes. Blend for at least 5 minutes, stopping every once in awhile to scrape down the sides. Add the tomatoes once everything else is nice and smooth. Only blend with the tomatoes until they are nicely distributed throughout.

Transfer into a cheese cloth and place in a colander suspended above a bowl in the fridge. You probably want to make it at least a day ahead of time so it can harden up in the fridge.

This is not a hard cheese, it's more like a spread, but it's still super delicious!

I hope you enjoy it!

Love,
Alaina

Baked Buffalo Cauliflower

1/2 cup flour
1/2 plant milk (like unsweetened almond or cashew)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt

Coat cauliflower in batter.
Place on parchment paper on baking sheet.
Bake at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes.
Remove from oven, coat with a vegan buffalo sauce. Return to oven until it starts to crisp up, about 10 minutes or more.

Then make yourself some vegan ranch with THIS recipe. It's sooo good.

Thanks for reading!
Love,
Alaina

Meal Ideas for Vegan Vegetarian + Meat Eating Households

I've been working on this post for a loooong time now and I really hope you enjoy it! Please leave a comment below if you have any dinners to add! I love you guys!

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My husband is a little picky. He's not big on vegetables. And I thought for sure we would have a lot of fights when I decided to transition to a vegan diet. But it's been really great. He's been really great.

I thought this might be helpful for anyone out there wanting to reduce their family's meat consumption. These are different meals we've had and how we adjust them for our family. I really hope it helps.
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Veg chili with vegan red lobster biscuits (recipe HERE). They seriously taste just like regular ones! 

Chili
Just skip the ground beef. My husband doesn't mind it without any meat, but if he really wanted to, he could simply fry some up and add it to his bowl individually. Sometimes I do miss cheddar cheese with this, so I'll add a little nutritional yeast or veg cheddar to my bowl.

Sometimes you're just in the middle of your dinner and realize you forgot to take a pic of it for your blog! :)

Grilled cheese & tomato soup
I use a spicy hummus (I'm going to mention it a lot, so HERE is the recipe, I often use it to replace cheese) with nutritional yeast for my sandwich. If we have some vegan cheddar shreds, I might add a little bit of those. I add some cooked chickpeas to the tomato soup for a boost of protein and that's it. So yummy. My husband and toddler can eat regular grilled cheese like usual.

Can you believe this plate doesn't have any meat or dairy?

Nachos
I make myself a cheesy sauce (there are a lot of recipes out there and I haven't found one I really like enough to share just yet) and use some cheddar shreds and my husband can make his nachos like usual. I make a taco seasoning/black bean/salsa mixture for my "meat" and he fries up his own ground beef.

Mmmmm salad

Salad
There are so many options for salad. Taco salad is a good one. My husband adds his own beef, while I'll add beans for my protein and pureed salsa for a dressing. Plus onion, peppers, tortilla strips, corn, etc. Or buffalo chicken/tofu salad. He can add meat, I can add whatever I want.

This sourdough bread from Aldi is sooo good. Cover it in veg butter and fry it on the skillet a couple minutes. 

Sandwiches 
Sandwiches are great because everyone can choose what they want on theirs. I like to do a BLT without the bacon. I toast some sourdough bread, add Just Mayo, tomato slices, and lettuce and POW, it is so good. And my husband can add cheese and salami or whatever he wants to his own.

Brussels sprouts and zucchini with soybean noodles. 

Pasta 
There are a bunch of different pasta recipes to choose from (haven't tried this one yet, but HERE's an example). My husband picks out the veggies and adds in some chicken if he wants it. He could always add some Parmesan to his bowl if he really misses the cheesy flavor.

Greek marinated tofu kabobs recipe HERE with zucchini, red bell pepper, & onion.

Kabobs
Tofu or meat. Everyone can pick and choose what they want on theirs.

Quesadillas are a family favorite around here. 

Quesadillas 
Quesadilla are another good one where everyone can pick their own ingredients. My husband and toddler will usually have a plain cheese quesadilla. I'll put spicy hummus and zucchini on mine. You could always add beans and salsa too. Mexican style food really is great for veganizing, plus we've discovered our toddler seems to like stuff inside tortillas.

Pancake with peanut butter, maple syrup, and chia seeds.

Breakfast for dinner (pancakes)
HERE's the recipe we use & BAM everyone's happy! I like to add peanut butter along with my syrup.

These crescents have halved grape tomatoes inside.

