Potatoes – The Spicy Spatula

International vegan cuisine, oil free vegan recipes, Potatoes, Vegan

Vegan Junk Food ~ Mediterranean Style Vegan Gyro Fries

Posted on April. 2022April. 2022 by writinstuff

I don’t have cheat days but there are days where I’ll request a dish that has more calories or fat than I usually do. This is part of my effort to maintain and continue my weight loss without getting bogged down in the notion that I have to eat like an Olympian just to be fit and healthy.

With some caveats. When it comes to vegan junk food, I am no different than any other vegan on the planet. I want to try out new vegan foods when they come on the market but I don’t want to succumb to the craze of just constant over-the-top dishes. So these vegan gyro fries are delicious and a splurge but not as much as they could have been.

And I should add that I did eat these on my workout day to mitigate some of the damage because those last few kilos are really hard to lose!!!

Vegan gyro fries are the perfect vegan junk food

I’ll give you a few tips and ingredients that you can add to enhance your culinary experience, or to change out ingredients you might not like.

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Bowls, Cheese, Potatoes, Vegan

Retro Comfort Food ~ Vegan Mashed Potato Casserole

Posted on April. 2022April. 2022 by writinstuff

I don’t know about you all out there in the world but when I was a kid I loved a good mashed potato casserole. Sometimes it would be like an off-shot of a Shepherd’s Pie with ground beef and peas, other times it would just be straight up cheesy goodness with some animal served on the side.

Check out this vegan comfort food recipe: Vegan Schnitzel & Cheesy Pasta

However it was done, I loved nothing more than an old-fashioned mashed potato casserole. So I decided, why not take this classic recipe and veganize it?

Why not, indeed?

The key to any good mashed potato casserole is, of course, the mashed potatoes, which leaves you free to do whatever else you please…if you want anything else at all.

This recipe is pretty easy to complete, very delicious and it promises to provide loads of comfort, whether you need it or not!

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one pot recipes, Potatoes, Vegan

Creamy Vegan Potato Chowder

Posted on April. 2022April. 2022 by writinstuff

So this is my second time making vegan potato chowder. The first time I made this vegan chowder, I followed (mostly) a recipe that appeared on my Facebook timeline and it came out…all right. There was nothing wrong with it but it wasn’t quite as thick and creamy as I’d been hoping for.

So, this is vegan potato chowder…take two!

This time I decided to just wing it. Okay, not wing it in reality but I took my time to get a thick bisque-like chowder that people are always raving about. Also, I kept it simple. Instead of overloading the dish with veggies that might overpower the potatoes, I kept the vegan ingredients list to a minimum.

Let’s get to today’s vegan chowdah!

Gather your ingredients and let’s get started!

If you like my silicone oven pads, check out similar ones here!

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Bowls, International vegan cuisine, Potatoes, Vegan

Easy Vegan Colcannon ~ Cabbage & Leek Colcannon

Posted on March. 2022March. 2022 by writinstuff

I know, I know, St. Paddy’s day was yesterday and I had a blast, thanks for asking.

You may not know this, but I grew up in Chicago and we did March 17th right always. Thanks to a large Irish population the city has many ways to help celebrate, including the annual tradition of turning the Chicago River green! So though I am only adopted Irish, it’s proximity to my birthday has always been the kick-off to my own birthday celebrations.

This year was no different.

I mean, I was hoping that I could make vegan corned beef this year but coming across vital wheat gluten (seitan) has been harder than finding gold or BitCoin so I decided to try something a little different.

If you’re interested, check out my Seitan Gyros recipe!

Colcannon. I’ve always had a fascination with this dish but thanks to many, many, MANY years of loathing kale, I’ve stayed away. And since we all know that I recently amended my opinion of the dark leafy green with my Kale Stir Fry, I figured a vegan Colcannon was an excellent way to switch things up.

So…here we are.

Happy Friday and let’s get into this quick and easy vegan recipe for St. Patrick’s Day, Sunday dinner or any damn day you please!

This recipe is pretty easy and incredibly delicious. and a perfect way to use up leftover leafy greens.

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Bowls, Plant Based, Potatoes, Vegan

Tex-Mex Vegan Mashed Potato Bowls

Posted on March. 2022March. 2022 by writinstuff

Just in case you were wondering:

~Yes, I do eat things other than ramen noodles and other Asian style noodles.
~Yes, I do eat things other than curry and other Asian food.

Okay, now that we’ve cleared that up, lets talk about this quick and easy vegan bowl recipe that you will almost certainly love. It features another of my all-time favorite foods. Potatoes.

As evidence, I point to my Mongolian Mashed Potatoes, or Vegan Buffalo Strips & Mash. If you’re curious about other recipes featuring mashed potatoes, just search the blog here.

Tex-Mex or Southwest style mashed potato bowls.

Easy vegan weeknight dinner – Tex-Mex Mashed Potato Bowls

The great thing about this easy vegan meal is that you can switch it up and change it to whatever cuisine you like, or you can simply exhaust all options for Tex-Mex before moving on to something else.

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Potatoes, Sides, Vegan

Lazy Vegan Meals ~ Vegan Fried Chicken, BBQ Cauliflower & Baked Fries

Posted on March. 2022March. 2022 by writinstuff

Hey vegans, wannabe vegans and almost there vegans! Things are a little crazy this week as I am at the tail end–finally–of my fifth book in the Mustang Prairie series so between my day job as a writer and my night job as an author, things are chaotic.

