How to Replace Butter When You're Ready to Go Vegan

When I show my clients how to embrace a vegan lifestyle, I always focus on making the experience as familiar and simple as possible. I know how hard it can be when you're ready to change and everything feels so different and overwhelming...especially when you're trying to make this change with a family. 

The good news is, replacing conventional butter is super simple when you're transitioning to vegan life.

Why conventional butter isn't vegan - Since conventional butter is from made using cow's milk it's not considered a vegan. That milk is meant for calves anyway, so here are 3 better options for your toast, bagels, oatmeal, grits, pancakes, baking etc....

 

3 options to replace Conventional butter:

*Earth Balance vegan margarine (this is the product I use most)

*Smart Balance Buttery Spread (this brand is likely more accessible)

*I haven't tried the recipe below (I will soon!) but it looks like an awesome alternative for conventional butter.

I got it from Vegan Cherry's Facebook page.

 

What's your favorite butter alternative?

EASY Vegan Spaghetti | No Excuses #2

It's sooo easy to make a simple, inexpensive and filling vegan spaghetti for any day of the week.  The goal of the No Excuses videos is to show you the most basic recipes that take under 30 minutes to make. This spaghetti recipe is perfect for the days when you don't feel like cooking or if you're new to vegan life.

Check out the video....

Even though I used Beyond Meat crumbles in this video, you can use sautéed mushrooms or cooked lentils as your ground beef/turkey substitute. 

When I became a vegan, I was really surprised that most of the spaghetti sauce on the grocery store shelves aren't vegan because they usually contain dairy. Boo!

Here's a list of popular brands that are already vegan.

I used about 1/2 cup of onion, 2 garlic cloves & 1/2 teaspoon of oregano to add more flavor to jarred spaghetti sauce.

Most brands of boxed spaghetti are vegan...here's a quick list of popular brands:

• Lundberg spaghetti
• Ancient Harvest quinoa spaghetti
• San Giorgio spaghetti
• Barilla spaghetti
• Ronzoni spaghetti

In my experience, the fresh/homemade pastas aren't typically vegan because they usually contain egg.

Be sure to always check your labels when purchasing boxed products. You can also use the Is it Vegan? app or PETA's Accidental Vegan list for assistance. 

Trader Joe's Grocery Haul | Vegan Family Meal Planning

I spent $131.05 on this grocery haul from Trader Joe's...

Wegmans is still my all-time fave grocery store, but since Trader Joe's is right down the street, so I stopped in there to do our shopping.

I picked up ingredients to make vegan macaroni & cheese, green juice, buffalo cauliflower, pizza (using pre-made dough, vegan cheese, onion & green pepper) and plenty of snacks for the boys.

Watch the video here....

Products mentioned:

Trader Joe’s vegan cheese (not worth buying)
Vegetable masala burger
Cookie Butter (yeah, it's vegan)
Trader Joe’s brand hummus salad dressing

Fish Tacos using Gardein Fishless Filets | Review

I heard about Gardein Fishless Filets nearly a year ago and it took forever to get my hands on them.

When it comes to meat alternatives, Gardein is one of the most accessible brands out there (they even sell their products in Wal-Mart), so I have no idea why they're making one of their best products sooo hard to find. 

Anywho, my local Wegmans has them and I came right home to test them out on fish tacos.

Each bag contains 6 small filets, so I purchased 3 bags for the fam.

^^^Uncooked...right out the package

Pros:

• Will take care of your fish craving
• Tastes much better than Sophie's Kitchen fish (I wasn't a fan of those)
• Great texture-Very similar to Gordon crispy battered fish filets

Cons:

• Hard to find at most grocery stores (you can order it online though) 
• Kind of pricey-Since the filets are small, we have to get 3 bags to feed our fam of 5. It was $15 for us

I think these are a great occasional meal and are definitely an awesome replacement for fish.

Check out the full list of ingredients here

Have you tried the Gardein Fishless Filets yet? What did you think?

P.S. In case you're wondering, here's the recipe for the creamy chipotle sauce I used on top of the tacos...

Creamy Chipotle Sauce

by Brown Vegan

Keywords: appetizer vegan

Ingredients

• 2 chipotles in adobo, finely chopped
• 1/2 vegan mayo (Vegenaise and Just Mayo are good brands)
• 1/2 cup vegan sour cream (Tofutti is a good brand or you can make it using this recipe http://www.brownvegan.com/recipes?recipe_id=6070003
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients mixing well.

Serve on vegan tacos

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What We Ate Today #9 | Vegan Family Meals (VIDEO)

Breakfast: Oatmeal with apples, cinnamon, brown sugar (make sure to buy organic to ensure that it's vegan) and a pinch of salt

Lunch: Cheezy kelp noodles for me-recipe here  and the kids had leftover dinner from the night before 

Dinner: Slow-cooked chili and Texas Toast style garlic bread (recipe video coming soon)

Check out the previous What We Ate Today posts here