Crescent rolls 
Pillsbury brand crescent rolls are vegan (but not all other brands are, so check!). And you can put whatever you want inside a crescent roll. My husband and toddler do hotdogs, sausages, pepperoni and cheese, etc. I like spicy hummus, tomatoes, or I just make them plain and put some veg butter and jelly inside (super healthy dinner I know :)). Or fill with veg mozzarella and dip them in marinara. So many options.

I always have my husband roll my wraps because I'm not any good at it. Then he lays them out all fancy-like. 

Buffalo wraps
I use cauliflower or chickpeas, my husband gets chicken. Plus lettuce, onion, cheddar, ranch, buffalo sauce, etc. I cook the chickpeas in the crockpot all day after soaking overnight, then coat them in buffalo sauce and bake at 350 for like 30 min. You don't have to bake them of course, but baked chickpeas are the best, just saying... For the cauliflower I just coat in buffalo sauce and put them in the oven at 350 for 30 min or so too.

This bun is one of those super thin lower carb buns, they were the only wheat ones at Aldi that day! I usually eat regular buns. Also these fries were homemade and my husband said they made him feel healthier. Haha. 

Burgers
This one's easy peasy. My husband has meat. I have a veggie burger. We both have fries. Done and done. Everyone's happy. You can find my homemade recipe HERE.

Red lobster biscuits, one half of a small potato (because I sacrificed the other half to my toddler), some baby carrots, and  a sweet potato.

Crockpot chicken & potatoes 
In the past, we ate this a lot on days I knew we wouldn't have a lot of time for dinner. I just added a chicken breast and a couple potatoes to the crockpot and let it cook all day while I was at work. I add water and half a packet of onion soup mix to it. Now I add a couple extras like carrots and a small sweet potato for myself and my husband can eat the chicken and potatoes like he usually would. He's not a fan of sweet potatoes.

Veggie flatbread pizza. Sooooo yummy, I don't even miss the cheese. 

Personal flatbread pizzas
I make my own flatbread with THIS recipe. I season and fry up veggies like cauliflower, tomatoes, zucchini. My husband uses pepperoni and cheese. We just use marinara for the sauce. It's great without cheese, but you can always add nutritional yeast for a little extra flavor.

This is actually a picture of my husband's leftovers at work the next day because I totally forgot to take a picture of my dinner the night before. :)

Philly cheesesteak
My husband gets meat and cheese like usual. I use onion and bell pepper with veg mozzarella for myself. I need to look into a vegan Worcestershire sauce though...

I love fried rice. I wish I had some fried cauliflower to go with it!

Fried rice
This is super simple. If he wants a side of meat, he can add some orange sauce or teriyaki sauce to some chicken. Sometimes I'll bread and fry some cauliflower for myself.

Trying out the fancy "food" filter on my new phone. :)

Teriyaki tofu and rice
Along the same lines as the fried rice, I will marinate some tofu in teriyaki or orange sauce, fry it up. And my husband can do the same with some chicken. Super easy.

Quinoa with taco seasoning, salsa, black beans, and lettuce in a flour tortilla. You could add some nutritional yeast too.

Quinoa tacos
I was never a big fan of tacos before, but quinoa tacos are awesome. I make some quinoa like usual, then stir in some taco seasoning. I used to puree salsa and mix that in, it's super yummy, but my husband wasn't a fan, so I just add my salsa separately now.

Bean and corn enchilada with a side of roasted tomatoes. Sometimes I do a side of steamed broccoli.  

Bean enchiladas
I cook the beans then mash up part of the mixture so it's in between regular beans and refried beans in texture. Add enchilada sauce. And I definitely add veg cheddar shreds because I really miss cheese with this particular meal. My husband doesn't even alter this one, he eats it just as it is.

Other stuff we've tried that is vegan for us both:

Sweet potato broccoli soup (my husband was not a fan, but I thought it was awesome)

Chickpea & sweet potato curry

Mexican casserole (based on this recipe HERE)

I really hope these gave you some ideas! This has been a much smoother process than I thought it would be. I hope your family members are supportive of your lifestyle change too!

Good luck.
Love,
Alaina

VEGAN Red Lobster Biscuits

HERE is the original recipe. I've changed very little and I want to give credit where it's due.

These seriously taste just like regular Red Lobster biscuits. I like to make them with chili or potato soup.