Crazy.

Busy.

So not only am I being a lazy vegan but I’m going to pass on my lazy meal to you.

Now, if you’re expecting ‘lazy’ to mean pop a vegan pizza in the oven, you’re way off base. I have yet to find a vegan pizza that I love enough to waste the calories so no. No way. Nope. Not even a little bit. But if you have any recommendations, drop links in the comments.

When I say lazy vegan meals, I mean that I let the oven do all, if not most, of the work.

Here’s what a lazy vegan meal looks like:

BBQ Cauliflower, Baked Fries & Vegan Schnitzel

As you can see from the photo, this is a lazy vegan recipe with just a handful of ingredients.

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Bowls, Plant Based, Potatoes, Vegan

Vegan Buffalo Strips & Mashed Potato Buddha Bowl

Posted on January. 2022January. 2022 by writinstuff

The day before grocery day, if you have a planned day that is, can be a little tricky when it comes to finding a well-balanced and delicious meal. We’ve all been there, right?

Sometimes figuring out meals when the fridge and pantry is light on offerings can feel a lot like the movie Friday, there’s not a lot of things that go together. Who says things have to go together? Grab what you’ve got and turn it into a healthy and delicious Buddha bowl.

This is my everything-but-the-kitchen-sink Vegan Buddha Bowl.

The best thing about this vegan Buddha bowl? It doesn’t matter if you only a little bit of a lot of different ingredients. Grab a sheet pan, season it all and pop it in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, for a quick and easy sheet pan Buddha bowl.

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International vegan cuisine, Pasta, Plant Based, Potatoes, Sides, Vegan

Vegan Sides Great for Any Holiday Dinner

Posted on December. 2021December. 2021 by writinstuff

With the holidays right around the corner, many vegans will have a tough choice to make. Should I make a side diesh to bring to family dinner and risk that no one will eat it, or should I just show up and hope for something more to eat than salad and dinner rolls?

Not gonna lie, it can be a difficult choice, made much easier by everything else that’s going on. You could opt to stay home and still make enough food to feel a small army and thereby negating your need to cook for a few days.

Either way, I have a few options that are mostly easy, totally delicious and not too time consuming to make.

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International vegan cuisine, Plant Based, Potatoes, Sauces & Creams, Vegan

Vegan Junk Food ~ Vegan Animal Fries

Posted on December. 2021December. 2021 by writinstuff

Sometimes you have to take a break from your healthy eating regimen and just go a little big garbage-y. Right?

I’m not really a person that subscribes to so-called cheat days, at least I try not to be, but if I’m having a craving for something then I’ll just go with it–in moderation–and eat something better for the next meal or the next day. But my go-to hack for vegan junk food is to keep the portion sizes adequate and that seems to work for me.

I’d rather finish my plate and want more than push away from the table in regret.

But that’s just me.

Vegan animal fries with homemade burger sauce

So when The Husband requested Animal Fries for dinner the other night, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do, I just had to be very careful how I weighed everything out so we could get enough of everything to make it proper vegan animal fries without going overboard. The last time I made Beyond Animal Fries, they were incredibly delicious but also packed with calories and fat and just…junk.

So I added more ingredients but in a lesser quantity. Intrigued?

Keep reading…

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Breakfast, Grains, International vegan cuisine, Potatoes, Vegan

Vegan Breakfast Recipes ~ Vegan Sausage & Potato Hash

Posted on November. 2021November. 2021 by writinstuff

I’m going to let you guys in on a little secret. I don’t eat breakfast. I drink about half a liter of water in the morning before I have my single cup of coffee (with brown sugar and almond milk), and a little later I pop a few vitamins. That’s it.

I know “they” say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but is it? I mean, most breakfast food isn’t really all that conducive to getting a productive start to your day. Pancakes or waffles? Tons of protein in the form of vegan eggs, meat alternatives, various types of vegan bacon which often include added fat and sugar to anything, whether it’s carrot bacon or mushroom bacon. Then there are potatoes, which can honestly do no wrong in my book, but who wants to feel sluggish and lethargic before you’ve even fired up your laptop to start working?

Not me.

I guess you could say that I am an intuitive eater, though not consciously. If the hubs makes the coffee a little too strong and I need something to settle my coffee, I’ll eat something. If I’m hungry, I will eat something. Otherwise, I skip the first meal of the day and I usually eat what I call ‘day meal’ and ‘evening meal’ with a snack or two tossed in there somewhere.

Do what that information what you will.

*Shrugs*

Now, does that mean i turn my nose up at all breakfast foods? No way, man! I have very fond memories of the days of brunch, and boozy breakfasts in college and my absolute favorite breakfast food in the world, the breakfast burrito. It just means that I don’t eat it first thing in the morning.

Breakfast for dinner is one of the greatest creations since the smartphone and e-books, and let me just tell ya, it is my JAM! American style breakfast, English breakfast, vegan corned beef hash or any other type of breakfast, it’s all right by me as long as it’s not in the morning.

So, let’s dig into this easy vegan breakfast recipe that you can eat for any meal you want because you’re an adult and you can do what you want.

Track Your Nutrition & Health Data with cronometer.com

Now the first thing I want to tell you about this easy vegan recipe is that it is SUPER easy to make. You don’t have to love to cook, be a proficient home cook or any of that jazz. All you have to do is collect four basic ingredients, raid your spice cabinet and you’re good to go.

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