If you’re like me and you’re working from home, you may be in one of two positions: You either want to try a fancy new recipe, or you want to spend as little time as possible in the kitchen.
Lucky for you, I have a recipe that meets both of those criteria: veggie noodle stir fry.
I’ve never cooked veggie noodles before, so when my mom came home with a pack of them from Costco, I felt a little lost. So, I do what any person would do: I went to Pinterest to find a recipe. I found a few recipes for veggie noodle stir fry that sounded good, so I combined them and winged it (is “winged” a word? It is now).
To begin, I pressed some tofu for ten minutes, and fried it in some oil.
While the tofu was cooking I made a spicy peanut sauce by mixing peanut butter, maple syrup, hot sauce, soy sauce, and lime juice. I don’t have specific measurements, so just make it based on your personal taste.
My mom got these butternut squash and kohlrabi veggie noodles from Costco.
Once the tofu was done, I added the veggie noodles and some chopped red peppers and let them cook until they were a little softer.
Add the sauce, mix it all together, and let it cook for a few more minutes.
Top it with green onions and more hot sauce, and enjoy.
There ya have it! What are your favourite ways to cook veggie noodles? I also like them cooked in butter with some garlic! Let me know in the comments.
We know there’s a day to celebrate everything, including waffles.
March 25 is Waffle Day, which is celebrated in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. I decided to celebrate in Canada with a twist on a classic waffle dish, chicken and waffles.
I based my “chicken” and waffles recipe on this recipe from Emilie Eats. I used a normal egg because I didn’t have flax to make a flax egg, and I used Eggo Waffles instead of using her recipe because I don’t have a waffle maker. If you do have a waffle maker, I highly recommend trying her recipe for waffles, because they look amazing.
Can you spot my camera?
Start off by pressing your tofu. You can use a tofu press, or save money and use a cutting board and a heavy object while the tofu is wrapped in a towel, like I did. Let it press for about ten minutes.
After the tofu has been pressed, rip it into chicken nugget-sized pieces and let them soak in vegetable broth for ten minutes. While it’s soaking, you can:
Preheat the oven to 400 F
Prepared a greased baking sheet (or use parchment paper or a baking mat)
Combine half a cup of flour, half a cup of oats, quarter of a cup of cornstarch, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and pepper in a bowl
Combine either ground flax and water or egg and water in another bowl.
Coat the pieces of tofu in the flax or egg mixture, then in the flour mixture.
Bake for 30 minutes, flip them, and then bake for another 30 minutes. I ended up double coating the tofu nuggets, which is why they look like they’re still coated in flour after they’ve been baked. I would recommend only coating them once, because they turned out pretty dry. They were fine when they were covered in maple syrup, though!
Put the nuggets on some waffles, top with maple syrup, and enjoy!
The tofu nuggets actually tasted similar to chicken nuggets, which I was pleasantly surprised about. Usually the taste and texture of tofu is still noticeable, but that isn’t the case with this recipe.
What’s the best waffle you’ve ever had? Let me know in the comments!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I know a lot of celebrations have been cancelled or changed because of everything that’s happening right now, but here’s a smoothie recipe that’s perfect for the occasion.
This is the perfect smoothie to make for breakfast, because it has protein from the protein powder, and caffeine from the matcha.
If you’re like me and you’re not a fan of salads, this smoothie is a great way to get greens like spinach into your diet. No matter what kind of tasty ingredients try to cover up the taste of spinach in a smoothie, I can usually still taste it, but that’s not the case with this smoothie. It tastes like a milkshake, I PROMISE.
This smoothie only requires five ingredients: bananas, spinach, vanilla protein powder, almond milk, and matcha. For those of you who don’t know what matcha is, it’s green tea leaves that have been ground into a powder (I’m a little obsessed with it).
I used frozen ripe bananas and frozen spinach to prevent them from going bad and being thrown out, plus frozen ripe bananas are usually sweeter. I’m a complete newbie when it comes to protein powder. I’m using the Vega Protein & Greens vanilla flavoured protein powder (my mom got it for free from work because her boss didn’t like it, which was a great deal on our end).