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Biscuit Dough
2 1/2 cups Biquick
4 Tbsp veg butter
1 cup veg cheddar shreds
3/4 cup plant milk
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp oregano

Butter Topping
2 Tbsp veg butter
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp oregano

Mix the Bisquick and veg butter first. Then add in the other ingredients and mix with your hands, roll into loose balls and plop them on a baking sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes. Slather them with the butter topping mixture and devour.

I really mean devour, because they are just that good! I ate like way too many the last time I made these.

You can also freeze them if you just want a couple at a time. Just up the cooking time a couple minutes and keep your eye on them. You'll have to remake the butter mixture every time you make a couple though.

Thanks for reading (and requesting!)
Love,
Alaina

Vegetarian for a Month : What Have I Learned?

Ok, the title is a lie. I haven't been vegetarian ALL month, but it's more truthful than "vegan for a month." I had two pot pies that needed to be eaten from our freezer. (my husband hates pot pie so it was up to me to get rid of these things). I didn't want to waste them and just throw them out. I tried picking out the meat but I doubt I got it all. So yes, I ate some meat this month. But I have eaten A LOT of vegan meals. However, once again, I'm not trying to wastefully throw out non-vegan stuff, so I've had a couple of non-vegan things for sure. Like margarine made with buttermilk, Parmesan on pasta, garlic bread from the freezer, etc. And I'll continue eating those things until they are all out of my house (one package of feta cheese my sister won't eat, two jars of chicken bouillon that are going to take a year to get through, vitamin pills made with gelatin, etc.). As I've been grocery shopping this month, I've picked up as many vegan replacements as I can reasonably find, but it's definitely a work in progress. I'm really happy with the transition so far. :) So let's talk about some stuff I've learned this month. Here we go!

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Cooking is fun. Grocery shopping is fun. Looking up new meals is fun. I get so happy looking at my grocery cart. It makes me proud when the items are so much healthier than before. I really was simply stuck in a rut with our everyday meals. Forcing myself to switch things up by eliminating animal products has made the entire process of meal planning more fun.

My husband isn't as terrible as I thought he was. My big fear was that he'd throw a fit and get super pissed over our meals. I thought he would refuse to eat so many things. But that hasn't been the case at all! He's been a great sport. He tries everything and if he doesn't like it, we talk about what he doesn't like so that I can try to alter it next time. Instead of him just refusing to eat it again, he gives his suggestions for improvement. It's really helpful and makes me feel like he actually cares about changing his diet as well.

You don't need cheese on everything! Seriously, looking back on my previous diet, we had cheese all the freaking time. There has only been one meal that I really missed cheese on and that was enchiladas. I bought myself some vegan cheddar and slapped it on my enchilada the next time I made them and it was delicious. It fulfilled my little cheese craving. But I'm not putting that vegan cheese on everything either, like I would have with cow cheese. It's reserved just for that one moment that I really thought cheese would make the meal better. Although I do have vegan cheese in the fridge, it's reserved for occasional meals, not thrown on everything like I did with cow milk cheese in the past.

You have to eat more. I have been starving. It's taken me awhile to figure out how much I need to eat to feel full again. A lot of real foods are less calorie-dense than all the stuff I was eating before, dairy especially. I've had to learn to keep that in mind.

Cravings change. I never thought I'd crave lemon steamed broccoli. Or roasted chickpeas. Since I've started feeding my body all these real foods, I think about them more and I want them. Of course, I still have cookie cravings too, but craving healthy food is definitely a new thing for me.

My skin is happy. I have had oily skin ever since I can remember. Within two weeks on this diet, that was not longer the case. My skin is very normal now, something I never even thought was possible with the level of oiliness I was used to. And ever since I was pregnant with my first son (he's two now) I have had upper arm acne. That's been clearing up too since changing my diet!

I want to grow a garden. I've never had an interest in growing plants. My sister has a nice garden, she's grown random little plants inside her house too. I've never out of the blue, woken up, and just been like, "let's go buy a tiny shrub to put in the living room." But now I want plants. I want to grow zucchini, tomatoes, potatoes?! I want to compost all the random produce scraps we go through now. I want to be able to pick my own lunch right out of the yard!

I was not getting enough fiber. I went on cronometer and threw in my old typical day's diet and I was nowhere near 100% on fiber. Now on this new diet, I am always surpassing it. Along those same lines, I never much cared about what nutrients I was getting each day. I really never gave it a single thought. I thought about calories and carbs when I wanted to lose weight. I thought about protein and fiber a little bit when I was pregnant. But in reality, I didn't wonder about vitamins and minerals. I never once thought, how much calcium or vitamin c am I getting today? Now I enjoy getting on cronometer just to see where I'm at or how to formulate the "perfect" day. It's not about calories or losing weight anymore, it's about getting the important nutrients we all need.

