Tag: Vegan Food

Vegan Food

Easy Homemade Vegan Bread

Samantha

Bread. My worst frenemy. I love it so much, but my hips feel otherwise. I don’t normally eat sandwich bread (lies, because avocado toast is now my new best friend), and the one time I hoard bread in my cheeks like a hamster is at Italian restaurants. So we made pasta one night and I thought, hey, why not make some bread, instead of going to the store to buy some with ingredients I don’t know about? My quest filled my home with the heavenly aroma of fresh baked bread. I know you smell it as I read it and want your home to smell the same too. Well do it. If the bread doesn’t come out great, at least you can thank it for the heavenly scents. Give it a shot and let me know what you think!

VEGAN HOMEMADE BREAD – WHAT YOU NEED

DIRECTIONS

  1. Prep one half of your work surface with a dusting of flour
  2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt and yeast
  3. Put your wooden spoon in the middle of the bowl and create a medium-sized hole–fill this hole with the water and the oil
  4. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and work the mixture into a large ball
  5. Put your dough ball on the surface covered with flour
  6. Grease your second large bowl in preparation for the dough
  7. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes then place the dough in your greased bowl, loosely cover it with a thin towel or tea towel and let it rest for about 2 hours
  8. After 1.5-2 hours, preheat your oven to 375 degrees, then knead the dough on your floured work surface until you remove all the air bubbles
  9. Divide the dough in half. Set one half aside and the other half in your pan and into the oven once preheated
  10. Bake for 40 minutes
  11. Once this roll is ready, let it cool on a rack and use the same pan for your second roll of dough
  12. Voila! Enjoy with vegan butter.

Question of the Day

What is your guys’ favorite baked bread?

Vegan Cruelty Free, Vegan Food, weight loss

An Easy (Healthy) Vegan Meal – Avocado Toast

Samantha

Eating out as a vegan usually isn’t hard, but it can be boring, especially in your run-of-the-mill brunch places. My husband and I are fancy, yes, but we aren’t brunch fancy. Don’t get me wrong, I still drink my Evian with my pinky up 😉

I digress. We went to brunch with our lovely neighbors to switch it up (hi neighbors!) and it was a great time! Especially since I had more options than just oatmeal or a side of potatoes. On the menu was (drum roll please) avocado toast! Sorry for the spoiler.

Now believe it or not, but I may be the only vegan on the planet who has never eaten avocado toast. I can hear your gasp, I know. Well, I dove right into the millennial hype and had some and I gotta say, it was ah-may-zing. So I set out to recreate it. Here my friends, is my gift to you: healthy avocado toast.

Healthy Vegan Avocado Toast – What You Need

  • 1 slice of bread (toasted to your preference)
  • 1 tsp of vegan butter
  • 1/2 to 1/4 (depending on the size) of a soft avocado
  • 3-5 grape or cherry tomatoes
  • Everything But the Bagel (EBTB) Seasoning
  • 1/4 of a lemon
  • Red pepper flakes (optional)
  • A handful of arugula (optional)

Directions

  1. Toast your bread
  2. As your bread toasts:
    1. Cut your avocado in half and save the other half or the other quarter (depending on how big your avocado is)
    2. Cut your lemon into a quarter (you’ll only need a pinch, so you’ll end up saving the whole lemon)
    3. Half your cherry or grape tomatoes
  3. Once your bread pops up, spread a bit of your favorite vegan butter (you only need a bit)
  4. Dice your avocado and smush it onto the toast and press down throughout with a fork (really smash it in there)
  5. Top with a handful of arugula and also press that in with your fork.
  6. Top with your grape tomatoes (cut side up for artistic effect and to impress your friends)
  7. Sprinkle EBTB Seasoning on top
  8. Sprinkle with some red pepper flakes (if you like if spicy)
  9. Squeeze a bit of your lemon across the top of your avocado toast
  10. Enjoy!

Question of the Day

Have you tried avocado toast? If so, do you top it with balsamic vinaigrette? What are your favorite toppings?

Vegan Cruelty Free, Vegan Desserts, Vegan Food

Vegan Orange Cranberry Scones

Samantha

Do you ever walk into a Starbucks coffee shop and just ogle the baked goods case, because girl you know I do, and 0/10 something entices me…mostly because there’s absolutely 0 things vegan and partly because ya girl is trying to lost some L Bs.

I was working out of our Chicago office one day and a scone was calling my name when I went to get my latte. And so, the vegan orange cranberry scones below were born and let me tell you, ya’ll will take one taste and thank me. Not to toot my own horn (toot toot) but I verbally said I’m proud of myself after I tasted this scone so if you need a nice little self-esteem boost, make these vegan scones stat. It also works as a quick and easy vegan breakfast recipe or vegan dessert recipe.

