easy vegan dinner recipes

Casseroles, Cheese, oil free vegan recipes, one pot recipes, Vegan

Cheesy Vegan Cauliflower & Potato Casserole

Posted on November. 2022November. 2022 by writinstuff

One pot recipes. They are a staple in most households because they’re easy and–often–contain vegan cheese, but that’s not always the case.

One pot vegan meals are wonderful if you’re a busy vegan like me, consumed with a ghostwriting career, publishing romance novels and sharing yummy vegan recipes with the world. And when the weather gets chilly and sunlight fades too soon, sometimes you just want a vegan meal that is quick and easy, and doesn’t require using all the dishes in the kitchen.

Am I right?

This particular vegan dinner recipe is similar to casseroles I’ve eaten most of my life as a born & bred girl of the Midwest. Take a bunch of veggies, add potatoes and cheese and you have yourself a casserole! It brings back wonderful memories of a time when calories and nutrition meant very little to me and all that mattered was the ooey-gooey dish baking in the oven…and eating two helpings. At least.

These days it’s more of a convenience and a way to indulge in a mostly guilt-free way. Feel me?

Anyway this vegan dinner recipe is pretty simple, had limited ingredients and is so delicious everyone will swear you slaved in the kitchen for hours.

Fingers crossed.

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one pot recipes, Plant Based, Vegan

Easy Vegan One Pot Meals ~ Oven Roasted Veggies

Posted on November. 2022November. 2022 by writinstuff

Don’t you just love a good one pot vegan meal? Not only do you get to minimize the amount of dishes used while cooking, but you usually don’t have to stand over the stove and stir and wait.

And stir and wait.

Today’s vegan recipe is a riff on a recipe that my mother-in-law makes that I love. The major difference is that I’ve significantly reduced the amount of oil in this dish and added more waste free broth instead. And there’s no meat or meat alternative served on the side.

This vegan recipe works as a lazy weekend meal or one of those empty the refrigerator meals when it’s almost time to go shopping…but not quite yet. It’s quick and easy, and your kitchen equipment will do most of the heavy lifting here.

I will warn you, this dish isn’t pretty or fancy and it is nowhere close to gourmet. But it is tasty and vegan and easy, and I hope you like it.

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Bowls, Grains, International vegan cuisine, oil free vegan recipes, Vegan

Easy Vegan Soul Food ~ Kohlrabi Greens & Smoked Tofu Dinner

Posted on October. 2022October. 2022 by writinstuff

I don’t know about you guys but I grew up on soul food. Delicious, fill up your heart–and arteries–soul food.

After years of enjoying a vegan lifestyle, I still have a slight longing for soul food on occasion. But the thing I want with my vegan soul food is fewer calories and more heart healthy choices but with the essence of my granny’s soul food.

Here in Romania the soul food choices are…not the same and that’s okay. I don’t need it to be exactly the same but one of the things I crave often, especially during the fall & winter months is greens. If I were at home in the US then it would be collard or mustard greens, but alas those are not options here so I have to get creative.

One way I do this is with turnip greens but a quick trip to the supermarket recently gave me another creative option. Kohlrabi greens.

Yeah, that kohlrabi. I was browsing the grocery store and found a bin of kohlrabi but there was twice as many leaves as there were vegetables so I moved to the side adn did what any good vegan would, I Googled ‘can you eat kohlrabi greens’ and found a quick and easy answer.

Yes, you can eat them. You can cook them the way you cook pretty much any dark leafy greens from spinach to kale to collard greens.

SCORE!!

I grabbed a few hundred grams that had been discarded by other shoppers, stuffed them into my mesh produce bag and happily paid pennies for them at checkout.

Now, let’s see what I did to turn kohlrabi greens into a delicious vegan soul food dinner!

Smoked kohlrabi greens, smoked tofu & couscous

This is a quick and easy vegan soul food dinner that’s sure to please any crowd!

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Asian Food, Bowls, International vegan cuisine, Noodles, oil free vegan recipes, Salads, Sides, Vegan

Vegan Banana Blossom “Meat” & Hong Kong Style Noodles w/ Crunchy Vegan Side Salad

Posted on October. 2022October. 2022 by writinstuff

Yep, here we are again back in my vegan kitchen with noodles on the menu. I know what you’re thinking, does this chick eat anything other than noodles? The answer is yes, I do eat plenty of other grains but Asian cuisine is my favorite and I love to experiment with it.

And I love to eat noodles.