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It has been a lot of work transitioning away from a crappy American diet. But it's been a lot of fun too. It's been fun learning how to cook differently and trying new things, and figuring out how to veganize my cravings.

I hope this little post was interesting to you and perhaps it helps you see the positive in changing your diet too. :)

Thank you for reading!
Love,
Alaina

VEGAN Sweet Potato Broccoli Soup For TWO

Here is an altered and reduced version of a recipe I found on Pinterest. 

HERE is the original recipe. 

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This recipe makes two servings. I am always overwhelmed by TONS of leftovers, so this is the perfect size dish for myself and my husband. 

www.cronometer.com

Ingredients:

• 2 small sweet potatoes (cubed roughly 1")
• 12 baby carrots (or one big carrot)
• 1/2 onion, chopped 
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1.5 cups broccoli, chopped
• 2.5 cups vegetable stock 
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 T olive oil 
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper 

Makes two servings. 

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Directions:

Chop both sweet potatoes into about 1" cubes. Boil 1 sweet potato and all carrots until tender (10 min or so).

Heat 1 T of oil in pan. Chop up your 1/2 onion (as tiny as you can get it because your husband is crazy and hates onions... or that just mine?). Saute onion. Add garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes. Add oregano and thyme. Add 2 cups of veg stock, other 1/2 of sweet potato (that was not boiling), boil, simmer until potato is tender.

Take boiled potato and carrots from earlier and put in the food processor. Blend with 1/4 cup nutritional yeast and 1/2 cup veg stock. Blend until smooth. 

Steam or boil broccoli in the pot where the carrots and sweet potato were to begin with (I just used the same water too). 

Add sauce mixture from food processor to the pan with the sauteed mixture. Lightly mash sweet potato cubes if you like (I did). Add steamed/boiled broccoli to the pan. 

Everything should be in the same pan now. Add nutmeg, salt, pepper. Cover & simmer 1-2 min. 

I think this would be yummy with some garlic bread too.

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Alaina

Easy Vegan Chickpea Sweet Potato Curry

I'm not a chef. I don't write very elegantly about food. :) All I can hope is that these instructions make sense and you're able to replicate this for your own family. It's not too spicy, I think it would be fine for kiddos too.

www.cronometer.com

Ingredients:

1 cup dry chickpeas
1 medium sweet potato

1 tablespoon coconut oil
2 cloves garlic minced

2 teaspoons curry powder
a couple dashes of red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper, garlic, and onion powder

1 can light coconut milk (13.5 oz)
1 small can tomato sauce (8 oz)

Makes 4 servings.

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Put the chickpeas and sweet potato in water in the crockpot and cook on low all day (8+ hrs). You can soak your chickpeas overnight to make them extra soft, but if you forget, they still turn out fine straight out of the bag into the crockpot.

At dinner time, start your rice in a separate pot or rice cooker before you start the curry.

Add the coconut oil to a pan on medium-low heat, then add the garlic minced. Once the garlic is toasted (just a minute or so), add the seasonings.

Add the sweet potato and chickpeas to the pan. Squish up the sweet potato (it should be super soft after cooking in the crockpot all day, so squishing it should be super easy). My husband likes the chickpeas mashed, so I use a potato masher on about half of the mixture. This way you'll have a mix of full chickpeas and mashed ones, the mashed sweet potato will help thicken the saucey part, you probably won't see any chunks of sweet potato, it just kind of dissolves. Then add the coconut milk and tomato sauce and stir everything up.

Cover and let simmer for 10-15 minutes.

I had mine with white rice, steamed broccoli, and a chopped up tomato. You could add veggies straight to the pan if you like, but my husband is the world's pickiest eater, so I just add them to my own bowl.

This was super yummy and not too spicy, but very flavorful.

Enjoy!

Love,
Alaina

VEGAN for a Week Challenge : 5 days later : What I'm Eating + How I'm Feeling

The challenge has been completed for 4.5 days now and I thought I'd return for a little bonus update.

I've adopted a vegetarian diet. I do plan to work my way up to a vegan diet, but I plan to use up the non-vegan stuff in our house first.

