One Pot of Chili...3 Meals | Vegan Meal Planning

Listen, I know you're busy...

Working full-time...

Taking care of the kids (including that big kid that's sleeping in your bed lol)...

Maybe you're taking a couple of college classes, too...

And you still have to clean, meal plan & cook along with about 10 other things. *sigh*

This is one of the main reasons we eat soup, stew & chili all. year. long.

Not just because it's delicious, but because meals like that are inexpensive and usually have leftovers for the next day.

I live for leftovers

A few weeks ago, I doubled my chili recipe and made three meals with that one pot of chili.

(1) Chili & vegan cornbread

(2) Chili & rice

(3) Chili taco salad-with lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole & salsa (similar to this recipe but I used the chili instead of walnut taco meat)

Save yourself some time and money and think about how you can remix leftovers for your fam.

I hope this was helpful!

Date Night Tips For Vegans

I love date night.

Eric and I try to have it weekly and the rules are:

• No talking about work/business
• No talking about the kids
• No phones/Internet

We eat, laugh, dream out loud-always a good time.

When I first started this vegan journey, date night used to be a bit like this....

#itsnothatsimple

Posted by Vegan Memes on Friday, March 27, 2015

*Sigh* I was so used to eating whatever....the thought of inspecting the menu for vegan options and grilling the server for details overwhelmed me. 

7 Tips for a fun vegan date night:

*Use happycow.net to find local vegan-friendly restaurants near you (this app is handy for travel, too).

Infused water with gin for me...beer for Eric

*Not all beer/wine/liquor is vegan, so use Barnivore to see if what you're drinking is 

*Don't be afraid to ask for help - Since so many people have food allergies, servers are used to answering a lot of questions about ingredients.

Don't just say you're a vegan because most people aren't too clear about what that means - Ask specific questions like, "does this bread contain eggs or butter?" or "Is this soup made from vegetable or chicken broth?"

*Consider what's in the kitchen not necessarily what's on the menu - A lot of times there aren't any obvious vegan options on a menu, so try to think about what ingredients are in the kitchen and make a meal out of that. For instance, if there's a mushroom burger (beef patty with sautéed mushrooms) on the menu - you know there's mushrooms in the kitchen, so ask for a mushroom burger (minus the patty) with lettuce, tomato & onion instead.

See this blog post for more details 

*Some vegan options you can usually find on any menu:

-Black bean/veggie burger (check to make sure there isn't any egg in the patty and ask them to skip the cheese)

-Steamed vegetables and rice (make sure there's no butter-you can season it with salt & pepper) 

-Basic salad (skip the cheese & croutons-use balsamic vinaigrette as your dressing) 

-French fries & baked potato

*Skip the restaurant - Sometimes it's just easier not to think about food at all. Consider eating at home before the date and going to a concert, basketball game, movie or play putt-putt golf instead

*Relax!-Try not to let food rule your evening. Enjoy your boo and have a good time

Like I said in this post, vegan life is not uptight.

It's fun and with a few adjustments you will be just fine.

Happy date night!

Whole Foods Grocery Haul | March 2015 (Video)

Whole Foods is where I go to check out all of the new vegan products. I try not to do my "real" weekly shopping there because I tend to just throw stuff we don't need into the cart (they're too expensive for that nonsense lol).

#thestruggle

I get a little too excited when I see that "V" on a product. lol

On this particular trip, we spent $187.94 at Whole Foods.

Our monthly grocery budget is between $650-$700 (sometimes a little more or less depending on what we already have).

Watch the grocery haul video here... 

Recipes mentioned in the video...

Chickpea (vegan tuna) salad sandwich recipe here

Red Beans & Rice recipe here 

Chili recipe here 

Butternut squash, kale & quinoa stew from Lemons & Love blog

Products mentioned in the video....

Earth Balance vegan margarine

Sticky Fingers Bakery (DC bakery)

So Delicious ice cream

Just Mayo (prefer them over Vegenaise)

Synergy kombucha

Field Roast sausage

Beyond Meat Crumbles

Gardein crispy tenders

Check out previous grocery hauls here 

How often do you shop at Whole Foods?

Sweet & Spicy Tofu Stir-Fry | Easy Dinner Recipe

Tofu can be a bit scary.

I'll be the first to admit that there's a learning curve when you start cooking with it.

The first few times I made it at home, I didn't realize most recipes require you to drain and press it to get the texture right.

Because of my ignorance, I had a few major fails of mushy and flavorless tofu!

My family hated it for a while because of this...

I couldn't even blame them!

I wanted to share this easy recipe with you because I think it's a simple introduction to cooking tofu at home.

This recipe does require that you press the tofu for an hour, but you don't have to marinate it (like a lot of other recipes).

Plus the sauce is super simple (3 ingredients) and delicious, so it makes for an easy weeknight meal.

In one of my older videos (for BBQ tofu), I show you how to press the water from tofu using heavy books...

                                                         *Watch it here*

Let me know what you think once you try this recipe! Enjoy :-)

Song playing while I cooked.... Hi-Five "Can't Wait Another Minute"

Sweet & Spicy Tofu Stir-fry

by Brown Vegan

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 20-30 mins

Keywords: fry entree vegan vegetarian

Ingredients (Serves 5)

• (2) 12 oz blocks of extra firm tofu, drained and pressed for an hour
• 1 tablespoon high-heat vegetable oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 cups assorted stir-fry vegetables
• 1 cup sweet chili sauce (found in the International aisle)
• 1/4 cup Sriracha hot sauce (add more for a hotter sauce)
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 4 cups of cooked rice

Instructions

An hour before cooking, wrap each tofu block in a clean, lint-free kitchen cloth.

Place a few heavy books on top and allow the weight to press the water out for an hour (here's what the process looks like in this video https://youtu.be/KC1QXMGETlo?t=9s)

Slice the tofu into even cubes.

Heat the oil in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat.

Add the tofu cubes and allow them to pan fry until golden on one side and then use tongs to turn the pieces.

*If you want a more firm texture, brown at least 4 sides of the tofu*

Set the tofu aside

Saute the garlic and vegetables over medium heat for about 7 minutes, stirring frequently.

In a small bowl, stir together the sauce ingredients-sweet chili sauce, Sriracha & soy sauce.

Pour the sauce and tofu in with the vegetables and mix together until evenly coated.

Serve with rice

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Recipe adapted from Savory Simple

What You Should Do BEFORE You Go Vegan

One of the questions I get often is, "I want to go vegan...where do I start?"

In the latest video I share some tips on how to start a successful vegan journey. 

Watch the video here.....

Recap from the video....

• Write down why you want to be vegan -There's so much power in getting it on paper
• Make the decision that you're going vegan-Something magical happens when you make that declaration! It will open you up to explore, research and do whatever you can to make the full transition to a vegan life.
• Recognize that this journey isn't perfect- I wish going vegan were perfect but even after 5 years it still isn't perfection for me. 
• Plan your meals-Meal planning can be overwhelming; especially since most of us aren't used to planning our meals in detail. Use Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube and vegan cookbooks from the library to get ideas.  Try to focus on what you're already eating and figure out ways to veganize those meals.

I mentioned my podcast at the end of the video...Listen to episodes here