Vegan Orange Cranberry Scones – What You Need

  • 1 medium sized orange (for zest and 2 tbsp of juice)
  • 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Unbleached All-purpose Flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/4 cup vegan sugar (I used Truvia and don’t care for the after taste, so I would recommend another vegan sugar of your choice)
  • 3 twists of salt
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1 cup canned coconut milk – be sure to not use the low-fat one
  • 1 cup dried cranberries (or cherries would work well in this too)
  • 1 9-inch circular baking tray

DIRECTIONS

  1. Combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar)
  2. Add in the orange zest and add in 2 tbsp of orange juice
  3. Melt the coconut oil and stir it into your dough
  4. Stir in coconut milk
  5. Fold in the dried cranberries and mix until combined.
  6. Move the dough into your baking tray, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes
  7. Preheat the oven to 400F
  8. Pull the tray out of the fridge and draw a knife through the dough to make even triangles
  9. Bake for 30 minutes, then cool for 10 minutes

The scones came out nice and soft and somewhat crumbly, and one will certainly fill you up!

If you try these, let us know what you think!

Question of the Day

What is your favorite vegan baked good?

Vegan Cruelty Free, Vegan Desserts, Vegan Food

3 Ingredient Vegan Sugar Cookies – My First Attempt

Samantha

I’m about to leave on a work (kind of) trip and decided to leave my husband with my some treats. So I chose to make something easy [read: something I can knock out quickly and will still remind my husband what he’s missing while I’m away 😉 jk]. After going through my pantry, I decided to make some sugar cookies with my pre-packaged mixture, so if you have just 30 minutes to bust out dessert for any reason or have a strong craving for something sweet, try these out and let me know how they come out for you!

3-Ingredient Vegan Sugar Cookies – What You Need

  • 1 packet of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie mix
  • 1 tbsp egg replacer
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 4 ounces of vegan butter

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. As the oven preheats, mix 1 tbsp of egg replacer with 2 tbsp of water and let sit for one minute
  3. As that sits, empty your bag of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie mix into a large bowl
  4. Add 4 ounces of vegan butter of your choice (I measured 4 oz. out on my food scale)
  5. Mix the butter with the cookie mix and add in the “egg” then stir, stir, and stir until it forms kind of a dough
  6. Take a spoonful into your hands and form into little balls
  7. Place the balls on your silpat or pan and gently push down, you can also smash gently with a fork for those artisan feels
  8. Pop in the oven and bake for 21-25 minutes depending on your oven–check how they look at about the 15-minute mark
  9. When they’re golden brown around the edges, they’re done!
  10. Let the cookies cool off of the pan, preferably on an elevated wire base

I noticed the cookies will be hard-ish at first but the next day, they were nice and soft!

If you try this recipe, let me know what you think and how it turned out for you!

Question of the Day

What is your go-to dessert recipe?

Vegan Cruelty Free, Vegan Food, vegan lifestyle, weight loss

Wednesday Vegan Eats for Vegan Weight Loss

Samantha

It’s been a rough couple of months since the new year guys. Am I the only one or can anyone else relate? I was motivated, decided to fall off the wagon (totally consciously), and get back on the wagon at full speed again. If you struggle with yo-yo dieting, this Wednesday weight loss tip will resonate with you. As soon as I changed my point of view to this line of thinking, it was like a huge lift off my shoulders. The revelation?

If you keep telling yourself that you’re on a diet, you’ll keep perpetuating the idea that you have weight to lose. If you go about life as you enjoy it, you won’t keep restricting yourself.

I know. Try it and let me know how it goes!

Vegan Breakfast Option

I normally don’t eat breakfast as you all know. I’m just not hungry enough! This morning though, I worked out and figured I would nourish my body for the hard work it put in in the morning–and instead I went back to my old habits.

Workout: 30 min. Run+walk on the treadmill

Breakfast: I planned to have Apples and Cinnamon Oatmeal, but had my usual Nespresso latte with 8 ounces of unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

Vegan Lunch Option

Many days, lunch is spent at my desk while working. Lately, I’ve been trying to get better at taking a break and truly stepping away from all the screens.

Activity: Stood while working :/

Lunch: healthy life low calorie bread with daiya provolone cheese and light life bologna. Side of cherub tomatoes (ate the tomatoes before they had a chance at a photo)

Going Out as a Vegan

My colleagues and I went out for a quick drink after work. I usually get wine but switched it up and got what the restaurant called a Moscow Muddler. Was good! We also had some appetizers of hummus with pita and fries.

Vegan Dinner Option

I was kind of lost for what to do for dinner. I usually meal plan, but with how busy I’ve been since I started my job over a year ago, it’s been tough! So I made do with the Apples and Cinnamon oatmeal I planned for breakfast. Sorry, forgot the picture!

Question of the Day

What is your favorite go to vegan lunch option?