A recap of the last 4.5 days?
For dinner, we've had...
taco salad - with beans and corn, and pureed and watered down salsa for dressing, I made ground beef for Justin
quesadillas - with spicy Mexican hummus and zucchini and it was delicious!
fried cauliflower and mashed potatoes - This was not filling enough. I was starving later in the night.
veggie pasta - With coconut milk, veggie broth, zucchini, tomatoes, broccoli. Justin picked out the veggies but he still ate the pasta without cheese on it! And he fried up his own chicken to add to it too.
veggie burgers - (for dinner tonight, technically haven't eaten them yet) I made and froze homemade veggie burgers forever ago and I'm pretty sure I used a real egg instead of a flax egg in them. Gotta look into vegan cheese slice options. I do love me some pepper jack on a veggie burger. But tonight I plan to add a tomato slice to distract myself from the lack of cheese.

The instant mashed potatoes had milk product in it to begin with, plus I actually made it traditionally with milk and butter because my husband was going to be eating it for his meal (he just had a tooth pulled and it was the only thing he wanted to eat, so I thought I'd make it the normal way for him instead of pissing him off by using coconut milk and margarine).

I've had honey several times. But I did buy agave nectar and plan to use it after my honey is gone, which might be awhile because I literally just bought some local honey at the farmer's market the week before I did the challenge.

I'm pretty sure I had something else processed with milk in it too, but I cannot remember what.

But I'm very happy with how the week has gone. I used to have 1/2-1 cup of milk with breakfast, cheese on my salad at lunch, milk and egg in my dressing, cheese sticks and cottage cheese and yogurt for snacks, and meat and dairy for dinner.

I always feel proud after meals now. I really do view food more like fuel than just yummy stuff to pass the time.

My husband wants to go to Red Lobster for our anniversary at the end of the month and I'm very conflicted on whether I should have crab legs. I love crab legs. No doubt. And butter. Mmm. Not sure what I'm going to do there just yet...

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I am now a super fan of dairy free ice cream. So Delicious Cashewmilk Dark Chocolate Truffle is the best thing ever! Tastes just like ice cream. Seriously. I even fed it to Justin and he said it was good too!

I am avoiding cheese. I know it's addicting. I bought some vegan cheese and I'll just try to stick to that. My husband is in charge of eating all the real cheese that's in the freezer haha. I'm not sure what the plans will be once we go through all of that though. I haven't made Justin try any vegan cheese yet, so I'm unsure he'll like it. Even though he says "all cheese tastes the same," I'm thinking he'll be okay if we fully switch to vegan cheese one day in the distant future after we use up the pounds of regular cheese in our freezer! For real. there is so much cheese in the freezer. Yes, the vegan cheese is more expensive, but I'm not using it in every single thing like I would regular cheese, so I think it will all work out okay.

Justin usually prefers margarine to butter in the day-to-day, so I think the switch to vegan butter after we use up our regular butter isn't going to be too bad.

We have refrigerated cinnamon rolls and biscuits that are not vegan and need to be eaten soon.

We have cream cheese, Parmesan, cheese snack sticks, and yogurt that need to be given away. Like I said, I don't want to have any cheese for fear of going right back to eating it again.

I'm sure there are dressings and other sauces that are not vegan, but I think we'll just continue using those up until they're gone. Then find alternatives once we need to repurchase. Now, my favorite dressing ever in the whole wide world is not vegan, so I have begun the hunt to try vegan salad dressings.

A cool thing I've noticed about doing the dishes... Things are much easier to clean up. You don't have cooked on cheese or meat that needs to be scrubbed endlessly. It makes you think, if these things are making my pans look like this, what are they doing to my insides?

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Okay, now let's talk about some cool changes! I said I didn't feel any better after one week, well
two weeks is a different story, guys!

Let's first talk about my skin. I have oily skin. I have oily days and super oily days. I don't have normal skin days and I definitely don't have dry skin days. This has been the case ever since I can remember. This week, I've noticed my skin has been normal, maybe even dry. (maybe I just think it's dry because I'm so used to being covered in a layer of oil?) And it's the middle of summer. It's hot and humid and yucky and my skin has felt great!

Ever since my first pregnancy, I've had acne on my upper arms. Never had it before that in my life. It didn't go away between pregnancies, it's just always kind of been there for nearly three years now. Well, this week, I can see it is clearing up. It is not 100% gone, but it is totally clearing!