I never really measure my ingredients when I’m making a smoothie, but here’s an estimate:
Two frozen bananas
One scoop of protein powder
Two handfuls of spinach (maybe two cups worth?)
A quarter of a teaspoon of matcha
One cup of almond milk
Throw it all in the blender and you’re good to go! To make sure the spinach gets blended really well so I can’t taste it, I put it in first so it’s at the bottom of the blender. That way, everything else puts more pressure on it as it gets blended.
Here are some add-ins you could try to make your smoothie even better:
For some reason I think there’s this misconception that being vegetarian is expensive, but have you seen the price of a pound of ground beef? Or chicken breasts? It can be so easy to be vegetarian and save money, and this BuzzFeed article I found has a bunch of tips for this.
There are 127 comments of advice, but I’ve summed up the most common ones for you:
Pimp your ramen: As every college student knows, ramen is super cheap, but it’s not the best meal. Pimp it up by adding an egg, some peanut butter, green onion, frozen veggies, and any other spices and sauces your heart desires.
Stay away from meat replacements: Sure, it may seem easy to use fake meatballs or chicken fingers every day, but most of the time those meat replacements can get pricey. Stick to whole foods like beans, lentils and nuts for protein, and have the meat replacements as a treat once in a while.
Stock up on frozen veggies: Not only are frozen veggies just as delicious and nutritious as fresh, they’re also usually cheaper. When you’re ready to use the frozen veggies, you can just microwave or steam them, or throw them in a pan and you’re good to go. You can also freeze fresh veggies you know you’re not going to eat before they go bad to prevent waste.
Make one big batch of meals: Not only does spending an hour making a huge batch of something save time, it can also help you save money by buying the ingredients in bulk. One of the comments recommended fajita veggies, and eating them on wraps, tacos, and rice bowls. Soup was also a suggestion that came up a lot for bulk meals, as well.
Buy. In. Bulk: Bulk stores like Bulk Barn are a great place to stock up on things like rice, dried beans, quinoa, and nuts for a lot cheaper (and it cuts down on packaging).
Potatoes: Potatoes are cheap, DELICIOUS, versatile, and filling. What more could you ask for?
Taco Bell: Taco Bell is cheap, and it’s very easy to switch out meat for beans and cheese in things like burritos, quesadillas and tacos.
This week it’s all about Mediterranean food, like these delicious and healthy (okay, maybe minus the tzatziki sauce and feta cheese) Mediterranean chickpea wraps.
I used Midwest Foodie‘s recipe to make chickpea gyros, and it was so easy, quick and delicious.
To start, cook the chickpeas in a pan with olive oil for about eight minutes, then add spices. I used oregano, paprika, parsley, garlic powder, and pepper.
I couldn’t get them crispy like the recipe said, but they were still really tasty, and I prefer cooking them on the stove than in the oven because it’s much faster.
While the chickpeas were cooking, I cut up some baby tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions. If you want some extra veggies, you could also add some lettuce and bell peppers to the mix.
I also used hummus (because what could be better than chickpeas on chickpeas?), tzatziki sauce, and feta, but if you’re trying to be healthy this would still be super tasty without the tzatziki sauce and feta.
Throw it all on a pita, and enjoy. These gyros are filling without being heavy, which makes them perfect for when you’re starving at work but don’t want to be in a food coma all afternoon.
These are also great to meal prep for the week. You can eat them in the pitas (like I have pictured), or I also added some lettuce and made pita chips to eat it as a salad. To make the chips, just cut the pita up, brush with olive oil, garlic powder and pepper, and bake at 375 for seven(ish) minutes.
What’s your favourite Mediterranean food? Let me know in the comments!
Hello again! I took a week off for a vacation Cuba, and I’m now back and only relatively sunburned (which is an accomplishment for me).