It’s somewhat of a comfort food for me in that it is the perfect backup when I’m testing out a new recipe because noodles make everything better. If I screw it up, at least we’re having noodles, right?

So there are noodles but there are also banana blossoms. Don’t judge because I know what you’re thinking, here we go with another of those specialty ingredients that are impossible for normal vegans to find. I would have said the same thing, except I was just browsing the Asian section of Kaufland and happened up these canned banana blossoms in water. Of course I grabbed them, because all these vegan chefs have been making everything out of it from vegan fish to vegan chicken and I was curious to try it out.

But deep frying? Not for me, please and thank you. I decided to keep it simple and go with a sauteed version that does still serve as a vegan meat alternative, but subtly so.

And this dish is the end result.

Delicious vegan noodles with banana blossoms

This vegan dish is easy to make and it feels as if it takes a lot more time than it does, which means its a great way to impress vegans and non-vegans alike!

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Asian Food, International vegan cuisine, Plant Based, Vegan

Easy Vegan Kung Pao Brussels Sprouts Recipe

Posted on October. 2022October. 2022 by writinstuff

When it comes to Brussels sprouts there are usually two types of people: those who love Brussels sprouts and those who have bad taste. Hahaha, just kidding! Seriously though if you have a love-hate relationship with Brussels sprouts, I have a easy vegan recipe that is guaranteed to change your mind.

It’s Brussels sprouts season here in Romania and pretty much around the world, which means there’s plenty of time to experiment and find a way to eat Brussels sprouts that you absolutely love.

Why?

For starters this cruciferous vegetable can help you with health issues such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease. It can also help stave off many different types of cancer. And I mean who doesn’t love baby cabbage?

I personally love Brussels sprouts and this week I found a new (to me) recipe to challenge my husband and change the way we think about Brussels sprouts. Kung Pao Brussels sprouts is a fun twist on a Chinese takeout favorite that is totally vegan, super flavorful and really easy to make.

So, let’s get to it, shall we?

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Grains, International vegan cuisine, Italian, oil free vegan recipes, Pasta, Vegan

Vegan Tuna Orecchiette with Lemon & Capers

Posted on August. 2022August. 2022 by writinstuff

Back in my early 20’s I spent a lot of time learning, or rather re-learning how to cook because my grandmothers cook mostly soul food and my dad was (and is) a huge steak eater and that was pretty much my culinary education. Well unless you count making those Lipton rice packets and ramen noodles, a la nearly every college student ever.

Anyway I watched a lot of Food Network to learn more about cooking. The basics, different ingredients and how they worked together, why we do certain things like rinse or drain pasta. I learned a lot and one of the things that stuck with me was a love of orecchiette.

Weird, right?

Anyway Tyler Florence, Rachel Ray and even Ina Garten used these little pasta “ears” in a variety of ways that I always enjoyed and so whenever I find them, they find their way into my shopping cart. That’s just the way it is.

Not sure what orecchiette is or how to identify it, check it out here.

When it was my partner’s turn to cook I have him just a few parameters about what I wanted: orecchiette, lemons, capers and vegan tuna. “Do what you want,” was my only other direction and this dish is what he came up with.

It’s simple and delicious and earned him two gigantic thumbs up. Ok, I have normal size thumbs but you get what I’m saying, right?

Let’s get to the kitchen and make some vegan food!

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Asian Food, Bowls, International vegan cuisine, oil free vegan recipes, Plant Based, Vegan

Vegan Fried Rice & Vitasia Veggie Spring Rolls

Posted on August. 2022August. 2022 by writinstuff

Here’s a secret I want to share with you all. Sometimes I can be a bit of a food snob and it’s not necessarily one of those instances where I believe that I’m too good for a certain type or food product but more so that I’m very distrusting of a lot of pre-packaged foods and it gives me extreme anxiety so I just avoid them. This is especially true when it comes to bagged or any other pre-packaged salad products, thanks to a childhood of recalls that left me deathly afraid of food poisoning and other food borne illnesses.

But the more this vegan food blog grows, the more I try to step out of my comfort zone to try new vegan food products because I know I’m not the only one. So when I was at Lidl this week and came across a package of veggie spring rolls from Vitasia, I took a long hard look at the ingredients list and decided to give it a shot.

What goes well with vegan spring rolls? Well to be honest plenty of things but my Hubs requested veggie fried rice so that’s what we went with and it was pretty dang delicious. Mostly.