Now if these things are happening on the outside of my body, just imagine what good this diet is doing to the inside!

I get migraines, I get headaches, usually a couple times per week when I'm not pregnant. (Pregnancy is the best because I suffer from sooo many fewer headaches throughout!) I've had two headaches in the two weeks since I've changed my diet. Both came at the end of the day and I had to sleep to make them go away. For one I used a warm, damp washcloth, which is my go-to for migraines. So I'm not going to claim it is a reduction based on the diet just yet. If I can go a month without a major migraine, I might attribute it to the diet, but we'll just have to wait it out, I guess.

One downside? I feel like I could eat all day. I keep feeling like I'm starving. I know I need to up my calorie intake, but I'm just not sure what I want to snack on. I need to look into more healthy snack options (I used to snack on dairy a lot). And I know I could snack on any fruit or veggie, but I just haven't been good about packing stuff for work, in particular.

I have lost 2.5 pounds now and although that makes me happy, I know I need to find a balance for weight loss and not feeling like I'm starving all the time. I am breastfeeding and I need to make sure I have enough calories to keep making milk and taking care of myself.

Speaking of breastfeeding, I have a 2.5 month old son, Eren. Eren has been a fussier baby than his big brother Calvin was. I know babies grow out of these things with time and every baby is different, but I can't help but notice how much happier he's been just in the last week or so, primarily in the last few days, like Sunday onward. I really do wonder if my diet change has helped his little belly and made him feel better! Now if that's the case, that might be one of the coolest changes I've noticed in this very short amount of time.

So that's the update guys. I hope you enjoyed.
Love,
Alaina

VEGAN for a Week Day 7 : Final Thoughts

Breakfast:
French toast
I think I'll be trying another recipe next time. My bread is dense and hearty, so it turned out okay, but my husband's white bread totally fell apart.

Lunch:
Leftover veg pizza from the day before.

Snack:
(not pictured)
We went to a family birthday party and luckily Justin's sister in law is vegan. I had some vegan crescent pizza rolls and they inspired me to check out vegan cheeses. Also had some fruit.

Dinner:
Wrap with hummus, corn, beans, and tomatoes.

Snacks:
Chips and salsa
Cashewmilk ice cream and it was totally delicious!

______________________

Right now I will say I'm going vegetarian but I hope to transition into a vegan diet. I don't want to waste the food we already have at home, so the plan for now is to find vegan alternatives for anything we need to get from the grocery store, but we're not just going to toss everything that isn't vegan that we already own.

My husband doesn't seem too thrilled. I told him I would still cook meat for him, but we're revamping our dinner ideas list so that I can hopefully cook meat just once a week and he can use leftovers with his meals. Once we start getting the hang of dinners, I'll definitely be posting some meal planning and tips here and on my YouTube channel LainasLife.

I don't really feel different. I don't feel like I have more energy or anything like that. I feel good, but nothing crazy.

I lost one pound, but I'm also 11 weeks postpartum and breastfeeding, so it could be attributed to many things.

It feels like a diet I could totally do. I'm not depriving myself of sweets, I'm just learning new recipes to get that sweet tooth fix.

Not everything is off-limits. I definitely learned there are a lot of surprising vegan things out there.

After doing a little research, I'm not worried about vitamin deficiencies. That's something that I always wondered about before looking into the vegan lifestyle.

I felt really good about the contents of my grocery cart when I went to the store. haha.

I wonder about the effect on my breastfed baby Eren. I wonder if he has a sensitivity to dairy. He's been a somewhat fussy baby and I've contemplated taking dairy out of my diet to see if it helps. It's going to take awhile to know for sure since the grandmas are giving him pumped milk from a few weeks ago when they have him, but perhaps in a month or so we might notice a difference in his attitude. It's a tough thing to judge though, because babies can just grow out of the fussy stage too.

I feel like the vegan diet is a modern day diet, almost like it's just the natural progression of things. Due to globalization, food is so widely available from all over the world and can be transported just about anywhere.

Also, why are vegan options so pricey?! I know it has a lot to do with government subsidies for the meat and dairy industry and that just makes me feel sad honestly. Even on the drive home from the grocery store, my husband made a comment about how much pricier it is to eat healthy.