Since most of the food I ate at the resort was from a buffet, it was pretty easy for me to avoid meat (or the whole shrimps or whole mini octopi 🤮).
These meals may look pretty similar, but at least they kept me full during the week.
The three things I could always rely on being at the buffet were rice, beans, and a salad bar.
Rice and beans are the perfect base to any meal. They’re a complete protein, are filling, and there are a variety of combinations to keep you from getting sick of them. White rice, Spanish rice, black beans, pinto beans, garbanzo beans, the sky’s the limit.
Salad bars are a delicious way to get your veggies in without only eating spinach. Add some cabbage, shredded beets, cucumbers, green peppers, thousand island dressing, hot sauce, or chilli sauce, and you’re good to go.
Round off your meal and add some variety by loading up on anything else that’s meat-free and looks tasty: pizza, pasta, bread, or French fries.
Finish off your meal with some ice cream. Always.
Ice cream is always a good idea
Of course, there were times when a vegetarian diet was a little tricky, like the time I ordered a veggie pizza and instead got two pieces of bread with three slices of tomato and four cucumbers. The banana chips were good, though.
Surprisingly, this sandwich wasn’t very filling.
What are your tips for finding vegetarian meals while you’re travelling? Let me know in the comments!
Relive the iconic Lady and the Tramp moment with this delicious pasta recipe. The longest part will be caramelizing the onions, so you won’t have to spend all night over a stove.
Pizza is the perfect meal for a movie night in, but the grilled mushrooms and polenta makes this fancier than your typical cheese or pepperoni (plus, it’s meat free).
The only thing cheesier than your Valentine’s Day card will be this spaghetti squash. Just make sure you have some mints on hand, though, because five cloves of garlic won’t make for the best breath.
Parmesan isn’t technically vegetarian, but I’m sure this would be delicious with another cheese. Maybe it’s just me and my student budget, but stuffed mushrooms seem so ~fancy~. The author of the recipe uses these as an appetizer and as a main dish, and I think they would be delicious as either.
It can be easy to get into a rut when it comes to recipes. You find a recipe you like, you make it for two weeks straight, and then one morning you realize you’re sick of it, so you need to try to find something new to make.
But the question is, where do you find new recipes?
I’m no better than anyone else in the situation, but I’m going to share with you some of my favourite places to find new recipes.
Pinterest
Not surprisingly, Pinterest is the holy grail of recipes. No matter what kind of recipe you’re looking for, they’re going to have hundreds of choices for you. Plus, Pinterest tailors your home feed based on what pages you visit and Pins you save, so you’ll be able to find even more recipes to add to your repitoire.
Instagram
Instagram isn’t just for posting your selfies or Boomerangs of wine night with your girlfriends, it also has a huge vegan and vegetarian community. Hashtags like #vegetarianfood have millions of recipes and ideas to change up your meals. Again, the more posts of vegetarian food you interact with, more posts of vegetarian foods will show up on your Discover page.
Buzzfeed and Tasty Vegetarian
I’m going to be honest, I love Buzzfeed. I love their quizzes, their shopping posts, and especially their food posts and cooking videos. They make it easy to find new recipes to try by compiling a bunch of creative, vegetarian recipes into one article or video.
Friends, family and word of mouth
I’m lucky to have a lot of friends who are vegetarian, so I’ve been able to get recipe ideas from them. If you’re not friends with any vegetarians, try a Facebook group for vegetarians in your area.
Meat-free versions of food I’m craving
These days, you can make meat-free versions of practically anything, so sometimes when I’m craving a dish with meat in it, I’ll find a meat-free recipe for it online. A few of my favourites have been tacos, buffalo “wings”, and bolognese.
What’s your favourite way to find vegetarian recipes? Let me know in the comments!
There are some people who don’t eat breakfast. There’s a bunch of different reasons: they’re not hungry in the morning, they don’t have time, they always forget.