I wanted to make a quick and easy vegan meal that was plant based and delicious, so I kept it simple but please, tell me what you prefer to eat with vegan spring rolls?

The pre-packaged spring rolls came with those little packets of what I still call duck sauce even though I have always and only eaten them with egg rolls, but I improvised and added a few things to them, which we will talk about.

DO you have a favorite brand of vegan egg rolls? Brand names & links welcome in the comments!

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Grains, International vegan cuisine, Italian, Pasta, Sauces & Creams, Vegan

Easy Vegan Dinners ~ Creamy Vegan Tagliatelle w/ Chanterelle Mushrooms

Posted on August. 2022August. 2022 by writinstuff

I don’t know how to say this without sounding weird so I’m just gonna say it. I have an ongoing love affair with mushrooms. I LOVE some Pleurotus(oyster) mushrooms and I will use them whenever possible. They are great as a vegan meat alternative, especially if you’re looking for something like Vegan MInce Stuffed Mushrooms, Shredded Vegan BBQ Pork or King Oyster scallops, but they also work well in so many vegan applications that I literally never get tired of eating them.

But there’s also shitake mushrooms, enoki and even wood ear mushrooms, which are great pickled, all of which hold special places in my heart. But chanterelle mushrooms? These elusive beauties are hard to find in even the largest grocery stores throughout Europe so you know when I find them, I always grab a box. Or two.

There is just one huge, glaring downside to Chanterelle mushrooms. They are dirty. So, so dirty. And yeah, that is a good thing because they are natural and all that jazz, but they can also be a gigantic bitch to clean. After many years of trying–and failing–different methods of cleaning chanterelle mushrooms without noshing on grit and rocks, I’ve finally figured it out and I’m going to share it with you because everyone should be eating this fungi especially if you’re vegan and doubly especially if you have a mushroom addiction.

As soon as I spotted these golden babies I knew exactly what I wanted. Okay well not exactly but I knew tagliatelle pasta would be involved and some kind of cream sauce. So when I got home, that’s where I started and this is where I ended up.

Chanterelle mushrooms & creamy vegan pasta sauce

What’s your favorite quick and easy vegan dinner recipe?

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Grains, International vegan cuisine, Italian, Pasta, Sauces & Creams, Vegan

Easy Creamy Vegan Chicken Alfredo

Posted on May. 2022May. 2022 by writinstuff

Hello, my beautiful people. Today we have another quick and easy recipe because I am–still–knee deep editing Mustang Prairie so I can get it off to the editor as soon as possible. I promise not to skimp on details for this delicious weeknight vegan dinner, but I’m also not going to give you some long backstory on the recipe.

But there will be a short backstory, lol.

Does anyone watch Love After Lockup? Anyway someone suggested it and I decided to give it a shot this season and one of the former inmates blew off the girl that had been waiting for him for over a decade while he was in prison, to go to a strip club which isn’t the worst part of the story, if you can believe it.

His excuse? The strip club has “bomb ass shrimp alfredo”. Yep, you read that right. he blew her off for strip club alfredo, which is what I named this recipe in my Cronometer App but for reader, Google and SEO purposes, I’ve switched it up.

This is a quick and easy vegan recipe that doesn’t require soaked cashews, coconut cream or any of that. This is the perfect vegan dinner when you want something delicious that won’t take hours in the kitchen.

I promise.

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Grains, Plant Based, Vegan

Stuffed Butternut Squash with Vegan Mince, Mushrooms & Mustard Greens

Posted on April. 2022April. 2022 by writinstuff

These are some strange times that we are all living in…right? It’s April but there’s still an abundance of squash at the grocery store as well as the farmer’s market. It’s weird. Uncanny, even.

More so when I think about all the time I put in to learning when vegetables were in season so that I could adjust for local ingredients in an effort to reduce my carbon footprint. But now we’re living in the Upside-Down where birds don’t leave Romania in the winter, squash is available year round and now, suddenly, you can purchase turnip and mustard greens wherever you go.

Okay, rant over. Was that technically a rant?

I don’t think so, let’s just call it an energetic questioning of events, shall we?

Anyway since butternut squash is still available and I LOVE it, you know I grabbed one and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.

Stuff it.

Looking for other butternut squash recipes?

Squash & Lentil Stew
Butternut Squash & Spinach Queso
Chocolate & Squash Blondies

That’s right. Even though it’s April and the weather is–finally–warming up, I decided that I would make a hearty vegan autumn meal and it’s my house and my blog and I can do what I want.