I've been asked to take a look at my WHY? Why do I want to be vegan? I understand that I need a WHY in order to stay motivated, but I'm not sure I have one particular reason. Health, environment, the animals? I just don't know yet. I think to myself, if I couldn't kill a chicken to feed myself, why should I eat it because someone else killed it for me? I think about the fact that so much of the world's crops are grown just to feed animals for us to kill to eat, when we could just eat the crops... and that literally just sounds so stupid to me. And all of the damage the entire meat industry does to our planet is crazy when you consider all of the steps along the way from growing crops and transportation and concentrated animal pollution too. I have a lot of thoughts floating around my head, but I don't think there's one in particular that stands out for me right now. I'm sure that will change as time goes on.

I stopped drinking cow milk about a year ago for a couple months. It's when I was breastfeeding my first son and it made me sad to think of these cow mothers forced to be milked everyday. I hated pumping myself. I felt a sort of sympathy for them. But I didn't cut out cheese or yogurt or whatever else. I didn't think that deeply about it. Then over this weekend I saw a video of a mother cow walking across a field and her udders were so full she could hardly walk and I felt her pain. I know how much it sucks to have your boobies so full they could pop or to have mastitis or clogged ducts and I felt sad for her. And I don't want to contribute to that. "You are voting with your dollar," Ellen Fisher says a lot and this was always popping into my head this week. Yes, vegan food can be pricier, but isn't it worth it?

I don't think I can watch Earthlings. I keep seeing people recommend it but I've seen the trailer and I really, really don't think I could watch it. I know I should. I know it will motivate me 1000x more, but I'm not ready for that yet. For now I'm going to try my best to head for a vegan diet and hopefully I can be a good example to those around me, particularly my husband and my boys.

Thanks for reading. I love you guys.
Love,
Alaina

VEGAN for a Week Day 6 Meals + Going Out

Breakfast:
Captain Crunch (yeah I know, so healthy haha)

Snacks:
Kiwi, grapes

Lunch:
Veg Pizza (we actually went out for pizza, even though I was super nervous about going out to eat on this diet)

Snack:
Smoothie with kiwi, strawberries, coconut water, and spinach

Dinner:
Leftover bean and corn enchilada with TOMATOES (If you haven't noticed already, I'm pretty obsessed with tomatoes)

Thanks for reading!
Love,
Alaina

VEGAN for a Week Day 5 Meals

Breakfast:
More homemade granola with almond milk.

Snack:
Smoothie with coconut water, banana, and bluberries.

Lunch:
Another wrap with hummus, tomatoes, spinach, and leftover casserole from Wednesday.

Dinner:
Flatbread pizza with tomato sauce, nutritional yeast, cauliflower, zucchini, and tomatoes.

Snacks:
A tomato
Chips and salsa

Thanks for reading!
Love,
Alaina

VEGAN for a Week Day 4 Meals What I Ate Today : I Miss Cheese

Breakfast:
Homemade granola with almond milk.

Lunch:
Wrap with tomatoes, spinach, hummus, & leftover Mexican potato casserole from last night.

Dinner:
Bean & corn enchiladas
Not gonna lie, this was the first time this week I felt like my meal just wasn't complete. I really missed the cheese! I think next time I'll season the bean and corn mixture, it seemed kind of plain, even with the sauce.

Snack:
More cookies. I know, I know, not healthy.

Thanks for reading!
Love,
Alaina

VEGAN for a Week Day 3 Meals + Mexican Potato Casserole

Breakfast:
A cinnamon roll breakfast smoothie HERE with frozen bananas so it turned out to be more like a shake or frosty consistency.

Snack:
Toast with guacamole

Lunch:
Oven roasted potatoes with guacamole, then ketchup when I got tired of the guacamole.

Snacks:
Some grapes Calvin didn't finish.
Vegan cookies and almond milk. I just made my regular chocolate chip cookies with almond milk instead of eggs, all shortening instead of butter, and no chocolate chips. And yes, I totally had more than is pictured.

Dinner:
Mexican Casserole inspired by THIS, but here's what I actually put together:
3 large Russet potatoes sliced like french fries
1 can seasoned chili beans
1 cup salsa
2 tablespoons taco seasoning
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
Totally should have boiled the potatoes awhile beforehand. Some were squishy, some were kind of hard. My husband still ate it though! Success! He did complain about the chunks of stuff in the salsa... so next time I'll have to puree it before adding it in.
Baked at 400 degrees for 25 min.

Snack:
Toast with peanut butter, cinnamon, and chia seeds.

This is the day I started to feel like I was starving and realized I needed to eat more.

Thanks for reading.
Love,
Alaina