I am definitely not one of those people, I’m a breakfast person through and through. Making filling, somewhat healthy breakfasts that are quick and easy can be a challenge, though. Although I love breakfast, I’m pretty picky in the mornings. I have to be in a very specific mood for a smoothie. I don’t like eggs. I’m usually just craving a bagel, which is not healthy to eat every morning. And now, I haven’t been eating meat for breakfast. So here’s five of my recent go-to breakfasts that are pretty quick and easy to eat, and will keep me full all morning.
Banana matcha smoothie
When I am in the mood for a smoothie, I usually like them more sweet than fruity. I love to use this recipe from Food Faith Fitness as a base because it’s super simple: bananas, almond milk, and matcha. Depending on my mood, I’ll add some spinach, peanut butter, and maybe even some cocoa powder to change it up. Plus the matcha gives it a little boost of caffeine, which I desperately need in the mornings.
Beans and toast
This may sound like a really weird breakfast, but this has been my go-to breakfast lately. Eating beans for breakfast is more of a British thing, but I saw my favourite YouTubers eating it and I thought it would be pretty easy, tasty, and filling, and I was right. All I do is microwave some maple-flavoured beans (if you want to be really traditional, you can use the tomato sauce flavoured), toast some bread, and either dump the beans on the toast, or put the beans in a bowl and dip the bread in them, depending on if you have time to sit down and eat or if you’re running out the door (like I usually am).
Veggie hash
When I have some more time in the morning (mostly on the weekends), I love making a veggie hash. It’s a great way to start my morning off with some veggies and to use up whatever veggies I have left in my fridge at the end of the week. Chop up some potatoes (or use frozen hash browns to make it even easier), fry them with a little bit of oil, and add in whatever veggies you want. Some of my favourites are bell peppers, spinach, onions, mushrooms, and garlic. Sautee until they’re soft, top with a fried egg (if you’re into that), hot sauce and ketchup, and you’re good to go.
This veggie hash is the perfect way to start off a Saturday.
Chickpea Flour Omelette
If I’m feeling like eggs without actually eating eggs, I’ll make my chickpea flour omelette. Fill it with veggies and cheese and eat it with some toast, and you’ve got a hearty, filling meal. To make it even easier, you can make the omelettes ahead of time, so all you need to do is heat it up and add the toppings.
Granola with yogurt and fruit
I got this salty and sweet veggie-infused granola from Vegnola in my stocking for Christmas, and it’s delicious. It’s made with peanut butter, chia seed, oats, and sweet potato. Yup, you read that right, sweet potatoes! I like to eat it with vanilla yogurt and berries when I’m not super hungry, but I know I’m going to need a little something to get me through the morning.
What’s your favourite vegetarian breakfast? Let me know in the comments!
Monday was Blue Monday, a.k.a. the most depressing day of the year. I’ve been feeling it– extremely busy, tired, and all-around blah. Because of this, I definitely haven’t been in the mood to meal-prep extravegant meals. Enter: The easiest meal you may ever make (other than ramen).
You’re only going to need three ingredients:
Broccoli
Uncle Ben’s Bistro Express rice
Yves Brocolli Bites
Plus, it’s really easy to make. Boil or steam the broccoli, microwave the rice for 90 seconds, and heat up the broccoli bites (the package says to cook them in a pan, but I find they’re fine if you microwave them). Put them in some containers for the week, and add whatever sauces and seasonings you want. I like to add Frank’s RedHot (of course). It all comes together in about 10 minutes (depending on how fast your stove can boil water).
This is also super customizable. Uncle Ben’s has so many different flavours of rice, Yves has a few different flavours of bites, and you can use any vegetables you have in your fridge.
Uncle Ben’s Bistro Express rice is usually on sale, so I always have a few of these stocked in my pantry in case I need an easy lunch.
One bag of rice and one pack of Broccoli Bites usually makes enough for two meals, so I’m set for a couple of days. And that’s it, easy peasy.
What are your favourite quick and easy meals? Let me know in the comments!
Sarah's Veggie Venture 